The bottom line is that we — as a nation, voluntarily or involuntarily — have now had the full Republican experience. Which is why we’re no longer listening to the Republican politicians’ BS…
This is a wonderfully put together report from Thom Hartmann, to remind us what has been done to this country by the repubs, and what we can expect if they succeed in coming elections. Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest.
Brilliant summary Thom. How do we put this information into talking points the media will report on and the average voter can understand? I am sending postcards to Dems in swing states to encourage them to vote, and will try to turn some of your multi-course palette of facts into quick bites to fit on a postcard.
45 is in a class by himself, the Pied Piper leading lemmings to drown. Let's hope they don't take the country with them. The greed and hypocrisy just shock me.
Thanks. I do hope several tens of millions of voters will understand the situation the way you so nicely bit so depressingly described it. Vote BLUE or go down in hell with that orange racist fascist and rapist demented trump! Do not say you did not know!
No way seventy (70) million Americans. You need a shot of Hopium.
Simon sayz that things are looking up. "It has been our core argument here for many months that as voters engaged, and came to understand the choice of Biden successful and good President vs. Trump the ugliest political thing we’ve ever seen, things would improve for us. It’s been my view that it was likely Trump’s thundering guilty verdict would move the election a bit towards Biden, but that it would take a while as voters needed time to process the news. So while most of the polling this first-week post-felony verdict continued to find a toss-up race with little movement, that we now have a series of polls showing Biden making gains is notable and encouraging.
"Murdoch’s team went into overdrive defending Trump this week. The intensity of their efforts suggests they are seeing this movement and erosion in their internal polling."
Meanwhile, millions of unregistered folk trend heavily Democratic. At this point we still have the capacity to sweep. Millions of unregistered folk trend Democratic. Register Democrats and sweep.
Moreover, groups like the DNC can identify voters who are "persuadable." Our most successful openings:
“Excuse me, can you help me save our democracy? I’m registering Democrats to vote.”
“Good morning! Can I register you as a Democrat today?”
Or connect on the issues:
“Excuse me, can you help me fight for abortion rights today?”
“Hello, can you help me fight for civil rights?”
“Hi! Can you help us save the environment?”
“Good morning, can you help me save Social Security and Medicare?”
“Can you help me fight for affordable healthcare?”
If someone shows interest, follow up with:
“Great! I’m registering Democrats to vote! Are you a citizen?”
...and start registering them right away! Make these your own!
And once you register someone, ask them:
If they’d like to get handy election reminders
If they’d like to volunteer with us to help register Democrats
If they’d like help with voting – if so, introduce them to BlueVoterGuide.org – the progressive voter guide that turns your sample ballot into a simple ballot. And have them aim their phone’s camera at the QR code: https://voterizer.org/
If you encounter MAGATs, "Trump hates dogs" and "So you support stealing from kids with cancer" bring tears to their eyes.
The hard part of this realization is to get people to encourage voters to VOTE FOR BIDEN, because the current system offers us a choice between two — Trump or Biden. A choice between the world you described, Thom, and the POSSIBILITY of holding onto the remains of our democracy and actually working to make changes for the better … We do not have a third choice, no matter how hard we want to deny that reality.
But the other reality is, the Biden choice keep options alive that will be dashed, if we let Trump usher in his Fascist regime.
The Reagan years were the era that put the Republican agenda into play in a wholesale manner — Reagan, GHW Bush, Bill Barr, Newt Gingrich … And, yes, they were running a version of the Powell philosophy, but don’t forget which group put it all together and provided a “game plan,” the same entity that is game-planning their next step…The Heritage Society, and their Project 2025.
Some folks here have been criticizing the [very much “center,” not so very “Left”} US democracy for a lot of years for its willingness to embrace a completely non-nuanced “anticommunist” stance on foreign policy, promoting WAY too much empire-building and interference in the emergence of new democracies around the planet that were deemed not “capitalist” enough …
NOW, we have to recognize that, domestically at least, the Left and “Center Left” are our only hope for keeping our OWN democracy afloat.
They are NOT perfect — I hate how we destabilized new governments around the world in favor of predatory capitalists — but the Republican agenda is NOT to retain an actual democracy. They are intent on autocracy, and it might look like Orban or it might look like Putin, but it’s all the same. There’s not a hair’s distance between a modern Fascist Autocracy and a “Communist” one. They all rule by the fist, and they control everything to the benefit of the Oligarchs that keep the ruler in power.
So, who is more likely to preside over a country that we CAN work to make more responsive to OUR people AND to people around the world?
Well said Pat. Political labels are handy tools, no doubt,but I am having trouble with them, as I find they don't describe me. It seems that the idea is that one must swallow the whole pie, and be ideologically pure,according to some ones or a consensus definition, making me wonder who is the decider on ideological purity.
A good example is Biden's position on immigration, it seems some loud mouths have usurped what is and is not liberal,and their foolish position is that if you don't take an open borders stance then you are a fascist or fellow traveler, and that isn't true, the situation is very complex, and in many ways migrants from Mexico, Central and South America are natural allies of our right wing because they are conservative, culturally conservative and very religious.
As I say over and over again. A broken clock is right twice a day. Ex: Trump says the media is the enemy of the people. he is right, if it weren't for the media we would not have Trump, and he gets more free air time than any other politician. Who was it that said, there is no such thing as bad press.
Trump wants to defund the FBI which he calls the enemy of the people, yet the FBI devoted it's resources to investigating the left (BLM and antifa) while the Proud Boys and Congress critters were plotting and organizing a coup.
And I will wager that the FBI, was is a very conservative institution still concentrates on the left, not the right.
My point is that a person can be a progressive without being a Marxist, or without swallowing the poison or eating the whole pie, but there is little stomach for that it seems, ideological purity is demanded, the result is that we are in disarray, and that leads to a Republican sweep and Trump 47.
There is no reason that the polls should be this tight, considering what Trump is and has done.
There is only two reasons.
1. The poll are dishonest and there is a financial motive for promoting the horse race, or an ideological motive behind the polls (Rasmussen comes to mind)
2. Americans are asleep at the switch and I blame the media for that. And there motives are financial and/or ideological.
I don't like one month before sentencing either. Luckily I'm not sure how the court process works, what do most people who get found guilty get to walk out of the courtroom without being sentenced? Now Trump has avoided his pee test, because he took his orders of terms of probation,apparently flying down to Mar-A-lardo Florida. I would have liked to heard the results of that test considering he was in Las Vegas the day before in 110° weather wearing a jacket? I'm in a heatwave here in Arizona. The news is saying we are having July weather in June. I hope judge Merchan sentences Donald the same way he would anyone else with an unrepentant attitude. I think being spoiled rotten with material possessions is actually worse for a person's character than growing up in dire poverty?
Trump is obviously not aware that we can see the symptoms of his profound mental illness.
He lacks any ability to have insight regarding his own disturbed personality.
His Narcissistic Personality Disorder allows him to believe his lies about his criminality,
Apparently his supporters suffer from the same inability to see reality as well.
Trumps need for revenge is also part of his covering for his own lies.
The fact that he can seriously deny things that twenty other people have seen and in some cases videoed is not genius , but in some way he is trying to convince himself of his own lies.
I sincerely hope that Judge Merchan is able to deal with this with the same level of clear professionalism that he exhibited throughout the trial.
Donald Trump must have jail time . He was a terribly behaved defendant who attacked people including the Judge and his family every day with lies and accusations that were based on Trumps personal twisted beliefs , not reality .
He violated his gag order endlessly . He railed against the justice system.
And incited his followers to do the same. Tell me if another defendant responded in the same manner that he’d be tolerated and excused.
The answer is no . If Trump is not above the law , and he is not.
Then jail him like any other menacing defendant would be.
Even if he doesn’t learn something maybe we’d all get to see Justice in action.
I fear that Merchan and police authorities in NY are fearful of what will happen to them if he gets elected. I don't expect the law to be upheld, and I don't expect he will see 1 minute in confinement, not even in Mar a lago, and the probation officer will take the heat for letting him off. And Probation?
Probation happens when you are released early, not before sentencing. Something is rotten in Denmark,and again the media, even MSNBC is asleep at the switch.
Trump just told the crowd in Nevada today,in sweltering heat, that he doesn't care about them all he cares about is their vote, and they cheered. He old one guy to commit suicide rather than vote for Biden.
Pat you are 100% correct in my humble opinion. The difference between Hitler and the Kings of the dark ages is only the width of a hair also in my opinion. On July 11th if judge Merchant sentences Trump to prison for a long time and his followers start shooting the place up, it will be better to do it now then after Trump gets control of the military! I think that judge is our best hope of avoiding another Hitler?
Bob, my question is why is Merchan giving him over a month before sentencing, If it were you and I, we would be sentenced the same day. All of thse Jan 6 felons are given a month or more before sentencing and allowed to go home and do damage. Look at Steve Bannon, sentence to prison, finally, but given a month before being told to REPORT to prison. If it were you or me, we would be in handcuffs and carted off the same day.
Cowardice,, corruption or complicity on the part of the judges.
That Trump was found guilty in Merchan's court is not because of him, but in spite of him.
The DA did a bang up job with evidence and witnesses.
I tend to agree that a number of events pre-election stand to seriously materially effect how things play out, and not the least of them is the judge’s choice of sentence …
I am wondering if the debate will come off this month as well — getting close. I do want it to happen. Hope it does. Hope the outcome is good for the good guys.
WOW! You really hit the ball outta da park with this essay, Thom! Great comments, too. I have done my level best, as a retired psychiatrist, to let folks know that Our Mad King Donald is, well, mad as a hatter, and in no way should ever serve as the president of the US. He is a lifelong professional grifter, a spoiled brat, and mentally ill to boot. Your take down of the GQP casts a much broader and much needed net, and we should all be grateful for all of your hard work! God help us! VOTE BLUE!
Stopping the continuation of the Reagan Revolution will require stopping the locomotives of Trump, Project 2025, and Republican election interference, as well as Republican voter intimidation and purposeful discouragement. I hope to God that you are right, but I am seriously worried for the future of this country. I am not heartened by the average voter's complete ignorance and simplemindedness.
Most Americans dwell on themselves way too much. While the world burns around them! They didn't graduate from college or they were too busy working to pay attention to world events are the most common excuses I hear. I didn't go to college, and I worked usually 60 hours a week so I don't buy those excuses. The way it really works, is is that, either everyone prospers or everyone in society suffers. We are all in this together, it isn't just about me ism!
There are three ways to raise a child, the right way, the wrong way and not at all. Not at all is better than the wrong way! Racism, religious hatred, hatred, dishonesty, criminality, insanity, ignorance and
sadism can be taught and is almost always taught, and it must be condoned in many churches!
If these ungrateful right wing feudalism lovers vote for a dictator, they deserve one. They need the full experience of poverty, hunger, homelessness, no freedoms and being drug off to war! Buckle up it's going to be a bumpy ride!
Nancy MacLean's book "Democracy in Chains" also gives an enlightening view of the ultra-conservative forces attempting to destroy democracy and put the Plutocrats in charge. A must-read book.
Yes, indeed! I read this in 2017, and learned that the right-wing got into gear undermining democracy since the 1950’s. Brown vs The Board of Education got the ball rolling.
The Repub promise of cheap labor would make American's rich and give immigrants and opportunity to reach for the skies. But cheap labor is essentially slavery and the Repubs want more than half of American's to be in the column of poverty which they have achieved at only 44% now being in the middle class when in 1980 it was 2/3. This goal they have achieved is all you need to know and tell everyone else just exactly what the Repubs vision as gotten us.
I’d love to see President Joe Biden read this column on television, and repost it on social media - and, its message hammered by prominent Democrats repeatedly until the next election. Franklin Roosevelt’s “Fireside Chats” calmed, informed, and helped change the nation (and dispel right-wing propaganda) during the Great Depression and World War ll. We desperately need a twenty-first century multi-media version of FDR’s chats implemented - the sooner the better. The massive and relentless decades-long, right-wing media campaign of propaganda, misinformation, and outright lies needs to be countered in full force. Bravo, Thom Hartmann, for another insightful and informative column. Every American should read this one!
Noonan wrote a WSJ column today called "We Are Starting To Enjoy Our Hatred" and the Washington Journal program asked the C-Span crowd what they thought about that idea. I don't think anyone really told it like it is and how that happened. Thom sure knows how to.
First of all she is a Republican writing for Murdoch's news empire, so I'd say speak for yourself. The Republicans sold out to hate-oriented right wing talk radio, hate-filled evangelicals, hate-mongering FOX, and now hate-personified Donald Trump.
I don't waste my time on hatred and neither do most Democrats I know. We have very sincerely tried to talk this out with MAGA Republicans. The gift of the truth and what needs to be done is something they do not enjoy or openly receive---not even from the best of their very own.
Really have had enough of the BS, greedy rich bastards, failed programs and policies, murder of the planet, radio/TV hatred, and finally Donald Trump. He has added insult to injury in every way possible. I say again he is hatred personified, and a lot of Republicans LOVE him.
Allis, but we do hate. In our self righteousness we hate those that oppose us, or who don't jump on, or who have jumped off our bandwagon.
I consider myself a progressive. I "believe" (I hate that word as it is inaccurate) in DEI, CRT, Equal rights, freedom from hunger, fear, exposure (the people FDR called a necessitas man), but I don't swallow the whole litany of leftist issues and causes, I prefer to form my own opinions. and I question everything., thus not ideologically pure
Glad you speak your mind on this. I just don't think when you try to educate folks, you do that because you hate them, William.
My point is that hate is literally their stock and trade now. It was not before the '80's. This was not accidental, it was completely by design using how hate and fear works in a conservative brain.
The crucial need for spreading the word cannot be over-emphacized. Many, many Americans sit in their homes, riven with fear, watching their TV screen loaded with manufactured messaging, and because they are home, largely alone, they conceive that resistance against the constant propaganda is an impossible gesture, a dangerous option. Because they are largely disconnected, it is them, alone, against the whole fear- mongering fascist threat. When they are reached out to, seeing they are not alone, things change internally. The key here is human contact, countering a politically loaded TV screen. Knock, knock, knock.
Well said Gerald. You are so correct. Americans are isolated, they are snails that live in their own shell, well white Americans, and alienated and disconnected Americans. Black Americans are,a best I can see, a lot more social than white Americans and thus had a higher percentage rate of COVID
My childhood was in the 40's and 50's, no TV, no cell phones, we played monopoly on the porch with playmates, we played base ball and pom pom pull a way on the streets. we played hop scotch on sidewalks,and we got in trouble as gangs. If a park was nearby we explored it, if a creek ran through it we searched for the mouth and the exit. We went swimming in swimming holes, not thinking of pollution and bolstered or immune system.
Today they are addicted to a small screen and computer games. even us adults, where would substack be without our addiction?
Terrific report. Should be published in the opinion section of every newspaper in the land.
I would add that the GOP billionaire donor class has tricked the nation so well, that we are now teetering on the brink of GOP spawned, fascism. They have used the boiling frog principle to take us there, one increment at a time.
Malignant narcissist Donald Trump, with his long experience at exploiting marks and their weaknesses, has learned that he can use the same hook that Vladimir Putin uses on him. Namely, that the very wealthy are blinded from caring about the "general welfare", by their narcissism, insatiable greed their many associated self- serving character flaws. Republicans try to indict democracy, when the real culprit has been the lack of democracy that post Powell Memo Republicans have deceptively engineered.
Unfortunately, our conservative justices on the Supreme Court don't seem to care or comprehend this. If they had, they would never have handed down the Citizens United decision, or when they noted it's deleterious effects on democracy, they would have repealed it. They have left us with only one conclusion, they support the foreign and corrupt bribery that CI enables.
Heather Cox Richardson has an outstanding Substack piece about the history of how our nation got where it is, in today's. Spreading Thom's and Heather's pieces far and wide is the antidote to our slide towards fascism.
Hartmann is a national treasure. What I enjoy the most from Thom's articles is the "FACTS per WORD" ratio. He doesn't waste our time. He concentrates more facts per word, sentence, or paragraph than any other commenter on the planet. His articles rival engineering texts for both information and accuracy.
Not to be left out are some Reagan promises that are revealed to be egregious, disastrous lies that go unchallenged in our discourse..
Reagan beat up on Carter with his promise of "No negotiations with terrorists" attack throughout the campaign. His most widely heard promise of that was in the final 1980 debate, where he bellowed, "No negotiations with terrorists of any kind!!!" We all learned much too late for us, this was the greatest fraud and gobsmacking lie of any leader in my lifetime. Because at the same time Reagan was making these "tough guy" proclamations, he had secretly negotiated the deal for the Ayatollah and Iranian terrorists to keep our 52 hostages captive until after the inauguration.
His promise of "Morning in America" was definitively wrong in ignoring how "Mass Shootings" began to climb during his administration, and have never returned to pre-Reagan levels.
Our nation's problem of escalating violence can be traced to Reagan in other ways, for example, look at how the frequency of words and phrases like "massacre", "drive by shooting", and "random violence" are revealed to "increasing" in the 80s as tracked in Googles "ngram viewer",
This is a wonderfully put together report from Thom Hartmann, to remind us what has been done to this country by the repubs, and what we can expect if they succeed in coming elections. Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest.
Brilliant summary Thom. How do we put this information into talking points the media will report on and the average voter can understand? I am sending postcards to Dems in swing states to encourage them to vote, and will try to turn some of your multi-course palette of facts into quick bites to fit on a postcard.
45 is in a class by himself, the Pied Piper leading lemmings to drown. Let's hope they don't take the country with them. The greed and hypocrisy just shock me.
FT6 postcards have QR to https://voterizer.org/
Thanks!
Would love to get one if your postcards!
Thanks. I do hope several tens of millions of voters will understand the situation the way you so nicely bit so depressingly described it. Vote BLUE or go down in hell with that orange racist fascist and rapist demented trump! Do not say you did not know!
No way seventy (70) million Americans. You need a shot of Hopium.
Simon sayz that things are looking up. "It has been our core argument here for many months that as voters engaged, and came to understand the choice of Biden successful and good President vs. Trump the ugliest political thing we’ve ever seen, things would improve for us. It’s been my view that it was likely Trump’s thundering guilty verdict would move the election a bit towards Biden, but that it would take a while as voters needed time to process the news. So while most of the polling this first-week post-felony verdict continued to find a toss-up race with little movement, that we now have a series of polls showing Biden making gains is notable and encouraging.
"Murdoch’s team went into overdrive defending Trump this week. The intensity of their efforts suggests they are seeing this movement and erosion in their internal polling."
Meanwhile, millions of unregistered folk trend heavily Democratic. At this point we still have the capacity to sweep. Millions of unregistered folk trend Democratic. Register Democrats and sweep.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Moreover, groups like the DNC can identify voters who are "persuadable." Our most successful openings:
“Excuse me, can you help me save our democracy? I’m registering Democrats to vote.”
“Good morning! Can I register you as a Democrat today?”
Or connect on the issues:
“Excuse me, can you help me fight for abortion rights today?”
“Hello, can you help me fight for civil rights?”
“Hi! Can you help us save the environment?”
“Good morning, can you help me save Social Security and Medicare?”
“Can you help me fight for affordable healthcare?”
If someone shows interest, follow up with:
“Great! I’m registering Democrats to vote! Are you a citizen?”
...and start registering them right away! Make these your own!
And once you register someone, ask them:
If they’d like to get handy election reminders
If they’d like to volunteer with us to help register Democrats
If they’d like help with voting – if so, introduce them to BlueVoterGuide.org – the progressive voter guide that turns your sample ballot into a simple ballot. And have them aim their phone’s camera at the QR code: https://voterizer.org/
If you encounter MAGATs, "Trump hates dogs" and "So you support stealing from kids with cancer" bring tears to their eyes.
https://rvat.org/
The hard part of this realization is to get people to encourage voters to VOTE FOR BIDEN, because the current system offers us a choice between two — Trump or Biden. A choice between the world you described, Thom, and the POSSIBILITY of holding onto the remains of our democracy and actually working to make changes for the better … We do not have a third choice, no matter how hard we want to deny that reality.
But the other reality is, the Biden choice keep options alive that will be dashed, if we let Trump usher in his Fascist regime.
The Reagan years were the era that put the Republican agenda into play in a wholesale manner — Reagan, GHW Bush, Bill Barr, Newt Gingrich … And, yes, they were running a version of the Powell philosophy, but don’t forget which group put it all together and provided a “game plan,” the same entity that is game-planning their next step…The Heritage Society, and their Project 2025.
Some folks here have been criticizing the [very much “center,” not so very “Left”} US democracy for a lot of years for its willingness to embrace a completely non-nuanced “anticommunist” stance on foreign policy, promoting WAY too much empire-building and interference in the emergence of new democracies around the planet that were deemed not “capitalist” enough …
NOW, we have to recognize that, domestically at least, the Left and “Center Left” are our only hope for keeping our OWN democracy afloat.
They are NOT perfect — I hate how we destabilized new governments around the world in favor of predatory capitalists — but the Republican agenda is NOT to retain an actual democracy. They are intent on autocracy, and it might look like Orban or it might look like Putin, but it’s all the same. There’s not a hair’s distance between a modern Fascist Autocracy and a “Communist” one. They all rule by the fist, and they control everything to the benefit of the Oligarchs that keep the ruler in power.
So, who is more likely to preside over a country that we CAN work to make more responsive to OUR people AND to people around the world?
Trump and Company?
Or Biden and Company?
I think we all know.
Vote Blue.
Through and Through!
Well said Pat. Political labels are handy tools, no doubt,but I am having trouble with them, as I find they don't describe me. It seems that the idea is that one must swallow the whole pie, and be ideologically pure,according to some ones or a consensus definition, making me wonder who is the decider on ideological purity.
A good example is Biden's position on immigration, it seems some loud mouths have usurped what is and is not liberal,and their foolish position is that if you don't take an open borders stance then you are a fascist or fellow traveler, and that isn't true, the situation is very complex, and in many ways migrants from Mexico, Central and South America are natural allies of our right wing because they are conservative, culturally conservative and very religious.
As I say over and over again. A broken clock is right twice a day. Ex: Trump says the media is the enemy of the people. he is right, if it weren't for the media we would not have Trump, and he gets more free air time than any other politician. Who was it that said, there is no such thing as bad press.
Trump wants to defund the FBI which he calls the enemy of the people, yet the FBI devoted it's resources to investigating the left (BLM and antifa) while the Proud Boys and Congress critters were plotting and organizing a coup.
And I will wager that the FBI, was is a very conservative institution still concentrates on the left, not the right.
My point is that a person can be a progressive without being a Marxist, or without swallowing the poison or eating the whole pie, but there is little stomach for that it seems, ideological purity is demanded, the result is that we are in disarray, and that leads to a Republican sweep and Trump 47.
There is no reason that the polls should be this tight, considering what Trump is and has done.
There is only two reasons.
1. The poll are dishonest and there is a financial motive for promoting the horse race, or an ideological motive behind the polls (Rasmussen comes to mind)
2. Americans are asleep at the switch and I blame the media for that. And there motives are financial and/or ideological.
I don't like one month before sentencing either. Luckily I'm not sure how the court process works, what do most people who get found guilty get to walk out of the courtroom without being sentenced? Now Trump has avoided his pee test, because he took his orders of terms of probation,apparently flying down to Mar-A-lardo Florida. I would have liked to heard the results of that test considering he was in Las Vegas the day before in 110° weather wearing a jacket? I'm in a heatwave here in Arizona. The news is saying we are having July weather in June. I hope judge Merchan sentences Donald the same way he would anyone else with an unrepentant attitude. I think being spoiled rotten with material possessions is actually worse for a person's character than growing up in dire poverty?
Trump is obviously not aware that we can see the symptoms of his profound mental illness.
He lacks any ability to have insight regarding his own disturbed personality.
His Narcissistic Personality Disorder allows him to believe his lies about his criminality,
Apparently his supporters suffer from the same inability to see reality as well.
Trumps need for revenge is also part of his covering for his own lies.
The fact that he can seriously deny things that twenty other people have seen and in some cases videoed is not genius , but in some way he is trying to convince himself of his own lies.
I sincerely hope that Judge Merchan is able to deal with this with the same level of clear professionalism that he exhibited throughout the trial.
Donald Trump must have jail time . He was a terribly behaved defendant who attacked people including the Judge and his family every day with lies and accusations that were based on Trumps personal twisted beliefs , not reality .
He violated his gag order endlessly . He railed against the justice system.
And incited his followers to do the same. Tell me if another defendant responded in the same manner that he’d be tolerated and excused.
The answer is no . If Trump is not above the law , and he is not.
Then jail him like any other menacing defendant would be.
Even if he doesn’t learn something maybe we’d all get to see Justice in action.
I fear that Merchan and police authorities in NY are fearful of what will happen to them if he gets elected. I don't expect the law to be upheld, and I don't expect he will see 1 minute in confinement, not even in Mar a lago, and the probation officer will take the heat for letting him off. And Probation?
Probation happens when you are released early, not before sentencing. Something is rotten in Denmark,and again the media, even MSNBC is asleep at the switch.
Trump just told the crowd in Nevada today,in sweltering heat, that he doesn't care about them all he cares about is their vote, and they cheered. He old one guy to commit suicide rather than vote for Biden.
These mother fuckers are insane
Pat you are 100% correct in my humble opinion. The difference between Hitler and the Kings of the dark ages is only the width of a hair also in my opinion. On July 11th if judge Merchant sentences Trump to prison for a long time and his followers start shooting the place up, it will be better to do it now then after Trump gets control of the military! I think that judge is our best hope of avoiding another Hitler?
Bob, my question is why is Merchan giving him over a month before sentencing, If it were you and I, we would be sentenced the same day. All of thse Jan 6 felons are given a month or more before sentencing and allowed to go home and do damage. Look at Steve Bannon, sentence to prison, finally, but given a month before being told to REPORT to prison. If it were you or me, we would be in handcuffs and carted off the same day.
Cowardice,, corruption or complicity on the part of the judges.
That Trump was found guilty in Merchan's court is not because of him, but in spite of him.
The DA did a bang up job with evidence and witnesses.
I tend to agree that a number of events pre-election stand to seriously materially effect how things play out, and not the least of them is the judge’s choice of sentence …
I am wondering if the debate will come off this month as well — getting close. I do want it to happen. Hope it does. Hope the outcome is good for the good guys.
WOW! You really hit the ball outta da park with this essay, Thom! Great comments, too. I have done my level best, as a retired psychiatrist, to let folks know that Our Mad King Donald is, well, mad as a hatter, and in no way should ever serve as the president of the US. He is a lifelong professional grifter, a spoiled brat, and mentally ill to boot. Your take down of the GQP casts a much broader and much needed net, and we should all be grateful for all of your hard work! God help us! VOTE BLUE!
Stopping the continuation of the Reagan Revolution will require stopping the locomotives of Trump, Project 2025, and Republican election interference, as well as Republican voter intimidation and purposeful discouragement. I hope to God that you are right, but I am seriously worried for the future of this country. I am not heartened by the average voter's complete ignorance and simplemindedness.
Most Americans dwell on themselves way too much. While the world burns around them! They didn't graduate from college or they were too busy working to pay attention to world events are the most common excuses I hear. I didn't go to college, and I worked usually 60 hours a week so I don't buy those excuses. The way it really works, is is that, either everyone prospers or everyone in society suffers. We are all in this together, it isn't just about me ism!
There are three ways to raise a child, the right way, the wrong way and not at all. Not at all is better than the wrong way! Racism, religious hatred, hatred, dishonesty, criminality, insanity, ignorance and
sadism can be taught and is almost always taught, and it must be condoned in many churches!
If these ungrateful right wing feudalism lovers vote for a dictator, they deserve one. They need the full experience of poverty, hunger, homelessness, no freedoms and being drug off to war! Buckle up it's going to be a bumpy ride!
Nancy MacLean's book "Democracy in Chains" also gives an enlightening view of the ultra-conservative forces attempting to destroy democracy and put the Plutocrats in charge. A must-read book.
Yes, indeed! I read this in 2017, and learned that the right-wing got into gear undermining democracy since the 1950’s. Brown vs The Board of Education got the ball rolling.
The Repub promise of cheap labor would make American's rich and give immigrants and opportunity to reach for the skies. But cheap labor is essentially slavery and the Repubs want more than half of American's to be in the column of poverty which they have achieved at only 44% now being in the middle class when in 1980 it was 2/3. This goal they have achieved is all you need to know and tell everyone else just exactly what the Repubs vision as gotten us.
I’d love to see President Joe Biden read this column on television, and repost it on social media - and, its message hammered by prominent Democrats repeatedly until the next election. Franklin Roosevelt’s “Fireside Chats” calmed, informed, and helped change the nation (and dispel right-wing propaganda) during the Great Depression and World War ll. We desperately need a twenty-first century multi-media version of FDR’s chats implemented - the sooner the better. The massive and relentless decades-long, right-wing media campaign of propaganda, misinformation, and outright lies needs to be countered in full force. Bravo, Thom Hartmann, for another insightful and informative column. Every American should read this one!
Noonan wrote a WSJ column today called "We Are Starting To Enjoy Our Hatred" and the Washington Journal program asked the C-Span crowd what they thought about that idea. I don't think anyone really told it like it is and how that happened. Thom sure knows how to.
First of all she is a Republican writing for Murdoch's news empire, so I'd say speak for yourself. The Republicans sold out to hate-oriented right wing talk radio, hate-filled evangelicals, hate-mongering FOX, and now hate-personified Donald Trump.
I don't waste my time on hatred and neither do most Democrats I know. We have very sincerely tried to talk this out with MAGA Republicans. The gift of the truth and what needs to be done is something they do not enjoy or openly receive---not even from the best of their very own.
Really have had enough of the BS, greedy rich bastards, failed programs and policies, murder of the planet, radio/TV hatred, and finally Donald Trump. He has added insult to injury in every way possible. I say again he is hatred personified, and a lot of Republicans LOVE him.
Allis, but we do hate. In our self righteousness we hate those that oppose us, or who don't jump on, or who have jumped off our bandwagon.
I consider myself a progressive. I "believe" (I hate that word as it is inaccurate) in DEI, CRT, Equal rights, freedom from hunger, fear, exposure (the people FDR called a necessitas man), but I don't swallow the whole litany of leftist issues and causes, I prefer to form my own opinions. and I question everything., thus not ideologically pure
Glad you speak your mind on this. I just don't think when you try to educate folks, you do that because you hate them, William.
My point is that hate is literally their stock and trade now. It was not before the '80's. This was not accidental, it was completely by design using how hate and fear works in a conservative brain.
Alis I don't hate anyone, no one is important enough for me to hate, but they scare the shit out of me, they really do.
I second your second sentence, well put and pithy. Good job.
Donald Trump is Vladimir Putin's pet boy.
Trump is Vladimir's piss boy,or rather his butt buddy. Vlad is the top, Donnie the bottom.
The crucial need for spreading the word cannot be over-emphacized. Many, many Americans sit in their homes, riven with fear, watching their TV screen loaded with manufactured messaging, and because they are home, largely alone, they conceive that resistance against the constant propaganda is an impossible gesture, a dangerous option. Because they are largely disconnected, it is them, alone, against the whole fear- mongering fascist threat. When they are reached out to, seeing they are not alone, things change internally. The key here is human contact, countering a politically loaded TV screen. Knock, knock, knock.
Well said Gerald. You are so correct. Americans are isolated, they are snails that live in their own shell, well white Americans, and alienated and disconnected Americans. Black Americans are,a best I can see, a lot more social than white Americans and thus had a higher percentage rate of COVID
My childhood was in the 40's and 50's, no TV, no cell phones, we played monopoly on the porch with playmates, we played base ball and pom pom pull a way on the streets. we played hop scotch on sidewalks,and we got in trouble as gangs. If a park was nearby we explored it, if a creek ran through it we searched for the mouth and the exit. We went swimming in swimming holes, not thinking of pollution and bolstered or immune system.
Today they are addicted to a small screen and computer games. even us adults, where would substack be without our addiction?
Terrific report. Should be published in the opinion section of every newspaper in the land.
I would add that the GOP billionaire donor class has tricked the nation so well, that we are now teetering on the brink of GOP spawned, fascism. They have used the boiling frog principle to take us there, one increment at a time.
Malignant narcissist Donald Trump, with his long experience at exploiting marks and their weaknesses, has learned that he can use the same hook that Vladimir Putin uses on him. Namely, that the very wealthy are blinded from caring about the "general welfare", by their narcissism, insatiable greed their many associated self- serving character flaws. Republicans try to indict democracy, when the real culprit has been the lack of democracy that post Powell Memo Republicans have deceptively engineered.
Unfortunately, our conservative justices on the Supreme Court don't seem to care or comprehend this. If they had, they would never have handed down the Citizens United decision, or when they noted it's deleterious effects on democracy, they would have repealed it. They have left us with only one conclusion, they support the foreign and corrupt bribery that CI enables.
Heather Cox Richardson has an outstanding Substack piece about the history of how our nation got where it is, in today's. Spreading Thom's and Heather's pieces far and wide is the antidote to our slide towards fascism.
Hartmann is a national treasure. What I enjoy the most from Thom's articles is the "FACTS per WORD" ratio. He doesn't waste our time. He concentrates more facts per word, sentence, or paragraph than any other commenter on the planet. His articles rival engineering texts for both information and accuracy.
Not to be left out are some Reagan promises that are revealed to be egregious, disastrous lies that go unchallenged in our discourse..
Reagan beat up on Carter with his promise of "No negotiations with terrorists" attack throughout the campaign. His most widely heard promise of that was in the final 1980 debate, where he bellowed, "No negotiations with terrorists of any kind!!!" We all learned much too late for us, this was the greatest fraud and gobsmacking lie of any leader in my lifetime. Because at the same time Reagan was making these "tough guy" proclamations, he had secretly negotiated the deal for the Ayatollah and Iranian terrorists to keep our 52 hostages captive until after the inauguration.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/18/us/politics/jimmy-carter-october-surprise-iran-hostages.html?unlocked_article_code=1.yk0.boWQ.XFmdOeKEcQLw&smid=url-share
His promise of "Morning in America" was definitively wrong in ignoring how "Mass Shootings" began to climb during his administration, and have never returned to pre-Reagan levels.
https://thesocietypages.org/feminist/files/2015/12/Mass-Shootings-Stanford-1.png
Our nation's problem of escalating violence can be traced to Reagan in other ways, for example, look at how the frequency of words and phrases like "massacre", "drive by shooting", and "random violence" are revealed to "increasing" in the 80s as tracked in Googles "ngram viewer",
https://books.google.com/ngrams/
... And, there is much more that happened in the 80s and in the adulations of Reagan since then, that continue to push us down the road to ruin.
Then there is also Reagan’s supplying our military weapons to Iran for hostages , as they chanted, “Death to America!”