One of the best MAGA panic tweets I saw was from Greg Abbott. "I will impose a 100% tariff on anyone moving from NYC to Texas" Love to see how he thinks that would work.
I am sure that no one on the staff at The Bulwark wants to hear this, but...
There is no post-Trump Republican Party. There is only post-Trump MAGA.
Look at history. It is a trope only because it is true. The way a society emerges from extremism is with recalibration, with a lurch the other way to accommodate pent up demand for change.
When MAGA collapses after its Golden God departs the stage, you will have no one remaining join your coalition but yourselves.
RE: the midterms—I wish I was more sociable and ready to interact with strangers. I have to find some text banking opportunities because that’s where I’m most comfortable, it’s just that they’re at weirdly inconvenient times and my schedule is weird on a good day. 🤦🏼♀️ I’m sure I’ll make something work, but it’s a lot. I’ll also be voting like I always do. It’s one of my most favorite things about being “an adult.” Civic duty is important!
What am I doing for the midterm elections? I'm not good at phone banking, and I live in a very red community, so I have been writing letters and postcards for various Democratic candidates and issues. I will also be an election worker. I've missed the No Kings rallies, and hope to attend the next one.
The memo is out from trump admin to gin up hatred of Muslims to try to cripple the new NYC mayor. Get ready for 9/11 images and the influencers trying to out maga each other with lies & hatred. Kelly just taking her puppet propaganda orders. After Republicans were punched in the gut in the last election they are going to the old desperate playbook of diversion, true Americans hate Muslims. Just in time for the holidays
The old school but cowardly GOP faction wants to blame Trump but only behind close doors while the MAGA insurgent will tie themselves to Trump until the day when kingdom comes.
Will the GOP blame Trump? I expect they will try to separate themselves from Trump.
But they have nominated Trump for the presidency three times in a row, even though he attempted a coup, even though they knew he is a sexual predator, even though the knew he was a fraudster, massively corrupt and grifter, even though his plan for America was a White Nationalist Fascist state. Then they enabled all this as the SC Republican majority, giving Trump immunity and through other decisions facilitated Trump’s plan, funding his ICE, aka Brownshirts and passing his BBB.
It would be a serious mistake to let the Republican Party off the hook regarding Trump. They have demonstrated that they cannot be trusted with America.
Not criticizing but just a bit of disagreement: 1) they wont separate themselves from trump because he wont allow it. 2) you are correct the GOP has always known exactly what trump is and nominated and voted for him anyway, and 3) this is the third time in my voting life that the GOP has demonstrated they can't be trusted with America, what W did to the most excellent Clinton economy, running up to that time the largest national debt, deficit increase in history and leaving the country in the midst of a recession bordering on depression. trump taking a thriving Obama economy and chipping away at it with the unneeded tax cuts that blew right through W's debt and deficit records, then his total incompetence on COVID that caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. Once again democrats cleaned up the mess and after a bit of a bout with inflation, Biden left the best and strongest economy in the world and a greatly reduced deficit in spite of republican obstructionism, and the American people handed it right back to trump, and in 9 months he has decimated the economy: job loss is near the bleeding levels of W's in 2008/2009, job creation is non-existent, prices are soaring because of tariffs, inflation is creeping up, and republicans have shutdown the government because they want to take away health insurance and food.
Apparently I am more hardcore than you. Republican have earned a place at the bottom of history’s rubbish bin. Notice that voting atonement is possible.
Laurence Tribe's piece on his father's flag was moving and thought provoking. It's indescribable to me that a "piece of cloth" can mean so many things, yet it's true. I graduated from high school in 1976, which doesn't seem possible because I don't feel like I'm as old as that. More importantly, I'm very aware of the 250th birthday of our country next year. My problem is not wanting to celebrate because of the current administration of our country. I worry about the ridiculous display that will inevitably happen, probably laced with a lot of gold somehow. I'd like to wait to celebrate until we have a different administration. So I have mixed feelings when I see our country's flag. Beauty, pride in those who serve the country, dread, gratitude, sadness, reverence. Etc., especially etc. And yet, long may she wave. In particular, that.
You well expressed comments that largely mirror my "mixed feelings". Mr. Tribe's story was moving and hit me emotionally. But these days I can't even bring myself to say the Pledge of Allegiance. I stay seated. I'll stand for the Flag when the Flag stands for me. Our nation has always had a spotty record of adhering to the values stated in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. However the governing powers today seem on a mission to entirely desecrate those values. And half of the voting citizens support them. I'm just a few years older than you; I hope I live long enough to see America start to again be a nation worth admiring.
It's brave of you to be true to yourself. I find myself thinking about the words, too. The older I get, the more I understand what I believe after so much experience, and what I like the most about aging is doing what I believe. I, too, hope we can get back to something more recognizable. I listened to a documentary on German POWs in the US and how they were, for the most part, treated. They expected abuse and probably torture because that is what they had been told by their military. The reality was different. That soft power we no longer follow (I'm looking at you, Trump!) Can we say that we follow the Geneva convention now? Not with black ops sites (is that the correct term?), AlligatorAlcatraz, etc. I'm not giving up on my dream of "normalcy", though.
I believe many of the German WWII POWs were detained in SW Michigan near Kalamazoo, if my memory is right. (Not a guarantee.) I have read stories that they were indeed treated civilly. I worked a few years teaching elementary school so I had to lead the class in the Pledge; I might have mumbled a bit through the "under God" part but otherwise stated the Pledge loudly and proudly. It would be harder today. We're essentially international outlaws sinking boats that are likely fishing vessels and killing the people aboard. I think your reference to "black op" sites is on target. The stories I see from the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune about the rogue ICE agents are sickening. It would be nice to see some of the ICE agents being prosecuted under Illinois statutes, no differently than City of Chicago Police or Cook County Sheriff forces would be for assaulting civilians
I've always loved the Pledge of Allegiance. It's sad now because I still love this country.
My dad told me about the German POW camp in Salina, Utah, not far from where he grew up. One of the guards went crazy and killed I believe 9 prisoners. It was the only incident of its kind in the US. Dad said people liked the work the POWs did. They treated them much better than they did the Japanese US citizens in internment camps, another blight on our history. I sound negative, but I am nevertheless hopeful for the long-term because there are still more good people than not.
I never heard the story about the guard who went berserk and killed POWs but, sadly, you're going to have incidents in a wartime environment. Hopefully as few as possible. I'm guessing without evidence that the American public related better socially or culturally to the Germans than to the less familiar Japanese. I can say confidently that we Americans have usually treated our POWs better than the reverse. I read a John McCain autobiography about how he and his fellow prisoners were treated in the Hanoi prisoner camps. The VC were lauded in the western press about how well they supposedly treated the captured American attackers. But in the late stages of the Vietnam war some of the American POWs were shown publicly and the Western media was shocked to see how emaciated they were and the signs of being beaten they displayed. ( I'm not sure how gracious the local Vietnamese could be expected to be in light of the way they were bombed and their villages destroyed.) In my small Midwestern town I had a Japanese classmate whose parents had been held in an internment camp. Her mother gave lectures about living in the camps to church and school groups. We heard things from Mrs. Yoshimine that we'd have never learned otherwise.
I remember clearly when John McCain and other POWs were finally released and how they looked. It made a lasting impression on me. One reason the US treated their POWs well was in the hope other countries would treat our people better. I'd really like to go back to that. For all the problems we have, I still think our military is top notch. I am grateful to them.
I graduated eight years behind you, in the heart of the Reagan administration. We've got some good years ahead still.
We also have true patriotism, unlike the stereotypes. It isn't "my country is always right" or "best" or whatever. It is that my country isn't perfect, but I will leave it better than I found it.
Celebrate your mixed feelings. They are the best of America.
Title should have been: Protesters and Voters give Democrats every advantage. Panicked Democrats find way to squander the moment.
I am a little sad. No more Cam and Tim to start my weekend with a laugh.
Good interview with David Frum.
One of the best MAGA panic tweets I saw was from Greg Abbott. "I will impose a 100% tariff on anyone moving from NYC to Texas" Love to see how he thinks that would work.
Klanned Karenhood
Megyn Kelly has really gone full
MAGA, hasn't she?
I am sure that no one on the staff at The Bulwark wants to hear this, but...
There is no post-Trump Republican Party. There is only post-Trump MAGA.
Look at history. It is a trope only because it is true. The way a society emerges from extremism is with recalibration, with a lurch the other way to accommodate pent up demand for change.
When MAGA collapses after its Golden God departs the stage, you will have no one remaining join your coalition but yourselves.
RE: the midterms—I wish I was more sociable and ready to interact with strangers. I have to find some text banking opportunities because that’s where I’m most comfortable, it’s just that they’re at weirdly inconvenient times and my schedule is weird on a good day. 🤦🏼♀️ I’m sure I’ll make something work, but it’s a lot. I’ll also be voting like I always do. It’s one of my most favorite things about being “an adult.” Civic duty is important!
You can also do postcards. It seems crazy, but they really do work.
Oooohhh. I like this! Although it might be too close to work for that. Hrm.
What am I doing for the midterm elections? I'm not good at phone banking, and I live in a very red community, so I have been writing letters and postcards for various Democratic candidates and issues. I will also be an election worker. I've missed the No Kings rallies, and hope to attend the next one.
The memo is out from trump admin to gin up hatred of Muslims to try to cripple the new NYC mayor. Get ready for 9/11 images and the influencers trying to out maga each other with lies & hatred. Kelly just taking her puppet propaganda orders. After Republicans were punched in the gut in the last election they are going to the old desperate playbook of diversion, true Americans hate Muslims. Just in time for the holidays
Luckly, the Republicans will double down on their program to screw the middle class and the poor.
MAKE THEM EAT IT!!!!
If Trump doesn’t blame Trump, neither will the GOP. They are in thrall to a maniac.
He is a narcissist. He cannot blame himself without having a complete mental breakdown.
But I agree with you that Republicans are not going to, either.
The old school but cowardly GOP faction wants to blame Trump but only behind close doors while the MAGA insurgent will tie themselves to Trump until the day when kingdom comes.
Will the GOP blame Trump? I expect they will try to separate themselves from Trump.
But they have nominated Trump for the presidency three times in a row, even though he attempted a coup, even though they knew he is a sexual predator, even though the knew he was a fraudster, massively corrupt and grifter, even though his plan for America was a White Nationalist Fascist state. Then they enabled all this as the SC Republican majority, giving Trump immunity and through other decisions facilitated Trump’s plan, funding his ICE, aka Brownshirts and passing his BBB.
It would be a serious mistake to let the Republican Party off the hook regarding Trump. They have demonstrated that they cannot be trusted with America.
Not criticizing but just a bit of disagreement: 1) they wont separate themselves from trump because he wont allow it. 2) you are correct the GOP has always known exactly what trump is and nominated and voted for him anyway, and 3) this is the third time in my voting life that the GOP has demonstrated they can't be trusted with America, what W did to the most excellent Clinton economy, running up to that time the largest national debt, deficit increase in history and leaving the country in the midst of a recession bordering on depression. trump taking a thriving Obama economy and chipping away at it with the unneeded tax cuts that blew right through W's debt and deficit records, then his total incompetence on COVID that caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. Once again democrats cleaned up the mess and after a bit of a bout with inflation, Biden left the best and strongest economy in the world and a greatly reduced deficit in spite of republican obstructionism, and the American people handed it right back to trump, and in 9 months he has decimated the economy: job loss is near the bleeding levels of W's in 2008/2009, job creation is non-existent, prices are soaring because of tariffs, inflation is creeping up, and republicans have shutdown the government because they want to take away health insurance and food.
Apparently I am more hardcore than you. Republican have earned a place at the bottom of history’s rubbish bin. Notice that voting atonement is possible.
Laurence Tribe's piece on his father's flag was moving and thought provoking. It's indescribable to me that a "piece of cloth" can mean so many things, yet it's true. I graduated from high school in 1976, which doesn't seem possible because I don't feel like I'm as old as that. More importantly, I'm very aware of the 250th birthday of our country next year. My problem is not wanting to celebrate because of the current administration of our country. I worry about the ridiculous display that will inevitably happen, probably laced with a lot of gold somehow. I'd like to wait to celebrate until we have a different administration. So I have mixed feelings when I see our country's flag. Beauty, pride in those who serve the country, dread, gratitude, sadness, reverence. Etc., especially etc. And yet, long may she wave. In particular, that.
You well expressed comments that largely mirror my "mixed feelings". Mr. Tribe's story was moving and hit me emotionally. But these days I can't even bring myself to say the Pledge of Allegiance. I stay seated. I'll stand for the Flag when the Flag stands for me. Our nation has always had a spotty record of adhering to the values stated in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. However the governing powers today seem on a mission to entirely desecrate those values. And half of the voting citizens support them. I'm just a few years older than you; I hope I live long enough to see America start to again be a nation worth admiring.
It's brave of you to be true to yourself. I find myself thinking about the words, too. The older I get, the more I understand what I believe after so much experience, and what I like the most about aging is doing what I believe. I, too, hope we can get back to something more recognizable. I listened to a documentary on German POWs in the US and how they were, for the most part, treated. They expected abuse and probably torture because that is what they had been told by their military. The reality was different. That soft power we no longer follow (I'm looking at you, Trump!) Can we say that we follow the Geneva convention now? Not with black ops sites (is that the correct term?), AlligatorAlcatraz, etc. I'm not giving up on my dream of "normalcy", though.
I believe many of the German WWII POWs were detained in SW Michigan near Kalamazoo, if my memory is right. (Not a guarantee.) I have read stories that they were indeed treated civilly. I worked a few years teaching elementary school so I had to lead the class in the Pledge; I might have mumbled a bit through the "under God" part but otherwise stated the Pledge loudly and proudly. It would be harder today. We're essentially international outlaws sinking boats that are likely fishing vessels and killing the people aboard. I think your reference to "black op" sites is on target. The stories I see from the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune about the rogue ICE agents are sickening. It would be nice to see some of the ICE agents being prosecuted under Illinois statutes, no differently than City of Chicago Police or Cook County Sheriff forces would be for assaulting civilians
I've always loved the Pledge of Allegiance. It's sad now because I still love this country.
My dad told me about the German POW camp in Salina, Utah, not far from where he grew up. One of the guards went crazy and killed I believe 9 prisoners. It was the only incident of its kind in the US. Dad said people liked the work the POWs did. They treated them much better than they did the Japanese US citizens in internment camps, another blight on our history. I sound negative, but I am nevertheless hopeful for the long-term because there are still more good people than not.
I never heard the story about the guard who went berserk and killed POWs but, sadly, you're going to have incidents in a wartime environment. Hopefully as few as possible. I'm guessing without evidence that the American public related better socially or culturally to the Germans than to the less familiar Japanese. I can say confidently that we Americans have usually treated our POWs better than the reverse. I read a John McCain autobiography about how he and his fellow prisoners were treated in the Hanoi prisoner camps. The VC were lauded in the western press about how well they supposedly treated the captured American attackers. But in the late stages of the Vietnam war some of the American POWs were shown publicly and the Western media was shocked to see how emaciated they were and the signs of being beaten they displayed. ( I'm not sure how gracious the local Vietnamese could be expected to be in light of the way they were bombed and their villages destroyed.) In my small Midwestern town I had a Japanese classmate whose parents had been held in an internment camp. Her mother gave lectures about living in the camps to church and school groups. We heard things from Mrs. Yoshimine that we'd have never learned otherwise.
I remember clearly when John McCain and other POWs were finally released and how they looked. It made a lasting impression on me. One reason the US treated their POWs well was in the hope other countries would treat our people better. I'd really like to go back to that. For all the problems we have, I still think our military is top notch. I am grateful to them.
I graduated eight years behind you, in the heart of the Reagan administration. We've got some good years ahead still.
We also have true patriotism, unlike the stereotypes. It isn't "my country is always right" or "best" or whatever. It is that my country isn't perfect, but I will leave it better than I found it.
Celebrate your mixed feelings. They are the best of America.
real patriotism is, we're all in this together, not we can kick anybody's ass