More important than ever to show the world that we do not support the actions of this government. Get out on the streets! In America, we have no kings!
Depressing but not surprising article in The Guardian about the latest from the "world’s most credible democracy watchdog." Excerpt:
"'The US is no longer a democracy. One of the most credible global sources on the health of democratic nations now says this outright. The Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute at Gothenburg University reaches the alarming conclusion in its annual report, that the US is hurtling towards autocracy at a faster rate than Hungary and Turkey.
“Our data on the USA goes back to 1789. What we’re seeing now is the most severe magnitude of democratic backsliding ever in the country,” says Staffan Lindberg, founder of the institute.'"
Those who have read the Bulwark from its founding are well aware of this. The issue is how to get it back. They answer is to vote for the opposition, and support candidates who have wide appeal at the expense of narrower principles. This can be a challenge for Democrats who, by nature, often place principle over winning.
Conversely, I will no longer vote for any Republican no matter how sensible they are because to them party solidarity is more important than principle. They can say nice things then support the Trump party brand. Isn't that so, Susan Collins, or the up-and-coming Steve Hilton?
Being of the JVL mindset, this wasn't news to me. But it brought to mind JVL's piece recently that asked just how far along the continuum we are. There are still plenty in denial, and I thought this article was noteworthy.
Currently Orban in Hungary is getting crushed in the polls. Orban will have something up his sleeve before their coming elections. Would Trump copy Orban's actions concerning our midterm elections?
There’s quite a bit brewing in Hungary right now. They seized loads of Ukrainian cash and gold and appear to be trying to push for a ‘National Crisis’ that might upend any elections in Hungary Dior the foreseeable future.
It's one thing to sort of think about this all in the abstract, meanwhile going about your everyday where things don't feel like much has changed. It's another thing to see the objective metrics laid out as they did in that article.
This its exactly the type of thing that Democrats should be shouting from Fox, Newsmax, OANN, Joe Rogan, etc. They need to get on the right wing sites and force their media darlings to address this, while at the same time making sure right wing viewers become aware of a problem that their media favorites are hiding from them. Be prepared with tons of examples of Trump's dictator moves and the complete acquiescence of the Republican party. Take a page out of the Republican strategy books - repeat our message over and over and over again until the cows come home. To our advantage - we are selling the truth, not lies.
I remember when Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 made our gasoline and LNG prices here in the Netherlands skyrocket. We didn't like it, but we didn't complain too much because we cared about the integrity of Europe and people flew Ukrainian flags everywhere. All Russia did was accelerate our shift away from fossil fuels. We opened our strategic reserve, dropped the petrol tax, and continued our plans to move from gas heat to heat pumps. (It was already the law that all new builds must not use gas heat. Many people were already converting.) Now Trump's fiasco has just made us angry. Gasoline today rose above the high price in 2022, but we find ourselves caring less. We drive EVs powered by solar panels on our houses or solar panelled charging stations on our highways. And let's face it: the Dutch would rather bike everywhere anyway! Or we take the wind-powered train to work and school. Yeah, we're a little inconvenienced. No Dutch person likes to pay more for something. But we also don't help bullies.
I mean, our government is far from perfect. And coalitions mean they often get nothing done. But the basic belief that companies shouldn't be allowed to ruin people's lives is persistent. And believe me, the Dutch LOVE big companies. They just insist that they behave. The year I moved here, the CEO of ING Bank was about to get a HUGE bonus, and people protested so much that he only took a normal bonus. No legal action required. Just public pressure.
Kass - So different from USA. You may not recall the Stove Wars of 2023. We are fracking our way to gaseous dominance, it just spews right out of the ground... and sometimes out of water wells & faucets - bonus! Kinda miraculous, plentiful as sunshine. No, wait, not sunshine - that's woke.
I learned about Holland having having windmills as a kid in the '50s/'60s. You know what Holland doesn't have? Whales. Nuff said
I was already living in the Netherlands in 2023 so I missed the Stove Wars. Yet another dumb thing like blowing up BudLight cans or something, right? I grew up with an electric range and the faint smell of gas around gas stoves always made me nervous. But when I lived in the Caribbean, gas stoves were the only thing that would work during our frequent power outages. (I have an induction stove now.) I'm originally from Pennsylvania. Coal country. Lotsa fracking there now. I remember seeing neighbors able to ignite the water coming out of their taps. Awful. In the Netherlands, fracking up north in Groningen started causing earthquakes. You know what they did? They stopped fracking and are paying people for damage done to their houses. The Dutch love their big businesses, but they aren't crazy about them ruining the lives of Dutch people. They'd rather just move away from using gas. And that's a big deal because nearly everyone's heat and hot water was gas until a few years ago.
I don't know what you mean about whales, but we typically see a few humpbacks every year in the North Sea.
You're missing so much! See, when earthquakes begin occurring in fracking areas here, we just cancel people's homeowners insurance and let the free hand of the market take care of things 🤦♂️
OMG I FORGOT ABOUT THE WHALES!!! LOL I thought it was just birds and cancer. I totally forgot about the whales!
In all seriousness, I don't think the Netherlands is perfect. There is a lot I wish was different (and next year, I get to vote in local elections!). But it is really a good example of a country that is capitalist and encourages businesses, small and large, but also cares about its people and doesn't allow them to be crushed by the wheels of industry.
Not very serious. They keep fracturing into smaller and smaller groups because they all want to be sad little king of their personal sad little hills. Wilders (the main one) was the only one of them actually in government, but he was so unpleasant that his entire party quit and formed another party without him. The coalition disintegrated and we had to have new elections.
I've always thought that when you take oil out of the ground, you are removing a natural cushioning layer that is there for a purpose. It surprises me not at all that earthquakes are the result when it is removed. I would say the same thing about removing large amounts of water from natural aquifers or any natural resource from underground deposits. Monkey around with nature and the consequences will get you sooner or later.
We have been to Europe a couple times in the last few years. Their train systems are amazing and they leave us in the dust! ( clean efficient electric trains that go 200 MPH) We are too auto dependent but unfortunately we'll never change. (just like our gun attitude)
It is such an absolute delight to not have to drive to work in the morning. I love our trains. I love cars too. But now I can drive my car for fun on the weekends.
the trains in Germany were amazing both times I was there, they beat us in France so long ago, even on an older train, so efficient. not only the speeds. just plain reliable.
I supposed it hasn't occurred to Trump that if he wants to open the strait, he need only stop attacking Iran--which should be easy, given that we've won and all... .
I'm not so sure that opens the strait, but it certainly is a primary first step towards re-opening it....eventually. Oh...wait...I forgot that Pete Hegseth said it is open...so perhaps we need to resolve that dichotomy first.
Any idiot can see that it’s open, those Iranian tankers are going right through it! If only the totally-crushed military would stop shooting at everyone else. Hey, Trump said we won in the first hour, why doesn’t he just declare that victory and take the oil, as is his wont? Then our service members can stop dying and he can stop haranguing our former allies for whom he has such contempt.
I'm in NC (obv by my handle). Today I paid $3.69. Right before the start of the not-war, I it was $2.69. Cali prices are higher because of taxes, etc., but also a 33% increase here is noticeable. My car is a hybrid and I don't drive that much, so it doesn't hit me that hard on that score - but the inflationary pressures will be brutal.
Today in Europe, all the papers are saying about Trump is that he's working behind the scenes to overthrow Cuba. Has the Big Baby tired of his oily toys already?
The China vs US trust polling data is striking. I don't know how many more ways MAGA can shoot America's hegemony in the head but I think a lot of the damage done is irrevocable now.
just after the Maduro thing, I looked at my two brothers to their faces, and just randomly picked three places in the world, and I said, if he said we had to attack them both of you would simply say, " Yes, I can see that "
The original Trump Doctrine was, "If we have nukes, why can't we use them?" That's worth not forgetting. It strikes me that Trump could simply issue an ultimatum to Iran to either open the straits or he will drop a nuke on Tehran, a compelling threat made by one who never thinks things through. That Pandora's box is waiting for someone to open it.
While I appreciate the gallows humor...I think it's pretty clear that many of his "supporters" are only there because they're very much about climbing the career ladder. They can't do that if the world is ending...so their motivation will be self-preservation and advancement...as it has always been for them.
Peter, that scares me to death. He has always wanted to use a nuke, even on a hurricane (remember that). He is more dangerous when he is cornered. Like a wounded animal.
Questions: Can Dan Caine or another military leader refuse to carry out an order from the president that is legal but crazy? Can the military initiate Article 25, either directly or indirectly?
oh, he's dying to push a button. Anything over which a normal president has control is up for grabs, and there is no doubt that he has itched to do this since T1. Watch.
Years ago when I worked in petrochemical R & D there was an engineer who liked to try tweaking valves to see what they did on a pilot plant. He screwed up a smoothly operating system every time. Finally the technician installed a closed loop with a valve in it and named the valve with the engineer’s name. This became the only valve that the engineer was allowed to touch. The engineer took the hint. Unfortunately I don’t think the strategy would work more than once for Trump.
And that would be so foolish. Iran has a long, long memory and they can hold a grudge (which would be honorable in this case) until the end of time. As soon as they procured a nuke, whether illegally or developed on their own, the first place they would send it would be America. I, for one, do not want to live what is left of my life worrying about where they will decide to drop it. I know Trump is not capable of thinking strategically, but you would think some of those Republican sycophants surrounding him would care what happens to their own children and grandchildren and do something about creating a stable future they could all enjoy.
Yeah, we mention Trump's desire to drop nuclear bombs in the comments here daily, but I never see it discussed elsewhere. Ostriches with their heads in the dirt. Not that I blame them, really. I wish I could stop thinking about it.
It's time to stop the politics of hate in America caused directly by Donald J Trump and his cult leaders. Stupidity, Greed, Racism, Fascism and Hate. Our avatar of Hate all bottled into one. We asva nation are better than this
We've had incompetent presidents, racist presidents, well intentioned presidents who did morally repugnant things, vainglorious presidents, probably corrupt presidents, less than truthful presidents and very partisan presidents, but never has America had all of these traits wrapped into one person who's not a real president but the star of his proprietary Apprentice TV show playing what he imagines We the People think a president is like.
The People, whose interest he serves has had enough. He's losing his grip over every group that voted for him. The MAGA/GOP is dropping like a stone. Nov. will spell the end of the Trump reign as a faux leader.
If we were truly "better than this" we wouldn't be in the mess we're in.
According to the Silver Bulletin, as of today his overall approval rate is still 40.9% (disapproval 55%), and remaining fairly stable. I've come to believe, as a commenter said yesterday, he could rape a 9-year-old on 5th Ave and these people would stick with him.
I'm with you on this. We are not better than this, because we lived through T1, and enough to give him an outright majority of the votes over Harris. This is who we are, whether you want to acknowledge it or not.
And, once Trump is gone, there is no reversion to the norm. MAGA is now a dominant strain in our political body, and it will continue to be there for a long time.
yeah, that's what worries me...he's old and will be gone soon (lord willing, and the creek don't rise...), but what's next? I shudder to think what this penniless and tattered nation will be like then.
The identification of the problem has been digested, regurgitated, and swallowed. Why is it necessary to continue with the everyone is stupid, rotten, and hopelessly horrible routine? It consumed the comments section last week. I understand the desire to separate yourself as a cause of the problem. The approach also has the added benefit of ensuring that everyone knows that you are not stupid, rotten, or hopelessly horrible. Let's move on from identifying the problem and assigning blame. Let's stop with the group think that exists in these comments sections. Let's start with this: what is your fix for the problem and how do you accomplish it by constantly reminding the "other" that they are stupid, rotten, and hopelessly horrible?
I have never indulged in calling people stupid or rotten and plenty of others on this forum have not either. But as someone who grew up seeing and feeling the effects of Apartheid, you cannot fix the problem until you admit you have one. Your approach merely wants to sweep the problem under the carpet. We’ve tried that often in this country snd it hasn’t worked: just look hie many racists we’ve discovered under the carpet.
"Your approach merely wants to sweep the problem under the carpet". Nice strawman argument. You must think I'm one of the stupid ones.
You should read my comment again. I agree that there is a problem. I disagree that discussing the same issue, over and over and over again (the stupidity and rottenness of the masses) is productive. No one answers the question "how do we fix this"?
I didn't mean to suggest that you called people stupid or rotten. Apologies if I did. In the over 2,000 comments to JVL's recent Triad those opinions are prominent. I'm growing tired of the "I'm smart and good, how do we manage to convince the rotten idiots to be better" or thee I prefer the truth" crowds.
I ask for commenters to explain their ideas to fix the problem. Here is mine: my suggestion to begin the "fixing process" is that those on our side of the issues stop acting like self-righteous, pompous asshats.
As long as people continue to insist that "we're better than this" I'll continue to point out that we're obviously not. Denial isn't going to solve anything.
Neither is identifying already identified problems and assigning blame. What are your ideas to "fix" the problem?
By the way, an opinion that we are not better than this is not a fact that is either true or false. Also, I'd bet that you don't include yourself in those who "aren't better".
That's probably true for most of the cult. I also think Trump is freaking out over gas prices because he knows the one thing that could actually cost him a significant chunk of his cult is the Dem hoax, affordability. Interesting that all of a sudden his administration is fast tracking some really questionable oil projects.
You may be the one that educated me a bit recently about polls? I know Nate combines multiple polls, which is why that's the one I look at. There's such a difference in quality (and bias?), and I don't have time to look at multiple ones. Do you know if the best few have shown a change since the war started?
I get concerned when people say his numbers are tanking b/c I haven't yet seen that to be the case overall, and it gives a false sense of things significantly improving. Plus, since he's not going to be on the ballot (at least this year), I think people overestimate how much his numbers impact other races (altho obviously it's some).
I used to follow Silver. He gives valuable insight with polls. ( Like Sarah and her focus groups) I haven't seen any poll since the war started. My hunch is that they won't change much because the Republican party is so lockstep with everything Trump does. This is why I don't see the polls going down to Sarah's Bush line of 32% They haven't moved the last few months, but Independents, Latino and young men support of DJT have really dropped. They are the categories that have cratered. The best polls are the large newspapers that combine with the networks, (even Fox) plus Marist, Monmouth, Quinnipiac. I tend to look at the top ten polls and nothing beyond that.
What I don't understand is this: if he's losing large numbers of certain groups - and every indication is that he certainly is - why doesn't that affect his overall numbers?
The People had enough years ago. Colorado sued to keep Trump off the ballot due to his insurrection making his run against the Constitution. The Supreme Court told the Constitution to jump in the lake. They're the ones who are forcing us in this untenable position to prove rich people should appoint kings and get rid of voting.
I'm with you. End the Trump ideology and form a better America. To do that we need major reforms in Social Media. They are the runway train fueling most of the hatred, and they will be around long after Trump is gone.
We're poised to lose 200,000 truck drivers in the coming years, voluntarily? This is insane. This is suicide by culture war and racism. Clearly our racism is stronger than our desire for economic self-preservation. I foolishly thought we'd turned a corner on racism when we twice elected Barack Obama, not realizing the racists were all under the rocks, and his 8 years in office combined with his unapologetically racist successor would be the catalyst for them to let their freak flags fly. We will subvert the domestic and global economy without hesitation if it means we can make life more miserable than our own for some black and brown people. How can one have any patriotism in an environment like this? It's like the entire Civil War was merely a battle, and the South has won the war.
'One week later—this past weekend—it seemed finally to occur to Trump that the United States could not keep the strait open singlehandedly. He therefore turned on a dime and once more began threatening repercussions for countries that didn’t send ships to help out, including America’s (erstwhile?) European allies . . . and China. “I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it is their own territory,” Trump told reporters Sunday night. “The United States should not be very much involved” in the strait, he groused at a press conference the next day. “Why aren’t we being reimbursed for that?”'
Further evidence the president is utterly mad. He needs to be in a padded room, not the Oval Office.
What you said about Obama's election and about the South winning? I've said exactly the same things myself. I still can't believe how naively ecstatic I was on election night 2008. And being from the South, and now living where I regularly seeing Confederate flags, I realize more than ever that that mentality never went away - it just went mostly underground.
Same, and you know what, I probably would have been just as naively ecstatic on election night again had Harris won in 2024.
I've lived my whole life in Virginia and North Carolina, which, although formerly in the Confederacy, are not exactly Alabama and Mississippi. But even as a youngster, the idea of southern pride, and heritage, and honoring the ancestors who fought, etc, was always incomprehensible to me.
I think when I first found out there were people in the South who celebrated their history, I was in disbelief. Your great great great great grand pappy died in a war of treason to defend the institution of slavery; this is a source of pride for you? It need not be a source of shame, as what your ancestors are responsible for need not be a reflection on you, but if it were me, I think I would feel some shame if I found out any of my ancestors fought for the Confederacy (as it is, I am blissfully ignorant about any of my family tree more than a couple of generations back). This nostalgia for "the Lost Cause" is so twisted and deranged.
Good for you for recognizing even as a child the perversion in Confederate pride; I was much older. Robert E Lee as hero, "The War of Northern Aggression," etc. were for much of my life just as much unquestioned facts as the sun rising in the east. (I lived my first 26 years in NC, then several other parts of the country, now back in NC for the last 12 years.)
Slightly off topic, but when I was a kid and we would travel from the coast to Raleigh, I still remember the billboard outside one of the towns we went thru: "Welcome to Smithfield, Home of the KKK." The mindset is endemic among so many here.
I remember moving from Illinois to Georgia in the mid 1990s and realizing how close Alpharetta was to Cumming—a KKK stronghold. I was afraid to go into Cummings even as a white woman.
Every town in the South didn't build Confederate statues in the 1920s to welcome to people. And they don't fight to keep them to make people feel welcome either.
Imagine living in the godforsaken state of Alabama...there are about 13 of us here, and retired at age 72, I can stay home and not interact with a single maggot. I have 2 friends left, and I have never understood this 'heritage' bit. Most of these people descend from dirt-poor sharecroppers whose lives were abject and miserable. The landowner class survived way into the 1950s. My husband's grandfather never did make quite enough in a season to pay his bill at the general store, owned by the same man who owned the land on which Granddaddy worked. We're headed for something catastrophic. I can feel it in my bones...
I am still happy that Obama won, but I never thought that we were post-racial. There have been too many instances or stories that I've read over the years, that there is a group of people very resistant to change and the benefiting of the other. You are correct that they were "underground" or mostly in low numbers and aberrant, so that they could be ignored. Until now.
I was thrilled on Obama’s election night, and grinning ear-to-ear during his inauguration- we really HAVE overcome! I taped the music from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It’s hard to believe that that boomeranged us back to this selfish, greedy, lying, crazy antithesis of Barack Obama and every ideal this country supposedly stands for.
Yep! MAGA has helped ne realize how naive I was. I too believed we turned a corner on racism (and misogyny). I am so disappointed in us as a society. Now instead of love and understanding, we gave “Christian” leaders talking about toxic empathy so their racist congregation can get behind sending other human beings to concentration camps.
I wonder who these Christian Nationalists who insist that we can't help suffering immigrants because they may not have followed the law think the Pharisees are these days.
Cynic that I am, I discovered I was too optimistic all those decades I believed the percentage of various haters was maybe 15% of us. Bracing realization this past decade or so.
I'm not sure he is mad, though the signs increase every day, but he is definitely ignorant and uninformed and in no way intellectually qualified to make decisions concerning life or death, or of economic or military strategy. Republicans in his orbit MUST see this. In fact, they see him in private all the time, which I believe must be much, much worse. I think they will break their solidarity to him at some point soon because they KNOW he is endangering the entire country. Perhaps I am crazy to think so, but I believe his increasing instability is starting to really scare the Republican leaders who see him every day. Talk behind the scenes will gather momentum until a few of them are ready to say "he has to go."
Did Trump check with Harmeet Dhillon on the trucker issue? There are a heck of a lot of Sikh's not just driving but owning fleets of trucks with immigrant drivers. Harmeet, doesn't your cousin own one of them? Can't you whisper something in Trump's ear -- or is that spot reserved for Looney Loomer?
General Hertling's piece is a must read. He brilliantly lays out why the Trump administration is well on it's way to making Iran our version of Russia's Ukraine war. The enemy always has a vote...unless you are a malignant narcissist and then that vote magically turns into the failure of your bullied allies to come to your defense. Bibi seems to have Israel well on it's way to the same fate. I wonder what Putin, Trump, and Netanyahu all have in common? Uhm, no I don't.
Core-less, soul-less animatrons, walking the earth covered in human skin (and not much hair)...three at one time on the planet has made for tremendous destruction and disruption in global stability, whatever it might have been.
My point exactly. He's pushing all of the chips in the middle and placing wagers. The problem is that those are our chips gained through the blood, sweat and tears of our parents and the generations before them.
Exactly. If he is retiring from the federal government, we are paying his retirement benefits. I'm not sure what it takes to deny him those--firing? Conviction for a crime? Whatever it is, I hope to see it when the Dems take over.
The trucker issue has more tentacles. The trucker work force skews older, and that is not changing. Diesel fuel prices make the enterprise less attractive than it was. We have, as well, a huge shortage of trucker facilities. Parking lots. Truck stops. Easy to access roadways that can handle 18-wheelers. Shutting out a meaningful share of the trucker population only makes a very bad situation worse.
Cohn's newsletter is called "The Breakdown". "Receipts" is Rampell's newsletter. Someone needs another cup of coffee this morning, or maybe a quick snort off a toilet seat.
There's a book about borderline personality disorder called "I Hate You Don't Leave Me". When I think of how Trump conducts foreign policy with our allies, I think of that title. Trump is incapable of viewing any relationship except in zero sum terms, and he is now surrounded by toadies who will never question him or his actions. And since the voters are unserious, we've now got the foreign policy team we deserve.
No Kings 3, March 28th.
More important than ever to show the world that we do not support the actions of this government. Get out on the streets! In America, we have no kings!
https://www.nokings.org/
Of course.
It would be nice if they knew Trumpster is 35- 39 % in the polls.
How in the hell can 35-39% of our nation still support this complete idiot?
Because they want it, natch.
many do not know how to say, perhaps I was wrong
They only listen to the "fake news" of FOX or Briebart or other right wing idiots.
They don't listen or watch anything else. They will support Trump to the death.
27% is the target number...need him below the GWB levels. (Though, at this point, W might as well just live at the bottom of the bottom.)
I'm having my hip replaced in a few months, but I am going to try to find a way to actively protest this disgusting administration.
Depressing but not surprising article in The Guardian about the latest from the "world’s most credible democracy watchdog." Excerpt:
"'The US is no longer a democracy. One of the most credible global sources on the health of democratic nations now says this outright. The Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute at Gothenburg University reaches the alarming conclusion in its annual report, that the US is hurtling towards autocracy at a faster rate than Hungary and Turkey.
“Our data on the USA goes back to 1789. What we’re seeing now is the most severe magnitude of democratic backsliding ever in the country,” says Staffan Lindberg, founder of the institute.'"
Those who have read the Bulwark from its founding are well aware of this. The issue is how to get it back. They answer is to vote for the opposition, and support candidates who have wide appeal at the expense of narrower principles. This can be a challenge for Democrats who, by nature, often place principle over winning.
Conversely, I will no longer vote for any Republican no matter how sensible they are because to them party solidarity is more important than principle. They can say nice things then support the Trump party brand. Isn't that so, Susan Collins, or the up-and-coming Steve Hilton?
As Tom Nichols keeps saying: keep voting against Republicans in every election. I've been doing that since 2016.
For me, since 1996. It's the only way.
I voted for 3
Republicans, never in a Presidential though, although I went with Ross Perot so there is that. since I started voting, in 1974
Can't blame you for the Perot vote. We all were entranced by the Voo Doo stick.
1964 for me
1972 here. (I was only 18 in 1968.)
Same here I used to sometimes vote for Republicans at the state and especially the local level.
NO MORE ! !
Being of the JVL mindset, this wasn't news to me. But it brought to mind JVL's piece recently that asked just how far along the continuum we are. There are still plenty in denial, and I thought this article was noteworthy.
Currently Orban in Hungary is getting crushed in the polls. Orban will have something up his sleeve before their coming elections. Would Trump copy Orban's actions concerning our midterm elections?
There’s quite a bit brewing in Hungary right now. They seized loads of Ukrainian cash and gold and appear to be trying to push for a ‘National Crisis’ that might upend any elections in Hungary Dior the foreseeable future.
It's one thing to sort of think about this all in the abstract, meanwhile going about your everyday where things don't feel like much has changed. It's another thing to see the objective metrics laid out as they did in that article.
crap.
This its exactly the type of thing that Democrats should be shouting from Fox, Newsmax, OANN, Joe Rogan, etc. They need to get on the right wing sites and force their media darlings to address this, while at the same time making sure right wing viewers become aware of a problem that their media favorites are hiding from them. Be prepared with tons of examples of Trump's dictator moves and the complete acquiescence of the Republican party. Take a page out of the Republican strategy books - repeat our message over and over and over again until the cows come home. To our advantage - we are selling the truth, not lies.
I remember when Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 made our gasoline and LNG prices here in the Netherlands skyrocket. We didn't like it, but we didn't complain too much because we cared about the integrity of Europe and people flew Ukrainian flags everywhere. All Russia did was accelerate our shift away from fossil fuels. We opened our strategic reserve, dropped the petrol tax, and continued our plans to move from gas heat to heat pumps. (It was already the law that all new builds must not use gas heat. Many people were already converting.) Now Trump's fiasco has just made us angry. Gasoline today rose above the high price in 2022, but we find ourselves caring less. We drive EVs powered by solar panels on our houses or solar panelled charging stations on our highways. And let's face it: the Dutch would rather bike everywhere anyway! Or we take the wind-powered train to work and school. Yeah, we're a little inconvenienced. No Dutch person likes to pay more for something. But we also don't help bullies.
How refreshing it must be to have a government run by educated and reasonable people. I so envy you.
I mean, our government is far from perfect. And coalitions mean they often get nothing done. But the basic belief that companies shouldn't be allowed to ruin people's lives is persistent. And believe me, the Dutch LOVE big companies. They just insist that they behave. The year I moved here, the CEO of ING Bank was about to get a HUGE bonus, and people protested so much that he only took a normal bonus. No legal action required. Just public pressure.
How refreshing, public pressure actually working!
Kass - So different from USA. You may not recall the Stove Wars of 2023. We are fracking our way to gaseous dominance, it just spews right out of the ground... and sometimes out of water wells & faucets - bonus! Kinda miraculous, plentiful as sunshine. No, wait, not sunshine - that's woke.
I learned about Holland having having windmills as a kid in the '50s/'60s. You know what Holland doesn't have? Whales. Nuff said
😉
I was already living in the Netherlands in 2023 so I missed the Stove Wars. Yet another dumb thing like blowing up BudLight cans or something, right? I grew up with an electric range and the faint smell of gas around gas stoves always made me nervous. But when I lived in the Caribbean, gas stoves were the only thing that would work during our frequent power outages. (I have an induction stove now.) I'm originally from Pennsylvania. Coal country. Lotsa fracking there now. I remember seeing neighbors able to ignite the water coming out of their taps. Awful. In the Netherlands, fracking up north in Groningen started causing earthquakes. You know what they did? They stopped fracking and are paying people for damage done to their houses. The Dutch love their big businesses, but they aren't crazy about them ruining the lives of Dutch people. They'd rather just move away from using gas. And that's a big deal because nearly everyone's heat and hot water was gas until a few years ago.
I don't know what you mean about whales, but we typically see a few humpbacks every year in the North Sea.
Trump says that 'windmills' kill whales...so lots of windmills (in trumps 'mind') means no whales.
Trump would lose his mind if he was to see the North Sea wind farms that can views from the air when you fly out of Schiphol.
I know, right? Whenever I fly home, I know I'm close when I start seeing the North Sea wind turbines way out there.
You're missing so much! See, when earthquakes begin occurring in fracking areas here, we just cancel people's homeowners insurance and let the free hand of the market take care of things 🤦♂️
As for the whales, Boss Man explains it so clearly (sorry if opens with brief advert): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v76rncpPgeM - he started this nonsense years ago: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/24/trump-clean-energy-war-global
Best regards - j
OMG I FORGOT ABOUT THE WHALES!!! LOL I thought it was just birds and cancer. I totally forgot about the whales!
In all seriousness, I don't think the Netherlands is perfect. There is a lot I wish was different (and next year, I get to vote in local elections!). But it is really a good example of a country that is capitalist and encourages businesses, small and large, but also cares about its people and doesn't allow them to be crushed by the wheels of industry.
How serious is the threat from the far-right there? I've read about it but haven't kept up.
Not very serious. They keep fracturing into smaller and smaller groups because they all want to be sad little king of their personal sad little hills. Wilders (the main one) was the only one of them actually in government, but he was so unpleasant that his entire party quit and formed another party without him. The coalition disintegrated and we had to have new elections.
We've got a humpback whale in Mara Lago. By the way, flat Oklahoma has more occurring earthquakes than anybody in the world due to fracking.
I've always thought that when you take oil out of the ground, you are removing a natural cushioning layer that is there for a purpose. It surprises me not at all that earthquakes are the result when it is removed. I would say the same thing about removing large amounts of water from natural aquifers or any natural resource from underground deposits. Monkey around with nature and the consequences will get you sooner or later.
Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee have been increasingly experiencing earthquakes.
That's not being fair to humpback whales!
Oklahoma also has Marquane Mullin, so I don't think they act in their own interest very often.
Orange whales with bad hair.
We have been to Europe a couple times in the last few years. Their train systems are amazing and they leave us in the dust! ( clean efficient electric trains that go 200 MPH) We are too auto dependent but unfortunately we'll never change. (just like our gun attitude)
It is such an absolute delight to not have to drive to work in the morning. I love our trains. I love cars too. But now I can drive my car for fun on the weekends.
300 km/h and higher. 😉
the trains in Germany were amazing both times I was there, they beat us in France so long ago, even on an older train, so efficient. not only the speeds. just plain reliable.
I supposed it hasn't occurred to Trump that if he wants to open the strait, he need only stop attacking Iran--which should be easy, given that we've won and all... .
...renaming it to Schrödinger's Strait of America
🤣
Hahaha!
I'm not so sure that opens the strait, but it certainly is a primary first step towards re-opening it....eventually. Oh...wait...I forgot that Pete Hegseth said it is open...so perhaps we need to resolve that dichotomy first.
Any idiot can see that it’s open, those Iranian tankers are going right through it! If only the totally-crushed military would stop shooting at everyone else. Hey, Trump said we won in the first hour, why doesn’t he just declare that victory and take the oil, as is his wont? Then our service members can stop dying and he can stop haranguing our former allies for whom he has such contempt.
Yep, everything is obliterated except mines drones and missiles. Some much winning!
"Have some guts"! Easy to say from the confines of Mara Lago.
Gas was $5.50 at the local Costco in California this morning! For Regular!
I'm in NC (obv by my handle). Today I paid $3.69. Right before the start of the not-war, I it was $2.69. Cali prices are higher because of taxes, etc., but also a 33% increase here is noticeable. My car is a hybrid and I don't drive that much, so it doesn't hit me that hard on that score - but the inflationary pressures will be brutal.
Today in Europe, all the papers are saying about Trump is that he's working behind the scenes to overthrow Cuba. Has the Big Baby tired of his oily toys already?
Maybe, but Iran appears to be the tar baby from briar rabbit.
We just drop some bombs, take their oil and move on to new horizons, easy, peasy ! Now about Greenland and Canada.
As are the Epstein files...
You gotta admit; DJT sure knows who to distract by replacing one disaster with a bigger one.
The theory is that taking Cuba would be a "win" unlike what's happening with Iran.
Well of course.
He has to distract from another failed distraction!
That has elevated Little Marco in status. (to Trumpster)
He's also spending a lot of time on the Kennedy Center renovations and the new ballroom. Priorities.
The China vs US trust polling data is striking. I don't know how many more ways MAGA can shoot America's hegemony in the head but I think a lot of the damage done is irrevocable now.
Six months ago MAGA was the party of no more dumb foreign wars and isolationists to full approval. That is the definition of cult.
just after the Maduro thing, I looked at my two brothers to their faces, and just randomly picked three places in the world, and I said, if he said we had to attack them both of you would simply say, " Yes, I can see that "
The original Trump Doctrine was, "If we have nukes, why can't we use them?" That's worth not forgetting. It strikes me that Trump could simply issue an ultimatum to Iran to either open the straits or he will drop a nuke on Tehran, a compelling threat made by one who never thinks things through. That Pandora's box is waiting for someone to open it.
That's a potential that Bibi and Putin also have. A tactical nuke on Kyiv or Beirut would not be out of the question either.
Wow...you're so right. If Trump did issue and carry out that threat...Putin wouldn't be far behind. Good point.
I'm hoping someone smart is hiding the football from him.
name me one person in his orbit that's smart.
You only have to be smart enough to not want the world to end.
That eliminates his cabinet.
While I appreciate the gallows humor...I think it's pretty clear that many of his "supporters" are only there because they're very much about climbing the career ladder. They can't do that if the world is ending...so their motivation will be self-preservation and advancement...as it has always been for them.
And once that DJT is gone, that latter is totally pulled out from under them. They have not thought of that yet.
We have to check their tattoos to know who is who, I suppose. No Deus Volt tattoos, they might not want the world to end.
And yet they are not interested in preserving a free, democratic country for their own children and grandchildren.
True. But I was thinking of any one of those nameless people who actually do the work.
Strategic Air Command, and there is precedent from the Nixon era.
Zero
And who would that be ? 🙄
Peter, that scares me to death. He has always wanted to use a nuke, even on a hurricane (remember that). He is more dangerous when he is cornered. Like a wounded animal.
Questions: Can Dan Caine or another military leader refuse to carry out an order from the president that is legal but crazy? Can the military initiate Article 25, either directly or indirectly?
Do we actually have any heroes left in this administration or the GOP? It's getting pretty close to the time where they need to step up or else.
That would just get "raising Caine" to be replaced by someone who would.
Nukes is what Putin threatened w Ukraine abt 4+ yrs ago and since. Only thing, Trump is literally dumber than Putin.
True that.
oh, he's dying to push a button. Anything over which a normal president has control is up for grabs, and there is no doubt that he has itched to do this since T1. Watch.
Years ago when I worked in petrochemical R & D there was an engineer who liked to try tweaking valves to see what they did on a pilot plant. He screwed up a smoothly operating system every time. Finally the technician installed a closed loop with a valve in it and named the valve with the engineer’s name. This became the only valve that the engineer was allowed to touch. The engineer took the hint. Unfortunately I don’t think the strategy would work more than once for Trump.
sounds just like having an architects popping by a building site
Trump will use a nuke. No doubt.
And that would be so foolish. Iran has a long, long memory and they can hold a grudge (which would be honorable in this case) until the end of time. As soon as they procured a nuke, whether illegally or developed on their own, the first place they would send it would be America. I, for one, do not want to live what is left of my life worrying about where they will decide to drop it. I know Trump is not capable of thinking strategically, but you would think some of those Republican sycophants surrounding him would care what happens to their own children and grandchildren and do something about creating a stable future they could all enjoy.
Yeah, we mention Trump's desire to drop nuclear bombs in the comments here daily, but I never see it discussed elsewhere. Ostriches with their heads in the dirt. Not that I blame them, really. I wish I could stop thinking about it.
It's time to stop the politics of hate in America caused directly by Donald J Trump and his cult leaders. Stupidity, Greed, Racism, Fascism and Hate. Our avatar of Hate all bottled into one. We asva nation are better than this
We've had incompetent presidents, racist presidents, well intentioned presidents who did morally repugnant things, vainglorious presidents, probably corrupt presidents, less than truthful presidents and very partisan presidents, but never has America had all of these traits wrapped into one person who's not a real president but the star of his proprietary Apprentice TV show playing what he imagines We the People think a president is like.
The People, whose interest he serves has had enough. He's losing his grip over every group that voted for him. The MAGA/GOP is dropping like a stone. Nov. will spell the end of the Trump reign as a faux leader.
If we were truly "better than this" we wouldn't be in the mess we're in.
According to the Silver Bulletin, as of today his overall approval rate is still 40.9% (disapproval 55%), and remaining fairly stable. I've come to believe, as a commenter said yesterday, he could rape a 9-year-old on 5th Ave and these people would stick with him.
I'm with you on this. We are not better than this, because we lived through T1, and enough to give him an outright majority of the votes over Harris. This is who we are, whether you want to acknowledge it or not.
And, once Trump is gone, there is no reversion to the norm. MAGA is now a dominant strain in our political body, and it will continue to be there for a long time.
You can't fix a problem you're not willing to admit exists, right?
1st step is honesty. Next 11 don't necessarily get any easier. Long road
"The long and winding road, leads me to your door"...... Paul McCartney
Yep, and there is no easy fix. Trump chokes on a chicken bone, and the project will live in.
The chicken bone will have an exhibit in his museum.
Maybe a wish bone . GAACCKKK ! !
yeah, that's what worries me...he's old and will be gone soon (lord willing, and the creek don't rise...), but what's next? I shudder to think what this penniless and tattered nation will be like then.
Couch boy alone can fix it .
The identification of the problem has been digested, regurgitated, and swallowed. Why is it necessary to continue with the everyone is stupid, rotten, and hopelessly horrible routine? It consumed the comments section last week. I understand the desire to separate yourself as a cause of the problem. The approach also has the added benefit of ensuring that everyone knows that you are not stupid, rotten, or hopelessly horrible. Let's move on from identifying the problem and assigning blame. Let's stop with the group think that exists in these comments sections. Let's start with this: what is your fix for the problem and how do you accomplish it by constantly reminding the "other" that they are stupid, rotten, and hopelessly horrible?
I have never indulged in calling people stupid or rotten and plenty of others on this forum have not either. But as someone who grew up seeing and feeling the effects of Apartheid, you cannot fix the problem until you admit you have one. Your approach merely wants to sweep the problem under the carpet. We’ve tried that often in this country snd it hasn’t worked: just look hie many racists we’ve discovered under the carpet.
"Your approach merely wants to sweep the problem under the carpet". Nice strawman argument. You must think I'm one of the stupid ones.
You should read my comment again. I agree that there is a problem. I disagree that discussing the same issue, over and over and over again (the stupidity and rottenness of the masses) is productive. No one answers the question "how do we fix this"?
I didn't mean to suggest that you called people stupid or rotten. Apologies if I did. In the over 2,000 comments to JVL's recent Triad those opinions are prominent. I'm growing tired of the "I'm smart and good, how do we manage to convince the rotten idiots to be better" or thee I prefer the truth" crowds.
I ask for commenters to explain their ideas to fix the problem. Here is mine: my suggestion to begin the "fixing process" is that those on our side of the issues stop acting like self-righteous, pompous asshats.
As long as people continue to insist that "we're better than this" I'll continue to point out that we're obviously not. Denial isn't going to solve anything.
We are not better than this. At least the 49.8% who voted for him
Neither is identifying already identified problems and assigning blame. What are your ideas to "fix" the problem?
By the way, an opinion that we are not better than this is not a fact that is either true or false. Also, I'd bet that you don't include yourself in those who "aren't better".
As Steve Schmidt says: American voters are responsible for this. (49.8%)
That's probably true for most of the cult. I also think Trump is freaking out over gas prices because he knows the one thing that could actually cost him a significant chunk of his cult is the Dem hoax, affordability. Interesting that all of a sudden his administration is fast tracking some really questionable oil projects.
It may not cost him the cult, but it will cost him everyone else.
As long as the cult stays home and doesn't vote, I'm good with that.
Surely it has to, or there is truly no hope.
I still hope so, but reality tells me it hasn’t yet.
Shoot the Pope on 5th Ave for trying to stop the rape.
Just remember Silver uses many polls.( including Rasmussen and Trafalgar group) The top polls have him at 35 to 39%.
You may be the one that educated me a bit recently about polls? I know Nate combines multiple polls, which is why that's the one I look at. There's such a difference in quality (and bias?), and I don't have time to look at multiple ones. Do you know if the best few have shown a change since the war started?
I get concerned when people say his numbers are tanking b/c I haven't yet seen that to be the case overall, and it gives a false sense of things significantly improving. Plus, since he's not going to be on the ballot (at least this year), I think people overestimate how much his numbers impact other races (altho obviously it's some).
I used to follow Silver. He gives valuable insight with polls. ( Like Sarah and her focus groups) I haven't seen any poll since the war started. My hunch is that they won't change much because the Republican party is so lockstep with everything Trump does. This is why I don't see the polls going down to Sarah's Bush line of 32% They haven't moved the last few months, but Independents, Latino and young men support of DJT have really dropped. They are the categories that have cratered. The best polls are the large newspapers that combine with the networks, (even Fox) plus Marist, Monmouth, Quinnipiac. I tend to look at the top ten polls and nothing beyond that.
What I don't understand is this: if he's losing large numbers of certain groups - and every indication is that he certainly is - why doesn't that affect his overall numbers?
And I agree re Sarah's Bush line.
The People had enough years ago. Colorado sued to keep Trump off the ballot due to his insurrection making his run against the Constitution. The Supreme Court told the Constitution to jump in the lake. They're the ones who are forcing us in this untenable position to prove rich people should appoint kings and get rid of voting.
I'm with you. End the Trump ideology and form a better America. To do that we need major reforms in Social Media. They are the runway train fueling most of the hatred, and they will be around long after Trump is gone.
We must become better than this.
We're poised to lose 200,000 truck drivers in the coming years, voluntarily? This is insane. This is suicide by culture war and racism. Clearly our racism is stronger than our desire for economic self-preservation. I foolishly thought we'd turned a corner on racism when we twice elected Barack Obama, not realizing the racists were all under the rocks, and his 8 years in office combined with his unapologetically racist successor would be the catalyst for them to let their freak flags fly. We will subvert the domestic and global economy without hesitation if it means we can make life more miserable than our own for some black and brown people. How can one have any patriotism in an environment like this? It's like the entire Civil War was merely a battle, and the South has won the war.
'One week later—this past weekend—it seemed finally to occur to Trump that the United States could not keep the strait open singlehandedly. He therefore turned on a dime and once more began threatening repercussions for countries that didn’t send ships to help out, including America’s (erstwhile?) European allies . . . and China. “I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it is their own territory,” Trump told reporters Sunday night. “The United States should not be very much involved” in the strait, he groused at a press conference the next day. “Why aren’t we being reimbursed for that?”'
Further evidence the president is utterly mad. He needs to be in a padded room, not the Oval Office.
What you said about Obama's election and about the South winning? I've said exactly the same things myself. I still can't believe how naively ecstatic I was on election night 2008. And being from the South, and now living where I regularly seeing Confederate flags, I realize more than ever that that mentality never went away - it just went mostly underground.
Same, and you know what, I probably would have been just as naively ecstatic on election night again had Harris won in 2024.
I've lived my whole life in Virginia and North Carolina, which, although formerly in the Confederacy, are not exactly Alabama and Mississippi. But even as a youngster, the idea of southern pride, and heritage, and honoring the ancestors who fought, etc, was always incomprehensible to me.
I think when I first found out there were people in the South who celebrated their history, I was in disbelief. Your great great great great grand pappy died in a war of treason to defend the institution of slavery; this is a source of pride for you? It need not be a source of shame, as what your ancestors are responsible for need not be a reflection on you, but if it were me, I think I would feel some shame if I found out any of my ancestors fought for the Confederacy (as it is, I am blissfully ignorant about any of my family tree more than a couple of generations back). This nostalgia for "the Lost Cause" is so twisted and deranged.
Good for you for recognizing even as a child the perversion in Confederate pride; I was much older. Robert E Lee as hero, "The War of Northern Aggression," etc. were for much of my life just as much unquestioned facts as the sun rising in the east. (I lived my first 26 years in NC, then several other parts of the country, now back in NC for the last 12 years.)
Slightly off topic, but when I was a kid and we would travel from the coast to Raleigh, I still remember the billboard outside one of the towns we went thru: "Welcome to Smithfield, Home of the KKK." The mindset is endemic among so many here.
Wow! Because nothing says "Welcome" like "Home of the KKK." JFC.
I remember moving from Illinois to Georgia in the mid 1990s and realizing how close Alpharetta was to Cumming—a KKK stronghold. I was afraid to go into Cummings even as a white woman.
Every town in the South didn't build Confederate statues in the 1920s to welcome to people. And they don't fight to keep them to make people feel welcome either.
and from what I've learned there were a lot of women behind
the idea. so sad.
Imagine living in the godforsaken state of Alabama...there are about 13 of us here, and retired at age 72, I can stay home and not interact with a single maggot. I have 2 friends left, and I have never understood this 'heritage' bit. Most of these people descend from dirt-poor sharecroppers whose lives were abject and miserable. The landowner class survived way into the 1950s. My husband's grandfather never did make quite enough in a season to pay his bill at the general store, owned by the same man who owned the land on which Granddaddy worked. We're headed for something catastrophic. I can feel it in my bones...
I am still happy that Obama won, but I never thought that we were post-racial. There have been too many instances or stories that I've read over the years, that there is a group of people very resistant to change and the benefiting of the other. You are correct that they were "underground" or mostly in low numbers and aberrant, so that they could be ignored. Until now.
I was thrilled on Obama’s election night, and grinning ear-to-ear during his inauguration- we really HAVE overcome! I taped the music from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It’s hard to believe that that boomeranged us back to this selfish, greedy, lying, crazy antithesis of Barack Obama and every ideal this country supposedly stands for.
Yep! MAGA has helped ne realize how naive I was. I too believed we turned a corner on racism (and misogyny). I am so disappointed in us as a society. Now instead of love and understanding, we gave “Christian” leaders talking about toxic empathy so their racist congregation can get behind sending other human beings to concentration camps.
They've turned their faith into something completely unrecognizable to its eponymous founder.
He recognized it in his day. Some might say, gave himself over to it in sacrifice
I wonder who these Christian Nationalists who insist that we can't help suffering immigrants because they may not have followed the law think the Pharisees are these days.
Don - I always consider this: https://daily.jstor.org/when-cities-closed-pools-to-avoid-integration/ - not quite 'destroy the village in order to save it,' but consciously choosing grievance over humanity. 'Good' christians
Cynic that I am, I discovered I was too optimistic all those decades I believed the percentage of various haters was maybe 15% of us. Bracing realization this past decade or so.
I'm not sure he is mad, though the signs increase every day, but he is definitely ignorant and uninformed and in no way intellectually qualified to make decisions concerning life or death, or of economic or military strategy. Republicans in his orbit MUST see this. In fact, they see him in private all the time, which I believe must be much, much worse. I think they will break their solidarity to him at some point soon because they KNOW he is endangering the entire country. Perhaps I am crazy to think so, but I believe his increasing instability is starting to really scare the Republican leaders who see him every day. Talk behind the scenes will gather momentum until a few of them are ready to say "he has to go."
Exactly what my Dad said on his home hospice, what will the after-affects be after
the black man will get into office, He fully supported Obama, and was excited.
But , predicted the huge backlash of bigotry, prejudice etc
Did Trump check with Harmeet Dhillon on the trucker issue? There are a heck of a lot of Sikh's not just driving but owning fleets of trucks with immigrant drivers. Harmeet, doesn't your cousin own one of them? Can't you whisper something in Trump's ear -- or is that spot reserved for Looney Loomer?
General Hertling's piece is a must read. He brilliantly lays out why the Trump administration is well on it's way to making Iran our version of Russia's Ukraine war. The enemy always has a vote...unless you are a malignant narcissist and then that vote magically turns into the failure of your bullied allies to come to your defense. Bibi seems to have Israel well on it's way to the same fate. I wonder what Putin, Trump, and Netanyahu all have in common? Uhm, no I don't.
Core-less, soul-less animatrons, walking the earth covered in human skin (and not much hair)...three at one time on the planet has made for tremendous destruction and disruption in global stability, whatever it might have been.
Is it just me or? It seems like Bibi and Donald are not necessarily fighting the same war. Is Israel really fighting as an ally to the United States?
We have allowed Trump to spend dry the goodwill and good faith of the US. What took 250 years to build, he's squandered in a year.
My point exactly. He's pushing all of the chips in the middle and placing wagers. The problem is that those are our chips gained through the blood, sweat and tears of our parents and the generations before them.
Bovino shouldn’t just get to wander off into the sunset. He should be held accountable for his crimes.
Exactly. If he is retiring from the federal government, we are paying his retirement benefits. I'm not sure what it takes to deny him those--firing? Conviction for a crime? Whatever it is, I hope to see it when the Dems take over.
The trucker issue has more tentacles. The trucker work force skews older, and that is not changing. Diesel fuel prices make the enterprise less attractive than it was. We have, as well, a huge shortage of trucker facilities. Parking lots. Truck stops. Easy to access roadways that can handle 18-wheelers. Shutting out a meaningful share of the trucker population only makes a very bad situation worse.
Yes, I agree. foolish AGAIN
Cohn's newsletter is called "The Breakdown". "Receipts" is Rampell's newsletter. Someone needs another cup of coffee this morning, or maybe a quick snort off a toilet seat.
Just as long as the toilet seat is not gilded.
A Dunning-Kruger Effect presidency for sure.
He was a pioneer in Dunning-Kruger!
There's a book about borderline personality disorder called "I Hate You Don't Leave Me". When I think of how Trump conducts foreign policy with our allies, I think of that title. Trump is incapable of viewing any relationship except in zero sum terms, and he is now surrounded by toadies who will never question him or his actions. And since the voters are unserious, we've now got the foreign policy team we deserve.