Trump is a Fascist. Trump is a dictator. Trump is a Messianic figure. Trump is a Narcissistic Personality Disorder Sociopath. As a conman he knows that people who have been conned will do anything to show they weren’t conned.
Daniel, I do believe Trump would want to "burn it down" but the problem is, he would have no idea what to do after that. He may have suffered emotional abuse as a child, a lot of folks have, but he h as not suffered as an adult, so has no idea what so many people experience. He; wants pain inflicted on people he doesn't like, but does not want to dirty his hands doing it. He wants his "captains" to do that. He can then blame them if things don't work out as he would like. He is already doing that. How do we curb this bad behavior, I don't really know but am sure there are a lot of good folks out here that have good ideas and we should listen to them, just as we are listening to Prof. Reich.
It all boils down to Trump being: 1) an extreme narcissist; 2) a 200 proof bully who has always gotten his way; and 3) a f’n genius, by his own description of course. He is off-the-charts mentally ill and belongs in an asylum for the deliriously self-centered.
I just watched two AHC programs about Hitler 1.0 yesterday night.
In one he WAS viewed as a 'messianic figure' (it was right in the title of the segment), and the similarities to SCUMp were terrifying.
He actually was diagnosed with multiple psychotic mental health disorders before his first PUTSCH, but had help from his very own supporting Claremont/Federalist Society type extreme rightwing occultist group (The Thule Society) in having them buried, and eventually executing (using his brownshirts/SA) both anyone investigating, or bringing up such, AND the mental institution doctor who made the diagnosis.
The descriptions of the German peoples DIRECTLY cult like adoration of their fuehrer is IDENTICAL TO the brain dead MAGAts', and this SHITler promises them the same things, using some of the same language as his mentor (albeit not overtly as viciously, and incessantly ANTI-SEMITIC as the original's).
Even the current MAGAt NAZIS' zero sum mind(less)set was part of the whole 3rd Reich racist 'philosophy' in that they cannot allow Jews to take away from their pure Aryan racial superiority as the 'Master Race' by even the chance of intermarriage, so the only solution is total obliteration of all of that (quite falsely labeled as a) 'race'.
Hitler vowed vengeance, just like the current SHITler does ("I am your retribution"), and told his people that they must fight violently ('Blood and Soil') for their racial purity and superiority, just as SCUMp does (albeit much more 'dog whistle' veiled) with "You better fight like hell or you will not have a country left!".
The SCUMp SHITler has (or at least HAD) about half of this country fully with him.
I wonder, even at his peak, how many of "the 'good' German people" were fully and totally on board with, and believing in, all that Hitler sold to them??
What you have to remember about Hitler is that he was plowing fertile ground with the German people. Germany had been in severe economic depression since shortly after WW 1, and barrels of paper money were required to buy only a loaf of bread. Into such an arena stepped Hitler with his messianic speeches and promises to restore the Fatherland to its former glory. The parallel to Trump isn’t exact, but it’s close enough to note that he is also plowing the fertile ground of discontent that many of his followers identify with. What Trump’s followers respond to more than anything else is Trump’s smart ass rhetoric that he will “stick it to da man.” Bottom line, Trump would be speechifying to an empty room if no one are inn the room to listen to him. Hitler traded expertly on that kind of widespread discontent among the German people, and Trump is employing exactly the same pied piper ploy, with great success I might add. In the end, Hitler destroyed Germany, and Trump will destroy our democracy unless he is stopped, and by that I mean really stopped by a march on Washington that even he couldn’t ignore.
Even when the German economy started to greatly improve after the worldwide '29 crash (they were recovering quicker from that than most industrialized nations, despite the Versailles Treaty 'oppression'), and Hitler 1.0 could no longer logically blame the bad times on Jews, he found others to blame (along with the Jews still, of course, to maintain that pure Aryan nationalistic fervor as their prime enemy) for any little grievance, just like SCUMp does nowadays. ;)
You may want to read Peter Drucker's the End of Economic Man. The Origins of Totalitarianism. The book was written in the 1930s , but it is amazingly relevant even today.
I haven’t heard anyone saying that he originally followed in his father’s footsteps, He’s just following. The T-rumps are devoid of conscience. Beware - there’s yet another generation who was brought up devoid of consciences as well. Don’t be fooled.
Its the "after that" that concerns Trump the least. The point for him is to be in control, and from that point on its about whatever whim he fancies at the moment. Chris Christie recently made the point succinctly -- Trump does not care about America, only himself.
clark maxwell ; Chris Christie would know ; It takes one to know one. Remember 'Bridge gate'. His secretary got jail time. He said about a bus full of young elementary students stranded on the bridge he deliberately blocked " They are most likely the children of Democrats anyway. Let 'em suffer, " or something to that effect. Birds of a feather. Funny when Christie was fat shaming tRump. Though it is wrong to fat shame anyone. IMHO.
Forgot about Bridgegate. Christie should have been held accountable for that. A woman died because of the redirect of traffic and ambulances couldn't get to her in time. Stuff like this is in the "conservative" DNA. That's in quotes because these are the moves of fascists. Interesting that Christie is going after trump the way he is, and yeah, he should know.
Another arrogant, authoritarian, opportunistic lump of shit who cannot redeem himself by pointing out the insane evil of SCUMp, although I am glad he is doing such. ;)
who cares what he has suffered, hitler is a failed artist- should we worry about his childhood too? Dump has a personality disorder probably from his f-ed up childhood. Many of us live through our childhoods and don’t end up on destructive paths. Some individuals are simply evil. period. and he’s brainwashed a vulnerable percentage of our population to follow blindly, like any religious leader!
Alison, Trumpety-Doo-Dah is a perfect example of why we need to end the use of privilege, as though some people are of more value than others. He meets three of the privilege categories for the US today:
rich, white, and male. Those 3 are dangerous, especially if the bearer of all three occur in the person of a narcissistic con artist blow hard. We all pay for that, over and over. There are a bunch of them in the wings to jump in when Doo-Dah passes on. Not properly following up to see that rich white men pay their taxes fairly along with rich white male-owned or run corporations, employ anti-trust measures when it comes to mergers, and stop at least the worst of the corporate bad behavior will keep producing a crop of Trump-wannabees. It does not need to be that way. We need the IRS to go primarily for the big cheats and use more AI to catch the small fish. If everyone realized a nation can't function without everyone paying their fair share, the IRS would have less trouble and would be able to provide more services like free online filing where the person has to only put in the current year's data. Paying taxes is a common good and everyone who is living above the minimum should be willing to pay without cheating.
steveandjanereed, I try to attend when I can. I will be at the march in spirit because the issue is important to me, but my schedule will not allow it this time. Make it a good, big, loud, forceful celebration and demand for justice for our communities, for our nation, and for our planet.
No. His Deathcult followers see him as "The Second Coming of God" . . . whatever the hell THAT is! That is NOWHERE in holy Christian scripture. (I think his dementia and innate stupidity twisted around "Christ's Second Coming.")
Hitler eventually viewed, and declared himself as an immortal god, and basically declared Nazism as the official religion of Germany and his 3rd Reich (along with his delusions of his 'Thousand Year Reich'), since no others were necessary to him at that point.
I use Mango Mussolini occasionally, too. But what I like about the Orange Antichrist is pointing out to his worshipers how opposite he is from Christ & how he fits the supposed Antichrist better than anyone else with the possible exception of his puppetmaster Putin (which is why another of my favorite names for Traitor Trump is the Siberian Candidate, although the one I probably use the most is Benedict Donald).
Years back, I asked, thinking of Trump, "What if the purpose of the Anti-Christ?" then realized that he's here to rip off all the bandaids, all at the same time.
Only one delusional idiot is you and especially since you’re not able to see the trees from the forests… Keep on drinking the Chinese Communist Kool Aid… Lolz
Would have lobbed a few Nukes except for The Guardrails . .probably the Tens of Thousands of unnecessary Covid Coffins his SiGnAtUrE AcHiEnEmEnT . ..did his best to Kill Nato . .. went Planetary with The Enuff Trees! Climate Hoax . .still not too late to kill Democracy .. what a "Killer Not a Loser!" (Trump family motto) born for . .
Elizabeth Banwell ; I am with you : I do not laugh after he says things almost trying to echo Christs' 'dying for your sins'. It is as serious as a heart attack when an armed zombie is out and about, looking for unbelievers (of tRump) to 'punish'.
Trump would never die for your sins. He wants you to die for his sins. He says he’s been indicted for you but that’s as far as it goes. At the Iowa state fair he had Matt Gaetz say that if you want change in Washington you need to take it by force. And Trump nodded his head and said yes!
Aug 14, 2023·edited Aug 14, 2023Liked by Robert Reich
Yes, and he's a Fascist. But how do we get these facts through the thick skulls of our fellow citizens? Mr. Reich's excellent video needs to be widely distributed. Leaders in the Democratic Party need to "suck it up" and start calling Trump a Fascist even though they will get lots of hate and push back directed their way.
his lemmings are the nazi civilians of the 1930s. It took a battlefield rout to begin the change process for their mental illness. Same here in the 1860s. In both instances, there were many who remained delusional. It is a feature of the human bell curve.
Agreed. IMO, the Trumpbots are terrified by what's happening in this country and are reacting in the only way they know how. Call their behavior a version of Stockholm Syndrome in which mentally compromised victims of mind control begin to love their torturer. They are in their own 'comfort zone'. I worry that they are past the point of being de-programmed.
Tim Baldwin ; maybe his supporters will see things differently when they experience a 'natural' disaster that was caused by the increasing temperature of our planet. Tfg is a 'climate denier' and believer in 'hoaxes' perpetrated by ' liberal elites' or whichever term he currently uses to discredit science
Do our part. Post Dump Trump signs everywhere high enough on tall poles and trees that will infuriate his demented cult followers and can’t easily be pulled down. Just be sure to do it surreptitiously, preferably in the dead of night, because if a Trumpist with a gun sees you he will kill you.
Isn’t ironic that both Al Gore and John Kerry are raking in large sums of money in the billions with the Climate Change Ponzi Scheme and yes, they’re both Democrats too… Lolz
He exhibits extreme antisocial behavior, not because his brain is missing the parts that allow empathy and compassion and caring, but because he has developed a deep-seated terror at the thought of being “weak” or a “loser” and a “bad person.”
That’s on his dad, apparently, who taught him that to be a winner, you have to be wiling to do ANYTHING that will get you there, including hurting those who are closest to you. But it’s al OK, because being SEEN as a winner is what matters. Create the impression and never let it wane.
Narcissists are the biggest scaredy-cats in the universe — deathly afraid of being unmasked, and absolutely incapable of shutting up about how they are victims of people trying to bring them down. If they don’t keep running their mouths about their enemies, they are scared sh**less their enemies will gain a foothold and prevail against them. We can see this dynamic in Trump all the time. He has to come out swinging, or he will dissolve in a pool of abject fear that people will see the useless, foundationally flawed person he secretly believes he is.
He will not stop because he cannot stop because his behavior is necessary to prevent his ever having to face the real Trump, and not the carefully crafted reflection he so desperately crafts in the minds of his followers.
Yes, he is one sick, sick individual. And his sickness is sociopathy. And he can’t be president again.
But I am also afraid of some other other psychopaths running for office right now, seeking to bring autocracy and/or fascism to Washington, and far less obviously in the throes of mental illness, though DeSantis does seem out of his mind, too. And Ramaswamy is delusional.
I don’t think it’s just Trump. I think ALL presidents are. ALL Presidents have led this country towards fascism.
Let’s not forget that Princeton University did a study in 2016 which showed that even though we believe this country is a democracy, the laws and policies that are passed only support the oligarchs
If we’re really interested in helping our country get back on track, I think we need to take a step back and look all the way back into our history to find out, just HOW did we get here. When we realize the impact of the banking powers and politics, we’ll see that ALL presidents have been fascists for a while now and DEMOCRACY is a feel good story
“There’s a reason that history is taught to us as children when we cannot do anything about it versus taught to us as adults when we can do something about it.”
I think it waters down the reality of fascism to claim they have all been fascist, but there have been anti-democratic, and nationalistic, and oligarchic trends — one can argue that it’s always going to be something to be wary of in fashioning a way to govern billions of people on a small planet.
But we have not been faced with a long list of Trumps, and that’s what were dealing with now.
Saying they’re all bad doesn’t present a way forward.
Put “Messianic” in quotes, as he’s actually nothing of the sort — but he’d like his followers to see hm that way …And the rest of what you say makes total sense. Especially the Narcissistic Personality Disorder sociopath part. That is part and parcel of the whole man …
Most people would rather eat broken glass than admit they were wrong. An attack on the idea becomes an attack on the very essence of the Other Person. Fight or flight. A part of the condition called, Cognitive Dissonance. Rather-eat-broken-glass...
Mary, many thanks for saving me the time to try educating those brainwashed people. As the days go by, our freedom seems to be eroding. Scary, disturbing times. Take care of yourself & loved ones. GOD BLESS AMERICA 🇺🇸
Damn right. And it was fully evident seven years ago for people who know anything about twentieth century history. This time around, fascism is at its most dangerous because it means the rapid destruction of our own biosphere. And, the splintering of humanity into nationalist tribes opposed to "the common good" as you have written about...at a time when communitarianism (and not communism!) must triumph over Randian libertarianism or we're all screwed.
Kerry, Impressively astute post. I write particularly to punctuate the justifiable fear invoked by the emergence of ancient tribalisms that have been revitalized under the aegis, quoting Cornel West, of “the ‘gangsterization’ of community, nation, and globe.”
“I argued that Trump and the Republican Party are moving rapidly toward fascism”
Dr Reich, WTF?!! “moving rapidly toward”?!!
Just a few days ago, you published an article, pointing out how Trump and Republicans *ARE* fascists. In you headline to this article you say “Yes, Trump is a fascist.”
So why can’t you bring yourself in the body of this article to say the same thing that you said very clearly in the headline? Why are liberals, so goddamn reluctant to call Republicans out on their shit without wimping out?
Did you actually watch the video posted in the article? He very clearly states Trump is a fascist and outlines the reasons why. I do believe the statement in the article was more of a generalization of the current state of the Republican Party as a whole.
Yes, it certainly is generalization of the entire Fascist Rethuglican party. I have been putting the word, ''Fascist'' in front of Rethuglicans for about 2 months now.. And i have labeled them as, ''Domestic Terrorists'' too, at times, because that is what they really are.
Yes, the losers without even understanding it because nobody points it out, a weakness of the Democrats. We all should from now onwards name these poor suckers the Losers, rather than fascists. Loser is more denigrating and , everyone understands it.
John, good for you. We need more people to do that in communications and more who care to send such language to Republican legislators all across this country. I am concerned that the candidates running for the Republican nomination are in many ways, more fascist than even Trump and that is going a long way, mostly because some of them are brighter and more aware than Trump is. Every time I hear DeSantis speak, I think, DeFascist. Chris Christie bellows about how bad Trump is, but he has offered nothing for anyone except the loud bellowing that can be heard but ignored nearly everywhere. Even our Niki Haley has jumped in with her condemnations of groups. She should know better as a child of recent immigrants, but it seems when one gets the fascist bug, it can infect a person pretty quickly and rather completely. So, the key to Republican fascism, insult everyone who is not rich, white, "straight," pseudo-christian, and male. It makes it easy because most of the country fits that description which means the fascists are members of an exclusive club that can lie to its members that they are somehow wonderful examples of manhood (the white hero) and the little wifey who will do whatever her slave master male tells her. I guess it works for them since so many of them have chosen to be ignorant and unaware of reality at this point.
That is part of my point. He lays out five traits of fascism, and, although he most specifically named Trump individually, he knows and has said in previous writings that those five traits apply to the Republican party as well.
So why in this article does he avoid saying so? The Republican party is not “moving toward” fascism, they arrived there some time ago. Dr. Reich said as much in other writings and it is a disappointment that he wimped out and didn’t say so here.
Mr. Foxx, I agree. I believe it started before Roosevelt, who temporarily neutered it. But that backlash has been building by the moneyed elites (many of whom, by the way, inherited fortunes made by slaves). It really has been going on in earnest since reagan. I truly am impressed (and depressed) by the genius of their long game. As near as I can tell, they've won. I thought drumpf was the mop-up man, but maybe it'll be desanctus.
I base my argument on the Mussoline definition of fascism, which was that corporations and oligarchs collude with gov't to abolish democratic norms, and the financing for the propaganda comes from the corporation and the rich.
I have indeed noticed that very thing. I watched the video linked to this piece of writing and every single time I saw a clip of him, I couldn’t help but feel he appears quite parrot like. He doesn’t speak from the heart; every word is contrived. It’s a sinister watch. He’s merely pulling leavers and pushing buttons to elicit the desired response in his followers. They’ve been radicalised by a sinister man with an even more sinister plan. History is littered with them
Daniel, and I suspect Trump didn't even finish Hitler's speeches because he thought he knew everything he needed to know after the first speech. He probably did. He has a lot of handlers who feed him just the right information each day or week and they let him know which lines will work best to sooth and rouse his Klan, getting those non-thinkers to believe Trump even cares one bit for them. They don't want to know they are being used because they want so much to belong to something they think is big and will get them something in the end. They don't realize that what they will get is nothing like what they are dreaming about. They don't know that Hitler used and abused people pretty regularly, getting rid of them if he thought it would help him. Trump learned that from his family and may have honed the skill from his look at the Hitler speech book. My big question, which is probably the question of most of the people on this thread, why do people want to be used and abused as Trump does them and why do they so readily choose to embrace hypocrisy (OK, some may not even know what that is)?
I think he read Hitler’s book to see what works with crowds. He doesn’t care about anything but getting the crowd to reflect back to him that they revere him and want to BE him {or at the least, get very close to him and identify with him}.
If people want to BE him, he must be wonderful. He needs them reflecting that back to him. He is in love with HIS REFLECTION, not his reality. He’s afraid that the real Trump is an enormous lump of feces, and he’s so scared people will see through his facade and smell the stink.
The good part of his pathology is, he’s incapable of NOT keeping up a constant drumbeat to get his fix — get his followers fawning and cheering. He cannot shut up!
I am so hoping that will be his downfall. The more people see him out there prancing and hollering, the more they recognize what he is, the more he will be afraid, the more he will prance and holler. Keep it up, Donny. Wahhhh, wahhh, wahhh. Tell us how the bad people are out to get you. Threaten the bad people. Work up your fawning crowds….
Pat, that was well-said. Trumpety-Doo-Dah is a pathetic human being striving so hard, maybe too hard to be something he is not, a respectable person loved for who he is. Because that isn't working, he is trying to create a crazy man who just loves his followers, people courted because they have their own self-image problems and want so desperately, as you describe to be near "the great one" whom the rest of the world knows is not great at anything but running a con on as many people as will buy into it (sometimes literally). I hope the judges in his trials see through him and hold the real Trump accountable for being the criminal and user that he is.
Hitler 1.0 had to be TAUGHT all of that crowd adulation inspiring, CON MAN style 'charisma' by HIS handlers wanting him in power.
He did NOT have this 'gift' initially or naturally, but was instructed by his (then just blossoming) Nazi Party leaders how to do everything, from his inflections, righteous indignation rage filled rants, to his lectern pounding, pointing and hand gestures, etc.
MY worry is that someone will get ahold of DEATHSantis and also teach him these same 'tricks of the trade' which will allow HIM to dupe all of the fascist MAGAt rubes out there as well, and gain the effing cult of personality NAZI power base, once SCUMp loses it. :(
Christopher, the word fascist has been connected with trump at least since the 2020 election. The reason most "liberals" don't say it is because the word itself rouses the Trumpers and Trumpettes who have no idea of what it even means but it sounds bad, so THOSE people are hurting their Baby Donnie and "we can't have that." Those Trumpers and Trumpettes run a lot of money and since the white states have more pull than the rest of us, people are trying to pacify some of the most rabid of Trump and Kump. I personally think this is a losing strategy. Maybe asking constituents, "so, how do you like being manipulated by Donald Trump and his crew? Are you having fun yet or will you need to hurt people for Trump to be fun?" "I thought the Republican party was the 'law and order' party but you are following a criminal, how is that working for you?" We also need some good protest songs that can be played and sung everywhere as during the civil rights and anti-Vietnam war movements. Some frequently-played not mushy songs of working together for a better world could help and target them to kids during their programming. Sometimes kids can make impacts on the elders better than peers by middle age. My siblings and I helped our parents become anti-war and pro civil rights, and I am sure we were not the only young people to have that kind of impact.
They NEED (or somehow believe they need) a 'big daddy' to 'take care of' all of the "bad people others" clamoring to take away all of their white privilege and entitlement, and preventing them from persecuting those said 'others', and totally getting away with it.
When their SHITler incites them by telling them that "YOU will not have a country left" they know it means that THEY will not have unrestrained and unchallenged, pure white dominance anymore without HIM.
One of the very few things the MAGAt shitbilly brownshirt dolts can actually figure out.
Their main attraction to him is because he gives them permission. He tells them it’s okay to be violent and attack those you don’t like.
It’s something the MAGA crowd is always wanted to do, but was held in check by society and fear/recognition they’d not be able to fully get away with it. Trump told him, “have no fear. Go for it. It’s your right to kill your neighbor.“ and it’s a dream come true for them.
He used to tell them, "It's okay, I will pay for your lawyers" (yeah right, he does not even pay his OWN lawyers, let alone his brownshirt rubes' council LOFL!).
Once in power, their SHITler told them that he would pardon them for any crimes committed on his behalf.
Hitler 1.0 not only excused or exempted his devout worshipers from legal consequences, he ORDERED THEM to physically, violently attack Jews, and then rewarded them for their brutal persecution.
I expect even worse than that from the putrid orange sack of shit IF he somehow gets installed back into power. :( :(
It's around the same time for me, but it was clear long before that that, fascist or not, Trump was unfit to be President. In fact, it was ludicrous to even consider him as presidential material. Haha! The joke's on me!
The very first time I heard him 'speak' (IF that's what one wants to call the verbal diarrhea spewing out of it's putrid puckered orifice) at one of his BUND meeting 'campaign rallies', I labeled him SHITler.
Of course, I was then labeled as being 'too hyperbolic'. Yeah, LOFL
I only saw him as a ludicrous clown. I never watched his TeeVee show or read “his” book. His 2016 campaign was sickening, and everything since then. Now, it’s clear, the whole fascist gestalt is a perfect fit for him.
THIS is what I am so eager to hear — strategizing about how to get people to snap out of the Cult of Trump, have an epiphany, and see him clearly … Yeah, I know the died-in-the-wool Trumpistas may never get there — or it won’t happen until they get a break from his constant haranguing — but we need both a cogent message for what the Left can offer people who are afraid we’re out to take their stuff, and a cogent message about how Trump IS out to take them for all their worth. AND, his policies will make their lives worse, not better.
They don’t listen to lectures. What images and ways to reach them WILL actually REACH them?
Pat, maybe we could find someone with the gift of cartooning who could develop a short cartoon showing just who Trump is and what he has done and will do. Give him a different name, like Crumb or Tramp. There could also be a graphic novel in this. A lot of young people like graphic novels, particularly if they have a message, and this one would. Attention spans for the Trumpers and Trumpettes are short, except for their remembering tiny slights they think were done to them, for the words against everyone but Trump spewed on Fox, and the wonder they felt when they thought Trump was actually looking at them and telling them "we love you," no longer than 3 minutes. More quality T-shirts with catchy sayings like "Trump, Gotta Love Him, or Else" or "WWJD? Not Vote for Anyone Like Baby Donnie" or "Trump, A Fascist Not Worthy of Your Love, Not Even Your Like" "Let's Call A Lie A Lie" Some of those would work as bumper stickers too. I have no idea who to get any of these ideas to or if anyone would even be interested in them, but they are out there in public domain or at least until the first person grabs them.
This one is an artist, but he does a terrific series of social commentary cartoons, too — He has quite a body of work, and some of it skewers the Man of Tiny Hands, DJ Trump.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot too. I’m in the UK though and not the USA *but* he has his supporters here, I even have a couple in my family. Obviously and thankfully, they don’t have the right to vote (they just vote terribly here)
What I was thinking Is that his supporters have, in a way, been radicalised and there is already precedent for the antidote to that; I’m thinking men like Daryl Davis a black man who has convinced hundreds of KKK Klansmen to leave and denounce the KKK. What can we learn from activists already doing this work? Where are the ex MAGA fanatics? Those that have had the veil removed and are all the way out? We need to join forces with them, surely? How do we find them?
Turn our democrats and get the independents. That's the best ROI. You won;t get many who identify as Republican. Maybe a few GOP ers disgusted with Trump but can't stand the Democrats will not vote.
Getting independents to run in DEMOCRATIC primaries, and sagely navigating to win them, is the way to go at this precise moment in time. I say this precise moment, because we are currently set up as a bipartisan system, and if one major party does not win, the other one does. We do not have a third party or independent constituency ready to challenge the Dems without giving the election to the Repubs.
That could be worked on, but we don’t currently have it, and won’t build it in the next 12-18 months.
Anyone suggesting we damage or fragment the Democratic Party at this moment strikes me as a troll or someone carrying water for Republicans. An R in D clothing.
Getting independents to run as D’s on really good platforms that serve the country and the people well, then YES, I’m all for that!!
Barbra Streisand put out an anti-Trump song a few years ago. Stevie Wonder had an anti-Nixon song called "You Haven't Done Nothing", which might fit Trump. There are other great songs that could be resurrected. The few anti-Trump songs I've heard have either not taken hold or are too subtle to be popularly understood as anti-Trump.
Jaime, those sound interesting. I have in the past written verses that allude to Trump's bad behavior, but we need something blatant about what fascists do to people they don't like. Tom Paxton had a really great song from the 60s called "We Didn't Know" that could be adapted, or at least one verse of it.
Very nice! Not only excellent lyrics, but it's quite melodious, has beautiful vocals & harmonies, a strong guitar interlude, & a great video. No wonder I hadn't heard it before! Thanks, David!
“The reason most "liberals" don't say it is because the word itself rouses the Trumpers and Trumpettes”
You are restating my point for me. People wimp out I’m calling fascists “fascist” because they’re worried about what the fascists will then say about them in return.
Out of some very misplaced sense of propriety, or fear of retaliation by people who are going to retaliate no matter what you do, liberals avoid speaking the truth. Which is a form of collaboration.
Ruth - I think the 'good old days' of rousing protest songs are gone forever. It's unfortunate because the combination of music and meaningful lyrics is a powerful unifier and motivator.
David, actually the Kump is an allusion to a German version of company. I have been using it for quite some time because I don't know who all are minding Trump and pouring the KoolAde for him, and encouraging him to drink it, which he does on a regular basis. So, I put them all with Trump and Kump. It fits with Trump and Kump's fascist bent which they have been displaying a bit longer than I have been using the title.
Yes, of course Trump is a fascist, though the country is not yet a fascist state, so yes, he is attempting to lead it there. I don't see any contradiction.
I didn’t say there was a contradiction. Only that there is an unwillingness on the part of liberals to call the Republican party what it is. And that the failure to do so is not only obvious, but dangerous. It is colluding with Republicans to hide their agenda and cover their crimes.
I DO understand the point you are making, but I also do not think that Robert is guilty of this currently.
Yes, many Dem pols, and almost ALL of the mainstream (actual) 'liberal media' and left-leaning media (looking at YOU MSNBC!) pundits STILL insist on using "authoritarian" and NOT the more powerful fascist descriptor when describing what I now just blatantly call the 'Muricun NAZI Party.
I think what he means by "moving towards fascism" is that he is trying to take the country with him towards that goal. Trump also realises that to become too overtly vocal in his fascist beliefs and agenda risks alienating some of his more 'moderate' supporters whose support he will need to get in.
If they realized that his very retaliation is more that can be used against him — because his retaliation is sick and ludicrous … The more he gets pumped up, the stupider he gets. And he is afraid of being unmasked as a charlatan and loser.
He's trying to engage people who might be turned off by that proclamation up front so he can provide evidence in a longer form, so people can draw that conclusion themselves, as you have done.
Well said. Trumpism is a carefully planned and engineered movement. Trump may appear at the helm, but you can bet there are big moneyed forces behind the movement. He's not smart enough, organised enough or has enough attention span to plan it all by himself. If Trump went to prison and couldn't run for president or dropped dead tomorrow (and it wouldn't be a surprise given the major stress he's under!) there would be others to take his place, "leaders" also paid for and manipulated by the big money dark forces (military industrial complex) that good old Ike warned us about. It's an incredible social engineering movement, and it's terrifying to us who live in other democracies. Were fascism to reign in the USA, there will come a world war for sure. So, Americans, Trumpism affects the whole wide world, not just you Americans.
What nation do you live in, Virginia?? I want to make a run for some other nation if it looks like the Orange scum is going to be our dictator. All of this Fascism thing scares the beejebers out of me,
I may disagree with Reich as to whether Trump is a Fascist - but the forces driving the GOP are exactly the sort of cancerous aberration that could become some new form of Fascism.
But I think people in Reich's orbit are at least aware and trying their best to do whatever they can to resist. You may be needed here.
Nicely said, and it's absolutely worth pondering what happens of Trump drops dead tomorrow - America will go on, BUT the system that made Trump possible may produce new, potentially worse incarnations.
But I do not accept the notion that this structure has been "engineered" - it's more like the old gambler strategy of doubling down at the table - again and again, as long as someone else covers your losses, or any number of other old cons dressed in modern tech tools. Every colonial power that ever existed produced nasty creatures like Trump - who talked big back home about their patriotism, but hid exactly how they made their money and what they did to other people abroad.
Many of us here DO realize this, and it makes me laugh at those who somehow think that they can run to some democratic land elsewhere to escape said looming fascism and even Nazism.
Terrifyingly, THIS country was the spearhead leader the last time the world fought (and mercifully for all of the NOT pure Aryans, and NOT pure blooded Japanese on this globe!) DEFEATED the POS evil fascists.
WHO TF is going to take up that mantle if this land goes full-on, militaristic fascist?!?!
One would THINK that at least the people of England proper would be about as ANTI-fascist as could be possible, given that they had many unarmed, civilian citizenry DIE as a DIRECT RESULT of Hitler 1.0's buzz bomb and V-2 rocket attacks.
But sadly, I guess their memories are just as short as ours' are over here on this side of the pond(?).
Yes, it makes me wonder if this ubiquitous, mass psychosis is not just from the Goebbels brainwashing propaganda 'network' (and all of the other NAZI 'outlets'), and that maybe it's due to some other factor. ???
But then, it does seem that almost HALF of this land watches those 4th REICH promoting 'sources' of entertainment for fascists.
An excellent and alarming video, I do hope that the American institutions and actually put Trump on trial and convict him very soon. I mean what more evidence is needed that his recorded message to the governor of Georgia. Speaking from across the water in the UK, another Trump term in thr White House would really mean the end of democracy and is a deeply worrying thought. It would give licence and a green light to all the other authoritarian/facist wanna beens all over the globe.
The sooner this man is put on trial and put in jail the better for everybody
It's scary because I understand hitler was actually jailed at some point before he totally took over in 1939, so even if trump is jailed for his criminal behavior we are not out of danger ! I think we need to remember that & recognize the danger - he needs to be off the planet before he personally is expunged, and then he would leave behind his followers !
Hitler actually GAINED strength and power after his (brief, commuted sentence) one year long incarceration.
He was actually sentenced to death for treason against the Weimar Republic for his attempted putsch, but only got an initially 5 year sentence out of fear of making him a martyr for the fledgling Nazi movement (and threats and pressure for such).
Yeah, just think about the worldwide humanity which could have been spared IF those sentencing judges had NOT acted in FEAR.
Let us HOPE that lesson is learned by OUR judiciary controlling SCUMp's trials!
Again, I knew this when he was coming down the escalator getting ready to run against Hillary yet everyone thought she was the evil one! I screamed from the rooftops, but he was elected anyway and here we are again. So tell me how Americans became so ignorant???
They've been dumbed down for decades, thanks to our corporate news media, sellouts for the last forty years. The crowning moment was the Iraq invasion, when not a single person asked why. They just played patriotic music, flag graphics, and parroted the insane bullshit coming from the Bushies and his neo-con pals. And it has continued to this day, with an utter lack of accountability for that war and/or the disastrous recession caused by the greedy financial industry morons with MBAs.
...and watching the pitifully horrid 'reality' shows (just like the one which helped the putrid orange fuehrer into power due to it's popularity) foisted upon them by corporate entertainment, all while claiming that they "have no time to bother with politics". :( :(
Kerry, I could stitch together a thread from your comment to decades of declining standards and pay for educators that have lead to today’s teacher shortage, wherein we currently are staffing classrooms with personnel who don’t even hold an undergraduate college degree.
Oh yes, Barbara, I know. And we have elevated the status of military service members above teachers and nurses, who are the people most likely to be on the “front line” in extremely fraught situations on a daily basis. They don’t get appreciation or recognition, let alone an income that allows them to live in many communities where they teach.
Jaime, As part of reversing these trends, currently, I’m looking to Parkland survivor David Hogg’s new PAC “Leaders We Deserve,” focused mainly on electing Democratic state legislators, under 30, in red states, to commit to prioritizing these under-appreciated, yet essential, professionals.
You hit the nail on the head when you used the word "irrational". Trump's followers are so disconnected from Reality that it has become impossible to reason with them in anything like a sane, logical manner. Facts and evidence mean nothing to them other than their absolute certainty that anything that disagrees with their worldview MUST be False, "fake news", fabricated, and is only meant to pull the wool over their eyes.
"My beliefs trump your so-called Facts!" End of story.
At this point, republicans will embrace anyone and anything that returns them to power, and our country be damned in the process.
I recall that after WWI, the victorious nations so humiliated Germany financially, that Hitler was able, like Trump, to cast himself as the nation's savior, while scapegoating Jews and others who didn't fit his demented ideal of an Aryan race.
And, as you observed in your stunning video, Dr. Reich, millions have been systematically screwed over in this country and are very, very angry, and rightfully so.
Thus, Trump's pretend symbiosis with his cult is terrifying and has a chance at succeeding, if we don't work like hell to save our country from the hell of another Trump presidency.
Deborah, the challenge for all of us is that the people who were screwed over in this country are generally not those who are now Trump worshippers. They seem to me to be the whiners who don't want to see anyone they feel are inferior to them getting anything that might, just might take something away from them. In the 2016 presidential election, 53% of white women voted for Trump. That is nuts when Trump treats women like dirt under his feet. I, alas, think the problem is the resenters having something real to resent. It seems more that they are wannabees who didn't get all they thought they should have, but in reality there will never be enough for them, just as there will never be enough for the rich guys who own and operate so many of our corporations. They, like Donnie, are seriously addicted to money and power and will do whatever it takes to get it, even if it means grooming pathetic white wannabees they can use in their quest for more money and power. It is shameful, but those guys feel no shame or anything else in their greed and need for the next hit. It's no different from drug-addicted persons except that instead of one family being impacted, our whole nation is impacted.
- people who were actually screwed over by someone (lots of folks in rural America and rust belt don't know who to blame, but since the GOP has a lot of money in their blame machine, fingers get pointed)
- people who were NOT actually screwed over, but feel like they were - e.g., watching FoxNews a few hours/day
Then there's other groups:
- people who profit from screwing others over, and enjoy it (there aren't so many of them, but theyre quite powerful)
- people who will serve people who appear to be profiting from screwing others over, who don't like the practice but don't want to get targeted either
- people who don't know what to think, and are grateful for someone telling them (esp young)
And so on. Of the 53% of white women who voted for Trump, perhaps 80% identify as Christian - yet their faith is so riddled with internal contradictions that anyone who focuses on LGBTQ or abortion helps take the focus away from their own internal struggles.
We don't need to fight against them all - only to find a strategy that succeeds against one such group and they'll lose elections and races. Or inspiring new participants to joint in - did the 53% of white women who voted for Trump do so because millions of white women who would NOT have voted for Trump felt like staying home in 2016? Who can say...
It STILL may not work, (such is their total and complete brainwashing by fascist Goebbels Nooz propaganda), but those MAGAt brownshirts should be shown all of the 'good' (leveled cities, economy and everything else destroyed, shamed by the whole world, etc.) which became of Germany after they followed THEIR 'dear leader' down the path of ruin.
They all "fought like hell" and did NOT have a country left!
The 2020 general election saw the highest voter turnout in over 120 years (over 66%), despite republican efforts at voter suppression.
I hope for an even higher turnout in 2024, and if current voting patterns on abortion are any indication, the turnout could be greater than 2020, favoring democrats.
He is the unwitting leader of the current wave of #RepubloFascism. The rest of the GOP is making sure that their billionaire and corporate donors are best positioned to benefit from Trumpism and it’s complete lack of integrity, compassion, and logic.
I agree that Trump and his GOP supporters are “Fascist” but lets not ignore the fact that many of these supporters HAVE been screwed, by the current version of Capitalism and the skewed version of Democracy that Capitalism has given birth to, benefits overwhelmingly from, and will defend by any means. Unfortunately the Democratic party, and Biden etc., in many ways are inevitably also caught up by this capture of Democracy and its consequences. Its the same here in the UK, slower, less frenetic but still in the same direction.
capitalism only works to suppress the masses (which is what's happening to the average citizen of capitalistic states) WHEN government lets big business have free reign to set the market prices (a major cause of inflation), put profit before decent wages (keeping the rich richer and working tax payer poorer), fair working conditions, safety and morality. Government has to supply controls because amoral capitalist leaders will only work to hang onto their power and money. All the blame against the government of the resentful average citizen has been carefully engineered to point to politicians on the left, when, it's lots of politicians, especially on the right, that are propping up this lopsided capitalistic system and are supported by the very system the people are sick of: the military industrial complex Ike warned us against. It's happening in the UK, USA and in my country of Australia.
True enough. Work for change in the democratic party seems the best way to go. Work to reduce the power of the GOP which thwarts the democratic party when they do try and take progressive steps.
Mike, I imagine, as you aptly state, that MAGA supporters largely have been victimized by capitalism’s raw brute form and have suffered the worst consequences of it. Accordingly, absent wedding capitalism to social democratic institutions that contain both its excesses and its self-serving impulses, we should expect to reap anarchy and domestic terrorism.
Trump is a 77-year-old con artist, willing to pivot to the next brutal con whenever expedient. Con artists may become authoritarians or fascists, subject to constraints raised by the community - and their own biology.
Fascists took power only in the face of a plausible Communist/anarchist threat. Mussolini broke from the socialists. Franco fought them. Hitler blamed them for Reichstag Fire, but they actually existed in Germany, Italy, and Spain. Elites backed the Fascists because the Communists terrified them more. "Lesser of two evils." Or so they thought at first.
But while Fascists invoked nationalism as a specific anti-Communism, Trump's "nationalism" is bluster. Attack China? Sure...and blame Taiwan and Korea for not investing enough to defend themselves...meanwhile, Trump still profits from his Chinese business interests, still profits from Chinese money flooding into his hotels, still licenses key US technologies to China even as he tweets how bad the Chinese are.
"Nationalism based on a superior race"...which race? Trump surrounds himself with token Black, Jewish, Muslim, and Latino sycophants (Kushner, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Herschel Walker, Dr. Oz, etc.). Not substantive beliefs, but tactical posturing.
A statement like "Mexican rapists and murderers" is not actually "nationalism" - it's much more "con artistry." Millions of Americans are scared of immigrants - always have been, so that's one easy group to acquire as followers for the price of a few words. But how many thousands of GOP donors employ those undocumented people (the same way Trump did in 2016)? Declare that they're 'rapists and murderers' and you can terminate employment contracts, or renege on any other contract (or lease) - and just call ICE to get rid of them, rather than paying for lawyers. Trump's words bought him millions of dupes, but also, key support among the donors he needed who don't care whether the words are true so much as whether they're useful.
"Brute strength and heroic warriors."
Consider how Trump treats actual, real world "heroic warriors" - if they are loyal to him, they may be praised, otherwise, they are demonized and mocked along with anyone else. John McCain? Colin Powell? Gold star families? There are Navy Seals who are loyal to Trump who get sweetheart jobs - and there are Navy Seals who are NOT loyal to Trump, who get ignored/mocked/sidelined.
Trump is 77 years old. He's mortal. But the forces he is manipulating will outlast him - Trump 2.0 will see a GOP that is ridiculously easy to coopt, riddled with conspiracy theorists. The dupes eat up Trump's BS like a candy coated opioids - but the GOP elites smell get-rich-quick schemes aplenty. When they err, and incur massive debts that they cannot otherwise pay, then and only then will they endorse Fascism or Authoritarianism or any other political structure that will shift the cost of their reckless risks onto other people.
DRM, I wish I could disagree with you, but what is going on seems to follow what you are describing. When one whole party has gone to the dark side, it is hard to figure out how to manage, particularly when that rogue party has so many followers who will "blindly" go along with their Baby Donnie and those he likes when they tell them to go and do what he orders them to do. That has always been a formula for disaster. We could put a small stop to it if Trump's trial were say, in October and were fully televised on all "news" networks, that would include Fox. OK, it might not work with most of the sycophants, but many might wake up from their power-drugged sleep.
Hi Ruth - thanks for your comment. Do you really think the GOP "went" to the dark side with Trump? Way I see it, the "big lie" of 2003 was that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden collaborated on 9/11. Dems didn't embrace that lie, but didn't bother disputing it.
That lie drove the U.S. to invade Iraq to "liberate" them from an evil dictator and stop terrorists. In the process, it took Iraqi oil off the market for at least a decade - which stabilized prices for the U.S. fracking industry, making it possible for insiders to orchestrate oil leases profitably. It wasn't about a few measly billion dollars for Haliburton, but a big chunk of a multitrillion dollar/year industry, with resources to co-opt power networks in about 20-26 states (North Dakota through Texas, PA, OH, and many many others).
The Bigger Lie of 2003 led to other useful lies - in 2008, in 2016, and in 2020. Trump didn't create that. He just recognized liars and dupes and knew how to exploit them, running politics much like any other pump and dump scheme in the 1980s. Lots of people might get trampled, but only "losers" care about them (unless caring is useful for posturing in the next con).
I quibble with - and deeply respect - Dr. Reich, because his points about Fascism aren't merely about Trump, but about the Fascist tendencies themselves which can metastasize Trump into a Fascist. Questions about "what is Trump?" aren't really about Trump at all - but how those of us who wish to figure out how to stop the toxic spew he represents from dominating the USA may do so together,
Please consider dropping the term Baby Donnie. It trivializes his persona and encourages people to see him as less than adult, however flawed and twisted.
Hi Karen - I like your gentle tone...you're right about trivializing Trump, and to be honest, we should neither trivialize nor exaggerate the menace that Trump represents. Yet when we feel threatened, the instinct to mock - to judge the judges - is a common enough psychological response to fear.
I'm more reluctant than Professor Reich to call Trump or the GOP Fascists, only because the sole effective means of countering Fascists is overwhelming military force. Nothing else worked against any Fascist regime anywhere; left to their own devices, Franco persisted in Spain, and nobody in Germany or Italy would have removed the thugs in power there. Let's stop kidding ourselves that the term "fascist" means we have other options.
But we MAY have tools to beat con artists before they become authoritarians or Fascists. If the tools we have are inadequate, we either build new tools, improve how we use them, or unite and ally with a strong enough coalition to defeat the Trumplings. Again, the man is 77 years old. I dread what may follow him even more than I detest him.
Spot on Professor Reich!! This is happening right before our damn eyes!
Trumpie boy bellows. All the subjects bellow back assuredly! The best place for him now is a prison cell with solitary confinement and no contact with the outside world IMO.
Repubs talk about the left beginning a civil war giving several scenarios how that would happen. In my view, it is already going on with trumpie boy as the leader of the fascist cult that is very organized and powerful.
There are no people more elite than the corporatists who have stacked our Supreme Court and bankrolled the campaigns of the people who refused to impeach or convict the orange blowhard in chief.
Kerry, you are right, so how do we start holding them accountable when we don't even know where their money has gone and into which dark money conduit?
As Kerry’s link (below) to an organization that advocates for “reasonable” spending on campaigns implies, we hold them accountable by, in my opinion, advocating for no private spending on campaigns.
We should pass laws that allow spending only public money.
Allowing a “reasonable” amount of money to be spent is way too vague. What seems “reasonable” under certain circumstances may not seem “reasonable” in other circumstances, and who makes the decision about what’s reasonable and what isn’t? In the system we have now, power depends on how much money corporations possess and what they’re allowed by law to do with it.
In fact, money is the incentive for what we’re going through politically & ethically right now. We have
to remove the incentive that leads to the corruption. Money is what has corrupted the pharmaceutical industry, the oil & gas industry and our Supreme Court. We are well on our way to the complete corruption of our entire healthcare system as well.
There are three additional ways to rein in the corruption: taxes, regulations & anti-trust laws.
If all corporations and industries were honest we wouldn’t need to impose regulations. But it’s glaringly obvious that most, if not all, corporations and industries are corrupt, and their corruption is killing us. The oil & gas industry is so corrupt that it’s a major cause of climate change and the accompanying extinction-level events. The fossil fuel industry has no incentive to switch to renewable
energy because they’re making so much money.
Our only recourse is to make it not worth their while
to continue doing business as they are.
Republicans have shoveled even more money their way by continually lowering the corporate tax rate
and providing numerous tax loopholes. As a matter of fact, Republicans just empowered corporations to continue their corrupt behavior when during budget negotiations, they refused to fund the IRS at the level they need in order to audit corporate taxes.You might wonder why republicans don’t want the IRS to be able to audit corporations. It’s because it makes corporations so grateful to the GOP they will make larger campaign donations.
In addition, where have our anti-trust laws gone? We still have them, it’s just that they aren’t being used. “Antitrust” refers to regulation of the concentration of economic power, particularly with regard to monopolies and other anticompetitive practices. When corporate entities purchase their competition, it puts them in a position to overcharge customers
without having to worry about their customers going elsewhere to buy what they want at a lower price. If they’ve bought all of their competitors, consumers don’t have a choice, and that would be unfair to consumers, right?
We can make this inequality of power better by removing private campaign donations as a source
of corruption, increasing the corporate tax rate, imposing regulations for health and safety purposes,
fully funding the IRS and using our anti-trust laws
to break up monopolies which will in turn result in
All your points are good points. The real problem is that we live in a society that treats corporations like gods. We give them the same rights as people but none of the obligations or responsibilities. And we accept that they have only one mission, which is to return the maximum yield to their shareholders, regardless of injury to society. And their power has so corrupted government that they are no longer regulated, or policed, or taxed. The best and brightest have gone into financial services careers to make a killing, unlike the past when they became scientists and engineers, physicians and civil servants. The society is sick. It has no values other than the accumulation of wealth for wealth’s sake.
Gloria, hypocrisy rules in Republican circles. Some Repubs are aware of it while others hold the two conflicting beliefs without even noticing. How do we get the irrational people to start noticing their own irrational thinking and behavior and to see that Trump has absolutely nothing positive to offer them, nor do any of the other Republicans they fawn over? There must be a way to do that.
No, we are reaching to how he makes YOU feel. We want you to cry. We want you to scream. We want revenge. We will vote for anyone that promises us revenge on our enemies and we don’t care if the country survives, in fact we are rooting for it.
Like a broken record I keep returning to this world's greatest issue, the decline of this planet's ability to sustain any kind of life within approximately 32 years. The world should have discontinued the use of fossil fuels by now. Fascists, Democrats, Communists, et. al. are not immediately and completely dedicated to our world's ability to sustain animal, plant, fowl, fish, etc. life. Politics will virtually become beside the point. Sure Biden has given some attention to THE issue, but insufficiently as are all major leaders in the world. Not just Maui is essentially 'gone,' but all of HI will be lost under 'warming' water. "Global Warming" is misleading terminology for the destruction of the planet's ability to sustain life that is rapidly becoming this globe's fate. Artificial intelligence and robots are going to be quite an assist in our world's destruction of life.
They're better, for sure. Maybe World's Destruction, Demise, Life's Demise. It needs to be shockingly accurate for the world to wake up for life of all kinds to survive. Thanks for your input!
1 term that's started to become popular is "global boiling". I thought of that term long ago & rejected it because of its literal inaccuracy, but if it works...
Barbara, I think you’ll find that Pres.Biden has done far more to fight climate change than most people realize. You can go to: - WH.gov/Climate - to read for yourself what the Pres. has done, is doing and what his future plans are to combat climate change. I’ve copied and pasted a fraction of the Biden Admin’s plans, goals & accomplishments below.
The general population lacks information on this topic because main stream media isn’t reporting
on it, and I suspect that’s fine as far as the Biden admin. is concerned, because republicans have vowed to revoke all plans & measures taken to reduce greenhouse gases the next time they are in power. The last thing we need is for republicans to start “war” on climate change mitigation.
I know a lot of people are angry that the President
okayed the Willow Project in Alaska. There’s a good article on it in the Washington Post, by Timothy Puko, dated 4/22/23. Recently, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland also defended the decision, saying it was “reality" that the U.S. would continue to use oil and gas. The Biden admin had several reasons for
giving it a “green light.”
“They said...they were limited by the law that governs NPR-A and the leases that ConocoPhillips has held since long before the Biden administration took office. The law gives a company with such leases the right to develop, and strong legal standing to fight the government if it tries to block that work. If rejected, ConocoPhillips could have sued, and potentially won billions of dollars at taxpayer expense, and still been able to develop the project anyway, legal experts have said.”
President Biden created the first-ever National Climate Task Force, with more than 25 Cabinet-level leaders from across agencies working together on groundbreaking goals:
1. Reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 50-52% below 2005 levels in 2030
2. Reaching 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035
3. Achieving a net-zero emissions economy by 2050
4. Delivering 40% of the benefits from federal investments in climate and clean energy to disadvantaged communities
President Biden signed an Executive Order that directs the federal government to use its scale & procurement power to achieve five ambitious goals:
1. 100 % carbon pollution-free electricity (CFE) by 2030, at least half of which will be locally supplied clean energy to meet 24/7 demand;
2. 100 % zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) acquisitions by 2035, including 100 percent zero-emission light-duty vehicle acquisitions by 2027;
3. Net-zero emissions from federal procurement no later than 2050, including a Buy Clean policy to promote use of construction materials with lower embodied emissions;
4. A net-zero emissions building portfolio by 2045, including a 50 percent emissions reduction by 2032; and
5. Net-zero emissions from overall federal operations by 2050, including a 65 percent emissions reduction by 2030.
The President also directed the federal government to orient its procurement and operations efforts in line with the following principles and goals:
Achieving climate resilient infrastructure and operations;
Building a climate- and sustainability-focused workforce;
Advancing environmental justice and equity;
Prioritizing the purchase of sustainable products, such as products without added perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS); and
Accelerating progress through domestic and international partnerships.
___________________
Through this executive order, the federal gov’t will transform its portfolio of 300,000 buildings, fleet of 600,000 cars and trucks, and annual purchasing power of $650 billion in goods and services to:
Transition federal infrastructure to zero-emission vehicles and buildings powered by carbon pollution-free electricity, which will reduce the federal government’s greenhouse gas emissions by 65 percent by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Achieve 100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity use by 2030, including 50 percent on a 24/7 basis. The federal government will work with utilities, developers, technology firms, financiers and others to purchase electricity produced from resources that generate no carbon emissions, including solar and wind, for all its operations by 2030.
Make federal agencies more adaptive and resilient to the impacts of climate change, and increase the sustainability of federal supply chains, achieving net-zero emissions from federal procurement by 2050.
__________________
Actions Agencies are Taking to Meet the Goals of the Sustainability Executive Order:
In 2022, the DOD Edwards Air Force Base in CA will add 520 megawatts (MW) of CFE to the grid by completing one of the country’s largest solar photovoltaic (PV) array projects & creating more than 1,000 union and other construction jobs.
In 2022, DOD’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii will complete construction of the nation’s largest 100 percent clean energy microgrid. By leveraging a 14-megawatt (MW) solar facility paired with a 70 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery energy storage system sited on the base, the Pacific Missile Range Facility can become self-sufficient for all its electricity needs.
In 2021, the Dept. of the Interior (DOI) began transitioning its fleet of U.S. Park Police lightweight motorcycles and dirt bikes to 100 percent ZEVs at its Washington, D.C., New York City, and San Francisco locations, with plans to reach a 100 ZEV fleet by 2025.
The Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) will begin field testing the Ford Mustang Mach-E ZEV for use in its law enforcement fleet.
In 2023, the Dept. of Transportation will complete its Volpe Transportation Center project that collapses six buildings into a low-emissions building with rooftop solar PV panels, ZEV charging stations for the federal fleet and employee vehicles, green and cool roof technologies, a rainwater reclamation and reuse system, and a climate-resilient above-grade data center.
By 2022, the Dept. of the Treasury will have completed the majority of its energy infrastructure improvements at an Internal Revenue Service Center outside of New York City through a 17-year, $30.9 million energy savings performance contract (ESPC). The ESPC has so far delivered nearly $14 million in capital improvements and $2.2 million in annual utility bill savings.
In 2021, DOD collected information from its suppliers on their efforts to measure and report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. DOD is using this information to develop low-carbon purchasing guidelines.
In 2022, the General Services Admin. (GSA) will require contractors to disclose the embodied carbon of building materials for new building and major modernization contracts.
By January 2022, DOD’s Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany in Georgia anticipates achieving net-zero energy status.
More than 20 major federal agencies released plans describing how they will integrate climate-readiness across missions and programs and bolster resilience of Federal assets. For example, the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is collecting bldg. level data across HUD programs to map existing climate risks.
DOD is integrating climate change considerations across its strategic guidance & planning documents including the National Defense.
The State Dept.is assessing its climate and sustainability management staffing and training gaps.
In 2022, the Dept. of Labor will launch a new training course for its senior leadership team on climate change management considerations and environmental justice principals.
_________________
Advance Environmental Justice and Equity:
In 2021, GSA launched an Environmental Justice and Equity Task Group to identify and propose effective approaches to improve environmental justice and equity.
In 2021, the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) convened Climate and Equity roundtables across the country to gather feedback to inform how NOAA provides climate services.
DHS is incorporating the need to achieve equity as a guiding principle through all lines of effort described in the framework.
__________________
Accelerate Progress Through Domestic and International Partnerships. The U.S. & Canada launched the Greening Government Initiative, a first-of-its-kind initiative that will enable countries to share lessons learned, promote innovation, and accelerate national efforts to green government operations.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) New England’s Boston Healthcare System partnered with National Grid on a plan to transition its 70-car fleet to ZEVs.
I have to say I am a bit confused. I looked up the term elites which confused me further. A select group that is superior in terms of ability or qualities to the rest of the group or society. Mr. Trump seems to attack these elites like "they" are the bad guy but isn't that what he is actually wanting? Isn't he wanting his right-wing nutters to be the elite? He rails against these elitists but is basically saying he and his followers are the elite? It is all confusing, dangerous, and absurd that his cult has somehow managed to grow in the United States of America! I am not saying we have been shielded from the Adolf Hitlers in this world, but yeah, maybe I feel we have because Mr. Trump's kind of rhetoric was usually knee-capped before it gained much traction. I feel sorry for his followers in a way because they really don't know that they are being used in order for him to gain power. Once he obtains that power, he will begin to cull his own followers, too! They don't realize it yet, but once he eliminates the minority groups he is railing against right now, he will have to find a new group to target and eliminate. Some of his followers may be in that new group. These are scary times we live in.
No, DJT doesn't want his right wing supporters to be the "elite." He uses the term "elite" as a code word for East Coast - and West Coast - liberal leaders, people who have advanced education, people who know how to use the media to put forth their point of view because they READ AND WRITE.
(Pancha Chandra): All the contortions on Trump's face show how guilty Donald Trump is; he tried to rig the 2020 elections in so many different ways & pretends he had nothing to do with the January 6th insurrection on the Capitol building after losing to Joe Biden!
According to people like Dr. Justin A. Frank, a Psychoanalyst & Clinical Professor, Trump's demeanor shows he's full of guilt. but he has a subtype of dyslexia” that leads to his difficulty understanding complexity and “simply reacting while avoiding the work of thinking.”
IMHO he has several "tells." Count his sniffs, the number of times he touches his face, his hand gestures......
Daniel, interesting! I have noticed Trump's voice changing over time. He sounds like a little kid being bombastic. My sister says he sounds like Tommy Smothers when he and Dick were doing their routines. Tommy's voice was an act, maybe Donnie's isn't. His talk has become more juvenile too. "If you come after me I'll come after you." That's a schoolyard bully's threat. I think of Trump as a toddler-man and his words and actions these days seem to fit that description. I don't know about the guilt thing, but at least part of him knows he did things that are illegal. He was definitely expecting to get away with all of it. He didn't, or at least I hope he doesn't.
Gloria, I don't think Trump feels much of anything except the extreme highs he gets from crowd cheering and the lows of sitting in court as an indicted person. He wquickly ditches the lows when he imagines the crowds screaming for him (OK not screaming, but cheering for him at just the right, the planned times). His handlers make sure he gets pumped up so he can go out the next time and keep the fascist comments and insult, blaming, lying, etc. going. I want to know who those guys are and would love to have them investigated to find out their roles in the insurrection and other "crimes." I keep wondering if family is involved and Evanka and hubby in particular.
Some believe that his 'handlers' keep him 'pumped up' by using various forms of meth (speed).
Ironically (or maybe not?), Hitler 1.0 was a crystal meth addict from the beginning of WW2 on, in an attempt to appear 'strong and indominable' for his volk.
It made him feel invincible, immortal, and undefeatable (ONE of the reasons for his many military blunder decisions) but rotted his brain out before he put a Luger round into it.
IF SCUMp is actually on meth himself, he will not last long given his (lack of) condition, and it may be why there is apparent (even greater, more accelerated) deterioration of his faculties, in tandem with possible dementia onset, which the drugs will certainly exacerbate.
David, I have thought for years that Trump is moving into dementia. He has so many of the signs that my mom had as she was drifting off. The repeating of phrases, not being able to stay on track when speaking, constantly reverting to tried and true phrases even if they are not the right ones for the occasion or the question. I know his cult does not want to see any of the disconnects, but they can't help but notice; they just don't want to believe it, or they think somehow what he is saying is being deliberately distorted by someone; they have no idea who that could be except, probably Hunter Biden.
As you said, Trump seems to have been moving into dementia for years. But it usually works faster than this. He's been depraved his whole life, & it's easy to confuse depravity with dementia. He has enough lucid moments to put that in doubt.
Professor, this should be an Academy Award Video. Fascism is not a theory or a story of only Nazi Germany or countries across the ocean. We are living in a country that is for some knowingly and others unaware they are embracing not just a Fascist leader in TFG, but a philosophy of government that is here in America, out in the open, with a leader many Americans are following and defending even if he is an indicted criminal. TFG as victim, accountable for crimes against Democracy, a Fascist, is popular enough to become a candidate for a second act. “Those who refuse to pay attention to history are destined to repeat it.” “Condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana, Spanish philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist. (1863-1952).
Trump is a Fascist. Trump is a dictator. Trump is a Messianic figure. Trump is a Narcissistic Personality Disorder Sociopath. As a conman he knows that people who have been conned will do anything to show they weren’t conned.
NOT a messianic figure. Narcissistic nihilist.
Sun Tzu: "An evil man will burn his own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes."
Attempted messianic with his “I am being indicted for you. I am being arrested for you.”
Reverse messiah: Jesus died for your sins -- you have to die for mine.
Messiah in Trumps eyes.
He's telling them he's "dying for their sins" in essence. It's sick and disgusting even to me, and I'm not a christian!
Exactly. And they in turn, surrender into the belief as if surrendering to a higher power.
Trump isn't a Christian too
Well that's certainly true. Problem is, it's the Evangelical christians that are hold him up as the new messiah.
and they Believe he IS christian because they saw him in a video and photos with his hand on a bible.
Messiah wannabe.
Yes, the appeal is almost Christian: He suffered so that we may attain eternal life.
Daniel, I do believe Trump would want to "burn it down" but the problem is, he would have no idea what to do after that. He may have suffered emotional abuse as a child, a lot of folks have, but he h as not suffered as an adult, so has no idea what so many people experience. He; wants pain inflicted on people he doesn't like, but does not want to dirty his hands doing it. He wants his "captains" to do that. He can then blame them if things don't work out as he would like. He is already doing that. How do we curb this bad behavior, I don't really know but am sure there are a lot of good folks out here that have good ideas and we should listen to them, just as we are listening to Prof. Reich.
It all boils down to Trump being: 1) an extreme narcissist; 2) a 200 proof bully who has always gotten his way; and 3) a f’n genius, by his own description of course. He is off-the-charts mentally ill and belongs in an asylum for the deliriously self-centered.
I just watched two AHC programs about Hitler 1.0 yesterday night.
In one he WAS viewed as a 'messianic figure' (it was right in the title of the segment), and the similarities to SCUMp were terrifying.
He actually was diagnosed with multiple psychotic mental health disorders before his first PUTSCH, but had help from his very own supporting Claremont/Federalist Society type extreme rightwing occultist group (The Thule Society) in having them buried, and eventually executing (using his brownshirts/SA) both anyone investigating, or bringing up such, AND the mental institution doctor who made the diagnosis.
The descriptions of the German peoples DIRECTLY cult like adoration of their fuehrer is IDENTICAL TO the brain dead MAGAts', and this SHITler promises them the same things, using some of the same language as his mentor (albeit not overtly as viciously, and incessantly ANTI-SEMITIC as the original's).
Even the current MAGAt NAZIS' zero sum mind(less)set was part of the whole 3rd Reich racist 'philosophy' in that they cannot allow Jews to take away from their pure Aryan racial superiority as the 'Master Race' by even the chance of intermarriage, so the only solution is total obliteration of all of that (quite falsely labeled as a) 'race'.
Hitler vowed vengeance, just like the current SHITler does ("I am your retribution"), and told his people that they must fight violently ('Blood and Soil') for their racial purity and superiority, just as SCUMp does (albeit much more 'dog whistle' veiled) with "You better fight like hell or you will not have a country left!".
The SCUMp SHITler has (or at least HAD) about half of this country fully with him.
I wonder, even at his peak, how many of "the 'good' German people" were fully and totally on board with, and believing in, all that Hitler sold to them??
What you have to remember about Hitler is that he was plowing fertile ground with the German people. Germany had been in severe economic depression since shortly after WW 1, and barrels of paper money were required to buy only a loaf of bread. Into such an arena stepped Hitler with his messianic speeches and promises to restore the Fatherland to its former glory. The parallel to Trump isn’t exact, but it’s close enough to note that he is also plowing the fertile ground of discontent that many of his followers identify with. What Trump’s followers respond to more than anything else is Trump’s smart ass rhetoric that he will “stick it to da man.” Bottom line, Trump would be speechifying to an empty room if no one are inn the room to listen to him. Hitler traded expertly on that kind of widespread discontent among the German people, and Trump is employing exactly the same pied piper ploy, with great success I might add. In the end, Hitler destroyed Germany, and Trump will destroy our democracy unless he is stopped, and by that I mean really stopped by a march on Washington that even he couldn’t ignore.
Even when the German economy started to greatly improve after the worldwide '29 crash (they were recovering quicker from that than most industrialized nations, despite the Versailles Treaty 'oppression'), and Hitler 1.0 could no longer logically blame the bad times on Jews, he found others to blame (along with the Jews still, of course, to maintain that pure Aryan nationalistic fervor as their prime enemy) for any little grievance, just like SCUMp does nowadays. ;)
Exactly like Mussolini and now Trump.
You may want to read Peter Drucker's the End of Economic Man. The Origins of Totalitarianism. The book was written in the 1930s , but it is amazingly relevant even today.
Thanks!
He is a psychopath. And he committed treason. Maybe we should use his own words to give him a sentence. “You know what they do with traitors... “
I haven’t heard anyone saying that he originally followed in his father’s footsteps, He’s just following. The T-rumps are devoid of conscience. Beware - there’s yet another generation who was brought up devoid of consciences as well. Don’t be fooled.
Its the "after that" that concerns Trump the least. The point for him is to be in control, and from that point on its about whatever whim he fancies at the moment. Chris Christie recently made the point succinctly -- Trump does not care about America, only himself.
clark maxwell ; Chris Christie would know ; It takes one to know one. Remember 'Bridge gate'. His secretary got jail time. He said about a bus full of young elementary students stranded on the bridge he deliberately blocked " They are most likely the children of Democrats anyway. Let 'em suffer, " or something to that effect. Birds of a feather. Funny when Christie was fat shaming tRump. Though it is wrong to fat shame anyone. IMHO.
Forgot about Bridgegate. Christie should have been held accountable for that. A woman died because of the redirect of traffic and ambulances couldn't get to her in time. Stuff like this is in the "conservative" DNA. That's in quotes because these are the moves of fascists. Interesting that Christie is going after trump the way he is, and yeah, he should know.
Another arrogant, authoritarian, opportunistic lump of shit who cannot redeem himself by pointing out the insane evil of SCUMp, although I am glad he is doing such. ;)
Critics of tRump have value!
Yes. I think he sees running for president - and becoming president - as his "get out of jail free" card.
who cares what he has suffered, hitler is a failed artist- should we worry about his childhood too? Dump has a personality disorder probably from his f-ed up childhood. Many of us live through our childhoods and don’t end up on destructive paths. Some individuals are simply evil. period. and he’s brainwashed a vulnerable percentage of our population to follow blindly, like any religious leader!
Alison, Trumpety-Doo-Dah is a perfect example of why we need to end the use of privilege, as though some people are of more value than others. He meets three of the privilege categories for the US today:
rich, white, and male. Those 3 are dangerous, especially if the bearer of all three occur in the person of a narcissistic con artist blow hard. We all pay for that, over and over. There are a bunch of them in the wings to jump in when Doo-Dah passes on. Not properly following up to see that rich white men pay their taxes fairly along with rich white male-owned or run corporations, employ anti-trust measures when it comes to mergers, and stop at least the worst of the corporate bad behavior will keep producing a crop of Trump-wannabees. It does not need to be that way. We need the IRS to go primarily for the big cheats and use more AI to catch the small fish. If everyone realized a nation can't function without everyone paying their fair share, the IRS would have less trouble and would be able to provide more services like free online filing where the person has to only put in the current year's data. Paying taxes is a common good and everyone who is living above the minimum should be willing to pay without cheating.
How
Were they defeated in history?
Saw you at PDA last night. 17 Sep New York City March to end fossil fuels.
steveandjanereed, I try to attend when I can. I will be at the march in spirit because the issue is important to me, but my schedule will not allow it this time. Make it a good, big, loud, forceful celebration and demand for justice for our communities, for our nation, and for our planet.
I made a donation. I’m certainly not gonna be able to go there to the march.But I will promote it.
https://350ct.org/ one goal is to get Biden to declare a climate emergency.
Let’s Ban Fossil Fools like Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders too
Which is what the GOP will do to the nation with climate change if they are not stopped. They are already doing it.
No. His Deathcult followers see him as "The Second Coming of God" . . . whatever the hell THAT is! That is NOWHERE in holy Christian scripture. (I think his dementia and innate stupidity twisted around "Christ's Second Coming.")
Hitler eventually viewed, and declared himself as an immortal god, and basically declared Nazism as the official religion of Germany and his 3rd Reich (along with his delusions of his 'Thousand Year Reich'), since no others were necessary to him at that point.
True, he is NOT actually 'messianic', but his devout, blood oath loyal devotee 'army' actually DOES view him as such.
THAT is what is quite dangerous.
Agreed. He is diseased.
Yes. Daniel Solomon : witness Hawaii. Florida could be next. Or any place in the USA.
Great quote and tragically true, Mr. Solomon. If our democracy does not survive the 2024 election, I shudder to imagine the dystopian result...
That sums him perfectly. He’s got the match and he’s ready to light the damn pyre.
A malignant narcissistic nihilist that is.
Daniel, Deep thanks for this highly astute comment plus your impressively reasoned reply to Jan. I’m likely to quote you at some point.
I deem him the anti-Christ in that instead of, I am willing to die for your sins, he insists YOU should die for HIS. I do not laugh afterwards.
When one looks at descriptions of the Anti-Christ, one can see Trump in that role.
When one looks at Trump, one sees a person who is certainly anti Christ.
I call him the Orange Antichrist.
Orange Fungus and Mango Mussolini works too!
Or a walking orange garbage can. Or dog poop walking.
I use Mango Mussolini occasionally, too. But what I like about the Orange Antichrist is pointing out to his worshipers how opposite he is from Christ & how he fits the supposed Antichrist better than anyone else with the possible exception of his puppetmaster Putin (which is why another of my favorite names for Traitor Trump is the Siberian Candidate, although the one I probably use the most is Benedict Donald).
Pat Goudey OBrien : genuine Christians with any consciousness do not follow this intolerant hater sexist, racist criminal. And they vote!
That is my observation, as well !!!!
Years back, I asked, thinking of Trump, "What if the purpose of the Anti-Christ?" then realized that he's here to rip off all the bandaids, all at the same time.
The Manchurian Candidate was Barak Obama and revealed him as the evil. Anti-Christ
…. Said the delusional troll…
Only one delusional idiot is you and especially since you’re not able to see the trees from the forests… Keep on drinking the Chinese Communist Kool Aid… Lolz
…continued the delusional troll …
A He Touches It Dies . .worthy of Damien Franchise . .. quite a list of Mega Wilt Touch Achievements . .
?
Would have lobbed a few Nukes except for The Guardrails . .probably the Tens of Thousands of unnecessary Covid Coffins his SiGnAtUrE AcHiEnEmEnT . ..did his best to Kill Nato . .. went Planetary with The Enuff Trees! Climate Hoax . .still not too late to kill Democracy .. what a "Killer Not a Loser!" (Trump family motto) born for . .
Bingo.
But remember . .if you don't win It Was Rigged . .the Caller deep state deranged . probably Owned by The You Know WHOs . . . .
No, not tens of thousands of Covid coffins. Hundreds of thousands.
Elizabeth Banwell ; I am with you : I do not laugh after he says things almost trying to echo Christs' 'dying for your sins'. It is as serious as a heart attack when an armed zombie is out and about, looking for unbelievers (of tRump) to 'punish'.
Trump would never die for your sins. He wants you to die for his sins. He says he’s been indicted for you but that’s as far as it goes. At the Iowa state fair he had Matt Gaetz say that if you want change in Washington you need to take it by force. And Trump nodded his head and said yes!
I believe it too especially is he actually wins in 2024. Then he definitely is
Trump is a psychopath.
Yes, and he's a Fascist. But how do we get these facts through the thick skulls of our fellow citizens? Mr. Reich's excellent video needs to be widely distributed. Leaders in the Democratic Party need to "suck it up" and start calling Trump a Fascist even though they will get lots of hate and push back directed their way.
his lemmings are the nazi civilians of the 1930s. It took a battlefield rout to begin the change process for their mental illness. Same here in the 1860s. In both instances, there were many who remained delusional. It is a feature of the human bell curve.
Agreed. IMO, the Trumpbots are terrified by what's happening in this country and are reacting in the only way they know how. Call their behavior a version of Stockholm Syndrome in which mentally compromised victims of mind control begin to love their torturer. They are in their own 'comfort zone'. I worry that they are past the point of being de-programmed.
Tim Baldwin ; maybe his supporters will see things differently when they experience a 'natural' disaster that was caused by the increasing temperature of our planet. Tfg is a 'climate denier' and believer in 'hoaxes' perpetrated by ' liberal elites' or whichever term he currently uses to discredit science
Do our part. Post Dump Trump signs everywhere high enough on tall poles and trees that will infuriate his demented cult followers and can’t easily be pulled down. Just be sure to do it surreptitiously, preferably in the dead of night, because if a Trumpist with a gun sees you he will kill you.
Better yet: vote blue, and spread the word about fascism and climate denial.
Isn’t ironic that both Al Gore and John Kerry are raking in large sums of money in the billions with the Climate Change Ponzi Scheme and yes, they’re both Democrats too… Lolz
we need an intervention. i’m not sure how
Read Steven Hassan's 'The Cult of Trump',he deprograms the feeble brains who allowed themselves.
WAY, WAY too committed to their purist 'civility', even though there is NOTHING 'uncivil' about stating the TRUTH! ;)
I whole heartedly agree Tim!
He exhibits extreme antisocial behavior, not because his brain is missing the parts that allow empathy and compassion and caring, but because he has developed a deep-seated terror at the thought of being “weak” or a “loser” and a “bad person.”
That’s on his dad, apparently, who taught him that to be a winner, you have to be wiling to do ANYTHING that will get you there, including hurting those who are closest to you. But it’s al OK, because being SEEN as a winner is what matters. Create the impression and never let it wane.
Narcissists are the biggest scaredy-cats in the universe — deathly afraid of being unmasked, and absolutely incapable of shutting up about how they are victims of people trying to bring them down. If they don’t keep running their mouths about their enemies, they are scared sh**less their enemies will gain a foothold and prevail against them. We can see this dynamic in Trump all the time. He has to come out swinging, or he will dissolve in a pool of abject fear that people will see the useless, foundationally flawed person he secretly believes he is.
He will not stop because he cannot stop because his behavior is necessary to prevent his ever having to face the real Trump, and not the carefully crafted reflection he so desperately crafts in the minds of his followers.
Yes, he is one sick, sick individual. And his sickness is sociopathy. And he can’t be president again.
But I am also afraid of some other other psychopaths running for office right now, seeking to bring autocracy and/or fascism to Washington, and far less obviously in the throes of mental illness, though DeSantis does seem out of his mind, too. And Ramaswamy is delusional.
And don’t forget about “Young-skin” gov. Of the Right to Work( for nothing) state of Va. be very wary of his smooth but (do nothing) demeanor.
Of the first order. Put him in a straight jacket, or even better, chains.
Roger Elmore: the judge may put him in jail, eventually if he keeps shooting his mouth off. against the rules .
Yeah, the "may" part is what infuriates and perplexes me.
This fascist, violence inciting CRIMINAL POS should have been behind bars ALREADY!!
I see that happening soon,she's not having it in her courtroom.
she will do something soon I think
A sadonarcissist
This sounds about right,it's his MO. Nothing positive for this group.Do they ever smell a flower ,feed the birds or tickle a puppy's tummy.?
His minions do not understand that we are all Americans in this together. It is our beloved country.
I don’t think it’s just Trump. I think ALL presidents are. ALL Presidents have led this country towards fascism.
Let’s not forget that Princeton University did a study in 2016 which showed that even though we believe this country is a democracy, the laws and policies that are passed only support the oligarchs
https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/who-are-the-bad-guys
If we’re really interested in helping our country get back on track, I think we need to take a step back and look all the way back into our history to find out, just HOW did we get here. When we realize the impact of the banking powers and politics, we’ll see that ALL presidents have been fascists for a while now and DEMOCRACY is a feel good story
https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/why-esoteric-philosophy-is-vital-329
“There’s a reason that history is taught to us as children when we cannot do anything about it versus taught to us as adults when we can do something about it.”
Fascism and abject, unfettered capitalism DO walk hand-in-hand with each other in a quite cooperative, symbiotic relationship.
Why else would so many U.S. based oligarchs and corporations be so vehemently backing outright fascists for office, and the judiciary?
I think it waters down the reality of fascism to claim they have all been fascist, but there have been anti-democratic, and nationalistic, and oligarchic trends — one can argue that it’s always going to be something to be wary of in fashioning a way to govern billions of people on a small planet.
But we have not been faced with a long list of Trumps, and that’s what were dealing with now.
Saying they’re all bad doesn’t present a way forward.
Do you have a way forward?
Beginning with Reagan if not earlier.
Trump is Rose Mary’s baby all grown up.
Yea, and watch out for his kids too. Don't forget - kids copy parent's behavior they rarely listen ;)
Put “Messianic” in quotes, as he’s actually nothing of the sort — but he’d like his followers to see hm that way …And the rest of what you say makes total sense. Especially the Narcissistic Personality Disorder sociopath part. That is part and parcel of the whole man …
Well said!
Most people would rather eat broken glass than admit they were wrong. An attack on the idea becomes an attack on the very essence of the Other Person. Fight or flight. A part of the condition called, Cognitive Dissonance. Rather-eat-broken-glass...
Absolutely. It is an attack on their autonomy, their very being. Rather be a true believer than a sucker.
Cognitive dissonance! Either that or brainwashing.
Mary, many thanks for saving me the time to try educating those brainwashed people. As the days go by, our freedom seems to be eroding. Scary, disturbing times. Take care of yourself & loved ones. GOD BLESS AMERICA 🇺🇸
Damn right. And it was fully evident seven years ago for people who know anything about twentieth century history. This time around, fascism is at its most dangerous because it means the rapid destruction of our own biosphere. And, the splintering of humanity into nationalist tribes opposed to "the common good" as you have written about...at a time when communitarianism (and not communism!) must triumph over Randian libertarianism or we're all screwed.
Right on! Excellent post!
Kerry, Impressively astute post. I write particularly to punctuate the justifiable fear invoked by the emergence of ancient tribalisms that have been revitalized under the aegis, quoting Cornel West, of “the ‘gangsterization’ of community, nation, and globe.”
“I argued that Trump and the Republican Party are moving rapidly toward fascism”
Dr Reich, WTF?!! “moving rapidly toward”?!!
Just a few days ago, you published an article, pointing out how Trump and Republicans *ARE* fascists. In you headline to this article you say “Yes, Trump is a fascist.”
So why can’t you bring yourself in the body of this article to say the same thing that you said very clearly in the headline? Why are liberals, so goddamn reluctant to call Republicans out on their shit without wimping out?
Did you actually watch the video posted in the article? He very clearly states Trump is a fascist and outlines the reasons why. I do believe the statement in the article was more of a generalization of the current state of the Republican Party as a whole.
Yes, it certainly is generalization of the entire Fascist Rethuglican party. I have been putting the word, ''Fascist'' in front of Rethuglicans for about 2 months now.. And i have labeled them as, ''Domestic Terrorists'' too, at times, because that is what they really are.
90% vote against their own financial and health issues. Label them "schmucks" or "marks;"
They're sadomasochists venerating a sadonarcissist.
Yes, the losers without even understanding it because nobody points it out, a weakness of the Democrats. We all should from now onwards name these poor suckers the Losers, rather than fascists. Loser is more denigrating and , everyone understands it.
Brain dead, Dumkop putzes and schmendricks as well. ;)
John, good for you. We need more people to do that in communications and more who care to send such language to Republican legislators all across this country. I am concerned that the candidates running for the Republican nomination are in many ways, more fascist than even Trump and that is going a long way, mostly because some of them are brighter and more aware than Trump is. Every time I hear DeSantis speak, I think, DeFascist. Chris Christie bellows about how bad Trump is, but he has offered nothing for anyone except the loud bellowing that can be heard but ignored nearly everywhere. Even our Niki Haley has jumped in with her condemnations of groups. She should know better as a child of recent immigrants, but it seems when one gets the fascist bug, it can infect a person pretty quickly and rather completely. So, the key to Republican fascism, insult everyone who is not rich, white, "straight," pseudo-christian, and male. It makes it easy because most of the country fits that description which means the fascists are members of an exclusive club that can lie to its members that they are somehow wonderful examples of manhood (the white hero) and the little wifey who will do whatever her slave master male tells her. I guess it works for them since so many of them have chosen to be ignorant and unaware of reality at this point.
I've been calling them fascist for years. It's probably time to start calling them Nazis.
Already do, and F**K the accusations of being "uncivil" and "hyperbolic"! ;)
Not yet Jaime but the time may yet come. 2024 will be the determining factor.
That is part of my point. He lays out five traits of fascism, and, although he most specifically named Trump individually, he knows and has said in previous writings that those five traits apply to the Republican party as well.
So why in this article does he avoid saying so? The Republican party is not “moving toward” fascism, they arrived there some time ago. Dr. Reich said as much in other writings and it is a disappointment that he wimped out and didn’t say so here.
Mr. Foxx, I agree. I believe it started before Roosevelt, who temporarily neutered it. But that backlash has been building by the moneyed elites (many of whom, by the way, inherited fortunes made by slaves). It really has been going on in earnest since reagan. I truly am impressed (and depressed) by the genius of their long game. As near as I can tell, they've won. I thought drumpf was the mop-up man, but maybe it'll be desanctus.
I base my argument on the Mussoline definition of fascism, which was that corporations and oligarchs collude with gov't to abolish democratic norms, and the financing for the propaganda comes from the corporation and the rich.
Totalitarian. Hitler. Stalin. Trump. Skunks by any other names stink......
Flim flam rabble-rousers, Communist and Fascist dictators have the same effect. Cult of personality think they have superhuman God-like powers..
According to Ivanna, the only book Trump ever read was an anthology of Hitler's speeches.
Have you noticed, EVERYTHING Trump says is a rehash of what someone in the past has said?
Trump: No one has been treated worse than me.
Hitler: Mein Kampf (translates to My Struggle’).
Trump: Truth Social
Russia: Pravda (translates to Truth) State news.
Trump: I did nothing wrong! It was perfect.
Nixon: I am not a crook!
And on, and on, and on…
Nothing new. Simply rehashing many pieces of various individuals throughout history into a solitary entity.
I have indeed noticed that very thing. I watched the video linked to this piece of writing and every single time I saw a clip of him, I couldn’t help but feel he appears quite parrot like. He doesn’t speak from the heart; every word is contrived. It’s a sinister watch. He’s merely pulling leavers and pushing buttons to elicit the desired response in his followers. They’ve been radicalised by a sinister man with an even more sinister plan. History is littered with them
Samuri demagogue: Wants cult members to commit to hara kiri.
Shades of Jim Jones in Guyana.
Daniel, and I suspect Trump didn't even finish Hitler's speeches because he thought he knew everything he needed to know after the first speech. He probably did. He has a lot of handlers who feed him just the right information each day or week and they let him know which lines will work best to sooth and rouse his Klan, getting those non-thinkers to believe Trump even cares one bit for them. They don't want to know they are being used because they want so much to belong to something they think is big and will get them something in the end. They don't realize that what they will get is nothing like what they are dreaming about. They don't know that Hitler used and abused people pretty regularly, getting rid of them if he thought it would help him. Trump learned that from his family and may have honed the skill from his look at the Hitler speech book. My big question, which is probably the question of most of the people on this thread, why do people want to be used and abused as Trump does them and why do they so readily choose to embrace hypocrisy (OK, some may not even know what that is)?
I think he read Hitler’s book to see what works with crowds. He doesn’t care about anything but getting the crowd to reflect back to him that they revere him and want to BE him {or at the least, get very close to him and identify with him}.
If people want to BE him, he must be wonderful. He needs them reflecting that back to him. He is in love with HIS REFLECTION, not his reality. He’s afraid that the real Trump is an enormous lump of feces, and he’s so scared people will see through his facade and smell the stink.
The good part of his pathology is, he’s incapable of NOT keeping up a constant drumbeat to get his fix — get his followers fawning and cheering. He cannot shut up!
I am so hoping that will be his downfall. The more people see him out there prancing and hollering, the more they recognize what he is, the more he will be afraid, the more he will prance and holler. Keep it up, Donny. Wahhhh, wahhh, wahhh. Tell us how the bad people are out to get you. Threaten the bad people. Work up your fawning crowds….
…and bring your own self down!!
Pat, that was well-said. Trumpety-Doo-Dah is a pathetic human being striving so hard, maybe too hard to be something he is not, a respectable person loved for who he is. Because that isn't working, he is trying to create a crazy man who just loves his followers, people courted because they have their own self-image problems and want so desperately, as you describe to be near "the great one" whom the rest of the world knows is not great at anything but running a con on as many people as will buy into it (sometimes literally). I hope the judges in his trials see through him and hold the real Trump accountable for being the criminal and user that he is.
Also well said! And I completely agree..
Hitler 1.0 had to be TAUGHT all of that crowd adulation inspiring, CON MAN style 'charisma' by HIS handlers wanting him in power.
He did NOT have this 'gift' initially or naturally, but was instructed by his (then just blossoming) Nazi Party leaders how to do everything, from his inflections, righteous indignation rage filled rants, to his lectern pounding, pointing and hand gestures, etc.
MY worry is that someone will get ahold of DEATHSantis and also teach him these same 'tricks of the trade' which will allow HIM to dupe all of the fascist MAGAt rubes out there as well, and gain the effing cult of personality NAZI power base, once SCUMp loses it. :(
That scares me, too. Mr. Hinkes … more than I can say … !
In the words of George Conway,'he walks them so far over the horizon,they can't find their way back.' Tough to admit you've been duped.
Christopher, the word fascist has been connected with trump at least since the 2020 election. The reason most "liberals" don't say it is because the word itself rouses the Trumpers and Trumpettes who have no idea of what it even means but it sounds bad, so THOSE people are hurting their Baby Donnie and "we can't have that." Those Trumpers and Trumpettes run a lot of money and since the white states have more pull than the rest of us, people are trying to pacify some of the most rabid of Trump and Kump. I personally think this is a losing strategy. Maybe asking constituents, "so, how do you like being manipulated by Donald Trump and his crew? Are you having fun yet or will you need to hurt people for Trump to be fun?" "I thought the Republican party was the 'law and order' party but you are following a criminal, how is that working for you?" We also need some good protest songs that can be played and sung everywhere as during the civil rights and anti-Vietnam war movements. Some frequently-played not mushy songs of working together for a better world could help and target them to kids during their programming. Sometimes kids can make impacts on the elders better than peers by middle age. My siblings and I helped our parents become anti-war and pro civil rights, and I am sure we were not the only young people to have that kind of impact.
Just wait until Trump’s followers finally understand that a “Unitary Executive” is a dictator.
But alas, by then, it’d be too late.
Once they understand it, it will probably be a selling point for them. Another reason to support him.
They NEED (or somehow believe they need) a 'big daddy' to 'take care of' all of the "bad people others" clamoring to take away all of their white privilege and entitlement, and preventing them from persecuting those said 'others', and totally getting away with it.
When their SHITler incites them by telling them that "YOU will not have a country left" they know it means that THEY will not have unrestrained and unchallenged, pure white dominance anymore without HIM.
One of the very few things the MAGAt shitbilly brownshirt dolts can actually figure out.
Their main attraction to him is because he gives them permission. He tells them it’s okay to be violent and attack those you don’t like.
It’s something the MAGA crowd is always wanted to do, but was held in check by society and fear/recognition they’d not be able to fully get away with it. Trump told him, “have no fear. Go for it. It’s your right to kill your neighbor.“ and it’s a dream come true for them.
Yes this EXACTLY!
He used to tell them, "It's okay, I will pay for your lawyers" (yeah right, he does not even pay his OWN lawyers, let alone his brownshirt rubes' council LOFL!).
Once in power, their SHITler told them that he would pardon them for any crimes committed on his behalf.
Hitler 1.0 not only excused or exempted his devout worshipers from legal consequences, he ORDERED THEM to physically, violently attack Jews, and then rewarded them for their brutal persecution.
I expect even worse than that from the putrid orange sack of shit IF he somehow gets installed back into power. :( :(
I HOPE it will be just short of too late …. I hope we will head that off!!!
I connected "Fascist" to him in March 2016.
I am amazed how foresighted and astute I must be.
But, I am a high school graduate.
It's around the same time for me, but it was clear long before that that, fascist or not, Trump was unfit to be President. In fact, it was ludicrous to even consider him as presidential material. Haha! The joke's on me!
The very first time I heard him 'speak' (IF that's what one wants to call the verbal diarrhea spewing out of it's putrid puckered orifice) at one of his BUND meeting 'campaign rallies', I labeled him SHITler.
Of course, I was then labeled as being 'too hyperbolic'. Yeah, LOFL
I only saw him as a ludicrous clown. I never watched his TeeVee show or read “his” book. His 2016 campaign was sickening, and everything since then. Now, it’s clear, the whole fascist gestalt is a perfect fit for him.
THIS is what I am so eager to hear — strategizing about how to get people to snap out of the Cult of Trump, have an epiphany, and see him clearly … Yeah, I know the died-in-the-wool Trumpistas may never get there — or it won’t happen until they get a break from his constant haranguing — but we need both a cogent message for what the Left can offer people who are afraid we’re out to take their stuff, and a cogent message about how Trump IS out to take them for all their worth. AND, his policies will make their lives worse, not better.
They don’t listen to lectures. What images and ways to reach them WILL actually REACH them?
Good start, Ruth, for sure!!!
Pat, maybe we could find someone with the gift of cartooning who could develop a short cartoon showing just who Trump is and what he has done and will do. Give him a different name, like Crumb or Tramp. There could also be a graphic novel in this. A lot of young people like graphic novels, particularly if they have a message, and this one would. Attention spans for the Trumpers and Trumpettes are short, except for their remembering tiny slights they think were done to them, for the words against everyone but Trump spewed on Fox, and the wonder they felt when they thought Trump was actually looking at them and telling them "we love you," no longer than 3 minutes. More quality T-shirts with catchy sayings like "Trump, Gotta Love Him, or Else" or "WWJD? Not Vote for Anyone Like Baby Donnie" or "Trump, A Fascist Not Worthy of Your Love, Not Even Your Like" "Let's Call A Lie A Lie" Some of those would work as bumper stickers too. I have no idea who to get any of these ideas to or if anyone would even be interested in them, but they are out there in public domain or at least until the first person grabs them.
Hmmm, Ido know some cartoonists
This one is an artist, but he does a terrific series of social commentary cartoons, too — He has quite a body of work, and some of it skewers the Man of Tiny Hands, DJ Trump.
https://mrbrunelle.com/
See books as “Mr. Brunelle Explains It All”
Hmmm, food for thought!
I’ve been thinking about this a lot too. I’m in the UK though and not the USA *but* he has his supporters here, I even have a couple in my family. Obviously and thankfully, they don’t have the right to vote (they just vote terribly here)
What I was thinking Is that his supporters have, in a way, been radicalised and there is already precedent for the antidote to that; I’m thinking men like Daryl Davis a black man who has convinced hundreds of KKK Klansmen to leave and denounce the KKK. What can we learn from activists already doing this work? Where are the ex MAGA fanatics? Those that have had the veil removed and are all the way out? We need to join forces with them, surely? How do we find them?
.Yes.
Good thought. Good question.
Turn our democrats and get the independents. That's the best ROI. You won;t get many who identify as Republican. Maybe a few GOP ers disgusted with Trump but can't stand the Democrats will not vote.
[Substack is horsing around with my comments —-!]
Getting independents to run in DEMOCRATIC primaries, and sagely navigating to win them, is the way to go at this precise moment in time. I say this precise moment, because we are currently set up as a bipartisan system, and if one major party does not win, the other one does. We do not have a third party or independent constituency ready to challenge the Dems without giving the election to the Repubs.
That could be worked on, but we don’t currently have it, and won’t build it in the next 12-18 months.
Anyone suggesting we damage or fragment the Democratic Party at this moment strikes me as a troll or someone carrying water for Republicans. An R in D clothing.
Getting independents to run as D’s on really good platforms that serve the country and the people well, then YES, I’m all for that!!
Barbra Streisand put out an anti-Trump song a few years ago. Stevie Wonder had an anti-Nixon song called "You Haven't Done Nothing", which might fit Trump. There are other great songs that could be resurrected. The few anti-Trump songs I've heard have either not taken hold or are too subtle to be popularly understood as anti-Trump.
Jaime, those sound interesting. I have in the past written verses that allude to Trump's bad behavior, but we need something blatant about what fascists do to people they don't like. Tom Paxton had a really great song from the 60s called "We Didn't Know" that could be adapted, or at least one verse of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubWQHdHTLRI
Very nice! Not only excellent lyrics, but it's quite melodious, has beautiful vocals & harmonies, a strong guitar interlude, & a great video. No wonder I hadn't heard it before! Thanks, David!
Yes, some of the best out of Northampton, Massachusetts.
Sisters can harmonize like no others, and some of their other less (quite justifiably) 'angry political' songs are just beautiful.
“The reason most "liberals" don't say it is because the word itself rouses the Trumpers and Trumpettes”
You are restating my point for me. People wimp out I’m calling fascists “fascist” because they’re worried about what the fascists will then say about them in return.
Out of some very misplaced sense of propriety, or fear of retaliation by people who are going to retaliate no matter what you do, liberals avoid speaking the truth. Which is a form of collaboration.
Ruth - I think the 'good old days' of rousing protest songs are gone forever. It's unfortunate because the combination of music and meaningful lyrics is a powerful unifier and motivator.
Mmmm, I think it still is a motivator — music.
Trump’s people LOVE the songs he blares over the heads all the time …
Is "Kump" Kemp??
David, actually the Kump is an allusion to a German version of company. I have been using it for quite some time because I don't know who all are minding Trump and pouring the KoolAde for him, and encouraging him to drink it, which he does on a regular basis. So, I put them all with Trump and Kump. It fits with Trump and Kump's fascist bent which they have been displaying a bit longer than I have been using the title.
Yes, of course Trump is a fascist, though the country is not yet a fascist state, so yes, he is attempting to lead it there. I don't see any contradiction.
I didn’t say there was a contradiction. Only that there is an unwillingness on the part of liberals to call the Republican party what it is. And that the failure to do so is not only obvious, but dangerous. It is colluding with Republicans to hide their agenda and cover their crimes.
I DO understand the point you are making, but I also do not think that Robert is guilty of this currently.
Yes, many Dem pols, and almost ALL of the mainstream (actual) 'liberal media' and left-leaning media (looking at YOU MSNBC!) pundits STILL insist on using "authoritarian" and NOT the more powerful fascist descriptor when describing what I now just blatantly call the 'Muricun NAZI Party.
“I also do not think that Robert is guilty of this currently.”
Check my original post up above. It his headline Dr. Rick asks “Is trump a fascist” and very clearly answers in that same headline “Yes”.
Then, in the body of the article, he says Trump is only “moving toward“ fascism. He backpedaled.
My point remains that that harms us. Being hesitant to call Republicans out on their crimes without qualifiers is to be complicit.
I think what he means by "moving towards fascism" is that he is trying to take the country with him towards that goal. Trump also realises that to become too overtly vocal in his fascist beliefs and agenda risks alienating some of his more 'moderate' supporters whose support he will need to get in.
I see no evidence ant all that Trump ever tries to rein himself in or moderate his language.
Some Liberals are afraid he will retaliate if they voice the slightest criticism of him. This is his MO.
If they realized that his very retaliation is more that can be used against him — because his retaliation is sick and ludicrous … The more he gets pumped up, the stupider he gets. And he is afraid of being unmasked as a charlatan and loser.
Those are his weaknesses. Use them.
He, and his POS brownshirt worshipers and sycophants will do that, and call for violence against them ANYWAY, so what's the difference?!?
Might as well speak truth to (corrupt, EVIL) power! ;)
He's trying to engage people who might be turned off by that proclamation up front so he can provide evidence in a longer form, so people can draw that conclusion themselves, as you have done.
Uncalled for,
Well said. Trumpism is a carefully planned and engineered movement. Trump may appear at the helm, but you can bet there are big moneyed forces behind the movement. He's not smart enough, organised enough or has enough attention span to plan it all by himself. If Trump went to prison and couldn't run for president or dropped dead tomorrow (and it wouldn't be a surprise given the major stress he's under!) there would be others to take his place, "leaders" also paid for and manipulated by the big money dark forces (military industrial complex) that good old Ike warned us about. It's an incredible social engineering movement, and it's terrifying to us who live in other democracies. Were fascism to reign in the USA, there will come a world war for sure. So, Americans, Trumpism affects the whole wide world, not just you Americans.
What nation do you live in, Virginia?? I want to make a run for some other nation if it looks like the Orange scum is going to be our dictator. All of this Fascism thing scares the beejebers out of me,
Australia- but it’s still got its problems similar to USA, but at least our current PM is sane, logical and steady.
And your country at least made an ATTEMPT at recognizing, and reconciling your nation's butchery/genocide, and repression of it's native peoples. ;)
Fascism instills dread and fear into my very heart and soul.
Scares me too.
I may disagree with Reich as to whether Trump is a Fascist - but the forces driving the GOP are exactly the sort of cancerous aberration that could become some new form of Fascism.
But I think people in Reich's orbit are at least aware and trying their best to do whatever they can to resist. You may be needed here.
Nicely said, and it's absolutely worth pondering what happens of Trump drops dead tomorrow - America will go on, BUT the system that made Trump possible may produce new, potentially worse incarnations.
But I do not accept the notion that this structure has been "engineered" - it's more like the old gambler strategy of doubling down at the table - again and again, as long as someone else covers your losses, or any number of other old cons dressed in modern tech tools. Every colonial power that ever existed produced nasty creatures like Trump - who talked big back home about their patriotism, but hid exactly how they made their money and what they did to other people abroad.
Many of us here DO realize this, and it makes me laugh at those who somehow think that they can run to some democratic land elsewhere to escape said looming fascism and even Nazism.
Terrifyingly, THIS country was the spearhead leader the last time the world fought (and mercifully for all of the NOT pure Aryans, and NOT pure blooded Japanese on this globe!) DEFEATED the POS evil fascists.
WHO TF is going to take up that mantle if this land goes full-on, militaristic fascist?!?!
One would THINK that at least the people of England proper would be about as ANTI-fascist as could be possible, given that they had many unarmed, civilian citizenry DIE as a DIRECT RESULT of Hitler 1.0's buzz bomb and V-2 rocket attacks.
But sadly, I guess their memories are just as short as ours' are over here on this side of the pond(?).
Yes, it makes me wonder if this ubiquitous, mass psychosis is not just from the Goebbels brainwashing propaganda 'network' (and all of the other NAZI 'outlets'), and that maybe it's due to some other factor. ???
But then, it does seem that almost HALF of this land watches those 4th REICH promoting 'sources' of entertainment for fascists.
An excellent and alarming video, I do hope that the American institutions and actually put Trump on trial and convict him very soon. I mean what more evidence is needed that his recorded message to the governor of Georgia. Speaking from across the water in the UK, another Trump term in thr White House would really mean the end of democracy and is a deeply worrying thought. It would give licence and a green light to all the other authoritarian/facist wanna beens all over the globe.
The sooner this man is put on trial and put in jail the better for everybody
It's scary because I understand hitler was actually jailed at some point before he totally took over in 1939, so even if trump is jailed for his criminal behavior we are not out of danger ! I think we need to remember that & recognize the danger - he needs to be off the planet before he personally is expunged, and then he would leave behind his followers !
Hitler actually GAINED strength and power after his (brief, commuted sentence) one year long incarceration.
He was actually sentenced to death for treason against the Weimar Republic for his attempted putsch, but only got an initially 5 year sentence out of fear of making him a martyr for the fledgling Nazi movement (and threats and pressure for such).
Yeah, just think about the worldwide humanity which could have been spared IF those sentencing judges had NOT acted in FEAR.
Let us HOPE that lesson is learned by OUR judiciary controlling SCUMp's trials!
Again, I knew this when he was coming down the escalator getting ready to run against Hillary yet everyone thought she was the evil one! I screamed from the rooftops, but he was elected anyway and here we are again. So tell me how Americans became so ignorant???
They've been dumbed down for decades, thanks to our corporate news media, sellouts for the last forty years. The crowning moment was the Iraq invasion, when not a single person asked why. They just played patriotic music, flag graphics, and parroted the insane bullshit coming from the Bushies and his neo-con pals. And it has continued to this day, with an utter lack of accountability for that war and/or the disastrous recession caused by the greedy financial industry morons with MBAs.
and Americans were to busy shopping to take note.
...and watching the pitifully horrid 'reality' shows (just like the one which helped the putrid orange fuehrer into power due to it's popularity) foisted upon them by corporate entertainment, all while claiming that they "have no time to bother with politics". :( :(
Yes! I was there.
Still a 'reality' show.
As unrealistic as any other reality show.
Kerry, I could stitch together a thread from your comment to decades of declining standards and pay for educators that have lead to today’s teacher shortage, wherein we currently are staffing classrooms with personnel who don’t even hold an undergraduate college degree.
Oh yes, Barbara, I know. And we have elevated the status of military service members above teachers and nurses, who are the people most likely to be on the “front line” in extremely fraught situations on a daily basis. They don’t get appreciation or recognition, let alone an income that allows them to live in many communities where they teach.
We've had a shortage of teachers for a long time now & a lack of healthcare workers for even longer. One of many signs of our long decline.
Jaime, As part of reversing these trends, currently, I’m looking to Parkland survivor David Hogg’s new PAC “Leaders We Deserve,” focused mainly on electing Democratic state legislators, under 30, in red states, to commit to prioritizing these under-appreciated, yet essential, professionals.
Quality of and access to public education has declined in the US-- and it does seem lots of Americans don't have a rudimentary science education.
You hit the nail on the head when you used the word "irrational". Trump's followers are so disconnected from Reality that it has become impossible to reason with them in anything like a sane, logical manner. Facts and evidence mean nothing to them other than their absolute certainty that anything that disagrees with their worldview MUST be False, "fake news", fabricated, and is only meant to pull the wool over their eyes.
"My beliefs trump your so-called Facts!" End of story.
At this point, republicans will embrace anyone and anything that returns them to power, and our country be damned in the process.
I recall that after WWI, the victorious nations so humiliated Germany financially, that Hitler was able, like Trump, to cast himself as the nation's savior, while scapegoating Jews and others who didn't fit his demented ideal of an Aryan race.
And, as you observed in your stunning video, Dr. Reich, millions have been systematically screwed over in this country and are very, very angry, and rightfully so.
Thus, Trump's pretend symbiosis with his cult is terrifying and has a chance at succeeding, if we don't work like hell to save our country from the hell of another Trump presidency.
Deborah, the challenge for all of us is that the people who were screwed over in this country are generally not those who are now Trump worshippers. They seem to me to be the whiners who don't want to see anyone they feel are inferior to them getting anything that might, just might take something away from them. In the 2016 presidential election, 53% of white women voted for Trump. That is nuts when Trump treats women like dirt under his feet. I, alas, think the problem is the resenters having something real to resent. It seems more that they are wannabees who didn't get all they thought they should have, but in reality there will never be enough for them, just as there will never be enough for the rich guys who own and operate so many of our corporations. They, like Donnie, are seriously addicted to money and power and will do whatever it takes to get it, even if it means grooming pathetic white wannabees they can use in their quest for more money and power. It is shameful, but those guys feel no shame or anything else in their greed and need for the next hit. It's no different from drug-addicted persons except that instead of one family being impacted, our whole nation is impacted.
I see a mix of groups in Trump's fold:
- people who were actually screwed over by someone (lots of folks in rural America and rust belt don't know who to blame, but since the GOP has a lot of money in their blame machine, fingers get pointed)
- people who were NOT actually screwed over, but feel like they were - e.g., watching FoxNews a few hours/day
Then there's other groups:
- people who profit from screwing others over, and enjoy it (there aren't so many of them, but theyre quite powerful)
- people who will serve people who appear to be profiting from screwing others over, who don't like the practice but don't want to get targeted either
- people who don't know what to think, and are grateful for someone telling them (esp young)
And so on. Of the 53% of white women who voted for Trump, perhaps 80% identify as Christian - yet their faith is so riddled with internal contradictions that anyone who focuses on LGBTQ or abortion helps take the focus away from their own internal struggles.
We don't need to fight against them all - only to find a strategy that succeeds against one such group and they'll lose elections and races. Or inspiring new participants to joint in - did the 53% of white women who voted for Trump do so because millions of white women who would NOT have voted for Trump felt like staying home in 2016? Who can say...
I think you have the subgroups of Trumpsters just about right.
I think there are plenty of Maga people who have been screwed over by the system.
It STILL may not work, (such is their total and complete brainwashing by fascist Goebbels Nooz propaganda), but those MAGAt brownshirts should be shown all of the 'good' (leveled cities, economy and everything else destroyed, shamed by the whole world, etc.) which became of Germany after they followed THEIR 'dear leader' down the path of ruin.
They all "fought like hell" and did NOT have a country left!
Perhaps a viewing of the horrible Dresden Bombings would change their mindset.
That was the implication. ;)
It's about time you worked to save your country because you sat on your backsides and few voted.
The 2020 general election saw the highest voter turnout in over 120 years (over 66%), despite republican efforts at voter suppression.
I hope for an even higher turnout in 2024, and if current voting patterns on abortion are any indication, the turnout could be greater than 2020, favoring democrats.
He is the unwitting leader of the current wave of #RepubloFascism. The rest of the GOP is making sure that their billionaire and corporate donors are best positioned to benefit from Trumpism and it’s complete lack of integrity, compassion, and logic.
NOT "unwitting." IMHO a thief of the same order as "all the best people," i.e. oligarchs and sundry robber barons.
IMHO boosted financially by Russia and Saudi.
...and the American people who never cared until now.
I agree that Trump and his GOP supporters are “Fascist” but lets not ignore the fact that many of these supporters HAVE been screwed, by the current version of Capitalism and the skewed version of Democracy that Capitalism has given birth to, benefits overwhelmingly from, and will defend by any means. Unfortunately the Democratic party, and Biden etc., in many ways are inevitably also caught up by this capture of Democracy and its consequences. Its the same here in the UK, slower, less frenetic but still in the same direction.
capitalism only works to suppress the masses (which is what's happening to the average citizen of capitalistic states) WHEN government lets big business have free reign to set the market prices (a major cause of inflation), put profit before decent wages (keeping the rich richer and working tax payer poorer), fair working conditions, safety and morality. Government has to supply controls because amoral capitalist leaders will only work to hang onto their power and money. All the blame against the government of the resentful average citizen has been carefully engineered to point to politicians on the left, when, it's lots of politicians, especially on the right, that are propping up this lopsided capitalistic system and are supported by the very system the people are sick of: the military industrial complex Ike warned us against. It's happening in the UK, USA and in my country of Australia.
True enough. Work for change in the democratic party seems the best way to go. Work to reduce the power of the GOP which thwarts the democratic party when they do try and take progressive steps.
Mike, I imagine, as you aptly state, that MAGA supporters largely have been victimized by capitalism’s raw brute form and have suffered the worst consequences of it. Accordingly, absent wedding capitalism to social democratic institutions that contain both its excesses and its self-serving impulses, we should expect to reap anarchy and domestic terrorism.
Trump is a 77-year-old con artist, willing to pivot to the next brutal con whenever expedient. Con artists may become authoritarians or fascists, subject to constraints raised by the community - and their own biology.
Fascists took power only in the face of a plausible Communist/anarchist threat. Mussolini broke from the socialists. Franco fought them. Hitler blamed them for Reichstag Fire, but they actually existed in Germany, Italy, and Spain. Elites backed the Fascists because the Communists terrified them more. "Lesser of two evils." Or so they thought at first.
But while Fascists invoked nationalism as a specific anti-Communism, Trump's "nationalism" is bluster. Attack China? Sure...and blame Taiwan and Korea for not investing enough to defend themselves...meanwhile, Trump still profits from his Chinese business interests, still profits from Chinese money flooding into his hotels, still licenses key US technologies to China even as he tweets how bad the Chinese are.
Warfare? Trump 1.0 preferred Twitter flame wars to shooting wars - "Rocketman!"
"Nationalism based on a superior race"...which race? Trump surrounds himself with token Black, Jewish, Muslim, and Latino sycophants (Kushner, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Herschel Walker, Dr. Oz, etc.). Not substantive beliefs, but tactical posturing.
A statement like "Mexican rapists and murderers" is not actually "nationalism" - it's much more "con artistry." Millions of Americans are scared of immigrants - always have been, so that's one easy group to acquire as followers for the price of a few words. But how many thousands of GOP donors employ those undocumented people (the same way Trump did in 2016)? Declare that they're 'rapists and murderers' and you can terminate employment contracts, or renege on any other contract (or lease) - and just call ICE to get rid of them, rather than paying for lawyers. Trump's words bought him millions of dupes, but also, key support among the donors he needed who don't care whether the words are true so much as whether they're useful.
"Brute strength and heroic warriors."
Consider how Trump treats actual, real world "heroic warriors" - if they are loyal to him, they may be praised, otherwise, they are demonized and mocked along with anyone else. John McCain? Colin Powell? Gold star families? There are Navy Seals who are loyal to Trump who get sweetheart jobs - and there are Navy Seals who are NOT loyal to Trump, who get ignored/mocked/sidelined.
Trump is 77 years old. He's mortal. But the forces he is manipulating will outlast him - Trump 2.0 will see a GOP that is ridiculously easy to coopt, riddled with conspiracy theorists. The dupes eat up Trump's BS like a candy coated opioids - but the GOP elites smell get-rich-quick schemes aplenty. When they err, and incur massive debts that they cannot otherwise pay, then and only then will they endorse Fascism or Authoritarianism or any other political structure that will shift the cost of their reckless risks onto other people.
DRM, I wish I could disagree with you, but what is going on seems to follow what you are describing. When one whole party has gone to the dark side, it is hard to figure out how to manage, particularly when that rogue party has so many followers who will "blindly" go along with their Baby Donnie and those he likes when they tell them to go and do what he orders them to do. That has always been a formula for disaster. We could put a small stop to it if Trump's trial were say, in October and were fully televised on all "news" networks, that would include Fox. OK, it might not work with most of the sycophants, but many might wake up from their power-drugged sleep.
Hi Ruth - thanks for your comment. Do you really think the GOP "went" to the dark side with Trump? Way I see it, the "big lie" of 2003 was that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden collaborated on 9/11. Dems didn't embrace that lie, but didn't bother disputing it.
That lie drove the U.S. to invade Iraq to "liberate" them from an evil dictator and stop terrorists. In the process, it took Iraqi oil off the market for at least a decade - which stabilized prices for the U.S. fracking industry, making it possible for insiders to orchestrate oil leases profitably. It wasn't about a few measly billion dollars for Haliburton, but a big chunk of a multitrillion dollar/year industry, with resources to co-opt power networks in about 20-26 states (North Dakota through Texas, PA, OH, and many many others).
The Bigger Lie of 2003 led to other useful lies - in 2008, in 2016, and in 2020. Trump didn't create that. He just recognized liars and dupes and knew how to exploit them, running politics much like any other pump and dump scheme in the 1980s. Lots of people might get trampled, but only "losers" care about them (unless caring is useful for posturing in the next con).
I quibble with - and deeply respect - Dr. Reich, because his points about Fascism aren't merely about Trump, but about the Fascist tendencies themselves which can metastasize Trump into a Fascist. Questions about "what is Trump?" aren't really about Trump at all - but how those of us who wish to figure out how to stop the toxic spew he represents from dominating the USA may do so together,
Please consider dropping the term Baby Donnie. It trivializes his persona and encourages people to see him as less than adult, however flawed and twisted.
Hi Karen - I like your gentle tone...you're right about trivializing Trump, and to be honest, we should neither trivialize nor exaggerate the menace that Trump represents. Yet when we feel threatened, the instinct to mock - to judge the judges - is a common enough psychological response to fear.
I'm more reluctant than Professor Reich to call Trump or the GOP Fascists, only because the sole effective means of countering Fascists is overwhelming military force. Nothing else worked against any Fascist regime anywhere; left to their own devices, Franco persisted in Spain, and nobody in Germany or Italy would have removed the thugs in power there. Let's stop kidding ourselves that the term "fascist" means we have other options.
But we MAY have tools to beat con artists before they become authoritarians or Fascists. If the tools we have are inadequate, we either build new tools, improve how we use them, or unite and ally with a strong enough coalition to defeat the Trumplings. Again, the man is 77 years old. I dread what may follow him even more than I detest him.
Spot on Professor Reich!! This is happening right before our damn eyes!
Trumpie boy bellows. All the subjects bellow back assuredly! The best place for him now is a prison cell with solitary confinement and no contact with the outside world IMO.
Repubs talk about the left beginning a civil war giving several scenarios how that would happen. In my view, it is already going on with trumpie boy as the leader of the fascist cult that is very organized and powerful.
Interesting how he stokes hatred for the elites while requiring the support of at least some elites.
There are no people more elite than the corporatists who have stacked our Supreme Court and bankrolled the campaigns of the people who refused to impeach or convict the orange blowhard in chief.
Kerry, you are right, so how do we start holding them accountable when we don't even know where their money has gone and into which dark money conduit?
As Kerry’s link (below) to an organization that advocates for “reasonable” spending on campaigns implies, we hold them accountable by, in my opinion, advocating for no private spending on campaigns.
We should pass laws that allow spending only public money.
Allowing a “reasonable” amount of money to be spent is way too vague. What seems “reasonable” under certain circumstances may not seem “reasonable” in other circumstances, and who makes the decision about what’s reasonable and what isn’t? In the system we have now, power depends on how much money corporations possess and what they’re allowed by law to do with it.
In fact, money is the incentive for what we’re going through politically & ethically right now. We have
to remove the incentive that leads to the corruption. Money is what has corrupted the pharmaceutical industry, the oil & gas industry and our Supreme Court. We are well on our way to the complete corruption of our entire healthcare system as well.
There are three additional ways to rein in the corruption: taxes, regulations & anti-trust laws.
If all corporations and industries were honest we wouldn’t need to impose regulations. But it’s glaringly obvious that most, if not all, corporations and industries are corrupt, and their corruption is killing us. The oil & gas industry is so corrupt that it’s a major cause of climate change and the accompanying extinction-level events. The fossil fuel industry has no incentive to switch to renewable
energy because they’re making so much money.
Our only recourse is to make it not worth their while
to continue doing business as they are.
Republicans have shoveled even more money their way by continually lowering the corporate tax rate
and providing numerous tax loopholes. As a matter of fact, Republicans just empowered corporations to continue their corrupt behavior when during budget negotiations, they refused to fund the IRS at the level they need in order to audit corporate taxes.You might wonder why republicans don’t want the IRS to be able to audit corporations. It’s because it makes corporations so grateful to the GOP they will make larger campaign donations.
In addition, where have our anti-trust laws gone? We still have them, it’s just that they aren’t being used. “Antitrust” refers to regulation of the concentration of economic power, particularly with regard to monopolies and other anticompetitive practices. When corporate entities purchase their competition, it puts them in a position to overcharge customers
without having to worry about their customers going elsewhere to buy what they want at a lower price. If they’ve bought all of their competitors, consumers don’t have a choice, and that would be unfair to consumers, right?
We can make this inequality of power better by removing private campaign donations as a source
of corruption, increasing the corporate tax rate, imposing regulations for health and safety purposes,
fully funding the IRS and using our anti-trust laws
to break up monopolies which will in turn result in
competition for customers by lowering the cost of
whatever they are selling.
All your points are good points. The real problem is that we live in a society that treats corporations like gods. We give them the same rights as people but none of the obligations or responsibilities. And we accept that they have only one mission, which is to return the maximum yield to their shareholders, regardless of injury to society. And their power has so corrupted government that they are no longer regulated, or policed, or taxed. The best and brightest have gone into financial services careers to make a killing, unlike the past when they became scientists and engineers, physicians and civil servants. The society is sick. It has no values other than the accumulation of wealth for wealth’s sake.
https://americanpromise.net/
Gloria, hypocrisy rules in Republican circles. Some Repubs are aware of it while others hold the two conflicting beliefs without even noticing. How do we get the irrational people to start noticing their own irrational thinking and behavior and to see that Trump has absolutely nothing positive to offer them, nor do any of the other Republicans they fawn over? There must be a way to do that.
SCUMp lives on doublespeak and hypocrisy, just like his worshipers.
Trump is an opportunist, meaning there’s tremendous inconsistency in his utterances
as well as his political positions. He should be thought of and approached as a person living in
the moment 100% of the time. His sole focus is
on himself and how he can get what he wants.
His followers don’t care about his inconsistencies
because, for the most part, they are reacting to
how he makes them feel.
I see a poem here - just a little revision and you have one!
No, we are reaching to how he makes YOU feel. We want you to cry. We want you to scream. We want revenge. We will vote for anyone that promises us revenge on our enemies and we don’t care if the country survives, in fact we are rooting for it.
How old are you?
Trumpsters like to say that the left will start a civil war, but it's always the right urging on civil war.
Like a broken record I keep returning to this world's greatest issue, the decline of this planet's ability to sustain any kind of life within approximately 32 years. The world should have discontinued the use of fossil fuels by now. Fascists, Democrats, Communists, et. al. are not immediately and completely dedicated to our world's ability to sustain animal, plant, fowl, fish, etc. life. Politics will virtually become beside the point. Sure Biden has given some attention to THE issue, but insufficiently as are all major leaders in the world. Not just Maui is essentially 'gone,' but all of HI will be lost under 'warming' water. "Global Warming" is misleading terminology for the destruction of the planet's ability to sustain life that is rapidly becoming this globe's fate. Artificial intelligence and robots are going to be quite an assist in our world's destruction of life.
No problem Barbara. You’re playing my tune.
Climate chaos, climate catastrophe, climate disruption, global heating & global scorching are the terms I use.
They're better, for sure. Maybe World's Destruction, Demise, Life's Demise. It needs to be shockingly accurate for the world to wake up for life of all kinds to survive. Thanks for your input!
1 term that's started to become popular is "global boiling". I thought of that term long ago & rejected it because of its literal inaccuracy, but if it works...
Thanks for that 'suggestion.' I'm adopting it, hoping it becomes great overstatement, but fearful it won't.
Barbara, I think you’ll find that Pres.Biden has done far more to fight climate change than most people realize. You can go to: - WH.gov/Climate - to read for yourself what the Pres. has done, is doing and what his future plans are to combat climate change. I’ve copied and pasted a fraction of the Biden Admin’s plans, goals & accomplishments below.
The general population lacks information on this topic because main stream media isn’t reporting
on it, and I suspect that’s fine as far as the Biden admin. is concerned, because republicans have vowed to revoke all plans & measures taken to reduce greenhouse gases the next time they are in power. The last thing we need is for republicans to start “war” on climate change mitigation.
I know a lot of people are angry that the President
okayed the Willow Project in Alaska. There’s a good article on it in the Washington Post, by Timothy Puko, dated 4/22/23. Recently, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland also defended the decision, saying it was “reality" that the U.S. would continue to use oil and gas. The Biden admin had several reasons for
giving it a “green light.”
“They said...they were limited by the law that governs NPR-A and the leases that ConocoPhillips has held since long before the Biden administration took office. The law gives a company with such leases the right to develop, and strong legal standing to fight the government if it tries to block that work. If rejected, ConocoPhillips could have sued, and potentially won billions of dollars at taxpayer expense, and still been able to develop the project anyway, legal experts have said.”
President Biden created the first-ever National Climate Task Force, with more than 25 Cabinet-level leaders from across agencies working together on groundbreaking goals:
1. Reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 50-52% below 2005 levels in 2030
2. Reaching 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035
3. Achieving a net-zero emissions economy by 2050
4. Delivering 40% of the benefits from federal investments in climate and clean energy to disadvantaged communities
President Biden signed an Executive Order that directs the federal government to use its scale & procurement power to achieve five ambitious goals:
1. 100 % carbon pollution-free electricity (CFE) by 2030, at least half of which will be locally supplied clean energy to meet 24/7 demand;
2. 100 % zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) acquisitions by 2035, including 100 percent zero-emission light-duty vehicle acquisitions by 2027;
3. Net-zero emissions from federal procurement no later than 2050, including a Buy Clean policy to promote use of construction materials with lower embodied emissions;
4. A net-zero emissions building portfolio by 2045, including a 50 percent emissions reduction by 2032; and
5. Net-zero emissions from overall federal operations by 2050, including a 65 percent emissions reduction by 2030.
The President also directed the federal government to orient its procurement and operations efforts in line with the following principles and goals:
Achieving climate resilient infrastructure and operations;
Building a climate- and sustainability-focused workforce;
Advancing environmental justice and equity;
Prioritizing the purchase of sustainable products, such as products without added perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS); and
Accelerating progress through domestic and international partnerships.
___________________
Through this executive order, the federal gov’t will transform its portfolio of 300,000 buildings, fleet of 600,000 cars and trucks, and annual purchasing power of $650 billion in goods and services to:
Transition federal infrastructure to zero-emission vehicles and buildings powered by carbon pollution-free electricity, which will reduce the federal government’s greenhouse gas emissions by 65 percent by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Achieve 100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity use by 2030, including 50 percent on a 24/7 basis. The federal government will work with utilities, developers, technology firms, financiers and others to purchase electricity produced from resources that generate no carbon emissions, including solar and wind, for all its operations by 2030.
Make federal agencies more adaptive and resilient to the impacts of climate change, and increase the sustainability of federal supply chains, achieving net-zero emissions from federal procurement by 2050.
__________________
Actions Agencies are Taking to Meet the Goals of the Sustainability Executive Order:
In 2022, the DOD Edwards Air Force Base in CA will add 520 megawatts (MW) of CFE to the grid by completing one of the country’s largest solar photovoltaic (PV) array projects & creating more than 1,000 union and other construction jobs.
In 2022, DOD’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii will complete construction of the nation’s largest 100 percent clean energy microgrid. By leveraging a 14-megawatt (MW) solar facility paired with a 70 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery energy storage system sited on the base, the Pacific Missile Range Facility can become self-sufficient for all its electricity needs.
In 2021, the Dept. of the Interior (DOI) began transitioning its fleet of U.S. Park Police lightweight motorcycles and dirt bikes to 100 percent ZEVs at its Washington, D.C., New York City, and San Francisco locations, with plans to reach a 100 ZEV fleet by 2025.
The Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) will begin field testing the Ford Mustang Mach-E ZEV for use in its law enforcement fleet.
In 2023, the Dept. of Transportation will complete its Volpe Transportation Center project that collapses six buildings into a low-emissions building with rooftop solar PV panels, ZEV charging stations for the federal fleet and employee vehicles, green and cool roof technologies, a rainwater reclamation and reuse system, and a climate-resilient above-grade data center.
By 2022, the Dept. of the Treasury will have completed the majority of its energy infrastructure improvements at an Internal Revenue Service Center outside of New York City through a 17-year, $30.9 million energy savings performance contract (ESPC). The ESPC has so far delivered nearly $14 million in capital improvements and $2.2 million in annual utility bill savings.
In 2021, DOD collected information from its suppliers on their efforts to measure and report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. DOD is using this information to develop low-carbon purchasing guidelines.
In 2022, the General Services Admin. (GSA) will require contractors to disclose the embodied carbon of building materials for new building and major modernization contracts.
By January 2022, DOD’s Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany in Georgia anticipates achieving net-zero energy status.
More than 20 major federal agencies released plans describing how they will integrate climate-readiness across missions and programs and bolster resilience of Federal assets. For example, the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is collecting bldg. level data across HUD programs to map existing climate risks.
DOD is integrating climate change considerations across its strategic guidance & planning documents including the National Defense.
The State Dept.is assessing its climate and sustainability management staffing and training gaps.
In 2022, the Dept. of Labor will launch a new training course for its senior leadership team on climate change management considerations and environmental justice principals.
_________________
Advance Environmental Justice and Equity:
In 2021, GSA launched an Environmental Justice and Equity Task Group to identify and propose effective approaches to improve environmental justice and equity.
In 2021, the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) convened Climate and Equity roundtables across the country to gather feedback to inform how NOAA provides climate services.
DHS is incorporating the need to achieve equity as a guiding principle through all lines of effort described in the framework.
__________________
Accelerate Progress Through Domestic and International Partnerships. The U.S. & Canada launched the Greening Government Initiative, a first-of-its-kind initiative that will enable countries to share lessons learned, promote innovation, and accelerate national efforts to green government operations.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) New England’s Boston Healthcare System partnered with National Grid on a plan to transition its 70-car fleet to ZEVs.
Wow, Susan, that's a lot of info. Thanks. I'll try to become more optimistic!
I have to say I am a bit confused. I looked up the term elites which confused me further. A select group that is superior in terms of ability or qualities to the rest of the group or society. Mr. Trump seems to attack these elites like "they" are the bad guy but isn't that what he is actually wanting? Isn't he wanting his right-wing nutters to be the elite? He rails against these elitists but is basically saying he and his followers are the elite? It is all confusing, dangerous, and absurd that his cult has somehow managed to grow in the United States of America! I am not saying we have been shielded from the Adolf Hitlers in this world, but yeah, maybe I feel we have because Mr. Trump's kind of rhetoric was usually knee-capped before it gained much traction. I feel sorry for his followers in a way because they really don't know that they are being used in order for him to gain power. Once he obtains that power, he will begin to cull his own followers, too! They don't realize it yet, but once he eliminates the minority groups he is railing against right now, he will have to find a new group to target and eliminate. Some of his followers may be in that new group. These are scary times we live in.
No, DJT doesn't want his right wing supporters to be the "elite." He uses the term "elite" as a code word for East Coast - and West Coast - liberal leaders, people who have advanced education, people who know how to use the media to put forth their point of view because they READ AND WRITE.
Yes, you are right. We could easily name him Hitler number two.
(Pancha Chandra): All the contortions on Trump's face show how guilty Donald Trump is; he tried to rig the 2020 elections in so many different ways & pretends he had nothing to do with the January 6th insurrection on the Capitol building after losing to Joe Biden!
I don't think Trump feels guilt. The facial contortions show how much he wants to assert power over people.
According to people like Dr. Justin A. Frank, a Psychoanalyst & Clinical Professor, Trump's demeanor shows he's full of guilt. but he has a subtype of dyslexia” that leads to his difficulty understanding complexity and “simply reacting while avoiding the work of thinking.”
IMHO he has several "tells." Count his sniffs, the number of times he touches his face, his hand gestures......
Daniel, interesting! I have noticed Trump's voice changing over time. He sounds like a little kid being bombastic. My sister says he sounds like Tommy Smothers when he and Dick were doing their routines. Tommy's voice was an act, maybe Donnie's isn't. His talk has become more juvenile too. "If you come after me I'll come after you." That's a schoolyard bully's threat. I think of Trump as a toddler-man and his words and actions these days seem to fit that description. I don't know about the guilt thing, but at least part of him knows he did things that are illegal. He was definitely expecting to get away with all of it. He didn't, or at least I hope he doesn't.
Gloria, I don't think Trump feels much of anything except the extreme highs he gets from crowd cheering and the lows of sitting in court as an indicted person. He wquickly ditches the lows when he imagines the crowds screaming for him (OK not screaming, but cheering for him at just the right, the planned times). His handlers make sure he gets pumped up so he can go out the next time and keep the fascist comments and insult, blaming, lying, etc. going. I want to know who those guys are and would love to have them investigated to find out their roles in the insurrection and other "crimes." I keep wondering if family is involved and Evanka and hubby in particular.
Some believe that his 'handlers' keep him 'pumped up' by using various forms of meth (speed).
Ironically (or maybe not?), Hitler 1.0 was a crystal meth addict from the beginning of WW2 on, in an attempt to appear 'strong and indominable' for his volk.
It made him feel invincible, immortal, and undefeatable (ONE of the reasons for his many military blunder decisions) but rotted his brain out before he put a Luger round into it.
IF SCUMp is actually on meth himself, he will not last long given his (lack of) condition, and it may be why there is apparent (even greater, more accelerated) deterioration of his faculties, in tandem with possible dementia onset, which the drugs will certainly exacerbate.
David, I have thought for years that Trump is moving into dementia. He has so many of the signs that my mom had as she was drifting off. The repeating of phrases, not being able to stay on track when speaking, constantly reverting to tried and true phrases even if they are not the right ones for the occasion or the question. I know his cult does not want to see any of the disconnects, but they can't help but notice; they just don't want to believe it, or they think somehow what he is saying is being deliberately distorted by someone; they have no idea who that could be except, probably Hunter Biden.
As you said, Trump seems to have been moving into dementia for years. But it usually works faster than this. He's been depraved his whole life, & it's easy to confuse depravity with dementia. He has enough lucid moments to put that in doubt.
Like "cofefve"?
Or "ananmoossssss"?
Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon
I agree. Guilt is an emotion Trump is incapable of
feeling. So are empathy and sincerity.
Professor, this should be an Academy Award Video. Fascism is not a theory or a story of only Nazi Germany or countries across the ocean. We are living in a country that is for some knowingly and others unaware they are embracing not just a Fascist leader in TFG, but a philosophy of government that is here in America, out in the open, with a leader many Americans are following and defending even if he is an indicted criminal. TFG as victim, accountable for crimes against Democracy, a Fascist, is popular enough to become a candidate for a second act. “Those who refuse to pay attention to history are destined to repeat it.” “Condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana, Spanish philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist. (1863-1952).