Would you fire your doctor for telling you your red blood cell count was too low? And if you did fire your doctor, would you then expect your health to improve? We are being asked by our dear leader to believe that it would, but his justifications for this nonsense are the usual anemic claptrap, and the blue-blooded sycophants he trots out to try to make it seem otherwise only make my blood boil.
Trump is getting himself into one of the classic dictator problems, which is implementing policies that are inimical to his objectives and/or contradictory with his other policies. Objective measures make the contradictions painfully apparent, so of course he tries to eliminate the objective measures. But just because you don't measure something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. The truth is a stubborn thing.
Here is how I characterized it to a few friends: You've heard of Groupthink, yes? This is Trumpthink. It's comparable to if you close your eyes, the thing you don't like no longer exists (isn't this what young children think?). He did this during the pandemic. "If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any."
The truth has always been Trump's enemy. And he has mostly been victorious. However, when the unemployment number reads 1.5% and you don't have a job, you are going to feel worse than seeing it at 7%. But, if it says it's 1.5%, you won't be able to get any benefits because you will be seen as the only lazy slob left.
For a lot of these people, Trump saying something is all they need to hear. If he says we're having the greatest economy in history, they'll believe it, even though they've lost their jobs and can't find new ones. They'll blame Joe Biden for any struggles they're having.
They'll also state as a fact that Trump has signed 90 trade deals in 90 days, even though he hasn't. The truth doesn't make any difference to a lot of these people.
And yet they claim to be christans! I call them t FOOLS and wonder how so many can be so stupid. Zero sympathy as well. I give thousands to charities in blue states.
They're not Christians, Joanne. Christians do their best to live their lives in accordance with the teachings of Jesus Christ as expressed in the Gospels and the Epistles. Jesus NEVER talked about gaining political power. EVER!
Rather, they're Christianists who use their tribal affiliation as provincial, narrow-minded, insecure, non-college-educted, rural Americans who know only white Christians - no Jews, no Catholics, no Buddhists, no atheists - and they fear what they don't know.
In a June 15 2020 tweet, as COVID cases continued to increase, President Trump said testing “makes us look bad.” At his campaign rally in Tulsa five days later, he said he had asked his “people” to “slow the testing down, please.” At a White House press conference last week, he told reporters, “When you test, you create cases.”
Trump thinks that ignoring reality reflects his ability to alter reality.
In this case, the "doctor" is a doctor for all of us, telling us about the health of the economy. And Trump's actions are a warning to the host of other "doctors" that provide us with scraps of truth that their future employment depends on transforming themselves from truth seekers to propagandists.
Firing the doctor that tells you you have cancer and instead "hiring" one who tells you you're in perfect health means you will not receive treatment and you will die an agonizing, slow death.
It's hard for me to understand how existing in a bubble works out to the benefit of the autocrat. I guess it must, since they are so hard to dislodge once they attain power. But I would think not knowing is much worse than knowing.
The only way Trump leaves office is in a coffin. Trumpism is here to stay. The administration is in full technocrat/fascist mode. Cue JD Vance, Don Jr, Thiel etc. They're staying.
2. Last night on episode 4 of CNN's Live Aid documentary, one of the participants at the subsequent Live 8 effort to abolish AIDS in Africa and their debt in 2005 - maybe Tony Blair - said about our time today, it's like we're in a funeral for what we were.
I am grieving, but I'm not giving up. Not until the midterms.
Often people do fire the doctor who gave them bad news and go haring off after some quack internet snake oil peddler. The more narcissistic they are, the more likely they are to do it.
Remember when he didn’t want the cruise ship passengers to disembark for care early in the pandemic? He didn’t want his “numbers” to increase. Denying reality is in his dna.
Not only would you not fire your doctor you'd thank them for finding your problem so that a improvement plan could be created. You can't fix something if you don't know that there's something wrong. But that's not our Trump. He'd rather create an alternate reality in which everything is just perfect. Real data is just so inconvenient.
So, the way I see it with Ghislane Maxwell, we have a president convicted of improper sexual activity (Trump) mollycoddling a convicted sex criminal (Maxwell), who procured young women (many of them children) for a dead convicted sex criminal (Epstein), in order to keep her and her family from producing "the receipts" on the connections/joint activities of the president (Trump), and perhaps others, to the press. How can anyone in the USA not grasp this basic pattern?
I'm very interested in hearing how the MAGA faithful deal with all of this. Every elected MAGA-type ought to be asked to explain what they think the purpose of moving Maxwell was. She is a woman convicted of serial sexual abuse of children. She was in a place appropriate for her crimes. She received a sentence appropriate for her crimes, too. And now she's been moved to Club Fed where she'll get better treatment, more freedom and the opportunity to "do the right thing."
For all these people who claim everything they do is "for the children," how do they explain this?
Apparently the prison inmate population as a whole, has zero tolerance for child molesters, and show little mercy. It’s a sign of our times that inmates in prisons have a stronger, more consistent moral compass than MAGAs, including the president.
They do not hear about it. It is an interesting exercise to watch one of the only news shows on Fox --Bret Baier "Special Report" 6PM EST-- at the top of the hour and compare what is shown on MSNBC or CNN. Not only the highlighted news stories but the amount of time spent on any given news story before they show some feel good story.
Rupert hates Trump and it seems like it would be entertaining for him to do a "Downfall of Donald Trump" play. Nothing but upside, I would think, but I haven't seen any evidence of it.
The other thing that baffles me is the view of the rank and file reporters at Fox News. THEY interact with the real world. THEY are not 75-year-olds sitting in their Barca Loungers 16 hours a day consuming this stuff. Can't some reporting be done on those people? How do they do it? Why do they do it? How do they see this all turning out? Do they think this is career enhancing? What will they do when Trump is finally gone?
It's not a mystery. The Fox audience loves Trump more than they love Fox. They demonstrated this when Fox gave a factual reporting on the 2020 election. Ratings plummeted as the viewers flocked to Newsmax and other even more sycophantic propaganda channels. The only way to win them back was to toe the Trump line.
Exactly. Trump supporters, who are the only viewers of FOX, have already shown that if FOX broadcasts anything critical of Trump, those viewers will simply switch their station to Newsmax or OAN.
Rupert has a choice:
1. Keep the honesty and integrity on FOX and have no viewers
or
2. Keep telling the lies and have the largest viewing audience on cable news.
Hate him or not, we saw how Murdoch's operation turned after Jan 6 when it perceived that it was losing audience and therefore ad revenue because of reporting the events as an insurrection. Money is always primary with that company (and any other).
You are seeing Fox Noise talking heads as normal. They are just prostitutes. They work for a lot of money. Murdoch is a capitalist’s capitalist. His WSJ, the real news reporter, can go after the felon, because Murdoch hates Felon Trump, but, loves money; that’s his Fox Noise. Sadly, the man does not have enough billions to satisfy him, and never will. Nor does he care about how he will be seen after he dies. No libraries to be built in his name like Carnegie.
None of that class EVER has enough. Remember Uncle Scrooge McDuck? He always wanted more. A perfect role model for his nephew, Donald. Hmm. Oh, heck. The names must be just a coincidence....
Well it worked out for Hegseth and some others so apparently in the Trump administration, being a spineless Fox News reporter is the career pathway to Trumplandia
I've been dealing with my sick parents. Fox News programming is currently 65% Zohran Mamdani, 30% support for Israel, and 5% Trump is wonderful agitprop. For some reason, many political opinions are voiced by teen women who don't know a thing about the subjects they discuss. As an old, crusty, obsolete feminist, I think of it bitterly as "tee-hee, genocide is sooo cute" programming.
Kate, a few minutes mischief with the Parental Controls can disappear some content that may be working against your parents health (there's your moral justification). I recommend some really visual nature programs or Antiques Roadshow -- with luck, two days and they will forget about the noise they used to watch.
I am sorry to hear that your parents require care and attention. Fox data points and demographics are important to understand the bias of MAGA and those who support Trump. It has been my observation when I bring up a news topic widely covered by most MSM to those who are watching Fox, OAN, Newsmax, or perusing social media for "the news" there is a blank stare and "I had not heard of that...". And maybe just maybe, followed by "That cannot be true!". "What news are you watching?" [As if I do not know].
She got her ticket to "Disneyland", because she cut a deal. If that deal amounts to what I think it does, the felon just shot himself and not in the foot. This trash never gets any smarter. And by the way, down the road, does Blanche think he won't get disbarred?
Chris, that you see it the anyone without MAGA-colored glasses would is not proof that the Kool-Aid drinking MAGAts see it that way. For them, anything beyond See Spot Run requires deep thinking, or a friendly Chinese Chatbot explanation.
Trump told them he didn't know Epstein, or what he was doing, and that he didn't write the letter that looked like he wrote. And Trump probably got to spend his two minutes with Maxwell herself so she deserves a pardon.
I wouldn’t want Maxwell moving into my neighborhood and I bet Elizabeth Holmes and a Real Housewife don’t either. She can’t be the only one at Club Fed with powerful friends and sociopathy.
Everyone who pays attention does grasp this pattern. None deny it, even if they pretend to. Yet millions who do grasp the pattern, along with millions incapable of connecting dots, would still vote for him even if he is caught raping a minor on 5th Avenue.
I've always been amazed by the people factor when it comes to the unquestioning support of DJT and willful forfeiture of critical thinking skills. I somewhat get it why GOP politicians and ladder-climbing opportunists do it -- self interest. Not that I agree with it, but I understand why it is happening. But the inability of everyday people to see it, allowing themselves and their emotions to be played for someone else's gain, is astounding. Social media are the ultimate dumpster fire in that regard, where they crow about how great everything is despite all manner of evidence to the contrary and acting out their fantasy that TDS and "owning the libs" are the ultimate reward, no matter what else happens.
I finally got tired of this bogus, immature "you are owned by DJT" line of thinking and fired off the following response to someone who insisted that his feelings of superiority were justified. Feel free to copy-and-paste, or add to the thought, if somebody tries to goad you the same way. At least it shut him up. One down, millions to go.
"The fallacy of your argument is clear the moment you opine that it is about HIM and not the nation, or conservatism, or the GOP, or the taypayers, etc. -- something bigger than himself. We haven't changed. You have. He doesn't own us because we know that there is a future without him. In fact he owns YOU. You do his bidding. You make excuses for him and his bad behavior. You hold him unaccountable. And so he owns you completely. He is your god. You all have tied yourselves to him inextricably, and he always will be a part of your legacy. That's the textbook definition of being a cultist, with absolute fealty to the leader. I've never felt freer than when I see the history books of the future and what they will say about how you sold your soul for somebody else, and someone who couldn't care less about you or anyone else but himself. Your problem, not mine."
They are also afraid for their own and their families' lives. The death threats are real. If only they'd show some spine like the many judges who have ruled against and spoken out. They have proven themselves true heroes of our democracy.
Thank you for reminding us of this. It feels very important to me that we acknowledge this awful aspect of our current political society. To sweep it under the rug as if the GOP reps fear losing their power feels like whistling past the graveyard, when there is so much evidence of their lives under threat. Mitt Romney said it directly to his biographer that Trump wasn’t convicted after the impeachment vote because senators’ had received death threats against themselves and their families. Lisa Murkowski said it out loud, “We are all afraid”. Our veneer of “exceptionalism” is disintegrating.
Nope. Not even a laugh emoji. I call it my checkmate comment when people tell me that DJT owns the libs and that we have 3.5 more years of it coming. They have to live with what they do not oppose for a whole lot longer. I'm glad to remind them of that at every turn.
The French Revolution didn't really lead to democracy. The February Revolution was partially successful—for only four years. France didn't really become what we'd recognize as a democracy until 1870, and not as a result of revolution, but because of a catastrophic defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. Not sure what the lesson is there, apart from . . . idk I guess democracy is hard?
Tom, 1/6 was an insurrection to preserve a corrupt, defeated president in power. The French Revolution was a revolt to remove a corrupt king and government from office. By my definition, 1/6 is not by any stretch true "torches and pitchforks". I do see the French Revolution as true torches and pitchforks! I hope it never comes to that in the United States.
To the participants, it was an attack on a corrupt Congress. I will grant you that there were very few if any torches or pitchforks. Maybe "crowbars and bear spray"?
The entire French Revolution was a crime against humanity. The murder of the King, his family, and all the aristocrats. The reign of terror, and it's murder of thousands of ordinary people on trumped-up charges and inuendo. The defacing and destruction of centuries-old artwork, architecture, and historical monuments. The desecration of tombs and graves all over France. And for what? They eventually ate their own, sending Robespierre to the guillotine too, and it all lead eventually, in not very many years, to Napoleon. He then started what was actually the first "world" war.
The French revolution is a disgusting, tragic, vomit-inducing, and despicable episode in world history, and should never be seen as attractive to anybody.
One of Trump's popular meme pictures was of himself as Napolean on a horse. He is wearing the three-cornered hat that Napolean is famous for with MAGA on it.
If we long for the French Revolution, then we are longing for the ultimate take-over by a dictator, and that would hardly be a step in the right direction.
There are two types of revolution and overthrow of a monarchy or tyranny. There is the kind led by the nobles, like the numerous ones England has experienced over a millennium, and to a lesser extent, our American Revolution (most of the Founders were basically American Aristocrats in terms of wealth and power). These revolutions succeed in affecting the real and lasting change intended by the revolutionaries - because the leaders are sophisticated, have clear goals, and understand consequences and measured restraint.
Then there is revolution led by the rabble. Examples of these are the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, Cuba, most of the Asian communist Revolutions, and Iran. These always end in takeover by worse tyrants and dictators, because the rabble is unsophisticated and incapable of restraint and self government. They are suckers, easily preyed upon by smarter opportunists.
The first kind of revolution advances the world. The latter kind sets it back. By a lot.
"In the modern Democratic primary electorate, a white male candidate with a moderate record would face an uphill battle"
Mike Murphy knows who won the last Dem primary, right?
And I'm pretty sure in the next one some white male moderates will do well as well, because they are seen as "electable", and like last time Dem primary voters will put a premium on that after having lost to Trump with a female candidate
This is a good point, but "uphill battle" doesn't mean "impossible." I think it would be interesting to see if a white, male candidate could circumvent the "groups" that form such a critical part of the Democratic infrastructure and appeal directly to voters with an electability message. That's more or less what Biden did, with help from Warren, Klobuchar, Buttigieg, Clyburn, et al.
Yes, a white male candidate could win. Because most Dem voters are moderate liberals. My friends met people at the doors last year who said point blank they wouldn't/couldn't vote for a woman (and a few even mentioned the Black part).
I was surprised by that comment too. I would really like to see Beshear run for Senate. Just imagining him replacing Mitch McConnell--well, I didn't think we were allowed to even dream of such good things these days. But I feel almost certain that white males are in pole position for the Democratic nomination in 2028 because I think most of us are convinced that racism and misogyny contributed to (not caused, but contributed to) both of Trump's elections. And I say that with great sadness indeed.
You are 100% right. Now is not the time to play identity politics. One of the reasons Trump won was is his being a white man. Its unfortunate that most Americans are traditionalist (racist?) and they want a traditional looking President. A significant number of people looked at Harris and saw her minimal political experience and couldnt go there. The Dems and Biden were stupid to go for a 2nd term. A strong governor like Bashear or Shapiro or even Newsome would would have won.
My kingdom for a conservative writer who can manage 3 consecutive sentences without trying to make their readers feel like crap. Challenge level impossible.
My kingdom for a conservative writer who actually writes about conservatives and their agenda. They focus more on those 'bad Democrats' and how horrible they are for America than actually trying to make an argument for their beliefs.
I’ve said this elsewhere, but I don’t think we’ve seen the candidate who will emerge in 2028 from the Dem side. I’m not sure what mood the voter base will be in, but I’m doubtful that the sort of centrist Democratic politicians he’s exhorting will light a fire under the people voting, or the Democratic base. It may be a white male or not — I agnostic on that, but I think the calculus that produced Biden no longer exists. Lo
What Democrats have to learn is “different strokes for different folks.” The party did well when it really embraced a wide range of views. Even radicals like me realize that to win the House they can’t run the same kind of candidate who runs in Brooklyn.
The Republicans have been able to call every Democrat a wild-eyed communist radical. Now however, an increasing number of people are feeling uncomfortable with have a raging pedophile as president, and a party that feeds him all the young girls and whatever else he wants. Freeing Maxwell is the same as approving raping 14 year-olds.
There are many new, young Democrats who are already running in swing districts in Colorado, Arizona, and New York. Some of them are working class women who are military vets. These are pragmatists and not radicals.
The real problem will be making sure we have free elections. Trump’s all out war on truth and freedom will find many ways to make voting and counting the votes difficult.
MAGA PEOPLE DON’T CARE! IT’S GREED AND RACISM WITH NO SHAME!
Thank you, Mike Murphy. I needed the vision of Roy Cooper and Andy Beshear in the Senate after reading Bill Kristol. Pretty sure there’s a Mainiac on the same level to take the place of Susan Collins. Jared Golden or better?
Yes, I agree with you and disagree with Mike Murphy. If there’s anything we learned from the last election, we are not going to win with a woman or a person of color.we need to win back white male voters. There is no better way to do that than with a likable ethical candidate like Andy Bashear.
Your comment about killing democracy in broad daylight and not bothering to hide it is spot on. What's even worse is that they told us exactly what they were going to do months before the election. We complacent Americans either did not believe it or were too comfortable to care. Now, our democracy is holding on by its fingernails. It seems the court system is the only real opposition to Trump's regime. The Republican Congress appears to be owned lock, stock and barrel by Trump and (clown) company. The Supreme Court is unreliable at best.
I saw it clearly. But so did Trump voters. They saw a rich, white businessman, former President who campaigned putting white Christians back in the driver's seat and they bought it. They didn't care about fairness, or liberal democracy or an honest government. And even those who were not homophobe or racist or sexist, just wanted a regular president. In spite of his age, many of them would have voted for Biden again. Many of them don't pay attention to the harm Trump is doing because they watch Fox News, and are told its okay. We may think they are stupid racists idiots, but there are a lot of them and they vote too.
Remember, too many felon supporters believed him about his pledge to lower prices, and bring back jobs. Now they are stuck; desperate for these to happen, and terrified to admit they were wrong, because there is no option for them. To me, what was so surprising is for the elected Republicans to publicly roll over and play dead so quickly. The Senate refused to confirm Matt Gretzky, and did confirm Marco Rubio. For a brief time, I thought they would do their job. I was wrong.
Many felon supporters will believe that he is lowering prices and bringing back jobs, regardless of any inconvenient realities. "Joe's prices" haven't receded because 47's policies are not fully implemented yet. Job growth will follow the elimination of pollution regulations. That's how they see it. And even after the policies are fully implemented and change nothing, 47 won't be blamed. Greedy businesses will be blamed for higher prices and the lack of job growth.
Katherine, I was wrong, too! I believed that the Republicans would stand up to Trump and make him do his job. It turns out they nothing more than a tidal pool of jellyfish. The Republicans are one of the poorest examples of a political party in history.
One of the reasons Trump is moving at lightning speed to royal authority is he is now about 35 cards short of a full deck and he senses it.
He has real hearing issues. His body does not move like it did. He's confabulating incredible stories, mixing things up, no longer able to remember his own decisions. His emotional instability is increasing, featuring more rants, rages, and snap decisions based in protecting his ego. He's totally losing it over the Epstein story because he knows, and always has, that this is the one issue which could destroy his house of cards, and it's now short 35 cards.
I've never thought Trump fantasized about being a dictator. He fancies himself a king surrounded by gold and opulence with no one able to question him or prevent him from doing what he wants. He's much more in the Saddam Hussein, middle east potentate mold, than the Putin or Orban mode.
Much sooner than later, his staff is going to have to decide what to do about their mad king. It's too bad so many of them are not up to the task.... and the ones that are may be better off for the sake of their own agenda to leave him in place howling at the media.
Thoughts and prayers America. We're going to need them.
Definitely Felon Trump sees himself as king. Anointed by God, the king rules over his subjects. Putin is a dictator, who stole the government. That’s how the felon sees things. I think his meetings with Queen Elizabeth showed him he had to be king, so he could prove to everybody how great he is.
Under Trump, America is now blind and weak. We will soon be poor. He has dismantled our security apparatus. We can no longer see what our adversaries are planning or even doing. He has abandoned our technological advantage in the AI arms race by cutting the legs off our electricity production facilities. He has destroyed the relationship with our best trading partners and now the American populace must endure higher prices for what? His cryptocurrency fantasy? He has crushed democracy and replaced it with his own authoritarian rule. Trump has traded honeybees for cockroaches. I guess that is The Art of the Deal.
Well . . . The Congress has shirked its responsibility and no longer provides "advise and consent". They just consent. The military has had its senior leadership expunged. Seasoned military leaders with a deep fund of knowledge are not desirable in the Trump era. The military is his. Scott Bessent knows a lot about the economy and markets, but has converted to a "yes" man. The Treasury is his. The Supreme Court? Pretty much his. Big law, major corporations and our best universities? Acquiescence, or else. Pretty much acquiescence and they are his. Anyone who dares to utter a phrase which the imperious leader dislikes? Or provide a statistic that he finds offensive? Gone. The military in the streets to do his bidding rather than protect the country from external threats? Cryptocurrency scams that will enrich The Trump Empire even further than it is now? At his command, Texas gerrymandering its districts so the Trump party can continue to rule? It is all his. He likes power. He has power. Will he surrender power to the next elected official? Or to any official who is not approved by Donald J Trump? Never.
If it isn't dead yet, it's on life support and the Republicans and the SCOTUS are about to pull the plug (have they already, though? I kind of think so).
Trump's an obvious authoritarian who's being facilitated by a pathetic, doormat Republican Congress. Trump couldn't begin to do his authoritarian push all by himself.
Dems need to respond to Republican redistricting w their own, as taking control of the House, at minimum, is necessary to try to rein in Trump and preserve what's left of our republic. Republicans need a damn good thumping in 2026, and as a bonus, the appearances of weaselly Mikey Johnson as Speaker would be halted.
California and New York governors do not have power to make the changes that Texas apparently wants to do. There would have to be serious changes made to rewrite the district maps, and I am not certain their voters would want that.
Replacing current districting just further proves to people that maybe sat out the election in 2024 because "both parties are basically the same" that they were right. And for those who think politics is basically a gang war, redistricting is the gangs dividing up the territory between them. People already think their voices are not heard in the government. This idea of redistricting as an arms race just tells the Democrats in Texas, the Republicans in whatever state retaliates, and the people that don't claim a political party that no one in government will respond to them and their needs/wants.
I see the argument. But I have to wonder at the political parties' reluctance to run good candidates in 2026 and make the case to all members of either party and the uncommitted that this is a crucial election in which electing fill-in-the-blank-party candidates is of utmost importance. It seems they don't trust the voters to see this and so decide to make efforts to rig the election through gerrymandering.
*****In the last few days, it seems as if we’ve reached a new stage in the attempted authoritarian takeover of American democracy. It’s not just that the multi-faceted assault on the truth, on the rule of law, on a free society has picked up steam—though it has. It’s that the assault, from our own government, now proceeds so openly and unashamedly.
[ITEM 1: Firing of head of Bureau of Labor Statistics]
[ITEM 2: Reference to DNI Director Tulsi Gabard and FBI Director Kash Patel pumping out propagandistic lies]
[ITEM 3: Transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum security prison as an initial payment in the subornment of her exculpatory perjury]
[ITEM 4: Mid-decade redistricting in Texas as a blatant attempt at a power grab, likely to be replicated in other Republican-controlled states]
The New York Times quotes “one person close to the president” as summing up the approach of the Trump White House as “maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.” It’s important to add that it’s not just maximum warfare by one party against the other. It’s warfare by the government of the United States against the justice system, against the presentation of true facts, against free and fair elections. It’s maximum warfare against the norms and institutions of a liberal democracy and republican self-government.
[...]
Today, in the United States of America, liberal democracy is being killed not in darkness but in broad daylight.*****
.
The fact that this is all happening so brazenly is an indictment not only of the perpetrators but, more significantly, of the polity. The American people are some combination of oblivious, inured, and numb to this phenomenon. To shake them out of this obliviousness and/or complacency requires the painstaking effort of every patriot with eyes to see it and connection with members of the target audience with whom to share it.
You are right. Many Americans are complacent. Someone close to me who was once very active politically has given up. No more reading or watching news.
But, unfortunately there is a significant percentage of Americans who are loving this. Christian, white conservatives want everyone back in their place. Just like that conservative man who moved his family to Russia. These people want non whites put down. They want brown people from South of our border put in concentration camps. They love what Trump is doing. The really scary part is there is a reason right wing polls have fought against any gun restrictions.
Your observations suggests another adjective: dispirited. Your close acquaintance is likely anything but complacent. However, feeling helpless, this person has decided to evade the pain of witnessing what is happening.
And THAT observation suggests another important task: against this awful backdrop, find ways to maintain morale.
I agree that a dismayingly large proportion of the country is indeed "loving this." It is an inescapable reality that must not distract from the task of reaching those who are not like them.
RE: Beshear for Senate - that would be the best move for the party, but we can't underestimate the effects of ego and the industry of consultants that pops up around people to say: "It could be you!" I'm not sure Beshear is going to have the anti-establishment Juice that the Dems are going to need in 2028 to win. Politics of status quo are going to lose in 2028. It doesn't matter politically whether they're pitching a change to the left, center, right, wherever - people are going to be mad and demand change.
RE: Gaza - Netanyahu, Trump, and conservative members of Bibi's cabinet do in fact have a plan for Gaza and they keep openly saying what they want to do. Step (1) continue to use the war as a pretense to kill and displace the civilian population of Gaza, Step (2) demolish the strip and then step (3) move settlers in, build a sea-side resort, and annex the territory. The plan for Gaza is genocide. They say it openly to the Israeli press.
Liked for the first part. I don’t think the Israelis or Trump for that matter have any ‘plan’ for Gaza. Of course Netanyahu would love to ethnically cleanse the strip, but there are ‘logistical’ impossibilities for that. If he could have pushed them into Egypt he would have. Having a plan for Gaza means making hard decisions that yes, may well bring down his government, and or losing even more allies.
I think Bibi himself is acting less ideologically, and more megalomaniacally in terms of doing what he needs to stay in power. Bibi has folks in his political coalition who are pushing him to do more, go further, go faster but Bibi himself is sacrificing lives in Gaza (both Israeli soldiers, the hostages, and Gazans) to stay in office. Bibi would probably love a perpetual war, whereas Smotrich, Ben-Gvir, and like-minded hardliners would have forced all the Gazans into Egypt the day after October 7.
Would you fire your doctor for telling you your red blood cell count was too low? And if you did fire your doctor, would you then expect your health to improve? We are being asked by our dear leader to believe that it would, but his justifications for this nonsense are the usual anemic claptrap, and the blue-blooded sycophants he trots out to try to make it seem otherwise only make my blood boil.
Trump is getting himself into one of the classic dictator problems, which is implementing policies that are inimical to his objectives and/or contradictory with his other policies. Objective measures make the contradictions painfully apparent, so of course he tries to eliminate the objective measures. But just because you don't measure something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. The truth is a stubborn thing.
As Neil Degrasse Tyson frequently says, “Science is true whether you believe it or not”.
That's why in Trumpworld, science is subversive.
Here is how I characterized it to a few friends: You've heard of Groupthink, yes? This is Trumpthink. It's comparable to if you close your eyes, the thing you don't like no longer exists (isn't this what young children think?). He did this during the pandemic. "If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any."
The truth has always been Trump's enemy. And he has mostly been victorious. However, when the unemployment number reads 1.5% and you don't have a job, you are going to feel worse than seeing it at 7%. But, if it says it's 1.5%, you won't be able to get any benefits because you will be seen as the only lazy slob left.
I think the jury's still out on this.
For a lot of these people, Trump saying something is all they need to hear. If he says we're having the greatest economy in history, they'll believe it, even though they've lost their jobs and can't find new ones. They'll blame Joe Biden for any struggles they're having.
They'll also state as a fact that Trump has signed 90 trade deals in 90 days, even though he hasn't. The truth doesn't make any difference to a lot of these people.
And yet they claim to be christans! I call them t FOOLS and wonder how so many can be so stupid. Zero sympathy as well. I give thousands to charities in blue states.
They're not Christians, Joanne. Christians do their best to live their lives in accordance with the teachings of Jesus Christ as expressed in the Gospels and the Epistles. Jesus NEVER talked about gaining political power. EVER!
Rather, they're Christianists who use their tribal affiliation as provincial, narrow-minded, insecure, non-college-educted, rural Americans who know only white Christians - no Jews, no Catholics, no Buddhists, no atheists - and they fear what they don't know.
In a June 15 2020 tweet, as COVID cases continued to increase, President Trump said testing “makes us look bad.” At his campaign rally in Tulsa five days later, he said he had asked his “people” to “slow the testing down, please.” At a White House press conference last week, he told reporters, “When you test, you create cases.”
Trump thinks that ignoring reality reflects his ability to alter reality.
If only he would keep his head stuck in the sand, even when he turns blue.
That won’t kill him, he’d just breathe through his arse (ass).
ROFLMAO -- if only his nonsense affected only his t FOOLS.
Ya' beat me to it, Dan! https://open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark/p/killing-democracy-not-bothering-hide-it-epstein-trump-maxwell-texas-redistricting-gerrymander-democrats-abbott-labor-statistics-jobs-report?r=1dlvn&utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=142227017
Well said.
In this case, the "doctor" is a doctor for all of us, telling us about the health of the economy. And Trump's actions are a warning to the host of other "doctors" that provide us with scraps of truth that their future employment depends on transforming themselves from truth seekers to propagandists.
To build on your analogy...
Firing the doctor that tells you you have cancer and instead "hiring" one who tells you you're in perfect health means you will not receive treatment and you will die an agonizing, slow death.
It's hard for me to understand how existing in a bubble works out to the benefit of the autocrat. I guess it must, since they are so hard to dislodge once they attain power. But I would think not knowing is much worse than knowing.
If the truth starts to come out, another lie will be created and blame will be assigned to a convenient and to his supporters, believable scapegoat.
His cult followers, yes, but what about the ones who voted for him because he said he’d make things cheaper or the Rogan podcast bro types?
Maybe they just don’t matter anymore because Republicans are scheming to steal future elections and Trump doesn’t intend to leave office.
The only way Trump leaves office is in a coffin. Trumpism is here to stay. The administration is in full technocrat/fascist mode. Cue JD Vance, Don Jr, Thiel etc. They're staying.
Two comments for you, Lily:
1. Re slow death, Thomas Friedman's NYT column today is "The America We Knew Is Rapidly Slipping Away." Here's a gift link to the entire column for my Bulwark friends: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/opinion/columnists/friedman-trump-labor-firing.html?unlocked_article_code=1.bk8.NKZq.ZQmGaet8N-mE&smid=url-share.
2. Last night on episode 4 of CNN's Live Aid documentary, one of the participants at the subsequent Live 8 effort to abolish AIDS in Africa and their debt in 2005 - maybe Tony Blair - said about our time today, it's like we're in a funeral for what we were.
I am grieving, but I'm not giving up. Not until the midterms.
Thank you for the link!
Would you hire RFK Jr to give you advice on anything?
No.
Well, maybe what it feels like to have a brain worm?
Best way to hide a bear corpse?
Often people do fire the doctor who gave them bad news and go haring off after some quack internet snake oil peddler. The more narcissistic they are, the more likely they are to do it.
Exactly.
I had similar thoughts this morning -- and don't shoot the messenger seems apropos!
Remember when he didn’t want the cruise ship passengers to disembark for care early in the pandemic? He didn’t want his “numbers” to increase. Denying reality is in his dna.
Not only would you not fire your doctor you'd thank them for finding your problem so that a improvement plan could be created. You can't fix something if you don't know that there's something wrong. But that's not our Trump. He'd rather create an alternate reality in which everything is just perfect. Real data is just so inconvenient.
And that (create another reality) has to be true about the voters in the 47% of the popular vote he got in 2024. He is nothing without them.
So, the way I see it with Ghislane Maxwell, we have a president convicted of improper sexual activity (Trump) mollycoddling a convicted sex criminal (Maxwell), who procured young women (many of them children) for a dead convicted sex criminal (Epstein), in order to keep her and her family from producing "the receipts" on the connections/joint activities of the president (Trump), and perhaps others, to the press. How can anyone in the USA not grasp this basic pattern?
I'm very interested in hearing how the MAGA faithful deal with all of this. Every elected MAGA-type ought to be asked to explain what they think the purpose of moving Maxwell was. She is a woman convicted of serial sexual abuse of children. She was in a place appropriate for her crimes. She received a sentence appropriate for her crimes, too. And now she's been moved to Club Fed where she'll get better treatment, more freedom and the opportunity to "do the right thing."
For all these people who claim everything they do is "for the children," how do they explain this?
They should be asked point blank: Do they approve or disapprove of more lenient treatment for convicted child sex offenders?
Apparently the prison inmate population as a whole, has zero tolerance for child molesters, and show little mercy. It’s a sign of our times that inmates in prisons have a stronger, more consistent moral compass than MAGAs, including the president.
And for someone who procured over 1,000 girls, 13-17 years old for sex with Epstein's clients.
But the Washington reporters won't do it. They need their "access" after all.
The terrible part is that we all know why they aren't asked, and we all know why the news channels refuse to reach out to victims.
Yes.
That has to explode their brains 🤯!
They do not hear about it. It is an interesting exercise to watch one of the only news shows on Fox --Bret Baier "Special Report" 6PM EST-- at the top of the hour and compare what is shown on MSNBC or CNN. Not only the highlighted news stories but the amount of time spent on any given news story before they show some feel good story.
Fox News is a mystery to me.
Rupert hates Trump and it seems like it would be entertaining for him to do a "Downfall of Donald Trump" play. Nothing but upside, I would think, but I haven't seen any evidence of it.
The other thing that baffles me is the view of the rank and file reporters at Fox News. THEY interact with the real world. THEY are not 75-year-olds sitting in their Barca Loungers 16 hours a day consuming this stuff. Can't some reporting be done on those people? How do they do it? Why do they do it? How do they see this all turning out? Do they think this is career enhancing? What will they do when Trump is finally gone?
It's not a mystery. The Fox audience loves Trump more than they love Fox. They demonstrated this when Fox gave a factual reporting on the 2020 election. Ratings plummeted as the viewers flocked to Newsmax and other even more sycophantic propaganda channels. The only way to win them back was to toe the Trump line.
Exactly. Trump supporters, who are the only viewers of FOX, have already shown that if FOX broadcasts anything critical of Trump, those viewers will simply switch their station to Newsmax or OAN.
Rupert has a choice:
1. Keep the honesty and integrity on FOX and have no viewers
or
2. Keep telling the lies and have the largest viewing audience on cable news.
Hate him or not, we saw how Murdoch's operation turned after Jan 6 when it perceived that it was losing audience and therefore ad revenue because of reporting the events as an insurrection. Money is always primary with that company (and any other).
You are seeing Fox Noise talking heads as normal. They are just prostitutes. They work for a lot of money. Murdoch is a capitalist’s capitalist. His WSJ, the real news reporter, can go after the felon, because Murdoch hates Felon Trump, but, loves money; that’s his Fox Noise. Sadly, the man does not have enough billions to satisfy him, and never will. Nor does he care about how he will be seen after he dies. No libraries to be built in his name like Carnegie.
None of that class EVER has enough. Remember Uncle Scrooge McDuck? He always wanted more. A perfect role model for his nephew, Donald. Hmm. Oh, heck. The names must be just a coincidence....
Every single talking head on FOX News has never left Manhattan and would be terrified to do so.
Murdoch loves power, and the ability to influence and control. Oh, and the money too !
Stephen. Not sure which he loves best. Maybe they are tied for first. Read he had a health scare recently. Can only hope it’s before 2030.
everything's a mystery now - the older I get the more confused I become
Never thought of things that way, but really a spot-on assessment.
Right there with ya...
Well it worked out for Hegseth and some others so apparently in the Trump administration, being a spineless Fox News reporter is the career pathway to Trumplandia
I've been dealing with my sick parents. Fox News programming is currently 65% Zohran Mamdani, 30% support for Israel, and 5% Trump is wonderful agitprop. For some reason, many political opinions are voiced by teen women who don't know a thing about the subjects they discuss. As an old, crusty, obsolete feminist, I think of it bitterly as "tee-hee, genocide is sooo cute" programming.
Kate, a few minutes mischief with the Parental Controls can disappear some content that may be working against your parents health (there's your moral justification). I recommend some really visual nature programs or Antiques Roadshow -- with luck, two days and they will forget about the noise they used to watch.
I am sorry to hear that your parents require care and attention. Fox data points and demographics are important to understand the bias of MAGA and those who support Trump. It has been my observation when I bring up a news topic widely covered by most MSM to those who are watching Fox, OAN, Newsmax, or perusing social media for "the news" there is a blank stare and "I had not heard of that...". And maybe just maybe, followed by "That cannot be true!". "What news are you watching?" [As if I do not know].
Also popular: criticizing anything but right wing media: “CNN — you’re watching that?”
This the top story on Fox now:
Texas Dems ripped for 'cartoonishly dumb' strategy to flee to blue state notorious for gerrymandering
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/texas-dems-ripped-cartoonishly-dumb-strategy-flee-blue-state-notorious-gerrymandering
Republican gerrymandering becomes a Dem problem on Fox!
She got her ticket to "Disneyland", because she cut a deal. If that deal amounts to what I think it does, the felon just shot himself and not in the foot. This trash never gets any smarter. And by the way, down the road, does Blanche think he won't get disbarred?
They do grasp it; they just don’t care.
We care, a lot. Not sure what the recourse is. The full weight of the US government is against half the country. That makes it a difficult problem.
Agree. Can you explain why they don't care?
Because they are angry, they feel cheated, looked down upon, ignored, invisible, and they will gladly stand by and watch everything crumple.
And some of those young women worked at Mar a Lago.
Depends on what the definition of “worked” is . . .
Chris, that you see it the anyone without MAGA-colored glasses would is not proof that the Kool-Aid drinking MAGAts see it that way. For them, anything beyond See Spot Run requires deep thinking, or a friendly Chinese Chatbot explanation.
Trump told them he didn't know Epstein, or what he was doing, and that he didn't write the letter that looked like he wrote. And Trump probably got to spend his two minutes with Maxwell herself so she deserves a pardon.
And yet, they want to see the File, regardless of what he tells them NOW. As far as the two minutes are concerned, perhaps even she had her pride.
I wouldn’t want Maxwell moving into my neighborhood and I bet Elizabeth Holmes and a Real Housewife don’t either. She can’t be the only one at Club Fed with powerful friends and sociopathy.
Everyone who pays attention does grasp this pattern. None deny it, even if they pretend to. Yet millions who do grasp the pattern, along with millions incapable of connecting dots, would still vote for him even if he is caught raping a minor on 5th Avenue.
I've always been amazed by the people factor when it comes to the unquestioning support of DJT and willful forfeiture of critical thinking skills. I somewhat get it why GOP politicians and ladder-climbing opportunists do it -- self interest. Not that I agree with it, but I understand why it is happening. But the inability of everyday people to see it, allowing themselves and their emotions to be played for someone else's gain, is astounding. Social media are the ultimate dumpster fire in that regard, where they crow about how great everything is despite all manner of evidence to the contrary and acting out their fantasy that TDS and "owning the libs" are the ultimate reward, no matter what else happens.
I finally got tired of this bogus, immature "you are owned by DJT" line of thinking and fired off the following response to someone who insisted that his feelings of superiority were justified. Feel free to copy-and-paste, or add to the thought, if somebody tries to goad you the same way. At least it shut him up. One down, millions to go.
"The fallacy of your argument is clear the moment you opine that it is about HIM and not the nation, or conservatism, or the GOP, or the taypayers, etc. -- something bigger than himself. We haven't changed. You have. He doesn't own us because we know that there is a future without him. In fact he owns YOU. You do his bidding. You make excuses for him and his bad behavior. You hold him unaccountable. And so he owns you completely. He is your god. You all have tied yourselves to him inextricably, and he always will be a part of your legacy. That's the textbook definition of being a cultist, with absolute fealty to the leader. I've never felt freer than when I see the history books of the future and what they will say about how you sold your soul for somebody else, and someone who couldn't care less about you or anyone else but himself. Your problem, not mine."
Republican Senators and Congressman: F--k democracy, I want to keep my job and its perks; my own parking space and free hair cuts!
They are also afraid for their own and their families' lives. The death threats are real. If only they'd show some spine like the many judges who have ruled against and spoken out. They have proven themselves true heroes of our democracy.
Thank you for reminding us of this. It feels very important to me that we acknowledge this awful aspect of our current political society. To sweep it under the rug as if the GOP reps fear losing their power feels like whistling past the graveyard, when there is so much evidence of their lives under threat. Mitt Romney said it directly to his biographer that Trump wasn’t convicted after the impeachment vote because senators’ had received death threats against themselves and their families. Lisa Murkowski said it out loud, “We are all afraid”. Our veneer of “exceptionalism” is disintegrating.
“Your problem, not mine” should end any argument with these people. It’s perfect.
Bravo!
That's an excellent response. So he didn't reply at all?
Nope. Not even a laugh emoji. I call it my checkmate comment when people tell me that DJT owns the libs and that we have 3.5 more years of it coming. They have to live with what they do not oppose for a whole lot longer. I'm glad to remind them of that at every turn.
The war isn’t merely on the Constitution, it’s on voters. That’s the message Republicans are sending: you don’t count unless you’re with us.
The French Revolution never looked so attractive to me.
The French Revolution didn't really lead to democracy. The February Revolution was partially successful—for only four years. France didn't really become what we'd recognize as a democracy until 1870, and not as a result of revolution, but because of a catastrophic defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. Not sure what the lesson is there, apart from . . . idk I guess democracy is hard?
Yeah but it was fun! :-)
Is it time for torches and pitchforks yet?
Careful. 1/6 was torches and pitchforks.
Tom, 1/6 was an insurrection to preserve a corrupt, defeated president in power. The French Revolution was a revolt to remove a corrupt king and government from office. By my definition, 1/6 is not by any stretch true "torches and pitchforks". I do see the French Revolution as true torches and pitchforks! I hope it never comes to that in the United States.
To the participants, it was an attack on a corrupt Congress. I will grant you that there were very few if any torches or pitchforks. Maybe "crowbars and bear spray"?
Don't forget that they built a gallows on which they planned to hang Mike Pence! These people were serious.
And they all got pardoned.
I believe we are in agreement.
But it got the carriers pardons and restitution (I heard).
And a guillotine?
The entire French Revolution was a crime against humanity. The murder of the King, his family, and all the aristocrats. The reign of terror, and it's murder of thousands of ordinary people on trumped-up charges and inuendo. The defacing and destruction of centuries-old artwork, architecture, and historical monuments. The desecration of tombs and graves all over France. And for what? They eventually ate their own, sending Robespierre to the guillotine too, and it all lead eventually, in not very many years, to Napoleon. He then started what was actually the first "world" war.
The French revolution is a disgusting, tragic, vomit-inducing, and despicable episode in world history, and should never be seen as attractive to anybody.
One of Trump's popular meme pictures was of himself as Napolean on a horse. He is wearing the three-cornered hat that Napolean is famous for with MAGA on it.
If we long for the French Revolution, then we are longing for the ultimate take-over by a dictator, and that would hardly be a step in the right direction.
There are two types of revolution and overthrow of a monarchy or tyranny. There is the kind led by the nobles, like the numerous ones England has experienced over a millennium, and to a lesser extent, our American Revolution (most of the Founders were basically American Aristocrats in terms of wealth and power). These revolutions succeed in affecting the real and lasting change intended by the revolutionaries - because the leaders are sophisticated, have clear goals, and understand consequences and measured restraint.
Then there is revolution led by the rabble. Examples of these are the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, Cuba, most of the Asian communist Revolutions, and Iran. These always end in takeover by worse tyrants and dictators, because the rabble is unsophisticated and incapable of restraint and self government. They are suckers, easily preyed upon by smarter opportunists.
The first kind of revolution advances the world. The latter kind sets it back. By a lot.
Amen
rumble rumble, here come the trumbel
Let's do it the American way with a good old fashioned secession crisis.
A lot of history makes more sense to me now. Yekaterinburg, for instance.
Afraid I know too much about that to agree.
"In the modern Democratic primary electorate, a white male candidate with a moderate record would face an uphill battle"
Mike Murphy knows who won the last Dem primary, right?
And I'm pretty sure in the next one some white male moderates will do well as well, because they are seen as "electable", and like last time Dem primary voters will put a premium on that after having lost to Trump with a female candidate
This is a good point, but "uphill battle" doesn't mean "impossible." I think it would be interesting to see if a white, male candidate could circumvent the "groups" that form such a critical part of the Democratic infrastructure and appeal directly to voters with an electability message. That's more or less what Biden did, with help from Warren, Klobuchar, Buttigieg, Clyburn, et al.
Yes, a white male candidate could win. Because most Dem voters are moderate liberals. My friends met people at the doors last year who said point blank they wouldn't/couldn't vote for a woman (and a few even mentioned the Black part).
I was surprised by that comment too. I would really like to see Beshear run for Senate. Just imagining him replacing Mitch McConnell--well, I didn't think we were allowed to even dream of such good things these days. But I feel almost certain that white males are in pole position for the Democratic nomination in 2028 because I think most of us are convinced that racism and misogyny contributed to (not caused, but contributed to) both of Trump's elections. And I say that with great sadness indeed.
"Phil BresdesEn" of Tennessee, not "Phil Bresdesan."
I think you were replying to someone else, but it's actually Bredesen. Only one s.
You are 100% right. Now is not the time to play identity politics. One of the reasons Trump won was is his being a white man. Its unfortunate that most Americans are traditionalist (racist?) and they want a traditional looking President. A significant number of people looked at Harris and saw her minimal political experience and couldnt go there. The Dems and Biden were stupid to go for a 2nd term. A strong governor like Bashear or Shapiro or even Newsome would would have won.
I think it was a shot at the base of the Dem Party. Not on Beshear as a viable candidate.
My kingdom for a conservative writer who can manage 3 consecutive sentences without trying to make their readers feel like crap. Challenge level impossible.
My kingdom for a conservative writer who actually writes about conservatives and their agenda. They focus more on those 'bad Democrats' and how horrible they are for America than actually trying to make an argument for their beliefs.
yeah, plenty of my progressive friends are even saying this. maximum wonder bread 2028.
I’ve said this elsewhere, but I don’t think we’ve seen the candidate who will emerge in 2028 from the Dem side. I’m not sure what mood the voter base will be in, but I’m doubtful that the sort of centrist Democratic politicians he’s exhorting will light a fire under the people voting, or the Democratic base. It may be a white male or not — I agnostic on that, but I think the calculus that produced Biden no longer exists. Lo
That stuck out to me, too. I don't know what he's smoking but all I ever hear anymore is "No More Women Allowed To Run" from the serious pundits.
Agree. "...a white male candidate with a moderate record would..." be the only candidate the party could nominate that could actually win in 2028.
What Democrats have to learn is “different strokes for different folks.” The party did well when it really embraced a wide range of views. Even radicals like me realize that to win the House they can’t run the same kind of candidate who runs in Brooklyn.
The Republicans have been able to call every Democrat a wild-eyed communist radical. Now however, an increasing number of people are feeling uncomfortable with have a raging pedophile as president, and a party that feeds him all the young girls and whatever else he wants. Freeing Maxwell is the same as approving raping 14 year-olds.
There are many new, young Democrats who are already running in swing districts in Colorado, Arizona, and New York. Some of them are working class women who are military vets. These are pragmatists and not radicals.
The real problem will be making sure we have free elections. Trump’s all out war on truth and freedom will find many ways to make voting and counting the votes difficult.
MAGA PEOPLE DON’T CARE! IT’S GREED AND RACISM WITH NO SHAME!
Your last paragraph is spot on. We're in deep trouble and we have to stop pretending that anything is normal.
Love and agree with your first paragraph.
Thank you, Mike Murphy. I needed the vision of Roy Cooper and Andy Beshear in the Senate after reading Bill Kristol. Pretty sure there’s a Mainiac on the same level to take the place of Susan Collins. Jared Golden or better?
I wish Andy Bashear would run for President. He'd win for sure. That is if the election computers weren't hacked.
In this day and age of unseriousness, can't he win Senate in 26 and raise his national profile and get into the 28 race anyway?
Yes, I agree with you and disagree with Mike Murphy. If there’s anything we learned from the last election, we are not going to win with a woman or a person of color.we need to win back white male voters. There is no better way to do that than with a likable ethical candidate like Andy Bashear.
Your comment about killing democracy in broad daylight and not bothering to hide it is spot on. What's even worse is that they told us exactly what they were going to do months before the election. We complacent Americans either did not believe it or were too comfortable to care. Now, our democracy is holding on by its fingernails. It seems the court system is the only real opposition to Trump's regime. The Republican Congress appears to be owned lock, stock and barrel by Trump and (clown) company. The Supreme Court is unreliable at best.
I saw it clearly. But so did Trump voters. They saw a rich, white businessman, former President who campaigned putting white Christians back in the driver's seat and they bought it. They didn't care about fairness, or liberal democracy or an honest government. And even those who were not homophobe or racist or sexist, just wanted a regular president. In spite of his age, many of them would have voted for Biden again. Many of them don't pay attention to the harm Trump is doing because they watch Fox News, and are told its okay. We may think they are stupid racists idiots, but there are a lot of them and they vote too.
Remember, too many felon supporters believed him about his pledge to lower prices, and bring back jobs. Now they are stuck; desperate for these to happen, and terrified to admit they were wrong, because there is no option for them. To me, what was so surprising is for the elected Republicans to publicly roll over and play dead so quickly. The Senate refused to confirm Matt Gretzky, and did confirm Marco Rubio. For a brief time, I thought they would do their job. I was wrong.
Many felon supporters will believe that he is lowering prices and bringing back jobs, regardless of any inconvenient realities. "Joe's prices" haven't receded because 47's policies are not fully implemented yet. Job growth will follow the elimination of pollution regulations. That's how they see it. And even after the policies are fully implemented and change nothing, 47 won't be blamed. Greedy businesses will be blamed for higher prices and the lack of job growth.
Katherine, I was wrong, too! I believed that the Republicans would stand up to Trump and make him do his job. It turns out they nothing more than a tidal pool of jellyfish. The Republicans are one of the poorest examples of a political party in history.
Well there is two of us. A movement grows. Our apologies to jellyfish everywhere.
One of the reasons Trump is moving at lightning speed to royal authority is he is now about 35 cards short of a full deck and he senses it.
He has real hearing issues. His body does not move like it did. He's confabulating incredible stories, mixing things up, no longer able to remember his own decisions. His emotional instability is increasing, featuring more rants, rages, and snap decisions based in protecting his ego. He's totally losing it over the Epstein story because he knows, and always has, that this is the one issue which could destroy his house of cards, and it's now short 35 cards.
I've never thought Trump fantasized about being a dictator. He fancies himself a king surrounded by gold and opulence with no one able to question him or prevent him from doing what he wants. He's much more in the Saddam Hussein, middle east potentate mold, than the Putin or Orban mode.
Much sooner than later, his staff is going to have to decide what to do about their mad king. It's too bad so many of them are not up to the task.... and the ones that are may be better off for the sake of their own agenda to leave him in place howling at the media.
Thoughts and prayers America. We're going to need them.
Definitely Felon Trump sees himself as king. Anointed by God, the king rules over his subjects. Putin is a dictator, who stole the government. That’s how the felon sees things. I think his meetings with Queen Elizabeth showed him he had to be king, so he could prove to everybody how great he is.
Two trips to the Saudi kingdom were as influential. If not more so.
Beshear is our best chance at the KY Senate seat.
But why forget Mandani? Let’s embrace different Dem wins all over the country.
The GOP campaigns nationally. They paint all Dems the same, and the voters buy it.
Once Mandani wins, Beshear and Cooper will be painted as democratic socialists. They should be seasoned enough to fight that label.
Under Trump, America is now blind and weak. We will soon be poor. He has dismantled our security apparatus. We can no longer see what our adversaries are planning or even doing. He has abandoned our technological advantage in the AI arms race by cutting the legs off our electricity production facilities. He has destroyed the relationship with our best trading partners and now the American populace must endure higher prices for what? His cryptocurrency fantasy? He has crushed democracy and replaced it with his own authoritarian rule. Trump has traded honeybees for cockroaches. I guess that is The Art of the Deal.
Democracy isn't dead . . . yet.
Well . . . The Congress has shirked its responsibility and no longer provides "advise and consent". They just consent. The military has had its senior leadership expunged. Seasoned military leaders with a deep fund of knowledge are not desirable in the Trump era. The military is his. Scott Bessent knows a lot about the economy and markets, but has converted to a "yes" man. The Treasury is his. The Supreme Court? Pretty much his. Big law, major corporations and our best universities? Acquiescence, or else. Pretty much acquiescence and they are his. Anyone who dares to utter a phrase which the imperious leader dislikes? Or provide a statistic that he finds offensive? Gone. The military in the streets to do his bidding rather than protect the country from external threats? Cryptocurrency scams that will enrich The Trump Empire even further than it is now? At his command, Texas gerrymandering its districts so the Trump party can continue to rule? It is all his. He likes power. He has power. Will he surrender power to the next elected official? Or to any official who is not approved by Donald J Trump? Never.
If it isn't dead yet, it's on life support and the Republicans and the SCOTUS are about to pull the plug (have they already, though? I kind of think so).
Trump's an obvious authoritarian who's being facilitated by a pathetic, doormat Republican Congress. Trump couldn't begin to do his authoritarian push all by himself.
Dems need to respond to Republican redistricting w their own, as taking control of the House, at minimum, is necessary to try to rein in Trump and preserve what's left of our republic. Republicans need a damn good thumping in 2026, and as a bonus, the appearances of weaselly Mikey Johnson as Speaker would be halted.
California and New York governors do not have power to make the changes that Texas apparently wants to do. There would have to be serious changes made to rewrite the district maps, and I am not certain their voters would want that.
Replacing current districting just further proves to people that maybe sat out the election in 2024 because "both parties are basically the same" that they were right. And for those who think politics is basically a gang war, redistricting is the gangs dividing up the territory between them. People already think their voices are not heard in the government. This idea of redistricting as an arms race just tells the Democrats in Texas, the Republicans in whatever state retaliates, and the people that don't claim a political party that no one in government will respond to them and their needs/wants.
You make some good pts. But, I see it as self-defense to authoritarian moves that Trump & Republicans are making.
I see the argument. But I have to wonder at the political parties' reluctance to run good candidates in 2026 and make the case to all members of either party and the uncommitted that this is a crucial election in which electing fill-in-the-blank-party candidates is of utmost importance. It seems they don't trust the voters to see this and so decide to make efforts to rig the election through gerrymandering.
William Kristol wrote:
*****In the last few days, it seems as if we’ve reached a new stage in the attempted authoritarian takeover of American democracy. It’s not just that the multi-faceted assault on the truth, on the rule of law, on a free society has picked up steam—though it has. It’s that the assault, from our own government, now proceeds so openly and unashamedly.
[ITEM 1: Firing of head of Bureau of Labor Statistics]
[ITEM 2: Reference to DNI Director Tulsi Gabard and FBI Director Kash Patel pumping out propagandistic lies]
[ITEM 3: Transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum security prison as an initial payment in the subornment of her exculpatory perjury]
[ITEM 4: Mid-decade redistricting in Texas as a blatant attempt at a power grab, likely to be replicated in other Republican-controlled states]
The New York Times quotes “one person close to the president” as summing up the approach of the Trump White House as “maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.” It’s important to add that it’s not just maximum warfare by one party against the other. It’s warfare by the government of the United States against the justice system, against the presentation of true facts, against free and fair elections. It’s maximum warfare against the norms and institutions of a liberal democracy and republican self-government.
[...]
Today, in the United States of America, liberal democracy is being killed not in darkness but in broad daylight.*****
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The fact that this is all happening so brazenly is an indictment not only of the perpetrators but, more significantly, of the polity. The American people are some combination of oblivious, inured, and numb to this phenomenon. To shake them out of this obliviousness and/or complacency requires the painstaking effort of every patriot with eyes to see it and connection with members of the target audience with whom to share it.
You are right. Many Americans are complacent. Someone close to me who was once very active politically has given up. No more reading or watching news.
But, unfortunately there is a significant percentage of Americans who are loving this. Christian, white conservatives want everyone back in their place. Just like that conservative man who moved his family to Russia. These people want non whites put down. They want brown people from South of our border put in concentration camps. They love what Trump is doing. The really scary part is there is a reason right wing polls have fought against any gun restrictions.
Your observations suggests another adjective: dispirited. Your close acquaintance is likely anything but complacent. However, feeling helpless, this person has decided to evade the pain of witnessing what is happening.
And THAT observation suggests another important task: against this awful backdrop, find ways to maintain morale.
I agree that a dismayingly large proportion of the country is indeed "loving this." It is an inescapable reality that must not distract from the task of reaching those who are not like them.
Yes, I really think morale is crucially important right now.
Until they read that gun sales to Black citizens are rising.
Can you blame them?
Nope!
RE: Beshear for Senate - that would be the best move for the party, but we can't underestimate the effects of ego and the industry of consultants that pops up around people to say: "It could be you!" I'm not sure Beshear is going to have the anti-establishment Juice that the Dems are going to need in 2028 to win. Politics of status quo are going to lose in 2028. It doesn't matter politically whether they're pitching a change to the left, center, right, wherever - people are going to be mad and demand change.
RE: Gaza - Netanyahu, Trump, and conservative members of Bibi's cabinet do in fact have a plan for Gaza and they keep openly saying what they want to do. Step (1) continue to use the war as a pretense to kill and displace the civilian population of Gaza, Step (2) demolish the strip and then step (3) move settlers in, build a sea-side resort, and annex the territory. The plan for Gaza is genocide. They say it openly to the Israeli press.
Liked for the first part. I don’t think the Israelis or Trump for that matter have any ‘plan’ for Gaza. Of course Netanyahu would love to ethnically cleanse the strip, but there are ‘logistical’ impossibilities for that. If he could have pushed them into Egypt he would have. Having a plan for Gaza means making hard decisions that yes, may well bring down his government, and or losing even more allies.
I think Bibi himself is acting less ideologically, and more megalomaniacally in terms of doing what he needs to stay in power. Bibi has folks in his political coalition who are pushing him to do more, go further, go faster but Bibi himself is sacrificing lives in Gaza (both Israeli soldiers, the hostages, and Gazans) to stay in office. Bibi would probably love a perpetual war, whereas Smotrich, Ben-Gvir, and like-minded hardliners would have forced all the Gazans into Egypt the day after October 7.