Trump is unique in his ability to persuade so many people to vote against their self-interest. He can attract the angry, the racists and evangelicals and get them to vote for stuff that will make them poorer and limit their lives, while enriching the already filthy rich.
There are a lot of people who are waiting for Trump to crumble. They think they can pick up his cape: Hawley, Cruz, DaSantis, and Haley, among others., None of them have shown they can keep the cult together. The rich will have to find another dancing bear to entertain the angry, lost, and confused.
Actually, the "ability to persuade so many people to vote against their self-interest" isn't unique at all. The Repubs have had that one in the bag since maybe end of Eisenhower.
I don't it's blasphemy that JC was just another country preacher until Paul turned him into status. JC preached "render unto Caesar" and "turn the other cheek" and would not understand "onward Christian soldiers." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8-I2nK0qRQ
Thank you for bringing music back into my life. I forgot how calming it is. It also brings back memories. The Simon and Garfunkel 25th Anniversary (that follows) is especially evokes memories & emotion and is pertinent to the times. We cannot continue to be “silent”.
We MUST protest the Supreme Court situation as Thom Hartmann and Hubbell have stated
The first of Simon and Garfunkel I heard was sitting on a stool in a bar, erected over the gulf of Mexico, between Biloxi and Gulfport. in 1965. The Sounds of Silence, that and the Boxer are two of my all time favorites. Simon survived the break up, not so much Garfield, but there was a magic in the duo, that was lost, and there is nothing of Simon's songs since that I care for.
I agree with Thom that when Trump is finished, his cult will dissipate. If there is a positive side of the Trump phenomenon, it is that we now see the cracks in our system. Trump found them and used them. I believe that Biden will win and that neo liberalism is finished. But where do we go from here? Do we keep riding the ups and downs in this political-economic system that keeps pumping the wealth from the mudsill class to the top? It's time for more than a New Deal within the old system. Binary politics isn't sufficient to meet the needs of this population on the verge of climate calamity.
The problem is that the cult leader becomes useful to a movement, a movement such as Project 2025, and useful to entrenched anti-institutionalists like the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society.
Gratefully Project 25 isn't a movement. A movement, like Dominion theology or white supremacy fanatics, are Trump fodder. Trump as demagogue, and as a martyr, could be as valuable in death to those groups, as he is alive.
It’s my understanding that the current so-called “Project 2025” encapsulates much of conservatism over the last couple of centuries, especially and including the unitary and powerful executive. Each time the transition project is put forward, it seeks to ensure that white Christian nationalists — proper gentlemen — not only run the government but benefit from its resources and riches. The movement, if I may, is rooted deep in the agrarian ideal of the landed white man and his Christian family and community. Interlopers — whether they are immigrants or native-born working class citizens — are the shoulders upon which this edifice stands and, thus, must be kept poor, needy, and shiftless. (I have read the entire document, and I have read widely in the history of the gentlemen’s agreement to rule and prosper.). I think trump is a useful idiot to this class.
Absolutely! Trump is a tool of likes of Koch brothers political organizations and by extension other "think tanks"such as the Heritage Foundation or other dark money interests. Reagan was a tool as well.
That's a sentence I didn't think I would ever have the opportunity to write. Yesterday's verdict is proof that hope beyond all odds isn't a total crock of shit - we (self included) should take note.
How trump's 34-count felony conviction ultimately impacts our society won't be known for many years. So it remains (and always will) that the sum of each and every one of us here in the US be the judge and jury of who or what represents true democracy. Our vote is the final verdict, and thankfully - unappealable.
Thom Hartmann's piece today is so far the clearest, simplest, and most sober analysis of "Convicted felon Donald J Trump" I have read.
The brown noses of Trump sycophants will be evident July 15-18 at the Republican convention. Will a minority be given First Amendment speech rights? Will Fox, Newsmax, et all cover them?
Another excellent and accurate assessment of the "cult" followers of Our Mad King (wannabe) Donald, but the book "The Cult of Trump" by recovered former cult follower, Steven Hassan, was published in 2019 and I wrote "The Psychology of Donald J. Trump" on the academia.edu proprietary site about that time as well. I, also, wrote an essay there about the psychology of Trump cult followers. Trump has the personality of an abandoned 2yo, which can be seen in his many thinking and behaviors characteristic of a 2 yo. I'll write about this, again, on the "Greeley's Newsletter" on substack.com for general consumption. I say this not to take anything away from Thom's excellent essay here, but, rather, as a retired psychiatrist trying to illuminate the psychological roots of Trump's thinking and behavior, as well as his cult followers. I believe that understanding Trump as a childhood trauma survivor, and its appeal to his loyal followers, changes and deepens our understanding of his political career and impact on our nation.
Your point about childhood trauma and abandonment issues is emphasizes why our society needs to eliminate poverty and support parents with childcare programs. Parents who are stressed and spread too thin with multiple jobs to support their families can't help but cause abandonment issues. I don't know what Trump's parents problems were, but they must have been the perfect storm.
I just wrote a Substack piece on "The Psychology of Donald J. Trump and his Followers". I'm a great fan of fellow physician and Budapest descendant, Gabor Mate', and especially his most recent book, "The Myth of Normal". I'm guessing that at least half the children in America are experiencing some degree of abandonment by parents, like mine were, attempting to "balance" a fulltime work, home, social, parental, etc. overburdened stressed-out life. I wrote a book about it and give it away for free as a PDF on the net, "Stress R Us". We are rearing a generation of abandoned children and the consequences will be dire, indeed, IMHO. Have a blessed and happy day!
A 2 year old is not presidential material. But perhaps those blindly following and supporting him do avidly without pause also have 2 year old mentalities.
Thanks for that! And, yes, I believe that we have created a nation of abandoned children. Consider the psychology of the 2yo: totally self-centered, grandiose, impulsive, given to tantrums when frustrated, thus, "the terrible twos".
Doc Greeley, I don't buy the nature origin of Trumps madness. I think it is genetic. Look at his father Fred, a whore monger, slum landlord,grifter, thief. Autosomal DNA is not understood by the lay person, one does not reive the same portion and alleles as a sibling, other wise all would be identical twins.
Despite being a judge Maryanne Trump had her own legal problems, including allegations of tax evasion. She obviously inherited some of the more dysfunctional alleles from Fred. then again there is cultrual DNA as well.
Two Freds who should have never been born, Fred Trump and Fred Koch, and how we suffer from their dynasty.
Trumpism is indeed a cult. It was obvious from the get go. But in the larger picture, how did the country even allow this cult to rise to such political prominence? Where were the checks and balances? We are not out of the woods. This is a warning that America’s socioeconomic system is not working. Our social policies and tax policies are destabilizing the country, creating a growing, desperate underclass with nothing to lose, willing to throw in with an obvious con man. Without a course correction another Donald Trump could rise again.
40% of the country Craig, see Trump Craig, they see Trump they see themselves, he is their avatar. That 40% shares more in common than different , unlike liberals they don't squabble over agenda's or who gets more attention. They are united in one thing, to own and beat down the liberals (leftists, socialist, commies, feminzazi's, queers, people of color, furriners. and dominate wimmin). Liberals, the left, progressives demand that their agenda, whatever it is be recognized and given prominence, and are disorganized, believing in standing on the moral high ground, not getting their hands dirty, not stooping to the level of the right, and you can see the results.
When they go low, we go high is the mantra of a loser
I don’t think this is anywhere near the end of trumpism. Too many “martyr” Goons are eager to step into the place of P1135809. Too many fascist puppets are firmly entrenched into the system. The Billionaire Gang of Fascist Puppet Masters holds the reins for the RNC—it is no longer a political party; it is an organized crime syndicate running a shadow government AND shadow foreign policy. They have their “citizens united”; they have their tax breaks; they have control of energy, food supplies and even their own currencies (crypto and cyber) . . . They have their own militias and the NRA serves to arm and destabilize people in Central, South America and the Caribbean. I have posted articles detailing all of this. Few seem to connect the dots. Hilary had it right: There is a WIDESPREAD right-wing conspiracy seeking to overthrow democracies worldwide. Russia, Saudi and the US are at the head of the Monster.
Trump is a cult but mudsill is the movement since before the Civil war w. . Muhich the goal is to make some part of the population a permanent poverty class as essential slaves. The reason is that you cannot have millionaires unless you have this class. All of a sudden all the Repubs actions make sense. They need mudsill in order to have a party partner to pay for their agenda against diversity that would destroy their pay pals for their party. Diversity and everyone living with a living income are the enemies of mudsill. It is this movement that must be defeated along with the personal cult of Trump. He is just the one they want to implement the plan of mudsill. Mudsill lives on after Trump until society rejects advantages for millionaire and billionaires on the backs of the poor.
It seems pointless to argue that MAGA is not a cult. Probably the biggest factor with Trumpism is that Hitler was 43 when he seized power; not 78. Secondly, fascists have no interest in governing; just ruling. Thirdly, as my late mentor Admiral Mike Boorda would point out, they lack an other hand. For them, every action is on the one hand - their hand. There is nobody who dares to point out the unintended negative consequences of their edicts - what is on the "other" hand. This can undermine successes that can upend master plans. Trump does not have time to waste, yet his ego has a history of resulting in floundering around rather than progressing.
That is why Presidents have advisors, to tell them what to do. And the real eminence grise is not seen or known by the public, he hides in the shadows, as Larry Summers did for Obama, and maybe for Biden.m someone told Biden to tell Zelensky that his use of weapons was restricted to defense and not to be used to attack inside Russia.
Neither Trump or Biden are omniscient or geniuses, I doubt that Trump's IQ is 100 and that Biden's is more than 120. When cabinet positions are filled, when advisors are picked, they are names placed in front of him, and depending on position, you can be sure there was some arguing, bickering and politicking going on to place those names.
I look at the other dictatorships that recovered and wonder how much in that recovery did it mean that the USA was the strong democratic Republic back stopping them. Whether through funding or just the fact of its existence. Just thinking of the possibilities and how we got here as well.
I spent a few months in 1975 in South America and met some of the Chilean college students trying to get out. It is the only place I ever experienced tear gas but it sure gave me an idea what it would be like to have to stay and live through a fascist state with a target on your back or even no options. Very scary stuff.
We should all CALL and WRITE Judge Merchan NOW and insist Trump be imprisoned for at least 4 years.
Mafia mobster Al Capone was convicted and IMPRISONED on tax evasion when he was a known killer multiple times.*
Trump needs to be imprisoned. He is a clear and present danger to our democracy, our constitution, our rule of law, our country and our world.
Merchan, Hon. Juan
Court Attorney: James Bergamo, Esq.
Courtroom: Part 59
Location: 100 Centre Street, Room 1602
646-386-4444 (accepting calls)
Telephone: 646-386-4059
Fax: 212-295-4932
*”
In the “roaring twenties,” Al Capone ruled an empire of crime in the Windy City: gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, bribery, narcotics trafficking, robbery, “protection” rackets, and murder. And it seemed that law enforcement couldn’t touch him.”
Democrats liberals keep hanging their hopes on the Muellers, Jack Smitjs, Mercans. andFani Willis's only to be disappointed.
The prosecutor and the Jury convicted Trump, not Merchan, in fact the threw more softballs, than justified. Now he gives him 45's in which to draft and submit an appeal, while touring the country and bad mouthing Merchan and the system.
If that were you or I sentencing would have been the same day, or next. Commit a crime in NY, be found guilty and see how much time you get before sentencing.
The system apologists will come up with a reason I am sure
I suspect that MAGA could embrace anyone else "blessed" or anointed by Trump's loyal inner circle. Plus anyone in Trump's family, and any billionaire who can serve up MAGA red meat rhetoric.
Whatever comes next, do not forget, Conservatives are CONning you into SERVing them.
Trump came unto the scene when the movement had morphed and radicalized evenfurther, You have heard of a solution in search of a problem, well here was Trump in search of a movement. We,or some of us forget that he was a Democrat along the lines of the pre civil rights Democratic party, and pro abortion. But there was a movement ready for the taking, and he was the taker. The movement has become a cult, in the same way that Christianity became a religion, once Constantine co opted it and turned it to his purpose of power and control, basically a unitary executive, whose reach included the mind and emotions in the form of religion.
The movement, Christianity, outlived Constantine the MAGAt movement will outlive Trump, and Trump will model his reign,if he and the Republican party succeeds with their steal the vote plan,on Kim Jong Un, and set Jr up as his successor,, or try to.
Once the MAGAt cult achieves their goal, of total domination of society, then Trump will become a figured head like King Charles. There is way to muchmoney and power behind that wannabe throne, unless Trump can pull of a Hitler, form his own Schutz staffel, on second thought Bannon is waiting in the wings as the new Heinrich Himmler. Who will be his Joseph Goebbels. Musk is his Fritz Thyssen.
You could include tolerance of hypocrisy. Trump claims he wants to reduce the purchase of Chinese goods and reward American production. However, a Chinese friend tells me that Trump buys all of his paraphernalia from a factory in China where the exploited employees work for barely subsistence wages.
It is important to not inadvertanly lionize "cults" with too much attention and especially mystifycation. Firstly, people are not lured into cults by some drifting mist borne from a deep swamp, full moon voodoo curse. Perhaps the biggest mystery is why people regard it as a mystery.
People who are prone to finding a cult attractive are people who are disaffected, disappointed, dispirited, worn out from worry, particularly those exhausted from longterm stress and see little remedy tangibly available, ending up hopeless. A cult provides all the answers, just sit back, the leader makes all the decisions. Why has cultism grown so exponencially? America's sufferings and hardships have progressed coordinate with cultisms' growth. People's prospects in our society are now so uneven in opportunities below the lucre rich line, and it is progressing worse. You cannot eliminate stress from the equation, nor can you minimize it by comparing people to say 'hey, my brother and sister were stressed equally, she made it . . . People vary on their ability to handle stress. People prone to addiction are also more likely to find a cult an emotional panacea. Addiction is growning as cultism is growing. Never include people taking meds for stress as example because they are entrapped into short-lived relief and must keep coming back--the perfect $$$ storm for big pharms. Promising them cure is a lie, the center of all cults is a lie machine. Big pharma is it's own cult, promising salvation while fleecing bigly. People in Trump's cult want their burdens lifted and see Trump as their savior. They ignore his lies like all culltists forgive their leader, and in Trump's case, when lies are increasingly exposed, they elevate him into high spiritual status, Moses, Jesus. Stay strong, they are just jealous, they just hate. Very normal cult action. Most minor cults don't do much overt proscelitizing, they just open their doors and wait. Fodder prospects now, the land is full. They are busy, having more recruits now elevated by cult leader into graduated professional enablers (in Trump's cult, ambitious GOP ass-kissers, answerable only to the leader, as In all cults). BTW, don't look to call cults, by medical standards, a disease. Pharmas love to find new diseases--new disease, new pill, new $. They are certainly not above being unlimitedly greedy while hiding behind "science". Lies are not cured by meds.
Gerald, if I understand you, you are blaming cults on economic stress
The MAGAts, for sure feel that they are under stress, because them damn "n"'s are now their equal, women demand and have sovereignty over their own body, the white race so they believe is headed towards extinction , and LGBT are out of the closet, loud and proud, and have the same rights as do they..
IOE they are stressed because they have lost social control. Trump gave them back that control, so the believe, and governors like Rhonda Santis are beating their enemies bloody, on a daily basis.
From what I have seen and heard of the MAGAts, none of them are economically stressed, and so many can afford to fly around the country, to show up again and again at his rally's, and on Jan 6th in D.C.
William, I replied to your post, but failed to encase it in the proper reply box. It is out there, I know you will find and recognize it. You don't miss much
Trump is unique in his ability to persuade so many people to vote against their self-interest. He can attract the angry, the racists and evangelicals and get them to vote for stuff that will make them poorer and limit their lives, while enriching the already filthy rich.
There are a lot of people who are waiting for Trump to crumble. They think they can pick up his cape: Hawley, Cruz, DaSantis, and Haley, among others., None of them have shown they can keep the cult together. The rich will have to find another dancing bear to entertain the angry, lost, and confused.
Actually, the "ability to persuade so many people to vote against their self-interest" isn't unique at all. The Repubs have had that one in the bag since maybe end of Eisenhower.
Unique? Orange antichrist!
I don't it's blasphemy that JC was just another country preacher until Paul turned him into status. JC preached "render unto Caesar" and "turn the other cheek" and would not understand "onward Christian soldiers." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8-I2nK0qRQ
Thank you for bringing music back into my life. I forgot how calming it is. It also brings back memories. The Simon and Garfunkel 25th Anniversary (that follows) is especially evokes memories & emotion and is pertinent to the times. We cannot continue to be “silent”.
We MUST protest the Supreme Court situation as Thom Hartmann and Hubbell have stated
The first of Simon and Garfunkel I heard was sitting on a stool in a bar, erected over the gulf of Mexico, between Biloxi and Gulfport. in 1965. The Sounds of Silence, that and the Boxer are two of my all time favorites. Simon survived the break up, not so much Garfield, but there was a magic in the duo, that was lost, and there is nothing of Simon's songs since that I care for.
Too much of what passes for Christianity is not terrifically Christian, as it follows Paul more than Jesus, a man Paul never met.
I’m not a fan of Saul/Paul. Misogynistic autocratic little twit.
My two cents, Render unto Caesar was injected by Piso or a Caesarian representative.
Paul, no se existe, twas styled, along with IHSus on Apolonnius of Tyanna.
Trump is only able to be this successful due to social media and the ability to project his victimized state with his followers that then do the same.
I agree with Thom that when Trump is finished, his cult will dissipate. If there is a positive side of the Trump phenomenon, it is that we now see the cracks in our system. Trump found them and used them. I believe that Biden will win and that neo liberalism is finished. But where do we go from here? Do we keep riding the ups and downs in this political-economic system that keeps pumping the wealth from the mudsill class to the top? It's time for more than a New Deal within the old system. Binary politics isn't sufficient to meet the needs of this population on the verge of climate calamity.
Indeed, we need to look at the various methods the predatory elite have used since the 1970s for the upward transfer of wealth.
Is it not curious that no university has a course studying the causes of economic inequality?
The problem is that the cult leader becomes useful to a movement, a movement such as Project 2025, and useful to entrenched anti-institutionalists like the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society.
Gratefully Project 25 isn't a movement. A movement, like Dominion theology or white supremacy fanatics, are Trump fodder. Trump as demagogue, and as a martyr, could be as valuable in death to those groups, as he is alive.
It’s my understanding that the current so-called “Project 2025” encapsulates much of conservatism over the last couple of centuries, especially and including the unitary and powerful executive. Each time the transition project is put forward, it seeks to ensure that white Christian nationalists — proper gentlemen — not only run the government but benefit from its resources and riches. The movement, if I may, is rooted deep in the agrarian ideal of the landed white man and his Christian family and community. Interlopers — whether they are immigrants or native-born working class citizens — are the shoulders upon which this edifice stands and, thus, must be kept poor, needy, and shiftless. (I have read the entire document, and I have read widely in the history of the gentlemen’s agreement to rule and prosper.). I think trump is a useful idiot to this class.
Absolutely! Trump is a tool of likes of Koch brothers political organizations and by extension other "think tanks"such as the Heritage Foundation or other dark money interests. Reagan was a tool as well.
Convicted felon Donald J Trump.
That's a sentence I didn't think I would ever have the opportunity to write. Yesterday's verdict is proof that hope beyond all odds isn't a total crock of shit - we (self included) should take note.
How trump's 34-count felony conviction ultimately impacts our society won't be known for many years. So it remains (and always will) that the sum of each and every one of us here in the US be the judge and jury of who or what represents true democracy. Our vote is the final verdict, and thankfully - unappealable.
Thom Hartmann's piece today is so far the clearest, simplest, and most sober analysis of "Convicted felon Donald J Trump" I have read.
The brown noses of Trump sycophants will be evident July 15-18 at the Republican convention. Will a minority be given First Amendment speech rights? Will Fox, Newsmax, et all cover them?
So far, we’re not talking about what will happen at the first debate — unless I missed something and he called it off already …
Another excellent and accurate assessment of the "cult" followers of Our Mad King (wannabe) Donald, but the book "The Cult of Trump" by recovered former cult follower, Steven Hassan, was published in 2019 and I wrote "The Psychology of Donald J. Trump" on the academia.edu proprietary site about that time as well. I, also, wrote an essay there about the psychology of Trump cult followers. Trump has the personality of an abandoned 2yo, which can be seen in his many thinking and behaviors characteristic of a 2 yo. I'll write about this, again, on the "Greeley's Newsletter" on substack.com for general consumption. I say this not to take anything away from Thom's excellent essay here, but, rather, as a retired psychiatrist trying to illuminate the psychological roots of Trump's thinking and behavior, as well as his cult followers. I believe that understanding Trump as a childhood trauma survivor, and its appeal to his loyal followers, changes and deepens our understanding of his political career and impact on our nation.
Your point about childhood trauma and abandonment issues is emphasizes why our society needs to eliminate poverty and support parents with childcare programs. Parents who are stressed and spread too thin with multiple jobs to support their families can't help but cause abandonment issues. I don't know what Trump's parents problems were, but they must have been the perfect storm.
I just wrote a Substack piece on "The Psychology of Donald J. Trump and his Followers". I'm a great fan of fellow physician and Budapest descendant, Gabor Mate', and especially his most recent book, "The Myth of Normal". I'm guessing that at least half the children in America are experiencing some degree of abandonment by parents, like mine were, attempting to "balance" a fulltime work, home, social, parental, etc. overburdened stressed-out life. I wrote a book about it and give it away for free as a PDF on the net, "Stress R Us". We are rearing a generation of abandoned children and the consequences will be dire, indeed, IMHO. Have a blessed and happy day!
A 2 year old is not presidential material. But perhaps those blindly following and supporting him do avidly without pause also have 2 year old mentalities.
Look forward to reading your publications.
Thanks for that! And, yes, I believe that we have created a nation of abandoned children. Consider the psychology of the 2yo: totally self-centered, grandiose, impulsive, given to tantrums when frustrated, thus, "the terrible twos".
And which partially accounts for the increase in drug and alcohol addiction. We need more mental health.
Doc Greeley, I don't buy the nature origin of Trumps madness. I think it is genetic. Look at his father Fred, a whore monger, slum landlord,grifter, thief. Autosomal DNA is not understood by the lay person, one does not reive the same portion and alleles as a sibling, other wise all would be identical twins.
Despite being a judge Maryanne Trump had her own legal problems, including allegations of tax evasion. She obviously inherited some of the more dysfunctional alleles from Fred. then again there is cultrual DNA as well.
Two Freds who should have never been born, Fred Trump and Fred Koch, and how we suffer from their dynasty.
Trumpism is indeed a cult. It was obvious from the get go. But in the larger picture, how did the country even allow this cult to rise to such political prominence? Where were the checks and balances? We are not out of the woods. This is a warning that America’s socioeconomic system is not working. Our social policies and tax policies are destabilizing the country, creating a growing, desperate underclass with nothing to lose, willing to throw in with an obvious con man. Without a course correction another Donald Trump could rise again.
40% of the country Craig, see Trump Craig, they see Trump they see themselves, he is their avatar. That 40% shares more in common than different , unlike liberals they don't squabble over agenda's or who gets more attention. They are united in one thing, to own and beat down the liberals (leftists, socialist, commies, feminzazi's, queers, people of color, furriners. and dominate wimmin). Liberals, the left, progressives demand that their agenda, whatever it is be recognized and given prominence, and are disorganized, believing in standing on the moral high ground, not getting their hands dirty, not stooping to the level of the right, and you can see the results.
When they go low, we go high is the mantra of a loser
Charm? Seriously! A cesspool fungus has more appeal than this sleazy creature!
I see that, but many people adore him. It's always bewildered me.
I don’t think this is anywhere near the end of trumpism. Too many “martyr” Goons are eager to step into the place of P1135809. Too many fascist puppets are firmly entrenched into the system. The Billionaire Gang of Fascist Puppet Masters holds the reins for the RNC—it is no longer a political party; it is an organized crime syndicate running a shadow government AND shadow foreign policy. They have their “citizens united”; they have their tax breaks; they have control of energy, food supplies and even their own currencies (crypto and cyber) . . . They have their own militias and the NRA serves to arm and destabilize people in Central, South America and the Caribbean. I have posted articles detailing all of this. Few seem to connect the dots. Hilary had it right: There is a WIDESPREAD right-wing conspiracy seeking to overthrow democracies worldwide. Russia, Saudi and the US are at the head of the Monster.
Trump is a cult but mudsill is the movement since before the Civil war w. . Muhich the goal is to make some part of the population a permanent poverty class as essential slaves. The reason is that you cannot have millionaires unless you have this class. All of a sudden all the Repubs actions make sense. They need mudsill in order to have a party partner to pay for their agenda against diversity that would destroy their pay pals for their party. Diversity and everyone living with a living income are the enemies of mudsill. It is this movement that must be defeated along with the personal cult of Trump. He is just the one they want to implement the plan of mudsill. Mudsill lives on after Trump until society rejects advantages for millionaire and billionaires on the backs of the poor.
Well said.
It seems pointless to argue that MAGA is not a cult. Probably the biggest factor with Trumpism is that Hitler was 43 when he seized power; not 78. Secondly, fascists have no interest in governing; just ruling. Thirdly, as my late mentor Admiral Mike Boorda would point out, they lack an other hand. For them, every action is on the one hand - their hand. There is nobody who dares to point out the unintended negative consequences of their edicts - what is on the "other" hand. This can undermine successes that can upend master plans. Trump does not have time to waste, yet his ego has a history of resulting in floundering around rather than progressing.
That is why Presidents have advisors, to tell them what to do. And the real eminence grise is not seen or known by the public, he hides in the shadows, as Larry Summers did for Obama, and maybe for Biden.m someone told Biden to tell Zelensky that his use of weapons was restricted to defense and not to be used to attack inside Russia.
Neither Trump or Biden are omniscient or geniuses, I doubt that Trump's IQ is 100 and that Biden's is more than 120. When cabinet positions are filled, when advisors are picked, they are names placed in front of him, and depending on position, you can be sure there was some arguing, bickering and politicking going on to place those names.
I look at the other dictatorships that recovered and wonder how much in that recovery did it mean that the USA was the strong democratic Republic back stopping them. Whether through funding or just the fact of its existence. Just thinking of the possibilities and how we got here as well.
I spent a few months in 1975 in South America and met some of the Chilean college students trying to get out. It is the only place I ever experienced tear gas but it sure gave me an idea what it would be like to have to stay and live through a fascist state with a target on your back or even no options. Very scary stuff.
ps. Love your writing.
We should all CALL and WRITE Judge Merchan NOW and insist Trump be imprisoned for at least 4 years.
Mafia mobster Al Capone was convicted and IMPRISONED on tax evasion when he was a known killer multiple times.*
Trump needs to be imprisoned. He is a clear and present danger to our democracy, our constitution, our rule of law, our country and our world.
Merchan, Hon. Juan
Court Attorney: James Bergamo, Esq.
Courtroom: Part 59
Location: 100 Centre Street, Room 1602
646-386-4444 (accepting calls)
Telephone: 646-386-4059
Fax: 212-295-4932
*”
In the “roaring twenties,” Al Capone ruled an empire of crime in the Windy City: gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, bribery, narcotics trafficking, robbery, “protection” rackets, and murder. And it seemed that law enforcement couldn’t touch him.”
https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/al-capone
Democrats liberals keep hanging their hopes on the Muellers, Jack Smitjs, Mercans. andFani Willis's only to be disappointed.
The prosecutor and the Jury convicted Trump, not Merchan, in fact the threw more softballs, than justified. Now he gives him 45's in which to draft and submit an appeal, while touring the country and bad mouthing Merchan and the system.
If that were you or I sentencing would have been the same day, or next. Commit a crime in NY, be found guilty and see how much time you get before sentencing.
The system apologists will come up with a reason I am sure
I suspect that MAGA could embrace anyone else "blessed" or anointed by Trump's loyal inner circle. Plus anyone in Trump's family, and any billionaire who can serve up MAGA red meat rhetoric.
Whatever comes next, do not forget, Conservatives are CONning you into SERVing them.
Trump came unto the scene when the movement had morphed and radicalized evenfurther, You have heard of a solution in search of a problem, well here was Trump in search of a movement. We,or some of us forget that he was a Democrat along the lines of the pre civil rights Democratic party, and pro abortion. But there was a movement ready for the taking, and he was the taker. The movement has become a cult, in the same way that Christianity became a religion, once Constantine co opted it and turned it to his purpose of power and control, basically a unitary executive, whose reach included the mind and emotions in the form of religion.
The movement, Christianity, outlived Constantine the MAGAt movement will outlive Trump, and Trump will model his reign,if he and the Republican party succeeds with their steal the vote plan,on Kim Jong Un, and set Jr up as his successor,, or try to.
Once the MAGAt cult achieves their goal, of total domination of society, then Trump will become a figured head like King Charles. There is way to muchmoney and power behind that wannabe throne, unless Trump can pull of a Hitler, form his own Schutz staffel, on second thought Bannon is waiting in the wings as the new Heinrich Himmler. Who will be his Joseph Goebbels. Musk is his Fritz Thyssen.
You could include tolerance of hypocrisy. Trump claims he wants to reduce the purchase of Chinese goods and reward American production. However, a Chinese friend tells me that Trump buys all of his paraphernalia from a factory in China where the exploited employees work for barely subsistence wages.
It is important to not inadvertanly lionize "cults" with too much attention and especially mystifycation. Firstly, people are not lured into cults by some drifting mist borne from a deep swamp, full moon voodoo curse. Perhaps the biggest mystery is why people regard it as a mystery.
People who are prone to finding a cult attractive are people who are disaffected, disappointed, dispirited, worn out from worry, particularly those exhausted from longterm stress and see little remedy tangibly available, ending up hopeless. A cult provides all the answers, just sit back, the leader makes all the decisions. Why has cultism grown so exponencially? America's sufferings and hardships have progressed coordinate with cultisms' growth. People's prospects in our society are now so uneven in opportunities below the lucre rich line, and it is progressing worse. You cannot eliminate stress from the equation, nor can you minimize it by comparing people to say 'hey, my brother and sister were stressed equally, she made it . . . People vary on their ability to handle stress. People prone to addiction are also more likely to find a cult an emotional panacea. Addiction is growning as cultism is growing. Never include people taking meds for stress as example because they are entrapped into short-lived relief and must keep coming back--the perfect $$$ storm for big pharms. Promising them cure is a lie, the center of all cults is a lie machine. Big pharma is it's own cult, promising salvation while fleecing bigly. People in Trump's cult want their burdens lifted and see Trump as their savior. They ignore his lies like all culltists forgive their leader, and in Trump's case, when lies are increasingly exposed, they elevate him into high spiritual status, Moses, Jesus. Stay strong, they are just jealous, they just hate. Very normal cult action. Most minor cults don't do much overt proscelitizing, they just open their doors and wait. Fodder prospects now, the land is full. They are busy, having more recruits now elevated by cult leader into graduated professional enablers (in Trump's cult, ambitious GOP ass-kissers, answerable only to the leader, as In all cults). BTW, don't look to call cults, by medical standards, a disease. Pharmas love to find new diseases--new disease, new pill, new $. They are certainly not above being unlimitedly greedy while hiding behind "science". Lies are not cured by meds.
Gerald, if I understand you, you are blaming cults on economic stress
The MAGAts, for sure feel that they are under stress, because them damn "n"'s are now their equal, women demand and have sovereignty over their own body, the white race so they believe is headed towards extinction , and LGBT are out of the closet, loud and proud, and have the same rights as do they..
IOE they are stressed because they have lost social control. Trump gave them back that control, so the believe, and governors like Rhonda Santis are beating their enemies bloody, on a daily basis.
From what I have seen and heard of the MAGAts, none of them are economically stressed, and so many can afford to fly around the country, to show up again and again at his rally's, and on Jan 6th in D.C.
William, I replied to your post, but failed to encase it in the proper reply box. It is out there, I know you will find and recognize it. You don't miss much
i agree....the disease needs a name to make it more real.....then our benevolent healthcare system can advertize and sell dubious therapies