Fergal and Bella, One point we have not discussed is the sorry state of our primary and secondary educational system. Many, if not most, American children are not taught to think critically and rationally. Waiting for College or University to correct this is too late.
The wave of book banning and political control over curriculum are the most current examples of this deficiency. Republicans are playing the long game of increased undermining of our educational system which the result is an electorate that value sentiment over rationality. I note that much of Trump’s base are not college educated, and when interviewed as to why they are voting for Trump, they come up with non-sensible and even ridiculous answers.
I noted in 2016 that voters who planed to vote for Trump when interviewed always answered with the verb "feel": "I feel like he knows what we need" or "I feel like he's ..." I never once hear them say "I think..." I found that very telling. If we pay teachers less money than Target and Walmart pay, what thoughtful, caring , well educated person would go into teaching? And I don't mean to insult the thoughtful, caring, well educated people who DID go int teaching - so then we start looking at the culture wars over curriculum. Oh. Lord, friends, we have a lot of cleaning up to do. Take your vitamins and grab some rest so we can fix this. In the meantime, be kind A LOT to EVERYONE, including the MAGA brainwashed.
I proudly say that daughter, who teaches in Oregon, is teaching critical thinking skills to her students. We just need a lot more teachers doing the same thing. Unfortunately, many teachers may not feel comfortable teaching critical thinking.
And may I add they are not challenged with their answers,i.e., he is better on the economy, how? Or “I don’t know her.” Follow with, what do you want to know? And perhaps get them to question their answers even if not to you. But the Repubs have been doing this for decades, chipping away at education, escalating fear. Not to mention the media’s non stop of showing trump, trump, trump, with just snippets on Harris. All that said, I get the sense, there are a lot of people who are just not talking and when it comes time to vote, in a secret ballot, they will be choosing Harris/ Walz. Most important for those already set to vote H/w, they need to just bite the bullet and Vote Blue up and down the ticket to make the changes begin that everyone really wants to move back to some normalcy.
Zola, I am a retired public educator. Please go to the Network for Public Education website. The Network for Public Education is the most intelligent body of knowledge regarding the political and monied interests undermining Public Education. Your experience of the "lack of resources & support for (public) education" has been by design, delivered to us by billionaires and politicians (both Republicans and Democrats). Thank you for being an educator.
Marc, and if Trump wins, his administration will make sure our schools become Mao propaganda machines - meaning that history will be rewritten, science eliminated. And these Crusaders will impose their “religion” upon both children and parents.
As a retired educator and product of public schools YES! The era of “accountability” under Bush further narrowed curriculum. Even well educated people do not think critically.
You know, Beverly, I don't think any schools got economics - maybe the really advanced prep schools. It would be great to teach them about money - and family life, sex, but don't get me started .....
The issue is that too many students are not prepared to learn anything. I have recently retired after 22 years in the high school classroom. The change in student readiness for learning has steadily eroded over the past years. Many do not read well, spend enormous amounts of time receiving visual input from their phones, do not know number facts and depend on calculators. Even more, many do not seem to have examples of literate adults in their lives. Teaching something without student engagement and practice of skills does not develop mastery. And, yes, high schools do still have civic and history classes. I wonder if we still have an educated and engaged population.
I'm worried that the smartphone generation will further lose their ability to use logic and reason. In 2019, a father of two at the University of Maryland said that his kids don't understand directions to a location and rely on their smartphone to get them to an address.
The dad said they do not comprehend instructiins like: take a left at Green Street, then take a right in two blocks, then go 3 blocks and turn left. The kids must put the address in their smartphone. The kids were in the State University that only takes some of the brightest of their class. So what about the bottom 75%? I suspect that AI will have a very negative impact on logic and reason for the next generation, but I hope I'm wrong.
If I'm right... that denial of anxiety science is key... it doesn't help that the name of the treatment has changed. Is it Desensitization or Exposure or Anti-Fragile or now... for ages 8-14... it's "Play?"
❤️Reich❤️:"No goal is more important than making sure Donald Trump never again comes close to the[power that corrupts]"
Me:"No goal is more important than making sure GULLIBILITY never again comes close to the[power that corrupts]"
MAGA and Fascism and Nazism and Racism need to be put in the blender so we can see what they are all made out of: GULLIBILITY. Millions of dollars and decades of placebo science tell us that up to 60% of anxious people (aka America) are cured by placebo, up to 50% of depressed people are cured by placebo. Innocuous placebos can mutate into insidious placebos and vice versa: Moms replace baby's filthy thumb with a pacifier.
❤️😳😱🤕🫣🤯⚖️
Replace GULLIBILITY with (❤️FDR's and ❤️UN.org's)❤️FREEDOM FROM FEAR ❤️("Do one thing every day that scares you"--Eleanor Roosevelt❤️ and the science of anxiety)
❤️First Do No Harm ❤️...Stop the Lying😱🤕🤯⚖️... "Don't Sweat It" is a lie: Exercise and Exposure are mandatory and both cause sweat 😁 The US Senate's Dr Haidt's "The 3 Great Untruths"(google it) that Gen Z believes that are dooming Gen Z and democracy include "Exposure Therapy", demonization* and "State Dependent Learning"(google them).
Small comfort, Americans can't figure it out either, by a margin of millions, but we have this weird relic of post-slavery called "The Electoral College" .....
I‘d really like to agree but as my fellow Austrians just have elected a Goebbels impersonator and Russian asset whose party still has a „friendship contract“ with Putin’s party in first place in our parliament elections, I fear I just understand too well what motivates Americans to vote for Trump and it frightens me deeply.
Another aspect that bothers me, is how some military service members and veterans want to vote for this so-called Dumpster Fire back into office so he can burn the country down. 😡😡😡
The people who ordinarily vote Republican are taught to swallow the candidate and policies hook, line, and sinker. To a lesser extent, so do Democrats. Also, folks in the military have traditionally voted Republican because the party supports aggressive militarism, funding of a huge defense budget and so-called patriotism. Sadly, my 18-year-old grandson has just vowed his support for the Rs. When I asked why, he said, "I hate Democrats." He's been taught racism and misogyny under the guise of a Christian god of white supremacy and anti-abortion measures because women can't possibly think for themselves.
Thank you. I am struggling with it because he is not communicating with me. Not so long ago, he was a wonderful boy. He followed his statement with, "You and I have nothing in common."
Hope, are you able to follow that up with a conversation about what you believe vs Trump? Can you say “I don’t think corporations should be allowed to pollute the air and water. Do you think government should have regulations for that? Etc etc. If he won’t talk to you, what about a letter to him, just listing some of your beliefs and asking him if he holds different views?
I’ve never seen a trump supporter who can talk about such things. Their eyes glaze over because their prefrontal cortex is disengaging. Fear and/or anger take the place of rational thought.
But perhaps a brief letter would seem less challenging and he might have to use that prefrontal cortex to actually read it (letting in the possibility that he *might* even think about it.
Do all military installations still only have FOX channels on? If that's all they know, then it's understandable they'd be ill-informed. Hope they hear Trump's view of them as losers.
•tRUMP has shown, not only a lack of respect, but a blatant disrespect for our ❤️beloved 🇺🇸American soldiers!
•Based upon tRUMP’s dislike (even hatred) & disrespect (even denigration), for all things American, except the ALMIGHTY 💲, how could any 🇺🇸American, citizen, esp. a soldier, factually justify voting for him to become POTUS again?
To the degree that DJT disrespects our beloved 🇺🇸soldiers, imagine how much more he disrespects John & Jane Doe-American, who are his only means of getting & keeping the power that he so desperately craves.
•tRUMP is using ALL of us to help him fulfill his distorted & perverted wants & desires, & his need to mirror himself after hitler & putler.
•A man who loves & respects authoritarian & dictatorial leaders of other countries, is a wannabe-authoritarian-dictator of his own country. In this case, tRUMP is a wannabe authoritarian dictator of 🇺🇸who will say & do anything, to get or steal, then keep power over America & Americans.
America will no longer be a republic governed by a democracy, which means that the only future for John & Jane Doe-American will be a downward trajectory into hatred, chaos, lawlessness, genocide of people of color, starvation, physical, mental, & psychological abuse, & torturing & murdering citizens at the behest of an out of control, cruel, & lawless government & leader. Why would anyone vote for that!?!
As a Gold Star Mother, His total disrespect for our nation's men and women in Uniform makes me SICK! 🤢🤮 HHow can any Veteran want this Orange Felon as Commander in Chief????
Heidrun Kirchweger, It's very discouraging and upsetting. I can't understand why and how so many people keep falling for these horrible people.....???? I can't understand why these bullies, racists, misogynistic people continue to get elected?? Some people just never learn from history. I share your concerns and sympathize with you..... I'm terrified that Trump (the orange Mussolini) could win the election. I'm angry that the politicians don't abolish the Electoral College in this country. It's unjust in my opinion, in today's society, it should be one person, one vote. Peace & love 🙏🕊️
There are some reasons, the Freedom party plays fundamental opposition. They always search what’s not popular and then pick up the topic. Some some people still carry grievances about the Covid measures, so this was one perfect topic for them. Then we have a lot of immigration since 2015 with admittedly problems around fundamental Islamists who can’t be deported due to their native countries either not taking them back or being unsafe. Then Austria was economically quite involved (partially still is, e.g. the only bank in Russia still in the SWIFT-system is a branch of the Austrian Raiffeisen bank) in Russia and the Freedom Party and also the Conservatives don’t want to let loose that business. And especially the Freedom Party loves the „traditional values“ Russia proclaims to hold, like traditional families, no LGTBQ, that pathological patriotism etc.
It's hard to understand why even one percent of Americans would want to return to the days of waking up to a Putin stooge drama queen who sows division every morning and was responsible for a ghastly pandemic that killed people they loved and ruined the economy for three years.
Republican Party has nothing like the ground game on the Democrat side. Thinking of groups like Field Team 6. This difference should win at the top of the ticket and the down ballot races.
The MSM is truly the biggest problem in all this. Even more so than Fox and Sinclair, etc. Because they should know better than to treat Trump as anything more than he is. They should also be reminding Americans on a daily basis about the Trump Virus, which started as his horrible response to Covid but morphed into Trump's disposition itself, and how he divided the country into camps. How the hell do you make libraries controversial? Only he and now his insane minions could do that.
Fergal, I believe a partial answer rests with Trump’s politics of grievance, central to the MAGA movement, wherein Trump links immigrants and democrats and others to the economic pain and other problems that his supporters are experiencing. He reinforces their world view that they have been left behind, that they have been shut out of the political conversation by these groups of people. Though only a piece of Trump’s staying power, regrettably, it is highly effective.
I agree, but didn't people use to cope with pain in their lives without blaming everyone else? Maybe not. I guess they recognized the threat of a demagogue back in Ancient Greece... So much progress has been made by people fighting for their rights, but now we seem to be watching people addicted to the fight -- they'd rather hang onto the grievance than vote for someone willing to address the problem. Scary times.
Andrew, I would note author Arlie Russell Hochschild in Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right presents a four-part structure that astutely shows how a despot like Trump turns shame to blame.
Moment 1: Trump says something transgressive.
Moment 2: The pundits shame Trump for saying those things.
Moment 3: Trump becomes the victim of this shame, then implicitly asks, “Have they ganged up on you—do you feel shame too?” Trump implicitly conveys, “I’ll take the hit for you cause they’re coming after me now, but they’re coming after you later.”
Moment 4: Trump roars back at the shamers, an act experienced as cathartic for his flock.
Hockschild submits that this repeated ritual is working on people and that Democrats need to recognize what’s going on and to intercept after Moment 2, which starts by really listening and empathizing with people not on our side.
Sadly, it’s too late for this election. And if Trump wins, the lemmings will follow him even more blindly.
I remember back in the 70s where people were encouraged to express their anger rather than bottling it up. I was in a women’s group where we hit pillows with tennis rackets while screaming hate and epithets. Yes, there was a high. But eventually, the fallacy and unintended consequences were exposed: expressing anger just begets more anger.
“Conservatives” have been shown (via fMRI) to have larger and more active amygdalae - which triggers fear and anger. Chicken and egg question: were they born with a predisposition to anger? Or did their constant exposure to anger cause the amygdala to grow and grow and…. 😳
Marge, I feel more anger than maybe any time in my life and it's all directed at the evil, heinous, disgusting, despicable, non-human being trying to get reelected. Sure, there are a lot of problems without Trump, but he is numero uno. Somehow, we have to stop him.
Any theory that is actionable is great. I can't quite imagine what "intercept after Moment 2" would actually look like, but at least it is a strategy that goes beyond trying to convince Trumpers with a rational argument. All the policy details in the world are not going to change the minds of these aggrieved masses.
This is the great truth. It has been but we are too deeply troubled by its implications that we have to ignore it. Too awful to contemplate. Despite the fact that Joe Biden handily won the last election, I have been haunted by the specter of 75 million people voting for this monster. And as it turns out for good reason, they are still there and more may be joining them. Let’s face it. Even if Trump loses, he will still gather multiple millions of Americans supporting him. We are already Germany. How do you like that? Racism is virulent in this country. This is what keeps me up at night.
No way. That was before Jan 6. Trump underperformed in his own primaries. The trends in "reliably" red states like North Carolina and Florida are against him. 81 MAGAT witnesses are ready, willing and able to testify against him in the DC case. His own VP and half his own cabinet will not support him. 2020 election occurred before he visibly decompensated. You have to be nuts to vote for a lunatic. In their guts, even MAGATs know he's nuts.
Some of us also think we will flip veterans, military and military families via "not suckers or losers." Lots of testimonials from vets who voted for Trump x 2. .https://votevets.org/
Allow me to explain two things that have unfolded in the last 24 hours to help explain. One, yesterday on Face The Nation, one the USA's most respected Sunday news shows, Republican Senator Tom Cotton stated many lies about Trump's bad economy. It did not take long for Senator Cotton to repeat a theme: Trump will return the US back to times that were better when Trump was President. Cotton repeated this false claim several times.
Not once did the host of the show question Cotton's false premise. By not questioning Cotton's lies, the host validated Cotton's statement. It was shameful journalism. Edward Murrow likely rolled over in his grave.
As bad as Trump is, the problem is worse than just our Presidential race. The legislative branch that is intended to be checks and balances of the Executive branch also is lacking intelligent discourse so voters can make informed decisions. Senator Sharrod Brown, a smart, honorable, strong voice for the working class, rich, and poor folks alike, announced that his Senate race has become the most expensive race in Senate history. He didn't give a figure, but I recall the 2020 PA Senate spent more somewhere in the neighborhood of one-third of a BILLION DOLLARS. Yes, over 300 million dollars was spent on the one Senate race. Sadly, this obscene amount of money clouded the issues, distorted the truth, and confused voters. The problem is worse than the possibility of a Trump Presidency because our legislative branch may be taken over by Trump's sycopants.
To answer your question, Fergal, some people would vote for Trump and against Democratic Senator Brown because voters have been misinformed, fear mongered, and confused about the candidates and issues by tremendous amounts of money to produce deceptive advertising that floods the air and print media. I blame a number of SCOTUS decision to open the floodgates of money to drown out the truth, notably Citizens United.
When not even a respected MSM Sunday Talk show host can stand up for the truth and be a historical fact checker, lies run rampant and voters become confused and question reality. If it sounds like the MSM is not doing their job and gaslighting the public by verifying history, that's what it is.
Our democracy "requires an informed citizenry," as paraphrased since 1776. Unfortunately, hundreds of millions, over billions of dollars are being used to confuse voters. To make matters worse, often the MSM and their corporate overlords are more concerned about appealing to Republicans than being journalists.
I am not understating the problem about misinformation and misinformed voters. Recently, when I attempted to point out Trump's 32,000 plus lies, and what Trump's former Cabinet members and Generals said about his pathetic leadership, and his history as a fraudulent businessman to a Trump supporter, I was accused of having "Trump Delusional Syndrome." We have a saying here in the USA, "money is the root of all evil." Well, vast amounts of money is the root of misinformation and a misinformed citizenry.
Too many times no one calls the GOP on their lies, they know this and use it. So this muddies the truth and confusion is what they are aiming for, then they go in with fear mongering and what ifs and catch another vote.
Trump's dumpster fire orange "economic plans" are bizarre. His biz were bankrupt and it shows why.
Let me explain this to the corporation Dems - we (working middle classes) gave you in 2008 the WH, Congress, and Senate. And, they let the bankers stay in the positions and Obama left many of the republicans in place. Just the facts. (reference - William Bill Black, Phd, lawyer, former bank regulator - The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One)
MOST of us want Bernie Sanders economic policies. Even republican working class. BUT we don't believe that either party is willing to deliver.
Kamala - save the middle class economic disparity and jail the bankers and cancel the student debt - then you'll win by a landslide and save democracy.
If you can't reply with facts, I don't respond to petty people who engage in name calling and bullying.
It sounds like people aren't getting how deep the consequences are for voting for Trump. Any why isn't anyone talking about the interment camps to hold immigrants in? The threats to round people up? To shoot his enemies? These are things orange man will do if elected
No one ever thinks it could happen to them. And legal immigrants (including a friend of mine) are ferociously angry about illegal ones. They worked hard to do it legally and they agree with throwing the illegal ones out. Democrats had ignored this.
But he wants to throw out the Haitians who have green cards and the dreamers..Trump is supposedly better handling our economics but he wants to throw out the migrants. It would devastate our economy. Look it up, the amount of taxes migrants pay is large. And who will fill the vacant jobs or pick our crops or help in a multitude of businesses.
Agree!!! How would Trump staff his hotels and golf clubs without immigrants. Why doesn't anyone ask him this??? And guess who will be re-building the Southeast after the storm damage. The Republicans must surely know this. But they have found a convenient scapegoat to unite their followers against a threat.
Very true! I know talented students who would love to stay in this country after their work permit expires. They do everything possible to stay here and they detest the fact that thousands are allowed to come into this country illegally. How can that be?
They aren’t “allowed.” They choose to break the law. I understand why - and totally recognize their misery, fear and hope. But no one is “letting them in.”
Rachel, yes! You’re right. I’ve volunteered to resettle refugees and it seems that for many the longer they are here, the more they hate illegal entries. The is the real meaning of the Melting Pot. They identify themselves as American (and they are: naturalized Americans) and don’t believe they themselves could be seen as the Undesirables.
What do Democrats mean when they talk about Immigrants. They throw those who come here legally and those who come here illegally into one pot. That is galling for those who came here legally. In most cases this is a very hard and expensive thing to do.
Yes, it seems odd. But a Latina office worker in my area was 100% in on Trump. 1) The immigrants coming in now give those that are in the US a bad name. 2) Trump’s sexism? Hey, that’s what men are like. Tough positions to overcome.
2nd or 3rd generation Hispanic immigrants don't tend to identify as Hispanic, but as Americans. A number of my Mexican-American former in-laws are Trumpers because they think their wealth will save them, apparently they plan to carry bank statements with them wherever they go, I dunno. Including my former father-in-law even though my former mother-in-law, his wife of more than 50 years, never ran the citizenship gauntlet. It's caused serious rifts in the family. And it's not a religious thing, my in-laws are many things but devout isn't one of them.
It's depressing that almost half of Americans are going to vote for Trump, I agree, but look on the bright side. In the last month, Harris has come up and Trump is stuck at about 46%. Harris is leading Trump in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and North Carolina. The 5% of voters who are still undecided will determine how big Harris's lead will be in November, and I suspect as she steadily becomes more familiar, she will get most of their votes.
A small quibble: "almost half of Americans" are not going to vote for Trump. In 2020, only 28% of Americans of voting age voted for Trump (33% of American did not vote at all), and his numbers in 2024 are likely to be similar. Biden won in 2020 because more Democrats and Independents went to the polls than Republicans. Harris will win in 2024 for the same reason, as long as we're doing everything humanly possible to get people of good conscience to vote. Turnout will be everything!
Point well taken. I should have said "American voters" rather than "Americans." On the other hand, given the stakes, don't you find it surprising that a third of Americans who are eligible to vote choose not to?
I absolutely do, especially given the stakes! Here's an alarming factoid: of the 9 million expatriate Americans living around the world, only 11% voted in the last election. So to anyone reading who knows an expat, do whatever you can to get them to vote!
I really, really think the Democrats are going to show up in droves and vote for Harris/Walz--so much so that there will be NO denying their win! I have faith in the majority of the American people and that they will not let us down!
The polls are a guide. I agree that you cannot look at individual polls, but what polls ARE useful for is the revelation of trends. And Harris is trending very well in the swing states, Trump is not.
Incidentally, in regard to Hillary Clinton v Trump in 2016, it's common wisdom that the polls predicted a win for Clinton. They did not. The trends in the polls favored Trump from September onwards.
Harris if she wins could be the saviour of USA & the world at large but needs when elected to rule by honour and not hypocrisy for example US policy on support for Israel being unconditional!
anil, I think her policies regarding Israel are going to be far more strict than Biden. People forget that she's the Vice President and as such, cannot directly oppose Joe Biden's policies. As VP, she has to support the administration. So she cannot come out and say exactly how her policies are going to be different, she can only say what she's communicating, that the Palestinians need their own sovereign country and independence etc. People have to be aware of how things work and not jump to conclusions about her mindset.
Exactly. The world must have a strong USA. And the hypocrisy you mention is very puzzling as to why it continues. Any country killing innocents should be stopped.
So the US tells Netyanhu to stand down and Yahoo goes and kills Nasrullah. Biden comes out and despite NetYahoo thumbing his nose at Biden says, well, a certain measure of justice here. How does that work? How does that further peace in the middle east? Inquiring minds want to know. Explain it to us Mr. President. I only hope Harris has the guts to give Yahoo an offer he can't refuse.
Tracy Puett, you're right and that's a scary thing to know.... apparently, those people don't realize that they're not going to be immune to being rounded up by Trump's goon squad based upon some whim he has about what needs to be done in the country. Those supporting the orange Mussolini are not tethered to reality. It's really scary. 😞
I believe he can try but President Biden understands what he is capable of and I have no doubt that he has taken whatever precautions are necessary to ensure another J6 does not happen again!
I just spent a weekend with old friends, majority or Trump supporters. They are not ignorant, hateful, or miserable. They have bought in to his fear mongering. And we need to do better to assure people that things are OK. Sitting down and being able to talk is a start. Fear is a powerful motivator. I assure you some Trump voters are very good people with a very fearful narrative brought on by the media, terrible events, and his rhetoric.
Fanny Bea Wilde ; It is sad that the loss of the fairness doctrine allowed misinformation and disinformation to run rampant in our media. By now, the fact that tRUMP has broken many laws should tell voters enough about him to give them pause on voting for him. The incessant threats and the killing of women and girls tell US something, too. He is just plain bad.
Christopher, I believe after January 6, 2021, everyone is more aware of what can happen. I have to trust that states have developed a plan should anyone decide to do what the traitors to our country did back then. Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
The answer to your question is that he is not running even with the vice president. Republicans have “flooded the zone” with bogus polls designed to move the aggregated averages of all the polls toward Trump. Simon Rosenberg of the Hopium Chronicles has recently laid this out in great detail.
I’m in the UK visiting family. Amazing how many people over here, perfect strangers hearing my accent, question me about trump. Nearly every one expressing fear that he might win. The UK has been targeted by Putin for its support of Ukraine, and is smaller than most other NATO countries so he has threatened them. So many of them mention Putin’s friendship with trump as reason to be concerned.
Yes, Putin won’t attack the US but I live in Scotland which will be a definite first target and least likely to be defended. If trump (Scottish word for fart btw) gets in, the world order will be dramatically changed. Russia will move into Moldova, Poland etc. NATO will be a thing of the past and fascism will rule Europe. Why are humans so thick? But none of that will matter as food security will be a thing of the past. Already floods are affecting food supplies. Empires fall but humans haven’t faced the existential threat they do now.
That is really scary! Though if bombs start falling anywhere, we will all be equally toasted. We are perilously close right now in Ukraine and the Middle East.
As soon as the people who are still Trumpers grow up and become responsible adults they will discover that they are supporting a cult of evil. America is full of decent and hardworking individuals who take pride in their country and disagree with Trump’s lies! Data shows us that our country is number one in the world and back on track thanks to leaders like President Biden, Vice President Harris and Professor Reich amongst others, mostly in the Democratic Party!
Keith, I wish we could amplify this message from now until election day! MAGA will never believe it but those decent, hardworking individuals will and hopefully, that would carry them to the polls!
Keith ; It's truly Great that many of the actual Republican Party have pledged to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. They encourage like minded conservatives to vote blue as well.
Yes Laurie, but I try to tell Keith that the problem is more complicated than being deplorable or becoming an responsible adult.
Hillary was punished for her improvisation about "deplorables"and rightly so. I try to find analytical insight; I have this nausea about the prospect of a lunatic and unhinged man in the WH too...
You and millions and millions of U.S. voters and many across the world have this justifiable nausea at the prospect of the orange stain in the White House again, this time only more threatening.
Keith, you write: “ As soon as the people who are still Trumpers grow up and become responsible adults they will discover that they are supporting a cult of evil. ”. These people are “grown up and responsible adults” …..who we believe have been dubbed by a conman. But they believe they know the truth and “what’s best”. I sorely disagree with them, but I acknowledge their sincerity of belief. This doesn’t make the way forward any easier. Just more human. When all is said and done, we are still stuck on the big-blue-marble together. We have to figure our way out of this manufactured-house-divided situation.
Professor Reich: the voters "know" trump: he's the guy who was impeached TWICE. he's the guy who stole boxes and boxes of classified and highly sensitive government documents and is busily selling them to our enemies internationally. he's the guy who fired the entire pandemic response team which directly led to the untimely deaths of more than 100,000 people. he's the guy who is an adjudicated rapist. he's the guy who has dozens more rape allegations waiting for him, both from women as well as boys and girls. he's the guy who was pals with child-trafficker and rapist epstein. he's the guy who refused to rent his NYC properties to black and brown people. he's the guy who drove a dozen (or more? i lost count!) businesses into bankruptcy. he's the guy prancing around the country TELLING people that he stiffed his contractors and refuses to pay anyone overtime. this doesn't even include all the other suspicious events associated with trump, including the weird death of ivana, the two fake assassination attempts, at least one of which is tied to him and includes two murders.
seriously, knowing all this, i'm convinced that many voters are racists and misogynists. they don't want to vote for a black woman, even if she's highly qualified and is going to continue to help THEM because they don't want her to help ALL THOSE OTHER PEOPLE. these inbred knuckle-dragging fart-sniffers prefer a multiply-convicted WHITE MALE felon who cannot even visit a dozen or so countries because he's a felon and those countries (including our closest friend, the UK) don't want criminals polluting their shores.
I was thinking it was strange that, aside from the first day after the debate, all the time since has pretty much been taken up by Trump. It’s because the media can’t help itself in that it simply feeds the attention monster with coverage and regardless of how repulsive his views or incoherent his speeches, providing he’s simply being covered a proportion of the electorate remains brainwashed, under the spell. As is the media.
If he won’t do another debate, will there be any more opportunities for Harris to make herself better known to a national audience, between now and election day?
Yes! Compare the facts, w/ a short delve into each detrimental result by Rep (tRUMP) Party & each contrasting accomplishment by Dem Party. Just the facts, all the way around.
I think that the polls are massively inaccurate. Nothing in the last 2 elections cycles have changed. Voters turned away Trump in 2020 and his enforced candidates in 2022. There has not been a surge in voting for Republicans since 2016. I’m still optimistic that the November elections were will be a bloodbath for Republicans. Stop worrying so much and work hard to turn out democrats voters.
I pray you’re right about the polls. The newest published ones by Times/Sienna showed a narrowing in MI and WI, and then yesterday’s latest from AtlasIntel, apparently held in high regard as a pollster, suggests Trump is now leading in all 3 Rust Belt states as well as Georgia and Arizona. With the way things have gone over the past few weeks since the debate, it’s impossible to fathom that the electorate broadly could be moving toward Trump and not away from him. It’s impossible for me to accept that that could be true.
Douglas Turner ; The polls are privately owned by very wealthy "interests". Polls have always existed to sway voters to particular views. If they can be used to convince voters that a candidate will win, it can influence suggestible types with little knowledge. Even though they "threw out the stops" on Hillary Clinton ; she did not win. She was pushed as the "heir apparent" even with cartoon images of Nostradamus who "predicted" her win long ago ; Most polls are VooDoo. Vote Blue!
Stop wasting time praying, it may give you comfort and won’t change anything, do something positive to get all democrats and never Trumpers out to vote!!
Stop taking the polls seriously and ESPECIALLY the NYT/Siena poll which is the worst outlier in its results because it significantly overpolls older rural voters, who we already know are likely Republican. Use all polls as rocket fuel only for your work to elect Harris-Walz. Nothing more. ✊
Grocery prices have gone up since 2020. Ridiculously and tragically. I understand corporate greed is the primary reason for grocery prices (except for eggs — avian influenza) to stay high, but others don’t seem to be. They also don’t seem to understand that without migrants, the price of milk and meat and produce will only go higher.
Just remember, Trump was sideswiped by Nikki Haley's voters...not a good result for an "ïncumbent" party leader in the primaries. A whole lotta Republicans are gonna sit out this election. And he's turning off the independents. He's going to have a huge turnout problem. Conversely, women are fired up to vote. The polls are flawed. Popular vote will be a Harris landslide, electoral college won't be that close. We're not going back.
Motivation through fear messaging is the oldest sales trick around. The corporate media model exploits this trait. Where is the enlightenment?..the higher ground?
I don't understand how half of this country would support DT if he stood on the steps of the WH and shot someone, although as a convicted felon he's not allowed to have a gun in his possession. I can't understand it as anything but abject stupidity when I see his supporters wearing shirts that proclaim "I'm voting for the convicted felon". My concern is that, if elected, Vance will invoke the 25th amendment and pull the rug out from under DT. Which would delight his sugar daddy and all the other oligarchs. When DT repeatedly recites the poem about the snake, I'm sure he has no idea he's describing Vance. I agree with @sally that people aren't getting how deep the consequences are for voting for Trump. And we've seen Insurrection Part One, I'm sure the sequel will follow if he loses.
This European can't understand why any American would vote for Russia's Manhattan Candidate
This American, agrees with this European, 100%.
Fergal and Bella, One point we have not discussed is the sorry state of our primary and secondary educational system. Many, if not most, American children are not taught to think critically and rationally. Waiting for College or University to correct this is too late.
The wave of book banning and political control over curriculum are the most current examples of this deficiency. Republicans are playing the long game of increased undermining of our educational system which the result is an electorate that value sentiment over rationality. I note that much of Trump’s base are not college educated, and when interviewed as to why they are voting for Trump, they come up with non-sensible and even ridiculous answers.
I noted in 2016 that voters who planed to vote for Trump when interviewed always answered with the verb "feel": "I feel like he knows what we need" or "I feel like he's ..." I never once hear them say "I think..." I found that very telling. If we pay teachers less money than Target and Walmart pay, what thoughtful, caring , well educated person would go into teaching? And I don't mean to insult the thoughtful, caring, well educated people who DID go int teaching - so then we start looking at the culture wars over curriculum. Oh. Lord, friends, we have a lot of cleaning up to do. Take your vitamins and grab some rest so we can fix this. In the meantime, be kind A LOT to EVERYONE, including the MAGA brainwashed.
In many states if teachers really started to teach critical thinking, the republican legislatures would have them fired.
I proudly say that daughter, who teaches in Oregon, is teaching critical thinking skills to her students. We just need a lot more teachers doing the same thing. Unfortunately, many teachers may not feel comfortable teaching critical thinking.
And may I add they are not challenged with their answers,i.e., he is better on the economy, how? Or “I don’t know her.” Follow with, what do you want to know? And perhaps get them to question their answers even if not to you. But the Repubs have been doing this for decades, chipping away at education, escalating fear. Not to mention the media’s non stop of showing trump, trump, trump, with just snippets on Harris. All that said, I get the sense, there are a lot of people who are just not talking and when it comes time to vote, in a secret ballot, they will be choosing Harris/ Walz. Most important for those already set to vote H/w, they need to just bite the bullet and Vote Blue up and down the ticket to make the changes begin that everyone really wants to move back to some normalcy.
As a retired educator, I have seen the lack of resources & support for education dwindle. This is the result. Tragic!
Zola, I am a retired public educator. Please go to the Network for Public Education website. The Network for Public Education is the most intelligent body of knowledge regarding the political and monied interests undermining Public Education. Your experience of the "lack of resources & support for (public) education" has been by design, delivered to us by billionaires and politicians (both Republicans and Democrats). Thank you for being an educator.
THIS is a real failing of the USA. And through the years we fall for these petty, little men.
Marc, and if Trump wins, his administration will make sure our schools become Mao propaganda machines - meaning that history will be rewritten, science eliminated. And these Crusaders will impose their “religion” upon both children and parents.
As a retired educator and product of public schools YES! The era of “accountability” under Bush further narrowed curriculum. Even well educated people do not think critically.
Do the schools teach civics anymore? Reading comprehension? Economics?
You know, Beverly, I don't think any schools got economics - maybe the really advanced prep schools. It would be great to teach them about money - and family life, sex, but don't get me started .....
The issue is that too many students are not prepared to learn anything. I have recently retired after 22 years in the high school classroom. The change in student readiness for learning has steadily eroded over the past years. Many do not read well, spend enormous amounts of time receiving visual input from their phones, do not know number facts and depend on calculators. Even more, many do not seem to have examples of literate adults in their lives. Teaching something without student engagement and practice of skills does not develop mastery. And, yes, high schools do still have civic and history classes. I wonder if we still have an educated and engaged population.
SD Auburn CA
Also we need new classes on how and where to find the truth vs fiction
From kindergarten using the internet- like Finland is doing.
I'm worried that the smartphone generation will further lose their ability to use logic and reason. In 2019, a father of two at the University of Maryland said that his kids don't understand directions to a location and rely on their smartphone to get them to an address.
The dad said they do not comprehend instructiins like: take a left at Green Street, then take a right in two blocks, then go 3 blocks and turn left. The kids must put the address in their smartphone. The kids were in the State University that only takes some of the brightest of their class. So what about the bottom 75%? I suspect that AI will have a very negative impact on logic and reason for the next generation, but I hope I'm wrong.
Are taught to tests!
So does this American.
Me too! 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢
And this American. Shocked and bewildered.
As does this one...
❤️😳😱🤕🫣🤯⚖️
If I'm right... that denial of anxiety science is key... it doesn't help that the name of the treatment has changed. Is it Desensitization or Exposure or Anti-Fragile or now... for ages 8-14... it's "Play?"
❤️😳😱🤕🫣🤯⚖️. "Don't Sweat It" is a lie:
❤️Reich❤️:"No goal is more important than making sure Donald Trump never again comes close to the[power that corrupts]"
Me:"No goal is more important than making sure GULLIBILITY never again comes close to the[power that corrupts]"
MAGA and Fascism and Nazism and Racism need to be put in the blender so we can see what they are all made out of: GULLIBILITY. Millions of dollars and decades of placebo science tell us that up to 60% of anxious people (aka America) are cured by placebo, up to 50% of depressed people are cured by placebo. Innocuous placebos can mutate into insidious placebos and vice versa: Moms replace baby's filthy thumb with a pacifier.
❤️😳😱🤕🫣🤯⚖️
Replace GULLIBILITY with (❤️FDR's and ❤️UN.org's)❤️FREEDOM FROM FEAR ❤️("Do one thing every day that scares you"--Eleanor Roosevelt❤️ and the science of anxiety)
❤️First Do No Harm ❤️...Stop the Lying😱🤕🤯⚖️... "Don't Sweat It" is a lie: Exercise and Exposure are mandatory and both cause sweat 😁 The US Senate's Dr Haidt's "The 3 Great Untruths"(google it) that Gen Z believes that are dooming Gen Z and democracy include "Exposure Therapy", demonization* and "State Dependent Learning"(google them).
*google.com/search?q=cbt+"mind+reading"
Small comfort, Americans can't figure it out either, by a margin of millions, but we have this weird relic of post-slavery called "The Electoral College" .....
That anachronism needs to be abolished!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact if you live in a state that hasn't adopted this talk to your local politicians.
Absolutely!!!!
Takes about 20 years to amend the Constitution
Way too long for everyone alive now!💩😥
We also have the memory of "hanging chads" and the Supreme Court decision to give G. W. Bush a win that he clearly did not deserve.
and the repubs are gaming the system.
Along with the big money.
We need to GET RID OF THS JIM CROW RELIC THAT ALWAYS HELPS REPUBLICANS
Got to go
I‘d really like to agree but as my fellow Austrians just have elected a Goebbels impersonator and Russian asset whose party still has a „friendship contract“ with Putin’s party in first place in our parliament elections, I fear I just understand too well what motivates Americans to vote for Trump and it frightens me deeply.
Another aspect that bothers me, is how some military service members and veterans want to vote for this so-called Dumpster Fire back into office so he can burn the country down. 😡😡😡
The people who ordinarily vote Republican are taught to swallow the candidate and policies hook, line, and sinker. To a lesser extent, so do Democrats. Also, folks in the military have traditionally voted Republican because the party supports aggressive militarism, funding of a huge defense budget and so-called patriotism. Sadly, my 18-year-old grandson has just vowed his support for the Rs. When I asked why, he said, "I hate Democrats." He's been taught racism and misogyny under the guise of a Christian god of white supremacy and anti-abortion measures because women can't possibly think for themselves.
That's horrible!
Being an army vet, I choose who I think will be better for our country.
IMO, Republicans have never had a platform I could agree with.
Republicans need to get their head out of their own arse.
Oh, Hope, I can’t imagine how that feels. So sorry.
Thank you. I am struggling with it because he is not communicating with me. Not so long ago, he was a wonderful boy. He followed his statement with, "You and I have nothing in common."
Hope, are you able to follow that up with a conversation about what you believe vs Trump? Can you say “I don’t think corporations should be allowed to pollute the air and water. Do you think government should have regulations for that? Etc etc. If he won’t talk to you, what about a letter to him, just listing some of your beliefs and asking him if he holds different views?
I’ve never seen a trump supporter who can talk about such things. Their eyes glaze over because their prefrontal cortex is disengaging. Fear and/or anger take the place of rational thought.
But perhaps a brief letter would seem less challenging and he might have to use that prefrontal cortex to actually read it (letting in the possibility that he *might* even think about it.
I hope so.
😡😡😡😡😡😡😡
Sad, very sad
Do all military installations still only have FOX channels on? If that's all they know, then it's understandable they'd be ill-informed. Hope they hear Trump's view of them as losers.
I have no idea.
I left the army back in the 90's.
•Yes.
•tRUMP has shown, not only a lack of respect, but a blatant disrespect for our ❤️beloved 🇺🇸American soldiers!
•Based upon tRUMP’s dislike (even hatred) & disrespect (even denigration), for all things American, except the ALMIGHTY 💲, how could any 🇺🇸American, citizen, esp. a soldier, factually justify voting for him to become POTUS again?
To the degree that DJT disrespects our beloved 🇺🇸soldiers, imagine how much more he disrespects John & Jane Doe-American, who are his only means of getting & keeping the power that he so desperately craves.
•tRUMP is using ALL of us to help him fulfill his distorted & perverted wants & desires, & his need to mirror himself after hitler & putler.
•A man who loves & respects authoritarian & dictatorial leaders of other countries, is a wannabe-authoritarian-dictator of his own country. In this case, tRUMP is a wannabe authoritarian dictator of 🇺🇸who will say & do anything, to get or steal, then keep power over America & Americans.
America will no longer be a republic governed by a democracy, which means that the only future for John & Jane Doe-American will be a downward trajectory into hatred, chaos, lawlessness, genocide of people of color, starvation, physical, mental, & psychological abuse, & torturing & murdering citizens at the behest of an out of control, cruel, & lawless government & leader. Why would anyone vote for that!?!
And worse, he is in significant cognitive decline
As a Gold Star Mother, His total disrespect for our nation's men and women in Uniform makes me SICK! 🤢🤮 HHow can any Veteran want this Orange Felon as Commander in Chief????
It's an ancient Austrian myth that Beethoven was an Austrian and Hitler was a German.
Heidrun Kirchweger, so sorry. With you in spirit.
Heidrun Kirchweger, It's very discouraging and upsetting. I can't understand why and how so many people keep falling for these horrible people.....???? I can't understand why these bullies, racists, misogynistic people continue to get elected?? Some people just never learn from history. I share your concerns and sympathize with you..... I'm terrified that Trump (the orange Mussolini) could win the election. I'm angry that the politicians don't abolish the Electoral College in this country. It's unjust in my opinion, in today's society, it should be one person, one vote. Peace & love 🙏🕊️
Is he also obviously in total cognitive decline, with the ability to start a nuclear war?
Why do you think it happened in Austria? And my heart goes out to you.
There are some reasons, the Freedom party plays fundamental opposition. They always search what’s not popular and then pick up the topic. Some some people still carry grievances about the Covid measures, so this was one perfect topic for them. Then we have a lot of immigration since 2015 with admittedly problems around fundamental Islamists who can’t be deported due to their native countries either not taking them back or being unsafe. Then Austria was economically quite involved (partially still is, e.g. the only bank in Russia still in the SWIFT-system is a branch of the Austrian Raiffeisen bank) in Russia and the Freedom Party and also the Conservatives don’t want to let loose that business. And especially the Freedom Party loves the „traditional values“ Russia proclaims to hold, like traditional families, no LGTBQ, that pathological patriotism etc.
Similar elections have occurred in the Netherlands, with the right wing party gaining seats. In Europe its all about asylum seekers.
Thank you.
TY
It's hard to understand why even one percent of Americans would want to return to the days of waking up to a Putin stooge drama queen who sows division every morning and was responsible for a ghastly pandemic that killed people they loved and ruined the economy for three years.
Hard to believe, yet here we are. Like the title says...
How the hell?
Don't believe those polls. Allen Lichtman is more accurate.
Don't worry but work harder.
Republican Party has nothing like the ground game on the Democrat side. Thinking of groups like Field Team 6. This difference should win at the top of the ticket and the down ballot races.
Especially Siena.
That's a great example. How did the polls become "news"?
Trump is a lunatic, threatening his opponents with illegal recrimination, decompensating daily. Unreported by MSM.
The MSM is truly the biggest problem in all this. Even more so than Fox and Sinclair, etc. Because they should know better than to treat Trump as anything more than he is. They should also be reminding Americans on a daily basis about the Trump Virus, which started as his horrible response to Covid but morphed into Trump's disposition itself, and how he divided the country into camps. How the hell do you make libraries controversial? Only he and now his insane minions could do that.
☠️ poorly educated low IQ trumpsuckers!
They are addicted to the dopamine rush of anger. It makes them feel powerful instead of powerless. Neurologically they are addicted to Trump’s anger.
Steady on, he was hardly responsible for Covid! Many unnecessary deaths though. As was our Boris
I live in UK and I agree with this Europeans point of view!
But in UK they voted for Boris after being stupid enough to vote for Brexit,I think maybe the world is going mad.
Fergal, I believe a partial answer rests with Trump’s politics of grievance, central to the MAGA movement, wherein Trump links immigrants and democrats and others to the economic pain and other problems that his supporters are experiencing. He reinforces their world view that they have been left behind, that they have been shut out of the political conversation by these groups of people. Though only a piece of Trump’s staying power, regrettably, it is highly effective.
I agree, but didn't people use to cope with pain in their lives without blaming everyone else? Maybe not. I guess they recognized the threat of a demagogue back in Ancient Greece... So much progress has been made by people fighting for their rights, but now we seem to be watching people addicted to the fight -- they'd rather hang onto the grievance than vote for someone willing to address the problem. Scary times.
Andrew, I would note author Arlie Russell Hochschild in Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right presents a four-part structure that astutely shows how a despot like Trump turns shame to blame.
Moment 1: Trump says something transgressive.
Moment 2: The pundits shame Trump for saying those things.
Moment 3: Trump becomes the victim of this shame, then implicitly asks, “Have they ganged up on you—do you feel shame too?” Trump implicitly conveys, “I’ll take the hit for you cause they’re coming after me now, but they’re coming after you later.”
Moment 4: Trump roars back at the shamers, an act experienced as cathartic for his flock.
Hockschild submits that this repeated ritual is working on people and that Democrats need to recognize what’s going on and to intercept after Moment 2, which starts by really listening and empathizing with people not on our side.
Sadly, it’s too late for this election. And if Trump wins, the lemmings will follow him even more blindly.
I remember back in the 70s where people were encouraged to express their anger rather than bottling it up. I was in a women’s group where we hit pillows with tennis rackets while screaming hate and epithets. Yes, there was a high. But eventually, the fallacy and unintended consequences were exposed: expressing anger just begets more anger.
“Conservatives” have been shown (via fMRI) to have larger and more active amygdalae - which triggers fear and anger. Chicken and egg question: were they born with a predisposition to anger? Or did their constant exposure to anger cause the amygdala to grow and grow and…. 😳
Marge, I feel more anger than maybe any time in my life and it's all directed at the evil, heinous, disgusting, despicable, non-human being trying to get reelected. Sure, there are a lot of problems without Trump, but he is numero uno. Somehow, we have to stop him.
Any theory that is actionable is great. I can't quite imagine what "intercept after Moment 2" would actually look like, but at least it is a strategy that goes beyond trying to convince Trumpers with a rational argument. All the policy details in the world are not going to change the minds of these aggrieved masses.
Manchurian Candidate is the term you’re referring to. This American can’t understand it either.
This is the great truth. It has been but we are too deeply troubled by its implications that we have to ignore it. Too awful to contemplate. Despite the fact that Joe Biden handily won the last election, I have been haunted by the specter of 75 million people voting for this monster. And as it turns out for good reason, they are still there and more may be joining them. Let’s face it. Even if Trump loses, he will still gather multiple millions of Americans supporting him. We are already Germany. How do you like that? Racism is virulent in this country. This is what keeps me up at night.
No way. That was before Jan 6. Trump underperformed in his own primaries. The trends in "reliably" red states like North Carolina and Florida are against him. 81 MAGAT witnesses are ready, willing and able to testify against him in the DC case. His own VP and half his own cabinet will not support him. 2020 election occurred before he visibly decompensated. You have to be nuts to vote for a lunatic. In their guts, even MAGATs know he's nuts.
Some of us also think we will flip veterans, military and military families via "not suckers or losers." Lots of testimonials from vets who voted for Trump x 2. .https://votevets.org/
Similarly the DNC has outreach to Polish Americans, Ukrainians, etc. https://keystonenewsroom.com/2024/09/23/kamala-harris-pa-polish-outreach/ It started in Pittsburgh and went all the way.... https://actionnetwork.org/forms/sign-up-to-join-polish-americans-for-harris?source=twitter& You asked for it.
Who will support someone who hates dogs? https://rvat.org/
John, me too!
Allow me to explain two things that have unfolded in the last 24 hours to help explain. One, yesterday on Face The Nation, one the USA's most respected Sunday news shows, Republican Senator Tom Cotton stated many lies about Trump's bad economy. It did not take long for Senator Cotton to repeat a theme: Trump will return the US back to times that were better when Trump was President. Cotton repeated this false claim several times.
Not once did the host of the show question Cotton's false premise. By not questioning Cotton's lies, the host validated Cotton's statement. It was shameful journalism. Edward Murrow likely rolled over in his grave.
As bad as Trump is, the problem is worse than just our Presidential race. The legislative branch that is intended to be checks and balances of the Executive branch also is lacking intelligent discourse so voters can make informed decisions. Senator Sharrod Brown, a smart, honorable, strong voice for the working class, rich, and poor folks alike, announced that his Senate race has become the most expensive race in Senate history. He didn't give a figure, but I recall the 2020 PA Senate spent more somewhere in the neighborhood of one-third of a BILLION DOLLARS. Yes, over 300 million dollars was spent on the one Senate race. Sadly, this obscene amount of money clouded the issues, distorted the truth, and confused voters. The problem is worse than the possibility of a Trump Presidency because our legislative branch may be taken over by Trump's sycopants.
To answer your question, Fergal, some people would vote for Trump and against Democratic Senator Brown because voters have been misinformed, fear mongered, and confused about the candidates and issues by tremendous amounts of money to produce deceptive advertising that floods the air and print media. I blame a number of SCOTUS decision to open the floodgates of money to drown out the truth, notably Citizens United.
When not even a respected MSM Sunday Talk show host can stand up for the truth and be a historical fact checker, lies run rampant and voters become confused and question reality. If it sounds like the MSM is not doing their job and gaslighting the public by verifying history, that's what it is.
Our democracy "requires an informed citizenry," as paraphrased since 1776. Unfortunately, hundreds of millions, over billions of dollars are being used to confuse voters. To make matters worse, often the MSM and their corporate overlords are more concerned about appealing to Republicans than being journalists.
I am not understating the problem about misinformation and misinformed voters. Recently, when I attempted to point out Trump's 32,000 plus lies, and what Trump's former Cabinet members and Generals said about his pathetic leadership, and his history as a fraudulent businessman to a Trump supporter, I was accused of having "Trump Delusional Syndrome." We have a saying here in the USA, "money is the root of all evil." Well, vast amounts of money is the root of misinformation and a misinformed citizenry.
Too many times no one calls the GOP on their lies, they know this and use it. So this muddies the truth and confusion is what they are aiming for, then they go in with fear mongering and what ifs and catch another vote.
Trump's dumpster fire orange "economic plans" are bizarre. His biz were bankrupt and it shows why.
Let me explain this to the corporation Dems - we (working middle classes) gave you in 2008 the WH, Congress, and Senate. And, they let the bankers stay in the positions and Obama left many of the republicans in place. Just the facts. (reference - William Bill Black, Phd, lawyer, former bank regulator - The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One)
MOST of us want Bernie Sanders economic policies. Even republican working class. BUT we don't believe that either party is willing to deliver.
Kamala - save the middle class economic disparity and jail the bankers and cancel the student debt - then you'll win by a landslide and save democracy.
If you can't reply with facts, I don't respond to petty people who engage in name calling and bullying.
So does this American. God help us.
Many, many Americans feel the same way Mr. O’Shea. 😒
Count me in
70% and climbing agree! Only less than 30% are Traitors.
A lot of us here dont get it, either….
I believe the term is "Manchurian" candidate, but we get the drift.
It sounds like people aren't getting how deep the consequences are for voting for Trump. Any why isn't anyone talking about the interment camps to hold immigrants in? The threats to round people up? To shoot his enemies? These are things orange man will do if elected
It seems so strange that the "hispanic" gap is narrowing. What don't they get about Trump intends to round them up for their looks?
No one ever thinks it could happen to them. And legal immigrants (including a friend of mine) are ferociously angry about illegal ones. They worked hard to do it legally and they agree with throwing the illegal ones out. Democrats had ignored this.
But he wants to throw out the Haitians who have green cards and the dreamers..Trump is supposedly better handling our economics but he wants to throw out the migrants. It would devastate our economy. Look it up, the amount of taxes migrants pay is large. And who will fill the vacant jobs or pick our crops or help in a multitude of businesses.
And how many times has Trump claimed bankruptcy?
Agree!!! How would Trump staff his hotels and golf clubs without immigrants. Why doesn't anyone ask him this??? And guess who will be re-building the Southeast after the storm damage. The Republicans must surely know this. But they have found a convenient scapegoat to unite their followers against a threat.
All the immigrants that I know are hard-working and honest
The fact is that Trump is a terrible businessman who has no understanding of economics. He apparently failed Tariffs 101 too.
Very true! I know talented students who would love to stay in this country after their work permit expires. They do everything possible to stay here and they detest the fact that thousands are allowed to come into this country illegally. How can that be?
They aren’t “allowed.” They choose to break the law. I understand why - and totally recognize their misery, fear and hope. But no one is “letting them in.”
Rachel, yes! You’re right. I’ve volunteered to resettle refugees and it seems that for many the longer they are here, the more they hate illegal entries. The is the real meaning of the Melting Pot. They identify themselves as American (and they are: naturalized Americans) and don’t believe they themselves could be seen as the Undesirables.
What do Democrats mean when they talk about Immigrants. They throw those who come here legally and those who come here illegally into one pot. That is galling for those who came here legally. In most cases this is a very hard and expensive thing to do.
Yes, it seems odd. But a Latina office worker in my area was 100% in on Trump. 1) The immigrants coming in now give those that are in the US a bad name. 2) Trump’s sexism? Hey, that’s what men are like. Tough positions to overcome.
Not most modern men
2nd or 3rd generation Hispanic immigrants don't tend to identify as Hispanic, but as Americans. A number of my Mexican-American former in-laws are Trumpers because they think their wealth will save them, apparently they plan to carry bank statements with them wherever they go, I dunno. Including my former father-in-law even though my former mother-in-law, his wife of more than 50 years, never ran the citizenship gauntlet. It's caused serious rifts in the family. And it's not a religious thing, my in-laws are many things but devout isn't one of them.
Many Latinos are members of conservative churches
It's depressing that almost half of Americans are going to vote for Trump, I agree, but look on the bright side. In the last month, Harris has come up and Trump is stuck at about 46%. Harris is leading Trump in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and North Carolina. The 5% of voters who are still undecided will determine how big Harris's lead will be in November, and I suspect as she steadily becomes more familiar, she will get most of their votes.
A small quibble: "almost half of Americans" are not going to vote for Trump. In 2020, only 28% of Americans of voting age voted for Trump (33% of American did not vote at all), and his numbers in 2024 are likely to be similar. Biden won in 2020 because more Democrats and Independents went to the polls than Republicans. Harris will win in 2024 for the same reason, as long as we're doing everything humanly possible to get people of good conscience to vote. Turnout will be everything!
Point well taken. I should have said "American voters" rather than "Americans." On the other hand, given the stakes, don't you find it surprising that a third of Americans who are eligible to vote choose not to?
I absolutely do, especially given the stakes! Here's an alarming factoid: of the 9 million expatriate Americans living around the world, only 11% voted in the last election. So to anyone reading who knows an expat, do whatever you can to get them to vote!
Democrats abroad is working on it.
GOOD!
They don't give a flying fart about ANYTHING but themselves!
Then they should vote for Harris.
Brilliant.
To Trump means to fart, so. . .
The polls overlook the ground game, which is "bigly" in Democrats' favor.
Like Robert says, the polls are not very reliable. Let's stop considering them as "events", because that is not what they are.
I really, really think the Democrats are going to show up in droves and vote for Harris/Walz--so much so that there will be NO denying their win! I have faith in the majority of the American people and that they will not let us down!
The polls are a guide. I agree that you cannot look at individual polls, but what polls ARE useful for is the revelation of trends. And Harris is trending very well in the swing states, Trump is not.
Incidentally, in regard to Hillary Clinton v Trump in 2016, it's common wisdom that the polls predicted a win for Clinton. They did not. The trends in the polls favored Trump from September onwards.
Agree, they are a guide.
Not sure about your claim on Sep polls but I seem to recall in the final few days Trump was closing fast on Clinton and it was concerning.
Like ; thinking one thing , and saying another .....
I hope to God you are right.
Harris if she wins could be the saviour of USA & the world at large but needs when elected to rule by honour and not hypocrisy for example US policy on support for Israel being unconditional!
anil, I think her policies regarding Israel are going to be far more strict than Biden. People forget that she's the Vice President and as such, cannot directly oppose Joe Biden's policies. As VP, she has to support the administration. So she cannot come out and say exactly how her policies are going to be different, she can only say what she's communicating, that the Palestinians need their own sovereign country and independence etc. People have to be aware of how things work and not jump to conclusions about her mindset.
Peace & love 🙏🕊️
Exactly. The world must have a strong USA. And the hypocrisy you mention is very puzzling as to why it continues. Any country killing innocents should be stopped.
it makes me ashamed to be an American.
So the US tells Netyanhu to stand down and Yahoo goes and kills Nasrullah. Biden comes out and despite NetYahoo thumbing his nose at Biden says, well, a certain measure of justice here. How does that work? How does that further peace in the middle east? Inquiring minds want to know. Explain it to us Mr. President. I only hope Harris has the guts to give Yahoo an offer he can't refuse.
But we also need people to vote Democratic down ballot as well! We need the house of representatives and the senate!
I surely hope you’re correct as our freedoms and our Constitution is on the line. The orange one is no George Washington.
To me he is the anti Christ
From your mouth to God's ears!💙💙💙💙💙💙🙏🙏🙏🙏
AMEN! It's utterly frightening.
His voters SUPPORT such actions. That’s the really scary and sad part of it all.
Tracy Puett, you're right and that's a scary thing to know.... apparently, those people don't realize that they're not going to be immune to being rounded up by Trump's goon squad based upon some whim he has about what needs to be done in the country. Those supporting the orange Mussolini are not tethered to reality. It's really scary. 😞
Is Harris talking about consequences enough ? Or just talking about what a bad man he is ?
IDK.
I won't breathe freely until after the election results and Harris/Walz are the winners.
I won’t breathe until they are safely inaugurated.
And tRump incarcerated!!!
And triple, me either.
And me either here!
Same here!
and it’s certified…plz watch Rachel Maddows interview on how DT plans to disrupt the cert and create a civil war. Just the thought is chilling.
post the link
Me either!!!!
💙💙💙💙💙💙💙🤞🤞🤞🤞🙏🙏🙏
He’s setting up another January 6th which should be obvious to anyone with half a brain.
I believe he can try but President Biden understands what he is capable of and I have no doubt that he has taken whatever precautions are necessary to ensure another J6 does not happen again!
How miserable, hateful, ignorant Trump supporters are to vote for such a monster.
I just spent a weekend with old friends, majority or Trump supporters. They are not ignorant, hateful, or miserable. They have bought in to his fear mongering. And we need to do better to assure people that things are OK. Sitting down and being able to talk is a start. Fear is a powerful motivator. I assure you some Trump voters are very good people with a very fearful narrative brought on by the media, terrible events, and his rhetoric.
Fanny Bea Wilde ; It is sad that the loss of the fairness doctrine allowed misinformation and disinformation to run rampant in our media. By now, the fact that tRUMP has broken many laws should tell voters enough about him to give them pause on voting for him. The incessant threats and the killing of women and girls tell US something, too. He is just plain bad.
I just worry that January 6th will happen in the state capitols, not in Washington.
Christopher, I believe after January 6, 2021, everyone is more aware of what can happen. I have to trust that states have developed a plan should anyone decide to do what the traitors to our country did back then. Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!
The answer to your question is that he is not running even with the vice president. Republicans have “flooded the zone” with bogus polls designed to move the aggregated averages of all the polls toward Trump. Simon Rosenberg of the Hopium Chronicles has recently laid this out in great detail.
Thank you for that resource, Bud! I just read one of his posts. He does an excellent job explaining things that even I can understand!
It"s a good thing that polls are not votes. I just hope that our Executive has plans to "keep the peace".
The Murdoch controlled media is helping Trump
I’m in the UK visiting family. Amazing how many people over here, perfect strangers hearing my accent, question me about trump. Nearly every one expressing fear that he might win. The UK has been targeted by Putin for its support of Ukraine, and is smaller than most other NATO countries so he has threatened them. So many of them mention Putin’s friendship with trump as reason to be concerned.
Yes, Putin won’t attack the US but I live in Scotland which will be a definite first target and least likely to be defended. If trump (Scottish word for fart btw) gets in, the world order will be dramatically changed. Russia will move into Moldova, Poland etc. NATO will be a thing of the past and fascism will rule Europe. Why are humans so thick? But none of that will matter as food security will be a thing of the past. Already floods are affecting food supplies. Empires fall but humans haven’t faced the existential threat they do now.
Trump == fart !!!! :) :) :) :)
That's settles it. If Donald Fart wins I'm moving to Scotland!!!
I wouldn’t. UK nukes based here make us a likely target. The English never liked us.
That is really scary! Though if bombs start falling anywhere, we will all be equally toasted. We are perilously close right now in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Donald Fart! GREAT!
As soon as the people who are still Trumpers grow up and become responsible adults they will discover that they are supporting a cult of evil. America is full of decent and hardworking individuals who take pride in their country and disagree with Trump’s lies! Data shows us that our country is number one in the world and back on track thanks to leaders like President Biden, Vice President Harris and Professor Reich amongst others, mostly in the Democratic Party!
Keith, I wish we could amplify this message from now until election day! MAGA will never believe it but those decent, hardworking individuals will and hopefully, that would carry them to the polls!
Keith ; It's truly Great that many of the actual Republican Party have pledged to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. They encourage like minded conservatives to vote blue as well.
Keith, agreed very much. But your formula about responsable adults comes close to Hillary's "deplorables". What is the problem?
Tom ; There is not "one size fits all" in perception.
Yes Laurie, but I try to tell Keith that the problem is more complicated than being deplorable or becoming an responsible adult.
Hillary was punished for her improvisation about "deplorables"and rightly so. I try to find analytical insight; I have this nausea about the prospect of a lunatic and unhinged man in the WH too...
You and millions and millions of U.S. voters and many across the world have this justifiable nausea at the prospect of the orange stain in the White House again, this time only more threatening.
Keith, you write: “ As soon as the people who are still Trumpers grow up and become responsible adults they will discover that they are supporting a cult of evil. ”. These people are “grown up and responsible adults” …..who we believe have been dubbed by a conman. But they believe they know the truth and “what’s best”. I sorely disagree with them, but I acknowledge their sincerity of belief. This doesn’t make the way forward any easier. Just more human. When all is said and done, we are still stuck on the big-blue-marble together. We have to figure our way out of this manufactured-house-divided situation.
I’m nauseously optimistic. I will vomit for sure if Trump wins.
I'll leave the country!
I will likely die if tRumPutin wins! My health is fragile as it is, especially my mental health!
Professor Reich: the voters "know" trump: he's the guy who was impeached TWICE. he's the guy who stole boxes and boxes of classified and highly sensitive government documents and is busily selling them to our enemies internationally. he's the guy who fired the entire pandemic response team which directly led to the untimely deaths of more than 100,000 people. he's the guy who is an adjudicated rapist. he's the guy who has dozens more rape allegations waiting for him, both from women as well as boys and girls. he's the guy who was pals with child-trafficker and rapist epstein. he's the guy who refused to rent his NYC properties to black and brown people. he's the guy who drove a dozen (or more? i lost count!) businesses into bankruptcy. he's the guy prancing around the country TELLING people that he stiffed his contractors and refuses to pay anyone overtime. this doesn't even include all the other suspicious events associated with trump, including the weird death of ivana, the two fake assassination attempts, at least one of which is tied to him and includes two murders.
seriously, knowing all this, i'm convinced that many voters are racists and misogynists. they don't want to vote for a black woman, even if she's highly qualified and is going to continue to help THEM because they don't want her to help ALL THOSE OTHER PEOPLE. these inbred knuckle-dragging fart-sniffers prefer a multiply-convicted WHITE MALE felon who cannot even visit a dozen or so countries because he's a felon and those countries (including our closest friend, the UK) don't want criminals polluting their shores.
And, not to forget, the billions of dollars to his son-in-law for doing nothing.
Well stated! Excellent.
so your calling everyone that doesn't vote for Harris (even if they don't vote for trump) they'er inbred hillbillies
I was thinking it was strange that, aside from the first day after the debate, all the time since has pretty much been taken up by Trump. It’s because the media can’t help itself in that it simply feeds the attention monster with coverage and regardless of how repulsive his views or incoherent his speeches, providing he’s simply being covered a proportion of the electorate remains brainwashed, under the spell. As is the media.
If he won’t do another debate, will there be any more opportunities for Harris to make herself better known to a national audience, between now and election day?
Harris should blitz media with advertisements that tout Democrat economic successes & point out Trump's flaws & lies.
Yes! Compare the facts, w/ a short delve into each detrimental result by Rep (tRUMP) Party & each contrasting accomplishment by Dem Party. Just the facts, all the way around.
It is not facts, Bella, but sentiments and underbelly.
Biden tried that at his debate no one heard
Nope. Tell people how Trump will hurt them in different ways. How he threatens their identity.
And do it in plain talk. Sentences of 10 words. KISS.
Keep the sentence structure simple.
I think that the polls are massively inaccurate. Nothing in the last 2 elections cycles have changed. Voters turned away Trump in 2020 and his enforced candidates in 2022. There has not been a surge in voting for Republicans since 2016. I’m still optimistic that the November elections were will be a bloodbath for Republicans. Stop worrying so much and work hard to turn out democrats voters.
I pray you’re right about the polls. The newest published ones by Times/Sienna showed a narrowing in MI and WI, and then yesterday’s latest from AtlasIntel, apparently held in high regard as a pollster, suggests Trump is now leading in all 3 Rust Belt states as well as Georgia and Arizona. With the way things have gone over the past few weeks since the debate, it’s impossible to fathom that the electorate broadly could be moving toward Trump and not away from him. It’s impossible for me to accept that that could be true.
Douglas Turner ; The polls are privately owned by very wealthy "interests". Polls have always existed to sway voters to particular views. If they can be used to convince voters that a candidate will win, it can influence suggestible types with little knowledge. Even though they "threw out the stops" on Hillary Clinton ; she did not win. She was pushed as the "heir apparent" even with cartoon images of Nostradamus who "predicted" her win long ago ; Most polls are VooDoo. Vote Blue!
Stop wasting time praying, it may give you comfort and won’t change anything, do something positive to get all democrats and never Trumpers out to vote!!
I never said praying was all I’m doing. Decaffeinate a little and stop jumping to conclusions.
Writing letters, postcards and knockinDoon doors! 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
Stop taking the polls seriously and ESPECIALLY the NYT/Siena poll which is the worst outlier in its results because it significantly overpolls older rural voters, who we already know are likely Republican. Use all polls as rocket fuel only for your work to elect Harris-Walz. Nothing more. ✊
Grocery prices have gone up since 2020. Ridiculously and tragically. I understand corporate greed is the primary reason for grocery prices (except for eggs — avian influenza) to stay high, but others don’t seem to be. They also don’t seem to understand that without migrants, the price of milk and meat and produce will only go higher.
Just remember, Trump was sideswiped by Nikki Haley's voters...not a good result for an "ïncumbent" party leader in the primaries. A whole lotta Republicans are gonna sit out this election. And he's turning off the independents. He's going to have a huge turnout problem. Conversely, women are fired up to vote. The polls are flawed. Popular vote will be a Harris landslide, electoral college won't be that close. We're not going back.
Trump worries me , but the people he would place in positions of authority worry me more!!
Motivation through fear messaging is the oldest sales trick around. The corporate media model exploits this trait. Where is the enlightenment?..the higher ground?
Absolutely. The amygdala wants what it wants.
AMEN!
Good question, Jeffrey!
the enlightenment barely made it out of the coastal areas, then was not nutured. in fact, deprived of nutrients to grow.
I don't understand how half of this country would support DT if he stood on the steps of the WH and shot someone, although as a convicted felon he's not allowed to have a gun in his possession. I can't understand it as anything but abject stupidity when I see his supporters wearing shirts that proclaim "I'm voting for the convicted felon". My concern is that, if elected, Vance will invoke the 25th amendment and pull the rug out from under DT. Which would delight his sugar daddy and all the other oligarchs. When DT repeatedly recites the poem about the snake, I'm sure he has no idea he's describing Vance. I agree with @sally that people aren't getting how deep the consequences are for voting for Trump. And we've seen Insurrection Part One, I'm sure the sequel will follow if he loses.