Musk has the ego, the leverage, and the sociopathic glee to be the Tweedle D to Donald’s Tweedle Dumb. Prez 47 sees himself as #DonaldDuce, but judging by his cabinet picks, it’s going to be more #DonaldDunce.
If he plunders the middle class and turns us into a #TangerineRepublic, those who voted for him will have squandered all of America’s greatness.
And for what? They’ll soon realize that “owning the libs“ wasn’t worth their families’ economic security, massive inflation, and a likely #TrumpDepression
And saying I told you so isn’t gonna feel very satisfying, is it…
We can use the upcoming despair of the #NeroCons who voted for Trump despite the harm it would do to their families by reframing it, using Trump’s favored terms.
Let’s popularize this phrase: “Trump is stocking the swamp with billionaires who’ll feed off the middle class until it’s gone.”
Any other phraseology that strikes your fancy on this topic? Please leave it in this thread.
And here’s another one that’s simple and just the right size for a bumper sticker:
“Trump and the GOP are only out for CEOs not average Joe’s”
tRUMP is no Fox , he's a vulture. His value to his wealthy sponsors is that he is a useful idiot, carnival barker and snake oil salesman. Plus, he raids the treasury for the already too wealthy 'people' who support him..
I don't know how smart he is on his own. I always feel like he's the organ grinder's monkey, ego apply rewarded for his prancing around, but somebodies else are grinding the crank.
😁🙃😱❤🕵🤔🙄😳💓🔬🚭Trump feeds Despair, Despair feeds Trump. Wars every 80 years:1780;1860;1940;2020.
Strong Men make Good times, Good times make weak men, Weak men make Bad times, Bad times make Strong men(4X20=80...for generations that are twenty years).
Sugar, Salt, Fat, Booze: Greed is a Bad Habit. We exaggerate Power: "I just need one more hit of heroin to give me the Will Power to kick the Habit."
"Jesus will save us"....Thumb sucking. Up to 60% of anxious people are cured by Placebo.
That, in essence, is who he is. Now, how to effectively market and sell this to ''the masses.'' Alternatively, why do people vote against their own self-interest?
Propaganda. If one controls the media, they can control the message. Often that leads to control of the voters. We used to have a "Fairness Doctrine". After the horrors of World War two. New generation had schools that did not want "controversy".
Philip, alas, racism is extremely powerful, and Trump overtly claimed he would stand with whiteness no matter what and the scared white people along with the white wannabees bought the BS and voted for race over critical thought. Yes, Trump is racist, but he is a narcissist par excellence, first of all and will do and say whatever he thinks will first get the most attention, then get him the most support. What amazes me is the number of women who voted for Trump, knowing he used women, cheated on all his wives, paid off a woman to stay quiet so he could get elected and has been convicted of the crime. He told an interviewer he could grab a woman's genitals whenever he wanted because that was a perk of being rich and powerful. There were women who said they would volunteer to let him grab them. He also committed rape, but could only be adjudicated in civil court, and lost, of course because he did it. When this upcoming administration begins working to wreck our nation, Trumpers and Trumpettes will not blame themselves for voting for an ignorant tyrant, they will blame Biden, Harris, and anyone else they can think of (and they won't be able to think of many unless the names are supplied to them). They can't take responsibility for their choices, just like their hero, Toddler-Trump.
Fox News uses molecules of emotion the way drug dealers use fentanyl, and the more you watch Fox News the more addicted you become; it ends with collapse of the user, and this is what is coming.
So I suppose that’s why Fox News is that successful whereas networks like CNN and MSNBC lost 40% of their audience the day after the election. And that was due to their lies and fables and misguided assumptions. Sad.
It’s probably worthy to note for many of you that fox NEWS OF ALL THINGS IS NOW THE THIRD MOST MOST VIEWED PRIMETIME NETWORK AND IT’S A NEWS NETWORK?!
The problem with many here just dismiss their ideology but to give you an example election night, they had an audience of 10 million the largest audience of any network, which seems fairly predictable based on the outcome of the election
Laurie, I am not sure vulture is the right bird since vultures help clean up our environment by clearing away dead things. Trump is more like the Cookoo that lays its eggs in another bird's nest and when the mother returns and hatches the egg, the chick may kill the chicks of the actual mother while demanding the parents feed it even though it is not their offspring. Trump does no real work and gets others to do the work while getting all kinds of goodies for himself and his pathetic kids.
Ruth Sheets, your knowledge of the Cuckoo bird's behavior is impressive - and so amazingly apt for the Trump m.o.
The cow bird does something similar to other birds.
Birds need to rise up, so to speak, and declare "NO MORE." or perhaps, quote their raven brother and declare "NEVERMORE!"
In any case, we earthbound humans need to rise up and say "No more!" Let's use the bloodied, but unfortunately NOT un-bowed, Trump's fisted words against him: fight, fight, fight and demand that the remaining "electeds" and still-spineful media members help with the fight-fight-fight.
Ruth ; Not being a bird expert, I was thinking of the vulture capitalist, who buys a company only to eviscerate it with no concern for the workers or the community where it was operating, and closes it down, taking their livelihoods away. Often, they require the workers to build a stage upon which they make their announcement that they are closing the factory down, and the workers have to clean out their lockers and leave , and by the way, "Merry Christmas," they say to these now broke and out of a job people.
Well, here I find myself and the perfect spot to see all the liberal lemmings commiserating with themselves with all kinds of fantasy and theories, forgetting for the most part the Trump is already president and was put back in the presidency because he was already president and because Biden did such a horrible job. so if you’d like to come back to the real world and wait till you see evidence of anything that you profess that’s gonna happen it’s gonna be a great four years and actually maybe even 12 I’ll wait to share a possibility with you until I hear a pushback on this post
From the Bulwark. Robert Tracinski points out in the Unpopulist
" that each of these nominees is radically unfit for office. But he doesn’t just discuss them individually. He considers their significance as a group, as a kind of statement by Trump about the government he will soon head.
He is constructing a kind of anti-government . . . Every appointee is selected as a deliberate negation, even a mockery, of the function of government he or she will be in charge of. . . . These individuals are not merely unqualified for their offices. They are disqualified. They are anti-qualified—the antithesis of what the offices call for."
This is the Libertarian wet dream, only problem is it is also the route to Somalia.
Actually he’s not constructing an anti-government he’s constructing a lien government when there is much too much fat and liberals of all people should understand that there’s too much bloat in government which could be spent in much better ways like helping the poor and the homeless instead of pissing away hundreds of billions of dollars on another Vietnam called Ukraine.
The only difference between Vietnam and Ukraine that 60,000 Ukrainians had to die versus 60,000 Americans
Poor Victor. People don’t discipline networks. if you did you should discipline MSNBC CNN ABC CBS to be more equal in their coverage instead of falling over backwards with liberal nonsense, which the American public did not buy
There's something scarier. Although apparently quite vigorous for his age due to not smoking or drinking, he is both approaching 80 term-limied and already has his replacement on hand. JD is only 38.
We need a “Katie Porter and whiteboard” to run an Economics 101 visual in bits - like Suze Orman! See what is going on and how it is effecting you now and in the future. Suze’s projection once said $1 million to retire - now she’s at $5 million. Put her projections up against Katie’s “Board for the Everyman Class”!
Losing Katie Porter from the house is a tragedy. And we lost Barbara Lee. Schiff is now in the senate. The mistake they made is not getting together and leaving their egos outside to determine who had the best chance to win. At least we might have been able to retain two seats in the house. But no sense in crying over spilt milk!
You should read more about how/why Katie Porter lost and there is a superb article in The New Yorker about it and the brazen, ugly role of Big Tech, Chris Lehane (Democratic operative, worked for all kinds of Democratic candidates - and also pushed through AirBnB, Uber, etc. HARMFUL policies all over the world!) - Katie Porter had some issues, but the Big Tech money used to defeat her is a big picture of what is to come and who is in power.
You want to help America and help all of us ordinary people, folks? HELP, SUPPORT AND DEFEND Elizabeth Warren because she is going to be a lone voice of integrity and decency in the coming times. She will need us! Porter kind of became a showboat whereas Warren is a thoroughbred working on the side of right in the right and wrong war. Big Tech, Wall Street, Big Corp., Crime Org., Crypto, Trump and mob all hate Elizabeth Warren and she will NEED US so let's vow to help her as she tries to help us!! Hillary Clinton sidelined her when Warren could have derailed all of this garbage that has ensued and then America let the Garbage Man Trump call her "Pocohantas" and Indigenous Americans should have risen up and claimed her, whether she was of Native ancestry or not! Trump hates Native Americans, too, because they thwarted his casino plots. Let us ALL rise up together and KNOW who is on our side!!!
Todd it wasn't the neo cons that are behind Trump. The opposite. John Bolton, a neo con, is bemoaning Trumps election. Trump is the "peaceniks" delight, he will pull out of supporting Ukraine, give it to Putin, back out of NATO, hand Taiwan to China, draw down forces in S,. Korea because Kim is his lover.
As regards Israel, he will turn a blind eye, and not even tryto put the brakes on Netanyahu as Biden did.
That is not a neo con. He is not a neo liberal either anymore than Orban and Putin are.
He is deconstrucing the U.S. and the west, to create a libertarian theocracy.
How about welcome to America, resort and gated community for the world’s rich and powerful , where only the “help “ and the “workers” pay the fees and dues. And please close the gate behind you and lock it. And a note to current members be careful since eventually we will need more “help and workers “ when the current pool dries up and guess where they will come from.
Trump=Thug Life. In Thug Life Rules, it's predator vs prey, loyalty is valued above other morals, never admit wrongdoing, revenge is key, and snitches get stitches. And there are many Americans, evidently, who look up to thugs, who wannabe the next Scarface. Kindness is viewed as weakness. Trump is forming the Billionaire Gang. And they will let him play King until he doesn't pay up, or tries to take too much of the pie. Capitalism taken to its extreme, isn't it?
“Trump is stocking the swamp with billionaires who’ll feed off the middle class until it’s gone.” Excellent, excellent, excellent. I couldn't think of anything better if I tried.
"Yo Working-Class, how does it feel to be pawns of billionaires?"
"Working-class, if you thought you were invisible before, just wait until January 21, 2025!" "Billionaires want everyone but them to live in Medieval conditions."
"D.C. Overrun by criminals: Trump, Gates, and More!"
Here’s something you might think about an interesting quote. I heard many years. You should not worry about the billionaire who decides to enter politics. You should worry about the average citizen that some 20 years later becomes a multimillionaire on a government salary. Think about that for a second.
For those of us that already know and see it coming fast: We need to know what to do NOW to resist and how the average person can "not obey in advance! This is a small thing we can do! "The Fox is in the Henhouse" and others are good but we should start a list to distribute as "talking points" to the media to use as did the GOP.
We have no Teddy Roosevelt this time to save working class Americans. This time it is a 'New World Order' as gleeful Elon Musk put it. There is no coming back from this, Elon has gathered the world's dictators to rule over us all. 😭
The common ground is realizing that it's the almighty billionaires & corporations that are screwing us, & to come up with solutions to our many chronic problems that Bernie Sanders eloquently enumerated in his very popular campaign that appealed to Americans across the political spectrum & for which Elizabeth Warren came up with many plans & solutions. The DNC, whose culpability for creating the conditions that led to Trump's triumphs has been vastly underestimated, did everything it could to undermine & sabotage both campaigns, provoking many followers of Bernie, who rejected the corporatist establishment politics of the Clintons & Bushes, to make the misguided switch to Trump as an alternative.
I deeply regret that my computer does not allow the "heart/like" use because I would be hitting the "heart-like" button repeatedly for your excellent post, Jaime Ramirez!
Just yesterday I got email from the DNC asking for donations. I un-subscribed. They ("they") then asked why. I started to answer, but my response was just too long and covered too many years and I gave up.
I hope that if any good comes out of this election, a more clear-eyed view of the DNC and its role in these recent elections will be part of it. I have said for some YEARS now: The Democratic Party needs to decide what its values are, stand up for them and communicate them. It's not what the DNC has been pushing since it began the joint effort with Republicans of trashing Jimmy Carter. The DNC, the Clintons and like-minded Democrats that co-opted the Democratic Party away from FDR-like policies to the Newt Gingrich-big money Republican ways have helped those "insiders" but not America.
And anybody who cares about such things would do well to look up the interviews Elizabeth Warren did long ago with Bill Moyers in which she discussed Hillary (and maybe Bill) Clinton, BEFORE Hillary was ever a declared candidate. Warren is a hero for American citizens.
She and Sanders.... THEY bring to clear view the LIE that "age" is a problem, as we were supposed to swallow as truth because Biden is old. It was never age. It was ability and COMMUNICATION and that had NOTHING to do with "stammering" or "gaffes" or any of the other nonsense we were supposed to buy about Biden. Warren, Sanders, Noam Chomsky, Robert Reich.... age is not a de facto problem! And "age" did not elect Trump because, much to my astonishment and horror, so many YOUNG people voted for Trump. What does THAT say about America?! Do they really imagine that someone who ran Fraud University cares about their futures??
My great grandfather was a homesteader. He also knew herbs and wild crafting. I remember much of what he taught me as a young boy. I held on to his wisdom that he shared. I think my time has come to lead my community.
Hard as this may seem to swallow, as our economy as well as social structure goes to hell, this may be a good time to talk with drumpf voters who will listen, and ask gently, "is this really what you voted for?" 75 million voters are not all stupid, though at least they are deeply misguided, and may be swayed to clarify their vison as they are forced to confront catastrophe.
P S I live in a deep-red community with a great many decent, hardworking country folk who shouldn't be made to pay for their extremely poor choices with their livelihoods.
As do I, however I cannot forgive the woman who (for instance) didn't like the way Harris acted as a VP and felt trump was too set on revenge, so prayed and voted for trump. Decent, hardworking "country folk" will pay for their poor choices, but so will I and all of those who voted for Harris.
If I may, the people of Appalachia have - for GENERATIONS - been in that category. They have been reviled, derided, ridiculed, exploited, used and re-used, mistreated, and discarded - and they have responded in kind by becoming the most MAGA of MAGA. However, it has never really mattered to their lives who was in power, Democrat or Republican, because "Appalachia" was a place where candidates went to have their photos taken with black-dust covered coal miners, or impoverished families on log-cabin porches or, more recently, in front of trailers with old cars strewn around..... and the VERY wealthy and VERY devious types like Joe Manchin and tRump with their "drill baby drill" and their "remove the mountains" to make golf courses and the rising oceans make beachfront property and end Obamacare and Medicaid .... "Poor choices with their livelihoods...." yep, but those folks have "looked to the hills from whence cometh" their help for many generations and none has ever really come.
Dennis, oh YES they should. In my view, from 45 years in healthcare, starting in the mid 1970s, it has been watching White Collar Criminals, from Wall Street to doctors to administrators, to Congress, to corporation owned US regulatory agencies that have brought us here. Us littles have consequences, the biggies, bullies eat us alive and No Consequences!
We will not be able to mend if there are no longer voting rights, which are rapidly disappearing. I had hoped that a Democratic administration & Congress would: 1. Pass the Voting Rights Act, 2. reverse Citizens United, 3. pass the Violence Against Women Act. Without those changes we are not a Democracy, but an Oligarchy descending into Dictatorship.
Diane, we must all write to President Biden to RECORD the ERA. Trumpty refused to do it. Biden could do it now,if we ALL write. Okay boys, time to support us women. Otherwise, you are next as the Nazi saying regarding the weak capitulation. First, they came for the disabled and I was not disabled, so I said nothing..........then they came for ME
My understanding, Gail, is that a next step is recording the ERA. Because white men against equal rights put a time limit on the passing of the amendment, almost never or never done at all to other amendments, the pretense is that it did not pass adequately. But, now enough states have passed it and it is time to DEMAND it be recognized. These white men, all men should support this, because they have come for us women, and next they will come for you.... make no mistake.
All amendments since the 20th amendment (ratified 1933) have had a 7 year limit for the states to ratify them. The ERA paased Congress on March 22, 1972, and the ratification deadline was March 22, 1979. In 1978, President Carter extended the deadline to June 30, 1982. Virginia ratified the ERA in 2020, claiming to be the 38th state to ratify, though 4 states had rescinded their yes votes on or before the original deadline.
Given all the irregularities, it's next thing to impossible to declare it ratified now, 42 years after the extended deadline. They'd have to start over from square one, and given the present climate of misogyny and the fact that Republicans obviously want women to have as few rights as possible, the ERA doesn't have a snowball's chance of even coming up for a vote in Congress.
I think you are right, but it's going to take two years before buyers remorse sets in. It will be difficult for Trump voters to admit that they were dupped. Our hope has to be that they will accept this reality before November, 2026. It happened in 2018; it can happen again in two years. Until then, it's going to be "Katie, bar the door."
It strikes me as possible that you are "proscribing" an emotion, empathy??? that may no longer be prominent in many of our fellow citizens. And then what?
I wonder if the pain Elon & co are going to inflict with the Department of Grifting Entitlement is going to change the view of the magas. They very steadfastly denied the stability of the Biden administration, and its positive actions flooding their red states. They may feel pain, but hey will consider it a pleasure to suffer for the DOGE. We are in the “Upside-Down”. Weak minds and greedy minds wreck a lot of stuff for the rest of us.
Dems definitely do have to offer an economy-based message that is simple and striking enough to penetrate the right-wing disinformation sphere. How about a new right to free lifelong job retraining? This concept is simple enough and exciting enough to fit on 100,000 billboards. It can penetrate the right-wing disinformation media bubble. See:
This is a great idea in theory, Kathleen. I have to say I have seen a pervasive lack of motivation here in America. Many people have no idea how to budget, or what the difference is between a need and a want. And don’t want to learn. The lines at McDonalds, Dunkin, Starbucks and other fast food and drink chains are always long. Folks gotta have their newest version of a cellphone. Cheap shiny merchandise entices. Entertainment is a remote button click away and streaming services cost about the same per month as a couple pumpkin lattes. Can’t retrain if you’re binging Netflix series.
What is being spent on these purchases cannot be used to go back to school, retrain, and pivot from a dead end job or one that pays you more. It takes motivation to benefit from programs that truly help people. I don’t see the motivation.
The United States now is entertaing itself to death and self feeding off of it economically. I am 66 years old and grew up in Los Angeles--I see a country that somehow has slipped into the box/pattern of constant enterainment that many people dreaded would happen back sixty years ago. Young people are it's primary victims. Yet parents continue to not push back. And I am a very liberal Democrat with what I would say are progressive values. The country is like a model of LA/Vegas that we dreaded a half century ago.
40 or so yrs ago an NYU communications prof.,Neil postman,wrote 'amusing ourselves to death',about the pervasive and deadening influence of tv-what would he say now?
Yes, and a lot of those activities cost less money than what parents spend on endless gadgets for entertainment. To me, growing up in the 1960s' we were warned in this country. The warning has been ignored on the large scale and parents can be making big mistakes with their children--and the parents are ignoring giving their kids as simple a childhood as possibe. If I were a young person now I would really dislike it. It displays tremendous selfishness.
Oh my gosh, Cathy! That is so true! The generations coming up simply do not know the meaning of tightening your belt or necessity over desires! I do believe my generation is probably the last one whose parents grew up during the depression and learned the art of budgeting, hard work and financial planning. My mom could squeeze the nickel till the buffalo pooped so we never went without the necessities and she would save in order to make sure our birthdays and Christmas were absolutely the best! Those were the only times we received a "luxury" item that we did not need but just wanted. Adults today more often grew up with parents who gave them so much but didn't teach them how to appreciate what they had. They didn't teach them the difference between necessity and desire.
Is your mom, my mom? But, seriously, that generation went through a depression, a World War, and a population explosion. They were focused and sought to instill values in each of us. Somewhere along the line, things changed.
Exactly, Jaime! These young ones today are going to have to experience the hardships that are coming their way in order to understand what we were taught by our parents! Maybe they will then start teaching their kids how to manage money, budget, pay attention to the necessities and above all how to pick the leader of our country using wisdom and common sense!
I respectfully disagree- the younger adults I have contact with are financially savvy- stream Suzy Orman and Dave Ramsey. Several lived austerely for several years to pay student loans off early. They swap clothes and baby things, toys and books. None pay for cable- few watch TV. They’re too busy just trying to survive in the struggle to pay living expenses. Second gigs are common. They didn’t learn it in school- their parents had some influence. They share info and resources- they’re gonna be ok when all the OWM die off…we’ll be long gone by then. Kinda sucks our retirement is happening during the Inquisition- there will be a Renaissance….
I think you are right that many Americans have lost their way about how to live. However, there are those who sober up at some point in their lives and realize they need to do better for their children. The program I'm in visioning isn't opt in program, not forced on anybody. If people begin to see some of their acquaintances and cousins beginning to prosper through job training, I think it will catch on.
I admit to a taste for books and music, but usually try to accommodate it at a discount. Usually the internet is for discussion of serious ideas. I have a TV and videos, but don’t watch them much.
$5 fast food ‘meal’ at Burger King, Macdonalds, whatever, has 2 small fat- & sodium- laden beef burgers, fat-laden fries, a sugary soda, and perhaps a fat- and sugar- laden shake. New reports say 75% of Americans are overweight or obese. That’s the bread. The Voice, Dancing with the Stars and ‘reality TV’ are the circus. The golden age of the American Caesar is upon us. What’s next? Gladiatorial games pitting illegal immigrants against legal immigrants for citizenship?
I have often thought the Hunger Games said more than most understand about our current predicament. A majority voted for a clown based upon unreality tv.
Agree, this is part of problem... the thing about reality TV is it promoted selfishness and disregard for others as a major value. Community building is needed.
HEY- lay off DWTS, we love dance, there’s a pro in our family who was working when none of her friends could find jobs in business lol. We gotta ban those damn Housewives- what a waste of flesh the lot of them are, and Andy Cohen too
I agree. Those people complain about high prices, but spending is up and predicted to be higher than last year at Christmas again. What are they going to do when our economy is in the tank and prices are even higher? Let’s put the blame for high prices where it belongs…on the large corporations. Harris’s agenda to tax the rich and break up trusts would have helped. As someone in their mid-70’s, I’m not sure I’ll live long enough to see Trumpism get destroyed.
All the things you mentioned have been demonstrated to be on the downslide- people can’t afford them- fast food sales down, Apple phones down, everyone I know has cut the cord with cable, BuyNothing groups exploding, used cars more dear than new….Mike Rowe’s trade training scholarship foundation has doubled in a couple years and more schools are putting trade training programs in. “Corporate “ society and an economy based on consumption is on the way out…we’re evolving and it’s not going to be pretty….
They could to this and dump the unregulated capitalism that is squeezing us. Regulated capitalism works better, and Brandeis was correct about the choice between truly representative government and the great concentration of wealth that destroys all in its path.
Cyrano, when these MAGAs and orange man worshippers start feeling the pain, naturally it will be the Democrats' fault! Of course, they won't care that the republicans are the ones in charge in the House, the Senate, and the White House! That's what is so anger inducing for me. I don't know what I will do if one of these jokers starts their diatribe about how the Democrats are responsible for what the republicans are actually doing. I don't know if I will remain calm or simply explode on them reminding them this is the republican trifecta show while I am flailing away at their face, arms and legs!
I totally agree with you. Seems the Retugnikkkans (as I call them) create the problems and then BLAME the Democrats for trying to correct or actually correcting the issues ....
Trump is a nightmare and when HE fails, he BLAMES EVERYONE ELSE... he is a spoiled billionaires son who never takes responsibility for his own actions. His niece wrote a book about the family and how trump is the way he is.
Fred was a comfortable millionaire, rich enough. He helped cultivate Donald’s sociopathy, but Donald’s narcissism is a product of his early childhood. Trump and Musk are eventually going to clash as there is no room in Donald’s orbit for another narcissist who would draw attention away from Donald.
You are correct that Donald never learned how to take responsibility for his own faults and failures. Sociopaths and narcissists never do, and they project the blame onto others. Donald has never understood that he is his own worst enemy. He doesn’t understand this and never will.
No it isn't going to be very satisfying. Musk and co might find life is a lot more hazardous and leave, or find themselves on the wrong end of a jail sentence or worse.
I am just in disbelief of how America is going. This means that many people will learn to adapt. I am opting OUT of SSI and Medicare. I do not wish to lose any more money to a dying system.
Todd, I just don't see those who voted for Trump ever acknowledging that they were wrong. They will continue to blame Biden and Harris and Democrats everywhere just as so many still blame Obama for something. Even they aren't clear what that is, but they just know he did something to them, right? Trump and Kump has the media sewn up and will tell those pathetic working and middle-class people who to blame and will need no explanations as they never have. They will just put it out here "you know it was Biden and Harris who made your life so hard." That's all they have to say and there will be millions who believe it and will keep right on believing it because they are well-trained by Fox Not Nearly News, Rush Limbaugh, and a whole host of white talking heads (or mouths) that only they know the truth while they lie with every breath. I am guessing a lot of Americans actually want to be lied to. If they acknowledge they were responsible for what actually happened, they would have been wrong, and they just can't have that! OMG, I hope I am wrong, but alas, I doubt it.
When do the things I find most interesting things about most of the liberals today they could use a new product at Amazon is kind of co-producing. it’s not a real product but it’s something I think that many people here apparently could use.
It’s kind of like a two for one there’s a package deal you could buy that includes a crystal ball and a Ouija board that will help you much better understand what will happen in the future under a Donald Trump second administration lololol. Why is it most projections and predictions are misguided. And it seems to me reading a lot of these posts that most of you seem to forget that Donald Trump was already president of the United States, which is the reason that he’s back as being President of the United States.
Wow, so I see you’re a real objective source of information that has obviously forgotten that Trump is already president and despite Covid did a great job. But you probably denied that as well then you have to figure out why Trump is in the White House again. Let’s see who you are going blame this time.
While we hope that is how they feel unless we change the narrative somehow to break the cult mentality to follow the leader to death, that will not happen. The cult leader will still find a way to blame the Dems, the libs, the immigrants, the women, you name it and they will believe that because they have been groomed into a cult. We need those psychiatrists/psychologists to step forward and give us pointers on how to deal with cult behavior to break that mindset. The Repubs long game plan in dumbing down America is having its way with us now. My hope, well the numbers show that as the vote counting comes to a close, he did not win 50% of the vote so no mandate and we still have that other half of Americans who have not drunk the juice to hopefully take up the torch and engage one person at a time to effectively have the people rise up and say no. Can someone tell me how the billionaires can survive if we are so suppressed we cannot afford to purchase their products and continue to feed their wealth. I am missing something here.
Professor Reich: i hope the sensibilities of the average american is offended by this greed-fest, but i suspect a large number of americans will die first -- from back alley abortions, from the incoming H5N1 pandemic that is inching steadily towards a global human pandemic, from a lack of any sort of healthcare, from homelessness and hunger -- before anything changes.
in short, i smell soylent green is on the horizon.
I’ve been saying for eight years now that Trumpism is so effective because the fervor has become enmeshed in the personalities of the willingly duped. That’s why they can’t say or see anything bad about Trump because that would be tearing away at their own validity.
But that separation is going to happen in the next year or two. They may be the last to realize it, but they’ve been played the fool to be a billionaire tool. And they are going to be plenty pissed.
I tend to agree. My youngest sister was conned by a guy and lost everything, even ending up in debt. Then she fell for Trump, and cannot see that he too is a conman. I surmise that some people are subject to easily being conned, and unable to detect it.
The likes of Jim Jones (the cult leader) and his followers comes to mind.
But, I also suspect that I too am too ignorant about human nature to find the cure. But a cure for being dupped is exactly what is needed.
Education and critical thinking are key to combatting credulousness and gullibility. Why do you think Republicans have been underfunding public education for the past 50 years and taking over school boards to dictate what can and cannot be taught. Critical, independent thinking is the real Republican nightmare and they have been working very hard to eliminate it in schools.
I wonder if even critical thinking can help some people. When you hear propaganda repeated over and over, it becomes ingrained into your thinking. I suppose it depends on how strong willed you are not to succumb. And young people are soaking up information. We need to be sure to get correct information out there too. Talk to your kids and grandkids!
The Department of Education has been under attack from the GOP for years, Reagan led the crusade, and the rest of the racist connards have followed suit. Excellent point TL!!
The "dumbing down" of the country started with Reagan & Gingrich started the crass political vulgarity that culminated in Trump. I agree with T L Mills about critical thinking, but would add that the rise of the non-religious, who excel at individualistic & critical thinking & are now almost 30% of the citizenry, should give them nightmares. Until we are a majority; and the numbers are rising, especially among the younger generations, and when the country is truly secular, then it will actually be the "greatest". As an 85 y/o I won't live to see it but hope my 15 y/o granddaughter does.
You’re not ignorant about human nature, Rees, it IS human nature for some members of any population to WANT to be duped. They want a “Big Daddy” to tell them what to do, to tell them what’s going to happen, to give them guarantees! We just can’t .afford for that to be a majority of our population.
When people have brighter futures, fewer of them will fall for con men. Right now, when Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid start being taken away from all of us, that will be the beginning if the end of the Trump cult. It will be a disaster, and people will no longer believe in him.
GrrlScientist, we need the left billionaires or multimillionaires to fund, buy out, create media that can go to all. Without a truthful media, we cannot get out of this brainwashed subset of humans harming us along with them.
I agree on most of what you posted Professor Reich, but there is one enormous difference. At the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries we still had a representative republic. White men still had the right to vote. We (not us on Substack but we as Americans) just voted in the Christian national fascist dictatorship. You've read at least some of Project 2025 as have I. If they succeed in getting half of what they want we'll have lost all semblance of a democracy. Trump himself told us loud and clear "if you vote for me this time, my beautiful Christians, you'll never have to vote again. We have this beautiful plan, you'll love it" What guarantee do we have that we'll even have mid-terms in 2026? Yes, our Governors are planning 'something' to not submit. But I'd like to have an inkling of how those plans are going to work. Short of forming our own Constitutional States, I don't see how protesting, marching shouting defiance, signing petitions, will make a pin prick of difference in a dictatoship.
Patrick Henry's strong speech was pivotal in encouraging patriots to take up arms against the British, who were sending more soldiers to control the colonists. His words inspired armed resistance which was the Revolutionary War. It might have been easier , though no less bloody if President Biden had acted boldly before going in to give away the keys to the White House to a man who refused to even sign the agreement to honor the peaceful transfer of power. I don't know much, but this is one more thing that works against Democracy and the rule of law. Did Biden have no options to defend against this Mob? They want to go after Jack Smith for doing his job. I guess to deter him from making his findings available to the world
The work would need to be started now, before Trumpty is in. Boycott everything you can. Stop buying everything you can. Woman can stop dating, stop sex, stop doing for men until they see fit to finally make us equal legally. WAKE UP. The door is almost slammed on us.
Fay, you are right to be concerned and pessimistic. However, our business subservient rulers will have to face China's economic and technological challenge. If they want to compete they will have to dump Trumpism and the Project 2025 crowd. The alternative would be stagnation and economic decline for all of us, them included.
Agreed, Victor, and hopefully only for the next 4 years that is what we can expect, I just hope they are unable to enact all their plans for a Christian national fascist dictatorship
my prediction is that the majority of people will submit to power. The rest are already not counting on government (or the silent majority) to support them, and organize their own support system (and in a sense, their own protection). Protest is just going to provoke government violence, it's time to go underground.
I fully agree with Roberts statement “that majority will once again demand systematic reforms that bring us closer to those values.”
That is why I personally am ignoring the sensationalistic news, which is also enriching the media, and focus on the systematic reforms that will be necessary when Trump and Musk’s whole plan crumbles, and brings us into a dire situation. While being cognizant of current events, we must pause and alot, some of our time to considering , what we can make the future look like after our current system of capitalism run amok has fallen in on itself. Soviet communism has fallen in on itself, but no one had a plan for what to do after which allowed the ultra wealthy oligarchs to take over. Let’s not find ourselves in that situation.I
Since the results of the election have rolled in and Trump and his gang of thieves are becoming more and more public, the discussions and arguments between Democrats about what went wrong and who is to blame are a waste of time. The election is over, Trump won both the popular vote and the electoral vote, and our 800 billionaires are rubbing their hands together in glee to reap the profits of this outcome.
When Trump was running for Office in 2016, one of the first statements he made was the most accurate: “The system is rigged folks.”
THE SYSTEM IS RIGGED FOLKS! can we consider the possibility that it is rigged beyond repair? Can we build or rebuild a system based on the intention stated in the original Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? Not only do I think so, but now I see it is an imperative.
It is time to roll up our sleeves and begin to work on solutions for the long-term and not just worry about the next round of elections.
Yes Marc, of course the system is rigged. That is why Trump and Putin are friends. When Putin was selected by Yeltsin and the communist empire crumbled, he built a system on enrichment and oligarchs. That is the pattern Trump wants to follow.
It seems to me that the only solution that does not result in great suffering, is educating everyone about what government is supposed to do, and finding a way to change the government accordingly. Both left and right need to agree on what is actually necessary to have a government of, by, and for the people. If we can't do this, then it seems like we have gone to far astray already, and war, plunder, etc may be the result.
Ted, we need Civics classes brought back to high school. That is where I learned about how government is run and how it operates. That is very important.
Sadly, I have a neighbor's son who left the Air Force to teach in high school. Peggy, he has discovered that his high school juniors cannot read. They cannot read. And have learned that if you just attend summer session you will get credit and graduate in a year with a diploma. Therein lies the future of our country. If he protests, my friend does not get rehired. So...his colleagues say, "Just pass them."
It is sad, Jaime. I have said over and over that our education system needs a complete overhaul. We cannot compete with other countries anymore in terms of quality education. As a retired teacher, I have had to watch what was once a great educational system deteriorate to what it is now. Very sad indeed!
In my humble opinion whatever these guys are doing now (unrestrained) should be our lessons of - "DO NOT do" situations !! Start working on finding ways to counteract/ work on "legislation" that will put guardrails once for all in place to Never allow greedy oligarchs to even touch power positions leaving alone holding them and rule the country
One important guardrail should be to Never allow mis/disinformation fill the public space " in the name of free speech" !
My current hope or slight ray of light is that public opinion does seem to be shallow and can turn on a dime. As fast as our new oligarchs and billionaires are moving, so does popular opinion and awareness. I’m still feeling that the mid terms will tell us a lot. These idiots who voted for him will expect mass deportations ( which is looking unlikely) and a quick and obvious reduction in prices, another thing that is unlikely. But we need to put in place a tangible guide for how they make changes - midterm voting, local races. Etc..,
Eileen- Yes but I’m afraid that would be construed as socialism, and there is the biggest problem! The lack of education means people do not realise social welfare systems are about protecting the average person, ensuring there are safety nets in place in healthcare & the workforce & old age. But the reptilians want people to believe this is wrong & it’s communism!!! I live in a country that is a social democracy, we have social welfare nets. It’s not perfect but at least we know there’s some back up via national healthcare system, social security & other social welfare programs. It’s been decimated by our version of repubs. But we have kicked most of them out! Sadly, America has always been a more dog eat dog society with too much focus on capitalism as king making money and a punitive view towards the vulnerable & less able. So much for Christian Values! (I lived in USA before moving to Scotland 36 yrs ago)
Marc, one thing does not exclude the other. As to long term solutions, the relevant question is solutions to what? Republicans are eviscerating our institutions, and perhaps we ought to defend them. NGOs are our last line of defense, and they already are under threat. Be sure to defend them!
And trump likes to keep it rigged in his favor, by lying to the people who can least afford to be bilked.. the low income people who are struggling the most .
What values? Young people have been educated differently than we were and have been exposed to the media. Necessities may soon be the only things valued if the oligarghs tank the economy.
I worry what lessons the young are learning. You become president by lying, cheating, raping, breaking the law, using national secrets as a transactional tool for your benefit, etc, The values shown to the younger generation by those in the trump camp are repugnant to a civil society.
Why the documents case did not tank his political career is the most telling of the extent of corruption in our DOJ, and Courts. They don't even care about National Security. Those who can own several residences around the world and private jets and personal security forces, never worry too much about what is on the ground, As long as They can escape.
I think our young people are very nice folks but everywhere I go they have their phones glued to their faces and I pretty sure they are being involved in politics.
Unfortunately, it is far too late. People are being laid off right now and prices will sore into the very near future. I am afraid it’s going to get real crazy on all fronts for humanity as well as the Earth itself!
Too late, Marc. Project 2025--already being implemented--envisions the plunder of our natural resources by our oligarchs. Environmental organizations will resist, and, almost certainly, they will be dubbed eco-terrorists. Robert Reich and you, and most of us, may be categorized as unAmerican Leftists, and have our voting rights suspended pending investigations that may last years.
Distraction is the main business of Lying circus Drumpf. Next to merchandise. Indeed it is essential to pay attention to what this conman DOESN'T tell you. MAGA built a coherent P2025 system while most of us looked the other way.
And Professor Reich is spot on with the billionaire deflection campaign. And there won’t be any Democrats or liberals to blame when everybody’s lives get much worse.
And that will be a good time to point out that the “family values“ party doesn’t value the welfare of families at all.
This is what I believe is most likely. It's so much easier to continue believing the lies as they pile up. If you question one of those beliefs that you have integrated into your reality, the whole house falls, and you have to face yourself. That takes true courage, and I don't see much of that coming from MAGA land these days.
They can only blame dems up to a point. The hard-core MAGA will always believe, but the folks who wanted lower egg prices will be horrified very soon. The midterms are coming..let’s start getting ready right now. There’s a chance to pull the United States back from the brink, but we need to stop picking the scabs off November and get busy!
Anyone with a scintilla of awareness should know bringing a child into what the world has become, cannot be abided. ( I'm agreeing with you, just emphasizing what should be obvious )
Yes, Todd T ; Witness the deaths of women who have already suffered miscarriages. We heard endlessly about the hostage situation in the Middle East ; Not much in the media coverage about the plight of all women in the states where this is law, to deny women emergency care that is unrelated to abortion that propaganda conflates it with. Of course, even women trying to abort an unwanted pregnancy with a pill to prevent implantation of a group of cells do not deserve to be killed. All kind of distracting.
1000% Dr Reich. When Trump first ran for Prez I told my husband the financial temptation was too great, Trump saw the presidency and US government as the ultimate feeding trough. Now he’s buying loyalty the same way. Not so ironic that Musk’s ad calls for the top 1% to interview. Will the public wake up? That depends on how deep into denial they choose to burrow. During his first term, average Trump supporters in poorer Florida areas were interviewed. They considered their economic losses under Trump acceptable to help the greater good. With people already struggling financially you’d wonder how much more they’d find acceptable. These robber barons are like parasites, once sufficiently drained the host collapses and dies, and then they move on to the next one. No morals or conscience. Only as a united people can we hope to throw them out. It really is an economic class war more than a red/blue male/female, young/old or urban/suburban/rural division (just further distractions).
I think Trump was surprised that the Presidency, or even just running for the Presidency, was the greatest con-game ever run, much bigger and better than any of his previous con-games. Trump University, the Trump Foundation, the casinos.... all of it, small potatoes compared to the Big Con. And he has milked it to the hilt and has discovered there is no bottom to the fund of marks, globally even; maybe with Musk, even to the moon! New children's book: I Will Bilk You to the Moon! He has even been able to expand the con-game to his "children" and grandchildren and various wives and harem of willing women with no self-respect - and, bonus category, the American tax-payers not only send him endless moola and baksheesh, sometimes for tacky trinkets but not necessarily, to pay for housing, security, food, travel and whatever else, all-else. Con-Supreme. He dances to a song that has become a contemptible ear-worm about being proud to be an American and his "health" guy, a heroin-addict, philandering, know-nothing has a brain-worm.... well, Con-Game Supremo Supremo.
I have lost all faith in half the people who live in this country. They voted for Trump, and that tells me everything I need to know about them. I only have a handful of years left on this planet, and the thought of spending it under a second Trump term--knowing what we all know about him but only half the population paid attention to--makes me feel soul sick. I'm so tired of all of this.
Theo Fenraven, you are not alone with those feelings, but I hope they will pass and you, and others of us who are feeling low, will revive and realize that, like others in our history, we have to stay "on the case" and do all we can to defend the nation we still believe in, even in the face of those who want to destroy it. If ever there were a need to endorse the "all hands on deck" adage, this is it. A pause to recover, then find your way back to the truth and join the fight.
I'm recovering from this more slowly than I expected, likely because every day there is some new assault on America or its citizens. I'm also a senior, so I'm extremely concerned about their plans to cut SS and Medicare. I shouldn't have to even think about that at my age, but here we are, back in the hell that Trump delights in creating. :(
Is no one concerned about the bullet ballot percentages in the swing states? If what I’m reading recently holds true there is something fishy going on.
Steve Hodgin : For sure, and it is telling that this has not been challenged. I feel ill when I read of the "Trifecta" 'win'. The republicans would be fighting tooth and nail if this was a Democrat "win". We know why Democrats are not challenging and demanding investigations. They have less money and opponents who will not hesitate to use violence. there is a reason that tfg want to empty the cells of his sycophant "patriots" who have been held "Hostage".
Steve H. : There is not much time. And sycophants on the bench. Ultimately corrupt "Supreme" Court. I hoped that President Biden could do something to stop this ongoing coup. I guess he wants to live. And prevent harm to his family.
There is little need to contradict your arguments; I would only say that the language suggests that the economic impact of what you describe is not limited to the U.S.--it will be global and will, indeed, represent an affront to Mother Nature herself.
I would invite an answer to a question. You write "these insults to democracy — delivered by the new oligarchs shamelessly, openly, and arrogantly — go too far. They invite a backlash." Then go on to speak optimistically about a public repudiation of the policies of the billionaire class.
Why do you think such a backlash will happen when, predictably, the blame for the pain that Musk forecasts will be placed on the prior Democratic administration, immigrants, etc — in effect the entire cohort demonised in the run-up to the election? And if an American public swallowed the propaganda then, why will that change when individuals' ability to manoeuvre and fight will be constrained by a new level of austerity thrust upon them, since a core concern of voters was already the austerity already created by the high cost of living?
And here I thought they were being pretty blatant about their looting. Just like most bullies, saying, "Whatcha gonna do about it? Nuthin', that's what. "Cuz nuthin' is all you CAN do!" Which is pretty much the case for We The People. We can wail and whine, rant and rave, but in the end, _WE_ can't do diddly.... because only "Our" elected representatives have the Power and Authority to do what needs to be done. And it's pretty obvious that most of them do NOT work for Us.
If we look at how the billionaires earned their money, we can stop purchasing their products and stock. The average middle class American is purchasing on credit. I’m suggesting a form of a commercial strike. For example, holiday shopping, housing materials, targeting specific chain stores, big tech stores, etc.
It would be interesting to formulate a list of who the billionaires are a what products /stock they own. Hit back because I believe Trump will deliberately get rid of the already struggling middle class. The Republican billionaires!
Like union-busting, the billionaires can easily outlast any strike/boycott. And when they are selling products in the tens/hundreds of millions, what's a dip in Sales of millions of units to them? So their Inventory become slightly bloated for awhile. (And the "solution" they usually apply for a situation like that is to lay off workers for as long as the strike/boycott lasts.) [For which, the laid off workers WILL blame the strikers/boycotters.]
The greater difficulty is getting enough Americans to participate in the strike/boycott. The closest the USA ever came to a General Strike was the Occupy Wall Street movement. Tens of millions of Americans protesting for months. And what did all that protesting accomplish? Pretty much nothing of lasting importance. Too many Americans are married to their creature comforts and plentiful necessities.
Boycott aspects of the internet. the ones that support misinformation and propaganda. boycott amazon. everything you can , now.. now.... before you have nothing to boycott with.
And WHEN you boycott, make public statements that you ARE boycotting in the hope of enlisting others to do the same.
People who speak of boycotting but are still on Twitter/X or Facebook, but who have cancelled their other subscriptions need to take a close look at where they put their "mouths."
Help those who are helping - The Guardian, The Atlantic, the New Yorker, and yes, The Washington Post (there are JOURNALISTS there) and the New York Times, Mother Jones, Raw Story.... short list......Help those who are helping!!
WaPo and The NY Times have normalized sedition, treason, oligarchy on the way to fascism . Some stories are helpful but most normalized the Mobster Felons
And when they're gone? What will you have? If you disagree with their Editorial views, do at least try to distinguish them from their JOURNALISTIC content. JOURNALISTS at the NYT did incredible work on Trump's tax history and published it and, I think, won the Pulitzer for their work - and it's not the NYT fault that "the government" did nothing about it. JOURNALISTS at WaPo - Carol Loennig, Phil Rucker, others have done tremendous JOURNALISTIC reporting on Trump, on corruption, on gov't agencies; WaPo has done a terrific series on government WORKERS who have done amazing work that most of us would never know about otherwise...etc. etc.
This "virtue signaling" against MSM is very short-sighted, in my opinion. Our "fourth estate" is already hamstrung and hands tied but what is going to replace it? When Elon Musk buys the NYT and/or WaPo, you think it will be better??!! Write letters to the Editor if you don't like what they print, but to all those who cancelled WaPo subscriptions because they didn't endorse Harris...?? You'll like it better when Musk or someone like him has control, right?
Musk is little more than a super wealthy Catalyst who has found favor and riches by attaching himself to Trump and his sick vision for the future of this country. He very possibly could find himself being sung about by Donnie Boy, like a wrecking ball.
Faux news will pacify its followers feeding them propaganda and telling them how great is Trump and how wonderful things are and they’ll believe it because they live in a fools paradise that they themselves have created.
The day will come when, like N. Korea, every home and building in the country will have 24 hour a day speakers blaring their BS. Fox Fake News, Sinclair Broadcasting and the all of the Mega Christo-Fascist preachers is all we will be able to hear. Their claim will be they are the true leaders of Freedom of Speech but in reality, like any Fascist state , they will the only ones to be allowed to have the means of broadcasting. Everyone but them will be traitors. GH
The similarities between what's happening now and what happened when the USSR fell apart are glaring. Putin gave away the Russian people's resources to his friends and sycophants. The orange stain is gearing up to do the same with America's resources.
What millions of us will ask these days is how long the billionaires can overeach. Forever in theory. In reality environmental restraints kick in as they do--just now though with climate change going on with increasing scale that is larger than a lot of Americans are willing to deny the limits come down, and they stay in place. That is much of what I read when I see this. In the 1980s' Reagan and the right sold the country a place that does not exist on paper. If you are older you can see the change. It is not theory anymore, it's happening and something the billionaire class with only a few exceptions are ever going to discuss. Certainly not someone like Musk who has so many dualities going on the idea of environmental limits are ideas that even (he) cannot conceive of them. They are here right now. The taking will continue until American citizens put their feet down on the floor and give up the idea that we are unlimited in resources. It is a dumbed down nation in more than one way.
Musk has the ego, the leverage, and the sociopathic glee to be the Tweedle D to Donald’s Tweedle Dumb. Prez 47 sees himself as #DonaldDuce, but judging by his cabinet picks, it’s going to be more #DonaldDunce.
If he plunders the middle class and turns us into a #TangerineRepublic, those who voted for him will have squandered all of America’s greatness.
And for what? They’ll soon realize that “owning the libs“ wasn’t worth their families’ economic security, massive inflation, and a likely #TrumpDepression
And saying I told you so isn’t gonna feel very satisfying, is it…
We can use the upcoming despair of the #NeroCons who voted for Trump despite the harm it would do to their families by reframing it, using Trump’s favored terms.
Let’s popularize this phrase: “Trump is stocking the swamp with billionaires who’ll feed off the middle class until it’s gone.”
Any other phraseology that strikes your fancy on this topic? Please leave it in this thread.
And here’s another one that’s simple and just the right size for a bumper sticker:
“Trump and the GOP are only out for CEOs not average Joe’s”
Yes. I’m thinking….”The Fox is in the Henhouse”.
"The Fox sold other Foxes the Henhouse" is more like it. And everyone thought his hirsute chapeau was just a combover - it's actually his tail!
tRUMP is no Fox , he's a vulture. His value to his wealthy sponsors is that he is a useful idiot, carnival barker and snake oil salesman. Plus, he raids the treasury for the already too wealthy 'people' who support him..
Left to his own devices, he'll try to eat them, too. We're all marks...even Musk.
I don't know how smart he is on his own. I always feel like he's the organ grinder's monkey, ego apply rewarded for his prancing around, but somebodies else are grinding the crank.
and in the meantime........................................................ putin..
😁🙃😱❤🕵🤔🙄😳💓🔬🚭Trump feeds Despair, Despair feeds Trump. Wars every 80 years:1780;1860;1940;2020.
Strong Men make Good times, Good times make weak men, Weak men make Bad times, Bad times make Strong men(4X20=80...for generations that are twenty years).
Sugar, Salt, Fat, Booze: Greed is a Bad Habit. We exaggerate Power: "I just need one more hit of heroin to give me the Will Power to kick the Habit."
"Jesus will save us"....Thumb sucking. Up to 60% of anxious people are cured by Placebo.
https://feelinggood.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/habits-and-addictions-only-v-1.pdf
See page13
Direct Message for details
Openly Disloyal to Trump? Are we like the Jews Schindler saved? Prescient Pundit says YES:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvTB6bkcMkU
Yep.
That, in essence, is who he is. Now, how to effectively market and sell this to ''the masses.'' Alternatively, why do people vote against their own self-interest?
Propaganda. If one controls the media, they can control the message. Often that leads to control of the voters. We used to have a "Fairness Doctrine". After the horrors of World War two. New generation had schools that did not want "controversy".
Molecules of emotion can be manipulated--Fox News has proved it.
... because most of them have given up hope. They just "want to see it all burn" (one actual quote) -- and take those snooty elites along with them.
Philip, alas, racism is extremely powerful, and Trump overtly claimed he would stand with whiteness no matter what and the scared white people along with the white wannabees bought the BS and voted for race over critical thought. Yes, Trump is racist, but he is a narcissist par excellence, first of all and will do and say whatever he thinks will first get the most attention, then get him the most support. What amazes me is the number of women who voted for Trump, knowing he used women, cheated on all his wives, paid off a woman to stay quiet so he could get elected and has been convicted of the crime. He told an interviewer he could grab a woman's genitals whenever he wanted because that was a perk of being rich and powerful. There were women who said they would volunteer to let him grab them. He also committed rape, but could only be adjudicated in civil court, and lost, of course because he did it. When this upcoming administration begins working to wreck our nation, Trumpers and Trumpettes will not blame themselves for voting for an ignorant tyrant, they will blame Biden, Harris, and anyone else they can think of (and they won't be able to think of many unless the names are supplied to them). They can't take responsibility for their choices, just like their hero, Toddler-Trump.
Fox News uses molecules of emotion the way drug dealers use fentanyl, and the more you watch Fox News the more addicted you become; it ends with collapse of the user, and this is what is coming.
So I suppose that’s why Fox News is that successful whereas networks like CNN and MSNBC lost 40% of their audience the day after the election. And that was due to their lies and fables and misguided assumptions. Sad.
It’s probably worthy to note for many of you that fox NEWS OF ALL THINGS IS NOW THE THIRD MOST MOST VIEWED PRIMETIME NETWORK AND IT’S A NEWS NETWORK?!
The problem with many here just dismiss their ideology but to give you an example election night, they had an audience of 10 million the largest audience of any network, which seems fairly predictable based on the outcome of the election
I would “like” this but it makes me too sick…
Laurie, I am not sure vulture is the right bird since vultures help clean up our environment by clearing away dead things. Trump is more like the Cookoo that lays its eggs in another bird's nest and when the mother returns and hatches the egg, the chick may kill the chicks of the actual mother while demanding the parents feed it even though it is not their offspring. Trump does no real work and gets others to do the work while getting all kinds of goodies for himself and his pathetic kids.
Ruth Sheets, your knowledge of the Cuckoo bird's behavior is impressive - and so amazingly apt for the Trump m.o.
The cow bird does something similar to other birds.
Birds need to rise up, so to speak, and declare "NO MORE." or perhaps, quote their raven brother and declare "NEVERMORE!"
In any case, we earthbound humans need to rise up and say "No more!" Let's use the bloodied, but unfortunately NOT un-bowed, Trump's fisted words against him: fight, fight, fight and demand that the remaining "electeds" and still-spineful media members help with the fight-fight-fight.
Ruth ; Not being a bird expert, I was thinking of the vulture capitalist, who buys a company only to eviscerate it with no concern for the workers or the community where it was operating, and closes it down, taking their livelihoods away. Often, they require the workers to build a stage upon which they make their announcement that they are closing the factory down, and the workers have to clean out their lockers and leave , and by the way, "Merry Christmas," they say to these now broke and out of a job people.
Well, here I find myself and the perfect spot to see all the liberal lemmings commiserating with themselves with all kinds of fantasy and theories, forgetting for the most part the Trump is already president and was put back in the presidency because he was already president and because Biden did such a horrible job. so if you’d like to come back to the real world and wait till you see evidence of anything that you profess that’s gonna happen it’s gonna be a great four years and actually maybe even 12 I’ll wait to share a possibility with you until I hear a pushback on this post
Agreed!!!
From the Bulwark. Robert Tracinski points out in the Unpopulist
" that each of these nominees is radically unfit for office. But he doesn’t just discuss them individually. He considers their significance as a group, as a kind of statement by Trump about the government he will soon head.
He is constructing a kind of anti-government . . . Every appointee is selected as a deliberate negation, even a mockery, of the function of government he or she will be in charge of. . . . These individuals are not merely unqualified for their offices. They are disqualified. They are anti-qualified—the antithesis of what the offices call for."
This is the Libertarian wet dream, only problem is it is also the route to Somalia.
Like Betsy Amway Voss for education — privatization was her goal. Know nothing about public Ed and no desire to find out!
Good point, William. These are Fox News characters. They represent Rupert Murdoch's defecation on the USA.
I heard a speaker over the weekend use the perfect word for what Trump (and/or his "advisors") is doing: he is RIDICULING our government.
He sickens.
Actually he’s not constructing an anti-government he’s constructing a lien government when there is much too much fat and liberals of all people should understand that there’s too much bloat in government which could be spent in much better ways like helping the poor and the homeless instead of pissing away hundreds of billions of dollars on another Vietnam called Ukraine.
The only difference between Vietnam and Ukraine that 60,000 Ukrainians had to die versus 60,000 Americans
I'm hearing Cat Stevens in my head. The Cat's in the cradle. Is there somethings we did wrong?
We failed to discipline Fox News, because we ourselves had become un- disciplined.
Poor Victor. People don’t discipline networks. if you did you should discipline MSNBC CNN ABC CBS to be more equal in their coverage instead of falling over backwards with liberal nonsense, which the American public did not buy
Co
There's something scarier. Although apparently quite vigorous for his age due to not smoking or drinking, he is both approaching 80 term-limied and already has his replacement on hand. JD is only 38.
We need a “Katie Porter and whiteboard” to run an Economics 101 visual in bits - like Suze Orman! See what is going on and how it is effecting you now and in the future. Suze’s projection once said $1 million to retire - now she’s at $5 million. Put her projections up against Katie’s “Board for the Everyman Class”!
Losing Katie Porter from the house is a tragedy. And we lost Barbara Lee. Schiff is now in the senate. The mistake they made is not getting together and leaving their egos outside to determine who had the best chance to win. At least we might have been able to retain two seats in the house. But no sense in crying over spilt milk!
We could use about 435 Katie Porters in the House. Big lose for decency and common sense. GH
Katie 2028? President Porter
You should read more about how/why Katie Porter lost and there is a superb article in The New Yorker about it and the brazen, ugly role of Big Tech, Chris Lehane (Democratic operative, worked for all kinds of Democratic candidates - and also pushed through AirBnB, Uber, etc. HARMFUL policies all over the world!) - Katie Porter had some issues, but the Big Tech money used to defeat her is a big picture of what is to come and who is in power.
You want to help America and help all of us ordinary people, folks? HELP, SUPPORT AND DEFEND Elizabeth Warren because she is going to be a lone voice of integrity and decency in the coming times. She will need us! Porter kind of became a showboat whereas Warren is a thoroughbred working on the side of right in the right and wrong war. Big Tech, Wall Street, Big Corp., Crime Org., Crypto, Trump and mob all hate Elizabeth Warren and she will NEED US so let's vow to help her as she tries to help us!! Hillary Clinton sidelined her when Warren could have derailed all of this garbage that has ensued and then America let the Garbage Man Trump call her "Pocohantas" and Indigenous Americans should have risen up and claimed her, whether she was of Native ancestry or not! Trump hates Native Americans, too, because they thwarted his casino plots. Let us ALL rise up together and KNOW who is on our side!!!
Yes! It was sad to see them all run, knowing we would lose two of them.
I like that one, Todd! A profoundly true statement and a reminder to those who voted for him how badly they misjudged!
Todd it wasn't the neo cons that are behind Trump. The opposite. John Bolton, a neo con, is bemoaning Trumps election. Trump is the "peaceniks" delight, he will pull out of supporting Ukraine, give it to Putin, back out of NATO, hand Taiwan to China, draw down forces in S,. Korea because Kim is his lover.
As regards Israel, he will turn a blind eye, and not even tryto put the brakes on Netanyahu as Biden did.
That is not a neo con. He is not a neo liberal either anymore than Orban and Putin are.
He is deconstrucing the U.S. and the west, to create a libertarian theocracy.
It is not for PEACE, William, it is for terror, crushing, killing, submission.
a libertarian theocracy beholden to the Golden Calf.
How about welcome to America, resort and gated community for the world’s rich and powerful , where only the “help “ and the “workers” pay the fees and dues. And please close the gate behind you and lock it. And a note to current members be careful since eventually we will need more “help and workers “ when the current pool dries up and guess where they will come from.
Trump=Thug Life. In Thug Life Rules, it's predator vs prey, loyalty is valued above other morals, never admit wrongdoing, revenge is key, and snitches get stitches. And there are many Americans, evidently, who look up to thugs, who wannabe the next Scarface. Kindness is viewed as weakness. Trump is forming the Billionaire Gang. And they will let him play King until he doesn't pay up, or tries to take too much of the pie. Capitalism taken to its extreme, isn't it?
“Trump is stocking the swamp with billionaires who’ll feed off the middle class until it’s gone.” Excellent, excellent, excellent. I couldn't think of anything better if I tried.
He's stocking the swamp with the most voracious alligators he and his advisors can find and declaring it a Federally Protected Wetland.
Definitely need that bumper sticker. Or how about a T-shirt?
Todd, I like your phrases. What about:
"Yo Working-Class, how does it feel to be pawns of billionaires?"
"Working-class, if you thought you were invisible before, just wait until January 21, 2025!" "Billionaires want everyone but them to live in Medieval conditions."
"D.C. Overrun by criminals: Trump, Gates, and More!"
"Legalized Robbery: Trump and His Billionaires"
"Trump: Your Choice, Everyone's Pain!"
Here’s something you might think about an interesting quote. I heard many years. You should not worry about the billionaire who decides to enter politics. You should worry about the average citizen that some 20 years later becomes a multimillionaire on a government salary. Think about that for a second.
For those of us that already know and see it coming fast: We need to know what to do NOW to resist and how the average person can "not obey in advance! This is a small thing we can do! "The Fox is in the Henhouse" and others are good but we should start a list to distribute as "talking points" to the media to use as did the GOP.
Trump's Muskrats will dance on the graves of despairing workers.
As soon as those who take pleasure from feeling other’s pain begin to see how they failed themselves and America, we can begin to mend.
We are nowhere near close to mending yet. Not for a long, long time.
We have no Teddy Roosevelt this time to save working class Americans. This time it is a 'New World Order' as gleeful Elon Musk put it. There is no coming back from this, Elon has gathered the world's dictators to rule over us all. 😭
We also have no FDR, and six unbudging horse people who will kill off any reform.
Saving the working class again — akin to reinventing the wheel. Will there be anything left to reinvent it with?
Unlikely
We have no FDR. No Teddy Roosevelt. We are like Florence when the Republic collapsed with Savonarola. Never to return again.
or like Venice, when the Doge closed the city to newcomers.
Start seeking common ground.
The common ground is realizing that it's the almighty billionaires & corporations that are screwing us, & to come up with solutions to our many chronic problems that Bernie Sanders eloquently enumerated in his very popular campaign that appealed to Americans across the political spectrum & for which Elizabeth Warren came up with many plans & solutions. The DNC, whose culpability for creating the conditions that led to Trump's triumphs has been vastly underestimated, did everything it could to undermine & sabotage both campaigns, provoking many followers of Bernie, who rejected the corporatist establishment politics of the Clintons & Bushes, to make the misguided switch to Trump as an alternative.
I deeply regret that my computer does not allow the "heart/like" use because I would be hitting the "heart-like" button repeatedly for your excellent post, Jaime Ramirez!
Just yesterday I got email from the DNC asking for donations. I un-subscribed. They ("they") then asked why. I started to answer, but my response was just too long and covered too many years and I gave up.
I hope that if any good comes out of this election, a more clear-eyed view of the DNC and its role in these recent elections will be part of it. I have said for some YEARS now: The Democratic Party needs to decide what its values are, stand up for them and communicate them. It's not what the DNC has been pushing since it began the joint effort with Republicans of trashing Jimmy Carter. The DNC, the Clintons and like-minded Democrats that co-opted the Democratic Party away from FDR-like policies to the Newt Gingrich-big money Republican ways have helped those "insiders" but not America.
And anybody who cares about such things would do well to look up the interviews Elizabeth Warren did long ago with Bill Moyers in which she discussed Hillary (and maybe Bill) Clinton, BEFORE Hillary was ever a declared candidate. Warren is a hero for American citizens.
She and Sanders.... THEY bring to clear view the LIE that "age" is a problem, as we were supposed to swallow as truth because Biden is old. It was never age. It was ability and COMMUNICATION and that had NOTHING to do with "stammering" or "gaffes" or any of the other nonsense we were supposed to buy about Biden. Warren, Sanders, Noam Chomsky, Robert Reich.... age is not a de facto problem! And "age" did not elect Trump because, much to my astonishment and horror, so many YOUNG people voted for Trump. What does THAT say about America?! Do they really imagine that someone who ran Fraud University cares about their futures??
Mike, this is exactly what my community is doing. We are seeking a 4 bedroom house. A big Barn and some smaller other buildings.
We are going to have chickens, goats and horses. We are going backwards for now.
Sounds like you’re the tip of the spear, Joel!
My great grandfather was a homesteader. He also knew herbs and wild crafting. I remember much of what he taught me as a young boy. I held on to his wisdom that he shared. I think my time has come to lead my community.
Hard as this may seem to swallow, as our economy as well as social structure goes to hell, this may be a good time to talk with drumpf voters who will listen, and ask gently, "is this really what you voted for?" 75 million voters are not all stupid, though at least they are deeply misguided, and may be swayed to clarify their vison as they are forced to confront catastrophe.
P S I live in a deep-red community with a great many decent, hardworking country folk who shouldn't be made to pay for their extremely poor choices with their livelihoods.
As do I, however I cannot forgive the woman who (for instance) didn't like the way Harris acted as a VP and felt trump was too set on revenge, so prayed and voted for trump. Decent, hardworking "country folk" will pay for their poor choices, but so will I and all of those who voted for Harris.
If I may, the people of Appalachia have - for GENERATIONS - been in that category. They have been reviled, derided, ridiculed, exploited, used and re-used, mistreated, and discarded - and they have responded in kind by becoming the most MAGA of MAGA. However, it has never really mattered to their lives who was in power, Democrat or Republican, because "Appalachia" was a place where candidates went to have their photos taken with black-dust covered coal miners, or impoverished families on log-cabin porches or, more recently, in front of trailers with old cars strewn around..... and the VERY wealthy and VERY devious types like Joe Manchin and tRump with their "drill baby drill" and their "remove the mountains" to make golf courses and the rising oceans make beachfront property and end Obamacare and Medicaid .... "Poor choices with their livelihoods...." yep, but those folks have "looked to the hills from whence cometh" their help for many generations and none has ever really come.
Dennis, oh YES they should. In my view, from 45 years in healthcare, starting in the mid 1970s, it has been watching White Collar Criminals, from Wall Street to doctors to administrators, to Congress, to corporation owned US regulatory agencies that have brought us here. Us littles have consequences, the biggies, bullies eat us alive and No Consequences!
Like what, 1000 years or so to get back to square when all is said and done? I’m not trying to be clever.
Deportation will be a weapon of mass deception. It will distract people from the plunder of their resources, and, possibly, their freedom..
We will not be able to mend if there are no longer voting rights, which are rapidly disappearing. I had hoped that a Democratic administration & Congress would: 1. Pass the Voting Rights Act, 2. reverse Citizens United, 3. pass the Violence Against Women Act. Without those changes we are not a Democracy, but an Oligarchy descending into Dictatorship.
Diane, we must all write to President Biden to RECORD the ERA. Trumpty refused to do it. Biden could do it now,if we ALL write. Okay boys, time to support us women. Otherwise, you are next as the Nazi saying regarding the weak capitulation. First, they came for the disabled and I was not disabled, so I said nothing..........then they came for ME
Please explain about the ERA... needs to be recorded and what would that mean???
My understanding, Gail, is that a next step is recording the ERA. Because white men against equal rights put a time limit on the passing of the amendment, almost never or never done at all to other amendments, the pretense is that it did not pass adequately. But, now enough states have passed it and it is time to DEMAND it be recognized. These white men, all men should support this, because they have come for us women, and next they will come for you.... make no mistake.
All amendments since the 20th amendment (ratified 1933) have had a 7 year limit for the states to ratify them. The ERA paased Congress on March 22, 1972, and the ratification deadline was March 22, 1979. In 1978, President Carter extended the deadline to June 30, 1982. Virginia ratified the ERA in 2020, claiming to be the 38th state to ratify, though 4 states had rescinded their yes votes on or before the original deadline.
Given all the irregularities, it's next thing to impossible to declare it ratified now, 42 years after the extended deadline. They'd have to start over from square one, and given the present climate of misogyny and the fact that Republicans obviously want women to have as few rights as possible, the ERA doesn't have a snowball's chance of even coming up for a vote in Congress.
And we still don't have a Women's Rights Amendment.
Seems like waiting for that would be a waste of time. People have been brain washed to literally hate their fellow countryman. It's so toxic.
That requires getting rid of those who cause the pain I hope they get the pain back with interest.
Vote Democrats into office
focus on state legislatures, because the new administration is hell bent on making the federal government irrelevant.
I think you are right, but it's going to take two years before buyers remorse sets in. It will be difficult for Trump voters to admit that they were dupped. Our hope has to be that they will accept this reality before November, 2026. It happened in 2018; it can happen again in two years. Until then, it's going to be "Katie, bar the door."
I doubt that.
It strikes me as possible that you are "proscribing" an emotion, empathy??? that may no longer be prominent in many of our fellow citizens. And then what?
I think the situation justifies open hostility to the ape and his goons.
I wonder if the pain Elon & co are going to inflict with the Department of Grifting Entitlement is going to change the view of the magas. They very steadfastly denied the stability of the Biden administration, and its positive actions flooding their red states. They may feel pain, but hey will consider it a pleasure to suffer for the DOGE. We are in the “Upside-Down”. Weak minds and greedy minds wreck a lot of stuff for the rest of us.
They believe what they hear on Fox News or see coming from their social media feed. Some of those influencers were being paid by Russia.
Dems definitely do have to offer an economy-based message that is simple and striking enough to penetrate the right-wing disinformation sphere. How about a new right to free lifelong job retraining? This concept is simple enough and exciting enough to fit on 100,000 billboards. It can penetrate the right-wing disinformation media bubble. See:
Dems can win by selling ONE BIG Idea
Lifelong job training for all American citizens
https://kathleenweber.substack.com/p/dems-can-win-by-selling-one-big-idea
This is a great idea in theory, Kathleen. I have to say I have seen a pervasive lack of motivation here in America. Many people have no idea how to budget, or what the difference is between a need and a want. And don’t want to learn. The lines at McDonalds, Dunkin, Starbucks and other fast food and drink chains are always long. Folks gotta have their newest version of a cellphone. Cheap shiny merchandise entices. Entertainment is a remote button click away and streaming services cost about the same per month as a couple pumpkin lattes. Can’t retrain if you’re binging Netflix series.
What is being spent on these purchases cannot be used to go back to school, retrain, and pivot from a dead end job or one that pays you more. It takes motivation to benefit from programs that truly help people. I don’t see the motivation.
The United States now is entertaing itself to death and self feeding off of it economically. I am 66 years old and grew up in Los Angeles--I see a country that somehow has slipped into the box/pattern of constant enterainment that many people dreaded would happen back sixty years ago. Young people are it's primary victims. Yet parents continue to not push back. And I am a very liberal Democrat with what I would say are progressive values. The country is like a model of LA/Vegas that we dreaded a half century ago.
40 or so yrs ago an NYU communications prof.,Neil postman,wrote 'amusing ourselves to death',about the pervasive and deadening influence of tv-what would he say now?
Postman is now deceased, but I think he would be dismayed at seeing his predictions fulfilled.
he's long gone,i think,but i'm sure you're right-just looked-book in '85,died in '03-read any other books of his you can enlighten me about?
Parents must be proactive: they must involve kids in sports, arts, communal activities. Entertainment usually fills a vacuum.
Yes, and a lot of those activities cost less money than what parents spend on endless gadgets for entertainment. To me, growing up in the 1960s' we were warned in this country. The warning has been ignored on the large scale and parents can be making big mistakes with their children--and the parents are ignoring giving their kids as simple a childhood as possibe. If I were a young person now I would really dislike it. It displays tremendous selfishness.
Brave New World.
Oh my gosh, Cathy! That is so true! The generations coming up simply do not know the meaning of tightening your belt or necessity over desires! I do believe my generation is probably the last one whose parents grew up during the depression and learned the art of budgeting, hard work and financial planning. My mom could squeeze the nickel till the buffalo pooped so we never went without the necessities and she would save in order to make sure our birthdays and Christmas were absolutely the best! Those were the only times we received a "luxury" item that we did not need but just wanted. Adults today more often grew up with parents who gave them so much but didn't teach them how to appreciate what they had. They didn't teach them the difference between necessity and desire.
Is your mom, my mom? But, seriously, that generation went through a depression, a World War, and a population explosion. They were focused and sought to instill values in each of us. Somewhere along the line, things changed.
Exactly, Jaime! These young ones today are going to have to experience the hardships that are coming their way in order to understand what we were taught by our parents! Maybe they will then start teaching their kids how to manage money, budget, pay attention to the necessities and above all how to pick the leader of our country using wisdom and common sense!
desire for things crowded out the desire for knowledge, and ignorace ushered in despair and anger.
Yes, they did. We didnt listen.
I respectfully disagree- the younger adults I have contact with are financially savvy- stream Suzy Orman and Dave Ramsey. Several lived austerely for several years to pay student loans off early. They swap clothes and baby things, toys and books. None pay for cable- few watch TV. They’re too busy just trying to survive in the struggle to pay living expenses. Second gigs are common. They didn’t learn it in school- their parents had some influence. They share info and resources- they’re gonna be ok when all the OWM die off…we’ll be long gone by then. Kinda sucks our retirement is happening during the Inquisition- there will be a Renaissance….
That's irrelevant. They are very wealthy. They don't pay for cable? Who cares?
I think you are right that many Americans have lost their way about how to live. However, there are those who sober up at some point in their lives and realize they need to do better for their children. The program I'm in visioning isn't opt in program, not forced on anybody. If people begin to see some of their acquaintances and cousins beginning to prosper through job training, I think it will catch on.
I admit to a taste for books and music, but usually try to accommodate it at a discount. Usually the internet is for discussion of serious ideas. I have a TV and videos, but don’t watch them much.
$5 fast food ‘meal’ at Burger King, Macdonalds, whatever, has 2 small fat- & sodium- laden beef burgers, fat-laden fries, a sugary soda, and perhaps a fat- and sugar- laden shake. New reports say 75% of Americans are overweight or obese. That’s the bread. The Voice, Dancing with the Stars and ‘reality TV’ are the circus. The golden age of the American Caesar is upon us. What’s next? Gladiatorial games pitting illegal immigrants against legal immigrants for citizenship?
A version of “The Hunger Games”?
I have often thought the Hunger Games said more than most understand about our current predicament. A majority voted for a clown based upon unreality tv.
Agree, this is part of problem... the thing about reality TV is it promoted selfishness and disregard for others as a major value. Community building is needed.
HEY- lay off DWTS, we love dance, there’s a pro in our family who was working when none of her friends could find jobs in business lol. We gotta ban those damn Housewives- what a waste of flesh the lot of them are, and Andy Cohen too
Derek, you are quite perceptive
Well said, Cathy
I agree. Those people complain about high prices, but spending is up and predicted to be higher than last year at Christmas again. What are they going to do when our economy is in the tank and prices are even higher? Let’s put the blame for high prices where it belongs…on the large corporations. Harris’s agenda to tax the rich and break up trusts would have helped. As someone in their mid-70’s, I’m not sure I’ll live long enough to see Trumpism get destroyed.
All the things you mentioned have been demonstrated to be on the downslide- people can’t afford them- fast food sales down, Apple phones down, everyone I know has cut the cord with cable, BuyNothing groups exploding, used cars more dear than new….Mike Rowe’s trade training scholarship foundation has doubled in a couple years and more schools are putting trade training programs in. “Corporate “ society and an economy based on consumption is on the way out…we’re evolving and it’s not going to be pretty….
They could to this and dump the unregulated capitalism that is squeezing us. Regulated capitalism works better, and Brandeis was correct about the choice between truly representative government and the great concentration of wealth that destroys all in its path.
Oh sure.
I welcome your better ideas.
Arm up! We all better have a little automatic in the sock drawer.
Dennis, so WHAT are YOUR ideas to help the country grow....and prosper..
Growing and prospering are not in our immediate future. Sorry about that.
Not at all. Then there's Trump saying it's all the Democrats' fault and siccing his dogs on us.
Cyrano, when these MAGAs and orange man worshippers start feeling the pain, naturally it will be the Democrats' fault! Of course, they won't care that the republicans are the ones in charge in the House, the Senate, and the White House! That's what is so anger inducing for me. I don't know what I will do if one of these jokers starts their diatribe about how the Democrats are responsible for what the republicans are actually doing. I don't know if I will remain calm or simply explode on them reminding them this is the republican trifecta show while I am flailing away at their face, arms and legs!
I totally agree with you. Seems the Retugnikkkans (as I call them) create the problems and then BLAME the Democrats for trying to correct or actually correcting the issues ....
Trump is a nightmare and when HE fails, he BLAMES EVERYONE ELSE... he is a spoiled billionaires son who never takes responsibility for his own actions. His niece wrote a book about the family and how trump is the way he is.
Fred was a comfortable millionaire, rich enough. He helped cultivate Donald’s sociopathy, but Donald’s narcissism is a product of his early childhood. Trump and Musk are eventually going to clash as there is no room in Donald’s orbit for another narcissist who would draw attention away from Donald.
You are correct that Donald never learned how to take responsibility for his own faults and failures. Sociopaths and narcissists never do, and they project the blame onto others. Donald has never understood that he is his own worst enemy. He doesn’t understand this and never will.
No it isn't going to be very satisfying. Musk and co might find life is a lot more hazardous and leave, or find themselves on the wrong end of a jail sentence or worse.
I am just in disbelief of how America is going. This means that many people will learn to adapt. I am opting OUT of SSI and Medicare. I do not wish to lose any more money to a dying system.
My dad is 88 years old, it’s all he has. My brother is on SSD.
Todd, I just don't see those who voted for Trump ever acknowledging that they were wrong. They will continue to blame Biden and Harris and Democrats everywhere just as so many still blame Obama for something. Even they aren't clear what that is, but they just know he did something to them, right? Trump and Kump has the media sewn up and will tell those pathetic working and middle-class people who to blame and will need no explanations as they never have. They will just put it out here "you know it was Biden and Harris who made your life so hard." That's all they have to say and there will be millions who believe it and will keep right on believing it because they are well-trained by Fox Not Nearly News, Rush Limbaugh, and a whole host of white talking heads (or mouths) that only they know the truth while they lie with every breath. I am guessing a lot of Americans actually want to be lied to. If they acknowledge they were responsible for what actually happened, they would have been wrong, and they just can't have that! OMG, I hope I am wrong, but alas, I doubt it.
When do the things I find most interesting things about most of the liberals today they could use a new product at Amazon is kind of co-producing. it’s not a real product but it’s something I think that many people here apparently could use.
It’s kind of like a two for one there’s a package deal you could buy that includes a crystal ball and a Ouija board that will help you much better understand what will happen in the future under a Donald Trump second administration lololol. Why is it most projections and predictions are misguided. And it seems to me reading a lot of these posts that most of you seem to forget that Donald Trump was already president of the United States, which is the reason that he’s back as being President of the United States.
I thought he was more Donald Duck, the American male id personified, but way less funny.
Wow, so I see you’re a real objective source of information that has obviously forgotten that Trump is already president and despite Covid did a great job. But you probably denied that as well then you have to figure out why Trump is in the White House again. Let’s see who you are going blame this time.
While we hope that is how they feel unless we change the narrative somehow to break the cult mentality to follow the leader to death, that will not happen. The cult leader will still find a way to blame the Dems, the libs, the immigrants, the women, you name it and they will believe that because they have been groomed into a cult. We need those psychiatrists/psychologists to step forward and give us pointers on how to deal with cult behavior to break that mindset. The Repubs long game plan in dumbing down America is having its way with us now. My hope, well the numbers show that as the vote counting comes to a close, he did not win 50% of the vote so no mandate and we still have that other half of Americans who have not drunk the juice to hopefully take up the torch and engage one person at a time to effectively have the people rise up and say no. Can someone tell me how the billionaires can survive if we are so suppressed we cannot afford to purchase their products and continue to feed their wealth. I am missing something here.
Not being able to afford bread, eggs or milk will make the few introspective Traitors feel pretty stupid. IE, 10 or so in the "Traitor States."
Professor Reich: i hope the sensibilities of the average american is offended by this greed-fest, but i suspect a large number of americans will die first -- from back alley abortions, from the incoming H5N1 pandemic that is inching steadily towards a global human pandemic, from a lack of any sort of healthcare, from homelessness and hunger -- before anything changes.
in short, i smell soylent green is on the horizon.
I’ve been saying for eight years now that Trumpism is so effective because the fervor has become enmeshed in the personalities of the willingly duped. That’s why they can’t say or see anything bad about Trump because that would be tearing away at their own validity.
But that separation is going to happen in the next year or two. They may be the last to realize it, but they’ve been played the fool to be a billionaire tool. And they are going to be plenty pissed.
I tend to agree. My youngest sister was conned by a guy and lost everything, even ending up in debt. Then she fell for Trump, and cannot see that he too is a conman. I surmise that some people are subject to easily being conned, and unable to detect it.
The likes of Jim Jones (the cult leader) and his followers comes to mind.
But, I also suspect that I too am too ignorant about human nature to find the cure. But a cure for being dupped is exactly what is needed.
Education and critical thinking are key to combatting credulousness and gullibility. Why do you think Republicans have been underfunding public education for the past 50 years and taking over school boards to dictate what can and cannot be taught. Critical, independent thinking is the real Republican nightmare and they have been working very hard to eliminate it in schools.
I wonder if even critical thinking can help some people. When you hear propaganda repeated over and over, it becomes ingrained into your thinking. I suppose it depends on how strong willed you are not to succumb. And young people are soaking up information. We need to be sure to get correct information out there too. Talk to your kids and grandkids!
The Department of Education has been under attack from the GOP for years, Reagan led the crusade, and the rest of the racist connards have followed suit. Excellent point TL!!
The "dumbing down" of the country started with Reagan & Gingrich started the crass political vulgarity that culminated in Trump. I agree with T L Mills about critical thinking, but would add that the rise of the non-religious, who excel at individualistic & critical thinking & are now almost 30% of the citizenry, should give them nightmares. Until we are a majority; and the numbers are rising, especially among the younger generations, and when the country is truly secular, then it will actually be the "greatest". As an 85 y/o I won't live to see it but hope my 15 y/o granddaughter does.
You’re not ignorant about human nature, Rees, it IS human nature for some members of any population to WANT to be duped. They want a “Big Daddy” to tell them what to do, to tell them what’s going to happen, to give them guarantees! We just can’t .afford for that to be a majority of our population.
When people have brighter futures, fewer of them will fall for con men. Right now, when Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid start being taken away from all of us, that will be the beginning if the end of the Trump cult. It will be a disaster, and people will no longer believe in him.
God I hope you are right and that it won’t be too late
Let’s get the popcorn- that’s going to be entertaining
GrrlScientist, we need the left billionaires or multimillionaires to fund, buy out, create media that can go to all. Without a truthful media, we cannot get out of this brainwashed subset of humans harming us along with them.
I agree on most of what you posted Professor Reich, but there is one enormous difference. At the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries we still had a representative republic. White men still had the right to vote. We (not us on Substack but we as Americans) just voted in the Christian national fascist dictatorship. You've read at least some of Project 2025 as have I. If they succeed in getting half of what they want we'll have lost all semblance of a democracy. Trump himself told us loud and clear "if you vote for me this time, my beautiful Christians, you'll never have to vote again. We have this beautiful plan, you'll love it" What guarantee do we have that we'll even have mid-terms in 2026? Yes, our Governors are planning 'something' to not submit. But I'd like to have an inkling of how those plans are going to work. Short of forming our own Constitutional States, I don't see how protesting, marching shouting defiance, signing petitions, will make a pin prick of difference in a dictatoship.
tRUMP will lock up demonstrators, maybe even kill them.
Give me liberty or give me death. Some were willing to die....in our past. Today?
Patrick Henry's strong speech was pivotal in encouraging patriots to take up arms against the British, who were sending more soldiers to control the colonists. His words inspired armed resistance which was the Revolutionary War. It might have been easier , though no less bloody if President Biden had acted boldly before going in to give away the keys to the White House to a man who refused to even sign the agreement to honor the peaceful transfer of power. I don't know much, but this is one more thing that works against Democracy and the rule of law. Did Biden have no options to defend against this Mob? They want to go after Jack Smith for doing his job. I guess to deter him from making his findings available to the world
The work would need to be started now, before Trumpty is in. Boycott everything you can. Stop buying everything you can. Woman can stop dating, stop sex, stop doing for men until they see fit to finally make us equal legally. WAKE UP. The door is almost slammed on us.
as they systematically sap constitutionally guaranteed liberties, libertarians claim to be promoting individual liberty--theirs, of course.
Countervailing power may come from some secrecy: a strategy should be developed and remain secret, but applied like a military operation.
What were the most successful methods of past Resistance? We need to learn.
Fay, you are right to be concerned and pessimistic. However, our business subservient rulers will have to face China's economic and technological challenge. If they want to compete they will have to dump Trumpism and the Project 2025 crowd. The alternative would be stagnation and economic decline for all of us, them included.
Agreed, Victor, and hopefully only for the next 4 years that is what we can expect, I just hope they are unable to enact all their plans for a Christian national fascist dictatorship
my prediction is that the majority of people will submit to power. The rest are already not counting on government (or the silent majority) to support them, and organize their own support system (and in a sense, their own protection). Protest is just going to provoke government violence, it's time to go underground.
I fully agree with Roberts statement “that majority will once again demand systematic reforms that bring us closer to those values.”
That is why I personally am ignoring the sensationalistic news, which is also enriching the media, and focus on the systematic reforms that will be necessary when Trump and Musk’s whole plan crumbles, and brings us into a dire situation. While being cognizant of current events, we must pause and alot, some of our time to considering , what we can make the future look like after our current system of capitalism run amok has fallen in on itself. Soviet communism has fallen in on itself, but no one had a plan for what to do after which allowed the ultra wealthy oligarchs to take over. Let’s not find ourselves in that situation.I
Since the results of the election have rolled in and Trump and his gang of thieves are becoming more and more public, the discussions and arguments between Democrats about what went wrong and who is to blame are a waste of time. The election is over, Trump won both the popular vote and the electoral vote, and our 800 billionaires are rubbing their hands together in glee to reap the profits of this outcome.
When Trump was running for Office in 2016, one of the first statements he made was the most accurate: “The system is rigged folks.”
THE SYSTEM IS RIGGED FOLKS! can we consider the possibility that it is rigged beyond repair? Can we build or rebuild a system based on the intention stated in the original Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? Not only do I think so, but now I see it is an imperative.
It is time to roll up our sleeves and begin to work on solutions for the long-term and not just worry about the next round of elections.
Yes Marc, of course the system is rigged. That is why Trump and Putin are friends. When Putin was selected by Yeltsin and the communist empire crumbled, he built a system on enrichment and oligarchs. That is the pattern Trump wants to follow.
It seems to me that the only solution that does not result in great suffering, is educating everyone about what government is supposed to do, and finding a way to change the government accordingly. Both left and right need to agree on what is actually necessary to have a government of, by, and for the people. If we can't do this, then it seems like we have gone to far astray already, and war, plunder, etc may be the result.
Ted, we need Civics classes brought back to high school. That is where I learned about how government is run and how it operates. That is very important.
Sadly, I have a neighbor's son who left the Air Force to teach in high school. Peggy, he has discovered that his high school juniors cannot read. They cannot read. And have learned that if you just attend summer session you will get credit and graduate in a year with a diploma. Therein lies the future of our country. If he protests, my friend does not get rehired. So...his colleagues say, "Just pass them."
It is sad, Jaime. I have said over and over that our education system needs a complete overhaul. We cannot compete with other countries anymore in terms of quality education. As a retired teacher, I have had to watch what was once a great educational system deteriorate to what it is now. Very sad indeed!
So true and tragic, Jaime. An illiterate person cannot have a mind of her/his own. Predators like Trump turn them into zombies.
In my humble opinion whatever these guys are doing now (unrestrained) should be our lessons of - "DO NOT do" situations !! Start working on finding ways to counteract/ work on "legislation" that will put guardrails once for all in place to Never allow greedy oligarchs to even touch power positions leaving alone holding them and rule the country
One important guardrail should be to Never allow mis/disinformation fill the public space " in the name of free speech" !
My current hope or slight ray of light is that public opinion does seem to be shallow and can turn on a dime. As fast as our new oligarchs and billionaires are moving, so does popular opinion and awareness. I’m still feeling that the mid terms will tell us a lot. These idiots who voted for him will expect mass deportations ( which is looking unlikely) and a quick and obvious reduction in prices, another thing that is unlikely. But we need to put in place a tangible guide for how they make changes - midterm voting, local races. Etc..,
I agree that we must ALL begin to work on long term solutions which will benefit a majority of us and NOT just the wealthy
Eileen- Yes but I’m afraid that would be construed as socialism, and there is the biggest problem! The lack of education means people do not realise social welfare systems are about protecting the average person, ensuring there are safety nets in place in healthcare & the workforce & old age. But the reptilians want people to believe this is wrong & it’s communism!!! I live in a country that is a social democracy, we have social welfare nets. It’s not perfect but at least we know there’s some back up via national healthcare system, social security & other social welfare programs. It’s been decimated by our version of repubs. But we have kicked most of them out! Sadly, America has always been a more dog eat dog society with too much focus on capitalism as king making money and a punitive view towards the vulnerable & less able. So much for Christian Values! (I lived in USA before moving to Scotland 36 yrs ago)
Yes, but the wealthy don't want to pay for long term solution to problems they see as not their own.
Marc, one thing does not exclude the other. As to long term solutions, the relevant question is solutions to what? Republicans are eviscerating our institutions, and perhaps we ought to defend them. NGOs are our last line of defense, and they already are under threat. Be sure to defend them!
And trump likes to keep it rigged in his favor, by lying to the people who can least afford to be bilked.. the low income people who are struggling the most .
Dems have lost a major battle in the culture war. Wake up Sheeple!
he rigged it for himself.... many wee just to blind by his lies to see what he was doing ....
What values? Young people have been educated differently than we were and have been exposed to the media. Necessities may soon be the only things valued if the oligarghs tank the economy.
I worry what lessons the young are learning. You become president by lying, cheating, raping, breaking the law, using national secrets as a transactional tool for your benefit, etc, The values shown to the younger generation by those in the trump camp are repugnant to a civil society.
Why the documents case did not tank his political career is the most telling of the extent of corruption in our DOJ, and Courts. They don't even care about National Security. Those who can own several residences around the world and private jets and personal security forces, never worry too much about what is on the ground, As long as They can escape.
I think our young people are very nice folks but everywhere I go they have their phones glued to their faces and I pretty sure they are being involved in politics.
GH
Unfortunately, it is far too late. People are being laid off right now and prices will sore into the very near future. I am afraid it’s going to get real crazy on all fronts for humanity as well as the Earth itself!
I’m saving my baseball cards as a hedge against the decline and fall of the US Dollar
as the reserve currency of the world.
If that doesn’t work- maybe you can let me in on some other enterprise?
Rocky & Bullwinkle had an episode where the
Fed ruined the dollar and the new currency was box tops - but Boris counterfeited the box tops
so the world had to be saved by Ricky & friends . I shouldn’t joke about all this but gallows humor is all I hav left .
Let’s not find ourselves in that situation.
That is why I would direct the attention to practical demonstrations of decency.
Too late, Marc. Project 2025--already being implemented--envisions the plunder of our natural resources by our oligarchs. Environmental organizations will resist, and, almost certainly, they will be dubbed eco-terrorists. Robert Reich and you, and most of us, may be categorized as unAmerican Leftists, and have our voting rights suspended pending investigations that may last years.
Distraction is the main business of Lying circus Drumpf. Next to merchandise. Indeed it is essential to pay attention to what this conman DOESN'T tell you. MAGA built a coherent P2025 system while most of us looked the other way.
And Professor Reich is spot on with the billionaire deflection campaign. And there won’t be any Democrats or liberals to blame when everybody’s lives get much worse.
And that will be a good time to point out that the “family values“ party doesn’t value the welfare of families at all.
MAGA propaganda will STILL blame the Dems/Biden; and many will STILL believe the lies they will be told
This is what I believe is most likely. It's so much easier to continue believing the lies as they pile up. If you question one of those beliefs that you have integrated into your reality, the whole house falls, and you have to face yourself. That takes true courage, and I don't see much of that coming from MAGA land these days.
They can only blame dems up to a point. The hard-core MAGA will always believe, but the folks who wanted lower egg prices will be horrified very soon. The midterms are coming..let’s start getting ready right now. There’s a chance to pull the United States back from the brink, but we need to stop picking the scabs off November and get busy!
They want Americans to have more babies so their companies will be supplied with abundant cheap labor.
Midwest ; Yes they want to be in control of the means of production of "Human Resources".
And cannon fodder.
cannon fodder they intend to use against their fellow Americans.
They want to restart their businesses of Selling white babies. REpugnants love this.
Anyone with a scintilla of awareness should know bringing a child into what the world has become, cannot be abided. ( I'm agreeing with you, just emphasizing what should be obvious )
Yes, Todd T ; Witness the deaths of women who have already suffered miscarriages. We heard endlessly about the hostage situation in the Middle East ; Not much in the media coverage about the plight of all women in the states where this is law, to deny women emergency care that is unrelated to abortion that propaganda conflates it with. Of course, even women trying to abort an unwanted pregnancy with a pill to prevent implantation of a group of cells do not deserve to be killed. All kind of distracting.
Agreed.
1000% Dr Reich. When Trump first ran for Prez I told my husband the financial temptation was too great, Trump saw the presidency and US government as the ultimate feeding trough. Now he’s buying loyalty the same way. Not so ironic that Musk’s ad calls for the top 1% to interview. Will the public wake up? That depends on how deep into denial they choose to burrow. During his first term, average Trump supporters in poorer Florida areas were interviewed. They considered their economic losses under Trump acceptable to help the greater good. With people already struggling financially you’d wonder how much more they’d find acceptable. These robber barons are like parasites, once sufficiently drained the host collapses and dies, and then they move on to the next one. No morals or conscience. Only as a united people can we hope to throw them out. It really is an economic class war more than a red/blue male/female, young/old or urban/suburban/rural division (just further distractions).
This will take organization, and most of all, focus.
Cuz they just don't have enough homes or yachts or -- I would say jets, except now it's rockets.
The prize must be destroying Planet Earth by raping all the resources & leaving pollution in the wake.
I think Trump was surprised that the Presidency, or even just running for the Presidency, was the greatest con-game ever run, much bigger and better than any of his previous con-games. Trump University, the Trump Foundation, the casinos.... all of it, small potatoes compared to the Big Con. And he has milked it to the hilt and has discovered there is no bottom to the fund of marks, globally even; maybe with Musk, even to the moon! New children's book: I Will Bilk You to the Moon! He has even been able to expand the con-game to his "children" and grandchildren and various wives and harem of willing women with no self-respect - and, bonus category, the American tax-payers not only send him endless moola and baksheesh, sometimes for tacky trinkets but not necessarily, to pay for housing, security, food, travel and whatever else, all-else. Con-Supreme. He dances to a song that has become a contemptible ear-worm about being proud to be an American and his "health" guy, a heroin-addict, philandering, know-nothing has a brain-worm.... well, Con-Game Supremo Supremo.
I have lost all faith in half the people who live in this country. They voted for Trump, and that tells me everything I need to know about them. I only have a handful of years left on this planet, and the thought of spending it under a second Trump term--knowing what we all know about him but only half the population paid attention to--makes me feel soul sick. I'm so tired of all of this.
Theo Fenraven, you are not alone with those feelings, but I hope they will pass and you, and others of us who are feeling low, will revive and realize that, like others in our history, we have to stay "on the case" and do all we can to defend the nation we still believe in, even in the face of those who want to destroy it. If ever there were a need to endorse the "all hands on deck" adage, this is it. A pause to recover, then find your way back to the truth and join the fight.
I'm recovering from this more slowly than I expected, likely because every day there is some new assault on America or its citizens. I'm also a senior, so I'm extremely concerned about their plans to cut SS and Medicare. I shouldn't have to even think about that at my age, but here we are, back in the hell that Trump delights in creating. :(
You have my sympathy, Theo. I hope that you are able to go outside and enjoy the blue sky and the sight of the trees. They will endure.
I'm a wildlife photographer, so I spend a good deal of time in nature already. It definitely helps keep me sane and grounded.
Is no one concerned about the bullet ballot percentages in the swing states? If what I’m reading recently holds true there is something fishy going on.
I am. I hope it’s being investigated behind the scenes.
Steve Hodgin : For sure, and it is telling that this has not been challenged. I feel ill when I read of the "Trifecta" 'win'. The republicans would be fighting tooth and nail if this was a Democrat "win". We know why Democrats are not challenging and demanding investigations. They have less money and opponents who will not hesitate to use violence. there is a reason that tfg want to empty the cells of his sycophant "patriots" who have been held "Hostage".
60+ lawsuits by chump in 2020 for election fraud all but one thrown out but it looks like musky got it done this time. Dems need to step up.
Steve H. : There is not much time. And sycophants on the bench. Ultimately corrupt "Supreme" Court. I hoped that President Biden could do something to stop this ongoing coup. I guess he wants to live. And prevent harm to his family.
There is little need to contradict your arguments; I would only say that the language suggests that the economic impact of what you describe is not limited to the U.S.--it will be global and will, indeed, represent an affront to Mother Nature herself.
I would invite an answer to a question. You write "these insults to democracy — delivered by the new oligarchs shamelessly, openly, and arrogantly — go too far. They invite a backlash." Then go on to speak optimistically about a public repudiation of the policies of the billionaire class.
Why do you think such a backlash will happen when, predictably, the blame for the pain that Musk forecasts will be placed on the prior Democratic administration, immigrants, etc — in effect the entire cohort demonised in the run-up to the election? And if an American public swallowed the propaganda then, why will that change when individuals' ability to manoeuvre and fight will be constrained by a new level of austerity thrust upon them, since a core concern of voters was already the austerity already created by the high cost of living?
Exactly!
Looks like Barnum on Steroids. So many Bozos, so little time.
Only this clown car has a turret and a barrel like a howitzer…
They could run the risk of killing too many "Human resources" and have nobody to exploit.
And here I thought they were being pretty blatant about their looting. Just like most bullies, saying, "Whatcha gonna do about it? Nuthin', that's what. "Cuz nuthin' is all you CAN do!" Which is pretty much the case for We The People. We can wail and whine, rant and rave, but in the end, _WE_ can't do diddly.... because only "Our" elected representatives have the Power and Authority to do what needs to be done. And it's pretty obvious that most of them do NOT work for Us.
If we look at how the billionaires earned their money, we can stop purchasing their products and stock. The average middle class American is purchasing on credit. I’m suggesting a form of a commercial strike. For example, holiday shopping, housing materials, targeting specific chain stores, big tech stores, etc.
It would be interesting to formulate a list of who the billionaires are a what products /stock they own. Hit back because I believe Trump will deliberately get rid of the already struggling middle class. The Republican billionaires!
Like union-busting, the billionaires can easily outlast any strike/boycott. And when they are selling products in the tens/hundreds of millions, what's a dip in Sales of millions of units to them? So their Inventory become slightly bloated for awhile. (And the "solution" they usually apply for a situation like that is to lay off workers for as long as the strike/boycott lasts.) [For which, the laid off workers WILL blame the strikers/boycotters.]
The greater difficulty is getting enough Americans to participate in the strike/boycott. The closest the USA ever came to a General Strike was the Occupy Wall Street movement. Tens of millions of Americans protesting for months. And what did all that protesting accomplish? Pretty much nothing of lasting importance. Too many Americans are married to their creature comforts and plentiful necessities.
How are we going to boycott the internet? Pharmacy? Amazon is easy but...
Boycott aspects of the internet. the ones that support misinformation and propaganda. boycott amazon. everything you can , now.. now.... before you have nothing to boycott with.
And WHEN you boycott, make public statements that you ARE boycotting in the hope of enlisting others to do the same.
People who speak of boycotting but are still on Twitter/X or Facebook, but who have cancelled their other subscriptions need to take a close look at where they put their "mouths."
Help those who are helping - The Guardian, The Atlantic, the New Yorker, and yes, The Washington Post (there are JOURNALISTS there) and the New York Times, Mother Jones, Raw Story.... short list......Help those who are helping!!
WaPo and The NY Times have normalized sedition, treason, oligarchy on the way to fascism . Some stories are helpful but most normalized the Mobster Felons
And when they're gone? What will you have? If you disagree with their Editorial views, do at least try to distinguish them from their JOURNALISTIC content. JOURNALISTS at the NYT did incredible work on Trump's tax history and published it and, I think, won the Pulitzer for their work - and it's not the NYT fault that "the government" did nothing about it. JOURNALISTS at WaPo - Carol Loennig, Phil Rucker, others have done tremendous JOURNALISTIC reporting on Trump, on corruption, on gov't agencies; WaPo has done a terrific series on government WORKERS who have done amazing work that most of us would never know about otherwise...etc. etc.
This "virtue signaling" against MSM is very short-sighted, in my opinion. Our "fourth estate" is already hamstrung and hands tied but what is going to replace it? When Elon Musk buys the NYT and/or WaPo, you think it will be better??!! Write letters to the Editor if you don't like what they print, but to all those who cancelled WaPo subscriptions because they didn't endorse Harris...?? You'll like it better when Musk or someone like him has control, right?
Musk is little more than a super wealthy Catalyst who has found favor and riches by attaching himself to Trump and his sick vision for the future of this country. He very possibly could find himself being sung about by Donnie Boy, like a wrecking ball.
Faux news will pacify its followers feeding them propaganda and telling them how great is Trump and how wonderful things are and they’ll believe it because they live in a fools paradise that they themselves have created.
The day will come when, like N. Korea, every home and building in the country will have 24 hour a day speakers blaring their BS. Fox Fake News, Sinclair Broadcasting and the all of the Mega Christo-Fascist preachers is all we will be able to hear. Their claim will be they are the true leaders of Freedom of Speech but in reality, like any Fascist state , they will the only ones to be allowed to have the means of broadcasting. Everyone but them will be traitors. GH
The similarities between what's happening now and what happened when the USSR fell apart are glaring. Putin gave away the Russian people's resources to his friends and sycophants. The orange stain is gearing up to do the same with America's resources.
Yes, and in exchange Putin does whatever he likes, he keeps his Power.
Mutually beneficial.
Oligarchs are drooling for the same deal with Trump.
Heck it's already underway.
Suggestion- can you add Bluesky to your share list (and delete Twitter)
All the Bill Palmer people migrated to Bluesky.
I’m not subscribed to Twitter.
What millions of us will ask these days is how long the billionaires can overeach. Forever in theory. In reality environmental restraints kick in as they do--just now though with climate change going on with increasing scale that is larger than a lot of Americans are willing to deny the limits come down, and they stay in place. That is much of what I read when I see this. In the 1980s' Reagan and the right sold the country a place that does not exist on paper. If you are older you can see the change. It is not theory anymore, it's happening and something the billionaire class with only a few exceptions are ever going to discuss. Certainly not someone like Musk who has so many dualities going on the idea of environmental limits are ideas that even (he) cannot conceive of them. They are here right now. The taking will continue until American citizens put their feet down on the floor and give up the idea that we are unlimited in resources. It is a dumbed down nation in more than one way.