This sentence hints the heart of the problem with identity politics:
"For example, Paulson, Trump’s host, is the son of immigrants from Ecuador and Eastern Europe. His parents came from places and ethnic groups Donald Trump would have denigrated."
It presumes that Paulson's worldview would be informed more by his ethnic heritage than by his current status as a rich Palm Beach Guy. That's clearly not the case.
Someone should ask that man--If one is having a good life in Switzerland, or Norway, or Denmark...why the hell would they want to come here? They most likely have on the whole fairly happy lives, so why come here and deal with Americans and their rudeness, coarseness, and self-absorption...not to mention their self-righteousness? America as a concept is great...*Americans* as a people tend to be--generally speaking--quite vile--and it is totally fair to point out that fact. Just look at our television--it is LOADED with thoroughly repulsive people...from cable "news" channels to the entire roster of Bravo TV to social media "influencers" to so-called clergy who are totally okay with jettisoning significant chunks of their own spiritual theology for political access and cable "news" screen time.
Let's be brutally honest--the people who come here *now* are coming because they have no other options in Life--either their countries are unsafe, they are facing physical harm due to religious beliefs or persecution due to things like being gay, OR they have zero economic prospects in their home countries. People who have options do not pick this place because they know the people who live *here* really do not appreciate the lives they have on a basic level.
Bill, I'm surprised that so many subscribers accept the fact that a subscription to Bulwark is of value when you and your colleagues, for the most part, simply repeat two mantras: Trump is a liar, Trump's supporters are deplorables. For me, the reason I subscribed to the Bulwark is you. You and your colleagues, you and your colleagues and your guest authors who spend far more time than I do thinking about Trump, talking with people that I could never talk to, to come up with--I had hoped--some thoughts and ideas for how to defeat the man. It seems, though, that the inevitability of his return has made you and Jonathan and the rest give up. I don't think you should.
When the Socialists were tossed from power in Portugal's last election, and the far right party gained, the reaction on the left was, "let's figure this out and respond more effectively to those voters so they don't accept Chega's lies, because they are not deplorables, they are our fellow citizens." Shouldn't this be the Bulwark approach? Shouldn't this be the traditional Republican party's--the old Republican party--approach? Shouldn't you help by showing the rest of us some way to do this? No, we don't have to accept every one of your suggestions. But you live and breathe this stuff--I don't.
I need the benefit of the thinking of one of America's greatest conservative political pundits. Why am I not getting it?
Donald has gone beyond the Elephant in the Room. His depravity is so obvious even the Press can no longer give him the deference they so crave.Let's start with the conclusion and move to proofs.
Former President Trump is mentally diseased. We don't need a psychiatrist to diagnose. His words and deeds confirm that he is, as Judge Engeron observed in his 92 page final ruling, "Pathological". As in Diseased. As in Broken. As in Detached from Reality. It's beyond stupid. It's self destruction in process.
We, and the Press, can only conclude that he is fully and completely unqualified, disqualified and self-disqualified for any office of public trust. The Blue Whale is inescapable, as hard as the Press tries to portray him as a rational, mentally healthy, leader of the Republican Party.
Now a handful of proofs for this conclusion.
1. Donald loves to play what he calls golf. He loves to cheat at golf, in full view of his playing partners and club members. He's doesn't hide his lies and cheating. And then he tweets for the world, with self-pride, that he won the club championship. Here's the mentally broken part: the game of golf is based on HONOR. Meaning that if you cheat, hidden or in plain sight, you LOSE. Is he unaware of everyone laughing AT him? This is mental and emotional disease.
2. For decades, Donald has complained about how Forbes magazine undercounts his net worth. He even sued them over it. Here's the broken part: every businessman laughs AT him. Every businessman in the nation knows he's an outright liar, untrustworthy, mentally unstable. As fellow New Yorker Robert DeNiro says, "He's so fucking stupid."
3. Donald insulted a former rape victim and it cost him $5 million. He did it again and it cost him $83 million. He's still defaming his victim. Can't keep his mouth shut. This is the broken part.
4. For decades, Donald and his family lied about their financial strength to get better loan terms, insurance and tax deals. The rough estimate of the ill gotten gains is $400+ million. During the trial, Donald insulted the judge, court staff, prosecutors and their families as though that was going to lessen the damages. This is the broken part. Judge Engeron's ruling is clear and solid. The appeals court may adjust the penalty but the finding of fraud is obvious. (Read the ruling. It's dark comedy.)
5. Now Donald is facing criminal charges in New York and is insulting the Judge's daughter. Does he think this will help his cause? This is the broken part.
"Nobody reads the Bible more than me" might still be the most perfect encapsulation of Trump's total indifference to the matter of truth.
More recently, there's his brazenly fallacious claim about meeting the family of a murder victim and hearing stories about her from "many people." Did he expect that no one would ever call him out on the lie? Or was he confident that it wouldn't matter? His fans would still believe him ahead of any migrant family (or anyone else, for that matter). Or they would say it was a mere "exaggeration," or that the factuality of his words is irrelevant to some higher cause that he's supposedly serving.
The capacity of Trumpites to explain away his colossal dishonesty and conspicuous amorality is really something to behold.
We need a psychiatrist to explain how millions of Americans could view a manifest sociopath / psychopath as such as a towering pillar of patriotic righteousness and wisdom and self-sacrifice that everyone who opposes him must be evil by definition.
So, how do we explain the complicity of the professional hard news journalists to pull the punches. More than pulling punches. Promote Donald by granting him deference that he obviously doesn't deserve. They know. They know more than their readers how depraved this man is. Yet, they pull back on their training to ask the WHY questions. It appears this letting the crazy guy off the hook will continue. As he circles the drain. The responsibility is on the sane to call out the insane. Email the editors and reporters and owners of the mass media. Email the directors of the corporate owners and demand they greenlight their editors and reporters.
Fifty years ago Katherine Graham, Ben Bradlee, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein told the truth. The cowardly competitors hid behind them, in the face of Nixon's threats. Who will step us this time?
Why is Bill surprised that people like Paulson line up behind Trump's antics? Paulson doesn't care about things like that. He's a shrewd better and he's betting Trump will win and get behind favorable tax and regulatory policies for rich dudes like Paulson. It's pure self-interest. Nothing to see here.
This statement is not complete. In the Evangelical way of life, i.e., the Prosperity Gospel, those who need help are not favored by the oligarchical Christian god. Those who rake in the lucre are God's chosen ones. He blesses these supreme Christians with treasure you and I can not have. This truly fake religions is obscene of course. But this is the way of much of MAGA/GOP. Moreover, the Prosperity Gospel has been self-modified. Because Trump is God's son on Earth, Trump will further enhance the wealth of chosen Christians through holy tax breaks, godly write offs, and devout corruption.
This the new white Christian America. None for you. All for us. This is the pathway to their saintly heaven. And totalitarian power on their beautiful Earth enveloped in holy whiteness.
"Just over half of Protestant churchgoers in the United States say their houses of worship promote the belief that God grants financial blessings to those who give money to churches and charities, according to Lifeway Research.
A new Lifeway survey found 52% of American Protestant churchgoers said they hear that prosperity gospel message in their churches, up from 38% who said so in 2017. Almost a quarter in the 2023 study said they strongly agreed that this is preached in their churches."
Evangelicals are a subset of American Protestant churchgoers. A subset of Evangelicals are into the Prosperity Gospel. Serious Christians consider the Prosperity Gospel a heresy. No serious Christian believes you can buy God's blessing through donations.
Any wealthy people supporting Trump are nothing more than jackals hoping to gather round the carcass of the US government and gorge themselves. They might leave enough scraps to fund a loyal military made up of militia members.
When is enough enough for the wealthy? What is the incentive in tax cuts for the rich when it does not incentivise extra spending by them, which might trickle to the less fortunate down the line. They already have more money than they can spend, so tax cuts are meaningless in real terms. They only pander to the rapacious greed and selfishness of Trumps psycophants.
Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, please tell us something we don't already know! Or something that can help us confront the challenge Donald Trump presents to the United States and to global democracy. Bigotry, flattery....has Trump EVER been anything but? When? TELL ME!! So I can understand why, why, why you and all Bulwark columnists endlessly repeat the same things over and over and over and over and over (did I say "over"?). How can we defeat DJT? You seem to have no idea at all. Sorry.
There is no single answer. Everything Bulwark has been saying indicates a close election year. But it is up to the people….to join in, do what you can, go to rallies, talk to people, let your voice be heard. Learn the great things Biden has done and don’t be afraid to share it.
Personally I don’t believe in polls, especially this far out. Over the past month Biden has volleyed with tump. So support your candidate(s)!
"This is the gospel according to Trump. Success is all, and success is wealth. In Trump’s America, wealth is what is to be praised, and the wealthy are to bathe in their own self-regard."
In Trump's [sic] America we can expect both an authoritarian government mixed with a plutocracy. TFG, of course, will be at the top, and his plutocrats and oligarchs will control everything downstream... after receiving approvals from Trump [sic]. If You-Know-Who is returned to the Oval Office [turns head and spits three times between index and middle fingers], the US will rapidly devolve into a third world country -- no constitutional republic, meritocracy will be erased from civil service and any government positions or needed assistance will be based entirely upon loyalty to the regime -- faster than most people think.
The problem, imo, with "Success is all, and success is wealth. ...the wealthy are to bathe in their own self-regard[,]" is that these fine folk conflate wealth with wisdom. They are of the (mistaken) belief that because they figured out how to get rich (or are nepo babies increasing their bottom lines) that they are the smartest people in the room when it comes to *any* topic.
I'll offer two shining examples: TFG and Elon Musk:
* The "stable genius" is firmly convinced that the word salads that he vomits out regularly are profound and intelligent rhetoric that should be considered as gospel, that is if you can understand them in the first place. He is always right, even when he couldn't be more wrong. He knows what is best for the country, or at least the MAGA demographic which is all that matters, and his insights should not be questioned. The fact that the decisions he made while in office made him richer personally can only speak to how brilliant he is.
* One can take every post on Xitter by Musk as unvarnished truth, including his racist and antisemitic remarks. He, like my other paragon of virtue, can not be wrong. If one reasonably and understandably misinterprets what he says it isn't because he wasn't succinct enough, it's because you're just plain stupid. He thinks his opinions are golden, and he is never in error.
With wealth does not come wisdom too. They are two separate commodities that are gained in vastly different ways. One comes from "astute" business and investment practices or a solid grift (or as I noted above, being a nepo baby); the other takes years and years of both book learning and street smarts.
To me, at least, I would prefer to be wise (along with enough of an income to be comfortable) than cash rich. Wealth is based on a material item; one that you can lose with just a simple miscalculation. Wisdom is immaterial and once gained no one can take it away from you, nor can you lose it.
The MAGA cultists in congress take their marching orders directly from Trump. Must make sure the government does not work in order to make Biden look bad and get Trump re-elected. That is their entire agenda.
Just listening to this pod today - thank you for that last rant Tim! In other words - don’t piss on me and tell me it’s raining.
This sentence hints the heart of the problem with identity politics:
"For example, Paulson, Trump’s host, is the son of immigrants from Ecuador and Eastern Europe. His parents came from places and ethnic groups Donald Trump would have denigrated."
It presumes that Paulson's worldview would be informed more by his ethnic heritage than by his current status as a rich Palm Beach Guy. That's clearly not the case.
"returns from Easter recess"
Easter was over a week ago. They're not back yet?
Someone should ask that man--If one is having a good life in Switzerland, or Norway, or Denmark...why the hell would they want to come here? They most likely have on the whole fairly happy lives, so why come here and deal with Americans and their rudeness, coarseness, and self-absorption...not to mention their self-righteousness? America as a concept is great...*Americans* as a people tend to be--generally speaking--quite vile--and it is totally fair to point out that fact. Just look at our television--it is LOADED with thoroughly repulsive people...from cable "news" channels to the entire roster of Bravo TV to social media "influencers" to so-called clergy who are totally okay with jettisoning significant chunks of their own spiritual theology for political access and cable "news" screen time.
Let's be brutally honest--the people who come here *now* are coming because they have no other options in Life--either their countries are unsafe, they are facing physical harm due to religious beliefs or persecution due to things like being gay, OR they have zero economic prospects in their home countries. People who have options do not pick this place because they know the people who live *here* really do not appreciate the lives they have on a basic level.
Bill, I'm surprised that so many subscribers accept the fact that a subscription to Bulwark is of value when you and your colleagues, for the most part, simply repeat two mantras: Trump is a liar, Trump's supporters are deplorables. For me, the reason I subscribed to the Bulwark is you. You and your colleagues, you and your colleagues and your guest authors who spend far more time than I do thinking about Trump, talking with people that I could never talk to, to come up with--I had hoped--some thoughts and ideas for how to defeat the man. It seems, though, that the inevitability of his return has made you and Jonathan and the rest give up. I don't think you should.
When the Socialists were tossed from power in Portugal's last election, and the far right party gained, the reaction on the left was, "let's figure this out and respond more effectively to those voters so they don't accept Chega's lies, because they are not deplorables, they are our fellow citizens." Shouldn't this be the Bulwark approach? Shouldn't this be the traditional Republican party's--the old Republican party--approach? Shouldn't you help by showing the rest of us some way to do this? No, we don't have to accept every one of your suggestions. But you live and breathe this stuff--I don't.
I need the benefit of the thinking of one of America's greatest conservative political pundits. Why am I not getting it?
The Blue Whale in the Goldfish Bowl
Donald has gone beyond the Elephant in the Room. His depravity is so obvious even the Press can no longer give him the deference they so crave.Let's start with the conclusion and move to proofs.
Former President Trump is mentally diseased. We don't need a psychiatrist to diagnose. His words and deeds confirm that he is, as Judge Engeron observed in his 92 page final ruling, "Pathological". As in Diseased. As in Broken. As in Detached from Reality. It's beyond stupid. It's self destruction in process.
We, and the Press, can only conclude that he is fully and completely unqualified, disqualified and self-disqualified for any office of public trust. The Blue Whale is inescapable, as hard as the Press tries to portray him as a rational, mentally healthy, leader of the Republican Party.
Now a handful of proofs for this conclusion.
1. Donald loves to play what he calls golf. He loves to cheat at golf, in full view of his playing partners and club members. He's doesn't hide his lies and cheating. And then he tweets for the world, with self-pride, that he won the club championship. Here's the mentally broken part: the game of golf is based on HONOR. Meaning that if you cheat, hidden or in plain sight, you LOSE. Is he unaware of everyone laughing AT him? This is mental and emotional disease.
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/sports/2023/02/03/trump-and-golf-fancy-resorts-a-list-partners-cheating-at-highest-level/69857594007/
2. For decades, Donald has complained about how Forbes magazine undercounts his net worth. He even sued them over it. Here's the broken part: every businessman laughs AT him. Every businessman in the nation knows he's an outright liar, untrustworthy, mentally unstable. As fellow New Yorker Robert DeNiro says, "He's so fucking stupid."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/10/09/trump-falsely-claims-forbes-attacked-him-after-he-falls-off-400-list/?sh=59fe0fe37968
3. Donald insulted a former rape victim and it cost him $5 million. He did it again and it cost him $83 million. He's still defaming his victim. Can't keep his mouth shut. This is the broken part.
4. For decades, Donald and his family lied about their financial strength to get better loan terms, insurance and tax deals. The rough estimate of the ill gotten gains is $400+ million. During the trial, Donald insulted the judge, court staff, prosecutors and their families as though that was going to lessen the damages. This is the broken part. Judge Engeron's ruling is clear and solid. The appeals court may adjust the penalty but the finding of fraud is obvious. (Read the ruling. It's dark comedy.)
5. Now Donald is facing criminal charges in New York and is insulting the Judge's daughter. Does he think this will help his cause? This is the broken part.
"Nobody reads the Bible more than me" might still be the most perfect encapsulation of Trump's total indifference to the matter of truth.
More recently, there's his brazenly fallacious claim about meeting the family of a murder victim and hearing stories about her from "many people." Did he expect that no one would ever call him out on the lie? Or was he confident that it wouldn't matter? His fans would still believe him ahead of any migrant family (or anyone else, for that matter). Or they would say it was a mere "exaggeration," or that the factuality of his words is irrelevant to some higher cause that he's supposedly serving.
The capacity of Trumpites to explain away his colossal dishonesty and conspicuous amorality is really something to behold.
We need a psychiatrist to explain how millions of Americans could view a manifest sociopath / psychopath as such as a towering pillar of patriotic righteousness and wisdom and self-sacrifice that everyone who opposes him must be evil by definition.
So, how do we explain the complicity of the professional hard news journalists to pull the punches. More than pulling punches. Promote Donald by granting him deference that he obviously doesn't deserve. They know. They know more than their readers how depraved this man is. Yet, they pull back on their training to ask the WHY questions. It appears this letting the crazy guy off the hook will continue. As he circles the drain. The responsibility is on the sane to call out the insane. Email the editors and reporters and owners of the mass media. Email the directors of the corporate owners and demand they greenlight their editors and reporters.
Fifty years ago Katherine Graham, Ben Bradlee, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein told the truth. The cowardly competitors hid behind them, in the face of Nixon's threats. Who will step us this time?
Why is Bill surprised that people like Paulson line up behind Trump's antics? Paulson doesn't care about things like that. He's a shrewd better and he's betting Trump will win and get behind favorable tax and regulatory policies for rich dudes like Paulson. It's pure self-interest. Nothing to see here.
“In America, you make it on your own!”
This statement is not complete. In the Evangelical way of life, i.e., the Prosperity Gospel, those who need help are not favored by the oligarchical Christian god. Those who rake in the lucre are God's chosen ones. He blesses these supreme Christians with treasure you and I can not have. This truly fake religions is obscene of course. But this is the way of much of MAGA/GOP. Moreover, the Prosperity Gospel has been self-modified. Because Trump is God's son on Earth, Trump will further enhance the wealth of chosen Christians through holy tax breaks, godly write offs, and devout corruption.
This the new white Christian America. None for you. All for us. This is the pathway to their saintly heaven. And totalitarian power on their beautiful Earth enveloped in holy whiteness.
"The Prosperity Gospel" is one small subset of "the Evangelical way of life." It is not accurate to equate them.
"Just over half of Protestant churchgoers in the United States say their houses of worship promote the belief that God grants financial blessings to those who give money to churches and charities, according to Lifeway Research.
A new Lifeway survey found 52% of American Protestant churchgoers said they hear that prosperity gospel message in their churches, up from 38% who said so in 2017. Almost a quarter in the 2023 study said they strongly agreed that this is preached in their churches."
https://baptistnews.com/article/belief-in-prosperity-gospel-growing-among-american-protestants/
So it's a growing subset. That doesn't make the two equivalent. Your statements are extreme over-simplifications.
Opinion. Fact. Subset. 52 percent.
Your opinion is welcome. :)
Evangelicals are a subset of American Protestant churchgoers. A subset of Evangelicals are into the Prosperity Gospel. Serious Christians consider the Prosperity Gospel a heresy. No serious Christian believes you can buy God's blessing through donations.
I totally co-sign that statement. Prosperity Gospel *is* heresy.
Yet another tiny, sliver of hope for Ukraine aid. Please, please if you believe in the mercy of Jesus Speaker Johnson, let this come to pass .
Any wealthy people supporting Trump are nothing more than jackals hoping to gather round the carcass of the US government and gorge themselves. They might leave enough scraps to fund a loyal military made up of militia members.
When is enough enough for the wealthy? What is the incentive in tax cuts for the rich when it does not incentivise extra spending by them, which might trickle to the less fortunate down the line. They already have more money than they can spend, so tax cuts are meaningless in real terms. They only pander to the rapacious greed and selfishness of Trumps psycophants.
Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, please tell us something we don't already know! Or something that can help us confront the challenge Donald Trump presents to the United States and to global democracy. Bigotry, flattery....has Trump EVER been anything but? When? TELL ME!! So I can understand why, why, why you and all Bulwark columnists endlessly repeat the same things over and over and over and over and over (did I say "over"?). How can we defeat DJT? You seem to have no idea at all. Sorry.
Actually that's been discussed quite a bit here.
And in any case, why it should be the job of a news analysis site to tell you what activist steps to take, I don't know.
Do a little thinking for yourself!
There is no single answer. Everything Bulwark has been saying indicates a close election year. But it is up to the people….to join in, do what you can, go to rallies, talk to people, let your voice be heard. Learn the great things Biden has done and don’t be afraid to share it.
Personally I don’t believe in polls, especially this far out. Over the past month Biden has volleyed with tump. So support your candidate(s)!
Housekeeping issue: Is Bulwark+ down? It's not coming up for me, and the link seems to have disappeared from the Bulwark homepage.
"This is the gospel according to Trump. Success is all, and success is wealth. In Trump’s America, wealth is what is to be praised, and the wealthy are to bathe in their own self-regard."
In Trump's [sic] America we can expect both an authoritarian government mixed with a plutocracy. TFG, of course, will be at the top, and his plutocrats and oligarchs will control everything downstream... after receiving approvals from Trump [sic]. If You-Know-Who is returned to the Oval Office [turns head and spits three times between index and middle fingers], the US will rapidly devolve into a third world country -- no constitutional republic, meritocracy will be erased from civil service and any government positions or needed assistance will be based entirely upon loyalty to the regime -- faster than most people think.
The problem, imo, with "Success is all, and success is wealth. ...the wealthy are to bathe in their own self-regard[,]" is that these fine folk conflate wealth with wisdom. They are of the (mistaken) belief that because they figured out how to get rich (or are nepo babies increasing their bottom lines) that they are the smartest people in the room when it comes to *any* topic.
I'll offer two shining examples: TFG and Elon Musk:
* The "stable genius" is firmly convinced that the word salads that he vomits out regularly are profound and intelligent rhetoric that should be considered as gospel, that is if you can understand them in the first place. He is always right, even when he couldn't be more wrong. He knows what is best for the country, or at least the MAGA demographic which is all that matters, and his insights should not be questioned. The fact that the decisions he made while in office made him richer personally can only speak to how brilliant he is.
* One can take every post on Xitter by Musk as unvarnished truth, including his racist and antisemitic remarks. He, like my other paragon of virtue, can not be wrong. If one reasonably and understandably misinterprets what he says it isn't because he wasn't succinct enough, it's because you're just plain stupid. He thinks his opinions are golden, and he is never in error.
With wealth does not come wisdom too. They are two separate commodities that are gained in vastly different ways. One comes from "astute" business and investment practices or a solid grift (or as I noted above, being a nepo baby); the other takes years and years of both book learning and street smarts.
To me, at least, I would prefer to be wise (along with enough of an income to be comfortable) than cash rich. Wealth is based on a material item; one that you can lose with just a simple miscalculation. Wisdom is immaterial and once gained no one can take it away from you, nor can you lose it.
fnord
Must rankle a bit if you’ve been at the RNC awhile and are taking direction from a nepo hire like Lara Trump.
I'm sure for people who are political professionals the whole thing must be nauseating
Except really, what political "professionals" would be left at that place after Trump got his hands on it?
Poor Orange Snake - all the news channels and then some are showing the total eclipse and ignoring him. :-)
MAGA House members are dogmatic--and dumb--enough to possibly vacate the Speakership if Johnson goes ahead and puts the Senate aid bill up for a vote.
This is the most do nothing congress ever. I believe their goal is to make sure the government does not work, except for dept that pays them.
The MAGA cultists in congress take their marching orders directly from Trump. Must make sure the government does not work in order to make Biden look bad and get Trump re-elected. That is their entire agenda.
I don't doubt that. Look at this headline from CNN
RFK Jr. New York campaign official says her ‘No. 1 priority’ is preventing a Biden victory.
They clearly want Trump to win, and I bet that RFK gets a plumb job in the Trump administration.
Yeah probably Secretary of Health and Human Services--- all the vaccine stuff.
That would be rich.
RFK Jr would promptly simplify the task of that office to suit his priorities. Demonize and ban all vaccines. Done. Then take lots of vacations.
They might try, but if he put the senate on the floor then no question democrats would save him.
That will be interesting to see.