530 Comments

This monster can never see the inside of power ever again!

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he very well may. look at his current machinations of not complying with basics to ensure peaceful transfer of power. he is behaving like a ruler in exile preparing his return

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He has never stopped 'ruling ' our country from the "back seat'. Look at how Congress is filled with his election denying sycophants: traitors who supported the attack on the People's House, and he stacked the Supreme Court to prevent the rule of law specifically, the 14th amendment section 3 disqualification clause from being enforced. He has been dictating to them right along. Interfering with our aid to Ukraine, and unfairly using the courts to prosecute the son of our President. And others. He openly defies the law and threatens all of US 🇺🇸. Anyone who has betrayed our country by violating their oath of office, to support the Constitution and the rule of law. while denigrating military on active duty, or those who have been injured or captured and imprisoned , is unfit to hold office or any seat in government in this country.

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That's why we need an Attorney General like Jack Smith, rather than a timid Merrick Garland.

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nk You : Merrick Garland never should have been attorney General He is gutless. He is trying to protect his ability to make big money after he leaves office. Jack Smith should be attorney General.

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One good thing: Garland appointed Smith as Special Counsel in order to shackle drumpf. This issue of prosecuting drumpf should have been accomplished years ago, but for him and his sleazy lawyers blocking it at every turn.

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Jack Smith would make a very powerful Attorney General. If and when he does become AG, I hope that his office rounds up and prosecutes all of Trump‘s corrupt lawyers and judges (both federal and on the SC) who have enabled defiance of the law or twisted it in their own favor. It would be a gargantuan task, but well worth the effort if we are to save democracy.

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Blocked for Trump with the full help of the six weak justices on the SC! They owed Trump this for THEIR appointments! Life-time benefits and privileges? The suckers are the poor powerless tax payers!

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Dan, I believe he is also a republican of the federalist society persuasion. gee, conflict of interest? if it isn't, it's out of character for repugnant office holders.

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Bill Miller: For the time being. And the foreseeable future , Jack Smith will most likely, be busy prosecuting the one man crime wave.

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Yes, but if he ascends to the office of AG, he will have the resources andaccess to much bigger fish to fry.

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Ilene Winn -Lederer ; True ; But I would like to see Jack Smith, who is thoroughly familiar with the complicated mess of criminality wrought by tRUMP. see the case prosecuted to the very end.

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I might settle for that! :-)

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Bill Miller : Attorney Merrick Garland is also a conservative Republican, and if there was any partisan influence that he was so worried about "showing" as an Attorney General "under" President Biden, he might have thought about what it looked like when he did little to nothing about Jan 6th. for months ; years!

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RIGHT

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I agree. I have said over and over again and have waited for the media to call it out but I thought that running a "Shadow" government in this country was against the law. Once it was revealed that tRumpy has had at least 7 phone calls w putin since leaving office. WHY isn't our News media screaming about this???? tRumpy has been running a Shadow Government since day 1 and needs to be stopped.

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It seems that the monopoly media are not concerned with the destruction of democracy in this country and the world.

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Eloquently reasoned, Ms Blair!

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He even denigrated our deceased military in Arlington National Cemetery with his thumbs up photo op.

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Brava, Laurie, you are right on all points.

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Dear Laurie Fantastic Thank You

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Bravo! Well said, Laurie!

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I have noticed since he refused to accept Biden won the election, a “shadow goverment” lead from Mar a Lago. Noticed how many dignitaries when visiting the US went to kiss the ring. He controls Congress as it’s filled with insurrectionists and those in the Senate as well. Netanyahu refused to meet with Kamala Harris as well as PM Keir Starmer-to my horror as I lived there 25 years plus and still a resident with only child living there-. Netanyahu as well as Putin are making sure their stooge gets back to the Oval. Both benefit, one to stay out of jail, the war criminal to take Ukraine and from that point the rest of Europe. The US will become another Cuba instituting autocracy which brings devastating poverty to the 98%. Read On Freedom from Timothy Snyder. He explains point by point. Too depressing for words. I will be casting my vote on first day in person next week and hope for a miracle. Can anyone answer this question: what heinous act does Trump have to commit to convince the undecided that he’s doing Putin’s bid to destroy 245 years of democracy?

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Good question, Rusalka. I wish I could answer it. My fear is that they won't be able to see the truth until the worst has happened and they've lost everything. Be able to say "We told you this would happen!" will be small recompense.

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Exactly! Rough roads ahead!

Those screaming the loudest will be those unbelievers! “Why didn’t you tell me?”

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Rusalka - he can do anything he wants. Has always done so, buit now can wrap himself in the corrupt verdict of immunity. As does musk, though he's got the real money to back it up. remember that it takes corporate/oligarchic money to seed, nurture, and perpetuate fascism. A competent administration, by the way, would have denied bibi and orban visas to enter our country. orban is probably an errand boy carrying messages/ instructions back and forth.

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Do you think Orban, BiBi, and Putin all have copies of those stolen classified documents? Did Jared share them with the Saudis to get the immense pay off?

Think about it! Went right over the heads of OUR government, maybe?

NO actions taken or questions asked.

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JA - I definitely believe that drumpf and jared gave classified docs to at least the saudis, and probably putin. Only a fool or simpleton would think that $2billion wasn't payment for services rendered. Last i read, (tuesday) jared hadn't made a dime on his "investment fund". Oligarchs are apolitical in the sense that they go where/who will give them the best opportunity to rape, pillage, and loot in the best capitalist fashion. Usually they buy the politicians they need to get what they want. It has ever been thus. What we're seeing now is a spectacular display of absolute contempt for law, the constitution, and norms of behavior. Starting with the birther issue, a thinly disguised racist effort by drumpf, it has gotten monthly, if not weekly worse since he declared in 2016. Deplorables of all stripes have taken his example as "permission" to engage in the worst sorts of antisocial behavior. Now we have meteorologists getting death threats for creating hurricanes. unbelievable.

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But Paul, what is the answer to this dangerous curve in our country? Baffles me. By the day, it is getting worse every where you look or listen. People are becoming frightened and unable to see a clear answer for what the future holds. Yes, we can vote and show our Harris support, however, the numbers of Trump supporters is appalling. How have these people completely lost respect for our country, following a shadowy creep’s Plan 2025? Cannot find an answer.

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"Absolute power corrupts absolutely"!.

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I've said this from the beginning, JA. The fact that documents were still found at Mar-a-Lardo (sic) doesn't mean they weren't already copied and distributed to the highest bidders.

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You are so correct. Very suspicious Trump activity.

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Rusalka asked,” what heinous act does Trump have to commit to convince the undecided that he’s doing Putin’s bid to destroy 245 years of democracy?”

My answer: Trump write and sign a letter of confession, then blow his brains out.

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I really don't think that will work. That would just engender more conspiracy theories and disbelief of the facts. Heinous acts by Trump aren't going to do it. The variety of heinous acts he has already committed shows that.

What actually needs to happen is for the people who cling to him or lean toward to see an alternative. Many of them have backed themselves into an intellectual corner and they need a way out.

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Amen, amen, I say to that! The only problem is that Trump will never blow his own brains out, somebody is going to have to do it for him! Tomorrow could not be too soon!

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Threats on T's life help him at the ballot box.

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I'm hoping Coachella will bring him down in California but who knows his cult was doing everything it could to cover for tRumps failure to protect the cult in the first place, some leader.

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Scary and true

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I do not believe that Putin is a nuclear threat. It is all bluff and it is working.

Putin is not suicidal, not at all, and if he launched nukes that would be it.

I do not think that the nuclear arsenal is ready. Nukes and missiles are not like bombs and ammunition, forever dangerous. They require maintenance. The Generals and admirals of the Russian armed forces are corrupt, they have been siphoning maintenance funds for personal use, to build dacha's for themselves and their mistresses, limousines, gold toilets. (they are tacky)

The U.S.A. has its own problems with it's nuclear arsenal. One of which are plutonium pits, with the end of the cold war, we stopped building and lost the knowledge of how to build plutonium pits, which are essential for the functioning of plutonium bombs. Lawrence Livermore has a crash program to restart the build of plutonium pits.

Missiles are not rockets that can be built and stored for years, like Ammo, they require constant maintenance, maintenance costs money and requires skilled troops. Neither of which is possessed by Russia.

Putin knows that the west is a bunch of "pussies", and all he has to do is wave his nuclear phallus, and Americans will tremble and throw up their hands, no North Korea is getting into the act.

All that is required for evil to prevail is to do nothing, and trembling in your boots is doing nothing.

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Well, I sure hope you're right about this, because the total destruction of everything on Earth is a pretty big thing to gamble on!

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We are already destroying every thing on earth, didn't you know that, Only in slow motion. And I don't believe that there is a chance that there will be a nuclear war.

So tell me are you one of those surrender monkey's CLS? Bully bait? Those who won't stand up for themselves, deserve what happens to them.

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William Farrar, are you okay? Why are you disrespecting another commenter? I respect your many contributions to this blog — while disagreeing with some— but your aggressive attitude towards CLS is simply rude and does nothing to enhance either the tone or substance of the discussion.

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No, I am not a 'surrender monkey'. Is it possible for you to make a point without becoming abusive? I'm done here.

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Why are you so hateful with your postings ?

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He doesn’t need them all to work. Just using one would shatter the non-use principle that has held since WE used two.

Casual reference here and there to a “tactical” bomb {of smaller size??} amps up my anxiety to the stratosphere.

I’m not only afraid of a nuclear winter from wholesale use of a nuclear arsenal … I’m scared to death we will start thinking little nukes would be fine, so why not use ‘em …

I’m really, really, REALLY bummed that Trump negated the agreement with Iran not to develop bomb grade uranium and not to develop their own bombs —of whatever size ..

Kim having a handful of bombs and ability to craft little ones gives me chills.

This is all VERY scary … Really really really VERY scary.

Shaking in one’s boots is not recommended.

Neither is appeasement.

But rational thought about real possibilities … yeah, that’s important.

And keeping Trump and his minions out of office … that’s important too.

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Hiroshima was a tactical nuclear bomb, in today's terms.

If Putin used a tactical nuclear bomb, he is in effect starting a nuclear war, and I do not believe that he is suicidal, but I do believe too many Americans are anxious to wet their pants and are thus susceptible to bullying.

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they should have let patton finish the war (take out stalin). instead we brought the war criminals from germany to run our space program and put not a few of them in the new CIA.

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The problem is Putin is as unhinged as Trump and, therefore, barely fathomable!

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I do not think that Putin is unhinged at all, he is calculating though, but not transactional likeTrump.

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He is smarter and savvier, but just as insane. And, projecting what he is willing to do to people, he’s probably just as scared of what might happen to HIM if he’s ever deposed.

He holds economic sway over his power people, but even that can be broken, if they get pissed enough with him. This war in Ukraine was a mistake on his part.

I have NO idea what a man like that man might do to get out of a tight spot, and neither does anyone on this thread.

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Putin has to be unhinged to put his faith in a man that is clearly suffering dementia and rambling on and on about sharks and electric boats

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I'm inclined to believe the Ukraine war could have been ended in weeks (as Ukrainian born, US educated, head of Moscow University suggested (I forget his name) -- if we assured Putin that Ukraine would not be joining NATO. (You may remember how *we* reacted when Khrushchev started stationing missiles in Cuba.)

But I guess there's too much money to be made selling weapons.

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No Bill, assuring Ukraine to not join NATO is the talk of a surrender monkey, and secondly the party line of Putin.

The problem is that Putin is an imperialist aggressor, and has said that the Ukrainian identity is ersatz, false, contrived, as is the Ukrainian culture. by invading Ukraine he has committed genocide per Art II, of the UN Convention on Prevention of Genocide.

He thought that it would be a walk in the park, that is why he invaded.

If Ukraine belong to NATO as it should have when, it gave up it's nuclear arsenal on the promise by Putin that he would respect their sovereignty and not join NATO there would have been no war.

Putin and Trump are brothers, both are liars, despots who can't be trusted.

I tire of hearing bullshit from Putin apologists. It makes me think that Reich's substack has been infiltrated by Putin troll farms.

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Well, I see a lot of opinions here William, I’d be curious to know what are your sources?

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I don’t know why you buy that idea that Ukraine not joining the EU or NATO would solved the problem, Bill.. The missile crisis had to do with US putting bombs in Turkey and Krushchev putting them in Cuba. That was resolved by both sides pulling their missiles back.

You believe it would be just fine for Putin to dictate the entire future of the Ukrainian state — not just the placement of armament — and that would be OK for Ukraine, and stop future encroachment? Mmmmph. I doubt it.

And once he was IN the East, Putin was NOT going to withdraw. Ending the war after he invaded would have meant giving him the industrial eastern corridor of Ukraine {along with Crimea}, too, or no deal. It was actually talked about.

Putin had already invaded Crimea, years before invading Ukraine through the Donbas and Eastern Provinces, but the head of the Ukrainian gov before Zelenski was pro-Russia. Putin claims that the Donbas and Eastern Ukraine is rightfully Russian, too… having been seeded with Russians during the Soviet Union days, and according to Putin’s little “history” lesson that he claims is evidence Ukraine does not really exist as a nation.

No, I don’t actually believe this had a chance of ending quickly without the surrender of Ukraine, and the Ukrainians don’t seem to want to surrender, even though this has been horrendous …

At this point, I don’t know HOW it ends. Even if the West lets Zelenski use weapons to a greater extent and Putin can’t defeat Ukrainne on the battlefield, how does he save face and stop?

I don’t know.

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Yes, I’m sure there’s no quick and easy solution at this point. But each side waving their big-dick missiles at each other is not likely to lead to a happy end for anyone. The only sane solution is to talk it through. Yet our common response in such situations — withdraw our diplomats — is that of a junior high coed (“I’m mad at Susie so I’m not talking to her. And if you’re my friend, you won’t talk to her either!”)

Contrary to the assertions of other commenters, seeking to understand the other’s motivations is not the same as acceptance and support.

BUT, if we want to keep blowing up the world, at least the shareholders of defense contractors will be happy.

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William Farrar: Yes. Putin and others are practicing emotional blackmail, but, don't ever, not even for a second, think that he will not nuke us; after all, many believe he is god, so will never be hurt or damaged in any way.

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What has many thinking he is god, got to do with him not nuking us?

One thing does not follow the other Barbara.

I don't think that Putin is insane enough to start a nuclear war. He has threatened to use nukes three times, drew a line in the sand so to speak and we have stepped over that line and no nukes.

Remember he threatened nukes if Ukraine was supplied F-16's and long range artillery. Well they have been and no nukes.

He might opt for a Gottdammerung if NATO was at the doorsteps of Moscow, but that is a big if.

Putin likes his power and wealth too much, look what he has done to hold on to it. He also has children, big deterrent, and as I have posted above, the missiles won't leave the silo and the nukes are duds, because they both require maintenance and his corrupt generals siphoned off maintenance funds for their own use.

They who will not defend their freedom, do not deserve it.

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Putin is just like Trump - he has no empathy gene - he would kill his own mother - so would Trump

They are diabolical, devious, deceitful and treat people disrespectfully,

Don’t make either one out to be ethical enough not to push a button if they have a fart coming out sideways

You can trust these two about as far as you can throw them

Both are psychopaths

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W F : "They who will not defend their freedom, do not deserve it."

R H: Everyone deserves freedom (with a few exceptions).

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William Farrar: I think it’s necessary to distinguish between strategic and tactical nuclear weapons. Russia has a huge arsenal of tactical (battlefield) nuclear weapons. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has a very instructive article arguing the case that Putin would be more likely to use a tacticle weapon when he is winning not when he is losing.

https://thebulletin.org/2024/10/why-russia-is-more-likely-to-go-nuclear-in-ukraine-if-its-winning/?utm_campaign=This%20Week%20in%20Foreign%20Policy&utm_medium=email&utm_content=327680468&utm_source=hs_email

Given how the war is going at the moment, this scenario is becoming more worrying. It’s also the reason that the U.S. and NATO and its allies should be giving the go ahead for the use of long range weapons at Ukraines discression.

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I do not think that Putin is suicidal enough to use nukes.

I repeat a battlefield nuclear weapon today has the explosive power of Hiroshima. We are not talking about a 2,000 lb bomb or a MOAB, but a Hiroshima bomb.

If he used such a thing, it would be all over for Russia and Putin, he is not suicidal.

But he knows Americans well, he using psychological warfare, because he knows that all he has to do is threaten, and Americans will cave, soft, pampered cowards.

I agree Biden should be giving the go ahead for use of long range weapons at Ukraines discretion, but you have lily livered cowards like Jake Sullivan advising the President., Either that or his a fifth columnist.

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Terrible!!!

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Here's a real question. If people elect a "monster," is that democracy in action or not?

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If they have been manipulated by lies, distortion and slickness, capitalising on their fears and anger? I think it probably means we failed to hold democracy by robbing citizens of the most important parts of maintaining a democracy: moral reasoning, civic duty, and discrimination-in short robbing them of an education worthy of maintaining a democracy…

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Your analysis that we will have failed to hold democracy because we didn't educate the new people on morality, ethics, and civic duty hits home with me. I was thus educated. The middle-aged people today were not so educated. And their children less so. It's the fault of my generation. Of me.

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You are saying that “we failed to hold democracy” when people vote on the basis of their “fears and anger.” The problem with this is that your fellow citizens are as entitled to vote on the basis of their fear and anger as you are to vote on the basis of yours. Would the civil rights act have happened without fear and anger? Would the establishment of laws to protect workers’ right to collective bargaining have happened without fear and anger? Would the United States have prevailed in World War II without fear and anger? Would the Food and Drug Administration have been created without fear and anger? The EPA? Would progressive taxation exist without fear and anger?

When you hold the fear and anger of your fellow Americans in contempt - so much so that you do not even consider their peaceful expression of those sentiment as democratically legitimate - then you really, really need to consider whether you have not yourself become the very threat to democracy that you decry in others.

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Yes, no doubt I’m very dangerous… but my point was our educational priorities may not be serving democracy… I wasn’t criticising fear or anger as motivation, I was questioning if our educational processes are creating moral reasoning, discrimination, civic duty and personal agency from within oneself

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I'm with you, Nancie. I understood what you said. Chris is using the Vance argument. It's circular.

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I have no idea what “the Vance argument” is but - as with Nancie above - your contempt for your fellow Americans (specifically, the ones who vote for Trump) is astonishing. They are just like you and me. Really.

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I don’t think you are dangerous. I do, however, think your ideas are extremely dangerous. You toss around judgements about “moral reasoning” as though you have some special inside track on the truth. You can tell what is and isn’t a lie. You know which citizens are well enough educated to participate properly in democracy. You know slickness when you see it. And when I ask you if the contrary judgments of your fellow citizens in these very matters makes their votes valid your answer is not a confident “yes it does” but an implicit “no.” I truly wish that the arrogance and condescension of people who have so much contempt for their fellow Americans could see that Trump is what you get when you secretly (or not so secretly) speak about them like this. If Hillary Clinton had not used the word “deplorables” to describe people she considers her inferiors she would probably have been elected to the presidency and Donald J. Trump would have become an amusing footnote. But she did use the word. You did not, but your post drips with contempt: for people who you don’t think are as enlightened as you, for people susceptible to lies to which you are not, for people incorrectly educated. The arrogance is breathtaking.

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You make a valid, important point, Chris. but who is the hatemonger, the spreader of fear and anger? Who is who claims to be a savior of Christian America but acts in the most anti-Christian way imaginable? How can one justify supporting such a man?

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I haven’t spoken about anything but educational priorities and the impact of critical thinking in decision making…and many lies are quite obvious, and being highlighted by many, in the current civil discourse. I know you’re looking to make your point about arrogance-but I’m not your culprit. And pretty much seems to me you’re demonising me in exactly the way you presume I am demonizing others. You set a trap, but you’re in it; not me.

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Chris— In your reply to Nancie you’re writing about fear and anger like someone who is himself motivated by fear and anger. So take this as a suggestion— persuading people to understand and adopt your point of view is one of the most difficult tasks skills— sometimes called the art of gentle persuasion. Banging away with rhetorical point after point is neither gentle nor particularly persuasive.

The central issue is how to deal with an opponent who has no scruples about inventing stories, exaggerating and just plain lying in order to anger and frighten his followers into voting for him and his authoritarian plan of governance.

Using the institutional framework of democratic elections to gain power and then change the system of government from inside the system is a tactic of today’s modern dictatorships such as Hungary and Turkey.

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Injecting fear and anger into our politics has been a Fox News accomplishment.

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MSM is not doing their jobs

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Neil Postman worried about this too in his "Amusing Ourselves to Death . . So did Lawrence Ferlinghetti "above a sea of faces paces his way to the other side of day performing ... in a blather of asphalt and delay.

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Democracy becomes “mob rule “ when the people elect a mob boss to lead them. It is precisely what the Founders feared — that unscrupulous demagogues could sway an unsophisticated electorate by pandering to their demands and inflaming their fears.

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No we did that our education system is not great. We have been dumbing down our schools since the late 60's early 70's by lowering standards of education requirements to pass each grade level and forcing larger class sizes with less teachers.

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So exactly what's happening now. It almost invites me to recall Plato's unpleasant recipe for a republic. He foresaw the same. But an oligarchy, no matter how "enlightened," is never going to work. We have a democracy at the moment. But we do not have an educated democracy. Current citizens may give it all away--by accident.

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By accident? How so?

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Precisely. And that is why they wrote a constitution whose primary purpose (“Congress shall make no law…”) was to constrain the tyrannical capacities of the state. People are welcome to spread all the fear and hysteria they want you to about Donald Trump. It’s a democracy. More power to them. But I really wish they would (a) recognize that their anxiety is more akin to religious conviction than empirically founded fact, and therefore - since we are not yet a theocracy - their fear is owed no special deference or privilege and (b) stop flirting with the possibility of removing our constitutional constraints on the exercise of government power (packing the Supreme Court, abridging free speech, weaponizing the legal system) to “protect our democracy”, when their real interest is partisan. If you define your democratically chosen opponent as not democratic then you are not really interested in democracy. And you should stop pretending otherwise.

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Trump lost the 2020 election, but he denies it, and he tried to overturn the result. Furthermore, he has stated he would be a dictator "on day one" if elected. What do you call this? Why do you ignore this? Do you really expect to be respected?.

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Chris — Why you say that fearing the loss of our democracy under another Trump reign is unfounded and not based on facts? Many of the experienced people who served Trump, who saw his unstable decision-making up close and tried to restrain his rash impulses, are now speaking publicly about this. I have never met the guy but I have met his type; Trump is not the only fat-head who scoffs at experts and believes his own self-aggrandizing propaganda.

You seem sensitive to the prevalent vibe on Reich’s blog that everyone takes Donald Trump’s awfulness as a matter of faith or as tribal loyalty. I can’t speak for anyone else here, but I came to this conclusion on my own long before The Donald started playing with the idea of getting into politics; though I readily admit he has proven himself even more degraded than I imagined.

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Disliking tRump and family since the 70's

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Chris your argument is just a lot of airy-fairy philosophizing. Read the room: it’s a blog of people who come here to read and discuss Robert Reich’s daily commentary. Very few of any give any credence to Trump, Vance et al. other than that they are an imminent danger to our system of government and American society in general. If you like wasting your time airing your political opinions to a hostile audience, don’t expect a lot of thumbs up emojis.

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You have a point. People here seem to think that “discussion” is a kind of contest to see how vigorously they can all agree with one another. They call you names rather than addressing your challenges, which doesn’t really bother me but also just wastes words. (I thought Nancie was an exception - she clarified that her focus of interest is our educational systems, and actually read what I wrote.) But it’s rare to find people who actually take their own words or other people’s words seriously. I’m interested in talking to people who don’t agree with me. They’re the only ones from whom I can learn something. But people able to engage in an actual discussion are rare.

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Hey Chris! Thanks for the shout out! I wanted to say thank you to you too, for hearing me. I also want you to know I understand wanting to hear ‘the other side’, and like you I do try to learn from people who see things differently from me; not as boldly as you jumping in here, but when it’s in front of me, 100%. All the best to you!

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You have yet to demonstrate your own ability.

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I would be democratic except for their voting suppression and electoral deceits being put in place before this election.

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The last vote of a democracy, if it uses its vote to end itself. That vote would be like a suicide.

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Neither JD Vance nor Mike Johnson (and, likely, most of the rest of the r's) will admit Trump LOST the 2020 election and Trump won't even answer the question of if he wants Ukraine to win (in my book, a dumb question - but, must be asked nonetheless - answer: Of course he doesn't). I remember Trump passing top secret info to the Russians right in the "White House" after he fired Comey and I also remember those numerous EMPTY Top Secret folders in Mar a Lago when Jack Smith's agents exercised a search warrant for Top Secret stolen documents (by Trump). Think of those 7 secret phone calls mentioned above and Trump's willingness to accept foreign help in his campaigns for president - then think of two plus two equals four. I rest my case!

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You and about a goodly number of others.

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Unfortunately, he probably will.

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Adam Mockler, a young youtuber goes to tfg rallies and talks to attendees waiting in line and videos the conversations. Lately, he's been asking people if it were a choice between Putin and Harris for president, who would they pick. Invariably, they pick Putin. Wow! The sickness of lies is a national emergency. My fellow citizens have bought a whole pack of lies. How can that be? How can they not hear KGB and think highly trained expert at manipulation and exploitation. How can they not see that tfg is a completely transactional, useful idiot to Putin? How can they not understand that they are being played by tfg, who is being played by Putin?

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M Tree, I think a lot of the people that are loyal to the orange man either didn't pay attention in history and civic classes in school or might be too young to remember what the KGB was doing during the cold war. The orange man and Putin are master manipulators and that is because they have succeeded at manipulation all of their lives! They are both getting old but there will be others like them waiting in the wings. I believe it is imperative that we need to work at our education system to include a class on defining manipulation and exploitation as it pertains to society. Education is the key to help our younger generations learn how to spot when someone is trying to manipulate and exploit them because I don't think their parents are teaching them that. Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!

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Peggy Freeman, I agree education is essential. Teach people informally and formally, about the red flags. But, I can't imagine any R's wanting to promote that, ha, ha. So it's up to us.

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Exactly! We must continue to work hard after Kamala Harris and Tim Walz get elected to let our politicians know what we want to see for our education system, for climate change initiatives, for our Supreme Court and so many other important issues. We cannot stop even after the Democrats win in November! Vote blue, America, up and down the ballot!

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Peggy Freeman, true, true. I'm with ya!

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The republicans are trying to take over what we teach our children, but it is NOT a good thing.

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Jan, I agree. Scary stuff.

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Red flags, indeed. It occurs to me that the GOP flag is bright red, with a little elephant I believe. I added a matching little hammer-and-sickle.

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a swastika might be more appropriate.

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Education … with both content and context and learning how to apply logic and analysis…is SUCH a critical part of a democratic society. And being informed … communication, discussion, and a media to distribute accurate information is another.

Not surprising at all that both education and the means to inform the public are under attack by the Right. And have been for a VERY long time … Just as an aside, I’ve long noticed the tendency in our popular culture to demonize reporters and the press as “vultures” who would swoop in and overpower victims of crime, or give away critical secrets at the very worst moments. [And some in the press, swooping in with satellite disks on giant trucks, and gaggles of reporters with microphones pressed on people gave support to those impressions, I’m not unaware. But the press has also been long ready to withhold critical pieces of information that would harm investigations or critical programs in action, so that image of the rush to print and the devil take the hindmost is not true}.

Education, too, has been turned into the butt of jokes too often, as well. Instead of “Up the Down Staircase” and “To Sir with Love,” we got image after image of idiot teachers and bureaucrat principles being bested by clever and resistant kids … And during that time, the Republican playbook had their people running for school boards and hollowing out curricula, demonizing civics education that gave kids the accurate history and context of our country, and taught them to think about the real implications of our social order … our own Civil War vis a vis slavery and states’ rights, for instance, and the reality of Jim Crow and economic isolation of POC, as well as the social and economic echoes that are still with us … We don’t teach people that reality.

We don’t have to impart guilt over the past, but we do have to impart a recognition of the harm that was done, how it shaped our culture today, along with a repudiation of those policies and determination to do better.

And what Americans don’t know about our policies and actions on the world stage fills volumes, too - volumes our kids never get to read in history class. Some claim they don’t think our kids need to feel guilty about a past that happened before they were born {I can agree with that}, but then they don’t teach that history and help kids learn from it, so they won’t repeat it. Pretending it never happened only leaves us open to doing it again.

There’s so much that people COULD consider when choosing what kind of world we want our kids to grow up in, domestically and internationally…

I hope people will at least see the kind of world Trump would create, and I hope they repudiate that.

With a sense of how we actually did get here, I could not do anything other than Vote Blue this year.

I’m trying to hold onto hope …

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What a great read, Pat! I agree 100% with everything you said! We do need to address the curriculum for our young people. I believe we need to teach them to think for themselves and we do that by introducing the facts, allowing debate which gives students a chance to hear other thoughts besides their own. Only then can students actually learn how to think critically, how to discern what is misinformation and propaganda and what is truth.

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Sometimes, Peggy, having kids debate, and assigning some to defend the indefensible, helps them to recognize how bogus ideas are latched onto and presented — they begin to recognize how logical fallacies are structured — things like that. Yes, we need to help the next generations learn HOW to think, not what to think. But they do need accurate accounts of what has happened in our past — history — to have something solid to think about as they consider what kind of world THEY want to fashion for themselves, too.

Onward …

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I agree! Learning HOW to think is essential for our kids to be able to navigate in this world today. Debate is and I believe always has been a great way to help kids form their own opinions about ideas and various programs. Critical thinking is an absolute necessity.

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Hear, hear

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The alternative is fascism.

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Why would the wealthy want to pay for the education of the populace? It is to their economic advantage to keep people ignorant. Only government can force them to open their wallets, and that's why they hate government, the federal government most of all. They fear anarchy, of course, hence "small government," small but well armed, is their program.

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That is actually not even true. People who THINK their fortunes depend on exploiting less powerful people may think like that, but it is atavistic, short-sighted, and — yes — very stupid.

Truly successful people can thrive better with a well-educated and productive society … it’s actually BETTER for business …

Of course, if one’s only goal is to amass more money than the next guy and lord it over the poorer class, gain outrageous amounts of pure power — and you have no desire to craft a truly successful and sustainable life that provides fun, satisfaction, camaraderie, and leisure enough to thoroughly enjoy the fruits of one’s labors — then sure, keeping people ignorant is a better deal. But it sets up a vicious circles of exploitation and rebellion and oppression and exploitation and rebellion …. What a godawful waste of time.

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Pat, I will not dispute the truth of your narrative but would add a word of caution: we need to distinguish between political activism (“voting Blue “) and teaching students how to think about their history. Framing historical inquiry with an ideological bent can be used to indoctrinate students rather than educate them. I am not saying that this is what you had in mind; I just want to emphasize that it is a point to consider when voters consider who they vote onto their local school boards.

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