Trump says that Machado called him up and said that she accepted the award in his honor, or words to that effect. Does anyone know if this really happened or is it a narcissist's lie?
I'm impressed with Marjorie Taylor Green is bucking the Republican Trump love fest. She is demanding the release of the Epstein files, and she is siding with the Democrats against the cuts to Medicaid.
It is an amazing coincidence, isn’t it that a little-known administration official, who just happens to be able to access mortgage information is the one who uncovered “fraud” in an enemy of the state, who also just happens to have prosecuted and won a case against Trump for…mortgage fraud?
There is no possibility that there is any evidence to be produced to prove this allegation against James. We are way past the need to give Trump and his guillotine construction crew the benefit of the doubt – skip the formerly usual "to be fair, we have to wait and see" comment (we didn't have to wait long to see what we knew was coming). We are operating under the imperative of Stalinist Russia: “show me the man, I show you the crime”. Or maybe: I'll show you the insult, then you can be my weapon of revenge".
On “The Sounds of Silence”:
I’m equally cynical that any Republican, who still calls themselves that, or hasn’t resigned, or announced that they are not running again, will find inspiration from María Corina Machado and her resistance to corruption and autocracy.
The only thing that inspires these toads is the growth in their bank accounts along with their power to stay in a position in a Congress that made insider trading legal.
What more Republicans need to do is to follow the lead of Marjorie Taylor Greene (?!). She seems to have realized that Trump is unbeholden to anyone, flying high on his free-wielding power of grift and revenge. He doesn’t give a hoot if she, or any fellow Republican is re-elected. Now MGT is speaking in tones of a regular old politician – recognizing she needs to answer to her constituents if she wants to stay in the cngress, and continue to keep antisemitism alive.
"Normally" this would seem random to insert in this conversation, but I just listened to this morning's' NPR On the Media host Micah Loewinger speaking with Jake Lahut, reporter for Wired covering the White House, about Larry Ellison, as written about Sept 25 Wired article about the 'shadow president.' S t a g g e r i n g. Hope every podcast on substack /youtube will cover this in depth.
The sounds of silence are all around these day. How rapidly we become inured to the repression of autocracy. It is understandable that people are overwhelmed with the demands of everyday life, but it’s shocking how willing they are to pretend that this is anything approaching normal or desirable. I’m more concerned about the honest, moral, everyday people who remain silent than I am with the self-severing politicians and business leaders who go along with the creeping fascism.
Morning Shots contributors keep referring to Republicans "who should know better..." They DO know better which makes their silence even more disgusting.
On National Guard deployments I have a thought. The bulk of the NG are volunteers who get some benefits (not many) from joining and normally enjoy a balance between their actual lives (jobs and family) than most in the military. Deployment has a significant impact on that balance. Almost none would ever complain about a deployment for something related to real emergencies where their presence makes a real difference to their state and the nation. But here we have more and more performative deployments ordered by politicians disrupting their actual lives. Over time I imagine this would have an effect on morale as well as readiness for actual military necessity.
I'm not sure the Republicans do know better any more. They have been steeped in cult-think for so long that it's had to have an effect on their belief system.
I had a similar reaction to the WaPo editorial on “James started it!” Same as I’ve heard from others about the Jack Smith prosecution. Completely ignoring the matter that those were serous crimes that any government should prosecute. And can there be any doubt that had the roles been reversed in 2020, Trump would have prosecuted Biden?
I think the Nobel committee was hedging its bets. They know that she’s a Trump supporter and that he hates Maduro, so they hoped it would be the next best thing to giving it to him. I’m no fan of Maduro, but I would hardly call a Trump supporter a defender of democracy.
1) “the Republican line—parroted by some who should really know better” – I believe it’s indisputable that they, in fact, do know better. They’re just afraid to say it.
2) The Washington Post editorial is awful on at least two fronts. First of all, even if it was justifiable to charge “Biden’s DOJ” with going after Trump, that still doesn’t make what Trump is doing right. It should be “even if Biden did it, this is still wrong” instead of “Biden did it so Trump gets a pass”.
Isn’t this just condoning childish behavior?
But the more important point is that “Biden’s DOJ” only went after Trump because he publicly committed crimes. And serious ones at that. We all saw what happened on Jan 6. So according to the Post, the DOJ should have not bothered to investigate what amounted to an attempt to overturn the results of an election because it might be construed as political revenge.
Likewise with the Mar-a-Lago case. Is there any doubt in anyone’s mind at all that Trump kept those classified docs in contravention of a lawful subpoena to return them? I’d like to hear that argument.
If you’re going to go down the road of not prosecuting Trump for anything that he did, we might as well drop the façade and just admit that Trump is above the law.
I didn’t read the whole editorial but I can say that from the part that was printed here, that editorial was a really stupid take.
3) As was pointed out in the article, the second-most infuriating part of this whole saga is the attempt to create a false equivalency between the “Biden DOJ” and the “Trump DOJ”. And there isn’t the slightest bit of equivalency. In fact, it could be argued that the DOJ would have been derelict in their duty if they hadn’t investigated Trump.
The most infuriating part is that you just know that there are a whole lot of people out there who do believe that there is an equivalency.
I'm working from a brain that is often overwhelmed these days, but I believe it was MSNBC that interviewed Pritzker a few days ago in the street (Jacob Soberoff, maybe?) Gov. Stitt is the current chair of the National Governors Association. Pritzker wrote to him to ask the association and governors to stand with him against Trump.
I have family in OK, and so I follow the politics there a bit. If this is all he said, then it is anemic at best, but I am still amazed. Oklahoma is v. red!
Sad to see no other governors weighing in to support Illinois, the rule of law, or their fellow governor. Clearly we can't expect our governors to stand up for our rights or our democracy. Good to know I guess when the Insurrection Act is activated next.
"These moments have mattered. Cruz’s words actually may have had a real-world effect in saving Kimmel and deterring Carr. Vought hasn’t so far carried through on his threats. And later Thursday, another Republican governor, Phil Scott of Vermont, stepped forward to echo Stitt."
We need another R or former/current Trump official to speak out--and another, and another....We need to find a way to build momentum. So that the raindrops turn into a deluge. I really think that could make a big difference.
When listening to The Sound of Silence now, I get chills. Just like in ‘65. Of course it’s a different time. Drafted young men aren’t dying every night on TV. Now we are just kidnapping and disappearing men, women and children, away from their families on Instagram and YouTube. Along with lawful residents and citizens.
In a few years if we allow this to continue, we will see a facsimile of Kent State.
I wish the feeling we had back then could be fully transferred to the minds and hearts of young people today. They would feel now, a similar outrage, and wouldn’t be fooled by the propaganda from the so-called Republican Party.
There is a depth to this outrage. Some of us have seen it before, and know immense resistance is required.
On the Noble Peace Prize, it hasn't occurred to Trump and company that he can win the prize next year after a somewhat sustainable peace is achieved in Gaza. Right now the first phase of the ceasefire hasn't even been implemented yet.
This says something deeper about our politics. The truth is politics has become all bout instant gratification, not waiting it out to build something sustainable. Whether it is elections, Nobel Peace Prizes, major bills, or major action, people of all political stripes and colors want results NOW, instead of building something that is good and can last.
It's why Trump is devastated about not winning the Nobel now. It is why Democrats have given up hope in Florida. It's why every election victory or defeat is catastrophized. It's why crummy bills are making it out of Congress.
On another note, if a somewhat sustainable peace is achieved in Gaza, I wouldn't be opposed to have Trump win the Nobel Peace Prize. With winners who did nothing like Barack Obama, winners that later were tied to mass murder like Abiy Ahmed, and the progressive hero who was accused of prolonging conflict, Henry Kissinger, being a winner, it's not going to kill the prize to give it to Trump IF his peace efforts achieve results in the medium term.
Trump says that Machado called him up and said that she accepted the award in his honor, or words to that effect. Does anyone know if this really happened or is it a narcissist's lie?
I'm impressed with Marjorie Taylor Green is bucking the Republican Trump love fest. She is demanding the release of the Epstein files, and she is siding with the Democrats against the cuts to Medicaid.
On “One size fits all”:
It is an amazing coincidence, isn’t it that a little-known administration official, who just happens to be able to access mortgage information is the one who uncovered “fraud” in an enemy of the state, who also just happens to have prosecuted and won a case against Trump for…mortgage fraud?
There is no possibility that there is any evidence to be produced to prove this allegation against James. We are way past the need to give Trump and his guillotine construction crew the benefit of the doubt – skip the formerly usual "to be fair, we have to wait and see" comment (we didn't have to wait long to see what we knew was coming). We are operating under the imperative of Stalinist Russia: “show me the man, I show you the crime”. Or maybe: I'll show you the insult, then you can be my weapon of revenge".
On “The Sounds of Silence”:
I’m equally cynical that any Republican, who still calls themselves that, or hasn’t resigned, or announced that they are not running again, will find inspiration from María Corina Machado and her resistance to corruption and autocracy.
The only thing that inspires these toads is the growth in their bank accounts along with their power to stay in a position in a Congress that made insider trading legal.
What more Republicans need to do is to follow the lead of Marjorie Taylor Greene (?!). She seems to have realized that Trump is unbeholden to anyone, flying high on his free-wielding power of grift and revenge. He doesn’t give a hoot if she, or any fellow Republican is re-elected. Now MGT is speaking in tones of a regular old politician – recognizing she needs to answer to her constituents if she wants to stay in the cngress, and continue to keep antisemitism alive.
"Normally" this would seem random to insert in this conversation, but I just listened to this morning's' NPR On the Media host Micah Loewinger speaking with Jake Lahut, reporter for Wired covering the White House, about Larry Ellison, as written about Sept 25 Wired article about the 'shadow president.' S t a g g e r i n g. Hope every podcast on substack /youtube will cover this in depth.
The sounds of silence are all around these day. How rapidly we become inured to the repression of autocracy. It is understandable that people are overwhelmed with the demands of everyday life, but it’s shocking how willing they are to pretend that this is anything approaching normal or desirable. I’m more concerned about the honest, moral, everyday people who remain silent than I am with the self-severing politicians and business leaders who go along with the creeping fascism.
Morning Shots contributors keep referring to Republicans "who should know better..." They DO know better which makes their silence even more disgusting.
On National Guard deployments I have a thought. The bulk of the NG are volunteers who get some benefits (not many) from joining and normally enjoy a balance between their actual lives (jobs and family) than most in the military. Deployment has a significant impact on that balance. Almost none would ever complain about a deployment for something related to real emergencies where their presence makes a real difference to their state and the nation. But here we have more and more performative deployments ordered by politicians disrupting their actual lives. Over time I imagine this would have an effect on morale as well as readiness for actual military necessity.
I'm not sure the Republicans do know better any more. They have been steeped in cult-think for so long that it's had to have an effect on their belief system.
I had a similar reaction to the WaPo editorial on “James started it!” Same as I’ve heard from others about the Jack Smith prosecution. Completely ignoring the matter that those were serous crimes that any government should prosecute. And can there be any doubt that had the roles been reversed in 2020, Trump would have prosecuted Biden?
Maria Machado was nominated in 2024 for the Nobel Peace Prize by several Republicans, including then - Florida senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio.
I think the Nobel committee was hedging its bets. They know that she’s a Trump supporter and that he hates Maduro, so they hoped it would be the next best thing to giving it to him. I’m no fan of Maduro, but I would hardly call a Trump supporter a defender of democracy.
A few comments...
1) “the Republican line—parroted by some who should really know better” – I believe it’s indisputable that they, in fact, do know better. They’re just afraid to say it.
2) The Washington Post editorial is awful on at least two fronts. First of all, even if it was justifiable to charge “Biden’s DOJ” with going after Trump, that still doesn’t make what Trump is doing right. It should be “even if Biden did it, this is still wrong” instead of “Biden did it so Trump gets a pass”.
Isn’t this just condoning childish behavior?
But the more important point is that “Biden’s DOJ” only went after Trump because he publicly committed crimes. And serious ones at that. We all saw what happened on Jan 6. So according to the Post, the DOJ should have not bothered to investigate what amounted to an attempt to overturn the results of an election because it might be construed as political revenge.
Likewise with the Mar-a-Lago case. Is there any doubt in anyone’s mind at all that Trump kept those classified docs in contravention of a lawful subpoena to return them? I’d like to hear that argument.
If you’re going to go down the road of not prosecuting Trump for anything that he did, we might as well drop the façade and just admit that Trump is above the law.
I didn’t read the whole editorial but I can say that from the part that was printed here, that editorial was a really stupid take.
3) As was pointed out in the article, the second-most infuriating part of this whole saga is the attempt to create a false equivalency between the “Biden DOJ” and the “Trump DOJ”. And there isn’t the slightest bit of equivalency. In fact, it could be argued that the DOJ would have been derelict in their duty if they hadn’t investigated Trump.
The most infuriating part is that you just know that there are a whole lot of people out there who do believe that there is an equivalency.
I'm working from a brain that is often overwhelmed these days, but I believe it was MSNBC that interviewed Pritzker a few days ago in the street (Jacob Soberoff, maybe?) Gov. Stitt is the current chair of the National Governors Association. Pritzker wrote to him to ask the association and governors to stand with him against Trump.
I have family in OK, and so I follow the politics there a bit. If this is all he said, then it is anemic at best, but I am still amazed. Oklahoma is v. red!
More: https://www.oudaily.com/news/trump-national-guard-states-rights-oklahoma-governor-kevin-stitt/article_0711e614-b125-4bf3-b4e0-603f988a20d0.html
Apparently. it was a personal statement.
Sad to see no other governors weighing in to support Illinois, the rule of law, or their fellow governor. Clearly we can't expect our governors to stand up for our rights or our democracy. Good to know I guess when the Insurrection Act is activated next.
Agree!
"These moments have mattered. Cruz’s words actually may have had a real-world effect in saving Kimmel and deterring Carr. Vought hasn’t so far carried through on his threats. And later Thursday, another Republican governor, Phil Scott of Vermont, stepped forward to echo Stitt."
We need another R or former/current Trump official to speak out--and another, and another....We need to find a way to build momentum. So that the raindrops turn into a deluge. I really think that could make a big difference.
I also had no idea I was as old as Bill Kristol.
When listening to The Sound of Silence now, I get chills. Just like in ‘65. Of course it’s a different time. Drafted young men aren’t dying every night on TV. Now we are just kidnapping and disappearing men, women and children, away from their families on Instagram and YouTube. Along with lawful residents and citizens.
In a few years if we allow this to continue, we will see a facsimile of Kent State.
I wish the feeling we had back then could be fully transferred to the minds and hearts of young people today. They would feel now, a similar outrage, and wouldn’t be fooled by the propaganda from the so-called Republican Party.
There is a depth to this outrage. Some of us have seen it before, and know immense resistance is required.
On the Noble Peace Prize, it hasn't occurred to Trump and company that he can win the prize next year after a somewhat sustainable peace is achieved in Gaza. Right now the first phase of the ceasefire hasn't even been implemented yet.
This says something deeper about our politics. The truth is politics has become all bout instant gratification, not waiting it out to build something sustainable. Whether it is elections, Nobel Peace Prizes, major bills, or major action, people of all political stripes and colors want results NOW, instead of building something that is good and can last.
It's why Trump is devastated about not winning the Nobel now. It is why Democrats have given up hope in Florida. It's why every election victory or defeat is catastrophized. It's why crummy bills are making it out of Congress.
On another note, if a somewhat sustainable peace is achieved in Gaza, I wouldn't be opposed to have Trump win the Nobel Peace Prize. With winners who did nothing like Barack Obama, winners that later were tied to mass murder like Abiy Ahmed, and the progressive hero who was accused of prolonging conflict, Henry Kissinger, being a winner, it's not going to kill the prize to give it to Trump IF his peace efforts achieve results in the medium term.
Beautifully put