Today’s fallout from last night’s presidential debate between Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican nominee former president Donald Trump has shown Harris solidifying her dominant position.
My impression is that a lot of political experts and other commenters are conflating winning a debate with winning an election. People might agree that Harris won the debate, but they still might vote for Trump. And there are thousands of potential voters who like his lies and like that he lies and then lies about his lies.
Trump is absurdly, pathetically, desperately "running from prison," as George Conway says. He's desperate to regain power, to hang on to his money, and to not be "the loser" he's always mocked.
We still have to get out the vote, especially to urge people to vote for Democrats up and down the ballot. America will do better and be better with a Democratic president and Congress. Onward!
"We still have to get out the vote" - damn right - especially as we will be running against the Electoral College as well as trump. Marginal wins are not good enough - we have to roll over them like a tank.
I so wish the importance of controlling Congress would come up in every speech and post that Dems around the country do with the caveat that none of the promises Harris is making will be possible if voters don't vote Democratic all the way down their ballots. People are too inclined to split their tickets so one party doesn't dominate, and that's how we've ended up with the "do nothing Congress" we've got.
and two parties that could talk to each other and compromise for the sake of the country. "Compromise" doesn't mean "Doing what you must because the other party is threatening a shut down. . ."
Let's see what happens with the icky cr the felon has insisted they offer. Johnson called off the vote, so maybe he/they know it's a non starter. Maybe they're afraid of consequences on Nov 5 if they do shut it down. Maybe they're looking for ways to make it worse. The kool aid is flowing, so there's no telling what horror they're cooking up. Let's just hope it isn't cat stew.
JD. Agree. I never split my ticket anymore, not even a local R who is OK. Yes, we must get out the vote and hopefully, blue will be overwhelming. In answer to those posts before yours....However, people can enjoy the fact that she stomped him because there is cause for optimism now and being charged up makes it easier for people to do what is necessary in terms of the vote. I also had a dope try to challenge me when I posted that the Springfield story was false. He hadn't read the article he posted and astoundingly admitted that he hadn't after I called him on it.
My sister-in-law posted the fake video of VP Harris looking like she was stumbling over her words a few weeks ago to show incompetance. She at least acknowledged my reply which cited a news article (Times or Post can't remember) that proves that was AI fakery. That fake stuff spreads like wildfire on social media, it's like the weeds you are trying to eradicate in your garden that comes back no matter what you do.
Trump says "never admit" so there is hope for that person. I have voted for a few Republicans at the state level. One of which the state party claimed they wanted to impeach for certifying a Democrat in a close election. That was pre-MAGA,
The Republican Party, the party of Dwight David Eisenhower, is dead. Reagan began the process of smothering it to death. Trump and the oligarchs applied the fatal squeeze. The party that once was the Republican Party is now the MAGA Party. Again, I recommend HCR's book, "How the South Won the Civil War."
Ticket-splitting survived as a viable option in my state of Massachusetts through the first two decades of the 21st century. Gov. Charlie Baker (R) was elected to his 2nd term in 2018. He decided not to run for a 3rd in 2022, possibly because the MA GOP had by then gone so MAGA that he might not have survived the primary. So now every statewide elective office is held by a Democrat. (I could go on about how awful our Democratic-supermajority state legislature is but I'll save that for another time.)
yes. One answer to the final question that Trump asked - 'if you have all these good ideas, why haven't you done them for the past 3 1/2 years" - is that Congress would not let them because Republicans blocked everything they could. (Another answer is that they DID a lot of good things, particularly when Pelosi was House Leader - things that have brought a ton of new private investment to US industry, and that Republicans who voted against the measures are now taking credit for.)
Also, Harris isn’t the president. How many VPs have set policy? She made it clear that she isn’t Joe Biden. As others have pointed out, the House could not even decide on a Speaker so they were obstructing any legislation. Harris should have emphasized that we are a republic not a monarchy, and all problems need to be solved by negotiation. It was Trump who said the president just needs to sign a piece of paper. He once said that a president just has to think it to make it so. He’s finally learning that he doesn’t have that power.
Old.....I also wondered about how much he thought VPs set policy. All his did was kiss his rear until the moment when he actually did the right thing. He is running against Harris now, but he wants to pretend he is running against Biden.
You could ask the same question of Trump. What did he do during his 4-year term in office? Of course, the first part of that question - "if you have all these good ideas" - is moot, since he didn't talk about any.
I feel that Kamala missed the opportunity to make the point that the Pandemic adversely affected nations world-wide and through it all the U.S. economy was the envy of the world (according to the WSJ) and that our inflation rate was among the lowest. It's all relative.
Well, as usual, he played it both ways. He (rightly) said a Dem president couldn't get abortion protections passed with a 50/50 Congress, then blamed her for not getting "her" priorities accomplished in 3.5 years. These are the kinds of contradictory comments he doesn't get called on. Of course now that the SCOTUS has proclaimed him above the law, he won't need to bother with Congress. I'm sure his role model, Orban, can help with him the steps to take control.
State and local Dem leaders are taking that up now that the Harris campaign is on track; but Harris herself have to reiterate that she needs a working governmental majority to achieve her goals for the country.
Yes. I don't know why that isn't happening. Without the trifecta, the Harris presidency will be hamstrung unless she, like Biden, issues executive orders, but that's a sorry way to have to govern.
Please don't forget the states!! I'm in Ohio, and the criminals are running the facilities here. Rooting them out on the State's level is JUST as important!
Yes Daniel. I am in Florida and the fascists are the nightmare we witness everyday, banning books, attempting to dominate the whole education system. Yes, the state's too. Let's bring Democracy back to America.
John, I've often said Ohio is the fascists laboratory. Once 'they' find out how to get away with it here, the fascists then take it to the other states and implement. To states like Florida, Idaho, Arkansas, etc, etc. It is here that it must be stopped, before it can metastasize federally.
I grew up in northeastern Ohio, and it used to be full of union steelworkers and heavily Democratic. The economy crashed when steel went down and got worse with the Reagan recession, and those of us starving folk who were able to leave did. I am appalled at who and what is left.
Throwing over the brilliant Tim Ryan for the shillbilly was astonishingly dumb.
Our elected County Dem Central Committee and County Dem Women's Club are sending out 7500 postcards supporting our 3 School Board candidates. It used to be a non-partisan race but the Repubs made it partisan in the last couple of elections!
In war, politics, and sports: one does not ease up when the opponent is on the ropes. And especially in this case, there is absolutely no substitution for a political knock-out. He and Vance need to be sent packing to whatever they wish to do after their loss: permanently!! In DJT's case, it may well be the incarceration he well deserves.
Still writing postcards for TonyTheDemocrat who sends addresses for House races. Have written hundreds to voters in counties in Florida. Recommending everyone who can “do something.” At 90, writing postcards is what I can do
I was glad to see three VMAs promoting voter registration tonight. Also Taylor Swift mentioned it at the end of her acceptance speech (Video of the year) and got a big cheer from the crowd.
Under the radar are folk who aren't yet registered. Millions still trend Democratic. A few minutes after Taylor Swift endorsed, more than 300,000 registered, virtually all new Democrats. FT 6 has sent more than 12 million texts to these folks. It normally takes 3 "touches" before they register. Need more phone calls and canvassing. FT 6 phone bank to FL and PA today. Time is fleeting. Do something!
Yes, it really does matter to get out more of the usual "submerged" electorate, people who rarely or never vote. We're talking maybe 50% of the electorate.
Unfortunately, data shows most trend MAGA, but FT6 has identified and contacted with millions who trend Democratic. Time is short. In Florida, last day is Oct. 7. In some states, we turn into a pumpkin next week.
One guy like you, Frank, has the capacity to enlist dozens who will support Democrats up and down the ballot.
The more of "your own disposition" you can get out the better, but whoever is getting out the vote more will earn some goodwill regardless. Unfortunately, I'm Canadian, so all i can do is wish you well. I think there are "at least a few" Canadian on Heather's channel!
Thanks for your support! Others have suggested you can call but if I receive a call from a Canadian phone number I'm certainly not picking up. Toll prices are higher too IIRC when calling from Canada when I was there a few years ago. Just keep believing in America!
Bad experience with snail mail. 3 weeks from mailing in TX, not yet arrived in CO. Corrupting influence of DeJoy? Not sitting well for mail-in ballots.
Agree-it’s not good enough to win the popular vote. HRCs 2016 run is a perfect example. And we cannot risk the vote getting thrown to SCOTUS. Al Gore’s run is another perfect example. We The People need to save our democracy by voting for Harris/Walz. Not voting or a write in vote is not an option. Let’s get this right and do it to protect our freedoms and the freedoms of future generations,
Yes! The ground game is the center, money, people, time, energy, letters, postcards…and get out the vote! Fortunately one of the thing the dud did was cancel the RNC’s local efforts and put someone in charge with few skills.
I had the sense that this was occurring. UGGG. Small focus groups on CNN and elsewhere of undecided voters *seem to be leaning toward Vice President Harris. Those who say they prefer Trump were already leaning towards Trump.
People are really hung up on the economy.
Presidents Trump and Biden likely forestalled the collapse of the economy coming out of COVID by sending out all those checks; the resultant inflation came from ramping up the money supply to keep the economy afloat. A spat of inflation was a small price to pay for averting another Great Depression.
🤭
EDIT: busted. This comment, above, has focussed upon macro-economic causes for inflation only; that focus is too narrow. As observed by Frank Loomer et al. there are micro-economic -- or situation-specific -- factors presenting an opportunity to companies to charge what the market will bear. The macro-&-micro factors combined for a double-whammy. That the inflation rate is already coming down discernibly is heartening.
We have proven many times this CAN be addressed. Name them, boycott, and call out the management. The CEO decision making is primary fault..America CAN ( and I repeat HAS shown the upper leadership by UNITING and boycotting).
The ‘doing it for the shareholders ‘ got to stop…this is misinformation at its highest level. As a nation we WANT to work for the whole..that’s what equality/leveling the playing field means.
People ARE seeing this more clearly…profits can still be a goal but commensurate with consistent. As we invent better ways to provide the ‘I costs’ to provide lower.
Research and development are costs built into any system . The truths of profit sharing are NOT buy backs nor the current CEO margins to worker wages - shareholders are the elite …do I need to explain any further?
The pie , the leveling is better divided , that’s real sharing, making ‘divided’ a good word , furthering a better world, and reverse this false set of values twisted for far too long. I have no objection to people getting wealthy but not by duping, dumbing, or ads saturating BS ,false claims, or deviant tactics ie known contaminants lead,nicotine,glycosphate ,polluting wastes, yada yada..
Yes we need to clean up our act. And that covers a lot of territory. We CAN be thankful for a stark 9 ? year lesson…what the clean up costs are never get started by bitchin’ , they start by acknowledging and elbow grease.
And it takes our village. Our gang 🫶
💙💙VOTE BLUE THROUGH AND THROUGH. LETS.STOP.THIS.COUP.💙💙
Boycotts can be useful, but hard to apply enough pressure against conglomerates that have huge market shares. Electing anti-trust minded officials is essential. We were winning that battle once, and were collectively bamboozled into throwing it away. We learned it twice, if you count crony tax favoritism for the East India Company that sparked the Boston Tea party.
The COVID Plague that Cost Over 1,000,000 American Lives was Abetted by DJT's Incompetence... I believe that in April 2020, DJT became 'Bored' with it, and said that DJT took no Responsibility for it... If there is another Presidential Debate, Kamala should Hammer DJT on it... Maybe DJT's Cult Members will Realize that their Lives are Meaningless to DJT...
Exactly. And that should be pointed out when asked, "Were you better off four years ago?" Four years ago DJT was shooting bleach up his ass or telling you to. Let us remember four years ago: 2020!
Remembering accurately (it helps to record it) is history. Much has been said (as we all know) about the benefits of learning from history, even long ago, let alone the recent past. People are saying "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
That's how he handles everything. Ignoring what he has no clue or desire to work/fix a problem. If he is not in personal danger of something, he doesn't care about any one else. It's just who he has and always will be
In April 2020 there was the news that Blacks and Hispanics were dying of COVID at higher rates than whites. Not Trump’s pressing concern after that. Jared came up with the idea of blaming the governors of blue states.
Our death per capita figures were terrible compared to nations with far fewer resources. Trump and his party played politics with sensible precautions against a heartless, invasive enemy. The Corona virus is a piece of work, but it lacks legs. We collectively were fools to lend it any more of them than was unavoidable. We also cracked it code, and are fools if we fail to use it against it.
COVID hit the Indigenous Nations the Hardest... Sean Penn, when he learned that there is a Horrible Shortage Of Potable Water on the Big Rez, he personally supplied Trucks of Fresh Water to the Big Rez... The DJT's Admin Principals that allowed the COVID Disaster have shown their Black Hearts... No Wonder The Black Siths Love Them... The 1,000,000+ American Dead Have Been Disappeared....
Yes, I’ve heard people say ,’well don’t always blame the pandemic’. It’s part of the equation , and a significant one, was and still is for the whole world. Some countries of lesser ability take far longer to bounce back, recover, as Covid taught us there ARE Long Term Affects. Some countries are more vulnerable just as the poor are first to see mishaps. Leveling the playing field.Just gotta love that term..it’ll pan out but it takes time ..and our world …America..has become short on patient, compromise, greed, attention spans.
I see as do many coming on board Harris has the focus to do this…her background taught her well..the rich raised and isolated/coddled who often laud the decisions down havent the first clue often what the barrio is or needs…
If you're not on a mobile device, the three dots to the right of the "like" line are an edit function. I know you cannot edit from an Apple device... I will sometimes go back on my laptop to correct.
Naomi Klein wrote an interesting thesis on the "Shock Doctrine", using crises to justify anti-public changes. The "GOP" playacts imaginary crises and ignores real ones to that effect.
Ned, how do we recoup the same 2 years of higher prices we paid? Does the price of beef ever go back down, regardless of the reason for the hike? I’ve never found the reduction in price!
I wish they would talk more about the Stock Buy Back figures in the article as in the chart above the following:
"...Most companies also put some of their profits into stock buyback programs that juiced the stocks’ value, enriching investors and executives, instead of using the profits to help keep consumer prices down. McDonald’s, for example, spent over $5bn on buybacks in recent years as it raised prices on some items by several dollars.
Overall, companies have “relied more and more on pricing tricks to satisfy investors”, said Bilal Baydoun, director of policy and research at Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive thinktank.
“When you abuse your outsized market power and the vulnerability of consumers after a once-in-a-century economic crisis to jack up prices – yes, that’s profiteering,” Baydoun said.
Records show many companies’ sales volumes are down but profits are still increasing. This suggests prices, not increased demand, are driving inflation, said a University of Massachusetts economist, Isabella Weber..."
That is why 'big-by-G-D' government may be required to represent collective bargaining power. Since I have lost almost all of my money -- please do not ask; embarrassing as it is -- my views have, predictably begun to shift. While the values remain largely the same, my question these days: ¿To whom do these resources belong? There is dirt on both sides of the street.
yes, and this is what those suffering from the "poor economy" blame on Biden - but it's the corporate greed monsters.......who have caused all of this "economic woe". - look at their stock market profits!!!!
Here in Florida, where greed goes unchecked, people blame the high costs in the Biden Administration, not the greedy oligarchs who have bought and paid for Desantis.
Who (DeSantis) throws away money like a madman. See FIU and his stupid immigration compound, plus his election police and brown shirts. Meanwhile my wind insurance (Citizens) has gone through the roof and will increase up to 47% next year.
I think of some of the greedy oligarchs as "Buy Back Bandits" endlessly ratcheting up their equity share of everything profitable at the expense of the increasing numbers of citizens and workers that can't begin to match the percentage of savings, buying power, or accumulating wealth.
This is why I think Vice President Harris seeking a tax on unstruck stock options given as part of compensation makes sense. Control the micro-incentives.
I'm not an expert but know of a few people that just missed the boat having to wait 6 months for the selling window to open on their holdings. One had a great looking tech application that had his valued at $400 million (if the government chose it instead of a less likely competitor). It seems that dropped to the price of a house in the Bay area a few days before he could sell.
I'm convinced they had, like other inventors I knew, a great design but a better one came out just before they could get to the market. Good work, but someone else had something better before they knew it. The good thinkers still get hired by other companies, but don't hit the jackpots like their new bosses do (looking at Elon, here).
Then there is Trump who looks to be getting set for another of his well deserved financial disasters according to:
"...The date on which former President Donald Trump is eligible to offload shares in his social media company is rapidly approaching—though when it finally comes, it’s likely to offer far less of a treasure than it was earlier this year...
...The company’s latest prospectus filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission outlines three factors that would trigger the lock-up period to conclude: The end of the first six months of DJT stock trading as its own entity, Trump Media shares trading above $12 for any 20 of 30 trading sessions beginning Aug. 23, or a transaction, like a merger, in which all shareholders have the opportunity to trade in their Trump Media holdings at the same price.
That means the earliest possible date Trump can sell is Sept. 19 if Trump Media shares remain above the $12 threshold, not a guarantee with a $17 share price Friday, and the latest his selling window would open is Sept. 25, the end of the opening six-month period of DJT’s direct public listing..."
It's already down 80% (so far), making me think he should have waited until after the window opened before debating Kamala, he probably could have found some suckers before the debate, but who would buy now?
Should I feel sorry for other investors?
Sometimes when people keep asking for it, they get what they deserve (something my great grandmother taught me).
Remember JL, pandemic supply chain inflation was global. Shortages simply drive up prices, this of course is old fashioned marketplace, found everywhere on this planet. With things more settled, inflation is now generally in the 3% range. Unemployment is overall 3-4%, about as close to "full employment" as you can get, with real wages edging ahead of inflation the past year or so.
Fantastic point. This type of inflation -- for example, for construction materials -- is often high but localized in coastal areas whacked by massive hurricanes.
Classic inflation was a factor, but it seems to me that corporations are increasingly gaming the system. Take some of the screw-ups that we were in the news post the pandemic due to staff shortages, not (from what I have read) because new hires were not available, but because companies wanted to accept increased business without adding staff. Shrinkflation pre-dates the pandemic, but has been on a roll since. And in my experience, at least overall, prices have not come down as better equilibrium has been established even if the rate of price rise has dropped. Also, I strongly suspect "real wages" figure is pretty unevenly shared in the real world. I am not net better off financially tha pre-pandemic, but I'm retired. I suspect a good many full time workers are in the same boat.
Here's something from Forbes....Of course real wage increases are unevenly shared. I have no theory of how modern capitalism works other than to think oligopolies and monopolies tend to set things more to their advantage than otherwise. btw they've been around a long time. If i also hear you rightly, global pandemic inflation was a giant corporate conspiracy, right? https://www.forbes.com/sites/johngoodman/2024/08/30/the-greed-theory-of-inflation/
Hear hear! Hamburger was $2 a pound higher Monday at Publix than at Food Lion in Virginia, and was not on sale. I find the same kind of difference in Florida, where Winn Dixie is much lower. (Keys) I’ve had to become much more aware post pandemic.
It is easy to raise prices when there is no competition. As for food prices most people have limited choice for groceries. With a couple of major chains to choose from. Easy for them to raise prices.
One of the things that's most striking is the fact that almost no one in America seems aware of how Biden's economic policy has been practically the only success story in the world following the trail of damage left by Covid.
It is more than understandable that the Covid episode should have left people traumatized and still more aware of their own pain than of the freedom brought by recovery and survival, but the blind darkness of people's worm's eye view and the well-nigh total absence of a bird's eye view feel very, very strange when viewed from just about anywhere else in the world, where people have had to put up with the hard effects of superannuated economic policies, at worst, medieval torments like those visited on Britain by 45-day-wonderwoman Liz Dross...
The only people whose dominance -- ultradominance -- has been marginally threatened by the Biden-Harris presidency are the greed-fuelled gaggle of billion and trillionaires enriched at the expense of 99.99% of the population.
They'll do their damnedest to stymie any and all efforts by Harris-Walz and the 99.99% to resist the suicidal force of all-powerful oligarchic tyranny.
(And if you don't know what that means, look at Project 2025. Then look at Putin's Russia...)
Failure to explain or to provide context really bugs me.
On the pet-eating conspiracy and troubles in Springfield, Ohio, PBS brought some context.
1) If you were suspicious about your pets disappearing, which would you contact first? Your local authorities or your U.S. Senator (J.D. Vance)?
2) Springfield has had a sizeable, rapid increase in population. With more people, the city’s resources are stretched thin. A strain on public services would exist whether the new arrivals were from Haiti or somewhere else.
Someone suggested another stupid thing that Trump believed and I suggested making a list of stupid things Trump believes that we should compile and send to the Harris campaign and the Lincoln Project to troll him, and his followers. This should definitely be on that list.
I read an article in the Columbus, Ohio newspaper that Governor DeWine called out the national guard because of congestion owing to immigrants not knowing local traffic laws or customs. Not the kind of slurs made by Team Cur.
I agree they are powerful, Peter - but not "all powerful."
Have you ever seen a house when termites have been at it?
Termites have a bad rep - but we need to copy them. Nibble and nibble away until the rule of the oligarchs start to crack.
I'm sure when Harris wins, a lot of things will go on the same - but even Elon the Invincible has to die one day, and by then some progress will have been made. Maybe not much - but enough to lift some lives. and to ensure some safety under the law. There is an awfully long way to go, things that should have been done fifty years ago still need to be put into place. But if we don't see it ourselves, our grandchildren can. And they can carry on the fight as well.
Trump keeps saying "MAGA" - but America has never been truly great for all it's citizens - even the First Nations had their problems, they didn't call themselves "One Nation." And the horrific conditions some of the later immigrants lived in took a long time to even begin being addressed. So, "Patience and Perseverance!"
I agree, we older Americans had nothing given to us, we worked hard and saved our money to purchase items we needed. Today, I see people buying things on credit cards that they can't afford to pay for at the end of the month. Personal debts are a problem. People think they should have everything they like. Probably 50% of the stuff never gets used at all. There is a big difference between what you need and what you want. What I'm saying is, to many people want it fixed today and don't realize we are in it for the long game. America is perfect and she is constantly evolving. Patience and Perseverance! Stay a player...
Thank you, Patty, thank you Lady Emsworth, I had wanted to add that, while we have all seen rising grocery (and many other) prices, we react to our difficulties here and now... but turning around the economy of a huge country or ship takes time -- even without mutineers on the bridge and in the engine room... and we want instant gratification...
Three jobs and still hard to get by? Is that the kind of living-to-work treadmill you're talking of, Ned McDoodle?
And fearing to fall ill lest you lose your job...
The kind of compulsive and compulsory workaholism that makes for built-in inefficiencies, an unhappy workforce, an unhappy society. Unhappy, but too busy trying to keep afloat to become a threat to those who count...
Peter, you will understand this all too well: Americans have ridiculously short memories and are easily triggered by stupid nonsense to work against their own self interest. As an historian, it is my job to remember, to comment, to remember more, to comment more. Second fact: the MAJORITY of Americans have ceded their political power because they fail to vote, especially in local elections and midterms. And they do so with a certain level of insouciance that is alarming. This is why we have these [plural expletive deleted] who are in charge of local governance: they were voted in by a small minority of eligible voters and reflect only the wind tunnel that is between their ears. This is why corruption is rampant because the corporations that a certain senator from Utah described as "people" can dominate the political climate. Unless and until Americans start remembering, and start acting on those memories, we will be in this constant vacillation between the forces of evil and the forces of pragmatism (I can't really call them the forces of "good" because the pragmatic option says feed people, educate them, treat them with kindness, be tolerant and equitable and those are all things that should be no-brainers but apparently are not).
The second fact you post articulates what I have felt for a long, long time. Failing to vote locally is something that just stuns me. All politics is local, and if you don't participate, you lose your local control. As for what follows your sentence utilizing one of my favorite words (insouciance), my usual reference is "preferred colorful metaphor" or "profanity, vulgarity or blasphemy of your choosing". I love you use of "plural expletive deleted" and my just add that to my arsenal of acceptable usage of profanity.
Not sure I agree. Americans are harried and scrambling to keep a decent standard of living in place for their families. Many voters did not forget Senator / Secretary Clinton remark, reeking of entitlement to the presidency (i.e., the "basket of deplorables").
Thank you , Peter, for bringing attention to the collective amnesia we’re experiencing throughout American society, from MSM to seemingly informed people. Everything is measured by how people “feel “ about the economy, etc, no mention of what the world experienced, not even a mention of cargo ships in the harbor in LA for months with no one to unload them. Our news is presented in such an insular way with no comparison of other countries suffered much worse than the USA. President Biden saved this country from a disaster.
Fear and diminishing prospects -- or the perception thereof -- can have an unpleasant impact upon people's views and behaviors. Perhaps, President Harris could appeal directly to M.A.G.A.s by saying, in effect: "Many of you all feel screwed over. We get that. Here is why you have a better deal with us than with candidate Trump . . . ."
I think, people don't understand how limited the federal government is in improving their lives....it can only take a broad sweep. When people say their lives have not improved under Biden-Harris, the response should be, because your state governor and legislators decide on the day to day matters that affect you.
I could list a minimum of 10 laws enacted by the state of Texas that assure citizens are more at risk for gun violence, school shootings will continue, corporations can continue to turn our environment into a cesspool of polluted water and air, women will die seeking reproductive health care, and the power grid providers profit is guarded over people services.
Let's use that as a response to people saying Biden/Harris haven't fixed their problems.
True that. That will go a long way why President Harris's approval ratings will be in the forties by 2026. This legis-centric governance needs to be explained to people.
I thought she was the worst of those who thought like Grover Norquist as in no new taxes, steep tax cuts for for everyone, and especially corporations .
Sorry, Jim, I don't usually descend to that, but this lady and her politics were so caricatural -- about as two-dimensional and as sentient as a think-tank spreadsheet -- that I've never managed to call her by her proper name...
I can understand, I just wish we could have dumped Trump as quickly (7 weeks) as the British dumped her (10 days of which delay was the 10 day mourning period for Queen Elizabeth II).
When I read of healthcare institutions trampling the Hippocratic Oath underfoot by engaging in the automatic infliction on innocents of extraordinarily cruel and unusual extrajudicial punishments, I am surprised that more Americans do not react by voting for MAGA or for any anti-system crazies.
After all, this is even madder, even more cruel and irresponsible than the tales cooked up by MAGA madmen. Worse, it isn’t imaginary, it is actually happening.
Now, if we read Letters from an American, it is better to know and understand both the light America has brought into the world and her deepest shadows. Only armed with such knowledge can John and Jane Doe become citizens worthy of the Republic.
America’s ingrained cruelty was imported from Europe’s and other continents’ most brutal societies and visited on others, especially those least able to defend themselves, then re-exported worldwide as what a certain general termed “collateral damage”; the (alas) inevitable—but always resistible—abuse of overwhelming material power. One aspect of this is the absurd and pernicious belief, shared by Nazis and the tyrants of every age and culture as well as by the Holy Inquisition, that by destroying men’s bodies one destroys their ideas. On the contrary, this spreads, strengthens and perpetuates the evil that they do. We must be deliberately blind not to see just this awful reality all around us at this very moment—Nazi crimes and criminals arising again in the unlikeliest places.
Most readers here are decent, intelligent, responsible people with hearts in the right place and I am sure there will be among you jurists, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators who can take up causes like that in the Mother Jones report and make the seats of those responsible so hot that they’ll jump smartly to their duty.
The task may seem impossible, yet… is not our duty clear, as individuals, as communities, to work tirelessly to cure our town, our state, our country of their endemic diseases and bring in their place health and happiness?
Project2025 is essentially re-cycled Reaganism extended to some new issues emerging after 1988; but Reaganism with a "sh*titude' of kulturkampf, at least per my rather cursory reading. The problem is Reaganism is exhausted like the New Deal was in the mid-to-late 1970s. Take it from a former Republican pre-disposed toward kultur-drumpfing two generations ago (i.e., me).
I think Harris needs to address agriculture. It has a chapter in project 2025, which my DA Book club is reading and discussing next week. I understand that farmers would like to hear themselves discussed, and no one is. I doubt they will be reading Project 2025, but Harris has the opportunity to take the lead on this. I saw a farmer interviewed in a German documentary, who is in Georgia. This was filmed after Harris announced, and he said he is undecided until he hears what each party has to say on farming. I did not hear it discussed at all in the debate. So, he is going to be no further along.
I was thinking that too, but it might be reassuring to farmers, that if Trump loses the Harris and Walz ticket is thinking of them and they are part of the plan to keep our nation secure. I have written this to the White House and the Harris Walz campaign as well. Maybe more people could write to them about it.
Yes, each issue needs to be addressed with clear possible solutions. Could the discussion of each issue , like agriculture, be covered exclusively for a number of days giving the media no other talking points. Then move to the next issue with extensive coverage. Voters want to learn HOW the problems that we all agree on can begin to be solved.
Also, emphasis must be on a Congress that can do the work of finding compromise. The Congress is the where the action happens!!
Great idea - except it seems to me the media make up their OWN talking points. See the coverage of Joe's "dementia" - and the bare mention of trump's insanity. Agriculture's not very exciting - who clicks on farm stock prices? But a pimple on Kamala's nose? Now THAT'S a whole different story. . .
I read today in the Substack What Did Joe Biden Do Today, that a meeting was convened with the Dept. of Agriculture, the EPA and other stakeholders to discuss how to support farmers, ranchers and foresters in using green methods to do their work.
Linda W, beware agriculture as many (most?) "farmers" who have survived financially have done so by becoming corporate level mega-farmers running huge herds of cows often running to the thousands, all in stanchions throughout the day and night. As we drove by a nearby mega-barn my daughter dubbed it's multiple barns "cowschwitz."
It's definitely not "most" farmers. The 2022 Census of Agriculture says that 64% of farms in the U.S. are less than 140 acres in size. And fully two-thirds of all farms earn less than $25,000 per year from sales.
We had some former professionals (at least one finance type, I believe) from Disney's Imagineering who found the sometimes too severe top down rules stifling enough to refer to the former work place as "Mouseschwitz."
On the other hand we had one of our best engineers go there as we downsized after the Cold War ended. He had three young children and he had to take them around to all sorts of amusement parks (not just Disney's), as part of his job evaluating competition and developing new ideas. I couldn't imagine a better post Cold War career when he let us know how his new job was going.
John, since my husband comes from multigenerational farming family in Germany, I have always been interested in what is going on with farming. My mom also comes from multigenerational farming families, although her father was a city dweller, and did not farm. My husband did not find chickens romantic at all since he grew up with 9000 of them and had to help. It was not a corporate farm as the name implies, because it was a family farm. I don't know if they hired help to harvest, but I know that when it comes to harvesting my husband's cousin hires help. He has a big place and people come from Romania to help. Usually it is a family of 3. They live in an apartment that is part of the farm house. What is commonly grown in our area of Germany (that is his and my mom's) are wheat and sugar beets. I have had joy of running my hand through freshly harvested wheat that is warm, and has just come out of the harvester. It feels wonderful like grains of sand do. A former friend's family also grew rapeseed here in Germany. A lot of our friends here in the city I live in, come from farms, so there is a respect for farming and a connection to it.
As a kansas row-crop farm operator, I’ll say not all farming is what you describe. You have to understand that raising animals and growing plants are two types of farm operation. Running a dairy operation not the same as what I do, and to succeed you have to raise what your local market will buy. And I’d bet the number of farm operations in upstate NY that involve “mega barns” is quite a small part of the ag spectrum. I’ve not visited upstate NY, but if you check your state ag department stats you'd discover a thriving viticulture industry, berry and fruit and nut orchards, greenhouse vege growers, and on and on.
Also, farms that are owned by “trusts” are not usually in the “corporate agri-industry” bucket, it is just a family ownership structure. similarly, not all corporations are “big ag” monsters.
In my rural community, I have seen a surprising number of Trump signs in front of farms and farmhouses. I don't get it. Has Trump ever visited a farm? Does he talk about agriculture? I doubt it. It could be an opportunity for Harris, IF they will listen.
Ellen, I am saying this too. Can you please write to her campaign. I did today, and I also wrote the contact email at the White House asking her to articulate agricultural plans.
Harry S Truman : Say, Rose, there's a story going around about me these days. It says that some old party hen is supposed to have cornered Bess at some party, and said, "Mrs. Truman, isn't there anything you can do to get the President to stop using the word 'manure'?" And Bess is supposed to have replied, "It took me forty years to get him to use that word!"
Another version was her asking to get him to use "fertilizer" instead of manure.
You are on my page Linda. I AM a farmer . This is a whole different world..farmers..a world gone -from individual families squeezed out, a whole generation lost numbers of what ‘raising yer own’ entails to Big Ag. And stands for the bigger picture ..perhaps better than any other ‘in essence’ of leveling that playing field.
Patricia, you are then well placed to either ask Harris and Walz to articulate farm policy and to give them advice on this. As I wrote above, I wrote to her today about it, and I think she should hear from more people. I just suggested that if supermarkets are gouging people, they are probably stiffing farmers too. I am married into a German farming family. That is, while my husband does not farm anymore, he did growing up, and his parents did, and his cousins do or did, and aunts and uncles on both sides of the family did. In fact, my mother-in-law went to Farm housewife school at 15 along with her sister, because Germans like to make all things in life a mixture of practice and theory. In any case, at one point, several of nieces and nephews did not want to take over his mother's birth family farm, and so then cousins get asked. In fact, my mother-in-laws family farm, which is one of the farms my daughter has grown up visiting all her life, was on offer to my daughter. But she did not want to farm or be a farm wife. She knows little about it, other than the play aspects, but we asked her. One of her male cousins who had a runty pig as a pet when he was in middle school, was interested. He may get that farm which is just a wonderful place. Another cousin has gone to agriculture school and is taking over the family farm, after doing a practicum year at 2 other farms, and one in Estonia. That is so. he gets exposed to something different than his dad knows. So, when German farmers were driving tractors in protest to some new green energy requirements, it was the news all over the EU, and it changed the timeline for conversion. I was watching a dairy farmer on the news in our area in Germany talking about how he cannot raise his prices much more or the consumers will just not buy milk. Food is heavily subsidized in Germany, and since it is the stuff of life, I am willing to pay the producers well to produce. We know how danger it is when ADM owns all of the farms, and then decides to experiment with our food production, and squeeze everyone out. Given that there is an antimonopoly mood, with Lina Khan at the helm taking on big Tech, perhaps big Ag should be affected too. My mom, who is also German grew up with many relatives having been farmers, and during WWII she and her siblings were sent to live with aunts and uncles on farms for a couple of years to get them out of the cities where the bombs were more likely to kill them. Her favorite aunts and uncles were on farms. So, the family farm is important to the production of food, one of our most important industries. I was discussing yesterday with some friends, that I was surprised to find the my Blue State was asking to lower the age at which children can work, but it was pointed out to me that Illinois is a big farming state so this makes sense.
Yes. And Peter makes a good following point ( climate change) as currently we are struggling in the most severe drought ever hauling water for critters even more encompassing ( I’m a big picture realist) for the wildlife including insects. There are so many connecting points here , thanks and I will write sister Kamala. I have a whole world of sisters 😌 ( and brothers).
We work WITH the government NRCS and local ASCS extensively..they.are.great.
Circular recycling needs a careful ear and focus with waste rampant,by far too many, and hunger is just pure neglect . No rant. Just needs focus. Us who went back to the land are now few but being a farm wife is a compliment, yes hard work, but healthy, challenging, holistic, even spiritual. Learning how to is an every day still humble adventure. One brilliant young lady remarked we were ‘far out’ meaning -to her (we laughed) as she meant ..the distance from McDonalds)!
The Amish and we know several (German heritage ) stand out in application to farmer’s to the inner fiber. Work ethic! Our children don’t want to farm, had enough of that! but they all have great work ethics😉👏.
Circular technology a new term , and innovation is needed . Production here on the farm uses composting extensively, collecting our own water ,passive and some as affordable new solar, it all is sort of old fashion in principle. Landfills need a thorough revision.
The established hierarchy plays ‘us’ ..but a lot of ownership needs ‘admitting’… ONLY WHEN WE ALLOW IT. There’s a certain portion in every society who can’t fend for themselves, they need cared for. The rest need to pick up after themselves , put on their big ‘boy’ pants.
And there’s the continued vigilance needed, always voting, paying attention to who and how those elected represent us.
This election is a critical point ..we here ALL know that..because if we neglect it …it will take far more years to correct than I have and likely my children too.
I’ll make one more point hopefully…not everyone needs to farm. EVERYONE can produce. EVERYONE ,with a few exceptions ,can contribute ,in their own gifted way , to the whole.
Patricia, you might like this film I watched last night. This is a family from Belgium who bought an abandoned farm in France, and started developing it as their home and farm. It is in English. https://youtu.be/kMXBQ6DtO4o?si=W1NARVHJuX7gSb5m
Excellent point, all the more so against a background of climate change, ecological disaster and the great corporate contribution to long-term desertification. Exhaust the soil, then move on...
Corporate greed is responsible for current US prices, not inflation. Harris calls it out, but people won't get it without further explanation and constant repetition. The US's inflation rate is lower than all of Europe, but our prices are lower because corporations aren't economic terrorists here (Portugal).
Prices and tariffs need to be explained. That is true in Germany too of things like food, which is also inflated right now. I read an article on price fixing with grocery stores worse in Austria than Germany, but there is some attempt to control these algorithms.
YES Linda W, someone needs to explain tariffs to our former president who STILL doesn't seem to understand who actually pays the increased price arising from a tariff! Kinda like how he imagined Mexico would pay for his absurd wall.
The importer pays the tariff, which is then added to the consumer price. I want to know where the tariff money goes, after the importer pays it. Does it go somewhere in the U.S. Treasury? Gosh, if it does, then as Trump implies, it can cover the cost of the tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. What a clever way to get consumers to subsidize benefits to the wealthy, meanwhile paying federal, state, and local taxes as usual.
John, I think we should make a list of all the absurd things that Trump thinks, has thought (ie Haitians eating cats and dogs in Ohio), and send it to The Lincoln Project and the Harris campaign so they can use it to troll him. I love the Mexican wall one. So true! How about he thought Kamala can only be Indian or Black, but not both.
Ned, quite the truism. Keeping an economy afloat is much easier than raising a sunken ship. Inflation is indeed a small price to pay. The average American only sees the inflation part, not the “saving of the ship”
That inflation was global. Interesting that American politicians studiously avoid that fact. I guess because it somehow makes them seem weak, or a cop out. US is top economic performer now mainly likely because of all the stimulus spending working its way through the economy. Otherwise, politicians generally overclaim responsibility for economic performance, either blaming or taking credit. A bit of smoke and mirrors I would say. When I read the business news, how often do you think this kind of attribution comes up? Almost zilch.
A lot of economists agree that manufacturing and supply chain disruptions were the biggest factors in inflation. (Fewer goods available when there is new money in the economy means higher prices for goods). And don’t gorget the scarcity in the service economy. It was a lot harder to see lawyers, accountants, dentists, doctors, designers, architects, and mechanics during Covid. A lot of these folks raised their prices/fees, and those higher prices never came back down.
Most manufacturers reduced their product lines, and most have not re-expanded them. You can see this most easily in the grocery store.
What we all learned in high school is that a mix of fewer goods and services in the economy, combined with an increase in the money supply, yields inflation. Inflation comes down slowly as either demand slackens or one of those factors change.
But high prices on the other hand come down chiefly because of increased competition. We have unfortunately blunted that tool over the past 30 years by allowing far too much consolidation in the economy.
I agree about averting another Great Depression! Do not forget the supply chain problems. And corporate price gouging. The stimulus checks as the sole cause, or even the main cause of inflation, is a Republican talking point. Inflation was a worldwide condition which did not originate with stimulus checks in the U.S.
Frank Loomer has a really insightful comment on what you are saying; please scroll up. On the money supply: Maco-Econ. 102: too many dollars chasing too few goods.
The Tragedy of this, is if you listen to Mary Trump, DJT has always been a Cowardly Bully from Early Childhood... Internally, DJT never developed from there... DJT met more than his Match in Kamala... A Professional Prosecutor... Being a Mediocre Person, DJT builds an Empire of Delusions within himself, and Projects that to his Minions... DJT is a Delusional Person who believes in his own Delusions... His Followers have become Cultists...
Heather said on a podcast that "Trump doesn't get America. He doesn't understand what America is all about." I think that nails it and perfectly expresses the MAGA mindset. For me, that was an aha moment of clarifying who Trump and the magats are. This nugget of reality should be highlighted by the Harris Walz campaign--and all state and local Democratic campaigns. And amplified on social media!! :)
Does America remember what America is all about. All my life I was proud that people from all over came and made a country out of so many complexities. It took decades, even centuries but we turned into Americans. When chump says to save our America, he is spouting crap, like the “make America Great Again” slogan. Just jingoism, spewed by a carnival barker. Sad that so many fell for the pap. Who said there is a sucker born every minute. The purveyor of the freak shows. And that’s what the chump rallies are…
Agreed. DJT, aided and abetted by the press, has succeeded in untethering his magat followers from reality. We have a lot of work to connect them to reality and American values again.
But, Trump does get a certain part of America, the part that he is well able to manipulate. That is the grievance crowd, upset because things are changing in the USA, as we reach a more pluralistic society that is a goal of democracy. According to this essay, they are getting what they want from him, which is from a Reader comment by Robert Ritchie in Joyce Vance’s Substack on Sept 9, 2024
The Cult of Opposition: Understanding the Psychology Behind Trump’s Supporters
In modern political discourse, the relationship between leaders and their supporters often reflects a symbiotic exchange—one of mutual benefit. Typically, a leader provides tangible improvements to the supporters’ lives, who in turn offer their allegiance. However, Donald Trump's presidency introduced a paradigm shift that baffled many analysts. A significant portion of Trump’s base does not measure his success by what he does *for* them, but rather by what he does against those they consider adversaries. This phenomenon raises a critical question: why do Trump's supporters define his success not by policy achievements or personal benefit but by his ability to antagonize perceived enemies? In this research paper, we explore the psychology, sociocultural factors, and communication strategies behind this phenomenon, offering a deep dive into the mechanisms that sustain this unwavering loyalty.
The Psychology of "Othering"
At the heart of this dynamic lies a fundamental psychological concept known as *othering.* Othering refers to the process of creating a division between "us" and "them," where "them" are people deemed different or antagonistic to one's own group. Social identity theory posits that individuals derive part of their self-worth from their membership in groups (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). When Trump attacks certain groups—be they immigrants, Democrats, or marginalized communities—his supporters feel that their in-group (conservative, predominantly white Americans) is being validated. The "other," typically those outside their cultural or political bubble, becomes a target of scorn and aggression. By constantly positioning himself against these groups, Trump reassures his supporters that they are on the winning side of a cultural war.
This is where the success metrics diverge from typical political calculations. Success, in the eyes of Trump's supporters, is not rooted in economic growth or policy achievements, but in the symbolic victories won over those they disdain. Trump’s antagonistic rhetoric serves as a rallying cry for a base that measures success by how effectively he torments the "other."
Fear as a Unifying Emotion
The divisiveness Trump exploits is not built solely on disdain for others but on deep-rooted fear. Research has shown that political conservatism often correlates with heightened fear responses (Hibbing, Smith, & Alford, 2014). These fears manifest in concerns over demographic changes, perceived threats to cultural identity, and economic anxiety—particularly in the wake of globalization and immigration. For Trump’s base, he offers not only validation of their fears but also an outlet for their anxiety: the vilification of outsiders.
By acting against these outsiders—whether through harsh immigration policies, vilification of the media, or incendiary tweets targeting "leftist elites"—Trump provides a sense of catharsis to his supporters. It’s not about building bridges or creating new opportunities; it’s about protecting their identity and keeping perceived threats at bay. In their minds, Trump’s success is defined by his defense of the status quo against forces of change.
The Appeal of a Strongman
This dynamic is exacerbated by the allure of authoritarian leadership, often characterized by a leader who promises protection and order while silencing dissent. Trump's rhetoric—filled with hyperbole, aggressive language, and dismissive attitudes toward political correctness—resonates deeply with those who feel disempowered by societal changes. Studies have shown that authoritarian personalities are drawn to leaders who project strength and offer simple, binary solutions to complex problems (Feldman, 2003). Trump’s combative style against the "other" fits neatly into this framework.
In this context, Trump is seen as the protector, someone who will go to any length to defend his supporters from external threats. His aggressive behavior—though often condemned by critics—is perceived by his base as a strength. In their eyes, his relentless attacks on groups like the media, the "deep state," or racial minorities are evidence of his success as a leader willing to do whatever it takes to secure their safety and identity.
The Role of Media and Propaganda
An essential factor in maintaining this dynamic is the role of right-wing media in amplifying Trump’s actions *against* others while downplaying or ignoring any lack of substantive achievements. Fox News, Breitbart, and other conservative outlets often frame Trump’s attacks on immigrants, liberals, and the media as necessary battles in a larger cultural war. Through selective reporting, these outlets reinforce the idea that Trump’s presidency is less about improving the lives of his supporters through policy and more about the symbolic victories he achieves through opposition to their perceived enemies.
Trump himself understood the power of media manipulation, often stoking controversy to keep his name in the headlines. As noted by philosopher Hannah Arendt, in authoritarian regimes, propaganda serves to simplify the world into friend versus foe (Arendt, 1951). By keeping the public focused on his skirmishes against the "other," Trump ensured that his base remained engaged and energized, even when his policies provided little material benefit to their lives.
The Social Contract of Aggrievement
This relationship between Trump and his supporters can be understood as a kind of *social contract of aggrievement.* While traditional politicians offer economic benefits, infrastructure improvements, or social programs, Trump offers emotional validation. His base, particularly those who feel marginalized by economic shifts or demographic changes, finds solace in his outward displays of aggression. His ability to provoke outrage in the "other" reassures them that they are still relevant in a world they fear is changing too fast.
Interestingly, this contract does not require Trump to follow through on traditional metrics of success like job creation or healthcare reform. His supporters are not primarily concerned with how he improves their lives directly. Instead, they focus on how he reinforces their worldview—one where they are under constant attack and where Trump is their defender. This emotional satisfaction creates a loyalty that transcends policy, rooted instead in the shared sense of grievance and resentment.
Conclusion: A Loyalty That Transcends
In understanding Trump’s success, it is critical to recognize the unique metrics by which his supporters measure his achievements. His base does not primarily seek economic relief or policy victories; they seek validation of their fears and grievances. By acting *against* the "other," Trump provides emotional and psychological sustenance that traditional political figures often fail to deliver. His success, therefore, lies in his ability to symbolize and enact opposition rather than constructively improve the lives of his supporters. As long as Trump continues to antagonize those perceived as threats, his base will remain loyal, even in the absence of tangible benefits.
In the end, the tormenting of the "others" does more than sustain them—it defines them.
A lot of the Predatory Social Structure was established by European Second Sons that Immigrated seeking their Fortunes... DJT is literally a 'Second Son', who from Early Childhood Craves Attention....
I thought it was interesting the way she responded to him - more like a therapist than a debater. "Tell me what you think about that. . . uh-huh. . . and how does that make you feel?"
And it all came pouring out. . .she didn't have to argue with him, she just led him on to vomit on his own shiny cuban heels. . .
If you read Timothy Snyder's book The Road to Unfreedom you will see that the lying is a conscious premeditated strategy, coupled with other specific strategies, to confuse and manipulate people and disassociate them from reality so that they rely on loyalty instead of reason. It's a deeply disturbing and important book and explains the phenomenon of schizo fascism being promulgated by Putin.
I think Trumps lies because it's a lifelong stately, and he was born rich enough to get away with it. Republicans dusted off Joe McCarthy's strategy with Nixon and Reagan, it worked so well they now back Trump. Relying on loyalty instead of reason qualifies the modern GOP as a cult, but while some cult leaders by believe the tripe they peddle, others are deliberate manipulators. The latter built fascism.
“EAT LESS KITTENS,” the billboards say. “Vote Republican!”
Arizona’s Republican Party announced Tuesday that it had designed about a dozen of the billboards in the Phoenix area in response to false claims shared by some top Republicans that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating Americans’ pets. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who plans to visit Arizona on Thursday, amplified those claims at an ABC News debate on Tuesday, despite police telling local news outlets that there was no evidence of anyone eating pets. " https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/arizona-gop-billboards-implore-voters-to-eat-less-kittens/ar-AA1qqe4d
This crap has real, breathing victims, and could get someone killed. Thats fine with the "GOP".
And it's time for Democrats to reach out to the Haitian community as real, breathing people, and ask (rhetorically) if at long last, Republicans have NO decency. Maybe make a billboard of it.
I also read this in Prof. Ruth Ben Ghiat, another historian who is an expert on fascism's book Strongmen. I read the European version. It was written during Trump's term in office and he is included in as a fascist. I think I was not fully cognizant of everything he was doing, but this book helped me to understand his techniques, which I saw on display in the debate, even to intelligent, reasonable people he seemed off his game. What he did that fits fascist strategies, which has nothing to do with debating and everything to do with getting his message out there, is he repeated some ideas which are cues to his audience. He repeated that immigrants are overrunning the country and doing scary things--which is a consistent theme, he repeated that abortion is happening after babies are born--which is a consistent theme, and he repeated that crime is up--which is a consistent theme, and he repeated that she was militarily weak--which is a consistent theme, and he repeated that there are transgendered surgeries happening in schools--which is a consistent theme. If people can believe the lies and specious claims of Q-Anon, they will believe anything he tells them. Remember a caravan of trucks went to the border to stop the millions coming over illegally and saw absolutely no one, and ended up picking a fight with locals. I just think as a fascist, he repeats tropes, a playbook that Goebbels and Hitler used because no matter what is said, people start believing things if they hear them often enough. A lot of his audience is primed to believe him too.
Yes but it’s extremely expensive, luxury brand, facial clay. We need enough of an electoral sweep to have a working majority in Congress for many reasons. Court reform is near the top, to prevent them from blocking all the rest.
Agreed..the margin of effort rather than error. It is some consolation to hear rumblings of discontent within the Republican party. The down ballot swing state republican candidates must be wearing their shoes on the other foot than after the June debate when they were gleefully prancing around so sure footed.
Be very careful with your wording here. BEFORE the June 27 debate, we were heading for a Democratic electoral disaster. A 180 followed by another 180 puts you back on your original course. I hope that isn't what you meant.
A topic for another time, but one of the deepest of American problems is the degree to which a polished TV presentation as more bearing on a candidates fate than wisdom and record. We really saw that come to fruition with Carter VS Reagan. I wonder how Lincoln reborn would do in current circumstances. Two minutes to present a long-chain thought looks more like "Speedating" than a job interview.
TV is also why Sen. Hollings said years ago that due to the cost of campaigning: " So we go over to the building and call for money and obviously we only can give attention to that. We don't have time for each other. We don't have time for constituents, except for the givers. Somebody ought to tell the truth about that."
I agree, and want to hear someone reporting on the Electoral college and how things stand, because we know Trump is not trying to win the popular vote, just get his voters out, by keeping them inflamed at immigrants and losing power and White privilege.
Well, Harris did call him out during the debate for ordering Republicans not to vote for the immigration bill which would addressed a lot of our problems at the border. She needs to do it more often.
Fortunately it appears Mike Johnson despite being a fascist Republican is definitely enjoying his term as Speaker and may not be thrilled to give it up if the GOP loses the House. It looks like he may not allow the government to shut down, at least not before the election. And by that time it may be too late.
I am heartened by the Taylor Swift endorsement that led to more than 330,000 new voters registering. These are likely young people who often sit out elections. It's us old folks who are reliable voters. So, as long as these newly registered voters who are Swifties actually get to the polls vote, I have hope. Plus, just read that Liz Cheney will actually be campaigning in person for Harris. Cheney is clearly keeping her promise to work to stop Trump. Few know better than Cheney, who he really is.
Bill Luntz, whom Heather cited, said that he thought the debate would sink Trump in the overall popular vote, but thought with the swing states being statistically tied, even if Kamala got a 4% overall advantage, that is still within the margin of error, and Trump could win, a repeat more or less of 2016.
So true. The 2016 election was decided by less than 250,000 votes out of 135 million, all in the six swing states that went for Trump. Mostly those same votes swung the other way in 2020. Even if harris picks up many more popular votes, if most of those votes come in places like California, New York and even Texas (yes because even picking up a million votes in Texas won't help her WIN Texas!), she could still EASILY lose the electoral votes in the swing states by a whisker and thus lose the election. We need to win Michigan, Wisconsin and above all Pennsylvania to guarantee a victory by a razor thin electoral majority. Of course winning Arizona and Georgia would be great but without Pennsylvania, it may not be enough.
LaurieOregon - "And there are thousands of potential voters who like his lies and like that he lies and then lies about his lies."
In recent days, journalists have scrutinized the accuracy of Trump's statements during the debate, proving them lies. However, such falsehoods have not seemed to harm him; on the contrary, they appear to have been advantageous. These untruths bolster his authority by compelling subordinates to concur that reality is whatever the person in power declares it to be.
Supporters are faced with a choice: to compromise their integrity or their grasp on reality. Once they consent to a deliberate falsehood, it becomes increasingly difficult to dispute subsequent lies, as doing so would require admitting to previous instances of acquiescence.
It is cognitively almost impossible for someone to like what VP Harris said so much that they know she won the debate and then turn around and vote for trump. It is akin to really liking chocolate ice cream and then order dirt to eat. This is a meme type of thinking cooked up by the trump folks.
No, your "it is cognitively almost impossible" statement is the kind of head in the sand thinking that caused people to wake up on November 8 2016 and go "WTF happened???" Those people absolutely exist and they will still vote for Trump, many of them. Complacency is the enemy of victory. It has happened before and WILL happen again if we allow this kind of thinking to put down our guard.
You may "sincerely doubt it" but it can (and has) happened before. Don't think it can't happen again.
Instead of pondering our impressions and worst scenario thinking we follow people like this:
"After tonight’s debate there should be no doubt – no room for discussion – Kamala Harris is the only candidate in this race who is ready to be President.
I am once again urging everyone to roll up their sleeves and DO SOMETHING – phone bank, knock on doors, talk to any and everyone you know and urge them to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Every vote will matter in what will be a close race. We cannot afford to have anyone sitting on the sidelines. There’s simply too much at stake.
"My impression is that a lot of political experts and other commenters are conflating winning a debate with winning an election. People might agree that Harris won the debate, but they still might vote for Trump."
"My impression" and "People might " This is head in the sand thinking Sir.
It is smart politics to take the win when it comes along and build on that momentum.
I invite you to consider one of the leading political strategists in the Country, Simon Rosenberg. He is long on data and short on impressions. This is where I get my head in the sand thinking from:
"As I wrote yesterday I think we entered the debate in a far stronger electoral position than Republicans. We got a remarkable amount of very good polling yesterday. The VP strengthened her already strong hand last night, and more than ever before, I would much rather be us than them.
Kamala Harris had a plan last night and she executed on it. She had a job to do and she did it. She succeeded because she was clearly incredibly well prepared, and in that clear evidence of her preparation she also signaled to us that she was prepared to take on her next big job, as the 47th President of the United States of America.
Friends, sometimes things are complicated in politics. Sometimes they are simple. What happened last night was simple - she kicked his ass, and in the process generated powerful moments which will continue to give voters important information about her and him for many days and weeks to come. It was another remarkable moment in what has been one of the most remarkable and impressive political campaigns in our lifetimes."
Funny you should quote Rosenberg LOL. He is hardly an independent source of critique (but I expect you already know this). its interesting to that you quote his comment about the "great polling data" we've taken in while so many others on here are claiming how FALSE all the poling data is. ROFLMAO I tend to take neither side, I look at the polling data independently and draw my. Own conclusions.
Rosenberg is also a very biased source favoring Silicon Valley capitalist Democrats over more progressive Democrats (at least he gets the Democrat part right).
Rosenberg said in 1999, "Our problem as a party is that the biggest source of our venture capital now comes from labor, which is a group that's becoming less and less important, and representing less and less of a percentage of American voters. [...] We have to replace labor's investment in the party with investment from another source, and hopefully from a source that's growing." I.e. he favored the growing dominance of the Bill Clinton neolib wing of the party (which got us Bush II and Trump I.)
You are welcome to consider him a source to quote but it doesn't make my positions false or wrong. Even he apparently had realized some of the "errors" of his earlier positions, as he recently closed the NDN (New Democratic Network) which is now considered passe.
Scrolling forward 25 years here is a look at what Simon Rosenberg is doing these days. This is from his Substack site Hopium. There are a lot of solid activist opportunities.
Hard Work Is Good Work. And We Are Going TO Win! - Our community has been busting it’s ass on elections all across the country since I launched Hopium in March of last year, but our most important work is the work we are going to do now in these final two months. This section spells out my recommendations on where you can put your time and money, and of course you are free to volunteer and donate beyond what we are doing here. We are still a start up here at Hopium, and while we are now more than 110,000 proud patriots, I want to remain narrow and focused on the places where I think your money and time can make the biggest difference. That’s why we’ve focused on non-incumbent open seat and challengers races and the Presidential race of course.
I am particularly excited about new Thursday night calling and postcarding events for the House candidates most likely to turn red seats to blue ones and flip the House this November. We’ve had a great turnout, we get a lot of work done and have lots of fun. Join us! It’s where the cool kids spend their Thursday nights!!!!!!
In the coming days, as we get in more data about our new electoral landscape, I will be updating my recommendations. For background, here’s my post on the strategy behind our candidate and state party endorsements, including our Presidential battleground “check” and “checkmate” strategy. Sign up to call or postcard for Mondaire Jones (NY-17) at tonight’s Winning The House Thursday. These events have been well-attended and fun - join us if you can!
Contribute, volunteer and win with the Hopium community today:
Harris-Walz!!!!!! - 1,045,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Merch | The Harris-Walz YouTube Channel - Friends, we are now over $1m raised for Harris-Walz, our House candidates and our three “checkmate” states - so amazing all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Winning The House - $1,037,000 raised, $1.5m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Sign Up For Our Thursday Night Winning The House Calling and Postcarding Series. Watch our recent discussion with Leader Hakeem Jeffries. To go deeper watch one of our interviews with our great candidates - Janelle Bynum (OR-5), George Whitesides (CA-27), Kirsten Engel (AZ-06) Will Rollins (CA-41), Laura Gillen (NY-04), Rudy Salas (CA-22), Josh Riley (NY-19), Tony Vargas (NE-02), Adam Gray (CA-13), Sue Altman (NJ-07) and Mondaire Jones (NY-17).
North Carolina - $452,000 raised, $500,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NC Dem Chair Anderson Clayton
Arizona/Ruben Gallego - $354,000 raised, $400,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with Ruben Gallego
Nebraska/Blue Dot - $165,000 raised, $200,000 goal- Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NE Dem Chair Jane Kleeb - and note for those who are focused on the Nebraska Senate race money into the NE Dem Party supports that race too. for elections listed.
Hard Work Is Good Work. And We Are Going TO Win! - Our community has been busting it’s ass on elections all across the country since I launched Hopium in March of last year, but our most important work is the work we are going to do now in these final two months. This section spells out my recommendations on where you can put your time and money, and of course you are free to volunteer and donate beyond what we are doing here. We are still a start up here at Hopium, and while we are now more than 110,000 proud patriots, I want to remain narrow and focused on the places where I think your money and time can make the biggest difference. That’s why we’ve focused on non-incumbent open seat and challengers races and the Presidential race of course.
I am particularly excited about new Thursday night calling and postcarding events for the House candidates most likely to turn red seats to blue ones and flip the House this November. We’ve had a great turnout, we get a lot of work done and have lots of fun. Join us! It’s where the cool kids spend their Thursday nights!!!!!!
In the coming days, as we get in more data about our new electoral landscape, I will be updating my recommendations. For background, here’s my post on the strategy behind our candidate and state party endorsements, including our Presidential battleground “check” and “checkmate” strategy. Sign up to call or postcard for Mondaire Jones (NY-17) at tonight’s Winning The House Thursday. These events have been well-attended and fun - join us if you can!
Contribute, volunteer and win with the Hopium community today:
Harris-Walz!!!!!! - 1,045,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Merch | The Harris-Walz YouTube Channel - Friends, we are now over $1m raised for Harris-Walz, our House candidates and our three “checkmate” states - so amazing all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Winning The House - $1,037,000 raised, $1.5m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Sign Up For Our Thursday Night Winning The House Calling and Postcarding Series. Watch our recent discussion with Leader Hakeem Jeffries. To go deeper watch one of our interviews with our great candidates - Janelle Bynum (OR-5), George Whitesides (CA-27), Kirsten Engel (AZ-06) Will Rollins (CA-41), Laura Gillen (NY-04), Rudy Salas (CA-22), Josh Riley (NY-19), Tony Vargas (NE-02), Adam Gray (CA-13), Sue Altman (NJ-07) and Mondaire Jones (NY-17).
North Carolina - $452,000 raised, $500,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NC Dem Chair Anderson Clayton
Arizona/Ruben Gallego - $354,000 raised, $400,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with Ruben Gallego
Nebraska/Blue Dot - $165,000 raised, $200,000 goal- Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NE Dem Chair Jane Kleeb - and note for those who are focused on the Nebraska Senate race money into the NE Dem Party supports that race too.
All good points! I would add that his ONLY hope of getting out of his bad situation is to give up this political bent and get back to what he was better at doing: Cheating others out of their money faster than you can spend it. Good luck, donald!
As a life-long democratic ticket voter, who has soured on the Dems due to their wholesale abandoning of their former values, I would like to point out that Vice President Harris told as many lies as Trump did during the debate, but was not fact-checked by the moderators the way he was. I will vote for Trump because he has embraced the policies of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and will give RFK a platform from which to do his work of cleaning up the corruption in our government, ending the foreign wars and addressing the chronic disease epidemic in our country that is bankrupting us and disabling our children at an alarming rate. These are the values that Democrats used to have before they joined up with Big Pharma, Big Ag and the Military Industrial Complex, and started censoring anybody who said something they didn't like.
It the Republicans are gaslighting, telling lies and being nasty, we're not getting any better from the Democrats. Many of our worst impressions of Trump are based on lies and distortions. I urge you to read what Jenna McCarthy has to say about this.
He's still lying, egregiously so, the orange felon.
So let's go to the crux of so many lies, so much popularity for lying. Let's go to U.S. schools.
Face it.
They reduced 100 million Americans to slogan-wielding, sensation-craving cultists. An entire major political party, same. A formerly highest court to tyrants.
So, as answer, now: stop standardized testing. In every U.S. public school.
Not just because it reduces, and sets life to numbers.
Worse, to take over as it has, it drove out humanities, till everything those computer-graded instruments have done flies against the human, the natural.
The human and the natural spring from the odd, the unexpected, the serendipitous. The machinery of standardized testing, the opposite: props up the linear, the neutered, the abstracted and categorical – all lies to the human and the natural, so the orange felon should lie, the Clarence court be corrupt.
Throw it out. Let teachers return to humanities, with personal literacy as key.
I think the gullibility of so many Americans has multiple causes, but that they all are related, one way or another, to the class of folks who strive for absolute power, and I think school curricula have been impoverished by political forces that want to train, not educate the public.
Schools have a major role in preparing students for their working life, but there is more to life than a job, and instruction in perceptive observation, focused, disciplined thinking, and fruitful approaches to turn outside-the-box creative thoughts into useful applied ideas and products, in science and engineering or the arts; or just in navigating the varied, vicissitudes of life (adaptability and resilience) that can be usefully applied to virtually any aspect of life, and certainly the workplace.
J L, those political forces are real. So are the ones emanating from narrow minded bigots.
There is nothing wrong with training young people to become independent, successful and productive workers or entrepreneurs. Actually, too often, we have pushed kids along, sending them to college where they could "mature" and drink beer. But with no goal of employment. There are significant efforts beginning to gain steam as industries coordinate with Community Colleges - actually telling them what type of employees they are desperate for. But much more needs to be done to prepare kids for work that works for them.
If a young person is completing his/her education and has had no exposure to work environments, we have failed.
But we can walk and chew gum at the same time. Teaching civics, humanities and critical thinking skills should not be "minors". Teaching the real history of our country should be required. "Government" needs to be a required course. And I would add "World Religions" to every high school. Sociology and psychology (how politicians manipulate) would be on my list as well. Oh and how about a class on "Cultism"? And, no kid should have a diploma without a complete understanding of how the Holocaust came to be. Because some version of it just keeps happening. Field trip to Sudan, maybe?
Some schools are getting it right. Our grandson learned about the culture of Japan - last year in his first grade class. It tied in with the section on diversity - and all its benefits.
This are wonderful ideas. I am going to toot the horn of my Alma Mater, Keuka College. I graduated from there in 1969. Their curriculum includes, for many years, what is known as Field Period, a 5 week period for experiential learning, when students work in a community experience, a cultural one, and a work experience in their major field of study during their junior and senior years. Ask any student, alumni, or college staff how successful this time is or was.
I'm thinking junior year of high school could also be good for work experience.
I'd like to see several, say, six-week periods of field work. Each one of five or six hours of apprentice-style training tied to two or three hours in a work-related classroom.
Students could choose from among hospitals, restaurant kitchens, computer labs, forestry management, housing construction, auto shop, office management, and mental health clinics. All could have good classroom correlates, each with humanities reading and discussion assignments.
Slavery and holocaust, the pattern of one abusing another. One group dominating another convinced that it is their destiny and Devine right and obligation.
Gjay15, I would expand on your comment. I want to caution against looking for better methods or approaches to education that ultimately replicate an inadequate system. For example, our economy depends in large part on the extraction and consumption of finite natural resources. We should challenge the kids to look at our economic system through a moral-ethical lens with regard to future inhabitants of our world. When we have available to us multiple ways to accomplish the same task, or goal, is it morally defensible to choose to employ the method that consumes irreplaceable natural resources instead of the method that does not consume irreplaceable resources?
In the case of production of electricity, there are small quibbles about the materials that go into the production of photovoltaic solar panels, but those materials are embedded in the panels and are not actually consumed in the same sense that coal and oil are burned, with the combustion byproducts dumped into our natural environment.
Our children should be encouraged to look at the long view into the distant future, to ponder what their descendants will be left with after we, the living, have unconscionably used up irreplaceable resources unnecessarily, solely to make a few people needlessly wealthy in our lifetime.
Instead of teaching our children how to be better at doing what we have been doing, encourage them instead to think about how to build a better future that will sustain them, and their descendants, long into the distant future.
And “expand “ you did. Thank you. The pursuit of comfort , convenience and certainty are like the pursuit of happiness when it leads to motivation, inspiration, creativity and active skepticism and criticism. But when it becomes the be all and end all and entitlement, it can be dangerous.
All those facts that we spent years learning by rote in school are now available at a flick on our phones. Kids (and adults) don't need to be taught the capital cities of the world - they need to be taught how to think, research and analyse. Awards should be for those who come up with the best ideas, not the best set of facts.
The Japanese have already realised this - after years of intensive, breakdown inducing "parrot learning" they realised they were turning out idea free automatons. Not a good idea if your economy depends on innovative solutions.
People should be learning about how and why some of those cities became capitals, why and how countries have changed over time, the demographic, geographic and climate factors that drove history, how actual economics and politics works, etc.
Like how you say "The Japanese have already reali[z]ed this," Lady Emsworth.
Trouble is, the ministry of education has not. It still inflicts on schools a total tyranny of nothing other than hosts, barrages, batteries of nothing more than standardized tests.
For these tests (and thousands of expensive, private late-night cram schools in abject terror of them), schools have totally stopped reading any novels or any other decent humanities. Instead, everything gets fragmented for the tests. Meaningless fragments A), B), C), or D). No human context. The trivia of short-term memory and other corporate "rationality" triumphs to breed more living dead workaholics. (Minae Mizumura, "The Fall of Language in the Age of English," English translation by Columbia U Press, 2016.)
Very powerful insight. I have had the sensation that we are being reduced in our humanity but that most of us are too worried about the future to pay attention or to do anything about it. Messrs Vance (nom-de-semaine) and Trump (nom-de-nerd) prove how inhuman thinking starts.
As an old IT problem-solver, my instinct is that the system (Substack's machinery) sometimes gets over-burdened when many people are writing/posting at the same time in the wake of a popular topic or event - such as the debate. The last time it happened to me, I did some testing, in the form of reacting to a post, recording the time I reacted, and then watched to see how long it took for the "like" to appear. Not knowing precisely how the system works we can only guess what's actually happening. What I observed "maps over" what is often called "queuing", wherein many users are active at the same moment, clicking "like" at the same time, to the extent that the machinery cannot keep up in real time, so it stores every response in a memory "queue" and then sends it out in the order it was received, as soon as possible. The last time I studied it, the lag time varied from ten or twenty seconds, to several minutes. I never saw one disappear completely. One source reported that 67 million people watched the debate. It seems reasonable to assume that a proportionally large number of people have been using Substack at the same time, certainly more than on an average weeknight when the news of the day is the "same old, same old". My two cents.
I had a very kind reply from one Lynell yesterday. When I tried to like and reply, Substack wouldn't allow either.
Now, this edit added: hers to me came to me, but it doesn't show at all on what the Heather public sees. And, as I said above, I couldn't like or reply to her let alone the larger site.
Attacking the schools was one of the first things that Ronald Reagan, with his Stafford Report, did. Using the "why can't Johnny read" meme, he created the excuse to strip things like critical thinking from the curriculum, and reduce it to rote memorization.
Victor David Hanson is a Classicist and well respected as a scholar. Yet his political views are insane. Intelligence and learning is no guarantee - and I say this as a Classicist. Here is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote from prison, if memory serves in 1943 or 1944 on human stupidity. You can read the whole brief one page essay in the link:
― Daniel R. DeNicola MIT ("Plato’s Cave and the Stubborn Persistence of Ignorance").
Humanities education was once seen as the foundation of character and necessary for preparing a child to take their rightful place in a free world. Now personal opinion and popular ignoration have supplanted the quest of truth and knowledge. This trend is pushed through the misuse of emergent technology. For example: Hitler used the newly invented radio to spread his "message". Nothing good will ever come of this. Instead of preparing our children to be free we are preparing them to keep their places in a future tyranny.
You might be overdoing this, Phil. What is true is that in esp southern Republican states are economic and hence social havenots in the USA. They rate lower on most social-economic indices. Standardized testing is found across the country. You might also look at how effective gerrymandering has been in what are currently Republican, even Democrat states.
Please, Frank, check Diane Ravitch's "The Language Police."
Read its many score pages of appendices detailing the corporate orthodoxies of neutering everyone.
Our worst are not the (former) working class deplorables, but today's elite law school and M.B.A. grads geared to assist in profit taking to help float our most nihilist billionaires.
I dont think this has anything to do with standardized testing, Phil, which is what i was responding to. Corporate profit maximizing is no different than what you find in Adam Smith. Modern technology though has had a huge effect on centralizing economic institutions and creating oligarchies and virtual monopolies, in fact the corporate barons justified a lot of their monopolistic behavior on just that fact. It's been on and off bouts with state regulation ever since. I guess you need to take this up with virtually every American administration since when, whether Dem or GOP. I guess you could say the Marx was right, after all. He condemned it. David Hume and many others have praised it.
". . . monopolistic behavior" has "been on and off bouts with state regulation ever since."
Nice, Frank.
I've been reading the recent book by William Hogeland, "The Hamilton Scheme." All about this founding of the U.S., with the need to placate the money connections as central.
Thank you for your comment. I would add the importance of making every public school equal in funding so every kid gets a quality education that involves active learning which goes beyond regurgitating what ever “facts “ are presented. This education would promote skepticism and critical thinking. And it is necessary to provide at least breakfast and lunch for every student even those whose families can well afford feeding their own.
I would posit that it has been the defunding more than the standardization that is responsible for the loss of intellectual rigor in younger generations. We have deprioritized education to the point where funding is almost an afterthought. When we allowed this to be done by states, the burden of funding moved to localities where that burden falls heavily on people who own real estate or have greater wealth to be taxed, while also having greater influence over tax decisions in local governments. In my state, they sold voters on the lottery, promising it would bring millions of dollars in for education. Well who doesn’t want education better funded if it’s not raising their personal property taxes? As soon as the measure passed, the state quit spending formerly allocated tax dollars on schools and let the lotteries fund it, as promised. But what was sold as additional funding turned out to only be a different way to under-fund. The education dollars mysteriously disappeared into other budget line items and our schools are no better off now than they were. Large class sizes, poor teacher pay, deferred school maintenance and development, and yes, pigeon-hole tests meant to replace real teaching all lead to poorer outcomes and higher dropout rates. Until we make education a top priority in our communities the right will continue to criticize, degrade and defund public education in service to creating a classed education hierarchy of the haves and have-nots. You think people don’t know how to think critically now; just wait til they get power! It can get worse.
Until my tax dollars no longer get siphoned to private schools run by religious hacks for indoctrinating children in authoritarianism, the concept of public education will remain a bad joke.
I rounded off. Thought of using the exact number of votes for the orange felon. Decided instead to guess also at the many abysmally educated who don't vote.
Polls are biased, inaccurate, and are subject to bribes by the GQP Domestic Terrorist party. That Nate Sliver creep was exposed a day or so ago when it was revealed that TUMP loving billionaire Peter Thiel was paying Sliver to rig the polls to show TUMP with a much bigger lead than he really has. Polls are mostly useless propaganda. Source, www.rawstory.com.
Not sure I find this credible. Silver - who is no longer 538 - doesn't use Polymarket as the source of his predictions, nor does he work for anyone else that I'm aware of. I do find the conclusions of his model disheartening, but do not think it's propaganda. He gives detailed explanations of his methodology. That doesn't mean he's infallible, but is another perspective with extensive experience. The problem, well documented in these comments, is the Electoral College, which skews heavily toward Republicans. Because of it, we run elections that ignore most of the country. Down ballot choices are in turn heavily driven by what happens at the top, plus extreme gerrymandering in the House. And the disturbing environment of gross dishonesty and threats of violence is atop this. A 38% probability of winning isn't zero (see Trump 2016), but the hill is steep. Stuart Stevens, who I think is clear-eyed about many things, for months was pushing the fantasy that Biden was going to win big. His heart is in the right place, but I put little faith in his predictions.
I put NO faith in Nate Sliver, PERIOD! He is a GQP leaning creep as far as i am concerned. That Electoral University, College or whatever people call it needed to be abolished decades ago. It's an ancient outdated system that no other nation in the world uses in their elections. And i agree totally with you about the facts you stated about all of the unfair items that are heavily skewed to benefit the GQP Domestic Terrorist party. The threats of violence and extreme dishonesty are beyond disgusting to me personally. I don't believe in polls from anyone because of the tiny percentage of the total voting population that polls are taken from. I did the math, and polls represent 0.08% of voters. That's way less than 1 percent. That Senator, ''Tommy Tuberville'' stupid idiot stated in an article on the Raw Story site that read, '' There is going to be hell to pay if we don't win the elections'' What kind of deluded, insane idiots are these mentally challenged bullies???? Do they think promoting violence and hate makes them look tough and invincible? It makes them look ignorant and cowardly in my opinion.
It appears that to some people this is what passes for strength. Not much we can do about that. I remember in 2016 thinking how shallow and stupid it was to say he'd be busy making America great again, but millions fell for it and still do.
Gail Adams has the correct link to the article in the comment just below your comment. I am sorry about this, i am not familiar with posting correct links to the exact article. I have to admit, i am not good at doing that. The Raw Story site has a bad habit of taking down articles by the hour. Being on their site for an extended period causes my computer to lock down and freeze up. The ''Daily KOS'' site does that to my computer also. I suspect the torrent of useless ads they display causes that.
But I am one of the static-needle types. At this point, Vice President could have sat through the debate catatonically drooling and I would still vote for her.
When I was young, I didn't pay attention to politics at all. Because of that, I was easily swayed by the opinions of friends. Young people (or any) who don't pay attention are still pressured to vote as their civic duty. I hate to think of my votes then, sometimes for nothing more than names on paper. Would be great if the candidates' names had a brief summary of their positions next to it. At least uniformed voters would then be voting for ideas rather than names.
Are there real polls already? You wrote at about 4a Thursday, I’m reading 8a. Barely 30 hours.
I think it will take a while for the info of tge debate to percolate through the potential electorate. 65M people watched, they say, but that’s mostly committed voters rooting for their team. Give it a week, might take two.
The kind of people that answer poll questions are not representative of the overall electorate. Pollsters have to seriously manipulate the responses they get to try to mimic what the voting public as a whole will do. This requires turn out models which could be WILDLY wrong. Much more wrong than their so-called "margin of error" values that they quote ... those margins assume their sampling is unbiased, but we know that's BS. There is no way they are sampling enough younger voters to measure the effect of Taylor Swift endorsement. They have been massively off in most elections in the last 2 years, because they do not know how to model the effects of the Dobbs decision and abortion ballot measures on turn out, and they don't know how to gauge relative enthusiasm, other than asking respondents whether they are likely yo vote ... which completely misses enthusiasm of the people who don't answer polls. I also suspect that there are a lot of people trolling the pollsters with answers they think pollsters want to hear. A great example last week if polling gone wrong was where a research firm targeted undocumented immigrants who were asked if they were registered to vote - many of them said yes because they thought the pollsters were going to try to get them to register if they said no!
Sorry but your comment here is WAY off the mark. "They (the polls) have been massively off in most elections the past two years"!!??? What biased talking head are you listening to? Despite many unpredictable trends indeed, the polls for the last TWO years have been amazingly accurate. Not perfect as you might wish but very very close to the final results (mostly showing and resulting in democratic wins in off year elections). This is why the polls showing Biden in very serious trouble were so critical. He was going to lose this election and bring down the Democratic party and possibly the country with it. You can thank your lucky stars that enough period realized that in time and convinced Joe to step aside. Otherwise instead of a toss up race in November (as the polls now show) we would be heading for a fascist dictatorship under Trump FOR CERTAIN. Sorry if this sounds argumentative but I find it amazing that people will make comments like yours without looking at the facts.
So it turns out that Kamala Harris clearly showed that she was the perfect candidate to run against Donald Trump. She did what Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Chris Christi, and other Republican and Democratic opponents could not. She put Trump in his place, right where he belongs.
I’m so happy and relieved with the amazing and hopeful advance in the status of our democracy.
Just think, it appears that we will elect a black woman as our President who will be sworn in by a black Supreme Court Justice on Martin Luther King day!
PS: I wish I could write so clearly and succinctly as Heather Cox Richardson. What a great summary of the current state of affairs! Thank you so much!
I was thinking about 9/11 this morning because it was one of those historic moments in time that you forever remember where you were when you found out something tragically epic was happening.
My husband called me to tell me to turn on the TV that morning after I had just come home from taking my oldest to kindergarten, and so it was a little after 9am when I saw in real-time Flight 175 crashing into the side of the south tower of the World Trade Center, after Flight 11 had already crashed into the north tower. And then news of the other plane crashes came in during the morning.
Flight 93 will never be forgotten in the Bay Area, and at least one street locally was renamed, for Tom Burnett.
They kept showing it, in a loop. I was in Paris. French radio/TV flew a team to New York for a week to keep on-the-spot despatches going. Whenever they gave us the time, they gave us the time in NY as well.
I still remember the phone call from my husband, and my reaction that "was it one of those sight seeing flights?" and not being able to believe what was happening. Being sent hime from work because of being in a tower block not far from the Pentagon. Followed by weeks of not sleeping, reliving the sight of the towers collapsing. We will never forget.
You are right, we will never forget. 60 Minutes devoted their entire program to the Firefighters in NY last Sunday, it was, like everything about 9/11 deeply moving. Never forget indeed! 🙏
What boggles my mind is that Trump supporters can look at the debate, see how he did, listen to his absolutely delusional claims that he won, then still decide that he is the best person to be POTUS (in charge of nuclear codes and the rest of our lives for the next 4 years).
Because he said exactly what they want to hear: immigrants are responsible for all the crime and job loss they've experienced in their lives, not their lack of skills and education. Democrats want to take away their guns, kill babies after they're born and allow women (and the greatest crime of all) people of color to be treated equally to men. All the BS is just reinforcing what they already feel is so unfair and and a personal affront.
His supporters are not thinkers, at least not in the realm of politics. They are wholesale consumers of T's personality--his bluster, his (self-claimed) authority, his own facile ravings, his anger, his lies. Because they have bought what he is selling, they don't recognize that they have relinquished their independence of thought and integrity. Not only is this dangerous for them and for the rest of us, but how sad this all is!
Best description of his followers I've read. And just think how much integrity it takes for someone to realize they have made a mistake and change their preference? That's why they vote against their self-interest. It is too hard to make such a drastic change.
They have bought into the idea that we are in a crisis at the border and that they will be better off financially with Trump. There needs to be more pushback on these issues with the truth.
It does boggle the mind, but at this point I think of them as addicts - people who no longer think but are totally intoxicated by the mortal mix of lies, hatred and racism he feeds them non stop.
Many thanks Heather for another helpful post giving content that I would otherwise have missed and context (connecting the dots). I am having a hard time pulling myself away from the post-debate coverage. In a Red Sox fan so I am always worried that the worst has yet to happen 🙃 but I believe in the innate intelligence and integrity of the D ticket. Harris was masterful during the debate while offering such a contrast to the petty viciousness of Trump. Walz’s interview with Maddow was so pitch perfect and what a contrast to the pitch room manure shoveling of Vance!
She wasn't just masterful - she was also kind. And that really came across as a contrast to trump's surly meanness. It must have taken enormous self restraint for her not to verbally tear trump to shreds - but she just treated him like the deranged old grandad he is. The only thing she missed saying was "Nearly ten o'clock, Donnie - do you want a hot milk and biscuits before we put you to bed?"
In short, Vice President Harris not only kicked the former President's hiney -- admittedly an easy target -- but she also showed the world her joie de vivre and his petulance. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2qgifi Finally, we are laughing this clown off the stage as we should have been all along.
Wish I could put a pic. of Snoopy laughing, with Woodstock, on a 'rollie-coaster' saying something like: always find a reason to laugh; it may not add years to your life but it will add life to your years.
Republicans aren’t backing away from him because he’s demented, or because he’s a psychopath and totally incompetent and profoundly stupid. They’ve known that for years and haven’t cared. They’re backing away because they see their own sinecures being threatened, that’s all.
Great post Heather!! I kept the news off after Morning Joe this morning. I needed a break. Thanks for connecting all the dots for us. Trump is such an imbecile. I'm glad to hear the Republicans in Congress are pulling away from him too. It's better late than never. Onward we go to November. I doubt there will be a second debate. He is too much of a coward. Go Kamala!!!! 💙🇺🇸💙
Lisa, I completely agree with you - on all of it. I ignored the news yesterday (11th) because I am too sad still over 9/11 and I didn’t want to hear more of the debate coverage. Looking at it this morning, first I read this and I feel a great deal of relief to be honest. We have a lot of hard work to do, but I really do believe we can do it.
As someone who had relatives occupied in Denmark and Norway and grew up with the lessons of fascism from WWII, I find it incomprehensible that anyone could support this creature. But I am now alienated from my family over this, so there it is - not everyone got my parents memo. His candidacy was a dealbreaker for me, not just with my family, but my neighbors and country, so I confess to being an expat. I'm also a retired ancient historian, and here is what keeps me up at night.
Trump wins. NATO loses the buckle on its belt, which is the US. Although it has done so imperfectly, and been wrong in so many ways, the hegemony of that western alliance, in conjunction with our alliances in Asia, have helped to maintain a relative stability, a unity, and a prosperity that is essential in a nuclear armed world. To relinquish it, to give up on it, is not an option.
In my retirement I have turned from a scholar of Rome's late republic and high empire to late antiquity and the Middle Ages. You would not want to have been around as centralized Roman power collapsed and Europe morphed, from a series of cities with all manner of amenities, all connected with roads, and mostly unwalled, to become a hodgepodge of fragmented barbarian states, each at war with the other, each pursuing its own interests, and none coming close to the resources Rome could once upon a time muster.
Of course, as the nation state began to take its modern shape in the 16th century going forward, the fragmented states that once made up the empire and emerged as modern European states rarely lived in peace until the post war order was set in place after 1945. NATO is not to be discarded with levity. Putin will see fit, if Ukraine is abandoned, to eye Poland and the Baltic States next. It is an old story of revanchist visions of glory.
Looming over all of this is the catastrophe of climate change. Individual nations are already being impacted by the stress as climate chaos becomes an increasingly lived reality. Hence events such as the war in Syria, conflict in East Africa, and political instability in the Middle East, with attendant immigration crises which puts further stress on democracies in the north. Climate change is not the cause of difficulties on our own southern border, but it is a contributing factor - what historians call a stressor that leads to other unintended consequences, such as racist demagogues casting doubt on democratic norms.
It is unfathomable to me that anyone could be so reckless or foolish as to support Trump, but here we are. There are but three choices, none of them good, for doing so: either one lacks moral character, is profoundly ignorant, or a person of malice, spite, and hate. There is no other reason for supporting a criminal, racist, rapist, insurrectionist, ignoramus, traitor, and fascist. To conclude, let me add qua Roman historian that there is no remote comparison to Caligula, Nero, Commodus, Elegabalus, or any other ne'er-do-well Roman emperor you care to name. He is far more dangerous and, I suspect, equally as deranged.
Thanks for the kind words. I hope to gods I am wrong and Harris is elected. Yes, if not, we will confront historic shame, but at least posterity will know some of us were on the right side.
I like your assessment here, Steve! I have thought long and hard about why so many of my fellow cop retirees are so supportive of fpotus, beginning with their loss of respect for the FBI following first the Muller probe, and then the search warrant service at Merde a Lardo and continuing to this day with their reliance on Russian disinformation sources for their position articulations. I am not a student of history or a student of human behavior. What I do see is that apparently, what appeals to them is that they crave a strongman who will "return" white, Christian, heteronormative, cisgendered men to the top of the heap, placing all the rest of us below them. Many of them have completely abandoned all critical thought, and eat up negative memes like candy, along with the disinformation peddled by their favorite "news" sources.
Your conclusion that fpotus is far more dangerous and equally deranged as any of the Roman emperors you name is accurate.
Thanks for your thoughts - fyi I am a native Oregonian, though I lived in New England, Europe, and DC for many years. I was sorry to feel compelled to leave, but did so both for professional (I still continue to write and am a pre-modern European historian - it made no sense to spend retirement in the US) and political reasons. Cheers and keep up the fight!
"But lies have never damaged him; they reinforce his dominance by forcing subordinates to agree that the person in charge gets to determine what reality is. Victims must surrender either their integrity or their ownership of their own perceptions; in either case, once they have agreed to a deliberate lie, it becomes harder to challenge later ones since that means acknowledging the other times they caved."
This citation by Dr Cox Richardson reminds me of the 'Taming of the Shrew', which many class-mates at my boys' school liked but I had not read until a few months ago. I wonder how those class-mates are voting fifty years later. I did not like the play because of its depiction of breaking the will of an albeit difficult woman by her brutal husband. Like Petruchio, Trump is a creep; like Petruchio, Trump wins in a fantasy world; and, unlike Petruchio, Trump is a loser in the real world. Vice President Harris handed the former President's a monopoly card last night:
It’s a shame trump and vance have no shame. While discussing the debate with friends last night, we agreed that their nasty doubling down on their pet eating story may have brutal consequences for the Haitian immigrants. I pray that none are harmed but we Americans love our pets and despise people who may harm them. These two just don’t give a hoot if their words could hurt someone . In fact, I think in their sick world, they relish the thought someone may be harmed. My constant baffling question, why would a decent human being vote for these scum? On the upside, thank you Taylor Swift and the Swifties who are registering to vote!!!
"Representative Dan Meuser, a Trump supporter from the swing state of Pennsylvania, told Jasper Goodman and Eleanor Mueller of Politico that he supports a cut. “You’ve got to put the greater good ahead of looking political,” he said."
Rep. Meuser should consider his statement to Politico. From my perspective you've got to put the greater good ahead of BEING political. A campaign is different from governing. If his constituents will benefit from an interest rate adjustment -he should be working to support the adjustment regardless of party popularity.
There should be a vast difference between campaigning and governance. No one should be elevated to office who is there to "Own the Libs". Whether Congress, City Council, Board of Supervisors, Governor, or School Board members -your actions and commitment should be loyalty to the Constitution, the nation, and your constituents. Not to a sociopathic circus best left to the Jerry Springer Show.
Thanks Anthony. And yes, I think Jerry eventually regretted what he unleashed upon the world. I guess he wasn't expecting Jim Jordan, James Comer, JD Vance, Lauren Boebert, M-T (head) Greene and others to model Congress after his show.
Thank you Prof Richardson. I left the debate early for self-care. I’m
Worn out w every encounter with T’s snide tone and provocative man cave aggression.
I Ck’d back at the end to see and hear VP Harris’ facial expression & tone of voice. She was in total control and unruffled to my great pleasure. No matter what had unfolded she had remained ‘in charge’ and
Warmly Approachable! To my deep relief and great Joy!
I watched it in much the same way. I literally cannot bear to look at the man or hear him speak. So I would stop my ears and look away when he did speak and only watch when she spoke.
I then read a transcript of the debate and amused myself by fact-checking The Vile One’s more odious and absurd lies
I was feeling jubilant after the debate, thinking how could we possibly lose. Then this email came from Robert Reich, who says:
I hate to rain on your parade, because I too feel the energy and hope of the Harris-Walz campaign, and Vice President Kamala Harris knocked it out of the park last night at the debate. But if the election were tomorrow, the most likely outcome would be Vice President Kamala Harris narrowly winning the popular vote but Donald Trump winning the Electoral College.
Yes, that means a Trump presidency. And deep trouble for our country, democracy, and world. You know we've been here before.
Remember when Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the presidency because of the Electoral College and the Supreme Court? When George W. Bush became president due to 537 disputed votes in Florida—and a Supreme Court ruling?
And when Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by millions … but lost the Electoral College, and thus the presidency, in 2016?
I have to admit that, while I have faith that the majority of Americans will make the right choice, I have little faith in the Electoral College.
The Electoral College gives a massive, profoundly unfair benefit to the Republican Party.
It's because of the Electoral College that one of the nation's top election forecasters, Nate Silver, now gives Trump a 64.4% chance of winning the presidency. According to his highly respected, nonpartisan model, Vice President Harris has only a 35.3% chance of victory.1
Here's the thing: Right now, millions of people, many of them young and/or in marginalized communities, are going to sit out this election. Many don't believe their vote matters. And many face huge obstacles to voting, in part due to MAGA voter suppression laws and the Supreme Court's evisceration of the Voting Rights Act.
Data from The New York Times shows that Vice President Harris is not doing well with these inconsistent, less-engaged voters. Specifically, Vice President Harris trails Trump by 6 points among voters who didn't vote in the 2022 midterms.2
–Robert Reich
Sources:
1. "Nate Silver Election Forecast Shows Trump's Lead Growing Ahead of Debate," Newsweek, September 10, 2024
I read Robert Reich, Joyce Vance, and Dr. Richardson consistently. I read the caution from RR. While I don’t understand how there can be that level of support for that thin a veneer of humanity, I have to accept the reality. I am a registered independent raised in a staunchly Republican family. Though independent politically, I have not voted Republican for President since Bob Dole in 1996. My State, Colorado, has become a solidly blue State by vote count. I’m grateful for that. Even in Colorado I find far too many individuals who are still planning to vote Republican because party is the number one consideration. They seemingly have little understanding of the fragility of Democracy, even in America.
Thanks to Heather for another excellent summary of the activities of the day.
And yet again, Reich pulls most of this from Corporate media which has a huge financial interest in seeing the Dems lose. With due respect to RR, a seeming bent for doing the above is why I dropped him a long time ago.
My impression is that a lot of political experts and other commenters are conflating winning a debate with winning an election. People might agree that Harris won the debate, but they still might vote for Trump. And there are thousands of potential voters who like his lies and like that he lies and then lies about his lies.
Trump is absurdly, pathetically, desperately "running from prison," as George Conway says. He's desperate to regain power, to hang on to his money, and to not be "the loser" he's always mocked.
We still have to get out the vote, especially to urge people to vote for Democrats up and down the ballot. America will do better and be better with a Democratic president and Congress. Onward!
"We still have to get out the vote" - damn right - especially as we will be running against the Electoral College as well as trump. Marginal wins are not good enough - we have to roll over them like a tank.
Not only in the Electoral College, in the Senate, above all in the House.
I so wish the importance of controlling Congress would come up in every speech and post that Dems around the country do with the caveat that none of the promises Harris is making will be possible if voters don't vote Democratic all the way down their ballots. People are too inclined to split their tickets so one party doesn't dominate, and that's how we've ended up with the "do nothing Congress" we've got.
Splitting the ticket was only a good idea (if it ever was), when there were two competent parties. Ain’t the case no mo
and two parties that could talk to each other and compromise for the sake of the country. "Compromise" doesn't mean "Doing what you must because the other party is threatening a shut down. . ."
Thar's called "capitulation". Compromise is cooperative. Republicans live to bully.
Threats are a sure sign that the party is NOT the one to vote for
Let's see what happens with the icky cr the felon has insisted they offer. Johnson called off the vote, so maybe he/they know it's a non starter. Maybe they're afraid of consequences on Nov 5 if they do shut it down. Maybe they're looking for ways to make it worse. The kool aid is flowing, so there's no telling what horror they're cooking up. Let's just hope it isn't cat stew.
JD. Agree. I never split my ticket anymore, not even a local R who is OK. Yes, we must get out the vote and hopefully, blue will be overwhelming. In answer to those posts before yours....However, people can enjoy the fact that she stomped him because there is cause for optimism now and being charged up makes it easier for people to do what is necessary in terms of the vote. I also had a dope try to challenge me when I posted that the Springfield story was false. He hadn't read the article he posted and astoundingly admitted that he hadn't after I called him on it.
My sister-in-law posted the fake video of VP Harris looking like she was stumbling over her words a few weeks ago to show incompetance. She at least acknowledged my reply which cited a news article (Times or Post can't remember) that proves that was AI fakery. That fake stuff spreads like wildfire on social media, it's like the weeds you are trying to eradicate in your garden that comes back no matter what you do.
I haven't had that luck with any of the MAGAts on my feed. Sigh.
I think that it was essential that Kamala "stomp" Trump. She (we) needed that credibility to persuade fence-sitters.
Trump says "never admit" so there is hope for that person. I have voted for a few Republicans at the state level. One of which the state party claimed they wanted to impeach for certifying a Democrat in a close election. That was pre-MAGA,
The lies they tell are the most egregious and unbelievable, but believed by cult nuts and passed on by greedy bastards
The Republican Party, the party of Dwight David Eisenhower, is dead. Reagan began the process of smothering it to death. Trump and the oligarchs applied the fatal squeeze. The party that once was the Republican Party is now the MAGA Party. Again, I recommend HCR's book, "How the South Won the Civil War."
The Atlantic has a wonderful cover showing death star driving a
horse drawn hearse toward the Capitol Building with an elephant in it.
Ticket-splitting survived as a viable option in my state of Massachusetts through the first two decades of the 21st century. Gov. Charlie Baker (R) was elected to his 2nd term in 2018. He decided not to run for a 3rd in 2022, possibly because the MA GOP had by then gone so MAGA that he might not have survived the primary. So now every statewide elective office is held by a Democrat. (I could go on about how awful our Democratic-supermajority state legislature is but I'll save that for another time.)
Currently, I never vote Repub.
JD, at the very least, a current candidate in the Republican Party has stated that they support Trump.
One?
yes. One answer to the final question that Trump asked - 'if you have all these good ideas, why haven't you done them for the past 3 1/2 years" - is that Congress would not let them because Republicans blocked everything they could. (Another answer is that they DID a lot of good things, particularly when Pelosi was House Leader - things that have brought a ton of new private investment to US industry, and that Republicans who voted against the measures are now taking credit for.)
Also, Harris isn’t the president. How many VPs have set policy? She made it clear that she isn’t Joe Biden. As others have pointed out, the House could not even decide on a Speaker so they were obstructing any legislation. Harris should have emphasized that we are a republic not a monarchy, and all problems need to be solved by negotiation. It was Trump who said the president just needs to sign a piece of paper. He once said that a president just has to think it to make it so. He’s finally learning that he doesn’t have that power.
Old….this is another tell. In Project 2025, he WOULD have that type of power, Constitution be damned.
Old.....I also wondered about how much he thought VPs set policy. All his did was kiss his rear until the moment when he actually did the right thing. He is running against Harris now, but he wants to pretend he is running against Biden.
You could ask the same question of Trump. What did he do during his 4-year term in office? Of course, the first part of that question - "if you have all these good ideas" - is moot, since he didn't talk about any.
But he'll have a beautiful plan in two weeks!
I feel that Kamala missed the opportunity to make the point that the Pandemic adversely affected nations world-wide and through it all the U.S. economy was the envy of the world (according to the WSJ) and that our inflation rate was among the lowest. It's all relative.
Too nuanced for most Americans.
Chump did diddily squat for four years.
Well, as usual, he played it both ways. He (rightly) said a Dem president couldn't get abortion protections passed with a 50/50 Congress, then blamed her for not getting "her" priorities accomplished in 3.5 years. These are the kinds of contradictory comments he doesn't get called on. Of course now that the SCOTUS has proclaimed him above the law, he won't need to bother with Congress. I'm sure his role model, Orban, can help with him the steps to take control.
State and local Dem leaders are taking that up now that the Harris campaign is on track; but Harris herself have to reiterate that she needs a working governmental majority to achieve her goals for the country.
Yes. I don't know why that isn't happening. Without the trifecta, the Harris presidency will be hamstrung unless she, like Biden, issues executive orders, but that's a sorry way to have to govern.
Yes! So do I! It isn’t enough to win the presidency we have to win Congress otherwise nothing will get done!
Sadly, this is very true.
So so true!
Please don't forget the states!! I'm in Ohio, and the criminals are running the facilities here. Rooting them out on the State's level is JUST as important!
Yes Daniel. I am in Florida and the fascists are the nightmare we witness everyday, banning books, attempting to dominate the whole education system. Yes, the state's too. Let's bring Democracy back to America.
John, I've often said Ohio is the fascists laboratory. Once 'they' find out how to get away with it here, the fascists then take it to the other states and implement. To states like Florida, Idaho, Arkansas, etc, etc. It is here that it must be stopped, before it can metastasize federally.
And TX
I grew up in northeastern Ohio, and it used to be full of union steelworkers and heavily Democratic. The economy crashed when steel went down and got worse with the Reagan recession, and those of us starving folk who were able to leave did. I am appalled at who and what is left.
Throwing over the brilliant Tim Ryan for the shillbilly was astonishingly dumb.
All the more amazing that Sherrod Brown knows how to find and reassure his voters!
Mailing 500 postcards to Ohio to remind registered Ohioans to VOTE.
Thanks to turnoutpac.org/postcards
Our elected County Dem Central Committee and County Dem Women's Club are sending out 7500 postcards supporting our 3 School Board candidates. It used to be a non-partisan race but the Repubs made it partisan in the last couple of elections!
I've got 200 going out today! Thank you, Rachel
Astonishing numbers you and Rachel are reaching!
Indeed….. we are a complex country… amazing and “this forum” of communicating is gloriously remarkable…. thank you!
In war, politics, and sports: one does not ease up when the opponent is on the ropes. And especially in this case, there is absolutely no substitution for a political knock-out. He and Vance need to be sent packing to whatever they wish to do after their loss: permanently!! In DJT's case, it may well be the incarceration he well deserves.
Still writing postcards for TonyTheDemocrat who sends addresses for House races. Have written hundreds to voters in counties in Florida. Recommending everyone who can “do something.” At 90, writing postcards is what I can do
And please do not forget the importance of state and local elections.
🙌👏YES!
Thank you Heather, your sanity and principle support mine
XX
Exactly. It’s much harder to steal a landslide.
I was glad to see three VMAs promoting voter registration tonight. Also Taylor Swift mentioned it at the end of her acceptance speech (Video of the year) and got a big cheer from the crowd.
300,000 Swifties registered within a few minutes.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/over-300000-people-visit-taylor-swift-link-register-vote-rcna170740
https://www.fieldteam6.org/all-volunteer-ops/volunteer
Wow!!!
How sad that they waited to register to vote after an entertainer committed to a candidate.
🌊💙🇺🇸💙🇺🇸💙🌊
@Lady Emsworth
We can sweep.
Under the radar are folk who aren't yet registered. Millions still trend Democratic. A few minutes after Taylor Swift endorsed, more than 300,000 registered, virtually all new Democrats. FT 6 has sent more than 12 million texts to these folks. It normally takes 3 "touches" before they register. Need more phone calls and canvassing. FT 6 phone bank to FL and PA today. Time is fleeting. Do something!
https://www.mobilize.us/ft6/?q=phone%20banks&tag_ids=20038
Yes, it really does matter to get out more of the usual "submerged" electorate, people who rarely or never vote. We're talking maybe 50% of the electorate.
Unfortunately, data shows most trend MAGA, but FT6 has identified and contacted with millions who trend Democratic. Time is short. In Florida, last day is Oct. 7. In some states, we turn into a pumpkin next week.
One guy like you, Frank, has the capacity to enlist dozens who will support Democrats up and down the ballot.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/fund-the-mission
The more of "your own disposition" you can get out the better, but whoever is getting out the vote more will earn some goodwill regardless. Unfortunately, I'm Canadian, so all i can do is wish you well. I think there are "at least a few" Canadian on Heather's channel!
Thanks for your support! Others have suggested you can call but if I receive a call from a Canadian phone number I'm certainly not picking up. Toll prices are higher too IIRC when calling from Canada when I was there a few years ago. Just keep believing in America!
You can call.
As Daniel said, you can call!
Sent FT6 a small donation (via snail mail) yesterday for Patriots Day.
Bad experience with snail mail. 3 weeks from mailing in TX, not yet arrived in CO. Corrupting influence of DeJoy? Not sitting well for mail-in ballots.
.
absolutely! USPS has been ruined. We need to get people to vote in person as soon as early voting starts.
😢
Agree-it’s not good enough to win the popular vote. HRCs 2016 run is a perfect example. And we cannot risk the vote getting thrown to SCOTUS. Al Gore’s run is another perfect example. We The People need to save our democracy by voting for Harris/Walz. Not voting or a write in vote is not an option. Let’s get this right and do it to protect our freedoms and the freedoms of future generations,
🌊💙🌊💙🌊💙
Yes! The ground game is the center, money, people, time, energy, letters, postcards…and get out the vote! Fortunately one of the thing the dud did was cancel the RNC’s local efforts and put someone in charge with few skills.
Yes ma’am 😣💪 VOTE DEMOCRATIC 🇺🇸
Lady, absolutely!!!!!
I had the sense that this was occurring. UGGG. Small focus groups on CNN and elsewhere of undecided voters *seem to be leaning toward Vice President Harris. Those who say they prefer Trump were already leaning towards Trump.
People are really hung up on the economy.
Presidents Trump and Biden likely forestalled the collapse of the economy coming out of COVID by sending out all those checks; the resultant inflation came from ramping up the money supply to keep the economy afloat. A spat of inflation was a small price to pay for averting another Great Depression.
🤭
EDIT: busted. This comment, above, has focussed upon macro-economic causes for inflation only; that focus is too narrow. As observed by Frank Loomer et al. there are micro-economic -- or situation-specific -- factors presenting an opportunity to companies to charge what the market will bear. The macro-&-micro factors combined for a double-whammy. That the inflation rate is already coming down discernibly is heartening.
While I think that true, there is plenty of Greedflation in the mix, oligarchical, omnivorous conglomerates, raising prices because the can.
And record corporate profits are a direct result of the greedflation.
Yes, I think the record profits are like, "what came first, the chicken or the egg." It makes me sick!
"Reganomics": Open season on worker/consumers.
And this needs to be highlighted. And the ways it can be addressed.
Yes Linda, thanks for mentioning.
We have proven many times this CAN be addressed. Name them, boycott, and call out the management. The CEO decision making is primary fault..America CAN ( and I repeat HAS shown the upper leadership by UNITING and boycotting).
The ‘doing it for the shareholders ‘ got to stop…this is misinformation at its highest level. As a nation we WANT to work for the whole..that’s what equality/leveling the playing field means.
People ARE seeing this more clearly…profits can still be a goal but commensurate with consistent. As we invent better ways to provide the ‘I costs’ to provide lower.
Research and development are costs built into any system . The truths of profit sharing are NOT buy backs nor the current CEO margins to worker wages - shareholders are the elite …do I need to explain any further?
The pie , the leveling is better divided , that’s real sharing, making ‘divided’ a good word , furthering a better world, and reverse this false set of values twisted for far too long. I have no objection to people getting wealthy but not by duping, dumbing, or ads saturating BS ,false claims, or deviant tactics ie known contaminants lead,nicotine,glycosphate ,polluting wastes, yada yada..
Yes we need to clean up our act. And that covers a lot of territory. We CAN be thankful for a stark 9 ? year lesson…what the clean up costs are never get started by bitchin’ , they start by acknowledging and elbow grease.
And it takes our village. Our gang 🫶
💙💙VOTE BLUE THROUGH AND THROUGH. LETS.STOP.THIS.COUP.💙💙
Boycotts can be useful, but hard to apply enough pressure against conglomerates that have huge market shares. Electing anti-trust minded officials is essential. We were winning that battle once, and were collectively bamboozled into throwing it away. We learned it twice, if you count crony tax favoritism for the East India Company that sparked the Boston Tea party.
I wonder if these companies are trying to re-coup two years of lost profits instead of accepting the pandemic as an anomaly and moving on.
The COVID Plague that Cost Over 1,000,000 American Lives was Abetted by DJT's Incompetence... I believe that in April 2020, DJT became 'Bored' with it, and said that DJT took no Responsibility for it... If there is another Presidential Debate, Kamala should Hammer DJT on it... Maybe DJT's Cult Members will Realize that their Lives are Meaningless to DJT...
Exactly. And that should be pointed out when asked, "Were you better off four years ago?" Four years ago DJT was shooting bleach up his ass or telling you to. Let us remember four years ago: 2020!
Remembering accurately (it helps to record it) is history. Much has been said (as we all know) about the benefits of learning from history, even long ago, let alone the recent past. People are saying "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
That's how he handles everything. Ignoring what he has no clue or desire to work/fix a problem. If he is not in personal danger of something, he doesn't care about any one else. It's just who he has and always will be
Four-year olds are not empathic. The diapered Trump balloon and the catsup on the White House dining room wall should be well-remembered.
I remember that
In April 2020 there was the news that Blacks and Hispanics were dying of COVID at higher rates than whites. Not Trump’s pressing concern after that. Jared came up with the idea of blaming the governors of blue states.
Our death per capita figures were terrible compared to nations with far fewer resources. Trump and his party played politics with sensible precautions against a heartless, invasive enemy. The Corona virus is a piece of work, but it lacks legs. We collectively were fools to lend it any more of them than was unavoidable. We also cracked it code, and are fools if we fail to use it against it.
COVID hit the Indigenous Nations the Hardest... Sean Penn, when he learned that there is a Horrible Shortage Of Potable Water on the Big Rez, he personally supplied Trucks of Fresh Water to the Big Rez... The DJT's Admin Principals that allowed the COVID Disaster have shown their Black Hearts... No Wonder The Black Siths Love Them... The 1,000,000+ American Dead Have Been Disappeared....
It depends in part on the reporting practices of the nations.
Yes, I’ve heard people say ,’well don’t always blame the pandemic’. It’s part of the equation , and a significant one, was and still is for the whole world. Some countries of lesser ability take far longer to bounce back, recover, as Covid taught us there ARE Long Term Affects. Some countries are more vulnerable just as the poor are first to see mishaps. Leveling the playing field.Just gotta love that term..it’ll pan out but it takes time ..and our world …America..has become short on patient, compromise, greed, attention spans.
I see as do many coming on board Harris has the focus to do this…her background taught her well..the rich raised and isolated/coddled who often laud the decisions down havent the first clue often what the barrio is or needs…
Greed is part of the equation..proof read Pat!
If you're not on a mobile device, the three dots to the right of the "like" line are an edit function. I know you cannot edit from an Apple device... I will sometimes go back on my laptop to correct.
I knew what you meant, Pat. With my editing skills, people show me a lot of patience.
Naomi Klein wrote an interesting thesis on the "Shock Doctrine", using crises to justify anti-public changes. The "GOP" playacts imaginary crises and ignores real ones to that effect.
I suspect that may be part of it, Ned. Not all of it, however.
Ned, how do we recoup the same 2 years of higher prices we paid? Does the price of beef ever go back down, regardless of the reason for the hike? I’ve never found the reduction in price!
Oh, Anne Marie, I am not justifying what happened here. I am trying to see how corporations rationalized inflating these proces.
“The companies’ net profits are up by a median of 51% since just prior to the pandemic, and in one case as much as 950%.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/26/food-price-inflation-corporate-profit
I wish they would talk more about the Stock Buy Back figures in the article as in the chart above the following:
"...Most companies also put some of their profits into stock buyback programs that juiced the stocks’ value, enriching investors and executives, instead of using the profits to help keep consumer prices down. McDonald’s, for example, spent over $5bn on buybacks in recent years as it raised prices on some items by several dollars.
Overall, companies have “relied more and more on pricing tricks to satisfy investors”, said Bilal Baydoun, director of policy and research at Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive thinktank.
“When you abuse your outsized market power and the vulnerability of consumers after a once-in-a-century economic crisis to jack up prices – yes, that’s profiteering,” Baydoun said.
Records show many companies’ sales volumes are down but profits are still increasing. This suggests prices, not increased demand, are driving inflation, said a University of Massachusetts economist, Isabella Weber..."
That is why 'big-by-G-D' government may be required to represent collective bargaining power. Since I have lost almost all of my money -- please do not ask; embarrassing as it is -- my views have, predictably begun to shift. While the values remain largely the same, my question these days: ¿To whom do these resources belong? There is dirt on both sides of the street.
Greedflation, indeed. But shrinkflation drives me nuts - same sized packaging but less contents. More for the landfill.
This ^
yes, and this is what those suffering from the "poor economy" blame on Biden - but it's the corporate greed monsters.......who have caused all of this "economic woe". - look at their stock market profits!!!!
Here in Florida, where greed goes unchecked, people blame the high costs in the Biden Administration, not the greedy oligarchs who have bought and paid for Desantis.
Who (DeSantis) throws away money like a madman. See FIU and his stupid immigration compound, plus his election police and brown shirts. Meanwhile my wind insurance (Citizens) has gone through the roof and will increase up to 47% next year.
Demagogy can be expsensive.
I think of some of the greedy oligarchs as "Buy Back Bandits" endlessly ratcheting up their equity share of everything profitable at the expense of the increasing numbers of citizens and workers that can't begin to match the percentage of savings, buying power, or accumulating wealth.
I live for these quips Jim..’Buy Back Bandits’ 👏🤣
This is why I think Vice President Harris seeking a tax on unstruck stock options given as part of compensation makes sense. Control the micro-incentives.
I'm not an expert but know of a few people that just missed the boat having to wait 6 months for the selling window to open on their holdings. One had a great looking tech application that had his valued at $400 million (if the government chose it instead of a less likely competitor). It seems that dropped to the price of a house in the Bay area a few days before he could sell.
I'm convinced they had, like other inventors I knew, a great design but a better one came out just before they could get to the market. Good work, but someone else had something better before they knew it. The good thinkers still get hired by other companies, but don't hit the jackpots like their new bosses do (looking at Elon, here).
Then there is Trump who looks to be getting set for another of his well deserved financial disasters according to:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2024/09/06/when-can-donald-trump-sell-djt-stock-heres-what-to-know-as-truth-social-hits-new-lows/
"...The date on which former President Donald Trump is eligible to offload shares in his social media company is rapidly approaching—though when it finally comes, it’s likely to offer far less of a treasure than it was earlier this year...
...The company’s latest prospectus filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission outlines three factors that would trigger the lock-up period to conclude: The end of the first six months of DJT stock trading as its own entity, Trump Media shares trading above $12 for any 20 of 30 trading sessions beginning Aug. 23, or a transaction, like a merger, in which all shareholders have the opportunity to trade in their Trump Media holdings at the same price.
That means the earliest possible date Trump can sell is Sept. 19 if Trump Media shares remain above the $12 threshold, not a guarantee with a $17 share price Friday, and the latest his selling window would open is Sept. 25, the end of the opening six-month period of DJT’s direct public listing..."
It's already down 80% (so far), making me think he should have waited until after the window opened before debating Kamala, he probably could have found some suckers before the debate, but who would buy now?
Should I feel sorry for other investors?
Sometimes when people keep asking for it, they get what they deserve (something my great grandmother taught me).
No one likes to admit (s)he is a Keynesian; but that discredited and out-of-fashion school of economics may have saved us.
I've been saying this all along. I like the word Greedflation.
Remember JL, pandemic supply chain inflation was global. Shortages simply drive up prices, this of course is old fashioned marketplace, found everywhere on this planet. With things more settled, inflation is now generally in the 3% range. Unemployment is overall 3-4%, about as close to "full employment" as you can get, with real wages edging ahead of inflation the past year or so.
Fantastic point. This type of inflation -- for example, for construction materials -- is often high but localized in coastal areas whacked by massive hurricanes.
Also Insurance rates (if they can find any).
Classic inflation was a factor, but it seems to me that corporations are increasingly gaming the system. Take some of the screw-ups that we were in the news post the pandemic due to staff shortages, not (from what I have read) because new hires were not available, but because companies wanted to accept increased business without adding staff. Shrinkflation pre-dates the pandemic, but has been on a roll since. And in my experience, at least overall, prices have not come down as better equilibrium has been established even if the rate of price rise has dropped. Also, I strongly suspect "real wages" figure is pretty unevenly shared in the real world. I am not net better off financially tha pre-pandemic, but I'm retired. I suspect a good many full time workers are in the same boat.
Here's something from Forbes....Of course real wage increases are unevenly shared. I have no theory of how modern capitalism works other than to think oligopolies and monopolies tend to set things more to their advantage than otherwise. btw they've been around a long time. If i also hear you rightly, global pandemic inflation was a giant corporate conspiracy, right? https://www.forbes.com/sites/johngoodman/2024/08/30/the-greed-theory-of-inflation/
Publix grocery store is higher priced than all other stores in my Florida area. Corporate greed is the cause of inflation.
Hear hear! Hamburger was $2 a pound higher Monday at Publix than at Food Lion in Virginia, and was not on sale. I find the same kind of difference in Florida, where Winn Dixie is much lower. (Keys) I’ve had to become much more aware post pandemic.
Wow. Now that is bad. In Alabama, I was a loyal Publix shopper. Preying on customer loyalty perhaps.
They do have great customer service.
Definitely!
JL Yokes
It is easy to raise prices when there is no competition. As for food prices most people have limited choice for groceries. With a couple of major chains to choose from. Easy for them to raise prices.
One of the things that's most striking is the fact that almost no one in America seems aware of how Biden's economic policy has been practically the only success story in the world following the trail of damage left by Covid.
It is more than understandable that the Covid episode should have left people traumatized and still more aware of their own pain than of the freedom brought by recovery and survival, but the blind darkness of people's worm's eye view and the well-nigh total absence of a bird's eye view feel very, very strange when viewed from just about anywhere else in the world, where people have had to put up with the hard effects of superannuated economic policies, at worst, medieval torments like those visited on Britain by 45-day-wonderwoman Liz Dross...
The only people whose dominance -- ultradominance -- has been marginally threatened by the Biden-Harris presidency are the greed-fuelled gaggle of billion and trillionaires enriched at the expense of 99.99% of the population.
They'll do their damnedest to stymie any and all efforts by Harris-Walz and the 99.99% to resist the suicidal force of all-powerful oligarchic tyranny.
(And if you don't know what that means, look at Project 2025. Then look at Putin's Russia...)
This is indicative of Corporate media failure at the highest levels.
More like submission than failure.
And in too many ways we have all -- however unintentionally -- been complicit.
Failure to explain or to provide context really bugs me.
On the pet-eating conspiracy and troubles in Springfield, Ohio, PBS brought some context.
1) If you were suspicious about your pets disappearing, which would you contact first? Your local authorities or your U.S. Senator (J.D. Vance)?
2) Springfield has had a sizeable, rapid increase in population. With more people, the city’s resources are stretched thin. A strain on public services would exist whether the new arrivals were from Haiti or somewhere else.
Someone suggested another stupid thing that Trump believed and I suggested making a list of stupid things Trump believes that we should compile and send to the Harris campaign and the Lincoln Project to troll him, and his followers. This should definitely be on that list.
". . . . I suggested making a list of stupid things Trump believes that we should compile and send to the Harris campaign . . . ."
Full-time job. 😉
I read an article in the Columbus, Ohio newspaper that Governor DeWine called out the national guard because of congestion owing to immigrants not knowing local traffic laws or customs. Not the kind of slurs made by Team Cur.
Was the Ohio national guard acting as traffic officers to supplement those in Springfield?
I agree they are powerful, Peter - but not "all powerful."
Have you ever seen a house when termites have been at it?
Termites have a bad rep - but we need to copy them. Nibble and nibble away until the rule of the oligarchs start to crack.
I'm sure when Harris wins, a lot of things will go on the same - but even Elon the Invincible has to die one day, and by then some progress will have been made. Maybe not much - but enough to lift some lives. and to ensure some safety under the law. There is an awfully long way to go, things that should have been done fifty years ago still need to be put into place. But if we don't see it ourselves, our grandchildren can. And they can carry on the fight as well.
Trump keeps saying "MAGA" - but America has never been truly great for all it's citizens - even the First Nations had their problems, they didn't call themselves "One Nation." And the horrific conditions some of the later immigrants lived in took a long time to even begin being addressed. So, "Patience and Perseverance!"
I agree, we older Americans had nothing given to us, we worked hard and saved our money to purchase items we needed. Today, I see people buying things on credit cards that they can't afford to pay for at the end of the month. Personal debts are a problem. People think they should have everything they like. Probably 50% of the stuff never gets used at all. There is a big difference between what you need and what you want. What I'm saying is, to many people want it fixed today and don't realize we are in it for the long game. America is perfect and she is constantly evolving. Patience and Perseverance! Stay a player...
Thank you, Patty, thank you Lady Emsworth, I had wanted to add that, while we have all seen rising grocery (and many other) prices, we react to our difficulties here and now... but turning around the economy of a huge country or ship takes time -- even without mutineers on the bridge and in the engine room... and we want instant gratification...
Excellent analogy, Peter.
Not sure I agree. Perhaps people are not making enough money to make ends meet.
Three jobs and still hard to get by? Is that the kind of living-to-work treadmill you're talking of, Ned McDoodle?
And fearing to fall ill lest you lose your job...
The kind of compulsive and compulsory workaholism that makes for built-in inefficiencies, an unhappy workforce, an unhappy society. Unhappy, but too busy trying to keep afloat to become a threat to those who count...
Peter, you will understand this all too well: Americans have ridiculously short memories and are easily triggered by stupid nonsense to work against their own self interest. As an historian, it is my job to remember, to comment, to remember more, to comment more. Second fact: the MAJORITY of Americans have ceded their political power because they fail to vote, especially in local elections and midterms. And they do so with a certain level of insouciance that is alarming. This is why we have these [plural expletive deleted] who are in charge of local governance: they were voted in by a small minority of eligible voters and reflect only the wind tunnel that is between their ears. This is why corruption is rampant because the corporations that a certain senator from Utah described as "people" can dominate the political climate. Unless and until Americans start remembering, and start acting on those memories, we will be in this constant vacillation between the forces of evil and the forces of pragmatism (I can't really call them the forces of "good" because the pragmatic option says feed people, educate them, treat them with kindness, be tolerant and equitable and those are all things that should be no-brainers but apparently are not).
The second fact you post articulates what I have felt for a long, long time. Failing to vote locally is something that just stuns me. All politics is local, and if you don't participate, you lose your local control. As for what follows your sentence utilizing one of my favorite words (insouciance), my usual reference is "preferred colorful metaphor" or "profanity, vulgarity or blasphemy of your choosing". I love you use of "plural expletive deleted" and my just add that to my arsenal of acceptable usage of profanity.
Not sure I agree. Americans are harried and scrambling to keep a decent standard of living in place for their families. Many voters did not forget Senator / Secretary Clinton remark, reeking of entitlement to the presidency (i.e., the "basket of deplorables").
"WIND TUNNEL BETWEEN THE EARS."
Memorable description.
Apart from you-know-who, they usually have plenty of hair, a bright toothy rictus screwed onto their faces and baldness under the skull.
Thank you , Peter, for bringing attention to the collective amnesia we’re experiencing throughout American society, from MSM to seemingly informed people. Everything is measured by how people “feel “ about the economy, etc, no mention of what the world experienced, not even a mention of cargo ships in the harbor in LA for months with no one to unload them. Our news is presented in such an insular way with no comparison of other countries suffered much worse than the USA. President Biden saved this country from a disaster.
Fear and diminishing prospects -- or the perception thereof -- can have an unpleasant impact upon people's views and behaviors. Perhaps, President Harris could appeal directly to M.A.G.A.s by saying, in effect: "Many of you all feel screwed over. We get that. Here is why you have a better deal with us than with candidate Trump . . . ."
You are 109% right on all points.
Reading the ‘comments’ gives me HOPE!!!! Thank YOU ALL!!!!!
I think, people don't understand how limited the federal government is in improving their lives....it can only take a broad sweep. When people say their lives have not improved under Biden-Harris, the response should be, because your state governor and legislators decide on the day to day matters that affect you.
I could list a minimum of 10 laws enacted by the state of Texas that assure citizens are more at risk for gun violence, school shootings will continue, corporations can continue to turn our environment into a cesspool of polluted water and air, women will die seeking reproductive health care, and the power grid providers profit is guarded over people services.
Let's use that as a response to people saying Biden/Harris haven't fixed their problems.
True that. That will go a long way why President Harris's approval ratings will be in the forties by 2026. This legis-centric governance needs to be explained to people.
I'm wondering if you meant Liz Truss as in at: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62750866
I thought she was the worst of those who thought like Grover Norquist as in no new taxes, steep tax cuts for for everyone, and especially corporations .
Sorry, Jim, I don't usually descend to that, but this lady and her politics were so caricatural -- about as two-dimensional and as sentient as a think-tank spreadsheet -- that I've never managed to call her by her proper name...
I can understand, I just wish we could have dumped Trump as quickly (7 weeks) as the British dumped her (10 days of which delay was the 10 day mourning period for Queen Elizabeth II).
Read, mark:
https://www.motherjones.com/criminal-justice/2024/09/drug-test-pregnancy-pennsylvania-california/?utm_source=mj-newsletters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-newsletter-09-12-2024 =
When I read of healthcare institutions trampling the Hippocratic Oath underfoot by engaging in the automatic infliction on innocents of extraordinarily cruel and unusual extrajudicial punishments, I am surprised that more Americans do not react by voting for MAGA or for any anti-system crazies.
After all, this is even madder, even more cruel and irresponsible than the tales cooked up by MAGA madmen. Worse, it isn’t imaginary, it is actually happening.
Now, if we read Letters from an American, it is better to know and understand both the light America has brought into the world and her deepest shadows. Only armed with such knowledge can John and Jane Doe become citizens worthy of the Republic.
America’s ingrained cruelty was imported from Europe’s and other continents’ most brutal societies and visited on others, especially those least able to defend themselves, then re-exported worldwide as what a certain general termed “collateral damage”; the (alas) inevitable—but always resistible—abuse of overwhelming material power. One aspect of this is the absurd and pernicious belief, shared by Nazis and the tyrants of every age and culture as well as by the Holy Inquisition, that by destroying men’s bodies one destroys their ideas. On the contrary, this spreads, strengthens and perpetuates the evil that they do. We must be deliberately blind not to see just this awful reality all around us at this very moment—Nazi crimes and criminals arising again in the unlikeliest places.
Most readers here are decent, intelligent, responsible people with hearts in the right place and I am sure there will be among you jurists, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators who can take up causes like that in the Mother Jones report and make the seats of those responsible so hot that they’ll jump smartly to their duty.
The task may seem impossible, yet… is not our duty clear, as individuals, as communities, to work tirelessly to cure our town, our state, our country of their endemic diseases and bring in their place health and happiness?
Great points, Peter!
Project2025 is essentially re-cycled Reaganism extended to some new issues emerging after 1988; but Reaganism with a "sh*titude' of kulturkampf, at least per my rather cursory reading. The problem is Reaganism is exhausted like the New Deal was in the mid-to-late 1970s. Take it from a former Republican pre-disposed toward kultur-drumpfing two generations ago (i.e., me).
I think Harris needs to address agriculture. It has a chapter in project 2025, which my DA Book club is reading and discussing next week. I understand that farmers would like to hear themselves discussed, and no one is. I doubt they will be reading Project 2025, but Harris has the opportunity to take the lead on this. I saw a farmer interviewed in a German documentary, who is in Georgia. This was filmed after Harris announced, and he said he is undecided until he hears what each party has to say on farming. I did not hear it discussed at all in the debate. So, he is going to be no further along.
Maybe better for Governor Walz to address since Minnesota is an agro-state.
I was thinking that too, but it might be reassuring to farmers, that if Trump loses the Harris and Walz ticket is thinking of them and they are part of the plan to keep our nation secure. I have written this to the White House and the Harris Walz campaign as well. Maybe more people could write to them about it.
Especially when you remember what trump's tariffs did to the farming community last time.
Soya bean, anybody?
Trump had to bail them out, though not enough to make up for their losses.
Realize that the family farm and Big Ag have different agendas.
Yes, each issue needs to be addressed with clear possible solutions. Could the discussion of each issue , like agriculture, be covered exclusively for a number of days giving the media no other talking points. Then move to the next issue with extensive coverage. Voters want to learn HOW the problems that we all agree on can begin to be solved.
Also, emphasis must be on a Congress that can do the work of finding compromise. The Congress is the where the action happens!!
"Giving the media no other talking points."
Great idea - except it seems to me the media make up their OWN talking points. See the coverage of Joe's "dementia" - and the bare mention of trump's insanity. Agriculture's not very exciting - who clicks on farm stock prices? But a pimple on Kamala's nose? Now THAT'S a whole different story. . .
Vote blue and get rid of the "do nothing Congressional people"
I read today in the Substack What Did Joe Biden Do Today, that a meeting was convened with the Dept. of Agriculture, the EPA and other stakeholders to discuss how to support farmers, ranchers and foresters in using green methods to do their work.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/09/12/readout-of-white-house-department-of-agriculture-and-environmental-protection-agency-roundtable-on-financing-climate-smart-agriculture/
I am not reading about this elsewhere though. Again, corporate media fails us.
Linda W, beware agriculture as many (most?) "farmers" who have survived financially have done so by becoming corporate level mega-farmers running huge herds of cows often running to the thousands, all in stanchions throughout the day and night. As we drove by a nearby mega-barn my daughter dubbed it's multiple barns "cowschwitz."
It's definitely not "most" farmers. The 2022 Census of Agriculture says that 64% of farms in the U.S. are less than 140 acres in size. And fully two-thirds of all farms earn less than $25,000 per year from sales.
Seems that corporate farms are a small share of farm-land; I am surprised. I may be mis-interpreting these data.
https://acretrader.com/learn/farmland-investing/who-owns-farmland
We had some former professionals (at least one finance type, I believe) from Disney's Imagineering who found the sometimes too severe top down rules stifling enough to refer to the former work place as "Mouseschwitz."
On the other hand we had one of our best engineers go there as we downsized after the Cold War ended. He had three young children and he had to take them around to all sorts of amusement parks (not just Disney's), as part of his job evaluating competition and developing new ideas. I couldn't imagine a better post Cold War career when he let us know how his new job was going.
John, since my husband comes from multigenerational farming family in Germany, I have always been interested in what is going on with farming. My mom also comes from multigenerational farming families, although her father was a city dweller, and did not farm. My husband did not find chickens romantic at all since he grew up with 9000 of them and had to help. It was not a corporate farm as the name implies, because it was a family farm. I don't know if they hired help to harvest, but I know that when it comes to harvesting my husband's cousin hires help. He has a big place and people come from Romania to help. Usually it is a family of 3. They live in an apartment that is part of the farm house. What is commonly grown in our area of Germany (that is his and my mom's) are wheat and sugar beets. I have had joy of running my hand through freshly harvested wheat that is warm, and has just come out of the harvester. It feels wonderful like grains of sand do. A former friend's family also grew rapeseed here in Germany. A lot of our friends here in the city I live in, come from farms, so there is a respect for farming and a connection to it.
That is an awesome adaptation of a murder hole.
that's a pretty brilliant name!
As a kansas row-crop farm operator, I’ll say not all farming is what you describe. You have to understand that raising animals and growing plants are two types of farm operation. Running a dairy operation not the same as what I do, and to succeed you have to raise what your local market will buy. And I’d bet the number of farm operations in upstate NY that involve “mega barns” is quite a small part of the ag spectrum. I’ve not visited upstate NY, but if you check your state ag department stats you'd discover a thriving viticulture industry, berry and fruit and nut orchards, greenhouse vege growers, and on and on.
Also, farms that are owned by “trusts” are not usually in the “corporate agri-industry” bucket, it is just a family ownership structure. similarly, not all corporations are “big ag” monsters.
In my rural community, I have seen a surprising number of Trump signs in front of farms and farmhouses. I don't get it. Has Trump ever visited a farm? Does he talk about agriculture? I doubt it. It could be an opportunity for Harris, IF they will listen.
Ellen, I am saying this too. Can you please write to her campaign. I did today, and I also wrote the contact email at the White House asking her to articulate agricultural plans.
Where do I write?
Here is the White House Contact Email for VP Harris.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/vicepresident/
Here is the Harris campaign email.
https://kamalaharris.com/contact-us/
Either one or both.
Perhaps Governor Walz ought to speak to them and let them know they get a better deal with the Democrats.
DJT is a City Boy... His Only Manual Labor Is Swinging A Golf Club!!!
He sure throws a lot of mouth manure though.
Temptation got me this time, inspired by a memory of a quote like the following from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073053/characters/nm0926235
Harry S Truman : Say, Rose, there's a story going around about me these days. It says that some old party hen is supposed to have cornered Bess at some party, and said, "Mrs. Truman, isn't there anything you can do to get the President to stop using the word 'manure'?" And Bess is supposed to have replied, "It took me forty years to get him to use that word!"
Another version was her asking to get him to use "fertilizer" instead of manure.
You are on my page Linda. I AM a farmer . This is a whole different world..farmers..a world gone -from individual families squeezed out, a whole generation lost numbers of what ‘raising yer own’ entails to Big Ag. And stands for the bigger picture ..perhaps better than any other ‘in essence’ of leveling that playing field.
Thank you.
Patricia, you are then well placed to either ask Harris and Walz to articulate farm policy and to give them advice on this. As I wrote above, I wrote to her today about it, and I think she should hear from more people. I just suggested that if supermarkets are gouging people, they are probably stiffing farmers too. I am married into a German farming family. That is, while my husband does not farm anymore, he did growing up, and his parents did, and his cousins do or did, and aunts and uncles on both sides of the family did. In fact, my mother-in-law went to Farm housewife school at 15 along with her sister, because Germans like to make all things in life a mixture of practice and theory. In any case, at one point, several of nieces and nephews did not want to take over his mother's birth family farm, and so then cousins get asked. In fact, my mother-in-laws family farm, which is one of the farms my daughter has grown up visiting all her life, was on offer to my daughter. But she did not want to farm or be a farm wife. She knows little about it, other than the play aspects, but we asked her. One of her male cousins who had a runty pig as a pet when he was in middle school, was interested. He may get that farm which is just a wonderful place. Another cousin has gone to agriculture school and is taking over the family farm, after doing a practicum year at 2 other farms, and one in Estonia. That is so. he gets exposed to something different than his dad knows. So, when German farmers were driving tractors in protest to some new green energy requirements, it was the news all over the EU, and it changed the timeline for conversion. I was watching a dairy farmer on the news in our area in Germany talking about how he cannot raise his prices much more or the consumers will just not buy milk. Food is heavily subsidized in Germany, and since it is the stuff of life, I am willing to pay the producers well to produce. We know how danger it is when ADM owns all of the farms, and then decides to experiment with our food production, and squeeze everyone out. Given that there is an antimonopoly mood, with Lina Khan at the helm taking on big Tech, perhaps big Ag should be affected too. My mom, who is also German grew up with many relatives having been farmers, and during WWII she and her siblings were sent to live with aunts and uncles on farms for a couple of years to get them out of the cities where the bombs were more likely to kill them. Her favorite aunts and uncles were on farms. So, the family farm is important to the production of food, one of our most important industries. I was discussing yesterday with some friends, that I was surprised to find the my Blue State was asking to lower the age at which children can work, but it was pointed out to me that Illinois is a big farming state so this makes sense.
Yes. And Peter makes a good following point ( climate change) as currently we are struggling in the most severe drought ever hauling water for critters even more encompassing ( I’m a big picture realist) for the wildlife including insects. There are so many connecting points here , thanks and I will write sister Kamala. I have a whole world of sisters 😌 ( and brothers).
We work WITH the government NRCS and local ASCS extensively..they.are.great.
Circular recycling needs a careful ear and focus with waste rampant,by far too many, and hunger is just pure neglect . No rant. Just needs focus. Us who went back to the land are now few but being a farm wife is a compliment, yes hard work, but healthy, challenging, holistic, even spiritual. Learning how to is an every day still humble adventure. One brilliant young lady remarked we were ‘far out’ meaning -to her (we laughed) as she meant ..the distance from McDonalds)!
The Amish and we know several (German heritage ) stand out in application to farmer’s to the inner fiber. Work ethic! Our children don’t want to farm, had enough of that! but they all have great work ethics😉👏.
Circular technology a new term , and innovation is needed . Production here on the farm uses composting extensively, collecting our own water ,passive and some as affordable new solar, it all is sort of old fashion in principle. Landfills need a thorough revision.
The established hierarchy plays ‘us’ ..but a lot of ownership needs ‘admitting’… ONLY WHEN WE ALLOW IT. There’s a certain portion in every society who can’t fend for themselves, they need cared for. The rest need to pick up after themselves , put on their big ‘boy’ pants.
And there’s the continued vigilance needed, always voting, paying attention to who and how those elected represent us.
This election is a critical point ..we here ALL know that..because if we neglect it …it will take far more years to correct than I have and likely my children too.
Thanks Linda I’ll write Kamala AND Tim tonight.
💙💙VOTING BLUE WITH YOU LETS STOP THIS COUP💙💙
I’ll make one more point hopefully…not everyone needs to farm. EVERYONE can produce. EVERYONE ,with a few exceptions ,can contribute ,in their own gifted way , to the whole.
Patricia, you might like this film I watched last night. This is a family from Belgium who bought an abandoned farm in France, and started developing it as their home and farm. It is in English. https://youtu.be/kMXBQ6DtO4o?si=W1NARVHJuX7gSb5m
Thank you!!
https://acretrader.com/learn/farmland-investing/who-owns-farmland
Are these data accurate or am I getting them wrong?
Excellent point, all the more so against a background of climate change, ecological disaster and the great corporate contribution to long-term desertification. Exhaust the soil, then move on...
Yes... That is why the Dark Siths want to Move-2-Mars...
Corporate greed is responsible for current US prices, not inflation. Harris calls it out, but people won't get it without further explanation and constant repetition. The US's inflation rate is lower than all of Europe, but our prices are lower because corporations aren't economic terrorists here (Portugal).
I agree. I think people just care that stuff costs more and it's easy to blame the incumbent and not look more deeply.
Prices and tariffs need to be explained. That is true in Germany too of things like food, which is also inflated right now. I read an article on price fixing with grocery stores worse in Austria than Germany, but there is some attempt to control these algorithms.
YES Linda W, someone needs to explain tariffs to our former president who STILL doesn't seem to understand who actually pays the increased price arising from a tariff! Kinda like how he imagined Mexico would pay for his absurd wall.
Great point that could have been a subtle pin prick in the debate if applied at just the right moment.
The importer pays the tariff, which is then added to the consumer price. I want to know where the tariff money goes, after the importer pays it. Does it go somewhere in the U.S. Treasury? Gosh, if it does, then as Trump implies, it can cover the cost of the tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. What a clever way to get consumers to subsidize benefits to the wealthy, meanwhile paying federal, state, and local taxes as usual.
John, I think we should make a list of all the absurd things that Trump thinks, has thought (ie Haitians eating cats and dogs in Ohio), and send it to The Lincoln Project and the Harris campaign so they can use it to troll him. I love the Mexican wall one. So true! How about he thought Kamala can only be Indian or Black, but not both.
Ned, quite the truism. Keeping an economy afloat is much easier than raising a sunken ship. Inflation is indeed a small price to pay. The average American only sees the inflation part, not the “saving of the ship”
And they are skewered on the economy. No good deed goes unpunished.
That inflation was global. Interesting that American politicians studiously avoid that fact. I guess because it somehow makes them seem weak, or a cop out. US is top economic performer now mainly likely because of all the stimulus spending working its way through the economy. Otherwise, politicians generally overclaim responsibility for economic performance, either blaming or taking credit. A bit of smoke and mirrors I would say. When I read the business news, how often do you think this kind of attribution comes up? Almost zilch.
A lot of economists agree that manufacturing and supply chain disruptions were the biggest factors in inflation. (Fewer goods available when there is new money in the economy means higher prices for goods). And don’t gorget the scarcity in the service economy. It was a lot harder to see lawyers, accountants, dentists, doctors, designers, architects, and mechanics during Covid. A lot of these folks raised their prices/fees, and those higher prices never came back down.
Most manufacturers reduced their product lines, and most have not re-expanded them. You can see this most easily in the grocery store.
What we all learned in high school is that a mix of fewer goods and services in the economy, combined with an increase in the money supply, yields inflation. Inflation comes down slowly as either demand slackens or one of those factors change.
But high prices on the other hand come down chiefly because of increased competition. We have unfortunately blunted that tool over the past 30 years by allowing far too much consolidation in the economy.
Amen to that!
Since I live in both the US and the EU, Germany to be specific, I can attest to the commonality of economic problems.
I agree about averting another Great Depression! Do not forget the supply chain problems. And corporate price gouging. The stimulus checks as the sole cause, or even the main cause of inflation, is a Republican talking point. Inflation was a worldwide condition which did not originate with stimulus checks in the U.S.
How about supply interruption, blaming those checks was easy but there is something called supply and demand.
Frank Loomer has a really insightful comment on what you are saying; please scroll up. On the money supply: Maco-Econ. 102: too many dollars chasing too few goods.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL#:~:text=Download,2024%2012:02%20PM%20CDT
Unfortunately Trump gets credit for the checks he made sure to put his name on and Biden gets none, but he takes the hit for all of the inflation.
The Tragedy of this, is if you listen to Mary Trump, DJT has always been a Cowardly Bully from Early Childhood... Internally, DJT never developed from there... DJT met more than his Match in Kamala... A Professional Prosecutor... Being a Mediocre Person, DJT builds an Empire of Delusions within himself, and Projects that to his Minions... DJT is a Delusional Person who believes in his own Delusions... His Followers have become Cultists...
Heather said on a podcast that "Trump doesn't get America. He doesn't understand what America is all about." I think that nails it and perfectly expresses the MAGA mindset. For me, that was an aha moment of clarifying who Trump and the magats are. This nugget of reality should be highlighted by the Harris Walz campaign--and all state and local Democratic campaigns. And amplified on social media!! :)
Does America remember what America is all about. All my life I was proud that people from all over came and made a country out of so many complexities. It took decades, even centuries but we turned into Americans. When chump says to save our America, he is spouting crap, like the “make America Great Again” slogan. Just jingoism, spewed by a carnival barker. Sad that so many fell for the pap. Who said there is a sucker born every minute. The purveyor of the freak shows. And that’s what the chump rallies are…
Agreed. DJT, aided and abetted by the press, has succeeded in untethering his magat followers from reality. We have a lot of work to connect them to reality and American values again.
So much bull Schitt to shovel
But, Trump does get a certain part of America, the part that he is well able to manipulate. That is the grievance crowd, upset because things are changing in the USA, as we reach a more pluralistic society that is a goal of democracy. According to this essay, they are getting what they want from him, which is from a Reader comment by Robert Ritchie in Joyce Vance’s Substack on Sept 9, 2024
The Cult of Opposition: Understanding the Psychology Behind Trump’s Supporters
In modern political discourse, the relationship between leaders and their supporters often reflects a symbiotic exchange—one of mutual benefit. Typically, a leader provides tangible improvements to the supporters’ lives, who in turn offer their allegiance. However, Donald Trump's presidency introduced a paradigm shift that baffled many analysts. A significant portion of Trump’s base does not measure his success by what he does *for* them, but rather by what he does against those they consider adversaries. This phenomenon raises a critical question: why do Trump's supporters define his success not by policy achievements or personal benefit but by his ability to antagonize perceived enemies? In this research paper, we explore the psychology, sociocultural factors, and communication strategies behind this phenomenon, offering a deep dive into the mechanisms that sustain this unwavering loyalty.
The Psychology of "Othering"
At the heart of this dynamic lies a fundamental psychological concept known as *othering.* Othering refers to the process of creating a division between "us" and "them," where "them" are people deemed different or antagonistic to one's own group. Social identity theory posits that individuals derive part of their self-worth from their membership in groups (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). When Trump attacks certain groups—be they immigrants, Democrats, or marginalized communities—his supporters feel that their in-group (conservative, predominantly white Americans) is being validated. The "other," typically those outside their cultural or political bubble, becomes a target of scorn and aggression. By constantly positioning himself against these groups, Trump reassures his supporters that they are on the winning side of a cultural war.
This is where the success metrics diverge from typical political calculations. Success, in the eyes of Trump's supporters, is not rooted in economic growth or policy achievements, but in the symbolic victories won over those they disdain. Trump’s antagonistic rhetoric serves as a rallying cry for a base that measures success by how effectively he torments the "other."
Fear as a Unifying Emotion
The divisiveness Trump exploits is not built solely on disdain for others but on deep-rooted fear. Research has shown that political conservatism often correlates with heightened fear responses (Hibbing, Smith, & Alford, 2014). These fears manifest in concerns over demographic changes, perceived threats to cultural identity, and economic anxiety—particularly in the wake of globalization and immigration. For Trump’s base, he offers not only validation of their fears but also an outlet for their anxiety: the vilification of outsiders.
By acting against these outsiders—whether through harsh immigration policies, vilification of the media, or incendiary tweets targeting "leftist elites"—Trump provides a sense of catharsis to his supporters. It’s not about building bridges or creating new opportunities; it’s about protecting their identity and keeping perceived threats at bay. In their minds, Trump’s success is defined by his defense of the status quo against forces of change.
The Appeal of a Strongman
This dynamic is exacerbated by the allure of authoritarian leadership, often characterized by a leader who promises protection and order while silencing dissent. Trump's rhetoric—filled with hyperbole, aggressive language, and dismissive attitudes toward political correctness—resonates deeply with those who feel disempowered by societal changes. Studies have shown that authoritarian personalities are drawn to leaders who project strength and offer simple, binary solutions to complex problems (Feldman, 2003). Trump’s combative style against the "other" fits neatly into this framework.
In this context, Trump is seen as the protector, someone who will go to any length to defend his supporters from external threats. His aggressive behavior—though often condemned by critics—is perceived by his base as a strength. In their eyes, his relentless attacks on groups like the media, the "deep state," or racial minorities are evidence of his success as a leader willing to do whatever it takes to secure their safety and identity.
The Role of Media and Propaganda
An essential factor in maintaining this dynamic is the role of right-wing media in amplifying Trump’s actions *against* others while downplaying or ignoring any lack of substantive achievements. Fox News, Breitbart, and other conservative outlets often frame Trump’s attacks on immigrants, liberals, and the media as necessary battles in a larger cultural war. Through selective reporting, these outlets reinforce the idea that Trump’s presidency is less about improving the lives of his supporters through policy and more about the symbolic victories he achieves through opposition to their perceived enemies.
Trump himself understood the power of media manipulation, often stoking controversy to keep his name in the headlines. As noted by philosopher Hannah Arendt, in authoritarian regimes, propaganda serves to simplify the world into friend versus foe (Arendt, 1951). By keeping the public focused on his skirmishes against the "other," Trump ensured that his base remained engaged and energized, even when his policies provided little material benefit to their lives.
The Social Contract of Aggrievement
This relationship between Trump and his supporters can be understood as a kind of *social contract of aggrievement.* While traditional politicians offer economic benefits, infrastructure improvements, or social programs, Trump offers emotional validation. His base, particularly those who feel marginalized by economic shifts or demographic changes, finds solace in his outward displays of aggression. His ability to provoke outrage in the "other" reassures them that they are still relevant in a world they fear is changing too fast.
Interestingly, this contract does not require Trump to follow through on traditional metrics of success like job creation or healthcare reform. His supporters are not primarily concerned with how he improves their lives directly. Instead, they focus on how he reinforces their worldview—one where they are under constant attack and where Trump is their defender. This emotional satisfaction creates a loyalty that transcends policy, rooted instead in the shared sense of grievance and resentment.
Conclusion: A Loyalty That Transcends
In understanding Trump’s success, it is critical to recognize the unique metrics by which his supporters measure his achievements. His base does not primarily seek economic relief or policy victories; they seek validation of their fears and grievances. By acting *against* the "other," Trump provides emotional and psychological sustenance that traditional political figures often fail to deliver. His success, therefore, lies in his ability to symbolize and enact opposition rather than constructively improve the lives of his supporters. As long as Trump continues to antagonize those perceived as threats, his base will remain loyal, even in the absence of tangible benefits.
In the end, the tormenting of the "others" does more than sustain them—it defines them.
A lot of the Predatory Social Structure was established by European Second Sons that Immigrated seeking their Fortunes... DJT is literally a 'Second Son', who from Early Childhood Craves Attention....
I thought it was interesting the way she responded to him - more like a therapist than a debater. "Tell me what you think about that. . . uh-huh. . . and how does that make you feel?"
And it all came pouring out. . .she didn't have to argue with him, she just led him on to vomit on his own shiny cuban heels. . .
This is so true. We can’t waste time asking ourselves “why does he lie”. It’s simple, he is delusional, he really does believe his own lies.
If you read Timothy Snyder's book The Road to Unfreedom you will see that the lying is a conscious premeditated strategy, coupled with other specific strategies, to confuse and manipulate people and disassociate them from reality so that they rely on loyalty instead of reason. It's a deeply disturbing and important book and explains the phenomenon of schizo fascism being promulgated by Putin.
I think Trumps lies because it's a lifelong stately, and he was born rich enough to get away with it. Republicans dusted off Joe McCarthy's strategy with Nixon and Reagan, it worked so well they now back Trump. Relying on loyalty instead of reason qualifies the modern GOP as a cult, but while some cult leaders by believe the tripe they peddle, others are deliberate manipulators. The latter built fascism.
“EAT LESS KITTENS,” the billboards say. “Vote Republican!”
Arizona’s Republican Party announced Tuesday that it had designed about a dozen of the billboards in the Phoenix area in response to false claims shared by some top Republicans that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating Americans’ pets. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who plans to visit Arizona on Thursday, amplified those claims at an ABC News debate on Tuesday, despite police telling local news outlets that there was no evidence of anyone eating pets. " https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/arizona-gop-billboards-implore-voters-to-eat-less-kittens/ar-AA1qqe4d
This crap has real, breathing victims, and could get someone killed. Thats fine with the "GOP".
And it's time for Democrats to reach out to the Haitian community as real, breathing people, and ask (rhetorically) if at long last, Republicans have NO decency. Maybe make a billboard of it.
I also read this in Prof. Ruth Ben Ghiat, another historian who is an expert on fascism's book Strongmen. I read the European version. It was written during Trump's term in office and he is included in as a fascist. I think I was not fully cognizant of everything he was doing, but this book helped me to understand his techniques, which I saw on display in the debate, even to intelligent, reasonable people he seemed off his game. What he did that fits fascist strategies, which has nothing to do with debating and everything to do with getting his message out there, is he repeated some ideas which are cues to his audience. He repeated that immigrants are overrunning the country and doing scary things--which is a consistent theme, he repeated that abortion is happening after babies are born--which is a consistent theme, and he repeated that crime is up--which is a consistent theme, and he repeated that she was militarily weak--which is a consistent theme, and he repeated that there are transgendered surgeries happening in schools--which is a consistent theme. If people can believe the lies and specious claims of Q-Anon, they will believe anything he tells them. Remember a caravan of trucks went to the border to stop the millions coming over illegally and saw absolutely no one, and ended up picking a fight with locals. I just think as a fascist, he repeats tropes, a playbook that Goebbels and Hitler used because no matter what is said, people start believing things if they hear them often enough. A lot of his audience is primed to believe him too.
Concise truth.
Trump will be facing a pile of personal accountability if he fails to become der fuhrer, I doubt that even Team $COTUS can fix it for him.
SCOTUS has mud on their face after what appears to be Leonard Leo's "purchase" of Justice Thomas's tie-breaking vote in favor of Citizens United.
They recognize no mud, it’s just fancy make up, like chump
Do they spray it on him in the morning? You can sometimes see the marks of googles.
He looks like a clown, and is one. Costs a mint I’m sure
Yes but it’s extremely expensive, luxury brand, facial clay. We need enough of an electoral sweep to have a working majority in Congress for many reasons. Court reform is near the top, to prevent them from blocking all the rest.
I suspect that the public were billed at least a hundred thousand dollars for his for cans of Trump® Brand "Presidential Orange".
Rest assured they will try. Unless, of course, he becomes irrelevant
“Trump is absurdly, pathetically, desperately "running [to stay out] from prison,"….”
Agreed..the margin of effort rather than error. It is some consolation to hear rumblings of discontent within the Republican party. The down ballot swing state republican candidates must be wearing their shoes on the other foot than after the June debate when they were gleefully prancing around so sure footed.
It's interesting that the June 27 debate with Biden made the race do a 180, and the September 10 debate with Harris made the race do another 180.
I hope Trump enjoyed his 75 days on top.
Be very careful with your wording here. BEFORE the June 27 debate, we were heading for a Democratic electoral disaster. A 180 followed by another 180 puts you back on your original course. I hope that isn't what you meant.
Good point. To clarify, (hopefully,) any rising enthusiasm (if any) for Biden took a nosedive on Jun 27.
Any rising enthusiasm for Trump since then took a nosedive on Sept 10.
Math was never my strong suit.
David, my brother from another mother!!
Ally! My sister from another Mister!
(I'm also not good at clever repertoire. )
A topic for another time, but one of the deepest of American problems is the degree to which a polished TV presentation as more bearing on a candidates fate than wisdom and record. We really saw that come to fruition with Carter VS Reagan. I wonder how Lincoln reborn would do in current circumstances. Two minutes to present a long-chain thought looks more like "Speedating" than a job interview.
TV is also why Sen. Hollings said years ago that due to the cost of campaigning: " So we go over to the building and call for money and obviously we only can give attention to that. We don't have time for each other. We don't have time for constituents, except for the givers. Somebody ought to tell the truth about that."
It's a big part of the billionaires' edge.
I agree, and want to hear someone reporting on the Electoral college and how things stand, because we know Trump is not trying to win the popular vote, just get his voters out, by keeping them inflamed at immigrants and losing power and White privilege.
Well, Harris did call him out during the debate for ordering Republicans not to vote for the immigration bill which would addressed a lot of our problems at the border. She needs to do it more often.
and now Trump wants to shut down the government and not extend funding -- she should spell out what that means to everyday Americans.
Fortunately it appears Mike Johnson despite being a fascist Republican is definitely enjoying his term as Speaker and may not be thrilled to give it up if the GOP loses the House. It looks like he may not allow the government to shut down, at least not before the election. And by that time it may be too late.
Repetition is part of learning, whether mapping reality or incorporating utter crap.
MSNBC does a good job on this periodically, even breaking out red and blue counties in swing states with Steve Kornaki.
"Master Race".
I am heartened by the Taylor Swift endorsement that led to more than 330,000 new voters registering. These are likely young people who often sit out elections. It's us old folks who are reliable voters. So, as long as these newly registered voters who are Swifties actually get to the polls vote, I have hope. Plus, just read that Liz Cheney will actually be campaigning in person for Harris. Cheney is clearly keeping her promise to work to stop Trump. Few know better than Cheney, who he really is.
Laurie, I agree. We can’t make any assumptions that we have won the race!
Bill Luntz, whom Heather cited, said that he thought the debate would sink Trump in the overall popular vote, but thought with the swing states being statistically tied, even if Kamala got a 4% overall advantage, that is still within the margin of error, and Trump could win, a repeat more or less of 2016.
So true. The 2016 election was decided by less than 250,000 votes out of 135 million, all in the six swing states that went for Trump. Mostly those same votes swung the other way in 2020. Even if harris picks up many more popular votes, if most of those votes come in places like California, New York and even Texas (yes because even picking up a million votes in Texas won't help her WIN Texas!), she could still EASILY lose the electoral votes in the swing states by a whisker and thus lose the election. We need to win Michigan, Wisconsin and above all Pennsylvania to guarantee a victory by a razor thin electoral majority. Of course winning Arizona and Georgia would be great but without Pennsylvania, it may not be enough.
LaurieOregon - "And there are thousands of potential voters who like his lies and like that he lies and then lies about his lies."
In recent days, journalists have scrutinized the accuracy of Trump's statements during the debate, proving them lies. However, such falsehoods have not seemed to harm him; on the contrary, they appear to have been advantageous. These untruths bolster his authority by compelling subordinates to concur that reality is whatever the person in power declares it to be.
Supporters are faced with a choice: to compromise their integrity or their grasp on reality. Once they consent to a deliberate falsehood, it becomes increasingly difficult to dispute subsequent lies, as doing so would require admitting to previous instances of acquiescence.
[Gift Link]
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/11/podcasts/transcript-ezra-klein-harris-trump-debate-reaction.html?unlocked_article_code=1.KE4.OEYF.ic4YJzFlwgFN&smid=url-share
We also have to be vigilant about Republican efforts to deligitimize the election results.
I sincerely doubt this.
It is cognitively almost impossible for someone to like what VP Harris said so much that they know she won the debate and then turn around and vote for trump. It is akin to really liking chocolate ice cream and then order dirt to eat. This is a meme type of thinking cooked up by the trump folks.
No, your "it is cognitively almost impossible" statement is the kind of head in the sand thinking that caused people to wake up on November 8 2016 and go "WTF happened???" Those people absolutely exist and they will still vote for Trump, many of them. Complacency is the enemy of victory. It has happened before and WILL happen again if we allow this kind of thinking to put down our guard.
You may "sincerely doubt it" but it can (and has) happened before. Don't think it can't happen again.
Instead of pondering our impressions and worst scenario thinking we follow people like this:
"After tonight’s debate there should be no doubt – no room for discussion – Kamala Harris is the only candidate in this race who is ready to be President.
I am once again urging everyone to roll up their sleeves and DO SOMETHING – phone bank, knock on doors, talk to any and everyone you know and urge them to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Every vote will matter in what will be a close race. We cannot afford to have anyone sitting on the sidelines. There’s simply too much at stake.
Get involved today at go.KamalaHarris.com."
Michelle Obama
"My impression is that a lot of political experts and other commenters are conflating winning a debate with winning an election. People might agree that Harris won the debate, but they still might vote for Trump."
"My impression" and "People might " This is head in the sand thinking Sir.
It is smart politics to take the win when it comes along and build on that momentum.
I invite you to consider one of the leading political strategists in the Country, Simon Rosenberg. He is long on data and short on impressions. This is where I get my head in the sand thinking from:
"As I wrote yesterday I think we entered the debate in a far stronger electoral position than Republicans. We got a remarkable amount of very good polling yesterday. The VP strengthened her already strong hand last night, and more than ever before, I would much rather be us than them.
Kamala Harris had a plan last night and she executed on it. She had a job to do and she did it. She succeeded because she was clearly incredibly well prepared, and in that clear evidence of her preparation she also signaled to us that she was prepared to take on her next big job, as the 47th President of the United States of America.
Friends, sometimes things are complicated in politics. Sometimes they are simple. What happened last night was simple - she kicked his ass, and in the process generated powerful moments which will continue to give voters important information about her and him for many days and weeks to come. It was another remarkable moment in what has been one of the most remarkable and impressive political campaigns in our lifetimes."
Simon Rosenberg
Funny you should quote Rosenberg LOL. He is hardly an independent source of critique (but I expect you already know this). its interesting to that you quote his comment about the "great polling data" we've taken in while so many others on here are claiming how FALSE all the poling data is. ROFLMAO I tend to take neither side, I look at the polling data independently and draw my. Own conclusions.
Rosenberg is also a very biased source favoring Silicon Valley capitalist Democrats over more progressive Democrats (at least he gets the Democrat part right).
Rosenberg said in 1999, "Our problem as a party is that the biggest source of our venture capital now comes from labor, which is a group that's becoming less and less important, and representing less and less of a percentage of American voters. [...] We have to replace labor's investment in the party with investment from another source, and hopefully from a source that's growing." I.e. he favored the growing dominance of the Bill Clinton neolib wing of the party (which got us Bush II and Trump I.)
You are welcome to consider him a source to quote but it doesn't make my positions false or wrong. Even he apparently had realized some of the "errors" of his earlier positions, as he recently closed the NDN (New Democratic Network) which is now considered passe.
Scrolling forward 25 years here is a look at what Simon Rosenberg is doing these days. This is from his Substack site Hopium. There are a lot of solid activist opportunities.
Hard Work Is Good Work. And We Are Going TO Win! - Our community has been busting it’s ass on elections all across the country since I launched Hopium in March of last year, but our most important work is the work we are going to do now in these final two months. This section spells out my recommendations on where you can put your time and money, and of course you are free to volunteer and donate beyond what we are doing here. We are still a start up here at Hopium, and while we are now more than 110,000 proud patriots, I want to remain narrow and focused on the places where I think your money and time can make the biggest difference. That’s why we’ve focused on non-incumbent open seat and challengers races and the Presidential race of course.
I am particularly excited about new Thursday night calling and postcarding events for the House candidates most likely to turn red seats to blue ones and flip the House this November. We’ve had a great turnout, we get a lot of work done and have lots of fun. Join us! It’s where the cool kids spend their Thursday nights!!!!!!
In the coming days, as we get in more data about our new electoral landscape, I will be updating my recommendations. For background, here’s my post on the strategy behind our candidate and state party endorsements, including our Presidential battleground “check” and “checkmate” strategy. Sign up to call or postcard for Mondaire Jones (NY-17) at tonight’s Winning The House Thursday. These events have been well-attended and fun - join us if you can!
Contribute, volunteer and win with the Hopium community today:
Harris-Walz!!!!!! - 1,045,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Merch | The Harris-Walz YouTube Channel - Friends, we are now over $1m raised for Harris-Walz, our House candidates and our three “checkmate” states - so amazing all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Winning The House - $1,037,000 raised, $1.5m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Sign Up For Our Thursday Night Winning The House Calling and Postcarding Series. Watch our recent discussion with Leader Hakeem Jeffries. To go deeper watch one of our interviews with our great candidates - Janelle Bynum (OR-5), George Whitesides (CA-27), Kirsten Engel (AZ-06) Will Rollins (CA-41), Laura Gillen (NY-04), Rudy Salas (CA-22), Josh Riley (NY-19), Tony Vargas (NE-02), Adam Gray (CA-13), Sue Altman (NJ-07) and Mondaire Jones (NY-17).
North Carolina - $452,000 raised, $500,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NC Dem Chair Anderson Clayton
Arizona/Ruben Gallego - $354,000 raised, $400,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with Ruben Gallego
Nebraska/Blue Dot - $165,000 raised, $200,000 goal- Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NE Dem Chair Jane Kleeb - and note for those who are focused on the Nebraska Senate race money into the NE Dem Party supports that race too. for elections listed.
Hard Work Is Good Work. And We Are Going TO Win! - Our community has been busting it’s ass on elections all across the country since I launched Hopium in March of last year, but our most important work is the work we are going to do now in these final two months. This section spells out my recommendations on where you can put your time and money, and of course you are free to volunteer and donate beyond what we are doing here. We are still a start up here at Hopium, and while we are now more than 110,000 proud patriots, I want to remain narrow and focused on the places where I think your money and time can make the biggest difference. That’s why we’ve focused on non-incumbent open seat and challengers races and the Presidential race of course.
I am particularly excited about new Thursday night calling and postcarding events for the House candidates most likely to turn red seats to blue ones and flip the House this November. We’ve had a great turnout, we get a lot of work done and have lots of fun. Join us! It’s where the cool kids spend their Thursday nights!!!!!!
In the coming days, as we get in more data about our new electoral landscape, I will be updating my recommendations. For background, here’s my post on the strategy behind our candidate and state party endorsements, including our Presidential battleground “check” and “checkmate” strategy. Sign up to call or postcard for Mondaire Jones (NY-17) at tonight’s Winning The House Thursday. These events have been well-attended and fun - join us if you can!
Contribute, volunteer and win with the Hopium community today:
Harris-Walz!!!!!! - 1,045,000 raised, $1m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Merch | The Harris-Walz YouTube Channel - Friends, we are now over $1m raised for Harris-Walz, our House candidates and our three “checkmate” states - so amazing all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Winning The House - $1,037,000 raised, $1.5m goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Sign Up For Our Thursday Night Winning The House Calling and Postcarding Series. Watch our recent discussion with Leader Hakeem Jeffries. To go deeper watch one of our interviews with our great candidates - Janelle Bynum (OR-5), George Whitesides (CA-27), Kirsten Engel (AZ-06) Will Rollins (CA-41), Laura Gillen (NY-04), Rudy Salas (CA-22), Josh Riley (NY-19), Tony Vargas (NE-02), Adam Gray (CA-13), Sue Altman (NJ-07) and Mondaire Jones (NY-17).
North Carolina - $452,000 raised, $500,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NC Dem Chair Anderson Clayton
Arizona/Ruben Gallego - $354,000 raised, $400,000 goal - Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with Ruben Gallego
Nebraska/Blue Dot - $165,000 raised, $200,000 goal- Donate | Volunteer | Learn More | Be sure to watch my interview with NE Dem Chair Jane Kleeb - and note for those who are focused on the Nebraska Senate race money into the NE Dem Party supports that race too.
All good points! I would add that his ONLY hope of getting out of his bad situation is to give up this political bent and get back to what he was better at doing: Cheating others out of their money faster than you can spend it. Good luck, donald!
Took the ‘pathetic ‘word right out of my mouth Laurie. Nothing else needs said.
As a life-long democratic ticket voter, who has soured on the Dems due to their wholesale abandoning of their former values, I would like to point out that Vice President Harris told as many lies as Trump did during the debate, but was not fact-checked by the moderators the way he was. I will vote for Trump because he has embraced the policies of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and will give RFK a platform from which to do his work of cleaning up the corruption in our government, ending the foreign wars and addressing the chronic disease epidemic in our country that is bankrupting us and disabling our children at an alarming rate. These are the values that Democrats used to have before they joined up with Big Pharma, Big Ag and the Military Industrial Complex, and started censoring anybody who said something they didn't like.
It the Republicans are gaslighting, telling lies and being nasty, we're not getting any better from the Democrats. Many of our worst impressions of Trump are based on lies and distortions. I urge you to read what Jenna McCarthy has to say about this.
https://jennasside.rocks/p/is-trump-as-bad-as-the-left-believes
He's still lying, egregiously so, the orange felon.
So let's go to the crux of so many lies, so much popularity for lying. Let's go to U.S. schools.
Face it.
They reduced 100 million Americans to slogan-wielding, sensation-craving cultists. An entire major political party, same. A formerly highest court to tyrants.
So, as answer, now: stop standardized testing. In every U.S. public school.
Not just because it reduces, and sets life to numbers.
Worse, to take over as it has, it drove out humanities, till everything those computer-graded instruments have done flies against the human, the natural.
The human and the natural spring from the odd, the unexpected, the serendipitous. The machinery of standardized testing, the opposite: props up the linear, the neutered, the abstracted and categorical – all lies to the human and the natural, so the orange felon should lie, the Clarence court be corrupt.
Throw it out. Let teachers return to humanities, with personal literacy as key.
I think the gullibility of so many Americans has multiple causes, but that they all are related, one way or another, to the class of folks who strive for absolute power, and I think school curricula have been impoverished by political forces that want to train, not educate the public.
Train versus educate. Keen perception, J.L. Thank you.
Yes!!! and to hear anyone say that the purpose of schools is to “educate a workforce” makes my skin crawl!
Schools have a major role in preparing students for their working life, but there is more to life than a job, and instruction in perceptive observation, focused, disciplined thinking, and fruitful approaches to turn outside-the-box creative thoughts into useful applied ideas and products, in science and engineering or the arts; or just in navigating the varied, vicissitudes of life (adaptability and resilience) that can be usefully applied to virtually any aspect of life, and certainly the workplace.
J L, those political forces are real. So are the ones emanating from narrow minded bigots.
There is nothing wrong with training young people to become independent, successful and productive workers or entrepreneurs. Actually, too often, we have pushed kids along, sending them to college where they could "mature" and drink beer. But with no goal of employment. There are significant efforts beginning to gain steam as industries coordinate with Community Colleges - actually telling them what type of employees they are desperate for. But much more needs to be done to prepare kids for work that works for them.
If a young person is completing his/her education and has had no exposure to work environments, we have failed.
But we can walk and chew gum at the same time. Teaching civics, humanities and critical thinking skills should not be "minors". Teaching the real history of our country should be required. "Government" needs to be a required course. And I would add "World Religions" to every high school. Sociology and psychology (how politicians manipulate) would be on my list as well. Oh and how about a class on "Cultism"? And, no kid should have a diploma without a complete understanding of how the Holocaust came to be. Because some version of it just keeps happening. Field trip to Sudan, maybe?
Some schools are getting it right. Our grandson learned about the culture of Japan - last year in his first grade class. It tied in with the section on diversity - and all its benefits.
This are wonderful ideas. I am going to toot the horn of my Alma Mater, Keuka College. I graduated from there in 1969. Their curriculum includes, for many years, what is known as Field Period, a 5 week period for experiential learning, when students work in a community experience, a cultural one, and a work experience in their major field of study during their junior and senior years. Ask any student, alumni, or college staff how successful this time is or was.
I'm thinking junior year of high school could also be good for work experience.
I'd like to see several, say, six-week periods of field work. Each one of five or six hours of apprentice-style training tied to two or three hours in a work-related classroom.
Students could choose from among hospitals, restaurant kitchens, computer labs, forestry management, housing construction, auto shop, office management, and mental health clinics. All could have good classroom correlates, each with humanities reading and discussion assignments.
Slavery and holocaust, the pattern of one abusing another. One group dominating another convinced that it is their destiny and Devine right and obligation.
Gjay15, I would expand on your comment. I want to caution against looking for better methods or approaches to education that ultimately replicate an inadequate system. For example, our economy depends in large part on the extraction and consumption of finite natural resources. We should challenge the kids to look at our economic system through a moral-ethical lens with regard to future inhabitants of our world. When we have available to us multiple ways to accomplish the same task, or goal, is it morally defensible to choose to employ the method that consumes irreplaceable natural resources instead of the method that does not consume irreplaceable resources?
In the case of production of electricity, there are small quibbles about the materials that go into the production of photovoltaic solar panels, but those materials are embedded in the panels and are not actually consumed in the same sense that coal and oil are burned, with the combustion byproducts dumped into our natural environment.
Our children should be encouraged to look at the long view into the distant future, to ponder what their descendants will be left with after we, the living, have unconscionably used up irreplaceable resources unnecessarily, solely to make a few people needlessly wealthy in our lifetime.
Instead of teaching our children how to be better at doing what we have been doing, encourage them instead to think about how to build a better future that will sustain them, and their descendants, long into the distant future.
And “expand “ you did. Thank you. The pursuit of comfort , convenience and certainty are like the pursuit of happiness when it leads to motivation, inspiration, creativity and active skepticism and criticism. But when it becomes the be all and end all and entitlement, it can be dangerous.
Throw Rupert out would do more good than anything
Elon too.
Urgent.
Oh, indeed
agree completely
Well stated; an educated populace scares them, a trained one is easier to manipulate.
All those facts that we spent years learning by rote in school are now available at a flick on our phones. Kids (and adults) don't need to be taught the capital cities of the world - they need to be taught how to think, research and analyse. Awards should be for those who come up with the best ideas, not the best set of facts.
The Japanese have already realised this - after years of intensive, breakdown inducing "parrot learning" they realised they were turning out idea free automatons. Not a good idea if your economy depends on innovative solutions.
Doesn't hurt to learn the capitals of the world as well.
People should be learning about how and why some of those cities became capitals, why and how countries have changed over time, the demographic, geographic and climate factors that drove history, how actual economics and politics works, etc.
Exactly.
Put them in some human context, Anne-Louise, and the learning goes much faster.
That's what gives them meaning.
See Louise answer below. Totally agree. Just - don't learn the capitals to learn the capitals. Learn them for something you are actually doing.
Like how you say "The Japanese have already reali[z]ed this," Lady Emsworth.
Trouble is, the ministry of education has not. It still inflicts on schools a total tyranny of nothing other than hosts, barrages, batteries of nothing more than standardized tests.
For these tests (and thousands of expensive, private late-night cram schools in abject terror of them), schools have totally stopped reading any novels or any other decent humanities. Instead, everything gets fragmented for the tests. Meaningless fragments A), B), C), or D). No human context. The trivia of short-term memory and other corporate "rationality" triumphs to breed more living dead workaholics. (Minae Mizumura, "The Fall of Language in the Age of English," English translation by Columbia U Press, 2016.)
Very powerful insight. I have had the sensation that we are being reduced in our humanity but that most of us are too worried about the future to pay attention or to do anything about it. Messrs Vance (nom-de-semaine) and Trump (nom-de-nerd) prove how inhuman thinking starts.
Right on, Phil! (why doesn’t the like button work anymore?)
You are not alone! - mine doesn't either. HELP!
Get out and then get back in. (Mine's OK, btw)
Mine is ok too.. delete temporary internet files may help too.
It works - on my computer, but not on my tablet... Can't figure out why.
It is a recurring, intermittent glitch. Sigh.
As an old IT problem-solver, my instinct is that the system (Substack's machinery) sometimes gets over-burdened when many people are writing/posting at the same time in the wake of a popular topic or event - such as the debate. The last time it happened to me, I did some testing, in the form of reacting to a post, recording the time I reacted, and then watched to see how long it took for the "like" to appear. Not knowing precisely how the system works we can only guess what's actually happening. What I observed "maps over" what is often called "queuing", wherein many users are active at the same moment, clicking "like" at the same time, to the extent that the machinery cannot keep up in real time, so it stores every response in a memory "queue" and then sends it out in the order it was received, as soon as possible. The last time I studied it, the lag time varied from ten or twenty seconds, to several minutes. I never saw one disappear completely. One source reported that 67 million people watched the debate. It seems reasonable to assume that a proportionally large number of people have been using Substack at the same time, certainly more than on an average weeknight when the news of the day is the "same old, same old". My two cents.
I had a very kind reply from one Lynell yesterday. When I tried to like and reply, Substack wouldn't allow either.
Now, this edit added: hers to me came to me, but it doesn't show at all on what the Heather public sees. And, as I said above, I couldn't like or reply to her let alone the larger site.
Attacking the schools was one of the first things that Ronald Reagan, with his Stafford Report, did. Using the "why can't Johnny read" meme, he created the excuse to strip things like critical thinking from the curriculum, and reduce it to rote memorization.
Victor David Hanson is a Classicist and well respected as a scholar. Yet his political views are insane. Intelligence and learning is no guarantee - and I say this as a Classicist. Here is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote from prison, if memory serves in 1943 or 1944 on human stupidity. You can read the whole brief one page essay in the link:
https://nsjonline.com/article/2021/12/bonhoeffer-on-stupidity/
“The horror of ignorance is incapacity”.
― Daniel R. DeNicola MIT ("Plato’s Cave and the Stubborn Persistence of Ignorance").
Humanities education was once seen as the foundation of character and necessary for preparing a child to take their rightful place in a free world. Now personal opinion and popular ignoration have supplanted the quest of truth and knowledge. This trend is pushed through the misuse of emergent technology. For example: Hitler used the newly invented radio to spread his "message". Nothing good will ever come of this. Instead of preparing our children to be free we are preparing them to keep their places in a future tyranny.
You might be overdoing this, Phil. What is true is that in esp southern Republican states are economic and hence social havenots in the USA. They rate lower on most social-economic indices. Standardized testing is found across the country. You might also look at how effective gerrymandering has been in what are currently Republican, even Democrat states.
Please, Frank, check Diane Ravitch's "The Language Police."
Read its many score pages of appendices detailing the corporate orthodoxies of neutering everyone.
Our worst are not the (former) working class deplorables, but today's elite law school and M.B.A. grads geared to assist in profit taking to help float our most nihilist billionaires.
I dont think this has anything to do with standardized testing, Phil, which is what i was responding to. Corporate profit maximizing is no different than what you find in Adam Smith. Modern technology though has had a huge effect on centralizing economic institutions and creating oligarchies and virtual monopolies, in fact the corporate barons justified a lot of their monopolistic behavior on just that fact. It's been on and off bouts with state regulation ever since. I guess you need to take this up with virtually every American administration since when, whether Dem or GOP. I guess you could say the Marx was right, after all. He condemned it. David Hume and many others have praised it.
". . . monopolistic behavior" has "been on and off bouts with state regulation ever since."
Nice, Frank.
I've been reading the recent book by William Hogeland, "The Hamilton Scheme." All about this founding of the U.S., with the need to placate the money connections as central.
Thank you for your comment. I would add the importance of making every public school equal in funding so every kid gets a quality education that involves active learning which goes beyond regurgitating what ever “facts “ are presented. This education would promote skepticism and critical thinking. And it is necessary to provide at least breakfast and lunch for every student even those whose families can well afford feeding their own.
Sigh, Gjay15.
A world where people care for others?
Or see them as units to be milked, exploited, raped, packaged, set in Handmaids Tales?
I would posit that it has been the defunding more than the standardization that is responsible for the loss of intellectual rigor in younger generations. We have deprioritized education to the point where funding is almost an afterthought. When we allowed this to be done by states, the burden of funding moved to localities where that burden falls heavily on people who own real estate or have greater wealth to be taxed, while also having greater influence over tax decisions in local governments. In my state, they sold voters on the lottery, promising it would bring millions of dollars in for education. Well who doesn’t want education better funded if it’s not raising their personal property taxes? As soon as the measure passed, the state quit spending formerly allocated tax dollars on schools and let the lotteries fund it, as promised. But what was sold as additional funding turned out to only be a different way to under-fund. The education dollars mysteriously disappeared into other budget line items and our schools are no better off now than they were. Large class sizes, poor teacher pay, deferred school maintenance and development, and yes, pigeon-hole tests meant to replace real teaching all lead to poorer outcomes and higher dropout rates. Until we make education a top priority in our communities the right will continue to criticize, degrade and defund public education in service to creating a classed education hierarchy of the haves and have-nots. You think people don’t know how to think critically now; just wait til they get power! It can get worse.
And by Nov
Fair enough. But not far enough.
Until my tax dollars no longer get siphoned to private schools run by religious hacks for indoctrinating children in authoritarianism, the concept of public education will remain a bad joke.
"100 million Americans "
Where did you get this number?
Trump received 74.2 million votes in the 2020 election. Where did the additional come from?
Good Q, Barbara.
I rounded off. Thought of using the exact number of votes for the orange felon. Decided instead to guess also at the many abysmally educated who don't vote.
And yet, post-debate polling shows the needle has barely moved. Why?
Taylor Swift’s endorsement might have the greatest impact. We’re all Swifties now!
Polls are biased, inaccurate, and are subject to bribes by the GQP Domestic Terrorist party. That Nate Sliver creep was exposed a day or so ago when it was revealed that TUMP loving billionaire Peter Thiel was paying Sliver to rig the polls to show TUMP with a much bigger lead than he really has. Polls are mostly useless propaganda. Source, www.rawstory.com.
Could you post a link to that direct article or at least its title? Your link goes to the main page of Raw Story and I can’t find the story.
https://www.rawstory.com/nate-silver-is-paid-by-peter-thiel-never-trumper-scrambles-after-pro-trump-poll-predict/
Thanks so much Gail!
Big thanks to you, Gail. I have NO experience with posting links whatsoever!
Not sure I find this credible. Silver - who is no longer 538 - doesn't use Polymarket as the source of his predictions, nor does he work for anyone else that I'm aware of. I do find the conclusions of his model disheartening, but do not think it's propaganda. He gives detailed explanations of his methodology. That doesn't mean he's infallible, but is another perspective with extensive experience. The problem, well documented in these comments, is the Electoral College, which skews heavily toward Republicans. Because of it, we run elections that ignore most of the country. Down ballot choices are in turn heavily driven by what happens at the top, plus extreme gerrymandering in the House. And the disturbing environment of gross dishonesty and threats of violence is atop this. A 38% probability of winning isn't zero (see Trump 2016), but the hill is steep. Stuart Stevens, who I think is clear-eyed about many things, for months was pushing the fantasy that Biden was going to win big. His heart is in the right place, but I put little faith in his predictions.
I put NO faith in Nate Sliver, PERIOD! He is a GQP leaning creep as far as i am concerned. That Electoral University, College or whatever people call it needed to be abolished decades ago. It's an ancient outdated system that no other nation in the world uses in their elections. And i agree totally with you about the facts you stated about all of the unfair items that are heavily skewed to benefit the GQP Domestic Terrorist party. The threats of violence and extreme dishonesty are beyond disgusting to me personally. I don't believe in polls from anyone because of the tiny percentage of the total voting population that polls are taken from. I did the math, and polls represent 0.08% of voters. That's way less than 1 percent. That Senator, ''Tommy Tuberville'' stupid idiot stated in an article on the Raw Story site that read, '' There is going to be hell to pay if we don't win the elections'' What kind of deluded, insane idiots are these mentally challenged bullies???? Do they think promoting violence and hate makes them look tough and invincible? It makes them look ignorant and cowardly in my opinion.
It appears that to some people this is what passes for strength. Not much we can do about that. I remember in 2016 thinking how shallow and stupid it was to say he'd be busy making America great again, but millions fell for it and still do.
Gail Adams has the correct link to the article in the comment just below your comment. I am sorry about this, i am not familiar with posting correct links to the exact article. I have to admit, i am not good at doing that. The Raw Story site has a bad habit of taking down articles by the hour. Being on their site for an extended period causes my computer to lock down and freeze up. The ''Daily KOS'' site does that to my computer also. I suspect the torrent of useless ads they display causes that.
No worries John, I understand!
Ok, thanks, Patrick. I am usually fairly good with the computer, but i am really dumb when it comes to posting links.
I couldn’t find anything about Nate Silver there
https://www.rawstory.com/nate-silver-is-paid-by-peter-thiel-never-trumper-scrambles-after-pro-trump-poll-predict/
I always suspected that
"Let's go Swifties!" (Clap, Clap, clap-clap-clap.)
Yeah. If the Electoral College decides on Trump - it's gonna have the Swiftie Army to deal with!
With so few voters truly undecided, there is not much needle to move. But that quiver in those battle-ground states will determine the election.
A large portion of people eligible to vote, do not. Increased energy has been going into bringing them into the fold.
But I am one of the static-needle types. At this point, Vice President could have sat through the debate catatonically drooling and I would still vote for her.
When I was young, I didn't pay attention to politics at all. Because of that, I was easily swayed by the opinions of friends. Young people (or any) who don't pay attention are still pressured to vote as their civic duty. I hate to think of my votes then, sometimes for nothing more than names on paper. Would be great if the candidates' names had a brief summary of their positions next to it. At least uniformed voters would then be voting for ideas rather than names.
Are there real polls already? You wrote at about 4a Thursday, I’m reading 8a. Barely 30 hours.
I think it will take a while for the info of tge debate to percolate through the potential electorate. 65M people watched, they say, but that’s mostly committed voters rooting for their team. Give it a week, might take two.
The kind of people that answer poll questions are not representative of the overall electorate. Pollsters have to seriously manipulate the responses they get to try to mimic what the voting public as a whole will do. This requires turn out models which could be WILDLY wrong. Much more wrong than their so-called "margin of error" values that they quote ... those margins assume their sampling is unbiased, but we know that's BS. There is no way they are sampling enough younger voters to measure the effect of Taylor Swift endorsement. They have been massively off in most elections in the last 2 years, because they do not know how to model the effects of the Dobbs decision and abortion ballot measures on turn out, and they don't know how to gauge relative enthusiasm, other than asking respondents whether they are likely yo vote ... which completely misses enthusiasm of the people who don't answer polls. I also suspect that there are a lot of people trolling the pollsters with answers they think pollsters want to hear. A great example last week if polling gone wrong was where a research firm targeted undocumented immigrants who were asked if they were registered to vote - many of them said yes because they thought the pollsters were going to try to get them to register if they said no!
Sorry but your comment here is WAY off the mark. "They (the polls) have been massively off in most elections the past two years"!!??? What biased talking head are you listening to? Despite many unpredictable trends indeed, the polls for the last TWO years have been amazingly accurate. Not perfect as you might wish but very very close to the final results (mostly showing and resulting in democratic wins in off year elections). This is why the polls showing Biden in very serious trouble were so critical. He was going to lose this election and bring down the Democratic party and possibly the country with it. You can thank your lucky stars that enough period realized that in time and convinced Joe to step aside. Otherwise instead of a toss up race in November (as the polls now show) we would be heading for a fascist dictatorship under Trump FOR CERTAIN. Sorry if this sounds argumentative but I find it amazing that people will make comments like yours without looking at the facts.
So it turns out that Kamala Harris clearly showed that she was the perfect candidate to run against Donald Trump. She did what Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Chris Christi, and other Republican and Democratic opponents could not. She put Trump in his place, right where he belongs.
I’m so happy and relieved with the amazing and hopeful advance in the status of our democracy.
Just think, it appears that we will elect a black woman as our President who will be sworn in by a black Supreme Court Justice on Martin Luther King day!
PS: I wish I could write so clearly and succinctly as Heather Cox Richardson. What a great summary of the current state of affairs! Thank you so much!
And she will be President when we celebrate 250 years of democracy! That’s a glorious image!
I was thinking about 9/11 this morning because it was one of those historic moments in time that you forever remember where you were when you found out something tragically epic was happening.
My husband called me to tell me to turn on the TV that morning after I had just come home from taking my oldest to kindergarten, and so it was a little after 9am when I saw in real-time Flight 175 crashing into the side of the south tower of the World Trade Center, after Flight 11 had already crashed into the north tower. And then news of the other plane crashes came in during the morning.
Flight 93 will never be forgotten in the Bay Area, and at least one street locally was renamed, for Tom Burnett.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Burnett
I lived in N.Y.C. at that time but was in Detroit to bury my uncle, a decorated hero of the Pacific theatre. https://nedmcdletters.blogspot.com/2011/09/tenth-of-september-2001.html The day itself was hard to shake; I still get chills when I see a clip of that second plane crashing into the other tower. https://nedmcdletters.blogspot.com/2011/09/tenth-of-september-2001.html EDIT: starting the days after, the day of ignominy has haunted me ever since. https://nedmcdletters.blogspot.com/2011/09/12th-13th-of-september-2001.html
They kept showing it, in a loop. I was in Paris. French radio/TV flew a team to New York for a week to keep on-the-spot despatches going. Whenever they gave us the time, they gave us the time in NY as well.
Chilling.
That's some story about Tom Burnett. And how extraordinary to search for your birth parents - and find that one of them was an international hero!
I still remember the phone call from my husband, and my reaction that "was it one of those sight seeing flights?" and not being able to believe what was happening. Being sent hime from work because of being in a tower block not far from the Pentagon. Followed by weeks of not sleeping, reliving the sight of the towers collapsing. We will never forget.
You are right, we will never forget. 60 Minutes devoted their entire program to the Firefighters in NY last Sunday, it was, like everything about 9/11 deeply moving. Never forget indeed! 🙏
I was in England on 9/11. It was surreal to watch what was going on in the US while hearing the commentary of British and European commentators.
What boggles my mind is that Trump supporters can look at the debate, see how he did, listen to his absolutely delusional claims that he won, then still decide that he is the best person to be POTUS (in charge of nuclear codes and the rest of our lives for the next 4 years).
Because he said exactly what they want to hear: immigrants are responsible for all the crime and job loss they've experienced in their lives, not their lack of skills and education. Democrats want to take away their guns, kill babies after they're born and allow women (and the greatest crime of all) people of color to be treated equally to men. All the BS is just reinforcing what they already feel is so unfair and and a personal affront.
His supporters are not thinkers, at least not in the realm of politics. They are wholesale consumers of T's personality--his bluster, his (self-claimed) authority, his own facile ravings, his anger, his lies. Because they have bought what he is selling, they don't recognize that they have relinquished their independence of thought and integrity. Not only is this dangerous for them and for the rest of us, but how sad this all is!
Best description of his followers I've read. And just think how much integrity it takes for someone to realize they have made a mistake and change their preference? That's why they vote against their self-interest. It is too hard to make such a drastic change.
Research indicates his fan base thought he OWNED the debate. His Truth Social posts get thousands of responses, most of them positive.
Can that be considered mass hysteria?
The only people on Truth Social are dedicated Trump fans and journalists reporting on Trump.
And a few moles and masochistic lurkers (aHEM!)
They have bought into the idea that we are in a crisis at the border and that they will be better off financially with Trump. There needs to be more pushback on these issues with the truth.
It does boggle the mind, but at this point I think of them as addicts - people who no longer think but are totally intoxicated by the mortal mix of lies, hatred and racism he feeds them non stop.
Many thanks Heather for another helpful post giving content that I would otherwise have missed and context (connecting the dots). I am having a hard time pulling myself away from the post-debate coverage. In a Red Sox fan so I am always worried that the worst has yet to happen 🙃 but I believe in the innate intelligence and integrity of the D ticket. Harris was masterful during the debate while offering such a contrast to the petty viciousness of Trump. Walz’s interview with Maddow was so pitch perfect and what a contrast to the pitch room manure shoveling of Vance!
She wasn't just masterful - she was also kind. And that really came across as a contrast to trump's surly meanness. It must have taken enormous self restraint for her not to verbally tear trump to shreds - but she just treated him like the deranged old grandad he is. The only thing she missed saying was "Nearly ten o'clock, Donnie - do you want a hot milk and biscuits before we put you to bed?"
In short, Vice President Harris not only kicked the former President's hiney -- admittedly an easy target -- but she also showed the world her joie de vivre and his petulance. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2qgifi Finally, we are laughing this clown off the stage as we should have been all along.
Hopefully, she had metaphorical sani-covers on her shoes before kicking that hiney, since the contents of diapers are well-known.
Wish I could put a pic. of Snoopy laughing, with Woodstock, on a 'rollie-coaster' saying something like: always find a reason to laugh; it may not add years to your life but it will add life to your years.
Republicans aren’t backing away from him because he’s demented, or because he’s a psychopath and totally incompetent and profoundly stupid. They’ve known that for years and haven’t cared. They’re backing away because they see their own sinecures being threatened, that’s all.
Great post Heather!! I kept the news off after Morning Joe this morning. I needed a break. Thanks for connecting all the dots for us. Trump is such an imbecile. I'm glad to hear the Republicans in Congress are pulling away from him too. It's better late than never. Onward we go to November. I doubt there will be a second debate. He is too much of a coward. Go Kamala!!!! 💙🇺🇸💙
Lisa, I completely agree with you - on all of it. I ignored the news yesterday (11th) because I am too sad still over 9/11 and I didn’t want to hear more of the debate coverage. Looking at it this morning, first I read this and I feel a great deal of relief to be honest. We have a lot of hard work to do, but I really do believe we can do it.
What a sore loser the 2-year old orange clown has shown himself to be! What a tantrum-wielding, overgrown baby!
Can not wait for Senator Vance to wet his pants with Knute Rockne on 01oct24. 🤭🏉🥳
MAGA Takedown Part II.
I will be interested to see how a CSM handles a corporal.
Not the first crazy corporal in history though better educated.
But we knew that.
As someone who had relatives occupied in Denmark and Norway and grew up with the lessons of fascism from WWII, I find it incomprehensible that anyone could support this creature. But I am now alienated from my family over this, so there it is - not everyone got my parents memo. His candidacy was a dealbreaker for me, not just with my family, but my neighbors and country, so I confess to being an expat. I'm also a retired ancient historian, and here is what keeps me up at night.
Trump wins. NATO loses the buckle on its belt, which is the US. Although it has done so imperfectly, and been wrong in so many ways, the hegemony of that western alliance, in conjunction with our alliances in Asia, have helped to maintain a relative stability, a unity, and a prosperity that is essential in a nuclear armed world. To relinquish it, to give up on it, is not an option.
In my retirement I have turned from a scholar of Rome's late republic and high empire to late antiquity and the Middle Ages. You would not want to have been around as centralized Roman power collapsed and Europe morphed, from a series of cities with all manner of amenities, all connected with roads, and mostly unwalled, to become a hodgepodge of fragmented barbarian states, each at war with the other, each pursuing its own interests, and none coming close to the resources Rome could once upon a time muster.
Of course, as the nation state began to take its modern shape in the 16th century going forward, the fragmented states that once made up the empire and emerged as modern European states rarely lived in peace until the post war order was set in place after 1945. NATO is not to be discarded with levity. Putin will see fit, if Ukraine is abandoned, to eye Poland and the Baltic States next. It is an old story of revanchist visions of glory.
Looming over all of this is the catastrophe of climate change. Individual nations are already being impacted by the stress as climate chaos becomes an increasingly lived reality. Hence events such as the war in Syria, conflict in East Africa, and political instability in the Middle East, with attendant immigration crises which puts further stress on democracies in the north. Climate change is not the cause of difficulties on our own southern border, but it is a contributing factor - what historians call a stressor that leads to other unintended consequences, such as racist demagogues casting doubt on democratic norms.
It is unfathomable to me that anyone could be so reckless or foolish as to support Trump, but here we are. There are but three choices, none of them good, for doing so: either one lacks moral character, is profoundly ignorant, or a person of malice, spite, and hate. There is no other reason for supporting a criminal, racist, rapist, insurrectionist, ignoramus, traitor, and fascist. To conclude, let me add qua Roman historian that there is no remote comparison to Caligula, Nero, Commodus, Elegabalus, or any other ne'er-do-well Roman emperor you care to name. He is far more dangerous and, I suspect, equally as deranged.
PROLONGED APPLAUSE!!!
But no joy to be living through such times and to think of the suffering to be visited on all those who will follow us.
Thanks for the kind words. I hope to gods I am wrong and Harris is elected. Yes, if not, we will confront historic shame, but at least posterity will know some of us were on the right side.
I like your assessment here, Steve! I have thought long and hard about why so many of my fellow cop retirees are so supportive of fpotus, beginning with their loss of respect for the FBI following first the Muller probe, and then the search warrant service at Merde a Lardo and continuing to this day with their reliance on Russian disinformation sources for their position articulations. I am not a student of history or a student of human behavior. What I do see is that apparently, what appeals to them is that they crave a strongman who will "return" white, Christian, heteronormative, cisgendered men to the top of the heap, placing all the rest of us below them. Many of them have completely abandoned all critical thought, and eat up negative memes like candy, along with the disinformation peddled by their favorite "news" sources.
Your conclusion that fpotus is far more dangerous and equally deranged as any of the Roman emperors you name is accurate.
Thanks for your thoughts - fyi I am a native Oregonian, though I lived in New England, Europe, and DC for many years. I was sorry to feel compelled to leave, but did so both for professional (I still continue to write and am a pre-modern European historian - it made no sense to spend retirement in the US) and political reasons. Cheers and keep up the fight!
"But lies have never damaged him; they reinforce his dominance by forcing subordinates to agree that the person in charge gets to determine what reality is. Victims must surrender either their integrity or their ownership of their own perceptions; in either case, once they have agreed to a deliberate lie, it becomes harder to challenge later ones since that means acknowledging the other times they caved."
This citation by Dr Cox Richardson reminds me of the 'Taming of the Shrew', which many class-mates at my boys' school liked but I had not read until a few months ago. I wonder how those class-mates are voting fifty years later. I did not like the play because of its depiction of breaking the will of an albeit difficult woman by her brutal husband. Like Petruchio, Trump is a creep; like Petruchio, Trump wins in a fantasy world; and, unlike Petruchio, Trump is a loser in the real world. Vice President Harris handed the former President's a monopoly card last night:
GO TO HELL.
GO DIRECTLY TO HELL.
DO NOT PASS GO.
DO NOT COLLECT TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS.
It’s a shame trump and vance have no shame. While discussing the debate with friends last night, we agreed that their nasty doubling down on their pet eating story may have brutal consequences for the Haitian immigrants. I pray that none are harmed but we Americans love our pets and despise people who may harm them. These two just don’t give a hoot if their words could hurt someone . In fact, I think in their sick world, they relish the thought someone may be harmed. My constant baffling question, why would a decent human being vote for these scum? On the upside, thank you Taylor Swift and the Swifties who are registering to vote!!!
Does JDVance not remember that his own wife is the child of immigrants & that his 3 children are grandchildren of immigrants from India?
Thank you Professor Richardson.
"Representative Dan Meuser, a Trump supporter from the swing state of Pennsylvania, told Jasper Goodman and Eleanor Mueller of Politico that he supports a cut. “You’ve got to put the greater good ahead of looking political,” he said."
Rep. Meuser should consider his statement to Politico. From my perspective you've got to put the greater good ahead of BEING political. A campaign is different from governing. If his constituents will benefit from an interest rate adjustment -he should be working to support the adjustment regardless of party popularity.
There should be a vast difference between campaigning and governance. No one should be elevated to office who is there to "Own the Libs". Whether Congress, City Council, Board of Supervisors, Governor, or School Board members -your actions and commitment should be loyalty to the Constitution, the nation, and your constituents. Not to a sociopathic circus best left to the Jerry Springer Show.
Again, you’ve given an honest and accurate assessment! Even Jerry Springer would probably be embarrassed by the MAGA philosophy!
Thanks Anthony. And yes, I think Jerry eventually regretted what he unleashed upon the world. I guess he wasn't expecting Jim Jordan, James Comer, JD Vance, Lauren Boebert, M-T (head) Greene and others to model Congress after his show.
Thank you Prof Richardson. I left the debate early for self-care. I’m
Worn out w every encounter with T’s snide tone and provocative man cave aggression.
I Ck’d back at the end to see and hear VP Harris’ facial expression & tone of voice. She was in total control and unruffled to my great pleasure. No matter what had unfolded she had remained ‘in charge’ and
Warmly Approachable! To my deep relief and great Joy!
I watched it in much the same way. I literally cannot bear to look at the man or hear him speak. So I would stop my ears and look away when he did speak and only watch when she spoke.
I then read a transcript of the debate and amused myself by fact-checking The Vile One’s more odious and absurd lies
I was feeling jubilant after the debate, thinking how could we possibly lose. Then this email came from Robert Reich, who says:
I hate to rain on your parade, because I too feel the energy and hope of the Harris-Walz campaign, and Vice President Kamala Harris knocked it out of the park last night at the debate. But if the election were tomorrow, the most likely outcome would be Vice President Kamala Harris narrowly winning the popular vote but Donald Trump winning the Electoral College.
Yes, that means a Trump presidency. And deep trouble for our country, democracy, and world. You know we've been here before.
Remember when Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the presidency because of the Electoral College and the Supreme Court? When George W. Bush became president due to 537 disputed votes in Florida—and a Supreme Court ruling?
And when Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by millions … but lost the Electoral College, and thus the presidency, in 2016?
I have to admit that, while I have faith that the majority of Americans will make the right choice, I have little faith in the Electoral College.
The Electoral College gives a massive, profoundly unfair benefit to the Republican Party.
It's because of the Electoral College that one of the nation's top election forecasters, Nate Silver, now gives Trump a 64.4% chance of winning the presidency. According to his highly respected, nonpartisan model, Vice President Harris has only a 35.3% chance of victory.1
Here's the thing: Right now, millions of people, many of them young and/or in marginalized communities, are going to sit out this election. Many don't believe their vote matters. And many face huge obstacles to voting, in part due to MAGA voter suppression laws and the Supreme Court's evisceration of the Voting Rights Act.
Data from The New York Times shows that Vice President Harris is not doing well with these inconsistent, less-engaged voters. Specifically, Vice President Harris trails Trump by 6 points among voters who didn't vote in the 2022 midterms.2
–Robert Reich
Sources:
1. "Nate Silver Election Forecast Shows Trump's Lead Growing Ahead of Debate," Newsweek, September 10, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/196856?t=8&akid=405810%2E58474276%2EIr84Hf
2. "As Groups Have Shifted, Has It Become a 'Normal' Election?" The New York Times, September 4, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/196626?t=10&akid=405810%2E58474276%2EIr84Hf
3. "Did Biden win by a little or a lot? The answer is ... yes." NBC News, December 20, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/186364?t=12&akid=405810%2E58474276%2EIr84Hf
4. "Largest-Ever Study on Relational Organizing Shows 8.3% Increase in Turnout," Impactive, October 9, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/165496?t=14&akid=405810%2E58474276%2EIr84Hf
I read Robert Reich, Joyce Vance, and Dr. Richardson consistently. I read the caution from RR. While I don’t understand how there can be that level of support for that thin a veneer of humanity, I have to accept the reality. I am a registered independent raised in a staunchly Republican family. Though independent politically, I have not voted Republican for President since Bob Dole in 1996. My State, Colorado, has become a solidly blue State by vote count. I’m grateful for that. Even in Colorado I find far too many individuals who are still planning to vote Republican because party is the number one consideration. They seemingly have little understanding of the fragility of Democracy, even in America.
Thanks to Heather for another excellent summary of the activities of the day.
So - what do we do if Kamala wins the popular vote by 10 million - but loses to the Electoral College?
This is lunacy worse than trump's.
Well, we COULD claim the election was stolen and stage a coup, but that usually doesn't turn out very well!
This demonstrably corrupt, accountable to nobody SCOTUS would toss our claims. We'd then feel the system was rigged against Kamala.
(Wow, this sounds so familiar!!)
The company that Nate Silver founded, 538, gives Harris a FAR better chance of winning than Silver himself. Which model is being used by whom?
538 is owned by a Peter Thiel invested company. https://www.rawstory.com/nate-silver-is-paid-by-peter-thiel-never-trumper-scrambles-after-pro-trump-poll-predict/
If I am correctly informed, Silver now works for another company, which is indeed funded by Thiel. He no longers runs 538.
I also get those fundraising emails from “Robert Reich” / MoveOn.Org and promptly delete.
Interesting they cite Nate Silver’s election forecast. Silver was hired by Polymarket, funded by
right-wing billionaire, Peter Thiel.
https://www.coindesk.com/arc/outboundfeeds/yahoo/nrys8o/?outputType=xml
I’m still feeling jubilant about the debate but realize there’s still much work to be done.GOTV!
✍️🏃🏻♀️💲📲 👕🛒
And yet again, Reich pulls most of this from Corporate media which has a huge financial interest in seeing the Dems lose. With due respect to RR, a seeming bent for doing the above is why I dropped him a long time ago.