American voters voted for this. 77 million of them looked at Donald Trump and decided they wanted someone who was a convicted felon, greedy narcissist, sex pest, insurrectionist, profoundly stupid, massively ignorant, racist imbecile, and dedicated to destroying the United States government. 77 million Americans voted for this.
The 77 million and the very large number of non-voters and protest voters might be getting what they deserve, but not those of us, who voted for the highly competent woman. The same goes for the rest of the world now suffering under America's evil regime; they didn't vote for that, but they're getting it anyway.
This shows the dimension of the rot that was underlying the American veneer. It's time to acknowledge it and work to fix it.
We are going to have move past the finger=pointing stage. We have to move quickly through an analysis stage and get to a stage where we can implement a series of fixes. All the while knowing the other side are going to be trying to be attempting to tear down our fixes - just like they did to the Fixes which became the New Deal. Despair is not a solution of any sort.
I still retain the right to be furious at the ignoramuses who voted for this, and especially at the protest voters. They're the ones who own this, even as they double down and won't accept responsibility.
Clarity reveals the horrible damage caused by ignorance of the law. Trump, corporations, Republicans and dishonest news media have exploited public ignorance of law and taken control of the federal government including the legal system with an ongoing illegal insurrection. For democracy and justice to be restored, citizens, Democrats in government, and journalists in the honest news media must understand the law and insist justice be enforced in the legal system. The felony crime of insurrection underway in the United States as led by Trump and his administration is illegally supported by Republicans in Congress and six justices on the Supreme Court. Citizens, the news media, and Democrats in the federal government have not recognized the crime of insurrection.
Ignorance of the law has enabled the insurrection in America to create a lawless fascist autocracy which began in 2025 as planned in Project 2025. The insurrection began on January 6, 2021. From 2021 to 2024, Biden, Garland and Jack Smith failed to enforce the law and put Trump and the insurrectionist in jail. And SCOTUS refused to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to bar Trump from being on the ballot and holding office.
Monroe Doctrine? Doctrine is not law. Trump and his administration illegally invaded and took control of Venezuela with military force as an act of War without Congressional approval and kidnapped the president, Maduro. Maduro was indicted but what evidence has proved US laws were violated? No US law enabled the US to attack, invade and take control of Venezuela? The foundational International Law created after WW2 to prevent WW3 has been violated by Putin and Trump.
The federal criminal law in the United States is created by Congress and then described in Title 18 Part 1 of the U.S. Code which has multiple Chapters.
Specifically, the crime of insurrection is defined in 18 U.S. Code § 2383 - Rebellion or insurrection which clearly states who is guilty of the felony crime with this language.
Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.
What is the solution? The law must be enforced on insurrectionists including Trump, members of his administration, Republicans in Congress, and six justices on the Supreme Court. When Democrats get elected to the presidency and take control of Congress in 2028, the insurrectionists must be arrested, convicted and imprisoned.
If Democrats don't take control of at least the House of Representatives in 2026, we might not see a Democrat in the WH in 2028. The time to rise up and reclaim our nation is NOW. All over the country Democrats are planning campaigns and working to win. Join us.
What was it John Roberts said, and I'm paraphrasing, that this will be a "bloodless coup" if the Democrats will allow it. You may be citing a different Code, but Code 2383 sounds a lot like treason, which is also punishable by death. Mussolini comes to mind.
I believe the crossroads we are facing as a nation - today - is one of "bad choice/worse choice". Do we arrest, try, convict and sentence insurrectionists and enemies of our country within our own government or do we cross our fingers and hope it doesn't come to that? Because in my opinion, if we do the latter, that is the worst choice; we will have accomplished nothing to save our Democratic Republic from the next fascist. And the next one will have learned how to operate more efficiently under the radar.
Do the Democrats have the nerve and backbone to do this? Republicans know they don't; it's how they've won so far.
I don't think Trump has taken control of anything. Like so many Trump assertions, he's just making stuff up. The Bolivarian Socialists have reasserted their violent control of Venezuela on a street-by-street basis. They remain corrupt, murderous totalitarians who've already been rejected by Venezuelan voters.
I beg to differ. Isn’t the unilateral destruction of the east wing of the White House, the people’s house, ample evidence that he has a specific agenda and it’s being implemented, as outlined in P2025, every single day? He has completely sidestepped the constitution and the rule of law and he’s ruling as an authoritarian dictator and he’s being funded by the billionaire oligarchs.
Not literally - yet. Trump is riding his wave of "Mission Accomplished" by having ousted Maduro. Everyone understands Trump doesn't control anything at all; not even the U.S., but he's working his way toward it.
Now that we see the military will do whatever he wants, it's only a matter of time. My personal opinion is we won't see an end to this without a world war. I hope I'm wrong.
Congressional reform won't happen in this year's midterms if the elections are hacked as has been claimed for the 2024 presidential election, based upon swing state votes being extremely statistically anomalous. Musk's legions have the machine code for voting machines and the ability to use it to corrupt the election, not to say they did - nothing has been proven and the tracks are being erased.
And to do what you say in 2028 is highly improbable because there is no Democratic candidate with the courage to do so. Who's going to be the "man on the white horse" for the Democrats? The DNC has enabled the mess America is in through its incompetence via the "leadership" of Schumer and Jeffries.
Make sure you save some of your fury for the Democrats. They need some clarity themselves, and until they can offer the American people something better than the status quo, demagogues like Trump will always have a chance.
The party establishment remains in a state of denial about why they remain even less popular than the least popular president of the last century. Harris and the rest of the party establishment never articulated a clear vision for improving the lives of the average American, and I doubt they ever even had one. Nevertheless, they continue to try to marginalize the handful of people (Sanders, AOC, Mamdani, et al) in their party who have any real intention of toppling the capitalist oligarchy that has dominated American politics, regardless of which party has been in charge.
Trump and the rest of his cabinet are truly, deeply loathsome, but unless the Dems can offer some real hope for change, we will continue to see others of their ilk at the forefront of American politics.
If I ever hear or read "Harris and the rest of the party establishment never articulated a clear vision for improving the lives of the average American, and I doubt they ever even had one" again it will be too soon. That is straight out of Bret Stephens, right-wing, New York Times op-ed drivel.
Let's play a game. You tell me which statement articulates clarity for improving the lives of Americans:
1) Construct 3 mil new homes to aid in housing shortage, $25K tax incentive for first-time home buyers, cancel $7 BIL in medical debt for qualified Americans, expand child tax credits,
OR
2) They're eating our cats! They're eating our dogs! They're raping our women and terrorizing our streets. You can't go to a restaurant without being raped or murdered or attacked. I'll stop the Ukraine war on day one. I'll only be a dictator on day one.
“Hm. As I recall, the House DEMOCRATS impeached trump, not once, but TWICE, in 2021. They literally lobbed the senate softballs. But senate republicans declined. Instead of honoring their oaths to protect the Constitution and uphold the law, indict him, and remove him from office, they yawned and looked the other way. TWICE.
But wait… then the REPUBLICANS actually RE-ELECTED HIM! And the results of that election are highly questionable.
So go ahead, blame the Dems if it makes you feel better.”
There a deep dark dank corrupt pit of dark money that’s supporting P2025. And we’re watching it rapidly unfold everyday in real time. The fix is in, since Citizens United passed through SCOTUS.
yes, polls leading up to the 2024 election showed that most voters preferred the Democratic platform to the Republican one, IF no party label was attached to them. So many voters have Fox poisoning and would not vote for a Democrat even with better policies. And for sure, the mainstream media found Trump and his demented ravings far more entertaining than the sensible policies of Harris, so the latter were not much reported on. bo...ring!
And some $30 million was spent by Republicans to make transgender policy the issue. Harris should have countered that, but still today some Democrats criticize her campaign for focusing on social issues like gender policy. She did not. Opposition financed lies did.
Any Democrat or Independent who stayed home and didn't vote because Harris somehow wasn't good enough is as much to blame for this fiasco as much as the MAGA cultists.
I do, too, Laura, but when we look at who DID vote - and let's face it, those who vote decide the elections (my husband says I have a knack for stating the obvious) - it shows an interesting picture:
Overall votes Rep and Dem w/normal margins of error:
Trump Voters:
Women = 45%
Men = 55%
Harris Voters:
Women = 53%
Men - 46%
So while I'm really pissed at the voters who stayed home, I'm also pissed at the men who should have known better, because it seems that in the main, the women knew better. Perhaps they watch a more varied selection of news outlets?
Hm. As I recall, the House DEMOCRATS impeached trump, not once, but TWICE, in 2021. They literally lobbed the senate softballs. But senate republicans declined. Instead of honoring their oaths to protect the Constitution and uphold the law, indict him, and remove him from office, they yawned and looked the other way. TWICE.
But wait… then the REPUBLICANS actually RE-ELECTED HIM! And the results of that election are highly questionable.
So go ahead, blame the Dems if it makes you feel better.
"I still retain the right to be furious at the ignoramuses who voted for this...."
----
Again, it isn't a matter of mere ·ignorance·.
Americans are groomed by their preferred media, whether it is resentment radio, social media populated by foreign (or oil lobbyist) agitprop accounts, "news" media that plays up egg prices in an other wise healthy and improving economy, and bigoted fear-mongering that gives people the false notion that immigrants are a threat.
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.“
No, and the ones I blame the most are those who should know better. They are the purity voters who chanted "NO TPP" at Hillary and then "Genocide Joe" at Kamala and still don't understand the idea of strategic voting. The maga idiots are a different matter. All have been lied to and all have been conned and manipulated.
One of Twain's best lines and absolutely right. The American "groomees" alluded to above should really work on fine-tuning their BS-detectors. Give 'em a real overhaul. (Not that Twain's observation isn't meant for every human being on the planet!)
I talked to some of these clowns in Florida back when. They were going to vote for Jill Stein instead of Hillary. I asked them, do you know what happened, in Florida no less, when people voted for Nader instead or Gore. They didn't know who Nader was, or Gore. It's hopeless.
NervousTrumpezas & Aaron are on here stirring up shit...trying to get my personal info & turn it into the Trump admin. I told Aaron the globe wouldn't have gone 2/3 communist in the 20th century if the majority wouldn't have been exploited....he commences to defensively act as if I am a communist...today's Putin kleptocratic capitalists are no different than yesterday's Soviets...he must be invested with them for him & NervousTrumpezas to be requesting my personal info through Substack. KRUGMAN & MATT STOLLER--START your own websites & get off this surveillance blog funded by Marc Andreesen....I told them to FUCK OFF when they wouldn't allow me to respond to Aaron or NervousTrumpezas
Ironically, the fixes themselves point a finger at the culprits by default. You're right that we need to guard against despair though - that's what the regime wants us to feel. It's a great reminder of the imperative that we continue to Rise! Resist! ✊✊✊
I don't do business with trolls, and especially not trollbots. Fortunately for me, Substack has a convenient "trollBeGone" function. One click of the link and hasta la vista troll. Reported.
We need millions of people in the streets. We need to nominate good candidates who fit their districts, then we need to support them in the general both financially and actively. We need to march, write post cards, knock on doors, talk to friends and family about the stakes, and most of all get out and vote. If Trump tries to undermine that vote we need to shut down businesses of his billionaire supporters. If necessary we need to shut down this country until the corrupt and criminal regime falls. Then, unlike last time, we need to put them in prison.
Yes, and step 1 is winning in SWING states and State legislatures, where much of the voting population won't even consider a candidate with a "D" next to their name. Democratic policies that are overwhelming popular (eg. healthcare, gun reform, billionaire taxes) have to be center of platform. Any future Dem-controlled legislature will have to move with lightning speed to keep faith with voters. And any big policy wins have to be backed publicly and continually, almost campaign style.
There is ample statistical evidence that swing state votes in 2024 were corrupted, according to several threads here on Substack (e.g. Zorha's Resistance Press).
Musk has even bragged about it, albeit cagily.
The same is undoubtedly planned for 2026, if the contentions of hacking results are corroborated. Musk, again, has bragged about his plans for it in his noxiously cagey manner.
The problem is with spineless Democratic politicians like Jeffries and Schumer, who are in the habit of appearing flatulently weak and spineless, and a timid and incompetent DNC, in their apparent mania for messaging donors.
Agreed. We need to send people to Congress who will be loud, scrappy, fierce, focused on saving democracy and fearless. I have been listening to candidates in my state who are running for various races. They all start with their list of "pet" issues. None of these issues is EVER a list of 10 things they will fight for on the first 100 days to begin repair. A checklist that Robert Reich posts frequently. We have to build back before any issues will have any chance of coming to fruition. I am frustrated that Dems in my state are not aware of this moment and what it requires, SPECIFICALLY.
Love your "We need to send ..." line. Yes!!! We need some dynamos. Who do not spend their days drafting "carefully worded concerns" about whatever latest atrocity has just transpired. Make sense and make noise!
Why not both? Of course we have to move to booting these fascists out of office and fixing the damage. But shame is a powerful thing. If we give the willfully ignorant and the blazingly hypocritical a pass, what's their incentive to not fall back to bad habits? If you want to make the case that their choices aren't really that bad, fine, let's hear it. Otherwise, Trump voters, you broke it, you bought it.
I have spent over a year wracking my brains trying to figure out how we get through to the non-voters, the people who insist on candidate who are perfectly in alignment with their sensibilities, and the racists and bigots... There is no one-size-fits-all here.
They’re not listening. Just as they didn’t listen during Biden’s administration. They vote on their emotions and pocket. If we hope to defeat them, we must delve a little deeper into the environment that produces this kind of behavior. Right wing media and dying communities are big contributors to this condition. Republicans have spent billions of dollars on propaganda and creating hate and resentment in their base. Democrats understand that now we must compete in a similar media environment as right wing politicians do. The main stream has miserably failed democratic government. As others have noted, keep our “eyes on the prize”, and don’t let despair defeat us.
If we have the expected recession, we will get a small respite. They are not in any way loyal to the Oligarchs. Faux Snooze has them hypnotized and propagandized. But with a proper motive/stimulus, they can be disenculted.
This is a straw man argument. I don’t think anyone is advocating despair as a solution. Rather it is important to realize there are many abysmally stupid and misinformed people in this country, and to figure out how to reach them; those of them who CAN be reached. Many of them will vote again in the future. Should we just accept their bad judgement as inevitable? Or should we call attention to their failure (through humor, sarcasm, ridicule, or otherwise) in hope that we can change their thinking?
If you know any military veterans you could be talking to them about Hegseth trying to demote Sen. Kelly from his hard earned retirement rank, which would automatically result in a reduction in his retirement pay. If they can take his benefits, they can take any of theirs, the administration doesn’t follow any rules they don’t like. This would be an awful burden for an enlisted rank retiree.
I believe the administration fears Kelly’s leadership ability and electability, but protesting veterans in the streets even more.
Hegseth vs Kelly will be a very illuminating "teaching moment." The only thing scary about it is that many people will "learn" the wrong lesson, just as so many seem to have done from a myriad of recent teaching moments, like Jan 6 itself.
Keep in mind that many of them are just racists/bigots and will continue to support Chump no matter how bad things get - as long as they continue to believe that the POC, LGBTQ, uppity women and "libtards" will suffer more than they will... Remember LBJ? "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
As someone who uses the LBJ quote a lot, I would like to point out that a lot of the resentment is deliberately groomed to blame race for their situation when it is actually Republican promotion of rent-seeking capitalism.
Many of these people are in a cult. But any intervention must come down to the level of the individual. I don't think that most hardcore MAGAts come from normal upbringings.
No, stupid. There was no way they could be at all "misinformed" about Trump since he was smearing himself all over them at every possible opportunity. They were stupid.
consider the reach of Fox + Sinclair + OAN + + + and they could ALL be misinformed. Most of the horrors of Trump 1.0 were lost on them, and did any of them honestly report on Jan 6? Not for long, for sure.
Constance, they liked the parts of him that they saw. They refused to see anything else. Yes, he was never out of the news. Especially their news, that John Gregory lists.
Yes, Andre! Uninformed and misinformed. Self-interested. Somehow emotionally attached to Orange. Not smart enough to realize when they are being manipulated.
Efforts to neutralize Main Street Media outlets, which are largely in the hands of quasi-covert fascist supporters, might well be high on the to-do list.
Jeff O. - good call, strawman argument. And it was given in reply to someone who said let's work to fix it. But what gets me is that his solution is to "move quickly through an analysis phase." Lol what is that.
That’s a nice sentiment but it’s extremely difficult to get “past the finger-pointing stage” when there’s been absolutely NO ACCOUNTABILITY! Instead, trump not only survived his brazen and violent effort to overthrow our government, he was actually RE-ELECTED!
And now we’re witnessing the rapid collapse of the constitution, the rule of law, and the institutions of our country.
Trump has proven himself to be an extremely vindictive and dangerous “weapon of mass destruction”. And his demolition of the White House, the People’s House, is a persistent reminder, the perfect metaphor, for his maniacal, despicable end-game agenda. The WH will never be the same.
He's literally, in plain sight, “rebranding” the United States of America to the United States of Trumplandia. And ultimately he envisions himself as king of the world.
I agree, Stephen, but what exactly do you have in mind?
I'm noticing a lot of people are saying "Do Something!" but no one says "Here's what we do." I believe we should End World Hunger! and I'm righteous, but HOW?
So I don't seem hypocritical, here are three ideas we can do non-violently (because that's the scenario we're all trying to avoid writing about, right?)
1: Organize a national, one day sick out. Make it attractive! Make it a Monday or a Friday, lol. There are those who can't participate. Okay, understandable, but most of us can call in sick one day. And then do that once a month. "But that would mean giving up all my sick days!" you say? Yep. What price Democratic freedom.
2: Pick one large company and everyone agree to boycott it for the rest of its days. Look at Target's suffering. We can do that to another company. Amazon comes to mind.
3: Refuse to send campaign donations to ALL incumbents running for office, D & R. If they didn't need our money, they wouldn't be constantly begging for it. Write to them you won't send another dime until they start pursuing impeachment, arrest and conviction in earnest and with fearless aggression. I like my Senators Ossoff and Warnock, but they're about as rousing as old carpet. I write them constantly. I get boilerplate responses. I actually asked them to return my donations since they were not adequately representing me in Congress. Not heard back yet nor have I received a refund.
Yes - we need WAYS to make things happen, and you've come up with three I like but with a couple tweaks. For #1, I'd make it a national "On Vacation Day." For #2, I'd come up with maybe a top-five or top-ten list of major culprits, from which we boycotters would pick one. (I've been boycotting one large dept store for over 50 years as the result of an egregious customer-service incident. They're still in business but over the decades at least lost my few hundreds of $$$.) For #3 (my FAVORITE!!!) I say we start that IMMEDIATELY! Absolutely agree on this one. The money-begging and idiotic surveys send me straight up the wall. There MUST be better (and far more cost-effective) ways to campaign. Thank you. I'm on board!
I agree. But we need major fixes. The Founders did the best they could given the times. Maybe we should take a page from their playbook. I envision an online Constitutional Convention to do a major rewrite. I hope a lot of leaders and rank and file Americans will put their 2 cents in. I started yesterday. Check it out. It is under my name and I gave it the header ‘A Sign Of The Times. It is free.
Hi S B, you’re right, we do need to move past finger pointing. However, we need all hands on deck, so to speak, which means registered voters cannot opt out of participating in the primaries and in the general election (Nov 3, 2026).
US governments of both parties backsupport dictatorships in the third world. Indeed, several democratic leaders were "wiped out" by CIA and replaced by bloody puppets. However, Mr. Trump creates a new era in which, on the average, USA fights against global freedom, when the varnish of heroism is not necessary at all. At last, Brazil punished Bolsonaro and USA didn't punish Trump. The same crime, January 6th, 2021 in USA; 8 de janeiro de 2023, no Brasil.
Enough with blame. (btw The "highly competent woman" didn't have the decency to speak out against the horror of Gaza). Blame doesn't move things forward. We need to concentrate on what's going on now. In many ways, the Dems won the election for Trump by being inept and not relating to what people actually need day to day. The dem feebleness pushed a lot of people to trump.
Of course I'm going to put the blame where it belongs. The Americans did this to themselves. Don't blame the Democrats or Harris. This has nothing to do with Gaza (except for the fact that the Gaza supporters made things much, much, much worse for Gaza by supporting the guy who wanted to build condos there). Democrats not relatable? Hey, let's vote for the guy with two impeachments and 34 felony convictions and give him the nuclear codes
I agree. Don't blame Democrats or Harris. The Americans who voted for Trump and those Americans who didn't vote are traitors to that Democracy we had in 2020. Now we have a lot of work to get any semblance of that Democracy back and continue on the work to make it an ever a
more just country for the citizens of America. It's very hard for me to let go of the blame game, even though I know I must move on.
People who didn’t like Harris and instead voted for Trump or third-party (or not at all) indisputably made things worse in Gaza. We already knew well before the election that Trump and Netanyahu were buddies and both strongmen cut from the same cloth.
Jared Kushner had salivated publicly over the Gaza Strip, saying it could be “very valuable” from a real estate perspective if Israel could forcibly remove those living there to develop “waterfront property,” and that giving the Palestinians their own state is a “super bad idea.”
Trump previously instituted the Muslim Ban and had promised to “crush pro-Palestinian protests” and “deport demonstrators,” saying that a crackdown would “set that movement back 25 or 30 years.”
Further, the Republicans' Project 2025 plans to create a massive state surveillance program and put it in the hands of white supremacist Christian nationalists to monitor and control all aspects of our lives and dictate the kind of religion we can practice.
So, if you cared about freedom of religion and what was happening in Gaza, which candidate would have offered a greater hope for a more humane outcome for Palestinians? Which one saw two sides to the story? Definitely not Trump.
i agree. I will never forgive RBG and her ego when she refuses to step down. Not sure that would have assured a different outcome but it was downhill from there.
If you ask many of those Trump supporters why they voted for Trump, they aren't going to say it was because he's a convicted felon or because he was impeached. That's a mischaracterization. They'll say it's because they didn't like Biden, or Harris, or because they felt like life during Trump's first term was more affordable.
The long and the short of it is that enough Americans felt like Biden's administration wasn't agile and responsive enough to their own needs. Those needs may be unreasonable, but that's a cultural problem, not a political one.
Continuing to fault Trump voters doesn't accomplish anything. It just makes you resistant to problem-solving.
And they felt that Biden wasn't responsive enough because they weren't paying attention - no information or low information voters voting their anger, not their actual self-interest. That's a core problem we gotta fix.
I am going to continue to fault them as long as they continue to deny that it’s their fault we are here. To this day many don’t want unity or refuse any responsibility. If they have regrets they can join us in protest. They can do the work to try and rise above this moment. I have seen very few do that.
It's disheartening to even try to diagnose Tr's popularity in the US, but it's very possible that a lot of it comes down to his sheer entertainment value and the absolute superficiality of celebrity "culture." If so, there is hope for a day of sober-minded reckoning once he's gone. Then we'll still have the amoral culture, but at least its class clown will be off the stage.
All of the ‘not responsive to my needs’ justifications for voting for Trump are rubbish. Inflation for example - if people were so upset by inflation then why did they vote for the person promising more of it, and by design (i.e. tariffs)? The answer - it wasn’t ever about inflation. That’s just a post-hoc rationalisation of their irresponsible vote.
The Trump voters are the problem, and they deserve to feel shame for their decisions. They voted for Trump because they don’t know or care what makes their country function, and they don’t see any threats to their freedom or prosperity. They behave as children.
The USA badly needs a cultural shift where adult-aged people are expected to behave like adults. Every day. Think about other people. Contribute. Be part of good communities. And take civic responsibilities seriously.
Trump never promised more inflation, and if he had, I can't think of a single person who would have voted for that. You can't just assume the entire American electorate has the same level of understanding you do.
It seems that the consensus among pundits is that Trump was elected to address affordability and cost-of-living issues. Those are the primary reasons people cited that voted for him in 2024. They felt the Biden administration had failed in providing them with a fix for the cost of living. Whether that was a reasonable expectation or not, that's what people wanted the federal government to address. A person struggling to make ends meet, with a low level of civic engagement, isn't going to look at Trump's election platform and debate the merits of tariffs - they're going to vote for the candidate they think is going to lower their cost of living.
I agree that the US needs a cultural shift. But expecting Trump voters to feel shame doesn't make a lot of sense. It's a revenge mindset - you want them to feel terrible because you're angry at them. It's the same mentality MAGA has - they don't like liberals, so they hope Trump's behavior drives liberals crazy. What we really need is a society that transcends this ridiculous factionalism and polarity. We need to stop hating people just because they didn't vote the way we did.
They still voted for a traitorous criminal, who tried to overthrow the results of the 2020 election. No getting out of that one, their feelings be damned. They need to look in the mirror and acknowledge what they did, the damage they have done, and seriously think about voting responsibly next time. Oh, and actively helping undo the damage their vote has led to would be great, while there is still time.
And that's scary. Identity politics is going to ruin this country. Voting for a bad candidate just because you don't like that candidates supporters is beyond foolish.
Of course I’m going to put the blame where it belongs. Only by recognizing where the problem is can anything change. A big chunk of America’s electorate did this to us and to the world. Blame Harris for “not speaking out” about Gaza? What does this have to do with Gaza? If America trashes itself, how is the country going to stand up for Gaza, the environment, or anything else? The so-called Gaza supporters helped put the very guy in office, who moved the US Embassy to East Jerusalem and wanted vocally to displace the Gaza population and build condos. Now, things are much, much, much worse for them. How was that a winning solution? Blame Democrats for being not relatable? Yes, the party has problems, but threatening democracy and the world order that has given us relative peace for 80 years is not among them. I can hear it now: “Hey, Trump’s gone bankrupt 6 times, is financed by the Russians, and has got a criminal record with two impeachments and 34 felony convictions. Let’s not vote for the woman warning us about him and give the guy the nuclear codes!” Talk about brain-dead. Yes, too many Americans are divorced from reality. It’s time we realize that and make education and critical thinking a priority after we get ourselves out from under this horrible mess America put itself into. We can’t expect any entity or party to fix things; it starts with ourselves. The only mitigating factor I can see with all this, is that the mainstream media had been turned into a pro-Trump propaganda machine before the 2024 election. Still, it did not take much effort to see what was really happening.
I agree with your POV! The problem is... How do you hold accountable the people in your day to day life. Heck... what do you say to people who now say... "Well, I made a mistake... BUT... her .... (what ever)" .... They sadly agree ... yes I am accountable and learned nothing. They don't even want to look at their principles and values with regard to the actions they take... They get played and react. The evidence shows this! Trump was elected TWICE with 4 years in between. Thoughts?
Who could ever have imagined that the guy with 30,000 documented, evidence-backed public lies uttered during his first term might not have been telling the whole truth during his re-election campaign?
JP - I am going to ASSUME you are male. Given that a female presidential candidate was dealing with a double edge sword (too loud, too bold = not loud enough, not bold enough) what would you have done? Thoughts are welcome.
I believe KH would have won without trump’s cheating. Her gender is still an issue with too many people, but no longer out of reach for someone of her experience and abilities. Don’t forget her miracle in Guatemala, where she overcame the age-old ruling cliche and reduced or eliminated the stubborn oppression of the working class and native people.
You can talk about the horror of Gaza but doing so without condemning the horror of the Hamas attack is disingenuous at best. We should never forget what precipitated the horror of Gaza.
Enough. We all know that. it’s a given. what resulted was illuminating to the world about what a criminal Netanyahu was and is, and horrific beyond measure. The Israeli people had and have our support, but he is just as bad as TR.
Double edged sword JP for a women running as a presidential candidate. If she presents as too loud, too large in her voice/mannerisms, she is too masculine. If she does the opposite, she is too meek/not powerful enough. Thoughts?
Two of them, presently. (1) The dilemma you pose was not what caused KH to fail in her presidential bid.
(2) Said dilemma is a false dichotomy. In either branch you give up on being yourself and instead try to guess "what kind of mask should I wear so that OTHER people will like and accept me?"
DT would never have won in 2016 if he had asked himself THAT.
If we “won the election for Trump,” it wasn’t for lack of pointing fingers. It was for lack of protecting the vote. The criminal party, yes the one that freed the slaves a million years ago, rigged the election in 2024. And despite that, Kamala’s only real handicap was being a woman running for president before the country was “ready.”Again, America got what we deserve.
Really, truly enough with the blame. There’s plenty to go around but it’s not getting us anywhere.
Why wait to shutdown the businesses of the billionaire supporters? Start now and stick with it. Boycotting works when it is sustained. Paul Singer owns Citgo, is a big donor and stands to benefit from the Venezuelan takeover.
Plenty of info about boycotting on Substack & YouTube, also the Goods Unite Us app.
Good luck with that. Compared to Trump Harris is highly competent, but lacking the comparison she doesn't shine so much. There were better and smarter people out there among the Democrats, but Biden's decision to hold on to power prevented them from coming forward. No individual is more responsible for the return of Trump than Joe Biden.
Wrong. The Americans who voted for Trump, a known criminal, and those who did not vote at all, put Trump back into power. It's on them. It should have been "anything but that criminal Trump", especially since our economy was in relatively good shape, globally speaking.
Really? Who were "better and smarter?" Give us some names. Please explain why Biden is the most responsible person of all people for the return of Trump.
JD Pritzker, and Biden is responsible for NOT having the courage to demand the feckless Garland DOJ arrest the obvious leader of the JAN. 6, 2021 insurrection to be held for trial on charges of "insurrection" and "seditious conspiracy", as were dozens of other MAGATS. Biden handed us the second disastrous Trump nightmare.
We wouldn't be steering towards a dictatorship in a brutal strong man's world if either woman were elected. I understand your point about them not being good politicians. Trump is not a politician at all. He's a reality TV actor. I think that's a big chunk of his appeal. He knows how to harness people's hate to boost his ratings. But still, anyone who helped him into office voted for a traitor and a criminal and a rapist, and as it seems, a pedophile.
We remember Jan 6th and salute the heros who defended democracy, those who lost their lives doing it .And we vehemently oppose this regime and their Republican cohorts. Seditionist. Their day will come , justice . ✌️
To be fair, it’s looking more and more like Elon had his hands in the election. Check out This Will Hold here on Substack. So it was more likely a significantly smaller number than 77 mil.
This is a failure of citizenship. The majority of those 77 million had any clarity about what they were voting for. Many were voting against both their own interests and their avowed beliefs. Couple that with the indifference of 1/3 of the electorate, those who sat out the 2024 election, illustrates the greatest weakness of democracy.
It's like Brexit, a number of voters didn't understand what they were voting for. They thought "Leave" meant immigrants would leave. The UK is trying to find a way back in that doesn't sound like "we were wrong."
Yes, that is becoming apparent. I hope the EU has the brains and the courage to acknowledge that and to take the necessary steps to allow at least a de facto re-admission.
The EU would do that happily. The sticking point, as Meighan says, is that the UK politicians (well, particularly of Wales and England) would have to admit to the voters that they were wrong; and of course they just don’t seem to be able to that. Even Keir Starmer, who campaigned hard for Remain! It’s one of the great disappointments of the aftermath of election. But the UK never liked acknowledging how much they got from the EU; more irritating “exceptionalism”. Grrrr.
The EU spent a lot of time, resources and energy negotiating an exit treaty with the UK and making sure, at every step, that all twenty-seven capitals were on board.
It is not about to go through the same exercise now, especially with all the crises that the orange monster is throwing at us.
Also, there is nothing to guarantee that a future UK government (for instance, a Farage-led, tRump-inspired-one) might not decide to secede again in a few years.
So, we might get partial improvements, on Erasmus, scientific research, trade barriers…, but nothing institutional, i.e., no UK seat at the Commission, the Council, no UK MEPs, no input on decisions…
Lots of people really didn't know what they were voting for with Brexit just as lots of people don't know what they voted for with Trump. This isn't to excuse them as they're responsible for their ignorance, but a major impetus absolutely has been ignorance.
I'm pretty sure we started phasing civics classes out not long after the Civil rights act was passed. Can't have those pesky peons reading an instruction manual on how to keep government in check.
No Child Left Behind…. was the death sentence for all education subjects not on the test, by design. My own theory is that this helped the population become dumb and dumber, another GOP objective
Hey Derelict, I broadly agree and I’m not making excuses for profound intellectual laziness and plain old bigotry, but given that trump lied up and down about his true intentions, and conveniently omitted his imperial ambitions… it was really more of a bait and switch. Sad.
Trump lying would be sort-of an excuse, except it's not like he was an unknown quantity in 2024. Voting for him in 2024 is like re-hiring the landscaper who killed your dog, burned down your shed, gave your patio furniture to his friends, and promised that if you'd just take him back, THIS time he'd burn down your house.
I know, believe me. A certain conversation with a grad school acquaintance stays with me because she just wanted the whole damn election thing to be over so that she didn’t have to hear about it anymore… hope she’s enjoying the peace and quiet
Well, Laura, I would suggest that "I will be a dictator for a day" SHOULD result in every serious politician's mind being very clear as to what the mumbling, raving autocrat's intentions actually were. Dictatorship in any form is not something a politician should wave aside or ignore, holding the "It won't happen here" line, whilst events are unfolding that will prove him/her wrong! In this age of electronic voting - ANYTHING - can happen - and it did. Just ask MUSK!
The solution (which Republicans would NEVER agree to) is to return to paper ballots; votes that can be seen AND counted! Not some mythical number arrived at by some remote electronic device (STARLINK) making adjustments to selected, vital Swing States' results via a hostile enemy's borrowed satellites for the day!
Trump, Putin, Musk and Neo-Fascists everywhere (especially Farage and Johnson in the UK!) couldn't help laughing down their sleeves at the impunity of this assault on democracy! But "win" they did! And America, as a result, now has its very own first dictator installed in the White House, doing God knows what to the Constitution and ripping apart agreements with allies that have stood for decades, if not for centuries.
Putin's going to have to take a chill pill if this carries on!
Unfortunately I have some MAGAites in my family and I can guarantee they didn't vote for this. They voted for the man right wing media told them was a genius on economic issues and would stop all those immigrant fraudsters from taking their tax dollars. They live in an extremely warped information bubble. Sadly I remember well when they were not living in that warped alternate reality that Karl Rove bragged about Republicans creating.
I guarantee you they did vote for this, because Trump screamed what he was going to do at every possible opportunity. They *knew* what was going to happen.
My brother is or was an active stock trader. He got the money to get started in this as an IBM mainframe coder. He's voted Republican for decades and is not going to stop now.
Maybe America is getting what it deserves from putting the current Administration in place. Let’s not forget that hundreds of millions of people outside America are affected by this decision made by only 77 millions of Americans. They certainly did not deserve any of this.
It was actually MUSK who, using his Starlink remote technology, combined with Putin's generous loan of a number of undetectable satellites for the day, interfered with selected results from the Swing States' votes, to procure an apparent "victory" for Trump! One Swing State actually produced a "ZERO VOTES" return for Kamala Harris - in a SWING STATE! How ludicrous! Yet, no one thought to ask any questions! And THAT'S how America earned its first - and potentially last - Dictator!
I'm ASSUMING you have them readily available; otherwise, I ASSUME your comment is made up. It shouldn't be the reader's responsibility to vet the writer.
There were some *districts* in New York (not a swing state) where the Dem Senate candidate won handily but Harris got zero votes, or very few. There is or was a lawsuit trying to force a recount.
There's no reason to think it had anything to do with Starlink, which merely provides an internet connection and requires a bulky terminal.
In short, this is the "Jewish space lasers" of election fraud theories.
Well, those 77 million are. Our country’s _________ didn’t vote for this. Fatalism and pessimism aren’t helpful. I’m exhausted, but so is every sane American. The fight must be fought despite everything.
"they wanted someone who was a convicted felon, greedy narcissist, sex pest, insurrectionist, profoundly stupid, massively ignorant, racist imbecile, and dedicated to destroying the United States government". Definitely not. That was not why they voted for him, they voted for him because they are angry and they did look all these negatives and said "what the hell, the system stinks, we want someone to finally break it in a positive way".
I'm having difficulty figuring out how someone with all those negatives can accomplish anything positive. I mean, Trump definitely knows how to break things, and he has a proven track record of being incapable of fixing things.
More likely, those voters looked at the two choices--competent well-educated Black woman versus The Turd that Talks, and voted for the turd.
I agree with you about Trump. But I believe there was a worldwide anger at incumbents (party if not person). Covid screwed things up and those tasked with trying to fix it were blamed.
I suspect the very Hollywoodian rallying cry "Make America Great Again" was sufficiently persuasive just by itself to lure a huge number of voters to ignore the underlying caveats attached to that saliva-inducing headline!
Even "Dictator For A Day" was accepted - 'cos it was "only for a day" (whilst allowing Trump a "Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free" card for actually informing the electorate of his (longer-term) real intentions! After all, who believes the wild ravings of a madman!
He's still pulling the same stunt! Consequently, Greenland is VERY MUCH on his agenda for annexation! This is not some rambling, incoherent daydream Trump conjured up over yet another burgerfest! This is ACTUAL INTENTION!
This guy needs to be watched like a hawk! If he's thinking it, it means he plans on doing it!
He keeps raving about "security." Both the US and Greenland are members of NATO. The US is very secure as long as that continues. If Trump puts 10,000 troops into Greenland, we become less secure. In fact, if Greenland calls for article 5 of the treaty to be invoked (and it actually is), we will be at war with 31 nations.
Have you considered the possibility or even likelihood that Denmark, which doesn't have the resources to defend Greenland from Russia or China, reaching a negotiated settlement with the USA? I would say that's the likely outcome. Trump's negotiating style is blunt and stupid. However, I think that would be a good solution
They already have an excellent solution - the U.S. is allowed to move in anything they want for the defense of Greenland. The U.S. had several airbases and radar stations - abandoned after the Cold War ended. Trump wants to go down in the history books as having acquired more territory for the U.S. than any other President, and other parties want to take Greenland's natural resources for themselves.
Can I comment above. That wasn't the choice. The choice was voting against policies, many of which they disagreed with, high inflation, and a border that was like a shiv or someone who would break things.
I think many people think they aren’t racist while they (at least a bit) are. Anyway, remember Trump pressing on how well he had done with ‘blacks and latinos’ and all those ‘blacks for Trump’ placards? He gave many a reason to assume they weren’t voting for a racist. A rationalisation. The openly racist vote he got anyway.
That is in fact why many of them voted for him. He is doing everything they would do if they could get away with it, they are living vicariously through him, and they will never give that up.
True, but that only represents around 1/3 of the voting public. Another third just stayed home. Those are the ones I blame for this mess we're in. They didn't take the warnings seriously. Then there are the officials whose job was to ensure election integrity - to make damned sure Mu卐kRat couldn't tamper with the voting machines.
There is no getting around the fact that in a functioning democracy, citizens get the government they deserve. Many of us did not vote for this cretin, but we are stuck in a world where the majority of Americans did - gerrymandering and other vote-suppression tactics notwithstanding.
But to the question of did half of the country actually support what Trump is *doing* now that he is in office, it is important to understand the steady diet of lies they have been fed for decades by an ever-decreasing number of media outlets. Many Americans are simply clueless about the world outside of what is spun by FOX News, the Koch brothers, etc.
Corporate personhood is the underlying rot to our decaying society in that regard, it is the underpinning that has allowed the media to be corrupted by the oligarch class. Media consolidation needs to become a lot better understood as the cancer it is: https://www.politicalnonpartisan.com/p/media-consolidation.
Trump screamed Project 2025, racism, misogyny, and bigotry at the top of his lungs at every possible opportunity, bullshit they were lied to. He is doing everything they would do if they could get away with it, they are living vicariously through him, and they will never give that up.
You're not wrong about Trump, but most people are just paying attention - and scant attention at that - to the news. Many fell for the "I'll bring inflation down" line and did not read the fine print. They unfortunately cannot be held responsible independent of the rest of us.
The bigger problem is Trump is will be gone in a few years, but the big money donors and the media monopolies will remain.
With the Trump regime every day is a day of infamy. Ever since that day in 2015 that Trump came down the escalator he has been like a cockroach swimming in the soup bowl of daily American life.
January 6, 2021 was the day when the Capitol was assaulted by ~8,000 deluded insurrectionists egged on by a criminally insane wannabe dictator, but was successfully defended by just a handful of incredibly brave heroes in uniform.
November 5, 2024 was the day when the American people spat in the faces of said heroes and told them: "Fuck you, we actually WANT that criminally insane wannabe dictator as our president."
Now tell me: Which of these is the day of greater humiliation and shame for the US?
Trump has been obscuring clarity: his "disagreement" with Putin is fake, for our consumption, because if he were honest we would be able to focus on it:
a) he met with Putin personally in Sweden for a few minutes in his first time alone and without the presence of a translator, against all diplomatic protocol; now he make a big deal telling Russia he does not believe them that there was an attack on Zelenskyy's house to preserve the illusion they are disagreeing;
b) the first thing Tulsi Gabbard did was have the CIA stop cyber operations against Russia (why???)
c) He cannot explicitly say Russia is the enemy, but said the problem is Europe's civilization;
d) Fox News, to which unfortunately I am subjected while at the gym, is already preparing the magas for "we're dominant", "we do whatever we want", but not a word out for our duties to our NATO allies;
e) for our security we already have in Greenland the base we need for early warning, but if we want its minerals (a-la-Venezuela), then we may invade it;
f) the Netherlands has said that if we invade there it is the end of NATO; they can call the rest of Europe for its defense; this is where Trump is steering us, but this way they will blame the breakdown of NATO on Europe;
g) Hegseth has gotten rid of reporters from the Pentagon, and now appears in CBS where he announces what he wants, and they let him speak unchecked from reporting, so what he does appears legitimate to those who do not question;
Exactly! A simple thing to do with no muss no fuss. What does it say that there isn’t sufficient grit in the culture that leaving the gym — cancelling one personal contract — isn’t even considered? Heartbreaking.
Five years ago we watched an attempted coup on live television. The perpetrator walked free, ran again, and won. Not just the Electoral College this time. The popular vote. That's not a system failure. That's the country telling us who it is.
Krugman is right about clarity. But clarity isn't our problem. We saw exactly what Trump was. We voted for him anyway. Fifty million people watched January 6th unfold in real time, heard him say we'd never have to vote again, watched him promise revenge—and four years later, more Americans chose him than chose his opponent.
Trump said we'd never have to vote again. I believe him. Not because he'll cancel elections—that's too crude, too obvious. He'll do what authoritarians always do: make voting irrelevant. Pack the courts. Weaponize enforcement. Let Musk's algorithms decide what information reaches whom. By 2028, we may still have elections the way Russia has elections. The ritual without the meaning.
I watched Nixon resign in disgrace for crimes that wouldn't make Trump's top fifty. I watched Reagan's "Morning in America" blind us to the corporate capture that followed. I watched us lie about Iraq, about Afghanistan, about the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Each lie built the foundation for the next.
What's different now isn't the lying. It's the endorsement of it. Trump doesn't hide his intentions. He announces them. And this time, the country said yes.
Krugman says facing the truth can set us free. Maybe. But the truth we have to face isn't about Trump anymore. It's about us. A plurality of Americans looked at everything he is and said: more of that, please.
Yes--this. "That's the country telling us who it is."
I will never forgive the American people for electing this corrupt, insane buffoon to the most powerful office in the world. I feel like I'm trapped on a bus being driven by a drunk.
Agree Joe the same clarity is haunting. Recently as Sunday had a conversation with a man who has decided to turn his back on the MAGA movement and has joined our group that is now 212 people strong in protest of this Trump regime. In a very cherry “red” area of Ohio. What was interesting was his frankness in talking and sharing his views. He admitted he voted for him three times, thought that what he was going to do for this country would benefit him both financially, socially and move this country forward in some way. What he came to realize was it wasn’t the truth. He’s suffered more financially in this past year than ever before, even during the pandemic. He’s lost his job, due to the company closing has found a job that pays him half of of his prior income, just making it by and has dipped into savings to buy food, keep a roof over his head and now can’t afford health insurance for his family. He saw as all of us the illegal activities of what was going on in the Caribbean blowing up boats under the guise of a lie about drugs being trafficked but about oil and greed. He saw the illegal activities of a person who he voted for using the military to remove another countries president. He is a veteran and is ashamed of what his brothers in arms are now doing. A few weeks past the Senators who did the video about all members of the military should be reminded of their oath hit him. With all that was going on in his life at the front of his face the reminder of not obeying an illegal order as he said, “brought him out of some stupor of stupid.” Told him glad that you decided to come to the trough and drink as to who and what you defended years ago a democratic-republic. He shared he’s found that he carried to much hate for people of color and the hate morphed into believing all the rhetoric about immigrants. Told him it’s good to see that blaming others gets you no where, it’s a shame that it’s easier to blame others versus ourselves for so many things. He’s been also talking to a number of people who also voted for him and he said that they are feeling they made a mistake as well. In my mind, better late than never and some or everyone may figure it out, and it’s never to late but time is of an essence, but guess it will only hit when it affects them personally. One step at a time forward, always moving forward.
So yes the clarity is haunting and always keeping hope, resolve, moving forward to not let it get to burnt ground…
A nightmare not just for America but the rest of the world, with chaotic trade ‘policies’, illegally bombing countries, Iran, Nigeria, Venezuela, Yemen, et al. Murdering people who have not been identified as enemies of the US, and all in the name of “We, the People…” Threatening the sovereignty of former allies, scraping billions off Federal funds and ‘pissing’ on anyone who challenges them. Not a ‘bad dream’ but a monster of a nightmare.
I regret none of the many arguments I had with different people about this awful man, even though it cost me a few relationships with individuals who I had previously respected and wanted to be friends with. Some things just can’t be unseen.
Assuming we still have a presidential election, we must vote in such overwhelming numbers that accusations of cheating by Trump (sorry MAGA, he won't be on the ballot) and his MAGA cult is nothing but tilting at windmills. Then starting in January 2029, the Democratic president has to install a shark as AG. Sure talk about restoring the DOJ integrity, but act by investigating those who broke the law under Trump and indicting where appropriate. Holding the miscreants accountable will do more to restore the integrity of the DOJ than anything else, and at the same time serve as a warning to those who would try it again at some point in the future. I'm kinda partial to Marc Elias for AG.
What is a shark AG going to do when blanket pardons have been bestowed on one and all? Justice will have to come in state courts in situations where a legal case can be made. On the national level impeaching the Justices who have voted to place the president above the law and trying them for high treason will set justice back on the right track.
I do not see democrats going after these criminals just like BO didn't go after Bush 2 for war crimes or go after fraudsters on wall street....I will believe it when I see them do the right thing and not capitulate as they always have done.
I already shared it. Just wrote what you wrote before I saw that you had written it. Thank you. We are in graver danger with every passing moment.
It would be good if the group of respected intellects who went to Duke University with special appointments would persuade the university to rescind Stephen Miller’s degree, as I suggested to a member of the history department there in 2012. Now he is announcing on national TV that we are “power” not “law” based.
It is Ukraine that worries me today. If Putin gets to Zelenskyy, I will weep.
At 91,
I am resisting with GOTV postcards. It’s been effective resistance so far, but now? My description of “the bad teenagers on the block” (perspective from 10 years in France during the Iraq debacle) is haunting me.
Please continue to speak out, reminding US that we can go broke keeping this formidable military afloat.
This was my last thought before going to bed. We are now fully controlled by an authoritarian regime because Congress has ceded its authority. We have to admit that the US has ‘fallen’ to Trump. Our democracy has been toppled…full stop. The rest of the world knows this. Why can’t we admit it, even to ourselves?
I've already commented that we must be able to limit who even stands to enter politics, let alone do the next stage thing, above, and stand for elections. By then, the Trumps of this world are already inside the circle! They must not enter to begin with!
And what, Turgut Tuten, about that weird, weird permaputsch?
Lies by the hour, lies by morning, noon and afternoon, lies round the clock, lies all the year round, truth trampled underfoot. Until crime became "good", until crime became "the New Normal", until ordinary Americans in their millions and tens of millions let themselves be herded through the Gates of Hell, drawn in by this Father of Lies.
Now, the great danger to guard ourselves against must be... not to allow ourselves to be tarred by the evil we combat, not to allow ourselves to be fouled by their shit.
Fscism he here and January 6 is Trump's Beer Hall Putsch. While the political right screams about Mamdani and collectivism, in fact Mamdami will govern as a small D democrat. But Trump is a facsist pure and simple.
The GOP machine aided by Fox et al, identifies a target and so it goes. Thus HRC was thought to have potential and so consistently attacked. same with Harris. Obama was a surprise as was Biden.
Amen. We’re living a nightmare. The headlines shouldn’t be “What to do about Venezuela?” They should be “What to do about an out of control president?”
Looking from outside in, it is quite astonishing to have seen 🇺🇸 voters vote for a man who was and is patently unqualified to represent 🇺🇸. This begs the question why so many voted for him a 2nd time and what made them think he was the right man for a job, judging by the evidence to date, he is carrying out so poorly within and outside 🇺🇸.
This is the result of delayed arrests and prosecutions after Jan 6 and I’m not talking about the nitwits at the Capitol. I’m talking about Trump, his chief of staff and everyone else in the WH who was part of the coup including the members of Congress who colluded with the plot and who voted to attempt to not ratify the electors. Each one of them should have been arrested THAT DAY and jailed and held until trial and conviction and life sentences. Instead it was back burnered and trivialized while the media focused on a simpleton wearing horns instead focusing on the evil traitor in the WH. And each time Trump gets away with an unpunished crime, we move further into dictatorship and fascism. Today we hand wring over Venezuela but DO nothing.
The “like” button is insufficient to express my gratitude. I love your honesty and of course erudition and perseverance in exposing the horror and dangers we are going through. If only more Americans would pay attention. Thank you for your clear sightedness and courage.
American voters voted for this. 77 million of them looked at Donald Trump and decided they wanted someone who was a convicted felon, greedy narcissist, sex pest, insurrectionist, profoundly stupid, massively ignorant, racist imbecile, and dedicated to destroying the United States government. 77 million Americans voted for this.
And now the country is getting what it deserves.
The 77 million and the very large number of non-voters and protest voters might be getting what they deserve, but not those of us, who voted for the highly competent woman. The same goes for the rest of the world now suffering under America's evil regime; they didn't vote for that, but they're getting it anyway.
This shows the dimension of the rot that was underlying the American veneer. It's time to acknowledge it and work to fix it.
We are going to have move past the finger=pointing stage. We have to move quickly through an analysis stage and get to a stage where we can implement a series of fixes. All the while knowing the other side are going to be trying to be attempting to tear down our fixes - just like they did to the Fixes which became the New Deal. Despair is not a solution of any sort.
I still retain the right to be furious at the ignoramuses who voted for this, and especially at the protest voters. They're the ones who own this, even as they double down and won't accept responsibility.
Laurie,
Clarity reveals the horrible damage caused by ignorance of the law. Trump, corporations, Republicans and dishonest news media have exploited public ignorance of law and taken control of the federal government including the legal system with an ongoing illegal insurrection. For democracy and justice to be restored, citizens, Democrats in government, and journalists in the honest news media must understand the law and insist justice be enforced in the legal system. The felony crime of insurrection underway in the United States as led by Trump and his administration is illegally supported by Republicans in Congress and six justices on the Supreme Court. Citizens, the news media, and Democrats in the federal government have not recognized the crime of insurrection.
Ignorance of the law has enabled the insurrection in America to create a lawless fascist autocracy which began in 2025 as planned in Project 2025. The insurrection began on January 6, 2021. From 2021 to 2024, Biden, Garland and Jack Smith failed to enforce the law and put Trump and the insurrectionist in jail. And SCOTUS refused to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to bar Trump from being on the ballot and holding office.
Monroe Doctrine? Doctrine is not law. Trump and his administration illegally invaded and took control of Venezuela with military force as an act of War without Congressional approval and kidnapped the president, Maduro. Maduro was indicted but what evidence has proved US laws were violated? No US law enabled the US to attack, invade and take control of Venezuela? The foundational International Law created after WW2 to prevent WW3 has been violated by Putin and Trump.
The federal criminal law in the United States is created by Congress and then described in Title 18 Part 1 of the U.S. Code which has multiple Chapters.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/part-I
The crime of insurrection is defined in 18 U.S. Code Chapter 115 Part I - TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/part-I/chapter-115
Specifically, the crime of insurrection is defined in 18 U.S. Code § 2383 - Rebellion or insurrection which clearly states who is guilty of the felony crime with this language.
Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.
What is the solution? The law must be enforced on insurrectionists including Trump, members of his administration, Republicans in Congress, and six justices on the Supreme Court. When Democrats get elected to the presidency and take control of Congress in 2028, the insurrectionists must be arrested, convicted and imprisoned.
If Democrats don't take control of at least the House of Representatives in 2026, we might not see a Democrat in the WH in 2028. The time to rise up and reclaim our nation is NOW. All over the country Democrats are planning campaigns and working to win. Join us.
What was it John Roberts said, and I'm paraphrasing, that this will be a "bloodless coup" if the Democrats will allow it. You may be citing a different Code, but Code 2383 sounds a lot like treason, which is also punishable by death. Mussolini comes to mind.
I believe the crossroads we are facing as a nation - today - is one of "bad choice/worse choice". Do we arrest, try, convict and sentence insurrectionists and enemies of our country within our own government or do we cross our fingers and hope it doesn't come to that? Because in my opinion, if we do the latter, that is the worst choice; we will have accomplished nothing to save our Democratic Republic from the next fascist. And the next one will have learned how to operate more efficiently under the radar.
Do the Democrats have the nerve and backbone to do this? Republicans know they don't; it's how they've won so far.
The "bloodless coup" quote was from Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation. Would be quite the admission if John Roberts said that!
I don't think Trump has taken control of anything. Like so many Trump assertions, he's just making stuff up. The Bolivarian Socialists have reasserted their violent control of Venezuela on a street-by-street basis. They remain corrupt, murderous totalitarians who've already been rejected by Venezuelan voters.
I beg to differ. Isn’t the unilateral destruction of the east wing of the White House, the people’s house, ample evidence that he has a specific agenda and it’s being implemented, as outlined in P2025, every single day? He has completely sidestepped the constitution and the rule of law and he’s ruling as an authoritarian dictator and he’s being funded by the billionaire oligarchs.
Not literally - yet. Trump is riding his wave of "Mission Accomplished" by having ousted Maduro. Everyone understands Trump doesn't control anything at all; not even the U.S., but he's working his way toward it.
Now that we see the military will do whatever he wants, it's only a matter of time. My personal opinion is we won't see an end to this without a world war. I hope I'm wrong.
Turn and blind eye at your own peril.
Congressional reform won't happen in this year's midterms if the elections are hacked as has been claimed for the 2024 presidential election, based upon swing state votes being extremely statistically anomalous. Musk's legions have the machine code for voting machines and the ability to use it to corrupt the election, not to say they did - nothing has been proven and the tracks are being erased.
And to do what you say in 2028 is highly improbable because there is no Democratic candidate with the courage to do so. Who's going to be the "man on the white horse" for the Democrats? The DNC has enabled the mess America is in through its incompetence via the "leadership" of Schumer and Jeffries.
Are you ignoring former vet Graham Platner from Maine? Get behind him!
Make sure you save some of your fury for the Democrats. They need some clarity themselves, and until they can offer the American people something better than the status quo, demagogues like Trump will always have a chance.
The party establishment remains in a state of denial about why they remain even less popular than the least popular president of the last century. Harris and the rest of the party establishment never articulated a clear vision for improving the lives of the average American, and I doubt they ever even had one. Nevertheless, they continue to try to marginalize the handful of people (Sanders, AOC, Mamdani, et al) in their party who have any real intention of toppling the capitalist oligarchy that has dominated American politics, regardless of which party has been in charge.
Trump and the rest of his cabinet are truly, deeply loathsome, but unless the Dems can offer some real hope for change, we will continue to see others of their ilk at the forefront of American politics.
If I ever hear or read "Harris and the rest of the party establishment never articulated a clear vision for improving the lives of the average American, and I doubt they ever even had one" again it will be too soon. That is straight out of Bret Stephens, right-wing, New York Times op-ed drivel.
Let's play a game. You tell me which statement articulates clarity for improving the lives of Americans:
1) Construct 3 mil new homes to aid in housing shortage, $25K tax incentive for first-time home buyers, cancel $7 BIL in medical debt for qualified Americans, expand child tax credits,
OR
2) They're eating our cats! They're eating our dogs! They're raping our women and terrorizing our streets. You can't go to a restaurant without being raped or murdered or attacked. I'll stop the Ukraine war on day one. I'll only be a dictator on day one.
Totally agree. My response to Erasmus…
“Hm. As I recall, the House DEMOCRATS impeached trump, not once, but TWICE, in 2021. They literally lobbed the senate softballs. But senate republicans declined. Instead of honoring their oaths to protect the Constitution and uphold the law, indict him, and remove him from office, they yawned and looked the other way. TWICE.
But wait… then the REPUBLICANS actually RE-ELECTED HIM! And the results of that election are highly questionable.
So go ahead, blame the Dems if it makes you feel better.”
There a deep dark dank corrupt pit of dark money that’s supporting P2025. And we’re watching it rapidly unfold everyday in real time. The fix is in, since Citizens United passed through SCOTUS.
yes, polls leading up to the 2024 election showed that most voters preferred the Democratic platform to the Republican one, IF no party label was attached to them. So many voters have Fox poisoning and would not vote for a Democrat even with better policies. And for sure, the mainstream media found Trump and his demented ravings far more entertaining than the sensible policies of Harris, so the latter were not much reported on. bo...ring!
And some $30 million was spent by Republicans to make transgender policy the issue. Harris should have countered that, but still today some Democrats criticize her campaign for focusing on social issues like gender policy. She did not. Opposition financed lies did.
Yeah, but Harris never articulated it on Joe Rogan or Fox News or my favorite AM radio program!
Any Democrat or Independent who stayed home and didn't vote because Harris somehow wasn't good enough is as much to blame for this fiasco as much as the MAGA cultists.
I do, too, Laura, but when we look at who DID vote - and let's face it, those who vote decide the elections (my husband says I have a knack for stating the obvious) - it shows an interesting picture:
Overall votes Rep and Dem w/normal margins of error:
Trump Voters:
Women = 45%
Men = 55%
Harris Voters:
Women = 53%
Men - 46%
So while I'm really pissed at the voters who stayed home, I'm also pissed at the men who should have known better, because it seems that in the main, the women knew better. Perhaps they watch a more varied selection of news outlets?
Hm. As I recall, the House DEMOCRATS impeached trump, not once, but TWICE, in 2021. They literally lobbed the senate softballs. But senate republicans declined. Instead of honoring their oaths to protect the Constitution and uphold the law, indict him, and remove him from office, they yawned and looked the other way. TWICE.
But wait… then the REPUBLICANS actually RE-ELECTED HIM! And the results of that election are highly questionable.
So go ahead, blame the Dems if it makes you feel better.
"I still retain the right to be furious at the ignoramuses who voted for this...."
----
Again, it isn't a matter of mere ·ignorance·.
Americans are groomed by their preferred media, whether it is resentment radio, social media populated by foreign (or oil lobbyist) agitprop accounts, "news" media that plays up egg prices in an other wise healthy and improving economy, and bigoted fear-mongering that gives people the false notion that immigrants are a threat.
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.“
—Mark Twain
No, and the ones I blame the most are those who should know better. They are the purity voters who chanted "NO TPP" at Hillary and then "Genocide Joe" at Kamala and still don't understand the idea of strategic voting. The maga idiots are a different matter. All have been lied to and all have been conned and manipulated.
One of Twain's best lines and absolutely right. The American "groomees" alluded to above should really work on fine-tuning their BS-detectors. Give 'em a real overhaul. (Not that Twain's observation isn't meant for every human being on the planet!)
I talked to some of these clowns in Florida back when. They were going to vote for Jill Stein instead of Hillary. I asked them, do you know what happened, in Florida no less, when people voted for Nader instead or Gore. They didn't know who Nader was, or Gore. It's hopeless.
NervousTrumpezas & Aaron are on here stirring up shit...trying to get my personal info & turn it into the Trump admin. I told Aaron the globe wouldn't have gone 2/3 communist in the 20th century if the majority wouldn't have been exploited....he commences to defensively act as if I am a communist...today's Putin kleptocratic capitalists are no different than yesterday's Soviets...he must be invested with them for him & NervousTrumpezas to be requesting my personal info through Substack. KRUGMAN & MATT STOLLER--START your own websites & get off this surveillance blog funded by Marc Andreesen....I told them to FUCK OFF when they wouldn't allow me to respond to Aaron or NervousTrumpezas
Ironically, the fixes themselves point a finger at the culprits by default. You're right that we need to guard against despair though - that's what the regime wants us to feel. It's a great reminder of the imperative that we continue to Rise! Resist! ✊✊✊
I don't do business with trolls, and especially not trollbots. Fortunately for me, Substack has a convenient "trollBeGone" function. One click of the link and hasta la vista troll. Reported.
How disturbing that some "liked" what the troll said. Thanks for reporting it.
We need millions of people in the streets. We need to nominate good candidates who fit their districts, then we need to support them in the general both financially and actively. We need to march, write post cards, knock on doors, talk to friends and family about the stakes, and most of all get out and vote. If Trump tries to undermine that vote we need to shut down businesses of his billionaire supporters. If necessary we need to shut down this country until the corrupt and criminal regime falls. Then, unlike last time, we need to put them in prison.
We, The People need to actively bring down this lawless regime by any and all means necessary - short of violence.
One of those means is by fully utilizing the power held by the states - "soft secession" which I like to call "remedial federalism".
Check out Chris Armitage's Substack, if you haven't already.
https://cmarmitage.substack.com/
https://cmarmitage.substack.com/p/the-united-states-is-now-bombing
Just as P-47 loves, loves, loves the word "tariff," I'm enamored of the word "boycott."
Yes, and step 1 is winning in SWING states and State legislatures, where much of the voting population won't even consider a candidate with a "D" next to their name. Democratic policies that are overwhelming popular (eg. healthcare, gun reform, billionaire taxes) have to be center of platform. Any future Dem-controlled legislature will have to move with lightning speed to keep faith with voters. And any big policy wins have to be backed publicly and continually, almost campaign style.
There is ample statistical evidence that swing state votes in 2024 were corrupted, according to several threads here on Substack (e.g. Zorha's Resistance Press).
Musk has even bragged about it, albeit cagily.
The same is undoubtedly planned for 2026, if the contentions of hacking results are corroborated. Musk, again, has bragged about his plans for it in his noxiously cagey manner.
The problem is with spineless Democratic politicians like Jeffries and Schumer, who are in the habit of appearing flatulently weak and spineless, and a timid and incompetent DNC, in their apparent mania for messaging donors.
Agreed. We need to send people to Congress who will be loud, scrappy, fierce, focused on saving democracy and fearless. I have been listening to candidates in my state who are running for various races. They all start with their list of "pet" issues. None of these issues is EVER a list of 10 things they will fight for on the first 100 days to begin repair. A checklist that Robert Reich posts frequently. We have to build back before any issues will have any chance of coming to fruition. I am frustrated that Dems in my state are not aware of this moment and what it requires, SPECIFICALLY.
Love your "We need to send ..." line. Yes!!! We need some dynamos. Who do not spend their days drafting "carefully worded concerns" about whatever latest atrocity has just transpired. Make sense and make noise!
Why not both? Of course we have to move to booting these fascists out of office and fixing the damage. But shame is a powerful thing. If we give the willfully ignorant and the blazingly hypocritical a pass, what's their incentive to not fall back to bad habits? If you want to make the case that their choices aren't really that bad, fine, let's hear it. Otherwise, Trump voters, you broke it, you bought it.
I have spent over a year wracking my brains trying to figure out how we get through to the non-voters, the people who insist on candidate who are perfectly in alignment with their sensibilities, and the racists and bigots... There is no one-size-fits-all here.
Experiencing financial pain is a great equalizer.
And a reduction in healthcare accessibility due to finances will make it more real - the wake-up call they don’t want.
Unfortunately innocents will need to suffer it too.
That's when we begin to KILL people.
Yes, Stephen, the non-voters and seekers of unicorns need to be reached.
I have a feeling the full Epstein revelations could unify us in revulsion.
They’re not listening. Just as they didn’t listen during Biden’s administration. They vote on their emotions and pocket. If we hope to defeat them, we must delve a little deeper into the environment that produces this kind of behavior. Right wing media and dying communities are big contributors to this condition. Republicans have spent billions of dollars on propaganda and creating hate and resentment in their base. Democrats understand that now we must compete in a similar media environment as right wing politicians do. The main stream has miserably failed democratic government. As others have noted, keep our “eyes on the prize”, and don’t let despair defeat us.
If we have the expected recession, we will get a small respite. They are not in any way loyal to the Oligarchs. Faux Snooze has them hypnotized and propagandized. But with a proper motive/stimulus, they can be disenculted.
This is a straw man argument. I don’t think anyone is advocating despair as a solution. Rather it is important to realize there are many abysmally stupid and misinformed people in this country, and to figure out how to reach them; those of them who CAN be reached. Many of them will vote again in the future. Should we just accept their bad judgement as inevitable? Or should we call attention to their failure (through humor, sarcasm, ridicule, or otherwise) in hope that we can change their thinking?
If you know any military veterans you could be talking to them about Hegseth trying to demote Sen. Kelly from his hard earned retirement rank, which would automatically result in a reduction in his retirement pay. If they can take his benefits, they can take any of theirs, the administration doesn’t follow any rules they don’t like. This would be an awful burden for an enlisted rank retiree.
I believe the administration fears Kelly’s leadership ability and electability, but protesting veterans in the streets even more.
Hegseth vs Kelly will be a very illuminating "teaching moment." The only thing scary about it is that many people will "learn" the wrong lesson, just as so many seem to have done from a myriad of recent teaching moments, like Jan 6 itself.
Maybe one fine day, Kelly will (heh-heh!) hold Hegseth's current job. Maybe even Hegseth's current boss's job. Either scenario'd be OK with me.
When it’s their own pension it’s different. It’s personal, it’s what they earned and likely need. That’s something that might get through.
Keep in mind that many of them are just racists/bigots and will continue to support Chump no matter how bad things get - as long as they continue to believe that the POC, LGBTQ, uppity women and "libtards" will suffer more than they will... Remember LBJ? "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
As someone who uses the LBJ quote a lot, I would like to point out that a lot of the resentment is deliberately groomed to blame race for their situation when it is actually Republican promotion of rent-seeking capitalism.
Many of these people are in a cult. But any intervention must come down to the level of the individual. I don't think that most hardcore MAGAts come from normal upbringings.
It is more uninformed & self interested than stupid.
Among other points, they have to shown how their support of Trump has hurt their own interests, as well as that of others.
No, stupid. There was no way they could be at all "misinformed" about Trump since he was smearing himself all over them at every possible opportunity. They were stupid.
consider the reach of Fox + Sinclair + OAN + + + and they could ALL be misinformed. Most of the horrors of Trump 1.0 were lost on them, and did any of them honestly report on Jan 6? Not for long, for sure.
Constance, they liked the parts of him that they saw. They refused to see anything else. Yes, he was never out of the news. Especially their news, that John Gregory lists.
Yes, Andre! Uninformed and misinformed. Self-interested. Somehow emotionally attached to Orange. Not smart enough to realize when they are being manipulated.
Efforts to neutralize Main Street Media outlets, which are largely in the hands of quasi-covert fascist supporters, might well be high on the to-do list.
Jeff O. - good call, strawman argument. And it was given in reply to someone who said let's work to fix it. But what gets me is that his solution is to "move quickly through an analysis phase." Lol what is that.
Amplify this message. We must move ahead. Learn the lessons of the past but move ahead.
That’s a nice sentiment but it’s extremely difficult to get “past the finger-pointing stage” when there’s been absolutely NO ACCOUNTABILITY! Instead, trump not only survived his brazen and violent effort to overthrow our government, he was actually RE-ELECTED!
And now we’re witnessing the rapid collapse of the constitution, the rule of law, and the institutions of our country.
Trump has proven himself to be an extremely vindictive and dangerous “weapon of mass destruction”. And his demolition of the White House, the People’s House, is a persistent reminder, the perfect metaphor, for his maniacal, despicable end-game agenda. The WH will never be the same.
He's literally, in plain sight, “rebranding” the United States of America to the United States of Trumplandia. And ultimately he envisions himself as king of the world.
Guillotines need to be part of the solution this time.
I agree, Stephen, but what exactly do you have in mind?
I'm noticing a lot of people are saying "Do Something!" but no one says "Here's what we do." I believe we should End World Hunger! and I'm righteous, but HOW?
So I don't seem hypocritical, here are three ideas we can do non-violently (because that's the scenario we're all trying to avoid writing about, right?)
1: Organize a national, one day sick out. Make it attractive! Make it a Monday or a Friday, lol. There are those who can't participate. Okay, understandable, but most of us can call in sick one day. And then do that once a month. "But that would mean giving up all my sick days!" you say? Yep. What price Democratic freedom.
2: Pick one large company and everyone agree to boycott it for the rest of its days. Look at Target's suffering. We can do that to another company. Amazon comes to mind.
3: Refuse to send campaign donations to ALL incumbents running for office, D & R. If they didn't need our money, they wouldn't be constantly begging for it. Write to them you won't send another dime until they start pursuing impeachment, arrest and conviction in earnest and with fearless aggression. I like my Senators Ossoff and Warnock, but they're about as rousing as old carpet. I write them constantly. I get boilerplate responses. I actually asked them to return my donations since they were not adequately representing me in Congress. Not heard back yet nor have I received a refund.
That's my arsenal. I'm open to other suggestions.
Yes - we need WAYS to make things happen, and you've come up with three I like but with a couple tweaks. For #1, I'd make it a national "On Vacation Day." For #2, I'd come up with maybe a top-five or top-ten list of major culprits, from which we boycotters would pick one. (I've been boycotting one large dept store for over 50 years as the result of an egregious customer-service incident. They're still in business but over the decades at least lost my few hundreds of $$$.) For #3 (my FAVORITE!!!) I say we start that IMMEDIATELY! Absolutely agree on this one. The money-begging and idiotic surveys send me straight up the wall. There MUST be better (and far more cost-effective) ways to campaign. Thank you. I'm on board!
I agree. But we need major fixes. The Founders did the best they could given the times. Maybe we should take a page from their playbook. I envision an online Constitutional Convention to do a major rewrite. I hope a lot of leaders and rank and file Americans will put their 2 cents in. I started yesterday. Check it out. It is under my name and I gave it the header ‘A Sign Of The Times. It is free.
I love this idea and will check it out! Yay!
Despair doesn't move the conversation forward. I save it for my therapist and individuals who have the capacity to recieve it. Never in public. 🙏💪❤️🇺🇸
Hi S B, you’re right, we do need to move past finger pointing. However, we need all hands on deck, so to speak, which means registered voters cannot opt out of participating in the primaries and in the general election (Nov 3, 2026).
I couldn't agree more!
Yes, it's good to point out that fascism can be and has been defeated, when the people decide that they prefer individual rights and rule of law.
Only third-world countries practice authoritarianism, and they are impoverished and ostracized as a result.
Only democracies are strong enough and wealthy enough to lead the world.
US governments of both parties backsupport dictatorships in the third world. Indeed, several democratic leaders were "wiped out" by CIA and replaced by bloody puppets. However, Mr. Trump creates a new era in which, on the average, USA fights against global freedom, when the varnish of heroism is not necessary at all. At last, Brazil punished Bolsonaro and USA didn't punish Trump. The same crime, January 6th, 2021 in USA; 8 de janeiro de 2023, no Brasil.
Unfortunately, the US practices only Cargo Cult Democracy:
https://www.trashwalker.org/blog/cargo-cult-democracy/
The imminent stock market crash will only add to the current misery.
We need a New Deal candidate for 2028.
It's disappointing that the market seems to approve of lawless imperialism. Another bad sign!
Enough with blame. (btw The "highly competent woman" didn't have the decency to speak out against the horror of Gaza). Blame doesn't move things forward. We need to concentrate on what's going on now. In many ways, the Dems won the election for Trump by being inept and not relating to what people actually need day to day. The dem feebleness pushed a lot of people to trump.
Of course I'm going to put the blame where it belongs. The Americans did this to themselves. Don't blame the Democrats or Harris. This has nothing to do with Gaza (except for the fact that the Gaza supporters made things much, much, much worse for Gaza by supporting the guy who wanted to build condos there). Democrats not relatable? Hey, let's vote for the guy with two impeachments and 34 felony convictions and give him the nuclear codes
I agree. Don't blame Democrats or Harris. The Americans who voted for Trump and those Americans who didn't vote are traitors to that Democracy we had in 2020. Now we have a lot of work to get any semblance of that Democracy back and continue on the work to make it an ever a
more just country for the citizens of America. It's very hard for me to let go of the blame game, even though I know I must move on.
People who didn’t like Harris and instead voted for Trump or third-party (or not at all) indisputably made things worse in Gaza. We already knew well before the election that Trump and Netanyahu were buddies and both strongmen cut from the same cloth.
Jared Kushner had salivated publicly over the Gaza Strip, saying it could be “very valuable” from a real estate perspective if Israel could forcibly remove those living there to develop “waterfront property,” and that giving the Palestinians their own state is a “super bad idea.”
Trump previously instituted the Muslim Ban and had promised to “crush pro-Palestinian protests” and “deport demonstrators,” saying that a crackdown would “set that movement back 25 or 30 years.”
Further, the Republicans' Project 2025 plans to create a massive state surveillance program and put it in the hands of white supremacist Christian nationalists to monitor and control all aspects of our lives and dictate the kind of religion we can practice.
So, if you cared about freedom of religion and what was happening in Gaza, which candidate would have offered a greater hope for a more humane outcome for Palestinians? Which one saw two sides to the story? Definitely not Trump.
i agree. I will never forgive RBG and her ego when she refuses to step down. Not sure that would have assured a different outcome but it was downhill from there.
If you ask many of those Trump supporters why they voted for Trump, they aren't going to say it was because he's a convicted felon or because he was impeached. That's a mischaracterization. They'll say it's because they didn't like Biden, or Harris, or because they felt like life during Trump's first term was more affordable.
The long and the short of it is that enough Americans felt like Biden's administration wasn't agile and responsive enough to their own needs. Those needs may be unreasonable, but that's a cultural problem, not a political one.
Continuing to fault Trump voters doesn't accomplish anything. It just makes you resistant to problem-solving.
And they felt that Biden wasn't responsive enough because they weren't paying attention - no information or low information voters voting their anger, not their actual self-interest. That's a core problem we gotta fix.
Right. This is a major issue. Too many Americans vote from ignorance.
I am going to continue to fault them as long as they continue to deny that it’s their fault we are here. To this day many don’t want unity or refuse any responsibility. If they have regrets they can join us in protest. They can do the work to try and rise above this moment. I have seen very few do that.
It's disheartening to even try to diagnose Tr's popularity in the US, but it's very possible that a lot of it comes down to his sheer entertainment value and the absolute superficiality of celebrity "culture." If so, there is hope for a day of sober-minded reckoning once he's gone. Then we'll still have the amoral culture, but at least its class clown will be off the stage.
Yes, George, celebrity culture is part of what brought us the class clown with immunity and the “nuclear football.”
All of the ‘not responsive to my needs’ justifications for voting for Trump are rubbish. Inflation for example - if people were so upset by inflation then why did they vote for the person promising more of it, and by design (i.e. tariffs)? The answer - it wasn’t ever about inflation. That’s just a post-hoc rationalisation of their irresponsible vote.
The Trump voters are the problem, and they deserve to feel shame for their decisions. They voted for Trump because they don’t know or care what makes their country function, and they don’t see any threats to their freedom or prosperity. They behave as children.
The USA badly needs a cultural shift where adult-aged people are expected to behave like adults. Every day. Think about other people. Contribute. Be part of good communities. And take civic responsibilities seriously.
Trump never promised more inflation, and if he had, I can't think of a single person who would have voted for that. You can't just assume the entire American electorate has the same level of understanding you do.
It seems that the consensus among pundits is that Trump was elected to address affordability and cost-of-living issues. Those are the primary reasons people cited that voted for him in 2024. They felt the Biden administration had failed in providing them with a fix for the cost of living. Whether that was a reasonable expectation or not, that's what people wanted the federal government to address. A person struggling to make ends meet, with a low level of civic engagement, isn't going to look at Trump's election platform and debate the merits of tariffs - they're going to vote for the candidate they think is going to lower their cost of living.
I agree that the US needs a cultural shift. But expecting Trump voters to feel shame doesn't make a lot of sense. It's a revenge mindset - you want them to feel terrible because you're angry at them. It's the same mentality MAGA has - they don't like liberals, so they hope Trump's behavior drives liberals crazy. What we really need is a society that transcends this ridiculous factionalism and polarity. We need to stop hating people just because they didn't vote the way we did.
They still voted for a traitorous criminal, who tried to overthrow the results of the 2020 election. No getting out of that one, their feelings be damned. They need to look in the mirror and acknowledge what they did, the damage they have done, and seriously think about voting responsibly next time. Oh, and actively helping undo the damage their vote has led to would be great, while there is still time.
which ones, the willfully ignorant who will never do that, or the filthy rich who believe their money will keep them safe??
I've heard them say that they hate "the libs" more than they love Trump and that's why they voted.
And that's scary. Identity politics is going to ruin this country. Voting for a bad candidate just because you don't like that candidates supporters is beyond foolish.
They had the same problem that many Democrats have. They will never vote for a woman.
Of course I’m going to put the blame where it belongs. Only by recognizing where the problem is can anything change. A big chunk of America’s electorate did this to us and to the world. Blame Harris for “not speaking out” about Gaza? What does this have to do with Gaza? If America trashes itself, how is the country going to stand up for Gaza, the environment, or anything else? The so-called Gaza supporters helped put the very guy in office, who moved the US Embassy to East Jerusalem and wanted vocally to displace the Gaza population and build condos. Now, things are much, much, much worse for them. How was that a winning solution? Blame Democrats for being not relatable? Yes, the party has problems, but threatening democracy and the world order that has given us relative peace for 80 years is not among them. I can hear it now: “Hey, Trump’s gone bankrupt 6 times, is financed by the Russians, and has got a criminal record with two impeachments and 34 felony convictions. Let’s not vote for the woman warning us about him and give the guy the nuclear codes!” Talk about brain-dead. Yes, too many Americans are divorced from reality. It’s time we realize that and make education and critical thinking a priority after we get ourselves out from under this horrible mess America put itself into. We can’t expect any entity or party to fix things; it starts with ourselves. The only mitigating factor I can see with all this, is that the mainstream media had been turned into a pro-Trump propaganda machine before the 2024 election. Still, it did not take much effort to see what was really happening.
I agree with your POV! The problem is... How do you hold accountable the people in your day to day life. Heck... what do you say to people who now say... "Well, I made a mistake... BUT... her .... (what ever)" .... They sadly agree ... yes I am accountable and learned nothing. They don't even want to look at their principles and values with regard to the actions they take... They get played and react. The evidence shows this! Trump was elected TWICE with 4 years in between. Thoughts?
People voted for the fascist guy because they thought he'd help the Gazans?? Really??
Or stayed home. Some of them incredibly.
A big dose of voter gullibility also pushed people to trump.
Who could ever have imagined that the guy with 30,000 documented, evidence-backed public lies uttered during his first term might not have been telling the whole truth during his re-election campaign?
I can only imagine that the news they followed manipulated them into believing the liar in chief.
combined with willful ignorance.
How about the truth: massive propaganda and the corruption of self interest pushed people to trump
Stop blaming Dems. Focus on the criminals, those bums who have hijacked the government, selling it off cheap.
"Enough with blame. [...] The dem feebleness pushed a lot of people to trump."
I'm not sure this POV is even coherent.
JP - I am going to ASSUME you are male. Given that a female presidential candidate was dealing with a double edge sword (too loud, too bold = not loud enough, not bold enough) what would you have done? Thoughts are welcome.
I believe KH would have won without trump’s cheating. Her gender is still an issue with too many people, but no longer out of reach for someone of her experience and abilities. Don’t forget her miracle in Guatemala, where she overcame the age-old ruling cliche and reduced or eliminated the stubborn oppression of the working class and native people.
You can talk about the horror of Gaza but doing so without condemning the horror of the Hamas attack is disingenuous at best. We should never forget what precipitated the horror of Gaza.
Enough. We all know that. it’s a given. what resulted was illuminating to the world about what a criminal Netanyahu was and is, and horrific beyond measure. The Israeli people had and have our support, but he is just as bad as TR.
Double edged sword JP for a women running as a presidential candidate. If she presents as too loud, too large in her voice/mannerisms, she is too masculine. If she does the opposite, she is too meek/not powerful enough. Thoughts?
"Thoughts?"
Two of them, presently. (1) The dilemma you pose was not what caused KH to fail in her presidential bid.
(2) Said dilemma is a false dichotomy. In either branch you give up on being yourself and instead try to guess "what kind of mask should I wear so that OTHER people will like and accept me?"
DT would never have won in 2016 if he had asked himself THAT.
If we “won the election for Trump,” it wasn’t for lack of pointing fingers. It was for lack of protecting the vote. The criminal party, yes the one that freed the slaves a million years ago, rigged the election in 2024. And despite that, Kamala’s only real handicap was being a woman running for president before the country was “ready.”Again, America got what we deserve.
Really, truly enough with the blame. There’s plenty to go around but it’s not getting us anywhere.
Why wait to shutdown the businesses of the billionaire supporters? Start now and stick with it. Boycotting works when it is sustained. Paul Singer owns Citgo, is a big donor and stands to benefit from the Venezuelan takeover.
Plenty of info about boycotting on Substack & YouTube, also the Goods Unite Us app.
https://psychopete1.substack.com/p/psycho-petes-guide-to-boycotting?r=5j616r
https://youtu.be/e5ApF-hBy1Y?si=e0XaJWrymjF3CNOS
https://www.goodsuniteus.com/
Good luck with that. Compared to Trump Harris is highly competent, but lacking the comparison she doesn't shine so much. There were better and smarter people out there among the Democrats, but Biden's decision to hold on to power prevented them from coming forward. No individual is more responsible for the return of Trump than Joe Biden.
Wrong. The Americans who voted for Trump, a known criminal, and those who did not vote at all, put Trump back into power. It's on them. It should have been "anything but that criminal Trump", especially since our economy was in relatively good shape, globally speaking.
Really? Who were "better and smarter?" Give us some names. Please explain why Biden is the most responsible person of all people for the return of Trump.
JD Pritzker, and Biden is responsible for NOT having the courage to demand the feckless Garland DOJ arrest the obvious leader of the JAN. 6, 2021 insurrection to be held for trial on charges of "insurrection" and "seditious conspiracy", as were dozens of other MAGATS. Biden handed us the second disastrous Trump nightmare.
well said
But Harris was a hawk!
This is exactly and entirely correct!
We wouldn't be steering towards a dictatorship in a brutal strong man's world if either woman were elected. I understand your point about them not being good politicians. Trump is not a politician at all. He's a reality TV actor. I think that's a big chunk of his appeal. He knows how to harness people's hate to boost his ratings. But still, anyone who helped him into office voted for a traitor and a criminal and a rapist, and as it seems, a pedophile.
If you think it's unfixable, then embrace the slavery you are against. Rather defeatist and helps no one, except the enslavers.
We remember Jan 6th and salute the heros who defended democracy, those who lost their lives doing it .And we vehemently oppose this regime and their Republican cohorts. Seditionist. Their day will come , justice . ✌️
To be fair, it’s looking more and more like Elon had his hands in the election. Check out This Will Hold here on Substack. So it was more likely a significantly smaller number than 77 mil.
This is a failure of citizenship. The majority of those 77 million had any clarity about what they were voting for. Many were voting against both their own interests and their avowed beliefs. Couple that with the indifference of 1/3 of the electorate, those who sat out the 2024 election, illustrates the greatest weakness of democracy.
It's like Brexit, a number of voters didn't understand what they were voting for. They thought "Leave" meant immigrants would leave. The UK is trying to find a way back in that doesn't sound like "we were wrong."
Yes, that is becoming apparent. I hope the EU has the brains and the courage to acknowledge that and to take the necessary steps to allow at least a de facto re-admission.
The EU would do that happily. The sticking point, as Meighan says, is that the UK politicians (well, particularly of Wales and England) would have to admit to the voters that they were wrong; and of course they just don’t seem to be able to that. Even Keir Starmer, who campaigned hard for Remain! It’s one of the great disappointments of the aftermath of election. But the UK never liked acknowledging how much they got from the EU; more irritating “exceptionalism”. Grrrr.
I share your frustration!
“The EU would do that happily.” Up to a point…
The EU spent a lot of time, resources and energy negotiating an exit treaty with the UK and making sure, at every step, that all twenty-seven capitals were on board.
It is not about to go through the same exercise now, especially with all the crises that the orange monster is throwing at us.
Also, there is nothing to guarantee that a future UK government (for instance, a Farage-led, tRump-inspired-one) might not decide to secede again in a few years.
So, we might get partial improvements, on Erasmus, scientific research, trade barriers…, but nothing institutional, i.e., no UK seat at the Commission, the Council, no UK MEPs, no input on decisions…
They knew exactly what they were voting for. No excuses.
Lots of people really didn't know what they were voting for with Brexit just as lots of people don't know what they voted for with Trump. This isn't to excuse them as they're responsible for their ignorance, but a major impetus absolutely has been ignorance.
Brexit is as nothing to what the US has done to itself. Nice try at shoe horning in an irrelevant reference though.
Voting should be mandatory.
Supreme Court Justices and politicians who prevent a US citizen from voting will be hanged...
Correction: hanged.
Thanks, I was unsure...
I'm a bit of a grammar cop, nothing to be proud of. All things are hung except humans. They are hanged.
Correction: *Informed* voting should be mandatory.
Kats:
How do you insure the “informed” part?
A responsible media would definitely be helpful to counter years of ingrained voter complacency though.
This is a critical point , it's complacency. Is true civics classes even taught in school anymore .✌️
I'm pretty sure we started phasing civics classes out not long after the Civil rights act was passed. Can't have those pesky peons reading an instruction manual on how to keep government in check.
No Child Left Behind…. was the death sentence for all education subjects not on the test, by design. My own theory is that this helped the population become dumb and dumber, another GOP objective
The US is only practicing Cargo Cult Democracy if we are honest to ourselves. It is a broken prototype that must be fixed!
https://www.trashwalker.org/blog/cargo-cult-democracy/
But, when it’s their pension it will be different.
They knew exactly what they were voting for. No excuses.
He did not win. He cheated, as he always does. Musk helped.
Hey Derelict, I broadly agree and I’m not making excuses for profound intellectual laziness and plain old bigotry, but given that trump lied up and down about his true intentions, and conveniently omitted his imperial ambitions… it was really more of a bait and switch. Sad.
Trump lying would be sort-of an excuse, except it's not like he was an unknown quantity in 2024. Voting for him in 2024 is like re-hiring the landscaper who killed your dog, burned down your shed, gave your patio furniture to his friends, and promised that if you'd just take him back, THIS time he'd burn down your house.
I know, believe me. A certain conversation with a grad school acquaintance stays with me because she just wanted the whole damn election thing to be over so that she didn’t have to hear about it anymore… hope she’s enjoying the peace and quiet
Well, Laura, I would suggest that "I will be a dictator for a day" SHOULD result in every serious politician's mind being very clear as to what the mumbling, raving autocrat's intentions actually were. Dictatorship in any form is not something a politician should wave aside or ignore, holding the "It won't happen here" line, whilst events are unfolding that will prove him/her wrong! In this age of electronic voting - ANYTHING - can happen - and it did. Just ask MUSK!
The solution (which Republicans would NEVER agree to) is to return to paper ballots; votes that can be seen AND counted! Not some mythical number arrived at by some remote electronic device (STARLINK) making adjustments to selected, vital Swing States' results via a hostile enemy's borrowed satellites for the day!
Trump, Putin, Musk and Neo-Fascists everywhere (especially Farage and Johnson in the UK!) couldn't help laughing down their sleeves at the impunity of this assault on democracy! But "win" they did! And America, as a result, now has its very own first dictator installed in the White House, doing God knows what to the Constitution and ripping apart agreements with allies that have stood for decades, if not for centuries.
Putin's going to have to take a chill pill if this carries on!
I stand corrected!
Unfortunately I have some MAGAites in my family and I can guarantee they didn't vote for this. They voted for the man right wing media told them was a genius on economic issues and would stop all those immigrant fraudsters from taking their tax dollars. They live in an extremely warped information bubble. Sadly I remember well when they were not living in that warped alternate reality that Karl Rove bragged about Republicans creating.
I guarantee you they did vote for this, because Trump screamed what he was going to do at every possible opportunity. They *knew* what was going to happen.
My brother is or was an active stock trader. He got the money to get started in this as an IBM mainframe coder. He's voted Republican for decades and is not going to stop now.
You have to look at the outsize, pivotal, distorting role of right-wing media, media in general.
Exactly. The rise of Fox “News” and clones.
Maybe America is getting what it deserves from putting the current Administration in place. Let’s not forget that hundreds of millions of people outside America are affected by this decision made by only 77 millions of Americans. They certainly did not deserve any of this.
42% of Americans still approve Trump's job after this last horrible year. So yes, the American voted for this and a lot don't regret doing it.
It was actually MUSK who, using his Starlink remote technology, combined with Putin's generous loan of a number of undetectable satellites for the day, interfered with selected results from the Swing States' votes, to procure an apparent "victory" for Trump! One Swing State actually produced a "ZERO VOTES" return for Kamala Harris - in a SWING STATE! How ludicrous! Yet, no one thought to ask any questions! And THAT'S how America earned its first - and potentially last - Dictator!
Could you post your sources please?
Thank you for taking an interest. But there are plenty of observable references out there for you to source yourself, like I did.
Please list them.
I'm ASSUMING you have them readily available; otherwise, I ASSUME your comment is made up. It shouldn't be the reader's responsibility to vet the writer.
There were some *districts* in New York (not a swing state) where the Dem Senate candidate won handily but Harris got zero votes, or very few. There is or was a lawsuit trying to force a recount.
There's no reason to think it had anything to do with Starlink, which merely provides an internet connection and requires a bulky terminal.
In short, this is the "Jewish space lasers" of election fraud theories.
Back in 1.0, I knew a Trumpie who got all her news from Facebook since "everything else is fake."
Well, those 77 million are. Our country’s _________ didn’t vote for this. Fatalism and pessimism aren’t helpful. I’m exhausted, but so is every sane American. The fight must be fought despite everything.
"they wanted someone who was a convicted felon, greedy narcissist, sex pest, insurrectionist, profoundly stupid, massively ignorant, racist imbecile, and dedicated to destroying the United States government". Definitely not. That was not why they voted for him, they voted for him because they are angry and they did look all these negatives and said "what the hell, the system stinks, we want someone to finally break it in a positive way".
I'm having difficulty figuring out how someone with all those negatives can accomplish anything positive. I mean, Trump definitely knows how to break things, and he has a proven track record of being incapable of fixing things.
More likely, those voters looked at the two choices--competent well-educated Black woman versus The Turd that Talks, and voted for the turd.
I agree with you about Trump. But I believe there was a worldwide anger at incumbents (party if not person). Covid screwed things up and those tasked with trying to fix it were blamed.
Something about Covid definitely had a political effect. Not sure why.
This is pretty typical human intelligence. We *think* our convictions come from our observations and reasonings, but the opposite (our convictions — our mental automations that make use fast and energy-efficient — steer what we see and what we think) is much more the case. See https://ea.rna.nl/2022/10/24/on-the-psychology-of-architecture-and-the-architecture-of-psychology/ or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3riSN5TCuoE&t=2092s for uses of this perspective in another setting.
I suspect the very Hollywoodian rallying cry "Make America Great Again" was sufficiently persuasive just by itself to lure a huge number of voters to ignore the underlying caveats attached to that saliva-inducing headline!
Even "Dictator For A Day" was accepted - 'cos it was "only for a day" (whilst allowing Trump a "Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free" card for actually informing the electorate of his (longer-term) real intentions! After all, who believes the wild ravings of a madman!
He's still pulling the same stunt! Consequently, Greenland is VERY MUCH on his agenda for annexation! This is not some rambling, incoherent daydream Trump conjured up over yet another burgerfest! This is ACTUAL INTENTION!
This guy needs to be watched like a hawk! If he's thinking it, it means he plans on doing it!
He keeps raving about "security." Both the US and Greenland are members of NATO. The US is very secure as long as that continues. If Trump puts 10,000 troops into Greenland, we become less secure. In fact, if Greenland calls for article 5 of the treaty to be invoked (and it actually is), we will be at war with 31 nations.
Have you considered the possibility or even likelihood that Denmark, which doesn't have the resources to defend Greenland from Russia or China, reaching a negotiated settlement with the USA? I would say that's the likely outcome. Trump's negotiating style is blunt and stupid. However, I think that would be a good solution
They already have an excellent solution - the U.S. is allowed to move in anything they want for the defense of Greenland. The U.S. had several airbases and radar stations - abandoned after the Cold War ended. Trump wants to go down in the history books as having acquired more territory for the U.S. than any other President, and other parties want to take Greenland's natural resources for themselves.
I guess "security" to him means looking at a map, like a Risk game board, and seeing that you control the most territory. Right now, Russia does.
Security is just his excuse. He wants to steal the resources that are felt to be there.
Can I comment above. That wasn't the choice. The choice was voting against policies, many of which they disagreed with, high inflation, and a border that was like a shiv or someone who would break things.
They believed in the policy of "you break it, you own it" and thought it applied to the United States.
Bernie votes switching to Trump. Yep many did. Odd but they wanted big change. Welp, they got it. /sigh
Some of them definitely did prefer a racist, like themselves.
I think many people think they aren’t racist while they (at least a bit) are. Anyway, remember Trump pressing on how well he had done with ‘blacks and latinos’ and all those ‘blacks for Trump’ placards? He gave many a reason to assume they weren’t voting for a racist. A rationalisation. The openly racist vote he got anyway.
Yes, probably most of the white racists weren’t Dems to start with.
That is in fact why many of them voted for him. He is doing everything they would do if they could get away with it, they are living vicariously through him, and they will never give that up.
True, but that only represents around 1/3 of the voting public. Another third just stayed home. Those are the ones I blame for this mess we're in. They didn't take the warnings seriously. Then there are the officials whose job was to ensure election integrity - to make damned sure Mu卐kRat couldn't tamper with the voting machines.
Not just our country, but the world. We are endangering the world order.
There is no getting around the fact that in a functioning democracy, citizens get the government they deserve. Many of us did not vote for this cretin, but we are stuck in a world where the majority of Americans did - gerrymandering and other vote-suppression tactics notwithstanding.
But to the question of did half of the country actually support what Trump is *doing* now that he is in office, it is important to understand the steady diet of lies they have been fed for decades by an ever-decreasing number of media outlets. Many Americans are simply clueless about the world outside of what is spun by FOX News, the Koch brothers, etc.
Corporate personhood is the underlying rot to our decaying society in that regard, it is the underpinning that has allowed the media to be corrupted by the oligarch class. Media consolidation needs to become a lot better understood as the cancer it is: https://www.politicalnonpartisan.com/p/media-consolidation.
Trump screamed Project 2025, racism, misogyny, and bigotry at the top of his lungs at every possible opportunity, bullshit they were lied to. He is doing everything they would do if they could get away with it, they are living vicariously through him, and they will never give that up.
You're not wrong about Trump, but most people are just paying attention - and scant attention at that - to the news. Many fell for the "I'll bring inflation down" line and did not read the fine print. They unfortunately cannot be held responsible independent of the rest of us.
The bigger problem is Trump is will be gone in a few years, but the big money donors and the media monopolies will remain.
Thank you for this. You’re absolutely correct—unblinkered clarity comes first.
I contend that America's Day of Infamy was November 5, 2024.
With the Trump regime every day is a day of infamy. Ever since that day in 2015 that Trump came down the escalator he has been like a cockroach swimming in the soup bowl of daily American life.
Yes. It should not have been allowed anywhere outside of a jail cell.
Putin (AND Musk!) would disagree!
No. It was January 6, 2021. Don’t ever forget that.
Why?
January 6, 2021 was the day when the Capitol was assaulted by ~8,000 deluded insurrectionists egged on by a criminally insane wannabe dictator, but was successfully defended by just a handful of incredibly brave heroes in uniform.
November 5, 2024 was the day when the American people spat in the faces of said heroes and told them: "Fuck you, we actually WANT that criminally insane wannabe dictator as our president."
Now tell me: Which of these is the day of greater humiliation and shame for the US?
Can’t argue with a bit of that. We have no one to blame but ourselves. Great point Rainer.
Agreed 👏🏼
Trump has been obscuring clarity: his "disagreement" with Putin is fake, for our consumption, because if he were honest we would be able to focus on it:
a) he met with Putin personally in Sweden for a few minutes in his first time alone and without the presence of a translator, against all diplomatic protocol; now he make a big deal telling Russia he does not believe them that there was an attack on Zelenskyy's house to preserve the illusion they are disagreeing;
b) the first thing Tulsi Gabbard did was have the CIA stop cyber operations against Russia (why???)
c) He cannot explicitly say Russia is the enemy, but said the problem is Europe's civilization;
d) Fox News, to which unfortunately I am subjected while at the gym, is already preparing the magas for "we're dominant", "we do whatever we want", but not a word out for our duties to our NATO allies;
e) for our security we already have in Greenland the base we need for early warning, but if we want its minerals (a-la-Venezuela), then we may invade it;
f) the Netherlands has said that if we invade there it is the end of NATO; they can call the rest of Europe for its defense; this is where Trump is steering us, but this way they will blame the breakdown of NATO on Europe;
g) Hegseth has gotten rid of reporters from the Pentagon, and now appears in CBS where he announces what he wants, and they let him speak unchecked from reporting, so what he does appears legitimate to those who do not question;
Change gyms!
Exactly! A simple thing to do with no muss no fuss. What does it say that there isn’t sufficient grit in the culture that leaving the gym — cancelling one personal contract — isn’t even considered? Heartbreaking.
Biden AND TRUMP could have stopped Putin in Ukraine if they wanted too. Biden was too meek and Trump is in bed with Putin
#Unblinkered-clarity ... Exactamente! ... Have you prepared your #ANKF for 2026 yet? Reference: https://open.substack.com/pub/exvivospace/p/mystery-celebrity-astro-numerology #Jen-Goddess
Only the true will save us from tyranny 💙🌊💯🎭
Five years ago we watched an attempted coup on live television. The perpetrator walked free, ran again, and won. Not just the Electoral College this time. The popular vote. That's not a system failure. That's the country telling us who it is.
Krugman is right about clarity. But clarity isn't our problem. We saw exactly what Trump was. We voted for him anyway. Fifty million people watched January 6th unfold in real time, heard him say we'd never have to vote again, watched him promise revenge—and four years later, more Americans chose him than chose his opponent.
Trump said we'd never have to vote again. I believe him. Not because he'll cancel elections—that's too crude, too obvious. He'll do what authoritarians always do: make voting irrelevant. Pack the courts. Weaponize enforcement. Let Musk's algorithms decide what information reaches whom. By 2028, we may still have elections the way Russia has elections. The ritual without the meaning.
I watched Nixon resign in disgrace for crimes that wouldn't make Trump's top fifty. I watched Reagan's "Morning in America" blind us to the corporate capture that followed. I watched us lie about Iraq, about Afghanistan, about the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Each lie built the foundation for the next.
What's different now isn't the lying. It's the endorsement of it. Trump doesn't hide his intentions. He announces them. And this time, the country said yes.
Krugman says facing the truth can set us free. Maybe. But the truth we have to face isn't about Trump anymore. It's about us. A plurality of Americans looked at everything he is and said: more of that, please.
That's the clarity that haunts me.
More at Burnt Ground
Agree completely. As a good friend said recently, " I feel like I'm suddenly a citizen of a
rogue nation."
Yes--this. "That's the country telling us who it is."
I will never forgive the American people for electing this corrupt, insane buffoon to the most powerful office in the world. I feel like I'm trapped on a bus being driven by a drunk.
down a curvy hill with no brakes.
And on fire.
Agree Joe the same clarity is haunting. Recently as Sunday had a conversation with a man who has decided to turn his back on the MAGA movement and has joined our group that is now 212 people strong in protest of this Trump regime. In a very cherry “red” area of Ohio. What was interesting was his frankness in talking and sharing his views. He admitted he voted for him three times, thought that what he was going to do for this country would benefit him both financially, socially and move this country forward in some way. What he came to realize was it wasn’t the truth. He’s suffered more financially in this past year than ever before, even during the pandemic. He’s lost his job, due to the company closing has found a job that pays him half of of his prior income, just making it by and has dipped into savings to buy food, keep a roof over his head and now can’t afford health insurance for his family. He saw as all of us the illegal activities of what was going on in the Caribbean blowing up boats under the guise of a lie about drugs being trafficked but about oil and greed. He saw the illegal activities of a person who he voted for using the military to remove another countries president. He is a veteran and is ashamed of what his brothers in arms are now doing. A few weeks past the Senators who did the video about all members of the military should be reminded of their oath hit him. With all that was going on in his life at the front of his face the reminder of not obeying an illegal order as he said, “brought him out of some stupor of stupid.” Told him glad that you decided to come to the trough and drink as to who and what you defended years ago a democratic-republic. He shared he’s found that he carried to much hate for people of color and the hate morphed into believing all the rhetoric about immigrants. Told him it’s good to see that blaming others gets you no where, it’s a shame that it’s easier to blame others versus ourselves for so many things. He’s been also talking to a number of people who also voted for him and he said that they are feeling they made a mistake as well. In my mind, better late than never and some or everyone may figure it out, and it’s never to late but time is of an essence, but guess it will only hit when it affects them personally. One step at a time forward, always moving forward.
So yes the clarity is haunting and always keeping hope, resolve, moving forward to not let it get to burnt ground…
Yes, I endorse Joe Ziegler’s comment. Anthony
If there is a God Trump might be HIS shot across humanity’s bow to turn around on a path to sustainability and peace.
https://www.djtpresidentiallibrary.com/are-we-ready-for-god-s-intelligence-test
Except that there is strong evidence that Trump did not win the popular vote.
I have.
A nightmare not just for America but the rest of the world, with chaotic trade ‘policies’, illegally bombing countries, Iran, Nigeria, Venezuela, Yemen, et al. Murdering people who have not been identified as enemies of the US, and all in the name of “We, the People…” Threatening the sovereignty of former allies, scraping billions off Federal funds and ‘pissing’ on anyone who challenges them. Not a ‘bad dream’ but a monster of a nightmare.
I regret none of the many arguments I had with different people about this awful man, even though it cost me a few relationships with individuals who I had previously respected and wanted to be friends with. Some things just can’t be unseen.
Well said Mr Krugman - THANK YOU
Assuming we still have a presidential election, we must vote in such overwhelming numbers that accusations of cheating by Trump (sorry MAGA, he won't be on the ballot) and his MAGA cult is nothing but tilting at windmills. Then starting in January 2029, the Democratic president has to install a shark as AG. Sure talk about restoring the DOJ integrity, but act by investigating those who broke the law under Trump and indicting where appropriate. Holding the miscreants accountable will do more to restore the integrity of the DOJ than anything else, and at the same time serve as a warning to those who would try it again at some point in the future. I'm kinda partial to Marc Elias for AG.
What is a shark AG going to do when blanket pardons have been bestowed on one and all? Justice will have to come in state courts in situations where a legal case can be made. On the national level impeaching the Justices who have voted to place the president above the law and trying them for high treason will set justice back on the right track.
Great idea
I do not see democrats going after these criminals just like BO didn't go after Bush 2 for war crimes or go after fraudsters on wall street....I will believe it when I see them do the right thing and not capitulate as they always have done.
I already shared it. Just wrote what you wrote before I saw that you had written it. Thank you. We are in graver danger with every passing moment.
It would be good if the group of respected intellects who went to Duke University with special appointments would persuade the university to rescind Stephen Miller’s degree, as I suggested to a member of the history department there in 2012. Now he is announcing on national TV that we are “power” not “law” based.
It is Ukraine that worries me today. If Putin gets to Zelenskyy, I will weep.
At 91,
I am resisting with GOTV postcards. It’s been effective resistance so far, but now? My description of “the bad teenagers on the block” (perspective from 10 years in France during the Iraq debacle) is haunting me.
Please continue to speak out, reminding US that we can go broke keeping this formidable military afloat.
This was my last thought before going to bed. We are now fully controlled by an authoritarian regime because Congress has ceded its authority. We have to admit that the US has ‘fallen’ to Trump. Our democracy has been toppled…full stop. The rest of the world knows this. Why can’t we admit it, even to ourselves?
We see it and despair. How could Americans, AMERICANS! have fallen to this existential debacle?
How, indeed? THAT, my friend, is a question for the ages. I’m not sure I’m ready for the answer.
We don’t have to give in. We just have to see this moment for what it is and then continue to fight!
"Elections", per se, aren't enough! They must be inviolable!
Otherwise, you will be repeating the same mistake that got you the dictatorship you are in right now
I've already commented that we must be able to limit who even stands to enter politics, let alone do the next stage thing, above, and stand for elections. By then, the Trumps of this world are already inside the circle! They must not enter to begin with!
Yes, the only answer to sane washers and both siders on any issue is: what about January 6th?
And what, Turgut Tuten, about that weird, weird permaputsch?
Lies by the hour, lies by morning, noon and afternoon, lies round the clock, lies all the year round, truth trampled underfoot. Until crime became "good", until crime became "the New Normal", until ordinary Americans in their millions and tens of millions let themselves be herded through the Gates of Hell, drawn in by this Father of Lies.
Now, the great danger to guard ourselves against must be... not to allow ourselves to be tarred by the evil we combat, not to allow ourselves to be fouled by their shit.
Not easy. This will be a baptism by fire.
Fscism he here and January 6 is Trump's Beer Hall Putsch. While the political right screams about Mamdani and collectivism, in fact Mamdami will govern as a small D democrat. But Trump is a facsist pure and simple.
They’re really going off on Mamdani. It’s becoming a right wing standard.
The GOP machine aided by Fox et al, identifies a target and so it goes. Thus HRC was thought to have potential and so consistently attacked. same with Harris. Obama was a surprise as was Biden.
Amen. We’re living a nightmare. The headlines shouldn’t be “What to do about Venezuela?” They should be “What to do about an out of control president?”
Looking from outside in, it is quite astonishing to have seen 🇺🇸 voters vote for a man who was and is patently unqualified to represent 🇺🇸. This begs the question why so many voted for him a 2nd time and what made them think he was the right man for a job, judging by the evidence to date, he is carrying out so poorly within and outside 🇺🇸.
MUSK can give you the answer. (But it won't be in writing!)
This is the result of delayed arrests and prosecutions after Jan 6 and I’m not talking about the nitwits at the Capitol. I’m talking about Trump, his chief of staff and everyone else in the WH who was part of the coup including the members of Congress who colluded with the plot and who voted to attempt to not ratify the electors. Each one of them should have been arrested THAT DAY and jailed and held until trial and conviction and life sentences. Instead it was back burnered and trivialized while the media focused on a simpleton wearing horns instead focusing on the evil traitor in the WH. And each time Trump gets away with an unpunished crime, we move further into dictatorship and fascism. Today we hand wring over Venezuela but DO nothing.
Thank you Dr. Krugman. And the way out of this day is forward. No going back to half measures against a corrupt minority. No more status quo.
The “like” button is insufficient to express my gratitude. I love your honesty and of course erudition and perseverance in exposing the horror and dangers we are going through. If only more Americans would pay attention. Thank you for your clear sightedness and courage.