Max Planck, father of quantum mechanics, said science makes progress at funerals. That is, the old guard has to die off because their careers are wedded to the old paradigm. Same for the republicans.
@Robert. There is a persistent love affair with the sentiments of the old Confederacy. That, plus guns and trucks and sub-standard education are (unfortunately) raising a new (but hopefully smaller) generation of right wing nuts. Three things we need to do in this country to secure the future of democracy; First, we do need a total refreshment of the leadership in Congress, both houses. The Democrats in the House of Reps are much fresher than those in the Senate and the country will be well served if the Democrats can control both chambers as a result of the next election cycle. Second, we need to fix the economy so that this up-coming generation has a real chance at economic and social mobility. People just aren't so angry when they are doing well. Balancing the needs of our own economy with the real role that globalism plays in capitalism is the primary task ahead, and it takes a Democrat to do it. Fixing the Congress gives us a shot at fixing the economy (or at least moving a bit in the direction that helps regular folks more than it helps investment bankers, oligarchs and corporations. Third, regardless of age, we need Joe Biden's hand on the tiller of State. We need to stay the course in Ukraine. We need to continue to innovate in the way administrative agencies of government can help people (overtime rules!!!). We need strong, steady direction for NATO, for relations with China and leadership in the United Nations. We need a President who can shepherd controversial policies and legislation through Congress. And we need a candidate who can bring Democrats together against Trump and/or whoever ends up being the Republican candidate. There is a 3.5 point also - Democrats cannot afford to get distracted by 3rd party candidates. We need to put everything into getting our team elected. Longer version on Cultural Economics:
"We need to put everything into getting our team elected."
Good. How about we start by making universal healthcare and student loan forgiveness the centerpiece of our manifesto, while raising taxes on the wealthy and the corporations to pay for it - basically the same manifesto as the British Labor party in 1945.
Message to DNC: grow a pair, abjure your corporate sponsors for once. Raise money like Bernie does, and take America back again.
@Michael. Thank you! But to get a majority in Congress we will have to take some of the mediocre and even some of the not-so-great Democrats. Hopefully the party as a whole will bend towards justice.
Trump has attacked any future covid precautions the CDC might ask the country to initiate. He came right out and told his people to ignore any and all directives issued by the CDC concerning protective measures people should take to protect themselves and others. Trump is a raging lunatic. The only "person" equally as dumb is the one looking back from within the mirror.
Trump/MAGAs attack on voting rights...self-immolation? In 2020 154 million people voted so every vote is worth 2 people. So every idiot who flaunts CDC precautions for the supreme leader and dies is freeing up 2 votes.
Jim Jones killed 918 cult followers. 15% of deaths from covid are deemed poltitically republican affiliated. Trump/MAGA cult then has 176,000 deaths on their hands. Trump...wins? That must be some tasty cool aid!
ARGH! IF Americans had good messaging, Bunkerboy and his obsolete party would no longer exist TODAY. President Biden has done incredible things with the horrific economy he was "gifted," but NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT IT!!!
Biden is a quiet guy who gets good things done. His messaging doesn’t match the Orange Carnival Barker’s … How do we get the press and all of us to counter that?
Biden should refuse to debate Trump; that’s one way to diminish him, treat him as insignificant, as he did his fellow republican candidates. A debate only gives him a larger magaphone to broadcast more lies and continued obfuscation.
Treating him as “insignificant” now, while there’s a huge field of R’s posturing for the presidency, works.
If it’s between Biden and Donny, he's all of a sudden VERY significant, and not debating comes off as all sorts of dismissive, arrogant, chicken … any number of ungood things.
I would not be surprised if Donny opted out of debates on some excuse or other. That would not win him votes, but it would please his base. We’ve seen it already among the R’s.
Sadly, if these two wind up facing off, I expect them to stand on a stage and talk at each other. I would not call it a debate.
Pat - If it happens one to one, remember this: Biden is wonderfully skilled at making points. His sense of timing and his sense of humor are quick-silver. I, for one, keep hoping the 14th Amendment eliminates Trump from any stage, permanently.
I agree that our press has failed us. We must raise a new generation of "Woodward/Bernstein." Our founding fathers and mothers would be appalled at what we have allowed to happen.
Letters to the Editor, and letters TO the editors, might make some difference, but they are looking at who keeps them going — pays the rent, pays the salaries ..
Of course, they can’t sell ads to anybody unless they can also show READERS pick up the papers, so being a reader with an opinion should carry a little weight — if the opinion sounded rational.
I don’t know any more. I WAS a small-town newspaper editor for a few years. What would have resonated with me? Readers’ opinions.
Yeap there is only so much he can do. The main stream media goes to controversey like moth to a flame regardless of who that hurts. Thats why I dont even bother with mainstream media anymore. If the only way Biden can get press is to be controversal that will ruin all he has accomplished.
The reason that "nobody knows about it" is because the news media is so fractured and controlled mainly by oligarchs who don't want the American people to know the truth. Americans are too willing to go for the "popular" instead of the great steady voices.
Biden’s messaging is a fraction of the GOP's because his funding is a fraction of right-wing messaging. There're no morbidly rich mega-donors in line touting his accomplishments.
The Democratic Party doesn’t praise our President for his accomplishments! Why not? Except for a few brave souls they are non existent till they need your money for their campaigns!
Truly remarkable that a once viable political option, a party populated by many worthy of consideration historically, could become so irrational, even comical in a few short years, compliments of the last president and his authoritarian fascism. So instead, the accomplishments of the President that defeated him conclusively, despite a warped and depraved assertion to the contrary with no basis in fact, are ignored because of the daily rush to put the fascist and his psychotic meanderings in the headlines every day.
Herbert, I agree with your analysis. One of the issues of the focus of the media on Trump is not just to ignore or underreport the achievements our current President and his administration, but to underreport the drift to authoritarianism. Moreover, Mr. Reich has pointed out that the extreme right is actually paving the way towards fascism. It is not just Trump but so many other politicians, on the state and local levels even to the school and library boards! Cloaked behind all of this are the ultra-rich individuals and corporations who are funding the campaigns and spending billions on lobbying not because they oppose abortion or support the ultra-right’s social issues but they are in favor of authoritarianism as it gives them complete freedom to do as they please and pass legislation that is favorable to them and totally ignores the common good. Jack Welsh is a perfect example. He is looked up to a a wizard at business, a celebrated best selling author and he was an avid Trump supporter.
In regards to my “vote” regarding the state of the Republican party in ten years, I firmly believe it will cease to exist as well democracy as we have known it. Have you ever seen a tree fall over that on the outside seemed reasonably healthy? After it falls one can see that the core of the tree has been eaten by termites so much that even a slight breeze will topple it. I have actually witnessed a seemingly healthy tree fall occur on a windless day. A wise forester/steward will have already planted trees to replace it long before weak trees fall. They will be of a new hybrid variety that can withstand the current diseases that weakened the fallen tree so as to preserve and improve the functioning of the forest. The foresters govern wisely looking towards the future of the tree population they are stewards of. There are new “trees” or forms of democratic government to replace the diseased democracy we live with now. Two of these new forms of government are called Economic Democracy and Progressive Utilization Theory. They deserve our full attention. For the next four-year term it is imperative to elect Biden but we should understand that it is no more than to call a tree surgeon to cable a tree that has already been fatally weakened so it can stand a bit longer until a suitable replacement has been found and is being implemented.
Indeed. "The Party of Lincoln" is now "The Grand OLD Pedophiles" party of crooks, grifters, criminal, "brainlet" goofballs. Lincoln would NOT be happy.
Absolutely gob-smacking. And, as a circus performer, he knows that spectacle draws attention. It’s in the definition of the term. He loves spectacle, and so do most of us.
Slightly aside, but still relevant, I know too many who put down the Trump Phenomenon to “Left Wing Arrogance,” and to “The Forgotten Middle,” and things like that.
I think there’s a ton of disappointment, fear, and feelings of being dismissed or disrespected among the Trumpians, but much in the same way the Right deflects criticism by keep the lower economic strata fighting among themselves {“blame the immigrants,” “blame the poor who want handouts,” blame lazy young people,” “blame so-called incompetent government”}, we are encouraged not to see that the Trumpist’s disaffection comes from a long history of resentment about things like hollowing out the Middle Class {dating from at least Reagan}, social fallout from demonizing young Black people as “thugs” {Clinton era, both Republican and Democrats}, losing our sense of invulnerability {the Dubya-Cheney years, 9-11, the war on terrorism, becoming a country that tortures, and so much more}, the 2008 crash and only banks getting help from it while we blamed poor people for causing it instead of the loss of Glass Steagall and years of allowing money-managers to game the economy. Then the election of a Black Man to the White House, anti-intellectualism that has been around since I was an adolescent in the 1960s and probably a lot longer, and people flogging the “replacement” idea that energizes White Supremacists who see the writing on the wall regarding their inability to always call the shots given the changing US demographics {hell, PLANETARY demographics}—
If all these didn’t contribute to Trump’s popularity {as if he didn’t realize all these were in play, so he put them at the center of his bid to get people to lionize him, along with playing the successful TV mogul — because that’s what he does, he plays to what people want to hear so they will want HIM, and now he has a loyal following, so he’s sticking to the crap line he’s been spouting, after having been a “liberal” in NYC when those where the people he was playing to. But after being “president,” he can’t keep switching around any more..}, well, if they are not part and parcel of what gave us Trump, at least as much as Left Liberal Arrogance and our insatiable appetitive for watching his antics and SPECTACLE, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.
{Joe Biden is so boring. Competent and boring. How can he compete?}
Personality doesn't govern the nation at all. Pres. Biden is a low key ,practical man who ACCOMPLISHES for the people,no showtime in his administration.Look at the contrast after he took office,the calm and sense of well being was comforting and refreshing.All those ignorant Twitter tantrums got very old and exhausting.
The whole scenario with Trump is like one of those low budget horror movies where the director uses every cheap trick to frighten the viewers. This damn guy is jumping out of closets, attacking people almost at random, whispering scary things in the dark, and like the best/worst monsters the damn guy just won't die! But thanks to Fani Willis this movie is just about over. So get some popcorn, don't believe all the scary tricks, and watch the show!
School shootings is a systems problem. It is a problem with the ability to access guns easily and not have a way to require training on guns to get them. It is a problem with economics where some people are struggling and others are not and this is being used to create fear and anger against the other. It is a problem with the glorification of violence in the media and in movies. It is a problem of health care that we are possibly one cough away from bankruptcy. It is an education problem that schools are not teaching real world skills to students as well as how to thinking for themselves. It is a religious problem when the other is made a demon or we are taught to blindly obey. A person does not remain sane in a system that turns a deaf ear to them. As a mental health professional, I can help someone make better choices but I can not change the environment they live in. Until we can get more equal access to healthy options for a sustained amount of time, we will continue to repeat the cycle.
Sep 2, 2023·edited Sep 2, 2023Liked by Heather Lofthouse
Heather--You son has cause for concern with all that has been going on in this country. We very often take the issues that really hit home with our kids for granted because we sometimes don't give them credit for having feelings and emotions that equate to what we as adults feel. "The boy is the father of the man." I don't know who originally stated that sage thought but it fits. I fell in love with a young lady when I was 12 years old, puppy love they called it. However the feelings and emotions that ran through me at that time equaled to any I ever felt later in life as an adult. Kids have adult concerns even at their young age and any concerns should be treated as important. I still care deeply for the young lady I met in Grand Blanc High School when I was 12. Help me Rhonda. Tell your son life is full of dangers of one degree or another, if we give in to them we become less than what we need to be. He is 10 and so is the man he will one day be.
Sep 2, 2023·edited Sep 2, 2023Liked by Heather Lofthouse
Thank you, Robert and Heather, for another great coffee klatch! I try to understand the discussion of economics, but don't always get it immediately ; All I know that positive indicators about consumer spending is encouraging, even though there seems to be a 'need' to slow down the spending? The boost for worker's overtime is a bright spot! I like the job growth report. I'm glad that Bob's cold is not Covid, and he will be better off as the holiday season comes, if he gets over this now. tRump's future is in doubt, with all the prosecutions coming, so he can't really convince us that everything (he) is perfect! I bet that rattles him some. It is a shame that our children must worry about being shot in school, and just about anyplace these days. It is interesting that DeSantis was booed when he arrived at a vigil for those three Black victims of gun violence when he immediately started in with 'thoughts and prayers'! This is the man who held a nighttime meeting with the gun lobby (no constituents invited to this clandestine event) where legislation was passed allowing unlimited freedom to concealed carry with no background checks, no questions required! Pure evil! And look what happened again, in Tennessee! Representative Justin Jones was silenced for speaking out about gun violence! The GOP is beneath the pit!
Loved this weeks coffee klatch. Thanks to both Heather and Robert for what you do each week. It is a part of how I start my day each Saturday. Some of this past week wasn't so great because I live on the West Coast of Florida and had to evacuate for a couple of days because I live near the water. My apartment community was spared flooding and damage but unfortunately those ti the North of us were not spared from Idalia.
If we are forecasting what will happen to a USA political party ten years from now, then we need to forecast within the context of the planet ten years from now. 1. The planet will pass the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold within ten to fifteen years. At our current global pace of carbon emissions, the world will burn through its remaining “carbon budget” by 2030. Doing so would put the long-term goal of keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) irrevocably out of reach. 2. Beyond that threshold, scientists have found, climate disasters will become so extreme that people will not be able to adapt. Basic components of the Earth system will be fundamentally, irrevocably altered. Heat waves, famines and infectious diseases could claim millions of additional lives by century’s end.
@Martha. You are a bit pessimistic today dear. But you are right I fear. To mitigate just a bit, I want to play it out a little. First, the scenario you outline is certainly within 3 sigma of the reality. Maybe a little less extreme, maybe a little more. You didn't exactly say, but is clear in your scenario, we are already going to experience that global heat peak over the next 10 years, no matter what we do. Second, the main thing we need to do is get people to see, and get legislation to enact, that we must start NOW to prevent worsening disaster after that 10-20 year window that we have left to salvage a world similar to one we grew up in. Third, we must overcome the falsehood that anyone's individual actions can change the outcomes! The only thing that will effectively reduce the threat to the natural world is effective government action on regulation of petrochemical extraction and adoption of new technologies.
This is the kind of thing Al Gore tried to tell us a couple of decades ago. Too many people wanted to bust his chops about “inventing the Internet” {he WAS a part of the huge official and legislative enterprise that made that happen}.
Oh, what a difference we would have today, if he had won his election {or it had been recognized that he DID….}.
Martha: I can't say that I "like" your predictions, but I certainly agree with them. We should have started to mitigate the consequences of global warming about 50 years ago to even have had a chance of competing with Mother Nature. I am certainly fearful for the future of my grandchildren and great grandchildren.
I think the most likely state of the Republican Party in 10 years will be .....
Irrelevant!
If you can discern any policy coming from the Republican Party, it's something that is aimed at pleasing their "base" - ANYTHING their base is seeming to care about. But this base is continually shrinking - and growing older on average. Younger generations are trending well away from Republican.
In 10 years? The GOP might still exist - but their support will be so small as to make them irrelevant in US politics.
Unless, of course, wealthy supporters manage to nearly completely control ALL media - in which case all bets are OFF.
Gen Z in politics looks promising,Maxwell Frost in Fla.,Zooey Zephyr in Montana,the Justins in Tennessee.This recent stupidity in Tennessee will pass and the Justins will prevail,we need more young people in politics who want goodness for all.
If they get back any more power at all — and heaven forbid win the White House next year — they will be the fascist party that runs the country in ten years, because they will use their time well to put that in place and block any opposition … check the discussion of what they want to do in 2025.
I always wonder, when all this nefarious underpinning of our laws is being accomplished, …..what the heck are the Democrats actually doing? They scare me almost as much as the GOP! Why don’t they fight for Democracy, like Joe does? What are they afraid of?
OR, do enough of them really give a damn. I know SOME do, but i don’t know what holds that feckless party back … I hate to think they’re just in quiet cahoots…
But the Dems ARE the party that offers the best CHANCE of moving them in a good direction, so I think our energies need to go there.
What else do we seriously and rationally have to work with, that has a chance?
I would LOVE if news outlets (e.g., MSNBC) would just IGNORE Trump for a day, a week, a month, or even forever. Trump feeds on coverage. If it goes away, so will he. We need to suck HIS oxygen away (figuratively, I suppose).
This is exactly why I don’t want to see his trials televised! He will be posturing for the camera….and the MAGA who only listen to biased news, never read…don’t understand the Rule of Law, or court etiquette….will not learn anything anyway! The really don’t care if he is guilty of treason!
You do bring sanity and calm into the world. Thank you thank you. This broadcast is not just entertainment it’s a soothing message that shows there are sensible people in the world .
professor reich: i voted for "continue to be reactionary" in your poll.
of course, i left my crystal ball behind when i relocated, so it's entirely possible that the rethuglican party will not exist at all (although it's ideologies -- if you can call them that -- will likely continue on in another party ... something like the "rich white male asshats party" or "modern slavers' party" or something similar.
How sad and also how infuriating to have our children worried about being shot at school! The GOP and the NRA and the gun makers are to blame for this, and they will do nothing to stop it. It's about money and about supposed freedom. But our children deserve freedom from fear, too. I hope your son will be OK, Heather, and the fear won't spoil his school days. They should be happy days.
I expect that 10 years from now, the Republican Party will have about as much power in national politics as it has in California or New York today. And the Democratic Party will be splitting between truly Progressive and Center Left. The filibuster, though, has to go.
I expect that a decade from now, the Republican Party will: be able to reform itself if Trump has died. This is what it will take for the Republican Party to once again be a functioning political party and not a cult. Note that I said "be able", since this is not a sure thing. For those of you with subscriptions to The Atlantic, there is currently an article about this by Peter Sagal on their website.
Trump is just the latest useful idiot for the billionaires. When he's gone they'll chose another.
Bush2 was their useful idiot - cluelessly serving his purpose as an electable face as Cheney was running the country for dark money. Corporations (think Halliburton) got richer and environmental regulations disappeared. The troughs for Repiglicans were regularly refilled. Ole Mitch, with his $177k salary a multimillionaire. Looking back, ditto for Bush1 and Reagan.
Whomever is electable will become the new face of the GOP. Someone to dangle shiny objects in front of the public to keep them occupied while dark money pulls the strings behind the scenes.
@Cheryl P. I believe (hope?) Trump is not electable this time around. We would have about 6 years if we have a Democratic majority voted in for 2024. Let's all work for that!
I'm writing postcards to a long list of registered voters who haven't voted recently. A drop in the bucket. But if everyone adds their drop, we can create a rushing river of blue. 🔵
I wrote postcards for the group Indivisible for the midterms.Worked w/ my best friend and it was a good thing to know we were helping get out the vote.
Cheryl: I have hope and crossed fingers that your scenario gets derailed, but it will probably take something drastic happening for that to take place. I am indeed fearful for the future, but I continue to hope that the voters remember the 2016 election. It will take all the reasonable voters to thwart tRump once again.
Cathie. I hope I'm wrong, too! But I don't see those directing the Republican agenda from behind the scenes changing their strategy. They pick a candidate who will attract Republican voters. Doesn't matter if it's Trump or a new flavor of the month.
Remember Hershel Walker? Arguably the least qualified candidate for any elected office. Those behind the scenes wanted to get a Republican in that Senate seat and didn't care who. They figured a sports celebrity could easily beat Ralph Warnock. Eternally grateful they figured wrong.
Maggot Traitor Goon is the least qualified candidate for any elected office. in my opinion, she is not just dumb as a rock, she is dumber than a rock. That cretin cannot even spell simple words. Hershel Walker is a very close second place to her. I had read somewhere that TUMP goaded Walker into running against Ralphael Warnock... TUMP also thought that kook Dr. Helmut OZ would win too just because he was popular on TV.
Max Planck, father of quantum mechanics, said science makes progress at funerals. That is, the old guard has to die off because their careers are wedded to the old paradigm. Same for the republicans.
@Robert. There is a persistent love affair with the sentiments of the old Confederacy. That, plus guns and trucks and sub-standard education are (unfortunately) raising a new (but hopefully smaller) generation of right wing nuts. Three things we need to do in this country to secure the future of democracy; First, we do need a total refreshment of the leadership in Congress, both houses. The Democrats in the House of Reps are much fresher than those in the Senate and the country will be well served if the Democrats can control both chambers as a result of the next election cycle. Second, we need to fix the economy so that this up-coming generation has a real chance at economic and social mobility. People just aren't so angry when they are doing well. Balancing the needs of our own economy with the real role that globalism plays in capitalism is the primary task ahead, and it takes a Democrat to do it. Fixing the Congress gives us a shot at fixing the economy (or at least moving a bit in the direction that helps regular folks more than it helps investment bankers, oligarchs and corporations. Third, regardless of age, we need Joe Biden's hand on the tiller of State. We need to stay the course in Ukraine. We need to continue to innovate in the way administrative agencies of government can help people (overtime rules!!!). We need strong, steady direction for NATO, for relations with China and leadership in the United Nations. We need a President who can shepherd controversial policies and legislation through Congress. And we need a candidate who can bring Democrats together against Trump and/or whoever ends up being the Republican candidate. There is a 3.5 point also - Democrats cannot afford to get distracted by 3rd party candidates. We need to put everything into getting our team elected. Longer version on Cultural Economics:
https://open.substack.com/pub/benjaminrstockton/p/democratic-priorities-for-2024?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
"We need to put everything into getting our team elected."
Good. How about we start by making universal healthcare and student loan forgiveness the centerpiece of our manifesto, while raising taxes on the wealthy and the corporations to pay for it - basically the same manifesto as the British Labor party in 1945.
Message to DNC: grow a pair, abjure your corporate sponsors for once. Raise money like Bernie does, and take America back again.
@Michael. Thank you! But to get a majority in Congress we will have to take some of the mediocre and even some of the not-so-great Democrats. Hopefully the party as a whole will bend towards justice.
Only if we demand intelligence and integrity!
Too much money involved?
Always...
Yea!! I am on your team, Michael!👏🏻🤗🎶
Absolutely we have to elect our team and work for the common good.
Well said.
Trump has attacked any future covid precautions the CDC might ask the country to initiate. He came right out and told his people to ignore any and all directives issued by the CDC concerning protective measures people should take to protect themselves and others. Trump is a raging lunatic. The only "person" equally as dumb is the one looking back from within the mirror.
Trump/MAGAs attack on voting rights...self-immolation? In 2020 154 million people voted so every vote is worth 2 people. So every idiot who flaunts CDC precautions for the supreme leader and dies is freeing up 2 votes.
Bill--I love your philosophy.
Jim Jones killed 918 cult followers. 15% of deaths from covid are deemed poltitically republican affiliated. Trump/MAGA cult then has 176,000 deaths on their hands. Trump...wins? That must be some tasty cool aid!
Bill--They shot those who wouldn't drink the Kool-Aid. Jones or Koresh, follow a religious nut job and your future isn't pretty.
Agree with everything you said. Maybe we also need a lot of hope and a magic wand.
Yes please!
The new republican party does not look like a good replacement. Never thought I would prefer McConnell.
Did you know Planck met Hitler? Here is what Hitler told him.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-0348-9008-3_114
ARGH! IF Americans had good messaging, Bunkerboy and his obsolete party would no longer exist TODAY. President Biden has done incredible things with the horrific economy he was "gifted," but NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT IT!!!
Biden is a quiet guy who gets good things done. His messaging doesn’t match the Orange Carnival Barker’s … How do we get the press and all of us to counter that?
Biden should refuse to debate Trump; that’s one way to diminish him, treat him as insignificant, as he did his fellow republican candidates. A debate only gives him a larger magaphone to broadcast more lies and continued obfuscation.
You cannot debate a petulant child…..I used to send mine to bed!
Make the petulant child-man go sit in the corner and refuse to give him hamberders.
Treating him as “insignificant” now, while there’s a huge field of R’s posturing for the presidency, works.
If it’s between Biden and Donny, he's all of a sudden VERY significant, and not debating comes off as all sorts of dismissive, arrogant, chicken … any number of ungood things.
I would not be surprised if Donny opted out of debates on some excuse or other. That would not win him votes, but it would please his base. We’ve seen it already among the R’s.
Sadly, if these two wind up facing off, I expect them to stand on a stage and talk at each other. I would not call it a debate.
The debates are debatable -- in other words -- not real debates.
Pat - If it happens one to one, remember this: Biden is wonderfully skilled at making points. His sense of timing and his sense of humor are quick-silver. I, for one, keep hoping the 14th Amendment eliminates Trump from any stage, permanently.
I hope you’re right …
YES. He is fully unelectable and obsolete. He will also soon be breaking the benches in his prison cell!
I agree that our press has failed us. We must raise a new generation of "Woodward/Bernstein." Our founding fathers and mothers would be appalled at what we have allowed to happen.
Hi Pat - I can't resist this: Support InEquality Media!!
Maybe contacting editors and reporters in different newspapers.
Letters to the Editor, and letters TO the editors, might make some difference, but they are looking at who keeps them going — pays the rent, pays the salaries ..
Of course, they can’t sell ads to anybody unless they can also show READERS pick up the papers, so being a reader with an opinion should carry a little weight — if the opinion sounded rational.
I don’t know any more. I WAS a small-town newspaper editor for a few years. What would have resonated with me? Readers’ opinions.
I might not have been typical …
Yeap there is only so much he can do. The main stream media goes to controversey like moth to a flame regardless of who that hurts. Thats why I dont even bother with mainstream media anymore. If the only way Biden can get press is to be controversal that will ruin all he has accomplished.
The reason that "nobody knows about it" is because the news media is so fractured and controlled mainly by oligarchs who don't want the American people to know the truth. Americans are too willing to go for the "popular" instead of the great steady voices.
It needs to be shouted from the rooftops!
Biden’s messaging is a fraction of the GOP's because his funding is a fraction of right-wing messaging. There're no morbidly rich mega-donors in line touting his accomplishments.
Follow the money.
The Democratic Party doesn’t praise our President for his accomplishments! Why not? Except for a few brave souls they are non existent till they need your money for their campaigns!
Truly remarkable that a once viable political option, a party populated by many worthy of consideration historically, could become so irrational, even comical in a few short years, compliments of the last president and his authoritarian fascism. So instead, the accomplishments of the President that defeated him conclusively, despite a warped and depraved assertion to the contrary with no basis in fact, are ignored because of the daily rush to put the fascist and his psychotic meanderings in the headlines every day.
Herbert, I agree with your analysis. One of the issues of the focus of the media on Trump is not just to ignore or underreport the achievements our current President and his administration, but to underreport the drift to authoritarianism. Moreover, Mr. Reich has pointed out that the extreme right is actually paving the way towards fascism. It is not just Trump but so many other politicians, on the state and local levels even to the school and library boards! Cloaked behind all of this are the ultra-rich individuals and corporations who are funding the campaigns and spending billions on lobbying not because they oppose abortion or support the ultra-right’s social issues but they are in favor of authoritarianism as it gives them complete freedom to do as they please and pass legislation that is favorable to them and totally ignores the common good. Jack Welsh is a perfect example. He is looked up to a a wizard at business, a celebrated best selling author and he was an avid Trump supporter.
In regards to my “vote” regarding the state of the Republican party in ten years, I firmly believe it will cease to exist as well democracy as we have known it. Have you ever seen a tree fall over that on the outside seemed reasonably healthy? After it falls one can see that the core of the tree has been eaten by termites so much that even a slight breeze will topple it. I have actually witnessed a seemingly healthy tree fall occur on a windless day. A wise forester/steward will have already planted trees to replace it long before weak trees fall. They will be of a new hybrid variety that can withstand the current diseases that weakened the fallen tree so as to preserve and improve the functioning of the forest. The foresters govern wisely looking towards the future of the tree population they are stewards of. There are new “trees” or forms of democratic government to replace the diseased democracy we live with now. Two of these new forms of government are called Economic Democracy and Progressive Utilization Theory. They deserve our full attention. For the next four-year term it is imperative to elect Biden but we should understand that it is no more than to call a tree surgeon to cable a tree that has already been fatally weakened so it can stand a bit longer until a suitable replacement has been found and is being implemented.
Agree with everything but “comical”. There isn’t anything humorous or funny about the current republican party.
@Jan. Let's try "clownish"?
Yes, and clowns scare the crap out of me!
Indeed. "The Party of Lincoln" is now "The Grand OLD Pedophiles" party of crooks, grifters, criminal, "brainlet" goofballs. Lincoln would NOT be happy.
Absolutely gob-smacking. And, as a circus performer, he knows that spectacle draws attention. It’s in the definition of the term. He loves spectacle, and so do most of us.
Slightly aside, but still relevant, I know too many who put down the Trump Phenomenon to “Left Wing Arrogance,” and to “The Forgotten Middle,” and things like that.
I think there’s a ton of disappointment, fear, and feelings of being dismissed or disrespected among the Trumpians, but much in the same way the Right deflects criticism by keep the lower economic strata fighting among themselves {“blame the immigrants,” “blame the poor who want handouts,” blame lazy young people,” “blame so-called incompetent government”}, we are encouraged not to see that the Trumpist’s disaffection comes from a long history of resentment about things like hollowing out the Middle Class {dating from at least Reagan}, social fallout from demonizing young Black people as “thugs” {Clinton era, both Republican and Democrats}, losing our sense of invulnerability {the Dubya-Cheney years, 9-11, the war on terrorism, becoming a country that tortures, and so much more}, the 2008 crash and only banks getting help from it while we blamed poor people for causing it instead of the loss of Glass Steagall and years of allowing money-managers to game the economy. Then the election of a Black Man to the White House, anti-intellectualism that has been around since I was an adolescent in the 1960s and probably a lot longer, and people flogging the “replacement” idea that energizes White Supremacists who see the writing on the wall regarding their inability to always call the shots given the changing US demographics {hell, PLANETARY demographics}—
If all these didn’t contribute to Trump’s popularity {as if he didn’t realize all these were in play, so he put them at the center of his bid to get people to lionize him, along with playing the successful TV mogul — because that’s what he does, he plays to what people want to hear so they will want HIM, and now he has a loyal following, so he’s sticking to the crap line he’s been spouting, after having been a “liberal” in NYC when those where the people he was playing to. But after being “president,” he can’t keep switching around any more..}, well, if they are not part and parcel of what gave us Trump, at least as much as Left Liberal Arrogance and our insatiable appetitive for watching his antics and SPECTACLE, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.
{Joe Biden is so boring. Competent and boring. How can he compete?}
Personality doesn't govern the nation at all. Pres. Biden is a low key ,practical man who ACCOMPLISHES for the people,no showtime in his administration.Look at the contrast after he took office,the calm and sense of well being was comforting and refreshing.All those ignorant Twitter tantrums got very old and exhausting.
True, but you see how easy it is all over this country for a celebrity to get elected. People want to be entertained.
Democrats ARE better at governing — our entire economy ALWAYS does better under them and people are more secure in their lives.
But they’re boring. And the message of competence is hard to sell without a lengthy explanation.
Republicans are good at the pithy slogan. How to Dems get past all that?
Some REALLY entertaining messaging,ask a group like Public Citizen,Indivisible,Common Cause
how else to get it done.
@Pat. "he plays to what people want to hear". That is a really scary part of our politics, the fact that this is what too many people want to hear.
It's upsetting that we have so many brainless nitwits in our beloved nation.
but they can be deprogrammed,Steven Hassan's 'The Cult of Trump'spcializes in just that.
IT IS, isn’t it?
Egad.
He can’t. That’s why he needs some good front people.
Yeah, he does need a lot of better front people…but he needs a little bit of coaching, too.
Mostly, we need to get it through our thick heads that successful legislation and running programs well matters more than bravado and “panache.”
Oy, vey.
Spot on.
Why is the Republican "leadership" not being prosecuted for aiding and abetting or some such?
The whole scenario with Trump is like one of those low budget horror movies where the director uses every cheap trick to frighten the viewers. This damn guy is jumping out of closets, attacking people almost at random, whispering scary things in the dark, and like the best/worst monsters the damn guy just won't die! But thanks to Fani Willis this movie is just about over. So get some popcorn, don't believe all the scary tricks, and watch the show!
I so hope that you are right!
School shootings is a systems problem. It is a problem with the ability to access guns easily and not have a way to require training on guns to get them. It is a problem with economics where some people are struggling and others are not and this is being used to create fear and anger against the other. It is a problem with the glorification of violence in the media and in movies. It is a problem of health care that we are possibly one cough away from bankruptcy. It is an education problem that schools are not teaching real world skills to students as well as how to thinking for themselves. It is a religious problem when the other is made a demon or we are taught to blindly obey. A person does not remain sane in a system that turns a deaf ear to them. As a mental health professional, I can help someone make better choices but I can not change the environment they live in. Until we can get more equal access to healthy options for a sustained amount of time, we will continue to repeat the cycle.
Heather--You son has cause for concern with all that has been going on in this country. We very often take the issues that really hit home with our kids for granted because we sometimes don't give them credit for having feelings and emotions that equate to what we as adults feel. "The boy is the father of the man." I don't know who originally stated that sage thought but it fits. I fell in love with a young lady when I was 12 years old, puppy love they called it. However the feelings and emotions that ran through me at that time equaled to any I ever felt later in life as an adult. Kids have adult concerns even at their young age and any concerns should be treated as important. I still care deeply for the young lady I met in Grand Blanc High School when I was 12. Help me Rhonda. Tell your son life is full of dangers of one degree or another, if we give in to them we become less than what we need to be. He is 10 and so is the man he will one day be.
Thank you, Robert and Heather, for another great coffee klatch! I try to understand the discussion of economics, but don't always get it immediately ; All I know that positive indicators about consumer spending is encouraging, even though there seems to be a 'need' to slow down the spending? The boost for worker's overtime is a bright spot! I like the job growth report. I'm glad that Bob's cold is not Covid, and he will be better off as the holiday season comes, if he gets over this now. tRump's future is in doubt, with all the prosecutions coming, so he can't really convince us that everything (he) is perfect! I bet that rattles him some. It is a shame that our children must worry about being shot in school, and just about anyplace these days. It is interesting that DeSantis was booed when he arrived at a vigil for those three Black victims of gun violence when he immediately started in with 'thoughts and prayers'! This is the man who held a nighttime meeting with the gun lobby (no constituents invited to this clandestine event) where legislation was passed allowing unlimited freedom to concealed carry with no background checks, no questions required! Pure evil! And look what happened again, in Tennessee! Representative Justin Jones was silenced for speaking out about gun violence! The GOP is beneath the pit!
Like George Bush mentioned a while ago,'if you keep up all this crazy stuff ,you'll be extinct.
They are working diligently towards that goal,folks don't want to be dictated to ,pushed around and scared.
I totally agree, the Fascist GQP are beneath the pit, WAY beneath the pit.
Loved this weeks coffee klatch. Thanks to both Heather and Robert for what you do each week. It is a part of how I start my day each Saturday. Some of this past week wasn't so great because I live on the West Coast of Florida and had to evacuate for a couple of days because I live near the water. My apartment community was spared flooding and damage but unfortunately those ti the North of us were not spared from Idalia.
If we are forecasting what will happen to a USA political party ten years from now, then we need to forecast within the context of the planet ten years from now. 1. The planet will pass the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold within ten to fifteen years. At our current global pace of carbon emissions, the world will burn through its remaining “carbon budget” by 2030. Doing so would put the long-term goal of keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) irrevocably out of reach. 2. Beyond that threshold, scientists have found, climate disasters will become so extreme that people will not be able to adapt. Basic components of the Earth system will be fundamentally, irrevocably altered. Heat waves, famines and infectious diseases could claim millions of additional lives by century’s end.
3. Every political party, government, and corporation in the world will have to deal with these facts. 4. The Republican Party and the Democratic Party get their $$ from corporations. Both are captive agencies. The GOP's captors are rock solid oil and gas. https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=e01#:~:text=Led%20by%20the%20oil%20and,has%20remained%20rock%2Dsolid%20red.
So let us see the GOP as the policy arm of the Koch Brothers, Conoco, etc., which is an accurate perception.
5. Either the fossil fuel companies of Earth shift to other energy sources, which BP has started to do, or we all simply die faster and more horribly.
@Martha. You are a bit pessimistic today dear. But you are right I fear. To mitigate just a bit, I want to play it out a little. First, the scenario you outline is certainly within 3 sigma of the reality. Maybe a little less extreme, maybe a little more. You didn't exactly say, but is clear in your scenario, we are already going to experience that global heat peak over the next 10 years, no matter what we do. Second, the main thing we need to do is get people to see, and get legislation to enact, that we must start NOW to prevent worsening disaster after that 10-20 year window that we have left to salvage a world similar to one we grew up in. Third, we must overcome the falsehood that anyone's individual actions can change the outcomes! The only thing that will effectively reduce the threat to the natural world is effective government action on regulation of petrochemical extraction and adoption of new technologies.
This is the kind of thing Al Gore tried to tell us a couple of decades ago. Too many people wanted to bust his chops about “inventing the Internet” {he WAS a part of the huge official and legislative enterprise that made that happen}.
Oh, what a difference we would have today, if he had won his election {or it had been recognized that he DID….}.
Hunh. Shoulda, woulda, coulda…Sigh.
WILL we our way clear finally?
@Pat. I hope we see our way clear...
Pretty much. And the probability of staying under 1.5 C increase by reducing emissions by 2030 is 18.13%, according to https://global.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/perry-world-house/PWH-2021-GO-Colloquium-Report.pdf However, there is another possibility. It's water. https://investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/2023/08/08/ties-van-der-hoeven/
Damn, I wish that did not sound so true
Martha: I can't say that I "like" your predictions, but I certainly agree with them. We should have started to mitigate the consequences of global warming about 50 years ago to even have had a chance of competing with Mother Nature. I am certainly fearful for the future of my grandchildren and great grandchildren.
I think the most likely state of the Republican Party in 10 years will be .....
Irrelevant!
If you can discern any policy coming from the Republican Party, it's something that is aimed at pleasing their "base" - ANYTHING their base is seeming to care about. But this base is continually shrinking - and growing older on average. Younger generations are trending well away from Republican.
In 10 years? The GOP might still exist - but their support will be so small as to make them irrelevant in US politics.
Unless, of course, wealthy supporters manage to nearly completely control ALL media - in which case all bets are OFF.
Gen Z in politics looks promising,Maxwell Frost in Fla.,Zooey Zephyr in Montana,the Justins in Tennessee.This recent stupidity in Tennessee will pass and the Justins will prevail,we need more young people in politics who want goodness for all.
If they get back any more power at all — and heaven forbid win the White House next year — they will be the fascist party that runs the country in ten years, because they will use their time well to put that in place and block any opposition … check the discussion of what they want to do in 2025.
I always wonder, when all this nefarious underpinning of our laws is being accomplished, …..what the heck are the Democrats actually doing? They scare me almost as much as the GOP! Why don’t they fight for Democracy, like Joe does? What are they afraid of?
OR, do enough of them really give a damn. I know SOME do, but i don’t know what holds that feckless party back … I hate to think they’re just in quiet cahoots…
But the Dems ARE the party that offers the best CHANCE of moving them in a good direction, so I think our energies need to go there.
What else do we seriously and rationally have to work with, that has a chance?
I would LOVE if news outlets (e.g., MSNBC) would just IGNORE Trump for a day, a week, a month, or even forever. Trump feeds on coverage. If it goes away, so will he. We need to suck HIS oxygen away (figuratively, I suppose).
This is exactly why I don’t want to see his trials televised! He will be posturing for the camera….and the MAGA who only listen to biased news, never read…don’t understand the Rule of Law, or court etiquette….will not learn anything anyway! The really don’t care if he is guilty of treason!
You do bring sanity and calm into the world. Thank you thank you. This broadcast is not just entertainment it’s a soothing message that shows there are sensible people in the world .
professor reich: i voted for "continue to be reactionary" in your poll.
of course, i left my crystal ball behind when i relocated, so it's entirely possible that the rethuglican party will not exist at all (although it's ideologies -- if you can call them that -- will likely continue on in another party ... something like the "rich white male asshats party" or "modern slavers' party" or something similar.
How sad and also how infuriating to have our children worried about being shot at school! The GOP and the NRA and the gun makers are to blame for this, and they will do nothing to stop it. It's about money and about supposed freedom. But our children deserve freedom from fear, too. I hope your son will be OK, Heather, and the fear won't spoil his school days. They should be happy days.
I expect that 10 years from now, the Republican Party will have about as much power in national politics as it has in California or New York today. And the Democratic Party will be splitting between truly Progressive and Center Left. The filibuster, though, has to go.
I expect that a decade from now, the Republican Party will: be able to reform itself if Trump has died. This is what it will take for the Republican Party to once again be a functioning political party and not a cult. Note that I said "be able", since this is not a sure thing. For those of you with subscriptions to The Atlantic, there is currently an article about this by Peter Sagal on their website.
Trump is just the latest useful idiot for the billionaires. When he's gone they'll chose another.
Bush2 was their useful idiot - cluelessly serving his purpose as an electable face as Cheney was running the country for dark money. Corporations (think Halliburton) got richer and environmental regulations disappeared. The troughs for Repiglicans were regularly refilled. Ole Mitch, with his $177k salary a multimillionaire. Looking back, ditto for Bush1 and Reagan.
Whomever is electable will become the new face of the GOP. Someone to dangle shiny objects in front of the public to keep them occupied while dark money pulls the strings behind the scenes.
@Cheryl P. I believe (hope?) Trump is not electable this time around. We would have about 6 years if we have a Democratic majority voted in for 2024. Let's all work for that!
Ben
I'm writing postcards to a long list of registered voters who haven't voted recently. A drop in the bucket. But if everyone adds their drop, we can create a rushing river of blue. 🔵
I wrote postcards for the group Indivisible for the midterms.Worked w/ my best friend and it was a good thing to know we were helping get out the vote.
Cheryl: I have hope and crossed fingers that your scenario gets derailed, but it will probably take something drastic happening for that to take place. I am indeed fearful for the future, but I continue to hope that the voters remember the 2016 election. It will take all the reasonable voters to thwart tRump once again.
Cathie. I hope I'm wrong, too! But I don't see those directing the Republican agenda from behind the scenes changing their strategy. They pick a candidate who will attract Republican voters. Doesn't matter if it's Trump or a new flavor of the month.
Remember Hershel Walker? Arguably the least qualified candidate for any elected office. Those behind the scenes wanted to get a Republican in that Senate seat and didn't care who. They figured a sports celebrity could easily beat Ralph Warnock. Eternally grateful they figured wrong.
Maggot Traitor Goon is the least qualified candidate for any elected office. in my opinion, she is not just dumb as a rock, she is dumber than a rock. That cretin cannot even spell simple words. Hershel Walker is a very close second place to her. I had read somewhere that TUMP goaded Walker into running against Ralphael Warnock... TUMP also thought that kook Dr. Helmut OZ would win too just because he was popular on TV.