625 Comments

We've focused on Trump, but DeSantis would do the same, & probably more efficiently. The AG should be independent. It's the people's prosecutor & is expected to be fair & unbiased, but if any of the leading Republican candidates become President, it's a foregone conclusion that it will be used for vendettas to persecute their opponents.

Expand full comment

Amen to that!

Trump is Syphilis, and DeSatan is Gonorrhea .

If either one if them are elected - or just claim to be elected-we will be screwed, and isn’t that what you can get if you’re screwed?

😠

Expand full comment

Yeah, but penicillin wouldn't fix a Trump or DeSatan presidency!

Expand full comment

They wouldn't allow it, just like DeathSantis prohibited PRIVATE companies like the cruise industry to require masks or innoculations.

Expand full comment

Yeah, they're probably resistant. Gotta go for the hardcore drugs with those two. Gonna need some myself if either those thugs make it to the big time.

Expand full comment

Let me know which drugs you find that might help.

I

Expand full comment

LOL: Still experimenting. Will let you know for sure!

Expand full comment

You’re very correct about that!

Ahh, if only 🤔

Expand full comment

Kate - You are too funny. Totally correct, however.

Expand full comment

Yeah, I know ..

Expand full comment

That is the most graphic method of identifying the differences (similarities) between these two ....

Expand full comment

Obscenely toxic they are!

Expand full comment

Oh Hell yeah,

Hands Down!

We should have Stormed the Bastille back in 2016, maybe we would have nipped all of this crap

in the proverbial Butt.😂🤔

Expand full comment

Actually, we should have done that in 2000 when Jeb Bush ensured the state's votes would go for his brother.

Expand full comment

Hear Hear!

Expand full comment

True. DeSatan is smarter but both are dangerous.

Expand full comment

tRump is more shrewd, if not well read. Lots of crooked lawyers advising him, no doubt.

Expand full comment

Yes more crime mob connections.

Expand full comment

Mary; They taught him everything he knows!

Expand full comment

Agreed. He has so many minds working for him. There is no way he could come up with all he has on his own. Not enough in his head!

Expand full comment

Trump is the cancer.

Expand full comment

I’ve always believed that Trump suffers from untreated syphilis, because no one with a normal functioning .brain could act like he does. Youknow the personality disorder, the paranoia, etc.

Expand full comment

Do you mean if we become infected with either one?

Expand full comment

Good analogy!

Expand full comment

Well said Kate!

Expand full comment

Jaime, I think the independent AG looks like a good idea, but who would that person answer to? How would they keep the president from meddling if that person happens to sympathize with the president's fascist ideas but lied in his hearing (as 3 Supreme Court justices deliberately lied about precedent and probably other things in their hearings)? Who would impeach that ?AG if that person did turn on our nation? Who would be left with enough power? When voting has been threatened in so many places, filling Congress with inept, self-seeking fools who will go along with whoever gives them sufficient money to feed their addiction, who can manage the "independent AG? I truly don't have the answers to these and so many other questions. What I do know, We the People have permitted the Trump-type insanity to go on for nearly 50 years with very little braking. Whatever happens, the solution will not be simple, but we had better find a way to deal effectively with the Republican Party soon if we are to survive as a democratic nation with the freedoms of our Constitution intact for all citizens and others living in this country.

Expand full comment

Well we can't trust the inferior Court of the United States,we can't trust Congress, we can't trust the Senate and we can't trust a republican president. We can't trust any Christo-fascists. Where does that leave us? What -CAN - we do when one party is so corrup that the citizens can't trust themand only rabble is a part of them?

We need to discover why we have so much political rabble,so many cult members and solve that issue. 'Let them eat cake" will help save a nation.

I think the AG is already doing the right thing. Prosecuting criminals and the criminal kingpin tRump.

The trouble is they are not doing it fast enough.

We need to contain the inferior Court and bring it back to being the superior court. We need to get the liars and scoundrels appointed by the fascists party out of there. They need to be investimated, prosecuted and removed from the court.

We need to dump "Citizens United" and those judges who thought it a good idea starting with Roberts and Thomas.

Our system of justices has.along with the Christo-fascists party, become totally corrupt anti-citizens rights but pro religious/ corporate/fascist oppression.

We have a lot of work to do if we are going to survive as a nation,as a democracy, and as an independent country - NOT - owned by the Saudies or Russians.

We have a lot of work to do and we need to move fast so ve we are in a soft civil war already.we need to win this war against evil.

Expand full comment

A significant cause of the untrustworthy electorate is unrestricted lying by "news" media. If we could find a way to penalize those who disseminate lies, without infringing free speech, it would go a long way toward stabilizing the system.

Expand full comment

In short, S Howard, we need an independent means of review, ethics, and enforcement. There is no reason why we cannot have a universal code of ethics that applies to all elected and appointed positions in the Public Domain. It just requires people of integrity to write, pass and enforce. We've had people of that degree of integrity in the past, surely we can find some now.

Expand full comment

We do have the oath of office.it should be enforced.

Expand full comment

Yes, how many of these overt fascists in power currently have blatantly, arrogantly, and belligerently defied and violated that oath to uphold THE CONSTITUTION, and NOT their current despot of choice?!?

Expand full comment

David G Hinkes ; I wonder what things would look like if all those who refused to accept that Biden won the Presidency were expelled from office. For not upholding their oath of office?

Expand full comment

Then some of their supporters/defenders call themselves "Oathkeepers"!

Expand full comment

...and what were the consequences? If there are no consequences, why should they care?

Expand full comment

It seems like we can't trust the corrupted voter either. We must take the whole thing in our hands and vote ethical and moral people into our government and vote the fascists out while we still control voting. After that it will be too late.

Less talk and more action is the answer

Expand full comment

We pay the bills (i.e.taxes) and pay the cost of all that our "elected" officials do and do not do. We have the vote. We do the work that keeps everything going. And yet, we live our lives as citizens as if we are helpless infants, as if we have no power. We take to sites that let us have our say, we do so and move on, somewhat relieved of our tension, imagining, hoping, that somehow, somewhere, somebody will take notice and care and things will get better.

We accept that there is very little significant difference between mainstream Republican and Democratic Parties (at least until Trump and his crime syndicate deployed outright fascism into our system) and we are grateful when one Party or the other (almost the Democratic Party) does something that doesn't hurt us as badly as we feared. (Experience has taught us that the Republican Party has always been unashamed to inflict harm.)

When and if we ever stop voting for Party and vote for principle, policy, and actual REPRESENTATION, we might begin to see OUR tax dollars used for what is good for the country! Maybe the dangers of COVID, guns and rampant violence by violent people, and a high level of fatigue from "it all" keeps out of the streets and out of D.C. demanding REPRESENTATION and RESPONSIVENESS, not demagoguery and corruption - or maybe we aren't made of the same kind of stuff as citizens of the past.

We pay the bills. How do like your tax dollars going to pay for the likes of Marjorie Taylor Green and Matt Goetz?! How do you like knowing that your tax dollars and your vote get used to allow the likes of George Santos, Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan to make decisions affecting YOUR and your family's lives?! How do you like your perennial trust, faith, and hope that the Democratic Party will actually KEEP the faith, stand for what we all keep assuming they/we stand for and ACT on those assumptions?!

We cheer sloganeering, bumper-sticker talk, mawkish anecdotes, pathos as political rhetoric when what we need and apparently must demand is integrity, honesty and commitment to basic principle, policy, and actual REPRESENTATION.

SO: What DOES the Republican Party stand for and where is ANY evidence in their ACTIONS of it? What DOES the Democratic Party stand for and where is evidence in actual ACTIONS of it?! Do WE who pay the bills, pay the COST, and have the vote get to vote on Party promises, policies, "platforms"? And do we get to hold public hearings on how well they've kept their promises, how closely they've hewed to principles and policies?! No, we don't.

When we stop being children and become citizens, maybe we can shut the tectonic shifting to fascism and restart the building of a beautiful nation, one nation with liberty and justice for all!

Expand full comment

"We have the vote. We do the work that keeps everything going. And yet, we live our lives as citizens as if we are helpless infants, as if we have no power. " Because of extreme gerrymandering many of our votes are mitigated or outright abrogated by the right. Thank goodness, the SCOTUS actually did something decent & recognized this. But, the whole Electoral College is actually an extension of gerrymandering on a national scale. Until we eliminate that, we will still have people who the majority do not want elected as POTUS.

Expand full comment

Dear Ruth; thinking the solution may lie in a THIRD political party. With the utter failure of our present locked-in two party system (with little differences); the TIME is RIPE for a third party that would ACTUALLY WORK for the BEST INTERESTS of the AMERICAN PEOPLE, instead of for billionaire donors and mega-corporations. Ruth, what do YOU think?

Expand full comment

Jerry King ; Since this is a forum of which I am a participant I will point out that this is NOT the time for a third party!

Expand full comment

It would be instantaneously labeled and decried as even MUCH more; extreme leftist, 'libtard', commie pinko, 'Soros socialist' than these NAZIS already do to the Dems, which will cause a knee-jerk, backlash reaction from the rock dumb rightwing shitbillies (and even some incapable of THINKING, indies :( ) to quadruple down on their 4th REICH fascism.

They will be instructed and propagandized by their effing Goebbels Nooz to vote as radical NAZI as they can, because it is a party which is coming for THEM.

Expand full comment

A third (or fourth...) party would work only if we adopt Ranked Choice Voting.

Expand full comment

I think we should consider that approach and then get rid of the electoral college too.

Expand full comment

Third party would end up being a nightmare ! Thom Hartman wrote about this last week!

Expand full comment

Jerry, I agree we need three viable HONEST parties that are named for the political ideology they embrace, such as Liberal Progressive Party, Moderate Centrist Party, and Fiscal Conservative Party. Having three parties to represent the vast majority (there will always be the loony tune fringe groups - we'd just need to repel them and not allow them to take over any of the three main groups the way the authoritarian fascist oligarchs have destroyed the Republican Party.

Expand full comment

It doesn't matter how many parties we have or who they claim to represent, so long as the "Citizens United" decision stands our elections will be corrupted by the power of unliimited money.

Until there's a sea change at the Supreme Court, the only way to undo that ruling is with a Constitutional Amendment. It's a long road, but first steps have been taken with the introduction of HJR54 by Rep. Primaya Jayapal and 53 co-sponsors this past April.

You can help. Go to: www.MoveToAmend.org

.

Expand full comment

What, no Nutzo Magat tRump Cultist Party?

Expand full comment

LOL! Well, there will always be the nutzo fringe parties, they could fit in there. Those persons who oppose a third party are usually thinking of smaller groups , like the Peace Party, the Green Party, Libertarian, Socialist, Anarchists, Neo-Nazi - small, frequently single subject parties. What we are talking about are three strong parties, of roughly equal strength, with large numbers of citizens for each. I suspect the largest would be the Moderate/Centrist, as most people like to think of themselves as open to suggestion but not outliers. But there are a substantial number of voters like me, who tend to be more socially progressive and would support the Liberal/Progressives. There are also a significant number who are more Fiscally Conservative. With three viable parties we could counter balance each other (which is what the framers of the Constitution tried unsuccessfully to achieve). The Conservatives would balance people like me who would break the bank to assure everyone had a piece of the pie, the Moderates would be there to keep the peace and write inclusive legislation. Nobody would get what they really want, but between the three parties we'd arrive at an acceptable compromise.

Expand full comment

Good thing but, it splits the votes 3 ways. It may give you the outcome you did not want.

Expand full comment

If no one gets 270 then I believe the election goes to the House for a determination. God help us.

Expand full comment

Someone is always going to be disappointed. The electoral collage is archaic and no longer useful. There are some ranked ballot systems that would work. And cleaning up the money is imperative. Citizens united must go.

Expand full comment

Yup! Both gotta go. Among other ways of getting money and votes that are pretty much illegal too.

Expand full comment

The list is long, they have bent the rules and norms so far in their favor that the job seems near onto impossible. And these guys aren’t even the ones we vote for or against. They just work for them and themselves. And besides this lot are the others who just want to burn it all down for whatever imagined slight against their freedom or rights manhood or imagined history they feel is more to their liking than the world as is.

It can be turned around. Of course, it can. There are many more of us than there are of them. And De Santis is not Trump who is only an aberration. But a strong leader is needed and I’m not sure that the good guys have a strong enough one to take them on.

Expand full comment

I am hoping for an implosion of the Republican Party that would split it into 2 or more parties, one that cares about maintaining a democracy, & one that inevitably doesn't. Or maybe some of those pro-democracy Republicans would want to join with corporatist Democrats to form their own party. The progressives in the Democratic Party could then finally be liberated from the dominance & repression imposed by the corporatists & join with progressive Independents & members of progressive minor parties like the Greens, Socialists, Progressives & Working Families Party. Both major parties are coalitions of groups that tend to differ on certain key points. The current alignment is unnatural. A truly progressive major party should eventually prevail in fair competition since the vast majority of progressive causes are favored by the majority of American people.

But at this point, the existential threat to our democracy that the Republofascist Party poses requires us to elect Democrats overwhelmingly in 2024 & beyond until the fascists are thoroughly crushed.

Expand full comment

Great post! Perfection.

Expand full comment

Jerry, we do have a few "third parties" around, but somehow they have not caught fire. Third parties are excellent for promoting ideas because they force Democrats, at least to look at real problems of this nation and are not drowning in the rhetoric and traditions of the past in the two major parties. The party that probably can be impacted most by a third party is the Democrats and if pushed hard enough, Democrats could adopt many of the principles we would find in a third party like: commitment to dealing effectively with global warming, ending poverty in this nation eventually in the world, real criminal justice reform (including rethinking community and national safety), gun control, the rights of all citizens and others to bodily autonomy, advancing public education, LGBVTQ+ rights everywhere, not just in the blue states, work equity, a far higher minimum wage and workers' rights including union rights, voting rights for every single citizen, not just the ones Republicans think will vote for them, affordable housing everywhere, ending the accumulation of money past a certain amount, say 2 billion dollars, etc. Democrats have bills and proposals for nearly every one of these and more, yet can't get enough votes in a filibustered Senate to get anything passed. I am not sure how a third party could do any better at this time except dilute the little power Democrats have. They will not encroach at all on Republican votes, leaving us all at the mercy of the fascist Republicans, not a prospect I am interested in.

Expand full comment

You nailed it, Ruth. Third parties (like the Greens and No Labels) mostly mirror the more center-to-left policies of Democrats. The result is they siphon votes from Democrats to the advantage of Republicans.

Many believe that No Labels in particular is financed by wealthy Republicans specifically for that purpose. (I say "believe" because No Labels is very secretive about the source of their funding.) And No Labels is very actively working to get on the ballot in all 50 States.

.

Expand full comment

Jerry, I, too, am suspicious of "no Labels." I used to get emails from them, but somehow they were always defending something Republicans had done with a weird explanation for it that was supposed to sound reasonable. It wasn't. I ditched them permanently long ago. I didn't even realize until recently they were supposed to be a third party. Now I can see that Republicans would use such a "party" to undermine Democratic support. Republicans have cheated, lied to the American people regularly, gaslit, then lied a whole lot more. Why wouldn't they try a "third party" to trip Dems up. Democrats are a very diverse group unlike Republicans, and can be picked off a few at a time by promises of a "party" that will actually make things happen for them. It has been the Democrats for the past 90 years who have come through for the American people with Republicans trying really hard to undermine that at every turn: the "right to work" laws, the giveaways to the rich while calling people needing assistance, Welfare Queens (when there was only one), breaking unions, pushing "trickle down economics" an insane lie, calling abortion murder when it suited their purposes, and on and on. There are some groups that are calling themselves "third parties" but they, along with some independents have pushed Democrats to do better when it comes to the needs of the people. It is clearly not enough, but with the filibuster in the Senate, and Mitch MCConnell who just can't work to help anyone unless people start seeing him as nothing but a bully, nothing gets done. He wants to be seen as more "senatorial" than that, so sometimes will stop the BS. It's not often, though. We need someone elected to make a positive difference. It won't be someone from a third party, but that third party can help shape who it is who will be elected.

Expand full comment

While both politicians in both parties do rely on those with money, because of our broken system, they are not even comparable. Republicans are trying to undermine our democracy to turn the country into an autocracy, while many Dems are focused on the values most of us support - equality for all, working to reduce the impact of climate change, ensuring that all of us have access to ballot box, trying to reduce poverty, broadening access to good healthcare etc. The Repubs are only interested in stuffing their pockets and consolidating their power positions.

Expand full comment

Jerry King : You do not own this forum!

Expand full comment

I agree with these concerns.

Expand full comment

Independent agency as a result of these corrupt challenges everywhere.

Expand full comment

If the agencies become truly "independent", then who are they responsible to ? No one?That could go sideways.

Expand full comment

Back in the good ol’ days we had “checks and balances” so the Supreme Court could intervene if an independent Attorney General went rogue. Now that our Supreme Court has gone rogue, I get your point.

Expand full comment

Well said, William!

Expand full comment

I was wondering the same thing. The Supreme Court has just presented us with just such a problem with the addition of lifetime appointments.

Expand full comment

Like a cancer. It grows..

Expand full comment

Yes, my thoughts, too. Accountability must obtain, but not via the executive branch.

A special committee in the congress? If we could get Campaign Finance Reform, agency and committee capture could not be easily effected. CFR is key. Can it be done?

Expand full comment

A very similar attempt to eviscerate the judicial system is happening in Israel at the hands of Benjamin Netanyahu. Will the American people take to the streets the same way that Israelís have done? Dismantling the judicial checks and balances by corrupt politicians seems to be a common theme worldwide. Professor Reich’s proposal that was suggested by Senator Sam Ervin needs to be instituted for the AG, but it is not clear how that would be accomplished.

Expand full comment

That's ANOTHER scary thing Dr. Gregory.

Expand full comment

Totally agree, Jaime. Ugh.

Expand full comment

Exactly what I fear, Jamie Ramirez.

Expand full comment

Absolutely Jaime

Expand full comment

Good thing ole' Puddingfingers makes Bunkerboy SEEM highly electable! I think, if he was up for re-election today, a more moderate, scummy Trumplican would be voted in.

Expand full comment

The abuse of power that DeSantis is demonstrating in Florida is small in comparison of what he would do nationally. DeSantis can be petty.

Expand full comment

Absolutely, Jaime Ramirez: all three branches of Government were created to be co-equals - without any one being able to control or influence the other two. Trump can not get out of his own way and is only capable of measuring anything and every thing by whether or not it seems to benefit himself and himself alone - exclusively.

Expand full comment

Can some here cure me of my despair? I'd like to think that codifying the independence of the Justice Department into law would make it so. But if the Trump years have taught us anything, it's that the laws are only worth anything when people in power abide by them.

Expand full comment

Check out Teri Kanefield's recent piece - https://terikanefield.com/trumps-second-indictment-part-iii-trump-confessed-to-the-crime-now-lets-bust-a-few-myths/

and her FAQs linked to in that.

In the end, beating back the fascistic GOP is a political task that only we, the majority of people, can accomplish. Best that we get it done now. Do what it takes to crush MAGA and restore pre & post Nixon norms.

Expand full comment

Thanks for sharing the link, I wasn't aware that the Big Lie came from Mein Kampf which is completely fitting for the Trump and Bannon's of the world.

“The lie is so big that it reorders the world. Part of telling the big lie is that you immediately say it’s the other side that tells the big lie. . . . The force of a big lie resides in its demand that many other things must be believed or disbelieved.”

Expand full comment

Thanks for the link

Expand full comment

Totally with you.

Expand full comment

Thank you for the link.

Expand full comment

I 'd like DOJ to hold McCarthy, Gym Jordan et al accountable first. IMHO Garland has acquiesced to this bull.

Expand full comment
Comment removed
June 19, 2023
Comment removed
Expand full comment

I doubt that. Merrick Garland is doing a dangerous job and he knows it. If you shoot at the king, don't miss.

Expand full comment

If not the King, the head of the insurrectionists and friends of the NRA.and gun makers. President Biden, in a speech in Connecticut (West Hartford) last Friday said that he had not been aware that it was not legal to sue gunmakers, just like it had been illegal to sue tobacco companies for their deadly cigarette products. Our President said that he wants to end that blockage of barring lawsuits against the gun manufacturers! He said it loudly! He means it! The crowd, who were made up of those who survived mass shootings and their families, and many union employees and other sensible gun law supporters roared!!! It was inspiring and powerful!

Expand full comment

We'll see what happens. These things can only be changed at the state level these days and then go to the Supremes so what can be done = NADA.

Expand full comment

It does look like some of the Supreme Court members are making an effort to appear 'more just' ..recent voting laws supporting voting rights. Maybe they want to look better?

Expand full comment

In the beginning, my ex cousin Sherwin was on 60 minutes. The day Garland was appointed, he and Sherwin should have visited a grand jury.

By then Navarro published a book implicating 100 members of Congress.

Justice delayed is justice denied.

Expand full comment

Say more about Sherwin?

And in general, over the centuries, justice is more denied than not.

For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQwaGpPwucU

Expand full comment

why is he an ex?

Expand full comment

My cousin divorced him.

Expand full comment

Not so. He is playing a long game to ensure the convictions are not vulnerable to appeal

Expand full comment

He failed to even investigate people who admitted guilt -- some in Congress -- like the entire team in the Green Bar Sweep and the members of Congress and Trump's administration who asked for pardons, and the 5 members of Congress referred for prosecution by the Jan 6 committee.

1st rule as a prosecutor -- clean up the low hanging fruit.

Expand full comment

A wariness about appearing partisan, institutional caution, and clashes over how much evidence was sufficient to investigate the actions of Trump and those around him all contributed to the slow pace. Garland and the deputy attorney general, Lisa Monaco, charted a cautious course aimed at restoring public trust in the department while some prosecutors below them chafed, feeling top officials were shying away from looking at evidence of potential crimes by Trump and those close to him, The Post found.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/06/19/fbi-resisted-opening-probe-into-trumps-role-jan-6-more-than-year/

Expand full comment

The thing is, AS WE ARE SEEING FROM THE LATEST INDICTMENTS, no matter WHEN action against the criminal tRump is taken, & NO MATTER HOW LEGIT the charges are, or FACTS SHOWN, the MAGAts will ALWAYS charge that it is partisan. So SCREW THEM, just DO THE RIGHT THING!

Expand full comment

Jack Smith would make a powerful AG. Merrick Garland is a fine person but was made AG for gentler times.

Expand full comment

Yes, a bit TOO 'nebbish', when we needed a 'quiet pitbull' like Smith for these times. ;)

Expand full comment

I LOVE Elie Mystal!

He just EXCORIATED Garland for his well beyond merely nebbishe hand-wringing fears of appearing "too political/partisan", and PURPOSELY slow walking, delaying and even setting the tone for the whole department, including the FBI, to NOT go after the SCUMp SHITler (i.e.; the "T-word" was verboten from being used at all).

Elie now blames the whole debacle of SCUMp getting away scot free due to all of these trials running into the election, and therefore nullified, on this delay BULLSHIT.

It is reported that ONLY ONLY because of outside pressure from some officials, and some media shaming, that even forced Garland's hand to go after the putrid orange fuehrer and it's minions, AT ALL, PERIOD.

Ironically, the effing 'appearances" did/do not matter IN THE LEAST ANYWAY to the effing 4th REICH MAGAtz, as they STILL want to 'impeach and prosecute' Garland, and even do him harm, regardless of his actually HELPING them by said delays.

Oy vey, is this one effed up country, or what?

Expand full comment

You would be TOO when you don't have the protection that a lot of political people get. How would you like to go home to a raging crowd threatening your life when you are old?

Expand full comment

Indeed he is - I've often referred to him as coming across as a quaking church mouse afraid of its own shadow

Expand full comment

Michael, I recommend Beau of the Fifth Column (on Youtube). Beau's posts are short, well researched and easy listening. The way he breaks things down tends to soothe and calm me, until I regain focus.

A few laughs helps as well. To that end, I recommend Trae Crowder, a Tennessee comedian, known as the Liberal Redneck (also on YouTube). I like Crowder so much, my daughter is taking me to his show for my birthday next month (we live in Kentucky). Which reminds me,

don't let Beau's beard drive you away. Sit back, listen and enjoy a dose of good old fashioned reporting.

Expand full comment

Another good podcast is Just Buy Less Coffee w/ Keep Troy Blue (Troy Matthews), Cannon’s Fodder (Kathleen Cannon), and Pollution (Irene Poulton sp?)

Expand full comment

Many thanks.

Expand full comment

What would cure me of my despair would be increased participation of the people in the election of good faith public officials. The circus of electioneering is not a necessary part of the political process and it mostly turns people off. It also brings out the worst in people, voters and politicians alike. Take the money out of politics. We have to take back control of the discussions around who is best suited for public service and how to best present them in public debates. Perhaps the floor should include release of tax returns, background checks with a psychological assessment to weed out pathological criminals, and review of all funding sources. How to wean politicians off the abundant funds available to promote private interests over the public good?

Expand full comment

Mary, we are trying to get money out of politics, however, that is so difficult. I believe that campaigning needs to be free as it is a public service to the people. That will never happen though!

Expand full comment

It is aspirational. Once you start down that path you can’t deny what’s happening. Maybe proceed with open eyes and awareness of the situation. And confront the ugliness whenever it comes up. Fear is not a friend when facing a long term problem such as intentional undermining of institutions.

With the widening gap in wealth, raising funds from the poor is an unrealistic goal. Something else must happen. I’m sick of being hectored for money and told what’s best for me. I deserve better and will not “buy in” to such BS.

Expand full comment

Mary, I contributed a lot of funds for the 2020 election and now being bombarded again for several candidates! It's ridiculous already! I'm giving to only 2 people so far. Perhaps that will change next year 2024!

Expand full comment

I delete requests from out of state and pay for post cards and postage to mail in advance of important referendums and primaries anywhere because people are being deregistered aggressively. At the same time the ballot process timing is being manipulated to ensure low turnout.

Expand full comment

I live in NY so my state is OK. I am contributing to California, (Senate race) and Georgia. I lived in Georgia briefly but came back to NY as it wasn't for me!

Expand full comment

Michael Shapiro ; Too true! the party of "Make me!" wherein the actors are defiant delinquents is the order of the day's politicians. So quaint, the idea of honor or fairness. Ironic that tRump complains about lack of fairness, but trumpets that he plans to break any rules of decency or fairness ASAP!

Expand full comment

Laurie, breaking as many rules/laws as possible is Trump's MO. What I have discovered as we have been bombarded by Trump's dementia, he has been well-versed in just how far he can go and get away with things, then claim either his innocence or that they (whoever) were doing it too. He also uses the "it wasn't illegal because I had a right to it or to do it as with the stolen documents. He has been so successful over time he does not see how there is anything different this time. I think the only difference is that he has accumulated so much illegal or questionable activity that he can't escape notice of just how problematic his behavior is. DeSantis, Trump's smarter pupil is trying to figure out how to close the holes that let Trump get caught. There have been no serious challenges to his bad behavior in Florida byond Disney, a rich corporation, in targeting citizens and their families,claiming parents' rights foor other of his activities. In short he has attacked on so many fronts and so quickly it is hard to stop him. Now, he is wanting to take his fascist ambitions to a national level, and he will have a lot of followers, people who either are already suffering from their own fantasies of power-grubbing (false pride), or resentment of anyone and everyone who has what THEY want (averace), belief that DeSantis will get them a whole lot of money (greed). (And DeSantis claims to be so Christian, even that he would havve made a good disciple of Jesus back in the day - arrogance) He and his followers and potential followers do have many of the deadly sins down, though. They don't get it that DeSantis, just like Trump, does not want to give anything to anyone, but will grudgingly do it for people who are completely loyal to him alone. There have been men (and probably a few women too) in history who were just like these men and somehow, at least for a while, could do whatever they wanted to whomever they wanted to hurt. The truth is that We the People have tools to keep them from getting power but we have to be willing to use them. Our courts need to uniformly disregard all moves against voting in this nation for citizens 18 years and older. Ther should be no exceptions. Once an exception is in place, it can be added to by partisan powermongers who just can't stand to have to fight on a fair playing field. Cheating, lying, deceit, gaslighting and more work so well for them. So now that we know it, we should be able to figure out how to stop them. We don't seem to be invested in making it stop to really get it done. If they were a good enough person to be in office, they should be able to win without cheating, lying, depending on rich donors who have their own agendas etc. I hope we start getting highly invested soon.

Expand full comment

Yes, Ruth Sheets ; All of that, and more! I like the idea of just using laws (and rules of decency) that we already have. The trouble is that we have allowed clever lawyers to play for too long! They find technicalities and employ semantical tricks and rationalizations and phony justifications for everything, and then GET AWAY WITH IT! W e must find our moral compass or fix it if it's broken before it's too late. Everything hangs in the balance! BUT ! here's a fact : We, the humans (most of us) have Excellent bullshit meters and will prevail anyway!!!!

Expand full comment

Laurie, most of the time, I believe you are right about our ability to stop the fascist moves. I like your idea of challenging the "lawyers" who are OK with twisting our laws to suit whatever they are being paid to support. Our courts have been pulling the same stunts (OK, they're lawyers too), "corporations are persons," states have the right to make medical decisions for women (other people too, it seems), the Environmental Protection Agency doesn't have the right to protect our environment (unless it's water adjacent to larger waterways or some other such BS). How do we lay people stop the gobbledeegook that lawyers/jusges/justices are spouting to give rights to corporations they do not deserve and should not have and to deny rights to people they should have? It will be a struggle!

Expand full comment

Even the 'Supreme Court wants to be liked, or, at least, respected! There have been signs that suggest they are sensitive to what the public think! Recent legislation supporting voting rights, for example. The people will speak loudly if

they can vote 🗳!

Expand full comment

Laurie, you are right, I think, about the SC, although I will know better when the term ends and we see what the decisions related to affirmative action and the other challenges are when handed down. I keep thinking their two good rulings last week are the pill that is supposed to get us all past the horrific rulings that are coming down. I hate feeling so negative, but it has happened before. The Roberts court is not an "independent court. They are mostly Catholics, 5 of whom are conservatives who are trying to make their way to heaven or something, by hurting as many people as they can while gratifying the richest people they can. I don't remember Jesus giving those as ways to get to heaven, but I guess money and power can color the decisions the court is handing down and one can tie their faith to both money and power. Thomas can cheat, Alito can make up stuff related to women's and other people's rights, Barrett can stand against the rights of women too even though she should be able to appreciate what women go through, Roberts' and Thomas's wives have participated in clearly undemocratic activities, but no Republicans are willing to call them out on it. Of course Kavanaugh is not fond of people's rights beyond his own because he has been credibly accused of sexual abuse and does not want to be held accountable. Gorsuch, the non-Catholic conservative just seems to go along with the other five. Do they really care about what the American people think? I am not sure. I have seen their EPA decisions, their rulings on guns, their proclamation that corporations are persons and money is speech, and their gutting of the Voting Rights Act which is very popular or was until they gutted it. A little gerrymandering case in Alabama doesn't negate that. In the past year, they rejected an independently drawn districting map in North Carolina. We'll see in the next week or so whether the SC cares a whit about what We the People stand for and want, what is best for this nation, or put their own personal biases first.

Expand full comment

The basic problem is WHO would appoint the Attorney General if that power were removed from the executive branch. Do we trust SCOTUS to select a truly independent A.G.?

Expand full comment

I think it’s time AMERICA stops appointing people to positions such as the AG and Supreme Court Justices. We, the People, should be ELECTING them.

Expand full comment

Todd, I don't think direct election of such officials as AG is a good idea either. Admittedly, we have not elected any officials directly as a nation since our president and vice-president are electoral college elected. However, we have seen the kinds of people who get elected by We the People who are influenced by easy lies and media that have no positive principles. I don't know what is the best answer. Who would We the People see as worthy of running for such an office? This is a real problem for all of us.

Expand full comment

OTOH, the people elected Trump...

Expand full comment

Some people, not the majority. Get rid of the electoral college!!!!

Expand full comment

We've been debating that one since I was in HS. And that was a very long time ago.

Expand full comment

I think we have been debating that since the institution of the Constitution.

Expand full comment

talk about getting partisan, then! (if the SCOTUS becomes an electable position). I am NOT in favor of that at all.

Expand full comment

It seems like we can't trust the corrupted voter either. We must take the whole thing in our hands and vote ethical and moral people into our government and vote the fascists out while we still control voting. After that it will be too late.

Less talk and more action is the answer

Expand full comment

I feel your pain Mike!

Expand full comment

Dr. Reich, I always look forward to your writings. Besides knowing history as well as you do, you clear thinking, integrity and honesty is most inspiring. You are a giant when it comes to brain power and I salute you every day.

Eva Foreman

Expand full comment

I feel the same way: learning lots of history in a clear concise way. Lovin’ it.

Expand full comment

What I think is that we should never assume that now we are "safe." We are never safe from human corruption at any level or in any sector of society. There are always people looking for, and locating, loopholes. Every opportunity available to an Administration, Congress, and the Courts to fully protect the vulnerable among us should be seized, set in stone, and implemented.

Expand full comment

🎯🎯🎯 Trump has emboldened the worst in people – look at all the politicians coming out of the woodwork, promising to follow in his footsteps. There will be no shortage of fascists hoping to destroy this country and then actually getting elected by red states. The threat continues and we must all do our part to get out the vote.

Expand full comment

I definitely agree with you , and I pledge to never wear a blue star for them to identify me as a Democrat.

If you don’t get any more replies from me, I may well have been “secretly invited” to “vacation” at one of the MAGGOTS’ secret “work camps “ for my writing this.

Well folks, welcome to the glorious Third Reich

Expand full comment

I sometimes worry if my words on forums like this will eventually be used against me as a future Republofascist administration persecutes "enemies of the state".

Expand full comment

No guts no glory! We have nothing to fear but fear itself! I won't shut up! We must communicate to have Democracy!

Expand full comment

Absolutely. We have to keep trying, speaking up, and voting.

Expand full comment

Well Folks :

Here are our choices:

* Democrats which is a form of the word Democracy (VOTE TO SAVE)

* Republicans (Fascist Dictatorship = No Freedoms)

Expand full comment

sad but true I fear. Republican used to stand for defending our republic, no more

Expand full comment

i think this might also be a big lie. the reason is that republicans have always been the party of business. when corporations were given personhood, businessmen's actions became insulated from most law, under cover of the corporation, relieving them of personal responsibility, ethics, morality. all in pursuit of profit and power. this will ineviteably lead to a collusion (lobbying) between corporations and gov't (all branches, some more than others). this is fascism.

Expand full comment

Not always. Theodore Roosevelt was an early conservationist as well as the famous "trustbuster". But ever after, Republicans have prioritized the interests of corporations over the people. (Ike was not as gung ho about it though.)

Expand full comment

Ike warned about the "military Industrial Complex"

Expand full comment

Ike really believed in working for a better society for all, but there were right-wing voices in his administration that tried to push him another way.

Expand full comment

Even as a non-US citizen, I want to thank you for this extremely important wake-up call which has implications for the whole world.

Expand full comment

Absolutely, but I wouldn't put it under the corrupt, wing-nut activist Supreme Court.

Expand full comment

He is trying to control the narrative. He was so angry Chuck Todd had Barr on Meet the Press he called the director of NBC demanding Todd be fired. The next thing you know, Chuck Todd in an emotional speech said he was retiring from Meet the Press. I don’t believe it was voluntary.

Chuck Todd is an excellent interviewer who asks the tough questions. Very intelligent, very polite but persevering. He exposed Trump and Trump didn’t like it.

Expand full comment

Personally, I think Chuck Todd was weak and allowed fascist Republicans to spread propaganda and misinformation on his show without any pushback. He often threw softball questions. I don't think it's a great loss.

Expand full comment

He had both Republicans and Democrats on.

I noticed Savannah Guthrie seemed rather abrupt and cool with him, almost sustain. I was wondering if she voted Republican. They keep her on yet I feel she is caustic & fake with her self interest at heart. While Chuck Todd has our country’s interest as his priority and now he’s leaving. How many are left like him?

Expand full comment

I am worried about Trump’s possible control over our “free press” to suit his narrative.

Expand full comment
Comment removed
June 19, 2023
Comment removed
Expand full comment

I found him very sharp, quick with comebacks and interesting. I will miss him as I miss George Stephanopolous who has been relatively sidelined on “This Week” on ABC.

Expand full comment

What happened to Stephanopoulos?

Expand full comment

It seems after he contracted Covid, he rarely hosts that show which ironically is titled,“This Week With George Stephanopolous “.

Expand full comment

I see. I have seen excerpts from a few interviews by him recently, so it's somewhat of a surprise to me. Maybe he has some lasting symptoms from the disease, which is not uncommon.

Expand full comment

Marlo, yes, it is disgusting just how much power we have permitted to a terrible businessman, a constant liar, a whiny white child-man who just can never get enough of whatever it is he wants, a hater of everyone who does not bow and scrape to him at all times, Trump is a racist, misogynist, homo/transphobe, xenophobe, pretend christian (all clear through his speeches, tweets, and recorded conversations. He is an ugly person and I can't even see what he looks like (but wouldn't ever say that about how anyone looks). What is the draw? He has treated his cult so badly but they keep standing with and for him. It is a public representation of what an abusive relationship is really like. I am guessing his cult members can't imagine who they would give their loyalty to if it were not to their Baby Donnie. How can anyone break into that? We don't have safe shelters to cause anyone to want to leave the cult. Those members clearly get something from their membership that they can't or choose not to find elsewhere.

Expand full comment

If I personally came across Trump, it would take everything for me to restrain myself from spitting on him, & I've never spit at anybody. Why doesn't any politician or reporter ever verbally attack him, shame him to his face?

Well, it looks like at least Jack Smith won't cower before him.

Expand full comment

Jaime, I know nearly everyone is afraid of Trump. I don't get it, but he has tried to wreck people's lives. Trump likes being seen as the Teflon Don. Remember, though that most of the folks Trump has tried to harm have come out OK in the end, if not actually holding the power they had wanted. The fact that even journalists are afraid to hold Trump to account is far more disturbing than the Republican members of Congress who are scared they might lose their little bit of power, which, by the way, they could get back of they had a message of hope or a policy that would make a positive difference for the people, not the corporations. I am thinking that when one is addicted to money and power as most Republican leadership and some Democrats are right now, it can keep one from seeing where the need really is and that their bad behavior is keeping those needs from being met. Republicans stand for as little as possible besides coddling the very rich and pushing racism, misogyny, xenophobia, homo/transphobia, and lying, cheating, and wielding as much power to harm as possible. I am still waiting for one single thing Republicans have initiated in the past 45 years that has helped anyone but themselves and their rich mostly white friends and donors. No one has yet supplied an answer and I have been looking for several years now, since before Trump left office. We who care about our democracy on this Juneteenth, Freedom Day, need to start standing up to the lies and what abouts, all the time, calling them out as lies and "what abouts." Fox and OANN will take care of supplying and amplifying the lies. Everyone else can spend at least some time in their broadcasts calling them out, maybe as the "Daily Truth-Telling" segment. It would have to be a quick recap because there are so many lies every day. Maybe have a special section perioidically just devoted to Trump/DeSantis lies (they are pretty much the same, like student, like teacher. I would watch that.

Expand full comment

It looks like he has many more body guards for protection.

Expand full comment

I agree. He once said’I could kill someone and they will still support me’. Well his January 6th instigation proved that to be true.

Expand full comment

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE ALL your comments, Ruth. Spot on!

Expand full comment

Tanya, thanks so much.

Expand full comment

Wow! I wasn't aware of that. I don't consider Chuck Todd that great an interviewer, but this is frightening. How this psychopathic tyrant can have so much power that most fellow Republicans & media people shamelessly & obsequiously bow to his every wish even after he has been credibly accused & indicted for some of the most ignominious crimes is beyond me.

Expand full comment

If you notice Chuck and George both have the same style. I thought Chuck had more “bite” but both are very smart, kind and care about our Democracy.

Expand full comment

I wondered about that. That is not the first time Chuck Todd was censored for having a controversial figure on Meet the Press.

Expand full comment

There was a big shakeup at NBC. Oppenheim who championed Todd was replaced in January.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/11/media/noah-oppenheim-nbc-news-exit/index.html

Expand full comment

Thank you.

Expand full comment

The damage to our country goes back further and deeper than what Trump and his Republican enablers have wrought. I recommend this article from the NYT yesterday. It's an excellent summary of where we are in history and what happened. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/18/business/economy/global-economy-us-china.html

I'm not sure tweaks like Senator Sam Ervin's proposal is going to make much difference, but it should certainly be considered. It seems like for every change, there are unintended consequences or somebody soon figures out a way to gain the system. Thanks for the education Professor Reich.

Expand full comment

That elicits the memory of a good old adage: "Build a better mousetrap; breed a smarter mouse." True enough.

Expand full comment

Oddly enough, if you reflect on that old adage, you may come to realize that adage almost perfectly generalizes the true nature of evolution.

Expand full comment

I believe that Mitch McConnell and the republicans did this country the greatest injustice by not convicting 45 during the second trial. However I also don’t believe 45 will be re-elected again, and if he doesn’t he’ll have so many convictions for his crimes that he’ll either die during the appeal process or in prison. If President Biden wins by even a larger margin in 2024, the down ballots would be even more favorable to democrats and independents. Then and only then will his base crumble, and congress can get back to making the United States a fairer country for all its citizens. We are a great country, we just have an infection to drain and cure.

Hillary Clinton warned us before and after the 2016 election what we were in for. She was spot on. So VOTE, VOTE,

VOTE.

Expand full comment

And I would like to add not only vote, but ask every Democrat you know to find at least one new voter to vote blue, and actually take them to the polls with you.

Expand full comment

My other fear is that Biden will then feel obligated to pardon him from his federal crimes so I hope that the state crimes will stick and regardless he will have to be in prison. However, I truly fear that we will not find impartial jurors who will convict him despite the evidence. It took until the end of his presidency before Barr found the guts to call out the fact that our election was not rigged but it still had little impact on the people who voted for trump. People will always look for a way to game the system if it helps them come out on top. Democrats didn’t enshrine our abortion, voting and other rights when they had the chance back then because they never thought that we would lose them and I am afraid that we still have not learned our lesson when we have the numbers in our favor. Hopefully after 2024 we will once again have the numbers and they will finally start to get to work in shoring up all of these things.

Expand full comment

I don't think Biden will pardon Trump. Not for espionage or treason. I think Biden is well aware how dangerous Trump is and to give him even the appearance of innocence with a pardon will only emboldened him and his base further. Criminals are punished in this country and Trump cannot be an exception. Far more people want to see him in jail, then not.

Expand full comment

I hope that Biden would not pardon him but I worry about the optics and people possibly talking him into it by trying to say that it would heal America (which it would not these days thanks to all of the hatred that trump brought back into our lives and people now feel emboldened again thinking that feeling that way about people you disagree with is okay). If he wasn’t white and wealthy he would be sitting in jail already waiting for his day in court instead of out and raising even more money from his base. He would instead be trying to go on Go Fund Me instead of emailing, holding rallies and trying to file every motion possible to delay the trial until he/someone is in office to try to rig the judicial system. I don’t think that trump should be an exception but he already is in many ways. Biden needs to get back to filling as many judiciary spots that he can otherwise the other side will game the system just like they did with the Supreme Court. I truly hope that you are right about Biden.

Expand full comment

I just can’t see a reason why Biden would feel obligated to pardon him. Pardons are saved for people who admit their guilt and have and have actually been rehabilitated. Or were never guilty in the first place. Can you see those things happening with trump?

Other than that I agree with the rest of your statement.

Expand full comment

Grand Juries have been following the evidence against him. That gives me hope.

Expand full comment

I believe the republicans did a great disservice to our Nation when they did not convict Trump of negligence, treason & some other republican senators misconduct to their 'Oath of Office' during the Impeachment Trial. I'm also concerned with the age of President Biden to serve another 4 years? Think back to when we learned about Pres. Reagan's dementia during 2nd term of office. I will vote for Democracy every time and to increase the taxes on the wealthy billionaires and millionaires including increase the amount of taxes on corporations, manufacturers, oil and gas industries, mining, textile Companies to 35%, Stricter Clean Air and Clean Water Standards and real Consequences for openly dumping toxic waste pollution for years into our air and our water. The Air and the Water do not belong to the corporations and industries, and they depend on the U.S. taxpayers to pay for their toxic waste dump clean-up. Just because these corporations, industries, textiles companies have been dumping their toxic waste legally does not mean they should continue to do so on the U.S. taxpayers $$$.

Expand full comment

Donald, I like your optimism. I want to believe we can cure this fascist sickness. We do have the tools for it, but do we have the will. Trump and Kump as well as DeSantis and the other Republican lineup have nothing to offer anyone but themselves. I find it sad that so many people refuse to see that. We need some good messaging to get everyone eligible to vote, and that should be everyone, to vote in every single election.

Expand full comment

Dr. Reich, thank you for the history lesson. The only fear I have is losing people like you who still have the guts to speak the truth about the American history that has brought us to this point. I don’t fear Trump’s insanity as much as I am concerned about those who have hitched their wagon to his coach and decided to follow him to the grave. Trump could not be effective, but for those who have chosen to give their power to discern the truth about their lives to a wannabe dictator who does not care if the American people and it’s democracy is turned into ashes. So, my constant refrain is WHY? Why is that so-called 30+% of our electorate willing to destroy the fabric of our democracy to satisfy his tired ego? Although, I believe it goes a little further than that. Why is the 30+% afraid of real freedom for the people of this country?

Expand full comment

I believe that's an easy question to answer - 30+ % of people watch Fox News, NewsMax, and their ilk. Those folks believe the misinformation and conspiracy theories. When one lives a fear-based existence, the threats are always coming from inside the house. I think an updated and reenacted Fairness Doctrine could help weed out the propaganda channels. Something must be done about them!

Expand full comment

It’s my opinion that we are seeing widespread stress overload. When this happens, the amygdala overrides the prefrontal cortex. Fear, freezing and anger weaken critical thinking. In an attempt to control stress, we turn to habits that make us feel better. This can include drinking, drugs, “religious” activities (such as following a Strongman who promises protection), etc. etc. It’s a mass response to massive social stress. (IMHO!)

Expand full comment

I agree. Do you agree that this activity is more personal than political? Are domestic terrorist responding to their personal grievances and blaming it on the government and people who don’t look like them?

Expand full comment

I share your concerns. The comparison to those who blindly, boldly, followed the rhetoric of Adolf Hitler is overwhelming. 😔

Expand full comment

Constance ; Because they don't know what real freedom is! Yhe word must get out!

Expand full comment

The damage Trump incurred on us will take decade to repair. The DOJ does need to be insulted to add protection. There are those in that department who were placed their by him who still are a threat.

Expand full comment

And add DeJoy to that. I cannot believe he is still running the US Post Office after the havoc he has caused. Wonder what he is up to this time.

Expand full comment

DeJoy is trying to privatize the USPS, which is outright theft of government property. He was put there to gut one of our most beloved institutions. There is nothing more normal and reassuring than seeing US postal workers go about their daily duties in our communities. Out with the ratf*cking menace!

Expand full comment

Diane, you are right about DeJoy. How is he still holding any office after attempting to sabotage the 2020 election? That is a kind of treason, but somehow, we just can't seem to hold Republicans/conservatives accountable while letting people like ?Greene, McCarthy, Jordan, and the rest go after Democrats for actually doing the right things. People, alas, come to see the whining and yelling Republicans do somehow, as strength. It is strength only the way a toddler tantrum is strength. It isn't!

Expand full comment

Did you mean to say "insulated"? The DOJ has already been insulted, as well as co-opted!

Expand full comment

I did intend to say that and was sure I keyed that. Spell check grrr.

Expand full comment

It seems to me that no matter how many controls you put in place there is always a way for the evil minded to to get around such rules. We keep having to rely on a human being's judgment, which can be as flawed as they desire it to be....trump has made us realize just how evil that evil really is, showing us that no amount of rational laws can compensate for the twisted mind of the devil himself ! We now know that it can never be enough to say 'nobody would do that !' - !!!

Expand full comment

Yes. Safeguards for justice are essential if we are to protect ourselves from self serving, govern-by-decree presidents.

Expand full comment

Ervin’s proposal would still allow presidents to appoint the Attorney General. It is possible that a one term president might not get a chance to do so. So Trump would have under this proposal, an excellent chance to appoint the attorney general of his choice. As for the other proposed reform, that the Supreme Court should make the appointment, that would have seemed appropriate enough before the Supreme Court had been transformed into a partisan tool of the rightwing as well. The fact is that our institutions were designed to deal with the possibility of a rogue individual or individuals, not a rogue political party, determined to undermine our constitution and to set up an authoritarian government in its place. We now have that rogue party, on control of the Supreme Court and the House of Representatives, supporting a former president and presidential candidate whose past conduct and present speech makes perfectly clear his contempt for the constitution and the rule of law. We have Representatives who are determined to use House committees to undermine the rule of law, to block federal investigations of serious crime and to conduct investigations of their own for purely partisan purposes. And almost no one from this rogue party, in any public position, is willing to oppose any of this in any way, by speech or action.

Expand full comment

All of this powerfully supported by a propaganda machine (Fox News) and the bewildering meshwork of social media. The only constant is stupidity

Expand full comment

I am all for an independent Justice System as proposed, but then I think about our Supreme Court and I have to question just how much that can really obliterate the interference of outside interests . . . .

Expand full comment