Since they could never get the votes in a free election, they went after the courts. Then, after they won the courts, they went after the news media. Then, after they won the news media, and they controlled the information (the "infotainment"), they went after the Constitution. They were unstoppable, because the highest value in society was the accumulation of wealth, and they were its standard bearers.
Trump won in 2024 by fewer votes than he obtained in 2020 when he lost. About 12-13 million Democrats who voted in 2020 sat out this election. Apparently selling their soul to endorse a genocide and being shadow governed by Bibi Netanyahu was not a convincing enough "lesser evil" to being overtly governed by a home-grown power-crazed gangster. The Democratic Party operatives proved the reason we did not "get the votes." Trump's base didn't grow. Democrats shrank their own support base. Thank the operatives of the D-party for Donald Trump. Tom's screaming infomercial on Sirius radio that "there is nothing wrong with the Democratic Party!" is about as ridiculous as it gets.
Same stuff I said the past several days. The margin is about 2% in blue wall states.
But for psyops, we wudda won bigly. THEY target visceral, not rational people. Goes directly to hatred of "the other." No rational person would vote for a criminal, a grifter, would vote against their own economic or physical health.
Many say that they voted ... MBV votes were ditched. Realtively easy to do. Others say the codes to the voting machines were hacked, votes switched. No prrof of this ...yet. Need probable cause to investigate.
"Whose ballots? If you’re Black, Hispanic or Asian-American, the chance you were shunted to one of these provisional ballots is 300% higher than if you’re white."
"How many Black ballots were thrown in the electoral dumpster?"
"As a former professor of statistics, I know there’s still a lot of sleuthing in the numbers I have to do, but I can tell you this: The number of rejected provisional ballots, the number of voters wrongly purged from the rolls, the number of ballots “spoiled” and not counted, has unquestionably skyrocketed."
Those votes in swing states may have been enough to change the outcome. Is Tulsi Gabbard, named to control national security, an agent or just a willing idiot for Putin? Is this a payoff to Putin for "fixing" the election?
More like about 15 million less. It's reasonable to expect some people were scared shitless. For months Russian propganda predicted violence on election day. In some places ballots were burned. My wife worked the polls during early voting. Aqui mismo, Proud Boys showed up. Polling places closed in Democratic areas due to Russian fake bomb threats. In some places ballots were burned. Mailboxes and collection boxes destroyed.
I persaonally think it's the amygdala factor. Many women voted for abortion and for Trump. In Florida, 57% voted for abortion. Trump got 56.1%.
There's a recount in Pa. Roughly 80,000 ballots had not been counted as of Wednesday evening, but they’re primarily provisional ballots and remaining mail ballots that may be rejected. Republicans protest military MBV and foreign absentee ballots.
It takes 270 Electoral votes. Harris got 226, she need 44
Wisconsin 10, Mich 15, Pennsyltucky 19, total 44
Now Muslims , per James Zogby and others, wanted to flip the Democrats the bird, Iman's endorsed Trump regardless of consequence, now they have to eat their own shit, because Trump is Bibi's BFF and gives him carte blanche
Here is how the votes wash out
Trump won Wisconsin by less than 36,000 votes m there are 68,699 Muslims in Wisconsin say half are voter eligible, there are 2,000 votes needed, and I will adress that later
Trump won Michigan by 80.620 votes there are 241,828 Muslims in Michigan, say half are voters and you have 120,900 votes cast for Trump
Trump won Pennsyltucky by 137, 677 there are 139,561 Mulims in Pennsyltucky say half are voters and you have 68839 votes for Trump
Here is where the black male vote comes in. Gen X, Y and Z males never lived in Jim Crow or dealt with red lining, they live in the present, and all they see is that they aren't getting the respect, jobs, income that they think they deserve (we live in the entitled generation) and have proclaimed loudly that they aren't going to vote for Biden (Democrats)
The Population of Phillie is 47% Black.
And that is why Trump is president. Check my figures.
I get the Philly/Pgh papers. The word is that Harris lost in Biden's home territory -- Scranton and WilkesBarre. Republicans flipped two longtime Democratic-held U.S. House seats in the Lehigh Valley and Northeast Pennsylvania
The soldiers from Ft. Stoddert, Louisiana Territory, captured the fugitive Aaron Burr on a February morning in 1807, on a muddy road near the hamlet of Wakefield. Burr's fall from grace seemed total. The former vice president, who had dressed as magnificently as any head of state, wore a battered beaver hat and ragged wool coat. The dandy who had charmed women by the score sported a scruffy crop of whiskers. Aaron Burr had traveled West just six months before to carve out his own empire. Now, he would return East to stand trial for treason.
Here we are 1807, no wireless, no photo imaging, at best a sketch transmitted via courier, and without full distribution. Wakefield La, maybe a cabin or two in the recently acquired Louisiana Purchase. Burr with a beard in basically beggars clothes is identified by probably the only soldiers,or maybe someone who turned him in.
In the 18th and even 19th Century all one had to do to escape the law is relocated to another county,
Criminals were caught only because they opened their mouths to brag or they would not change their ways.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, made a get away, but got caught because they just had to rob one more train, and Butch or sundance just couldn't leave the past behind and had to write one more letter.
Today it is almost impossible to hide, if they want you, they will find you, but not in the 19th Century.
He had a number of co-conspirators including General James Wilkinson, one of Burr's key partners. The Commanding General of the United States Army at the time, Wilkinson was known for his attempt to separate Kentucky and Tennessee from the union during the 1780s. Burr persuaded President Thomas Jefferson to appoint Wilkinson to the position of Governor of the Louisiana Territory in 1805. Wilkinson would later send a letter to Jefferson that Wilkinson claimed was evidence of Burr's treason.
Filibusters were private citizens who led unauthorized military expeditions into foreign countries, often in Latin America, to support revolutions or secession. The term is most commonly used to describe US citizens who engaged in these activities in the mid-19th century. https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/the-filibuster-movement/
E.G. Narciso López (1797-1851) and John Quitman (1798-1858), both in Cuba along with William Walker (1824-1860), with the Walker affair in Baja California, Sonora of northern Mexico; along with further south to Costa Rica and lastly Nicaragua in Central America.
You called it exactly. Trump knew he had it rigged from the start. Does Kamala's conceding make a difference when they find out she won? Shades of 2000 in Florida. Alos what is MBV?
I doubt if Hamilton could have ever foreseen a trump scenario the likes of what we're experiencing today, or Any of our founding fathers for that matter. Leave it to you,Thom,to shine a Spotlight light on such a troubling matter. We are so blessed to have you in our lives this morning ☕. Thank You, and will reStack ASAP 🙏
Apocrypha says Hamilton accused Burr of incest, ala Gore Vidal. They tried cases against each other for years in NY courts. I admig that a lot of the history I know comes from Vidal's novels...... Sorta like Thom..... Seven-novel series Narratives of Empire, with which Vidal examined, explored, and explained the imperial history of the United States; chronologically, the six other historical novels of the series are Lincoln (1984), 1876 (1976), Empire (1987), Hollywood (1990), Washington, D.C. (1967), and The Golden Age (2000).
Vidal was a grandson of U.S. Senator Thomas Gore, Vidal was born into an upper-class political family. Given the blindness of his maternal grandfather, Vidal read to him, and was his Senate page, and his seeing-eye guide. In 1939, during his summer holiday, Vidal went on his first European trip to visit Italy and France. He visited Rome for the first time, the city which came to be "at the center of Gore's literary imagination," and Paris. When the Second World War began in early September, the group was forced to return home early. On his way back, he and his colleagues stopped in Great Britain, where they met the Ambassador to Great Britain, Joe Kennedy (the father of John Fitzgerald Kennedy). In 1940 he attended the Los Alamos Ranch School and later transferred to Phillips Exeter Academy, in Exeter, New Hampshire, where he contributed to the Exonian, the school newspaper. Rather than attend university, Vidal enlisted in the U.S. Army at age 17.
As a political commentator and essayist, Vidal's primary focus was the history and society of the United States, especially how a militaristic foreign policy reduced the country to a decadent empire. His political and cultural essays were published in The Nation, the New Statesman, the New York Review of Books, and Esquire magazines. As a public intellectual, Gore Vidal's topical debates on sex, politics, and religion with other intellectuals and writers occasionally turned into quarrels with the likes of William F. Buckley Jr. and Norman Mailer.
From wiki---In 1791, Burr was elected to the United States Senate, where he served until 1797. He later ran as the Democratic-Republican vice-presidential candidate in the 1800 election. An electoral college tie between Burr and Thomas Jefferson resulted in the House of Representatives voting in Jefferson's favor, with Burr becoming Jefferson's vice president due to receiving the second-highest share of the votes. Although Burr maintained that he supported Jefferson, the president was somewhat at odds with Burr, who was relegated to the sidelines of the administration during his vice presidency and was not selected as Jefferson's running mate in 1804 after the ratification of the 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
During his last full year as vice president, Burr engaged in the duel in which he fatally shot Alexander Hamilton, the former Secretary of the Treasury and his political rival, near where Hamilton's son Philip Hamilton had died in a duel three years prior. Although dueling was illegal, Burr was never tried and all charges against him were eventually dropped. Nevertheless, his killing of Hamilton ended Burr's political career.
Burr traveled west to the American frontier, seeking new economic and political opportunities. His secretive activities led to his 1807 arrest in Alabama on charges of treason. He was brought to trial more than once for what became known as the Burr conspiracy, an alleged plot to create an independent country led by Burr, but was acquitted each time. For a short period of time Burr left the United States to live as an expatriate in Europe. He returned in 1812 and resumed practicing law in New York City. Burr died on September 14, 1836, at the age of 80.
Also from wiki. In Vida;'s version, the contemporary story of political intrigue occurs from 1833 to 1840, in the time of Jacksonian democracy, years after the treason trial. The narrator is Charles Schermerhorn Schuyler, an ambitious young man working as a law clerk in Aaron Burr's New York City law firm. Charlie Schuyler is not from a politically-connected family, and is ambivalent about politics and about how law is practiced. Hesitant about taking the examination for admission to the bar, Schuyler works as a newspaper reporter while dreaming of becoming a successful writer so that he can emigrate to Europe.
Important to the intrigues of the plotters are the allegation that Vice President Martin Van Buren is the bastard son of Aaron Burr; the veracity or falsity of that allegation; and its usefulness in high-government politics. Because Van Buren is a strong candidate for the 1836 United States presidential election, his political enemies, especially newspaper publisher William Leggett, enlist Schuyler to glean personally embarrassing facts about Van Buren from the aged Burr, a septuagenarian in 1834.
Tempted with the promise of money, Schuyler considers authoring a pamphlet "proving" that Vice President Van Buren is Burr's son, which will end Van Buren's career. He becomes torn between honoring Burr, whom he admires, and betraying Burr for the cash that will enable him to take the woman he loves to Europe.
Don’t EVER vote for Republicans! They are never going to support your interests or the common good. They are only out to enrich themselves at your expense. They are systematically destroying all that was ever good in the country. I hope there will be enough left in four years to start reversing the damage.
Since the founders of the country restricted the vote to wealthy landowners of their own gender and ethnicity, I'm not sure "hijacked" is the most accurate portrayal. Control by the wealthy was part of the original design. We evolved toward a democracy. Now the wealthy ruling class, panicked by the evolved progress that occurred in a brief part of our history from FDR until Reagan, are working to undo all of that and place us back under a rule by aristocracy. Neither of the two cartel parties is the party of FDR. A two party system is an incubator for a totalitarian rule. Realize that 100% of the country thanks to winner-take-all and first-past-the-post two-party system is now under complete rule without any real representation as established by about 30% of eligible voters. Tom, the first step to a solution is to stop the pretense that we are a democracy. We are an oligarchy.
Money is the root of all evil. It allows individuals to horde wealth that belongs to the commons. The obvious solution is to pass laws disallowing excessive wealth. This would also be good for the environment since the ultra-wealthy have a high carbon footprint. No more 200 foot personal yachts!
This timely adage is: "The LOVE of money is the root of all evil." Big difference. In modern parlance, it means unfettered greed causes most of society's ills. Money itself is just a tool, a necessary one, like William says.
Wong Chris. Money is a tool, it's invention enabled people to survive. The alternative is barter, how many sheep, how much wheat does it take to buy the products needed to build a house, How do I buy food, homes, cars, when all I have is my labor to barter.
It isn't money, that is shifting the blame, avoiding responsibility, it is human nature, our fears and needs that are cause, and it goes even deeper because it begs the question, what fears, what needs.
The fears we can address and discuss, the fear? That's another subject, delve too deep, and you stick pigs,step on toes, whatever the meataphor.
In the best of all possible worlds money is a tool. But the system of modern day bartering with slips of paper leaves the whole system ripe for misuse. It is too easy for some to take more than their fair share.
That is a truism Chris, but there is no alternative.
And by the way the real money in use is not paper, it is electronic digits. I carry a $20 in my wallet, just in case, it has been there a year. When you buy a car, a home or even groceries, no paper is involved, except the ones that you sign. The only checks I've written are to my grandchildren. I have enough checks left to last into the next century, which I will never see.
Gold and silver are not frangible enough to serve as a currency of exchange.
And they are historically responsible for depressions and inflations.
The silver mines of Potosi, Bolivia destroyed the Spanish Empire, so much silver that it was near to worthless, as common as lead.
The USSR was a perpetual depression. because the USSR had a 100% gold standard, where the ruble was pegged at .981 grams fine gold. There just wasn't enough gold on hand to back up the ruble.
The Russian couldn't present rubles and demand gold at one of the seven trust banks, nor the GoSBank. But a foreigner could present it at the NordBank in Paris, demand gold, but that diminished the supply of gold, and thus the supply of rubles.
A permanent depression. A depression is a shortage of money.
The Comstock Load in Nevada,spurred the economy at first, but soon there was so much silver, that U.S. currency was devalued, so congress demonetized silver and a 7 year depression ensue, led to the assassination of Garfield, McKinley and the rise of right wing populism in the form of Williams Jenning Bryan and his cross of gold speech. Actually he incorporated left and right populism, but mainly he was a racist, Christian populist.
By the way, the Spanish conquest of the Americas brought so much gold and silver into Europe that it spurred the renaissance., but eventually there was so much that it devalued the currency.
You've heard of doubloons, those were silver Reals cut in half, cut into eights and you had pieces of eight. And there was no way to verify the quality and weight, so people accepted them on faith. Fiat means faith. Fiat money is faith money.
Coin clipping in England was so common, that the Crown and Parliament passed a law making clipping a capitol offense, and in the 16th Century the edges of coins were milled to prevent clipping (And that is why coins today have milled edges)
The practice was to clip a little, or shave a coin, and collect the slipping and melt them down.. There was so much clipping that silver coins were devalued and a pound sterling became a shilling.
There is no substitute, not barter, no precious metals, And while at it, today in practically all of the world, money is created out of debt, wherever there is a fractional reserve system, you have debt money. The alternative is printing press money, which has been the plague of South America.
America doesn't have printing press money, we have debt or fractional reserve, money
Of course I know that money is now digital but it has one thing in common with paper money, it is held up by one thing- trust. If no one believes in it anymore it becomes worthless. Bitcoin and its copycats are a prime example. They are basically held up by faith. There is really nothing there, it’s just a giant casino.
But my main point was that we need to stop individuals amassing too much wealth, it is totally destructive to the common good. Musk is the poster boy for this.
Yes Chris, money is a medium of exchange, and all things that serve as a medium of exchange have one thing, trust. actually trust is an act of faith. The idea that gold or silver has value is an act of faith,buying shares in a company is an act of faith.
In my examples of gold and silver inflation, the trust was broken and banks were rupted and people suffered.
As to stopping people from acquiring too much power, and money is only a tool to attain power, money to get power,power to keep money, and money is only a symbol for wealth and wealth is that which makes us happy. (I am very wealthy, but Trump is on the verge of ruining that)
So the question then is how do we stop people from amassing too much wealth.
With apologies I am going to go off topic and deal with the latest uproar.
Gaetz resigned from congress, just as the ethics committee was going to release it's report, and probably censure or eject him.
Gaetz has been Trump's most loyal, noisy asset in Congress.
Trump saved Gaetz bacon,by saying that he would make him AG
Gaetz did not have to resign over that, announcement it is over 66 days away before Trump can even do such a thing. But it served Gaetz an excuse to resign.
Gaetz was reelected, and can (and will) be sworn in on Jan 3rd, with the rest of the new congress.
Trump's AG is his personal lawyer, just like Sessions and Barr,
Gaetz has a law degree but he is a fools lawyer, he has no friends, no connections of real importance, in the beltway, nay in the establishment.
He is so inept that as AG he will harm Trump and his and Project 2025 Agenda.
Scenario. Dec 31st, Gaetz announces that he thanks Trump, but cannot do the job as he doesn't have enough experience and knowledge. He gets sworn in to the new congress, and immediately sets up a floor fight for Speaker of the House, Trump steps in and tells the Republicans that Gaetz is his choice for speaker, the House Republicans cave and Gaetz is the speaker of the house, and on Jan 21st after Trump takes the oath, he proceeds, unfettered with Project 2025 and Agenda 47.
He cows the Senate Republicans into submission, and Thune calls a recess and Trump appoints his cabinet and they set to work disestablishing the federal government, which they call the deep state, and Bannon will be right there giving instructions.
Another well researched commentary on what we might see happening with the new Trump administration. The crazy proposed cabinet member selections point the way its going to be.
I have a feeling 70% of the people that voted for the Republicans will regret the effect it will have on their daily lives and pocket books. A paragraph or two from the excellent article below.
........."Thus, big money now runs the show, and, to paraphrase Lord Acton, big money corrupts absolutely.
As FDR famously said, “Government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob.
It’s gotten so bad since Clarence Thomas was the deciding vote on Citizens United that legislation Americans clearly want can’t even get a debate in the House or Senate when they’re controlled by Republicans on issues including:
— Reducing or ending student debt
— Free or low-cost college
— Dental, hearing and eyeglasses for seniors on Medicare
— Raising the cap on Social Security so it’s solvent for the next 75 years
— Getting the Post Office into postal banking for low-income people
— Stoping global warming
— Makeing pharmaceuticals affordable
— Medicare for all
— Taxing the rich
— Cutting back on fossil fuel emissions
— Breaking up the big monopolies to restore competition and lower prices"
The mafia moved into the White House in 2016. And will now again occupy it in 2025 making Justice Jackson’s prediction that the White House would become a center for international criminal activity a reality!
This is such a great synopsis of this catastrophe. Thank you so much. We also dumbed down education so our citizens know very little history and many have horrific research and reasoning skills. This has further deteriorated with AI. Also, it’s always bothered me that religious institutions get tax exemption and then promote politicians. That must end. Why are we being forced to support religion? It’s infuriating.
I am scared 😱 of retribution, this could cause a war? I hope not! But we all must believe in fundamental freedoms. Many of the Trump voters may not realize the road this mad man is going.
After almost a decade of Trump spitting in our faces, it's still amazing how so many can be so ignorant of his true character and wicked intentions. But never underestimate the stupidity of the American public.
You are so good. How do you know so much? But two years is too long. We need to activate our better angels now!!! People are ripe. We need some leadership.
Hamilton and the Founders didn't foresee the folly of having judges serve during "Good Behavior" would allow the rigging of SCOTUS, AND by them the Presidency.
The "Good Behavior" standard was lifted right out of the British Monarchy's judicial system. That phrase actually meant "lifetime tenure", and did not address the corrupt and Bad Behavior of today's SCOTUS. See Federalist 78, read the two paragraphs that contain "Good Behavior": https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed78.asp
It's at least a stunning irony and huge fault of the Founders, where having just won a war to overthrow the British Monarchy - they copied the Monarchy's form of their judiciary for our court system! Argh!
I'm a member of Toastmasters, and at the beginning of every meeting, we recite the Pledge of Allegiance. I'm going to change one of its lines to "And to the democracy for which it stands," to remind of how precious democracy is and that it's worth doing everything we can to keep it.
Mr. Hartmann, I have two topics to bring up in response.
1) You just described how legislative and Bureaucratic efforts have been made over a long period to improve on the principles laid down by Hamilton and other founders. You fail to recognize the significance of the admitted fact that in spite of this continuous tinkering with the system; it still becomes more unjust, unequal and unfair with the passage of time. It becomes unfair because we have allowed to exist side by side with the legitimate locus of power [the democratically controlled government] an independent locus of immense power which is in no way democratically controlled. Its purpose is not to serve the people, but to enrich private owners. When are we going to realize that there must be some other way to deal with the institution of economics? There are two loci of power in our system: government and business.
Government has cumbersome, slow acting mechanisms of change and flexibility, which were purposely built into the system by the founders. No such cumbersome mechanism for growth and change is built into business. It is free to grow like a cancer and do as it pleases. And this is what it has done. Why are we surprised at what we have gotten? Business is privately owned and functions solely to enrich the owners. Government is not this kind of thing. Government, especially our democratic republic is designed to serve us all. We all share in its ownership
It seems to me we could learn a good lesson from the Chinese. They have what they call capitalism with Chinese characteristics. The economy in China is 50%private and 50% government. This system has raised 800 million people from abject poverty to gainfully employed middle class status, all in my lifetime. There is no system in history that has come even close to China's accomplishment. The Chinese system has not precluded the possibility of some individuals acquiring great privately held wealth. But it does prevent those individuals from taking over control of the mechanisms of government.
Any time somebody suggests America should do such a thing we see and hear the deafening screams from the claque of moronic chauvinists who claim this is a form of despicable heresy. Any one who claims we can learn from others is called a traitor, or worse. After all America is the indispensable country, the city on the hill. We are the exceptional nation. However, they forget, every empire in history has made the same chauvinist claims. Every empire in history has fallen from the hill.
We are sliding down the hill. When will we recognize this?
2) It is time for us to stop worshiping the founders and the documents they left us. The right wing screamed loudly during my youth that Earl Warren should be impeached because he was legislating from the bench. Now that the right wing controls the bench; it is legislating from the bench and those cries from the mouths of conservatives in the 1950s have been conveniently forgotten. Now the shoe is on the other foot and the Democrats and Liberals are screaming that what the court is doing is unconstitutional, legislating from the bench. Let us stop this useless game and fundamentally change our econo-political system.
Franklin Roosevelt toyed around with the idea of fundamental change when he made the government the largest single employer in the country. Roosevelt created a mixed system in which some infrastructure projects were handled by government employees and some were subcontracted out by the government to private companies; but closely controlled by the government. This mixed system was wildly successful. Apparently the Chinese were paying attention to Franklin Roosevelt's work. We can do it again.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Thom has always maintained that there are two great powers hanging over our heads: the government and the billionaire class. And, to paraphrase, the intended purpose of our government is to protect us from the predation of the ruling class of moneyed interests.
Deepspace, I hope I do not seem as though I am nit picking. But I think it is important that we have a clearly delineated idea about what constitutes a social class, and how we define social class. I define social class in the following manner: 1) There are those who work for the private owners of the means of production, to produce all the goods and services we need. 2)There are those who privately own and manage the means of production [the capital] and the worker's labor generates profit for these owners. To me, those are the two social classes in our system.
Billionaires are not a social class. they are the Power Elite of the system. They also, of course are part of the ownership class.
I am inclined to say "there are two great powers hanging over our heads: the government and the" private owners of business.
It does not seem as though Mr. Hartmann and I are very far apart on this issue.
Thanks for the clarification and detailed definitions. No, you don't seem very far apart, to my ear anyway. Stepping back from differing semantics and interpretations, though, the reality "on the ground" is that two great powers hang over our heads beyond the words used to describe them. It is absolutely imperative that the People recapture the power that is rightfully theirs (government) to keep in check the competing power (billionaires).
Agreed. And to pass the regulations to keep billionaires in check and defeat their agenda to create a plutocracy/autocracy, enough people must realize the crux of the problem and vote for politicians who will pass those laws.
The central truth of our backsliding democracy has to reach a critical mass in the minds of the electorate to demand change, which means the reality of our society must first break through the wall of corporate media that dilutes the truth, changes the narrative, and promotes the tale told by their money masters.
Alas, Trump never went through any vetting process Hamilton mentions, like running for Mayor or his state legislature. True to his narcissistic disdain for any orderly preparation or process, he 'leap-frogged' right to the top. His apprenticeship was "The Apprentice" where he played himself as a boss, having gone right to the top as is his due.
Since they could never get the votes in a free election, they went after the courts. Then, after they won the courts, they went after the news media. Then, after they won the news media, and they controlled the information (the "infotainment"), they went after the Constitution. They were unstoppable, because the highest value in society was the accumulation of wealth, and they were its standard bearers.
Trump won in 2024 by fewer votes than he obtained in 2020 when he lost. About 12-13 million Democrats who voted in 2020 sat out this election. Apparently selling their soul to endorse a genocide and being shadow governed by Bibi Netanyahu was not a convincing enough "lesser evil" to being overtly governed by a home-grown power-crazed gangster. The Democratic Party operatives proved the reason we did not "get the votes." Trump's base didn't grow. Democrats shrank their own support base. Thank the operatives of the D-party for Donald Trump. Tom's screaming infomercial on Sirius radio that "there is nothing wrong with the Democratic Party!" is about as ridiculous as it gets.
Same stuff I said the past several days. The margin is about 2% in blue wall states.
But for psyops, we wudda won bigly. THEY target visceral, not rational people. Goes directly to hatred of "the other." No rational person would vote for a criminal, a grifter, would vote against their own economic or physical health.
Many say that they voted ... MBV votes were ditched. Realtively easy to do. Others say the codes to the voting machines were hacked, votes switched. No prrof of this ...yet. Need probable cause to investigate.
According to Greg Palast, 2.7 million provisional ballots were tossed. https://www.gregpalast.com/
"Whose ballots? If you’re Black, Hispanic or Asian-American, the chance you were shunted to one of these provisional ballots is 300% higher than if you’re white."
"How many Black ballots were thrown in the electoral dumpster?"
"As a former professor of statistics, I know there’s still a lot of sleuthing in the numbers I have to do, but I can tell you this: The number of rejected provisional ballots, the number of voters wrongly purged from the rolls, the number of ballots “spoiled” and not counted, has unquestionably skyrocketed."
Those votes in swing states may have been enough to change the outcome. Is Tulsi Gabbard, named to control national security, an agent or just a willing idiot for Putin? Is this a payoff to Putin for "fixing" the election?
More like about 15 million less. It's reasonable to expect some people were scared shitless. For months Russian propganda predicted violence on election day. In some places ballots were burned. My wife worked the polls during early voting. Aqui mismo, Proud Boys showed up. Polling places closed in Democratic areas due to Russian fake bomb threats. In some places ballots were burned. Mailboxes and collection boxes destroyed.
I persaonally think it's the amygdala factor. Many women voted for abortion and for Trump. In Florida, 57% voted for abortion. Trump got 56.1%.
There's a recount in Pa. Roughly 80,000 ballots had not been counted as of Wednesday evening, but they’re primarily provisional ballots and remaining mail ballots that may be rejected. Republicans protest military MBV and foreign absentee ballots.
All you say is true, but
Here are facts:
It takes 270 Electoral votes. Harris got 226, she need 44
Wisconsin 10, Mich 15, Pennsyltucky 19, total 44
Now Muslims , per James Zogby and others, wanted to flip the Democrats the bird, Iman's endorsed Trump regardless of consequence, now they have to eat their own shit, because Trump is Bibi's BFF and gives him carte blanche
Here is how the votes wash out
Trump won Wisconsin by less than 36,000 votes m there are 68,699 Muslims in Wisconsin say half are voter eligible, there are 2,000 votes needed, and I will adress that later
Trump won Michigan by 80.620 votes there are 241,828 Muslims in Michigan, say half are voters and you have 120,900 votes cast for Trump
Trump won Pennsyltucky by 137, 677 there are 139,561 Mulims in Pennsyltucky say half are voters and you have 68839 votes for Trump
Here is where the black male vote comes in. Gen X, Y and Z males never lived in Jim Crow or dealt with red lining, they live in the present, and all they see is that they aren't getting the respect, jobs, income that they think they deserve (we live in the entitled generation) and have proclaimed loudly that they aren't going to vote for Biden (Democrats)
The Population of Phillie is 47% Black.
And that is why Trump is president. Check my figures.
I get the Philly/Pgh papers. The word is that Harris lost in Biden's home territory -- Scranton and WilkesBarre. Republicans flipped two longtime Democratic-held U.S. House seats in the Lehigh Valley and Northeast Pennsylvania
Daniel, I read the link on Aaron Burr https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/duel-burr-conspiracy/#:~:text=Nearly%20200%20years%20later%2C%20the,Alexander%20Hamilton%20in%20a%20duel
Here is what makes me question reality.
The first paragraph
The soldiers from Ft. Stoddert, Louisiana Territory, captured the fugitive Aaron Burr on a February morning in 1807, on a muddy road near the hamlet of Wakefield. Burr's fall from grace seemed total. The former vice president, who had dressed as magnificently as any head of state, wore a battered beaver hat and ragged wool coat. The dandy who had charmed women by the score sported a scruffy crop of whiskers. Aaron Burr had traveled West just six months before to carve out his own empire. Now, he would return East to stand trial for treason.
Here we are 1807, no wireless, no photo imaging, at best a sketch transmitted via courier, and without full distribution. Wakefield La, maybe a cabin or two in the recently acquired Louisiana Purchase. Burr with a beard in basically beggars clothes is identified by probably the only soldiers,or maybe someone who turned him in.
In the 18th and even 19th Century all one had to do to escape the law is relocated to another county,
Criminals were caught only because they opened their mouths to brag or they would not change their ways.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, made a get away, but got caught because they just had to rob one more train, and Butch or sundance just couldn't leave the past behind and had to write one more letter.
Today it is almost impossible to hide, if they want you, they will find you, but not in the 19th Century.
He had a number of co-conspirators including General James Wilkinson, one of Burr's key partners. The Commanding General of the United States Army at the time, Wilkinson was known for his attempt to separate Kentucky and Tennessee from the union during the 1780s. Burr persuaded President Thomas Jefferson to appoint Wilkinson to the position of Governor of the Louisiana Territory in 1805. Wilkinson would later send a letter to Jefferson that Wilkinson claimed was evidence of Burr's treason.
Filibusters were private citizens who led unauthorized military expeditions into foreign countries, often in Latin America, to support revolutions or secession. The term is most commonly used to describe US citizens who engaged in these activities in the mid-19th century. https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/the-filibuster-movement/
E.G. Narciso López (1797-1851) and John Quitman (1798-1858), both in Cuba along with William Walker (1824-1860), with the Walker affair in Baja California, Sonora of northern Mexico; along with further south to Costa Rica and lastly Nicaragua in Central America.
You called it exactly. Trump knew he had it rigged from the start. Does Kamala's conceding make a difference when they find out she won? Shades of 2000 in Florida. Alos what is MBV?
I doubt if Hamilton could have ever foreseen a trump scenario the likes of what we're experiencing today, or Any of our founding fathers for that matter. Leave it to you,Thom,to shine a Spotlight light on such a troubling matter. We are so blessed to have you in our lives this morning ☕. Thank You, and will reStack ASAP 🙏
Check out Aaron Burr, nearly the third president....conpsired to steal the western part of the US.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/duel-burr-conspiracy/#:~:text=Nearly%20200%20years%20later%2C%20the,Alexander%20Hamilton%20in%20a%20duel.
Duel. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/duel-alexander-hamilton-and-aaron-burrs-duel/
Apocrypha says Hamilton accused Burr of incest, ala Gore Vidal. They tried cases against each other for years in NY courts. I admig that a lot of the history I know comes from Vidal's novels...... Sorta like Thom..... Seven-novel series Narratives of Empire, with which Vidal examined, explored, and explained the imperial history of the United States; chronologically, the six other historical novels of the series are Lincoln (1984), 1876 (1976), Empire (1987), Hollywood (1990), Washington, D.C. (1967), and The Golden Age (2000).
Vidal was a grandson of U.S. Senator Thomas Gore, Vidal was born into an upper-class political family. Given the blindness of his maternal grandfather, Vidal read to him, and was his Senate page, and his seeing-eye guide. In 1939, during his summer holiday, Vidal went on his first European trip to visit Italy and France. He visited Rome for the first time, the city which came to be "at the center of Gore's literary imagination," and Paris. When the Second World War began in early September, the group was forced to return home early. On his way back, he and his colleagues stopped in Great Britain, where they met the Ambassador to Great Britain, Joe Kennedy (the father of John Fitzgerald Kennedy). In 1940 he attended the Los Alamos Ranch School and later transferred to Phillips Exeter Academy, in Exeter, New Hampshire, where he contributed to the Exonian, the school newspaper. Rather than attend university, Vidal enlisted in the U.S. Army at age 17.
As a political commentator and essayist, Vidal's primary focus was the history and society of the United States, especially how a militaristic foreign policy reduced the country to a decadent empire. His political and cultural essays were published in The Nation, the New Statesman, the New York Review of Books, and Esquire magazines. As a public intellectual, Gore Vidal's topical debates on sex, politics, and religion with other intellectuals and writers occasionally turned into quarrels with the likes of William F. Buckley Jr. and Norman Mailer.
From wiki---In 1791, Burr was elected to the United States Senate, where he served until 1797. He later ran as the Democratic-Republican vice-presidential candidate in the 1800 election. An electoral college tie between Burr and Thomas Jefferson resulted in the House of Representatives voting in Jefferson's favor, with Burr becoming Jefferson's vice president due to receiving the second-highest share of the votes. Although Burr maintained that he supported Jefferson, the president was somewhat at odds with Burr, who was relegated to the sidelines of the administration during his vice presidency and was not selected as Jefferson's running mate in 1804 after the ratification of the 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
During his last full year as vice president, Burr engaged in the duel in which he fatally shot Alexander Hamilton, the former Secretary of the Treasury and his political rival, near where Hamilton's son Philip Hamilton had died in a duel three years prior. Although dueling was illegal, Burr was never tried and all charges against him were eventually dropped. Nevertheless, his killing of Hamilton ended Burr's political career.
Burr traveled west to the American frontier, seeking new economic and political opportunities. His secretive activities led to his 1807 arrest in Alabama on charges of treason. He was brought to trial more than once for what became known as the Burr conspiracy, an alleged plot to create an independent country led by Burr, but was acquitted each time. For a short period of time Burr left the United States to live as an expatriate in Europe. He returned in 1812 and resumed practicing law in New York City. Burr died on September 14, 1836, at the age of 80.
Also from wiki. In Vida;'s version, the contemporary story of political intrigue occurs from 1833 to 1840, in the time of Jacksonian democracy, years after the treason trial. The narrator is Charles Schermerhorn Schuyler, an ambitious young man working as a law clerk in Aaron Burr's New York City law firm. Charlie Schuyler is not from a politically-connected family, and is ambivalent about politics and about how law is practiced. Hesitant about taking the examination for admission to the bar, Schuyler works as a newspaper reporter while dreaming of becoming a successful writer so that he can emigrate to Europe.
Important to the intrigues of the plotters are the allegation that Vice President Martin Van Buren is the bastard son of Aaron Burr; the veracity or falsity of that allegation; and its usefulness in high-government politics. Because Van Buren is a strong candidate for the 1836 United States presidential election, his political enemies, especially newspaper publisher William Leggett, enlist Schuyler to glean personally embarrassing facts about Van Buren from the aged Burr, a septuagenarian in 1834.
Tempted with the promise of money, Schuyler considers authoring a pamphlet "proving" that Vice President Van Buren is Burr's son, which will end Van Buren's career. He becomes torn between honoring Burr, whom he admires, and betraying Burr for the cash that will enable him to take the woman he loves to Europe.
Interesting. Thanks for the link, this would make a great film.
Don’t EVER vote for Republicans! They are never going to support your interests or the common good. They are only out to enrich themselves at your expense. They are systematically destroying all that was ever good in the country. I hope there will be enough left in four years to start reversing the damage.
Since the founders of the country restricted the vote to wealthy landowners of their own gender and ethnicity, I'm not sure "hijacked" is the most accurate portrayal. Control by the wealthy was part of the original design. We evolved toward a democracy. Now the wealthy ruling class, panicked by the evolved progress that occurred in a brief part of our history from FDR until Reagan, are working to undo all of that and place us back under a rule by aristocracy. Neither of the two cartel parties is the party of FDR. A two party system is an incubator for a totalitarian rule. Realize that 100% of the country thanks to winner-take-all and first-past-the-post two-party system is now under complete rule without any real representation as established by about 30% of eligible voters. Tom, the first step to a solution is to stop the pretense that we are a democracy. We are an oligarchy.
Bingo, excellent commentary, errorless, spot on. Nothing to add. Thank you.
RE Hamilton's confidence: Every time you make something idiot proof, the universe develops a better class of idiot.
🤣
Money is the root of all evil. It allows individuals to horde wealth that belongs to the commons. The obvious solution is to pass laws disallowing excessive wealth. This would also be good for the environment since the ultra-wealthy have a high carbon footprint. No more 200 foot personal yachts!
This timely adage is: "The LOVE of money is the root of all evil." Big difference. In modern parlance, it means unfettered greed causes most of society's ills. Money itself is just a tool, a necessary one, like William says.
Wong Chris. Money is a tool, it's invention enabled people to survive. The alternative is barter, how many sheep, how much wheat does it take to buy the products needed to build a house, How do I buy food, homes, cars, when all I have is my labor to barter.
It isn't money, that is shifting the blame, avoiding responsibility, it is human nature, our fears and needs that are cause, and it goes even deeper because it begs the question, what fears, what needs.
The fears we can address and discuss, the fear? That's another subject, delve too deep, and you stick pigs,step on toes, whatever the meataphor.
In the best of all possible worlds money is a tool. But the system of modern day bartering with slips of paper leaves the whole system ripe for misuse. It is too easy for some to take more than their fair share.
That is a truism Chris, but there is no alternative.
And by the way the real money in use is not paper, it is electronic digits. I carry a $20 in my wallet, just in case, it has been there a year. When you buy a car, a home or even groceries, no paper is involved, except the ones that you sign. The only checks I've written are to my grandchildren. I have enough checks left to last into the next century, which I will never see.
Gold and silver are not frangible enough to serve as a currency of exchange.
And they are historically responsible for depressions and inflations.
The silver mines of Potosi, Bolivia destroyed the Spanish Empire, so much silver that it was near to worthless, as common as lead.
The USSR was a perpetual depression. because the USSR had a 100% gold standard, where the ruble was pegged at .981 grams fine gold. There just wasn't enough gold on hand to back up the ruble.
The Russian couldn't present rubles and demand gold at one of the seven trust banks, nor the GoSBank. But a foreigner could present it at the NordBank in Paris, demand gold, but that diminished the supply of gold, and thus the supply of rubles.
A permanent depression. A depression is a shortage of money.
The Comstock Load in Nevada,spurred the economy at first, but soon there was so much silver, that U.S. currency was devalued, so congress demonetized silver and a 7 year depression ensue, led to the assassination of Garfield, McKinley and the rise of right wing populism in the form of Williams Jenning Bryan and his cross of gold speech. Actually he incorporated left and right populism, but mainly he was a racist, Christian populist.
By the way, the Spanish conquest of the Americas brought so much gold and silver into Europe that it spurred the renaissance., but eventually there was so much that it devalued the currency.
You've heard of doubloons, those were silver Reals cut in half, cut into eights and you had pieces of eight. And there was no way to verify the quality and weight, so people accepted them on faith. Fiat means faith. Fiat money is faith money.
Coin clipping in England was so common, that the Crown and Parliament passed a law making clipping a capitol offense, and in the 16th Century the edges of coins were milled to prevent clipping (And that is why coins today have milled edges)
The practice was to clip a little, or shave a coin, and collect the slipping and melt them down.. There was so much clipping that silver coins were devalued and a pound sterling became a shilling.
There is no substitute, not barter, no precious metals, And while at it, today in practically all of the world, money is created out of debt, wherever there is a fractional reserve system, you have debt money. The alternative is printing press money, which has been the plague of South America.
America doesn't have printing press money, we have debt or fractional reserve, money
Of course I know that money is now digital but it has one thing in common with paper money, it is held up by one thing- trust. If no one believes in it anymore it becomes worthless. Bitcoin and its copycats are a prime example. They are basically held up by faith. There is really nothing there, it’s just a giant casino.
But my main point was that we need to stop individuals amassing too much wealth, it is totally destructive to the common good. Musk is the poster boy for this.
Yes Chris, money is a medium of exchange, and all things that serve as a medium of exchange have one thing, trust. actually trust is an act of faith. The idea that gold or silver has value is an act of faith,buying shares in a company is an act of faith.
In my examples of gold and silver inflation, the trust was broken and banks were rupted and people suffered.
As to stopping people from acquiring too much power, and money is only a tool to attain power, money to get power,power to keep money, and money is only a symbol for wealth and wealth is that which makes us happy. (I am very wealthy, but Trump is on the verge of ruining that)
So the question then is how do we stop people from amassing too much wealth.
I have no ideas, do you?
That’s the million dollar question
With apologies I am going to go off topic and deal with the latest uproar.
Gaetz resigned from congress, just as the ethics committee was going to release it's report, and probably censure or eject him.
Gaetz has been Trump's most loyal, noisy asset in Congress.
Trump saved Gaetz bacon,by saying that he would make him AG
Gaetz did not have to resign over that, announcement it is over 66 days away before Trump can even do such a thing. But it served Gaetz an excuse to resign.
Gaetz was reelected, and can (and will) be sworn in on Jan 3rd, with the rest of the new congress.
Trump's AG is his personal lawyer, just like Sessions and Barr,
Gaetz has a law degree but he is a fools lawyer, he has no friends, no connections of real importance, in the beltway, nay in the establishment.
He is so inept that as AG he will harm Trump and his and Project 2025 Agenda.
Scenario. Dec 31st, Gaetz announces that he thanks Trump, but cannot do the job as he doesn't have enough experience and knowledge. He gets sworn in to the new congress, and immediately sets up a floor fight for Speaker of the House, Trump steps in and tells the Republicans that Gaetz is his choice for speaker, the House Republicans cave and Gaetz is the speaker of the house, and on Jan 21st after Trump takes the oath, he proceeds, unfettered with Project 2025 and Agenda 47.
He cows the Senate Republicans into submission, and Thune calls a recess and Trump appoints his cabinet and they set to work disestablishing the federal government, which they call the deep state, and Bannon will be right there giving instructions.
Another well researched commentary on what we might see happening with the new Trump administration. The crazy proposed cabinet member selections point the way its going to be.
I have a feeling 70% of the people that voted for the Republicans will regret the effect it will have on their daily lives and pocket books. A paragraph or two from the excellent article below.
........."Thus, big money now runs the show, and, to paraphrase Lord Acton, big money corrupts absolutely.
As FDR famously said, “Government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob.
It’s gotten so bad since Clarence Thomas was the deciding vote on Citizens United that legislation Americans clearly want can’t even get a debate in the House or Senate when they’re controlled by Republicans on issues including:
— Reducing or ending student debt
— Free or low-cost college
— Dental, hearing and eyeglasses for seniors on Medicare
— Raising the cap on Social Security so it’s solvent for the next 75 years
— Getting the Post Office into postal banking for low-income people
— Stoping global warming
— Makeing pharmaceuticals affordable
— Medicare for all
— Taxing the rich
— Cutting back on fossil fuel emissions
— Breaking up the big monopolies to restore competition and lower prices"
The mafia moved into the White House in 2016. And will now again occupy it in 2025 making Justice Jackson’s prediction that the White House would become a center for international criminal activity a reality!
Congratulations! America!
This is such a great synopsis of this catastrophe. Thank you so much. We also dumbed down education so our citizens know very little history and many have horrific research and reasoning skills. This has further deteriorated with AI. Also, it’s always bothered me that religious institutions get tax exemption and then promote politicians. That must end. Why are we being forced to support religion? It’s infuriating.
I am scared 😱 of retribution, this could cause a war? I hope not! But we all must believe in fundamental freedoms. Many of the Trump voters may not realize the road this mad man is going.
After almost a decade of Trump spitting in our faces, it's still amazing how so many can be so ignorant of his true character and wicked intentions. But never underestimate the stupidity of the American public.
You are so good. How do you know so much? But two years is too long. We need to activate our better angels now!!! People are ripe. We need some leadership.
Hamilton and the Founders didn't foresee the folly of having judges serve during "Good Behavior" would allow the rigging of SCOTUS, AND by them the Presidency.
The "Good Behavior" standard was lifted right out of the British Monarchy's judicial system. That phrase actually meant "lifetime tenure", and did not address the corrupt and Bad Behavior of today's SCOTUS. See Federalist 78, read the two paragraphs that contain "Good Behavior": https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed78.asp
It's at least a stunning irony and huge fault of the Founders, where having just won a war to overthrow the British Monarchy - they copied the Monarchy's form of their judiciary for our court system! Argh!
I'm a member of Toastmasters, and at the beginning of every meeting, we recite the Pledge of Allegiance. I'm going to change one of its lines to "And to the democracy for which it stands," to remind of how precious democracy is and that it's worth doing everything we can to keep it.
Mr. Hartmann, I have two topics to bring up in response.
1) You just described how legislative and Bureaucratic efforts have been made over a long period to improve on the principles laid down by Hamilton and other founders. You fail to recognize the significance of the admitted fact that in spite of this continuous tinkering with the system; it still becomes more unjust, unequal and unfair with the passage of time. It becomes unfair because we have allowed to exist side by side with the legitimate locus of power [the democratically controlled government] an independent locus of immense power which is in no way democratically controlled. Its purpose is not to serve the people, but to enrich private owners. When are we going to realize that there must be some other way to deal with the institution of economics? There are two loci of power in our system: government and business.
Government has cumbersome, slow acting mechanisms of change and flexibility, which were purposely built into the system by the founders. No such cumbersome mechanism for growth and change is built into business. It is free to grow like a cancer and do as it pleases. And this is what it has done. Why are we surprised at what we have gotten? Business is privately owned and functions solely to enrich the owners. Government is not this kind of thing. Government, especially our democratic republic is designed to serve us all. We all share in its ownership
It seems to me we could learn a good lesson from the Chinese. They have what they call capitalism with Chinese characteristics. The economy in China is 50%private and 50% government. This system has raised 800 million people from abject poverty to gainfully employed middle class status, all in my lifetime. There is no system in history that has come even close to China's accomplishment. The Chinese system has not precluded the possibility of some individuals acquiring great privately held wealth. But it does prevent those individuals from taking over control of the mechanisms of government.
Any time somebody suggests America should do such a thing we see and hear the deafening screams from the claque of moronic chauvinists who claim this is a form of despicable heresy. Any one who claims we can learn from others is called a traitor, or worse. After all America is the indispensable country, the city on the hill. We are the exceptional nation. However, they forget, every empire in history has made the same chauvinist claims. Every empire in history has fallen from the hill.
We are sliding down the hill. When will we recognize this?
2) It is time for us to stop worshiping the founders and the documents they left us. The right wing screamed loudly during my youth that Earl Warren should be impeached because he was legislating from the bench. Now that the right wing controls the bench; it is legislating from the bench and those cries from the mouths of conservatives in the 1950s have been conveniently forgotten. Now the shoe is on the other foot and the Democrats and Liberals are screaming that what the court is doing is unconstitutional, legislating from the bench. Let us stop this useless game and fundamentally change our econo-political system.
Franklin Roosevelt toyed around with the idea of fundamental change when he made the government the largest single employer in the country. Roosevelt created a mixed system in which some infrastructure projects were handled by government employees and some were subcontracted out by the government to private companies; but closely controlled by the government. This mixed system was wildly successful. Apparently the Chinese were paying attention to Franklin Roosevelt's work. We can do it again.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Thom has always maintained that there are two great powers hanging over our heads: the government and the billionaire class. And, to paraphrase, the intended purpose of our government is to protect us from the predation of the ruling class of moneyed interests.
Deepspace, I hope I do not seem as though I am nit picking. But I think it is important that we have a clearly delineated idea about what constitutes a social class, and how we define social class. I define social class in the following manner: 1) There are those who work for the private owners of the means of production, to produce all the goods and services we need. 2)There are those who privately own and manage the means of production [the capital] and the worker's labor generates profit for these owners. To me, those are the two social classes in our system.
Billionaires are not a social class. they are the Power Elite of the system. They also, of course are part of the ownership class.
I am inclined to say "there are two great powers hanging over our heads: the government and the" private owners of business.
It does not seem as though Mr. Hartmann and I are very far apart on this issue.
Thanks for the clarification and detailed definitions. No, you don't seem very far apart, to my ear anyway. Stepping back from differing semantics and interpretations, though, the reality "on the ground" is that two great powers hang over our heads beyond the words used to describe them. It is absolutely imperative that the People recapture the power that is rightfully theirs (government) to keep in check the competing power (billionaires).
Deepspace, the only way to do that is through regulation.
Agreed. And to pass the regulations to keep billionaires in check and defeat their agenda to create a plutocracy/autocracy, enough people must realize the crux of the problem and vote for politicians who will pass those laws.
The central truth of our backsliding democracy has to reach a critical mass in the minds of the electorate to demand change, which means the reality of our society must first break through the wall of corporate media that dilutes the truth, changes the narrative, and promotes the tale told by their money masters.
Deepspace, or people have to go through another 1929 depression.
Alas, Trump never went through any vetting process Hamilton mentions, like running for Mayor or his state legislature. True to his narcissistic disdain for any orderly preparation or process, he 'leap-frogged' right to the top. His apprenticeship was "The Apprentice" where he played himself as a boss, having gone right to the top as is his due.
He was counting on Congress and the Supremes vetting him.. didn’t imagine that they were.bought and paid for.