I should say the USA needs a free press, but much of the press/media parrot the nether region kissing and sanewashing the GOP/MAGA apply to Trump. They aren't free. The other pieces of the media puzzle have to be careful what they say for the same reason: they will become victims of Trump's vengeance machine, which is now the entire federal government he runs.
Your comment emphasizes the paradox of "freedom": evildoers may be free to subvert truth and sanity, resulting in a pendulum swinging from things like "free press" to a press oligarchs were "free" to purchase and subsequently use the "free" press they purchased to propagate their anti-American agenda.
This is the paradox of the Capitalist system. It’s what drives socialism. Instead, in the US, we devised anti-trust legislation to control runaway capitalism. However, it has to be applied in order to be effective.
The media is captured by large corporations who are dependent on the goodwill of the Federal government. The WaPo hasn't broken any news for weeks now that Bezos has clipped their wings. He can't afford to get on the wrong side of Trump because of his other business interests.
On the other hand, The NY Times has continued to out Trump frequently and its publisher delivered a commencement speech about the free press and Trump later printed by the paper.
Every entity, press or otherwise, that gives in to Trump pushes us closer to ruin as a nation.
I’d say the NYT is a wimp. It could much, much more clearly report on the Administration’s lies, and as the “paper of record”, provide the context: why they matter; what are the implications; what’s the backstory? Instead, it’s mostly parroting from government releases and sane-washing. The only worthwhile places are (some of) the columnists; Deal Book; and the sport reporting
The Times has a daily update of the lawsuits and their outcomes. It tracks what's happening and gives summaries and details. Perhaps you need to delve more into their offerings.
The New York Times was an energetic supporter of Republican anti-trans and anti-"woke" scapegoating, which definitely played a huge part in Trump's win. They lost my respect years ago.
Actually, Jeff Bezos most certainly CAN afford to get on the wrong side of Trump. If someone of Bezos’ wealth and power won’t stand up to Trump, then the rest of us are—what’s the word? Oh, yeah—f’cked.
It's pathetic that the so-called Fourth Estate has been so eager to capitulate. But it's no mystery why, when so many outlets are conglomerate owned, and most of the rest lean into milquetoast bothsider bs out of fear or because they just don't care.
Fact based journalism can't exist without democracy. And democracy can't exist without fact based journalism. But they'd rather survive than do their job.
They're not capitulating, they've been leading this. The four years before last November were largely one long extended hit piece on the Biden administration, which was basically just an expanded campaign from the ones they ran in 2016 and 2000 to name only the most egregious ones.
The MSM has been a constant chain around the neck of liberal politicians for pretty much all of history.
It was like a flip was switched by the Afghanistan withdrawal. “Finally,” they thought, “we can look SERIOUS and FAIR by flattening out the chasm of decency and competence between the parties, like God intended.” And then they never really let up.
Yeah. It turns out that you can, in fact, tank a president's approval ratings by doing nothing but screaming loud enough and long enough and muting any other voice. And then never letting up; after Afghanistan, it was always something.
The really revealing thing is that public opinion didn't even change - before, during, and after, it continued to show that most Americans wanted to get the fuck out of Afghanistan. But presidential approval ratings changed anyway, because... somehow, Biden did it wrong. No, no one can actually explain how. But all the televisions and newspapers were screaming about it for a month, so clearly he did something wrong.
Perhaps the wave will begin to wash over people. I voted for Kamala, but is she’d run, the State-sponsored media (Fox News) would have had another 4 years to attack more liberal social and more conservative economic policies. While Trump still blames Biden, hopefully people will begin to see through the snake oil salesman.
The problem is, the trend we've been seeing for decades now is that even if a Republican president *does* cause reality to set in by the end (as happened in 2008 and 2020, to a degree that even the MSM couldn't deny anymore), within about ten minutes after the Democrat is inaugurated, everything resets and we go back to how the world is ending and it's all the liberal's fault.
If Republicans are booted out in a couple election cycles, that's great, but if the result is, yet again, that the entire system immediately resets to a combination of "working as hard as possible to kneecap the new president's attempt to fix this" and "being furious that the new president hasn't fixed this yet," we're just going to go back to rock bottom a few years after that. Pretty soon there isn't going to be anything left to save.
What alternative reality do you live in? The NYT and MSNBC attacked the Biden administration? For what? Provoking the war in Ukraine? Enabling the genocide in Gaza? Not in the reality I live in.
In the reality you and I live in, the Biden administration rejected Russia's diplomatic overtures in December 2021 knowing full well that Russia would take military action if they did. They later sabotaged the first Istanbul talks so that the war would continue. The plan, which was in place long before the Biden administration took office, was and is to draw Russia into a conflict that would compromise its economy and eventually lead to regime change. This plan has been more or less overtly articulated in documents such as RAND's Extending Russia-Competing from Advantageous Ground (https://www.rand.org/pubs/corporate_pubs/CPA2893-1-v2.html).
Saying that the mainstream media have criticized the Biden administration is at best a half-truth. The NYT and MSNBC have promoted the Biden administration unquestioningly, shielding it from any legitimate public concern about the Democrats' turn toward militarism and their support of Israel's campaign against the Palestinian people. And they are as much mainstream as any media that support the Republicans. The apparent gulf between media like Fox, on the one hand, and the NYT and MSNBC on the other, is all part of the kayfabe that maintains the illusion that there are two sides. Where policy regarding Russia and the Middle East are concerned, Democrat and Republican administrations are practically indistinguishable.
The billionaire media is covering the Big Ugly Bill by trying to create "suspense" that some Republicans will hold out and not vote for this atrocious bill. Yeah, right. Paul Krugman has called it correctly in that after much grandstanding, the Republicans will all fall in line, like good little North Koreans, and vote for it.. Maybe some parts of it can get dropped if the public gets the information and screams loudly enough. However, the billionaire media will not save us. We have to get the information out any way we can.
Exactly. Once again, it's all about the horse race, while no one is addressing the real issues at stake. When will the corporate media put AMERICA FIRST, instead of profits for a handful of billionaire owners?
As the "handful of billionaire owners" control the "free" press, and the billionaires consider putting "America First" coextensive with putting themselves "first" (the oligarchic ethic), your sad fantasy of corporate America putting anyone other than themselves first is not going to happen.
My representative here in SoCal promised again and again and again that she wouldn’t vote for any bill that cut Medicaid but of course she did. When I called her office, they were ready with their talking points saying she only promised not to cut “vital” Medicaid services and those being kicked off were not getting vital services. WTF?
Actually, the media talks about Trump's budgets a lot. Just look at today's (5/21 12:30 PM) NYT headline. But no one is paying any attention. People get distracted by the latest bright shiny object, which today is the fact that Joe Biden may have been more than a little dotty late in his presidential term. And to be fair, in normal times (whatever the hell that means) that would be a big story. But these times are not normal.
We really have to stop blaming the media, billionaires, and/or sun spot activity for why we're in the mess we're in. Things are this bad because of how so many of us vote against our best economic and social interests. And that in turn is because there is something that's gone rancid in the American character that needs to be addressed. Blaming others for the situation that problem has led us to isn't going to fix it. We need to honestly ask ourselves what in our history has motivated so many people to embrace fascism or simply to check out of our politics altogether. Then maybe we can do something about it.
The 2002 Nobel economic prize went to work that proved why economists had been wrong, and why instead people regularly dont act rationally, or in their best interests...
I recommend the prizewinners delightful bestseller - "thinking fast and slow"
@Anthony, IMHO excellent point. The Fourth Estate could/should be doing much more, but it has its own challenges, with the rise of social and other media. Meidas+ and these Substacks are great examples of the new approach - FB and twitter (yes, I know!): less so.
If I have to read another word about Joe Biden or Democrats covering up I'm going to cancel what remaining subscriptions I have left. WaPo and NYT looking at you.
Maybe the reason the media keeps trying to get Democrats (and their liberal supporters) to admit their mistakes is because Liberal arrogance has a certain quality that, when they are being taken down a peg or two, a large number of readers click those articles and want to know all about it. Maybe the prominence of those articles is an economic one, driven by what people click.
I agree, Matt… and you’ve made an important point I left out. it almost makes it a bigger problem. It’s not just that a few media moguls have decided this “should be” the story, it’s that liberals writ large - MILLIONS of us! - are currently obsessed with criticism of and prognostication about the party, appearing to have more interest in the 100th “what went wrong for Dems” op eds than news stories about tens of thousands of federal workers being illegally fired.
We are too obsessed with scolding ourselves to argue our positions or even properly oppose our foes. I don’t think it’s a natural failure of the current “liberal culture;” I think this collective depression is less “grassroots” than people estimate, and that Cambridge Analytica/Internet Research Agency-style tactics have been used to spread and exacerbate the misery. But after 2016, and especially after the pandemic, that tinder burned fast.
Given what people are showing a preference for, the media would need to be downright ALTRUISTIC in its choices about focus to leave those clicks on the table, and they’re not exactly in a position to be giving up cash flow right now, either.
It all feels very intractable. Which usually means gridlock, followed by a tectonic shift… I suppose we are in the latter part now. Where we are now is ridiculous and nonsensical, but the earth is still shaking and we don’t know where the coastline is going to end up.
The gridlock you described as intractable, followed by a tectonic shift, is a good analysis. However, we're not in the latter part of the tectonic shift. It's just starting. We are experiencing the swarms of earthquakes preceding the eruption.
Ummm, that's not at all what I said. In fact, maybe Democrats need to scold themselves. After all, Republicans STILL have a higher approval than Democrats, so someone wants to see us scold ourselves.
Rewording what I said: Democrats (and Liberal supporters) have a certain type of arrogance that grates on people more than Republican arrogance does. So, when they see something that would humble Democrats, those people who are annoyed at Liberals love it; and they click on the articles since they want to know all about it.
I believe the solution might be for Democrats to admit their mistakes and avoid the brand of arrogance that led to people disliking us so much that they want to see us humbled.
90% of "Democrats are arrogant" whining is about shit they never even said.
"Flyover Country" remains the ur-example here, a term that Republicans and media made up out of thin air as an example of how Democrats supposedly talk, which nobody has ever used unironically.
It's understandable that people hate the liberals in their heads. Heck, I'd hate them too, if they were real. But that's not a problem liberals are going to fix simply by admitting and apologizing for things they never said. It's a problem that brings us right back to media and its biases.
I have personally watched countless Liberals condescend to people who disagree with them. It may not be a majority of Liberal chatterers, but it is by far the loudest and it is a hell of a lot of people.
And I used to be one of their number, so don't try to say in my presence that Liberals don't condescend. I was part of the very huge pack of Liberals who did it, among other arrogant behaviors.
And no, mostly it isn't the politicians who are at fault - though there are some, and the politicians certainly give fodder. I say mostly, but there have been moments ... "basket of deplorables" anyone? This comment embodies for non-liberals the condescension people get from liberals on mostly a constant basis still. So, instead it is mostly the Liberal opinion makers and the vast army of Liberal commenters on social media who parrot them who are at fault. People are judging Liberals harshly and especially in general because Liberals have been a certain kind of jerk.
So, when people see Liberal leaders having incredibly deep flaws (FFS - trying to mislead people into electing an enfeebled old person is a deep flaw by any measure), they like to revel in it. All these condescending, self-righteous people aren't so perfect as they pretend to be after all if they supported such deeply flawed people, right?
And yes, it is the leadership that has to take responsibility and be humble. This so that their army of boosters gets the message that arrogance isn't working, something I assure you they are not understanding. Try. Something. Else.
If you tell somebody they're wrong, because they're fucking wrong, that is not condescension. It's self-defense. And some of these MAGA people are so fucking wrong, it's getting to the point of being a killing thing.
sure, but from a liberal perspective you do seem pretty ignorant!
( sorry... but you set yourself up for that).
Most liberals did not greatly like joe biden as their candidate - and then they ejected him - despite that he legitimately won the nomination process. but it took chore democratic leaders to convinced him to drop out .
in the end we get what we deserve, and its not our leaders or the press's fault... citizens have to work harder, and set the agenda.- democracy isnt a given- it takes deep devotion and hard work.
an "idiot" is the ancient greek word for people who are politicaly uninterested and inactive.
"I say mostly, but there have been moments ... "basket of deplorables" anyone?"
Yes, Hillary Clinton dared to say out loud that Trump's voter base included racists, sexists, homophobes, and other "deplorables." She even dared to say out loud that his entire campaign was based on bringing out such voters. How dare she. She specifically went out of her way to frame it as a #NotAllTrumpVoters thing. But naturally, once the media was done with it, it became "OMG Hillary Clinton says Trump voters are deplorable! That's just so awful!" Thank you for providing a perfect illustration of a liberal having to apologize for something they never said.
"And I used to be one of their number, so don't try to say in my presence that Liberals don't condescend."
Your personal issues aren't really my problem. If you were a condescending asshole then - and there's very little evidence to support your use of the phrase "used to be" - that's your problem. If you were, unsurprisingly, drawn to other condescending assholes, that's also your problem. You are not the universal experience you think you are.
Democrats have a “low approval” because Democrats don’t approve of them.
What does that even MEAN?
And no, “admitting your mistakes” is not a good idea politically. That such an insane idea and I have no idea how it was cemented into common wisdom. “Admitting your mistakes” is a failure to ADVOCATE for yourself.
How often do you hear Republicans - who crashed the economy in 2008 and let disease run rampant in 2020 - admit their mistakes? Trump has literally not done it once in his life. Democrats keep playing by stupid bullshit rules like that, and its’s because our egos demand we think of ourselves as “intellectually honest” rather than try to win. So we’ve convinced ourselves the former accomplishes the latter, even though it is clearly illogical as all hell, if you take yourself out Beltway Brain for two seconds.
people thought theyd do better with a tax cutting pro-buissness agenda.
(I wonder how many thought This: what either administration will do is actually a crapshoot ...but theres a good chance trump maybe a better economic bet for me?)
So we need a candidate that can convince people the economy will get better under them. that your $ is there focus, and their plan makes sense and is popular.
MIstake # two: I grew to love Kamala
But lets face it, America is racist and sexist.
and trusts a successful white man more.
( Once they are in power they can put Opra & whoopie in charge of doge... which is not a bad idea... but not till after a white dude first gets elected.... then he can change his pronouns - or do anything that gets press attention!).
Unfortunatly thats also why Im scared about buttigedge
who I love because he is the only politician thats said
Republicans don't have the same brand of arrogance as Democrats, and so people don't love for them to have to be humble. You're not comparing apples to apples.
Democrats (especially their supporters) are particularly condescending. I think people love to see Democrats dragged through the mud because of it. When you're in the situation where people love to see you dragged through the mud, genuine humility is the way to combat it. Whether that comes through admitting mistakes or some other mechanism, I don't really care. But, Republicans aren't in the same position as Democrats on this matter, and so the solution for the different camps is different.
I think the solutions for Democrats must be the ones that fit Democrats, not imitating Republicans, which I think would be absurd and counterproductive. Liberals need to shed a certain reputation they alone have built up, through their own actions, that the Republicans have not.
So, in a direct answer to your question: Republicans don't need to admit their mistakes because they don't have the same reputation to shed as Democrats do.
And besides: In a way, Republicans HAVE partially admitted their mistakes, in so many words. Most people don't consider MAGA as a continuation of the notion of "Republican". The embrace of MAGA is perceived as a repudiation of past Republican mistakes, and a change to the meaning of the notion of "Republican". And to some extent, this is true. Old Republicans didn't really care about fixing immigration because businesses didn't want them to care about it. Old Republicans didn't really care about fixing the hollowing out of the middle class (manufacturing jobs) because businesses didn't want them to care about it. On at least those two fronts, MAGA is a pronounced departure from Republican.
Democrats don't benefit from any similar departure from their past mistakes, perceived and otherwise. So the difference in what is "disastrous" for Democrats is different from what would be "disastrous" by Republicans at this point.
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge. the sadist thing is how human scientific knowledge is now advancing at its highest rate ever, while human wisdom is not.”
many people may feel annoyed and intimidated by a liberaly educated sensibility ...
but the truth is we want politiians who know things, and who say they assuridly know what there doing.
After Obama was elected I heard on WNYC radio many psychiatrists saying how they had many patients ( liberal new yorkers) who felt he was given advantages they never got because he was black....
( not that he was a hard worker, and obviously had exceptional talents?
conservatives have always thought we should have bigger sticks and law and order... while liberals always say we need to be nurturing and offer carrots to help people more.... the truth is socialy we use a mix of both - but we associate liberals with helping the under-privilidged more... and people really want that somehow to be fair - they feel "hey what about me?... what carrots do I get? .. even many liberals feel that
we have trouble accepting that not everyone gets special carrots
and we want a system thats perfectly fair , but it can never quite be
and we also do have to compensate for years of grotesque racism scolonialism agism sexism and prejudices ...
and we do need to create a more inclusive society... which by the way the 2024 nobel prize winners proved very conclusivly ends up being much better economicaly for everyone
another problem is how most democrat candidates make an extra effort to speak in folksy ways which is sometimes obvious.... ( obama did it masterfully while still being the most erudite president !)
gop dont have to do this - they just say whatever nonsense they think in the moment, and people actualy like that sincerity, even when its idiotic.
the extreem left tend more to think their ideas are correct, and " should " be folowed... but i think most people on the left and center are mostly relativist, critical thinkers... that is they understand things are complex, and that a diologue of conflicting views is important.... but unfortunatly that approach doesnt make great or strong political speaches!
and yet I think we have to lean into it more
we on the left and center ( who know include basic institutional conservatives) are people who accept life's complexities
& the gop didnt start being dishonest manipulative bullies with trump...
that goes back to goldwater saying it was good to be an extreemist, to Nixons southern strategy, & reagans coded language, not to mention theirhuman rights violations then bush one's swift boating - W bush's post-fact & it's "my way or the highway" mentality.... This is a fight that's been a century in the making... I say bring it on!
"many people may feel annoyed and intimidated by a liberaly educated sensibility ... "
Many people feel annoyed at being told that they're wrong, and intimidated when it's proved that they're wrong. That's just human nature. Most grown-ups in most contexts get over it in a couple of minutes.
The difference is, when I say "it sucks that there's no ice cream left in the fridge because I could really use one right now" and my housemate answers "what are you talking about? I bought a new box yesterday. Look again, it's there," everybody understands that she isn't insulting me, or condescending to me, or calling me stupid, or being an elitist. She's correcting a false statement, and doing me a favor by doing so.
But for some reason, if instead of "there's no ice cream in the fridge" I say "global warming is a hoax," "vaccines cause autism," "Covid isn't real," "Haitian immigrants are eating dogs," "Iraq has WMDs," or "there are 57 card-carrying communists in the Defense Department," all of polite society decides that the correct response to this is literally anything *but* the truth, because saying the truth in response to that is literally a hate crime.
No one will respond positively to Democrats humbling themselves in an orgy of self-flagellation. Humble, i.e. weak, is not something Republicans will pass up to stigmatize. Democrats' mistakes are self-apparent to all. We don't re-live the past. The DNC, a failed enterprise since 2010, has to be gutted and reformulated, as Gavin Newsom says, from the bottom up, and not the top down.
"Admitting mistakes" is a euphemism for the reality of having to admit stunning incompetence, which the current incompetent leadership of the DNC is not intellectually capable of, being incompetent. The squalid, chickenshit incompetence of the likes of Chuck Schumer is an emperor's-new-clothes issue: Schumer apparently is stunningly clueless that he is parading around stark naked, as it were.
Anyway, such admission would be self-defeating. No one knows where competent leadership of the DNC might come from. The DNC has eaten all its own; that is, those among Democrats who saw DNC leadership as a tragedy of incompetence. Newsom's the only apparent renegade, possibly because he's outside looking in.
( BY which I mean inflation and people feel their secure... which is unlikely)
then Dems will probably win big in 2026
But 2028 is a crapshoot.... 1 we have no idea if trump will be hated or back above 50% approval, or if the GOP will be?
but two things are certain democrats will need a candidate who is compelling to watch, and who people think will really improve things economically for them, personally.
They should go wild with promises
but the truth is they're gunna have to fix trump's mess &
He's almost certainly going to leave a bigger deficit
and somehow they will have to convince people that green and inclusive economy is what will boost our whole economy..
our job is to make sure more of the US population understands that.
and that the rest of the world is already doing it, & that trump is leaving us economicaly behind cause he isnt ! (Heck, Qatar wanted to get rid of that gas guzzling jet! -But couldnt sell it for 5 years already!!!)
+ Investors say their waiting for greener us policies, before they invest more in the US.
We should talk more about biden and his economics - he said himself " I dont know what bidenomics is" because they had no scheme and that's what made them so brilliant! he took on different problems in different ways and they mostly worked
Biden;s first cheif economic adviser was a true genius, who believed in "nudging" the economy in many ways - because A- those nudges build up over time ,
and B because you can make incremental adjustments.
And that is modern LIberalism!
it is not one overall philosophy, nor idiology
its a pragmatic studied approach to problems.
with the goal of making a more prosperous society.
Unfortunately, the fact is that Democrats sleepwalked into an election that Donald Trump ended up winning. There is an important conversation to be had about how that happened, Biden was a piece of that but the main issue is how the party failed to respond to what voters were demanding.
They failed to respond to what voters were demanding, yes. But that was compounded by the fact that historically, the Democratic Party was once the working people's party and the antimilitarist party. And it stopped being both long ago. But what sealed the loss was their support for the genocide in Palestine. Even people who were ready to vote out of nostalgia for what the Democrats used to be and/or to save us from Trump drew the line at that.
It was never just the working people’s party, and certainly not the anti militarist party. It did used to be a vibrant coalition that included those, among others, but it was never simply a leftist party. When it was, it lost badly (as in 1972).
Here's the mainstream media's dirty little secret: Trump draws eyeballs -- and they love him for it. Whether the coverage is favorable or negative does not matter. Corporate media lives or dies by ad revenue. Trump's outrageous comments are always a safe bet to draw an audience. Coverage of the real damage Trump is doing gets shunted to the margins.
The coverage of Biden is an aberration -- but only because the news is sordid. It will soon play out and the media will be back on the Trump outrage merry-go-round.
Lies, and more disinformation from right wing & Corporate Network News. BS continues to lie on behalf. of DJT Tariffs, where other countries will not be paying the tariffs, you and I who will be purchasing the items will be paying. Lies and more lies are all that come out of DJT’s lips and the demented MAGA’s racists jump up and down like some and
It is bizarre to hear people who voted for Agent Orange site "his business acumen" as their reason for supporting him when his notoriety in the business world is that every venture he touched ended in bankruptcy.
Pretty much all of his aura as a "great businessman" is fiction created first by his own relentless self-promotion, and later by a completely fictional "reality" TV show, "The Apprentice" That's what people are remembering, not the facts.
Well, they didn't bark, or bite the postal carrier, and they didn't make a mess. They just sat there in those colorful boxes with instructions "how to care for your pet rock". I saw them in the stores and couldn't believe that someone became a millionaire off of that. That might help explain how many [strikeout] suckers [/strikeout] voters went for Trumpkopf.
Very true, and not helped by right-wing media spending every day from 2010-2016 saying economic and market growth was fake, but then on January 2017 suddenly the economy was booming.
The real question is not if or when USA will face it's Truss moment. It's what to do when it happens? There is no mechanism like there was to remove Truss.
Yes! Thank you, fleetwooz. Everyone must realize that showing up is the only way we're going to garner the attention of the capitulating and click-bait-oriented MSM. Make June 14th the biggest protest this nation has ever seen and we'll start getting this the attention and the action it deserves. And keep showing up until they can't deny that there are more of us than there of them!
Showing up in D.C. for the parade, and not just in Iowa or Utah, etc., is what's called for. The invitation should be focused on a counter-parade in D.C. itself.
If you have a better idea, I'm sure most of us are open to hearing it. In the meantime, historically, it's been shown that when 3.5% of the population rises in peaceful protest, it can break the chokehold of authoritarians. For us, that means around 12,000,000 demonstrators need to get out into the streets.
Ok, so what do you think we should be doing? There ain’t no knight in shining armor coming to save us. The people who study authoritarian regimes say mass mobilization is what brings down regimes. Do you know something they don’t know? If not, then STFU.
This is a great reminder of the imperative that we continue to Rise! Resist! ✊✊✊
The next nationwide rally is June 14, yes >that< June 14, be there or be square!
Let's ruin Chump's B'day. We need 3.5% or the population, or around 12,000,000 people to be present. So bring all your friends and families. Spread the word as far and wide as possible. Let's all get out there with a Howard Beale spirit and yell "We're as mad as hell, and we're not gonna take it anymore!".
Staying away from D.C. is a little like Schumer's plan for the budget: chickenshit. The challenge has to be direct and disruptive. Declaring martial law might well be the beginning of the end of this slo-mo nightmare, and the restoration of America's revolutionary roots. It'll be messy for sure, but it's an issue of bravery vs transient, dysfunctional, ultimately counterproductive disorder.
Scott, you have been asked (politely) to contribute ideas. But so far, all we see from you are insults & complaints. You know, if you aren't part of the solution…
Maybe Scott is being sarcastic. None of the train of thought in this thread is in Trump's purview. Trump's pathologic narcissism prevents anything getting into his head, including the threats implied in this thread. Trump is not shaking in his boots. He's strategizing his elevation to dictator, a feat nearly accomplished, in order to practice his art: the art of the grift, on a truly historic scale.
The equivalent of a 'no confidence vote' exists for us: impeachment, followed by conviction. It's a shame it's so complicated, but what's necessary here, as in parliamentary democracies, is for the elected representatives of "the people" to be of the correct frame of mind. But I agree with you. "No confidence" votes in the House should be a call for immediate elections.
True, but if we make Republicans more afraid of voters than of Rump, then it could go better this time around. A combination of nationwide protests, especially in red districts, up until a blue wave in 2022. It is a long game, and he can do plenty of damage in the meantime, but without the appeasement of a willing congress and SCOTUS, he has a lot less power. And both of those institutions are much more sensitive to public opinion than the tangerine tyrant himself.
If correct, the data this person published here suggests that machines were illegally detained by Republican operatives in several instances for the purpose of accessing and copying the machine code. Here's one of the links to one of the reports
Is it any wonder Trump is defunding PBS? It seems so improbable, deceptively so, perhaps, that the election was hacked in such a comprehensive fashion. But we already know Trump tried to steal the 2020 election (ironically by claiming that Biden stole it). We already know Trump encouraged an armed mob to attack the Capitol and prevent the Vice President from performing an act of validation of the election.
So I read your wish for a Blue Tsunami in 2026 with mixed emotions. It'd be great, but it's not just that the DNC is a raging incompetent of an organization (we might see a repeat of the 2010 midterms) - we'll be lucky if the 2026 midterms are fairly conducted, and perhaps if they are even conducted at all.
Agree but - if it could, it wouldn’t Probably. We are the minority here. Much of the US electorate Ok with trends, current events, legislation etc. it will take long, hard work to change/ reclaim majority
There is impeachment - not for trump slime himself, perhaps but maga mike johnson, pam blondie, pete hegseth, bessent, gabard, noem. schumer, hawley, and on and on, we just need a few Democrats with the courage to stand up for the Constitution and the rule of law.
Failing that we'd better damned well see that we return both Houses to us and Independents
You can't "Impeach" members of Congress. A house can kick a member out, and some states have recalls, but there is no "impeachment" for the Legislative Branch.
You can impeach cabinet secretaries, but what's an impeachable offense for the Commerce Secretary? Lying to the public is neither a High Crime nor a Misdemeanor.
I've never been enthused about the US adopting a parliamentary system, but I'm starting to warm to the idea. Thinking about how actually to implement such a massive change gives me a migraine, though.
DOGE was actually very successful in cutting costs—for Musk. All those regulatory issues vanished, Starlink booted out Verizon, and Big Balls and crew have all of our data. Mission accomplished!
You point out something that many people miss. When Donald and Elon talk about success, they mean their own personal financial success. They do not give two hoots about the country or the people or businesses or MAGA. They just want to get more money for themselves.
The mystery is that so many people cannot see Donald and Elon for what they are. It is amazing at the number of people who still believe that Donald is a great businessman who is doing wonders for the country.
It’s like watching one of those hostile takeovers where they come in, break up the company, strip it down, fire the workers, and sell what’s left for parts. Only the company is the United States. The attempt to squash free trade, free speech, free press, and instill fear and paralysis in the populace could therefore be interpreted as a form of restraint to prevent the victims from protesting against their being robbed. But I think the attack on freedom and the rule of law and our civil society and even free trade is not just a means to a monetary end—the gun to our head, so to speak, as in, “your money or your life”—but is an end in itself, the ideological hatred of democracy and the project of imposing a Christofascist regime that has total social control. That data DOGE stole; is it going to Palantir, perhaps? Trump is a tool, money is the means, and perhaps for some the carrot, but it seems even more sinister than unbridled greed.
I am afraid that you are correct. Donald does not really know what he is doing and there are smarter people behind the scenes manipulating him. He wants to get big bucks and other people will get control and so forth.
When you spoke of hostile takeovers, firing workers, stripping assets, there was always the idea that if things did not work out, the raiders could declare bankruptcy and walk away. Donald declared bankruptcy five or six times. There are people who use bankruptcy as a plan of business -- how to misuse bankruptcy for profit. Donald has only ever cared about money.
Exactly. Money and attention. He’s got a jones for both. I know a retired contractor who used to do work in NYC. He said it was common knowledge that Trump was a stiff and would never pay the last installment on a job. So if anyone did work for him, they’d inflate their estimates accordingly.
If you had a hostile foreign country with the means and motive to destroy the United States from within, what would that look like? The motive would be pay back for losing the Cold war
Did you see how unhappy he looked in the Middle East, sitting BEHIND the prince of Saudi Arabia while Trump declared Mohamed his love?
My guess: Trump doesn't need Musk anymore and Musk feels massively betrayed.
Musk installed AI in all government computers so now the WH can begin a China-like surveillance system, punishing anyone who protests a little too much with withdrawing social security checks or any other form of threat that is targeted to harm a specific individual (endless IRS audits that make it impossible for people to still work, as China is doing to journalists in Hong Kong; contacting the venue where you want to organize an event and threaten them if they accept to make it available to you, etc.).
If Musk trusted Trump enough to give the neofascist GOP control over this system rather than remaining personally responsible for activating it, he may as well have lost his power over Trump.
And now Middle East dictators are pouring BILLIONS in his cryptocurrency, which is obviously much better than the "meager" $300 million Musk paid to the Trump campaign...
And then there is the fact that Trump LOVES to sow division among the people who work for him. So pitching Musk against some ultra wealthy dictators who can just steal billions from their own citizens? That sounds like real "leadership" for someone like Trump...
Another abomination is that DOGE was essentially an end-around the SCOTUS 1998 Clinton v. City of New York ruling, that the President does not have the power to line item veto. DOGE is actually line item veto power by loophole. There is NO evidence that an actual efficiency analysis was the basis for any DOGE cut, and lots of evidence that the cuts were driven by the spending preferences of the current President and by the President-by-Proxy Elon Musk, who bought and paid for the power that came by invoking this loophole
You're skipping the most important fact: DOGE installed AI in all government computers. It basically allows any president who is willing to sell out to Musk to activate a China-like fascist surveillance system.
If it isn't already installed and working. The best surveillance system is the one the population doesn't know is there. The second best one is after it's discovered.
It was never about finding fraud and waste, it was about destroying the federal government. The ‘savings’ were merely the rationale offered to tear apart the ‘administrative state’. Bannon must be happy as a pig in slop.
PK says "We are a World leader in éducation", unquote. I seriously beg to disagree. There is no way a majority of people living in a country which would be a "world leader in education" would elect as président an irresponsible bully crook. On the contrary, this shows that a majority of the population is poorly educated. Sad, but true.
I think the point was world leader in higher education -- research, PhD candidates, etc -- all of the things that DoGE are gutting and the grants that the imbecile is refusing to honor.
Right Leigh. However our education system need not take all the blame. Hard to educate in rural areas where there is limited funding for education. Hard to educate when education is not a priority Hard to educate when disabilities and varied abilities are not considered. Hard to educate when resources (internet and digital) are scarce. Hard to educate when books are banned. And so much more.
An example is West Germany and East Germany after the reunification. Despite poor economic performance in the previous East Germany that was strongly influenced and dictated from Moscow, did the East have very high levels of education.
After the reunification, now, has the neonazi, anti democratic and more Russian friendly forces been much higher in the East. It can be argued that the education was the reason because the West German politics, “political culture” if you wish, and West German mercantilism was forced upon the East. Thus the East felt that this was demeaning against their “status”, equality and liberties.
It isn’t strange that the West tried to do this, nor that many in the East indeed hoped to to emulate the West because, in my opinion, was much of East Germany somewhat dreary economically.
Still, many in the East objected to the way things were done specifically because of high education and as such tried, and still try, to wrest power over their sense of integrity by opposing the West, or the symbols of the Western-oriented changes.
Basically is it about hurt feelings and a willingness to accept a self defeating phyrric victory. So not so different from Brexit and MAGA.
My understanding is that the east - west divide in Germany dates back before 1945, indeed to the (first) unification in 1871 where east Germany was much more rural.
Maybe that is also a part of it. Still, higher levels of education has not made the East immune to, at least the way I see it, regressive political ideals.
And again am I reminded of Prince singing, “It’s joy in repetition”…although it can be exhausting to behold. 🤨
The problem with East Germany is the same as that with other young democracies today: society and culture are still in part fascist, and democracy was introduced together with horrible neoliberal policies that hurt the 99%. Sooner or later, it makes people want to "go back to when things were better"...
He's not talking about Daniel Boone Elementary School in Smallville, Kansas, he's talking about Harvard, Yale, and MIT, and even the next couple tiers of universities down. People don't come here from all over the world for the general education degrees, but they absolutely come for higher academia.
I think Paul is talking about the higher levels of education. The majority of the US population IS poorly educated. Only about 10% of my high school class were planning to attend college, and one wasn't really exposed to much in the way of facts until college. In high school, we got the "America can do no wrong" crap in history and social studies. I don't think that's changed much.
The election was manipulated by Musk. The electoral votes came in unbelievably quickly and Trump’s pronouncements of “I don’t need your vote,” and “You won’t have to vote again,” but further evidence of his intentions.
Excellent point and definitely true. But I still maintain votes were manipulated by Elonia or his minions. He should have been indicted and jailed for election interference in buying votes for Drumpf.
So, will we end up something like Great Britain, with what looks like a stagnant economy, and a host of foreign plutocratic oligarchs snapping up its best real estate and other assets while everyone else soldiers on with less and less to show for it?
Right Leigh. However our education system need not take all the blame. Hard to educate in rural areas where there is limited funding for education. Hard to educate when education is not a priority Hard to educate when disabilities and varied abilities are not considered. Hard to educate when resources (internet and digital) are scarce. Hard to educate when books are banned. And so much more.
Right, Mary. I used to teach in the public schools, until I realized I was being asked to do more and more with less and less, and also was being asked to deflect the too-frequent attacks of parents (one called me a clown to my face because I sometimes used humor to make points with my students!), not to mention having a salary somewhat south of the janitors.' Having said that I'd like to state the obvious--education takes time, patience, and works best if parents support the process. In our current atmosphere of mutual disrespect as well as a maelstrom of competing values, this might be a bridge too far. I sure wish there was a magic bullet to fix what's wrong with us, but my honest opinion is that we will have to fall apart some more before we will realize the enormity of the tasks before us as we rebuild.
You are right on! However I might add that facist governments create chaos and discontent as a means to then jump in and make things right on their terms. Destroying education through lack of funding or other support is the perfect tool to deny education or at least a quality education
Yep. I am watching it happen with a very heavy heart. After I stopped trying to keep my finger in the dyke in the classroom I went back to grad school and became a therapist, and discovered some tough realities--foremost among them that people, even when they sign up for help changing--resist change, because change is difficult, requires patience and handling fears of the unknown, etc. Even if a woman is being abused by her partner and has the injuries to prove it, she will cling to him because change is so frightening. So, what's before us? I don't know because chaos allows opportunity as well as danger. I hope and pray that there are enough of us who are educated and unafraid (or less afraid!) that we will surprise the fascists by creating something a lot better than they're offering. The so-called security offered by a strongman is equivalent to that offered by an abusive husband, isn't it? We have a chance to change things for the better, though, and I for one will keep fighting the good fight.
Krasnov will make the US a shithole country that won't have to worry about immigration. No one will want to come here and anyone who can will leave. Make America White Again!
Sure looks like it. If you read Paul Krugman's substack take a look at his post this morning. We're tanking. And it's a wide open question whether this is due to his stupidity or is in fact a strongman tactic to create chaos so some very shady characters can step in to 'save us.'
Thanks for articulating the risk for a wider audience. Re the technical issue with pension fund in the UK: the feedback loop Truss created nearly pushed the whole industry over. Also from the outside, many critical untriggered feedback loops are not visible except to a very small number of market participants, even amongst professionals. These may be amplifying or attenuating but once triggered are hard to control. It is for this reason care must be taken not to yank on the yoke (the controls) too suddenly. From Brexit to Truss to Trump, or Navarro, this understanding is missing. Financial markets are robust up to a point....
(my background: ex global head of trading, sructuring and quant R&D across various asset classes, various large banks)
In 2009 we had bernanke, who we were lucky to have at that precise moment to prevent a financial catastrophe. Do we have any reason to believe that any of the people in Treasury or the Federal reserve have the ability and knowledge to prevent a market meltdown once it happens? Or am I asking the wrong question, which is is a market meltdown the strategy towards the goal?
Actually the 2007 to 2009 crises was very badly handled. TARP was woefully inadequate. Obama then appointed Timothy Geithner a career bureacrat who happened to fall up the ladder at each stage in his career - and nobody mentions that he was involved in the overnight repeal of Glass Steagel in the late 1990s, pushed through by the Clinton administration, opening up entire bank balance sheets for speculative activities.
In the end Quantitative Easing somewhat saved the day. But it too was executed badly. Instead of providing credit on Main Street, perhaps via infrastructure projects, the money printed went into asset inflation, especially the stock market. I recall being in HK in late October 2008 and telling my Chief Economist for the bank that "Surely they have to invest in invest in it infrastructure and other such projects.' He just looked at me blankly because the thought hadn't occurred to them.
The other mistake was that while the US was happy to borrow from China it was less happy to sell equity stakes. In times of distress, there is usually a debt to equity swap. But the US wanted none of that. It blocked some deals...
Imagine how much better things would be if China had actually held greater equity stakes in US corporates. I had a long conversation with the World Bank's Head of China department on the topic on 2007 and he said that while I asked a very good question it wasn't on the table because the US didn't want to give up any control. So debt financing fine, but not equity stakes.
Instead Chinese investment went to the rest of the world.
I could write a book on the topic even though I'm not an economist. Albeit managed managed a few hundred billion dollars of daily trading for some of the largest banks in the world...
The cuts to NIH are expected to decrease our GDP by 6% in the long run. The cuts to the IRS will lower our revenue by over 0.5% of GDP annually or 6% of GDP in the 10 year budget window. TRUMP'S TERRIBLE TARIFF TANTRUM is decimating future investment in America, slashing our tourist industry, and decimating consumer confidence, which is already causing measurable decreases in consumer spending which was 68.5% of GDP in the first quarter. Add in Trump's budget and only a delusional fool could think America is fiscally responsible.
The crash is coming. The only silver lining is that the stock market is still chugging along on greed so rational people can dump stocks now and get over 4% interest in FDIC insured CDs and savings accounts. I was already reprimanded for espousing this at an Easter gathering by MAGA acquaintances because apparently FOX News is saying dumping stocks is unAmerican.
“We’re clearly watching a bum’s rush, an attempt to ram this atrocity through before the public understands what’s happening.”
This is the crux of things: immoral, unethical, incompetent news media which prevents the public from understanding much. And of course is why the right wing undermines public education.
Yes. It’s like the media are actively trying really, really hard to prevent the public from understanding much. I have been around a long time and never have I felt so awash in world-historical levels of venality and stupidity.
DOGE did NOT fail. It has been an enormous success. It was never an "agency" tasked with "finding waste" in the federal government. It was a group of racist incels hellbent on destruction, pillage and rapine, directed by a fascist movement for the benefit of the super-wealthy and their snivelling toadies. It has all gone swimmingly so far. And there is much more pain and destruction to come.
Referencing Trump's "big beautiful bill," Mr. Krugman notes in today's article that "This momentous move will take place with almost no public discussion." As we all know, this bill will seriously cut many social benefits, including Medicaid and food stamps. More than likely, this will impact some Trump supporters personally, or it will impact others in their families who rely heavily on social benefits.
But it's probably safe to say that this won't be mentioned on Fox News or other MAGA outlets. I say it's time we make this a point of "public discussion" -- so that everyone is aware of it immediately. If you have a family member or friend who's relying on Medicaid and voted for Trump, it's time to sound the alarm.
Every day I get sadder. Yesterday the hearings with RFK Jr and Noem and Rubio showed how far you have fallen, and how unsustainable it is to run a country with people like this. My American friend here now wants it all to collapse, as she sees no other solution. I'm moving to her camp, and this big beautiful bill is certain to hammer the coffin of the once-great USA firmly shut.
GOOD THING THE MEDIA SPENT THE WHOLE WEEK TALKING ABOUT JOE BIDEN.
The media are mostly useless or driving us deeper into troubles.
I should say the USA needs a free press, but much of the press/media parrot the nether region kissing and sanewashing the GOP/MAGA apply to Trump. They aren't free. The other pieces of the media puzzle have to be careful what they say for the same reason: they will become victims of Trump's vengeance machine, which is now the entire federal government he runs.
Your comment emphasizes the paradox of "freedom": evildoers may be free to subvert truth and sanity, resulting in a pendulum swinging from things like "free press" to a press oligarchs were "free" to purchase and subsequently use the "free" press they purchased to propagate their anti-American agenda.
This is a NAZIGOP / russian operation. Say what it is. They are exterminators.
What did the Russians ever do to you? Did they ever, for example, spend your tax money to commit genocide?
Aw... gene poole little propaganda pusher... Pooooooor you.
Ba bye.
This is the paradox of the Capitalist system. It’s what drives socialism. Instead, in the US, we devised anti-trust legislation to control runaway capitalism. However, it has to be applied in order to be effective.
The media is captured by large corporations who are dependent on the goodwill of the Federal government. The WaPo hasn't broken any news for weeks now that Bezos has clipped their wings. He can't afford to get on the wrong side of Trump because of his other business interests.
On the other hand, The NY Times has continued to out Trump frequently and its publisher delivered a commencement speech about the free press and Trump later printed by the paper.
Every entity, press or otherwise, that gives in to Trump pushes us closer to ruin as a nation.
I’d say the NYT is a wimp. It could much, much more clearly report on the Administration’s lies, and as the “paper of record”, provide the context: why they matter; what are the implications; what’s the backstory? Instead, it’s mostly parroting from government releases and sane-washing. The only worthwhile places are (some of) the columnists; Deal Book; and the sport reporting
The Times has a daily update of the lawsuits and their outcomes. It tracks what's happening and gives summaries and details. Perhaps you need to delve more into their offerings.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/us/trump-administration-lawsuits
html?campaign_id=56&emc=edit_cn_20250510&instance_id=154296&nl=on-politics®i_id=58425266&segment_id=197711&user_id=9afd1c55373c555165fa7f653f888cf8
Thanks Barbara. I get the NYT online and I’ve not seen this. Is it a link? How do I find these?
The New York Times was an energetic supporter of Republican anti-trans and anti-"woke" scapegoating, which definitely played a huge part in Trump's win. They lost my respect years ago.
Actually, Jeff Bezos most certainly CAN afford to get on the wrong side of Trump. If someone of Bezos’ wealth and power won’t stand up to Trump, then the rest of us are—what’s the word? Oh, yeah—f’cked.
Thanks for recognizing that "media" is plural!! And that the media HAVE become a force for evil.
It's pathetic that the so-called Fourth Estate has been so eager to capitulate. But it's no mystery why, when so many outlets are conglomerate owned, and most of the rest lean into milquetoast bothsider bs out of fear or because they just don't care.
Fact based journalism can't exist without democracy. And democracy can't exist without fact based journalism. But they'd rather survive than do their job.
They're not capitulating, they've been leading this. The four years before last November were largely one long extended hit piece on the Biden administration, which was basically just an expanded campaign from the ones they ran in 2016 and 2000 to name only the most egregious ones.
The MSM has been a constant chain around the neck of liberal politicians for pretty much all of history.
It was like a flip was switched by the Afghanistan withdrawal. “Finally,” they thought, “we can look SERIOUS and FAIR by flattening out the chasm of decency and competence between the parties, like God intended.” And then they never really let up.
Yeah. It turns out that you can, in fact, tank a president's approval ratings by doing nothing but screaming loud enough and long enough and muting any other voice. And then never letting up; after Afghanistan, it was always something.
The really revealing thing is that public opinion didn't even change - before, during, and after, it continued to show that most Americans wanted to get the fuck out of Afghanistan. But presidential approval ratings changed anyway, because... somehow, Biden did it wrong. No, no one can actually explain how. But all the televisions and newspapers were screaming about it for a month, so clearly he did something wrong.
Perhaps the wave will begin to wash over people. I voted for Kamala, but is she’d run, the State-sponsored media (Fox News) would have had another 4 years to attack more liberal social and more conservative economic policies. While Trump still blames Biden, hopefully people will begin to see through the snake oil salesman.
I hope the wave does wash over people.
The problem is, the trend we've been seeing for decades now is that even if a Republican president *does* cause reality to set in by the end (as happened in 2008 and 2020, to a degree that even the MSM couldn't deny anymore), within about ten minutes after the Democrat is inaugurated, everything resets and we go back to how the world is ending and it's all the liberal's fault.
If Republicans are booted out in a couple election cycles, that's great, but if the result is, yet again, that the entire system immediately resets to a combination of "working as hard as possible to kneecap the new president's attempt to fix this" and "being furious that the new president hasn't fixed this yet," we're just going to go back to rock bottom a few years after that. Pretty soon there isn't going to be anything left to save.
What alternative reality do you live in? The NYT and MSNBC attacked the Biden administration? For what? Provoking the war in Ukraine? Enabling the genocide in Gaza? Not in the reality I live in.
If you think Biden provoked war in Ukraine, it's not "reality" you're living in.
In the reality you and I live in, the Biden administration rejected Russia's diplomatic overtures in December 2021 knowing full well that Russia would take military action if they did. They later sabotaged the first Istanbul talks so that the war would continue. The plan, which was in place long before the Biden administration took office, was and is to draw Russia into a conflict that would compromise its economy and eventually lead to regime change. This plan has been more or less overtly articulated in documents such as RAND's Extending Russia-Competing from Advantageous Ground (https://www.rand.org/pubs/corporate_pubs/CPA2893-1-v2.html).
Saying that the mainstream media have criticized the Biden administration is at best a half-truth. The NYT and MSNBC have promoted the Biden administration unquestioningly, shielding it from any legitimate public concern about the Democrats' turn toward militarism and their support of Israel's campaign against the Palestinian people. And they are as much mainstream as any media that support the Republicans. The apparent gulf between media like Fox, on the one hand, and the NYT and MSNBC on the other, is all part of the kayfabe that maintains the illusion that there are two sides. Where policy regarding Russia and the Middle East are concerned, Democrat and Republican administrations are practically indistinguishable.
An utter load of obvious Russian Propaganda hooey.
"But their oligarch owners would rather rake in the tax cuts than do their job."
FYFY...
yeah their sooo pathetic, its no wonder criminals have been killing record numbers of them.
The billionaire media is covering the Big Ugly Bill by trying to create "suspense" that some Republicans will hold out and not vote for this atrocious bill. Yeah, right. Paul Krugman has called it correctly in that after much grandstanding, the Republicans will all fall in line, like good little North Koreans, and vote for it.. Maybe some parts of it can get dropped if the public gets the information and screams loudly enough. However, the billionaire media will not save us. We have to get the information out any way we can.
Exactly. Once again, it's all about the horse race, while no one is addressing the real issues at stake. When will the corporate media put AMERICA FIRST, instead of profits for a handful of billionaire owners?
As the "handful of billionaire owners" control the "free" press, and the billionaires consider putting "America First" coextensive with putting themselves "first" (the oligarchic ethic), your sad fantasy of corporate America putting anyone other than themselves first is not going to happen.
Only when their corporate conservative owners have had enough. I've seen no sign of that yet.
The Senate Republicans are also planning to ignore any of the Parliamentarian's decisions that they do not like.
My representative here in SoCal promised again and again and again that she wouldn’t vote for any bill that cut Medicaid but of course she did. When I called her office, they were ready with their talking points saying she only promised not to cut “vital” Medicaid services and those being kicked off were not getting vital services. WTF?
Approval of the BBB might become similar to Liz Truss not being able to outlast a wilting Cabbage with a wig.
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/a-liz-truss-moment-for-america
Let-us agree it is “lettuce” not “ cabbage.”
Looks like cabbage to me too.
It was definitely an English "lettuce".
Actually, the media talks about Trump's budgets a lot. Just look at today's (5/21 12:30 PM) NYT headline. But no one is paying any attention. People get distracted by the latest bright shiny object, which today is the fact that Joe Biden may have been more than a little dotty late in his presidential term. And to be fair, in normal times (whatever the hell that means) that would be a big story. But these times are not normal.
We really have to stop blaming the media, billionaires, and/or sun spot activity for why we're in the mess we're in. Things are this bad because of how so many of us vote against our best economic and social interests. And that in turn is because there is something that's gone rancid in the American character that needs to be addressed. Blaming others for the situation that problem has led us to isn't going to fix it. We need to honestly ask ourselves what in our history has motivated so many people to embrace fascism or simply to check out of our politics altogether. Then maybe we can do something about it.
The 2002 Nobel economic prize went to work that proved why economists had been wrong, and why instead people regularly dont act rationally, or in their best interests...
I recommend the prizewinners delightful bestseller - "thinking fast and slow"
or start with this interview with him here:
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-men-who-started-a-thinking-revolution/
@Anthony, IMHO excellent point. The Fourth Estate could/should be doing much more, but it has its own challenges, with the rise of social and other media. Meidas+ and these Substacks are great examples of the new approach - FB and twitter (yes, I know!): less so.
Yeah that was helpful wasn't it
If I have to read another word about Joe Biden or Democrats covering up I'm going to cancel what remaining subscriptions I have left. WaPo and NYT looking at you.
Complicity at it's worst.
Maybe the reason the media keeps trying to get Democrats (and their liberal supporters) to admit their mistakes is because Liberal arrogance has a certain quality that, when they are being taken down a peg or two, a large number of readers click those articles and want to know all about it. Maybe the prominence of those articles is an economic one, driven by what people click.
I agree, Matt… and you’ve made an important point I left out. it almost makes it a bigger problem. It’s not just that a few media moguls have decided this “should be” the story, it’s that liberals writ large - MILLIONS of us! - are currently obsessed with criticism of and prognostication about the party, appearing to have more interest in the 100th “what went wrong for Dems” op eds than news stories about tens of thousands of federal workers being illegally fired.
We are too obsessed with scolding ourselves to argue our positions or even properly oppose our foes. I don’t think it’s a natural failure of the current “liberal culture;” I think this collective depression is less “grassroots” than people estimate, and that Cambridge Analytica/Internet Research Agency-style tactics have been used to spread and exacerbate the misery. But after 2016, and especially after the pandemic, that tinder burned fast.
Given what people are showing a preference for, the media would need to be downright ALTRUISTIC in its choices about focus to leave those clicks on the table, and they’re not exactly in a position to be giving up cash flow right now, either.
It all feels very intractable. Which usually means gridlock, followed by a tectonic shift… I suppose we are in the latter part now. Where we are now is ridiculous and nonsensical, but the earth is still shaking and we don’t know where the coastline is going to end up.
The gridlock you described as intractable, followed by a tectonic shift, is a good analysis. However, we're not in the latter part of the tectonic shift. It's just starting. We are experiencing the swarms of earthquakes preceding the eruption.
I wish I could tell you you were wrong! 🙁 Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
Ummm, that's not at all what I said. In fact, maybe Democrats need to scold themselves. After all, Republicans STILL have a higher approval than Democrats, so someone wants to see us scold ourselves.
Rewording what I said: Democrats (and Liberal supporters) have a certain type of arrogance that grates on people more than Republican arrogance does. So, when they see something that would humble Democrats, those people who are annoyed at Liberals love it; and they click on the articles since they want to know all about it.
I believe the solution might be for Democrats to admit their mistakes and avoid the brand of arrogance that led to people disliking us so much that they want to see us humbled.
90% of "Democrats are arrogant" whining is about shit they never even said.
"Flyover Country" remains the ur-example here, a term that Republicans and media made up out of thin air as an example of how Democrats supposedly talk, which nobody has ever used unironically.
It's understandable that people hate the liberals in their heads. Heck, I'd hate them too, if they were real. But that's not a problem liberals are going to fix simply by admitting and apologizing for things they never said. It's a problem that brings us right back to media and its biases.
I have personally watched countless Liberals condescend to people who disagree with them. It may not be a majority of Liberal chatterers, but it is by far the loudest and it is a hell of a lot of people.
And I used to be one of their number, so don't try to say in my presence that Liberals don't condescend. I was part of the very huge pack of Liberals who did it, among other arrogant behaviors.
And no, mostly it isn't the politicians who are at fault - though there are some, and the politicians certainly give fodder. I say mostly, but there have been moments ... "basket of deplorables" anyone? This comment embodies for non-liberals the condescension people get from liberals on mostly a constant basis still. So, instead it is mostly the Liberal opinion makers and the vast army of Liberal commenters on social media who parrot them who are at fault. People are judging Liberals harshly and especially in general because Liberals have been a certain kind of jerk.
So, when people see Liberal leaders having incredibly deep flaws (FFS - trying to mislead people into electing an enfeebled old person is a deep flaw by any measure), they like to revel in it. All these condescending, self-righteous people aren't so perfect as they pretend to be after all if they supported such deeply flawed people, right?
And yes, it is the leadership that has to take responsibility and be humble. This so that their army of boosters gets the message that arrogance isn't working, something I assure you they are not understanding. Try. Something. Else.
If you tell somebody they're wrong, because they're fucking wrong, that is not condescension. It's self-defense. And some of these MAGA people are so fucking wrong, it's getting to the point of being a killing thing.
sure, but from a liberal perspective you do seem pretty ignorant!
( sorry... but you set yourself up for that).
Most liberals did not greatly like joe biden as their candidate - and then they ejected him - despite that he legitimately won the nomination process. but it took chore democratic leaders to convinced him to drop out .
in the end we get what we deserve, and its not our leaders or the press's fault... citizens have to work harder, and set the agenda.- democracy isnt a given- it takes deep devotion and hard work.
an "idiot" is the ancient greek word for people who are politicaly uninterested and inactive.
"I say mostly, but there have been moments ... "basket of deplorables" anyone?"
Yes, Hillary Clinton dared to say out loud that Trump's voter base included racists, sexists, homophobes, and other "deplorables." She even dared to say out loud that his entire campaign was based on bringing out such voters. How dare she. She specifically went out of her way to frame it as a #NotAllTrumpVoters thing. But naturally, once the media was done with it, it became "OMG Hillary Clinton says Trump voters are deplorable! That's just so awful!" Thank you for providing a perfect illustration of a liberal having to apologize for something they never said.
"And I used to be one of their number, so don't try to say in my presence that Liberals don't condescend."
Your personal issues aren't really my problem. If you were a condescending asshole then - and there's very little evidence to support your use of the phrase "used to be" - that's your problem. If you were, unsurprisingly, drawn to other condescending assholes, that's also your problem. You are not the universal experience you think you are.
Democrats have a “low approval” because Democrats don’t approve of them.
What does that even MEAN?
And no, “admitting your mistakes” is not a good idea politically. That such an insane idea and I have no idea how it was cemented into common wisdom. “Admitting your mistakes” is a failure to ADVOCATE for yourself.
How often do you hear Republicans - who crashed the economy in 2008 and let disease run rampant in 2020 - admit their mistakes? Trump has literally not done it once in his life. Democrats keep playing by stupid bullshit rules like that, and its’s because our egos demand we think of ourselves as “intellectually honest” rather than try to win. So we’ve convinced ourselves the former accomplishes the latter, even though it is clearly illogical as all hell, if you take yourself out Beltway Brain for two seconds.
We do have to analyze our mistakes
But we shouldnt publically bemone them .
Anyhow The big mistake is clear:
people thought theyd do better with a tax cutting pro-buissness agenda.
(I wonder how many thought This: what either administration will do is actually a crapshoot ...but theres a good chance trump maybe a better economic bet for me?)
So we need a candidate that can convince people the economy will get better under them. that your $ is there focus, and their plan makes sense and is popular.
MIstake # two: I grew to love Kamala
But lets face it, America is racist and sexist.
and trusts a successful white man more.
( Once they are in power they can put Opra & whoopie in charge of doge... which is not a bad idea... but not till after a white dude first gets elected.... then he can change his pronouns - or do anything that gets press attention!).
Unfortunatly thats also why Im scared about buttigedge
who I love because he is the only politician thats said
america has to chang
Republicans don't have the same brand of arrogance as Democrats, and so people don't love for them to have to be humble. You're not comparing apples to apples.
Democrats (especially their supporters) are particularly condescending. I think people love to see Democrats dragged through the mud because of it. When you're in the situation where people love to see you dragged through the mud, genuine humility is the way to combat it. Whether that comes through admitting mistakes or some other mechanism, I don't really care. But, Republicans aren't in the same position as Democrats on this matter, and so the solution for the different camps is different.
I think the solutions for Democrats must be the ones that fit Democrats, not imitating Republicans, which I think would be absurd and counterproductive. Liberals need to shed a certain reputation they alone have built up, through their own actions, that the Republicans have not.
So, in a direct answer to your question: Republicans don't need to admit their mistakes because they don't have the same reputation to shed as Democrats do.
And besides: In a way, Republicans HAVE partially admitted their mistakes, in so many words. Most people don't consider MAGA as a continuation of the notion of "Republican". The embrace of MAGA is perceived as a repudiation of past Republican mistakes, and a change to the meaning of the notion of "Republican". And to some extent, this is true. Old Republicans didn't really care about fixing immigration because businesses didn't want them to care about it. Old Republicans didn't really care about fixing the hollowing out of the middle class (manufacturing jobs) because businesses didn't want them to care about it. On at least those two fronts, MAGA is a pronounced departure from Republican.
Democrats don't benefit from any similar departure from their past mistakes, perceived and otherwise. So the difference in what is "disastrous" for Democrats is different from what would be "disastrous" by Republicans at this point.
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge. the sadist thing is how human scientific knowledge is now advancing at its highest rate ever, while human wisdom is not.”
― Isaac Asimov
Get rid of Corporate favouring Democrats and 80% of the Democrats problem is solved.
"Power to the people" needs to be the new motto.
Too long it was Power to the Corporations.
you are racist. is there a greater arrogance?
many people may feel annoyed and intimidated by a liberaly educated sensibility ...
but the truth is we want politiians who know things, and who say they assuridly know what there doing.
After Obama was elected I heard on WNYC radio many psychiatrists saying how they had many patients ( liberal new yorkers) who felt he was given advantages they never got because he was black....
( not that he was a hard worker, and obviously had exceptional talents?
conservatives have always thought we should have bigger sticks and law and order... while liberals always say we need to be nurturing and offer carrots to help people more.... the truth is socialy we use a mix of both - but we associate liberals with helping the under-privilidged more... and people really want that somehow to be fair - they feel "hey what about me?... what carrots do I get? .. even many liberals feel that
we have trouble accepting that not everyone gets special carrots
and we want a system thats perfectly fair , but it can never quite be
and we also do have to compensate for years of grotesque racism scolonialism agism sexism and prejudices ...
and we do need to create a more inclusive society... which by the way the 2024 nobel prize winners proved very conclusivly ends up being much better economicaly for everyone
another problem is how most democrat candidates make an extra effort to speak in folksy ways which is sometimes obvious.... ( obama did it masterfully while still being the most erudite president !)
gop dont have to do this - they just say whatever nonsense they think in the moment, and people actualy like that sincerity, even when its idiotic.
the extreem left tend more to think their ideas are correct, and " should " be folowed... but i think most people on the left and center are mostly relativist, critical thinkers... that is they understand things are complex, and that a diologue of conflicting views is important.... but unfortunatly that approach doesnt make great or strong political speaches!
and yet I think we have to lean into it more
we on the left and center ( who know include basic institutional conservatives) are people who accept life's complexities
& the gop didnt start being dishonest manipulative bullies with trump...
that goes back to goldwater saying it was good to be an extreemist, to Nixons southern strategy, & reagans coded language, not to mention theirhuman rights violations then bush one's swift boating - W bush's post-fact & it's "my way or the highway" mentality.... This is a fight that's been a century in the making... I say bring it on!
meanwhile
"many people may feel annoyed and intimidated by a liberaly educated sensibility ... "
Many people feel annoyed at being told that they're wrong, and intimidated when it's proved that they're wrong. That's just human nature. Most grown-ups in most contexts get over it in a couple of minutes.
The difference is, when I say "it sucks that there's no ice cream left in the fridge because I could really use one right now" and my housemate answers "what are you talking about? I bought a new box yesterday. Look again, it's there," everybody understands that she isn't insulting me, or condescending to me, or calling me stupid, or being an elitist. She's correcting a false statement, and doing me a favor by doing so.
But for some reason, if instead of "there's no ice cream in the fridge" I say "global warming is a hoax," "vaccines cause autism," "Covid isn't real," "Haitian immigrants are eating dogs," "Iraq has WMDs," or "there are 57 card-carrying communists in the Defense Department," all of polite society decides that the correct response to this is literally anything *but* the truth, because saying the truth in response to that is literally a hate crime.
No one will respond positively to Democrats humbling themselves in an orgy of self-flagellation. Humble, i.e. weak, is not something Republicans will pass up to stigmatize. Democrats' mistakes are self-apparent to all. We don't re-live the past. The DNC, a failed enterprise since 2010, has to be gutted and reformulated, as Gavin Newsom says, from the bottom up, and not the top down.
"Admitting mistakes" is a euphemism for the reality of having to admit stunning incompetence, which the current incompetent leadership of the DNC is not intellectually capable of, being incompetent. The squalid, chickenshit incompetence of the likes of Chuck Schumer is an emperor's-new-clothes issue: Schumer apparently is stunningly clueless that he is parading around stark naked, as it were.
Anyway, such admission would be self-defeating. No one knows where competent leadership of the DNC might come from. The DNC has eaten all its own; that is, those among Democrats who saw DNC leadership as a tragedy of incompetence. Newsom's the only apparent renegade, possibly because he's outside looking in.
Negative politics works.
Unless trump canturn the economy around
( BY which I mean inflation and people feel their secure... which is unlikely)
then Dems will probably win big in 2026
But 2028 is a crapshoot.... 1 we have no idea if trump will be hated or back above 50% approval, or if the GOP will be?
but two things are certain democrats will need a candidate who is compelling to watch, and who people think will really improve things economically for them, personally.
They should go wild with promises
but the truth is they're gunna have to fix trump's mess &
He's almost certainly going to leave a bigger deficit
and somehow they will have to convince people that green and inclusive economy is what will boost our whole economy..
our job is to make sure more of the US population understands that.
and that the rest of the world is already doing it, & that trump is leaving us economicaly behind cause he isnt ! (Heck, Qatar wanted to get rid of that gas guzzling jet! -But couldnt sell it for 5 years already!!!)
+ Investors say their waiting for greener us policies, before they invest more in the US.
Kind of Duh.( but thats so condescending of me)
Okay.
We should talk more about biden and his economics - he said himself " I dont know what bidenomics is" because they had no scheme and that's what made them so brilliant! he took on different problems in different ways and they mostly worked
Biden;s first cheif economic adviser was a true genius, who believed in "nudging" the economy in many ways - because A- those nudges build up over time ,
and B because you can make incremental adjustments.
And that is modern LIberalism!
it is not one overall philosophy, nor idiology
its a pragmatic studied approach to problems.
with the goal of making a more prosperous society.
Unfortunately, the fact is that Democrats sleepwalked into an election that Donald Trump ended up winning. There is an important conversation to be had about how that happened, Biden was a piece of that but the main issue is how the party failed to respond to what voters were demanding.
They failed to respond to what voters were demanding, yes. But that was compounded by the fact that historically, the Democratic Party was once the working people's party and the antimilitarist party. And it stopped being both long ago. But what sealed the loss was their support for the genocide in Palestine. Even people who were ready to vote out of nostalgia for what the Democrats used to be and/or to save us from Trump drew the line at that.
It was never just the working people’s party, and certainly not the anti militarist party. It did used to be a vibrant coalition that included those, among others, but it was never simply a leftist party. When it was, it lost badly (as in 1972).
Here's the mainstream media's dirty little secret: Trump draws eyeballs -- and they love him for it. Whether the coverage is favorable or negative does not matter. Corporate media lives or dies by ad revenue. Trump's outrageous comments are always a safe bet to draw an audience. Coverage of the real damage Trump is doing gets shunted to the margins.
The coverage of Biden is an aberration -- but only because the news is sordid. It will soon play out and the media will be back on the Trump outrage merry-go-round.
Amen, brother.
Or even more important, the Sean Combs trial!
dont worry most people just look at selected tiktoks on their phone anyhow
…..and Sean "Diddy" Combs….😩
Lies, and more disinformation from right wing & Corporate Network News. BS continues to lie on behalf. of DJT Tariffs, where other countries will not be paying the tariffs, you and I who will be purchasing the items will be paying. Lies and more lies are all that come out of DJT’s lips and the demented MAGA’s racists jump up and down like some and
As Hemingway wrote in The Sun Also Rises: "How did you go bankrupt? Two ways: Gradually, then suddenly."
It is bizarre to hear people who voted for Agent Orange site "his business acumen" as their reason for supporting him when his notoriety in the business world is that every venture he touched ended in bankruptcy.
Pretty much all of his aura as a "great businessman" is fiction created first by his own relentless self-promotion, and later by a completely fictional "reality" TV show, "The Apprentice" That's what people are remembering, not the facts.
The ones who say that have the IQ of a rock.
And watch way too much reality TV shows
Please don’t insult rocks.
😂
I'm old enough to remember Pet Rocks - and some of them were quite nice!
Well, they didn't bark, or bite the postal carrier, and they didn't make a mess. They just sat there in those colorful boxes with instructions "how to care for your pet rock". I saw them in the stores and couldn't believe that someone became a millionaire off of that. That might help explain how many [strikeout] suckers [/strikeout] voters went for Trumpkopf.
Very true, and not helped by right-wing media spending every day from 2010-2016 saying economic and market growth was fake, but then on January 2017 suddenly the economy was booming.
Perfect.
The real question is not if or when USA will face it's Truss moment. It's what to do when it happens? There is no mechanism like there was to remove Truss.
You, personally, have to show up to protests on June 14.
Yes! Thank you, fleetwooz. Everyone must realize that showing up is the only way we're going to garner the attention of the capitulating and click-bait-oriented MSM. Make June 14th the biggest protest this nation has ever seen and we'll start getting this the attention and the action it deserves. And keep showing up until they can't deny that there are more of us than there of them!
Showing up in D.C. for the parade, and not just in Iowa or Utah, etc., is what's called for. The invitation should be focused on a counter-parade in D.C. itself.
If you have a better idea, I'm sure most of us are open to hearing it. In the meantime, historically, it's been shown that when 3.5% of the population rises in peaceful protest, it can break the chokehold of authoritarians. For us, that means around 12,000,000 demonstrators need to get out into the streets.
Absolutely. Most of them in D.C., it would be hoped.
No! None in D.C.! We don't want to give the Orange Scourge an excuse to declare martial law. Stay away from D.C.! Everywhere else is fair game.
https://www.nokings.org/
To quote The Sun Also Rises again (I'm doing this from memory of reading it fifty years ago, but it's a memorable line):
"Yes. Isn't it pretty to think so?"
Ok, so what do you think we should be doing? There ain’t no knight in shining armor coming to save us. The people who study authoritarian regimes say mass mobilization is what brings down regimes. Do you know something they don’t know? If not, then STFU.
And bring at least 3 friends with you! We need to get at least 10 million Americans out on the streets.
This is a great reminder of the imperative that we continue to Rise! Resist! ✊✊✊
The next nationwide rally is June 14, yes >that< June 14, be there or be square!
Let's ruin Chump's B'day. We need 3.5% or the population, or around 12,000,000 people to be present. So bring all your friends and families. Spread the word as far and wide as possible. Let's all get out there with a Howard Beale spirit and yell "We're as mad as hell, and we're not gonna take it anymore!".
https://www.nokings.org/
P.S. Stay the hell away from D.C.! Don't give him an excuse to declare martial law!
//
Don't let up folks, it's working:
Boycott TE卐LA! Boycott Swastikar!
Short TE卐LA! Short Swastikar!
Boycott 卐tarlink!
Boycott 卐/Twitter!
Curb your DOGE!
https://generalstrikeus.com/strikecard
https://www.fiftyfifty.one/
https://indivisible.org/
https://handsoff2025.com/
https://www.teslatakedown.com/
https://www.riseandresist.org/
https://thirdact.org
https://www.nokings.org/
Especially stay away from DC!
Staying away from D.C. is a little like Schumer's plan for the budget: chickenshit. The challenge has to be direct and disruptive. Declaring martial law might well be the beginning of the end of this slo-mo nightmare, and the restoration of America's revolutionary roots. It'll be messy for sure, but it's an issue of bravery vs transient, dysfunctional, ultimately counterproductive disorder.
I wouldn't bet on that.
Agreed, actually.
Scott, you have been asked (politely) to contribute ideas. But so far, all we see from you are insults & complaints. You know, if you aren't part of the solution…
Maybe Scott is being sarcastic. None of the train of thought in this thread is in Trump's purview. Trump's pathologic narcissism prevents anything getting into his head, including the threats implied in this thread. Trump is not shaking in his boots. He's strategizing his elevation to dictator, a feat nearly accomplished, in order to practice his art: the art of the grift, on a truly historic scale.
86 SM.
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-power-of-protest-in-the-us/
Impeachment
Too bad impeachment can't happen by popular vote!!!
We need to have a "no confidence" vote made available to us. That would make a great Constitutional amendment.
The equivalent of a 'no confidence vote' exists for us: impeachment, followed by conviction. It's a shame it's so complicated, but what's necessary here, as in parliamentary democracies, is for the elected representatives of "the people" to be of the correct frame of mind. But I agree with you. "No confidence" votes in the House should be a call for immediate elections.
True, but if we make Republicans more afraid of voters than of Rump, then it could go better this time around. A combination of nationwide protests, especially in red districts, up until a blue wave in 2022. It is a long game, and he can do plenty of damage in the meantime, but without the appeasement of a willing congress and SCOTUS, he has a lot less power. And both of those institutions are much more sensitive to public opinion than the tangerine tyrant himself.
Bring on the blue tsunami 2026!
That would be nice.
Tinfoil Matt has compiled statistical data from the election and there has been the suggestion that the election was hacked in a big way.
https://tinfoilmatt.substack.com/p/security-expert-says-vote-tabulators-hacked
If correct, the data this person published here suggests that machines were illegally detained by Republican operatives in several instances for the purpose of accessing and copying the machine code. Here's one of the links to one of the reports
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/security-footage-shows-georgia-county-republican-chair-election-official-present-during-breach-of-voting-equipment
Is it any wonder Trump is defunding PBS? It seems so improbable, deceptively so, perhaps, that the election was hacked in such a comprehensive fashion. But we already know Trump tried to steal the 2020 election (ironically by claiming that Biden stole it). We already know Trump encouraged an armed mob to attack the Capitol and prevent the Vice President from performing an act of validation of the election.
So I read your wish for a Blue Tsunami in 2026 with mixed emotions. It'd be great, but it's not just that the DNC is a raging incompetent of an organization (we might see a repeat of the 2010 midterms) - we'll be lucky if the 2026 midterms are fairly conducted, and perhaps if they are even conducted at all.
Coordinated recall efforts against republican senators on shaky ground
Agree but - if it could, it wouldn’t Probably. We are the minority here. Much of the US electorate Ok with trends, current events, legislation etc. it will take long, hard work to change/ reclaim majority
But it isn't just Trump. It's the Republicans in the House & the Senate.
They're the ones passing a bill estimated to add $4 Trillion to the budget, despite the cuts cruel to so many.
House and Senate Republicans have been conditioned into servility to Trump. Truly a weak and disgusting bunch. Tories, not Americans.
There is impeachment - not for trump slime himself, perhaps but maga mike johnson, pam blondie, pete hegseth, bessent, gabard, noem. schumer, hawley, and on and on, we just need a few Democrats with the courage to stand up for the Constitution and the rule of law.
Failing that we'd better damned well see that we return both Houses to us and Independents
Coward Hawley is my so-called representative. He's a perfect representative for this area.
You can't "Impeach" members of Congress. A house can kick a member out, and some states have recalls, but there is no "impeachment" for the Legislative Branch.
You can impeach cabinet secretaries, but what's an impeachable offense for the Commerce Secretary? Lying to the public is neither a High Crime nor a Misdemeanor.
I've never been enthused about the US adopting a parliamentary system, but I'm starting to warm to the idea. Thinking about how actually to implement such a massive change gives me a migraine, though.
Uh oh, you really should consider changing your password and probably check for malware.
Or maybe I fell for a “good” old fashioned spoof….
Impeachment
DOGE was actually very successful in cutting costs—for Musk. All those regulatory issues vanished, Starlink booted out Verizon, and Big Balls and crew have all of our data. Mission accomplished!
You point out something that many people miss. When Donald and Elon talk about success, they mean their own personal financial success. They do not give two hoots about the country or the people or businesses or MAGA. They just want to get more money for themselves.
The mystery is that so many people cannot see Donald and Elon for what they are. It is amazing at the number of people who still believe that Donald is a great businessman who is doing wonders for the country.
Best wishes.
P.T. Barnum appears to have been correct.
A sage.
He's out of date. There's one born every second these days.
Yep
It’s like watching one of those hostile takeovers where they come in, break up the company, strip it down, fire the workers, and sell what’s left for parts. Only the company is the United States. The attempt to squash free trade, free speech, free press, and instill fear and paralysis in the populace could therefore be interpreted as a form of restraint to prevent the victims from protesting against their being robbed. But I think the attack on freedom and the rule of law and our civil society and even free trade is not just a means to a monetary end—the gun to our head, so to speak, as in, “your money or your life”—but is an end in itself, the ideological hatred of democracy and the project of imposing a Christofascist regime that has total social control. That data DOGE stole; is it going to Palantir, perhaps? Trump is a tool, money is the means, and perhaps for some the carrot, but it seems even more sinister than unbridled greed.
I am afraid that you are correct. Donald does not really know what he is doing and there are smarter people behind the scenes manipulating him. He wants to get big bucks and other people will get control and so forth.
When you spoke of hostile takeovers, firing workers, stripping assets, there was always the idea that if things did not work out, the raiders could declare bankruptcy and walk away. Donald declared bankruptcy five or six times. There are people who use bankruptcy as a plan of business -- how to misuse bankruptcy for profit. Donald has only ever cared about money.
Best wishes.
Exactly. Money and attention. He’s got a jones for both. I know a retired contractor who used to do work in NYC. He said it was common knowledge that Trump was a stiff and would never pay the last installment on a job. So if anyone did work for him, they’d inflate their estimates accordingly.
That's why DonnyJon switched to Atlantic City.
And sank those casinos.
If you had a hostile foreign country with the means and motive to destroy the United States from within, what would that look like? The motive would be pay back for losing the Cold war
The Russians had an ace in the hole.
Musk yesterday, saying that he can't perform his job at Tesla if he feels threatened with dismissal.
"I can't be sitting there wondering whether I'm going to be tossed out."
How rich is that?
Wondering if he can list his 5 achievements for the week - let alone the month.
Irony doesn’t even seem to cover it. Maybe in this case John Lennon was right: instant Karma’s gonna get you, Elmo.
And I suspect the irony was completely lost on him.
He is such an asshole. I have to believe karma is real at this point & he’ll get his comeuppance eventually.
That is very, very funny.
Did you see how unhappy he looked in the Middle East, sitting BEHIND the prince of Saudi Arabia while Trump declared Mohamed his love?
My guess: Trump doesn't need Musk anymore and Musk feels massively betrayed.
Musk installed AI in all government computers so now the WH can begin a China-like surveillance system, punishing anyone who protests a little too much with withdrawing social security checks or any other form of threat that is targeted to harm a specific individual (endless IRS audits that make it impossible for people to still work, as China is doing to journalists in Hong Kong; contacting the venue where you want to organize an event and threaten them if they accept to make it available to you, etc.).
If Musk trusted Trump enough to give the neofascist GOP control over this system rather than remaining personally responsible for activating it, he may as well have lost his power over Trump.
And now Middle East dictators are pouring BILLIONS in his cryptocurrency, which is obviously much better than the "meager" $300 million Musk paid to the Trump campaign...
And then there is the fact that Trump LOVES to sow division among the people who work for him. So pitching Musk against some ultra wealthy dictators who can just steal billions from their own citizens? That sounds like real "leadership" for someone like Trump...
Welcome to the American work force, Elon.
Would love it if the Tesla Board through him out.
Threw, not through 😵💫
Well, if he can't perform his job, toss him out.
Another abomination is that DOGE was essentially an end-around the SCOTUS 1998 Clinton v. City of New York ruling, that the President does not have the power to line item veto. DOGE is actually line item veto power by loophole. There is NO evidence that an actual efficiency analysis was the basis for any DOGE cut, and lots of evidence that the cuts were driven by the spending preferences of the current President and by the President-by-Proxy Elon Musk, who bought and paid for the power that came by invoking this loophole
You're skipping the most important fact: DOGE installed AI in all government computers. It basically allows any president who is willing to sell out to Musk to activate a China-like fascist surveillance system.
The system is already in place thanks to Thiel’s Palantir. Just plug in the data, and play.
If it isn't already installed and working. The best surveillance system is the one the population doesn't know is there. The second best one is after it's discovered.
It was never about finding fraud and waste, it was about destroying the federal government. The ‘savings’ were merely the rationale offered to tear apart the ‘administrative state’. Bannon must be happy as a pig in slop.
And the explosion will be huge…
Precisely! 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
PK says "We are a World leader in éducation", unquote. I seriously beg to disagree. There is no way a majority of people living in a country which would be a "world leader in education" would elect as président an irresponsible bully crook. On the contrary, this shows that a majority of the population is poorly educated. Sad, but true.
I think the point was world leader in higher education -- research, PhD candidates, etc -- all of the things that DoGE are gutting and the grants that the imbecile is refusing to honor.
Right Leigh. However our education system need not take all the blame. Hard to educate in rural areas where there is limited funding for education. Hard to educate when education is not a priority Hard to educate when disabilities and varied abilities are not considered. Hard to educate when resources (internet and digital) are scarce. Hard to educate when books are banned. And so much more.
Actually is it not always so straightforward.
An example is West Germany and East Germany after the reunification. Despite poor economic performance in the previous East Germany that was strongly influenced and dictated from Moscow, did the East have very high levels of education.
After the reunification, now, has the neonazi, anti democratic and more Russian friendly forces been much higher in the East. It can be argued that the education was the reason because the West German politics, “political culture” if you wish, and West German mercantilism was forced upon the East. Thus the East felt that this was demeaning against their “status”, equality and liberties.
It isn’t strange that the West tried to do this, nor that many in the East indeed hoped to to emulate the West because, in my opinion, was much of East Germany somewhat dreary economically.
Still, many in the East objected to the way things were done specifically because of high education and as such tried, and still try, to wrest power over their sense of integrity by opposing the West, or the symbols of the Western-oriented changes.
Basically is it about hurt feelings and a willingness to accept a self defeating phyrric victory. So not so different from Brexit and MAGA.
My understanding is that the east - west divide in Germany dates back before 1945, indeed to the (first) unification in 1871 where east Germany was much more rural.
Maybe that is also a part of it. Still, higher levels of education has not made the East immune to, at least the way I see it, regressive political ideals.
And again am I reminded of Prince singing, “It’s joy in repetition”…although it can be exhausting to behold. 🤨
The problem with East Germany is the same as that with other young democracies today: society and culture are still in part fascist, and democracy was introduced together with horrible neoliberal policies that hurt the 99%. Sooner or later, it makes people want to "go back to when things were better"...
Not a majority. He won less than 50 percent of the popular vote. That’s a plurality.
He's not talking about Daniel Boone Elementary School in Smallville, Kansas, he's talking about Harvard, Yale, and MIT, and even the next couple tiers of universities down. People don't come here from all over the world for the general education degrees, but they absolutely come for higher academia.
I think Paul is talking about the higher levels of education. The majority of the US population IS poorly educated. Only about 10% of my high school class were planning to attend college, and one wasn't really exposed to much in the way of facts until college. In high school, we got the "America can do no wrong" crap in history and social studies. I don't think that's changed much.
The election was manipulated by Musk. The electoral votes came in unbelievably quickly and Trump’s pronouncements of “I don’t need your vote,” and “You won’t have to vote again,” but further evidence of his intentions.
Honestly, I'm pretty sure the main manipulators of the election have been a decade and a half of voter suppression laws.
Or to put it another way, if our elections still took place under the same legal framework that they did in 2008 or 2012, Harris would have won.
Excellent point and definitely true. But I still maintain votes were manipulated by Elonia or his minions. He should have been indicted and jailed for election interference in buying votes for Drumpf.
we have great universities...that the GOP has spent the last 40 years putting up barriers so that fewer and fewer American kids actually go to school.
Just the way the politicians like it!
What made you so cynical? "Politicians"??
So, will we end up something like Great Britain, with what looks like a stagnant economy, and a host of foreign plutocratic oligarchs snapping up its best real estate and other assets while everyone else soldiers on with less and less to show for it?
Right Leigh. However our education system need not take all the blame. Hard to educate in rural areas where there is limited funding for education. Hard to educate when education is not a priority Hard to educate when disabilities and varied abilities are not considered. Hard to educate when resources (internet and digital) are scarce. Hard to educate when books are banned. And so much more.
Right, Mary. I used to teach in the public schools, until I realized I was being asked to do more and more with less and less, and also was being asked to deflect the too-frequent attacks of parents (one called me a clown to my face because I sometimes used humor to make points with my students!), not to mention having a salary somewhat south of the janitors.' Having said that I'd like to state the obvious--education takes time, patience, and works best if parents support the process. In our current atmosphere of mutual disrespect as well as a maelstrom of competing values, this might be a bridge too far. I sure wish there was a magic bullet to fix what's wrong with us, but my honest opinion is that we will have to fall apart some more before we will realize the enormity of the tasks before us as we rebuild.
You are right on! However I might add that facist governments create chaos and discontent as a means to then jump in and make things right on their terms. Destroying education through lack of funding or other support is the perfect tool to deny education or at least a quality education
Yep. I am watching it happen with a very heavy heart. After I stopped trying to keep my finger in the dyke in the classroom I went back to grad school and became a therapist, and discovered some tough realities--foremost among them that people, even when they sign up for help changing--resist change, because change is difficult, requires patience and handling fears of the unknown, etc. Even if a woman is being abused by her partner and has the injuries to prove it, she will cling to him because change is so frightening. So, what's before us? I don't know because chaos allows opportunity as well as danger. I hope and pray that there are enough of us who are educated and unafraid (or less afraid!) that we will surprise the fascists by creating something a lot better than they're offering. The so-called security offered by a strongman is equivalent to that offered by an abusive husband, isn't it? We have a chance to change things for the better, though, and I for one will keep fighting the good fight.
I too will keep fighting the good fight.
Krasnov will make the US a shithole country that won't have to worry about immigration. No one will want to come here and anyone who can will leave. Make America White Again!
Yikes. Someone really should make the movie.
Yes. And we will look like djt’s casinos. Bankrupt. Doing what he does best.
Sure looks like it. If you read Paul Krugman's substack take a look at his post this morning. We're tanking. And it's a wide open question whether this is due to his stupidity or is in fact a strongman tactic to create chaos so some very shady characters can step in to 'save us.'
It's due to his stupidity and greed. There's been entirely too much theorizing about the "strategy" that he doesn't actually have.
He has nothing but greed and stupidity. Unless you count envy and lust.
Thanks for articulating the risk for a wider audience. Re the technical issue with pension fund in the UK: the feedback loop Truss created nearly pushed the whole industry over. Also from the outside, many critical untriggered feedback loops are not visible except to a very small number of market participants, even amongst professionals. These may be amplifying or attenuating but once triggered are hard to control. It is for this reason care must be taken not to yank on the yoke (the controls) too suddenly. From Brexit to Truss to Trump, or Navarro, this understanding is missing. Financial markets are robust up to a point....
(my background: ex global head of trading, sructuring and quant R&D across various asset classes, various large banks)
In 2009 we had bernanke, who we were lucky to have at that precise moment to prevent a financial catastrophe. Do we have any reason to believe that any of the people in Treasury or the Federal reserve have the ability and knowledge to prevent a market meltdown once it happens? Or am I asking the wrong question, which is is a market meltdown the strategy towards the goal?
Actually the 2007 to 2009 crises was very badly handled. TARP was woefully inadequate. Obama then appointed Timothy Geithner a career bureacrat who happened to fall up the ladder at each stage in his career - and nobody mentions that he was involved in the overnight repeal of Glass Steagel in the late 1990s, pushed through by the Clinton administration, opening up entire bank balance sheets for speculative activities.
In the end Quantitative Easing somewhat saved the day. But it too was executed badly. Instead of providing credit on Main Street, perhaps via infrastructure projects, the money printed went into asset inflation, especially the stock market. I recall being in HK in late October 2008 and telling my Chief Economist for the bank that "Surely they have to invest in invest in it infrastructure and other such projects.' He just looked at me blankly because the thought hadn't occurred to them.
The other mistake was that while the US was happy to borrow from China it was less happy to sell equity stakes. In times of distress, there is usually a debt to equity swap. But the US wanted none of that. It blocked some deals...
Imagine how much better things would be if China had actually held greater equity stakes in US corporates. I had a long conversation with the World Bank's Head of China department on the topic on 2007 and he said that while I asked a very good question it wasn't on the table because the US didn't want to give up any control. So debt financing fine, but not equity stakes.
Instead Chinese investment went to the rest of the world.
I could write a book on the topic even though I'm not an economist. Albeit managed managed a few hundred billion dollars of daily trading for some of the largest banks in the world...
Your expertise is appreciated here.
The cuts to NIH are expected to decrease our GDP by 6% in the long run. The cuts to the IRS will lower our revenue by over 0.5% of GDP annually or 6% of GDP in the 10 year budget window. TRUMP'S TERRIBLE TARIFF TANTRUM is decimating future investment in America, slashing our tourist industry, and decimating consumer confidence, which is already causing measurable decreases in consumer spending which was 68.5% of GDP in the first quarter. Add in Trump's budget and only a delusional fool could think America is fiscally responsible.
The crash is coming. The only silver lining is that the stock market is still chugging along on greed so rational people can dump stocks now and get over 4% interest in FDIC insured CDs and savings accounts. I was already reprimanded for espousing this at an Easter gathering by MAGA acquaintances because apparently FOX News is saying dumping stocks is unAmerican.
A while back, Lauren Boebert stated that Wall Streeters who were dumping stocks were Communist. SMH
Dump US stocks and buy foreign stocks. Foreign stocks are doing great this year. Hopefully this becomes a long term trend.
That's what I've seen so far.
“We’re clearly watching a bum’s rush, an attempt to ram this atrocity through before the public understands what’s happening.”
This is the crux of things: immoral, unethical, incompetent news media which prevents the public from understanding much. And of course is why the right wing undermines public education.
Yes. It’s like the media are actively trying really, really hard to prevent the public from understanding much. I have been around a long time and never have I felt so awash in world-historical levels of venality and stupidity.
He is doing exactly what he said he would do.
Plutocrats At The Gate – The Sack Of Washington
The plutocrats are already inside. Look at DJT's cabinet.
And next month, the Army will be there too. Maybe they'll never leave?
DOGE did NOT fail. It has been an enormous success. It was never an "agency" tasked with "finding waste" in the federal government. It was a group of racist incels hellbent on destruction, pillage and rapine, directed by a fascist movement for the benefit of the super-wealthy and their snivelling toadies. It has all gone swimmingly so far. And there is much more pain and destruction to come.
Referencing Trump's "big beautiful bill," Mr. Krugman notes in today's article that "This momentous move will take place with almost no public discussion." As we all know, this bill will seriously cut many social benefits, including Medicaid and food stamps. More than likely, this will impact some Trump supporters personally, or it will impact others in their families who rely heavily on social benefits.
But it's probably safe to say that this won't be mentioned on Fox News or other MAGA outlets. I say it's time we make this a point of "public discussion" -- so that everyone is aware of it immediately. If you have a family member or friend who's relying on Medicaid and voted for Trump, it's time to sound the alarm.
Krugman's prediction is spot on. View this from a foreign investment's perspective: would you want to own US T-Bills when:
- ratings are slipping,
- CDS costs go up,
- US government floods the market with more T-Bills,
- the US exchange rate is slipping,
- their leader changes opinions faster than you can order a meal, and
- there's a threat of a forced low (perhaps even 0%) interest rate?
Let the FED buy their own dog food, I'm taking a little walk in the opposite direction.
(and compliments on the lettuce picture, this totally made my day :-D)
Let the Trump tax cuts expire and we are suddenly a serious country again. It's that easy. And it won't happen.
If the big bamboozle bill passes will international retail investors take their money and run before the consumer economy collapses?
I'd say that is a strong possibility.
Every day I get sadder. Yesterday the hearings with RFK Jr and Noem and Rubio showed how far you have fallen, and how unsustainable it is to run a country with people like this. My American friend here now wants it all to collapse, as she sees no other solution. I'm moving to her camp, and this big beautiful bill is certain to hammer the coffin of the once-great USA firmly shut.