“Last week, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, a Trump ally, introduced legislation authorizing “private American citizens and their businesses” to confiscate boats and other alleged property of drug cartels.”
No kidding! Talk like a pirate is only one day a year. Privateering is everyday.
International Boomers will long for the USA of old...but as time goes on, the Gen Z kids around the world will only remember the USA as the Trump years...their whole lives will be shaped through this lens. It will take decades to turn it around. ETTD
Trump's messages on "Truth Social" (great name for a propaganda machine: write hateful stuff, send it to all, hope that if many people take it over they'll start believing that it must be true) are so utterly childish.
He's writing "The Failing NYT" for more than a decade now. It's still thriving. As he knows.
And if he were NOT one of those Epstein "Sleazebags", why did Congress and the courts have to FORCE him to release the Epstein files that he promised to release on day one?
Trump’s total hypocrisy comes through in his Christmas messages. The "official" Christmas message implies that Trump is a true Christian who sincerely believes the message of Christmas. This is a living lie! The "unofficial" president's message is the "real Trump Christmas message". It's full of hate, vengeance, lies and malice. It's typical Trump and reflects his true feelings about Christmas, goodwill, compassion or humanity. He has none of those characteristics!
All GOP voters know that it's a lie. They read both messages together in a very different way than we do, namely filtered through the GOP's neofascist propaganda. Then the message becomes: the WORLD is "full of hate, vengeance, lies and malice", and anyone who claims that REAL moral values exist is even worse than Trump, because that's lying even more than what he does...
Remember, everything Trump says is a projection. In view of that, think about how he ended that particular screed: "This may be the last Merry Christmas you have." In his rant against Stephen Colbert reported earlier this week, he said that Colbert "...is a dead man walking." Interesting Freudian slips, those.
Will: "This isn’t the foreign policy many of Trump’s voters wanted. They thought “America First” meant staying home. Instead, Trump has gone abroad to seize land and treasure. He’s a pirate. And being a pirate is all fun and games until somebody loses an island."
Perhaps, but his voters will get onboard with the foreign policy instead of increasing the risk of experiencing cognitive dissonance.
His voters have been brainwashed by the neocon propaganda machine called Fox that the GOP created deliberately for this purpose, 25 years ago.
Now, their entire media ecosystem repeats the same lies, so they hear it from the people at work, their family members, the members of their church community etc.
Neocons believed that it would be enough to be able to make people vote for their neoliberal, anti-New Deal bills.
They didn't take the fact into account that the neofascist wing of the GOP would take over the party just like they took it over with G. W. Bush, and that thanks to the neocon propaganda machine, fascism would be installed in the US.
All that just for less and less taxes for the wealthiest...
Neoconservatism created its Fox Entertainment machine in 1996. Neoconservatism was founded in the 1970s. Neoliberalism, as a reaction against the New Deal, in the 1940s.
Neoliberal founder Milton Friedman was a key Reagan advisor. That's when neoliberalism managed to fully take over the GOP.
Today, the neofascist GOP is the logical consequence of that movement, since Friedman already said the exact same thing that Peter Thiel repeats today and Vance was hired to achieve: "capitalism and democracy are incompatible".
That being said... great King quote. Couldn't be more true.
Do you have a credible source for Friedman saying "capitalism and democracy are incompatible"? An AI summary on Google says that he " . . . believed that capitalism and democracy were closely linked and that economic freedom was an 'indispensable means' and 'necessary condition' for political freedom. He did not believe they were incompatible."
Also, were you alive in the 1970s, before Reagan implemented neoliberalism? If so, do you recall how bad that decade of stagflation was? Waiting in line for gas? 18% interest rate on a car loan? He didn't adopt it just off then top of his head. It was the economic crisis of the 1970s that gave those ideas an opportunity to become mainstream. You kinda skipped over that in your 1940s - 1980s timeline.
The GOP was spreading propaganda well before Fox Noise. Fox Noise and right wing talk radio just spread it faster and wider than right wing print media.
Yes, of course, but Fox was a huge turning point. We shouldn't underestimate how much thinking and planning went into it.
Example: in 1976, one of the main founders of neoconservatism, Irving Kristol (yep, Bill's father...) wrote an op-ed in the WSJ entitled "The Stupid Party". That's what Stuart Mill had called conservative parties. Kristol decides to wear it as a badge.
In the article, he argues that indeed, conservatism vitally depends on people voting with their gut feeling to win elections. He literally writes that whenever "intellectuals" enter the "public debate", conservative parties cannot but lose elections. So, he concludes, in a "healthy society", intellectuals HAVE to stay "at the margins".
So the GOP post WWII went from fearing that the New Deal would install Soviet-like anti-capitalist dictatorship (neoliberalism fear) to believing that with enough lies and outrage, ordinary citizens may vote against democratic "socialism" (neoconservatism) to believing that dictatorship IS the only solution since no propaganda machine will be powerful enough to convince a majority of citizens to freely give up their political power and rights.
Before Fox, the US has no major media outlet explicitly designed to spread lies and outrage 24/7, and designed to try to make people vote for neoliberalism and against their own interests.
After 25 years of Fox, those neocons inside the GOP who believed that installing neoliberalism through democratic means became a minority, and the anti-democracy neoliberals (= today's Republican neofascists) took over the party.
The Bulwark consists of sobered up pro-democracy neocons. Are they truly willing to support the New Deal now, however, or do they still believe in fooling people enough to keep a democratic system in place all while imposing neoliberalism? That's what isn't clear to me yet.
Both JVL and Sarah have said positive things about neoliberalism. They should read historian Gary Gerstle's "The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era." He says the Neoliberal Order fractured with the '08 Crash.
What follows? “For the economic realm to prosper, state involvement is needed at a level that was deemed unacceptable during the neoliberal era. There is a growing recognition that states must intervene in markets to address questions of economic security, opportunity, and welfare. Beneath some of the hubbub of American politics, a new political economy along these lines is indeed taking shape” (https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/Series/Analytical-Series/cafe-econ-a-new-political-order-emerges).
also Pat Buchanan wrote speeches for tricky ' dick' and did become media saavy in the mid seventies, connecting the importance or being consistent of religion and politics joined at the hip, I am aware his serious candidacy was not until later, but he also was a factor, that friendly face. I have deep faith, but even life at times does not have the bible in every single second. sounds nice, but say if some chore has to get done quickly and safely and one needs cooperation well, at that point the work sort of takes over. Personally when in Church I do not think about politics, while voting I do not pray, there is that differential , just my opinion. Buchanan had that down home appeal, the persistence and the so called folksy face or manner.
I did not like him nor his message, I can recall the moment when I
realized even billy graham crossed a line, I was about 8 years of age.
Right-wing media and its propaganda fare begins with Rush Limbaugh in 1988 after the Reagan Admin FCC repealed the fairness doctrine—which had required that stations provide free air time for responses to any controversial opinions that were broadcast—in 1987. I caught his early imitators before Fox News while driving around Los Angeles: Dennis Prager, Larry Elder, Mark Levin and Hugh Hewitt. They all had the same message: THE Left was destroying America.
His voters exist in their media ecosystem and reconfirm the Trumplican line to each other. They won’t brook outside sources of information. Their feelings won’t accept your facts, and if they want your opinion, they’ll give it to you. Never has America had such a great President as Trump, just ask him.
That's what successful propaganda does: not only does it brainwash people to believe entirely false things, it ALSO makes them stop fact-checking and thinking for themselves, to instead automatically discard any info that contradicts what they were told to believe.
What is typical for FASCIST propaganda, on top of this, is a specific anthropology, namely the installation of the cynical (and demonstrably false) belief that human nature is NOT "created equal". There are the 99% mediocre people who, left to their own devices, will always do the wrong thing, and then the 1% superior human beings, who HAVE to be those who govern and dictate their wishes to everyone else.
GOP voters today believe that there are NO real moral values, that "homo homini lupus" as Hobbes claimed, namely people are wolves to each other, and we need a superior wolf to keep everyone from killing each other.
I recently discussed with a typical Trump voter. He is convinced that poor people are poor ONLY because they are lazy, and entirely destroying social security will force them to work. He himself grew up poor, feels as if no one ever helped him, and now wants the same for everyone else. AT the same time, he ALSO believes that Trump won't destroy anyone's insurance etc.
Then you have the educated neofascists. Those believe that they themselves are superior to all other Americans, so they know that the neofascist GOP will destroy the New Deal and fully support that idea. Or as neoliberals already claimed: only the wealthiest are "superior". As long as there is a democratic society, "mediocre" people will limit the freedom of the wealthiest to do whatever they want. And those wealthiest are also supposed to know what's best for everyone else...
That's what Musk, Thiel, Vance, Russell Vought, the Heritage Foundation etc. believe.
Conclusion: this is not about Trump. It's about the neofascist GOP and its media ecosystem.
Foreign policy, yes. What about the attempts to cover up the Epstein files? On Tim's pod a few days ago, Tom Nichols said he thinks they won't go along with this - his read on some of them is that what happens to children by the evil Democrats is essential. 🤞🏻
Every time Felon Trump’s handlers run out of projects to amuse him, we get bombing in foreign countries and extortion of foreign countries; this from the “Peace President.” Too bad he doesn’t like coloring books. They could amuse for hours!
I swear Stephen Miller has a prepared list of deplorable acts that he pulls out whenever Trump gets angry. It seems the Broadway show tunes no longer soothe his moods.
“He also exploits war. Two months ago, in a speech to American troops in Japan, he fondly recalled the days when “they used to say, ‘To the victor belong the spoils.’” In more recent wars, he complained, “We’d win, and then we’d leave.” He made it clear that he would restore the doctrine of spoils. “Unlike past administrations, we will not be politically correct,” he told the troops.”
These actions sound like a country on its last economic legs; unable to find new ways to expand and improve our economy without seizing other countries wealth and assets. That spells doom for US innovation over the long-run; especially since we’re seeing research dollars and foreign expertise being discarded!
And while I agree with the preface that Trump is only in It for himself; what’s missing are all the nefarious actors who helped shape Trump’s worldview and agenda.
Trump is not monolithic. He couldn’t succeed without powerful interests standing firmly behind him. The plutocrats only consider him the best President ever; simply because he is easily manipulated, and so corrupt, that the vast and expansive corruption of the oligarchs, seems pale in comparison.
Furthermore, Trump is just the malignant tumor of what this nation has transformed itself into after more than two decades of war, and white collar criminals and politicians evading justice.
Bottom line, when Japan decides to spend $60 billion on a nuclear program, and we see Europe and Asia slowly decoupling themselves from our economic dependence, then you know the West’s strategic partnership is over, and now new alignments are being formed; both economic and strategic, and without US involvement or input.
And this should be what scares us more than Trump: What exactly comes after? IMHO…:)
What's really infuriating is that Trump himself never joined the military and he didn't really have anything to do with making America great in the first place, but he's sure down with "receiving the spoils" isn't he?
The other piece of his foreign policy is that it is all in the past. Venezuelan oil won’t have nearly as much salience in a world that is using less and less oil to produce goods. Part of the Chinese investment in green energy and cars etc. is to wean themselves and others off of the oil economy and the dollar that dominates the market. They are getting to the point where their products are not just cheaper, but also technologically better, and we are here trying to intimidate Maduro into leaving the country and taking the oil.
Agreed and well said, but don’t forget that Venezuela is also home to some of the largest colbalt, Nickel, Lithium, as well as gold, silver and real earth element metals critical for advanced AI and battery technology; another reason why we are putting pressure on Canada and Greenland and looking inwards towards dominating the Americas.
In addition to corruption and cruelty, Trump us all about the past. As we age we get nostalgic. People with critical thinking capabilities sigh, look at the present and build toward a better future.
"These actions sound like a country on its last economic legs; unable to find new ways to expand and improve our economy without seizing other countries wealth and assets. That spells doom for US innovation over the long-run; especially since we’re seeing research dollars and foreign expertise being discarded!"
Your statement is so G D spot on!!! We are a nation in rapid decline!
Pardons: And when you see a shocking twist of someone suddenly going MAGA, check out who they might be close to that needs a pardon. The latest sighting, Nicki Minaj.
I wonder if Trump is aware that he has become a caricature of himself? That Christmas TS message is Exhibit "A". It's like something someone would write as a parody.
Great shot, Will! It takes your especially kind and generous heart to thoroughly explain Trump's greedy, villainous, narcissistic and self-serving heart.
I would add to the explanation of Trump's plundering of Ukraine that his main motivation in seeking "peace" is not the Nobel Prize but rather to extract as much wealth as possible from all parties in Putin's war. In addition to arms sales to European countries "at full price" and wallowing in Ukraine's rare dirt minerals, it becomes more and more obvious that Trump continues to placate Putin and to avoid meaningful sanctions against Russia while failing to support Ukraine in any meaningful way, all to keep future resource and real estate development deals with Russia alive. Trump's "peace plan" even contains explicit provision for such deals. There is a reason why Trump brought his business team to Alaska (albeit prematurely) and has been using Witkoff and Kushner to negotiate the "peace" plan designed to exploit the war to suck as much wealth from Europe, Ukraine and Russia as he can.
Will, Cathy, Andrew, Sam and Jim, Thanks for your dedication in bringing us these excellent reports during a time you should be enjoying with your families. Every one is must reading for those that voted for this Midas wanna be, to remind them of their folly and disgrace. The only song that should ever be played in this White House is Money, Money, Money. I don't understand why the rest of the free world don't unite and tell this a-hole to screw himself. Although he'd probably think it was a good idea and boast he'd love to do it. Hopefully, Ukraine can handle their elections, it's our elections we should be worried about. After this convicted felon pardoned the Jan sixers, you would think a Congress would attempt to protect the rule of law and pass a law to restrict it's abuse. America first my ass. Do you think our fore fathers intended for an extortion racket to evolve out of Article Ii, Section 2? Then again, who could ever foresee an abomination like Trump, even Nostradamus didn't conjure that one.
“Pardon-seekers have offered some lobbyists close to the president success fees of as much as $6 million if they can close the deal, according to people familiar with the offers.”
If there is a deal to be closed, that is Bribery, which is specifically called out as grounds for Impeachment in Article II, Section 4.
In SCOTUS Newspeak, gifts are expressive speech, just a way of saying "thank you." Tribute to the sovereign meets the "history and tradition" test. Free speech for all forms of tender 🫦💸💰🪙 (I'd say this is satire but I'm not sure...)
"He’s a pirate. And being a pirate is all fun and games until somebody loses an island."
Did the Felon lose a piece of Epstein's island, too? Is that the ugly secret he is trying so hard to hide, that he had been a co-owner? (Caution, like all good conspiracy theories, I have nothing but theories to back this up ... but it does sound like the Felon, doesn't it?)
Thanks, guys, for putting out a 12/26 Morning Shots!
It’s Blackbeard Friday.
“Last week, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, a Trump ally, introduced legislation authorizing “private American citizens and their businesses” to confiscate boats and other alleged property of drug cartels.”
No kidding! Talk like a pirate is only one day a year. Privateering is everyday.
“And being a pirate is all fun and games until somebody loses an island.”
Or, hopefully, hanged from a yardarm.
scurvy, peg leg
in chains I forgot, walk the plank
ARRR!!!!!
100% Will Saletan
Love Will's take on things, as always.
🎵 For I am a Pirate King (yes yes, hurrah for the Pirate King) and it is, it is a glorious thing to be a Pirate King!🎵
The Pirates of Palm Beach.
Beautiful!
International Boomers will long for the USA of old...but as time goes on, the Gen Z kids around the world will only remember the USA as the Trump years...their whole lives will be shaped through this lens. It will take decades to turn it around. ETTD
That’s a very depressing observation.
Yet a valid one!
God help us all in the fight for the future of our country. I hope and pray it’s not too late.
Amen! And that is the real tragic legacy of Donald Trump and MAGA.
Trump's messages on "Truth Social" (great name for a propaganda machine: write hateful stuff, send it to all, hope that if many people take it over they'll start believing that it must be true) are so utterly childish.
He's writing "The Failing NYT" for more than a decade now. It's still thriving. As he knows.
And if he were NOT one of those Epstein "Sleazebags", why did Congress and the courts have to FORCE him to release the Epstein files that he promised to release on day one?
What a joke.
Trump’s total hypocrisy comes through in his Christmas messages. The "official" Christmas message implies that Trump is a true Christian who sincerely believes the message of Christmas. This is a living lie! The "unofficial" president's message is the "real Trump Christmas message". It's full of hate, vengeance, lies and malice. It's typical Trump and reflects his true feelings about Christmas, goodwill, compassion or humanity. He has none of those characteristics!
All GOP voters know that it's a lie. They read both messages together in a very different way than we do, namely filtered through the GOP's neofascist propaganda. Then the message becomes: the WORLD is "full of hate, vengeance, lies and malice", and anyone who claims that REAL moral values exist is even worse than Trump, because that's lying even more than what he does...
Remember, everything Trump says is a projection. In view of that, think about how he ended that particular screed: "This may be the last Merry Christmas you have." In his rant against Stephen Colbert reported earlier this week, he said that Colbert "...is a dead man walking." Interesting Freudian slips, those.
similar to dead country, WWIII, on and on * you won't have a country any more *
instill constant fear, they are rapists, he's a pro at the drivel, and either cruel or
a powermonger
Will: "This isn’t the foreign policy many of Trump’s voters wanted. They thought “America First” meant staying home. Instead, Trump has gone abroad to seize land and treasure. He’s a pirate. And being a pirate is all fun and games until somebody loses an island."
Perhaps, but his voters will get onboard with the foreign policy instead of increasing the risk of experiencing cognitive dissonance.
His voters have been brainwashed by the neocon propaganda machine called Fox that the GOP created deliberately for this purpose, 25 years ago.
Now, their entire media ecosystem repeats the same lies, so they hear it from the people at work, their family members, the members of their church community etc.
Neocons believed that it would be enough to be able to make people vote for their neoliberal, anti-New Deal bills.
They didn't take the fact into account that the neofascist wing of the GOP would take over the party just like they took it over with G. W. Bush, and that thanks to the neocon propaganda machine, fascism would be installed in the US.
All that just for less and less taxes for the wealthiest...
25 years ago? More like 40+ years ago.
Yep. As Stephen King quipped, it's like the Republican party sat on a dragon's egg for 40 years and were shocked when they hatched a dragon.
Neoconservatism created its Fox Entertainment machine in 1996. Neoconservatism was founded in the 1970s. Neoliberalism, as a reaction against the New Deal, in the 1940s.
Neoliberal founder Milton Friedman was a key Reagan advisor. That's when neoliberalism managed to fully take over the GOP.
Today, the neofascist GOP is the logical consequence of that movement, since Friedman already said the exact same thing that Peter Thiel repeats today and Vance was hired to achieve: "capitalism and democracy are incompatible".
That being said... great King quote. Couldn't be more true.
Do you have a credible source for Friedman saying "capitalism and democracy are incompatible"? An AI summary on Google says that he " . . . believed that capitalism and democracy were closely linked and that economic freedom was an 'indispensable means' and 'necessary condition' for political freedom. He did not believe they were incompatible."
Also, were you alive in the 1970s, before Reagan implemented neoliberalism? If so, do you recall how bad that decade of stagflation was? Waiting in line for gas? 18% interest rate on a car loan? He didn't adopt it just off then top of his head. It was the economic crisis of the 1970s that gave those ideas an opportunity to become mainstream. You kinda skipped over that in your 1940s - 1980s timeline.
AI is definitely NOT a "credible source" :-).
And yes, I have. It's in historian Quinn Slobodian's book "Crack-up Capitalism". I can give you the exact reference if you want to.
As to the 1970s: since when is ONE person "being alive" at the time somehow a "credible source"... ?
And the 1950-1970s were exactly when the US middle class was born, with a lot of social promotion and economic wealth.
Under Reagan, the federal debt tripled, income inequality was up, the poverty rate the same by the end of his presidency as when he came in, etc.
I didn't know he said that. That's funny!
I just checked. Fox was created in 1996, rather than 2000, as I mistakenly thought.
Still, that's 30 years, not 40+...
The GOP was spreading propaganda well before Fox Noise. Fox Noise and right wing talk radio just spread it faster and wider than right wing print media.
Yes, of course, but Fox was a huge turning point. We shouldn't underestimate how much thinking and planning went into it.
Example: in 1976, one of the main founders of neoconservatism, Irving Kristol (yep, Bill's father...) wrote an op-ed in the WSJ entitled "The Stupid Party". That's what Stuart Mill had called conservative parties. Kristol decides to wear it as a badge.
In the article, he argues that indeed, conservatism vitally depends on people voting with their gut feeling to win elections. He literally writes that whenever "intellectuals" enter the "public debate", conservative parties cannot but lose elections. So, he concludes, in a "healthy society", intellectuals HAVE to stay "at the margins".
So the GOP post WWII went from fearing that the New Deal would install Soviet-like anti-capitalist dictatorship (neoliberalism fear) to believing that with enough lies and outrage, ordinary citizens may vote against democratic "socialism" (neoconservatism) to believing that dictatorship IS the only solution since no propaganda machine will be powerful enough to convince a majority of citizens to freely give up their political power and rights.
Before Fox, the US has no major media outlet explicitly designed to spread lies and outrage 24/7, and designed to try to make people vote for neoliberalism and against their own interests.
After 25 years of Fox, those neocons inside the GOP who believed that installing neoliberalism through democratic means became a minority, and the anti-democracy neoliberals (= today's Republican neofascists) took over the party.
The Bulwark consists of sobered up pro-democracy neocons. Are they truly willing to support the New Deal now, however, or do they still believe in fooling people enough to keep a democratic system in place all while imposing neoliberalism? That's what isn't clear to me yet.
Both JVL and Sarah have said positive things about neoliberalism. They should read historian Gary Gerstle's "The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era." He says the Neoliberal Order fractured with the '08 Crash.
What follows? “For the economic realm to prosper, state involvement is needed at a level that was deemed unacceptable during the neoliberal era. There is a growing recognition that states must intervene in markets to address questions of economic security, opportunity, and welfare. Beneath some of the hubbub of American politics, a new political economy along these lines is indeed taking shape” (https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/Series/Analytical-Series/cafe-econ-a-new-political-order-emerges).
also Pat Buchanan wrote speeches for tricky ' dick' and did become media saavy in the mid seventies, connecting the importance or being consistent of religion and politics joined at the hip, I am aware his serious candidacy was not until later, but he also was a factor, that friendly face. I have deep faith, but even life at times does not have the bible in every single second. sounds nice, but say if some chore has to get done quickly and safely and one needs cooperation well, at that point the work sort of takes over. Personally when in Church I do not think about politics, while voting I do not pray, there is that differential , just my opinion. Buchanan had that down home appeal, the persistence and the so called folksy face or manner.
I did not like him nor his message, I can recall the moment when I
realized even billy graham crossed a line, I was about 8 years of age.
Right-wing media and its propaganda fare begins with Rush Limbaugh in 1988 after the Reagan Admin FCC repealed the fairness doctrine—which had required that stations provide free air time for responses to any controversial opinions that were broadcast—in 1987. I caught his early imitators before Fox News while driving around Los Angeles: Dennis Prager, Larry Elder, Mark Levin and Hugh Hewitt. They all had the same message: THE Left was destroying America.
Don’t forget Rush Limbaugh.
His voters exist in their media ecosystem and reconfirm the Trumplican line to each other. They won’t brook outside sources of information. Their feelings won’t accept your facts, and if they want your opinion, they’ll give it to you. Never has America had such a great President as Trump, just ask him.
That's what successful propaganda does: not only does it brainwash people to believe entirely false things, it ALSO makes them stop fact-checking and thinking for themselves, to instead automatically discard any info that contradicts what they were told to believe.
What is typical for FASCIST propaganda, on top of this, is a specific anthropology, namely the installation of the cynical (and demonstrably false) belief that human nature is NOT "created equal". There are the 99% mediocre people who, left to their own devices, will always do the wrong thing, and then the 1% superior human beings, who HAVE to be those who govern and dictate their wishes to everyone else.
GOP voters today believe that there are NO real moral values, that "homo homini lupus" as Hobbes claimed, namely people are wolves to each other, and we need a superior wolf to keep everyone from killing each other.
I recently discussed with a typical Trump voter. He is convinced that poor people are poor ONLY because they are lazy, and entirely destroying social security will force them to work. He himself grew up poor, feels as if no one ever helped him, and now wants the same for everyone else. AT the same time, he ALSO believes that Trump won't destroy anyone's insurance etc.
Then you have the educated neofascists. Those believe that they themselves are superior to all other Americans, so they know that the neofascist GOP will destroy the New Deal and fully support that idea. Or as neoliberals already claimed: only the wealthiest are "superior". As long as there is a democratic society, "mediocre" people will limit the freedom of the wealthiest to do whatever they want. And those wealthiest are also supposed to know what's best for everyone else...
That's what Musk, Thiel, Vance, Russell Vought, the Heritage Foundation etc. believe.
Conclusion: this is not about Trump. It's about the neofascist GOP and its media ecosystem.
I must agree, based on arguing with them in the comments at the WSJ. They say things like “Biden was corrupt but Trump isn’t.”
also ANDY HARRIS, quiet in the corner, ( a true zealot)
And a rigged SCOTUS.
plotted.. a lot of preparation for those six
JUST WAIT TILL “HALFKEG” INSTITUTES THE DRAFT!!!? BOYS ONLY! Lots of dead boys, only. I see the ghosts of Viet Nam. I see dead people.
I pray you are incorrect whether those boys are volunteers or draftees . NO one needs to dies for Iraqi , Venezuelan or Nigerian oil
Foreign policy, yes. What about the attempts to cover up the Epstein files? On Tim's pod a few days ago, Tom Nichols said he thinks they won't go along with this - his read on some of them is that what happens to children by the evil Democrats is essential. 🤞🏻
Of course they will. They rationalize everything, listen to Fox News spin.
Every time Felon Trump’s handlers run out of projects to amuse him, we get bombing in foreign countries and extortion of foreign countries; this from the “Peace President.” Too bad he doesn’t like coloring books. They could amuse for hours!
I swear Stephen Miller has a prepared list of deplorable acts that he pulls out whenever Trump gets angry. It seems the Broadway show tunes no longer soothe his moods.
Maybe Malignant Miller should try the soundtrack from "Springtime For Hitler"!
Heck, Trump likes to build things.
Give him LEGO sets.
The only downside would be keeping him from putting the pieces in his mouth...
I struggle to see a downside here…
Has anyone tried coloring books? Maybe he would like to color Trump Superheroes!
Someone start ordering the backup orange pencils, he'll be burning through those ones
“He also exploits war. Two months ago, in a speech to American troops in Japan, he fondly recalled the days when “they used to say, ‘To the victor belong the spoils.’” In more recent wars, he complained, “We’d win, and then we’d leave.” He made it clear that he would restore the doctrine of spoils. “Unlike past administrations, we will not be politically correct,” he told the troops.”
These actions sound like a country on its last economic legs; unable to find new ways to expand and improve our economy without seizing other countries wealth and assets. That spells doom for US innovation over the long-run; especially since we’re seeing research dollars and foreign expertise being discarded!
And while I agree with the preface that Trump is only in It for himself; what’s missing are all the nefarious actors who helped shape Trump’s worldview and agenda.
Trump is not monolithic. He couldn’t succeed without powerful interests standing firmly behind him. The plutocrats only consider him the best President ever; simply because he is easily manipulated, and so corrupt, that the vast and expansive corruption of the oligarchs, seems pale in comparison.
Furthermore, Trump is just the malignant tumor of what this nation has transformed itself into after more than two decades of war, and white collar criminals and politicians evading justice.
Bottom line, when Japan decides to spend $60 billion on a nuclear program, and we see Europe and Asia slowly decoupling themselves from our economic dependence, then you know the West’s strategic partnership is over, and now new alignments are being formed; both economic and strategic, and without US involvement or input.
And this should be what scares us more than Trump: What exactly comes after? IMHO…:)
What's really infuriating is that Trump himself never joined the military and he didn't really have anything to do with making America great in the first place, but he's sure down with "receiving the spoils" isn't he?
Trump's always gotten ahead by riding on the backs of others.
Always.
and that made me think of Roy Cohn, or Fred SR, gotta be a killer
one of those two jackasses OR
perhaps that was what military school for the little boy did, I don't think Roy
helped this nation in any way, never -all about self
Couldn’t put it any better…:)
The other piece of his foreign policy is that it is all in the past. Venezuelan oil won’t have nearly as much salience in a world that is using less and less oil to produce goods. Part of the Chinese investment in green energy and cars etc. is to wean themselves and others off of the oil economy and the dollar that dominates the market. They are getting to the point where their products are not just cheaper, but also technologically better, and we are here trying to intimidate Maduro into leaving the country and taking the oil.
Agreed and well said, but don’t forget that Venezuela is also home to some of the largest colbalt, Nickel, Lithium, as well as gold, silver and real earth element metals critical for advanced AI and battery technology; another reason why we are putting pressure on Canada and Greenland and looking inwards towards dominating the Americas.
In addition to corruption and cruelty, Trump us all about the past. As we age we get nostalgic. People with critical thinking capabilities sigh, look at the present and build toward a better future.
In Trump’s mind, oil is still king.
"These actions sound like a country on its last economic legs; unable to find new ways to expand and improve our economy without seizing other countries wealth and assets. That spells doom for US innovation over the long-run; especially since we’re seeing research dollars and foreign expertise being discarded!"
Your statement is so G D spot on!!! We are a nation in rapid decline!
yes, decline
and MAKE ARABIA GREAT , grumble grumble as they should've been
or AGAIN . what a mess.
The uncoupling from the US and loss of moral clarity on the US side is so sad to see. To be hated around the world is a terrible thing.
Agreed, and what scares me is where will we fit in the new world order once this reset is complete? And what will the consequences be?
It is shocking to me how fast this has been. It took so long to create and this rotten Trump Group took it out in no time at all, in comparison.
I’m still shocked at all the MAGAs in my circle of friends and acquaintances.
Me, too. When I'm around them, which is often, I find myself wondering why and how can they feel the way they do.
Pardons: And when you see a shocking twist of someone suddenly going MAGA, check out who they might be close to that needs a pardon. The latest sighting, Nicki Minaj.
I wonder if Trump is aware that he has become a caricature of himself? That Christmas TS message is Exhibit "A". It's like something someone would write as a parody.
Great shot, Will! It takes your especially kind and generous heart to thoroughly explain Trump's greedy, villainous, narcissistic and self-serving heart.
I would add to the explanation of Trump's plundering of Ukraine that his main motivation in seeking "peace" is not the Nobel Prize but rather to extract as much wealth as possible from all parties in Putin's war. In addition to arms sales to European countries "at full price" and wallowing in Ukraine's rare dirt minerals, it becomes more and more obvious that Trump continues to placate Putin and to avoid meaningful sanctions against Russia while failing to support Ukraine in any meaningful way, all to keep future resource and real estate development deals with Russia alive. Trump's "peace plan" even contains explicit provision for such deals. There is a reason why Trump brought his business team to Alaska (albeit prematurely) and has been using Witkoff and Kushner to negotiate the "peace" plan designed to exploit the war to suck as much wealth from Europe, Ukraine and Russia as he can.
Will, Cathy, Andrew, Sam and Jim, Thanks for your dedication in bringing us these excellent reports during a time you should be enjoying with your families. Every one is must reading for those that voted for this Midas wanna be, to remind them of their folly and disgrace. The only song that should ever be played in this White House is Money, Money, Money. I don't understand why the rest of the free world don't unite and tell this a-hole to screw himself. Although he'd probably think it was a good idea and boast he'd love to do it. Hopefully, Ukraine can handle their elections, it's our elections we should be worried about. After this convicted felon pardoned the Jan sixers, you would think a Congress would attempt to protect the rule of law and pass a law to restrict it's abuse. America first my ass. Do you think our fore fathers intended for an extortion racket to evolve out of Article Ii, Section 2? Then again, who could ever foresee an abomination like Trump, even Nostradamus didn't conjure that one.
Putin is no doubt giving Trump helpful tips on election rigging.
“He’s a pirate. And being a pirate is all fun and games until somebody loses an island.”
Will Saletan, you are a treasure. What a closing line!
Thanks!
Thank you, Will! Always appreciate your crystal clear assessment of the messy madness.
Re: pardons.
“Pardon-seekers have offered some lobbyists close to the president success fees of as much as $6 million if they can close the deal, according to people familiar with the offers.”
If there is a deal to be closed, that is Bribery, which is specifically called out as grounds for Impeachment in Article II, Section 4.
Tom, didn't SCOTUS decide that "gifts" aren't bribery? Or does that only apply to the FFOTUS?
Gifts for pardons are bribery.
I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for charges.
Make the people who are okay with bribery pay at the mid-terms.
Absolutely!
In SCOTUS Newspeak, gifts are expressive speech, just a way of saying "thank you." Tribute to the sovereign meets the "history and tradition" test. Free speech for all forms of tender 🫦💸💰🪙 (I'd say this is satire but I'm not sure...)
"He’s a pirate. And being a pirate is all fun and games until somebody loses an island."
Did the Felon lose a piece of Epstein's island, too? Is that the ugly secret he is trying so hard to hide, that he had been a co-owner? (Caution, like all good conspiracy theories, I have nothing but theories to back this up ... but it does sound like the Felon, doesn't it?)
Tru_p does not have an island yet. I wonder if the former Epstein property is available?
don't have enough awareness and knowledge, BUT, money has to be a HUGE part.
getting lost money back, taking anyone's money and keeping all the money.
Andrew Egger wins the singing contest. The rest of you...not so much.
Also he has great hair! The clear choice for front man of our garage band.
He just needs to learn how to strut like Freddie Mercury.
Oooh Andrew bare-chested! Yummy! 🎤👨🏻🎤