The really sad part is that it takes only two GOP people in Congress and something like a dozen senators to permanently end this whole catastrophe. Just 14 or so people to rediscover their integrity.
I totally understand why the Jan 6th impeachment vote wasn't a secret ballot—but if it had been, can anyone doubt that the outcome would have been radically different? And, since that outcome would have seen Trump barred from public office for life, profoundly for the better?
What should Democrats do after winning in 2028? Begin by enforcing the law for treason. After Trump and members of his administration started the illegal war with Iran with no imminent threat from Iran and the war was supported by Republicans in Congress, Iran unsurprisingly blocked oil from being shipped through the Strait of Hormuz. When the price of oil skyrocketed and the stock market crashed, Trump ordered his administration to cut the sanctions on Russia and Iran enabling them to sell their oil and now make billions. Russia is an ally of Iran (helping Iran by supplying accurate targeting information on Americans …) which makes them an enemy of America which is now at war with Iran. Trump and others including members of Trump’s Cabinet and Republicans in Congress have committed treason by supporting these actions with Russian and Iran sanctions. Treason in U.S. law is defined by the Constitution (Article III, Section 3) as levying war against the United States, or adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.
· Aid and Comfort: Assisting the enemy, which must involve acts that strengthen them or weaken the U.S., often requiring the existence of a declared war.
· Penalty: Under 18 U.S.C. § 2381, treason is punishable by death, or imprisonment for at least five years.
I am not sure that will work. It appears that Trump ran a shadow government in parallel with Biden's, controlling the Republicans in Congress as well as the Supreme Court. What makes anyone think this wouldn't happen again if he lost, assuming we have fair elections which is a rather optimistic assumption? This was pretty obvious during the Biden Administration and Dems did NOTHING to stop it. I don't think this regime can end without the violence of a civil or world war and that is if the well funded, heavily armed authoritarian thugs lose. Sorry to sound negative.
Sadly, you are not sounding negative- just realistic. Such an abhorrent group of sycophants occupying your blotched Whithouse, aka Shithouse. Canada stands on guard.
Impeach and remove Trump. Swear in JD. Impeach and remove JD BEFORE confirming a new veep. Administer the oath to Hakeem Jeffries and if he doesn't want or can't accept, then administer the oath to Patty Murray.
FWIW, Murray has clearance for the President's Daily Briefing since serving as Senate President Pro Tem. Murray presently is the Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. I feel like we're backstopped.
As a matter of practicality, it is likely easier to convict them of sedition, since many of their actions have not taken place during a war. From Wikipedia: Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech or organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, established authority.
"Under U.S. law, sedition is addressed in 18 U.S. Code § 2384, which defines seditious conspiracy. This statute states that if two or more people conspire to overthrow the government or prevent the execution of U.S. laws by force, they can face severe penalties, including imprisonment." AI summary
Seditious conspiracy is what Smith used on Trump which failed. I think it's easier to convict by looking at the law on insurrection which does Not require use of force and having clear evidence that proves violation.
Seditious conspiracy did not fail on its legal merits, but rather on political blowback from Republicans. However, you may be correct that insurrection would be even easier to prove, vis-a-vis January 2020. There are also numerous questionable moves by this administration since January 2025 that should also be investigated and, mostly likely, should result in charges. Trump and family are suddenly vastly richer than they were before he took office again.
Public officials are there to make public decisions to serve the public. I don’t see how their actions could be seen as valid if they were voted on in secret.
I should have qualified my statement. The rank & file voter's choices must absolutely always be anonymous - never traceable to an individual. Votes by their elected representatives must never be in secret. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
The dilemma always is that we'd like to have it both ways: 1) a public record of how our leaders have voted in order to reward/punish them, or 2) secret ballots that allow them to vote their conscience without fear of retribution from party leaders.
I would note that I am allowed to cast my election ballots in private, without fear of retribution. Perhaps the greater good would be achieved if we were to insist that our leaders do likewise.
“A bigger swine”: Mitch also held back the confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice, saying that it wasn't appropriate to confirm a Justice before an election, an election that was months away.
Many months (he said that in February or March about a November election). He eventually came around and saw the error of his ways, allowing a confirmation vote on Amy Coney Barrett after some states had started early voting in 2020. /s
McConnell has a great deal to answer for, not least of which is the Supreme Court. I hope he has to live next door to the Arizona desert for many, many years as just consequences for his actions.
Unfortunately, you're wrong. Mitch was within his rights to hold back the confirmation. The Constitution says nothing explicit about how fast the Senate's confirmation process has to work. And, since the GOP was in charge of determining the Senate's business, they were within their legal rights to slow walk any SC nominee's confirmation hearings. It sucks, and Mitch should burn in hell for what he did, but that doesn't change the fact that the Democratic minority in the Senate was powerless to prevent all of Mitch's SC bunk.
I've always wondered whether Mitch thought he was doing the right thing, or was simply putting party ahead of precedent. Either way, Mitch will end his political career in greatly diminished regard and future history is not likely to remember him kindly. Even Mike Pence, in his long and otherwise undistinguished political career, is likely to be remembered more favorably than Mitch for having done the right thing in the face of great opposition.
Powerless, but one of the hallmarks of the Trump/McConnell years was the utter destruction of all traditional norms and guideposts. Yes, the Constitution is silent on a timetable of how the confirmation process for SCOTUS is supposed to operate, but (GOP talking points aside) it had been understood for essentially forever that Presidents filled vacancies as they arose in the normal course of things, without either foot dragging or running roughshod over usual practices. McConnell did both. You're probably right that SCOTUS would not care to, even if they were able to, enforce any legal restraint that would prevent his conduct. It would be interesting, of course, to see what might happen if, in 2027, with a (hypothetically) Democratically controlled Senate, Justice Thomas and/or Alito were to retire or die in office. If Majority Leader Schumer held off confirmation of a Trump-nominated replacement, how long would it take the (supposedly originalist) SCOTUS folks to find a reason that the Senate MUST provide a hearing and vote during Trump's term?
It depends on how much you weight you place on precedent. The Constitution itself has no requirement built into it regarding how quickly Congress has to act when reviewing judicial nominations. Custom has been that those nominations are reviewed in a timely fashion - weeks or, at worst months after the president places the nomination. Based on a strict reading of what’s in the Constitution, what McConnell did was not unconstitutional, just slimy and cheap. But hey, that’s just another manifestation of the Right’s greatest power isn’t it - a total lack of shame.
I cannot but conclude that the Bulk of your Natives, to be the most pernicious Race of little odious Vermin that Nature ever suffered to crawl upon the Surface of the Earth. Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
The House would first need to Impeach. Which won't happen until or unless a Dem majority does so next Spring/Summer. Mitch's term expires in January, so he won't have the opportunity to make right his terrible mistake.
Mitch has an awful lot to atone for, but of course he never will. I suspect that in 20 years his grandkids in college will be denying that they are related to THAT McConnell.
If they are willing to do this kind of blatant corruption for personal profit with seemingly no concern of being caught, I suspect they will have no issue rigging our midterms to make sure they remain in power and are never caught. Who's going to stop them? If the Democrats think they'll just wait until they win back the majority of the House or Senate, I think they're being delusional.
"In fact, I’d very much like to know exactly who was making those trades yesterday morning. Were they people directly in the know, or billionaires/traders who paid people in the know for tips?"
If and when Dems regain power, there MUST be consequences for these slimy criminals.
There are crimes of need, and crimes of greed.
If those white-collar scofflaws are put in PRISON for long sentences, those crimes of greed will come to a crashing halt. No one wants to give up their cushy lifestyle for a prison cell.
They only do it now because they know they can get away with it. We must disabuse them of this notion.
I wish I could agree with you. We don't want MAGA 2029 insisting that the DOJ is practicing "lawfare" by holding criminals accountable.
But that is EXACTLY what they have done in reverse right now, using trumped up investigations and threats of investigations against people who have NOT done anything wrong.
It has to stop somewhere, or the Rule of Law will be dead and we will all be serfs.
A moderate number of high-profile trials and convictions might make a difference.
sadly, to truly end it, with an impeachment guilty verdict, takes 20 GOP senators with a shred of integrity, and that is an impossibly high bar. A mere 7 of them saw Trumps attempt to overthrow the government with a mob as impeachable; breathtaking stupidity, war crimes, wasted American lives, and corruption will not even merit their consideration.
Donald Trump may be really incompetent at managing the operations of real things like the Presidency or foreign policy, but what he is clearly VERY competent at is corruptly making money through innuendo and propaganda. When insider trading investigations begin, let's start at the top.
Can we start with him pocketing all the proceeds of Venezuelan oil since he kidnapped Venezuela's leader, and putting them in an account he owns in Qatar?
No. Let's start with his raping children. But we'll get to it.
Actually, the courts have not decided that the U.S. is entitled to that oil or those tankers. The last I read about it, one of the tankers has cost the U.S. two and a half times the value of the tanker just in delayed maintenance and the oil is in storage until the courts judge on ownership.
He doesn't have the money yet, and if the courts rule that he doesn't own that oil, he can't sell it. The oil goes back into the tanker and it gets returned to its owner (some outfit in the Seychelles).
He's not a "brilliant" criminal. He's a prolific criminal. If white collar crime were prosecuted like low-level drug crimes, he would have been in jail long ago.
They weren't elected despite the fact they'd sold their souls to the devil, but because they had, i.e., only the weak and easily cowed are allowed past the gate when it comes to applying for the job of G.O.P. elective office. A sad day indeed when earmarks were scrapped.
Right. Many of the feckless assholes are still there today. If we can't purge' 'em this November, there's no constitution to uphold and all bets are off.
Any underling with knowledge of treason or felony is a mandated reporter, per the state laws of VT, VA, IL, DE, CA, and RI. It’s call misprision. If the AGs in those states issue warrants, DC metro police will arrest and detain them in city jails for up to 30 days pending extradition to the respective states.
This is happening in a country where strategic deception is legal in politics and private industry, not just law enforcement and military. We’re the only Western nation that permits deception and one of only a handful in the world (the others are Russia, China, and Iran). Without truthfulness and transparency, there is no trust. As our global neighbors have learned. What are those AGs waiting for?
Um, well, most of those states have Democratic senators, so they may not have known that the republicans were actively committing treason. I can assure you, if Padilla and Schiff were committing treason in this way, California's AG Rob Bonta would be right on top of it.
I don’t know whether underactive Dems are weak or dirty or both. I’ve read that both sides enjoy their perks. Posh private schools for the kids and grandkids and gated communities to keep regular people out. Meanwhile, half a million US households lack running water and we’re spending 1B a day on a war that 47’s own son hasn’t enlisted to serve in. How can he expect his supporters to put their lives on the line?
I have been saying that Trump practices "Doublethink" a concept from Orwell's "1984."
He is holding two contradictory ideas in his head at the same time and believing both. One, he wants to war profiteer, which requires him to keep the war going; two, he wants to regain popularity, which requires him to end the war and improve our economy. However, while he is practicing "Doublethink" he is predictably deciding in favor of war profiteering because Grifting is in his blood and his brain. He can do no other.
Here is my piece discussing the application of Orwell's language to this regime.
Yes, but they won't. The Republican Senators wanted to end the TSA debacle by passing a funding bill for all of DHS except ICE. Thune presented the plan to Trump. Trump said no. Thune said ok. Trump knows how to pick the weak and cowardly. He can smell them a mile away. That is why Thune and Johnson are "leading" Congress.
Again, these reps wouldn't be reps if they weren't already known to be weak and cowardly. What's that Chomsky quote? "I'm sure you believe everything you're saying. But what I'm saying is that if you believe something different, you wouldn't be sitting where you're sitting."
the already successfully weeded out any person in the GOP in its entirety who had any integrity to begin with. Every single decent, thoughtful person in the GOP has been run out on a rail by billionaires and their puppets.
“[…] Sad to say, in this case, as I tried to explain yesterday, the fanatical, brutal Iranian regime is more credible than the president of the United States.”
Let’s rephrase this, shall we?
[…] Sad to say, in this case, as I tried to explain yesterday, the fanatical, brutal Iranian regime is more credible than the fanatical, brutal president of the United States.
I started to hear a Zedeo piece where the guest was saying that members of the military do not agree with the war and don't want to participate. I think they should quit.
Malcolm Nance and Jacob Kaarsbo were talking today about that Friday night, we are going to see an escalation with boots on the ground to take several islands, and many people were pointing out that that is going to coincide with the Saturday No Kings Rallies.
The lack of integrity is why they are Republicans in the first place. They will happily burn the entire country to the ground and blame it on the Democrats because apparently half of Americans are dumber than a goldfish.
Given the voting patterns in 2024, I would argue that half of Americans are indeed dumber than a goldfish. That's the 30% who actually voted for trump and roughly half the 40% who didn't vote because they didn't like how "woke" the Dems had become, thereby helping to usher in a far far far worse administration.
Right now a goldfish would do a better job at running the country.
If the Democrats cannot hold him legally accountable for the events of January 6th, how can they be expected to hold him legally accountable for insider trading?
Democrats ran out of time for holding him accountable for January 6.
Insider trading isn't considered part of Trump's job as President, so he can be prosecuted for that. As he's not eligible for reelection, Democrats will have from the time Trump leaves office until he dies to prosecute him. That may or may not be enough time, given his poor health.
It looked a lot more as though they slow-walked it because they didn’t have the spines to arrest a former president. They were always going to run out of time.
Let’s place the blame for that where it belongs…on the six robed laps who couldn’t let the DC Appellate Court ruling stand, which would have allowed a trial to begin well before the election. Not only did they delay justice, they denied it entirely by declaring Presidents to be effectively above the Law.
The only thing that determines what is or isn't part of Trump's job as president is what the SC says. And they will protect Trump from prosecution until the cows come home.
The ongoing hubris astonishes me. Here’s another example. The Jesuit publication America boasted that 47 “actively courted” the Roman Catholic vote. Given the requirement for congregational obedience, if 47 “actively courted” that vote, what exactly did that look like? Was it with church leadership? Did they direct parishioners to vote a certain way? Sen Noel Frame reported “The Department of Justice is effectively teaming up with Washington’s Catholic bishops to overturn the state’s mandatory reporting law, in one of the most aggressive federal moves to back organized religion in recent memory.” I’m not RC but my grandchildren are. Their church does good work. Could right-wing fringe clergy jeopardize their church’s tax-exempt status?
What does RC stand for-- Racist Catholics? Do you have to be Catholic to understand the reference?
I've been railing on Catholics since 2015 when they first supported Trump even though he has never shown anything but hate and cruelty toward others, not to mention being a racist and greedy lying POS.
Thank goodness the racist pig Dolan retired. Of course the Catholic Church in American has long turned a blind eye toward pedophilia, divorce and extramarital sex. As long as you keep giving 10% of your earnings and confess your sins, all is forgiven.
RC=Roman Catholic (Latin rite), not to be confused with the 23 other Eastern Catholic autonomous (sui iuris) churches, all in full communion with the Pope.
Duh! Sorry about that. Pretty obvious once you replied.
Leonard Leo has two large homes in Southwest Harbor, ME where the closest Catholic Church is about 15 miles away. He has purchased an old property in Southwest Harbor owned by the Church and hopes to rehab it so that he doesn't have to travel so far to mass.
Of course, Leonard Leo, brought us Alito, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch and Comey-Barrett not to mention dozens of far-right judges like Eileen Cannon that put their theocracy above the US Constitution.
Maybe it’s time to get rid of automatic tax exemption for religious organizations. Let them take charitable deductions for the good works, with generous allowances for the administration and structure needed, also for the people who do the work, and for the material goods needed for of worship- the buildings, literature, music, etc. Zilch for interference in politics, lavish lifestyles.
I only found out about the Eastern Catholics when I watched the film Conclave and there were a dozen or so clerics dressed in Orthodox garb: Catholic theology; Orthodox rite, I think.
Catholicism is in rapid decline in the US, as in Christianity in general. This is despite significant Latin American immigrantion, which suggests the underlying decline is even higher.
I think we’re fucked. If they are market manipulating for this war, just imagine the chaos and criminality they will pull before the midterms. They are not giving up power, and we approach the end of our democracy like lemmings. Every six months we have a “joyful” No Kings march? I have great respect for the organizers, they are well-intentioned but we need much stronger and more forceful action to stop our psychopath leader and his enablers now. We have descended into full madness.
It has to be economic to bring Trump to his knees. No non-essential purchases and boycotts of Fox, Meta and X would be good starts as they continue to poison our discourse and weaponize algorithms. I’d add Amazon but it won’t work.
but if you want the short cut, "they" already know the truth, and it's not yours. In that video, the doctor says that perhaps 20% of the Republican voters are actually ignorant, but you're going to have to work hard to reach them. They're ignorant because they don't care. There's another group that's Republican because they think it's best for their business interests (my brother is one of those). You can reach them, but they'll probably still vote Republican. Perhaps 30% of MAGATs are absolutely hopeless. With all of them, the worst thing you can do is try to convince them that they are wrong or misinformed. They know that's not true, and you just made an enemy.
Politicians are using "social media" because it is the only way to reach most of their constituents. There is the problem "in a nutshell". Politicians can only communicate with the electorate at the basest and crudest level. And all facts are optional.
Telling it like it is, Barry! If Trump’s maneuverings to corrupt the upcoming election are ineffective, he will use more coercive measures. Well, it’s kind of a weird honor to live through the dissolution of our republic.
The economic pain he is causing the country might be his undoing, though. That’s what did it for King George III. His taxes without giving the colonists representation in Parliament caused them to rise up.
It's the fundamental problem that it is hard for people raised to be peaceful, law-abiding, conscientious, and civilized to fight corrupt, power-hungry thugs.
Agreed, but we need those with integrity in government and the military and the law enforcement agencies to support a cohesive resistance. When the Midterms come and are messed with, and they will be, what will the Democrats in Congress do? What will the military and law enforcement do? More of the same means the end of our democracy.
Telling people that demonstrations won’t work feels the same as when people say your vote doesn’t count. Of course it doesn’t all by itself. You won’t get everything, but if you do nothing, you get nothing. Why is it either/or with demonstrations and a general strike? My sign for Saturday will say:
They’ve been cheating for years, with the help of the Russians and the Tech Bros. Trump chose his people because they think like he does. Then, if he gets in trouble, he can always point the finger at one of them.
I’m also a bit jaded by the protests, sorry to say. They have had little impact. Meanwhile, our upcoming elections are being stolen under our noses, and we are powerless to stop it.
The major / general protests (like No Kings) are not meant to have a specific and immediate effect. Nobody expects republican senators to see the No Kings rallies and suddenly decide to impeach Trump the next week. The rallies are part of a longer road toward mutual aid, community building, opposition building, and support. They are a gateway for historically inactive people to "start" being active - often leading them to engage in additional ways. Many of the No Kings events explicitly connect participants to additional groups, resources, and actions they can take.
Also, this organizing builds muscle memory in the community. We have been able to organize rapid response actions locally (whether to ICE, local school issues, or to our state legislature) precisely because all these local groups and activists are already connected, know how to get the word out, and larger groups of people are comfortable coming out to protest having done it in a safe environment.
No Kings 3 (March 28th) will likely be the biggest protest event in US history (3000+ events across the US... 80+ cities just in my state).
Also remember, it is not "either or". No Kings is something we do *in addition to* more specific and more frequent actions - which may include protest, civil disobedience, non-compliance, boycott, strike, or more traditional voter turnout and electoral victories in the midterms.
It takes *all* of these things, not any *one* thing.
Please come out on 3/28 - AND do whatever else you can do every day thereafter!
The blatant insider trading can be interpreted as a consequence of the massive protests: The insiders are preparing to flee and are grabbing all the silver they can on their way out the door.
The impact on Congress is a little bit counter intuitive: Many ordinary republicans who feel ashamed of their party, will not vote in the primaries. This strengthens the hold of the shameless... until the primaries finish. The primaries finish this summer. That gives corrupt insiders only a few months in which to steal... which means they will make mistakes.
Bottom Line: Don't refrain from protesting because you don't see an immediate improvement. We ARE seeing a change in behavior: It's getting worse. It will take a few months for public pressure to result in an improvement.
yES, protesting did help. Lots of people ,lots more people must do it. March protests are to be the biggest. Let's hope so. They did help because TRump made a statement to the effect of so many people. He is not so smart but even he knows public is against him.
Those forms are still in the post office, and it’s required to register. The rubber stamp Republican Congress will reinstate and do whatever his royal anus tells them to do.
If they do the draft the same way, I think you're correct; however, the NYT had a discussion between David French (an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran) and General McCrystal. McCrystal reiterated his belief that every U.S. citizen should be required to perform service to their country, but he stated that the service could be of several forms. Working as a teacher was mentioned. I believe this man.
I don’t disagree with the concept, but with this administration of grifters drunk on their own power, any enforced service might be met with resentment, at the very least.
As an outsider, in addition to being utterly disgusted by what the US (& Israel) is forcing on the world at the moment it is difficult to believe there is any way back from this.
This level of corruption is at Putin-esque levels and is now being accompanied by similar levels of both incompetence and cruelty.
It seems to be a systemic issue with the Democrats equally culpable on account of their willingness to sell policy to the highest donor and being utterly incompetent in holding the present administration to account in any meaningful way.
I wonder if ordinary Americans appreciate just how despised their nation is right now and how a very real form of ‘quiet quitting’ will leave the US isolated without allies in future. There is no point in the US political class thinking, ‘Oh, we’ll be back to business as usual once the grown-ups are back in charge’ when you’re forever one minor swing in some godforsaken rust belt state away from electing a form of comical but malignant fascism.
You had me until "with the Democrats equally culpable". That is so patently untrue and the false equivalency is damaging to our country.
We all have issues with the Democratic party. In a two-party system (issues there too) no one party will be without fault or able to satisfy all the constituencies with it (hence, caucuses). In a weakly representative congressional system (too many constituents per rep/sen), money is playing too big a role in outcomes.
However, I will not accept the suggestion that Republicans and Democrats are "equally culpable" for our current situation. I also will not accept that if we flip the House and Senate and Courts that nothing would improve (what that false equivalency suggests).
What that false equivalency DOES DO is convinces people that they have no power, that their vote doesn't matter, and to stay home during one of our most crucial periods in history and most crucial election cycles in my lifetime.
If you have constructive suggestions for what the people, or the Democratic Party should do with the little power they have right now at the Federal level, then criticize away. But don't claim Democrats = Republicans when that is completely untrue.
Imperial USA doesn’t magically disappear every time the Democrats take office: countries are still invaded with no legitimate basis, brown people are routinely bombed, Israel’s crimes of ethnic cleansing (& now genocide) are enabled, coups are organised, economic coercion is used to maintain petrodollar hegemony, and on and on.
The Democrats actually gave away their power when they turned their backs on the working and middle classes to embrace corporatism. Don’t whine about that now after the horse (or should that be Donkey 😉) has bolted.
Quite frankly, it’s not for me to suggest constructively or otherwise because it’s your mess. That’s my point. You can’t put this all on Trump, though he clearly represents the worst of it. You guys shouldn’t have spent a over 50 years waging foreign wars while running down your treasury and neglecting to invest in infrastructure and education
The rest of the world, the nations you’ve exploited and insulted, is turning its back on you because your system of government and basic civic competence is beyond f*cked. The trust is gone.
You’re basically gonna be left with a bunch of other tin point dictators and grifters in your corner. That’s on your entire political establishment, not just the GOP.
While not equally culpable, Democrats are not entirely blameless.
The working class has been abandoned in favor of the corporate overlords since Ronnie Reagan fired Air Traffic Controllers, in the quest to kill all government unions and unions in general.
Wage stagnation over the past 50 years has drained 90% of lower and middle class wealth and given it to the Epstein Class.
It is a systemic issue - “Citizens United” is one of many antimajoritarian “features” - until the US treat money in politics like doping in sports, there isn’t much hope. All day long every day I get fundraising texts from various candidates and political organizations - many of whom are not even representing constituents in my state!
As an American, I agree with you! Believe me, there’s a good percentage of us who understand the level of devastation this administration has done, and that it will take decades to rebuild any trust with the rest of the world (if it ever happens at all). We also recognize our constitution is outdated.
Depressing as hell, but thank you for calling a spade a spade. My biggest concern is that trump and the R’s know a reckoning is coming and they are willing to rain fire on the American people to prevent that reckoning.
If they're willing to pass the SAVE act--that will disenfranchise *tens of millions* of American voters, it's pretty clear they want full-on autocracy.
The Epstein Class will do anything to avoid paying taxes, even killing their own country.
The blatancy of the corruption suggests that al least some insiders are convinced they're going to loose big and are madly grabbing all the silver they can on their way out the door.
Maybe the reason the orange fat man is still in office is that he’s the goose that lays golden eggs to a small handful of connected billionaires who preach patriotism and personal responsibility to us peasants.
Sadly, the third point (selling secrets to the highest bidder as the ultimate form of corruption) is not off the mark. According to the WaPo, Hungary's Orbán has been doing precisely that – selling secrets from EU meetings to Russian officials.
Take a step back please. Trump has lived a transparent life of bigotry, greed, falsehood and failure; yet he lied to become president. He lost his job, compounding his failure with treason against our rule of law. Yet he lied himself back into power. Is the issue only Trump, or the system than enabled his actions? The rule of law, with its checks and balances of the 18th century and the education and media system informing or voting public bear some responsibility as does the electorate. How to brace the system by improving public knowledge and virtue need to be addressed, not just pointing to the fact that Trump’s form of eval exists, and he has no virtue to control it internally
Very well said. I think the last 10 years have demonstrated that American democracy depends a lot in the goodwill and integrity of the people in the three branches of power. When the voters, too many of them falling for charlatans like Trump, make decisions based on a single issue or on false hope, well... the whole world suffers.
When you're a sociopath, and everyone you appoint to any important position is also a sociopath, there are no barriers to any unethical or illegal behavior.
My great hope is that Democrats run on a hardline law-n-order platform to investigate, arrest, and prosecute everyone involved. No exceptions.
F. Scott Fitzgerald had their number 100 years ago:
"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
Following your suggestion, if one knew ahead of the markets that Trump planned to launch a global tariff regime, why one could short the market ahead of the markets' opening. Then if one knew that TACO would reverse course 3 days later, one could buy stocks to cover the short before prices rallied.
I slowly transitioned from 60-40 (Stocks to Bonds) to 30-70 (Stocks to Bonds), mainly by cashing out my S&P 500 Index fund and moving to defensive stocks (foods, beverages and healthcare). I dumped the last of my S&P 500 stocks when Nvidia made its Faustian bargain with Trump and his goons (in order to market its chips in China). By that point, I had determined that the S&P 500 was almost as corrupt as Trump himself, with the likes of Coinbase and Intel as exemplars of the corporate rot. So I congratulate you on your timely adjustments. It is exhausting trying to ply the Trump TACO trade, and I prefer to sleep soundly at night.
I hope if we ever have a real government again and an SEC that these trades and the insiders behind them are stripped of these highly likely inside trades, and that dear leader gets swept up too as I can’t imagine even in the Robert’s court world that insider trading falls within the broad parameters of the presidency. But then again who knows anymore…
The really sad part is that it takes only two GOP people in Congress and something like a dozen senators to permanently end this whole catastrophe. Just 14 or so people to rediscover their integrity.
Mitch M. had his chance to do just that, and sway his coterie of loyalists to impeach.
But sadly, nearly all Republican politicians value power above patriotism.
I totally understand why the Jan 6th impeachment vote wasn't a secret ballot—but if it had been, can anyone doubt that the outcome would have been radically different? And, since that outcome would have seen Trump barred from public office for life, profoundly for the better?
Michael
What should Democrats do after winning in 2028? Begin by enforcing the law for treason. After Trump and members of his administration started the illegal war with Iran with no imminent threat from Iran and the war was supported by Republicans in Congress, Iran unsurprisingly blocked oil from being shipped through the Strait of Hormuz. When the price of oil skyrocketed and the stock market crashed, Trump ordered his administration to cut the sanctions on Russia and Iran enabling them to sell their oil and now make billions. Russia is an ally of Iran (helping Iran by supplying accurate targeting information on Americans …) which makes them an enemy of America which is now at war with Iran. Trump and others including members of Trump’s Cabinet and Republicans in Congress have committed treason by supporting these actions with Russian and Iran sanctions. Treason in U.S. law is defined by the Constitution (Article III, Section 3) as levying war against the United States, or adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.
· Aid and Comfort: Assisting the enemy, which must involve acts that strengthen them or weaken the U.S., often requiring the existence of a declared war.
· Penalty: Under 18 U.S.C. § 2381, treason is punishable by death, or imprisonment for at least five years.
I am not sure that will work. It appears that Trump ran a shadow government in parallel with Biden's, controlling the Republicans in Congress as well as the Supreme Court. What makes anyone think this wouldn't happen again if he lost, assuming we have fair elections which is a rather optimistic assumption? This was pretty obvious during the Biden Administration and Dems did NOTHING to stop it. I don't think this regime can end without the violence of a civil or world war and that is if the well funded, heavily armed authoritarian thugs lose. Sorry to sound negative.
Sadly, you are not sounding negative- just realistic. Such an abhorrent group of sycophants occupying your blotched Whithouse, aka Shithouse. Canada stands on guard.
And I, for one, will stand with Canada.
Impeach and remove Trump. Swear in JD. Impeach and remove JD BEFORE confirming a new veep. Administer the oath to Hakeem Jeffries and if he doesn't want or can't accept, then administer the oath to Patty Murray.
FWIW, Murray has clearance for the President's Daily Briefing since serving as Senate President Pro Tem. Murray presently is the Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. I feel like we're backstopped.
As a matter of practicality, it is likely easier to convict them of sedition, since many of their actions have not taken place during a war. From Wikipedia: Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech or organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, established authority.
"Under U.S. law, sedition is addressed in 18 U.S. Code § 2384, which defines seditious conspiracy. This statute states that if two or more people conspire to overthrow the government or prevent the execution of U.S. laws by force, they can face severe penalties, including imprisonment." AI summary
Barbara
Seditious conspiracy is what Smith used on Trump which failed. I think it's easier to convict by looking at the law on insurrection which does Not require use of force and having clear evidence that proves violation.
Seditious conspiracy did not fail on its legal merits, but rather on political blowback from Republicans. However, you may be correct that insurrection would be even easier to prove, vis-a-vis January 2020. There are also numerous questionable moves by this administration since January 2025 that should also be investigated and, mostly likely, should result in charges. Trump and family are suddenly vastly richer than they were before he took office again.
Never happen
this is not treason. you have fallen prey to wishful thinking.
You are giving the former gop too much credit.
There should be no secret ballots in a democracy.
you cannot have a democracy without secret ballots. that's why we have them.
You're absolutely right. When a citizen votes in an election, his or her vote is a secret - it's completely compatible with democracy.
Public officials are there to make public decisions to serve the public. I don’t see how their actions could be seen as valid if they were voted on in secret.
I should have qualified my statement. The rank & file voter's choices must absolutely always be anonymous - never traceable to an individual. Votes by their elected representatives must never be in secret. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
The secret ballot is correctly referred to as the Australian ballot.
The dilemma always is that we'd like to have it both ways: 1) a public record of how our leaders have voted in order to reward/punish them, or 2) secret ballots that allow them to vote their conscience without fear of retribution from party leaders.
I would note that I am allowed to cast my election ballots in private, without fear of retribution. Perhaps the greater good would be achieved if we were to insist that our leaders do likewise.
Ummm, you mean like our (the citizens) votes? What are you even talking about?
Rena, please see my clarification. Elected reps' votes, not rank & file voters' must be public.
“A bigger swine”: Mitch also held back the confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice, saying that it wasn't appropriate to confirm a Justice before an election, an election that was months away.
While fast tracking one a mere days before the 2020 election to assure that a reliable majority of republican hacks were placed on the bench.
Many months (he said that in February or March about a November election). He eventually came around and saw the error of his ways, allowing a confirmation vote on Amy Coney Barrett after some states had started early voting in 2020. /s
McConnell has a great deal to answer for, not least of which is the Supreme Court. I hope he has to live next door to the Arizona desert for many, many years as just consequences for his actions.
Pretty soon he'll be looking up at all of us, and the country he did his best to ruin.
Unfortunately, you're wrong. Mitch was within his rights to hold back the confirmation. The Constitution says nothing explicit about how fast the Senate's confirmation process has to work. And, since the GOP was in charge of determining the Senate's business, they were within their legal rights to slow walk any SC nominee's confirmation hearings. It sucks, and Mitch should burn in hell for what he did, but that doesn't change the fact that the Democratic minority in the Senate was powerless to prevent all of Mitch's SC bunk.
I've always wondered whether Mitch thought he was doing the right thing, or was simply putting party ahead of precedent. Either way, Mitch will end his political career in greatly diminished regard and future history is not likely to remember him kindly. Even Mike Pence, in his long and otherwise undistinguished political career, is likely to be remembered more favorably than Mitch for having done the right thing in the face of great opposition.
Powerless, but one of the hallmarks of the Trump/McConnell years was the utter destruction of all traditional norms and guideposts. Yes, the Constitution is silent on a timetable of how the confirmation process for SCOTUS is supposed to operate, but (GOP talking points aside) it had been understood for essentially forever that Presidents filled vacancies as they arose in the normal course of things, without either foot dragging or running roughshod over usual practices. McConnell did both. You're probably right that SCOTUS would not care to, even if they were able to, enforce any legal restraint that would prevent his conduct. It would be interesting, of course, to see what might happen if, in 2027, with a (hypothetically) Democratically controlled Senate, Justice Thomas and/or Alito were to retire or die in office. If Majority Leader Schumer held off confirmation of a Trump-nominated replacement, how long would it take the (supposedly originalist) SCOTUS folks to find a reason that the Senate MUST provide a hearing and vote during Trump's term?
It depends on how much you weight you place on precedent. The Constitution itself has no requirement built into it regarding how quickly Congress has to act when reviewing judicial nominations. Custom has been that those nominations are reviewed in a timely fashion - weeks or, at worst months after the president places the nomination. Based on a strict reading of what’s in the Constitution, what McConnell did was not unconstitutional, just slimy and cheap. But hey, that’s just another manifestation of the Right’s greatest power isn’t it - a total lack of shame.
Having seen Garland in action as AG, I don't feel as bad as I did when it happened. At least we got rid of him after four years.
Oh, yes, you can!!! We are dealing with one now or perhaps I should say a tribe of them. [humor intended]
Republicans defined by Swift
I cannot but conclude that the Bulk of your Natives, to be the most pernicious Race of little odious Vermin that Nature ever suffered to crawl upon the Surface of the Earth. Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
Only our coterie of lying leaders - When we are done with them, they will not even be able to crawl,,,
They don't value power they have, but defer to people with perceived power. They are cowards!
Mitch M spent years setting up this whole debacle. Why should we expect him to behave honorably now?
The House would first need to Impeach. Which won't happen until or unless a Dem majority does so next Spring/Summer. Mitch's term expires in January, so he won't have the opportunity to make right his terrible mistake.
McConnell: the ultimate Republican political hypocrite of the last decade.
Mitch has an awful lot to atone for, but of course he never will. I suspect that in 20 years his grandkids in college will be denying that they are related to THAT McConnell.
If they are willing to do this kind of blatant corruption for personal profit with seemingly no concern of being caught, I suspect they will have no issue rigging our midterms to make sure they remain in power and are never caught. Who's going to stop them? If the Democrats think they'll just wait until they win back the majority of the House or Senate, I think they're being delusional.
"In fact, I’d very much like to know exactly who was making those trades yesterday morning. Were they people directly in the know, or billionaires/traders who paid people in the know for tips?"
If and when Dems regain power, there MUST be consequences for these slimy criminals.
There are crimes of need, and crimes of greed.
If those white-collar scofflaws are put in PRISON for long sentences, those crimes of greed will come to a crashing halt. No one wants to give up their cushy lifestyle for a prison cell.
They only do it now because they know they can get away with it. We must disabuse them of this notion.
No “just move on.” That’s what Biden did.
I wish I could agree with you. We don't want MAGA 2029 insisting that the DOJ is practicing "lawfare" by holding criminals accountable.
But that is EXACTLY what they have done in reverse right now, using trumped up investigations and threats of investigations against people who have NOT done anything wrong.
It has to stop somewhere, or the Rule of Law will be dead and we will all be serfs.
A moderate number of high-profile trials and convictions might make a difference.
I think you misunderstood my comment. I meant we should NOT take the attitude that we just “move on.”
sadly, to truly end it, with an impeachment guilty verdict, takes 20 GOP senators with a shred of integrity, and that is an impossibly high bar. A mere 7 of them saw Trumps attempt to overthrow the government with a mob as impeachable; breathtaking stupidity, war crimes, wasted American lives, and corruption will not even merit their consideration.
Donald Trump may be really incompetent at managing the operations of real things like the Presidency or foreign policy, but what he is clearly VERY competent at is corruptly making money through innuendo and propaganda. When insider trading investigations begin, let's start at the top.
Can we start with him pocketing all the proceeds of Venezuelan oil since he kidnapped Venezuela's leader, and putting them in an account he owns in Qatar?
No. Let's start with his raping children. But we'll get to it.
Actually, the courts have not decided that the U.S. is entitled to that oil or those tankers. The last I read about it, one of the tankers has cost the U.S. two and a half times the value of the tanker just in delayed maintenance and the oil is in storage until the courts judge on ownership.
Good to hear, but Trump doesn't accede to courts, and he controls the Qatar bank account: how is anyone going to stop him laundering that money?
He doesn't have the money yet, and if the courts rule that he doesn't own that oil, he can't sell it. The oil goes back into the tanker and it gets returned to its owner (some outfit in the Seychelles).
It's not competency when there are no checks viz Homan's 50K.
He truly is a brilliant criminal. Bar none! I hope he is held to account on earth.
He's not a "brilliant" criminal. He's a prolific criminal. If white collar crime were prosecuted like low-level drug crimes, he would have been in jail long ago.
20 is not that many but I’m sure you’re right, they have all sold their souls to the devil.
20 Republican Senators with integrity? Is that another joke?
It's like calling any Republican politician "conservative". There just aren't any left.
Or their souls align with Epstein!
They weren't elected despite the fact they'd sold their souls to the devil, but because they had, i.e., only the weak and easily cowed are allowed past the gate when it comes to applying for the job of G.O.P. elective office. A sad day indeed when earmarks were scrapped.
We're around 150 million people against 20, and we're losing. (Not counting children...).
Right. Many of the feckless assholes are still there today. If we can't purge' 'em this November, there's no constitution to uphold and all bets are off.
Any underling with knowledge of treason or felony is a mandated reporter, per the state laws of VT, VA, IL, DE, CA, and RI. It’s call misprision. If the AGs in those states issue warrants, DC metro police will arrest and detain them in city jails for up to 30 days pending extradition to the respective states.
This is happening in a country where strategic deception is legal in politics and private industry, not just law enforcement and military. We’re the only Western nation that permits deception and one of only a handful in the world (the others are Russia, China, and Iran). Without truthfulness and transparency, there is no trust. As our global neighbors have learned. What are those AGs waiting for?
Um, well, most of those states have Democratic senators, so they may not have known that the republicans were actively committing treason. I can assure you, if Padilla and Schiff were committing treason in this way, California's AG Rob Bonta would be right on top of it.
I don’t know whether underactive Dems are weak or dirty or both. I’ve read that both sides enjoy their perks. Posh private schools for the kids and grandkids and gated communities to keep regular people out. Meanwhile, half a million US households lack running water and we’re spending 1B a day on a war that 47’s own son hasn’t enlisted to serve in. How can he expect his supporters to put their lives on the line?
Its way more the $1 billion per day...unless they expect the war to last 200 days, why is Hegseth requesting $200 billion?
Sen Tammy Duckworth summed it up a year ago. “Hegseth is a f*cking liar and needs to resign in disgrace.” We’re waiting!
https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/news/in-the-news/duckworth-hegseth-endangering-troops-with-singular-stupidity
I have been saying that Trump practices "Doublethink" a concept from Orwell's "1984."
He is holding two contradictory ideas in his head at the same time and believing both. One, he wants to war profiteer, which requires him to keep the war going; two, he wants to regain popularity, which requires him to end the war and improve our economy. However, while he is practicing "Doublethink" he is predictably deciding in favor of war profiteering because Grifting is in his blood and his brain. He can do no other.
Here is my piece discussing the application of Orwell's language to this regime.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/the-language-of-the-fascist-regime?r=f0qfn
It is the same logic used in pro wrestling.
Yes, but they won't. The Republican Senators wanted to end the TSA debacle by passing a funding bill for all of DHS except ICE. Thune presented the plan to Trump. Trump said no. Thune said ok. Trump knows how to pick the weak and cowardly. He can smell them a mile away. That is why Thune and Johnson are "leading" Congress.
Again, these reps wouldn't be reps if they weren't already known to be weak and cowardly. What's that Chomsky quote? "I'm sure you believe everything you're saying. But what I'm saying is that if you believe something different, you wouldn't be sitting where you're sitting."
the already successfully weeded out any person in the GOP in its entirety who had any integrity to begin with. Every single decent, thoughtful person in the GOP has been run out on a rail by billionaires and their puppets.
It seems like it should not be too tall an order. Terrifying to realize it is.
“[…] Sad to say, in this case, as I tried to explain yesterday, the fanatical, brutal Iranian regime is more credible than the president of the United States.”
Let’s rephrase this, shall we?
[…] Sad to say, in this case, as I tried to explain yesterday, the fanatical, brutal Iranian regime is more credible than the fanatical, brutal president of the United States.
Much better.
Unfortunately, there aren't 14 Republicans with integrity in all of congress.
Mitch McConnell is a name not mentioned nearly enough when those responsible for this mess are discussed.
I started to hear a Zedeo piece where the guest was saying that members of the military do not agree with the war and don't want to participate. I think they should quit.
Malcolm Nance and Jacob Kaarsbo were talking today about that Friday night, we are going to see an escalation with boots on the ground to take several islands, and many people were pointing out that that is going to coincide with the Saturday No Kings Rallies.
Assuming they ever had any integrity to begin with.
The lack of integrity is why they are Republicans in the first place. They will happily burn the entire country to the ground and blame it on the Democrats because apparently half of Americans are dumber than a goldfish.
Given the voting patterns in 2024, I would argue that half of Americans are indeed dumber than a goldfish. That's the 30% who actually voted for trump and roughly half the 40% who didn't vote because they didn't like how "woke" the Dems had become, thereby helping to usher in a far far far worse administration.
Right now a goldfish would do a better job at running the country.
Perfect choice of words: Arrogant stupidity. Grotesque venality. 👍 In a nutshell!
Rediscover? That assumes that GOP congress critters had any integrity when they entered Congress. I'm not willing to grant that.
When market moves precede policy shifts, the real question is not what happened but who already knew.
If the Democrats cannot hold him legally accountable for the events of January 6th, how can they be expected to hold him legally accountable for insider trading?
Democrats ran out of time for holding him accountable for January 6.
Insider trading isn't considered part of Trump's job as President, so he can be prosecuted for that. As he's not eligible for reelection, Democrats will have from the time Trump leaves office until he dies to prosecute him. That may or may not be enough time, given his poor health.
It looked a lot more as though they slow-walked it because they didn’t have the spines to arrest a former president. They were always going to run out of time.
Let’s place the blame for that where it belongs…on the six robed laps who couldn’t let the DC Appellate Court ruling stand, which would have allowed a trial to begin well before the election. Not only did they delay justice, they denied it entirely by declaring Presidents to be effectively above the Law.
The courts slow-walked every attempt to bring Trump to justice.
The only thing that determines what is or isn't part of Trump's job as president is what the SC says. And they will protect Trump from prosecution until the cows come home.
It hardly helps that Democrats can't even bring themselves to end Congressional trading in individual stocks.
Talk of insider trading,
Just got this Breaking update: Just five minutes before Trump's announcement to halt the attacks on Iran, massive trades reportedly hit the market.
In one move, $1.5 billion in S&P 500 (ES) futures was bought while $192 million in oil (CL) futures was sold.
These orders were 4–6x larger than anything else at the time.
The trader seemingly made huge gains.
Unusual. Not really. Don Junior on board of prediction markets Like Kalshi are modern days bandits.
The ongoing hubris astonishes me. Here’s another example. The Jesuit publication America boasted that 47 “actively courted” the Roman Catholic vote. Given the requirement for congregational obedience, if 47 “actively courted” that vote, what exactly did that look like? Was it with church leadership? Did they direct parishioners to vote a certain way? Sen Noel Frame reported “The Department of Justice is effectively teaming up with Washington’s Catholic bishops to overturn the state’s mandatory reporting law, in one of the most aggressive federal moves to back organized religion in recent memory.” I’m not RC but my grandchildren are. Their church does good work. Could right-wing fringe clergy jeopardize their church’s tax-exempt status?
https://www.noelframe.com/news/trump-and-the-catholic-church-fight-a-law-requiring-clergy-to-report-child-abuse#:~:text=Trump%20and%20the%20Catholic%20Church,for%20State%20Senate%20%2D%2036th%20LD.
Https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2024/11/06/catholic-vote-trump-reaction-249204/
What does RC stand for-- Racist Catholics? Do you have to be Catholic to understand the reference?
I've been railing on Catholics since 2015 when they first supported Trump even though he has never shown anything but hate and cruelty toward others, not to mention being a racist and greedy lying POS.
Thank goodness the racist pig Dolan retired. Of course the Catholic Church in American has long turned a blind eye toward pedophilia, divorce and extramarital sex. As long as you keep giving 10% of your earnings and confess your sins, all is forgiven.
RC=Roman Catholic (Latin rite), not to be confused with the 23 other Eastern Catholic autonomous (sui iuris) churches, all in full communion with the Pope.
Duh! Sorry about that. Pretty obvious once you replied.
Leonard Leo has two large homes in Southwest Harbor, ME where the closest Catholic Church is about 15 miles away. He has purchased an old property in Southwest Harbor owned by the Church and hopes to rehab it so that he doesn't have to travel so far to mass.
Of course, Leonard Leo, brought us Alito, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch and Comey-Barrett not to mention dozens of far-right judges like Eileen Cannon that put their theocracy above the US Constitution.
I’m not RC but my grandchildren are. Their church does a lot of good. I hope right wing fringe leadership don’t jeopardize their tax-exempt status.
Maybe it’s time to get rid of automatic tax exemption for religious organizations. Let them take charitable deductions for the good works, with generous allowances for the administration and structure needed, also for the people who do the work, and for the material goods needed for of worship- the buildings, literature, music, etc. Zilch for interference in politics, lavish lifestyles.
I only found out about the Eastern Catholics when I watched the film Conclave and there were a dozen or so clerics dressed in Orthodox garb: Catholic theology; Orthodox rite, I think.
Catholicism is in rapid decline in the US, as in Christianity in general. This is despite significant Latin American immigrantion, which suggests the underlying decline is even higher.
Bye bye DOW 46,000! Hassett is ecstatic; Trump is going to make DOW 36,000 a reality again
But, but, Blondi said it was 50,000. She wouldn't lie, would she?
That was then, this is now lol
I think we’re fucked. If they are market manipulating for this war, just imagine the chaos and criminality they will pull before the midterms. They are not giving up power, and we approach the end of our democracy like lemmings. Every six months we have a “joyful” No Kings march? I have great respect for the organizers, they are well-intentioned but we need much stronger and more forceful action to stop our psychopath leader and his enablers now. We have descended into full madness.
General strike?
It has to be economic to bring Trump to his knees. No non-essential purchases and boycotts of Fox, Meta and X would be good starts as they continue to poison our discourse and weaponize algorithms. I’d add Amazon but it won’t work.
Problem is getting enough people to participate.
The problem really is convincing people why we are doing it.
But that's the whole problem, people's ignorance. The left needs to create counter cable and radio channels that tell the truth.
That will not work - this guy explains why - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVy-Iag4Qtk
but if you want the short cut, "they" already know the truth, and it's not yours. In that video, the doctor says that perhaps 20% of the Republican voters are actually ignorant, but you're going to have to work hard to reach them. They're ignorant because they don't care. There's another group that's Republican because they think it's best for their business interests (my brother is one of those). You can reach them, but they'll probably still vote Republican. Perhaps 30% of MAGATs are absolutely hopeless. With all of them, the worst thing you can do is try to convince them that they are wrong or misinformed. They know that's not true, and you just made an enemy.
A general strike would have massive economic effects. I have already given up meta, x and Amazon. Fox viewers aren't going to boycott Fox.
I agree. What really pisses me off are that any Dems are still on X. WTAF?
Politicians are using "social media" because it is the only way to reach most of their constituents. There is the problem "in a nutshell". Politicians can only communicate with the electorate at the basest and crudest level. And all facts are optional.
Science-educators and weather people are on X.
They're trying to communicate through the noise of the Nazi echo chamber.
And Instagram and Facebook. Pisses me off too. And it's shocking how many in Congress are accepting millions from AIPAC.
https://www.trackaipac.com/
Fox viewers don't matter. Fox "News" viewership is about 2.6 million. Meanwhile, 4.5 million American citizens have turned 18 since 2024.
Totally agree. Food, fuel, family. Let their profits dissolve.
"It has to be economic to bring Trump to his knees."
----
So...Trump&Co are the agents of their own downfall?
Of course. No brainer.
Get a clue. Americans will never do it. A call to a failed general strike will just make progressives look like silly fools.
And the No Kings rallies have a component of a Woodstock experience for the politically dispossessed. What would that more forceful action entail?
Individual "Woodstocks" at every polling station celebrating the act of voting?
Telling it like it is, Barry! If Trump’s maneuverings to corrupt the upcoming election are ineffective, he will use more coercive measures. Well, it’s kind of a weird honor to live through the dissolution of our republic.
Yes but I fear for my children who are young adults.
The economic pain he is causing the country might be his undoing, though. That’s what did it for King George III. His taxes without giving the colonists representation in Parliament caused them to rise up.
It's the fundamental problem that it is hard for people raised to be peaceful, law-abiding, conscientious, and civilized to fight corrupt, power-hungry thugs.
So rare I see lucidity. Congrats you. It’s truly sad and terrifying but you see clearly. Too few Americans do.
Agreed, but we need those with integrity in government and the military and the law enforcement agencies to support a cohesive resistance. When the Midterms come and are messed with, and they will be, what will the Democrats in Congress do? What will the military and law enforcement do? More of the same means the end of our democracy.
Telling people that demonstrations won’t work feels the same as when people say your vote doesn’t count. Of course it doesn’t all by itself. You won’t get everything, but if you do nothing, you get nothing. Why is it either/or with demonstrations and a general strike? My sign for Saturday will say:
“NO KINGS, NO KIDDING!
Get ready for the general Strike!”
They’ve been cheating for years, with the help of the Russians and the Tech Bros. Trump chose his people because they think like he does. Then, if he gets in trouble, he can always point the finger at one of them.
I agree with you. They have limitless wealth, power and influence; we have cardboard signs. It’s not a fair fight.
I’m also a bit jaded by the protests, sorry to say. They have had little impact. Meanwhile, our upcoming elections are being stolen under our noses, and we are powerless to stop it.
The major / general protests (like No Kings) are not meant to have a specific and immediate effect. Nobody expects republican senators to see the No Kings rallies and suddenly decide to impeach Trump the next week. The rallies are part of a longer road toward mutual aid, community building, opposition building, and support. They are a gateway for historically inactive people to "start" being active - often leading them to engage in additional ways. Many of the No Kings events explicitly connect participants to additional groups, resources, and actions they can take.
Also, this organizing builds muscle memory in the community. We have been able to organize rapid response actions locally (whether to ICE, local school issues, or to our state legislature) precisely because all these local groups and activists are already connected, know how to get the word out, and larger groups of people are comfortable coming out to protest having done it in a safe environment.
No Kings 3 (March 28th) will likely be the biggest protest event in US history (3000+ events across the US... 80+ cities just in my state).
Also remember, it is not "either or". No Kings is something we do *in addition to* more specific and more frequent actions - which may include protest, civil disobedience, non-compliance, boycott, strike, or more traditional voter turnout and electoral victories in the midterms.
It takes *all* of these things, not any *one* thing.
Please come out on 3/28 - AND do whatever else you can do every day thereafter!
https://www.nokings.org/
The blatant insider trading can be interpreted as a consequence of the massive protests: The insiders are preparing to flee and are grabbing all the silver they can on their way out the door.
The impact on Congress is a little bit counter intuitive: Many ordinary republicans who feel ashamed of their party, will not vote in the primaries. This strengthens the hold of the shameless... until the primaries finish. The primaries finish this summer. That gives corrupt insiders only a few months in which to steal... which means they will make mistakes.
Bottom Line: Don't refrain from protesting because you don't see an immediate improvement. We ARE seeing a change in behavior: It's getting worse. It will take a few months for public pressure to result in an improvement.
I hope you’re right!!!
yES, protesting did help. Lots of people ,lots more people must do it. March protests are to be the biggest. Let's hope so. They did help because TRump made a statement to the effect of so many people. He is not so smart but even he knows public is against him.
Trump was so mad about the last No Kings protest he bulldozed the East Wing.
It took years of protests to make a dent in the pursuance of the Vietnam War.
This is true. But the circumstances were not quite the same. Now…if they reinstate the draft? Look out.
Those forms are still in the post office, and it’s required to register. The rubber stamp Republican Congress will reinstate and do whatever his royal anus tells them to do.
If they do the draft the same way, I think you're correct; however, the NYT had a discussion between David French (an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran) and General McCrystal. McCrystal reiterated his belief that every U.S. citizen should be required to perform service to their country, but he stated that the service could be of several forms. Working as a teacher was mentioned. I believe this man.
I don’t disagree with the concept, but with this administration of grifters drunk on their own power, any enforced service might be met with resentment, at the very least.
No surprise, this is the government of grift.
Yes, it’s a feature, not a bug
As an outsider, in addition to being utterly disgusted by what the US (& Israel) is forcing on the world at the moment it is difficult to believe there is any way back from this.
This level of corruption is at Putin-esque levels and is now being accompanied by similar levels of both incompetence and cruelty.
It seems to be a systemic issue with the Democrats equally culpable on account of their willingness to sell policy to the highest donor and being utterly incompetent in holding the present administration to account in any meaningful way.
I wonder if ordinary Americans appreciate just how despised their nation is right now and how a very real form of ‘quiet quitting’ will leave the US isolated without allies in future. There is no point in the US political class thinking, ‘Oh, we’ll be back to business as usual once the grown-ups are back in charge’ when you’re forever one minor swing in some godforsaken rust belt state away from electing a form of comical but malignant fascism.
You had me until "with the Democrats equally culpable". That is so patently untrue and the false equivalency is damaging to our country.
We all have issues with the Democratic party. In a two-party system (issues there too) no one party will be without fault or able to satisfy all the constituencies with it (hence, caucuses). In a weakly representative congressional system (too many constituents per rep/sen), money is playing too big a role in outcomes.
However, I will not accept the suggestion that Republicans and Democrats are "equally culpable" for our current situation. I also will not accept that if we flip the House and Senate and Courts that nothing would improve (what that false equivalency suggests).
What that false equivalency DOES DO is convinces people that they have no power, that their vote doesn't matter, and to stay home during one of our most crucial periods in history and most crucial election cycles in my lifetime.
If you have constructive suggestions for what the people, or the Democratic Party should do with the little power they have right now at the Federal level, then criticize away. But don't claim Democrats = Republicans when that is completely untrue.
Sorry mate, not buying it.
Imperial USA doesn’t magically disappear every time the Democrats take office: countries are still invaded with no legitimate basis, brown people are routinely bombed, Israel’s crimes of ethnic cleansing (& now genocide) are enabled, coups are organised, economic coercion is used to maintain petrodollar hegemony, and on and on.
The Democrats actually gave away their power when they turned their backs on the working and middle classes to embrace corporatism. Don’t whine about that now after the horse (or should that be Donkey 😉) has bolted.
Quite frankly, it’s not for me to suggest constructively or otherwise because it’s your mess. That’s my point. You can’t put this all on Trump, though he clearly represents the worst of it. You guys shouldn’t have spent a over 50 years waging foreign wars while running down your treasury and neglecting to invest in infrastructure and education
The rest of the world, the nations you’ve exploited and insulted, is turning its back on you because your system of government and basic civic competence is beyond f*cked. The trust is gone.
You’re basically gonna be left with a bunch of other tin point dictators and grifters in your corner. That’s on your entire political establishment, not just the GOP.
While not equally culpable, Democrats are not entirely blameless.
The working class has been abandoned in favor of the corporate overlords since Ronnie Reagan fired Air Traffic Controllers, in the quest to kill all government unions and unions in general.
Wage stagnation over the past 50 years has drained 90% of lower and middle class wealth and given it to the Epstein Class.
Democrats didn't stop that.
Don’t agree. Biden & Merrick Garland have enabled this.
All this is so obvious to non Americans. Well written. Thank you.
It is a systemic issue - “Citizens United” is one of many antimajoritarian “features” - until the US treat money in politics like doping in sports, there isn’t much hope. All day long every day I get fundraising texts from various candidates and political organizations - many of whom are not even representing constituents in my state!
Right. It's actually the "sign this petition" people that irritate me the most. They also ask for money, of course.
Too true.
As an American, I agree with you! Believe me, there’s a good percentage of us who understand the level of devastation this administration has done, and that it will take decades to rebuild any trust with the rest of the world (if it ever happens at all). We also recognize our constitution is outdated.
Depressing as hell, but thank you for calling a spade a spade. My biggest concern is that trump and the R’s know a reckoning is coming and they are willing to rain fire on the American people to prevent that reckoning.
If they're willing to pass the SAVE act--that will disenfranchise *tens of millions* of American voters, it's pretty clear they want full-on autocracy.
The Epstein Class will do anything to avoid paying taxes, even killing their own country.
The blatancy of the corruption suggests that al least some insiders are convinced they're going to loose big and are madly grabbing all the silver they can on their way out the door.
Maybe the reason the orange fat man is still in office is that he’s the goose that lays golden eggs to a small handful of connected billionaires who preach patriotism and personal responsibility to us peasants.
Remembering that "patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel". Means they have nowhere else to hide.
Ya think?!?
Sadly, the third point (selling secrets to the highest bidder as the ultimate form of corruption) is not off the mark. According to the WaPo, Hungary's Orbán has been doing precisely that – selling secrets from EU meetings to Russian officials.
Orban is total scum. And a Trump ally.
I wonder how many of Trump's loyalist sycophants have approached Russia or Iran with offers to sellout America? The number is probably horrific.
Take a step back please. Trump has lived a transparent life of bigotry, greed, falsehood and failure; yet he lied to become president. He lost his job, compounding his failure with treason against our rule of law. Yet he lied himself back into power. Is the issue only Trump, or the system than enabled his actions? The rule of law, with its checks and balances of the 18th century and the education and media system informing or voting public bear some responsibility as does the electorate. How to brace the system by improving public knowledge and virtue need to be addressed, not just pointing to the fact that Trump’s form of eval exists, and he has no virtue to control it internally
Very well said. I think the last 10 years have demonstrated that American democracy depends a lot in the goodwill and integrity of the people in the three branches of power. When the voters, too many of them falling for charlatans like Trump, make decisions based on a single issue or on false hope, well... the whole world suffers.
He’s a racist and bigot and that’s very appealing to an unfortunately large number of citizens.
Can these creeps sink any lower as traitors to the Nation?
Yes they can and will.
When you're a sociopath, and everyone you appoint to any important position is also a sociopath, there are no barriers to any unethical or illegal behavior.
My great hope is that Democrats run on a hardline law-n-order platform to investigate, arrest, and prosecute everyone involved. No exceptions.
And maybe also promise me a pony.
Better chance you'll get your pony.
Or at least the promise of one, followed by a big pile of horse shit.
I'll work for a pleasant cat...
You're only going to get the front half of that pony. They sent the back half to Washington.
We all knew that motherfucker, Trump, has been manipulating the markets for illegal profits ever since he resumed office. Prove him wrong, Donnie.
Actually he played the markets like this for years.
Arrogant ignorance and gross venality perfectly describe the trump era.
F. Scott Fitzgerald had their number 100 years ago:
"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
~The Great Gatsby
The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him. Niccolo Machiavelli
As true today as when Machiavelli was assessing the di Medicis. Who would have had Trump's cabal "for breakfast".
as does putin and bibi and a used car salesman
And those are the good points.
Someone should also look at liberation day.
Following your suggestion, if one knew ahead of the markets that Trump planned to launch a global tariff regime, why one could short the market ahead of the markets' opening. Then if one knew that TACO would reverse course 3 days later, one could buy stocks to cover the short before prices rallied.
Yes, there were insiders who made a killing buying call options on S&P 500 futures during a 15-minute window before Trump announced a pause in his tariffs. https://upriseri.com/insider-trading-trump-tariff-announcements/
And who running the SEC now?
I slowly transitioned from 60-40 (Stocks to Bonds) to 30-70 (Stocks to Bonds), mainly by cashing out my S&P 500 Index fund and moving to defensive stocks (foods, beverages and healthcare). I dumped the last of my S&P 500 stocks when Nvidia made its Faustian bargain with Trump and his goons (in order to market its chips in China). By that point, I had determined that the S&P 500 was almost as corrupt as Trump himself, with the likes of Coinbase and Intel as exemplars of the corporate rot. So I congratulate you on your timely adjustments. It is exhausting trying to ply the Trump TACO trade, and I prefer to sleep soundly at night.
Thoughtful, disturbing, depressing. Thanks Paul!
Just kidding….thanks, truly.
I hope if we ever have a real government again and an SEC that these trades and the insiders behind them are stripped of these highly likely inside trades, and that dear leader gets swept up too as I can’t imagine even in the Robert’s court world that insider trading falls within the broad parameters of the presidency. But then again who knows anymore…