Publicize the corruption of the "less than loyal" party/cult. There is no need to "expose" their crimes because they are so brazen and with a heavy dose of entitlement there crimes are often right out in the open but when legitimate investigations begin the scope and scale of their corruption will be jaw dropping!!! Just remember the "billionaires" are not the friends of the U.S. public but rather their mortal enemies. Tag you're it!!!
They already had one that centered around "Workers Over Billionaires". Many of the signs I've seen are about corruption---time to make them stand out.
Let's get to work. Show them and the world that we intend to prosecute and claw back what was gained from bribes, grifting, insider trading, and other criminal activities. Let SCOTUS know they are no exception. Impeach. Convict. Remove. See you in the streets.
The battle against government corruption, in the shadow of a corrupt capitalist economy, is an ongoing gargantuan struggle. To have "street cred" on corruption-fighting, Democrats have to mean what they say and follow through with meaningful action They succeed when they remove corrupt and immoral members from their ranks, like Menendez and Swalwell; they fail when they can't pass a resolution to reject AIPAC influence on primary campaigns.
You must have missed it -- but Dems, not Republicans -- have removed Menedez and Swalwell.
The last true Republican muckraker was Thomas Dewey, Republican candidate for president in 1948. Mueller was a Republican. So was Comey. Once upon a time there were Republicans like Lawrence Walsh, who prosecuted Iran Contra, who stood for the rule of law. IMHO Mueller and Cpmer were at best, duds. Mueller didn't even get a statement from Trump.
And that AIPAC stuff is code. Just because some candidate accepts a political donation doesn't mean they are owned. We, unlike Republicans, are a big tent party. We accept all opposition to this regime.
Not just corruption, but go on the offensive, stay on the offensive, don't back down, that is what the Republicans have been doing and it worked. No more of this nice guy crap of going high when they do low, that is why we have Trump.
Capitalism, worldwide, is in a failing state. America has gone from 50% of the world's GDP to less than 25%. Corruption grows in a shrinking economy. Consolidation, monopoly, and corruption blossom in a failed economic system. Start there! It ain't pretty.
Historically, the U.S. share of global GDP peaked at approximately 50% immediately following World War II.
On an international basis, China, Russia etc are just as "capitalist" traders as we are.
And I don't think we have a "shrinking" economy. For 2026, the IMF forecasts a 2.3% growth rate, down slightly due to global tensions, although Treasury officials suggest it could exceed 3%. Key drivers include consumer spending, investment, and AI data center investment.
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) (.gov)
Sometimes figures lie. Based on April projections, Macau (58.9%) and Guyana (37.2%) are experiencing the highest GDP growth rates, followed by Libya (17.5%), Palau (8.7%), and Senegal (8.3%). In terms of major economies, India (6.2%) is expanding the fastest, with Vietnam, Indonesia, Egypt, and the Philippines also showing strong growth. I don't think we should be emulating them.
What Democrats need are visual aids (like this is your brain on drugs) to emphasize and illustrate the inequality of the last four tax bills by Republican Presidents dating back to the early 1980's. Reagan, Bush the stupider and trump twice. Take a jar of peanuts to indicate the average middle class taxpayer, empty the jar into a bowl on a very small card table with folding legs located at the IRS building (with the building in the background) labeled "you and me." Then, at an adjoining conveyor belt, throw monopoly money onto the moving belt. At the end of the conveyor belt, place a giant cardboard cutout of trump with his mouth open swallowing all the money surrounded by oligarchs with their hands out, to illustrate where all the money is going. The voiceover says, " this is who gets the dollars you worked for. The tax cuts are not for you and me. And one more thing: trickle down does not, and never has, worked like the republicans claim, to lift the middle class. It has in fact, destroyed it. This format can be used for any subject. Please forward to the Lincoln Project
The general public needs to become more aware of and incessantly committed to voting for candidates who are not tied to PAC or corporate money.
Unless the politician specifically says they are not taking corporate or PAC money, “donations”, then they probably are which also means that they are open to taking “suggestions” from these people or worse—bribes.
Insisting this criteria is the only way the public can have any assurances at all that they have a true representative and not just another paid for flunky out to get what they can.
We won’t be able to change Citizens United for some time, yet, but we can at least try to go beyond what a politician tells us and take more care that he or she is really honest and will even attempt to come through with their campaign promises that we voted for.
This approach is an "absolute must-do" for all of us. No matter one's party affiliation, we as Americans must oppose the corruption of those in public office at every level. The same should be said for those in the private sector. If we are to continue to exist as an openly free, democratic republic, then we, the people, must ensure that our representatives in government operate ethically and adhere to their oaths of office! The vote is our most significant voice!
However, when governmental leadership fails to do so, i.e., they must be held accountable. That is why we have a Constitution upon which our laws and policies are based. Our current administration repeatedly has demonstrated its disdain for our Constitution and the structures we have developed to protect the rights and privileges that Americans have fought (and, yes, sometimes given their lives for) to secure over the past 250 years. The current administration has ignored America's treaties and agreements and denigrated our alliance partners, who have and still do serve to protect us from those in the world who wish us harm. In short, they have overtly failed America on every front, for the purposes of lining their pockets with $$$ by blatantly stealing our hard-earned wages/salaries and benefits through misappropriation of federal, state, and local tax dollars paid; rampant abuses of power, and flagrant disregard for laws and policies legitimately designed to ensure the basic needs of all who reside in the USA. Let us remove this abhorrent administration that has inflicted this stain on America, once and for all!
End this corruption, and put us on a solid path towards Democracy!!!
That list is a great place to start. We need to use the word "dirty" a lot because the corruption is dirty, ugly, and brutal and the way that justice and equality are undermined.
"— Red-state-level voter suppression laws — strict ID requirements, purges of voter rolls, and reduced polling access — that entrench GOP power by making it harder for poor, young, female, and minority voters to participate."
This one should get special attention. Our rates of voting have always been shamefully low. If more of the people who have been apathetic and cynically sitting on the sidelines are registered to vote and can be motivated to actively condemn and resist the corruption in these last months before the mid-terms, we can compensate for the votes lost and stolen by Republican dirty tricks.
There is only one way to clean house here and that is to start over with a clean slate of legislators who can be vetted ahead of time for links to corruption. The pass laws to prevent them from any personal gains from their office. Eliminate the temptation of money and most of the problems will go a way.
Politicians who fail to “Hammer these corrupt SOBs with their own crimes against democracy and the middle class…” reveal their own corruption. Going forward, lip service sans action is a confession, pointless pandering in service of the status quo. We simply can no longer accept that.
Agreed, Thom, but the message should be twinned. The morbidly rich live in such a vaporously high universe beyond the comprehension of even most upper middle class Americans that it is difficult for them to grasp. So simple charts and comparisons should, with dramatic videos and ads on social media, should use a formula something like "(name) got this tax break, no-bid government contract worth Y, no qualification office Z raking in $, and in each case show an example of a family that lost ACA benefits, Veterans benefits, jobs, homes, saw their average hourly wage fall or stagnate, etc. Make it personal, real, and a tradeoff. Bring it home to those likely to vote in the most concrete, easy to grasp ways possible. Use visuals, as lots of people are more visual than verbal. But numbers too, showing people starkly how as the morbidly rich rise, by defrauding, cheating, stealing, cronyism, the rest of us lose in the starkest of ways. Then maybe a non-violent revolution at the voting booth can take shape. But it has to be done clearly and hard and fast.
And where our ostensible own (though I doubt how many billionaires besides Pritzker and Soros and a couple of others can claim that) fail the test, like Swallwell, make examples of them to show how WE are utterly different from THEM. Paradoxically, we can, if we are adroit and smart, make our polarization a force for unity. We have to try.
Most importantly, realize that the current sitting Democrat Party has been purchased and corrupted. Don't listen to them, make them now instead listen to you. Make words like 'inertia', 'complicity', et al a working part of your vocabulary and apply them to revealed actual history. Demand an investigation of insider trading and the many sitting Dem pols who have become millionaires by illegal insider trading benefits. That was the grease of their slide into their sell-outs. Demand new office holders to replace the liars you have been consistently led to believe are actually doing something for meaningful change.
Publicize the corruption of the "less than loyal" party/cult. There is no need to "expose" their crimes because they are so brazen and with a heavy dose of entitlement there crimes are often right out in the open but when legitimate investigations begin the scope and scale of their corruption will be jaw dropping!!! Just remember the "billionaires" are not the friends of the U.S. public but rather their mortal enemies. Tag you're it!!!
Sue the bastards.
We need a NO KINGS devoted to this subject.....
They already had one that centered around "Workers Over Billionaires". Many of the signs I've seen are about corruption---time to make them stand out.
Let's get to work. Show them and the world that we intend to prosecute and claw back what was gained from bribes, grifting, insider trading, and other criminal activities. Let SCOTUS know they are no exception. Impeach. Convict. Remove. See you in the streets.
GREAT IDEA!
It’s perfect because it’s the truth. Donald Trump and his “administration” are in fact, the administration of corruption.
The pardons Trump has given to criminals, at grave cost to all Americans, are completely corrupt.
DJT knows this and could care not one bit.
The money owed to people (that he sent back to the pardoned criminals )
Have destroyed Native American Tribes, as one example.
He’s played fast and loose with everyone, directing the most monetary benefits to himself, his family and the wealthiest in this country.
The Republicans MAGA group is the epitome of corruption , turning their eyes away from all of Trumps misdeeds, and then , covering for him.
The Republicans MAGA group Congress members have abdicated their duties and their promise to democracy, completely.
It’s simple , corruption is the filth that has been unleashed by Trumps coalition.
Oppose it like our lives depend on it .
They do .
The battle against government corruption, in the shadow of a corrupt capitalist economy, is an ongoing gargantuan struggle. To have "street cred" on corruption-fighting, Democrats have to mean what they say and follow through with meaningful action They succeed when they remove corrupt and immoral members from their ranks, like Menendez and Swalwell; they fail when they can't pass a resolution to reject AIPAC influence on primary campaigns.
You must have missed it -- but Dems, not Republicans -- have removed Menedez and Swalwell.
The last true Republican muckraker was Thomas Dewey, Republican candidate for president in 1948. Mueller was a Republican. So was Comey. Once upon a time there were Republicans like Lawrence Walsh, who prosecuted Iran Contra, who stood for the rule of law. IMHO Mueller and Cpmer were at best, duds. Mueller didn't even get a statement from Trump.
And that AIPAC stuff is code. Just because some candidate accepts a political donation doesn't mean they are owned. We, unlike Republicans, are a big tent party. We accept all opposition to this regime.
Not just corruption, but go on the offensive, stay on the offensive, don't back down, that is what the Republicans have been doing and it worked. No more of this nice guy crap of going high when they do low, that is why we have Trump.
Capitalism, worldwide, is in a failing state. America has gone from 50% of the world's GDP to less than 25%. Corruption grows in a shrinking economy. Consolidation, monopoly, and corruption blossom in a failed economic system. Start there! It ain't pretty.
Historically, the U.S. share of global GDP peaked at approximately 50% immediately following World War II.
On an international basis, China, Russia etc are just as "capitalist" traders as we are.
And I don't think we have a "shrinking" economy. For 2026, the IMF forecasts a 2.3% growth rate, down slightly due to global tensions, although Treasury officials suggest it could exceed 3%. Key drivers include consumer spending, investment, and AI data center investment.
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) (.gov)
Sometimes figures lie. Based on April projections, Macau (58.9%) and Guyana (37.2%) are experiencing the highest GDP growth rates, followed by Libya (17.5%), Palau (8.7%), and Senegal (8.3%). In terms of major economies, India (6.2%) is expanding the fastest, with Vietnam, Indonesia, Egypt, and the Philippines also showing strong growth. I don't think we should be emulating them.
It's difficult to decide which bureaucracy to believe with Trump and Doge in charge.
What Democrats need are visual aids (like this is your brain on drugs) to emphasize and illustrate the inequality of the last four tax bills by Republican Presidents dating back to the early 1980's. Reagan, Bush the stupider and trump twice. Take a jar of peanuts to indicate the average middle class taxpayer, empty the jar into a bowl on a very small card table with folding legs located at the IRS building (with the building in the background) labeled "you and me." Then, at an adjoining conveyor belt, throw monopoly money onto the moving belt. At the end of the conveyor belt, place a giant cardboard cutout of trump with his mouth open swallowing all the money surrounded by oligarchs with their hands out, to illustrate where all the money is going. The voiceover says, " this is who gets the dollars you worked for. The tax cuts are not for you and me. And one more thing: trickle down does not, and never has, worked like the republicans claim, to lift the middle class. It has in fact, destroyed it. This format can be used for any subject. Please forward to the Lincoln Project
Thanks Mick would love to see that ad - what we have is nothing.
1st the commie-pinko GOP brothel on The Hill should be abolished.
2nd Don Gotti [a/k/a Trump] is "A Christmas Story's" Scut Farkus.
3rd the everyday citizen is Ralphie.
It's time for Ralphie to finally bloody Scut Farkus's nose.
So far, Trump-Scut has been allowed to steal, like Scut.
Scut shaking down kid's for coins, "I want to see what you got" . . . BOOM, a shot to the nose!!!
Finally, . . .
Two from Reagan:
1. Closed Insane Asylums [more $$$ for his donors], bringing us homeless everywhere, esp. jail.
2. Ronald also blew up PATCO [Air Traffic Ctrl Union], bringing us permanent, dicey skies.
#Send Barron and Eric to Bab-el-Mandeb Strait [Gate of Grief/Tears].
VOTE or panhandle outside in the winter, 24/7.
The general public needs to become more aware of and incessantly committed to voting for candidates who are not tied to PAC or corporate money.
Unless the politician specifically says they are not taking corporate or PAC money, “donations”, then they probably are which also means that they are open to taking “suggestions” from these people or worse—bribes.
Insisting this criteria is the only way the public can have any assurances at all that they have a true representative and not just another paid for flunky out to get what they can.
We won’t be able to change Citizens United for some time, yet, but we can at least try to go beyond what a politician tells us and take more care that he or she is really honest and will even attempt to come through with their campaign promises that we voted for.
This approach is an "absolute must-do" for all of us. No matter one's party affiliation, we as Americans must oppose the corruption of those in public office at every level. The same should be said for those in the private sector. If we are to continue to exist as an openly free, democratic republic, then we, the people, must ensure that our representatives in government operate ethically and adhere to their oaths of office! The vote is our most significant voice!
However, when governmental leadership fails to do so, i.e., they must be held accountable. That is why we have a Constitution upon which our laws and policies are based. Our current administration repeatedly has demonstrated its disdain for our Constitution and the structures we have developed to protect the rights and privileges that Americans have fought (and, yes, sometimes given their lives for) to secure over the past 250 years. The current administration has ignored America's treaties and agreements and denigrated our alliance partners, who have and still do serve to protect us from those in the world who wish us harm. In short, they have overtly failed America on every front, for the purposes of lining their pockets with $$$ by blatantly stealing our hard-earned wages/salaries and benefits through misappropriation of federal, state, and local tax dollars paid; rampant abuses of power, and flagrant disregard for laws and policies legitimately designed to ensure the basic needs of all who reside in the USA. Let us remove this abhorrent administration that has inflicted this stain on America, once and for all!
End this corruption, and put us on a solid path towards Democracy!!!
That list is a great place to start. We need to use the word "dirty" a lot because the corruption is dirty, ugly, and brutal and the way that justice and equality are undermined.
"— Red-state-level voter suppression laws — strict ID requirements, purges of voter rolls, and reduced polling access — that entrench GOP power by making it harder for poor, young, female, and minority voters to participate."
This one should get special attention. Our rates of voting have always been shamefully low. If more of the people who have been apathetic and cynically sitting on the sidelines are registered to vote and can be motivated to actively condemn and resist the corruption in these last months before the mid-terms, we can compensate for the votes lost and stolen by Republican dirty tricks.
Good point.
There is only one way to clean house here and that is to start over with a clean slate of legislators who can be vetted ahead of time for links to corruption. The pass laws to prevent them from any personal gains from their office. Eliminate the temptation of money and most of the problems will go a way.
Politicians who fail to “Hammer these corrupt SOBs with their own crimes against democracy and the middle class…” reveal their own corruption. Going forward, lip service sans action is a confession, pointless pandering in service of the status quo. We simply can no longer accept that.
Agreed, Thom, but the message should be twinned. The morbidly rich live in such a vaporously high universe beyond the comprehension of even most upper middle class Americans that it is difficult for them to grasp. So simple charts and comparisons should, with dramatic videos and ads on social media, should use a formula something like "(name) got this tax break, no-bid government contract worth Y, no qualification office Z raking in $, and in each case show an example of a family that lost ACA benefits, Veterans benefits, jobs, homes, saw their average hourly wage fall or stagnate, etc. Make it personal, real, and a tradeoff. Bring it home to those likely to vote in the most concrete, easy to grasp ways possible. Use visuals, as lots of people are more visual than verbal. But numbers too, showing people starkly how as the morbidly rich rise, by defrauding, cheating, stealing, cronyism, the rest of us lose in the starkest of ways. Then maybe a non-violent revolution at the voting booth can take shape. But it has to be done clearly and hard and fast.
And where our ostensible own (though I doubt how many billionaires besides Pritzker and Soros and a couple of others can claim that) fail the test, like Swallwell, make examples of them to show how WE are utterly different from THEM. Paradoxically, we can, if we are adroit and smart, make our polarization a force for unity. We have to try.
Call it what it is. Thank you! Love your work. You and Louise are amazing. ❤️🦋❤️
Most importantly, realize that the current sitting Democrat Party has been purchased and corrupted. Don't listen to them, make them now instead listen to you. Make words like 'inertia', 'complicity', et al a working part of your vocabulary and apply them to revealed actual history. Demand an investigation of insider trading and the many sitting Dem pols who have become millionaires by illegal insider trading benefits. That was the grease of their slide into their sell-outs. Demand new office holders to replace the liars you have been consistently led to believe are actually doing something for meaningful change.
What bullshit.