Trump just cannot understand that ordinary citizens are totally self-motivated to object to his thugs abusing immigrants and people that look like immigrants. The only way he can explain it to himself is that they MUST be paid (by who is never clear unless it's the usual right wing Jewish paymasters) to do it, because ordinary people wouldn't go and put themselves between the thugs and their victims because there is nothing in it for them unless they got paid for it. This is yet another one of his many delusions. It might be a good idea for someone like the NYT to actually debunk his fantasy by looking for the paymaster and finding out everybody is doing it because they WANT to do it.
RIGHT ON, JVL! GO - GO - GO GRASSROOTS ARMY - FORWARD MARCH & COME ALONG WITH US ALL DEMOCRATIC OFFICE HOLDERS! NOW IS THE BEST TIME FOR ALL TRUE PATRIOTS TO SAVE AMERICANS & REMOVE ALL TRAITOROUS TRUMPIANS FROM POWER!
I wish more people would read Project 2025 and see how these steps are part of a systematic plan toward a police state; they are not incidental events even though some actions are clumsily executed or ill-timed. The Pres. may be mouthy, cognitively compromised, impulsive and ill-informed, but Steve Miller and the other Project planners are none of those. Read the steps toward using detention camps as forced labor camps to remedy the coming labor shortage from deportation. Of developing lists not just of our voting and SS data, but of Jews, of people with disabilities, of those with autism, of homosexuals. Does this not sound familiar to even casual students of history? Europe just commemorated HolocaustRemembrance Day but not here. Is legislation for extra funding for more ICE to allow permanently occupying secret police in population centers even after there are no immigrants left to deport?
It's easy to figure out why Minnesota: Racism, plain and simple. And that is what drives ICE, who's agents don't care about anything but busting brown and black people. And they'll bust anybody who gets in their way. Say or do something they don't like and they go into a "feeding" frenzy, just like those who assaulted our Capitol. Some may be those pardoned by the Orange Menace, so they "know" they will get a preemptive pardon. They're too stupid to grasp that nobody's going to pardon them from state charges. BTW, I'd love to see State and Local charges issued.
JVL, interesting that the New York Times’ Jamelle Bouie has also published an oped that connects the Minneapolis tragedy to Gettysburg. You wrote it better.
It is not lost on me that, tragic as this horrific event was, Alex Pretti was the perfect foil for contrasting the brutality of the ICE/CBP thugs. A literal Boy Scout and choir boy. An ICU nurse at the VETERANS ADMINISTRATION. A gun owner with a permit to carry. If this had been a movie instead of real life, people would have considered the possibility too contrived. He died much too soon, and didn't deserve what happened to him, but his memory will be etched in history as the embodiment of a pivotal moment in the history of this insane period. RIP, Alex Pretti. We thank and honor you for your sacrifice.
JVL, thank you. Your newsletters are the reason that I became a paying member of the Bulwark, instead of just watching on YouTube. As a historian, trained by the best Rutgers has to offer, I often get upset with people trying to marry a historical event with a current moment. When you began speaking of the implications of the battle of Gettysburg, I was skeptical. But you did it flawlessly and in a way I hadn’t considered before. Thank you for this triad, for you and all of your colleagues at the Bulwark, and for taking on your own political party that has betrayed what you and many others spent a lifetime working for. While very liberal myself, I am happy to listen to real Republicans be honest about their current party and the state of our nation. I would encourage you to keep up the fight, but I know I don’t need to. Sorry to go on, but I felt that a “Thank You!” from me was necessary.
"And House Democrats should get themselves to Minneapolis. Immediately. They should be on the street themselves, cameras out and recording, observing and putting their bodies on the line. They should be standing in solidarity with the people of Minneapolis. Demanding the attention of every American to what is happening. Daring the regime to assault them, too."
And where do we find such Democrats???
The Democratic party is woefully, W O E F U L L Y, unequipped to deal with the situation we now find ourselves in. Yet I find my email and text messages bombarded with histrionic and hyperbolic pleas for funds.
When I see someone with stones actually standing up to this criminal regime, I will bury them with money. Every cent I can spare. But these pathetic fundraising campaigns are not it.
We are those brave, strong and dedicated enough to protecting our Democracy as those that are dedicated to destroying it?
It has indeed taken too long for the Democratic party to respond as a unified voice They are now, in the Senate, risking another government shutdown to make ICE pay for its police state actions. I can name any number of Democrats in Congress and state/local office who are standing up, boldly. Please don't mistake the AI fundraising BS for what's happening. I hate that too! But resistance movements have always started and prevailed from the bottom up, from ordinary people. They are us, they are teachers, nurses, housewives, veterans, people acting in community. We need to be the change, not stand apart grieving what doesn't meet our own standards of righteousness.
I would like to see the breakroom conversation between colleagues Jonathan Rauch and Tom Nichols now that Rauch is on the "yeah, it's fascism" team. I appreciate Nichols' work, but his constant lecturing others on how "this isn't fascism, yet" over on the BSky is a bit tedious.
I think more HOUSE dems should go to Minnesota . I can yell at them , but we need to listen to Indivisible or our Minnesota based organization of choice to know what WE can do besides complain .Maybe if civilians travel to Minnesota (if wanted ) that will shame the elected into doing it as well
My guess is that if there are peaceful demonstrations in multiple places , especially in "t***p country " it will rattle even Mike "maus" Johnson .
Trump just cannot understand that ordinary citizens are totally self-motivated to object to his thugs abusing immigrants and people that look like immigrants. The only way he can explain it to himself is that they MUST be paid (by who is never clear unless it's the usual right wing Jewish paymasters) to do it, because ordinary people wouldn't go and put themselves between the thugs and their victims because there is nothing in it for them unless they got paid for it. This is yet another one of his many delusions. It might be a good idea for someone like the NYT to actually debunk his fantasy by looking for the paymaster and finding out everybody is doing it because they WANT to do it.
Amen amen amen to part 2. And especially the Prescription by Timothy Snyder for what to do about the Fascists.
RIGHT ON, JVL! GO - GO - GO GRASSROOTS ARMY - FORWARD MARCH & COME ALONG WITH US ALL DEMOCRATIC OFFICE HOLDERS! NOW IS THE BEST TIME FOR ALL TRUE PATRIOTS TO SAVE AMERICANS & REMOVE ALL TRAITOROUS TRUMPIANS FROM POWER!
I wish more people would read Project 2025 and see how these steps are part of a systematic plan toward a police state; they are not incidental events even though some actions are clumsily executed or ill-timed. The Pres. may be mouthy, cognitively compromised, impulsive and ill-informed, but Steve Miller and the other Project planners are none of those. Read the steps toward using detention camps as forced labor camps to remedy the coming labor shortage from deportation. Of developing lists not just of our voting and SS data, but of Jews, of people with disabilities, of those with autism, of homosexuals. Does this not sound familiar to even casual students of history? Europe just commemorated HolocaustRemembrance Day but not here. Is legislation for extra funding for more ICE to allow permanently occupying secret police in population centers even after there are no immigrants left to deport?
America turns a weary eye towards Tom Nichols and says “Now can we call it fascistic?”
It's easy to figure out why Minnesota: Racism, plain and simple. And that is what drives ICE, who's agents don't care about anything but busting brown and black people. And they'll bust anybody who gets in their way. Say or do something they don't like and they go into a "feeding" frenzy, just like those who assaulted our Capitol. Some may be those pardoned by the Orange Menace, so they "know" they will get a preemptive pardon. They're too stupid to grasp that nobody's going to pardon them from state charges. BTW, I'd love to see State and Local charges issued.
JVL, interesting that the New York Times’ Jamelle Bouie has also published an oped that connects the Minneapolis tragedy to Gettysburg. You wrote it better.
It is not lost on me that, tragic as this horrific event was, Alex Pretti was the perfect foil for contrasting the brutality of the ICE/CBP thugs. A literal Boy Scout and choir boy. An ICU nurse at the VETERANS ADMINISTRATION. A gun owner with a permit to carry. If this had been a movie instead of real life, people would have considered the possibility too contrived. He died much too soon, and didn't deserve what happened to him, but his memory will be etched in history as the embodiment of a pivotal moment in the history of this insane period. RIP, Alex Pretti. We thank and honor you for your sacrifice.
Thank you JVL for posting the Good Samaritan article. It was what I needed to see in this moment in time.
JVL nails it, as usual.
JVL, thank you. Your newsletters are the reason that I became a paying member of the Bulwark, instead of just watching on YouTube. As a historian, trained by the best Rutgers has to offer, I often get upset with people trying to marry a historical event with a current moment. When you began speaking of the implications of the battle of Gettysburg, I was skeptical. But you did it flawlessly and in a way I hadn’t considered before. Thank you for this triad, for you and all of your colleagues at the Bulwark, and for taking on your own political party that has betrayed what you and many others spent a lifetime working for. While very liberal myself, I am happy to listen to real Republicans be honest about their current party and the state of our nation. I would encourage you to keep up the fight, but I know I don’t need to. Sorry to go on, but I felt that a “Thank You!” from me was necessary.
That is an insulting thing to say. They are more likely than you to realize the stakes.
What's the "that" -- and the "they?"
I was referring to the headline, the reference to others' inability to understand the stakes.
Got it. They DO know the stakes and are suffering & resisting in force daily to prove it.
I see the Bulwark trio is heading to Minneapolis end of February. Putting feet where the mouth is.
"And House Democrats should get themselves to Minneapolis. Immediately. They should be on the street themselves, cameras out and recording, observing and putting their bodies on the line. They should be standing in solidarity with the people of Minneapolis. Demanding the attention of every American to what is happening. Daring the regime to assault them, too."
And where do we find such Democrats???
The Democratic party is woefully, W O E F U L L Y, unequipped to deal with the situation we now find ourselves in. Yet I find my email and text messages bombarded with histrionic and hyperbolic pleas for funds.
When I see someone with stones actually standing up to this criminal regime, I will bury them with money. Every cent I can spare. But these pathetic fundraising campaigns are not it.
We are those brave, strong and dedicated enough to protecting our Democracy as those that are dedicated to destroying it?
I feel we have no place to turn.
It has indeed taken too long for the Democratic party to respond as a unified voice They are now, in the Senate, risking another government shutdown to make ICE pay for its police state actions. I can name any number of Democrats in Congress and state/local office who are standing up, boldly. Please don't mistake the AI fundraising BS for what's happening. I hate that too! But resistance movements have always started and prevailed from the bottom up, from ordinary people. They are us, they are teachers, nurses, housewives, veterans, people acting in community. We need to be the change, not stand apart grieving what doesn't meet our own standards of righteousness.
Well, where are you? Woe is you.
I’ve never been elected to represent the people of the United States. I don’t collect a salary and benefits from those same people to do so.
I would like to see the breakroom conversation between colleagues Jonathan Rauch and Tom Nichols now that Rauch is on the "yeah, it's fascism" team. I appreciate Nichols' work, but his constant lecturing others on how "this isn't fascism, yet" over on the BSky is a bit tedious.
Excellent Triad as always JVL.
I think more HOUSE dems should go to Minnesota . I can yell at them , but we need to listen to Indivisible or our Minnesota based organization of choice to know what WE can do besides complain .Maybe if civilians travel to Minnesota (if wanted ) that will shame the elected into doing it as well
My guess is that if there are peaceful demonstrations in multiple places , especially in "t***p country " it will rattle even Mike "maus" Johnson .
As always, thank you for giving the big picture with context.