The strongman act is cracking, but as the cops, the crowds, and even the cult start to walk away, is this finally the moment his empire begins to fall?
This diagnosis feels right; the strongman act is cracking, but what we’re witnessing isn’t just the collapse of a man. It’s the reversion of a system to its older, meaner self. The cruelty isn’t an accident; it’s a feature as old as the republic itself.
I wrote today about this same regression and how the shutdown and SNAP crisis mark America’s slide back to a pre–New Deal order, when hunger was treated as moral failure and “efficiency” was code for exclusion. We keep mistaking the spectacle for the substance. Trump isn’t the problem. He’s the reveal.
Steward, from your excellent SNAP, Crackle, Gone: "Today, the fight over SNAP is pitched in sterile language: “budget caps,” “work requirements,” “fraud prevention.” But it’s the same fight. The same fear that giving people food without humiliation might make them believe they’re owed dignity. That’s the heresy."
Conservative brains go through something like the pandemic, they absolutely understand "essential workers", getting everyone fed, and sending out some checks to the whole nation. How quickly they forget till the problem once again lands on their doorstep.
One in eight will remember come November. Add in the health, home, and car insurance with the cost of housing, electricity and food, simply put, no one can afford nothing. The system, cruelty, and the psychos have to go.
I watch your program in in the morning, while I exercise Thom, and you often have at least one right wing caller, which you skillfully handle, today you had a dude, who actually acts like a typical right winger, he comes on with bullet points, tries to fillibuster, when you refute him, he ignores and says something like "moving on" to his next bullet point.
My point here is that at least 35% of the country is enmeshed in right wing ideology, whether it is white Christian, patriarchalism or simple Misogynistic libertarian Christian patriarchalism; It doesn't matter. It is Trumps base, and it only takes 17% of a population to change a culture and create a seismic shift, Trump has at least 35% and some polls show up to 39%, so it doesn't matter what the other 65% does or thinks, because most of that will do nothing or can do nothing, remember he has over $1 billion to spend on the largest police force in the world and the command of a War Department that will murder anyone he wants.
I don't honestly think that he is going anywhere, and I am strongly opposed to promoting forlorn hope.
The mid terms are already rigged, and there will be select groups of poll watchers, which I expect to be armed, and MAGA dominated election commissions, and Dominion voting machines is now owned by a friend of Ed Martins and a billionaire backer of Trump.
We have one chance in the election and that Republicans demonstrate that they are fed up with Trump and vote Democrat. Failing that, the only thing left is a national uprising and a general strike.
Sharp analysis, Thom. What’s fascinating here is how the illusion of strength depends entirely on people mistaking fear for power. When that spell breaks, the empire built on bullying starts to collapse under its own noise.
"About the only thing holding up so far is the stock market"
Oh wow, the stock market crash of the Great Depression started on October 28, 1929 with a free fall the next day! Today, with people out of work and going hungry and the stock market aroarin, something smells fishy to me....
Ms. Demas. What you smell is a huge Tech Bubble distorting our economy.
eg. Tesla accounts for 40%+ of all the combined capitalization of all auto companies in the world. Yet it produces the fewest autos of any of them. Not only Tesla. There are many other modern tech companies in a similar bubble.
This is not a "real" economy. A"real" economy extracts RAW MATERIALS and a trained, compensated LABOR force converts them into useable commodities. These commodities are then distributed among the public by some institutionalized system; called a MARKET in the modern world.
Too much of what we call the U.S. economy is not much more than wealthy people shuffling paper in such a way as to increase their ownership and wealth. We are in the biggest bubble in our national history. Overcapitalized, underproductive.
As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.
The next best, the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate ...
When the best leader's work is done the people say,
We did it ourselves!”
--Lao Tzu
Clearly Trump and his gang are at the bottom of this list. I think that eventually enough people will get past those negative stages and look for "leaders" who at least are calmer and have more positive directions. While we may never get ones who really turn power back to those who do the work--in politics egos are too large--we may well get back to competent and fairly decent people. The New Yorker once wrote that Trump could only feel big by making others look small. And that is no way to lead.
Dr. Weil. Having taken my doctorate in Sociology; I too reject the "Great Man" theories of history. China is the longest, continuously existing civilization on the planet. We should take the words of Lao Tzu seriously. The Mahatma Gandhi is said to have exclaimed "I must run now to catch up with my people." India is the second oldest continuous civilization.
However I must retain a sliver of doubt concerning my own interpretation of history. We still remember George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt.
I agree with you Gerald, that is an old debate about how much an individual “makes” history. If Napoleon, Lincoln, Hitler, etc. had not been born maybe the times would have thrown up people similar to them, though perhaps not as good or as bad. And as many have noted, Trump would have gone nowhere if enough people weren’t so desperate as to want a demagogue. But obviously once a person is in power, they can bend things. Thus the American Revolution would have happened without Washington, but it might have had a much higher chance of failing. And FDR wasn’t vital to win World War 2, though possibly Churchill was to keep Britain from surrendering, and maybe Stalin to hold the Soviet Union together. Perhaps the answer is somewhere in the middle. I wish that I could say there are limits to how far a person can push circumstances, but history is rife with dictators who drove their countries into the ground. Maybe, as Thom suggests, Americans are smarter than to let that happen now.
Only the wise acknowledge it was their fault, any of them probably had it worked out long before. Everybody else pulls out their very long list of scapegoats....
Thank you for Lao Tzu. That we had such among us today..
Virgin Monk Boy. Those people kidnapped off our streets and disappeared into the American gulag are not being restrained by fear. They are restrained by bars and bricks and physical force; backed up by bullets.
I’m beginning to see the MAGA momentum slowing down. The courts are beginning to catch-up to all of the lawlessness after months of procedural actions and filings to bring facts out. The infinitesimally more ‘enlightened’ group of Republican Senators just voted against a set of Trump tarrifs. Nate Silver’s polling shows that MAGA has not grown and, on the other hand, the percentage of Americans strongly favorable to Trump is shrinking and is well below 30%. Two things:
1. Americans don’t like thugs and secret police under any circumstance. Trump 2.0’s wonton thuggery is turning Trump voters off.
2. Trump and his acolytes have no clue how deep our ‘democratic’ sensibilities and norms go in American life — things like belief in basic decency and individual liberty.
The encouragement is helpful. The inevitable is inescapable for the scoundrel. Nevertheless, he will find ways to play the victim until he dies (pray) and his most stalwart supporters will imagine new ways to undermine democracy and the rule of law. The media will still profit from the drama and magnify the lies, and in desperation he will try to agitate for a foreign war to distract and unify. The big question is whether the military leaders will stand strong against frivolous warmongering and whether the people will fall for old tricks and be worn down with fatigue and confusion. A full-frontal assault and unabated resistance against him and his minions will still be required, possibly even after 2026.
For Whom the Outrages Toll. Let us not forget the Epstein Files, first. I mean we know a pedophile when we see one dodge, duck, shuck, and jive. For some reason we need the files. I rather think we do not, and we already know what is there. The outrages toll for you as a distraction. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/too-much-two-buckets-to-sanity?r=3m1bs
Carl, there are a lot of folk, who are putting all of their chips on theEpstein files, Don't be surprised if they are a nothing burger, just like the Mueller Report, the classified documents case, the Fani Wilis case.
Epsteins customer list includes the most powerful and wealthy men in the WORLD,no just fat cats in America, that list will not be made public, 21 story windows, car accidents and suicides will see to it, and Pam has surely already redacted, shredded, burned, altered and otherwise disposed of incriminating evidence of not only Donald but other dignitaries, including Arabs
And even if Trump's name appears, his base doesn't care, photo's and videos of him and Epstein are shown almost daily, and nary an uproar
They know he is a "sinner" but they believe that their god chose him as a vessel, because of his sins.
Besides Hitlers speechs the one other person who had an impact on Trump's way of thinking was Norman VincentPeale,the power of positive thinking, in fact Adolph Hitler was a real life demonstration, a corporal, with no prospects, so empowered by his own belifes that he rose to power and became the most reviled man in history.
Bu positive thinking alone doesn't move the dice, it takes convincing messaging and building a following.
Carl, I've read from more than one, what appears to be a hope that is hanging on one thread, the Epstein files.I doubt that they will see the light of day, because there are some very, very rich and powerful people in those files, not just American, and not just Republican., and should they be turned over, they will be heavily altered, and redcated and Bondi has complete control over what documents, photo's and video's are released and/or edited.
Now supposing they are released and he is incriminated, do you not know that the MAGA base is composed off Christians (evangelicals and Catholics) who forgive transgressions, if they repent, are "saved
Thomas Mann wrote a book,The Holy Sinner. Those dudes who flew planes to the WTC and Pentagon were holy sinners. The Quran forbids alcohol and other pleasure of the flesh, but they were instantly redeemed, by committing martyrdom for Islam, or so they believed.
Trump is a holy sinner, he is redeemed and in his mind go to heaven, even though he is committing murder on the seas, because he is doing it all to advance the cause of Christianity, at least that is what he is being told.
More probably he's nutsy koo koo and does not know right from wrong. It could be from disease, which is the predicate to the common law M'Naughten standard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%27Naghten_rules
Delusions of grandeur. In his mind, a modern day Midas, bathed in gold.
I don't think he's a true believer...in anything. He's a true grifter.
You are absolutely correct Daniel and add dementia to the list, but guess what, it is irrelevant because he is a tool that is delivering to the racists, the xenophobes, the billionaires the technacrats (I won't call them tech bros, honoring Thom Hartmann's that makes them sound like harmless good guys), and the religious freaks, the Christian crusaders
I can hear them now, "so what, your right and what are you going to do about it,we have the power and he is our tool, all we have to is flatter him and give him money."
Good description Mr. Farrar. I think Mr. Solomon is referring to what today is called the irresistible impulse and/or mental defect due to disease. Insanity is a legal term, not medical term. To be judged as insane it must be demonstrated that one cannot be held responsible for one's behavior because:
1) one is the victim of an irresistible impulse
or
2)one's mental capacity does not permit one to understand the difference between right and wrong [diminished capacity], possibly due to disease.
Anyone who has studied logic knows that both 1 and 2 are petitio principii, reasoning in a circle.
Trump probably is capable of judging the difference between right and wrong according to our norms. But this is not relevant because he is cruel and his rage, hatred, and desire for vengeance motivate him to harm others.
You said:"Trump probably is capable of judging the difference between right and wrong according to our norms. But this is not relevant because he is cruel and his rage, hatred, and desire for vengeance motivate him to harm others."
Well said, and best said.
Question is: What does he hate: I suggest everything and everybody, including himself he is a nihilist
His frequent statements about people getting killed in wars, is for consumption by the Nobel committee. I do not think that he cares one whit, it is all performance. And that is Trump, he is a performer, a clownish performer, nothing sincere about him, except concern of self.
The linked article about voter role purges and election interference must be addressed if we are going to rid ourselves of this corrupt government system that no longer has any interest in answering to it’s constituents We The People. It’s We The People who pay the bills. It’s We The People that employ these corrupt politicians. Cutting off food to the most vulnerable, when there is money in a slush fund to pay for it in just such an emergency should damn the Republicans who fail to pass a bill allowing it. It’s OUR MONEY. FEED OUR PEOPLE!!
I like the picture of Trump as King Kong on top of the Burj Khalifa, holding crypto currency in his greedy little paws instead of Fay Wray, and being shot at by the biplanes of plainly observable truth. Watch out below!
He's vulnerable. Surely, even some of his henchmen must have a sense of smell? Needs a diaper? Shakespeare noted a "putrid core" in villiains. Maybe that's a source of the smell.
Heather Cox Richardson, a historian, says he's Cukoo for Cocopuffs. So say many psychiatrists and psychologists.
I keep posting. According to Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) Trumpepstein may cause an "Epstein bomb" causing over 100 Republican members to "jailbreak" from Trump.
Attending a b'day dinner tomorrow evening with a small group of maga, and should be able gauge if there are indeed cracks, fractures in their heretofore mesmerized, faux newz perspectives. Going "behind enemy lines" as it were, bringing back intel(!) Living in MGT's Congressional District, learned long ago not to challenge my neighbors - try to make them see the light, the truth. But even MGT has been pushing back lately - specifically about the healthcare so many of her constituents stand to lose. It's a poor area, so many also depend on Snap benefits. Hell may have indeed frozen over!
Enjoyed this post so much more than the typical calls for alarm, not that the calls are not justified. They absolutely are. But hope has been in such short supply lately, this one is most refreshing.
This is strange from you: an optimistic take! In the same vein of hope, yesterday's "performance" in Japan (speech and reception) look to me (no doctor, just nuclear engineer) like significant decline, both physical and especially mental. That will make it even harder for him to "do his magic" of holding his "con cult" together. So maybe there's hope, hope that our "long national nightmare" might end sooner rather than later.
These billionaires hand over millions gladly so that they can get what is important to them and make hundreds of billions in the process in contracts, trade deals, $0 taxes (both corporate and personal), no regulation, and the list goes on and on. On top of that, they can scream extortion after he leaves or is dragged off the stage (which may be sooner than we imagine; he’s getting to be heavy baggage). The only trouble is the real one’s who put him in office already have replacements in line who actually may be worse for the average American.
THIS! We need to focus on the positive, all the cracks that are showing in the regime’s façade. Rather than emphasizing the negative, we need pragmatic optimism and the power of positive thinking. Doesn’t mean we ignore the damage. It means we recognize the wins and amplify them. We must keep from falling into sinkholes of apathy and depression. The best antidote for that is good news and lots of action. The more engaged and active someone is, the more agency they have and the more positive their outlook remains. This is how we win!
What I have been unable to understand is why republican Senators and Representatives are so insecure and lacking in confidence that they can win elections on their own merits in their home states?
Because they have nothing positive to offer. While the Democrats have very poor messaging at least they generally stand for some positive improvements, and occasionally accomplish things in that direction. But basing your platform on hate, fear and anger ultimately gets you nowhere. My mother said that people get tired of being revolutionaries, but I think they also get tired of being treated as victims.
It’s probably bc they know Republican policies are vastly unpopular, and the only ways they can keep getting reelected are by: a) purging voter rolls, b) gerrymandering, and c) running attack ads against their opponents.
Once again your penchant for audience capture and toxic partisan bias is showing. It's not Trump's empire that is falling, it's American empire. It's ALL of us Thom Hartmann, endangered by amoral creeps like you who refuse to acknowledge the genocide of Palestinians because you are more interested in protecting Parkinson's addled Zionists/racists like Joe Biden. You demean Trump supporters, further putting a wedge in an already dangerously divided society while you sing the praises of the likes of Obama who cut $8.7 billion in SNAP benefits, privatized the health care system into an unaffordable, unnavigable house of cards, and dropped over 50,000 bombs on the Middle East. He only has an "empire" because you and those like you enabled it by failing to hold Democrats accountable for their moral and spiritual bankruptcy. You were against abolishing ICE, and here we are. You wouldn't allow callers to criticize Democrats on your radio show, and here we are. You didn't know if a genocide was a genocide, and allowed callers to put down Muslims to Biden's benefit, so here we are. Trump is a hateful coward that's why he acts with such belligerence. What's your excuse? https://barryjkaufmando.substack.com/p/genocide-joe-says-theres-no-place
This diagnosis feels right; the strongman act is cracking, but what we’re witnessing isn’t just the collapse of a man. It’s the reversion of a system to its older, meaner self. The cruelty isn’t an accident; it’s a feature as old as the republic itself.
I wrote today about this same regression and how the shutdown and SNAP crisis mark America’s slide back to a pre–New Deal order, when hunger was treated as moral failure and “efficiency” was code for exclusion. We keep mistaking the spectacle for the substance. Trump isn’t the problem. He’s the reveal.
https://www.stewonthis.com/p/snap-crackle-gone
"**We keep mistaking the spectacle for the substance. Trump isn’t the problem. He’s the reveal.**"
Brilliantly said.
so....?
Steward, from your excellent SNAP, Crackle, Gone: "Today, the fight over SNAP is pitched in sterile language: “budget caps,” “work requirements,” “fraud prevention.” But it’s the same fight. The same fear that giving people food without humiliation might make them believe they’re owed dignity. That’s the heresy."
Conservative brains go through something like the pandemic, they absolutely understand "essential workers", getting everyone fed, and sending out some checks to the whole nation. How quickly they forget till the problem once again lands on their doorstep.
One in eight will remember come November. Add in the health, home, and car insurance with the cost of housing, electricity and food, simply put, no one can afford nothing. The system, cruelty, and the psychos have to go.
I watch your program in in the morning, while I exercise Thom, and you often have at least one right wing caller, which you skillfully handle, today you had a dude, who actually acts like a typical right winger, he comes on with bullet points, tries to fillibuster, when you refute him, he ignores and says something like "moving on" to his next bullet point.
My point here is that at least 35% of the country is enmeshed in right wing ideology, whether it is white Christian, patriarchalism or simple Misogynistic libertarian Christian patriarchalism; It doesn't matter. It is Trumps base, and it only takes 17% of a population to change a culture and create a seismic shift, Trump has at least 35% and some polls show up to 39%, so it doesn't matter what the other 65% does or thinks, because most of that will do nothing or can do nothing, remember he has over $1 billion to spend on the largest police force in the world and the command of a War Department that will murder anyone he wants.
I don't honestly think that he is going anywhere, and I am strongly opposed to promoting forlorn hope.
The mid terms are already rigged, and there will be select groups of poll watchers, which I expect to be armed, and MAGA dominated election commissions, and Dominion voting machines is now owned by a friend of Ed Martins and a billionaire backer of Trump.
We have one chance in the election and that Republicans demonstrate that they are fed up with Trump and vote Democrat. Failing that, the only thing left is a national uprising and a general strike.
Yes Alis. It is time for radical change, not reformists illusions.
The Republican brand is cruelty.
Before he fought Holyfield in '96, Mike Tyson replied to a reporter when asked if he was worried about Evander's fight plan, that:
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
The gop-kooks have Project 2025 [not really a plan in the traditional sense, simply madness.]
So, let's go ahead and figuratively punch them in the mouth, each and every election.
Sharp analysis, Thom. What’s fascinating here is how the illusion of strength depends entirely on people mistaking fear for power. When that spell breaks, the empire built on bullying starts to collapse under its own noise.
"About the only thing holding up so far is the stock market"
Oh wow, the stock market crash of the Great Depression started on October 28, 1929 with a free fall the next day! Today, with people out of work and going hungry and the stock market aroarin, something smells fishy to me....
Ms. Demas. What you smell is a huge Tech Bubble distorting our economy.
eg. Tesla accounts for 40%+ of all the combined capitalization of all auto companies in the world. Yet it produces the fewest autos of any of them. Not only Tesla. There are many other modern tech companies in a similar bubble.
This is not a "real" economy. A"real" economy extracts RAW MATERIALS and a trained, compensated LABOR force converts them into useable commodities. These commodities are then distributed among the public by some institutionalized system; called a MARKET in the modern world.
Too much of what we call the U.S. economy is not much more than wealthy people shuffling paper in such a way as to increase their ownership and wealth. We are in the biggest bubble in our national history. Overcapitalized, underproductive.
"the U.S. economy is not much more than wealthy people shuffling paper in such a way as to increase their ownership and wealth."
Yep and their all in trump's cabinet....
“To lead people, walk beside them ...
As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.
The next best, the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate ...
When the best leader's work is done the people say,
We did it ourselves!”
--Lao Tzu
Clearly Trump and his gang are at the bottom of this list. I think that eventually enough people will get past those negative stages and look for "leaders" who at least are calmer and have more positive directions. While we may never get ones who really turn power back to those who do the work--in politics egos are too large--we may well get back to competent and fairly decent people. The New Yorker once wrote that Trump could only feel big by making others look small. And that is no way to lead.
Dr. Weil. Having taken my doctorate in Sociology; I too reject the "Great Man" theories of history. China is the longest, continuously existing civilization on the planet. We should take the words of Lao Tzu seriously. The Mahatma Gandhi is said to have exclaimed "I must run now to catch up with my people." India is the second oldest continuous civilization.
However I must retain a sliver of doubt concerning my own interpretation of history. We still remember George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt.
I agree with you Gerald, that is an old debate about how much an individual “makes” history. If Napoleon, Lincoln, Hitler, etc. had not been born maybe the times would have thrown up people similar to them, though perhaps not as good or as bad. And as many have noted, Trump would have gone nowhere if enough people weren’t so desperate as to want a demagogue. But obviously once a person is in power, they can bend things. Thus the American Revolution would have happened without Washington, but it might have had a much higher chance of failing. And FDR wasn’t vital to win World War 2, though possibly Churchill was to keep Britain from surrendering, and maybe Stalin to hold the Soviet Union together. Perhaps the answer is somewhere in the middle. I wish that I could say there are limits to how far a person can push circumstances, but history is rife with dictators who drove their countries into the ground. Maybe, as Thom suggests, Americans are smarter than to let that happen now.
Only the wise acknowledge it was their fault, any of them probably had it worked out long before. Everybody else pulls out their very long list of scapegoats....
Thank you for Lao Tzu. That we had such among us today..
Oh no says maga, we're not a shining city on a hill - we're a burning empire on a landfill!
Virgin Monk Boy. Those people kidnapped off our streets and disappeared into the American gulag are not being restrained by fear. They are restrained by bars and bricks and physical force; backed up by bullets.
I’m beginning to see the MAGA momentum slowing down. The courts are beginning to catch-up to all of the lawlessness after months of procedural actions and filings to bring facts out. The infinitesimally more ‘enlightened’ group of Republican Senators just voted against a set of Trump tarrifs. Nate Silver’s polling shows that MAGA has not grown and, on the other hand, the percentage of Americans strongly favorable to Trump is shrinking and is well below 30%. Two things:
1. Americans don’t like thugs and secret police under any circumstance. Trump 2.0’s wonton thuggery is turning Trump voters off.
2. Trump and his acolytes have no clue how deep our ‘democratic’ sensibilities and norms go in American life — things like belief in basic decency and individual liberty.
I have just posted about this and am asserting that these are major reasons why Trump can’t win this battle for the hearts and minds or for the capture and corruption of our governance. See: https://jonthinks.substack.com/p/trump-will-not-win-democracy-and?r=mrvx1
The encouragement is helpful. The inevitable is inescapable for the scoundrel. Nevertheless, he will find ways to play the victim until he dies (pray) and his most stalwart supporters will imagine new ways to undermine democracy and the rule of law. The media will still profit from the drama and magnify the lies, and in desperation he will try to agitate for a foreign war to distract and unify. The big question is whether the military leaders will stand strong against frivolous warmongering and whether the people will fall for old tricks and be worn down with fatigue and confusion. A full-frontal assault and unabated resistance against him and his minions will still be required, possibly even after 2026.
For Whom the Outrages Toll. Let us not forget the Epstein Files, first. I mean we know a pedophile when we see one dodge, duck, shuck, and jive. For some reason we need the files. I rather think we do not, and we already know what is there. The outrages toll for you as a distraction. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/too-much-two-buckets-to-sanity?r=3m1bs
Carl, there are a lot of folk, who are putting all of their chips on theEpstein files, Don't be surprised if they are a nothing burger, just like the Mueller Report, the classified documents case, the Fani Wilis case.
Epsteins customer list includes the most powerful and wealthy men in the WORLD,no just fat cats in America, that list will not be made public, 21 story windows, car accidents and suicides will see to it, and Pam has surely already redacted, shredded, burned, altered and otherwise disposed of incriminating evidence of not only Donald but other dignitaries, including Arabs
And even if Trump's name appears, his base doesn't care, photo's and videos of him and Epstein are shown almost daily, and nary an uproar
They know he is a "sinner" but they believe that their god chose him as a vessel, because of his sins.
Besides Hitlers speechs the one other person who had an impact on Trump's way of thinking was Norman VincentPeale,the power of positive thinking, in fact Adolph Hitler was a real life demonstration, a corporal, with no prospects, so empowered by his own belifes that he rose to power and became the most reviled man in history.
Bu positive thinking alone doesn't move the dice, it takes convincing messaging and building a following.
Carl, I've read from more than one, what appears to be a hope that is hanging on one thread, the Epstein files.I doubt that they will see the light of day, because there are some very, very rich and powerful people in those files, not just American, and not just Republican., and should they be turned over, they will be heavily altered, and redcated and Bondi has complete control over what documents, photo's and video's are released and/or edited.
Now supposing they are released and he is incriminated, do you not know that the MAGA base is composed off Christians (evangelicals and Catholics) who forgive transgressions, if they repent, are "saved
Thomas Mann wrote a book,The Holy Sinner. Those dudes who flew planes to the WTC and Pentagon were holy sinners. The Quran forbids alcohol and other pleasure of the flesh, but they were instantly redeemed, by committing martyrdom for Islam, or so they believed.
Trump is a holy sinner, he is redeemed and in his mind go to heaven, even though he is committing murder on the seas, because he is doing it all to advance the cause of Christianity, at least that is what he is being told.
More probably he's nutsy koo koo and does not know right from wrong. It could be from disease, which is the predicate to the common law M'Naughten standard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%27Naghten_rules
Delusions of grandeur. In his mind, a modern day Midas, bathed in gold.
I don't think he's a true believer...in anything. He's a true grifter.
You are absolutely correct Daniel and add dementia to the list, but guess what, it is irrelevant because he is a tool that is delivering to the racists, the xenophobes, the billionaires the technacrats (I won't call them tech bros, honoring Thom Hartmann's that makes them sound like harmless good guys), and the religious freaks, the Christian crusaders
I can hear them now, "so what, your right and what are you going to do about it,we have the power and he is our tool, all we have to is flatter him and give him money."
Good description Mr. Farrar. I think Mr. Solomon is referring to what today is called the irresistible impulse and/or mental defect due to disease. Insanity is a legal term, not medical term. To be judged as insane it must be demonstrated that one cannot be held responsible for one's behavior because:
1) one is the victim of an irresistible impulse
or
2)one's mental capacity does not permit one to understand the difference between right and wrong [diminished capacity], possibly due to disease.
Anyone who has studied logic knows that both 1 and 2 are petitio principii, reasoning in a circle.
Trump probably is capable of judging the difference between right and wrong according to our norms. But this is not relevant because he is cruel and his rage, hatred, and desire for vengeance motivate him to harm others.
You said:"Trump probably is capable of judging the difference between right and wrong according to our norms. But this is not relevant because he is cruel and his rage, hatred, and desire for vengeance motivate him to harm others."
Well said, and best said.
Question is: What does he hate: I suggest everything and everybody, including himself he is a nihilist
His frequent statements about people getting killed in wars, is for consumption by the Nobel committee. I do not think that he cares one whit, it is all performance. And that is Trump, he is a performer, a clownish performer, nothing sincere about him, except concern of self.
The linked article about voter role purges and election interference must be addressed if we are going to rid ourselves of this corrupt government system that no longer has any interest in answering to it’s constituents We The People. It’s We The People who pay the bills. It’s We The People that employ these corrupt politicians. Cutting off food to the most vulnerable, when there is money in a slush fund to pay for it in just such an emergency should damn the Republicans who fail to pass a bill allowing it. It’s OUR MONEY. FEED OUR PEOPLE!!
I like the picture of Trump as King Kong on top of the Burj Khalifa, holding crypto currency in his greedy little paws instead of Fay Wray, and being shot at by the biplanes of plainly observable truth. Watch out below!
He's vulnerable. Surely, even some of his henchmen must have a sense of smell? Needs a diaper? Shakespeare noted a "putrid core" in villiains. Maybe that's a source of the smell.
Heather Cox Richardson, a historian, says he's Cukoo for Cocopuffs. So say many psychiatrists and psychologists.
I keep posting. According to Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) Trumpepstein may cause an "Epstein bomb" causing over 100 Republican members to "jailbreak" from Trump.
Massive Congressional visits November 18.
https://www.instagram.com/flare.usa/p/DP_mdOyjdiG/
Visit Congressional Republicans.https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/851451/
I continue to be exasperated by the parties and lawyers with cases when justices and judges who have dispositive records of bribery and prejudice are not challenged. At SCOTUS, Roberts opened the door in November, 2023. https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/Code-of-Conduct-for-Justices_November_13_2023.pdf
https://blueprint.democrats.org/
"Putrid core in villains"...perfect
On all that is good & holy, I pray you are right.
Attending a b'day dinner tomorrow evening with a small group of maga, and should be able gauge if there are indeed cracks, fractures in their heretofore mesmerized, faux newz perspectives. Going "behind enemy lines" as it were, bringing back intel(!) Living in MGT's Congressional District, learned long ago not to challenge my neighbors - try to make them see the light, the truth. But even MGT has been pushing back lately - specifically about the healthcare so many of her constituents stand to lose. It's a poor area, so many also depend on Snap benefits. Hell may have indeed frozen over!
Enjoyed this post so much more than the typical calls for alarm, not that the calls are not justified. They absolutely are. But hope has been in such short supply lately, this one is most refreshing.
Thank you!
This is strange from you: an optimistic take! In the same vein of hope, yesterday's "performance" in Japan (speech and reception) look to me (no doctor, just nuclear engineer) like significant decline, both physical and especially mental. That will make it even harder for him to "do his magic" of holding his "con cult" together. So maybe there's hope, hope that our "long national nightmare" might end sooner rather than later.
You do know They have a replacement for Trump…. A Hillbilly Elegy who has become Magafried and runs with the
B$$$$$$$$ boys.
I do. But he has the charisma of a dirty dishrag. And that's important with the "con cult".
That SOB doesn't have a clue who he is. He went from his chaos at home to hanging around rich psychos instead of poor ones.
Money AND Daddy issues. I wonder if he will actually find himself along the way. Just dreaming.
These billionaires hand over millions gladly so that they can get what is important to them and make hundreds of billions in the process in contracts, trade deals, $0 taxes (both corporate and personal), no regulation, and the list goes on and on. On top of that, they can scream extortion after he leaves or is dragged off the stage (which may be sooner than we imagine; he’s getting to be heavy baggage). The only trouble is the real one’s who put him in office already have replacements in line who actually may be worse for the average American.
THIS! We need to focus on the positive, all the cracks that are showing in the regime’s façade. Rather than emphasizing the negative, we need pragmatic optimism and the power of positive thinking. Doesn’t mean we ignore the damage. It means we recognize the wins and amplify them. We must keep from falling into sinkholes of apathy and depression. The best antidote for that is good news and lots of action. The more engaged and active someone is, the more agency they have and the more positive their outlook remains. This is how we win!
Yep,the positive. At least the cattle car has straw to lay upon.
Excellent essay thank you!
What I have been unable to understand is why republican Senators and Representatives are so insecure and lacking in confidence that they can win elections on their own merits in their home states?
Because they have nothing positive to offer. While the Democrats have very poor messaging at least they generally stand for some positive improvements, and occasionally accomplish things in that direction. But basing your platform on hate, fear and anger ultimately gets you nowhere. My mother said that people get tired of being revolutionaries, but I think they also get tired of being treated as victims.
It’s probably bc they know Republican policies are vastly unpopular, and the only ways they can keep getting reelected are by: a) purging voter rolls, b) gerrymandering, and c) running attack ads against their opponents.
Once again your penchant for audience capture and toxic partisan bias is showing. It's not Trump's empire that is falling, it's American empire. It's ALL of us Thom Hartmann, endangered by amoral creeps like you who refuse to acknowledge the genocide of Palestinians because you are more interested in protecting Parkinson's addled Zionists/racists like Joe Biden. You demean Trump supporters, further putting a wedge in an already dangerously divided society while you sing the praises of the likes of Obama who cut $8.7 billion in SNAP benefits, privatized the health care system into an unaffordable, unnavigable house of cards, and dropped over 50,000 bombs on the Middle East. He only has an "empire" because you and those like you enabled it by failing to hold Democrats accountable for their moral and spiritual bankruptcy. You were against abolishing ICE, and here we are. You wouldn't allow callers to criticize Democrats on your radio show, and here we are. You didn't know if a genocide was a genocide, and allowed callers to put down Muslims to Biden's benefit, so here we are. Trump is a hateful coward that's why he acts with such belligerence. What's your excuse? https://barryjkaufmando.substack.com/p/genocide-joe-says-theres-no-place