Like a mind-blowing science fiction movie, the 74+ million people who voted for Trump live in an alternate universe where reality is completely reversed. They may walk down the same sidewalks we do, visit the same stores, and drive around on the same streets, but their country differs radically from the one the rest of us occupy.
These heavily deluded minds exist in a dystopian world where the economy is tanking, inflation is skyrocketing, tariffs aren't taxes on consumers, crime is rampant, cities are burning, illegal immigrants are surging over the border at astronomical levels, thieving, raping, and killing at unprecedented rates, NATO and Ukraine started the war with Russia, vaccines are killing people, Democrats are killing babies and hate God, women are second-class citizens with no rights over their bodies, Christianity is under attack, white people are superior, and brown and black-skinned foreigners are flooding into the country to vote illegally and replace righteous, wholesome Arians and their European cultural identity. Sieg heil!
Like an invasion from outer space, these fantasy-laden, alien-like brains floating down our sidewalks, hidden deep inside exceptionally thick skulls attached to normal-looking bodies, also think that wealthy elites are looking out for the best interests of common people, that Democrats are engaging in "lawfare," imagining the crimes Trump committed, weaponizing the Justice system against their political enemies, that Democrats are rabid socialists controlling the mainstream media, the universities, and the "deep state" (and even the weather, for chrissake!), that they have organized a years-long, massive election-fraud scheme to steal elections, that climate change is a manufactured plot by far left scientists and politicians to ruin capitalism, and that carrying weapons of war on civilian streets is a good thing.
Of course, on the streets in the real world, the complete opposite of everything listed above is the truth. So how will good Democrats and other sane people create a workable information infrastructure, flip the narrative, and convince enough of their fellow citizens to vote for politicians and policies grounded in reality before it's too late to save what's left of our dying democracy ...and the world?
"So how will good Democrats and other sane people create a workable information infrastructure, flip the narrative, and convince enough of their fellow citizens to vote for politicians and policies grounded in reality before it's too late to save what's left of our dying democracy ...and the world?"
Ans. I'm gonna zap 'em with my Jewish space laser.
Alternatively, as I said yesterday, Aristotle said that the 6th act of tragedy is comedy. Reminds me of existentialism. Comedy of the absurd.
Some pundits expect he will be martyred to the benefit of Vance the Terrible. "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown"
I doubt that the Dems will have to do much, if anything, to upend Trumpism. Like all fascist movements, they cannot, nor do they want, to govern. Voters will continue to be reminded what the federal government used to do for them as the economy slides into recession due to tariffs and lack of business guardrails. They will also start to miss the luxury of a hands-off government in which most decisions in life used to be personal. In 4 years, voters will want their freedom and standard of living back.
The big fight is coming to decide how much the USA will be like Hungary. Checks and balances? Political guardrails? They are composed of people. Trump is preparing to drive tank-tracked over democratic norms. As a starter, Trump will almost certainly pressure the Senate Republicans to remove the automatic filibuster and any other Senate rules that might slow the Trumpian juggernaut.
Acknowledging that everything from here on out that can be said about the past and how we got here is irrelevant, as we are faced with a “lawfull” self coup and that Democracy died on Nov 5th and autocracy rose like a vampire,out of the coffin.
I hereby add the Powell memo, which laid the blame for equality and student rebellion against the status quo on a healthy and wealthy middle class, that was so well off and “indolent” as to having “spoiled childen” disrupting the “natural” order of things.. the patriarchy.
While at it, the root of patriarchy and patriotismis patria, Latin for father, and one of the acts of Octavian, Augustus Caesar, was to promulgate the law of Pater Familia, in which the father had absolute power of life and death over wife and children.
Class did not replace race, Race is a subset of class, as is all of the other isms, but what Class really is, is a stand in for Patriarchy.
Here is a clue. Within a patriarchal society, There is no opprobrium . disapproval, with a man marrying down, Trump married a nude "model" and look at him and her, but a woman marrying down, below her social status, well that is a horror and shunning follows.
If anyone watched Downton Abbey, and recalls the chauffer that the daughter of the Lord of the Manor married, they know what I mean, even the series the Gilded Age.
Makes total sense. Trump is the ultimate Big Daddy for America's authoritarian followers, just like Putin is for Russia, Xi Jinping for China, Kim Jong Un for North Korea, Viktor Orbán for Hungary, Nicolás Maduro for Venezuela, Bashar al-Assad for Syria, Netanyahu for Israel, etc., etc. Authoritarianism also seems to be patriarchal.
Deepspace, there are examples which do not fit: Catherine the Great, Elizabeth 1, Imelda Marcos, Eleanor of Aquitaine, the authoritarian Indira Gandhi. These are only a partial list off the top of my head, as I have recently read their biographies. With a little digging I suspect there are more to be found.
Haha, right you are, Gerald; I missed those examples. Maybe the exceptions prove the rule, since most strongmen rulers throughout history were men, ergo "strongmen." Again, thanks for your clarification and insights. Always valuable.
You can do that if you wish. That is not a cross I will die on.
I just reduce every thing to human nature, our basic drives, hormones, one thing drives another, every child has a father, but not every father has a child.
SETI has those radio telescopes pointed in the wrong direction, to the stars
Considering what the species does to itself, the tag homo sapiens sapiens is a joke.
I;ve always said, that if there are occupants in those unidentified flying objects, then Earth is an intergalactic Serengeti, and much wiser civilizations than us, use as an object lesson, They take their offspring on a class trip to earth as education and a warning, look what will happen to you if you don't behave.
I read that same article in The Nation that this article quotes from, and I was so impressed that I wrote back to the editor to say so. Democracy is the empowerment of the masses, just as socialism is, and capitalism is the empowerment of an elite, just as autocracy is. When the Democratic party gets labeled as the elitist party, and the Republicans get labeled as the populist party, something has really gone wrong.
Jeffrey, the media are corporations, just like Exxon, Bank of America, WalMart, BlackRock.
They were incorporated to produce a profit,. they look out for themselves and their class (corporations)
Populism has arisen in various forms, an early manifestation is in SPQR, Senatus Populus que Romanus
The establishment, the media was the vehicle as was education, gave populism a bad name.
Williams Jennings Bryan is the first populist on record, He mixed economic populismwith right wing, racist, religious and antisemitic tropes.
Huey Long did the same thing.
We have no example of left wing populism until Bernie, and the establishment came together to smash it.
Right wing populism because it is pro money, pro business, pro corporation has been promoted by the corporate media and has become normal
So normal that is not called or recognized as populist, and the label populist is now used as an epithet and the recipients are Bernie and his supporters, like you and I.
It is sad but true, people have short memories, they live in the present,hardly a thought to the future (how many save, have life insurance, have a will), thinking takes time, it hurts and alas it requires a certain level of intelligence, thus people are susceptible to propaganda, and the source of propaganda is the media, which now includes the internet and cell phone aps.
The real battleground is for pushing engrams.
An “engram” refers to the enduring offline physical and/or chemical changes that were elicited by learning and underlie the newly formed memory associations.
Memory engrams: Recalling the past and imagining the future
Control what a person thinks they know and you control what a person thinks and does.
The Democrats were originally the conservative party and the Republicans were the liberals in the 19th century and gradually switched. Seems they have reversed again.
I think Bernie missed a generation. We don't have a labor class. We have mostly a "gig" economy. Most people under the age of 50 have never had a steady job. Manufacturing, the golden goose, was slaughtered and the good jobs went to foreign countries or were automated.
Of the 23% of us in the middle class, most have acquired skills that are transferrable to several different jobs and occupations. I spent several years listening to vocational testimony. Many skills become obsolete...displaced by technology. Society has progressed at the expense of manual labor.
As I've been saying, IMHO we didn't lose to Trump on the economy. That's just a pretext. We lost to psy ops that targeted the "other" to visceral, not rational voters. Most voted to screw themselves economically and physically.
The Democrats did lose on the economy. They were too afraid of losing the money of corporate donors to tell the truth about the economic suffering of the majority or offer what could really help make people's lives more secure and happier. The party should change the name to the Democratic Labor Party and be that.
Democrats did not create the inflation. If the cost of items is an issue, lay the blame on those who set prices, speculate in commodity markets, permitted unscrupulous add ons. etc. I've explained previously how Trump set the stage for high prices in the energy sector, which is like a tax.
Democrats gave us the lowest unemployment rate in modern history. Gave us the highest GDP. Compared to other industrialized countries, we are first in practically every measure. That includes inflation.
We lost because we are "the other." On a state level labor issues prevailed in even some red states. Check out Missouri. Requires most employers to provide paid sick leave. The base pay for workers increases from $12.30 an hour to $13.75 an hour on Jan. 1, 2025, and to $15 an hour in January 2026. Requires employers with 15 or more workers to provide one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked.
Abortion rights won in 7 states. Although it received a plurality in Florida, it did not get 60% that would amend our state constitution.
Many women who voted for abortion rights, ironically voted for Trump.
Like a stretched rubber band reverberating, the economy exploded after the COVID epidemic, quickly heating up inflation. Other major factors outside Democrat's control also exacerbated inflation to a significant degree, like Trump's egregious mishandling of the pandemic, making the economic impact much worse, Putin's invasion of Ukraine, creating uncertainty in the oil markets, and supply-chain disruptions when the world economy was largely shut down during the pandemic.
Biden's policies undeniably got the economy back on the right track, which eventually brought average inflation down to historically reasonable levels after an initial surge. Our economy is now the best in the world, even though gas, housing, and food prices are still too high, which Harris's proposed policies were laser-focused on getting back under control. Somehow, big corporate media seemed to mostly ignore that fact. And remember, wages have also risen considerably during Biden's administration, which mitigates the effects of inflation. People tend to forget that in their grossly misinformed narrative that Democrats are bad for the economy.
Sure, people certainly FEEL the effects of high food, gas, and housing prices. But "greedflation" is largely responsible — a phenomenon of excessive profit-taking by titans of industry, who, by the way, normally support Republicans and their despicable lies. But people THINK the economy is bad because that is what their Republican, lying, right-wing media sources have told them to think.
In actuality, Democrats have handed Republicans the gift of a robust economy, the envy of the world. (Thank you!) Now, we'll see what Trump and his lickspittle cronies will do with it. Hahahahaha...
Deepspace I am with Daniel above. The economy is just the excuse, as Daniel said the reall issue was hate, that is why the voters voted progressive then voted for Trump
Hate stems from fear. The fear is loss of the masculine imperative. Power over women. There are many women, maybe most, that perceive the man as their protector and provider. That was Trump's appeal to women when he said I am your protector and they voted for himwill voting for abortion.
The women who read and comment on Thom Hartman's substck and Robert Reich's are actually in the minority., as are the men who are not threatened with female empowerment.
I don't disagree; fear begets hate begets anger begets misogyny, xenophobia, racism, religeous bigotry, and all the rest of our darkest inclinations as flawed human beings. Autocrats thirsting after power know this full well and have been fanning the flames of our worst instincts since the dawn of civilization -- divide and conquer, works everytime. Today is no different. We really haven't advance much as a species, destroying our society and environment as a result, shitting in our own nest on a worldwide scale.
Deepspace, I like your word "greedflation," thank you. it will now be in my vocabulary. Economist like to talk about the push-pull forces of supply and demand, and the "equilibrium" and "invisible hand" of the market place; as though these things explain how prices behave. This is mostly BS. In a capitalist system which worships private ownership of the means of production, it is the the owners who raise prices, in their greed. It seems so obvious.
I disagree- my POV is that Kamala spoke with too much sympathy for folks crying about inflation where she was repeatedly missing tee ups for speaking about what economists have been reporting about how good the Biden Administration was doing bringing it back). And she offered to create a subsidy for 1st time home buyers.
Kamala talked at people. Transactional analysis, she was parent talking to child, telling them this is what we did, you should be grateful
Trump people child to child, they understood and grasped what he was saying, for the people are like children, all emotion and I want my ice cream NOW.
Trump is a liar, we know that, at a gut level his MAGAts probably knows that, but he talks to them, not down to them.
When they see him bloviating, and straying off message,lost in the ether on stage, they relate.. that is me, say they.
Worse part is that he won't deliver, because he can't, things are beyond his control, and his policies will only exacerbate the economic situation, but he has scapegoats, the libs, the queers, the trans, the immigrants;.
What is the colorof your triangle and how many triangles are you going to have to wear.?
Sometimes I think that Trump’s craziness was just a distraction to avert having to address the real issues. He never had any real defense for the far right goals of the GOP so he just said crap, and the Dems wasted lots of time marveling over his lunacy. Just look at how long it took for people in the media to use the words “fascist” and “treason” to describe his actions.
Just to be clear, this wasn’t a “landslide” by any means. When the votes are tallied, it looks like about a 1.4% margin in favor of Trump. Decades of work by the Heritage Foundation, Fox News, Russian disinformation and wannabe oligarchs delivered the Presidency to Trump. There are no Democratic leaning equivalents. In an effort to appeal to wider audiences, @msnbc, @cnn, and NYT and WaPo all became more right leaning. Together these institutions convinced millions of Americans that their economy was tanking and that “others” were taking their jobs. That labels like “fascist” were just more political mud slinging and had no real meaning. I don’t think this was a Middle Class phenomenon, exclusively. This is much deeper than that. Democrats publish their policies during election cycles: the GOP is willing to work decades to shape the environment before, during and after elections. That’s it.
Well, GOP policies aren’t popular but the Uber wealthy want to win. The better idea would have been to change policies, but here we are. They’ve been at this for decades, creating a favorable environment and they’ve succeeded. I wish the Dems would work as hard to preserve our democracy.
Lydia, they have been at it for about 45 years and in the meantime they have gave us unfunded wars, free trade, trickle down, interest on the national debt... They were well compensated!
May I take issue with this description of post-Reagan America? " [I]t takes two full-time workers to get where a single paycheck could in 1980." I would hazard that for many, if not most American families, two incomes leaves them behind where they would have been in 1975. Although hardly the monster Reagan was, Jimmy Carter, with his well-intentioned push to deregulate, bears some blame for the fix we're in.
That is true William. In 1964 I was an E-4, I owned, not rented a home, granted a 2 br rambler with carport but a a home, a 1965 Mustang a wife and two children all on the pay of an E-4.
Today an E-4 has trouble making a car payment, and has to live in some cheap trailer or motel.
base housing if he is lucky.
I was married 15 years, three children and we never suffered or lacked, good Xmas even, and she never worked, nor had to . She raised the kids while I was off, half the time, in Sam's service in the great adventure.
However saying Jimmy Carter has some blame for the fix we are in, is way off the mark. This shit all started with Reagan. Carter put solar Panels on the roof, Reagan took them down.
Yes Mr. Politt Carter deregulated banks, credit cards, credit unions, airlines, trucking. He had very limited understanding of the economy. But I still admire him as one of the truly good Presidents of my life time. A truly honorable, courageous, well-meaning, admirable human being.
Please, I meant no disparagement of Jimmy Carter the man. He was probably the most exemplary human being to occupy the oval office since Lincoln, but as for his deregulation.... What is it they say is paved with good intentions?
Everything I heard from Kamala was about jobs, higher wages, home buying, child raising, cutting grocery costs and The Middle Class. Nothing from Trump but race and migrant and Dem hatred.
We lost because of a media monopoly from Aussie/Russia Fox news, Sinclair Radio which drowns your message, and brainwashed ignorance deprived of real news.
Mr. Carpenter, I think the middle class voted for trump and the other republicans because the Democrats began to turn against ordinary people with Truman's unconstitutional, undeclared war on Korea where 36,000 sons of the working class died. The Democrat's treatment of working people gradually descended from Truman with more war-dead and no help for ordinary working stiffs until under that slimy Clinton the bottom fell out. At least trump talked about things working people cared about. Of course he lied continuously. How many politicians do not lie some of the time? When Jimmy Carter said in a press release, "I will never lie to you," he was mocked and ridiculed by all, including many in his own party.
I believe that progressive populism is the way to go, and focus on the underclass, which has to have grown the most since Reagan from the reduction of the middle class from two-thirds to 43%, a 36% drop in 23 years (1981-2024). This would be in-line with what Thom and Bernie are listing as goals, like free healthcare and education. I also call it economic populism to separate it from cultural populism which uses fear of the "other." The media keeps feeding us the BS that MAGA is populist. Interesting that they have now added Democratic elitists as to the "other." I am one, by definition (their definition). In so doing, they want to take the focus off the 1 percenters and the Billionaire Class while they keep picking our pockets. I will be taking my z-list, Substack blog in that direction shortly, calling it the Populist Blog, maybe even Progressive Populist Blog. Thom is an inspiration for that. Rise up and punch back.
"The Progressive Populist is an independent newspaper that reports from the Heartland of America on issues of interest to workers, small business people and family farmers and ranchers." https://populist.com/
What about a barometer that constantly assesses how well Trump is accomplishing his goals to the American people - for example a regular report out on the “kitchen table issues” for example cost of groceries, gas, housing (rent and purchase), pharmaceuticals, number of new and existing home owners, safety of women, crime rates, etc. Regular weekly updates in a manner similar to the daily reminder of American deaths in Vietnam. MSM gives us regular updates on stock market, how about regular, daily updates on the promises Trump made to the American people. The barometer could also include corporate profits and executive pay.
Good read this morning ☕ Thom, and your right about the messaging. Democrats need to pick two big major issues that effect All working class citizens and stay on Point. We'll do better next election, looking forward to 2026 and 2028. Especially if you're leading the Charge. Thank You, and will reStack ASAP 💯👍
A couple of issues like the Democrats will fight for Medicare for All and raise the Federal minimum wage to twenty dollars an hour would spread thoughout the population without the huge expenditures on advertising.
The Democratic Party will never read theses comments. They are just trying to figure out how to spin themselves to win. They are not interested in communicating with people.
I beg to differ Deep Space, in all my existence I have yet seen or heard of the Democratic party actually listening to the people.. The party is like a school marm. If they listened to people it would have been Bernie running against Trump, a left wing real populist running against a faux right wing populist, but they put their thumb on the scale and we got a corportate Democrat, not learning the lesson, they pulled the same stunt in Virginia putting another fraud, Terry McAufliffe up for Governor.
They never learn and even now they are engaged in a post mortem firing squad, blaming each other and messagin., rather than themselves and their elitism.
I have to say this, Democrats do speak to the elites, the coastal elites, and when the speak to middle America they speak at them, not to them, telling them how well off they are and that they should be grateful.
Trump rumbles and bumples like a 5th grader, he doesn't make sense,he wanders, as does his cult of followers, he speaks to them in language and cadence they understand, for despite his billions, he is an unlettered, unschooled oaf, and they see him and see themselves.
When Hillary called them a basket of deplorables, she spoke truth, but that doesn't matter, racists don't like being called racists,. Don't say the name.
Anyway it is all moot, an academic discussion, like Monday morning quarter backing Alexanders battle of Issa or Gaugemala. the Battle of the Wildnerness, Shiloh, Gettysburg.
There is no course correction, no remediation, no second try. Post mortems are a waste but they will happen anyway because that is what people do.
We need to be preparing and strategizing what to do with the theocratic fascist government that will take power in 101 days.
Point taken. Some democrats may sincerely want to listen well as individuals to the needs of the many, especially when they're looking for votes, but the party as a whole seems to have forgotten how to listen well since the days of FDR and before the era of Reaganomics.
Moot point taken also. God help us! Or maybe aliens? Wishing against hoping. We certainly don't seem (there's that word again) capable of helping ourselves. Too much crap has passed at this late date, and everybody everywhere is all over the board, unable to come together, at least to somewhat mitigate the worst of our many intractable problems.
The Democratic party is passe, it is the walking dead. O'Donnell, the DNC, Begala, Carville, Biggs, Brazele all of them pols, pundits alike remind me a western movie, where a dude is laying gut shot in the street, looking up at the guy who shot them and saying "ima kill you"
They have to convince themselves that they will survive and come back victorious the next time,and that the Trump regime, will do itself in.
Right now they are kvetching over the appointment of Gaetz and Gabbard, convincing themselves that they won't be confirmed by the Senate. Trump has already said that he is going to have the senate majority call a recess and appoint them all as a group during the recess, and if not that these self deluded fools forget or choose to forget that Trump will use Acting appointments, and acting appointments are good for 270 days, by that time Kevin Roberts will have cemented control of the Government.
These fools choose to forget what Kevin Roberts said This is going to be a second revolution and i will be bloodless if the left allows it.
Why the fuck don't these people take him and Trump seriously,
Perhaps because it is too scary and they fear for their lives and fortunes. Watch for the back pedaling and ass kissing.
One thing is for certain Trump will forgive you if you flatter him and suck his penis.
Wonderful summary, Thom! I am hoping and praying that we can win it back! Keep reminding us of what happened, how we got here, and how to reclaim our democracy! YOU ROCK! Julie Giessler
Like a mind-blowing science fiction movie, the 74+ million people who voted for Trump live in an alternate universe where reality is completely reversed. They may walk down the same sidewalks we do, visit the same stores, and drive around on the same streets, but their country differs radically from the one the rest of us occupy.
These heavily deluded minds exist in a dystopian world where the economy is tanking, inflation is skyrocketing, tariffs aren't taxes on consumers, crime is rampant, cities are burning, illegal immigrants are surging over the border at astronomical levels, thieving, raping, and killing at unprecedented rates, NATO and Ukraine started the war with Russia, vaccines are killing people, Democrats are killing babies and hate God, women are second-class citizens with no rights over their bodies, Christianity is under attack, white people are superior, and brown and black-skinned foreigners are flooding into the country to vote illegally and replace righteous, wholesome Arians and their European cultural identity. Sieg heil!
Like an invasion from outer space, these fantasy-laden, alien-like brains floating down our sidewalks, hidden deep inside exceptionally thick skulls attached to normal-looking bodies, also think that wealthy elites are looking out for the best interests of common people, that Democrats are engaging in "lawfare," imagining the crimes Trump committed, weaponizing the Justice system against their political enemies, that Democrats are rabid socialists controlling the mainstream media, the universities, and the "deep state" (and even the weather, for chrissake!), that they have organized a years-long, massive election-fraud scheme to steal elections, that climate change is a manufactured plot by far left scientists and politicians to ruin capitalism, and that carrying weapons of war on civilian streets is a good thing.
Of course, on the streets in the real world, the complete opposite of everything listed above is the truth. So how will good Democrats and other sane people create a workable information infrastructure, flip the narrative, and convince enough of their fellow citizens to vote for politicians and policies grounded in reality before it's too late to save what's left of our dying democracy ...and the world?
"So how will good Democrats and other sane people create a workable information infrastructure, flip the narrative, and convince enough of their fellow citizens to vote for politicians and policies grounded in reality before it's too late to save what's left of our dying democracy ...and the world?"
Ans. I'm gonna zap 'em with my Jewish space laser.
Alternatively, as I said yesterday, Aristotle said that the 6th act of tragedy is comedy. Reminds me of existentialism. Comedy of the absurd.
Some pundits expect he will be martyred to the benefit of Vance the Terrible. "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown"
Thom's blog needs to go viral. 😁
I doubt that the Dems will have to do much, if anything, to upend Trumpism. Like all fascist movements, they cannot, nor do they want, to govern. Voters will continue to be reminded what the federal government used to do for them as the economy slides into recession due to tariffs and lack of business guardrails. They will also start to miss the luxury of a hands-off government in which most decisions in life used to be personal. In 4 years, voters will want their freedom and standard of living back.
I think we're fucked. I hope I'm wrong.
I give my proxy to Politicsgirl. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcep4FNL54w
“No one ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”
It wouldn't hurt to give the public a big shove in the right direction.
The big fight is coming to decide how much the USA will be like Hungary. Checks and balances? Political guardrails? They are composed of people. Trump is preparing to drive tank-tracked over democratic norms. As a starter, Trump will almost certainly pressure the Senate Republicans to remove the automatic filibuster and any other Senate rules that might slow the Trumpian juggernaut.
Acknowledging that everything from here on out that can be said about the past and how we got here is irrelevant, as we are faced with a “lawfull” self coup and that Democracy died on Nov 5th and autocracy rose like a vampire,out of the coffin.
I hereby add the Powell memo, which laid the blame for equality and student rebellion against the status quo on a healthy and wealthy middle class, that was so well off and “indolent” as to having “spoiled childen” disrupting the “natural” order of things.. the patriarchy.
While at it, the root of patriarchy and patriotismis patria, Latin for father, and one of the acts of Octavian, Augustus Caesar, was to promulgate the law of Pater Familia, in which the father had absolute power of life and death over wife and children.
Class did not replace race, Race is a subset of class, as is all of the other isms, but what Class really is, is a stand in for Patriarchy.
Here is a clue. Within a patriarchal society, There is no opprobrium . disapproval, with a man marrying down, Trump married a nude "model" and look at him and her, but a woman marrying down, below her social status, well that is a horror and shunning follows.
If anyone watched Downton Abbey, and recalls the chauffer that the daughter of the Lord of the Manor married, they know what I mean, even the series the Gilded Age.
Class heirarchy is patriarchal
Makes total sense. Trump is the ultimate Big Daddy for America's authoritarian followers, just like Putin is for Russia, Xi Jinping for China, Kim Jong Un for North Korea, Viktor Orbán for Hungary, Nicolás Maduro for Venezuela, Bashar al-Assad for Syria, Netanyahu for Israel, etc., etc. Authoritarianism also seems to be patriarchal.
No seems about it, authoritarianism is patriarchal, cooperativism is matriarchal.
The female PhaRAoh Hatsheput, had to disguise herself as a man, Her statues show her with a fake beard.
Right — "seems" is too soft of a word. I think Lawrence O'Donnell also pointed that out about Pharaoh Hatsheput on his blog the other day.
Deepspace, there are examples which do not fit: Catherine the Great, Elizabeth 1, Imelda Marcos, Eleanor of Aquitaine, the authoritarian Indira Gandhi. These are only a partial list off the top of my head, as I have recently read their biographies. With a little digging I suspect there are more to be found.
AS Deepspace has said, Exceptions prove the rule.
Haha, right you are, Gerald; I missed those examples. Maybe the exceptions prove the rule, since most strongmen rulers throughout history were men, ergo "strongmen." Again, thanks for your clarification and insights. Always valuable.
I agree with everything here except the class-race-patriarchy statement. I would put class, race and patriarchy into a Venn diagram.
You can do that if you wish. That is not a cross I will die on.
I just reduce every thing to human nature, our basic drives, hormones, one thing drives another, every child has a father, but not every father has a child.
I've said this almost word for word but you wrote it far better. Thanks.
👍
Deepspace, may I suggest that you watch the movie THEY LIVE you'll love it.
That and The Arrival this one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Arrival_(1996_film)
Cool!
Will do. Thanks.
The irony is the working class, handed the country over to the billionaires. It makes no sense.
SETI has those radio telescopes pointed in the wrong direction, to the stars
Considering what the species does to itself, the tag homo sapiens sapiens is a joke.
I;ve always said, that if there are occupants in those unidentified flying objects, then Earth is an intergalactic Serengeti, and much wiser civilizations than us, use as an object lesson, They take their offspring on a class trip to earth as education and a warning, look what will happen to you if you don't behave.
Humans must discover intelligent life on Earth first before they'll ever evolve enough to go to the stars.
Made a lot of sense to Musk.
I read that same article in The Nation that this article quotes from, and I was so impressed that I wrote back to the editor to say so. Democracy is the empowerment of the masses, just as socialism is, and capitalism is the empowerment of an elite, just as autocracy is. When the Democratic party gets labeled as the elitist party, and the Republicans get labeled as the populist party, something has really gone wrong.
Jeffrey, the media are corporations, just like Exxon, Bank of America, WalMart, BlackRock.
They were incorporated to produce a profit,. they look out for themselves and their class (corporations)
Populism has arisen in various forms, an early manifestation is in SPQR, Senatus Populus que Romanus
The establishment, the media was the vehicle as was education, gave populism a bad name.
Williams Jennings Bryan is the first populist on record, He mixed economic populismwith right wing, racist, religious and antisemitic tropes.
Huey Long did the same thing.
We have no example of left wing populism until Bernie, and the establishment came together to smash it.
Right wing populism because it is pro money, pro business, pro corporation has been promoted by the corporate media and has become normal
So normal that is not called or recognized as populist, and the label populist is now used as an epithet and the recipients are Bernie and his supporters, like you and I.
It is sad but true, people have short memories, they live in the present,hardly a thought to the future (how many save, have life insurance, have a will), thinking takes time, it hurts and alas it requires a certain level of intelligence, thus people are susceptible to propaganda, and the source of propaganda is the media, which now includes the internet and cell phone aps.
The real battleground is for pushing engrams.
An “engram” refers to the enduring offline physical and/or chemical changes that were elicited by learning and underlie the newly formed memory associations.
Memory engrams: Recalling the past and imagining the future
Control what a person thinks they know and you control what a person thinks and does.
Calvin and Hobbs? https://www.comicsthegathering.com/blogs/joe-zador/6933/how-calvin-and-hobbes-tackled-existentialist-thought-and-standardized-learning
The Democrats were originally the conservative party and the Republicans were the liberals in the 19th century and gradually switched. Seems they have reversed again.
I think Bernie missed a generation. We don't have a labor class. We have mostly a "gig" economy. Most people under the age of 50 have never had a steady job. Manufacturing, the golden goose, was slaughtered and the good jobs went to foreign countries or were automated.
Of the 23% of us in the middle class, most have acquired skills that are transferrable to several different jobs and occupations. I spent several years listening to vocational testimony. Many skills become obsolete...displaced by technology. Society has progressed at the expense of manual labor.
As I've been saying, IMHO we didn't lose to Trump on the economy. That's just a pretext. We lost to psy ops that targeted the "other" to visceral, not rational voters. Most voted to screw themselves economically and physically.
The Democrats did lose on the economy. They were too afraid of losing the money of corporate donors to tell the truth about the economic suffering of the majority or offer what could really help make people's lives more secure and happier. The party should change the name to the Democratic Labor Party and be that.
Democrats did not create the inflation. If the cost of items is an issue, lay the blame on those who set prices, speculate in commodity markets, permitted unscrupulous add ons. etc. I've explained previously how Trump set the stage for high prices in the energy sector, which is like a tax.
Democrats gave us the lowest unemployment rate in modern history. Gave us the highest GDP. Compared to other industrialized countries, we are first in practically every measure. That includes inflation.
We lost because we are "the other." On a state level labor issues prevailed in even some red states. Check out Missouri. Requires most employers to provide paid sick leave. The base pay for workers increases from $12.30 an hour to $13.75 an hour on Jan. 1, 2025, and to $15 an hour in January 2026. Requires employers with 15 or more workers to provide one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked.
Abortion rights won in 7 states. Although it received a plurality in Florida, it did not get 60% that would amend our state constitution.
Many women who voted for abortion rights, ironically voted for Trump.
The real issue is hate.
I should have said the "perceived" economy by most people.
Like a stretched rubber band reverberating, the economy exploded after the COVID epidemic, quickly heating up inflation. Other major factors outside Democrat's control also exacerbated inflation to a significant degree, like Trump's egregious mishandling of the pandemic, making the economic impact much worse, Putin's invasion of Ukraine, creating uncertainty in the oil markets, and supply-chain disruptions when the world economy was largely shut down during the pandemic.
Biden's policies undeniably got the economy back on the right track, which eventually brought average inflation down to historically reasonable levels after an initial surge. Our economy is now the best in the world, even though gas, housing, and food prices are still too high, which Harris's proposed policies were laser-focused on getting back under control. Somehow, big corporate media seemed to mostly ignore that fact. And remember, wages have also risen considerably during Biden's administration, which mitigates the effects of inflation. People tend to forget that in their grossly misinformed narrative that Democrats are bad for the economy.
Sure, people certainly FEEL the effects of high food, gas, and housing prices. But "greedflation" is largely responsible — a phenomenon of excessive profit-taking by titans of industry, who, by the way, normally support Republicans and their despicable lies. But people THINK the economy is bad because that is what their Republican, lying, right-wing media sources have told them to think.
In actuality, Democrats have handed Republicans the gift of a robust economy, the envy of the world. (Thank you!) Now, we'll see what Trump and his lickspittle cronies will do with it. Hahahahaha...
Deepspace I am with Daniel above. The economy is just the excuse, as Daniel said the reall issue was hate, that is why the voters voted progressive then voted for Trump
Hate stems from fear. The fear is loss of the masculine imperative. Power over women. There are many women, maybe most, that perceive the man as their protector and provider. That was Trump's appeal to women when he said I am your protector and they voted for himwill voting for abortion.
The women who read and comment on Thom Hartman's substck and Robert Reich's are actually in the minority., as are the men who are not threatened with female empowerment.
I don't disagree; fear begets hate begets anger begets misogyny, xenophobia, racism, religeous bigotry, and all the rest of our darkest inclinations as flawed human beings. Autocrats thirsting after power know this full well and have been fanning the flames of our worst instincts since the dawn of civilization -- divide and conquer, works everytime. Today is no different. We really haven't advance much as a species, destroying our society and environment as a result, shitting in our own nest on a worldwide scale.
Deepspace, I like your word "greedflation," thank you. it will now be in my vocabulary. Economist like to talk about the push-pull forces of supply and demand, and the "equilibrium" and "invisible hand" of the market place; as though these things explain how prices behave. This is mostly BS. In a capitalist system which worships private ownership of the means of production, it is the the owners who raise prices, in their greed. It seems so obvious.
It is not my word; I just borrowed it because it succinctly encapsulates the issue. It's been around for a while.
I disagree- my POV is that Kamala spoke with too much sympathy for folks crying about inflation where she was repeatedly missing tee ups for speaking about what economists have been reporting about how good the Biden Administration was doing bringing it back). And she offered to create a subsidy for 1st time home buyers.
Kamala talked at people. Transactional analysis, she was parent talking to child, telling them this is what we did, you should be grateful
Trump people child to child, they understood and grasped what he was saying, for the people are like children, all emotion and I want my ice cream NOW.
Trump is a liar, we know that, at a gut level his MAGAts probably knows that, but he talks to them, not down to them.
When they see him bloviating, and straying off message,lost in the ether on stage, they relate.. that is me, say they.
Worse part is that he won't deliver, because he can't, things are beyond his control, and his policies will only exacerbate the economic situation, but he has scapegoats, the libs, the queers, the trans, the immigrants;.
What is the colorof your triangle and how many triangles are you going to have to wear.?
Ms. Maloney, YES no doubt about it Labor Party.
Mr. Solomon you are correct about the gig economy.
Sometimes I think that Trump’s craziness was just a distraction to avert having to address the real issues. He never had any real defense for the far right goals of the GOP so he just said crap, and the Dems wasted lots of time marveling over his lunacy. Just look at how long it took for people in the media to use the words “fascist” and “treason” to describe his actions.
Just to be clear, this wasn’t a “landslide” by any means. When the votes are tallied, it looks like about a 1.4% margin in favor of Trump. Decades of work by the Heritage Foundation, Fox News, Russian disinformation and wannabe oligarchs delivered the Presidency to Trump. There are no Democratic leaning equivalents. In an effort to appeal to wider audiences, @msnbc, @cnn, and NYT and WaPo all became more right leaning. Together these institutions convinced millions of Americans that their economy was tanking and that “others” were taking their jobs. That labels like “fascist” were just more political mud slinging and had no real meaning. I don’t think this was a Middle Class phenomenon, exclusively. This is much deeper than that. Democrats publish their policies during election cycles: the GOP is willing to work decades to shape the environment before, during and after elections. That’s it.
Republicans are better at lying than Democrats are at telling the truth.
Well, GOP policies aren’t popular but the Uber wealthy want to win. The better idea would have been to change policies, but here we are. They’ve been at this for decades, creating a favorable environment and they’ve succeeded. I wish the Dems would work as hard to preserve our democracy.
Lydia, they have been at it for about 45 years and in the meantime they have gave us unfunded wars, free trade, trickle down, interest on the national debt... They were well compensated!
👍
May I take issue with this description of post-Reagan America? " [I]t takes two full-time workers to get where a single paycheck could in 1980." I would hazard that for many, if not most American families, two incomes leaves them behind where they would have been in 1975. Although hardly the monster Reagan was, Jimmy Carter, with his well-intentioned push to deregulate, bears some blame for the fix we're in.
That is true William. In 1964 I was an E-4, I owned, not rented a home, granted a 2 br rambler with carport but a a home, a 1965 Mustang a wife and two children all on the pay of an E-4.
Today an E-4 has trouble making a car payment, and has to live in some cheap trailer or motel.
base housing if he is lucky.
I was married 15 years, three children and we never suffered or lacked, good Xmas even, and she never worked, nor had to . She raised the kids while I was off, half the time, in Sam's service in the great adventure.
However saying Jimmy Carter has some blame for the fix we are in, is way off the mark. This shit all started with Reagan. Carter put solar Panels on the roof, Reagan took them down.
Yes Mr. Politt Carter deregulated banks, credit cards, credit unions, airlines, trucking. He had very limited understanding of the economy. But I still admire him as one of the truly good Presidents of my life time. A truly honorable, courageous, well-meaning, admirable human being.
Please, I meant no disparagement of Jimmy Carter the man. He was probably the most exemplary human being to occupy the oval office since Lincoln, but as for his deregulation.... What is it they say is paved with good intentions?
Everything I heard from Kamala was about jobs, higher wages, home buying, child raising, cutting grocery costs and The Middle Class. Nothing from Trump but race and migrant and Dem hatred.
We lost because of a media monopoly from Aussie/Russia Fox news, Sinclair Radio which drowns your message, and brainwashed ignorance deprived of real news.
Mr. Carpenter, I think the middle class voted for trump and the other republicans because the Democrats began to turn against ordinary people with Truman's unconstitutional, undeclared war on Korea where 36,000 sons of the working class died. The Democrat's treatment of working people gradually descended from Truman with more war-dead and no help for ordinary working stiffs until under that slimy Clinton the bottom fell out. At least trump talked about things working people cared about. Of course he lied continuously. How many politicians do not lie some of the time? When Jimmy Carter said in a press release, "I will never lie to you," he was mocked and ridiculed by all, including many in his own party.
Nah. FEAR.
I believe that progressive populism is the way to go, and focus on the underclass, which has to have grown the most since Reagan from the reduction of the middle class from two-thirds to 43%, a 36% drop in 23 years (1981-2024). This would be in-line with what Thom and Bernie are listing as goals, like free healthcare and education. I also call it economic populism to separate it from cultural populism which uses fear of the "other." The media keeps feeding us the BS that MAGA is populist. Interesting that they have now added Democratic elitists as to the "other." I am one, by definition (their definition). In so doing, they want to take the focus off the 1 percenters and the Billionaire Class while they keep picking our pockets. I will be taking my z-list, Substack blog in that direction shortly, calling it the Populist Blog, maybe even Progressive Populist Blog. Thom is an inspiration for that. Rise up and punch back.
"The Progressive Populist is an independent newspaper that reports from the Heartland of America on issues of interest to workers, small business people and family farmers and ranchers." https://populist.com/
Deepspace, thank you for "The Progressive Populist" I signed up.
What about a barometer that constantly assesses how well Trump is accomplishing his goals to the American people - for example a regular report out on the “kitchen table issues” for example cost of groceries, gas, housing (rent and purchase), pharmaceuticals, number of new and existing home owners, safety of women, crime rates, etc. Regular weekly updates in a manner similar to the daily reminder of American deaths in Vietnam. MSM gives us regular updates on stock market, how about regular, daily updates on the promises Trump made to the American people. The barometer could also include corporate profits and executive pay.
Great ideas!
Good read this morning ☕ Thom, and your right about the messaging. Democrats need to pick two big major issues that effect All working class citizens and stay on Point. We'll do better next election, looking forward to 2026 and 2028. Especially if you're leading the Charge. Thank You, and will reStack ASAP 💯👍
A couple of issues like the Democrats will fight for Medicare for All and raise the Federal minimum wage to twenty dollars an hour would spread thoughout the population without the huge expenditures on advertising.
Google with this line:
site:hartmannreport.com Medicare Advantage Scam
The Democratic Party will never read theses comments. They are just trying to figure out how to spin themselves to win. They are not interested in communicating with people.
Yes, they are.
I beg to differ Deep Space, in all my existence I have yet seen or heard of the Democratic party actually listening to the people.. The party is like a school marm. If they listened to people it would have been Bernie running against Trump, a left wing real populist running against a faux right wing populist, but they put their thumb on the scale and we got a corportate Democrat, not learning the lesson, they pulled the same stunt in Virginia putting another fraud, Terry McAufliffe up for Governor.
They never learn and even now they are engaged in a post mortem firing squad, blaming each other and messagin., rather than themselves and their elitism.
I have to say this, Democrats do speak to the elites, the coastal elites, and when the speak to middle America they speak at them, not to them, telling them how well off they are and that they should be grateful.
Trump rumbles and bumples like a 5th grader, he doesn't make sense,he wanders, as does his cult of followers, he speaks to them in language and cadence they understand, for despite his billions, he is an unlettered, unschooled oaf, and they see him and see themselves.
When Hillary called them a basket of deplorables, she spoke truth, but that doesn't matter, racists don't like being called racists,. Don't say the name.
Anyway it is all moot, an academic discussion, like Monday morning quarter backing Alexanders battle of Issa or Gaugemala. the Battle of the Wildnerness, Shiloh, Gettysburg.
There is no course correction, no remediation, no second try. Post mortems are a waste but they will happen anyway because that is what people do.
We need to be preparing and strategizing what to do with the theocratic fascist government that will take power in 101 days.
Point taken. Some democrats may sincerely want to listen well as individuals to the needs of the many, especially when they're looking for votes, but the party as a whole seems to have forgotten how to listen well since the days of FDR and before the era of Reaganomics.
Moot point taken also. God help us! Or maybe aliens? Wishing against hoping. We certainly don't seem (there's that word again) capable of helping ourselves. Too much crap has passed at this late date, and everybody everywhere is all over the board, unable to come together, at least to somewhat mitigate the worst of our many intractable problems.
The Democratic party is passe, it is the walking dead. O'Donnell, the DNC, Begala, Carville, Biggs, Brazele all of them pols, pundits alike remind me a western movie, where a dude is laying gut shot in the street, looking up at the guy who shot them and saying "ima kill you"
They have to convince themselves that they will survive and come back victorious the next time,and that the Trump regime, will do itself in.
Right now they are kvetching over the appointment of Gaetz and Gabbard, convincing themselves that they won't be confirmed by the Senate. Trump has already said that he is going to have the senate majority call a recess and appoint them all as a group during the recess, and if not that these self deluded fools forget or choose to forget that Trump will use Acting appointments, and acting appointments are good for 270 days, by that time Kevin Roberts will have cemented control of the Government.
These fools choose to forget what Kevin Roberts said This is going to be a second revolution and i will be bloodless if the left allows it.
Why the fuck don't these people take him and Trump seriously,
Perhaps because it is too scary and they fear for their lives and fortunes. Watch for the back pedaling and ass kissing.
One thing is for certain Trump will forgive you if you flatter him and suck his penis.
Ha! Maybe that was what he was signaling when he performed fellatio on a microphone.
Unfortunately Mr. Fuller, you are correct about the presently constituted National Democratic party.
This piece by Thom is an excellent starting point for all of us in understanding what the f just happened on November 5.
Wonderful summary, Thom! I am hoping and praying that we can win it back! Keep reminding us of what happened, how we got here, and how to reclaim our democracy! YOU ROCK! Julie Giessler
Win it all by the billionaires. Billionaires gone wild.