I fear you're right. My friends and I worked hard to "defend democracy" over the past few election cycles. Unfortunately democracy wasn't that interested. Don't think we come back from this in my lifetime.
Don't know if it's practical to become an ex-pat at my age, but it might be something to seriously consider.
The USA is finished. We'll probably be 4 or 5 countries in the next decade or two. I've been keeping in touch with my relatives in England (not that they're looking all that much better lately) just in case.
And if your screen name is from a Ride song, you're awesome.
I always thought the Regean admin's primary message was that countries are obsolete. Capitalist without borders. Why is the government wasting so much capital trying to fix things like poverty. Let's get that money into the hands of bankers and traders not hampered by "provincial" consideration. The military is good business but don't waste it on trying to help humans have their rights.
Nowhere is still in my top handful of records ever. So is Going Blank Again. And their newer stuff is also amazing. Only managed to see them live in the 2010s, tho. Check out The Story of Creation, if you haven't seen it. I'm still a shoegazer at heart, as my tinnitus would testify!
People just seem too tired, poor or frustrated (all of the above) to fight for democracy. It didn't use to be this hard. A Democrat or a Republican in power would fight for our rights and democracy. They had different ideas how to do it but it seemed to benefit a larger portion of our citizens. Now it seems that the few are benefiting the most.
First Bill, thank you for your podcast yesterday with Col Fram. I’m so glad to see that argument being made here at the Bulwark.
Second, it’s alarming to see you and JVL agree on the speed of this descent into madness. I expect accelerationism from JVL and sometimes, secretly, the nihilist in me agrees with him. But it hits differently when you are also talking about the astonishing speed of things. We can always hope for the hamburger from the sky to save us.
Man, to think I’d be looking to Bill Kristol as the voice of temperance. 20 year old me is absolutely floored right now.
I'm 73, so other than increasing prices, I'll be okay - unless they start hounding people on websites like Bulwark and stop my pension. It will be you and people like you who will really have to decide what to do. I'm sorry.
I've been wondering how long it will be before the administration starts threatening to withhold Social Security benefits and payments from people who don't adhere to their view of "American culture and ideals." I suspect it won't be very long now. First the threats. Then the purge of the recipient rolls. And who knows, maybe a demand for a return of what's already been paid? Wouldn't surprise me one bit.
My guess is ‘they’ won’t reduce or withhold any one’s Social Security; ‘they’ will just ‘invest’ the funds in crypto and steal it and there will be nothing left. My guess also is this ‘investing’ will begin within six months, may be sooner, such as by year-end. Yes, sending in the National Guard to Los Angeles and already named cities for future deployment is the most scary action this current president has taken and Congress’ silence is nailing this society’s coffin.
I read a great comment and regrettably I cannot remember the source, the Texas floods in mid-July killed over 130 human beings. Were federal funds and uniform power sent to remediate and lessen the chances of this happening again there? On the other hand, some DOGE young ‘un gets roughed up at 2:00 a.m. in the District and the federal vaults open and the National Guards from multiple states arrive in DC. Stunning!
Where is the understanding?! Where is the outrage?!
Well, the TX legislature used the flooding as the excuse to call a special session to reconfigure their districts. As far as I know, all of that is still withheld. Also NC never did receive the funds Biden authorized in the last days of his presidency. Where's the uproar about that?
I hate to say/think this, but I really hope this is a bad hurricane season that hits the MAGA states and POS does his usual useless job. Might get wannabe-Melania Kristi tossed out on her can.
I think that's less of a threat for the simple reason that they have gouged staffing at the Social Security Administration. They don't have the capacity to do that kind of thing. I used to be concerned the IRS would target citizens who donated to democratic candidates, but they have also cut the IRS budget. Though I suppose they could target citizens residing in certain states, which would disproportionately hurt their perceived enemies.
… Maxwell’s comment that some of Epstein’s friends(?!) are sitting in cabinet sounds like a thinly-veiled threat … I guess we know what happens next (did they take away her shoelaces??)
They were under time constraints to get something out in time for the subpoena, but you can bet that the proof-reader who missed that, will miss other things soon, too, like a regular paycheck and the prospects of ever having another one, anywhere, anytime.
Is it possible to engage in RESPONSIBLE speculation (maybe in some betting-odds fashion) as to the identities of the folks Maxwell is thinking of? I don't mean outright character assassination based purely on enmity, but perhaps suggestions based upon stated reasons (e.g., "that arrest back in 2010 for soliciting..."). At this point I think that we might have to throw a couple of rumor-logs on MAGA's outrage fire lest the embers die down.
"In newly released Department of Justice interviews, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell revealed surprising details about RFK Jr.’s connection to the disgraced financier. Maxwell described moments they shared, including travelling together, shedding new light on Epstein’s far-reaching network and high-profile relationships. These revelations add another explosive chapter to the Epstein saga, raising fresh questions about the political and social circles linked to him."
I suspect most of them will let it go. Many won't because they meant what they said, but many never really wanted to hunt child rapists, they wanted to hunt liberals. Anyway, these days I use the metric "What would Moe from the Simpsons do?" when I try to guess what Americans will do.
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields, responding to reports of internal dissent on the Epstein issue, told NewsNation on July 11: "Any attempt to sow division within this team is baseless and distracts from the real progress being made in restoring public safety and pursuing justice for all."
Well, they think they have Ms. Maxell by the ****, but she didn't spend a lifetime working the Epstein scam without knowing how to maneuver. Despite everything she is working her agenda. Her suck-upery is so total that it feels ironic - a wink and nod, "Oh daddy you are so manly and powerful - little old me - so weak and powerless - I can only serve my "new" master as I did my dead master. Yuck, yuck and yuck.
However, she definitely was worried in the regular prison. Little does she know that those in club Fed have no more sympathy for a pedophile and pimp of children. She has to be watching her back, all the time.
I went to the Anne Frank exhibit on Sunday with my mom & her sisters. Profoundly sad- we've moved so far away from the horrors of Hitler and First they came for the socialists.. Unchecked power and apathy is a recipe for complete disaster. I am 55. World War II is personal to me. I had relatives that fought in it. It was a big part of our curriculum in school- we beat fascism and we were the good guys. Perhaps a little naive of me.
I do not think Trump is Hitler. There are however many parallels between the two and what is happening in our country. I think this is the first Morning Shots where I've interpreted real alarm in Bill's piece. It is frightening. As someone said further down in the comments- Despotism is in the house.
Nice post. Your point about Trump not being Hitler is spot on and that's the trouble is that MAGA can't do nuance. You mention Hitler, Germany or the 1930's and they turn you off because they assume you are calling Trump "Hilter" when it's more like what you're saying...it's the circumstances leading to the rise of Hitler that are very similar.
This might be one of those rare occasions where I think that Trump is literally on to something with his whole..."only I can save you" mantra...in that..."Only I can hypnotize people into Fascism without them realizing it."
As much as he'd like to....I don't think Vance would get very far as the new torch bearer for MAGA.
I don't disagree with that....but without Trump...I think the big picture arc swings back toward democracy with JD riding the Trump wave as it quickly dies underneath him.
I know a fair bit about the early history of the Third Reich (my teenage obsession; some people were horse girls...), and it's been truly disquieting. The way so much of the professional army has been weeded out and replaced with Trump sycophants is way too familiar. As is the way Trump is pushing back hard against federalism and violating local autonomy for blue states and cities, it reminds me in incredibly specific ways about some power struggles in 1935, 1936 in one of the German states, I think Bavaria. It's an odd week when I don't bemoan at least once how I wish I knew less about Nazi history.
Like I said, that doesn't mean Trump's Hitler or that MAGA is the literal Nazi party. But the pathway is there, and history does give us a sneak peak of at least one of the possibilities. :(
“I alone can fix it”. What functional adult doesn’t recognize that statement as a warning? And there are easily hundreds more that are similar, like discussing Arnold Palmer’s private parts on stage. The problem is our people.
Certainly not “fully functional”. Most of them managed to get a driver’s license, and many earn an income. It’s baffling to me how they accomplish getting dressed every day.
Military people are a conundrum wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. They get paid out of taxes, but they rail against taxation. Their careers include the social safety net the rest of us deeply desire but can’t have, and which represent their much hated “socialism”. It attracts people with an authoritarian bent, while their job is to fight for our freedom.
I know I’ve made broad generalizations. But I think most of us recognize those observations.
I've said it many times and I'm in the know because I am surrounded by family who are ardent Trump supporters and a neighbor who is a former Black Hawk pilot who is a serious MAGA person - they just don't know what is going on beyond the Fox bubble.
They don't see the Truth Social posts. They don't watch MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS. They bury themselves in Facebook communities that feed the propaganda machine and that is their only "independent" source of non-televised news.
They like being part of "the club". They are culturally and politically illiterate.
The only way they will realize something is wrong is when the system is burned to the ground and it personally affects them drastically. Even then I'm not so sure they won't just blame the Left - however, they will blame their current administration if they feel they can't beat the Left and they will start looking for a new Trump to save them.
Yeah, I am constantly in shock over what they don't know and what they think they know. A pure fantasy land where reality can't see the light of day. My mom told me yesterday about all the pilots who were fired for not taking COVID shots being hired back and it's all over the news. It is very much not all over the news and is not even real, as far as I can tell.
Agree. I have to constantly remind myself that MAGAs don’t know what we know. Of course that’s their choice, so we’re back to personal failures.
You have a better finger-on-the-pulse of MAGAs. None in my family, and the few I know are in the category of acquaintances. So I appreciate your boots-on-the-ground reporting!
As you mention, media propaganda is another force we are up against. Allowing that was a destructive choice of free will, on the part of the country. I’d love to know if other advanced democracies have such pervasive propaganda.
As you say, they won’t change their orientation unless they personally feel a lot of personal pain that they can’t blame elsewhere. It feels pretty bleak.
They haven't yet figured out that POS will turn on them. They're not billionaires; they can't give him the money he really wants. Hell, he just fired a whole lot of veterans who worked for the VA, an organization that does affect them directly. They will also see it as his sycophants get rewarded and the people that know what they're doing will be gone.
Yeah, I’m pretty surprised that Trump is hurting the military fairly openly; cuts at the VA should be an alarm. I wonder if support for Trump within the military community is eroding . . .
You have to deserve democracy to maintain it, and American voters no longer have the sense to be worthy of democracy. Falling for the pied piper like this is such an own goal.
So true. I worry about the apathy and devotion to the algorithm that I see here in Canada. I know we were smart enough to elect Carney and kick the can down the road for a bit, but there's a determined undercurrent of maple magaism here that isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
I’m thinking that our disastrous MAGA result had the side effect of saving Canada, at least temporarily, from a similar threat from your own right flank. I vividly remember reading about the trucker protests, especially in Toronto. It was unnerving to realize how widespread the dystopian, nihilistic mindset is.
Yep, these algorithms are weapons grade. People end up places they never would have dreamed they'd end up, believing things they never would have believed. The scary part is these delusion machines are just getting started; it's bad now and can get so much worse.
It’s true, the adage that the cost of freedom is eternal vigilance. My vigilance is tired. Who are these people who want so desperately to control others? I barely wanted to control my pets. Obviously it’s an old human story.
Well, it kind of fits with the general aspect of obedience and authority. Religious observance primes people to submit. But as to morality? No way does it comport.
I had always wondered why there was such futile resistance from other political actors in Germany during the rise of Hitler. Germany had a robust leftist tradition and the communists and socialists had large followings, and seats in the Reighstag. But watching our own institutions flail in front of Trump’s march to complete control, has certainly been eye opening.
Bill is absolutely correct we must call it what it is, but that is where we struggle and fail. We try to rationalize away what he says and does, we look for antecedents that don’t exist, and the Supreme Court finds more penumbras to allow him to push on. We aren’t and weren’t prepared and don’t know how to deal with someone who so violently disregards a system of delicate balances.
The story of German political parties trying to thwart Hitler makes for grim reading, but the overriding sense is they didn’t know how to respond. Nothing in the German political system — even the Bismarckian government had prepared them for what Hitler would do despite him being rather explicit. Trump has been very explicit — just look at everything in today’s newsletter it’s everything he said he would do. We just haven’t been able to call it what it is because many still try to fit him into a framework from another era where we cared about the balances of power that allow democracy to work.
I think it's that the Supreme Court is just as bad as Trump. It's not that they don't know how to respond. The dissentions from the liberals in the Court spell out the proper responses very clearly. It's that John Roberts wants to rule us like an unaccountable king.
SCOTUS is even more appalling than the Trumphole. They know their twisting the law and hiding behind the shadow docket is perverting the Constitution and sinking our democracy. The majority are betraying us with a smile. one corrupt and unexplained decision at a time.
In Germany at least, there was overt state-sponsored violence. They were out there killing people. Republican politicians do fear physical violence from their voters, but last I checked, the only politicians I've seen getting shot at and killed right now in politically motivated acts are Democrats. And if Republicans are afraid for their lives, they have only themselves to blame for cultivating this hatred for decades - when it was pointed at Democrats exclusively, they fanned the flames. Now that it's hanging over their heads, too, they reveal their cowardice openly.
Even if they are getting threats, isn't that why they're so pro-Second Amendment? Self-defense? What are they afraid of, they've rigged the system so everyone can pack as much heat as they want, including them. Go get em cowboys.
Bill, I am struck by both yours and JVL's clarity after being away from the horrors for a while. It's like you both came back and said, "Yes, it's every bit as bad as we thought - maybe worse."
Also, 100% agree with, "The enemies of a free society...don’t sugarcoat what they’re doing. There’s surely no reason we should sugarcoat what we’re seeing."
I have an almost overwhelming emptiness in my heart these days. The abject cruelty that is constantly on display by this administration is just astounding, sickening, and soul crushing. When I saw the chyron indicating that Abrego Garcia would probably be deported to UGANDA(!!??!!) I literally felt sick to my stomach.
I swear to God that trump, noem, miller, vance, bondi, etc, etc, would be gleeful to schedule a public “drawing & quartering” of Mr. Abrego Garcia on the Washington Mall, and every one of those spineless, gutless congressional republicans would stand by, watch it, and then go on tv to somehow excuse it. The cruelty trump and his minions are willing to inflict, and the cruelty that so-called leaders in the Republican party are willing to abide & then defend seems limitless.
This was all predictable, though. And now here it is. And it’s worse than even the most alarmist ones among us expected.
I keep thinking that America has to be better than this ….. that we are the “good guys,” and that GOOD just has to eventually win out over EVIL. But these days I’m not sure about much of anything I used to believe about this nation.
Interestingly enough, "GOOD just has to eventually win out over EVIL" is exact;y the refrain from the MAGA religious right as well.... but for completely opposite reasons.
I still wonder, though, how anyone who professes to believe in and follow the teachings of one Jesus Christ can turn a willful blind eye to what is happening in American streets, fields, and businesses.
Thankfully, I have not been witness to an ICE abduction. Iam not certain how I will react if and when I actually see masked mercenaries snatching people off the streets.
And isn’t it sad that I am feeling the need to even think about my reactions to such un-American “law enforcement” practices?
“I’m sorry to return from my week at the beach without tidings of joy. But we ought to see things as they are and to call them as we see them. And we ought to do so in the spirit of Lincoln: “If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.””
Bill, well said and I wholeheartedly agree. That said, we need a strategy going forward because we all know they will cheat in any possible way; including rigging the election.
And since all federal enforcement agencies are under Trump’s thumb, we can’t count on any of them. So what are the remedies or actions we can take.
The key ingredients of a successful nonviolent resistance movement, the researchers found, are:
1. A large and diverse population of participants that can be sustained over time.
2. The ability to create loyalty shifts among key regime-supporting groups such as business elites, state media, and—most important—security elites such as the police and the military.
3. A creative and imaginative variation in methods of resistance beyond mass protest.
4. The organizational discipline to face direct repression without having the movement fall apart or opt for violence.
Chenoweth says that the third and fourth attributes may be both the most important and the least understood, particularly the need for creativity and imagination. Street protests often lead to violent repression, and it is the protesters' actions taken after authorities try to take back the streets that can make or break a resistance movement.
Maybe there is no game plan for the USA, but most people/nations in the rest of the world are moving in the direction of confidence, making economic progress and really believing in themselves and not following us and Israel into cuckoo land.
All true, but we need to do the saving. The Canadian’s and European’s allies can’t save us from ourselves; they’ve got their own problems with Trump….:)
We'll need more like Canaris, Oster and others who fought Hitler from the inside for many years before the Allies realized what a threat he was to them.
Good history, but our problem is that he already has infested the "inside" with his toadies. On the other hand, von Stauffenberg was on the inside when he became "radicalized" (to use a modern, internet term) and made the effort with other, late-blooming like-minded patriots. Perhaps there are already the modern Canaris', Oster's, etc. keeping their proverbial powder dry "inside". If so, I hope they do not wait too long....
What might tip the balance is if he changes their oaths to: “Ich schwöre bei Gott diesen heiligen Eid, daß ich dem Führer des United States Reiches und Volkes, Donald Trump, dem Oberbefehlshaber der Wehrmacht, unbedingten Gehorsam leisten und als tapferer Soldat bereit sein will, jederzeit für diesen Eid mein Leben einzusetzen.” At least, I pray it will.
Eva, the saving grace is that the Felon has no clue about any language except for his, now aged-degenerated, pidgen English. And were any of his lackies fluent enough in German to present a translation of the above into pidgen English, I would hope for emphatic and decided push-back from most of the people in uniform who already took the correct oath.
“I swear this holy oath to God that I want to render unconditional obedience to the leader of the United States Empire and people, Donald Trump, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, and be ready as a brave soldier to commit my life at any time for this oath.” Miller would be happy to write this for him. Even Hegseth or his friends at Fox.
They are right now putting together AI programs to scour not only all federal databases but social media as well. On the other hand, you're outside their jurisdiction, which may mean that you can reference plots to assassinate with impunity.
OK, now I get it. I was afraid that was what you meant.... And I was only giving the Felon a friendly, historical warning, since I have little reason to believe he would get the reference. That said, I just generated a sign for my next consular walk:
THE FELON IS SO
POWER HUNGRY
HIS DEMAND "HIS"
ICE ACT LIKE "SS"
AND THE D.C.
NATIONAL GUARD
LIKE BROWN SHIRTS
(THE FELON is in red, BROWN SHIRTS, what else, in brown)
We focus a lot on Trump, as it should be, but there are still 70 million Americans, perhaps minus a recent few, that are still all onboard with what he is doing around our country. Trump might be the Pied Piper, but the reality is that we have a large portion of our country stupid enough to hear and believe in this siren's call misappropriately called MAGA.
The latest Gallop Poll has him at 37% approval rating. Down from 47% in January. That was July. He doesn’t have 70 million any more. Now that the tariffs are starting to bite, his polls should continue to slide. Wall Street and banks are probably taking notice, saying nothing, but have a benchmark to tell them when to shout. I hope it won’t be too late.
37%? We can do better. He’s just really getting cooking. We have over 3 years, with him sending armed Federal soldiers into the streets NOW, coming to a neighborhood near you, with assistants who strive to make his every wish their command (we may yet get actual Army in the streets of American cities). Either this fascist snowball will bring him and the MAGA movement down, or we’ll find out just how un-democratic our citizenry really is.
My sincere apologies but after 10 years...I just don't think that approval ratings are same thing as cultish devotion to anything other than the Dems....(or something like that)
Not all of the 70 million who voted for him belong to the cult. A decisive number of them just don't know or care much. The cult will always be there, but they alone aren't enough to hold the country.
I think we can agree that the 2028 elections are not a given. They are not something that is in our toolbox anymore. Even the midterms are hanging on by a thread. And there is nothing that seems to stop them since Republican Americans are supporting this move. My heart is breaking.
Who do you see who deserves the title "Republican Americans"? The few who did, quit and faded into the woodwork, Liz and Adam excepted, but what influence do they have now?
“Backsliding” doesn’t adequately describe where we are currently, but it could apply to the years since Reagan. One could say Biden was part of the backsliding, by suggesting to Garland to slow-walk prosecution of Trump for J6, and by running for a second term when he had said he would be a “bridge” president, back to normalcy. It’s been death by 1000 cuts, some more deadly than others.
The Supreme Court has a lot to do with the disintegration of American democracy. Almost every decision over the passed ten years has favored rich white Christian men, over every opponent.
You’re right. But we got this Supreme Court due to voter choices down the food chain. But I’ll grant that none of the other prior bad choices were as glaring as Trump.
Another good example, as much as it pains me to revisit. I do think there was some hubris involved; but I also think Trump has exceeded our collective capacity of imagination. It seemed impossible that he could win the first time; and the second time?!
I wish I could recall the source. I remember being startled at first, and then seeing it as plausible. I’m guessing it came from a podcast guest, from any one of my multiple regular podcasts. Maybe I’ll do a little online search, because I’m curious. I’m thinking it seems plausible after hearing reports of Biden warmly saying to Trump, “Welcome Home” at the White House on Inauguration Day. It’s like Biden couldn’t face the new realities of our politics. He seemed to think modeling normal behavior was a useful tool - which it arguably was, back when Ford pardoned Nixon.
Edit: a quick search shows Biden actually being frustrated at Garland’s slow pace. I’m wondering if the source I recall was an insider. It’s so hard to know, because there are so many media tricks inside politics; like a deliberate ploy of good cop / bad cop.
Well...the reason I asked is that my impression (not fact) was that Biden was pretty hand's off of the DOJ and that Garland strikes me as a guy not looking for a fight and being almost too much of a Boy Scout for that job. So he never needed Biden to say a thing....he was going to go after the 1/6 attackers not the head guy.
That makes sense. The old rule was for a president to be hands off. I did a quick search (my edited comment above), and found contradictory hits. It’s so hard to know, when the media game can obfuscate so much.
TomD; I think you got it. Garland was scared that if the case wasn’t airtight, Felon Trump would walk. His problem was he didn’t move fast enough getting Jack Smith on board. Remember, with his Save America PAC, also known as his piggy bank, DonOld was going to delay this until the Supreme Court ruled. There was no other solution to his problem at that time. He probably hadn’t hitched up with Vought, and his other partners in crime yet.
The way Trump and the Republican party are behaving, I don’t expect the election of Democrats in 2026 to be a check on Trump’s lawlessness. We need a few brave House Republicans to become Independents now and caucus with the Democrats. Mike Johnson must be replaced with Hakeem Jeffries or he will follow Trump’s orders to steal the election.
Man...so many comments are echoing exactly what I think this morning. I think I posted last week that there must be some conservatives out there finally realizing that this thing is going down the toilet fast and realizing that they must make the choice FOR the country rather than their party.
Yes, but will they come out of the underbrush soon enough? Mealy Mouth Mitch did not, and he was their "leader", giving them the cover to not stop the Felon when they could have. A real problem for some of them is that they did not realize soon enough that, when push came to shove, it would not only be their political lives on the line, theirs and their families were also going to be in jeopardy.
David - and you're mentioning a guy who was in leadership, for years! ...who wielded actual power & influence in his caucus, at times even more widely.
Now consider the typical House Republican (key phrase in this thread of the Comments, I think). One would be Juan Ciscomani of my former Southern AZ district - plays a moderate in his only-slightly-red gerrymandered AZ district 6, makes occasional noises about fairness for our Latino neighbors who are living productive lives & contributing to our communities, but knows he can't really go up against MAGA cuz he'd be primaried in a heartbeat, then back to being a low end chamber of commerce sort of functionary in AZ bizness/politics partnership orgs. With 6 kids, tough to make the mortgage payment on THAT kind of gig!
Or take my new rep, Victoria Spartz of Indiana's 5th District (the Fightin' 5th!!). Pretends she's a fiscal hawk willing to buck her Republican leadership - e.g., she voted against the original House budget bill back in April (oooh! ...given they had the votes to pass it without her). Her tough-talking quote was, "I appreciate efforts of my colleagues, but the instructions we voted on today are still setting us up for the largest deficit increase in the history of our Republic, & opening up a 'pandora’s box' by changing accounting rules to hide it," Spartz said on X. "In good conscience, I couldn’t vote YES." https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/10/victoria-spartz-indiana-rep-votes-against-donald-trump-budget-house-citing-deficit/83025770007/
Then, when the Senate failed to pass the BBB until JD Vance broke the tie vote, she quickly voted in favor of this EVEN BIGGER deficit than the original plan she had supposedly opposed... of course, they had also thrown in some cuts for Medicaid that will hurt rural hospitals and people all over Indiana - guess all that somehow soothed her earlier bout of "conscience" https://www.hamcodemsin.org/post/what-victoria-spartz-thinks-of-hamilton-county
So those are the back bench House Republicans I've seen up close - small time pols who fell into their positions in DC on Trump's coattails and DO NOT want to fall back to jobs at the local sewer board! ...which be their luckiest option if they dared to seriously oppose the MAGA/Project 2025 alliance that runs the Republican party.
I don’t think the Republican Congress critters who aren’t red-pilled aren’t going along with this out of party loyalty, but for fear of being treated like Lindsey Graham was at that airport.
I'm not disagreeing at all, but at some point they have to see that Trump's decisions and policies aren't sustainable and we're heading for a financial cliff far worse than being dissed at the airport. It may be too late, but a few of them have to be thinking this.
Adam Kinzinger is constantly mentioning his former colleagues who are currently doing exactly what you are describing out of fear.
Welcome back Bill! Hope you're tanned and rested, I think you'll need that rest. Magats pissed and moaned about Newsome trolling trump and called his social media posts "childish". Have they read trump's comments about Christie's interview? Are they really that disconnected from intelligence and reality? I'm sure they think trump was "presidential" in his comments.
Preet had Tom Nichols on his pod a few days ago, and they had quite a bit to say about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdZJL9viXtc. Tom also wrote about it in The Atlantic last week.
Yes. Yes they are really disconnected. I watch what my Trump supporter family and friends watch which is almost solely Fox News and they NEVER post anything from Trump's truth social rants. There is nothing in their world that can or will connect them to any intelligence or reality of the broader scene
We are already fighting a low grade civil war. Trump is sending in the troops to arrest people with an open can of beer. Everything about Trump is just performative. He has no substance but the surface show and the lie. Everything about MAGA is based on a lie. Trump is a serial sexual predator and a pedophile. He is either afraid of him or so totally enamored with him that he can't do anything that upsets him. Kristol's list of Trump's unconstitutional actions is long but very incomplete. Yet, I guess every Republican is getting paid off in crypto.
Southern states are sending troops to Northern cities. If that's not the start of a Civil War, what else could it be? They know their crime rates are higher than ours.
Bill, I fear you are correct. I spent some time on and off in Northern Ireland in the mid-‘90s—Omagh market was bombed right after I left NI the last time—and have thought for a while now that we are on the way to our own version of The Troubles.
Your main title today is not quite right. Despotism isn't at the door. It's in the house.
I fear you're right. My friends and I worked hard to "defend democracy" over the past few election cycles. Unfortunately democracy wasn't that interested. Don't think we come back from this in my lifetime.
Don't know if it's practical to become an ex-pat at my age, but it might be something to seriously consider.
The USA is finished. We'll probably be 4 or 5 countries in the next decade or two. I've been keeping in touch with my relatives in England (not that they're looking all that much better lately) just in case.
And if your screen name is from a Ride song, you're awesome.
I always thought the Regean admin's primary message was that countries are obsolete. Capitalist without borders. Why is the government wasting so much capital trying to fix things like poverty. Let's get that money into the hands of bankers and traders not hampered by "provincial" consideration. The military is good business but don't waste it on trying to help humans have their rights.
I think you got the gist of it.
Would love to be awesome, but it's actually a reference to a Warhol film. But I'm outing myself as old ;> ).
The Ride song is also inspired by the same thing! And speficically about Nico. And it came out in 1990, so you're not alone in the old dept!
I LOVE Ride! One of my favorite bands when I was in college in the early-mid 90s.
Nowhere is still in my top handful of records ever. So is Going Blank Again. And their newer stuff is also amazing. Only managed to see them live in the 2010s, tho. Check out The Story of Creation, if you haven't seen it. I'm still a shoegazer at heart, as my tinnitus would testify!
I know it isn't super well-regarded, but Carnival of Light is one of my favorites, along with Nowhere.
People just seem too tired, poor or frustrated (all of the above) to fight for democracy. It didn't use to be this hard. A Democrat or a Republican in power would fight for our rights and democracy. They had different ideas how to do it but it seemed to benefit a larger portion of our citizens. Now it seems that the few are benefiting the most.
It's eating all our snacks and kicked the dog, and nobody is "standing their ground".
Infuriating
How about a swan dive toward despotism? The kind that leads to quadriplegia (if you're lucky).
But without the grace...more like a belly flop.
Looks something like Pete Hegseth’s attempt at pull ups.
Sean Duffy, Sec. of Transportation, was even worse. He had someone hold his legs to help him up. These people are pathetic.
Yep. The only way this can possibly end is through armed conflict. Dems need to start pushing the 2nd amendment hard.
There are plenty who have chosen to arm themselves as a result of Trump’s re election.
"home of the brave" is pure propaganda
except a houston man who shot two masked "cops" who tried to kidnap him
don't mess with texas
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/houston-homeowner-shoots-and-kills-two-men-in-ski-masks-who-turned-up-at-home-claiming-to-be-cops/ar-AA1L8bU3?ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&cvid=2467e655ca7b4ac6ee26c464849ef915&ei=50
First Bill, thank you for your podcast yesterday with Col Fram. I’m so glad to see that argument being made here at the Bulwark.
Second, it’s alarming to see you and JVL agree on the speed of this descent into madness. I expect accelerationism from JVL and sometimes, secretly, the nihilist in me agrees with him. But it hits differently when you are also talking about the astonishing speed of things. We can always hope for the hamburger from the sky to save us.
Man, to think I’d be looking to Bill Kristol as the voice of temperance. 20 year old me is absolutely floored right now.
My 20 year old self thought the election of 1972 was bad. We held a sophomoric “Last Supper.” Fast forward to today. Sheesh.
🎼 Those were the days...
(choose to hear either Mary Hopkin or Edith Bunker - 1972 had it ALL goin on)
lol. tough days for the politically minded idealist youth - Dylan reigned supreme
I'm 73, so other than increasing prices, I'll be okay - unless they start hounding people on websites like Bulwark and stop my pension. It will be you and people like you who will really have to decide what to do. I'm sorry.
I've been wondering how long it will be before the administration starts threatening to withhold Social Security benefits and payments from people who don't adhere to their view of "American culture and ideals." I suspect it won't be very long now. First the threats. Then the purge of the recipient rolls. And who knows, maybe a demand for a return of what's already been paid? Wouldn't surprise me one bit.
My guess is ‘they’ won’t reduce or withhold any one’s Social Security; ‘they’ will just ‘invest’ the funds in crypto and steal it and there will be nothing left. My guess also is this ‘investing’ will begin within six months, may be sooner, such as by year-end. Yes, sending in the National Guard to Los Angeles and already named cities for future deployment is the most scary action this current president has taken and Congress’ silence is nailing this society’s coffin.
I read a great comment and regrettably I cannot remember the source, the Texas floods in mid-July killed over 130 human beings. Were federal funds and uniform power sent to remediate and lessen the chances of this happening again there? On the other hand, some DOGE young ‘un gets roughed up at 2:00 a.m. in the District and the federal vaults open and the National Guards from multiple states arrive in DC. Stunning!
Where is the understanding?! Where is the outrage?!
Well, the TX legislature used the flooding as the excuse to call a special session to reconfigure their districts. As far as I know, all of that is still withheld. Also NC never did receive the funds Biden authorized in the last days of his presidency. Where's the uproar about that?
I hate to say/think this, but I really hope this is a bad hurricane season that hits the MAGA states and POS does his usual useless job. Might get wannabe-Melania Kristi tossed out on her can.
I hate to say this but I would be content if hurricane season 2025 just hung around Palm Beach County.
I have been hoping for more than 10 years that a hurricane would wipe out Mar-a-Lago. Talk about poetic justice.
If you're trying to scare me, it worked. Then again, if millions of seniors feel threatened . . . We have nothing to lose.
I'm a senior and I have plenty to lose. I don't think this admin gives two shits about seniors.
He seems to like their votes however.
I think that's less of a threat for the simple reason that they have gouged staffing at the Social Security Administration. They don't have the capacity to do that kind of thing. I used to be concerned the IRS would target citizens who donated to democratic candidates, but they have also cut the IRS budget. Though I suppose they could target citizens residing in certain states, which would disproportionately hurt their perceived enemies.
… Maxwell’s comment that some of Epstein’s friends(?!) are sitting in cabinet sounds like a thinly-veiled threat … I guess we know what happens next (did they take away her shoelaces??)
She is subtly putting pressure on Felon Trump. “give me a pardon or I’ll start talking.”
… completely agree. She’s proven herself as a wiley one in manipulating the immature ones!
And she knows him well.
Katherine, I agree, but think her "pressure" is about as subtle as an old expression I recall from school days, "a brick shithouse".
Yup. Good old school expressions are always useful.
Shocking that didn’t get redacted.
They're too dumb to get the redaction right.
They were under time constraints to get something out in time for the subpoena, but you can bet that the proof-reader who missed that, will miss other things soon, too, like a regular paycheck and the prospects of ever having another one, anywhere, anytime.
Missed it, or purposely left it in? There might still be pockets of resistance in the Justice Department.
I'm not writing her any life insurance policies, that's for sure.
Is it possible to engage in RESPONSIBLE speculation (maybe in some betting-odds fashion) as to the identities of the folks Maxwell is thinking of? I don't mean outright character assassination based purely on enmity, but perhaps suggestions based upon stated reasons (e.g., "that arrest back in 2010 for soliciting..."). At this point I think that we might have to throw a couple of rumor-logs on MAGA's outrage fire lest the embers die down.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/we-went-on-a-trip-together-ghislaine-maxwell-drops-rfk-jr-epstein-relationship-bombshell/videoshow/123504515.cms
+1
Per the link:
"In newly released Department of Justice interviews, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell revealed surprising details about RFK Jr.’s connection to the disgraced financier. Maxwell described moments they shared, including travelling together, shedding new light on Epstein’s far-reaching network and high-profile relationships. These revelations add another explosive chapter to the Epstein saga, raising fresh questions about the political and social circles linked to him."
MAGA isn't going to let this go.
I suspect most of them will let it go. Many won't because they meant what they said, but many never really wanted to hunt child rapists, they wanted to hunt liberals. Anyway, these days I use the metric "What would Moe from the Simpsons do?" when I try to guess what Americans will do.
Howard Lutnick could be one of the people that Maxwell is talking about:
https://www.newsweek.com/howard-lutnick-epstein-ties-2099660
Nice. Per the Newsweek article:
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields, responding to reports of internal dissent on the Epstein issue, told NewsNation on July 11: "Any attempt to sow division within this team is baseless and distracts from the real progress being made in restoring public safety and pursuing justice for all."
Never mind her shoelaces, how about her CCTV camera?
Well, they think they have Ms. Maxell by the ****, but she didn't spend a lifetime working the Epstein scam without knowing how to maneuver. Despite everything she is working her agenda. Her suck-upery is so total that it feels ironic - a wink and nod, "Oh daddy you are so manly and powerful - little old me - so weak and powerless - I can only serve my "new" master as I did my dead master. Yuck, yuck and yuck.
However, she definitely was worried in the regular prison. Little does she know that those in club Fed have no more sympathy for a pedophile and pimp of children. She has to be watching her back, all the time.
I went to the Anne Frank exhibit on Sunday with my mom & her sisters. Profoundly sad- we've moved so far away from the horrors of Hitler and First they came for the socialists.. Unchecked power and apathy is a recipe for complete disaster. I am 55. World War II is personal to me. I had relatives that fought in it. It was a big part of our curriculum in school- we beat fascism and we were the good guys. Perhaps a little naive of me.
I do not think Trump is Hitler. There are however many parallels between the two and what is happening in our country. I think this is the first Morning Shots where I've interpreted real alarm in Bill's piece. It is frightening. As someone said further down in the comments- Despotism is in the house.
Nice post. Your point about Trump not being Hitler is spot on and that's the trouble is that MAGA can't do nuance. You mention Hitler, Germany or the 1930's and they turn you off because they assume you are calling Trump "Hilter" when it's more like what you're saying...it's the circumstances leading to the rise of Hitler that are very similar.
Hitler was smarter than Felon Trump. He actually wrote his book.
The less intelligent the leaders are, the better fascism seems to work.
Definitely. I walked out of there more worried than I have ever been over the last 7 months.
And Trump's reported health problems are not making me any less worried. Pretty sure Vance would take the ball and run with it.
This might be one of those rare occasions where I think that Trump is literally on to something with his whole..."only I can save you" mantra...in that..."Only I can hypnotize people into Fascism without them realizing it."
As much as he'd like to....I don't think Vance would get very far as the new torch bearer for MAGA.
I hope you're right. Although I do suspect the Heritage Foundation folks think Vance is exactly what they want.
I don't disagree with that....but without Trump...I think the big picture arc swings back toward democracy with JD riding the Trump wave as it quickly dies underneath him.
Your lips to God's ear. Quickly, please!
I know a fair bit about the early history of the Third Reich (my teenage obsession; some people were horse girls...), and it's been truly disquieting. The way so much of the professional army has been weeded out and replaced with Trump sycophants is way too familiar. As is the way Trump is pushing back hard against federalism and violating local autonomy for blue states and cities, it reminds me in incredibly specific ways about some power struggles in 1935, 1936 in one of the German states, I think Bavaria. It's an odd week when I don't bemoan at least once how I wish I knew less about Nazi history.
Like I said, that doesn't mean Trump's Hitler or that MAGA is the literal Nazi party. But the pathway is there, and history does give us a sneak peak of at least one of the possibilities. :(
Yes- Your last sentence a thousand times.
“I alone can fix it”. What functional adult doesn’t recognize that statement as a warning? And there are easily hundreds more that are similar, like discussing Arnold Palmer’s private parts on stage. The problem is our people.
I don't consider magats functional adults.
Certainly not “fully functional”. Most of them managed to get a driver’s license, and many earn an income. It’s baffling to me how they accomplish getting dressed every day.
I have MANY military retiree friends who are all in with Trump...still.
Military people are a conundrum wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. They get paid out of taxes, but they rail against taxation. Their careers include the social safety net the rest of us deeply desire but can’t have, and which represent their much hated “socialism”. It attracts people with an authoritarian bent, while their job is to fight for our freedom.
I know I’ve made broad generalizations. But I think most of us recognize those observations.
I've said it many times and I'm in the know because I am surrounded by family who are ardent Trump supporters and a neighbor who is a former Black Hawk pilot who is a serious MAGA person - they just don't know what is going on beyond the Fox bubble.
They don't see the Truth Social posts. They don't watch MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS. They bury themselves in Facebook communities that feed the propaganda machine and that is their only "independent" source of non-televised news.
They like being part of "the club". They are culturally and politically illiterate.
The only way they will realize something is wrong is when the system is burned to the ground and it personally affects them drastically. Even then I'm not so sure they won't just blame the Left - however, they will blame their current administration if they feel they can't beat the Left and they will start looking for a new Trump to save them.
Yeah, I am constantly in shock over what they don't know and what they think they know. A pure fantasy land where reality can't see the light of day. My mom told me yesterday about all the pilots who were fired for not taking COVID shots being hired back and it's all over the news. It is very much not all over the news and is not even real, as far as I can tell.
Agree. I have to constantly remind myself that MAGAs don’t know what we know. Of course that’s their choice, so we’re back to personal failures.
You have a better finger-on-the-pulse of MAGAs. None in my family, and the few I know are in the category of acquaintances. So I appreciate your boots-on-the-ground reporting!
As you mention, media propaganda is another force we are up against. Allowing that was a destructive choice of free will, on the part of the country. I’d love to know if other advanced democracies have such pervasive propaganda.
As you say, they won’t change their orientation unless they personally feel a lot of personal pain that they can’t blame elsewhere. It feels pretty bleak.
They haven't yet figured out that POS will turn on them. They're not billionaires; they can't give him the money he really wants. Hell, he just fired a whole lot of veterans who worked for the VA, an organization that does affect them directly. They will also see it as his sycophants get rewarded and the people that know what they're doing will be gone.
Yeah, I’m pretty surprised that Trump is hurting the military fairly openly; cuts at the VA should be an alarm. I wonder if support for Trump within the military community is eroding . . .
You have to deserve democracy to maintain it, and American voters no longer have the sense to be worthy of democracy. Falling for the pied piper like this is such an own goal.
So true. I worry about the apathy and devotion to the algorithm that I see here in Canada. I know we were smart enough to elect Carney and kick the can down the road for a bit, but there's a determined undercurrent of maple magaism here that isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
I’m thinking that our disastrous MAGA result had the side effect of saving Canada, at least temporarily, from a similar threat from your own right flank. I vividly remember reading about the trucker protests, especially in Toronto. It was unnerving to realize how widespread the dystopian, nihilistic mindset is.
Especially in Alberta.
Yep, these algorithms are weapons grade. People end up places they never would have dreamed they'd end up, believing things they never would have believed. The scary part is these delusion machines are just getting started; it's bad now and can get so much worse.
It’s true, the adage that the cost of freedom is eternal vigilance. My vigilance is tired. Who are these people who want so desperately to control others? I barely wanted to control my pets. Obviously it’s an old human story.
Wow...I just wrote something very similar without having read your post this morning.
That line of thought occurs to me several times a day.
Yes. And who spend the most time, energy, and money promoting this sack of mortal sins? Because I think it was the churches. Oh, the deadly irony.
Well, it kind of fits with the general aspect of obedience and authority. Religious observance primes people to submit. But as to morality? No way does it comport.
I had always wondered why there was such futile resistance from other political actors in Germany during the rise of Hitler. Germany had a robust leftist tradition and the communists and socialists had large followings, and seats in the Reighstag. But watching our own institutions flail in front of Trump’s march to complete control, has certainly been eye opening.
Bill is absolutely correct we must call it what it is, but that is where we struggle and fail. We try to rationalize away what he says and does, we look for antecedents that don’t exist, and the Supreme Court finds more penumbras to allow him to push on. We aren’t and weren’t prepared and don’t know how to deal with someone who so violently disregards a system of delicate balances.
The story of German political parties trying to thwart Hitler makes for grim reading, but the overriding sense is they didn’t know how to respond. Nothing in the German political system — even the Bismarckian government had prepared them for what Hitler would do despite him being rather explicit. Trump has been very explicit — just look at everything in today’s newsletter it’s everything he said he would do. We just haven’t been able to call it what it is because many still try to fit him into a framework from another era where we cared about the balances of power that allow democracy to work.
I think it's that the Supreme Court is just as bad as Trump. It's not that they don't know how to respond. The dissentions from the liberals in the Court spell out the proper responses very clearly. It's that John Roberts wants to rule us like an unaccountable king.
SCOTUS is even more appalling than the Trumphole. They know their twisting the law and hiding behind the shadow docket is perverting the Constitution and sinking our democracy. The majority are betraying us with a smile. one corrupt and unexplained decision at a time.
In Germany at least, there was overt state-sponsored violence. They were out there killing people. Republican politicians do fear physical violence from their voters, but last I checked, the only politicians I've seen getting shot at and killed right now in politically motivated acts are Democrats. And if Republicans are afraid for their lives, they have only themselves to blame for cultivating this hatred for decades - when it was pointed at Democrats exclusively, they fanned the flames. Now that it's hanging over their heads, too, they reveal their cowardice openly.
I’m never clear with the Republican rumors of threats of violence if they are real or just a means of covering up their own cowardice.
Even if they are getting threats, isn't that why they're so pro-Second Amendment? Self-defense? What are they afraid of, they've rigged the system so everyone can pack as much heat as they want, including them. Go get em cowboys.
Can't like but could give five "concurs".
Bill, I am struck by both yours and JVL's clarity after being away from the horrors for a while. It's like you both came back and said, "Yes, it's every bit as bad as we thought - maybe worse."
Also, 100% agree with, "The enemies of a free society...don’t sugarcoat what they’re doing. There’s surely no reason we should sugarcoat what we’re seeing."
I have an almost overwhelming emptiness in my heart these days. The abject cruelty that is constantly on display by this administration is just astounding, sickening, and soul crushing. When I saw the chyron indicating that Abrego Garcia would probably be deported to UGANDA(!!??!!) I literally felt sick to my stomach.
I swear to God that trump, noem, miller, vance, bondi, etc, etc, would be gleeful to schedule a public “drawing & quartering” of Mr. Abrego Garcia on the Washington Mall, and every one of those spineless, gutless congressional republicans would stand by, watch it, and then go on tv to somehow excuse it. The cruelty trump and his minions are willing to inflict, and the cruelty that so-called leaders in the Republican party are willing to abide & then defend seems limitless.
This was all predictable, though. And now here it is. And it’s worse than even the most alarmist ones among us expected.
I keep thinking that America has to be better than this ….. that we are the “good guys,” and that GOOD just has to eventually win out over EVIL. But these days I’m not sure about much of anything I used to believe about this nation.
I saw the headline about Abrego Garcia being sent to Uganda and likewise felt just sick. The Trump people are just so unbelievably horrible.
Interestingly enough, "GOOD just has to eventually win out over EVIL" is exact;y the refrain from the MAGA religious right as well.... but for completely opposite reasons.
You are absolutely correct about that.
I still wonder, though, how anyone who professes to believe in and follow the teachings of one Jesus Christ can turn a willful blind eye to what is happening in American streets, fields, and businesses.
Thankfully, I have not been witness to an ICE abduction. Iam not certain how I will react if and when I actually see masked mercenaries snatching people off the streets.
And isn’t it sad that I am feeling the need to even think about my reactions to such un-American “law enforcement” practices?
“I’m sorry to return from my week at the beach without tidings of joy. But we ought to see things as they are and to call them as we see them. And we ought to do so in the spirit of Lincoln: “If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.””
Bill, well said and I wholeheartedly agree. That said, we need a strategy going forward because we all know they will cheat in any possible way; including rigging the election.
And since all federal enforcement agencies are under Trump’s thumb, we can’t count on any of them. So what are the remedies or actions we can take.
Seriously, we need a game plan. Anyone????
Only that in my view we should be thinking more Ghandi than Che Guevera. They're itching for a gunfight,
Empirical evidence supports this. For over a century, "countries where resistance campaigns were nonviolent were 10 times as likely to transition to democracy compared to countries where resistance turned violent" https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/advocacy-social-movements/paths-resistance-erica-chenoweths-research
(The academic publication is Chenoweth and Stephans, Why Civil Resistance Works)
Thanks. Good stuff: From the article:
The key ingredients of a successful nonviolent resistance movement, the researchers found, are:
1. A large and diverse population of participants that can be sustained over time.
2. The ability to create loyalty shifts among key regime-supporting groups such as business elites, state media, and—most important—security elites such as the police and the military.
3. A creative and imaginative variation in methods of resistance beyond mass protest.
4. The organizational discipline to face direct repression without having the movement fall apart or opt for violence.
Chenoweth says that the third and fourth attributes may be both the most important and the least understood, particularly the need for creativity and imagination. Street protests often lead to violent repression, and it is the protesters' actions taken after authorities try to take back the streets that can make or break a resistance movement.
Swarm the polls. Make sure that your registration is up to date and that you haven't been purged.
Will he send his armed goon squads to intimidate people at the polls?
Of course he will.
Maybe there is no game plan for the USA, but most people/nations in the rest of the world are moving in the direction of confidence, making economic progress and really believing in themselves and not following us and Israel into cuckoo land.
All true, but we need to do the saving. The Canadian’s and European’s allies can’t save us from ourselves; they’ve got their own problems with Trump….:)
Russia is busy supporting far right parties all over Europe.
Find the American von Stauffenberg and make his effort better?
We'll need more like Canaris, Oster and others who fought Hitler from the inside for many years before the Allies realized what a threat he was to them.
Good history, but our problem is that he already has infested the "inside" with his toadies. On the other hand, von Stauffenberg was on the inside when he became "radicalized" (to use a modern, internet term) and made the effort with other, late-blooming like-minded patriots. Perhaps there are already the modern Canaris', Oster's, etc. keeping their proverbial powder dry "inside". If so, I hope they do not wait too long....
What might tip the balance is if he changes their oaths to: “Ich schwöre bei Gott diesen heiligen Eid, daß ich dem Führer des United States Reiches und Volkes, Donald Trump, dem Oberbefehlshaber der Wehrmacht, unbedingten Gehorsam leisten und als tapferer Soldat bereit sein will, jederzeit für diesen Eid mein Leben einzusetzen.” At least, I pray it will.
Eva, the saving grace is that the Felon has no clue about any language except for his, now aged-degenerated, pidgen English. And were any of his lackies fluent enough in German to present a translation of the above into pidgen English, I would hope for emphatic and decided push-back from most of the people in uniform who already took the correct oath.
“I swear this holy oath to God that I want to render unconditional obedience to the leader of the United States Empire and people, Donald Trump, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, and be ready as a brave soldier to commit my life at any time for this oath.” Miller would be happy to write this for him. Even Hegseth or his friends at Fox.
Careful. AI doesn't; eat, sleep or take sick leave.
????
They are right now putting together AI programs to scour not only all federal databases but social media as well. On the other hand, you're outside their jurisdiction, which may mean that you can reference plots to assassinate with impunity.
OK, now I get it. I was afraid that was what you meant.... And I was only giving the Felon a friendly, historical warning, since I have little reason to believe he would get the reference. That said, I just generated a sign for my next consular walk:
THE FELON IS SO
POWER HUNGRY
HIS DEMAND "HIS"
ICE ACT LIKE "SS"
AND THE D.C.
NATIONAL GUARD
LIKE BROWN SHIRTS
(THE FELON is in red, BROWN SHIRTS, what else, in brown)
Love it!
A lot better…:)
We focus a lot on Trump, as it should be, but there are still 70 million Americans, perhaps minus a recent few, that are still all onboard with what he is doing around our country. Trump might be the Pied Piper, but the reality is that we have a large portion of our country stupid enough to hear and believe in this siren's call misappropriately called MAGA.
The latest Gallop Poll has him at 37% approval rating. Down from 47% in January. That was July. He doesn’t have 70 million any more. Now that the tariffs are starting to bite, his polls should continue to slide. Wall Street and banks are probably taking notice, saying nothing, but have a benchmark to tell them when to shout. I hope it won’t be too late.
37%? We can do better. He’s just really getting cooking. We have over 3 years, with him sending armed Federal soldiers into the streets NOW, coming to a neighborhood near you, with assistants who strive to make his every wish their command (we may yet get actual Army in the streets of American cities). Either this fascist snowball will bring him and the MAGA movement down, or we’ll find out just how un-democratic our citizenry really is.
Businesses are complaining about tariffs.
Loud and long. And Wall Street listens.
My sincere apologies but after 10 years...I just don't think that approval ratings are same thing as cultish devotion to anything other than the Dems....(or something like that)
Not all of the 70 million who voted for him belong to the cult. A decisive number of them just don't know or care much. The cult will always be there, but they alone aren't enough to hold the country.
I don't disagree at all with your post, but I guess I'm just jaded over 10 years of polling and voting disappointments.
No but approval is based on pocketbook issues, and people are feeling it.
It's the result of a couple generations of the GOP defunding public education.
Plus 2 generations of Fox News (started around 1990).
I wonder. Educating people who prefer not to be educated is really hard.
I think we can agree that the 2028 elections are not a given. They are not something that is in our toolbox anymore. Even the midterms are hanging on by a thread. And there is nothing that seems to stop them since Republican Americans are supporting this move. My heart is breaking.
Nobody has faith in the elections, just like Putin and Trump intended.
Who do you see who deserves the title "Republican Americans"? The few who did, quit and faded into the woodwork, Liz and Adam excepted, but what influence do they have now?
“Backsliding” doesn’t adequately describe where we are currently, but it could apply to the years since Reagan. One could say Biden was part of the backsliding, by suggesting to Garland to slow-walk prosecution of Trump for J6, and by running for a second term when he had said he would be a “bridge” president, back to normalcy. It’s been death by 1000 cuts, some more deadly than others.
The Supreme Court has a lot to do with the disintegration of American democracy. Almost every decision over the passed ten years has favored rich white Christian men, over every opponent.
You’re right. But we got this Supreme Court due to voter choices down the food chain. But I’ll grant that none of the other prior bad choices were as glaring as Trump.
And also because RBG refused to retire because of her hubris. I wonder what the court's opinions would look like if it was 5-4 and not 6-3.
Another good example, as much as it pains me to revisit. I do think there was some hubris involved; but I also think Trump has exceeded our collective capacity of imagination. It seemed impossible that he could win the first time; and the second time?!
Not quite. Native Americans have finally made some headway with their cases thanks to Justice Gorsuch.
We’re finished with the back and reached parts of Trump’s derrière that I personally would rather not visit.
Is there reporting that backs up the Biden slow walk thing? I hadn't heard this before.
I wish I could recall the source. I remember being startled at first, and then seeing it as plausible. I’m guessing it came from a podcast guest, from any one of my multiple regular podcasts. Maybe I’ll do a little online search, because I’m curious. I’m thinking it seems plausible after hearing reports of Biden warmly saying to Trump, “Welcome Home” at the White House on Inauguration Day. It’s like Biden couldn’t face the new realities of our politics. He seemed to think modeling normal behavior was a useful tool - which it arguably was, back when Ford pardoned Nixon.
Edit: a quick search shows Biden actually being frustrated at Garland’s slow pace. I’m wondering if the source I recall was an insider. It’s so hard to know, because there are so many media tricks inside politics; like a deliberate ploy of good cop / bad cop.
Well...the reason I asked is that my impression (not fact) was that Biden was pretty hand's off of the DOJ and that Garland strikes me as a guy not looking for a fight and being almost too much of a Boy Scout for that job. So he never needed Biden to say a thing....he was going to go after the 1/6 attackers not the head guy.
That makes sense. The old rule was for a president to be hands off. I did a quick search (my edited comment above), and found contradictory hits. It’s so hard to know, when the media game can obfuscate so much.
I thought Garland wanted the product to be iron-clad, which it was. In the end, it didn't matter.
In terms of"hands off the DoJ," remember that Kennedy appointed his own brother to be AG. How hands off can that have been?
TomD; I think you got it. Garland was scared that if the case wasn’t airtight, Felon Trump would walk. His problem was he didn’t move fast enough getting Jack Smith on board. Remember, with his Save America PAC, also known as his piggy bank, DonOld was going to delay this until the Supreme Court ruled. There was no other solution to his problem at that time. He probably hadn’t hitched up with Vought, and his other partners in crime yet.
The way Trump and the Republican party are behaving, I don’t expect the election of Democrats in 2026 to be a check on Trump’s lawlessness. We need a few brave House Republicans to become Independents now and caucus with the Democrats. Mike Johnson must be replaced with Hakeem Jeffries or he will follow Trump’s orders to steal the election.
"a few brave House Republicans" ???????????
Siri, what's an oxymoron?
Yes, they weed out bravery in their primaries.
Man...so many comments are echoing exactly what I think this morning. I think I posted last week that there must be some conservatives out there finally realizing that this thing is going down the toilet fast and realizing that they must make the choice FOR the country rather than their party.
Yes, but will they come out of the underbrush soon enough? Mealy Mouth Mitch did not, and he was their "leader", giving them the cover to not stop the Felon when they could have. A real problem for some of them is that they did not realize soon enough that, when push came to shove, it would not only be their political lives on the line, theirs and their families were also going to be in jeopardy.
David - and you're mentioning a guy who was in leadership, for years! ...who wielded actual power & influence in his caucus, at times even more widely.
Now consider the typical House Republican (key phrase in this thread of the Comments, I think). One would be Juan Ciscomani of my former Southern AZ district - plays a moderate in his only-slightly-red gerrymandered AZ district 6, makes occasional noises about fairness for our Latino neighbors who are living productive lives & contributing to our communities, but knows he can't really go up against MAGA cuz he'd be primaried in a heartbeat, then back to being a low end chamber of commerce sort of functionary in AZ bizness/politics partnership orgs. With 6 kids, tough to make the mortgage payment on THAT kind of gig!
Or take my new rep, Victoria Spartz of Indiana's 5th District (the Fightin' 5th!!). Pretends she's a fiscal hawk willing to buck her Republican leadership - e.g., she voted against the original House budget bill back in April (oooh! ...given they had the votes to pass it without her). Her tough-talking quote was, "I appreciate efforts of my colleagues, but the instructions we voted on today are still setting us up for the largest deficit increase in the history of our Republic, & opening up a 'pandora’s box' by changing accounting rules to hide it," Spartz said on X. "In good conscience, I couldn’t vote YES." https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/10/victoria-spartz-indiana-rep-votes-against-donald-trump-budget-house-citing-deficit/83025770007/
Then, when the Senate failed to pass the BBB until JD Vance broke the tie vote, she quickly voted in favor of this EVEN BIGGER deficit than the original plan she had supposedly opposed... of course, they had also thrown in some cuts for Medicaid that will hurt rural hospitals and people all over Indiana - guess all that somehow soothed her earlier bout of "conscience" https://www.hamcodemsin.org/post/what-victoria-spartz-thinks-of-hamilton-county
So those are the back bench House Republicans I've seen up close - small time pols who fell into their positions in DC on Trump's coattails and DO NOT want to fall back to jobs at the local sewer board! ...which be their luckiest option if they dared to seriously oppose the MAGA/Project 2025 alliance that runs the Republican party.
J AZ, thanks for fleshing out my concerns with two specific examples of the biggest thing missing in the "Republican" ranks, a back-bone.
Right now, it seems impossible but we have to imagine any and all options to save our democracy. Change begins with an idea.
I don’t think the Republican Congress critters who aren’t red-pilled aren’t going along with this out of party loyalty, but for fear of being treated like Lindsey Graham was at that airport.
I'm not disagreeing at all, but at some point they have to see that Trump's decisions and policies aren't sustainable and we're heading for a financial cliff far worse than being dissed at the airport. It may be too late, but a few of them have to be thinking this.
Adam Kinzinger is constantly mentioning his former colleagues who are currently doing exactly what you are describing out of fear.
And even any sincere streak of independent thinking
Welcome back Bill! Hope you're tanned and rested, I think you'll need that rest. Magats pissed and moaned about Newsome trolling trump and called his social media posts "childish". Have they read trump's comments about Christie's interview? Are they really that disconnected from intelligence and reality? I'm sure they think trump was "presidential" in his comments.
Preet had Tom Nichols on his pod a few days ago, and they had quite a bit to say about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdZJL9viXtc. Tom also wrote about it in The Atlantic last week.
Consciously trying to limit my doom scrolling, but suspend my efforts when RadioFreeTom weighs in 😉
Thanks for the link!
Yes. Yes they are really disconnected. I watch what my Trump supporter family and friends watch which is almost solely Fox News and they NEVER post anything from Trump's truth social rants. There is nothing in their world that can or will connect them to any intelligence or reality of the broader scene
They literally have no idea how bad he sounds. It is absolutely nuts.
We are already fighting a low grade civil war. Trump is sending in the troops to arrest people with an open can of beer. Everything about Trump is just performative. He has no substance but the surface show and the lie. Everything about MAGA is based on a lie. Trump is a serial sexual predator and a pedophile. He is either afraid of him or so totally enamored with him that he can't do anything that upsets him. Kristol's list of Trump's unconstitutional actions is long but very incomplete. Yet, I guess every Republican is getting paid off in crypto.
Southern states are sending troops to Northern cities. If that's not the start of a Civil War, what else could it be? They know their crime rates are higher than ours.
Bill, I fear you are correct. I spent some time on and off in Northern Ireland in the mid-‘90s—Omagh market was bombed right after I left NI the last time—and have thought for a while now that we are on the way to our own version of The Troubles.
Which would carry its own set of ramifications.
"The Trumpian Troubles"
Trump is Trouble, Thrice.