You have to break government pretty badly before people are willing to trade in a normal democracy for a dictatorship, but it’s sure happened before...
I think you’ve got it Thom. It all makes sense & fits together. There are a lot of good people who are trying to do the right thing & make a difference.
Mostly. One characteristic is racism. "Eugenics." During my lifetime, groups like America Firsters, neo-Confederates, neo-Nazi, skinheads and Christian Identity support Fascism. Economic efficiency is a rationalization for world domination.
just
On the other hand there are racist left wing organizations. See Eric Hoffer, The True Believer.
And there are a few people who have deluded themselves to make efficiency their compelling goal. I've discussed the Republican dichotomy from my childhood. Lincolnian vs. Hamiltonians. Consider this: https://lincolnproject.us/ "HELP US subset DEFEAT TRUMP AND TRUMPISM-- November is quickly approaching, and defeating Trump is critical to preserving our democracy. We need supporters like you to help us bring down Trump and his enablers and spread our message to swing voters in key states. Will you join us in the fight?"
Another irony is that there is a small concurrent minority (including a tiny subset of orthodox Jews) who fall for "trickle down" "supply side" Libertarian Fascist BS on religious grounds.
I totally agree Daniel. The True Believer is one of my favorite books, I have a copy.
I don't know if I would call left wing extremists racists, but considering their anti Jewish partisanship (even among secular Jews they are close, though Jew is not a race
The word was coined to describe those English lefties, who supported the Soviets as their tanks rolled in to Hungary.
The 21st Century variant, found in the USA and around the world, are susceptible to any propaganda in which it is alleged imperialism, colonialism, genocide. Key trigger words for these vapid pseudo intellectuals.
I once was a regular donator to Democracy Now and The Intercept, and respected Noam Chomsky and the Magazine the Nation, until they proved to be "Tankies' when it came to Russia, whom I imagine in their mind's eye is still Marxist.
I still consider myself a progressive, albeit not a leftist. Because I still possess critical thinking skills, and form my own opinions, I don't jump on bandwagons, to be popular or spare me the trouble of thinking.
I nibble at pies and pizzas, without eating the whole damn thing.
The Lincoln project and the Bulwark are never trumpers, Charlie Sykes of the Bulwark is now an "anal yst" or contributor to MSNBC. MSNBC is not the liberal media that the right wing says it is, it is center right for deregulation and taxes on corporations and the wealthy , and moderate oh so moderate when it comes to culture war issues. Mostly they talk about politics, the horse race and the doings of Trump. They talk, about Trump a lot, too much, who was it that said there is no such thing as bad publicity. The media made Trump 45 and they are doing it again.
Too many libertarians in the never Trump stable. Libertarians are only libertarian when it comes to money and regulation of business, when it comes to race, gender, sex, the cultural issues, they aren't so libertarian at all
Reason mag was founded by he Koch foundation, The New Republic is supposedly libertarian, but one of its staff, Andrew Sullivan, is a gay, transphobe, a flaming hypocrite. At least from what I saw of him on Bill Maher. I was astonished.
Pati, While I agree a lot of good people are trying to make a difference, I would note the biggest bloc of unmobilized voters (over a million) are poor people and low wage earners. While reports show 22% less participation than other groups on average, I rarely, if ever, hear our representatives address policy that connects specifically to their lives. Imagine the impact at the state and federal levels if ever we could incentivize these mostly nonvoters to vote in 24 and beyond. I understand their list of demands starts with addressing poverty as the 4th leading cause of death and also entails a living wage, full voting rights, ending voter suppression, workers’ rights and labor rights, public education funding, universal healthcare, reproductive care, and policing and criminal justice reform.
Field Team 6 has lists of unregistered females. In 2022 900,000 did not register in Florida, alone. 70% trend Democratic. 70% of renters, Gen Z also trend Democratic. https://www.fieldteam6.org/
You summarized the oligarchs plan for the GOP very well Thom. Blame Biden for everything and insist that only “their” strongman trump can fix it. Fortunately, I believe that Jan 6 scared a lot of Americans. The Dobbs decision was a “game changer”. Never has a basic “right to bodily autonomy” been taken away from the MAJORITY of the population. Whether we are too old to get pregnant doesn’t matter. We had the right to control our lives. Then several humans without uteruses - who have no idea of the repercussions of an unwanted pregnancy took that right away - after first lying to the country on TV by saying they believe in “precedent”. Then those same liars threaten to continue to take apart other Constitutional Amendments. Women know we are at war. Your commentary and others of the plans the oligarchy has for us in Project 2025 to turn this country into a modern day feudal system is horrifying. Either these Republicans are stopped or there will be blood. Sooner or later. Fortunately, we do have Biden as President and that “old man” has seen a lot. His policies have been generally wise and he has been blessed with success economically and in handling the pandemic. Trump for all his “raging” is looking sicker as time passes and his mental health also is deteriorating. Trump’s narcissistic personality will not allow him to give the reins of power to a surrogate, unless it’s Putin himself (or Steve Miller). Either way our intelligence should be able to track it down. Perhaps that is why Tucker Carlson is in Moscow. The Republican House should not have outright rejected the bipartisan Border bill. They showed their hand to many Americans, Republican, Independent and Democrat who want that border secured AND who want aid sent to our allies. Americans are tired of paying their tax dollars to the House Republicans to do Nothing but bitch about Biden. These lazy ass Republican House members expect the American people to work for food stamps but they aren’t willing to discuss a bill to secure the border!!! That is a BASIC function of the Federal Government. We don’t need a strongman - we need to get rid of the Republican Party.
Kay, the whole "pro life" thing is not and never was about life. It is about one thing and one thing only, male control of females. Patriarchalism, which results in misogyny.
Absolutely - if they cared about “life”, these hateful people would care about impoverished pregnant women. They would ensure that these pregnant women and girls had the health care, food, housing and education they require. These “pro-lifers”, would be ensuring that the children they are insisting women and girls bring into the world have a family (somewhere) to love and raise them. That these unwanted children are fed, educated and given the healthcare they also require. Just as their Christian Lord Jesus instructed - but NO - as you correctly point out - it’s about control - not love - and women know it. So - let there be freedom or let there be blood
Absolutely Kay. I have been calling out pro lifers as the fraud they are, since the internet was DOS only, and messages were read posted via FTP.
Pro life is pro lie. The subject is not unborn babies, anymore than Mom's for liberty is about liberty. It is about maintaining a system of male dominance, aka patriarchy, and the worst part, the most virulent supporters are Karen's, women. And i understand why that is. !. They are easily manipulated by hormones (talk of killing unborn babies) and they believe that the established order of male domination best suits them and their needs, by providing them with protection and security.
Yes Kay, I remember Phyllis Schafly,. and have brought her up many times as an example of a woman who betrayed her own gender, because she was made rich, famous and empowered by the patriarchy.
She, single handedly, launched the campaign, that stopped the Equal Rights Amendment from getting ratified,, Probably doesn't matter, the Supreme court of the Republic of Gilead, led by the Handmaid in chief, would have voided it, just like they voided the Voting Rights act, led by the House slave in chief, Clarence Thomas.
I saw Schafly at Reagan’s convention before he was first elected. She looked arrogant and cold, covered in Anti-ERA crap. I was so-disgusted. I must have been glaring at her when I had to walk past her because she was definitely “aware” of me. Cate Blanchett did a great job playing her in Mrs.America. I never even considered that the SCROTUS (saw that on another post) could void the ERA if it was an Amendment. That’s why I always voted pro-choice because Roe was so dicey. The damage to voting rights is frightening.
Iets face it and caII A spade a spade. There is no Ionger an officiaI RepubIican party, it's been hijacked! We may as weII caII this group MagaFascists in Congress. The probIem Iies reaIIy in the branding and IabeI........Enough is Enough......these are MagaFascists.
Your catalogue of horrors tells me the game is already lost. Given the morbidly rich control most media, there is little hope that the truth about any of this will reach enough people, and enough people willing and able to recognize facts, in time to prevent a November coup. Because that is what it will be—an abuse of our ostensibly somewhat democratic republic’s electoral machinery to destroy it.
My only consolation in this is that the poor white MAGAts who support this will suffer as much as the poor non-white Americans will. In truth,though, all but the morbidly rich will suffer, as their goal is to concentrate wealth in as few hands as possible, creating a new feudalism.
It gives me no pleasure to write this. Because I am beginning to believe that regardless of the outcome in November, we are looking at major civil unrest, possibly with a lot of bloodshed, in bitter conflicts that may not be resolved until a horrific toll of death and destruction here, the end of this country as a viable entity, the advance of autocracy around the world, and quite possibly, through irrationality or accident, a nuclear Holocaust.
Call me an alarmist if you will. I am hoping to marshall the resources to enable our youngest daughter and beloved grandson to move to Ireland if November goes the wrong way and if I can persuade them to do that. It will not save them if there is nuclear war, but it will give them a better chance for a less hateful life than staying here, even though living in Northern California they and we will be able to sustain a decent life for a time, unless the MAGAts and their orange god send their new brown shirts to punish California and people like me who have so vehemently opposed them.
It saddens me to see all of this happening. It reinforces my low view of our species. We still worship the golden calf beyond all things. I doubt that will change. The idealism of Christ and its cold expression in Marx cannot be realized, ever, because both assume a basic goodness in human nature that history demonstrates is not there. The minute we gain a little power and money, we start to abuse it and become addicted to wanting more. As a historian y training and avocation, and a lawyer before illness forced my premature retirement, those are the truths I have learned. They also explain why I will welcome my final rest, when, in the life hereafter which I believe awaits me, or even if all that looms is cultivating a worm farm, I will live our accursed species behind.
If you are an alarmist Roy, you have company, and more than just me. Better to be alarmed and prepared than hopeful or in denial.
IMO, the goodness of this Jesus, was a sop to sell the idea of pacifism to the Romans.
The Pharisees (the intellectual stoics), realized that they couldn't defeat Rome from without, so they cleverly designed a plan to defeat it from within, but selling an ideology of pacifism, it didn't quite work out as planned though, co opted by Constantine and modified by Piso or Romans of his intellect and money.
Marx, well he is mischaracterized by those who adore him and those who berate him.
Marx was financed by a wealthy group called the League of Just Men, and actually had disdain for plebes, whom he called the proletariat.
He would write scathing letters to the editors of southern papers, imploring them to free the slaves and hire them back at market wages.
He was not motivated by altruism, but finance. his partner frederick Engels, inherited a textile mill, and because cotton imported from Charleston and Mbil, was so expensive (because of the expense of maintaining a healthy work force of slaves, that Frederick had to import cheaper and inferior Egyptian Cotton..
Marx's was an enemy of the middle class (just like today's plutocrats) which he called the bourgeoisie , but not the ruling class, He never mentioned the ruling class, the elite, because tis they that funded him as the League of Just Men.
And the idea of a Republic is also rule by wise men, meaning the elite, those with a vested interest in the economy and safety of the state.
Which thanks to advances in technology and governance, now includes the bourgeoisie, the property owning middle class, which is now shrinking thanks to Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve.
With property rates rising as they are, if we are not wiped out by global warming, we will be a nation of renters
There are people living off the grid who know the value of sandbags and who make their own oxygen. Unfortunately IMHO most expect the rapture the first Tuesday in November.
Yes the Republicans and their corrupt masters, the Federalist Society , Big corporations who pay Republican politicians way into broken far right edicts that hurt all but the wealthiest people. These are destructive forces in our country today and as Thom mentioned the last fifty years or so. There is another element in addition which has been overlooked to a large degree.
We all know Donald Trump is crazy.
But interestingly enough , is that he is truly severely mentally ill.
He is joined by others with vulnerabilities to his mental flaws and deranged political scope .
There is a group of highly expert ‘dirty word, (expert)Psychiatrists that firmly believe that his mental state and that of his followers is dangerously destructive ,as has been demonstrated by his constant extreme outbursts and their willingness to be violent on behalf of their twisted leader.
Haven’t we all been taken aback by the hatred that he and his followers re capable of .
These people who are truly experts in the psychology of Malignant Narcissism have been shut down by the Medical American Medical Society and thereby not allowed to speak truthfully about the destruction of allowing Trump to hit all of us over the head with his vicious rants and threats.
There are several books dealing with this subject including one “ The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump”.
I urge people to look into this . We need to know that it is true that our destruction is planned and imminent if we don’t oppose Trumps agenda.
We must pull out all stops to vote against this tragedy.
The Federalist society and the corporations and billionaires have all gotten rich looting our Treasury the last 40 years also, with unfunded wars, capitalist healthcare, free trade, interest on the national debt, corporate welfare, bloated military budgets, the trickledown theory, offshore banking and much more. In my estimation, counting the cost in human incarceration and lost productivity, at least over 100 trillion dollars. We should include the Vietnam war in that also.
All true evidence of the crimes they’ve been allowed to perpetuate on Americans. Enough is Enough. One thing seems clear the far right Supreme Court should be diluted with expansion . (I am aware it’s an election year )
It is not kosher to criticize a Democrat during an election season, but I must. because the Democratic party must remediate their behavior and actually be a party of the people, and not a second party of the Plutocrats.
Presidents don't put together policies, international agreements and legislative bills. They are formulated by powers that have the money, thus the means, to formulate such, and the money and thus power to have Congress pass them and the President to sign them.
Which means that our elected representatives are toadies of the money powers.
GATT was established in 1947, and has been updated since. George H W Bush, George W Bush and William Jefferson Clinton all signed an updated and renegotiated GATT. Clinton did not have to sign it, but he did because he was told to by those whose money wields power inside the Beltway.
By the same token, NAFTA was negotiated, by the same money powers, during the George H W Bush administration but Clinton signed it, he didn't have to, but was told to by the same money powers (vested interests) that negotiated the deal.
There is an interesting phenomenon in politics. I will use the example of "Only Nixon could go to China" as an example. When the powers behind the throne want something done, something really done, they use the Party or President in power, who was expected to be in harsh opposition to do he job.
The Democratic party was tagged as socialist, pro communist, and a Democratic president could never have sent an emissary, like the war criminal Kissinger, to China and open up trade, but an anti Communist President like Nixon.
Reagan was pro labor, in fact President of the Screen Actors Guild, and promised to support the Professional Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) union before election, but what did he do after election, he destroyed PATCO and Unions.
William J Clinton was elected by blacks, labor, gays, women and what did he do as President, he turned against them, betrayed them because that is what the Money Powers demanded. (and was richly rewarded for the deed after he left office, essentially broke.)
The PATRIOT Act was put together during the Clinton Administration, awaiting an opportunity, an event to pull it out of the desk drawer and sign it into law. 9/11 was that opportunity.
This is not QAnon stuff either. The PATRIOT Act was passed on 26 Oct, 2001 , 47 days after 9/11,
Bear in mind the whole country, and government, were in shock for a month, pre occupied with the event and getting revenge. It takes months and months to cobble together complicated bills, the ACA took months, maybe over a year, it was 600 pages long and actually written by the health insurance industry.
The PATRIOT Act is complex and 131 pages long there is no way it was written so fast by congressional staff. Written by think tanks and staff, yes. Who wrote it and why, but it was not written in response to 9/11 it was written before 9/11.
During the Clinton Administration, GATT was renegotiated and updated as well as NAFTA but none of the subsequent loss of jobs and transfer of manufacturing to Mexico would have happened had not Clinton signed it.
Again it took a Democratic (pro labor) President to do what a Republican president would never do.
It took anti Communist President, what a liberal (socialist) president could never do and that is open trade with Communist China.
The Democrats had finally got on board with the harshest immigration bill ever, including abandoning the Dreamers (albeit to aid Ukraine to defend itself from NAZI Putin), but Trump and his minions in the "Freedom" Caucus didn't get the memo. As I read the news, Biden has been even more harsh and restrictive on migrants and immigration than the immigration policies under Trump.
ff so, then again it is the Democrats doing what a Republican could never do, and vice versa.
The current (legal) war with Texas is not about immigration but about powers, state or federal and apparently the Civil War never really resolved the issue
"By thy fruits thy will be judged". Words are cheap, actions are dear.
That being said, I will crawl over broken glass to keep Trump and his humpers out of office.
"...the Democratic party must remediate their behavior and actually be a party of the people..."
The problem is that SCOTUS has legalized political bribery and the oligarchs have taken over the media. Without the vast bribes from the wealthy, neither Democrats nor Republicans can win office. This was the one of the primary goals of the Federalists and it has been wildly successful. It's how they intend for the oligarchs to buy us all into serfdom. Blatant bribery is also going on within SCOTUS - Roberts (via his wife), Thomas, Alito and likely the other other right-wingers, except Barrett, who's simply nuts. A poster on WaPo (or Huff, can't remember) said (I paraphrase), "I went to college with one of her kids - he said the family was deeply dysfunctional and the kids a mess. Of course, I have not know one fundamentalist family that wasn't deeply dysfunctional and unhappy.
Suzie; To quote you. I have not know one fundamentalist family that wasn't deeply dysfunctional and unhappy." So true, and do a dive into the fundamentalists, you will find incest, rape, hypocricy, theft, gullibility, stupidity and the worst of human nature, all possible because they believe that, if they are Catholic, they can do anything, confess and be given absolutiion, so they do it again, or if Protestant believe that they are saved by grace (belief) alone, or if Baptist, by being born again.
My uncle was a Southern Baptist Preacher, and every Sunday like clockwork, the same crowd of drunks and whores should up to be "born again", he put out the call for sinners to come and be saved, and they jumped into the aisle and came up to the podium, where he laid hands on them, and hallelujah, the congregation applauded.,it was a trip.
you hit the nail on the head Thom. The right decided to go on vacation and only do work to make the rich richer.
Back in the early '70s when there were a lot of strikes, the Republican party decided to go on strike against Americans and the American worker. With big money backing them, they have systematically destroyed America, creating crisis after crisis. In my humble opinion I think they have made large inroads into the Democratic leadership also. The fascists know that in order to have a decent standard of living, that they will have to share their wealth and that leads to a middle class that creates jobs and competition and weakens their power to use and abuse victims of their narcissistic ego needs.
The question is, can the maga cult comprehend what has been done to them? Being so full of anger and hatred, they can't think straight or at all. We can try to educate them with commercials if any rich dare to finance democracy.
"I think they have made large inroads into the Democratic leadership also". Dead center. My fear is that should the election save the democracy (of which I am doubtful), people will sigh and coo, and retire their laurels to a nest. Truth is, all
corrosive actions committed by the Right were done in full view of elected Dems, and Americans reading the papers everyday saw scant warnings of the Right's mendacious betrayals. The elected Dems welcomed the underreporting, busy themselves becoming multimillionaires. When the dem fossils saw new blood in their ranks, they quickly trivialized them (like Bernie, AOC, etc). When AOC declared the core principles of the Democratic Party should be reenacted, one remembers Pelosi delivering a coy cutdown via a patrician elitist condescension:. "I like her energy". Brush, brush
The continued combat against MAGA is well above the average citizen tactically. Their fight, mightily invested, should entail relentless exposure of the press and the existing rotted Democratic Party members, and strong punitive actions where due
Vote the fossils out! Since the MSM are corporations, massive boycott planning will tend to make them return to honest journalism. And all should write in ink on their forearms DIVESTITURE, the crucial
In the history of the world societies, have always been ruled by an authoritarian, either a king, or some kind of dictator. There has always been an impenetrable separation dividing class between the wealthy and the laborers. It’s amazing that the American experiment has lasted this long. Capitalism is an economic theory not a political theory and the debate regarding unrestrained laissez-faire capitalism ended with the new deal. That and Johnson’s great society gave us the most prosperous society in the history of the world. Maybe it’s true that all things must come to an end.
Every thing you said is true BillyN. Isn't it a sad testament to the human condition, that , though they talk about liberty, freedom, equality what they really want is security and protection, and that leads to slavery, in some form be it that of a wage slave, a serf, or even a household.
Daniel. None of the aristocrats can survive on their own. If you have watched action movies, you see the aristocratic class, using technology and hired thugs to protect and feed themselves, but when it comes crashing down, they are left defenseless and like the Russian nobility in 1917 they flee, problem is as the situation is now, there is nowhere to flee, except Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE.
But if the crisis is environmental, then there is no place to flee. The first countries and regions that will feel the effects of wet bulb reading of 95 degrees Fahrenheit will be the oil producing nations and regions.
Our Mad King Donald IS still president and unquestioned leader of a so far successful rebellion against the authority and institutions of the Republic. To say otherwise is just naive and ignorant of the facts. He is a protector of his greedy globalist corporate overlords, irrespective of the madman he obviously is. FOLLOW THE MONEY!
Interestingly I believe Donald Trump has done an amazing job of following Putin’s orders to destroy America and Democracy so he can achieve his goals of restoring Russia to the empire it once was. Putin has supplied an army of trolls and hackers as well as lots of money funneled through the NRA, real estate, and God knows what else to ensure his useful idiot can do his job. He did the same with Brexit. He laughs while he sows chaos just as he did in his own country to gain power. (Read Timothy Snyders The Road to Unfreedom). He has made a mockery of the US and continues to do so by playing young people on TikToc and old people on Fox, Facebook, Instagram and Telegram. We need to identify the real enemy and it’s not just Trump. Putin, greed and power have the potential to destroy us. Let’s fight that!
Absolutely - our Intelligence service identified this and “chewed out” then President Trump in 2018 in a report to the Senate Intelligence subcommittee? “Putin’s Asymmetric Assault on Democracy” Google it. I was looking for something completely different and this popped up on my computer. It ended in .gov so I opened it. OH MY - it Lays Everything Out that these MF have been doing - including FORCING WOMEN TO HAVE MORE CHILDREN - and Franklin Graham was mentioned in it. This is the report that President Trump DENIED on the stage in Helsinki in 2018 in front of the world. Trump said that he believed Putin (rather than our Own US Intelligence Service!!!) - because they said Trump wasn’t doing his job!!’
The GOP of today is not the GOP of Eisenhower. And the Democratic party of today is not the Democratic party of FDR.
I made a comment above about how only Nixon could have gone to China, and forgot only Truman could have integrated the Armed Forces, and only a Democrat could have passed both the Voting Rights and Civil Rights Act.
I'm thinking, I don't need to comment anymore: Thom just said it all! How about a gilt-edged boxed set of all of Thom's civic affairs/history books with this essay as a synopsis pamphlet?
The House blundered big time yesterday. Crying out for border reform for years, hoping to put on a big show for America by trying to impeach Mayorkas, and constantly shouting about the “invasion,” they exposed their true reasoning for all of it: the border problems bring Republican voters to the polls every time. Eliminating those problems, as trump reminded his flock, means he would lose to Biden again.
trump may not be intelligent, but he reads a room pretty well. That’s why he’s noncommittal on a federal abortion ban. He reminds the cult that he gave them the justices who would make this country pro-life, but backs away from affirming his personal feelings, as he needs the votes of Independent women who may not support him should he go all in.
It is amazing for how long half our country has been lied to and consistently taken the bait. The mind set is truly amazing that such a program of deceit has been successful. There simply is something basic about blaming others for ones own action that cause social problems. This is why it is important to keep to a base voter campaign of driving 3 or 4 economic issues repeatedly so by election day everybody on the planet knows what those issues are and low information Dem voters come out and vote. Repeating messaging is where it is.
Consumers have always been taken for milka cows. No shame no limit. And von trump anc co want to even let more private companies increase their milking powers. Disgusting. Stop this madness!
Let me suggest that without the underlying white racism that was revealed AFTER the successes of the civil rights movement, and the turmoil of the Anti-Vietnam War movement, America's plutocrats and oligarchs would not have had as easy a time turning conservative America against democracy.
I beg to differ William Becker. There has always been an underlying racism, and a penchant for fascism.
Rachel Maddow documented the rise of racist fascism prior to WWII, and if not for the war, America would have most certainly wound up NAZI and occupied by Japan and Germany
who themselves would have gone to war against each other, Like Hitler and Stalin
Yeh, the third stanza completely ignored by everyone, even black singers who sing it at ball games. Most folk don't know that is about slaves Many slaves to escape their masters, and who could blame them, I don't, joined with the British
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore, That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion A home and a Country should leave us no more? Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave, And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
When leaders prioritize world domination, be they Republican or Democrat, over the good of the people...your war with Russia, genocide of Palestinians, bombing of Yemen and on and on do not serve the interests of the American people. When Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden made their nationalist speeches championing war in Iraq it was all over but the shouting. And you've been backing their reckless militarism ever since, now in the interest of selling dog food.
Hi Boris, not so clever you are, and quite the opportunist you are. It seems that if you keep using liberal values and thought, to inject your defense and partisanship of Putin, you will eventually cause liberals to side with that NAZI Putin.
HAMAS has given you a great opportunity to distract and dissuade liberals, hasn't it.
It is not a Coincidence that Oct 7th marked two occasions. Putin's birthday and HAMAS attack on Israel.
Let's see how that works
HAMAS supplied missiles, weapons, equipment, tactical help by Iran.
Iran ad Putin are co conspirators, definitely in league with the same objective, destroy the great "satan' and obstacle to Putin's imperialistic megalmania.
Doesn't take a rocket scientist to connect the dots.
Your attempts o deflect, detract and destroy ain't working dude.
As Secretary of State Hillary was all about bombing Libya and she joked about assassinating Gaddafi. She was a major champion of every war including Iraq and Afghanistan, and famously implemented a program to train half dozen fighters in Syria costing half a billion dollars. Nikki Haley is just as much of a warmonger as anyone, as for the gay community I see them backing Biden and Hillary very strongly. I don't think any particular identity is going to rescue us from our insatiable imperialism.
And there is no war monger like Putin, is there Boris>. The man is a war criminal, abducts children, bombs hospitals, schools on purpose, not because they shelter the army or are command structures but precisely because they are hospitals and schools.
I think you’ve got it Thom. It all makes sense & fits together. There are a lot of good people who are trying to do the right thing & make a difference.
God, I hope it’s not too late.
This must be the new world order that George Bush Sr was talking about? The GOP voters hated the globalists before they fell in love with Trump.
Among the right, globalists and Soro are code for Jew.
One needs a translator app to decipher Republican speak.
Mostly. One characteristic is racism. "Eugenics." During my lifetime, groups like America Firsters, neo-Confederates, neo-Nazi, skinheads and Christian Identity support Fascism. Economic efficiency is a rationalization for world domination.
just
On the other hand there are racist left wing organizations. See Eric Hoffer, The True Believer.
And there are a few people who have deluded themselves to make efficiency their compelling goal. I've discussed the Republican dichotomy from my childhood. Lincolnian vs. Hamiltonians. Consider this: https://lincolnproject.us/ "HELP US subset DEFEAT TRUMP AND TRUMPISM-- November is quickly approaching, and defeating Trump is critical to preserving our democracy. We need supporters like you to help us bring down Trump and his enablers and spread our message to swing voters in key states. Will you join us in the fight?"
Another irony is that there is a small concurrent minority (including a tiny subset of orthodox Jews) who fall for "trickle down" "supply side" Libertarian Fascist BS on religious grounds.
I totally agree Daniel. The True Believer is one of my favorite books, I have a copy.
I don't know if I would call left wing extremists racists, but considering their anti Jewish partisanship (even among secular Jews they are close, though Jew is not a race
The problem is the true believing Marxists, Thom and I call them Tankies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tankie
The word was coined to describe those English lefties, who supported the Soviets as their tanks rolled in to Hungary.
The 21st Century variant, found in the USA and around the world, are susceptible to any propaganda in which it is alleged imperialism, colonialism, genocide. Key trigger words for these vapid pseudo intellectuals.
I once was a regular donator to Democracy Now and The Intercept, and respected Noam Chomsky and the Magazine the Nation, until they proved to be "Tankies' when it came to Russia, whom I imagine in their mind's eye is still Marxist.
I still consider myself a progressive, albeit not a leftist. Because I still possess critical thinking skills, and form my own opinions, I don't jump on bandwagons, to be popular or spare me the trouble of thinking.
I nibble at pies and pizzas, without eating the whole damn thing.
I also recommend the late Richard Hofstadter’s The Paranoid Style in American Politics. It explains our moment also.
Thanks for the reminder: I just made yet another note to get this!
The Lincoln project and the Bulwark are never trumpers, Charlie Sykes of the Bulwark is now an "anal yst" or contributor to MSNBC. MSNBC is not the liberal media that the right wing says it is, it is center right for deregulation and taxes on corporations and the wealthy , and moderate oh so moderate when it comes to culture war issues. Mostly they talk about politics, the horse race and the doings of Trump. They talk, about Trump a lot, too much, who was it that said there is no such thing as bad publicity. The media made Trump 45 and they are doing it again.
Too many libertarians in the never Trump stable. Libertarians are only libertarian when it comes to money and regulation of business, when it comes to race, gender, sex, the cultural issues, they aren't so libertarian at all
Reason mag was founded by he Koch foundation, The New Republic is supposedly libertarian, but one of its staff, Andrew Sullivan, is a gay, transphobe, a flaming hypocrite. At least from what I saw of him on Bill Maher. I was astonished.
Pati, While I agree a lot of good people are trying to make a difference, I would note the biggest bloc of unmobilized voters (over a million) are poor people and low wage earners. While reports show 22% less participation than other groups on average, I rarely, if ever, hear our representatives address policy that connects specifically to their lives. Imagine the impact at the state and federal levels if ever we could incentivize these mostly nonvoters to vote in 24 and beyond. I understand their list of demands starts with addressing poverty as the 4th leading cause of death and also entails a living wage, full voting rights, ending voter suppression, workers’ rights and labor rights, public education funding, universal healthcare, reproductive care, and policing and criminal justice reform.
Field Team 6 has lists of unregistered females. In 2022 900,000 did not register in Florida, alone. 70% trend Democratic. 70% of renters, Gen Z also trend Democratic. https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Daniel, Thanks for your reply. I would note, that while I write postcards for Field Team 6, this election cycle I plan to do more.
I have signed up now. Thanks!
You summarized the oligarchs plan for the GOP very well Thom. Blame Biden for everything and insist that only “their” strongman trump can fix it. Fortunately, I believe that Jan 6 scared a lot of Americans. The Dobbs decision was a “game changer”. Never has a basic “right to bodily autonomy” been taken away from the MAJORITY of the population. Whether we are too old to get pregnant doesn’t matter. We had the right to control our lives. Then several humans without uteruses - who have no idea of the repercussions of an unwanted pregnancy took that right away - after first lying to the country on TV by saying they believe in “precedent”. Then those same liars threaten to continue to take apart other Constitutional Amendments. Women know we are at war. Your commentary and others of the plans the oligarchy has for us in Project 2025 to turn this country into a modern day feudal system is horrifying. Either these Republicans are stopped or there will be blood. Sooner or later. Fortunately, we do have Biden as President and that “old man” has seen a lot. His policies have been generally wise and he has been blessed with success economically and in handling the pandemic. Trump for all his “raging” is looking sicker as time passes and his mental health also is deteriorating. Trump’s narcissistic personality will not allow him to give the reins of power to a surrogate, unless it’s Putin himself (or Steve Miller). Either way our intelligence should be able to track it down. Perhaps that is why Tucker Carlson is in Moscow. The Republican House should not have outright rejected the bipartisan Border bill. They showed their hand to many Americans, Republican, Independent and Democrat who want that border secured AND who want aid sent to our allies. Americans are tired of paying their tax dollars to the House Republicans to do Nothing but bitch about Biden. These lazy ass Republican House members expect the American people to work for food stamps but they aren’t willing to discuss a bill to secure the border!!! That is a BASIC function of the Federal Government. We don’t need a strongman - we need to get rid of the Republican Party.
Kay, the whole "pro life" thing is not and never was about life. It is about one thing and one thing only, male control of females. Patriarchalism, which results in misogyny.
Absolutely - if they cared about “life”, these hateful people would care about impoverished pregnant women. They would ensure that these pregnant women and girls had the health care, food, housing and education they require. These “pro-lifers”, would be ensuring that the children they are insisting women and girls bring into the world have a family (somewhere) to love and raise them. That these unwanted children are fed, educated and given the healthcare they also require. Just as their Christian Lord Jesus instructed - but NO - as you correctly point out - it’s about control - not love - and women know it. So - let there be freedom or let there be blood
Absolutely Kay. I have been calling out pro lifers as the fraud they are, since the internet was DOS only, and messages were read posted via FTP.
Pro life is pro lie. The subject is not unborn babies, anymore than Mom's for liberty is about liberty. It is about maintaining a system of male dominance, aka patriarchy, and the worst part, the most virulent supporters are Karen's, women. And i understand why that is. !. They are easily manipulated by hormones (talk of killing unborn babies) and they believe that the established order of male domination best suits them and their needs, by providing them with protection and security.
Remember Phyllis Schafly
Yes Kay, I remember Phyllis Schafly,. and have brought her up many times as an example of a woman who betrayed her own gender, because she was made rich, famous and empowered by the patriarchy.
She, single handedly, launched the campaign, that stopped the Equal Rights Amendment from getting ratified,, Probably doesn't matter, the Supreme court of the Republic of Gilead, led by the Handmaid in chief, would have voided it, just like they voided the Voting Rights act, led by the House slave in chief, Clarence Thomas.
I saw Schafly at Reagan’s convention before he was first elected. She looked arrogant and cold, covered in Anti-ERA crap. I was so-disgusted. I must have been glaring at her when I had to walk past her because she was definitely “aware” of me. Cate Blanchett did a great job playing her in Mrs.America. I never even considered that the SCROTUS (saw that on another post) could void the ERA if it was an Amendment. That’s why I always voted pro-choice because Roe was so dicey. The damage to voting rights is frightening.
Iets face it and caII A spade a spade. There is no Ionger an officiaI RepubIican party, it's been hijacked! We may as weII caII this group MagaFascists in Congress. The probIem Iies reaIIy in the branding and IabeI........Enough is Enough......these are MagaFascists.
Your catalogue of horrors tells me the game is already lost. Given the morbidly rich control most media, there is little hope that the truth about any of this will reach enough people, and enough people willing and able to recognize facts, in time to prevent a November coup. Because that is what it will be—an abuse of our ostensibly somewhat democratic republic’s electoral machinery to destroy it.
My only consolation in this is that the poor white MAGAts who support this will suffer as much as the poor non-white Americans will. In truth,though, all but the morbidly rich will suffer, as their goal is to concentrate wealth in as few hands as possible, creating a new feudalism.
It gives me no pleasure to write this. Because I am beginning to believe that regardless of the outcome in November, we are looking at major civil unrest, possibly with a lot of bloodshed, in bitter conflicts that may not be resolved until a horrific toll of death and destruction here, the end of this country as a viable entity, the advance of autocracy around the world, and quite possibly, through irrationality or accident, a nuclear Holocaust.
Call me an alarmist if you will. I am hoping to marshall the resources to enable our youngest daughter and beloved grandson to move to Ireland if November goes the wrong way and if I can persuade them to do that. It will not save them if there is nuclear war, but it will give them a better chance for a less hateful life than staying here, even though living in Northern California they and we will be able to sustain a decent life for a time, unless the MAGAts and their orange god send their new brown shirts to punish California and people like me who have so vehemently opposed them.
It saddens me to see all of this happening. It reinforces my low view of our species. We still worship the golden calf beyond all things. I doubt that will change. The idealism of Christ and its cold expression in Marx cannot be realized, ever, because both assume a basic goodness in human nature that history demonstrates is not there. The minute we gain a little power and money, we start to abuse it and become addicted to wanting more. As a historian y training and avocation, and a lawyer before illness forced my premature retirement, those are the truths I have learned. They also explain why I will welcome my final rest, when, in the life hereafter which I believe awaits me, or even if all that looms is cultivating a worm farm, I will live our accursed species behind.
If you are an alarmist Roy, you have company, and more than just me. Better to be alarmed and prepared than hopeful or in denial.
IMO, the goodness of this Jesus, was a sop to sell the idea of pacifism to the Romans.
The Pharisees (the intellectual stoics), realized that they couldn't defeat Rome from without, so they cleverly designed a plan to defeat it from within, but selling an ideology of pacifism, it didn't quite work out as planned though, co opted by Constantine and modified by Piso or Romans of his intellect and money.
Marx, well he is mischaracterized by those who adore him and those who berate him.
Marx was financed by a wealthy group called the League of Just Men, and actually had disdain for plebes, whom he called the proletariat.
He would write scathing letters to the editors of southern papers, imploring them to free the slaves and hire them back at market wages.
He was not motivated by altruism, but finance. his partner frederick Engels, inherited a textile mill, and because cotton imported from Charleston and Mbil, was so expensive (because of the expense of maintaining a healthy work force of slaves, that Frederick had to import cheaper and inferior Egyptian Cotton..
Marx's was an enemy of the middle class (just like today's plutocrats) which he called the bourgeoisie , but not the ruling class, He never mentioned the ruling class, the elite, because tis they that funded him as the League of Just Men.
And the idea of a Republic is also rule by wise men, meaning the elite, those with a vested interest in the economy and safety of the state.
Which thanks to advances in technology and governance, now includes the bourgeoisie, the property owning middle class, which is now shrinking thanks to Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve.
With property rates rising as they are, if we are not wiped out by global warming, we will be a nation of renters
There are people living off the grid who know the value of sandbags and who make their own oxygen. Unfortunately IMHO most expect the rapture the first Tuesday in November.
Laugh my ass off. Rapture first Tuesday in November.
Yes the Republicans and their corrupt masters, the Federalist Society , Big corporations who pay Republican politicians way into broken far right edicts that hurt all but the wealthiest people. These are destructive forces in our country today and as Thom mentioned the last fifty years or so. There is another element in addition which has been overlooked to a large degree.
We all know Donald Trump is crazy.
But interestingly enough , is that he is truly severely mentally ill.
He is joined by others with vulnerabilities to his mental flaws and deranged political scope .
There is a group of highly expert ‘dirty word, (expert)Psychiatrists that firmly believe that his mental state and that of his followers is dangerously destructive ,as has been demonstrated by his constant extreme outbursts and their willingness to be violent on behalf of their twisted leader.
Haven’t we all been taken aback by the hatred that he and his followers re capable of .
These people who are truly experts in the psychology of Malignant Narcissism have been shut down by the Medical American Medical Society and thereby not allowed to speak truthfully about the destruction of allowing Trump to hit all of us over the head with his vicious rants and threats.
There are several books dealing with this subject including one “ The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump”.
I urge people to look into this . We need to know that it is true that our destruction is planned and imminent if we don’t oppose Trumps agenda.
We must pull out all stops to vote against this tragedy.
The Federalist society and the corporations and billionaires have all gotten rich looting our Treasury the last 40 years also, with unfunded wars, capitalist healthcare, free trade, interest on the national debt, corporate welfare, bloated military budgets, the trickledown theory, offshore banking and much more. In my estimation, counting the cost in human incarceration and lost productivity, at least over 100 trillion dollars. We should include the Vietnam war in that also.
All true evidence of the crimes they’ve been allowed to perpetuate on Americans. Enough is Enough. One thing seems clear the far right Supreme Court should be diluted with expansion . (I am aware it’s an election year )
It is not kosher to criticize a Democrat during an election season, but I must. because the Democratic party must remediate their behavior and actually be a party of the people, and not a second party of the Plutocrats.
Presidents don't put together policies, international agreements and legislative bills. They are formulated by powers that have the money, thus the means, to formulate such, and the money and thus power to have Congress pass them and the President to sign them.
Which means that our elected representatives are toadies of the money powers.
GATT was established in 1947, and has been updated since. George H W Bush, George W Bush and William Jefferson Clinton all signed an updated and renegotiated GATT. Clinton did not have to sign it, but he did because he was told to by those whose money wields power inside the Beltway.
By the same token, NAFTA was negotiated, by the same money powers, during the George H W Bush administration but Clinton signed it, he didn't have to, but was told to by the same money powers (vested interests) that negotiated the deal.
There is an interesting phenomenon in politics. I will use the example of "Only Nixon could go to China" as an example. When the powers behind the throne want something done, something really done, they use the Party or President in power, who was expected to be in harsh opposition to do he job.
The Democratic party was tagged as socialist, pro communist, and a Democratic president could never have sent an emissary, like the war criminal Kissinger, to China and open up trade, but an anti Communist President like Nixon.
Reagan was pro labor, in fact President of the Screen Actors Guild, and promised to support the Professional Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) union before election, but what did he do after election, he destroyed PATCO and Unions.
William J Clinton was elected by blacks, labor, gays, women and what did he do as President, he turned against them, betrayed them because that is what the Money Powers demanded. (and was richly rewarded for the deed after he left office, essentially broke.)
The PATRIOT Act was put together during the Clinton Administration, awaiting an opportunity, an event to pull it out of the desk drawer and sign it into law. 9/11 was that opportunity.
This is not QAnon stuff either. The PATRIOT Act was passed on 26 Oct, 2001 , 47 days after 9/11,
Bear in mind the whole country, and government, were in shock for a month, pre occupied with the event and getting revenge. It takes months and months to cobble together complicated bills, the ACA took months, maybe over a year, it was 600 pages long and actually written by the health insurance industry.
The PATRIOT Act is complex and 131 pages long there is no way it was written so fast by congressional staff. Written by think tanks and staff, yes. Who wrote it and why, but it was not written in response to 9/11 it was written before 9/11.
During the Clinton Administration, GATT was renegotiated and updated as well as NAFTA but none of the subsequent loss of jobs and transfer of manufacturing to Mexico would have happened had not Clinton signed it.
Again it took a Democratic (pro labor) President to do what a Republican president would never do.
It took anti Communist President, what a liberal (socialist) president could never do and that is open trade with Communist China.
The Democrats had finally got on board with the harshest immigration bill ever, including abandoning the Dreamers (albeit to aid Ukraine to defend itself from NAZI Putin), but Trump and his minions in the "Freedom" Caucus didn't get the memo. As I read the news, Biden has been even more harsh and restrictive on migrants and immigration than the immigration policies under Trump.
ff so, then again it is the Democrats doing what a Republican could never do, and vice versa.
The current (legal) war with Texas is not about immigration but about powers, state or federal and apparently the Civil War never really resolved the issue
"By thy fruits thy will be judged". Words are cheap, actions are dear.
That being said, I will crawl over broken glass to keep Trump and his humpers out of office.
"...the Democratic party must remediate their behavior and actually be a party of the people..."
The problem is that SCOTUS has legalized political bribery and the oligarchs have taken over the media. Without the vast bribes from the wealthy, neither Democrats nor Republicans can win office. This was the one of the primary goals of the Federalists and it has been wildly successful. It's how they intend for the oligarchs to buy us all into serfdom. Blatant bribery is also going on within SCOTUS - Roberts (via his wife), Thomas, Alito and likely the other other right-wingers, except Barrett, who's simply nuts. A poster on WaPo (or Huff, can't remember) said (I paraphrase), "I went to college with one of her kids - he said the family was deeply dysfunctional and the kids a mess. Of course, I have not know one fundamentalist family that wasn't deeply dysfunctional and unhappy.
Suzie; To quote you. I have not know one fundamentalist family that wasn't deeply dysfunctional and unhappy." So true, and do a dive into the fundamentalists, you will find incest, rape, hypocricy, theft, gullibility, stupidity and the worst of human nature, all possible because they believe that, if they are Catholic, they can do anything, confess and be given absolutiion, so they do it again, or if Protestant believe that they are saved by grace (belief) alone, or if Baptist, by being born again.
My uncle was a Southern Baptist Preacher, and every Sunday like clockwork, the same crowd of drunks and whores should up to be "born again", he put out the call for sinners to come and be saved, and they jumped into the aisle and came up to the podium, where he laid hands on them, and hallelujah, the congregation applauded.,it was a trip.
Not to mention the acquiescence/feasance to OPEC.
Even LBJ was from Texas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xk9-lVpttE
you hit the nail on the head Thom. The right decided to go on vacation and only do work to make the rich richer.
Back in the early '70s when there were a lot of strikes, the Republican party decided to go on strike against Americans and the American worker. With big money backing them, they have systematically destroyed America, creating crisis after crisis. In my humble opinion I think they have made large inroads into the Democratic leadership also. The fascists know that in order to have a decent standard of living, that they will have to share their wealth and that leads to a middle class that creates jobs and competition and weakens their power to use and abuse victims of their narcissistic ego needs.
The question is, can the maga cult comprehend what has been done to them? Being so full of anger and hatred, they can't think straight or at all. We can try to educate them with commercials if any rich dare to finance democracy.
"I think they have made large inroads into the Democratic leadership also". Dead center. My fear is that should the election save the democracy (of which I am doubtful), people will sigh and coo, and retire their laurels to a nest. Truth is, all
corrosive actions committed by the Right were done in full view of elected Dems, and Americans reading the papers everyday saw scant warnings of the Right's mendacious betrayals. The elected Dems welcomed the underreporting, busy themselves becoming multimillionaires. When the dem fossils saw new blood in their ranks, they quickly trivialized them (like Bernie, AOC, etc). When AOC declared the core principles of the Democratic Party should be reenacted, one remembers Pelosi delivering a coy cutdown via a patrician elitist condescension:. "I like her energy". Brush, brush
The continued combat against MAGA is well above the average citizen tactically. Their fight, mightily invested, should entail relentless exposure of the press and the existing rotted Democratic Party members, and strong punitive actions where due
Vote the fossils out! Since the MSM are corporations, massive boycott planning will tend to make them return to honest journalism. And all should write in ink on their forearms DIVESTITURE, the crucial
final resolve.
In the history of the world societies, have always been ruled by an authoritarian, either a king, or some kind of dictator. There has always been an impenetrable separation dividing class between the wealthy and the laborers. It’s amazing that the American experiment has lasted this long. Capitalism is an economic theory not a political theory and the debate regarding unrestrained laissez-faire capitalism ended with the new deal. That and Johnson’s great society gave us the most prosperous society in the history of the world. Maybe it’s true that all things must come to an end.
Every thing you said is true BillyN. Isn't it a sad testament to the human condition, that , though they talk about liberty, freedom, equality what they really want is security and protection, and that leads to slavery, in some form be it that of a wage slave, a serf, or even a household.
@ Billy N.
As my 'ol pappy used to say, you gotta start someplace. He also used to say don't shit where you eat.
@ William.
How many aristocrats/oligarchs are survivalists?
Daniel. None of the aristocrats can survive on their own. If you have watched action movies, you see the aristocratic class, using technology and hired thugs to protect and feed themselves, but when it comes crashing down, they are left defenseless and like the Russian nobility in 1917 they flee, problem is as the situation is now, there is nowhere to flee, except Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE.
But if the crisis is environmental, then there is no place to flee. The first countries and regions that will feel the effects of wet bulb reading of 95 degrees Fahrenheit will be the oil producing nations and regions.
Our Mad King Donald IS still president and unquestioned leader of a so far successful rebellion against the authority and institutions of the Republic. To say otherwise is just naive and ignorant of the facts. He is a protector of his greedy globalist corporate overlords, irrespective of the madman he obviously is. FOLLOW THE MONEY!
Interestingly I believe Donald Trump has done an amazing job of following Putin’s orders to destroy America and Democracy so he can achieve his goals of restoring Russia to the empire it once was. Putin has supplied an army of trolls and hackers as well as lots of money funneled through the NRA, real estate, and God knows what else to ensure his useful idiot can do his job. He did the same with Brexit. He laughs while he sows chaos just as he did in his own country to gain power. (Read Timothy Snyders The Road to Unfreedom). He has made a mockery of the US and continues to do so by playing young people on TikToc and old people on Fox, Facebook, Instagram and Telegram. We need to identify the real enemy and it’s not just Trump. Putin, greed and power have the potential to destroy us. Let’s fight that!
Absolutely - our Intelligence service identified this and “chewed out” then President Trump in 2018 in a report to the Senate Intelligence subcommittee? “Putin’s Asymmetric Assault on Democracy” Google it. I was looking for something completely different and this popped up on my computer. It ended in .gov so I opened it. OH MY - it Lays Everything Out that these MF have been doing - including FORCING WOMEN TO HAVE MORE CHILDREN - and Franklin Graham was mentioned in it. This is the report that President Trump DENIED on the stage in Helsinki in 2018 in front of the world. Trump said that he believed Putin (rather than our Own US Intelligence Service!!!) - because they said Trump wasn’t doing his job!!’
You have put to words how and why the GOP is changed. I have wondered. Thanks! I like your historical slant. We do repeat when we ignore history.
The GOP of today is not the GOP of Eisenhower. And the Democratic party of today is not the Democratic party of FDR.
I made a comment above about how only Nixon could have gone to China, and forgot only Truman could have integrated the Armed Forces, and only a Democrat could have passed both the Voting Rights and Civil Rights Act.
Birchers then, MAGA now.
Yep, as John Birch society declined with the decline of the Soviet Empire the right looked for a new home hey found it with Donald John Trump
I'm thinking, I don't need to comment anymore: Thom just said it all! How about a gilt-edged boxed set of all of Thom's civic affairs/history books with this essay as a synopsis pamphlet?
The House blundered big time yesterday. Crying out for border reform for years, hoping to put on a big show for America by trying to impeach Mayorkas, and constantly shouting about the “invasion,” they exposed their true reasoning for all of it: the border problems bring Republican voters to the polls every time. Eliminating those problems, as trump reminded his flock, means he would lose to Biden again.
trump may not be intelligent, but he reads a room pretty well. That’s why he’s noncommittal on a federal abortion ban. He reminds the cult that he gave them the justices who would make this country pro-life, but backs away from affirming his personal feelings, as he needs the votes of Independent women who may not support him should he go all in.
Do independent women who are totally insane also exist?
Of course they exist in that political party. So do insane men. But at least they’re a little more thoughtful about their votes.
It is amazing for how long half our country has been lied to and consistently taken the bait. The mind set is truly amazing that such a program of deceit has been successful. There simply is something basic about blaming others for ones own action that cause social problems. This is why it is important to keep to a base voter campaign of driving 3 or 4 economic issues repeatedly so by election day everybody on the planet knows what those issues are and low information Dem voters come out and vote. Repeating messaging is where it is.
He's losing market share daily and we have the growth function: 40 of the electorate are Gen Z who could, if motivated trump Trump.
Think Taylor Swift.
Consumers have always been taken for milka cows. No shame no limit. And von trump anc co want to even let more private companies increase their milking powers. Disgusting. Stop this madness!
Let me suggest that without the underlying white racism that was revealed AFTER the successes of the civil rights movement, and the turmoil of the Anti-Vietnam War movement, America's plutocrats and oligarchs would not have had as easy a time turning conservative America against democracy.
I beg to differ William Becker. There has always been an underlying racism, and a penchant for fascism.
Rachel Maddow documented the rise of racist fascism prior to WWII, and if not for the war, America would have most certainly wound up NAZI and occupied by Japan and Germany
who themselves would have gone to war against each other, Like Hitler and Stalin
https://www.amazon.com/Prequel-American-Fight-Against-Fascism/dp/0593444515
@ William Becker. You missed the 19th Century. Start with the 3rd verse of the Star Spangled Banner. Dred Scott. Civil war. Plessy.
Yeh, the third stanza completely ignored by everyone, even black singers who sing it at ball games. Most folk don't know that is about slaves Many slaves to escape their masters, and who could blame them, I don't, joined with the British
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore, That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion A home and a Country should leave us no more? Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave, And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
When leaders prioritize world domination, be they Republican or Democrat, over the good of the people...your war with Russia, genocide of Palestinians, bombing of Yemen and on and on do not serve the interests of the American people. When Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden made their nationalist speeches championing war in Iraq it was all over but the shouting. And you've been backing their reckless militarism ever since, now in the interest of selling dog food.
Hi Boris, not so clever you are, and quite the opportunist you are. It seems that if you keep using liberal values and thought, to inject your defense and partisanship of Putin, you will eventually cause liberals to side with that NAZI Putin.
HAMAS has given you a great opportunity to distract and dissuade liberals, hasn't it.
It is not a Coincidence that Oct 7th marked two occasions. Putin's birthday and HAMAS attack on Israel.
Let's see how that works
HAMAS supplied missiles, weapons, equipment, tactical help by Iran.
Iran ad Putin are co conspirators, definitely in league with the same objective, destroy the great "satan' and obstacle to Putin's imperialistic megalmania.
Doesn't take a rocket scientist to connect the dots.
Your attempts o deflect, detract and destroy ain't working dude.
As Secretary of State Hillary was all about bombing Libya and she joked about assassinating Gaddafi. She was a major champion of every war including Iraq and Afghanistan, and famously implemented a program to train half dozen fighters in Syria costing half a billion dollars. Nikki Haley is just as much of a warmonger as anyone, as for the gay community I see them backing Biden and Hillary very strongly. I don't think any particular identity is going to rescue us from our insatiable imperialism.
And there is no war monger like Putin, is there Boris>. The man is a war criminal, abducts children, bombs hospitals, schools on purpose, not because they shelter the army or are command structures but precisely because they are hospitals and schools.
Enjoy your nap Carolyn, we'll still be here.
QAnon meets Hitler.
Nailed it Daniel. Her question wasn't a question, it was an allegation framed as a statement.