To me, the defining feature of this era's governance is the utter corruption. How did we get here?
Well, decades of bad-faith slurs against the Clintons led MAGA to believe that Democrats are wholly on the take and nothing was ever done. Of course, the reason why the Clintons "got away with it" is that they didn't actually take bribes.
Since Democrats are corrupt without consequence, it's cool that our guy is literally taking money from hostile foreign powers and suing his own administration to give him billions.
When we moved to the home where I live now, we invited new neighbors for a 4th of July party. A woman who was our nearest neighbor, who I barely knew, very eagerly told me how she'd never voted, but registered just so she could vote against Hillary. She chirped on and on about it. At the time I was still a 'nice lady,' who had no idea what was coming, so I just listened and did not tell her or her husband, who nodded along as she spilled her bile, to go fuck themselves forever. As I would do now, if I spoke to them at all.
The problem is that it's not their own opinion. It is a known fact bc they saw it on Fox and they are constantly fed misinformation, lies and conspiracy and now the main cheerleader is the administration.
My wife has a Trumpy relative with the same issue. She's normally polite but then will randomly and obliviously blurt out offensive, eye rolling comments that no one asked for.
The MAGA movement's electoral strategy heavily depends on exploiting mental illness. Now that they have taken over the Republican Party, perhaps they should change its name to the Mental Illness Party.
I bet they would find that the vast majority of MAGA watch 30 or more hours a week watching TV. Fox News, a propaganda channel, The Apprentice, Lifetime Hallmark shows, Soaps. That to them is real life.
I wouldn't say that they are mentally ill. They definitely lack self awareness and social graces, though. I also think that the "lacking" part is intentional at this point ("I don't pretend to be nice anymore").
I think a significant portion of them are mentally ill. Sociopathy by itself is more common than most people think. I definitely agree it’s intentional, where they get their news. They have an antisocial itch that needs scratching, and right wing media delivers.
Trumpers don’t seem to care with whom they’re surrounded, they assume that everyone is just as stupid & bigoted as they are. I don’t bring up politics unless I know that my company is on the same page. I don’t want to offend anyone, & don’t want to open that can of worms. Guess I should rethink that, & call a spade a spade!
Sometimes I wish that I had their level of self-confident stupidity lol.
When I see their comments online blaming leftists for things, I think that it's them trying to justify their own worst and darkest tendencies or simply just assuming that anyone to the left of them lacks a moral center, too.
People who generally feel that no one is interested in them will spout the most extreme stuff that makes them feel more "in the know" than other people, which gives them a feeling of power that they don't otherwise feel.
I might be borrowing this line, but if spending Heaven means having to spend time with nutty MAGA evangelists, I'll think that I'll take my chances in Hell.
What is really vile, is how these freaks have forced us to lose friends and family members. Keeping friends and family who still support this disgusting, gangster regime would make us complicit.
At least Ronald Reagan apologized for his role in trading arms, money and potentially hostages illegally with a foreign hostile power though maybe that was just different times where administrations were expected to behave differently when caught with their hand in the cookie jar. That only Oliver North paid any price for that scandal is another data point in not holding our elites accountable, and what administrations can get away with when allowed.
The anti-Clinton cabal began early on. David Brock, who ultimately switched teams and founded Media Matters, was hired by Richard Scaife to write a book on "Trooper-gate." It was complete bullshit.
This hagiography of Reagan forgets to note that he is the genesis of the political Right and political Evangelism. His comments to Falwell released Moral Majority, Tea Party, MAGA , etc.
What utter nonsense. I became a Republican because of Reagan and the conservative movement. Seen Reaganism and Trumpism up close and personal the last several decades. The Reagan Revolution could not be more different than Trumpism. Trying to say Trumpism is a natural progression of Reaganism is not only undeniably false, it downplays the historical and unique threat that Donald Trump represents.
The Regan presidency is a much more mixed bag than I think you care to admit. One of the less savory elements was the liaison and cultivation of the religious right particularly Southern Evangelicals alienated by the civil rights movement and the changes white control of the South. Reagan opportunistically, and one could say cynically, used these people to advance his political agenda. The religious right’s involvement and subsequent political maturity has paved the way for white Christian nationalism which is a large part of the Trump base. Ronald Reagan had no problem with racism either and is record of his racist comments is there for anyone willing to observe it.
This does not mean that is what you saw in the Reagan revolution or believed it to be about: Reagan pulled many strands together that did not have the same beliefs or agendas though they all believed they could use him and the administration to advance theirs. More than in thing can be true at the same time, and there are always dark sides to every movement.
Trump/MAGA IS a natural, high probability outcome of Reagan and the Rightist media as it developed. It wasn't inevitable, but highly probable--the path, TBH, of least resistance in pursuit of electoral victory.
The GoP did not have to choose that path, but if they hadn't they would likely be a truly moribund party.
The Otherism (expressed as racism, sexism, and religious self-righteousness) was always present to a greater or lesser degree and slowly took over to the point where "normal" Republicans lost power. This has a lot to do with the actual nature of broad American conservatism (which was always Otherist and often explicitly religious)--and the Establishment conservatives really, really needed the votes of THOSE conservatives to be viable nationally--which eventually led to their capitulation.
There was also the usual appeals to rebuilding or renewing an America which was in decline, because of what those Other people were doing.
I say that despite having started off as a dues-paying Libertarian, and then a registered Republican since the early 80s, having voted twice for Reagan, and for Bush Sr (who was the last Republican I voted for for President).
We also cannot ignore the systemic racism that exists in the USA and has always been a feature of right wing politics. Although the main political parties switched on that issue over the years.
I disagree. Reagan was big on promoting the “welfare queen “ concept and ran deficits to decrease taxes on the wealthy. He also started distrust of the government by a president. Roberts got his start by engaging in voter suppression under the Reagan administration. Reagan was the godfather of Trump.
I disagree. Reagan was big on promoting the “welfare queen “ concept and ran deficits to decrease taxes on the wealthy. He also started distrust of the government by a president. Roberts got his start by engaging in voter suppression under the Reagan administration. Reagan was the godfather of Trump.
Some “conspiracies” are true. I wonder if that’s the point of insane conspiracy theories that proliferate on the right; so the more reality-based citizens ignore actual conspiracies perpetrated by the right.
We usually agree about 95% of the time, Mike. But I think the Clinton’s Arkansas ethical standards were dubious at best.
BUT, whatever they might have done, it was mostly within the sad, but true, level of corruption seemingly acceptable in many states in those days.
I think the difference between that and DT’s level of corruption is beyond mathematical calculation.
How did this occur? Imo, the number of GOP voters, as well as some Libertarians and a few Dems, that found DT acceptable, not despite his racism, but because of it, was huge. And that racism was far from limited to Blacks. At the time I thought this issue would slowly go away as voters aged. I was wrong. Judging from the ICE demographics, people of color better watch each other’s backs for the foreseeable future.
And then there's the Mark Rich pardon. Trump's abuses of the Pardon Power compare to that like the Encyclopaedia Britannica compared to a birthday card, but they both carry the same stench.
I believe malign foreign elements like Putin in Russia have had their thumb on the scale all along. I recently read about just one bot network there with 700+ accounts and posting 17,000 mostly false statements every day.
I think we can all agree Hilary would have been a better president than Trump without engaging in Clinton hagiography. Bill was gross and within the norms corrupt and Hilary was a mediocre at best candidate who would never have gotten the nomination if Obama hadn't cleared the field for her.
I would have been a better president than Trump. He is by far the dumbest, most emotionally and mentally stunted individual to ever serve any office. If he hadn't had a manevolantly wealthy father he would be selling fake designer watches at flea markets.
"One thing that’s so disgraceful about the present moment is that we don’t face some kind of world-historical or formidable foe of the sort Lincoln imagined. We have been unable to defeat the designs of a second-rate demagogue and grifter, aided by third-rate bigots and authoritarians, and surrounded by fourth-rate opportunists and conspiracists."
You failed to mention the voters who (still) support them. In February 2016 I was visiting what I thought then was my "normy" Republican brother, who said he supported Cruz. I asked what he thought of Trump and his answer was "He's a buffoon". I asked what he would do if Trump got the nomination and he said "Against Hillary? I'd vote for Trump."
That moment stuck then and on the drive home, and ever since. I thought it was just Hillary, but history has shown it's much more than that. For a large swath of the Republican-voting electorate, there is literally no depth a candidate can go to that would lose their vote.
I guess one could add "if the alternative is a Democrat." But that hasn't really been tested, has it.
More R's voted than D's in that Texas race last weekend; there may be some Republicans finally snapping out of it. But on a long drive, listening to talk radio the other night, you'd never know it. Pretti "got what he deserved". The contrast between him and Rittenhouse and Ammon Bundy was, charitably, completely hypocritical.
And can I just say that listening to the style of talk radio is nauseating. They keep repeating the same phrase, over and over, like a parent saying to their child " now repeat after me......". The audience must be dumb as bricks to not know their intelligence is being insulted.
If more Republicans than Democrats voted in that election which produced a 31 point swing to the Democratic candidate, then a not insignificant share switched sides on that vote. I would like to see a breakdown of the Republican and independent votes in the race. If those sort of results, or anywhere near them, were repeated in November it would spell disaster for the GOP.
That's why realists like the editorial team at WSJ are freaking out. 35% Dems, 51% Reps, 14% independent according to Ross Hunt of Hunt Research.
Of course, on the right, it's all because "Republicans stayed home". I love how they are trying to paint Taylor Rehmet as a radical. Dude is a veteran and machinist for a defense contractor. Radical because he works hard and wants a fair wage?
At some point, which may be now, most people stop believing MAGA's claims that somehow everyone they don't like is a closet leftist radical. It's one thing to do it against a group of "others" such as black or brown people and gain some traction; there's a natural distrust of the "other" on the right, as we all know.
But people quickly see Alex Pretti's back story and realize that he was an ICU nurse dedicated to serving veterans. Guys like Taylor Rehmet and Mark Kelly as radicals? These guys served their country, unlike Trump or really anyone in his admin.
It doesn't matter to Republicans turned MAGA how moderate you are. If you are a Democrat, you are radical. That is what 30 plus years of FOX demonization gets you.
That’s an interesting breakdown of who voted. Based on the results, off the back of a napkin, that probably represents about 10% of Republicans voted for the Democrat — I am assuming most, but not all independents voted for the ‘D’. I don’t know the Texas voter breakdown by registration, but that number of independents seems low to the % that will likely turn out in other states come November.
"Repetition is the mother of Retention", is what he practices, but that is not some Felonese brain fart. How did you learn your multiplication tables or how to spell Mississippi correctly?
It’s a great tool, which can be used for good, like learning your multiplication tables, or evil, like convincing a huge number of people you wuz robbed.
He repeats the same crap over and over because he doesn’t examine what he says critically. It’s like a broken record. And the majority of the Republican Party accepts it. His only original thoughts are about destruction and building a monument to himself. Watch for it. He will do the same thing he did to the East Wing of the White House. Before anyone can rein him in, he will have the equipment for destruction on site and the work started. The crew that does the work will be complicit and are just another bunch who have been convinced they’re doing the right thing. My iPad is so confident that the Apple language algorithm anticipates my words by the second or third letter. If the Republicans don’t wake up and stop this, we need to learn how to speak one of the Chinese languages. This post could have been written by the 3rd sentence. This post is copied from my reply to someone else’s post. I just copied and pasted it to the current post.
Your first sentence assumes he has the ability to think critically. I have approached this whole charade as just that, a charade. They (most R's) DO. NOT. CARE. unless and until their own ass is on the line. In small instances that seems to be happening.
My gut says it is too late. Trump will blow up the country if need be and most of the sycophants will warm their hands on the ashes before they admit they got taken by a con man with bad hair and extremely shalow thought.
My first sentence should have said that he CAN’T think critically. Maybe it implies he has the ability, but chooses not to use it. You are correct in catching that. Unfortunately, there is no way to edit posts beyond proof reading and thinking about how it might be interpreted. Not intended to criticize you. You caught it. Unfortunately, many of his voters aren’t thinking critically. When I made the mistake of taking a job as program director for Counseling and Psychology, I had never heard or thought about the meaning of the term. It was then that I understood that just because I had the ability to think critically, others did too. Not evident among most of my students. I lasted 7 quarters before I returned to full time practice. The Counseling Program was later canned. My next mistake was trying to fully understand the term “woke”. Then I realized the term described me. For example, I always believed that homosexuality was hardwired into the brain in some way yet to be understood. Maybe some are abused repeatedly by homosexual men. No one would make that choice knowing what it would mean in their life. My theory about lesbians is slightly different; I think an unknown, but small percentage become lesbian by terrible experience with men or realizing in a marriage feel that isn’t who they are There are people were born eventually realizing they were in the wrong body. Those are transsexuals. Examples in entertainment including Boys Don’t Cry with Hillary Swank and Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Wow, I’m woke, and I’m a nice, smart guy, not a far left lunatic. Please do me the favor of acknowledging this reply. It needn’t be long, just, “ got it. “
He repeats the same crap over and over because he doesn’t examine what he says critically. It’s like a broken record. And the majority of the Republican Party accepts it. His only original thoughts are about destruction and building a monument to himself. Watch for it. He will do the same thing he did to the East Wing of the White House. Before anyone can rein him in, he will have the equipment for destruction on site and the work started. The crew that does the work will be complicit and are just another bunch who have been convinced they’re doing the right thing. My iPad is so confident that the Apple language algorithm anticipates my words by the second or third letter. If the Republicans don’t wake up and stop this, we need to learn how to speak one of the Chinese languages. This post could have been written by the 3rd sentence.
I prefer to say that they possess inferior intellects. Although in dark moments that are coming more frequently, I consider scum, or less savory names to be deserved.
Yep. About 30% of the electorate will vote Republican no matter what. It is their identity. They have no beliefs beyond “me right, always.” They will gladly hand their daughters over to be raped and their sons to be killed because that is the Republican way.
And roughly 30-percent will always vote for Democrats. The problem is that that contestable 40-percent is chock-full-of-people who aren't paying attention or are distracted by the next shiny object. The hardened bases are a massive problem, but bigger is playing to a base that is essentially a minority and not breaking through to that swath in the middle.
Trump did not achieve this situation by himself, not even close. His vulgar, sustained presence on the national scene is the fruition of a decades long conspiracy involving a group of right-wing oligarchs in eager collaboration with Vladimir Putin. And as the recent file dump illustrates, Epstein was facilitating the process by feeding the appetites of people with money and power, while feeding kompromat and leverage to Vlad.
When Kamala lost, I told myself I wouldn't support any female presidential candidates in the 2028 primary b/c they've proven they can't win in a general. It's like gospel singers on American Idol...the judges love them and put them through to the live shows, but the people at home don't vote for them, so they're sent home.
Kamala Harris darn near won, swimming upstream with Biden's unpopularity strapped to her back. She didn't lose because she's a female. She was a good candidate who lost because she had to carry Biden's luggage.
nope no shot. With the economy in "shambles" from every media viewpoint (it wasnt) that is much too big a hill to climb. But of course Drumpf has done nothing about that after election either
I agree she didn’t lose because of her sex or race, unless indirectly because Biden chose her for those reasons and not for natural political gifts. That’s not unusual; VP candidates are often tapped to balance a ticket. Kamala lost not because of Biden’s baggage but because of her own. She couldn’t, or at least didn’t, renounce the positions she took in her failed 2020 primary race. For example, she pointedly failed to endorse Biden’s executive order restricting immigration. Anyhow, there is no reason to think a woman of color can’t win just because Harris lost.
Being female was a strike against Kamala for sure. Many men don't think, and will never think, that women should be taken seriously. Period. But she had other problems in my opinion. I live in California and saw her rise to power in the Bay Area and then statewide as Attorney General. One thing I don't think she ever overcame was how carefully, and awkwardly, she attempted to answer difficult questions. It left me with the impression that what she would say behind closed doors wasn't what she would say in public. I liked your comparison of her campaign to an American Idol episode. A lot of enthusiasm and clapping, but the door slams shut in the end.
The demonization of the other team was a key tool to keep MAGA on board with Trump and minimizing the ability of RINOs to push back. That’s why the departure of MTG is significant.
This is why I sometimes think we need to dump the term 'Democrat' and start a whole new party. I hate to say this, but human beings are really dumb when it comes to labels. You have trad R's voting for Trump even though MAGA bears almost no resemblance to the R party they grew up with. It's the label! I really don't think Dems are ever going to get anywhere until we change the name of our party!
Maybe the party could "merge" with the Independent party and become the Independent Democratic party. It wouldn't be that hard to change the signs and the stationary. Beshear the governor of KY could be the face if the party.
You are correct. Honestly, just rename the Democratic party to the Independent party. I know this will never happen, but everything you said is correct. Lazy minded people whose families always voted Repub literally only vote for the Repub candidate in every election, knowing nothing about them. I was saying 40 years ago (!) that the Repubs could put an (R) beside Mickey Mouse on the ballot and he'd win every Repub majority district. The issue today is that, as someone said, the decades of right wing media dominance on first talk radio (and now having morphed into cellphone podcasts), along with the cable dominance of the propaganda cable network created by Murdoch, those years of conditioning have led to half the people who would once have considered themselves aligned more with Democrats than Repubs to now self-label themselves as 'Independent" since they've been conditioned to demonize the Democrat brand. So change the damn name!
Hillary was a very polarizing person in any context. First, the US is not ready for a female president. When they do elected a woman, I bet its a Republican a la Thatcher. Trump might not have won if Biden had said he was there for 1 term and they had a primary. There are several Dem governors who would have beat Trump.
I know a man in the “trades” who told me in 2024 that he might not vote for Trump, but he “couldn’t” vote for Kamala. Now his marriage is failing, over politics. I’m pretty sure he did vote for Trump and his wife knows. I did a little online dive, and the Trump phenomenon has had a concurrent spike in divorce filings. Family values? Only by force, and that’s the plan.
Of course it's been tested in every single Republican primary. The weird MAGAs always win. Ask Romney, or Cheney, or Christie, or Haley. I'll bet your brother didn't vote for them.
I remember a picture of a couple old white dude MAGA creeps, who were wearing T-shirts that had the caption “I’d rather be Russian, than a Democrat!”
That’s when I began to understand how bad this will get. How existential it is. They see us as subhuman. What does history show us happens to people labeled as subhumans?
When people would say "anyone but Hillary," I would reply, "Fine. Name a woman you would vote for as president. " And they couldn't name a single one. So I because suspicious that they wanted me to believe they were not sexist, and they wanted me to believe it, but they were indeed sexist. And there was no woman they would vote for.
Perhaps more than any politician in history, Trump has held a mirror up to the American people, and the image we see is startling.
This awful period isn't so much about Trump as it is about us, and what Trump reveals about us. Our culture has produced a population that is shockingly ignorant about the world in general and the principles that we always thought underlay our system of government and our society. We are distracted, illiterate, venal, and easily misled, perpetually grasping and resentful when we can't obtain what we think is our due.
No political response to Trump will be successful unless it acknowledges the social and political forces that led to Trump's creation, and dares to imagine a different kind of society. There is no returning to normal.
Ah, you said this better than I did. People like you and Bill Kristol who remember that America is still one people give me hope. Normal wasn't normal - it was covering up a lot of child sex crimes. Let's get to a true normal, where people aren't treated as things.
Your post reminds me of the idea that someone (not sure who) spoke of regarding monsters (read DJT). Monsters will be monsters; they do what monsters do. It's those that follow them who have a choice; and we have many people making that choice out of whatever, and there are many, misguided motive they have.
U.S. ranked 28th out of 37 OECD countries in math, 12th in science, and sits around 15th-17th in overall, comprehensive global education rankings behind countries like Singapore, Japan, Finland, and Canada.
Trump has truly 'drained the swamp'. There was a reason that Trump resonated with the American people. The lack of any accountability with the fiasco's in Iraq and WMD and then the mortgage crisis. When the Rubin's, Goldman Sachs, Fannie Mae, AIG, Merrill, Alan Greenspan, and all the others who tanked the economy and walk away with millions, then you get Trump.
Obama could have had a few public type hangings, but like a good Dem, he just cleaned up the mess, said nothing, and then watched the Fox created Tea Party ruin his Congressional margins.
When Reagan followed Carter, every other word was Carter this or Carter that. When FDR followed Hoover, the Dems tagged every Rep as a 'Hoover Republican'.
The Dems had WMD/Iraq teed up and did nothing.
Clinton had Janet Reno, who cluelessly let Ken Starr in the hen house.
They had the mortgage crash and they did nothing.
They had the Republicans spend like drunken sailors and end the Clinton surplus...nothing.
They let McConnell run rings around them with Merrick Garland.
Then the same Biden/Garland Dems let Trump off the hook.
The same Biden team lied about running again and ignored the border.
And Dems whined about the sexist American people who wouldn't elect a woman?
And now we have Chuck 'Stern Letter' Schumur lead the charge?? Really?
When historians write about the Trump era, don't forget the feckless Dems who helped sow the seed for this disaster by continually taking the wrong road at the fork.
it goes without saying that if you are facing "the most consequential election for the future of this country since 1860", you don't re-nominate a guy in his early 80's with all the signs of dementia and an approval rating in the low 40's that somehow is losing to an unpopular buffoon who tried to overthrow the government.
Who would they have chosen? Democrats need to learn that not all voters are on the cutting edge of social issues.
Many people hated Hillary. Just because the Clinton's had political power, Hillary was not Bill (and parading a cheating husband did her no favors) . She was smart but her condescending "its my turn, I represent all women" and the Its "time for a woman" was a huge disappointment.
I voted for Hillary and Kamala, but I didn't think they great candidates.
You give way too much credit to Trump and not enough responsibility to all you x-Republicans from the Reagan era on who helped transfer the ego-ideal from character to wealth and the religious right who thought they could use him to deliver the Christian Nation they want. He has been a tool and we are only fortunate they he is such a screw up, we may yet prevail. Had he been more competent we would be in more trouble and you can bet his project 2025 handlers are none too happy about it.
I get it, but at least these ex-Republicans are ex-Republicans. Although I disagreed with them then, and still do one issues today, at least they remained true to their principles.
I don't bother arguing with my brother on issues. It would be more entertaining to have him argue with his former self.
The Gingrich era was also key as lock step voting replaced the old horse trading where GOP congressmen traded their vote for an earmark. Earmarks sound corrupt but are in fact helpful toward better government.
People who try to equate Reaganism and Trumpism are either blissfully ignorant or intellectually dishonest. Trumpism is unrecognizable to those of us who became Republican because of Reagan. You think Reagan would be calling to nationalize elections?
Seems to me that Lincoln's operative word there is "undecayed." Trump is singular in all the ways you say, but even though he is the cause of 10,000 disgraces, I have always felt that he is more than anything a symptom of our societal decadence. We have to fight all the fights, but as long as we are a society that treats ironic detachment like a philosophy or that makes not distinction between fame and infamy, then we will deserve all the grotesque reality of this terrible TV show masquerading as a government
"But he may turn out to be as important a historical figure as FDR or Reagan."
If you are only talking about US history, OK comparisons. But look beyond the city limits of DC or the borders of the US for comparisons that really matter to HISTORY, and you come up with Hitler or Stalin or Mao. Putin wants to be in their ranks, too, which is why may be the main reason the Felon admires him so much.
Trump holds the keys to a nuclear arsenal that could wipe every living thing from the planet and lacks the demeanor to be trusted with even a set of car keys. I'd say that the potential for Trump to be a uniquely historical figure exists.
Your wording seems to suggest that only if he does hit his "Big Button" would he qualify as a "uniquely historical figure". I was not challenging that idea, rather the two names picked by the article as not being wide-reaching enough.
We must do whatever we can to ensure a blue wave while planning this administration will stop at nothing to maintain power. If we are so lucky to wrestle some power back, it is only the first step of a long arduous journey. But what other choice do we have?
Elected Dems are always a day late and a dollar short. But since they are so poll and focus-group driven, perhaps seeing the ground shifting will make them a bit more bold (let’s hope).
Regarding the Trump era and legacy, he’s been the most dominant figure in politics because we’re losing. Truth is losing. Decency is losing. History is forever HIS STORY and written by the victor. Had the South won the civil war kids today would be reading about how great Jefferson Davis was and not Lincoln. I always thought we we ultimately win here. But I fear I gave the American people too much credit. Because he’s still winning. And the embrace of hate, of cheating, of lying, of gaslighting and cruelty by the entire Republican Party with hardly anyone fighting for what I always thought our values were….tells me what our values really are. And who we really are.
As a Christian, I continue to be completely befuddled as to how people who profess to follow Jesus are supporters of Trump. I don’t think I can name a single person in American public life this century that is more the antithesis of Jesus’ teachings than Trump. I think it shows that even people who strive to follow Jesus can be blinded by perceived political power.
They are not striving to follow Jesus. They are striving to achieve a “Christian” nation using their definition of Christianity — control, power and dominance based on race and gender.
Conservative Christianity is no longer a religion, its political party that believes White men are on the top rung. White women, and people of color if they are conservative are next, but they subservient to white males.
I was listening to Bill and Tim yesterday, and I am continually struck about how people like Bill Kristol, solid rock ribbed Republican, have started sounding like a woke lefty.
"Abolish ICE", indeed!
All of you at the Bulwark could have just faded into the background, kept your friends, pretended things were fine, but you didn't. And I'm forever grateful.
Bill’s father Irving was one of the original neocons, an FDR Democrat who thought the New Left had lost its way. It’s fitting that Bill is one who most vocally opposes the catastrophic turn of the GOP.
Great article. Like Bill, I am horrified each day that Donald Trump is our president. I am horrified even more by the realization that some 77 million people thought that he should be our president, despite Trump doing nothing to hide the fact that he is an amoral, ignorant, unprincipled, venal, corrupt, and petty man.
Bill, I think you summed it all up so well in your column today. It still astonishes me that at a time of peace and prosperity, this is the self-destructive path that our country has chosen to take. Why? Well, I think that another Bill, Bill Murray, gave us the answer in the movie "Stripes" (yes, a different context, but it fits so well):
"There's something wrong with us, something very, very wrong with us. Something seriously wrong with us..."
Feel free to correct me, but TR was an anomaly. Progressive policy and conserving the environment were NOT part of McKinley's platform, nor were they part of Taft's or any other Republican successor. TR become president by accident (assassination), not design. Heck, the Bull Moose Party (founded by TR in 1912) was just a nickname -- it's actually the Progressive Party.
My mind went there too but it looks like Bill was only talking of presidents in the last century, so I'll say TR was not in the timeframe under consideration.
Ah, yeah I guess you could read it either way. I read Bill's meaning as strictly a period of 100 years since Trump was in the mix and he's a 21st century phenomenon, so between 1926 and 2026.
How do we stay happy warriors for the next ten years? Remember this advice from Stephen Stills: "Rejoice, rejoice, we have no choice, but to carry on." This is all we've got.
Or we can quote Hamilton the musical: "Look around, look around, how lucky we are to be alive right now. History is happening . .. ." And we can be a part of shaping the story.
Hopefully Dems in Congress and elsewhere find their spine. Trump stealing the election is not TDS: as you note, he's saying the quiet part out loud that he's going to try to steal or intimidate to win. This has been obvious for so long it's almost as if it's forgotten.
He already tried to orchestrate a coup 5 years ago. Stop acting as if "voting him out" will make him go away, like every other president in history. He is not operating in good faith, and everyone, at every level, needs to be prepared for this.
Trump never operates in good faith. He makes these comments to soften the ground and normalize what should be immediately quashed, but those who could won’t. Still Trump is opportunistic and will back down if the cost is too high.
To answer the question on staying a "happy warrior"- one thing that I like to remind myself is that we are more full and happy than they will ever be. Trump, his administration, and the billionaire class are never satisfied. They have no struggles in the physical world and can do almost anything they want, but they are so clearly empty. We have more love, more fulfillment, more fun, and more life than them.
I think that moving forward, everyone in the opposition, whether an elected official or a regular citizen, needs to connect the billionaires' greed to everything going on. The Epstein crime is only something that sick billionaires can do, sick billionaires wanted tax breaks so you lost healthcare, sick billionaires wanted more power so they stole your personal data, etc...
To me, the defining feature of this era's governance is the utter corruption. How did we get here?
Well, decades of bad-faith slurs against the Clintons led MAGA to believe that Democrats are wholly on the take and nothing was ever done. Of course, the reason why the Clintons "got away with it" is that they didn't actually take bribes.
Since Democrats are corrupt without consequence, it's cool that our guy is literally taking money from hostile foreign powers and suing his own administration to give him billions.
Well done, America!
When we moved to the home where I live now, we invited new neighbors for a 4th of July party. A woman who was our nearest neighbor, who I barely knew, very eagerly told me how she'd never voted, but registered just so she could vote against Hillary. She chirped on and on about it. At the time I was still a 'nice lady,' who had no idea what was coming, so I just listened and did not tell her or her husband, who nodded along as she spilled her bile, to go fuck themselves forever. As I would do now, if I spoke to them at all.
That’s a hallmark of the uninformed, right wing voter; they aren’t a bit shy about blaring their opinions regardless of the social setting.
The problem is that it's not their own opinion. It is a known fact bc they saw it on Fox and they are constantly fed misinformation, lies and conspiracy and now the main cheerleader is the administration.
And Trump played a smart business man on TV.
Like DJT
My wife has a Trumpy relative with the same issue. She's normally polite but then will randomly and obliviously blurt out offensive, eye rolling comments that no one asked for.
It really feels like a form of mental illness.
The MAGA movement's electoral strategy heavily depends on exploiting mental illness. Now that they have taken over the Republican Party, perhaps they should change its name to the Mental Illness Party.
I bet they would find that the vast majority of MAGA watch 30 or more hours a week watching TV. Fox News, a propaganda channel, The Apprentice, Lifetime Hallmark shows, Soaps. That to them is real life.
Agree. They not only exploit mental illness, they exacerbate it, by feeding the attraction to conspiracies.
or it's a personality type. We all know one...perpetually mad about something or at someone for all sorts of things...always victimized by someone.
That’s a good match for the profiles in the book “Deaths of Despair” - about the high mortality rate among middle age working class males.
I wouldn't say that they are mentally ill. They definitely lack self awareness and social graces, though. I also think that the "lacking" part is intentional at this point ("I don't pretend to be nice anymore").
I think a significant portion of them are mentally ill. Sociopathy by itself is more common than most people think. I definitely agree it’s intentional, where they get their news. They have an antisocial itch that needs scratching, and right wing media delivers.
Trumpers don’t seem to care with whom they’re surrounded, they assume that everyone is just as stupid & bigoted as they are. I don’t bring up politics unless I know that my company is on the same page. I don’t want to offend anyone, & don’t want to open that can of worms. Guess I should rethink that, & call a spade a spade!
Sometimes I wish that I had their level of self-confident stupidity lol.
When I see their comments online blaming leftists for things, I think that it's them trying to justify their own worst and darkest tendencies or simply just assuming that anyone to the left of them lacks a moral center, too.
People who generally feel that no one is interested in them will spout the most extreme stuff that makes them feel more "in the know" than other people, which gives them a feeling of power that they don't otherwise feel.
Yes, I've noticed that too.
Or blaring their ignorance.
Alonda - when I was a lad I was advised your restraint was called “laying up treasures for heaven“ 😇
I, like all of us here, am doing my time in hell, good to know I've got a lil sumpun upstairs.
I might be borrowing this line, but if spending Heaven means having to spend time with nutty MAGA evangelists, I'll think that I'll take my chances in Hell.
What is really vile, is how these freaks have forced us to lose friends and family members. Keeping friends and family who still support this disgusting, gangster regime would make us complicit.
At least Ronald Reagan apologized for his role in trading arms, money and potentially hostages illegally with a foreign hostile power though maybe that was just different times where administrations were expected to behave differently when caught with their hand in the cookie jar. That only Oliver North paid any price for that scandal is another data point in not holding our elites accountable, and what administrations can get away with when allowed.
Ah, Oliver North. His wife died in 2024 and he married his secretary with speed. At age 80. Still a paragon of virtue and morality,
He and JD Eyeliner are running neck and neck for shittiest marine in U.S. Marine Corps history.
The anti-Clinton cabal began early on. David Brock, who ultimately switched teams and founded Media Matters, was hired by Richard Scaife to write a book on "Trooper-gate." It was complete bullshit.
This hagiography of Reagan forgets to note that he is the genesis of the political Right and political Evangelism. His comments to Falwell released Moral Majority, Tea Party, MAGA , etc.
True. So his environmental secy was James Watts, and Gorsuch's mom. Lightweights in many areas.
What utter nonsense. I became a Republican because of Reagan and the conservative movement. Seen Reaganism and Trumpism up close and personal the last several decades. The Reagan Revolution could not be more different than Trumpism. Trying to say Trumpism is a natural progression of Reaganism is not only undeniably false, it downplays the historical and unique threat that Donald Trump represents.
The Regan presidency is a much more mixed bag than I think you care to admit. One of the less savory elements was the liaison and cultivation of the religious right particularly Southern Evangelicals alienated by the civil rights movement and the changes white control of the South. Reagan opportunistically, and one could say cynically, used these people to advance his political agenda. The religious right’s involvement and subsequent political maturity has paved the way for white Christian nationalism which is a large part of the Trump base. Ronald Reagan had no problem with racism either and is record of his racist comments is there for anyone willing to observe it.
This does not mean that is what you saw in the Reagan revolution or believed it to be about: Reagan pulled many strands together that did not have the same beliefs or agendas though they all believed they could use him and the administration to advance theirs. More than in thing can be true at the same time, and there are always dark sides to every movement.
Trump/MAGA IS a natural, high probability outcome of Reagan and the Rightist media as it developed. It wasn't inevitable, but highly probable--the path, TBH, of least resistance in pursuit of electoral victory.
The GoP did not have to choose that path, but if they hadn't they would likely be a truly moribund party.
The Otherism (expressed as racism, sexism, and religious self-righteousness) was always present to a greater or lesser degree and slowly took over to the point where "normal" Republicans lost power. This has a lot to do with the actual nature of broad American conservatism (which was always Otherist and often explicitly religious)--and the Establishment conservatives really, really needed the votes of THOSE conservatives to be viable nationally--which eventually led to their capitulation.
There was also the usual appeals to rebuilding or renewing an America which was in decline, because of what those Other people were doing.
I say that despite having started off as a dues-paying Libertarian, and then a registered Republican since the early 80s, having voted twice for Reagan, and for Bush Sr (who was the last Republican I voted for for President).
We also cannot ignore the systemic racism that exists in the USA and has always been a feature of right wing politics. Although the main political parties switched on that issue over the years.
Simplified devolution of the species: Newt Gingrich--Moral majority--FOX--Tea party--DJT. Any Questions?
I can see that.
I disagree. Reagan was big on promoting the “welfare queen “ concept and ran deficits to decrease taxes on the wealthy. He also started distrust of the government by a president. Roberts got his start by engaging in voter suppression under the Reagan administration. Reagan was the godfather of Trump.
I disagree. Reagan was big on promoting the “welfare queen “ concept and ran deficits to decrease taxes on the wealthy. He also started distrust of the government by a president. Roberts got his start by engaging in voter suppression under the Reagan administration. Reagan was the godfather of Trump.
Reading “Blood Sport” was an eye-opener. They really were gunning for Bill Clinton from the minute he set foot in the Arkansas governor’s mansion.
Some “conspiracies” are true. I wonder if that’s the point of insane conspiracy theories that proliferate on the right; so the more reality-based citizens ignore actual conspiracies perpetrated by the right.
And Bill Clinton actually left the country with a balanced budget! Hatred and ignorance are a toxic mix,as we're living it today!
I think Clinton actually left a surplus.
We usually agree about 95% of the time, Mike. But I think the Clinton’s Arkansas ethical standards were dubious at best.
BUT, whatever they might have done, it was mostly within the sad, but true, level of corruption seemingly acceptable in many states in those days.
I think the difference between that and DT’s level of corruption is beyond mathematical calculation.
How did this occur? Imo, the number of GOP voters, as well as some Libertarians and a few Dems, that found DT acceptable, not despite his racism, but because of it, was huge. And that racism was far from limited to Blacks. At the time I thought this issue would slowly go away as voters aged. I was wrong. Judging from the ICE demographics, people of color better watch each other’s backs for the foreseeable future.
Can’t blame the Clinton’s for this at all.
And then there's the Mark Rich pardon. Trump's abuses of the Pardon Power compare to that like the Encyclopaedia Britannica compared to a birthday card, but they both carry the same stench.
Fox News and right wing propaganda is how we got here.
I believe malign foreign elements like Putin in Russia have had their thumb on the scale all along. I recently read about just one bot network there with 700+ accounts and posting 17,000 mostly false statements every day.
I think we can all agree Hilary would have been a better president than Trump without engaging in Clinton hagiography. Bill was gross and within the norms corrupt and Hilary was a mediocre at best candidate who would never have gotten the nomination if Obama hadn't cleared the field for her.
I would have been a better president than Trump. He is by far the dumbest, most emotionally and mentally stunted individual to ever serve any office. If he hadn't had a manevolantly wealthy father he would be selling fake designer watches at flea markets.
"One thing that’s so disgraceful about the present moment is that we don’t face some kind of world-historical or formidable foe of the sort Lincoln imagined. We have been unable to defeat the designs of a second-rate demagogue and grifter, aided by third-rate bigots and authoritarians, and surrounded by fourth-rate opportunists and conspiracists."
You failed to mention the voters who (still) support them. In February 2016 I was visiting what I thought then was my "normy" Republican brother, who said he supported Cruz. I asked what he thought of Trump and his answer was "He's a buffoon". I asked what he would do if Trump got the nomination and he said "Against Hillary? I'd vote for Trump."
That moment stuck then and on the drive home, and ever since. I thought it was just Hillary, but history has shown it's much more than that. For a large swath of the Republican-voting electorate, there is literally no depth a candidate can go to that would lose their vote.
I guess one could add "if the alternative is a Democrat." But that hasn't really been tested, has it.
More R's voted than D's in that Texas race last weekend; there may be some Republicans finally snapping out of it. But on a long drive, listening to talk radio the other night, you'd never know it. Pretti "got what he deserved". The contrast between him and Rittenhouse and Ammon Bundy was, charitably, completely hypocritical.
And can I just say that listening to the style of talk radio is nauseating. They keep repeating the same phrase, over and over, like a parent saying to their child " now repeat after me......". The audience must be dumb as bricks to not know their intelligence is being insulted.
If more Republicans than Democrats voted in that election which produced a 31 point swing to the Democratic candidate, then a not insignificant share switched sides on that vote. I would like to see a breakdown of the Republican and independent votes in the race. If those sort of results, or anywhere near them, were repeated in November it would spell disaster for the GOP.
That's why realists like the editorial team at WSJ are freaking out. 35% Dems, 51% Reps, 14% independent according to Ross Hunt of Hunt Research.
Of course, on the right, it's all because "Republicans stayed home". I love how they are trying to paint Taylor Rehmet as a radical. Dude is a veteran and machinist for a defense contractor. Radical because he works hard and wants a fair wage?
At some point, which may be now, most people stop believing MAGA's claims that somehow everyone they don't like is a closet leftist radical. It's one thing to do it against a group of "others" such as black or brown people and gain some traction; there's a natural distrust of the "other" on the right, as we all know.
But people quickly see Alex Pretti's back story and realize that he was an ICU nurse dedicated to serving veterans. Guys like Taylor Rehmet and Mark Kelly as radicals? These guys served their country, unlike Trump or really anyone in his admin.
It doesn't matter to Republicans turned MAGA how moderate you are. If you are a Democrat, you are radical. That is what 30 plus years of FOX demonization gets you.
That’s an interesting breakdown of who voted. Based on the results, off the back of a napkin, that probably represents about 10% of Republicans voted for the Democrat — I am assuming most, but not all independents voted for the ‘D’. I don’t know the Texas voter breakdown by registration, but that number of independents seems low to the % that will likely turn out in other states come November.
Just cry "fraud." The GOP just has to power through. I wish I was kidding.
Que Sarah's focus group.
I believe it’s called “confirmation bias”. It’s why Trump repeats the same crap over and over and over and over and over…It sticks.
"Repetition is the mother of Retention", is what he practices, but that is not some Felonese brain fart. How did you learn your multiplication tables or how to spell Mississippi correctly?
It’s a great tool, which can be used for good, like learning your multiplication tables, or evil, like convincing a huge number of people you wuz robbed.
It’s also called brain washing.
He repeats the same crap over and over because he doesn’t examine what he says critically. It’s like a broken record. And the majority of the Republican Party accepts it. His only original thoughts are about destruction and building a monument to himself. Watch for it. He will do the same thing he did to the East Wing of the White House. Before anyone can rein him in, he will have the equipment for destruction on site and the work started. The crew that does the work will be complicit and are just another bunch who have been convinced they’re doing the right thing. My iPad is so confident that the Apple language algorithm anticipates my words by the second or third letter. If the Republicans don’t wake up and stop this, we need to learn how to speak one of the Chinese languages. This post could have been written by the 3rd sentence. This post is copied from my reply to someone else’s post. I just copied and pasted it to the current post.
Your first sentence assumes he has the ability to think critically. I have approached this whole charade as just that, a charade. They (most R's) DO. NOT. CARE. unless and until their own ass is on the line. In small instances that seems to be happening.
My gut says it is too late. Trump will blow up the country if need be and most of the sycophants will warm their hands on the ashes before they admit they got taken by a con man with bad hair and extremely shalow thought.
My first sentence should have said that he CAN’T think critically. Maybe it implies he has the ability, but chooses not to use it. You are correct in catching that. Unfortunately, there is no way to edit posts beyond proof reading and thinking about how it might be interpreted. Not intended to criticize you. You caught it. Unfortunately, many of his voters aren’t thinking critically. When I made the mistake of taking a job as program director for Counseling and Psychology, I had never heard or thought about the meaning of the term. It was then that I understood that just because I had the ability to think critically, others did too. Not evident among most of my students. I lasted 7 quarters before I returned to full time practice. The Counseling Program was later canned. My next mistake was trying to fully understand the term “woke”. Then I realized the term described me. For example, I always believed that homosexuality was hardwired into the brain in some way yet to be understood. Maybe some are abused repeatedly by homosexual men. No one would make that choice knowing what it would mean in their life. My theory about lesbians is slightly different; I think an unknown, but small percentage become lesbian by terrible experience with men or realizing in a marriage feel that isn’t who they are There are people were born eventually realizing they were in the wrong body. Those are transsexuals. Examples in entertainment including Boys Don’t Cry with Hillary Swank and Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Wow, I’m woke, and I’m a nice, smart guy, not a far left lunatic. Please do me the favor of acknowledging this reply. It needn’t be long, just, “ got it. “
He repeats the same crap over and over because he doesn’t examine what he says critically. It’s like a broken record. And the majority of the Republican Party accepts it. His only original thoughts are about destruction and building a monument to himself. Watch for it. He will do the same thing he did to the East Wing of the White House. Before anyone can rein him in, he will have the equipment for destruction on site and the work started. The crew that does the work will be complicit and are just another bunch who have been convinced they’re doing the right thing. My iPad is so confident that the Apple language algorithm anticipates my words by the second or third letter. If the Republicans don’t wake up and stop this, we need to learn how to speak one of the Chinese languages. This post could have been written by the 3rd sentence.
The radio hosts are teaching them what to say.
I prefer to say that they possess inferior intellects. Although in dark moments that are coming more frequently, I consider scum, or less savory names to be deserved.
Yep. About 30% of the electorate will vote Republican no matter what. It is their identity. They have no beliefs beyond “me right, always.” They will gladly hand their daughters over to be raped and their sons to be killed because that is the Republican way.
They are the “What kind of American are you” people from Civil War.
And roughly 30-percent will always vote for Democrats. The problem is that that contestable 40-percent is chock-full-of-people who aren't paying attention or are distracted by the next shiny object. The hardened bases are a massive problem, but bigger is playing to a base that is essentially a minority and not breaking through to that swath in the middle.
Trump did not achieve this situation by himself, not even close. His vulgar, sustained presence on the national scene is the fruition of a decades long conspiracy involving a group of right-wing oligarchs in eager collaboration with Vladimir Putin. And as the recent file dump illustrates, Epstein was facilitating the process by feeding the appetites of people with money and power, while feeding kompromat and leverage to Vlad.
When Kamala lost, I told myself I wouldn't support any female presidential candidates in the 2028 primary b/c they've proven they can't win in a general. It's like gospel singers on American Idol...the judges love them and put them through to the live shows, but the people at home don't vote for them, so they're sent home.
Kamala Harris darn near won, swimming upstream with Biden's unpopularity strapped to her back. She didn't lose because she's a female. She was a good candidate who lost because she had to carry Biden's luggage.
Would a male candidate in the same situation have fared better? We'll never know, but my gut says yes.
nope no shot. With the economy in "shambles" from every media viewpoint (it wasnt) that is much too big a hill to climb. But of course Drumpf has done nothing about that after election either
I agree she didn’t lose because of her sex or race, unless indirectly because Biden chose her for those reasons and not for natural political gifts. That’s not unusual; VP candidates are often tapped to balance a ticket. Kamala lost not because of Biden’s baggage but because of her own. She couldn’t, or at least didn’t, renounce the positions she took in her failed 2020 primary race. For example, she pointedly failed to endorse Biden’s executive order restricting immigration. Anyhow, there is no reason to think a woman of color can’t win just because Harris lost.
Being female was a strike against Kamala for sure. Many men don't think, and will never think, that women should be taken seriously. Period. But she had other problems in my opinion. I live in California and saw her rise to power in the Bay Area and then statewide as Attorney General. One thing I don't think she ever overcame was how carefully, and awkwardly, she attempted to answer difficult questions. It left me with the impression that what she would say behind closed doors wasn't what she would say in public. I liked your comparison of her campaign to an American Idol episode. A lot of enthusiasm and clapping, but the door slams shut in the end.
Just as long as you keep the misogyny to the primaries and stow the misogyny in other parts of life, I guess.
I’d make a slight edit: the voters, not the candidates, proved a female can’t win.
The demonization of the other team was a key tool to keep MAGA on board with Trump and minimizing the ability of RINOs to push back. That’s why the departure of MTG is significant.
This is why I sometimes think we need to dump the term 'Democrat' and start a whole new party. I hate to say this, but human beings are really dumb when it comes to labels. You have trad R's voting for Trump even though MAGA bears almost no resemblance to the R party they grew up with. It's the label! I really don't think Dems are ever going to get anywhere until we change the name of our party!
The dominance of the 2 party system makes a 3rd party virtually impossible on a national level.
Maybe the party could "merge" with the Independent party and become the Independent Democratic party. It wouldn't be that hard to change the signs and the stationary. Beshear the governor of KY could be the face if the party.
That's true, which is why renaming one of the parties is worth trying
You are correct. Honestly, just rename the Democratic party to the Independent party. I know this will never happen, but everything you said is correct. Lazy minded people whose families always voted Repub literally only vote for the Repub candidate in every election, knowing nothing about them. I was saying 40 years ago (!) that the Repubs could put an (R) beside Mickey Mouse on the ballot and he'd win every Repub majority district. The issue today is that, as someone said, the decades of right wing media dominance on first talk radio (and now having morphed into cellphone podcasts), along with the cable dominance of the propaganda cable network created by Murdoch, those years of conditioning have led to half the people who would once have considered themselves aligned more with Democrats than Repubs to now self-label themselves as 'Independent" since they've been conditioned to demonize the Democrat brand. So change the damn name!
Hillary was a very polarizing person in any context. First, the US is not ready for a female president. When they do elected a woman, I bet its a Republican a la Thatcher. Trump might not have won if Biden had said he was there for 1 term and they had a primary. There are several Dem governors who would have beat Trump.
I know a man in the “trades” who told me in 2024 that he might not vote for Trump, but he “couldn’t” vote for Kamala. Now his marriage is failing, over politics. I’m pretty sure he did vote for Trump and his wife knows. I did a little online dive, and the Trump phenomenon has had a concurrent spike in divorce filings. Family values? Only by force, and that’s the plan.
Of course it's been tested in every single Republican primary. The weird MAGAs always win. Ask Romney, or Cheney, or Christie, or Haley. I'll bet your brother didn't vote for them.
I remember a picture of a couple old white dude MAGA creeps, who were wearing T-shirts that had the caption “I’d rather be Russian, than a Democrat!”
That’s when I began to understand how bad this will get. How existential it is. They see us as subhuman. What does history show us happens to people labeled as subhumans?
Thanks for pulling the quote from the post. I was going to do that also because it struck me as an important perspective!!
Same experience-hearing “anyone but Hillary” over and over no matter the absolute incompetence of the candidate-still going on today.
When people would say "anyone but Hillary," I would reply, "Fine. Name a woman you would vote for as president. " And they couldn't name a single one. So I because suspicious that they wanted me to believe they were not sexist, and they wanted me to believe it, but they were indeed sexist. And there was no woman they would vote for.
Yep-per! Made basically the same point above.
Perhaps more than any politician in history, Trump has held a mirror up to the American people, and the image we see is startling.
This awful period isn't so much about Trump as it is about us, and what Trump reveals about us. Our culture has produced a population that is shockingly ignorant about the world in general and the principles that we always thought underlay our system of government and our society. We are distracted, illiterate, venal, and easily misled, perpetually grasping and resentful when we can't obtain what we think is our due.
No political response to Trump will be successful unless it acknowledges the social and political forces that led to Trump's creation, and dares to imagine a different kind of society. There is no returning to normal.
🔥🔥🔥
Ah, you said this better than I did. People like you and Bill Kristol who remember that America is still one people give me hope. Normal wasn't normal - it was covering up a lot of child sex crimes. Let's get to a true normal, where people aren't treated as things.
Your post reminds me of the idea that someone (not sure who) spoke of regarding monsters (read DJT). Monsters will be monsters; they do what monsters do. It's those that follow them who have a choice; and we have many people making that choice out of whatever, and there are many, misguided motive they have.
Well said!
Here is your reason why.
U.S. ranked 28th out of 37 OECD countries in math, 12th in science, and sits around 15th-17th in overall, comprehensive global education rankings behind countries like Singapore, Japan, Finland, and Canada.
And the Dems response?? More Groundhog Day.
Trump has truly 'drained the swamp'. There was a reason that Trump resonated with the American people. The lack of any accountability with the fiasco's in Iraq and WMD and then the mortgage crisis. When the Rubin's, Goldman Sachs, Fannie Mae, AIG, Merrill, Alan Greenspan, and all the others who tanked the economy and walk away with millions, then you get Trump.
Obama could have had a few public type hangings, but like a good Dem, he just cleaned up the mess, said nothing, and then watched the Fox created Tea Party ruin his Congressional margins.
When Reagan followed Carter, every other word was Carter this or Carter that. When FDR followed Hoover, the Dems tagged every Rep as a 'Hoover Republican'.
The Dems had WMD/Iraq teed up and did nothing.
Clinton had Janet Reno, who cluelessly let Ken Starr in the hen house.
They had the mortgage crash and they did nothing.
They had the Republicans spend like drunken sailors and end the Clinton surplus...nothing.
They let McConnell run rings around them with Merrick Garland.
Then the same Biden/Garland Dems let Trump off the hook.
The same Biden team lied about running again and ignored the border.
And Dems whined about the sexist American people who wouldn't elect a woman?
And now we have Chuck 'Stern Letter' Schumur lead the charge?? Really?
When historians write about the Trump era, don't forget the feckless Dems who helped sow the seed for this disaster by continually taking the wrong road at the fork.
it goes without saying that if you are facing "the most consequential election for the future of this country since 1860", you don't re-nominate a guy in his early 80's with all the signs of dementia and an approval rating in the low 40's that somehow is losing to an unpopular buffoon who tried to overthrow the government.
Yet, nobody would listen until it was too late.
Who would they have chosen? Democrats need to learn that not all voters are on the cutting edge of social issues.
Many people hated Hillary. Just because the Clinton's had political power, Hillary was not Bill (and parading a cheating husband did her no favors) . She was smart but her condescending "its my turn, I represent all women" and the Its "time for a woman" was a huge disappointment.
I voted for Hillary and Kamala, but I didn't think they great candidates.
You give way too much credit to Trump and not enough responsibility to all you x-Republicans from the Reagan era on who helped transfer the ego-ideal from character to wealth and the religious right who thought they could use him to deliver the Christian Nation they want. He has been a tool and we are only fortunate they he is such a screw up, we may yet prevail. Had he been more competent we would be in more trouble and you can bet his project 2025 handlers are none too happy about it.
I get it, but at least these ex-Republicans are ex-Republicans. Although I disagreed with them then, and still do one issues today, at least they remained true to their principles.
I don't bother arguing with my brother on issues. It would be more entertaining to have him argue with his former self.
The Gingrich era was also key as lock step voting replaced the old horse trading where GOP congressmen traded their vote for an earmark. Earmarks sound corrupt but are in fact helpful toward better government.
People who try to equate Reaganism and Trumpism are either blissfully ignorant or intellectually dishonest. Trumpism is unrecognizable to those of us who became Republican because of Reagan. You think Reagan would be calling to nationalize elections?
Seems to me that Lincoln's operative word there is "undecayed." Trump is singular in all the ways you say, but even though he is the cause of 10,000 disgraces, I have always felt that he is more than anything a symptom of our societal decadence. We have to fight all the fights, but as long as we are a society that treats ironic detachment like a philosophy or that makes not distinction between fame and infamy, then we will deserve all the grotesque reality of this terrible TV show masquerading as a government
"But he may turn out to be as important a historical figure as FDR or Reagan."
If you are only talking about US history, OK comparisons. But look beyond the city limits of DC or the borders of the US for comparisons that really matter to HISTORY, and you come up with Hitler or Stalin or Mao. Putin wants to be in their ranks, too, which is why may be the main reason the Felon admires him so much.
Trump holds the keys to a nuclear arsenal that could wipe every living thing from the planet and lacks the demeanor to be trusted with even a set of car keys. I'd say that the potential for Trump to be a uniquely historical figure exists.
And he's itching to use them.
Not in a good way.
Your wording seems to suggest that only if he does hit his "Big Button" would he qualify as a "uniquely historical figure". I was not challenging that idea, rather the two names picked by the article as not being wide-reaching enough.
We must do whatever we can to ensure a blue wave while planning this administration will stop at nothing to maintain power. If we are so lucky to wrestle some power back, it is only the first step of a long arduous journey. But what other choice do we have?
Are Democrats doing whatever they can to ensure a blue wave? I fear they don't yet grasp this.
Yes, the local Dem clubs are very active and working to get out the vote, watch polls, and build Dem voter registration.
Elected Dems are always a day late and a dollar short. But since they are so poll and focus-group driven, perhaps seeing the ground shifting will make them a bit more bold (let’s hope).
Regarding the Trump era and legacy, he’s been the most dominant figure in politics because we’re losing. Truth is losing. Decency is losing. History is forever HIS STORY and written by the victor. Had the South won the civil war kids today would be reading about how great Jefferson Davis was and not Lincoln. I always thought we we ultimately win here. But I fear I gave the American people too much credit. Because he’s still winning. And the embrace of hate, of cheating, of lying, of gaslighting and cruelty by the entire Republican Party with hardly anyone fighting for what I always thought our values were….tells me what our values really are. And who we really are.
It’s truly appalling that certain churches are fully supportive of Trump. Talk about losing your way. Christian values, ha.
As a Christian, I continue to be completely befuddled as to how people who profess to follow Jesus are supporters of Trump. I don’t think I can name a single person in American public life this century that is more the antithesis of Jesus’ teachings than Trump. I think it shows that even people who strive to follow Jesus can be blinded by perceived political power.
They are not striving to follow Jesus. They are striving to achieve a “Christian” nation using their definition of Christianity — control, power and dominance based on race and gender.
Conservative Christianity is no longer a religion, its political party that believes White men are on the top rung. White women, and people of color if they are conservative are next, but they subservient to white males.
I was listening to Bill and Tim yesterday, and I am continually struck about how people like Bill Kristol, solid rock ribbed Republican, have started sounding like a woke lefty.
"Abolish ICE", indeed!
All of you at the Bulwark could have just faded into the background, kept your friends, pretended things were fine, but you didn't. And I'm forever grateful.
Bill’s father Irving was one of the original neocons, an FDR Democrat who thought the New Left had lost its way. It’s fitting that Bill is one who most vocally opposes the catastrophic turn of the GOP.
Yes, I'm aware of Bill's history, and you are absolutely right.
I really appreciate it because it must have been an extremely difficult decision. Im sure he lost a few friends.
Great article. Like Bill, I am horrified each day that Donald Trump is our president. I am horrified even more by the realization that some 77 million people thought that he should be our president, despite Trump doing nothing to hide the fact that he is an amoral, ignorant, unprincipled, venal, corrupt, and petty man.
And the same 40% still like him even though he breaks laws, takes bribes, and is so incredibly stupid.
Bill, I think you summed it all up so well in your column today. It still astonishes me that at a time of peace and prosperity, this is the self-destructive path that our country has chosen to take. Why? Well, I think that another Bill, Bill Murray, gave us the answer in the movie "Stripes" (yes, a different context, but it fits so well):
"There's something wrong with us, something very, very wrong with us. Something seriously wrong with us..."
We are spoiled and a historically wealthy country, with little understanding of how and why we got here (can anyone say public health).
With a purposely deficient public education system.
Minor quibble, TR was pretty darn influential in the 20th Century, too.
Back when the Republican party believed in progressive policy and conserving the environment. Oh how far the GOP has fallen!
Feel free to correct me, but TR was an anomaly. Progressive policy and conserving the environment were NOT part of McKinley's platform, nor were they part of Taft's or any other Republican successor. TR become president by accident (assassination), not design. Heck, the Bull Moose Party (founded by TR in 1912) was just a nickname -- it's actually the Progressive Party.
My mind went there too but it looks like Bill was only talking of presidents in the last century, so I'll say TR was not in the timeframe under consideration.
TR served from 1901 - 1909 which would qualify as the last century.
Ah, yeah I guess you could read it either way. I read Bill's meaning as strictly a period of 100 years since Trump was in the mix and he's a 21st century phenomenon, so between 1926 and 2026.
How do we stay happy warriors for the next ten years? Remember this advice from Stephen Stills: "Rejoice, rejoice, we have no choice, but to carry on." This is all we've got.
Or we can quote Hamilton the musical: "Look around, look around, how lucky we are to be alive right now. History is happening . .. ." And we can be a part of shaping the story.
Hopefully Dems in Congress and elsewhere find their spine. Trump stealing the election is not TDS: as you note, he's saying the quiet part out loud that he's going to try to steal or intimidate to win. This has been obvious for so long it's almost as if it's forgotten.
He already tried to orchestrate a coup 5 years ago. Stop acting as if "voting him out" will make him go away, like every other president in history. He is not operating in good faith, and everyone, at every level, needs to be prepared for this.
Trump never operates in good faith. He makes these comments to soften the ground and normalize what should be immediately quashed, but those who could won’t. Still Trump is opportunistic and will back down if the cost is too high.
It's increasing clear that he's only leaving the Oval Office feet first.
Sooner rather than later, it appears.
I thought that in his previous term, too. I decided that I just have no clue. 😀
Hope springs eternal.
Luckily he is 80 years old and apparently failing cognitively. If the reports are true.
Its Bondi, and Voight and the Heritage $foundation who are following project 2025 we need to wprry about.
Trump is the useful idiot.
To answer the question on staying a "happy warrior"- one thing that I like to remind myself is that we are more full and happy than they will ever be. Trump, his administration, and the billionaire class are never satisfied. They have no struggles in the physical world and can do almost anything they want, but they are so clearly empty. We have more love, more fulfillment, more fun, and more life than them.
I think that moving forward, everyone in the opposition, whether an elected official or a regular citizen, needs to connect the billionaires' greed to everything going on. The Epstein crime is only something that sick billionaires can do, sick billionaires wanted tax breaks so you lost healthcare, sick billionaires wanted more power so they stole your personal data, etc...
Exactly this.