291 Comments
User's avatar
Steve Beckwith's avatar

"there is time yet for America to spit this obscenity out of its mouth". What a powerful phrase! I am going to get a T-shirt made with this to wear to the next No Kings and just around the house...with your permission, of course, Andrew (and with full attribution). It applies not only to this bit of egregious corruption but to the whole Trump mistake. People understand few outrages as quickly and clearly as unfairness and corruption. An anti-corruption message put Zelenskyy and Magyar in office and it will work here too, maybe even better.

B Breivogel's avatar

Hopefully the Democratic Party makes corruption the main issue in the midterms.

Don Gates's avatar

The corruption is so obscene at this point that if Dems go before the voters and just recite the plain and incontrovertible facts, I'm afraid voters won't believe it and will think they must be lying.

TomD's avatar

Sometimes I wonder whether they engage in this bald-faced stuff to divert attention from their other schemes where the real money will be made: their stablecoin USD1 comes to mind: Do your deal with "Trump money" and things will go your way.

rlritt's avatar

Absolutely. The circus in front the shady deals in back.

TJ's avatar

I agree. Voters have not cared that Trump is a conman for over a decade. The corruption can be part of their pitch, but it should not be the number one issue they push.

Richard Kane's avatar

Somehow the Dems have to convince the magat morons that they're not in on the grift but that they're the marks.

Kate Fall's avatar

Yeah. We should find an example of someone doing this successfully. I know Steve Hassan has been talking about how hard this is to do for a decade.

Steve Beckwith's avatar

It took a great deal of time and effort for Magyar to organize this message delivery in Hungary. It won't be easy.

OJVV's avatar

The thing about marks is they don't see themselves as marks. What's more, they end up being marks because they believe they're owed something for nothing.

Don Gates's avatar

It's really hard for me to know what pitch to use, honestly. Voters have been warned over and over about this guy for over a decade now, they have to know who he is, and a sufficient number of voters have consistently declared loudly and clearly that they either do not care that this is who he is or that they like that this is who he is.

Kate Fall's avatar

There is no pitch. You either support fascism or democracy. Most Americans support fascism. Just the way it is. All of our efforts should go to breaking the back of the fascist propaganda factories, or else we'll get the same fate as 1940s Germany. But nobody will risk Rupert Murdoch's profits, not even to save lives.

Steve Beckwith's avatar

I'm not sure most Americans support fascism. Minority rule is a feature of our set up and that gives the fascists a leg up. All the same, I agree with you about breaking up the propaganda machines.

Don Gates's avatar

I'd really love to end those propaganda factories but I have no idea how to get there. I think that, for a lot of people glued to them, a one week MSNOW detox might be revelatory and life changing, but they'll never do it. They're too snug in their cocoons of hate.

If we were to attempt to impose some sort of regulation on propaganda factories, that would just confirm those people's belief that the government puts its thumb on the scale to silence them, and that these outlets are telling truths the government is desperate to keep them from hearing. But I also don't know how to stop them without some sort of government regulation, be it a resurrection of the Fairness Doctrine, a lowering of standards for what counts as libel coming from a (purported) news outlet. What I do know, though, is what we're doing right now isn't working and we're headed in the direction you indicate, with tools and technologies Nazi propagandists never could have dreamed of.

Gretchen Ekeland's avatar

Do you think it makes a difference if the messaging includes that the money that comes out of their paychecks or social security payments pays for this stuff? In stead of saying taxpayer dollars, I don’t think people identify closely that that means They are the taxpayers. So tell them that the $10,000 they pay out of their paycheck is going to build a ballroom. Or fund a war, or the $1.7B slush fund, etc. Make it real because there are plenty of people don’t connect what comes out of their checks IS the treasury that pays for all this crap. SPELL IT OUT!

rlritt's avatar

An example, the money he is spending on the triumphful arch, the reflecting pond and the ballroom. His supporters dont see this as s stupid waste of money, but believe since he is a successful businessman, these over priced monstrosities are good real estate investments.

John P's avatar

You can tie the corruption to kitchen table issues. It’s clear Americans don’t give a crap about corruption unless it hurts them. The problem is: corruption always ends up hurting everyone in a society - except the con artists benefitting. The Dems have been too hesitant to go hard on it because they’ll alienate their own rich and corrupt people.

rlritt's avatar

I would think that his deals that start turning against them would cause them to wake up.

Ryan Cannon's avatar

I doubt they’d be shocked. American voters have been told that government is inherently corrupt for generations. If Dems intend to mention the truly unprecedented corruption, the sentence still needs to end with an exhortation that this is all happening while gas and food prices go up for normal folk.

John P's avatar

^ this right here. People have a hardened belief that all government is corrupt. We’ve denigrated reasonable government for 40+ years due to anti-government zealots. People suck at connecting complex systems and current attention spans aren’t exactly helping…

Frau Katze's avatar

It started with Reagan.

Meko's avatar

What's the old saying? Something like "Republicans claim that government can't do anything right and when they get elected they prove it."

Frau Katze's avatar

If you only follow Fox News you won’t be familiar with any of it and probably won’t believe it.

OJVV's avatar

It's not corruption when they're doing it plain sight and it receives tacit support by way of nobody stopping them. A significant portion of the people (and voters) are supportive of these moves and are cheering them on.

Don Gates's avatar

Yeah, the lack of accountability just really reinforces the idea that he's not really doing anything wrong. It really makes the cesspool bottomless.

Trump has taught me two hard lessons pertaining to a large portion of voters:

1) They think a crime is not a crime if you do it publicly and ostentatiously.

2) They think indictments and convictions are proof that Trump is innocent and the Deep State is real.

It's all pretty sickening.

Frau Katze's avatar

Belief in the Deep State is widespread.

Dave Yell's avatar

Among many other issues

Clammer31's avatar

Don't bet the farm.

Kate Laking's avatar

This would be a great quote on some Bulwark merch!

Steve Beckwith's avatar

Where can I pre-order?

Sharon Genung's avatar

I’d buy that t-shirt for me and my friends!

The Blockhead Chronicles's avatar

MS: "Every member of Congress that retains a modicum of self-respect and love for the country should be shrieking from the rooftops about this."

Well, we know that won't be Lindsey, since he wants his fair share.

Meanwhile, MAGA's going, "But Hunter Biden!"

Linda Odell's avatar

Since it was under the Biden administration that Hunter Biden was prosecuted, seems like he should apply for some of this reparation.

Kim Nesvig's avatar

My (MAGA) congresswoman will be receiving a letter citing this statement and a link. I expect some gibberish in reply about Medicaid fraud in blue states. But at least I will have tried.

Frau Katze's avatar

Did you see HCR’s latest letter about these latest letter this supposed extensive fraud?! Don’t miss it,

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-14-2026

CLR's avatar

Not to mention Hillary's emails....

Dave Yell's avatar

And Obama birth certificate

TomD's avatar

Tucked shamelessly into the vest pocket of his Grey Poupon-smeared tan suit...

OJVV's avatar

The suit that toppled America from the pinnacle of world leadership! No wonder we must kowtow to China! Would you ever catch Xi in such a suit!? (Kim? Yes. Xi? No.)

TomD's avatar

But...but...Hunter Biden failed to do business under a pseudonym to ensure that he would not benefit in any way from being the son of the VP...

Kate Fall's avatar

My Democratic rep took this opportunity to ... vote yes on Trump's draconian laws to increase police powers. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5625

Kathleen Weber's avatar

Think about it. For Trump, visiting Beijing is like his own personal Disney World. It's the world's happiest place! Everybody's waving flags in his honor. Standing stiffly at attention just because he's there! It's exactly the kind of adulation he'd love to have 24/7/365. Given the level of ego gratification, it is astonishing that Trump doesn't go to Beijing every two months.

yes indeed, our president is still not ready for middle school.

Dave Yell's avatar

"It s a small world after all".

Tai's avatar

The fact American voters do not care (at least care enough to do anything) about corruption is something to behold.

Don Gates's avatar

Somehow, even seeing all this, some 40% of the country still goes, "Yeah, but Dems are worse." WTAF.

R Mercer's avatar

Again, the other tribe is ALWAYS worse, because... that's why.

Kate Fall's avatar

If the other side isn't worse, what would that make us?

R Mercer's avatar

An astute comment. It is actually mind-blowing in its simplicity (I am not being facetious here), That is something that is layered into the tribal or Us/Them thinking that I take as a given, but don’t ever really talk about directly. Your question slaps us in the face with it.

The Way of the Tribe is always the Best way, the Right way, the way sanctioned by God (or the Gods). It is the Way Things Are Meant to Be.

Difference/deviation from it is sinful/evil.

Tai's avatar

Because one time a blue haired coffee shop worker had a pronoun on the name tag asked for a tip.

Bmore's avatar

The “normies” (people who watch 0 news and just live their lives) cannot comprehend and or believe the level of corruption. They believe that there are still checks and balances to prevent what is currently happening. And then you have a cohort that is lost in the red fog, very hard to see when the fog is so dense.

Jeff's avatar

Can we stop calling people who don’t watch the news as “normies?” That implies that we are abnormal and I reject that premise. Call them what they are - uninformed.

TJ's avatar

The fact you are posting a comment for a political newsletter puts you on the far edge of the bell curve. All of us are not the normal voter. Sarah touches on this a lot when she talks about the voters in her focus groups. Those voters are uninformed, but so are most voters.

Kate Fall's avatar

I think it's just a reminder to us that we are very much not the typical American voter.

Bmore's avatar

I have also been saying that we need someone to inspire the uninformed.

Katherine B Barz's avatar

Beware what you wish for. Didn’t we get someone who inspired the uninformed? That was 2015.

Bmore's avatar

Method proven

Sumeeta's avatar

Definitely have to be careful with the wishes. Someone non-evil to inspire the uninformed would be nice, wouldn’t it?

Katherine B Barz's avatar

I read where there is a Greek saying, “when the gods want to amuse themselves they give us what we wish for.” I really do wish for non-evil people to stand up. More Eleanor Roosevelts; people who spent their entire life trying to make this a better world. I hope the gods listen, and are serious for a change.

Tai's avatar

And then there are ones who throw their hands up saying everyone is corrupt, Hunter Biden selling crappy paintings is the same as Kushner taking $2 billions while advising on Middle East politics.

Bmore's avatar

Those are the people that are stuck in the red fog. You need constant reinforcement of propaganda to hold that belief. Normies had and still have no clue about Hunter Biden.

TJ's avatar

I agree here. I think the average voter has no idea how much of our politics depended on norms and that is why they voted Trump and Republicans to run Congress. They felt he'd be contained bc all their lives they heard checks and balances. Many of them never heard anything about Trump's insane desires in his first term that were stopped by members of his first term cabinet.

Bmore's avatar

This reminds me of Tim on piers Morgan berating Dan Crenshaw that none of the people in the first term who stopped the crazy ideas will be in the second.

Kate Fall's avatar

They cared about Hunter Biden a lot. They care tons about corruption in Minnesota, enough to support a police force that shoots VA nurses in the face.

rlritt's avatar

Alex Pretti, Veteran and VA Nurse was shot 7 times in the back by 2 ICE thugs who were holding him down. He had a gun in his pocket, but they had already taken it. The men who shot him were

Border Patrol Agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officer Raymundo Gutierrez. Ironic, no.

Linda Oliver's avatar

They may illustrate their displeasure with the mounting outrages and grift by voting non-GOP in droves for the midterms. Fingers crossed.

Bmore's avatar

Unfortunately their media will inform them of some cultural outrage to gin up the GOTV energy.

rlritt's avatar

Yes, there has been a distinct and obvious takeover of mainstream media by right wing oligarchs. Anyone who steps on Trump's toes gets immediately fired.

Bmore's avatar

It started with the fall of the fairness doctrine

rlritt's avatar

Yes! Absolutely and that promoted by fascist oligharchs.

Bmore's avatar

And weirdly a foreign terrorist turned domestic terrorist, Rupert Murdoch, built an empire while destroying ours

Mary's avatar

The one thing that I will give Trump "credit" for is proving (beyond a shadow of s doubt) that we are not a nation of intelligent, thoughtful, rational, logical, beings.

The 77 million that voted for him, and the many millions that didn't vote at all, have allowed him to bring this country to her old, worn out, previously surgically repaired (civil war) knees. I am hoping we find a way.

At this point I think it is 50/50

John P's avatar

The US has always been full of cranks, bigots, nut jobs and scam artists. Liberalism did a good job of papering over some of it, but didn’t quite “fix” it. You can’t policy your way out of character and the American character has decidedly declined since 9/11.

Andrew Joyce's avatar

In 10 incredible years, with a four-year interregnum to rest up, Trump, the GOP, and SCOTUS have taken the USA from world leader to also ran and damned-near pariah. Heckuva job, GOP voters, legislators, and jurists. I hope you choke on your unearned success while you burn through the capital WE created over the past 250 years. You aren't worthy of contempt.

B Breivogel's avatar

At least we kept Trans out of women’s sports!

Andrew Joyce's avatar

And how about those egg prices? They're practically free now. Sleepy Joe could never have accomplished that 500% reduction.

Kathe Rich's avatar

Trump is being paid by Putin to do this, I am convinced. He needs guidance to know which levers to pull to wreck our democracy.

Andrew Joyce's avatar

S**t, he's being paid by everyone, including you and me, to rape and pillage.

rlritt's avatar

Thats is totally true, if not paid threatened or for some unknown reasson he is controlled 100% by Putin.

Lewis Grotelueschen's avatar

"Should it come to fruition, it would be not merely a miscarriage of justice but a sacrilege against it."

Sacrilege against justice. The one sentence synopsis of the Trump presidency in history books one hundred years hence.

CLR's avatar

"But the idea that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s IRS would fight as hard to keep money out of the hands of Bessent’s boss was laughable from the start."

Laughable? I'm having trouble seeing the humor in it. But predictable? Totally.

B Breivogel's avatar

But what about Medicare and SNAP fraud by illegals???

Tom Fee's avatar

We allowed one deeply sick and twisted individual to destroy 200 years of achievement and smear over 300 million people with shame that will never wash off. Decline doesn’t even come close to covering it

LHS's avatar

After reading Andrew's post, my Rage Meter is pegged at 11. The corruption, the graft, the in-your-faceness to ordinary Americans... just enraging. My ire was increased when I saw the NY Times sanewashing headline about Trump's statement that he does not think at all about American's financial problems: "Is Trump Tuned Out to Americans’ Financial Needs? A Remark Suggests Yes." Suggests? Suggests?! What does he have to do to media outlets -- hit them over the head with a bullhorn while he screams "I don't give a **** about Americans' financial problems"? 🤬 I'm off to go chill out somewhere.

Catherine McKalip-Thompson's avatar

My wine bill has increased 🍷tremendously!!

CW Stanford's avatar

I applaud my fellow Bulwark readers who are still capable of rising to the challenge of commenting -- the daily grift, graft, insults, stupidity, arrogance, entitlement and a host of expletives -- leave me shell shocked, tongue tied and worn out.

Diana E's avatar

Next, Patel will be standing in the 9/11 Memorial standing under the water cascade in a bathing suit, saying he’s ‘inspecting’ it.

LHS's avatar

The very idea of that creep desecrating that sacred graveyard makes my blood boil. And the bile rise in my throat.

Diana E's avatar

Ditto. And, the proposed weird arch in front of Arlington National Cemetery gives me the same reaction. I spent hours there the last time I was in DC. These people have no concept of honor or bravery.

Dave Yell's avatar

"Suckers and losers" DJT

Sumi Ink 🇨🇦's avatar

I've lost count of the number of MAGA trolls who angrily insist Trump never said that.

LHS's avatar

Agreed. I commented yesterday that of all the enraging things that Trump has done to DC, that arch is the one that enrages me the most. The complete and utter disrespect for veterans he is demonstrating... again. 🤬

Diana E's avatar

I love that emoji!

LHS's avatar

Steve Schmidt's take on Patel's desecration is worth a read: https://steveschmidt.substack.com/p/snorkeling-over-the-war-dead

Diana E's avatar

Thank you for sharing this. I just don’t understand the depravity of this administration, it’s as if they have no soul.

Kate Fall's avatar

Fascism is a death cult.

Dave Yell's avatar

I wonder if this gives DJT any thoughts about Up grading the memorial? ( maybe another arch or putting his name on it). :(

User's avatar
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May 15
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Dave Yell's avatar

Don't give DJT ideas! If he heard something like that on FOX, he might be tempted.

wannascribble's avatar

I think getting away with the most ridiculous and inappropriate thing is the other side of the competition to lick boots the best. Like saying "I debased myself so much to Trump now I get to swim with fallen soldiers" is a flex.

Dave Yell's avatar

I wonder if Kash snorkeled with his Bourbon bottle in hand?

Richard Kane's avatar

Thanks for the link!

Lewis Grotelueschen's avatar

1.7 billion dollar fund. 1600 J6ers charged with crimes. That's over a million per. Thuggery pays well when the boss has access to the US Treasury.

Mark's avatar

And cutting $1.5B from domestic HIV/AIDS funding to justify it. People will die.

Kate Fall's avatar

"Stand back and stand by."

Hortense's avatar

And Trump will get his cut.

Dave Yell's avatar

"First cut is the Deepest".

TomD's avatar

Re: Cuba. In my view, the charge against Netanyahu and the IDF that is prima facie valid is that they cut off food, water and electricity to Gaza, at least for a time. To do that to a civilian population in war is a war crime; to do that to a population at all is a crime against humanity. How is that Trump and Rubio are allowed to get away with strangling an entire country by cutting off oil upon which they depend? How is it that threatening tariffs against any country who delivers oil to Cuba is still a credible threat, given the SCOTUS's recent decisions?

Amy in Jersey's avatar

I’ve been asking myself the same question since we cut them off. How is this not being talked about constantly? We are making the lives of people at the mercy of their government even more intolerable. The Cuban people have little enough as it is. And yet all we will ultimately hear about when Trump and Rubio finally invade is how Trump “ended communism”. It makes me want to vomit

JAMES ROY LEE's avatar

"America has had enough of this guy ..."

That's not good enough. When will Americans have had enough of his coconspirators, the entire Republican party? I've already had enough of the people who vote for them.

Jonathan Fowler's avatar

A $1.7 billion slush fund for Trump allies, J6 insurgents, and other parasitic MAGA sycophants? Do you think Don Jr. will qualify, perhaps, as someone “targeted by Biden”? It all depends on the impartial and wise judgement of the Trump-appointed commission of course. Maybe Melania? Bannon? We just don’t know!

But this grift does double duty. It subsidizes the victim mentality that the entire repugnant MAGA movement feeds on – a classic authoritarianism tactic, used by some of the GOATs (one rhymes with Mitler, another Hussolini). This trick maintains the dog-eat-dog in-group cohesion that justifies hostility to those dirty, filthy out-groups. And it’s that social perk that keeps them all in line, 100% uncritical loyalty to their dear leader. Well played Donny!!