MSNBC does not target Republican MAGATs and does not seek to hold Congressional Republicans to their oaths. Their theory must be to motivate our base, but we wuz robbed....and whether we will have fair elections in the future is speculative.
Did Trump admit that Musk stole Pennsylvania? If so, and only one vote was lost as a result, it is a crime under Pennsylvania law.
According to Adam Zanorski, "Kamala Harris and Tim Walz won—by a wide margin. Trump lost dramatically. There are multiple layers of complexity to this cover‑up, including transnational organized crime syndicates that extend far beyond the United States and our elections. To that point, I work in the human trafficking sector, which intersects with the stolen election(s) and has ties to Trump and Epstein—not to President Biden, Vice President Harris, or Governor Walz, but to the Democrats and other allied interests responsible for burying the audit.”
Thom has highlighted the Greg Palast scenario. Haven't seen him on MSNBC.
According to David Rodriguez, prior to Nov 2024 Election, it was reported that there were nearly 18 million new registered voters in the US since the 2022 Midterms. Yet that increase in registered voters appears to have completely vanished 'after' the election. He says although there should around 186 million voters in 2024, the US Census Bureau is saying there were only 173,854,000 registered voters. https://polarshifteveryone.blogspot.com/2025/07/was-2024-election-rigged.html
Yes Daniel, we wuz robbed, yes the robbers are towing away our car and evicting us from our house, and since the thiefs are also the police, the prosecutor, the judge, the jury. What are we going to do about it. Filing law suits isn't going to evict the thiefs.
Is Orban going to be evicted? Putin? Erdogan? MBS? Khomeini? Un? Xi?
Short of a national uprising, a strike, a boycott (none of which the soft Americans have the stomach for) how are we going to take it back.
Elections will be fraudulent.
The courts are unreliable.
SCOTUS is Christian, corrupt and authoritarian minded.
The police are not on the side of the people, neither is the Dept of Defense.
Thom: "All that Democrats need to accomplish either one of these things is a small handful of Republicans willing to do the right thing. Perhaps this could happen with enough pressure from their Democratic colleagues and if enough of us reach out to them."
Yes, I think too many Americans are soft and unwilling to boycott or protest because it would interfere with their free time. What will it take to wake up the sleeping masses?
Chris,agree 100%.What will it take to wake up the sleeping masses is the question. We did a rally in Marietta,Georgia on Sat 12-1:30. The # of cars with multipile people went by honking their approval,thumps up and I asked a man @ the rally,why these people did not join us. He just shook his head,no answer. Americans are unwilling to get involved if its to hot,to cold,to early,to late,to inconvenient. We don't deserve this "Neo Nazi" takeover,but it is happening because people just don't want to get involved. The : Neo Nazis" know this.
The concept that Kamala and Tim won by a wide margin is deeply disturbing. Honestly between this and Thom's newsletter, I am totally paralyzed. I can't decide which miserable story out there is worse. The firing of the commissioner of the BLS and what this means is right up there. We'll soon learn what the replacement is going to do....
You've read Anne Applebaum, Timothy Snyder, Masha Gessen, and many others who have told the story for years. Why now this sense of urgency? In 2017, I read Snyder's On Tyranny. It was a cheap little book, so I bought ten copies and sent them to friends. They loved it and would write or call through Trump's first presidency and tell me how smart I was. They became like me, pissed-off, all talk, no action. Today, we are like Neil Young, "I saw the needle and the damage done." Our drug has been capitalism/money, not heroin. Our economy (supplier of the drug) has become a smaller part of the whole, and "the damage has been done."
The supplier (our Treasury) has started cutting the product (the dollar) to meet demand. As the quality of the drug goes down, the demand goes up! Heroin and money must sleep in the same bed! Capitalism is our system, and money is our drug. "IT'S THE SYSTEM, STUPID." There ain't enough poppy (true value) to create a quality product. We are where Marlon Brando was in "One Eyed Jacks; "He didn't leave me no selection!" Our heroin addiction has not only destroyed us, but it's also destroyed the distributor and the farmer! Like the heroin addict (money), the last thing he will admit as his problem is heroin and the SYSTEM that created it. After this SYSTEM, capitalism, has destroyed itself, we will be like Ishmael floating on a coffin in the middle of the sea. Neil Young and Melville told the same story. Thom Hartman will tell it, "I saw the needle and the damage done." Thom is the guy trying to talk the heroin addict out of using heroin to solve his problems.
David, I like and agree with your post, to the point where you blame it on the Treasury (cutting the product)
That is not how it works. All the Treasury does is print government securities which it then sells to the Association of Primary Dealers in Government Securities, a cabal of 25 financial firms (allways 25, no more) https://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/primarydealers
The APDGS then sells the securities to the Fed, to Institutions and to foreign investors (sovereign funds, central banks, private institutions)
The Treasury also prints money, which it then sells at cost of printing to the Fed which then uses it to meet the demand for cash by Mom and Pop stores, Grocers, casino's, drug dealers and what ever the CIA and FBI are financing.
The Treasury also is the parent agency of the Secret Service whose job it is to chase counterfeiters, guard the President, Vice President and whatever government officials it is required to guard.
That is how it works David. that's the mechanics of the engine, as to how money is created, well that is another story, longer, but it involves the Fed, Fractional Reserve Banking, and debt, all debt, public, private and government.
You and I are money creators every time we swipe our credit card, take out a loan or a mortgage we are creating money, municipalities, corporations are creating money out of debt. And the government when it sells its securities is creating money.
In simple terms it is money created out of debt, and the only restriction is the demand for debt, and the limitation of the demand for debt is the interest rate, and that is why Trump wants Powell to lower the interest rate, to increase the money supply, which will cause short term inflation.
Long term inflation is the result of the interest on the debt, it is why a 5 cent Butterfinger in 1960 costs $1.50 today and why a house that cost $10,000 in 1960 costs over a quarter of a million today.
I agree about the ‘story’ Applebaum and others told but due to the speculative tone of their work no one took them seriously. They write like the historians they are.
Applebaum recently wrote it isn’t a territory grab by Putin but for the ‘ideological’ means of exerting power to overcome NATO and others. Putin already has the means to exert that power, therefore, it is a power grab for more territory. And so it goes.
William, I agree. I also point out that David is right about the “system”. We are all imprisoned by a system that sometimes reminds me of a Ponzi scheme. Our economic and debt system was created by people who saw a way to become fabulously wealthy and hold people hostage with need and debt, and it works—for those who bask in this way of thinking and being. The Musk’s, the Murdoch’s, the Trump’s of this world have been around for eons and live for not only the kill, but the debasement of their prey. And, the rest of us, who manage to stay sane from the lack frenzy that seems to infect most of society, shake our fist but seem to be powerless against these animals who hoard their gold and dream of going to their grave with the most marbles.
This makes me think of "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis. 'm one of many to bring up this prescient 1935 book in the context of what Trump is doing.
A sequel might be titled "It Did Happen Here." We may find out in less than two years.
Too few people are dealing with this realistically. They cling to optimism. As my Substacks show, I am not one of the listen to the bluebirds singing optimists. Trump, who destroyed the Rose Garden, would kill the bluebirds if they stood between him and his blitzkrieg. https://halbrown.substack.com
I am not a physician but I've heard lots of psyciatric testimony and during evaluation of a person who is a threat to himself and/or others is usally medicated as a precaution to immoblize them. Thoroziine, stellazine.
NIH brain mapping is ongoing. I think he may have a toxic dopamine level, which can be picked up on a PET scan and possibly medicated.
The older anti-psychotics have a sedating effect. Thorazine was introduced in 1950. The newer drugs have all but replaced these drugs and allow many people with severe mental disorders like schizophrenia to lead fairly normal lives.
The newest methods of brain imaging hold promise in identifying how the brains of psychopaths and others function. In may ways the treatment of a range of severe mental disorders is in it's adolescence.
Did know about this book even though it describes what happened in my city, and also Thom's city, of Portland, i.e. the "collaboration between groups of immigrants, civil rights activists, militant youth, and queer organizers. This oral history focuses on participants in three core groups: the Portland chapters of Anti-Racist Action and Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice, and the Coalition for Human Dignity.
Using a diversity of tactics—from out-and-out brawls on the streets and at punk shows, to behind-the-scenes intelligence gathering—brave antiracists unified on their home ground over and over, directly attacking right-wing fascists and exposing white nationalist organizations and neo-Nazi skinheads. Embattled by police and unsupported by the city, these citizen activists eventually drove the boneheads out of the music scene and off the streets of Portland. This book shares their stories about what worked, what didn’t, and ideas on how to continue the fight."
That is what is needed, brave antifascist street fighters, not matrons parading with posters and signs.
A thing about Portland, they, I presume the authorities, would drop of black cad and balaclava masked agent provateurs to create property damage or deface public buildings, break windows to encourage looting, then walk around a corner to be picked up by an unmarked van.
William,you're right we do need antifascist street fighters but matrons(assume you're referring to women) are doing all they can.You cannot expect them to become street fighters. I'm a senior,not interested in getting into a street fight with a 30 yrs old with a gun. Are you willing to become a street fighter?
David, are you saying that women are not fighters, that they are weak. I got news for you. Women were the backbone of the French resistance. Xerxes best general was a woman, the admiral of the Chinese fleet was a woman. The Sarmatians required that their women fight in battle and slay a foe to win the right to marry.
Women have been serving in our armed forces, and doing a great job, the female body is better suited to be a fighter pilot and a SEAL than men. Women fought the NAZI's in Warsaw.
I don't know how old you are, but I am 86, a retired officer and special operator.
I will become a street fighter when I need to, and as I need to. I have disabilities but will do what I can.
I agree. The majority haven't been heard or have a day for many years. It's been more obvious in some parts of the country and the working and poor classes, but we have been without a working democratic Republic since the 1970s.
I hesitate in blaming the victim, but the working poor aren't known to be registered voters, and too many of them are also caught up on wrong (right) side of the culture war. I've know a few who blame everything from Jews and queers, to blacks and Mexicans.
The thing that could make a difference between us, Russia, and Hungary is that TRump is bat-shit crazy and scandal-ridden. Good grief, what a pile of baggage! It just keeps growing.
So if anyone thinks or says we should not let all that distract us, don't buy into it. It is the means to an end with him. That's the way we peel off the four Republican Senators and the handful of House members we need to stop him.
We are just seeing the beginning of Epstein-Gate, it's going to be the cover-up. He is too stupid to listen to anyone that could help.him. Spread the facts, show the footage, and print the words that have come out of his own mouth. Melania knows, so does Mossad, Putin, and Ghislaine. Bondi can destroy the contents of Epstein's safe. It won't work, and it will only make the cover-up worse. Someone is going to get him when the timing is right for THEM.
It absolutely will create a cascade. The BIG repercussions of the Project have not hit home yet. It's coming. The elections in 2026 are going to be the chance to educate and the effects will be right around the corner.
My great fear is that there will be no free elections in 2026, or that the nation is so gerrymandered and so many registered voters purged that it will be an election in name only. Again, I don't know why the Project 2025 would put all this effort in if they didn't believe they could keep it.
I don’t think Republicans in office know anymore what the right thing is even if a few decide to do something about this mess.
Russia is led by verifiable thugs who are scandal-ridden but in a system that suppresses their crimes so that it is difficult to expose them and incriminate them.
Thom: "All that Democrats need to accomplish either one of these things is a small handful of Republicans willing to do the right thing. Perhaps this could happen with enough pressure from their Democratic colleagues and if enough of us reach out to them."
Me: Amen.
I've posted this severral times. On an individual basis, some Congressional Republicans are vulnerable, morally and politically.
Of the 33 regularly scheduled elections in 2026, 13 seats are held by Democrats and 20 are held by Republicans. Four senators announced they will not seek re-election in 2026. Imagine a Democrat taking McConnell's seat in KY.
Of the 33 states holding regularly scheduled elections in 2026, Trump (R) won 21 of those states in 2024 and Harris won 12. In 2026, Democrats will be defending two states that Trump won in 2024: Georgia and Michigan. Republicans will be defending one seat in a state Harris won: Maine. The last time the 20 Republican-held seats were up for election in 2020, four were decided by a margin of less than 10 percentage points: Iowa (6.6), Maine (8.6), North Carolina (1.8), and Texas (9.6). The last time the 13 Democratic-held seats were up for election in 2020, five were decided by a margin of less than 10 percentage points: Colorado (9.3), Georgia (1.2), Michigan (1.7), Minnesota (5.3), and New Mexico (6.1).
What our candidates have failed to do is analyize them rationally. Neutralize their strengths. Compete for donors.
If Medicare and Medicaid cuts will kill their local health care, we should seek support from hospitals and other medical providers.
If Trump tariffs are killing agriculture, we should support the agricultural sector.
Like Alis says, this stuff hits the Trump as the pedofile issue, but also Russia. I remember when people like Phil Graham, Strom Thurmond, Arlen Spector, Ben Nighthouse Campbell, Ric hard Shelby, Connie Mack, et al switched parties. Sen. John (Cleghorn) Kennedy R, La, once was a Dem. Do these people have daughters? Do they support Putin?
We should have a book on: Capito, Shelley Moore (R-WV) Cassidy, Bill (R-LA) Collins, Susan M. (R-ME) Cornyn, John (R-TX) Cotton, Tom (R-AR) Daines, Steve (R-MT) Ernst, Joni (R-IA) Graham, Lindsey (R-SC) Hagerty, Bill (R-TN) Hyde-Smith, Cindy (R-MS) Lummis, Cynthia M. (R-WY) Marshall, Roger (R-KS) McConnell, Mitch (R-KY) Mullin, Markwayne (R-OK) Ricketts, Pete (R-NE) Risch, James E. (R-ID) Rounds, Mike (R-SD) Sullivan, Dan (R-AK) Tuberville, Tommy (R-AL)
Gravity gets us all in the end. But it seems it is approaching black hole magnitude for our country. It is pretty clear to me that next year’s elections are being rigged now. They will not save us, or even start us on the road to salvation. It will take something and someone much tougher, committed, and harsher. Maybe even a little nuts but with her or his heart in the right place. Maybe even a slightly less ferocious Robespierre. Because we could sure use a busy National Razor right now. Sadly we are seeing the beginnings of one—used on the wrong people—the poor, the vulnerable, the powerless. Bullies are in the ascendant and gloating, enjoying the heady power of their masked Halloween ICE costumes and other paramilitary endeavors. Tens of millions of Americans pretty clearly support this. They deserve the pain. The rest of us do not. Have we the will to do what must be done whatever the cost? Frankly, I don’t think so.
It won’t affect me or my family right away. Some of them, impossibly to me, support what is happening and voted for the flatulent faux orange felon. I might be a target were I not 78, disabled, and of no consequence except insofar as I keep the medical profession in business. The people I worry about are our beloved grandson and his generation. Will they share the fate of the Germans under Hitler, the Chinese under Mao, the Russians under Stalin and Putin (I think it will be worse here than in Orban’s Hungary)? The thing that pains me most is that I can do no more than write comments here and there, in echo chambers of kindred voices. I fear, to borrow from Ben Franklin, that even if we all hang together, hang we will nonetheless.
Well, what I think you're saying is that we need somebody (or somebodies) who do not go along with today's Republican fascist ideas, but Democratic centrists are afraid to vote for progressivism (as with FDR's Fair Deal) because that would offend the Trumpists. Most of the Dems who worked on the Jan 6 House Committee would fill that bill if Dems would unite behind them.
I am afraid that they are Daniel, Jeffries is no friend of progressives, even now they are organizing against Mamdani, the rebuff AOC, put their hands on the scale against Bernie, Pelosi went out of her way to back a conservadem, Joe Kennedy Jr, against a progressive (Sen Markey of Mass), and of course who can forget Rahm Emanuel who called progressives fucking retards. While he and Nancy back benched single payor in favor of the Heritage foundation's ACA.
"the press is too often playing along, normalizing the abnormal, treating creeping authoritarianism as just another partisan squabble."
Watched 'Good Night and Good Luck' last night. Friendly, Murrow and even Paley put sanity over profits. Sadly profits, money, has corrupted everything in America today.
Most unfortunately, every single republican in Congress is playing along. All about money, greed and power. SCOTUS and Citizens United have literally destroyed our democracy, our country.
I was in Budapest in 1991, shooting a documentary. Perestroika was finally taking hold. The people were great, and they were very excited about what the future held for them. I watched from afar how they quickly embraced democracy and freedom, only to have it morph into the fascist autocracy it is today. I knew when Tucker Carlson began spouting his admiration and then CPAC inviting Orbán to speak, we were in serious trouble. And here we are, seemingly putting all our hopes into the possibility a handful of republicans will do the right thing, when they have proven time and again their unwillingness to do so.
Lest we forget, Trump is 79 and in marginal physical and cognitive health. Not only will he, at worst, be a short-term autocrat, he's becoming increasingly emotionally unhinged — before him when's the last time you can remember a sitting president calling anybody "fuckers"... Or afterwards for that matter. No, neither can I.
Trump in actuality is a stalking horse for Project 2025. He may think he's going to rule as king for another 20 or so years, at which time he will hand the orb and scepter to L'il DonDon and retire to his imperial lands where he will be cared lovingly by nubile 14 year-olds until the stars themselves fade and... and... The man is a moron with no grasp of the real world. He's a tool, a marionette. His Masters know exactly what he is.
Project 2025 is playing the long game. They know Trump is failing, that there is a plausible chance that he will not finish his term. They also know that if they do not solidify power in the next 12 months they are likely to be thrown out of office (and quite possibly tried for sedition); they know there isn't going to be a second chance, at least in the immediate future. Vance will be a willing, even eager, tool but 2025 knows he is utterly devoid of charisma, so again they need to get all their pieces in play more or less immediately.
So it's up to us. Without mobilization we're fucked. The real pain to be felt by the general populace is still a few years in coming, so the masses aren't ready to act. As a society those who are already being crushed by this Brave New World are dismissible, just as they have been for the last several millennia, by their "betters", the "betters" being ignorant that they are next.
I don't want to suggest we are sheep but frankly I believe we need some central figure to point us in the right direction and lead the charge. It could be a Martin Luther King, it could be a Gandhi, it could be a Mother Jones or a Che. Otherwise, we are going to be little more than an ineffectual mob ready to protest on alternate Wednesdays (from 12 til 2) and then go home to our chips and beer. They, on the other hand, already have their Quisling. Adolf, their real Adolf, can't be far away.
If you have enough money you can be kept alive way past your expiration date. Look at Murdoch 94 years old and still trucking there are likely more than 1300 billionaires over the age of 70. At least six billionaires are over the age of 80, including Murdoch,
I was prepared to disagree but then I decided to do a little research — the Internet always willing to aid in such matters. Frankly, I was stunned. Of the 31 billionaires who died in 2024, 11 were 90 or older, the oldest clocking out at 98. One or two might have been written off as a statistical fluke but not 35%.
Trump will live into his 90's despite his diet, his ankles, and his loss of collagen.
My wife pointed out that a picture of his hand shows make up covering his bruising.
I know all about it. I bruise easily, I take collagen every day, but it doesn't help, as you age you lose collagen, your skin thins and you easily bruise.
A lot of ageing depends on genetics. Not so lucky on my mothers side, but very lucky on my fathers side. My grandparents, an uncle and an aunt lived into their 90's, my Dad died young, heart murmur from childhood scarlet fever and alcoholism, his brother died young from Hodgkins contracted by his working in the oil refinery fields as a plumber.
Anyway Trump has cankles, wears a girdle and a bullet proof vest, his stance shows the osteoporsis that comes with age, his head leans forward, and his stance is off balance, possibly because of lifts. I'm sure that he wears lifts.
Other than that he shows signs of ageing, and if it weren't for his money and access to the best medical care in the world, he wouldn't be doing so good.
By the way I just took my BP 125/68 and that after 45 minutes of exercise, of course I cooled down first.
Not that I'd be around to see such an atrocity. The rich are vampires feeding off the poor (and everyone not a billionaire is poor to them) to keep from aging. Just ain't natcheral.
Congress just now subpoenaed the Epstein files, the Clinton's, Garland, and other high profile persons. They are deflecting from economic policies that are changing central banks and the Fed system to a privatized "stable coin" system away from Fed ability to moderate inflation and an economic crash.
Trump could never have succeeded without the tireless promotion of fascism as a good thing through talk radio and Fox "news", all underwritten by billionaire money. Republicans define "patriotism" as blind obedience, so that gives Trump's silly rantings and edicts forward motion. In a normal political environment, Trump would have been led away in a straight jacket already, assuming he could even have gotten nominated.
We know we wuz robbed, we know it was psy ops. What can we do about it, when lady justice is not blindfolded by looks to the right.
We need to put together an Olympic team of lawyers, file a pitch perfect suit, have it heard in a friendly venue, that answers to a friendly appeals court, and then sit there with thumb in ass waiting the ideologically and financially corrupt SCOTUS, and then if they rule in our favor, will he actually step down. And if he does, how can we ever put together again that which he broke.
The institutional knowledge is scattered to the winds, the documents, the records have been shredded, like the stockpiles of USAID food that is being burned.
We would be starting a new, with even more disabilities than the founding fathers, because new we have 40% of the population, scattered and concentrated, that is well equipped and with the tools to hinder reconstruction.
We are looking at the preconditions for a hot civil war, there has been a cold civil war raging since 1865m and they almost won in 1941.
The Japanese actually saved our democratic Republic.
Thom, you nailed it. Outstanding. Every word. I so wish the subject was uplifting but we're in deep fascism. It's scary as hell, but WE THE PEOPLE control this country and we WILL NOT give in or give up. EVER. Many thanks for keeping me/us informed and motivated.
You are so right, Professor. We are closer to the edge than people seem to think. We might even be plunging into the abyss. My sister is willfully oblivious. Of course it’s upsetting to know what’s happening, so people need to stiffen their spines and fight back. This is a fight for our whole way of life, nothing less. Thank you, sir, for talking about this so clearly and truthfully.
A sentence ending with, "...a screaming red light that our democracy has failed." should not be stated as a conditional or counterfactual. Fait accompli!
This is along the same line of my Substack this morning. In fact, after I post this here I will put a link to this article there. I wrote: If the GOP or MAGA are having problems, does it even matter in the long run if Trump is planning to implement a police state? Here;s the link: https://halbrown.substack.com/p/if-the-gop-or-maga-are-having-problems
A quick Google search revealed four meetings between trump and Orban in 2024: March 8 (location not mentioned), July 12 at Mar-a-Lago, Oct 9 in Oval Office, Dec 10 at Mar-a-Lago. Apparently, Orban endorsed trump in 2016, but their first meeting seems to have been in 2019. Lots of coaching from one of the masters?
From the article: "nd then he spoke to Republican groups at CPAC, both in Texas and when the conservative group held its meeting in Budapest, encouraging conservatives to do in America exactly what he had done in Hungary. His suggestions about seizing control of the media, shutting down universities, going after immigrants as a way of increasing political power, trashing the rights of queer people and women, and rigging election systems was greeted with a standing ovation in both cases."
This is the culture war, it is how Trump came to power, and how he is becoming more powerful, despite his fall in public approval. Once you have power, what matters public opinion.
We are constantly told by the corporate media, and the likes of MSNBC, that it is all about the "economy stupid", the price of eggs, jobs, while they admit that the GDP, Job rate, inflation rate was the best in a decade.
Why is the corporate media, even the liberal populace, the Democratic party afraid to admit that it is all about the culture war. I do have my opinions.
Remember Maslow's hierarchy of needs? Physiological needs such a food and protection from the elements comes before love and belonging. When food and shelter can't be found, priorities will change.
We have gone over the edge!
We are in the mud.
Rachel Maddow and Nicole Wallace made that clear recently—- but that doesn’t mean we can’t fight back!
MSNBC does not target Republican MAGATs and does not seek to hold Congressional Republicans to their oaths. Their theory must be to motivate our base, but we wuz robbed....and whether we will have fair elections in the future is speculative.
MSNBC has not addressed an NSA‑authorized forensic audit of the 2024 election. https://thiswillhold.substack.com/p/ex-cia-whistleblower-the-nsa-audited
Did Trump admit that Musk stole Pennsylvania? If so, and only one vote was lost as a result, it is a crime under Pennsylvania law.
According to Adam Zanorski, "Kamala Harris and Tim Walz won—by a wide margin. Trump lost dramatically. There are multiple layers of complexity to this cover‑up, including transnational organized crime syndicates that extend far beyond the United States and our elections. To that point, I work in the human trafficking sector, which intersects with the stolen election(s) and has ties to Trump and Epstein—not to President Biden, Vice President Harris, or Governor Walz, but to the Democrats and other allied interests responsible for burying the audit.”
Thom has highlighted the Greg Palast scenario. Haven't seen him on MSNBC.
According to David Rodriguez, prior to Nov 2024 Election, it was reported that there were nearly 18 million new registered voters in the US since the 2022 Midterms. Yet that increase in registered voters appears to have completely vanished 'after' the election. He says although there should around 186 million voters in 2024, the US Census Bureau is saying there were only 173,854,000 registered voters. https://polarshifteveryone.blogspot.com/2025/07/was-2024-election-rigged.html
Jessica Denson has been compiling other experts.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFcdKlXn3-cQJT3UkacF0OL_tOleHoHWm
Yes Daniel, we wuz robbed, yes the robbers are towing away our car and evicting us from our house, and since the thiefs are also the police, the prosecutor, the judge, the jury. What are we going to do about it. Filing law suits isn't going to evict the thiefs.
Is Orban going to be evicted? Putin? Erdogan? MBS? Khomeini? Un? Xi?
Short of a national uprising, a strike, a boycott (none of which the soft Americans have the stomach for) how are we going to take it back.
Elections will be fraudulent.
The courts are unreliable.
SCOTUS is Christian, corrupt and authoritarian minded.
The police are not on the side of the people, neither is the Dept of Defense.
What are our options?
Thom: "All that Democrats need to accomplish either one of these things is a small handful of Republicans willing to do the right thing. Perhaps this could happen with enough pressure from their Democratic colleagues and if enough of us reach out to them."
Me: Amen.
Yes, I think too many Americans are soft and unwilling to boycott or protest because it would interfere with their free time. What will it take to wake up the sleeping masses?
Chris,agree 100%.What will it take to wake up the sleeping masses is the question. We did a rally in Marietta,Georgia on Sat 12-1:30. The # of cars with multipile people went by honking their approval,thumps up and I asked a man @ the rally,why these people did not join us. He just shook his head,no answer. Americans are unwilling to get involved if its to hot,to cold,to early,to late,to inconvenient. We don't deserve this "Neo Nazi" takeover,but it is happening because people just don't want to get involved. The : Neo Nazis" know this.
A national uprising, Sophia, is only the way to suppress these people IMHO.
Huh? Who is Sophia and who are "these" people.
The concept that Kamala and Tim won by a wide margin is deeply disturbing. Honestly between this and Thom's newsletter, I am totally paralyzed. I can't decide which miserable story out there is worse. The firing of the commissioner of the BLS and what this means is right up there. We'll soon learn what the replacement is going to do....
You've read Anne Applebaum, Timothy Snyder, Masha Gessen, and many others who have told the story for years. Why now this sense of urgency? In 2017, I read Snyder's On Tyranny. It was a cheap little book, so I bought ten copies and sent them to friends. They loved it and would write or call through Trump's first presidency and tell me how smart I was. They became like me, pissed-off, all talk, no action. Today, we are like Neil Young, "I saw the needle and the damage done." Our drug has been capitalism/money, not heroin. Our economy (supplier of the drug) has become a smaller part of the whole, and "the damage has been done."
The supplier (our Treasury) has started cutting the product (the dollar) to meet demand. As the quality of the drug goes down, the demand goes up! Heroin and money must sleep in the same bed! Capitalism is our system, and money is our drug. "IT'S THE SYSTEM, STUPID." There ain't enough poppy (true value) to create a quality product. We are where Marlon Brando was in "One Eyed Jacks; "He didn't leave me no selection!" Our heroin addiction has not only destroyed us, but it's also destroyed the distributor and the farmer! Like the heroin addict (money), the last thing he will admit as his problem is heroin and the SYSTEM that created it. After this SYSTEM, capitalism, has destroyed itself, we will be like Ishmael floating on a coffin in the middle of the sea. Neil Young and Melville told the same story. Thom Hartman will tell it, "I saw the needle and the damage done." Thom is the guy trying to talk the heroin addict out of using heroin to solve his problems.
David, I like and agree with your post, to the point where you blame it on the Treasury (cutting the product)
That is not how it works. All the Treasury does is print government securities which it then sells to the Association of Primary Dealers in Government Securities, a cabal of 25 financial firms (allways 25, no more) https://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/primarydealers
The APDGS then sells the securities to the Fed, to Institutions and to foreign investors (sovereign funds, central banks, private institutions)
The Treasury also prints money, which it then sells at cost of printing to the Fed which then uses it to meet the demand for cash by Mom and Pop stores, Grocers, casino's, drug dealers and what ever the CIA and FBI are financing.
The Treasury also is the parent agency of the Secret Service whose job it is to chase counterfeiters, guard the President, Vice President and whatever government officials it is required to guard.
That is how it works David. that's the mechanics of the engine, as to how money is created, well that is another story, longer, but it involves the Fed, Fractional Reserve Banking, and debt, all debt, public, private and government.
You and I are money creators every time we swipe our credit card, take out a loan or a mortgage we are creating money, municipalities, corporations are creating money out of debt. And the government when it sells its securities is creating money.
In simple terms it is money created out of debt, and the only restriction is the demand for debt, and the limitation of the demand for debt is the interest rate, and that is why Trump wants Powell to lower the interest rate, to increase the money supply, which will cause short term inflation.
Long term inflation is the result of the interest on the debt, it is why a 5 cent Butterfinger in 1960 costs $1.50 today and why a house that cost $10,000 in 1960 costs over a quarter of a million today.
I agree about the ‘story’ Applebaum and others told but due to the speculative tone of their work no one took them seriously. They write like the historians they are.
Applebaum recently wrote it isn’t a territory grab by Putin but for the ‘ideological’ means of exerting power to overcome NATO and others. Putin already has the means to exert that power, therefore, it is a power grab for more territory. And so it goes.
William, I agree. I also point out that David is right about the “system”. We are all imprisoned by a system that sometimes reminds me of a Ponzi scheme. Our economic and debt system was created by people who saw a way to become fabulously wealthy and hold people hostage with need and debt, and it works—for those who bask in this way of thinking and being. The Musk’s, the Murdoch’s, the Trump’s of this world have been around for eons and live for not only the kill, but the debasement of their prey. And, the rest of us, who manage to stay sane from the lack frenzy that seems to infect most of society, shake our fist but seem to be powerless against these animals who hoard their gold and dream of going to their grave with the most marbles.
This makes me think of "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis. 'm one of many to bring up this prescient 1935 book in the context of what Trump is doing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Can't_Happen_Here
A sequel might be titled "It Did Happen Here." We may find out in less than two years.
Too few people are dealing with this realistically. They cling to optimism. As my Substacks show, I am not one of the listen to the bluebirds singing optimists. Trump, who destroyed the Rose Garden, would kill the bluebirds if they stood between him and his blitzkrieg. https://halbrown.substack.com
Before Trump it didn't happen here.
Medication may help;.
There are no psychiatric medications for psychopathy. https://mindpsychiatrist.com/what-medication-is-used-for-psychopaths/
I am not a physician but I've heard lots of psyciatric testimony and during evaluation of a person who is a threat to himself and/or others is usally medicated as a precaution to immoblize them. Thoroziine, stellazine.
NIH brain mapping is ongoing. I think he may have a toxic dopamine level, which can be picked up on a PET scan and possibly medicated.
.
Meanwhile, maybe the victims need medication.
The older anti-psychotics have a sedating effect. Thorazine was introduced in 1950. The newer drugs have all but replaced these drugs and allow many people with severe mental disorders like schizophrenia to lead fairly normal lives.
The newest methods of brain imaging hold promise in identifying how the brains of psychopaths and others function. In may ways the treatment of a range of severe mental disorders is in it's adolescence.
Still in use.
Hal. It Did Happen Here https://www.amazon.com/Did-Happen-Here-Antifascist-Peoples/dp/1629633518
Did know about this book even though it describes what happened in my city, and also Thom's city, of Portland, i.e. the "collaboration between groups of immigrants, civil rights activists, militant youth, and queer organizers. This oral history focuses on participants in three core groups: the Portland chapters of Anti-Racist Action and Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice, and the Coalition for Human Dignity.
Using a diversity of tactics—from out-and-out brawls on the streets and at punk shows, to behind-the-scenes intelligence gathering—brave antiracists unified on their home ground over and over, directly attacking right-wing fascists and exposing white nationalist organizations and neo-Nazi skinheads. Embattled by police and unsupported by the city, these citizen activists eventually drove the boneheads out of the music scene and off the streets of Portland. This book shares their stories about what worked, what didn’t, and ideas on how to continue the fight."
That is what is needed, brave antifascist street fighters, not matrons parading with posters and signs.
A thing about Portland, they, I presume the authorities, would drop of black cad and balaclava masked agent provateurs to create property damage or deface public buildings, break windows to encourage looting, then walk around a corner to be picked up by an unmarked van.
Recall the "umbrella man" in Minneapolis.
William,you're right we do need antifascist street fighters but matrons(assume you're referring to women) are doing all they can.You cannot expect them to become street fighters. I'm a senior,not interested in getting into a street fight with a 30 yrs old with a gun. Are you willing to become a street fighter?
David, are you saying that women are not fighters, that they are weak. I got news for you. Women were the backbone of the French resistance. Xerxes best general was a woman, the admiral of the Chinese fleet was a woman. The Sarmatians required that their women fight in battle and slay a foe to win the right to marry.
Women have been serving in our armed forces, and doing a great job, the female body is better suited to be a fighter pilot and a SEAL than men. Women fought the NAZI's in Warsaw.
I don't know how old you are, but I am 86, a retired officer and special operator.
I will become a street fighter when I need to, and as I need to. I have disabilities but will do what I can.
Didn't know about that one (there's another re the JFK conspiracy) https://abcnews.go.com/US/man-helped-ignite-george-floyd-riots-identified-white/story?id=72051536 - Also not sure about the Portland police as far as 2025 goes, but in 2020 it was considered to be brutal and unfitting to police our progressive city. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/portand-oregon-police-brutality-history-1027677/
I agree. The majority haven't been heard or have a day for many years. It's been more obvious in some parts of the country and the working and poor classes, but we have been without a working democratic Republic since the 1970s.
I hesitate in blaming the victim, but the working poor aren't known to be registered voters, and too many of them are also caught up on wrong (right) side of the culture war. I've know a few who blame everything from Jews and queers, to blacks and Mexicans.
Make 'em hate him
The thing that could make a difference between us, Russia, and Hungary is that TRump is bat-shit crazy and scandal-ridden. Good grief, what a pile of baggage! It just keeps growing.
So if anyone thinks or says we should not let all that distract us, don't buy into it. It is the means to an end with him. That's the way we peel off the four Republican Senators and the handful of House members we need to stop him.
We are just seeing the beginning of Epstein-Gate, it's going to be the cover-up. He is too stupid to listen to anyone that could help.him. Spread the facts, show the footage, and print the words that have come out of his own mouth. Melania knows, so does Mossad, Putin, and Ghislaine. Bondi can destroy the contents of Epstein's safe. It won't work, and it will only make the cover-up worse. Someone is going to get him when the timing is right for THEM.
See you in the streets.
This is not about Trump, it's about his handlers, aka Project 2025. We need to take our axe to the root of the tree, not to the maggot-ridden fruit.
Both And is fine as well.
While the axe is handy...
I get your point, Robert, but first things first.
It absolutely will create a cascade. The BIG repercussions of the Project have not hit home yet. It's coming. The elections in 2026 are going to be the chance to educate and the effects will be right around the corner.
My great fear is that there will be no free elections in 2026, or that the nation is so gerrymandered and so many registered voters purged that it will be an election in name only. Again, I don't know why the Project 2025 would put all this effort in if they didn't believe they could keep it.
I don’t think Republicans in office know anymore what the right thing is even if a few decide to do something about this mess.
Russia is led by verifiable thugs who are scandal-ridden but in a system that suppresses their crimes so that it is difficult to expose them and incriminate them.
Thom: "All that Democrats need to accomplish either one of these things is a small handful of Republicans willing to do the right thing. Perhaps this could happen with enough pressure from their Democratic colleagues and if enough of us reach out to them."
Me: Amen.
I've posted this severral times. On an individual basis, some Congressional Republicans are vulnerable, morally and politically.
Of the 33 regularly scheduled elections in 2026, 13 seats are held by Democrats and 20 are held by Republicans. Four senators announced they will not seek re-election in 2026. Imagine a Democrat taking McConnell's seat in KY.
Of the 33 states holding regularly scheduled elections in 2026, Trump (R) won 21 of those states in 2024 and Harris won 12. In 2026, Democrats will be defending two states that Trump won in 2024: Georgia and Michigan. Republicans will be defending one seat in a state Harris won: Maine. The last time the 20 Republican-held seats were up for election in 2020, four were decided by a margin of less than 10 percentage points: Iowa (6.6), Maine (8.6), North Carolina (1.8), and Texas (9.6). The last time the 13 Democratic-held seats were up for election in 2020, five were decided by a margin of less than 10 percentage points: Colorado (9.3), Georgia (1.2), Michigan (1.7), Minnesota (5.3), and New Mexico (6.1).
What our candidates have failed to do is analyize them rationally. Neutralize their strengths. Compete for donors.
If Medicare and Medicaid cuts will kill their local health care, we should seek support from hospitals and other medical providers.
If Trump tariffs are killing agriculture, we should support the agricultural sector.
Like Alis says, this stuff hits the Trump as the pedofile issue, but also Russia. I remember when people like Phil Graham, Strom Thurmond, Arlen Spector, Ben Nighthouse Campbell, Ric hard Shelby, Connie Mack, et al switched parties. Sen. John (Cleghorn) Kennedy R, La, once was a Dem. Do these people have daughters? Do they support Putin?
We should have a book on: Capito, Shelley Moore (R-WV) Cassidy, Bill (R-LA) Collins, Susan M. (R-ME) Cornyn, John (R-TX) Cotton, Tom (R-AR) Daines, Steve (R-MT) Ernst, Joni (R-IA) Graham, Lindsey (R-SC) Hagerty, Bill (R-TN) Hyde-Smith, Cindy (R-MS) Lummis, Cynthia M. (R-WY) Marshall, Roger (R-KS) McConnell, Mitch (R-KY) Mullin, Markwayne (R-OK) Ricketts, Pete (R-NE) Risch, James E. (R-ID) Rounds, Mike (R-SD) Sullivan, Dan (R-AK) Tuberville, Tommy (R-AL)
Gravity gets us all in the end. But it seems it is approaching black hole magnitude for our country. It is pretty clear to me that next year’s elections are being rigged now. They will not save us, or even start us on the road to salvation. It will take something and someone much tougher, committed, and harsher. Maybe even a little nuts but with her or his heart in the right place. Maybe even a slightly less ferocious Robespierre. Because we could sure use a busy National Razor right now. Sadly we are seeing the beginnings of one—used on the wrong people—the poor, the vulnerable, the powerless. Bullies are in the ascendant and gloating, enjoying the heady power of their masked Halloween ICE costumes and other paramilitary endeavors. Tens of millions of Americans pretty clearly support this. They deserve the pain. The rest of us do not. Have we the will to do what must be done whatever the cost? Frankly, I don’t think so.
It won’t affect me or my family right away. Some of them, impossibly to me, support what is happening and voted for the flatulent faux orange felon. I might be a target were I not 78, disabled, and of no consequence except insofar as I keep the medical profession in business. The people I worry about are our beloved grandson and his generation. Will they share the fate of the Germans under Hitler, the Chinese under Mao, the Russians under Stalin and Putin (I think it will be worse here than in Orban’s Hungary)? The thing that pains me most is that I can do no more than write comments here and there, in echo chambers of kindred voices. I fear, to borrow from Ben Franklin, that even if we all hang together, hang we will nonetheless.
Well, what I think you're saying is that we need somebody (or somebodies) who do not go along with today's Republican fascist ideas, but Democratic centrists are afraid to vote for progressivism (as with FDR's Fair Deal) because that would offend the Trumpists. Most of the Dems who worked on the Jan 6 House Committee would fill that bill if Dems would unite behind them.
"...but Democratic centrists are afraid to vote for progressivism ...."
Not according to the experts cited above. We wuz screwed.
I am afraid that they are Daniel, Jeffries is no friend of progressives, even now they are organizing against Mamdani, the rebuff AOC, put their hands on the scale against Bernie, Pelosi went out of her way to back a conservadem, Joe Kennedy Jr, against a progressive (Sen Markey of Mass), and of course who can forget Rahm Emanuel who called progressives fucking retards. While he and Nancy back benched single payor in favor of the Heritage foundation's ACA.
Jeffries supports every Dem. You exaggerate what Jeffries' position is and fall back on intercene stuff that may/may not have been otherwise.
I share your despair....
Thomas, please offer some advice on what concerned Americans can do. TIME IS RUNNING OUT. We need leadership for ACTION
Otherwise, inaction will get us nowhere except, for the more vocal of us, a pleasant stay in the swamps of Florida.
There are many roles to be played in any movement. The educators Thom), the organizers,but no leader. leaders get their heads lopped off.
Mao, in his little red book, said "Let a thousand flowers bloom"
What he meant is that by doing so their heads will stick up above the masses, and can then easily be lopped off.
Your most stark, most important article yet.
"the press is too often playing along, normalizing the abnormal, treating creeping authoritarianism as just another partisan squabble."
Watched 'Good Night and Good Luck' last night. Friendly, Murrow and even Paley put sanity over profits. Sadly profits, money, has corrupted everything in America today.
Most unfortunately, every single republican in Congress is playing along. All about money, greed and power. SCOTUS and Citizens United have literally destroyed our democracy, our country.
I was in Budapest in 1991, shooting a documentary. Perestroika was finally taking hold. The people were great, and they were very excited about what the future held for them. I watched from afar how they quickly embraced democracy and freedom, only to have it morph into the fascist autocracy it is today. I knew when Tucker Carlson began spouting his admiration and then CPAC inviting Orbán to speak, we were in serious trouble. And here we are, seemingly putting all our hopes into the possibility a handful of republicans will do the right thing, when they have proven time and again their unwillingness to do so.
Michael,great post.You're right about all points.
Lest we forget, Trump is 79 and in marginal physical and cognitive health. Not only will he, at worst, be a short-term autocrat, he's becoming increasingly emotionally unhinged — before him when's the last time you can remember a sitting president calling anybody "fuckers"... Or afterwards for that matter. No, neither can I.
Trump in actuality is a stalking horse for Project 2025. He may think he's going to rule as king for another 20 or so years, at which time he will hand the orb and scepter to L'il DonDon and retire to his imperial lands where he will be cared lovingly by nubile 14 year-olds until the stars themselves fade and... and... The man is a moron with no grasp of the real world. He's a tool, a marionette. His Masters know exactly what he is.
Project 2025 is playing the long game. They know Trump is failing, that there is a plausible chance that he will not finish his term. They also know that if they do not solidify power in the next 12 months they are likely to be thrown out of office (and quite possibly tried for sedition); they know there isn't going to be a second chance, at least in the immediate future. Vance will be a willing, even eager, tool but 2025 knows he is utterly devoid of charisma, so again they need to get all their pieces in play more or less immediately.
So it's up to us. Without mobilization we're fucked. The real pain to be felt by the general populace is still a few years in coming, so the masses aren't ready to act. As a society those who are already being crushed by this Brave New World are dismissible, just as they have been for the last several millennia, by their "betters", the "betters" being ignorant that they are next.
I don't want to suggest we are sheep but frankly I believe we need some central figure to point us in the right direction and lead the charge. It could be a Martin Luther King, it could be a Gandhi, it could be a Mother Jones or a Che. Otherwise, we are going to be little more than an ineffectual mob ready to protest on alternate Wednesdays (from 12 til 2) and then go home to our chips and beer. They, on the other hand, already have their Quisling. Adolf, their real Adolf, can't be far away.
If you have enough money you can be kept alive way past your expiration date. Look at Murdoch 94 years old and still trucking there are likely more than 1300 billionaires over the age of 70. At least six billionaires are over the age of 80, including Murdoch,
I was prepared to disagree but then I decided to do a little research — the Internet always willing to aid in such matters. Frankly, I was stunned. Of the 31 billionaires who died in 2024, 11 were 90 or older, the oldest clocking out at 98. One or two might have been written off as a statistical fluke but not 35%.
Trump will live into his 90's despite his diet, his ankles, and his loss of collagen.
My wife pointed out that a picture of his hand shows make up covering his bruising.
I know all about it. I bruise easily, I take collagen every day, but it doesn't help, as you age you lose collagen, your skin thins and you easily bruise.
A lot of ageing depends on genetics. Not so lucky on my mothers side, but very lucky on my fathers side. My grandparents, an uncle and an aunt lived into their 90's, my Dad died young, heart murmur from childhood scarlet fever and alcoholism, his brother died young from Hodgkins contracted by his working in the oil refinery fields as a plumber.
Anyway Trump has cankles, wears a girdle and a bullet proof vest, his stance shows the osteoporsis that comes with age, his head leans forward, and his stance is off balance, possibly because of lifts. I'm sure that he wears lifts.
Other than that he shows signs of ageing, and if it weren't for his money and access to the best medical care in the world, he wouldn't be doing so good.
By the way I just took my BP 125/68 and that after 45 minutes of exercise, of course I cooled down first.
Not that I'd be around to see such an atrocity. The rich are vampires feeding off the poor (and everyone not a billionaire is poor to them) to keep from aging. Just ain't natcheral.
To draw a parallel, the attitude of the lord of the manor towards the serf.
to that extent I know a business owner who believes customers exist for his benefit.
Congress just now subpoenaed the Epstein files, the Clinton's, Garland, and other high profile persons. They are deflecting from economic policies that are changing central banks and the Fed system to a privatized "stable coin" system away from Fed ability to moderate inflation and an economic crash.
Subpoena Woddy Allen. Alex Acosta. Donald J. Trump.
Trump could never have succeeded without the tireless promotion of fascism as a good thing through talk radio and Fox "news", all underwritten by billionaire money. Republicans define "patriotism" as blind obedience, so that gives Trump's silly rantings and edicts forward motion. In a normal political environment, Trump would have been led away in a straight jacket already, assuming he could even have gotten nominated.
Psy ops in action. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2024_United_States_elections
We know we wuz robbed, we know it was psy ops. What can we do about it, when lady justice is not blindfolded by looks to the right.
We need to put together an Olympic team of lawyers, file a pitch perfect suit, have it heard in a friendly venue, that answers to a friendly appeals court, and then sit there with thumb in ass waiting the ideologically and financially corrupt SCOTUS, and then if they rule in our favor, will he actually step down. And if he does, how can we ever put together again that which he broke.
The institutional knowledge is scattered to the winds, the documents, the records have been shredded, like the stockpiles of USAID food that is being burned.
We would be starting a new, with even more disabilities than the founding fathers, because new we have 40% of the population, scattered and concentrated, that is well equipped and with the tools to hinder reconstruction.
We are looking at the preconditions for a hot civil war, there has been a cold civil war raging since 1865m and they almost won in 1941.
The Japanese actually saved our democratic Republic.
100%
- 3 out of 5 Whites wanted this.
- 50% of Browns.
- 1 out of 5 Black men.
As we see w/ his panic about Epstein, DJT is nothing w/out his voters,
So, They are the real problem.
D is just a money-grubbing kiddie-rapist.
Thom, you nailed it. Outstanding. Every word. I so wish the subject was uplifting but we're in deep fascism. It's scary as hell, but WE THE PEOPLE control this country and we WILL NOT give in or give up. EVER. Many thanks for keeping me/us informed and motivated.
You are so right, Professor. We are closer to the edge than people seem to think. We might even be plunging into the abyss. My sister is willfully oblivious. Of course it’s upsetting to know what’s happening, so people need to stiffen their spines and fight back. This is a fight for our whole way of life, nothing less. Thank you, sir, for talking about this so clearly and truthfully.
Can Dems learn to be ruthless?
Should have hired Karl Rove.
A sentence ending with, "...a screaming red light that our democracy has failed." should not be stated as a conditional or counterfactual. Fait accompli!
This is along the same line of my Substack this morning. In fact, after I post this here I will put a link to this article there. I wrote: If the GOP or MAGA are having problems, does it even matter in the long run if Trump is planning to implement a police state? Here;s the link: https://halbrown.substack.com/p/if-the-gop-or-maga-are-having-problems
Suicide is not a good option.
Who is suggesting suicide?
Read his substack. Vey ist mir.
A quick Google search revealed four meetings between trump and Orban in 2024: March 8 (location not mentioned), July 12 at Mar-a-Lago, Oct 9 in Oval Office, Dec 10 at Mar-a-Lago. Apparently, Orban endorsed trump in 2016, but their first meeting seems to have been in 2019. Lots of coaching from one of the masters?
From the article: "nd then he spoke to Republican groups at CPAC, both in Texas and when the conservative group held its meeting in Budapest, encouraging conservatives to do in America exactly what he had done in Hungary. His suggestions about seizing control of the media, shutting down universities, going after immigrants as a way of increasing political power, trashing the rights of queer people and women, and rigging election systems was greeted with a standing ovation in both cases."
This is the culture war, it is how Trump came to power, and how he is becoming more powerful, despite his fall in public approval. Once you have power, what matters public opinion.
We are constantly told by the corporate media, and the likes of MSNBC, that it is all about the "economy stupid", the price of eggs, jobs, while they admit that the GDP, Job rate, inflation rate was the best in a decade.
Why is the corporate media, even the liberal populace, the Democratic party afraid to admit that it is all about the culture war. I do have my opinions.
Remember Maslow's hierarchy of needs? Physiological needs such a food and protection from the elements comes before love and belonging. When food and shelter can't be found, priorities will change.
Yup, that's what I've been saying if not here on Thom's substack, then over on Robert Reich's.
90% of MAGATs vote against their own economic and physical health.
It's all about the culture these days.