Trump is the avatar for every Incel, ever Viagra/Cialis prescriber, every male that can't get it up, because he felt disempowered, emascualted by a liberal society, and camp following,Stepford wives women, like Phyliss Schafly, who hitched their wagon to a man, forsaking their own identity, for the illusion of safety, security and provision.
I will never forget the image I saw on TV of a Trumpette in a T Shirt, hand scrawled, Donald can grab me by my and then an arrow drawn to her crotch. Absolutely no self respect, no identity other than that of her "man".
Thanks Rhana. I figured I was a lone wolf. I am quite heterodox, a skeptic, a cynic and not a joiner. definitely not a crowd pleaser.
Not a believer, and I arrive at opinions, not acquire them, and am very opinionated unless someone can present unassailable facts that will cause me to change them.
I would like to see a return to sanity next year, but the facts, the mentality of those with power, militate against it,just the opposite.
In my inbox thismorning was email from Robert Reich's Sunday coffee clatch, he sees hope in the fracturing of the Republican party.
He is like so many others he sees what he wants to see, because reality and what is bearing down on us is untenable and frightening.
I see a family squabble. Like Muslims, they will fight among themselves, until Islam is threatened by the kuffar, and then the ummah, world wide community of believers, circles the wagons.
The right wing is a Borg, a collective, a hive mind, there maybe an internal schism, but not for long. Liz Cheney broke with Trump but she is still a right wing Republican, same with MTG, Boebert, Mace, all of them. Maybe the will resist going out into the paddock, but they are still in the stable.
When they do as I did, renounce the right and become their enemy, then I will believe that there is a genuine fracture in the Republican party.
No Idea, your more in touch with the Democratic party power structure, Check your own sources.Now I have to get the picture outof my head of Trump in Monica drag giving Clinton a blow job.
Good summary! As a product of “women’s lib” I find your words very apropos. At 84, I’m skeptical about seeing the end of this current travesty. My soul is greatly aggrieved. Thom is a a daily reminder of where we are in this journey.
I was raised by a single mom, who worked to support the family, but tried her best to be mother and father, I wrote her from basic training that the training was a breeze, because I was raised by the best top sergeant ever.
I respect women, that is strong women, I hold in disdain the "girly girls" who play act as immature, weak and defenseless. The act is designed to capture the attention of weak minded males, and make them feel manly,thus empty their wallets.
My wife is a strong, self validating woman, but her step mother was one of those phonies. I couldn't stand her, her act was so well practiced that it was her, but she dropped the act when she was pissed or frustrated.
Thank you so very much for posting these excerpts.
My Father was a Goldwater Republican, and I am old enough to remember the Southern "Dixiecrats," the racist branch of the party; also old enough to have witnessed this long descent into trumpism. It did indeed start gathering its steam with Reagan, but even with Reagan, it felt as if at least some logical discourse took place - that sanity still prevailed, at least to some extent.
Today, it's all sanity vs insanity. Citizens United enabled the billionaire class, and allowed that class to pour obscene amounts of money into political movements & advertisements. When media companies gave any resistance, they just purchased those media outlets, or have become even more obscenely wealthy through their ownership, like Zuckerberg. It was a massive, intentional effort using a campaign of clickbaiting, and as we have recently discovered, huge farms of bots, many from within Russia and China, to spread inflammatory disinformation. And did it ever work.
My son is 39. He's been getting all his news and information from the internet for well over a decade. Like many of his close friends, his moral compass was beginning to skew. The main reason: Joe Rogan. But he was also greatly amused by several far right internet sensations, like Nick Fuentes, Alex Jones and Charlie Kirk, much to my alarm. Took the better part of a year, but his feet are now firmly planted, and his "compass" has righted into the direction of sanity - pretty much all on his own, but I did my best to calmly point out the utter insanity and evil of most of the far right attitudes. He has never been racist, and that tenet more than anything else made him reject all those far right figures. Thank God.
The point is my firm feeling how media, especially social media platforms, is the main culprit. Facebook and Fox News got tRump in office in 2016. Twitter played its part, and of course what it has evolved into, "X," is all out batshit Nazi now. My greatest media related sorrow is what has happened to CBS, still processing its new owners and leadership. The network of Edward R Murrow and great programs like 'See It Now', '60 Minutes,' and 'CBS Sunday Morning.' While those last 2 current programs seem to be holding strong for now, one can see the cracks during their nightly news show, and especially 'Face the Nation,' framing questions like they do on Fox.
Elizabeth Warren has been loudly vocal on the need for regulation, along with breaking up the monopolies. There will be a lot of work ahead of us, cleaning up, righting all the wrongs, and repairing all the damage this administration has commited in just 11 months. The brazen criminality and cruelty committed must be held to account - no more of the "we need to move on BS" this time. The corrupt SCOTUS must be addressed, and those that have committed crimes simply have to pay, and payment must be severe enough so that this disaster NEVER happens again. Of course, it will not be easy. We have clearly seen how hard and how dirty the far right can combat any regulation, but the bottom line always boils down to who or what has the most money to spend in the fight. I still believe that most people are good, and when properly informed, want to do what is right, not evil. Thanks to Fox and other far right figures, evil has been sanitized; they've made evil seem ok, even Christian! Not wanting to get my hopes up, but presently, December of 2025, it feels like the screw may be turning. tRump is losing some, and it may increase, of his sycophants in Congress. The population in general is coming to the realization that tRump is a big fat liar, and also may actually be coming to the realization that Democracy is better than a dictatorship, a king. Regardless, a lot of work is ahead of us when we do finally and completely escape this madness.
Thom: "The GOP spent decades feeding the beast of white resentment, oligarchic power, and media manipulation. Trump put a new face on it and branded it with his name in gold letters".
I agreee, but more like a small but dedicated parasidic group, like the Bolshviks in Russia were able to take over the host. More like Krasnov following Putin to power. More like following orders.
I don't think that the Republican Party actually "won" the 2016 or the 2024 cycle on the up and up. I also don't think that white resentment is a majority factor.
And I think that the nepharious Steve Bannon, self styled Lenninst, predicted the scope:
Destroying the State: "Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that's my goal too," Bannon reportedly told a writer in 2013.
Smashing the Establishment: He aims to "bring everything crashing down and destroy all of today's establishment," including the traditional Republican Party leadership.
Vanguardism and Strategy: Analysts suggest Bannon adopted certain Leninist strategies, such as using conflict, shock tactics, and propaganda to batter opponents into submission and create a new political system. His work on Project 2025 is cited by some as a modern application of this vanguard approach to "deconstruct the administrative state".
While Lenin aimed to abolish capitalism and establish a socialist world, the objective is a right-wing populist revolution, leading to a "new founding moment in American history" based on his own principles.
Yesterday I reported that U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators were holding a second day of talks in Miami around Trump's "peace plan." A the same time, a 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS) of the United States of America, remakes the Soviet orbit.
The thing with all these "destroy the state" fools is: "WHAT DO YOU WANT TO REPLACE IT WHEN YOU DO?" Have yet to see a plan for something that won't destroy even their cute little bubbles.
Correct me if I'm wrong Thom, and I haven't read your book yet, but doesn't this go back further to the 1930’s, when the Oligarch’s realized they were losing their power and riches and started the unholy alliance with the evangelicals and fascists (“The Family” by Jeff Sharlett, 2009). This movement was put on hold by WW II, but resumed with a vengeance after the war. They viewed Eisenhower as a “traitor” and vowed to never again allow a Republican to be elected who might work with Democrats in perpetuating the New Deal welfare state.
Even farther back than that; Presidents Grover Cleveland and Teddy Roosevelt held the oligarchs of their time to be a major threat to democratic principles. Big Oil, Big Coal and the railroads already controlled much of the economy.
I am mystified as to how one person in one lifetime can accrue and retain so much crucial and significant information with such understanding and the ability to convey it with such amazing clarity. Our history books have been written with this book, and the others Thom has published. It is a great tragedy that they will not be utilized or appreciated by professors and teachers in our schools. They are too good, too truthful, and too thoughtful to be squeezed into ordinary and pedestrian and abstract school courses and curricula. This is the education you thought you got. The one thing that I have not yet seen enough of is the influence of bad religion, superstition, and traditional indoctrination. Thom mentions Kevin Phillips. Phillips had a book titled, "American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed money in the 21st Century". He had a sort of conversion later in his life. I don't recall much detail, but I was quite impressed by his insights and analyses and recommend the book to anyone who isn't familiar. This also brings back to mind my Substack post of a week ago on the way the right has perverted the image of liberals as pushy and malicious when they are the ones in those roles. I have urged Thom to write a piece to counteract their nasty influence. My article is entitled, "The Persistent Myths of Liberals and Atheists Imposing Their Beliefs", and subtitled, "Much Ado About Much Ado About Nothing".
I'm an 84 year old veteran who also represented the United States in the Olympic Winter Games. As a child of dust bowl immigrants I was fortunately raised in a small town near Seattle. Our public school system provided us with a good foundation regarding our state and federal government. I chose Journalism classes as part of my electives. The Report you provided today is exactly as I saw it. Nixon and Reagan quasi Birch Society members pandering to the southern racist democrats. The creation of the Federalist Society installing a litmus test for Federal Judges. The dismantling of the FCC's oversight of the public airways allowing them to become megaphones for misinformation and lies. I view the mid term elections of 2026 to be pivot-able for restatement of an America that I grew up in, served and represented internationally.
I read this and wept. At the risk of seeming obsequious your writing is brilliant and should be read by everyone. I went back to my role model, Doris Haddock (Granny D). The original playbook that laid the groundwork for what we're experiencing now was the Powell Memorandum of 1971. In 2014 I was inspired by Doris to do a mini walk in her honor. In 1999 when she was 89 she walked across the country for campaign finance reform. I was a youngster of 81 and only walked from Sarasota to Tallahassee, FL. Sadly things only got worse. Doris died at 100 a few months after Citizens United. Paraphrasing her words: The flood gates have been opened to money in politics. Everything I walked for went to jail for is gone. I fear Trump and his minions have done so much damage we won't be able to recover. I hope I'm wrong.
The movie "Wall Street" nicely summed up what Thom so articulately described in today's history lesson regarding what Trumpism is all about: Greed is good, and Wealth=power. One might suggest that we no longer have a two-party political system. Today, we have a two-economy system - the "have too muches" and the "wanna have mores." Most Americans are in the latter group.
The late George Orwell warned that Big Brother is watching. He was half right. The main difference between Orwell's fictional future and today's reality is Big Brother has been replaced by Billionaire Brother (BB). BB is not only watching, as Orwell noted, he is also actively trying to manipulate people's views of what they "need to be happy," by bombarding us 24/7 with merchandise advertising and political propaganda.
The main focus of the propaganda is to point out who/what is inhibiting their progress toward meeting their happiness needs. The BBs' MAGA movement identifies greed-is-good inhibitors as working women, racial minorities, immigrants, queers, trannies, labor unions, and radical socialist-communist libtard Democrats. For Democrats, the inhibitors to happiness are the BBs' MAGA politicians, who pursue power at any cost, and the BBs' rigged economic system takes from the worker and gives to the BBs. So far, the MAGA world has taken the BBs' bait hook, line, and sinker. And, sinking they are, as their incomes continue upward to the Billionaire Brothers' coffers at their expense.
One side note. Americans generally mistake free public education as a benefit that enables their upward economic mobility. In actual practice, it is a tool for the BBs to groom their future proletariat. Almost no public high schools teach household financial management as a semester-long course. It is most often a few lectures that overview the various ways wanna-have-mores can indenture themselves to the BB's financial institutions via credit cards, debit cards, mortgages, car loans, etc., enroute to happiness.
Actually, 90+ of MAGA vote against their economic and even physical health.
And in terms of wealth, a majority of the companies in the S&P 500, are LOSERS. AI: A surprisingly small percentage of stocks create market wealth; studies show the top 2.4% to 4% of stocks generate all net gains for the entire market, while the vast majority (over 50%) underperform safe investments like Treasury bills or lose value, making individual stock picking a challenging game where most stocks are losers over their lifetime. Most owners, customers and suppliers are losers. Only a few winners skew the stats.
Trump considers all his followers as marks. Sells them crap. Nothing up his sleeve.
Nor do they teach much (Woke) history or Civics, and under Trumpian rule, we can be sure that those necessary skills and knowledge will be taught even less - if at all - for it is in the Republicans' interest to have its subjects barefoot and pregnant.
Richard, you left out barefoot and pregnant and "ignorant." It is not by accident that Trump is sabotaging the Education Dept out of existence. Most MAGA voters appear to lack critical reasoning skills. They cannot even connect the dots between Trump's criminal history, his serial bankruptcies, his lost suit for rape, his "grab-em-by-the-pussy remark, and his evangelical blessing in the Oval Office as he starts hawking Bibles.
It is hardly a coincidence that those of us who attended private schools were way ahead of our public school classmates in college. That is part of the Billionaire rigged system. We get the A's while they get the C's.
I'm also disappointed in the sell out by the Democratic Party Leadership allowing us to be here. Just the People that I recall like Harry Reid, helping end Roe, Obama not able to stop take over of SCOTUS and Citizens United. Max Baucus sell out to insurance lobby for healthcare, Manchin and Sinema filibuster reform blocking and halting voting rights...there are more I'm sure. But it strikes me that I know many names of Republicans that have brought us to a strong man leadership but less of Democratic Politicians. I want them to be called out! I want a new Democratic Party! FO consultants! We the People need to have collective solidarity to save democracy now. Kick all the bums out! But that's just my opinion.
Let's add to that list Prez Joe Biden and his AG (whose name escapes me due to intentional repression,) both of whom could at least have voiced some objections and insisted upon some justice served upon Trump's marauders, but didn't want to appear partisan - or too political.
Well, Captain my Captain however all the ugly racism is alive and on all the time in the White House. Saying the quiet part out loud everyday. They hate all that are not White Captain. The world knows this as well. This is what they voted for, not me. Thom this is seriously bad for all of us watching this, no matter what your color. The president is this hatred. This, I do not welcome, however, Captain. Still, I rise.
Krasnov has been empowered by the MAGA to harm the country and the world. The Chosen One may bring the world back to sanity and destroy the malice of the Repubs supporters of the haters.
Trump is the avatar for every Incel, ever Viagra/Cialis prescriber, every male that can't get it up, because he felt disempowered, emascualted by a liberal society, and camp following,Stepford wives women, like Phyliss Schafly, who hitched their wagon to a man, forsaking their own identity, for the illusion of safety, security and provision.
I will never forget the image I saw on TV of a Trumpette in a T Shirt, hand scrawled, Donald can grab me by my and then an arrow drawn to her crotch. Absolutely no self respect, no identity other than that of her "man".
Hi William. Always enjoy your posts. I think we follow the same people.
Let's hope 2026 brings a little sanity.......I'm not betting on it!
Thanks Rhana. I figured I was a lone wolf. I am quite heterodox, a skeptic, a cynic and not a joiner. definitely not a crowd pleaser.
Not a believer, and I arrive at opinions, not acquire them, and am very opinionated unless someone can present unassailable facts that will cause me to change them.
I would like to see a return to sanity next year, but the facts, the mentality of those with power, militate against it,just the opposite.
In my inbox thismorning was email from Robert Reich's Sunday coffee clatch, he sees hope in the fracturing of the Republican party.
He is like so many others he sees what he wants to see, because reality and what is bearing down on us is untenable and frightening.
I see a family squabble. Like Muslims, they will fight among themselves, until Islam is threatened by the kuffar, and then the ummah, world wide community of believers, circles the wagons.
The right wing is a Borg, a collective, a hive mind, there maybe an internal schism, but not for long. Liz Cheney broke with Trump but she is still a right wing Republican, same with MTG, Boebert, Mace, all of them. Maybe the will resist going out into the paddock, but they are still in the stable.
When they do as I did, renounce the right and become their enemy, then I will believe that there is a genuine fracture in the Republican party.
Where's Bubba?
No Idea, your more in touch with the Democratic party power structure, Check your own sources.Now I have to get the picture outof my head of Trump in Monica drag giving Clinton a blow job.
Good summary! As a product of “women’s lib” I find your words very apropos. At 84, I’m skeptical about seeing the end of this current travesty. My soul is greatly aggrieved. Thom is a a daily reminder of where we are in this journey.
I was raised by a single mom, who worked to support the family, but tried her best to be mother and father, I wrote her from basic training that the training was a breeze, because I was raised by the best top sergeant ever.
I respect women, that is strong women, I hold in disdain the "girly girls" who play act as immature, weak and defenseless. The act is designed to capture the attention of weak minded males, and make them feel manly,thus empty their wallets.
My wife is a strong, self validating woman, but her step mother was one of those phonies. I couldn't stand her, her act was so well practiced that it was her, but she dropped the act when she was pissed or frustrated.
Thank you so very much for posting these excerpts.
My Father was a Goldwater Republican, and I am old enough to remember the Southern "Dixiecrats," the racist branch of the party; also old enough to have witnessed this long descent into trumpism. It did indeed start gathering its steam with Reagan, but even with Reagan, it felt as if at least some logical discourse took place - that sanity still prevailed, at least to some extent.
Today, it's all sanity vs insanity. Citizens United enabled the billionaire class, and allowed that class to pour obscene amounts of money into political movements & advertisements. When media companies gave any resistance, they just purchased those media outlets, or have become even more obscenely wealthy through their ownership, like Zuckerberg. It was a massive, intentional effort using a campaign of clickbaiting, and as we have recently discovered, huge farms of bots, many from within Russia and China, to spread inflammatory disinformation. And did it ever work.
My son is 39. He's been getting all his news and information from the internet for well over a decade. Like many of his close friends, his moral compass was beginning to skew. The main reason: Joe Rogan. But he was also greatly amused by several far right internet sensations, like Nick Fuentes, Alex Jones and Charlie Kirk, much to my alarm. Took the better part of a year, but his feet are now firmly planted, and his "compass" has righted into the direction of sanity - pretty much all on his own, but I did my best to calmly point out the utter insanity and evil of most of the far right attitudes. He has never been racist, and that tenet more than anything else made him reject all those far right figures. Thank God.
The point is my firm feeling how media, especially social media platforms, is the main culprit. Facebook and Fox News got tRump in office in 2016. Twitter played its part, and of course what it has evolved into, "X," is all out batshit Nazi now. My greatest media related sorrow is what has happened to CBS, still processing its new owners and leadership. The network of Edward R Murrow and great programs like 'See It Now', '60 Minutes,' and 'CBS Sunday Morning.' While those last 2 current programs seem to be holding strong for now, one can see the cracks during their nightly news show, and especially 'Face the Nation,' framing questions like they do on Fox.
Elizabeth Warren has been loudly vocal on the need for regulation, along with breaking up the monopolies. There will be a lot of work ahead of us, cleaning up, righting all the wrongs, and repairing all the damage this administration has commited in just 11 months. The brazen criminality and cruelty committed must be held to account - no more of the "we need to move on BS" this time. The corrupt SCOTUS must be addressed, and those that have committed crimes simply have to pay, and payment must be severe enough so that this disaster NEVER happens again. Of course, it will not be easy. We have clearly seen how hard and how dirty the far right can combat any regulation, but the bottom line always boils down to who or what has the most money to spend in the fight. I still believe that most people are good, and when properly informed, want to do what is right, not evil. Thanks to Fox and other far right figures, evil has been sanitized; they've made evil seem ok, even Christian! Not wanting to get my hopes up, but presently, December of 2025, it feels like the screw may be turning. tRump is losing some, and it may increase, of his sycophants in Congress. The population in general is coming to the realization that tRump is a big fat liar, and also may actually be coming to the realization that Democracy is better than a dictatorship, a king. Regardless, a lot of work is ahead of us when we do finally and completely escape this madness.
Thom: "The GOP spent decades feeding the beast of white resentment, oligarchic power, and media manipulation. Trump put a new face on it and branded it with his name in gold letters".
I agreee, but more like a small but dedicated parasidic group, like the Bolshviks in Russia were able to take over the host. More like Krasnov following Putin to power. More like following orders.
I don't think that the Republican Party actually "won" the 2016 or the 2024 cycle on the up and up. I also don't think that white resentment is a majority factor.
And I think that the nepharious Steve Bannon, self styled Lenninst, predicted the scope:
Destroying the State: "Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that's my goal too," Bannon reportedly told a writer in 2013.
Smashing the Establishment: He aims to "bring everything crashing down and destroy all of today's establishment," including the traditional Republican Party leadership.
Vanguardism and Strategy: Analysts suggest Bannon adopted certain Leninist strategies, such as using conflict, shock tactics, and propaganda to batter opponents into submission and create a new political system. His work on Project 2025 is cited by some as a modern application of this vanguard approach to "deconstruct the administrative state".
While Lenin aimed to abolish capitalism and establish a socialist world, the objective is a right-wing populist revolution, leading to a "new founding moment in American history" based on his own principles.
Yesterday I reported that U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators were holding a second day of talks in Miami around Trump's "peace plan." A the same time, a 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS) of the United States of America, remakes the Soviet orbit.
Krasnov fealty to Putin.
The thing with all these "destroy the state" fools is: "WHAT DO YOU WANT TO REPLACE IT WHEN YOU DO?" Have yet to see a plan for something that won't destroy even their cute little bubbles.
Correct me if I'm wrong Thom, and I haven't read your book yet, but doesn't this go back further to the 1930’s, when the Oligarch’s realized they were losing their power and riches and started the unholy alliance with the evangelicals and fascists (“The Family” by Jeff Sharlett, 2009). This movement was put on hold by WW II, but resumed with a vengeance after the war. They viewed Eisenhower as a “traitor” and vowed to never again allow a Republican to be elected who might work with Democrats in perpetuating the New Deal welfare state.
Even farther back than that; Presidents Grover Cleveland and Teddy Roosevelt held the oligarchs of their time to be a major threat to democratic principles. Big Oil, Big Coal and the railroads already controlled much of the economy.
I am mystified as to how one person in one lifetime can accrue and retain so much crucial and significant information with such understanding and the ability to convey it with such amazing clarity. Our history books have been written with this book, and the others Thom has published. It is a great tragedy that they will not be utilized or appreciated by professors and teachers in our schools. They are too good, too truthful, and too thoughtful to be squeezed into ordinary and pedestrian and abstract school courses and curricula. This is the education you thought you got. The one thing that I have not yet seen enough of is the influence of bad religion, superstition, and traditional indoctrination. Thom mentions Kevin Phillips. Phillips had a book titled, "American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed money in the 21st Century". He had a sort of conversion later in his life. I don't recall much detail, but I was quite impressed by his insights and analyses and recommend the book to anyone who isn't familiar. This also brings back to mind my Substack post of a week ago on the way the right has perverted the image of liberals as pushy and malicious when they are the ones in those roles. I have urged Thom to write a piece to counteract their nasty influence. My article is entitled, "The Persistent Myths of Liberals and Atheists Imposing Their Beliefs", and subtitled, "Much Ado About Much Ado About Nothing".
I'm an 84 year old veteran who also represented the United States in the Olympic Winter Games. As a child of dust bowl immigrants I was fortunately raised in a small town near Seattle. Our public school system provided us with a good foundation regarding our state and federal government. I chose Journalism classes as part of my electives. The Report you provided today is exactly as I saw it. Nixon and Reagan quasi Birch Society members pandering to the southern racist democrats. The creation of the Federalist Society installing a litmus test for Federal Judges. The dismantling of the FCC's oversight of the public airways allowing them to become megaphones for misinformation and lies. I view the mid term elections of 2026 to be pivot-able for restatement of an America that I grew up in, served and represented internationally.
I read this and wept. At the risk of seeming obsequious your writing is brilliant and should be read by everyone. I went back to my role model, Doris Haddock (Granny D). The original playbook that laid the groundwork for what we're experiencing now was the Powell Memorandum of 1971. In 2014 I was inspired by Doris to do a mini walk in her honor. In 1999 when she was 89 she walked across the country for campaign finance reform. I was a youngster of 81 and only walked from Sarasota to Tallahassee, FL. Sadly things only got worse. Doris died at 100 a few months after Citizens United. Paraphrasing her words: The flood gates have been opened to money in politics. Everything I walked for went to jail for is gone. I fear Trump and his minions have done so much damage we won't be able to recover. I hope I'm wrong.
Chilling, with receipts, and well-written. Knowing how we "got here" should help us figure out how to get to where we really want to go. Thanks Thom!
You are always exactly right, sir. You have x-ray vision.
The movie "Wall Street" nicely summed up what Thom so articulately described in today's history lesson regarding what Trumpism is all about: Greed is good, and Wealth=power. One might suggest that we no longer have a two-party political system. Today, we have a two-economy system - the "have too muches" and the "wanna have mores." Most Americans are in the latter group.
The late George Orwell warned that Big Brother is watching. He was half right. The main difference between Orwell's fictional future and today's reality is Big Brother has been replaced by Billionaire Brother (BB). BB is not only watching, as Orwell noted, he is also actively trying to manipulate people's views of what they "need to be happy," by bombarding us 24/7 with merchandise advertising and political propaganda.
The main focus of the propaganda is to point out who/what is inhibiting their progress toward meeting their happiness needs. The BBs' MAGA movement identifies greed-is-good inhibitors as working women, racial minorities, immigrants, queers, trannies, labor unions, and radical socialist-communist libtard Democrats. For Democrats, the inhibitors to happiness are the BBs' MAGA politicians, who pursue power at any cost, and the BBs' rigged economic system takes from the worker and gives to the BBs. So far, the MAGA world has taken the BBs' bait hook, line, and sinker. And, sinking they are, as their incomes continue upward to the Billionaire Brothers' coffers at their expense.
One side note. Americans generally mistake free public education as a benefit that enables their upward economic mobility. In actual practice, it is a tool for the BBs to groom their future proletariat. Almost no public high schools teach household financial management as a semester-long course. It is most often a few lectures that overview the various ways wanna-have-mores can indenture themselves to the BB's financial institutions via credit cards, debit cards, mortgages, car loans, etc., enroute to happiness.
Liars make great salespeople.
Actually, 90+ of MAGA vote against their economic and even physical health.
And in terms of wealth, a majority of the companies in the S&P 500, are LOSERS. AI: A surprisingly small percentage of stocks create market wealth; studies show the top 2.4% to 4% of stocks generate all net gains for the entire market, while the vast majority (over 50%) underperform safe investments like Treasury bills or lose value, making individual stock picking a challenging game where most stocks are losers over their lifetime. Most owners, customers and suppliers are losers. Only a few winners skew the stats.
Trump considers all his followers as marks. Sells them crap. Nothing up his sleeve.
Nor do they teach much (Woke) history or Civics, and under Trumpian rule, we can be sure that those necessary skills and knowledge will be taught even less - if at all - for it is in the Republicans' interest to have its subjects barefoot and pregnant.
Richard, you left out barefoot and pregnant and "ignorant." It is not by accident that Trump is sabotaging the Education Dept out of existence. Most MAGA voters appear to lack critical reasoning skills. They cannot even connect the dots between Trump's criminal history, his serial bankruptcies, his lost suit for rape, his "grab-em-by-the-pussy remark, and his evangelical blessing in the Oval Office as he starts hawking Bibles.
It is hardly a coincidence that those of us who attended private schools were way ahead of our public school classmates in college. That is part of the Billionaire rigged system. We get the A's while they get the C's.
I'm also disappointed in the sell out by the Democratic Party Leadership allowing us to be here. Just the People that I recall like Harry Reid, helping end Roe, Obama not able to stop take over of SCOTUS and Citizens United. Max Baucus sell out to insurance lobby for healthcare, Manchin and Sinema filibuster reform blocking and halting voting rights...there are more I'm sure. But it strikes me that I know many names of Republicans that have brought us to a strong man leadership but less of Democratic Politicians. I want them to be called out! I want a new Democratic Party! FO consultants! We the People need to have collective solidarity to save democracy now. Kick all the bums out! But that's just my opinion.
Let's add to that list Prez Joe Biden and his AG (whose name escapes me due to intentional repression,) both of whom could at least have voiced some objections and insisted upon some justice served upon Trump's marauders, but didn't want to appear partisan - or too political.
Yes, that is my point. Dems have been complicit for some reason that I feel is worn thin…
I'm surprised you didn't mention Rush Limbaugh. This piece of poison was heard saying on the air: "I want Obama to fail". Nice guy.
Well, Captain my Captain however all the ugly racism is alive and on all the time in the White House. Saying the quiet part out loud everyday. They hate all that are not White Captain. The world knows this as well. This is what they voted for, not me. Thom this is seriously bad for all of us watching this, no matter what your color. The president is this hatred. This, I do not welcome, however, Captain. Still, I rise.
Thank You. Sharing. And swearing, praying, donating...
Krasnov has been empowered by the MAGA to harm the country and the world. The Chosen One may bring the world back to sanity and destroy the malice of the Repubs supporters of the haters.