It's not Trump's deterioration, desperation and lies that frighten me, but that 7000 admirers still wanted to see him at his Wisconsin rally today. And many of them, plus thousands or millions of other Americans, still think he should be president.
It's not Trump's deterioration, desperation and lies that frighten me, but that 7000 admirers still wanted to see him at his Wisconsin rally today. And many of them, plus thousands or millions of other Americans, still think he should be president.
It's the ones who walk out on him, though, that have me curious. How many are backing away now? We may never know. But they are starting to walk out on him in person.
His psychopathy is such that he doesn't see those people or he lies to himself about why they're walking out.
I'm even more concerned by the people at the panel with economic big wigs who applauded his nonsensical responses to their serious policy questions. What the fork is wrong with them?
Lawrence OтАЩDonnell had an amazing segment on MSNBC about the applause in NYC. It was fantastic. He is doing what EVERY journalist should be doingтАФ-as HCR did tonightтАФ-and calling him out as the lunatic he is.
There were clapping rich people in Nazi Germany. They were so glad they did not have a communist speaking, because the communists were going to unionize. Unions terrify fascists!
Greed has No Limit... DJT is a Product of the Inbred Money Class of NYC.. The 'Clappers' were probably Slavering in Anticipation of their promised Tax-Cut... DJT has delivered for them in 2017, and if Elected again, will deliver again...
Wow. I'd read the "child care" response in print, but seeing & hearing it come out of his mouth? and then hearing the applause that followed? OMG. (Trump also looked like he fell asleep under a sun lamp.)
We have to all think seriously about his comment on childcare. For him to say that there are other issues that would dwarf childcare costs are mind baffling on its own. It's bad enough that he never answered the question, but wrongly implied that all his other monied interests would somehow take care of the childcare crisis. If we all watch the clip by O'Donnell, one will notice the people on DJT's left clapping after his statement: all those, *except the one* who asked the prescient question of what relief for childcare the Donald would support should he become president. She knew that he was full of sh*t! But all those other guys were simply lining up to kiss his a$$.
(1) There's nothing wrong with "preaching to the choir." The choir needs inspiration to keep singing. (2) "Local paper"? If you're lucky enough to still have one, who do you think reads it? I'm betting it's mostly members of the choir.
I saw a clip of the child care question but seeing the entire question made his answer and the applause much, much worse.
The fact that the man who would be president (again) cannot get it through his thick skull that tariffs do not harm the country on which they are placed but the consumers of the countries who enact them. Even worse, Trump has a bachelor's degree in economics from an Ivy League school!
DJT was Gifted an Admission to Wharton because a Professor liked his older Brother Freddy... DJT came in during his 3rd Year in College... Allegedly DJT paid someone to take the SATs for him per Mary Trump... Noticed how DJT's Academic, and Medical Records were seized when he became President?
I wish wish wish... everyone commenting on the costs to consumers from tariffs would explain step by step how that works. The shorthand statement that says simply that tariffs cost the consumer completely ignores that most consumers have no idea why that is.
Emphasis needs to be on who pays the tariff. The American importer of the product into into the U.S. pays the tariff to the U.S. government. The importer then gets that tariff cost back by adding a share of that cost on to the price of the product you or I buy.
Easy peasy, right? But it appears to be terribly difficult for reporters and journalists to even comprehend. Of course tffg doesnt understand it nor does he want to - just something to say!
"Is it the Justice Department indictments that showed Russia is working to get him reelected? Is it the rising popularity of Democratic nominees Kamala Harris and Tim Walz? Is it fury at the new grand juryтАЩs indicting him for his attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election and install himself in power? Is it fear of TuesdayтАЩs debate with Harris? Is it a declining ability to grapple with reality?"
I'll tell you what it is. It's the mother of all conspiracy theoriesтАФthe theory that some people are important, other people are not, and тАЬIтАЭ am one of the important people. Add enough time and power, and you get Trump, Putin, Musk, Hitler, Stalin, etc. Add time and anger at being powerless to control the "unimportant" people, and you get the authoritarian's supporters, including the panel with economic big wigs who applauded his nonsensical responses to their serious policy questions.
Or, when a large enough majority adopt the mother of all valid theoriesтАФthe theory that every human being is equally importantтАФpolitical issues are easily resolved, including those related to the economy, crime, healthcare, immigration, education, etc.
James, it would seem that even when every human being is equally important as with crime before the law, tRump gets special treatment тАжwhich goes on, and on, and on...
Except that in the U.S. it's not remotely true that "every human being is equally important . . . before the law." Trump stands out, true, because he's at the tip of the iceberg. Justice in U.S. courts depends very much on what legal help you can afford.
Trump is an extraordinary case. Whether through guile and/or luck, he has been able to manipulate the legal system for yonks. It's only now that he's actually paying a price, both literally and figuratively. Probably his greatest win, and the nation's greatest loss, was when the US Senate failed to find him guilty after the first impeachment. If they had we wouldn't be here.
The authoritarian's success depends on getting enough people to give up. Every human being is equally important before the law if enough people believe that every human being is equally important before the law. If every human being is not equally important before the law, then it is because not enough people believe it. So, we're all counting on each other to not give up.
Please don't conflate a certain secondary sex characteristic which has been celebrated in paintings and sculpture, and which is attractive to both genders, with the former guy. Writing tRump does nothing to hurt him.
i love what you just said. the first part strikes me as brilliant, and true. The second part (when human equality reins) may or may not turn out to be true. it's hard to imagine political issues being easily resolved under ANY circumstance. but you help me understand the inevitability of what threatens to crush us all. let us pray (i'm not religious, btw. these days, i wish i were!)
What is your definition of religion? Mine is the idea that we live in a social system, the bonds holding the system togetherтАФso that the system can workтАФweaken over time, and so part of the "being human" job is to strengthen bonds.
The word "religion" comes from the Latin words for "redo" and "ligament", and a "ligament" is a binding. If you're working to resolve the dilemmas that inevitably emerge within and between people, you're religious in my books. And anyone who works to divide "us" from "them" is not religious regardless of the size of the thing they call their church.
Jen, indeed. They want to be his puppet masters. They can't see beyond their own bottom line and they also think their money will save them in the already beginning climate crises which will only get worse if we let greed make the decisions.
Precisely. But with respect to the applause just before the end of Felon45's discursion on the cost of child care and SPECIFIC policies to lower those costs, I suspect they started clapping to get him to STFU. And he did.
At this rate, I'm beginning to wonder if he will be. Easy to manipulate, that is. Manipulating someone who is stark ravers could be twicky. Just, PLEASE, keep him away from the Big Red Button.
And, they are lazy, very, very lazy Lady E. Dr Richardson previously quoted President Eisenhower on the appeal dictators have for people who don't want to be bothered by thinking about matters of any real importance. I'd like her to re-post Ike's words. They were in a response to a returned WWll soldier who served under him.
These aren't Ike"s words, but they do speak to the persistent undercurrent of citizens who can't be bothered to be educated voters.
In the history book These Truths, by Jill Lepore, are┬а the following paragraphs about the first, highly successful political campaign managers, Campaigns, Inc., aka The Lie Factory, founded in 1933. They never lost a campaign. Republicans have mastered their campaign strategy rules:┬а
┬а┬а┬а 'Every campaign needs a theme.┬а Keep it simple.┬а Rhyming is good. Never explain anything. "The more you have to explain,┬а the more difficult it is to win support."┬а Say the same thing over and over again. "We assume we have to get a voter's attention 7 times to make a sale".┬а Subtlety is your enemy.┬а "Words that lean on your mind are no good. They must dent it." Simplify, simplify,┬а simplify. "A wall goes up when you try to make Mr. And Mrs. Average American Citizen work or think."
┬а┬а┬а Make it personal.┬а Candidates are easier to sell than issues. If your position doesn't have an opponent,┬а invent one. Pretend that you are the voice of the people. You can't wage a defensive campaign and win. Never shy from controversy; instead win the controversy. "The average┬а American doesn't want to be educated,┬а he doesn't want to improve his mind; he doesn't want to work,┬а consciously, at being a good citizen. But there are 2 ways you can interest him in a campaign, and only 2 that we have ever found successful." You can put on a fight ("He likes a good battle with no punches pulled"), or you can put on a show ("He likes the movies, he likes mysteries; he likes fireworks and parades). "So, if you can't fight, PUT ON A SHOW! If you put on a good show, Mr. And Mrs. America will turn out to see it.'
I have a friend with a long history of emotional incapacity who hasn't worked in 40 years who endlessly inveighed against the "welfare state" in recent years.
See, that's the thing that bewilders/stuns me the most about the lemmings: if nothing else, they should be voting against the person who will take away their SSA/SSI (also mess with their health insurance).
I think his escalating dementia puts him beyond control. The oligarchs thought they would be able to control Hitler - look how well that turned out. And he would surround himself with blood-thirsty minions who will egg him on.
One of them Kevin Hassett was on my Junior Year Abroad program in 1983тАж he was also economic advisor to many Republican presidents. read the next to the last sentence of this Wikipedia entryтАж re CovidтАж just ugh! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Hassett
And also, this may have been added after I initially wrote this comment. The last sentence now reads:
Hassett has reportedly been shortlisted for nomination as Chair of the Federal Reserve if former president Donald Trump were to win re-election in 2024.[35]
Another, the man in the upper left hand corner, was Ed Cox, husband of Tricia Nixon Cox. He was тАЬstupidlyтАЭ clapping for Trump. Thank you, Lawrence OтАЩDonnell for this assessment on your Thursday night broadcast-impeccably TRUE.
Chair of the Federal Reserve is scary but at least Trump doesn't plan to give it to Elon Musk.... that we know of. As an aside, can you even imagine Musk putting all his assets into a blind trust if he gets appointed to any sort of post in a Trump administration? Yea, right.
Thanks Judith. I've updated the original post. I never could remember his last name. Obviously I have not kept in touch with him, but I have a friend from that year who has... until a few years ago, I guess.
They are motivated by his promise of tax breaks, efforts to get rid of the EPA, Social Security and Medicare, along with other programs that benefit workers. Then these corporate high-ups can feel free to get more profits, pollute our air, water, and land, merge into monopolies, and not have to pay worker benefits.
I agree with your disgust about the applause, but the Economic Club of New York is business moguls, not economists. Their website says "senior leaders, typically C-suite":
I did, however, note that the video shows that neither of the two women in the onstage panel applauded, including the one who asked the very cogent question about childcare.
I noticed that the woman who posed the very detailed and reasonable question did not applaud. Didn't notice the other, thanks. Once again, women are focused on logic and detail.
You have to disengage from any attempt to forage for anything he said that had to do with childcare policy at all. He was just off on his standard rants and boasts about the concept of money as power, obviously not knowing what tariffs are, and referring to the plans he just told them about as rationale for his current sentence. Of course, he never described the imaginary plan he used as his crutch in the first place. Someone pointed out that the only true and complete sentence he said was тАЬchildcare is childcareтАЭ. Otherwise, he just injected the word тАШchildcareтАЩ randomly in his word salad and everything else was just the usual bullsh*t.
Politicians are generally very good about pivoting when asked a question to which they don't have an answer or find distasteful. As Trump generally knows very little about most things, asking him a question about something specific, especially about an issue that involves human needs or that requires a demonstration of empathy and you'll get the unconnected word salad that keeps him in his comfort zone.
All they heard was тАЬmoney, money, money, moneyтАЭ. Seriously. ItтАЩs all about tax cuts for them. Trump didnтАЩt make a lick of sense and thatтАЩs fine with them.
DJT has always been Unhinged to a Certain Degree... It has always been a Salve to an Essentially Mediocre Person... His progressing Dementia is accelerating his psychosis... If Kamala rattles him on the 10-Sept-2024 Debate, his Mental Illness will Amplify, and Accelerate... Go Kamala!!!
I'll say to you what I say to everyone who uses the word "dementia" when talking about Trump. We can see cognitive decline, for sure, but dementia is a diagnosis that can only be made by a competent physician. His niece, who has known him all her life and is a clinical psychologist, doesn't use that word. </>
I know, right? When I saw them applaud his answer about reducing the cost of child care (tariffs?!) I felt stunned and then sick. Did I see it correctly that the woman who asked the question was not applauding?
Right after Harris mentioned her economic sources, trump counters with that Wharton experts contradict her. Interesting that it was Wharton not Harvard or Yale or his favorite school which makes him smart MIT.
Yup, you (and Karen Hagberg) are right on! The key word for Harris should be WEIRD!! Over and over again. 1.) Trump produces some of his Word Vomit and then itтАЩs KamalaтАЩs turn: (Psuse) Then directly to the camera, тАЬThat was WEIRD!!!тАЭ 2.) Trump proposes a stop of classroom sex change operations.тАЭ Harris - тАЬWOW - WEIRD.тАЭ 3.) Trump strolls over to HarrisтАЩ podium (ala the Hillary debate). Harris abruptly turns and yells, тАЬHey, WEIRDO - are your gonna grab my Pu$$y first or my T!T$ first?? WEIRDO!!тАЭ
Trump will explode and I will refill my bowl of popcorn while admiring the super programming of ABC.
Thank you for making me laugh, however sadly. One of my friends suggested that Kamala could stroll over around & behind him! The problem, of course, is that he's so BIG(LY) that she would get lost behind him.
Exactly. She needs a simple repeated (mocking) response then move on. His fragile ego will cause a live meltdown. IтАЩm planning to have popcorn ready . .
I am concerned about the debate. Trump does not debate, he steamrolls, and with the mics off, we can't hear his off-mic steamrolling which can be distracting for Harris. It's going to be the challenge of Harris' life this far. I hope she has the right people helping her with prep. His and his supporters admire the appearance of "strength." And they all see that chicken sh*t bullying as strength. She has to be clever.
Have you ever seen a high level federal prosecutor work?
She won't be set off balance by this fraud.
The thing I'd be concerned about, if it were me there, would be I might start to feel pity for him. But even then I don't think I'd back off tearing him apart. She knows what she's doing.
Yup, I agree, Jen. At some point while Trumpie is broiling behind his dead mic, Harris should just look directly at the American (and World) public (and leaders) and say, тАЬGolly, itтАЩs too bad you canтАЩt hear what WEIRD stuff WEIRD DonOLD is puking. Lip-readers out there - ENJOY!!тАЭ
Good point. He can just stand there yelling I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! while she tries to answer a question? How can that be considered a fair debate?
That's not a debate at all. But although this event is denominated a "debate", it really won't be one. She will answer questions, he will dish out word salad dripping with BS dressing (not my original, but I can't resist it). I hope any people who actually plan to vote but think they are uncommitted are watching and critiquing the performances and the policies.
Each gets two minutes and then the mike is cut off. And she can ignore every bit of word salad Felon45 produces, before or after his mike is muted, except to comment to the moderator that Felon45 failed to respond to the question he was asked. Ignore him, if he interrupts, "I'm speaking now," and if he continues, address the moderator and reclaim her time, straight-arm him to fend him off if he tries the untethered limp balloon BS he inflicted on Hillary.
She's too good to get sucked into Felon45's Gish Gallop strategy, and will just address her answer to the question asked by the moderator.
It's been stale for a long time. It really bothers me that "intelligent" people were so foused on their hatred of Hilary or Democrats or business or money, that they couldn't discern the danger Trump presented. The writing was on the wall that he was a dangerous, cruel person. Hopefully this will be a lesson for many that when a person tells you who they are, believe them. But I think it's possible these people still don't see it as a matter of their faulty perception.
The Republicans spent decades demeaning and belittling Hillary. Yes, there really is a vast right wing conspiracy. Did she make mistakes as a candidate? Absolutely! She had SO much baggage heaped on her by the right. However, she is still a serious, brilliant person who wouldтАЩve tried to protect America. DonOLD is a traitor in every sense of the word.
The Cheneys, the staunchest of traditional Republican conservatives, now outliers /outlaws in the current Maga version of the GOP . I wonder how many Republicans are just waiting in the wings for all this to implode?
Regardless of the greedy tax breakers, of which there aren't enough to elect him on their own, he's doing his insane best to scare the rubes to the ballot box or pick up their ARs and start shooting their neighbors when he loses. Ugly stuff as that same sort of fear mongering has worked for dictators in the past.
Do you think they'll still vote for him, or perhaps not vote at all? Trump fans seem to be in a different world of values and information than I am. Perhaps they don't see his deterioration - or just blame it on Democrats for upsetting and fatiguing Trump.
They believe whatever he tells them, with no doubt or wonder. They reinforce it by repeating it to one another. He will lose their votes only by shooting someone -- himself -- in the middle of 5th Avenue.
I predict his supporters will leave as the election looms. First in a mist, then dribbles, fits and starts, a trickle, a stream, a river, a flood, a deluge.
And the Republicans are in favor of voting in person on the day of the election, so hopefully their disenchantment with him will increase as we get closer to the election.
Judging from the long endless stream of anti-Biden vitriola Maga has been pouring out these past several years, it's all about "Biden" (now Kamala) Tribal runs deep here.
The following paragraphs describe the Trump voter very aptly. After all, it's the people who don't follow the news that still support Trump....ignorant by choice, and just wanting to feel entertained. How many times have we heard MAGA supporters say they want to tear it all down. Somehow, they must believe that they will come out on top amid the chaos.
In the history book These Truths, by Jill Lepore, are┬а the following paragraphs about the first, highly successful, Republican political campaign managers, Campaigns, Inc., aka The Lie Factory, founded in 1933.
┬а┬а┬а 'Every campaign needs a theme.┬а Keep it simple.┬а Rhyming is good. Never explain anything. "The more you have to explain,┬а the more difficult it is to win support."┬а Say the same thing over and over again. "We assume we have to get a voter's attention 7 times to make a sale".┬а Subtlety is your enemy.┬а "Words that lean on your mind are no good. They must dent it." Simplify, simplify,┬а simplify. "A wall goes up when you try to make Mr. And Mrs. Average American Citizen work or think."
┬а┬а┬а Make it personal.┬а Candidates are easier to sell than issues. If your position doesn't have an opponent,┬а invent one. Pretend that you are the voice of the people. You can't wage a defensive campaign and win. Never shy from controversy; instead win the controversy. "The average┬а American doesn't want to be educated,┬а he doesn't want to improve his mind; he doesn't want to work,┬а consciously, at being a good citizen. But there are 2 ways you can interest him in a campaign, and only 2 that we have ever found successful." You can put on a fight ("He likes a good battle with no punches pulled"), or you can put on a show ("He likes the movies, he likes mysteries; he likes fireworks and parades). "So, if you can't fight, PUT ON A SHOW! If you put on a good show, Mr. And Mrs. America will turn out to see it.'
Lawrence O'Donnell said recently that Trump is stupid, but the people who CLAP for him are stupider. I think they're dangerous and delusional. I guess they still believe in Santa Claus. An overweight character who brings presents and joy to every boy and girl in the world. In one night. I love Santa, and I'm not disparaging him.
Santa says "Ho! Ho! Ho!" Trump says "Hoe, Hoe, Hoe" when referring to Kamala and Hillary and women who dare accuse him of improper
behavior.
Dear Santa, please bring Kamala to us as president and dump Donald Trump somewhere in Siberia.
gotta love Preacher Lawrence, he's got a great show and he uses it to the max. Nice to see him cited, i guess a few of us saw that show earlier this week.
It is a serious mistake to believe Trump is stupid. He is supremely intelligent, a genius at manipulating people around him. Those people in turn are good at manipulating others. Try to think of it as a cancer spreading out into society.
I would call him a lot of things and intelligent is not one of them. He knows how to read people and get what he wants. He reminds of the petulant child who keeps nagging and nagging 'til you give in.
He seems to have good instincts and a good read on people. I would save the word intelligent for someone like Kamala Harris.
Whether or not Trump was ever supremely intelligent, he is now suffering from dementia. He can (sometimes) read a teleprompter but as soon as he starts extemporizing you can see the obvious deterioration. Neurologically, his mind is toast. Others write his speeches and the comprehensible тАЬtruthтАЭ posts. He is rapidly devolving into word salad, tangential thinking and stream of what remains of his consciousness!
But now, regardless of intelligence (or none), he is falling apart in front of his audiences. That really ought to frighten his supporters away, and apparently now it is. At least to some extent.
We will know after the election. Trump is going to lose badly. He will be slaughtered in November and republicans will lose all the way down the ticket.
That's my fantasy as well. DonOLD thinks that he will get at least as many votes as he received in 2020 when he wasn't as old and cray-cray and before January 6th.
Agree, IтАЩm wondering the same and praying people are quietly waking away from him but keeping it to themselves. TodayтАЩs NYT polls show him ahead by 1% point. But after the last NYT poll, IтАЩm skeptical of their data.
I read a post yesterday that said their neighbor walk outside of his house and yanked the Trump sign out of his yard and threw it away (assumingely).
I think like Heather, any number of things could have been the last straw. It had to be in the last few days obviously, so it narrows down to about 1,000,000 things. It seems the need to walk away from a likely loss at this point combined with the need to stay in power is a mental struggle Trump is losing. Will MAGA attempt to use violence at TrumpтАЩs behest? Or will MAGA turn and walk away? Will the same scenario weтАЩre seeing at his rallyтАЩs expand to much of his base turning away from Election Day?
Either way, if he wins or loses he will become a raving madman. Demanding revenge on day one, or screaming election fraud and calling out militias. My question is, how will MAGA answer?
I am still seeing MAGAs interviewed on Jay Kuo's and Jeff Tiedrich's Substacks, who are absolutely clueless to anything that has to do with government, or crime, or economy, or history, or their rights, or the constitution or what Trump is saying. They certainly don't know about Project 2025. I live in a University community in the US, and those are certainly not my neighbors, and I don't personally know anyone like these MAGAs they show, so I cannot understand them other than what I have read about them.
Trump has unwittingly created a huge backlash from his own supporters , including those who stormed the Capitol and went to jail for him, by admitting this week that he really did lose the 2020 election.
Kamala should capitalize on that in her ads and during the debate to show how Trump betrayed his supporters and exploited them to achieve fame and fortune.
As an addendum, the record should reflect that during the debate one of the moderators pressed Trump on his admission to which he replied that he was only being тАЬ sarcasticтАЭ, which is one of his standard defenses to admissions he inadvertently makes.
In Fascist Italy, propaganda posters everywhere proclaimed "MUSSOLINI IS ALWAYS RIGHT".
But even Mussolini gone to seed, even the man whose gross errors of judgment had made him Hitler's puppet and turned his country into a war-torn hell never uttered nonsense like "I am always right". When he died, he was still a recognizable human being, able to look back over his career with a certain lucidity.
Meanwhile, he'd reduced his last followers to rabid, bloodthirsty attack dogs... or lost, confused fools completely unable to understand what was happening. Like Achille Starace, former sports and youth minister who went out for his usual morning run in Milan and was captured, dragged through the streets and shot, his corpse left hanging alongside the Duce's.
Spreader of mass madness, America's would-be Nazi dictator seems intent on dragging his followers down to destruction with him.
" he'd reduced his last followers to rabid, bloodthirsty attack dogs... or lost, confused fools completely unable to understand what was happening." Kudos Peter. That's a perfectly accurate description of his base (minus the rich tax break whores) which he seems to be prepping for the insane massacre he'll demand when he loses.
"bloodthirsty attack dogs". Although a minority of them are that, the majority are more like Night of the Living Dead fodder, the truly dangerous ones.
Republicans are no more monolithic than Democrats or Independents--witness Republicans for Harris versus MAGA.
Michele Hornish points out that in these Republican-saturated regions (often rural), MAGA Trumpism is all that people are hearing, and this problem can be attributed in part to the DNC's having discarded the 50-State Strategy in 2006, which undermined Democratic infrastructure in Republican strongholds since then. Think Fox "news" echo chambers.
The Harris-Walz Big Tent attracts and invites "kind" and "normal," along with diversity that includes not just race, gender, and religion, but even Republican Party affiliation. This level of inclusion is a ticket to success, and it starts with each of us being open to listening to our neighbors instead of presumptively shutting them out. That's what courageous Democratic candidates have to do in order to run in previously unopposed Republican races.
Michele is the Executive Director of Every State Blue, which crowdsources funding for Democratic candidates running in traditionally unopposed races. Every State Blue is the umbrella for Blue Missouri, Blue Ohio, Blue Tennessee, and Forgotten Democrats. Read her compelling argument that builds from Timothy SnyderтАЩs warning, тАЬDo not obey in advance.тАЭ
Re: Republican saturated regions: Thanks to corporate monopolization of news media like Fox, Sinclair, OAN, Newsmax, etc., Trumpism is the only point of view these regions get.
I am from Missouri and often shake my head trying to figure out how we went so deeply red in the last 15 years. I am also very frustrated that there is not a National push to work on changing the Republican dominance in states like mine. I think it can be done. Simply breaking the super majority would be a great start. This is a great article. Elad Gross would do such a better job serving the people of Missouri. Andrew Bailey has wasted our money and neglected to protect Missourians in his pursuit of MAGA junk lawsuits.
Thanks for bringing this up, Ellie. The good news is that the Republican National Committee has abandoned its 50-state strategy, so maybe there's room for the DNC to get traction into those areas that they abandoned..?
I have family that have not shifted their belief of beLIEving. This is where they get their information only, and it is scary that they beLIEve The Big Lie.
Beliefs, baseless beliefs, blind faith in radically incompatible ideas. These products of degenerate religiosity undermine mental health on a massive scale, undermine religion itself and feed innocent lambs into the waiting jaws of wolves in sheep's clothing, failed extremist politicians who've found success, tax-free wealth, absolute power over obedient congregations.
America's ever-renewed infestation of Elmer Gantrys.
It's a help. Dennett makes good use of scientific research, reason and the intelligent use of metaphor to cast light on how delusions arise and spread.
Unfortunately, while there's no problem with rationality, rationalism has colossal blind spots, and these arise from our attributing to reason be-all-and-end-all qualities that it simply does not possess.
The rationalist tends towards sterile reductionism, he (it's often a he) makes extensive use of deductive reasoning while all too often failing to subject the first principles on which the exercise is based to sufficiently rigorous testing. False axioms.
Inductive reasoning -- working from the particular to the general -- calls for perhaps yet greater caution. Even when grounded in constantly repeated experience, it could when used abusively repeat the meaningless behavior of the ant climbing a blade of grass. At the same time, by thinking outside the box, this approach grounded in real life experience can provide rich material for exploratory research.
We need to be very suspicious of concepts like the SUPERnatural or, indeed, PARApsychology. These can distort and impoverish our understanding of nature itself. Admittedly, a concept that resists definition...
Rather than simply indulging in enthralling intellectual activity, the searcher should ask questions about him/herself. "Who/what am I?" That, before going on to examine the interface with his/her activity. Not just "Who AM I?" but "What do I think I'm doing here? What are the implications of this enthralling game, looking beyond the answers I'm seeking?"
Sometimes I visualize how thousands or millions of eligible voters fear a Harris/Walz win as much as I dread a Trump/Vance win.
I met a woman from Minnesota who grew up in an evangelical Christian home who asked me, are there any Republicans in Massachusetts? She described how fanatical she needed to become so she could live with the contradictions in her mind until she snapped and then methodically began to process her assumptions. She gradually allowed herself to cast off indoctrination. She drove herself to Cape Cod to see for herself, exploring her childhood aspirations to study marine environments and new career options after suspending her career as a nurse, a yoga teacher, and a landscape laborer. One person's odyssey. I continue to wonder about how each and all of us will be coping with election outcomes, whatever they may be.
For many, it's likely the feeling of being among the others who are opposed to what neoliberal policies have done to our communities over the past 40 years. They want to share their anger with others who had the rug pulled out from under their families when their jobs left the country. He conned them, and they latched on, afraid to let go.
Gloria, I wholeheartedly agree!! ItтАЩs since the late 1960тАЩs/1970тАЩs (and Reagan) timeframe when industrial jobs were yanked out from them. Plus, add to that, more affirmative actions that excluded the middle to lower middle class because they didnтАЩt fall into the eligible income bracket. Now, generations of bitterness have rallied around Trump, who has been fanning the fire of their resentment- resulting in distrust of our government-elections, the Constitution, Bill of Rights, governmental agencies, etc.
ItтАЩs both for me. His demented mind and the cult following him down the river Hades. I call it тАЬTrumptredтАЭ as his particular form of hatred is like none other we have seen in American history. This guy is McCarthy to the power of ten.
ItтАЩs not unusual for hundreds of gawkers to gather at a train derailment. Writers for Politico, NYT, WaPo and other MSM are all hunkered over the transcripts now feverishly rewriting the dementia into policy statements.
It is hard to ever convince the conned that they have been conned. I say this as I look out my window at a tRump 2024 - take America back flag and see way too many repub campaign signs in the neighborhood.
..."when voters actually saw him in this campaign, they would be shocked at how he has deteriorated, and that seems to be true: his meandering and self-indulgent speeches have had attendees leaving early, some of them bewildered."
Dr. Richardson pointed this out and I feel sure this is a harbinger of his nationwide support. I feel certain regular Republicans are fleeing him. I am sure more MAGA will sit this one out.
It's not Trump's deterioration, desperation and lies that frighten me, but that 7000 admirers still wanted to see him at his Wisconsin rally today. And many of them, plus thousands or millions of other Americans, still think he should be president.
It's the ones who walk out on him, though, that have me curious. How many are backing away now? We may never know. But they are starting to walk out on him in person.
His psychopathy is such that he doesn't see those people or he lies to himself about why they're walking out.
I'm even more concerned by the people at the panel with economic big wigs who applauded his nonsensical responses to their serious policy questions. What the fork is wrong with them?
Lawrence OтАЩDonnell had an amazing segment on MSNBC about the applause in NYC. It was fantastic. He is doing what EVERY journalist should be doingтАФ-as HCR did tonightтАФ-and calling him out as the lunatic he is.
Here is the link to that Lawrence O'Donnell segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-Wf5VT-Pwk
"Think about how stupid yo have to be to say that.
Then think about how stupid you have to be to APPLAUD that. . . "
I was watching him that evening. It was eye opening. And, that is a problem. The clapping rich people!
There were clapping rich people in Nazi Germany. They were so glad they did not have a communist speaking, because the communists were going to unionize. Unions terrify fascists!
Greed has No Limit... DJT is a Product of the Inbred Money Class of NYC.. The 'Clappers' were probably Slavering in Anticipation of their promised Tax-Cut... DJT has delivered for them in 2017, and if Elected again, will deliver again...
Thank you for the link. I just watched the segment. If tRump wins I will be inconsolable.
Hopefully, Tuesday nights debate will take care of our problem!
She needs to SOUNDLY take him down, not anything wishy washy. IF she's even remotely off her game, it'll be a much bigger deal than anything he'll do.
IF some of the stupid people watch it.
Wow. I'd read the "child care" response in print, but seeing & hearing it come out of his mouth? and then hearing the applause that followed? OMG. (Trump also looked like he fell asleep under a sun lamp.)
We have to all think seriously about his comment on childcare. For him to say that there are other issues that would dwarf childcare costs are mind baffling on its own. It's bad enough that he never answered the question, but wrongly implied that all his other monied interests would somehow take care of the childcare crisis. If we all watch the clip by O'Donnell, one will notice the people on DJT's left clapping after his statement: all those, *except the one* who asked the prescient question of what relief for childcare the Donald would support should he become president. She knew that he was full of sh*t! But all those other guys were simply lining up to kiss his a$$.
Thanks for this.
One of the commenters made the point that the gal who asked the child care question did NOT clap!!
I don't think any of the people on the panel clapped.
She's probably under wraps now.
Thanks, I am not the greatest тАЬlinker,тАЭ but Lawrence O is incredible on Trump, and especially all the media enablers. He is my hero.
ЁЯСПЁЯСПЁЯСП
Thanks. I have seen this part in Jeff Tiedrich's substack, and he calls it word salad. https://substack.com/@jefftiedrich/p-148547994
Preaching to the choir - take an ad in your local paper and publish this and the O'Donnell piece
(1) There's nothing wrong with "preaching to the choir." The choir needs inspiration to keep singing. (2) "Local paper"? If you're lucky enough to still have one, who do you think reads it? I'm betting it's mostly members of the choir.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I love Lawrence!
He and some of his co-workers at MSNBC are the only ones calling this out. I've seen Joy Reid and Nicole Wallace follow that track too.
I saw a clip of the child care question but seeing the entire question made his answer and the applause much, much worse.
The fact that the man who would be president (again) cannot get it through his thick skull that tariffs do not harm the country on which they are placed but the consumers of the countries who enact them. Even worse, Trump has a bachelor's degree in economics from an Ivy League school!
DJT was Gifted an Admission to Wharton because a Professor liked his older Brother Freddy... DJT came in during his 3rd Year in College... Allegedly DJT paid someone to take the SATs for him per Mary Trump... Noticed how DJT's Academic, and Medical Records were seized when he became President?
Well, one professor, at least, saw Trump for who he is:
"...Trump came to Wharton thinking he already knew everything."
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/12/1705902/-Former-Wharton-Professor-Donald-Trump-Is-the-Dumbest-Goddam-Student-I-Ever-Had
Yeah, by him - it's illegal otherwise.
Friendly correction: in order to see academic or medical records the individual must sign a release. This applies to each and every one of us.
I wish wish wish... everyone commenting on the costs to consumers from tariffs would explain step by step how that works. The shorthand statement that says simply that tariffs cost the consumer completely ignores that most consumers have no idea why that is.
Emphasis needs to be on who pays the tariff. The American importer of the product into into the U.S. pays the tariff to the U.S. government. The importer then gets that tariff cost back by adding a share of that cost on to the price of the product you or I buy.
Easy peasy, right? But it appears to be terribly difficult for reporters and journalists to even comprehend. Of course tffg doesnt understand it nor does he want to - just something to say!
The critical thing that Trump will not -- cannot? -- admit that it's not the exporting country that pays the tariff.
Did he really? Or is that a lie?
"Is it the Justice Department indictments that showed Russia is working to get him reelected? Is it the rising popularity of Democratic nominees Kamala Harris and Tim Walz? Is it fury at the new grand juryтАЩs indicting him for his attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election and install himself in power? Is it fear of TuesdayтАЩs debate with Harris? Is it a declining ability to grapple with reality?"
I'll tell you what it is. It's the mother of all conspiracy theoriesтАФthe theory that some people are important, other people are not, and тАЬIтАЭ am one of the important people. Add enough time and power, and you get Trump, Putin, Musk, Hitler, Stalin, etc. Add time and anger at being powerless to control the "unimportant" people, and you get the authoritarian's supporters, including the panel with economic big wigs who applauded his nonsensical responses to their serious policy questions.
Or, when a large enough majority adopt the mother of all valid theoriesтАФthe theory that every human being is equally importantтАФpolitical issues are easily resolved, including those related to the economy, crime, healthcare, immigration, education, etc.
James, it would seem that even when every human being is equally important as with crime before the law, tRump gets special treatment тАжwhich goes on, and on, and on...
Except that in the U.S. it's not remotely true that "every human being is equally important . . . before the law." Trump stands out, true, because he's at the tip of the iceberg. Justice in U.S. courts depends very much on what legal help you can afford.
Trump is an extraordinary case. Whether through guile and/or luck, he has been able to manipulate the legal system for yonks. It's only now that he's actually paying a price, both literally and figuratively. Probably his greatest win, and the nation's greatest loss, was when the US Senate failed to find him guilty after the first impeachment. If they had we wouldn't be here.
The authoritarian's success depends on getting enough people to give up. Every human being is equally important before the law if enough people believe that every human being is equally important before the law. If every human being is not equally important before the law, then it is because not enough people believe it. So, we're all counting on each other to not give up.
John, I think in the current situation, you can thank the Supreme Court, in part, for that one.
And Mitch McConnell, who made that happen.
So true and so very frustrating.
Please don't conflate a certain secondary sex characteristic which has been celebrated in paintings and sculpture, and which is attractive to both genders, with the former guy. Writing tRump does nothing to hurt him.
David, you're right, It doesn't hurt him. But I'm petty enough to enjoy the small disrespect.
It is fascism on full view James.
i love what you just said. the first part strikes me as brilliant, and true. The second part (when human equality reins) may or may not turn out to be true. it's hard to imagine political issues being easily resolved under ANY circumstance. but you help me understand the inevitability of what threatens to crush us all. let us pray (i'm not religious, btw. these days, i wish i were!)
What is your definition of religion? Mine is the idea that we live in a social system, the bonds holding the system togetherтАФso that the system can workтАФweaken over time, and so part of the "being human" job is to strengthen bonds.
The word "religion" comes from the Latin words for "redo" and "ligament", and a "ligament" is a binding. If you're working to resolve the dilemmas that inevitably emerge within and between people, you're religious in my books. And anyone who works to divide "us" from "them" is not religious regardless of the size of the thing they call their church.
TheyтАЩre forking stupid
I wish I could believe they were . Stupid is easy - crafty, cunning and evil is a much harder fight.
They see a vulnerable old fraud who will be easy to manipulate. And they're right
They just need to keep him propped up til Nov 6
Jen, indeed. They want to be his puppet masters. They can't see beyond their own bottom line and they also think their money will save them in the already beginning climate crises which will only get worse if we let greed make the decisions.
Precisely. But with respect to the applause just before the end of Felon45's discursion on the cost of child care and SPECIFIC policies to lower those costs, I suspect they started clapping to get him to STFU. And he did.
At this rate, I'm beginning to wonder if he will be. Easy to manipulate, that is. Manipulating someone who is stark ravers could be twicky. Just, PLEASE, keep him away from the Big Red Button.
Yes, and this is also Putin's view of it.
Yes, once sworn in he can disassemble and Lance will be our Pres-in-chief. Congrats!!!
Eggzactly!
And, they are lazy, very, very lazy Lady E. Dr Richardson previously quoted President Eisenhower on the appeal dictators have for people who don't want to be bothered by thinking about matters of any real importance. I'd like her to re-post Ike's words. They were in a response to a returned WWll soldier who served under him.
These aren't Ike"s words, but they do speak to the persistent undercurrent of citizens who can't be bothered to be educated voters.
In the history book These Truths, by Jill Lepore, are┬а the following paragraphs about the first, highly successful political campaign managers, Campaigns, Inc., aka The Lie Factory, founded in 1933. They never lost a campaign. Republicans have mastered their campaign strategy rules:┬а
┬а┬а┬а 'Every campaign needs a theme.┬а Keep it simple.┬а Rhyming is good. Never explain anything. "The more you have to explain,┬а the more difficult it is to win support."┬а Say the same thing over and over again. "We assume we have to get a voter's attention 7 times to make a sale".┬а Subtlety is your enemy.┬а "Words that lean on your mind are no good. They must dent it." Simplify, simplify,┬а simplify. "A wall goes up when you try to make Mr. And Mrs. Average American Citizen work or think."
┬а┬а┬а Make it personal.┬а Candidates are easier to sell than issues. If your position doesn't have an opponent,┬а invent one. Pretend that you are the voice of the people. You can't wage a defensive campaign and win. Never shy from controversy; instead win the controversy. "The average┬а American doesn't want to be educated,┬а he doesn't want to improve his mind; he doesn't want to work,┬а consciously, at being a good citizen. But there are 2 ways you can interest him in a campaign, and only 2 that we have ever found successful." You can put on a fight ("He likes a good battle with no punches pulled"), or you can put on a show ("He likes the movies, he likes mysteries; he likes fireworks and parades). "So, if you can't fight, PUT ON A SHOW! If you put on a good show, Mr. And Mrs. America will turn out to see it.'
They only see dollar signs. Not that those will help them in the future.
Greenbacks do not make a very good salad, particularly without ranch dressing. тАЬSoilent GreenтАЭ anyone?
Deliberate versus innate??
Deliberate I think. They are in the same postion as Krupp, AEg, Audi - oh, have a look at this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_involved_in_the_Holocaust
They thought Hitler could be controlled and would make them money. Then they all started fighting among themselves.
And, they are sticking the knife into their own backs!
Slitting their own throats. So many subsist on benefits he would cut if not eliminate.
I have a friend with a long history of emotional incapacity who hasn't worked in 40 years who endlessly inveighed against the "welfare state" in recent years.
See, that's the thing that bewilders/stuns me the most about the lemmings: if nothing else, they should be voting against the person who will take away their SSA/SSI (also mess with their health insurance).
Alan, unfortunately calling them "stupid" is a sure way to solifiy and increase his supporters.
They believe that he can be controlled.
I think his escalating dementia puts him beyond control. The oligarchs thought they would be able to control Hitler - look how well that turned out. And he would surround himself with blood-thirsty minions who will egg him on.
One of them Kevin Hassett was on my Junior Year Abroad program in 1983тАж he was also economic advisor to many Republican presidents. read the next to the last sentence of this Wikipedia entryтАж re CovidтАж just ugh! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Hassett
And also, this may have been added after I initially wrote this comment. The last sentence now reads:
Hassett has reportedly been shortlisted for nomination as Chair of the Federal Reserve if former president Donald Trump were to win re-election in 2024.[35]
Another, the man in the upper left hand corner, was Ed Cox, husband of Tricia Nixon Cox. He was тАЬstupidlyтАЭ clapping for Trump. Thank you, Lawrence OтАЩDonnell for this assessment on your Thursday night broadcast-impeccably TRUE.
Andrea, I think you mean Kevin Hassett. See this link:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Hassett
Chair of the Federal Reserve is scary but at least Trump doesn't plan to give it to Elon Musk.... that we know of. As an aside, can you even imagine Musk putting all his assets into a blind trust if he gets appointed to any sort of post in a Trump administration? Yea, right.
Yeah, NLTownie, same way tRump put HIS assets in a blind trust. THAT concept of divesting oneself of possibly conflicting interests was lost in 2017!
At this point anything is possible as long as it favors the wealthy!
" Hassett's model indicated that coronavirus deaths would peak in mid-April, and subsequently drop off to near zero by May 15." May 2020.
From the CDC:
"May 11, 2023, marks the end of the federal COVID-19 PHE declaration."
So he was right that it would in May. Just three years later.
Thanks to President Biden and his decent people!
That works. Thanks.
I've updated the link in theoriginal post.
Sorry!
???? Your link goes to the article on the name Kevin.
Here's the full url. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Hassett
He sounds like the perfect man for a 2nd Trump administration! Heaven help us all!!
Andrea, could you provide a better link? This one just takes us to the 1st name, Kevin. I tried searching for Kevin Haskell and got nothing.
Here's the full url. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Hassett
Thanks Judith. I've updated the original post. I never could remember his last name. Obviously I have not kept in touch with him, but I have a friend from that year who has... until a few years ago, I guess.
so many, many sheep.
They are motivated by his promise of tax breaks, efforts to get rid of the EPA, Social Security and Medicare, along with other programs that benefit workers. Then these corporate high-ups can feel free to get more profits, pollute our air, water, and land, merge into monopolies, and not have to pay worker benefits.
MisTBlu--
I agree with your disgust about the applause, but the Economic Club of New York is business moguls, not economists. Their website says "senior leaders, typically C-suite":
https://www.econclubny.org/members
I did, however, note that the video shows that neither of the two women in the onstage panel applauded, including the one who asked the very cogent question about childcare.
I noticed that the woman who posed the very detailed and reasonable question did not applaud. Didn't notice the other, thanks. Once again, women are focused on logic and detail.
Thank you for the correction. I conflated their jobs with the name of the club.
You're welcome, but my guess is that the conflation is exactly. what they hope for with their title; a sort of stolen sagacity.
Stolen sagacity indeed.
You have to disengage from any attempt to forage for anything he said that had to do with childcare policy at all. He was just off on his standard rants and boasts about the concept of money as power, obviously not knowing what tariffs are, and referring to the plans he just told them about as rationale for his current sentence. Of course, he never described the imaginary plan he used as his crutch in the first place. Someone pointed out that the only true and complete sentence he said was тАЬchildcare is childcareтАЭ. Otherwise, he just injected the word тАШchildcareтАЩ randomly in his word salad and everything else was just the usual bullsh*t.
Politicians are generally very good about pivoting when asked a question to which they don't have an answer or find distasteful. As Trump generally knows very little about most things, asking him a question about something specific, especially about an issue that involves human needs or that requires a demonstration of empathy and you'll get the unconnected word salad that keeps him in his comfort zone.
All they heard was тАЬmoney, money, money, moneyтАЭ. Seriously. ItтАЩs all about tax cuts for them. Trump didnтАЩt make a lick of sense and thatтАЩs fine with them.
DJT has always been Unhinged to a Certain Degree... It has always been a Salve to an Essentially Mediocre Person... His progressing Dementia is accelerating his psychosis... If Kamala rattles him on the 10-Sept-2024 Debate, his Mental Illness will Amplify, and Accelerate... Go Kamala!!!
I'll say to you what I say to everyone who uses the word "dementia" when talking about Trump. We can see cognitive decline, for sure, but dementia is a diagnosis that can only be made by a competent physician. His niece, who has known him all her life and is a clinical psychologist, doesn't use that word. </>
Did you see this commentary about those stupid rich people?? Worth every second! https://youtu.be/t-Wf5VT-Pwk?si=386Uu6-hKCHXvWni
I know, right? When I saw them applaud his answer about reducing the cost of child care (tariffs?!) I felt stunned and then sick. Did I see it correctly that the woman who asked the question was not applauding?
Right after Harris mentioned her economic sources, trump counters with that Wharton experts contradict her. Interesting that it was Wharton not Harvard or Yale or his favorite school which makes him smart MIT.
They are anxious for Vance to take over which will be soon if trump wins!
Trump's act is getting stale.
JL - If you were debating DonOLD, what would you say about his crazy ramblings?
I'm not sure the press will even report 1/4 of what Heather did in this letter, so is it up to Kamala's campaign to attack his lunacy?
Hopefully, the down ballot candidates get some of the CFDT stink on them that they can't wash off before the election.
Someone here posted the best response Harris could make. I wish I could remember who it was, because it was perfect. тАЬWell, that was weird.тАЭ
Yup, you (and Karen Hagberg) are right on! The key word for Harris should be WEIRD!! Over and over again. 1.) Trump produces some of his Word Vomit and then itтАЩs KamalaтАЩs turn: (Psuse) Then directly to the camera, тАЬThat was WEIRD!!!тАЭ 2.) Trump proposes a stop of classroom sex change operations.тАЭ Harris - тАЬWOW - WEIRD.тАЭ 3.) Trump strolls over to HarrisтАЩ podium (ala the Hillary debate). Harris abruptly turns and yells, тАЬHey, WEIRDO - are your gonna grab my Pu$$y first or my T!T$ first?? WEIRDO!!тАЭ
Trump will explode and I will refill my bowl of popcorn while admiring the super programming of ABC.
Yes, heтАЩs definitely triggered by being called weird, and that might be key to keeping him off balance during the debate.
And he's also triggered when he's called Donald, but she really should pronounce it DonOLD emphasis on the OLD.
Thank you for making me laugh, however sadly. One of my friends suggested that Kamala could stroll over around & behind him! The problem, of course, is that he's so BIG(LY) that she would get lost behind him.
I went back and found the comment. Props to Karen Hagberg!
"I'm speaking now!". With that smile and nod.
A hand and arm raised, fingers extended and joined, accompanied by a stomp for each lie. Channel Diana Ross. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jToiGpAe9HU
The "T" sign for time.
The campaigns agreed to muted mics, but did they agree to NOT record what the other person (DonOLD) was saying when Kamala is talking?
it would be so easy for her camp to record him and if he didn't know he was being recorded who knows what he'll say.
Great link, Daniel. Thanks.
Exactly. She needs a simple repeated (mocking) response then move on. His fragile ego will cause a live meltdown. IтАЩm planning to have popcorn ready . .
I am concerned about the debate. Trump does not debate, he steamrolls, and with the mics off, we can't hear his off-mic steamrolling which can be distracting for Harris. It's going to be the challenge of Harris' life this far. I hope she has the right people helping her with prep. His and his supporters admire the appearance of "strength." And they all see that chicken sh*t bullying as strength. She has to be clever.
Have you ever seen a high level federal prosecutor work?
She won't be set off balance by this fraud.
The thing I'd be concerned about, if it were me there, would be I might start to feel pity for him. But even then I don't think I'd back off tearing him apart. She knows what she's doing.
Yup, I agree, Jen. At some point while Trumpie is broiling behind his dead mic, Harris should just look directly at the American (and World) public (and leaders) and say, тАЬGolly, itтАЩs too bad you canтАЩt hear what WEIRD stuff WEIRD DonOLD is puking. Lip-readers out there - ENJOY!!тАЭ
And that's why I'm not concerned about her handling him as well.
We may not "hear" him, but with any luck, ABC will show a split-screen with his enraged, sweaty red face and wide open mouth.
Did you watch her take Brett apart during the SC confirmation hearings? I expect she'll do the same thing to Trump.
Harris is NOT Biden. I expect she will be masterful. Whatever the outcome, for most of the audience it will be preaching to the choir.
Masterful? Is this a joke? She is scared to death to give interviews?
Her rallies are by invite only? She can't think on her feet. She will show up tuesday programmed with one liners and talking points.
She is a lightweight.
Good point. He can just stand there yelling I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! while she tries to answer a question? How can that be considered a fair debate?
That's not a debate at all. But although this event is denominated a "debate", it really won't be one. She will answer questions, he will dish out word salad dripping with BS dressing (not my original, but I can't resist it). I hope any people who actually plan to vote but think they are uncommitted are watching and critiquing the performances and the policies.
Each gets two minutes and then the mike is cut off. And she can ignore every bit of word salad Felon45 produces, before or after his mike is muted, except to comment to the moderator that Felon45 failed to respond to the question he was asked. Ignore him, if he interrupts, "I'm speaking now," and if he continues, address the moderator and reclaim her time, straight-arm him to fend him off if he tries the untethered limp balloon BS he inflicted on Hillary.
She's too good to get sucked into Felon45's Gish Gallop strategy, and will just address her answer to the question asked by the moderator.
Hopefully Felon45 will be fact-checked live.
See my comment above about her camp recording him when she's got the floor. ЁЯШО
@Gary. Or his demeanor. His numerous tics, tells. His make-up. His wig.
And his odor. The moderators should have an olfactometer on their smart phones.
It's been stale for a long time. It really bothers me that "intelligent" people were so foused on their hatred of Hilary or Democrats or business or money, that they couldn't discern the danger Trump presented. The writing was on the wall that he was a dangerous, cruel person. Hopefully this will be a lesson for many that when a person tells you who they are, believe them. But I think it's possible these people still don't see it as a matter of their faulty perception.
The Republicans spent decades demeaning and belittling Hillary. Yes, there really is a vast right wing conspiracy. Did she make mistakes as a candidate? Absolutely! She had SO much baggage heaped on her by the right. However, she is still a serious, brilliant person who wouldтАЩve tried to protect America. DonOLD is a traitor in every sense of the word.
Even Dick Cheney sees the danger.
The Cheneys, the staunchest of traditional Republican conservatives, now outliers /outlaws in the current Maga version of the GOP . I wonder how many Republicans are just waiting in the wings for all this to implode?
Frank, IтАЩm hoping in the privacy of the voting booth they will quietly do the right thing.
Regardless of the greedy tax breakers, of which there aren't enough to elect him on their own, he's doing his insane best to scare the rubes to the ballot box or pick up their ARs and start shooting their neighbors when he loses. Ugly stuff as that same sort of fear mongering has worked for dictators in the past.
Kim -- "Stale" since he first set foot on that golden elevator.
Getting ?
It started that way and gets worse by the day.
Do you think they'll still vote for him, or perhaps not vote at all? Trump fans seem to be in a different world of values and information than I am. Perhaps they don't see his deterioration - or just blame it on Democrats for upsetting and fatiguing Trump.
I don't think the reality of him is something that they can take in in the first place. They're working from an image, first the supposedly successful
businessman who hires and fires on television. Consider the term political
illiteracy, possibly with roots in the
poor transmission
of history lessons from whatever source or possibly
none. I would put
faux news at the
very center of their
misinformed lives.
Maybe a kind of
closed in life with
little exposure to other ways of living
and thinking. Just a
list to consider and amplify...
They believe whatever he tells them, with no doubt or wonder. They reinforce it by repeating it to one another. He will lose their votes only by shooting someone -- himself -- in the middle of 5th Avenue.
let's hope that stunt occurs to him and he carries through. Would that make Vance the candidate, or would RNC step in?
Interesting question, pre-election!
I predict his supporters will leave as the election looms. First in a mist, then dribbles, fits and starts, a trickle, a stream, a river, a flood, a deluge.
But is there enough time?
And the Republicans are in favor of voting in person on the day of the election, so hopefully their disenchantment with him will increase as we get closer to the election.
Especially since tfg and others are once again talking against mail ballots. Worked well for them in 2020, didn't it?
Cross pressured voters frequently donтАЩt vote.
Judging from the long endless stream of anti-Biden vitriola Maga has been pouring out these past several years, it's all about "Biden" (now Kamala) Tribal runs deep here.
"Tribal runs deep" indeed it does.
It's run on from the Obama presidency. Felon45 has never been able to cope with it. Weird.
Well, we gotta remember he tapped into a very willing audience, in fact he now heads a mass political movement
Hoping for the "not vote at all" component...
They exist in Dystopian Dreamland Laurie! Their ability to discern fact form fiction has been removed from their brains.
The following paragraphs describe the Trump voter very aptly. After all, it's the people who don't follow the news that still support Trump....ignorant by choice, and just wanting to feel entertained. How many times have we heard MAGA supporters say they want to tear it all down. Somehow, they must believe that they will come out on top amid the chaos.
In the history book These Truths, by Jill Lepore, are┬а the following paragraphs about the first, highly successful, Republican political campaign managers, Campaigns, Inc., aka The Lie Factory, founded in 1933.
┬а┬а┬а 'Every campaign needs a theme.┬а Keep it simple.┬а Rhyming is good. Never explain anything. "The more you have to explain,┬а the more difficult it is to win support."┬а Say the same thing over and over again. "We assume we have to get a voter's attention 7 times to make a sale".┬а Subtlety is your enemy.┬а "Words that lean on your mind are no good. They must dent it." Simplify, simplify,┬а simplify. "A wall goes up when you try to make Mr. And Mrs. Average American Citizen work or think."
┬а┬а┬а Make it personal.┬а Candidates are easier to sell than issues. If your position doesn't have an opponent,┬а invent one. Pretend that you are the voice of the people. You can't wage a defensive campaign and win. Never shy from controversy; instead win the controversy. "The average┬а American doesn't want to be educated,┬а he doesn't want to improve his mind; he doesn't want to work,┬а consciously, at being a good citizen. But there are 2 ways you can interest him in a campaign, and only 2 that we have ever found successful." You can put on a fight ("He likes a good battle with no punches pulled"), or you can put on a show ("He likes the movies, he likes mysteries; he likes fireworks and parades). "So, if you can't fight, PUT ON A SHOW! If you put on a good show, Mr. And Mrs. America will turn out to see it.'
Good point. When I read that once in person they see clearly, here lies the possibility of an awakening.
Lawrence O'Donnell said recently that Trump is stupid, but the people who CLAP for him are stupider. I think they're dangerous and delusional. I guess they still believe in Santa Claus. An overweight character who brings presents and joy to every boy and girl in the world. In one night. I love Santa, and I'm not disparaging him.
Santa says "Ho! Ho! Ho!" Trump says "Hoe, Hoe, Hoe" when referring to Kamala and Hillary and women who dare accuse him of improper
behavior.
Dear Santa, please bring Kamala to us as president and dump Donald Trump somewhere in Siberia.
Love, Pam
gotta love Preacher Lawrence, he's got a great show and he uses it to the max. Nice to see him cited, i guess a few of us saw that show earlier this week.
Sadly, I miss 2+ nights a week due to rehearsals. I'm gonna have to start to DVR his show.
Defintely DVR!!! ЁЯШЙ
There was a clip on the innertubez: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-Wf5VT-Pwk.
Enjoy!
It is a serious mistake to believe Trump is stupid. He is supremely intelligent, a genius at manipulating people around him. Those people in turn are good at manipulating others. Try to think of it as a cancer spreading out into society.
He is skilled at manipulation because that's all he's got. Supremely intelligent? I think not.
I would call him a lot of things and intelligent is not one of them. He knows how to read people and get what he wants. He reminds of the petulant child who keeps nagging and nagging 'til you give in.
He seems to have good instincts and a good read on people. I would save the word intelligent for someone like Kamala Harris.
as someone said while he was president, he's an idiot, but he's very good at it.
A useful idiot for......
Whether or not Trump was ever supremely intelligent, he is now suffering from dementia. He can (sometimes) read a teleprompter but as soon as he starts extemporizing you can see the obvious deterioration. Neurologically, his mind is toast. Others write his speeches and the comprehensible тАЬtruthтАЭ posts. He is rapidly devolving into word salad, tangential thinking and stream of what remains of his consciousness!
Donald is an excellent conman. He is fantastic at manipulation. That is not "intelligent" the way we think of it. That is a conman's street smarts.
But now, regardless of intelligence (or none), he is falling apart in front of his audiences. That really ought to frighten his supporters away, and apparently now it is. At least to some extent.
It is the ones who do not walk out on him that we need to worry about.
Those who leave the rally early are only trying to beat the traffic. They will still vote for him.
Remember thst his rally's are small and cicsost of pretty much the same people over Andover,
They seem to need to find a life.
At least one woman in the crowd shouted тАЬWe love Kamala!тАЭ
Well maybe they left because their bladders needed relief after hours of speeches......who knows?
my bladder doesn't take "the heat" lol
When Dick Cheney walks out on Trump as he has, there is hope. Do something; write postcards, donateтАФletтАЩs win this.
We will know after the election. Trump is going to lose badly. He will be slaughtered in November and republicans will lose all the way down the ticket.
That's my fantasy as well. DonOLD thinks that he will get at least as many votes as he received in 2020 when he wasn't as old and cray-cray and before January 6th.
"Trump's hellscape" may only be "in his mind," but in their guts they know he's nuts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crMe-O10j9g
thanks for that Midas Touch inaugural and the Maga Granny! Ill take in the rest of it while im doing a little photoshop later today :)
Agree, IтАЩm wondering the same and praying people are quietly waking away from him but keeping it to themselves. TodayтАЩs NYT polls show him ahead by 1% point. But after the last NYT poll, IтАЩm skeptical of their data.
I read a post yesterday that said their neighbor walk outside of his house and yanked the Trump sign out of his yard and threw it away (assumingely).
I think like Heather, any number of things could have been the last straw. It had to be in the last few days obviously, so it narrows down to about 1,000,000 things. It seems the need to walk away from a likely loss at this point combined with the need to stay in power is a mental struggle Trump is losing. Will MAGA attempt to use violence at TrumpтАЩs behest? Or will MAGA turn and walk away? Will the same scenario weтАЩre seeing at his rallyтАЩs expand to much of his base turning away from Election Day?
Either way, if he wins or loses he will become a raving madman. Demanding revenge on day one, or screaming election fraud and calling out militias. My question is, how will MAGA answer?
I confess I do worry about violence after the election. I'm a champion worrier, but still.
Sadly I think many who are walking out will still vote for him, believing Democrats to be worse. ЁЯд╖тАНтЩВя╕П
I am still seeing MAGAs interviewed on Jay Kuo's and Jeff Tiedrich's Substacks, who are absolutely clueless to anything that has to do with government, or crime, or economy, or history, or their rights, or the constitution or what Trump is saying. They certainly don't know about Project 2025. I live in a University community in the US, and those are certainly not my neighbors, and I don't personally know anyone like these MAGAs they show, so I cannot understand them other than what I have read about them.
Americans hate negativityтАж. trump, the pitiful loser, has a bleak future ahead of him to complete his absurd and annoying life.
Trump has unwittingly created a huge backlash from his own supporters , including those who stormed the Capitol and went to jail for him, by admitting this week that he really did lose the 2020 election.
Kamala should capitalize on that in her ads and during the debate to show how Trump betrayed his supporters and exploited them to achieve fame and fortune.
I want them to go after the bigwigs who promoted this, not the small fry.
I want them all prosecuted and jailed from top to bottom, senators to proud boys!
Hear hear, Terry!
It's bad that the big wigs too often get off, but it's important to hold the small fry accountable as well.
To Kathy Hughes - and those in Congress too.
Speaking of adsтАжTeam Harris/Walz just released three,short reproductive rights ads that show how Trump has betrayed all women. Powerful ! ЁЯУг
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lKA_GeGwIo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYGc5HG-kHo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7a11XkQhYM
Thank you for posting these! Powerful!
There's nothing like watching him speak the words. Hard to deny when you see him actually state his intentions.
Compare these ads to Trump's dire predictions of death and destruction, the likes of which we have never seen before.
These are well done. Thanks!
I hope many more women will see this too. Thank you Kathy
TRUMP admitted that he lost the election?? When, where?
Lex Fridman podcast on 9/3/24, 11 minutes in:
https://youtu.be/qCbfTN-caFI?si=5F85dWlErr_RDdLT
It was on a podcast with Lex Fridman. Steve Schmidt wrote about it. https://open.substack.com/pub/steveschmidt/p/donalds-big-lie-revealed?r=uxe&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-admits-he-lost-in-2020-leading-white-nationalist-nick-fuentes-to-disavow-him/ar-AA1q4sB8?ocid=BingNewsSerp
Trump said he lost by a whisker
Great, but when/where?
I think it was at that 'town hall' he had with Hannity but I'm not 100% sure. Or it might have been in an interview he did with some right wing person
That should be TRUMPeted far & wide!
As an addendum, the record should reflect that during the debate one of the moderators pressed Trump on his admission to which he replied that he was only being тАЬ sarcasticтАЭ, which is one of his standard defenses to admissions he inadvertently makes.
Oh please do ЁЯСП
L. D. Michaels, I agree!
In Fascist Italy, propaganda posters everywhere proclaimed "MUSSOLINI IS ALWAYS RIGHT".
But even Mussolini gone to seed, even the man whose gross errors of judgment had made him Hitler's puppet and turned his country into a war-torn hell never uttered nonsense like "I am always right". When he died, he was still a recognizable human being, able to look back over his career with a certain lucidity.
Meanwhile, he'd reduced his last followers to rabid, bloodthirsty attack dogs... or lost, confused fools completely unable to understand what was happening. Like Achille Starace, former sports and youth minister who went out for his usual morning run in Milan and was captured, dragged through the streets and shot, his corpse left hanging alongside the Duce's.
Spreader of mass madness, America's would-be Nazi dictator seems intent on dragging his followers down to destruction with him.
" he'd reduced his last followers to rabid, bloodthirsty attack dogs... or lost, confused fools completely unable to understand what was happening." Kudos Peter. That's a perfectly accurate description of his base (minus the rich tax break whores) which he seems to be prepping for the insane massacre he'll demand when he loses.
"bloodthirsty attack dogs". Although a minority of them are that, the majority are more like Night of the Living Dead fodder, the truly dangerous ones.
trump might want that but even his supporters have enough concern for their own lives to step away. Jan 6 convictions are fresh in their mindsтАж
I like to believe that some are going out of curiosity. Like going to see the tasmanian devil at the zoo.
Republicans are no more monolithic than Democrats or Independents--witness Republicans for Harris versus MAGA.
Michele Hornish points out that in these Republican-saturated regions (often rural), MAGA Trumpism is all that people are hearing, and this problem can be attributed in part to the DNC's having discarded the 50-State Strategy in 2006, which undermined Democratic infrastructure in Republican strongholds since then. Think Fox "news" echo chambers.
The Harris-Walz Big Tent attracts and invites "kind" and "normal," along with diversity that includes not just race, gender, and religion, but even Republican Party affiliation. This level of inclusion is a ticket to success, and it starts with each of us being open to listening to our neighbors instead of presumptively shutting them out. That's what courageous Democratic candidates have to do in order to run in previously unopposed Republican races.
Michele is the Executive Director of Every State Blue, which crowdsources funding for Democratic candidates running in traditionally unopposed races. Every State Blue is the umbrella for Blue Missouri, Blue Ohio, Blue Tennessee, and Forgotten Democrats. Read her compelling argument that builds from Timothy SnyderтАЩs warning, тАЬDo not obey in advance.тАЭ
https://substack.com/@michelehornish
https://michelehornish.substack.com/p/turning-the-temperature-down-by-showing
https://everystateblue.org/
Re: Republican saturated regions: Thanks to corporate monopolization of news media like Fox, Sinclair, OAN, Newsmax, etc., Trumpism is the only point of view these regions get.
I am from Missouri and often shake my head trying to figure out how we went so deeply red in the last 15 years. I am also very frustrated that there is not a National push to work on changing the Republican dominance in states like mine. I think it can be done. Simply breaking the super majority would be a great start. This is a great article. Elad Gross would do such a better job serving the people of Missouri. Andrew Bailey has wasted our money and neglected to protect Missourians in his pursuit of MAGA junk lawsuits.
Missouri has another treasure in Jess Piper who works to break the supermajority and go blue.
https://jesspiper.substack.com/
Thanks for bringing this up, Ellie. The good news is that the Republican National Committee has abandoned its 50-state strategy, so maybe there's room for the DNC to get traction into those areas that they abandoned..?
Thanks for this, Ellie. The hubris of that strategy in 2006 has bitten Democracy hard.
I have family that have not shifted their belief of beLIEving. This is where they get their information only, and it is scary that they beLIEve The Big Lie.
Beliefs, baseless beliefs, blind faith in radically incompatible ideas. These products of degenerate religiosity undermine mental health on a massive scale, undermine religion itself and feed innocent lambs into the waiting jaws of wolves in sheep's clothing, failed extremist politicians who've found success, tax-free wealth, absolute power over obedient congregations.
America's ever-renewed infestation of Elmer Gantrys.
Watch this to better understand "blind Faith":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzGjEkp772s
It's a help. Dennett makes good use of scientific research, reason and the intelligent use of metaphor to cast light on how delusions arise and spread.
Unfortunately, while there's no problem with rationality, rationalism has colossal blind spots, and these arise from our attributing to reason be-all-and-end-all qualities that it simply does not possess.
The rationalist tends towards sterile reductionism, he (it's often a he) makes extensive use of deductive reasoning while all too often failing to subject the first principles on which the exercise is based to sufficiently rigorous testing. False axioms.
Inductive reasoning -- working from the particular to the general -- calls for perhaps yet greater caution. Even when grounded in constantly repeated experience, it could when used abusively repeat the meaningless behavior of the ant climbing a blade of grass. At the same time, by thinking outside the box, this approach grounded in real life experience can provide rich material for exploratory research.
We need to be very suspicious of concepts like the SUPERnatural or, indeed, PARApsychology. These can distort and impoverish our understanding of nature itself. Admittedly, a concept that resists definition...
Rather than simply indulging in enthralling intellectual activity, the searcher should ask questions about him/herself. "Who/what am I?" That, before going on to examine the interface with his/her activity. Not just "Who AM I?" but "What do I think I'm doing here? What are the implications of this enthralling game, looking beyond the answers I'm seeking?"
And so on...
And "What do we owe to each other?"
@ Linda. "Trump hates dogs" and "stole from kids with cancer" when repeated daily works. https://rvat.org/
Sometimes I visualize how thousands or millions of eligible voters fear a Harris/Walz win as much as I dread a Trump/Vance win.
I met a woman from Minnesota who grew up in an evangelical Christian home who asked me, are there any Republicans in Massachusetts? She described how fanatical she needed to become so she could live with the contradictions in her mind until she snapped and then methodically began to process her assumptions. She gradually allowed herself to cast off indoctrination. She drove herself to Cape Cod to see for herself, exploring her childhood aspirations to study marine environments and new career options after suspending her career as a nurse, a yoga teacher, and a landscape laborer. One person's odyssey. I continue to wonder about how each and all of us will be coping with election outcomes, whatever they may be.
For many, it's likely the feeling of being among the others who are opposed to what neoliberal policies have done to our communities over the past 40 years. They want to share their anger with others who had the rug pulled out from under their families when their jobs left the country. He conned them, and they latched on, afraid to let go.
They also blame unions and women for policies greedy executives decided to pursue.
Yeah, Kathy. Like with the immigration problem, they blame the victims.
Gloria, I wholeheartedly agree!! ItтАЩs since the late 1960тАЩs/1970тАЩs (and Reagan) timeframe when industrial jobs were yanked out from them. Plus, add to that, more affirmative actions that excluded the middle to lower middle class because they didnтАЩt fall into the eligible income bracket. Now, generations of bitterness have rallied around Trump, who has been fanning the fire of their resentment- resulting in distrust of our government-elections, the Constitution, Bill of Rights, governmental agencies, etc.
Yeah, but they love their dogs and their government benefits.
https://rvat.org/
ItтАЩs both for me. His demented mind and the cult following him down the river Hades. I call it тАЬTrumptredтАЭ as his particular form of hatred is like none other we have seen in American history. This guy is McCarthy to the power of ten.
LOL, Dana, I initially read it as тАЬTrumpturdтАЭтАжboth can be valid!
True. There are a lot of bots or real people on X that believe Trump, whoтАЩs headed further into unreality.
Precisely.
And that a major US political party finds him suitable as a nominee. How can so many politicians still get behind this?
Some are in it for the money.
Money and Power. Or: Money = Power
ItтАЩs not unusual for hundreds of gawkers to gather at a train derailment. Writers for Politico, NYT, WaPo and other MSM are all hunkered over the transcripts now feverishly rewriting the dementia into policy statements.
I think it was Mark Twain that said this:
It is hard to ever convince the conned that they have been conned. I say this as I look out my window at a tRump 2024 - take America back flag and see way too many repub campaign signs in the neighborhood.
I think the quote is, itтАЩs much easier to con people than to convince them that theyтАЩve been conned
..."when voters actually saw him in this campaign, they would be shocked at how he has deteriorated, and that seems to be true: his meandering and self-indulgent speeches have had attendees leaving early, some of them bewildered."
Dr. Richardson pointed this out and I feel sure this is a harbinger of his nationwide support. I feel certain regular Republicans are fleeing him. I am sure more MAGA will sit this one out.
And of those 7000 some will become dead enders after Trump looses. These will be the most dangerous in the months / years after the election.