All true... And all of us who read Thom's work are in agreement with the analysis that he provides.
However, I am not seeing a plan.
I receive at least a half-dozen requests daily from Progressive action organizations to "chip in" $5.00 to fight back.
I write back and ask, "But, what's the plan?" "What is my money going to be used for?"
I have yet to get a response -- well, one group told me the money was for billboards to deliver a certain message, so I contributed.
My concern is that there is no concerted and organized action plan among all Progressive folks. i do not consider established Dem Party organizations as legitimate paths to real action. If they were, Bernie would have just left the White House, and DT would be in prison.
We are in a knife fight -- even if one gets an explanation of one group's plan -- competing requests for support to fund hit and miss solutions ALWAYS will loose in a knife fight.
Donald, thanks for writing this. I've asked myself the same thing. Where's the plan? If you have one and it's good, why are you hiding it from supporters?
Money alone didn't get the right the control they have now. A cohesive plan, compiling both long and short term objectives, then backed by loads of money got them control. The only plan I see in place from Democrats is panhandling to fund their reelection campaigns, an event a year and a half away, if this crowd doesn't end elections completely. Even then, there's no cohesive plan to save the Republic, just hope to win seats.
Dems are in disarray, the established hands have no ideas or direction, but they're also restraining younger members who do have ideas from implementing them. They're stuck in neutral on a slope, and there's only one direction to go with those conditions.
Thank you for continuing this conversation. i wish more would. I think if someone from the more progressive players i hear from would stop panhandling, as you so clearly put it, and start talking to each other to develop and announce a clear set of goals, in priority list, and then explain to the folks out here the path for each campaign, I think we can begin to make real progress.
I know I have a short list of must do's. I am sure others also have.
If AOC's organization, perhaps, can talk to the bigger MOVE ON machine and come to terms... then there is that young guy who wants to primary dud dems.
But right now its all a scatter gun approach and we here in the field are blindfolded.
I forgot to add in my other reply, they definitely need AOC and MOVE to collaborate, and work in David Hogg, the man whose primary out the dead weight idea was ignored. They can bring in others unafraid to make waves too, like Crockett and Stansbury.
Donald, I find really good considerations in your reply, and the appreciation for continuing this conversation is mutual.
Dems have taken and given control of the legislature over the last decade(s) or more, and other than retaking ever slimmer majorities, they rarely seem to have a plan of action to install their proposals. They also mistakenly hope for opposition goodwill. They have little success to show for this approach. I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard a defense for their languid pace for putting very popular platform planks (say that three times fast) into legislation. Too often it was supported by what-ifs, like tales of an inexorable demographic march in their favor, ultimately resulting in majorities for a generation or more. Then time would run out, both for them and the constituents depending on them.
Republicans game out their steps and work to implement them with urgency, including using dishonesty and treachery to achieve them. They don't wait in hope for favorable demographic shifts, and usually game out with urgency because they expect the opposite. Politics can play out like a sport, although the stakes are much higher and more important. Teams waiting on luck, or their competition to undo themselves with mistakes, aren't taking matters into their own hands. That approach loses often.
My personal view is that, if they're able to retake a Congressional majority, they must have comprehensive voting rights and safety, an election amendment that clearly says money≠speech, codified protection of national reproductive healthcare rights and immigration legislation already worked out between members of both houses for immediate passage. That takes out many key Republican election points by amending the Constitution with them. The longer term is to legislate to protect governmental agencies, expand SCOTUS, simplify and make the tax code fairer, make cost of living and education affordable, and a consistent evergreen method to raise the minimum wage on a schedule, guided by CPI data.
Thank you for your note in response. I find that the national ( I call it the corporate ) Democratic Party has relaxed into a Republican Lite mentality, accepting dependence upon large donors.
Democrats and even core Progressives got lazy. Meanwhile, the Gilded Age descendants have been fixed upon undoing the New Deal since FDR stepped into the White House.
Through the GOP, they have worked tirelessly and are about to realize their goal.
One, Progressives have lost control of their brand. We are "the LIBS" and FemaNazis.
Two, corporate Dems were more interested in appearing with Hollywood luminaries while singing 'it's a small world after all' than in paying attention to the decay of small town working America's bleak prospects. Once the Clintons signed up for this "republican lite" approach, embracing globalization of the economy, they became the poster children of this disregard for Americans.
Three, the GOP have spent decades taking control of state level mundane admin positions. I am not optimistic that the '26 mid-terms will actually come off -- at least not as a true reflection of citizens' choice.
Frankly, I am afraid we have a little more than a year to get back on our feet for this knife fight we are in.
Remember "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"?
" Rules??? There are no rules in a knife fight!"
So, really, is there someone working on pulling this all together?
You nailed it. The Blue Dogs ate the FDR Dems and the party's lost touch ever since. As for who's pulling this together, it's you, me and everyone on the ground who have had it with waiting on ivory tower incumbents and are making their own luck.
Yes, it's down to us. But each can only be a piece of the whole, i am still looking for the unifying voice and team.
For myself, I have been trying for 25 years to get someone(s) interested in the small piece I can contribute... what I am good at -- branding, marketing, framing a product, with a view to history.
I spent lots of time in university studying History and Int'l Relations, and then promptly went into business mostly in global Supply Chain specifically sales and marketing.
I offered this and that organization framing/marketing program ideas, gratis, starting with W's stealing the presidency. No one I could reach ever wanted to look at this as a framing/branding issue. Except a Zoos, Aquariums and Museums organization who stopped listening to me when I suggested their vision should be a world where they were no longer needed... I used the vision of wolves in Central Park, and dolphins in the East River.
The Carter/Carville/Clinton/Obama brain-trust let the bad guys buy up all the radio stations; let that s...bag Murdock into this country to poison the airwaves; and when I tried to get them to understand the damage you do when you have every needy splinter of the community -- I used the idea of giving the Handicapped Lesbians with Aids -- get their 15 minutes at the microphone, they threw me off DAILY KOS.
I can see no infrastructure for a real response to the crisis. Just some mostly younger folks chasing their own vision of single issue solutions.
Who is out there that understands the need for a ground up reconstruction of the Progressive brand?
Great to see you make this point - the Dems do not listen. ( and it's Dem consultants who are sending us these texts, which I loathe . . . and suspect that they turn off many more than they inspire. Forever. )
Maybe current technology could make these texts interactive. As a technologist, I cringe to write that, but it would be something.
What we need is listening and gathering feedback, however it is done, and that seems to be the last thing the consultant crowd would even consider. -- b.rad
I like the idea. I am not a tech guy, more marketing / framing in historical context, but throwing back their message with a failing grade would be satisfying if not productive.
What I am most concerned about is how to jump over the current messaging technology and get control of the Progressive Brand, once again.
Is there still Citizens Band Radio? I was heavily into CB in the 1960s, does it still exist?
Or something like it... low tech, non commercial or perhaps local commercial (Tony's Pizzeria on Main St kind of thing).
The progressives, who are Democrats because there is nowhere else available in our cartel system, seem to be congealing an alternative by just running local campaigns to ignore the the candidates the Democratic Party operatives are telling the locals to vote for (like Cuomo in NY, Bennet in CO) and just organizing to primary the operatives' stooges out.
I hope you're wrong. As nutsy koo koo as he is, Trump sees himself as a suprthero. Today he released another meme of himself as Superman. More powerful than a locomotove. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
IMHO he believes he is immortal, invincible, superior to the rest of us.
I don't think he has a clue about Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. And the kool aid comes in different flavors.
Is it too late, can we save what once was. It is not a matter of stopping the train, but putting it into reverse. Righting the ship of state, purging the government of Trump humpers, restoring not only budgets but the offices and function of the likes of the CBF, FEMA, FCC, Dept of Ed.
Trusk has pushed Humpty off the wall. Can it be put back together again, can the hundreds of thousands who have died and will die because of him, be resurrected?
How does one dislodge a dictatorship? A dictatorship in the guise of a democracy, a managed democracy, inverted totalitarianism. .
The problem is not Trump, he is the avatar for the problem, the problem is the sickness, the fear, the insecurity, the anger and angst that gravitated to Trump and put him on their shoulders.
How do we deal with that. For so long as the anger, fear, hate, distrust that found it's icon and leader in Trump exists, we will always have the problem, and the same problem is rearing it's head all over the free world. Every country in Europe is so threatened, if not already consumed and captured like Hungary and Italy.
From AI generative. (Notice a common denominator between here and there: Immigration. The Immigration concerns are different though, Here racial, there cultural.
Here are some examples of countries where far-right parties have made notable gains:
Italy: The Brothers of Italy, a far-right party, leads the government, with Giorgia Meloni serving as Prime Minister.
Hungary: Fidesz, a ruling party considered nationalist, holds a significant majority in the National Assembly with Viktor Orbán as Prime Minister
.
Netherlands: Geert Wilders' Freedom Party became the largest party in parliament and has played a key role in forming the most right-wing government in recent Dutch history.
Finland: The Finns Party, a far-right party, is part of the government coalition.
Austria: The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), a far-right movement, is gaining momentum and has previously been part of a coalition government.
France: Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) has become the largest single party in parliament and exerts significant influence on lawmaking, particularly regarding issues like migration.
Germany: The Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right party under surveillance for extremist views, has shown strong electoral results, particularly in the east, according to The Guardian.
Sweden: The Sweden Democrats, an anti-immigration party, are the second-largest party in the country and provide support to the government.
Croatia: Far-right parties are members of the governing coalition.
Czech Republic: Far-right parties are gaining positions in government, and one is predicted to win elections and lead a coalition this year.
Slovakia: Far-right parties are gaining positions in government.
It's important to note that while many of these parties share anti-immigration and anti-EU stances, they can differ on other issues like economic policy, foreign affairs, and social issues. Additionally, the rise of the far-right is seen as a long-term trend, driven by factors like economic anxieties, dissatisfaction with mainstream parties, and concerns about immigration.
VERY insightful metaphor. The one thing that will, hopefully, protect us from inciteful Trump not triggering mass suicide is that the majority of American adults are not subscribers to the cult Thom so articulately described.
The cult metaphor is apt because we are already observing people engaging in self-destructive behaviors. Some MAGAs who are losing health insurance are celebrating fealty to their fuhrer on social media. There are likewise Black, Latino, and LGBTQ people (and politicians) eagerly expressing support on TV, podcasts, and social media posts for Trump and his policies that threaten their civil rights.
I could not help but think while reading that the Democrats enabled this fascist takeover. They did not pursue prosecuting Trump for inciting to violence on Jan 6 or encouraging insurrection - which he surely did - right on TV. The Dems just let it go, and insodoing, let it grow into the MAGA monster of today.
Tom, many moons ago, maybe almost half a century. I read something that when a minority reaches 17 percent, there is a shift in the national culture, laws are changed, customs and traditions change or added.
I hold that to be true, because the African American culture, meaning American Descendants of Slaves, is at best 13 percent, and have very much changed the culture of America, alas not enough to give them full equal rights and opportunity.
Consider that and consider that the MAGA culture is at least 40 percent, and more with hanger ons and camp followers, who haven't swallowed the whole thing, but enough to keep them on the periphery.
I agree with you Tom, I don't look to the Democratic party to right the ship of state, the course cannot be reversed, most of the departments have been flooded, and even if pumped out, the damage is done, the records are lost and gone forever,
The Democratic party still has not learned it's lesson, it is still enamored of and beholden to the donors, It has become ossified. What poses as leadership, is timid and afraid to confront the powers that be, or has been compromised or bought.
I wish had answers, I don't have the means, thus I don't have the power, and it is going to take more than people parading around and holding signs to reverse course.
The ship has to be brought to a dead stop, before the Captain and crew can be changed.
And then, the ship has to be overhauled, from bow to stern, and the state rooms completely rebuilt and refurbished, but then it will not be the old ship that we knew, that one is at the bottom of the ocean, and I don't know if it can be refloated.
And if it is refloated that isn't going to help the millions of people who have already drowned, and those that will drown, floating on the ocean hoping for rescue.
Is SS America Inc, sinking or has it already sunk, is it bow up,or beneath the waves.?
Or in aeronautical terms is it past the halfway point, in my opinion it can't be turned around, What was, is like Clementines daughter, lost and gone forever. The only hope, as I see it, is wresting control from the captain, throwing his crew overboard, Like Patel, Bongino, Noem, Bessent, Rubio, and try to build back better.
28 U.S. Code § 455 - Disqualification of justice, judge, or magistrate judge
(a)Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
That"shall" sounds mandatory.
A the time, I especially thought the same about lawyers who appeared before Judge Cannon and her colleagues on the USDC here in Baghdad by the sea.
The rule for USDC judges is: 28 USC 144:
Whenever a party to any proceeding in a district court makes and files a timely and sufficient affidavit that the judge before whom the matter is pending has a personal bias or prejudice either against him or in favor of any adverse party, such judge shall proceed no further therein, but another judge shall be assigned to hear such proceeding.
The affidavit shall state the facts and the reasons for the belief that bias or prejudice exists, and shall be filed not less than ten days before the beginning of the term at which the proceeding is to be heard, or good cause shall be shown for failure to file it within such time. A party may file only one such affidavit in any case. It shall be accompanied by a certificate of counsel of record stating that it is made in good faith.
As long we have corporations controlling government and owning discourse, they will be pushing fascism and indoctrinating the the vulnerable to psychopathic society.
When the gap is too wide, people reach for an excuse, and they find dehumanization as a justification. How can people treat immigrants like that? How can people vote for policies that make it impossible to care for the unhoused in cities? How can people vote to remove healthcare, to eliminate aging with dignity, make stepping over humans sleeping, sick in the gutters, a necessity?
The answer, "they're not real Americans" should clue you in. The election maps should tell you a lot about people who would rather "stand athwart history yelling stop," and use every sadistic tool at their disposal keep people in their place, rather than admitting that something is broken and needs to change.
The government needs to be able to govern the powerful, or it is not really a government. It's just another sadistic excuse for lawless tyranny.
I've just been reading about Rasputin in Russia in 1916, not all that long ago. He was a cult figure who had conned the Empress and others and had infiltrated the royal household to the extent that dozens of competent and loyal officials were purged and replaced with incompetent acolytes at his insistence. The people who finally lured him to his death were not revolutionaries or radical left-wing figures. They were the privileged right-wing friends of the autocratic leader Nicholas who was conducting a war and was losing. They had recognized the harm Rasputin was doing to their country. It gives me hope.
Yes Mr. Elliott the lesson of Rasputin is apt. He was done in by the elite, who finally greed he was a danger to them and decided to act.
The American oligarchs realize how dangerous trump is, not only to ordinary citizens, but to them as well because he could bring down the entire system if he is left unchecked. They assuredly know how crazy and incompetent he is.
Those oligarchs know that since the elimination of the Kennedy brothers, they have been able to control who gets into the White House. They did unquestionably put Trump there to do their bidding. Now that they have their tax bill through congress, they no longer need trump. He has become a liability.
Watch on the news how in the next months we will see more and more articles about how Trump is mentally unfit. The oligarchs are preparing the conditions to rid the system of Trump by invoking the 25th amendment. The beauty of this route is that the elected Republicans will not be required to lift a finger [J.D. Vance is the exception]. Instead the 25th requires non elected officials to do the dirty work for them and get rid of a madman before he upsets the apple cart for all of us and brings the entire system down. Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance will organize the effort.
Grigori Rasputin, American style. They will not have to assassinate him and throw his body into the river. Just use the 25th and send him off to the funny-farm or one of his gulf clubs.
It occurs to me that they could assassinate him and blame the Democrats. They will find their Lee Harvey Oswald to be the patsy.
So, what will JD Vance do once he steps in to the top job? Will he be a useful idiot also? Or, does he have a wholly separate agenda and does he have the inclination to be the ruthless CEO dictator president? I do not see many people accepting him as a leader.
Mr. Elliott, good questions. I have no answers. I have not gotten far enough to venture a prediction about Vance. However, being a Sociologist, I have a tendency to view psychological reductionist explanations of human behavior with skepticism. They are all too often stretched far beyond their ability to actually explain human behavior. The individual players in this huge historical drama are not so terribly important. What is more important is the social forces and structures in which we find ourselves. We live in groups. We do not invent our own language. We all speak the languages which have developed over tens of thousands of years. We are subjected to the forces of economics, politics, and family structures which have also evolved over thousands of years. These institutions have a life independent of any one of us. But we do not exist independently of the institutions. We cannot live without them. That is impossible. We human beings are fundamentally social creatures. That means we live in groups and our behavior is determined by our membership in those groups.
There are some things we can say about Vance. He is undoubtedly talented and smart as hell. He has been reading Kant and the Contract Theorists on his own since high school. He earned a 4 year baccalaureate degree from Ohio State university in 2 years. Wrote a memoir which was #1 on the NY Times best seller list, and made into a successful movie. All those who have known him from his early years in the marine corp and in college and the extremely selective, important Yale law school say he is charming and affable.
He is also an opportunist of the first water. That should be obvious. He met Peter Thiel while he [Vance] was in law school and latched onto the billionaire and has charmed him into financing his fantastically successful political career. In a few short years he has walked from obscurity into the White House. He might be just a smart version of Trump. Or he might be somebody else who has ben kissing Trump's ass because that is necessary in order to deal successfully with Trump. I do not know what he is or what he will do.
But we might have President Vance for the next 3 years of Trump's 4 year term and then he could be elected to 2 terms on his own for 8 more years. At that point we shall have had 11 years of President Vance. For better or worse; he shall have been, at that point, the most important President since FDR. I believe that is exactly what Thiel and his billionaire friends have intended all along.
Thank you for mentioning the "I alone can fix it!" speech in 2016. That raised a serious red flag, a flag with the word "demagogue" emblazoned on it. I'd thought he was a loudmouth blowhard ever since I'd first become aware of him in the 70s, but this made me realize he was dangerous as well. I wish enough other people had come to the same realization at the time.
"Jim Jones wasn’t always a madman. In the beginning, he offered something people desperately wanted"
And Xi Jinping, Erdogan, and Putin weren't murderous authoritarians at the beginning of their political careers either--they did a lot of good for their citizens. At some point the intoxication of power took hold. Heavy-duty addicts do despicable things for drugs. I've worked with ex-trafficked women, many of whom were trafficked by their own mothers for drug money, one at the age of 10. Power is no different....
You continually exhort an unidentified "we" to action. It's not hard to conceptualize the "they" (Trumps cult members) but the "we" are not so easy to visualize. "We" comprise multiple backgrounds and philosophies, sometimes having only opposition to fascism in common.
How do you suggest we get the "opposition" to gel, and then coalesce and respond meaningfully to the armed insurrection in control of this country? The cacophony is deafening but the action is not organized except in general opposition, which is not an effective response.
I have some of the same concerns Thomas Wilson.. However, consider this.
There is, was, the same situation on the right. Various factions with their own and competing agendas, fears, concerns, hatreds, bias and needs.
They coalesced around Trump, who invented MAGA, and MAGA now represent the thing, and the different factions have gelled., Even as Trump is betraying (some) of his base, they still stand with him, and make excuses or ignore the betrayal because he pursues the policies that they really voted for.
The Farmers who are being hurt by his war on immigrants, still stand by him. As have the farmers who are economically hurt, and rural America who will lose it's health care, even red necks on SNAP.
A lot of federal employees voted for Trump because they believed that he would fire that lazy shit head in the next cubicle, many still remain Trump Humpers because they think it was a mistake, or because he is advancing the partriarchal agenda.
The problem with Democrats is, and always has been, that there are different factions under the big tent, that demand all of the attention and resources.
Their issue is the only important issue,they aren't willing to subordinate their issue, to the benefit of the whole.
The secret of success in the Republican party, is that they have weaponized fear.
I became conscious of this back when Reagan was running. Door hangers and mailers from the Moral Majority,skillfully crafted, with bullet points, short paragraphs, that made them readable, one subject per paragraph, three sentences max per paragraph.
And each and every paragraph crafted to excite the lizard brain. People poured in money,and voted not for something,not for their pocketbook, not for justice, but because of fear. A fear either manufactured, or a fear exacerbated out of all proportion to reality.
They are doing this right now with great effect. most felonies, murders, rapes thefts in America are perpetuated by white, Christian, males. Yet the majority of the people, probably believe (I would have to take an objective survey) that they are committed by immigrants and people of color. though they are actually committed by white, Christians
An important reason the German Weimar Republic fell is the opposition was disorganized and did not "have a plan". They thought Hitler could be controlled by other conservatives in ministerial positions. They underestimated him and Germany suffered the consequences.
In support of your account, I read that Hitler in his final days issued a national order that citizens should fight to the death rather than surrender and destroy every bridge, utility and building, so that "nothing must remain to greet the invaders but the stench of death."
"Trump built his Jonestown right here at home, within the boundaries of our republic...."
Whatever we live in now, it is not a "republic," and it certainly isn't ours. This country under ICE is headed full speed into becoming like occupied Gaza under the IDF.
My father at nineteen put on the uniform of war to stop Trump. Pacific Rim was his life for two years before coming home. Big sister is Trumps age, but very different few of America. Changes are happening fast, will we have an America that means anything ?
Thom - great article! Thank you for your core points explaining what “narcissistic collapse” actually looks like. Most Americans are ignorant about psychology in general and especially ignorant about the manipulative pathologies such as narcissism. In fact, most Americans are employed in corporations run by narcissists. CEOs are notorious for having the lowest EQ of any demographic. As a consequence, many Americans have become conditioned to accommodating narcissists’ demands and whimsies at least 40 hours per week. In addition, religious fundamentalists are conditioned to obey authority without question.
All of this corporate and religious conditioning - especially accelerated since Reaganism, as you point out - has primed a huge percentage of Americans to be easily manipulated.
Thank you, Thom, for your exceptional work each day to educate and wake Americans up!
Unfortunately I expect little from the Democrats aside from receiving multiple emails asking for money. In addition as a side note, I've yet to see Thom on any MSNBC programing spreading the word of the serious threat of this current regime, nothing on "Morning Joe", or Nicole Wallace's, Chris Haye's, Ari Melbar's or Lawrence O'Donnel's programs. Guess the range of "acceptable" discussion in the corporate media is from extreme right to barely left of centrist.
All true... And all of us who read Thom's work are in agreement with the analysis that he provides.
However, I am not seeing a plan.
I receive at least a half-dozen requests daily from Progressive action organizations to "chip in" $5.00 to fight back.
I write back and ask, "But, what's the plan?" "What is my money going to be used for?"
I have yet to get a response -- well, one group told me the money was for billboards to deliver a certain message, so I contributed.
My concern is that there is no concerted and organized action plan among all Progressive folks. i do not consider established Dem Party organizations as legitimate paths to real action. If they were, Bernie would have just left the White House, and DT would be in prison.
We are in a knife fight -- even if one gets an explanation of one group's plan -- competing requests for support to fund hit and miss solutions ALWAYS will loose in a knife fight.
Donald, thanks for writing this. I've asked myself the same thing. Where's the plan? If you have one and it's good, why are you hiding it from supporters?
Money alone didn't get the right the control they have now. A cohesive plan, compiling both long and short term objectives, then backed by loads of money got them control. The only plan I see in place from Democrats is panhandling to fund their reelection campaigns, an event a year and a half away, if this crowd doesn't end elections completely. Even then, there's no cohesive plan to save the Republic, just hope to win seats.
Dems are in disarray, the established hands have no ideas or direction, but they're also restraining younger members who do have ideas from implementing them. They're stuck in neutral on a slope, and there's only one direction to go with those conditions.
Dear C. Jacobs,
Thank you for continuing this conversation. i wish more would. I think if someone from the more progressive players i hear from would stop panhandling, as you so clearly put it, and start talking to each other to develop and announce a clear set of goals, in priority list, and then explain to the folks out here the path for each campaign, I think we can begin to make real progress.
I know I have a short list of must do's. I am sure others also have.
If AOC's organization, perhaps, can talk to the bigger MOVE ON machine and come to terms... then there is that young guy who wants to primary dud dems.
But right now its all a scatter gun approach and we here in the field are blindfolded.
D.
I forgot to add in my other reply, they definitely need AOC and MOVE to collaborate, and work in David Hogg, the man whose primary out the dead weight idea was ignored. They can bring in others unafraid to make waves too, like Crockett and Stansbury.
Donald, I find really good considerations in your reply, and the appreciation for continuing this conversation is mutual.
Dems have taken and given control of the legislature over the last decade(s) or more, and other than retaking ever slimmer majorities, they rarely seem to have a plan of action to install their proposals. They also mistakenly hope for opposition goodwill. They have little success to show for this approach. I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard a defense for their languid pace for putting very popular platform planks (say that three times fast) into legislation. Too often it was supported by what-ifs, like tales of an inexorable demographic march in their favor, ultimately resulting in majorities for a generation or more. Then time would run out, both for them and the constituents depending on them.
Republicans game out their steps and work to implement them with urgency, including using dishonesty and treachery to achieve them. They don't wait in hope for favorable demographic shifts, and usually game out with urgency because they expect the opposite. Politics can play out like a sport, although the stakes are much higher and more important. Teams waiting on luck, or their competition to undo themselves with mistakes, aren't taking matters into their own hands. That approach loses often.
My personal view is that, if they're able to retake a Congressional majority, they must have comprehensive voting rights and safety, an election amendment that clearly says money≠speech, codified protection of national reproductive healthcare rights and immigration legislation already worked out between members of both houses for immediate passage. That takes out many key Republican election points by amending the Constitution with them. The longer term is to legislate to protect governmental agencies, expand SCOTUS, simplify and make the tax code fairer, make cost of living and education affordable, and a consistent evergreen method to raise the minimum wage on a schedule, guided by CPI data.
Thank you for your note in response. I find that the national ( I call it the corporate ) Democratic Party has relaxed into a Republican Lite mentality, accepting dependence upon large donors.
Democrats and even core Progressives got lazy. Meanwhile, the Gilded Age descendants have been fixed upon undoing the New Deal since FDR stepped into the White House.
Through the GOP, they have worked tirelessly and are about to realize their goal.
One, Progressives have lost control of their brand. We are "the LIBS" and FemaNazis.
Two, corporate Dems were more interested in appearing with Hollywood luminaries while singing 'it's a small world after all' than in paying attention to the decay of small town working America's bleak prospects. Once the Clintons signed up for this "republican lite" approach, embracing globalization of the economy, they became the poster children of this disregard for Americans.
Three, the GOP have spent decades taking control of state level mundane admin positions. I am not optimistic that the '26 mid-terms will actually come off -- at least not as a true reflection of citizens' choice.
Frankly, I am afraid we have a little more than a year to get back on our feet for this knife fight we are in.
Remember "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"?
" Rules??? There are no rules in a knife fight!"
So, really, is there someone working on pulling this all together?
D.
You nailed it. The Blue Dogs ate the FDR Dems and the party's lost touch ever since. As for who's pulling this together, it's you, me and everyone on the ground who have had it with waiting on ivory tower incumbents and are making their own luck.
Yes, it's down to us. But each can only be a piece of the whole, i am still looking for the unifying voice and team.
For myself, I have been trying for 25 years to get someone(s) interested in the small piece I can contribute... what I am good at -- branding, marketing, framing a product, with a view to history.
I spent lots of time in university studying History and Int'l Relations, and then promptly went into business mostly in global Supply Chain specifically sales and marketing.
I offered this and that organization framing/marketing program ideas, gratis, starting with W's stealing the presidency. No one I could reach ever wanted to look at this as a framing/branding issue. Except a Zoos, Aquariums and Museums organization who stopped listening to me when I suggested their vision should be a world where they were no longer needed... I used the vision of wolves in Central Park, and dolphins in the East River.
The Carter/Carville/Clinton/Obama brain-trust let the bad guys buy up all the radio stations; let that s...bag Murdock into this country to poison the airwaves; and when I tried to get them to understand the damage you do when you have every needy splinter of the community -- I used the idea of giving the Handicapped Lesbians with Aids -- get their 15 minutes at the microphone, they threw me off DAILY KOS.
I can see no infrastructure for a real response to the crisis. Just some mostly younger folks chasing their own vision of single issue solutions.
Who is out there that understands the need for a ground up reconstruction of the Progressive brand?
Great to see you make this point - the Dems do not listen. ( and it's Dem consultants who are sending us these texts, which I loathe . . . and suspect that they turn off many more than they inspire. Forever. )
Maybe current technology could make these texts interactive. As a technologist, I cringe to write that, but it would be something.
What we need is listening and gathering feedback, however it is done, and that seems to be the last thing the consultant crowd would even consider. -- b.rad
Dear Brad,
I like the idea. I am not a tech guy, more marketing / framing in historical context, but throwing back their message with a failing grade would be satisfying if not productive.
What I am most concerned about is how to jump over the current messaging technology and get control of the Progressive Brand, once again.
Is there still Citizens Band Radio? I was heavily into CB in the 1960s, does it still exist?
Or something like it... low tech, non commercial or perhaps local commercial (Tony's Pizzeria on Main St kind of thing).
Just thinking out loud...
D.
Read the comments of the 600+ Democratic Party rank & file members who shared their frustrations about the Party operatives with the NYT. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/us/politics/majority-democrats.html#commentsContainer
Dear Ed,
Do you know if someone is congealing an organized alternative?
The Bernie & AOC show is a start, but it has to be deeper and broader.
Kind of like a daily Burns and Allen scripted and carefully framed response... via what medium not sure... AM radio? Or???
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/zohran-mamdani-democratic-socialists-campaign-new-york-city-dsa?publication_id=2510348&post_id=168018060&isFreemail=false&r=rdp7&triedRedirect=true
The progressives, who are Democrats because there is nowhere else available in our cartel system, seem to be congealing an alternative by just running local campaigns to ignore the the candidates the Democratic Party operatives are telling the locals to vote for (like Cuomo in NY, Bennet in CO) and just organizing to primary the operatives' stooges out.
I hope you're wrong. As nutsy koo koo as he is, Trump sees himself as a suprthero. Today he released another meme of himself as Superman. More powerful than a locomotove. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
IMHO he believes he is immortal, invincible, superior to the rest of us.
I don't think he has a clue about Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. And the kool aid comes in different flavors.
Here is the question.
Is it too late, can we save what once was. It is not a matter of stopping the train, but putting it into reverse. Righting the ship of state, purging the government of Trump humpers, restoring not only budgets but the offices and function of the likes of the CBF, FEMA, FCC, Dept of Ed.
Trusk has pushed Humpty off the wall. Can it be put back together again, can the hundreds of thousands who have died and will die because of him, be resurrected?
How does one dislodge a dictatorship? A dictatorship in the guise of a democracy, a managed democracy, inverted totalitarianism. .
https://www.mind-war.com/p/late-stage-inverted-totalitarianismirect=true&utm_medium=email
The problem is not Trump, he is the avatar for the problem, the problem is the sickness, the fear, the insecurity, the anger and angst that gravitated to Trump and put him on their shoulders.
How do we deal with that. For so long as the anger, fear, hate, distrust that found it's icon and leader in Trump exists, we will always have the problem, and the same problem is rearing it's head all over the free world. Every country in Europe is so threatened, if not already consumed and captured like Hungary and Italy.
From AI generative. (Notice a common denominator between here and there: Immigration. The Immigration concerns are different though, Here racial, there cultural.
Here are some examples of countries where far-right parties have made notable gains:
Italy: The Brothers of Italy, a far-right party, leads the government, with Giorgia Meloni serving as Prime Minister.
Hungary: Fidesz, a ruling party considered nationalist, holds a significant majority in the National Assembly with Viktor Orbán as Prime Minister
.
Netherlands: Geert Wilders' Freedom Party became the largest party in parliament and has played a key role in forming the most right-wing government in recent Dutch history.
Finland: The Finns Party, a far-right party, is part of the government coalition.
Austria: The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), a far-right movement, is gaining momentum and has previously been part of a coalition government.
France: Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) has become the largest single party in parliament and exerts significant influence on lawmaking, particularly regarding issues like migration.
Germany: The Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right party under surveillance for extremist views, has shown strong electoral results, particularly in the east, according to The Guardian.
Sweden: The Sweden Democrats, an anti-immigration party, are the second-largest party in the country and provide support to the government.
Croatia: Far-right parties are members of the governing coalition.
Czech Republic: Far-right parties are gaining positions in government, and one is predicted to win elections and lead a coalition this year.
Slovakia: Far-right parties are gaining positions in government.
It's important to note that while many of these parties share anti-immigration and anti-EU stances, they can differ on other issues like economic policy, foreign affairs, and social issues. Additionally, the rise of the far-right is seen as a long-term trend, driven by factors like economic anxieties, dissatisfaction with mainstream parties, and concerns about immigration.
IMHO the key should be SCOTUS.
The goal of the concept of equity is to make the victim whole. Virtually every act should have been unconstitutional and remedies can be fashioned.
Agreed Daniel, but how do we change SCOTUS? We can't change the composition, it will only get worse. So how do we change their ideology?
Religion is just another ideology,albeit sectarian.
Those who were bribed should be removed and their decisions revisited.
Two questions.
How will they be removed?
Who will remove them?
If Dems and their allies control.....
VERY insightful metaphor. The one thing that will, hopefully, protect us from inciteful Trump not triggering mass suicide is that the majority of American adults are not subscribers to the cult Thom so articulately described.
The cult metaphor is apt because we are already observing people engaging in self-destructive behaviors. Some MAGAs who are losing health insurance are celebrating fealty to their fuhrer on social media. There are likewise Black, Latino, and LGBTQ people (and politicians) eagerly expressing support on TV, podcasts, and social media posts for Trump and his policies that threaten their civil rights.
I could not help but think while reading that the Democrats enabled this fascist takeover. They did not pursue prosecuting Trump for inciting to violence on Jan 6 or encouraging insurrection - which he surely did - right on TV. The Dems just let it go, and insodoing, let it grow into the MAGA monster of today.
Tom, many moons ago, maybe almost half a century. I read something that when a minority reaches 17 percent, there is a shift in the national culture, laws are changed, customs and traditions change or added.
I hold that to be true, because the African American culture, meaning American Descendants of Slaves, is at best 13 percent, and have very much changed the culture of America, alas not enough to give them full equal rights and opportunity.
Consider that and consider that the MAGA culture is at least 40 percent, and more with hanger ons and camp followers, who haven't swallowed the whole thing, but enough to keep them on the periphery.
I agree with you Tom, I don't look to the Democratic party to right the ship of state, the course cannot be reversed, most of the departments have been flooded, and even if pumped out, the damage is done, the records are lost and gone forever,
The Democratic party still has not learned it's lesson, it is still enamored of and beholden to the donors, It has become ossified. What poses as leadership, is timid and afraid to confront the powers that be, or has been compromised or bought.
I wish had answers, I don't have the means, thus I don't have the power, and it is going to take more than people parading around and holding signs to reverse course.
The ship has to be brought to a dead stop, before the Captain and crew can be changed.
And then, the ship has to be overhauled, from bow to stern, and the state rooms completely rebuilt and refurbished, but then it will not be the old ship that we knew, that one is at the bottom of the ocean, and I don't know if it can be refloated.
And if it is refloated that isn't going to help the millions of people who have already drowned, and those that will drown, floating on the ocean hoping for rescue.
Is SS America Inc, sinking or has it already sunk, is it bow up,or beneath the waves.?
Or in aeronautical terms is it past the halfway point, in my opinion it can't be turned around, What was, is like Clementines daughter, lost and gone forever. The only hope, as I see it, is wresting control from the captain, throwing his crew overboard, Like Patel, Bongino, Noem, Bessent, Rubio, and try to build back better.
Dems tried but failed, in part because the AG was a dud.
In another venue we were discussing SCOTUS, which has been irresponsible if not complicit. I argue that if the minority judges have first hand knowledge about Thomas and Alito, they violate their oath by not bringing charges against them. https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/Code-of-Conduct-for-Justices_November_13_2023.pdf
28 U.S. Code § 455 - Disqualification of justice, judge, or magistrate judge
(a)Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
That"shall" sounds mandatory.
A the time, I especially thought the same about lawyers who appeared before Judge Cannon and her colleagues on the USDC here in Baghdad by the sea.
The rule for USDC judges is: 28 USC 144:
Whenever a party to any proceeding in a district court makes and files a timely and sufficient affidavit that the judge before whom the matter is pending has a personal bias or prejudice either against him or in favor of any adverse party, such judge shall proceed no further therein, but another judge shall be assigned to hear such proceeding.
The affidavit shall state the facts and the reasons for the belief that bias or prejudice exists, and shall be filed not less than ten days before the beginning of the term at which the proceeding is to be heard, or good cause shall be shown for failure to file it within such time. A party may file only one such affidavit in any case. It shall be accompanied by a certificate of counsel of record stating that it is made in good faith.
All true Daniel, The law is on our side, but those who are empowered to enforce the law are the problem. both SCOTUS and DOJ.
How do we overcome that obstacle? A law that is not enforced or enforceable is just words on paper.
The Jerry Weiss scenario.
As long we have corporations controlling government and owning discourse, they will be pushing fascism and indoctrinating the the vulnerable to psychopathic society.
When the gap is too wide, people reach for an excuse, and they find dehumanization as a justification. How can people treat immigrants like that? How can people vote for policies that make it impossible to care for the unhoused in cities? How can people vote to remove healthcare, to eliminate aging with dignity, make stepping over humans sleeping, sick in the gutters, a necessity?
The answer, "they're not real Americans" should clue you in. The election maps should tell you a lot about people who would rather "stand athwart history yelling stop," and use every sadistic tool at their disposal keep people in their place, rather than admitting that something is broken and needs to change.
The government needs to be able to govern the powerful, or it is not really a government. It's just another sadistic excuse for lawless tyranny.
I've just been reading about Rasputin in Russia in 1916, not all that long ago. He was a cult figure who had conned the Empress and others and had infiltrated the royal household to the extent that dozens of competent and loyal officials were purged and replaced with incompetent acolytes at his insistence. The people who finally lured him to his death were not revolutionaries or radical left-wing figures. They were the privileged right-wing friends of the autocratic leader Nicholas who was conducting a war and was losing. They had recognized the harm Rasputin was doing to their country. It gives me hope.
Yes Mr. Elliott the lesson of Rasputin is apt. He was done in by the elite, who finally greed he was a danger to them and decided to act.
The American oligarchs realize how dangerous trump is, not only to ordinary citizens, but to them as well because he could bring down the entire system if he is left unchecked. They assuredly know how crazy and incompetent he is.
Those oligarchs know that since the elimination of the Kennedy brothers, they have been able to control who gets into the White House. They did unquestionably put Trump there to do their bidding. Now that they have their tax bill through congress, they no longer need trump. He has become a liability.
Watch on the news how in the next months we will see more and more articles about how Trump is mentally unfit. The oligarchs are preparing the conditions to rid the system of Trump by invoking the 25th amendment. The beauty of this route is that the elected Republicans will not be required to lift a finger [J.D. Vance is the exception]. Instead the 25th requires non elected officials to do the dirty work for them and get rid of a madman before he upsets the apple cart for all of us and brings the entire system down. Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance will organize the effort.
Grigori Rasputin, American style. They will not have to assassinate him and throw his body into the river. Just use the 25th and send him off to the funny-farm or one of his gulf clubs.
It occurs to me that they could assassinate him and blame the Democrats. They will find their Lee Harvey Oswald to be the patsy.
So, what will JD Vance do once he steps in to the top job? Will he be a useful idiot also? Or, does he have a wholly separate agenda and does he have the inclination to be the ruthless CEO dictator president? I do not see many people accepting him as a leader.
Mr. Elliott, good questions. I have no answers. I have not gotten far enough to venture a prediction about Vance. However, being a Sociologist, I have a tendency to view psychological reductionist explanations of human behavior with skepticism. They are all too often stretched far beyond their ability to actually explain human behavior. The individual players in this huge historical drama are not so terribly important. What is more important is the social forces and structures in which we find ourselves. We live in groups. We do not invent our own language. We all speak the languages which have developed over tens of thousands of years. We are subjected to the forces of economics, politics, and family structures which have also evolved over thousands of years. These institutions have a life independent of any one of us. But we do not exist independently of the institutions. We cannot live without them. That is impossible. We human beings are fundamentally social creatures. That means we live in groups and our behavior is determined by our membership in those groups.
There are some things we can say about Vance. He is undoubtedly talented and smart as hell. He has been reading Kant and the Contract Theorists on his own since high school. He earned a 4 year baccalaureate degree from Ohio State university in 2 years. Wrote a memoir which was #1 on the NY Times best seller list, and made into a successful movie. All those who have known him from his early years in the marine corp and in college and the extremely selective, important Yale law school say he is charming and affable.
He is also an opportunist of the first water. That should be obvious. He met Peter Thiel while he [Vance] was in law school and latched onto the billionaire and has charmed him into financing his fantastically successful political career. In a few short years he has walked from obscurity into the White House. He might be just a smart version of Trump. Or he might be somebody else who has ben kissing Trump's ass because that is necessary in order to deal successfully with Trump. I do not know what he is or what he will do.
But we might have President Vance for the next 3 years of Trump's 4 year term and then he could be elected to 2 terms on his own for 8 more years. At that point we shall have had 11 years of President Vance. For better or worse; he shall have been, at that point, the most important President since FDR. I believe that is exactly what Thiel and his billionaire friends have intended all along.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Hartmann.
Just a few more things.
The conspiracy of 2 critical foreigners, a decrepit party, and 1 critical TV program:
1. UK's Mark Burnett ("The Apprentice" to a Fake mentor)
2. Oz's Rupert Murdoch (FOX - The American Pravda)
3. The post-Ike Republicans (An anti-American Den of Vipers)
4. AMC cable TV for "The Walking Dead" ( transposed the Brownies of this land w/ zombies)
Thank you for mentioning the "I alone can fix it!" speech in 2016. That raised a serious red flag, a flag with the word "demagogue" emblazoned on it. I'd thought he was a loudmouth blowhard ever since I'd first become aware of him in the 70s, but this made me realize he was dangerous as well. I wish enough other people had come to the same realization at the time.
"Jim Jones wasn’t always a madman. In the beginning, he offered something people desperately wanted"
And Xi Jinping, Erdogan, and Putin weren't murderous authoritarians at the beginning of their political careers either--they did a lot of good for their citizens. At some point the intoxication of power took hold. Heavy-duty addicts do despicable things for drugs. I've worked with ex-trafficked women, many of whom were trafficked by their own mothers for drug money, one at the age of 10. Power is no different....
Jesus.
You continually exhort an unidentified "we" to action. It's not hard to conceptualize the "they" (Trumps cult members) but the "we" are not so easy to visualize. "We" comprise multiple backgrounds and philosophies, sometimes having only opposition to fascism in common.
How do you suggest we get the "opposition" to gel, and then coalesce and respond meaningfully to the armed insurrection in control of this country? The cacophony is deafening but the action is not organized except in general opposition, which is not an effective response.
Who or whom is our lightning rod?
I have some of the same concerns Thomas Wilson.. However, consider this.
There is, was, the same situation on the right. Various factions with their own and competing agendas, fears, concerns, hatreds, bias and needs.
They coalesced around Trump, who invented MAGA, and MAGA now represent the thing, and the different factions have gelled., Even as Trump is betraying (some) of his base, they still stand with him, and make excuses or ignore the betrayal because he pursues the policies that they really voted for.
The Farmers who are being hurt by his war on immigrants, still stand by him. As have the farmers who are economically hurt, and rural America who will lose it's health care, even red necks on SNAP.
A lot of federal employees voted for Trump because they believed that he would fire that lazy shit head in the next cubicle, many still remain Trump Humpers because they think it was a mistake, or because he is advancing the partriarchal agenda.
The problem with Democrats is, and always has been, that there are different factions under the big tent, that demand all of the attention and resources.
Their issue is the only important issue,they aren't willing to subordinate their issue, to the benefit of the whole.
The secret of success in the Republican party, is that they have weaponized fear.
I became conscious of this back when Reagan was running. Door hangers and mailers from the Moral Majority,skillfully crafted, with bullet points, short paragraphs, that made them readable, one subject per paragraph, three sentences max per paragraph.
And each and every paragraph crafted to excite the lizard brain. People poured in money,and voted not for something,not for their pocketbook, not for justice, but because of fear. A fear either manufactured, or a fear exacerbated out of all proportion to reality.
They are doing this right now with great effect. most felonies, murders, rapes thefts in America are perpetuated by white, Christian, males. Yet the majority of the people, probably believe (I would have to take an objective survey) that they are committed by immigrants and people of color. though they are actually committed by white, Christians
Donald J. Trump.
We have wrongs to right. The Continuing Resolution is a healthcare travesty on the least of our citizens. Health Inequity https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/health-inequity
Carl, I read it. The BIG issue today is PAYGO, which will activate a MEDICARE cut.
https://democrats-budget.house.gov/resources/fact-sheet/house-passed-fy25-reconciliation-bill-triggers-535-billion-medicare-cuts
An important reason the German Weimar Republic fell is the opposition was disorganized and did not "have a plan". They thought Hitler could be controlled by other conservatives in ministerial positions. They underestimated him and Germany suffered the consequences.
In support of your account, I read that Hitler in his final days issued a national order that citizens should fight to the death rather than surrender and destroy every bridge, utility and building, so that "nothing must remain to greet the invaders but the stench of death."
"Trump built his Jonestown right here at home, within the boundaries of our republic...."
Whatever we live in now, it is not a "republic," and it certainly isn't ours. This country under ICE is headed full speed into becoming like occupied Gaza under the IDF.
My father at nineteen put on the uniform of war to stop Trump. Pacific Rim was his life for two years before coming home. Big sister is Trumps age, but very different few of America. Changes are happening fast, will we have an America that means anything ?
Thom - great article! Thank you for your core points explaining what “narcissistic collapse” actually looks like. Most Americans are ignorant about psychology in general and especially ignorant about the manipulative pathologies such as narcissism. In fact, most Americans are employed in corporations run by narcissists. CEOs are notorious for having the lowest EQ of any demographic. As a consequence, many Americans have become conditioned to accommodating narcissists’ demands and whimsies at least 40 hours per week. In addition, religious fundamentalists are conditioned to obey authority without question.
All of this corporate and religious conditioning - especially accelerated since Reaganism, as you point out - has primed a huge percentage of Americans to be easily manipulated.
Thank you, Thom, for your exceptional work each day to educate and wake Americans up!
Unfortunately I expect little from the Democrats aside from receiving multiple emails asking for money. In addition as a side note, I've yet to see Thom on any MSNBC programing spreading the word of the serious threat of this current regime, nothing on "Morning Joe", or Nicole Wallace's, Chris Haye's, Ari Melbar's or Lawrence O'Donnel's programs. Guess the range of "acceptable" discussion in the corporate media is from extreme right to barely left of centrist.