This is what vengeance governance looks like: punish the communities that didn’t clap, starve the places that didn’t bow, and call it “policy.” And if we let it stand, we’re not a union anymore. We are a hostage situation with state lines.
This isn’t “red vs blue.” This is whether voting is still a right or a trigger for retaliation. Whether equal protection is still real or just pretty words. Whether the federal government serves the people or the president’s grudges.
So I’m saying it plain: we don’t accept this. We don’t normalize this. We don’t comply with this.
I fear more and more for the USA. I would imagine that Republicans could actually see what is happening here. But they don't. Several are leaving Congress... rather than stay and fight. The MAGAs I know are cheering that Trump is vindictive -- they think "the libs deserve it". They don't want the Epstein files revealed because "you libs will find that people you support are on the list." (Really? I don't care. A pedo is a pedo, no matter which party they belong to.) They are criticizing anyone with an education, as if ignorance is a virtue. They are cheering that Trump has invaded Venezuela "because oil companies invested there, and they want their stuff returned."
Trump is pulling us into another Vietnam. And these people are cheering for it. I fear for my children and my grandchildren. I fear for the entire country.
I am with you Donna. Terrified for all of us. This man and his Administration is destroying us and our Congress on both sides of the aisle are doing nothing!
Terrified, too, but not enough to stop resisting. If a stupid, untrained ICE goon
Tells me I can’t check a pulse on a shooting victim, I would like to push his fat ass aside. They can shoot me, too. The cover up started then. No ICE goon was injured, not even close, you lying piece of shit Noem
Lies all lies, it's what the GOP as its entire self does best. Even the ones not saying anything because they don't want to tell any of the lies outright, but refuse to tell the truth. They think that lets them off the hook. But it doesn't. The number two thing the GOP is excellent at is HATE. They and their Christian Nationalist buddies are spreading as thick a mud everywhere. Between the lying and the hate, they are the very last people you should be voting for, for anything, including dog pooh pickup. Let's leave them to rot somewhere in the desert.
I just tried to call the Department of Homeland "Security" to leave Noem a message, telling her to get out, just like I do Trump at the W.H. Boy, are they SQUIRRELY! First they give a long list of depts.within the Dept., then they say there is a long waiting list to speak with an agent, which they then declare is ZERO people waiting, then this truly AWFUL music starts playing! I was going to leave a message for Noem, telling her to GET OUT and to go kill herself, since her future on federal death row is going to be pretty grim! Too bad I wasn't able to!
Yes, Reich is correct that Trump and his administration with illegal supprot from Republicans in Congress and six justices on the Supreme Court are destroying America by violating the Constitution. The felony crime causing the destruction is an ongoing insurrection led by Trump which is outside the scope of official acts and invalidates any immunity for Trump and others in the federal government.
The corrupt legal system in American has created inhumanity and enabled an ongoing insurrection in America to create a lawless fascist autocracy. The insurrection began on January 6, 2021, and continued in 2025 as planned in PROJECT 2025. From 2021 to 2024, Biden, Garland and Jack Smith were blocked from enforcing the law and putting Trump the insurrectionist in jail. The corrupt SCOTUS illegally refused to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to bar Trump from being on the ballot and holding office which was illegal support of the insurrection.
Monroe Doctrine? Qualified immunity as doctrine that protects unjustified ICE murder in Minneapolis? Doctrine is not law. Trump and his administration illegally invaded and took control of Venezuela with military force as an act of War without Congressional approval and kidnapped the president, Maduro. ICE acted outside their official duty in Minneapolis which was finding and detaining illegal immigrants not replacing domestic police and unjustified murder of innocent citizens. Trump and ICE are conducting an insurrection that violates federal law.
The federal criminal law in the United States is created by Congress and then described in Title 18 Part 1 of the U.S. Code which has multiple Chapters.
Specifically, the crime of insurrection is defined in 18 U.S. Code § 2383 - Rebellion or insurrection which clearly states who is guilty of the felony crime with this language.
Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.
What is the solution? The law must be enforced on insurrectionists including Trump, members of his administration, Republicans in Congress, and six justices on the Supreme Court. When Democrats get elected to the presidency and take control of Congress in 2028, the insurrectionists must be arrested, convicted and imprisoned. And the corrupt legal system must be revised by removing false doctrines including qualified immunity.
What qualified immunity? JD Vance just declared that ICE agents have "absolute immunity." Why, because ICE is an arm of the president, and the Supreme Court has granted immunity to Trump. Justice Roberts and his colleagues now have blood on their hands.
It would be interesting to go back and look at the Dissents. In retrospect, it seems pretty predictable that "official acts" immunity would include the right to kill at home and abroad.
So-called justice Roberts and his conservative GOON CRONIES can be sentenced to die on federal death row, just like other people! I call him the impotent, erectile dysfunction, can't-get-it-up LOSER!
Donald Trump declared that his power is only limited by his morality, his mind. He is demented, and he has been amoral all his life. Republicans in Congress have allowed him to turn our lives into a nightmare. Hold them accountable this coming November.
Victor, Trump stating that his power is only limited by his morality, his mind, is now world news. It was mentioned on Al Jazeera this morning. Shown up as the obscene statement that it is. Republicans in Congress have indeed turned your lives into a nightmare, but their complicity has also threatened the peace of the democratic world.
Judy, Reich and many others, myself included, have warned of this, and please note that we also warned that this will but a beginning unless we stop it now.
Yes Victor, stop it now. I understand that people in USA are terrified. I would be too. That terror will disable you. Turn it into anger. Anger with a purpose. Not anger to produce more mayhem, but anger to plan, gather support, plan some more, and start a resistance that grows exponentially. There is a lot that people can do to resist the Corporations that are funding this turn of events. No one will arrest you for walking past Starbucks or Home Depot and going back to shopping on Main Street. And that is just ONE idea.
Actually, that component of our society has been out, loud, murderous and persistent for - well, maybe all along. Drat! I can't get back to the famous woman historian who has a YouTube post today that this catastrophe is a continuation of the Civil War. Her name will come to me as soon as I post this, but Right On! But how about the Bundy Standoff of 2014, not to mention Jan. 6 "heroes?" Now these "usual suspects' are the Trump Horde. From the outcome of the 2024 election, who didn't expect this?
Assuming the Nov 2024 election results were real, more votes were cast for him than for his very worthy opponent. Why? I will never understand. He cheated on all three of his marriages and bragged about grabbing “women’s pussies” and getting away with it.
I can no longer stomach this administration, they sicken me, to put it mildly.
Yet, more nauseating to me are those who continue to support him. They are mean-spirited, arrogant (thinking they will never be migrants) creatures.
Then, there are the ones who never bothered to vote in Nov 2024; not the ones who could not (illness, family issues), the ones who chose not to vote. The outcome may have been the same but the result would be somewhat easier to recognize.
On a more positive note, I love the map of the USA at the top of this post. All of the blue areas are contiguous to Canada. Maybe, just maybe, with time, the blue states will petition Canada to accept them. Then the red states can feed themselves, pave their own roads, etc.
For now, I wish those states who are having previously approved federal funds denied to them, would continue to withhold the federal deductions from their state employees payroll but put it into a type of escrow account and not remit it to the feds until the feds shape up.
It's a very strange attitude for a country nearly all of whose origins are in immigration.
It happens here in the UK too. Thousands of years ago our island was uninhabited. People came from the low countries Scandinavia and Germany. I myself come from Liverpool and am largely Irish. My ancestors came from Ireland in the 19th century.
Yet the right demonise anyone who has come recently, even those from Eastern Europe.
Colin, from my 'studies' of human history, all populations of - Homo sapiens - ancestry, from the earliest days - came from - somewhere else = Migrants ! Even the earliest Indigenous populations came from somewhere else via the diaspora out of Africa, millions of years ago. And NOW with climate change being taken very lightly, migrations will become the norm of humanity (IMO) as planetary climates shift planet wide. i.e. many Oceanic Island nations are now facing total obliteration by being submerged into the Pacific. And to have this administration 'secede' from any/all environmental organizations and calling climate change a "hoax",,, at some point even these deniers will face a form of 'migration' as their locals face increasing environmental degradation to become - basically - unlivable by way many humans. Luckily where I live in Seattle, this winter has been very mild by comparison to the eastern U.S., so I rather expect a serious start to - climate migration - of U.S. citizens within our own country ~ ~ ~
I agree Colin. I spend time there with my son and his family. There is a class system in UK that is odious, but not dangerous. However it is the ignorance that is fanned to produce anti-immigration sentiments that is much more dangerous. Nigel Farage would make a shocking Prime Minister as he would encourage this attitude.
The class system is less so than it used to be. But it is still there. Farage talks a better game than Trump, (not difficult most people could). But that is all. He has no idea at all otherwise and some of his policy pronouncements are ridiculous. He also blows up under pressure. He becomes aggressive and combative, but not as extreme as Trump. When he was due to appear at PM questions, he went AWOL. He said he didn't want to sit there and be insulted by the PM. Actually the PM is very funny and our Nigel can't handle a joke. You need a tougher hide to be in politics.
The class system is probably more apparent in Bucks than in other parts of the UK. I was pleased to hear your estimation of the performance of Nigel Farage. Maybe he won't get in. Fingers crossed.
With (literally) each passing day, civic pride, a sense of America as a unique, united country, a belief in democracy collapses further and further. Being replaced by a deepening belief of “what’s in it for me”, exclusive interest in my bank account and 401K, a deep belief in “beggar thy.neighbor.” Trump’s now public declaration (it was always private but unsaid) that the only constraint on his power “is my own morality” is only the most recent example of the collapse of America.
Step by step Trump and those who think like him are taking over America. Yes, need to be optimistic and fight, fight, fight. But all I feel is despair.
I think I share your sentiments, A L. I see people younger than me and I worry for their future.
On a humorous note, I read the “my own morality” comment. At first I thought it was “mortality” but then I realized I read it wrong. It made me laugh, does he really think he has a moral compass?! OMG!
Mary, it may be that he was parroting Ayn Rand, who claimed that the government has no right to tell us what to do, that each one of us must follow our own morality. So we may refer to this BS as "the Randian paradox:" What happens when someone totally irresponsible, and amoral gains control over the government?
On one of this morning's news shows a US representative said he initially made the same misreading of 'mortality' for 'morality' and my first thought was sadly, that he is probably now going to be investigated by the FBI for threatening the president.
He received only one and a half percent more popular votes than did Harris. Don’t let him fool you when he says that he won by a landslide. He did not. In fact, he got less than 50% of the popular vote, which means more people voted against him, then voted for him. Do not believe his rhetoric.
Donna, I've 'always' believed that 'he' totally discounts anyone and any vote from 'his' opposition as - non existent and therefore, in his own mind, he did win by a - landslide ~ dementia takes many forms and (IMO) he has - all - of them ! ! ! [[ and BTW I really appreciate your posts here ]]]
In addition, if we factor in the eligible voters who did not vote, his 49.8% of those who did vote drops. Factoring in all eligible voters, the sum of those who voted + those who could but did not, 47 had, at most, 37% of the eligible voters vote for him.
Please see the efforts to assure election integrity - still many unanswered questions about the 2024 presidential election. See the work of Election Truth Alliance. Every vote must be counted correctly - we need this assurance!! This is a nonpartisan issue.
There may be no election. If ICE has been let loose and there are more shootings, there will, inevitably, be some individual actors' violence back and he will use the Insurrection Act to cancel elections.
Well, never mind Canada pipe dreams, but the Trump campaign to unshare tax dollars to the States that contribute the most certainly calls for a new, serious look at the paying States to meet extraordinary wrong with some kind of extraordinary self-preservation.
Two fantastic ideas Mary E! I imagine that many in red states would decide to move to blue states. Making the withholding of federal deductions an even more effective strategy. Canada, like my country, NZ, is part of the British Commonwealth, so one would have to accept a King. Charles is not the sort of King Trump is trying to be. The complete opposite. His favourite pastime is gardening.
That would have been 1995. I was working in isolated mental health on the East Coast in a community full of tragedy but also fun. It was a wild run. I was much younger. I could change a tyre in 7 minutes in my white uniform, with logging trucks speeding by. The roads were terrible. So was the weather at times. I recall driving to work over half a bridge. Two of the locals travelled to Wellington and were surprised when they got arrested on the street. For having their hunting knives on show. What was normal there, certainly wasn't in the big smoke.
The comment about a new confederation is interesting. It might take 20 or 30 years or longer, but we can today see dramatic divisions that may never be healed. Those writing here are strongly opposed but most Whites like it. White racism started when the Mayflower landed. There is a sense of entitlement. What people miss is that more people support what THEY are doing than you think. This is their country and they are taking it back. The rest of us can go suck wind.
Well, G S, I’m only second generation so maybe, according to some, any right of mine to be here is secondary to some others. I guess ‘they’ who consider the U.S. ‘their country’ must have a static view of the life on this planet. I’ll have to think about this more. Thank you for replying.
Great insight. I live in a place where people are of so many racial strains that it isn’t worth trying to figure out. Most of us could care less about our racial mixture or where you and your ancestors came from. It’s about your character. If that sounds nice, it is.
Two reasons trump won: first, he used media well. He was on podcasts and Twitter, and despite what you may think about his inability to speak coherently, his messages are clear and his promises are bold. Second, the democrats put forward a ticket that was breathtakingly uninspiring. There only reason I voted for Kamala was that she wasn’t trump. I can’t remember a single thing she said that left any memory trace with me. Can you?
I’m thrilled you pointed out Trump’s speaking. I have been running with this thought: please do not consider him demented or mentally failing in any way. My reason, I admit, is not honorable; it is so he or his counsel cannot have him labeled ‘incompetent to stand trial’ if/when the trials happen.
As for Kamala, there are several things about her that impressed me, for purposes of this reply, it is that she wiped him around the floor during their one and only debate. He (wisely) declined the second debate.
Thank you for replying. Your thought of his campaigning effectiveness is valid, although I do not favor his “in your face” campaign style. I find it alienating.
True, Harris trounced Trump in the debate to such an extent that he refused to have a second chance. During his debate with Waltz JD Vance lied impudently and was able to get away with it.
CA isn't contiguous to Canada, though. It's CA, then Oregon, then Washington, which is the state that shares a border with our good friends in Canada. Just want to make sure CA isn't left off the list of "please, please, let us unite with you, dear Canada!"
From what I have observed lately Susan, California has proven itself worthy of being considered part of a bloc of West Coast States that is contiguous with Canada. I wish Montana would join.
I do not know any MAGA’s and I’m terrified hearing your description of the attitude they hold. Denying education and expertise, vengeance and resentments. Simply downright hatefulness. What happened to Living by Judeo-Christian values.
I’m terrified that America will fall into permanent disrepair and poverty being governed by a dictator. So happy I’m old and closer to the end of my days. Heartbreaking……,
I’m old (82) but I’m never going to stop pushing back against injustice until my last breath!! This nation belongs to We, the People, and NOT to the orange grifter and his gestapo!! Over my dead body!!
I applaud your determination and agree that people should push back; but unfortunately we have no real power to stop this transition. Reps and senators stand by and take no action on our behalf; we don’t have a true s. court and he has control of every aspect of government who ignore laws and judgements. That he can get away with the violence and canceling of funds and social programs as he is, is definitely terrifying.
I observed a shift yesterday when both House and Senate passed bipartisan measures to oppose Administration actions on Venezuela (both) and health care subsidies (House only).
Dear Ms Oates, please do not be discouraged at the media's lack of energy in not reporting legal victories against t's and his admin's illegal actions. I receive some reports from environmental organizations which say they have won court decisions against t's EPA and attempted legal crimes. Many lower courts stand firm against his lawlessness, and some higher courts do as well, even the nominally Supreme. Support your legal defenders, the ACLU and numerous other groups.
Oh Helen, don't despair, we oldies have life in us yet. I just pray at night and work during the day to change hearts and minds. How can that not help, just a tiny bit? I hope you have a garden Helen, as mine is a wonderful refuge in which I confer with the birds and insects plus my wonderful plants. Call me a batty old lady, but I'm not. I still belong to a Board and a Committee, still have brain cells and respect for my work. My children and grandchildren are supportive, plus a few friends who think like me, and my colleagues that I work with - many much younger. They make me keep up with technological changes. I hope you are not lonely Helen, as this would be a real reason for despair. Don't let Trump be that reason.
Helen, I still believe there are more good Americans equally horrified by this admin. We will have a bumpy road ahead but keep in mind and don't forget, there are more good Americans than the magas. The magas like being loud and abnotious. But good Americans are trying to push back.
Many bad things have been happening hidden behind years of deflection and propaganda. Too many to list. But, social media helps spread the disease of hate and intolerance. Magas have been indoctrinated into cult fantasies The propaganda they have been told, is their problems are a result of immigrants and dems.
An example: shortly after moving to our current home, there is an old couple across the street--who became maga at the beginning of #45 run for office.
Prior to 2015, we noticed while listening to them talk, they had some strange views about people. Convos were quite revealing.
They expressed a real intolerance of all people. They believed opportunity was being taken from them. But especially, they did not like hispanic people. And, their comments about other neighbors in our community as a whole was negative. They lacked all self reflection.
To me, this is one example of maga. They blame others for their own problems and failings. They also seem to be negative.
Not just an American people's fear. People world-wide are terrified of the USA now - especially people living in countries contiguous with the country and those with American bases in their country
I would too and I have my kitties. No children. Just plain fearful what else this lunatic will do. He enjoys instilling fear into us. I just pray there’s a real plan to end this madness
MAGAts have, at best, 35% of the registered vote. There is no way they can control the outcome of an election if all the sane people go to the polls and vote.. The best and last resort, that is legal and morally right, is to win the mid-term elections with unquestionable majorities in both houses of Congress. Then Trump and his handlers could be nullified until voted out. No moral issues about “removal”.
People are dying for the sake of our current laws. Therefore wouldn’t it be wise for resistance to change these laws I know Republicans dominate power now. This hunting down human beings and abuse needs to end immediately. Experts find a way please. You were elected to represent citizens and laws. If those laws no longer serve our society and are detrimental to our well being they need to be discarded and replaced. Until then I request impeachment
Yes Anne I agree with you, any and all resistance is needed now. But until the republicans are removed from positions of influence not much is likely to change.
The most efficient, legal way of making that happen is massive voter turnout to "throw the bums out” Then there is a chance that impeachment would succeed.
But we need to assure the mid- term vote is legitimate. See the nonpartisan work of Election Truth Alliance for concerns about the 2024 presidential election. We must assure that every vote is correctly counted!! Foreign interests may have breached our election security.
My opinion and votes are unimportant to you. I’m for law and order too. There’s no longer order here. I pray no more killings and injuries. That’s all I have left
It will be questioned by extremists and therefore declared void. It doesn’t matter how many I’s you dot or t’s you cross. They will declare it void. Somebody please needs to end this madness
Donna - Agree. What saddens me (oh so many things) is that this is an administration that is only worried about what is portrayed online and couldn’t care less about who gets hurt. The guy who planted bombs was a supporter of his election lies so they were quick to move on. The guy who killed the healthcare CEO is questionable so they moved on. The Brown University shooter turned out not to support their narrative so they moved on. They didn’t like how the stories of his alleged assassins were portrayed so they changed the narrative to suit them better. Why? Because having republican ties is not what they wanted to hear. They smeared a woman before they even had the chance to do a proper investigation not caring that her children will grow up one day and see everything that they sh*tposted online. Same with the families of all of the other people who have had their lives destroyed by this administration. ICE/Border Patrol just shot two more people in Portland. The man in the arm and his wife in the chest but it’s their fault according to DHS. They didn’t bother to protect the people of Venezuela when they launched a strike to kidnap their (very crappy) president. Now they are still insisting that the people who were stripped of their TPO status go back to Venezuela. I remember when it came out that during a strike in the Middle East, by Obama, killed civilians and we were so aghast but that’s no longer the case. The media moves on and expects us to do the same. All while this administration continues to ask us “are we not entertained?”. It’s long past enough is enough but we still have 3 more years of this bs. I don’t see it as getting any better - especially with this administration. It’s our new pandemic created by a bunch of idiots and the face mask is protecting the wrong people.
Donna - in the news this morning is that Iran has an internet blackout on their people.
China has restricted their citizens' access to selected sites for years. I truly expect that to happen shortly in this country. We need only realize that the techbroligarchs own our digital infrastructure. What was once Dominion voting machines has been bought by one of dumpster's techbroligarch friends. What could go wrong?
Could well happen Paul. Talk to your neighbours. Set up real networking, much like what happened in the French Resistance. Visit your seniors and disabled neighbours and immigrant neighbours. Become a caring community even more than you were up until now. This will keep communication going and restore mental health to millions. And parents, tell your teens to do the same, and why. They are old enough to grow up a bit and get off their phones.
The mental health part is an incredibly important benefit of being part of a community. I would add also cooperative gardening among neighbors if possible.
I wish that would solve the problem. It would promote Vance who is younger, healthier, articulate and equally if not more vile. He is Stephen Miller with a beard and mascara
JD Vance is a lot more than that, Miriam. He is Peter Thiel's boy, the founder of Palantir, the cyber sleuth company. Its stock shot through the roof once ICE and the FBI adopted it. This is why Vance wants the president to have absolute immunity. Once in office he, Thiel, Musk, Kerr would be able to do absolutely anything with absolute immunity. I hope the Republican elite in Congress awakens to the danger.
Trump will only exhibit more and more radical behavior and the MAGA GOP & MAGA Supreme Court will continue to obstruct justice. All treasonous actions and actors. Trump and his infectious administration is a cancer to the US body and the cure is radical.
I am so worried as well. I just can't believe that he gets away with this time after time. Courts may rule against him but he doesn't care. Quote from the NYT " I trust my own morality" with regard to world affairs???? Please someone do something to stop this horrible person!!!!
In Vietnam, the pretext was to fight against the spread of communism. In Venezuela (and anywhere else Trump thinks we should take over, like Greenland), it's to promote American imperialism instead of the right of self-determination for all nations. I wouldn't be surprised one bit if he and his family get a substantial kickback from oil companies for giving them access to the oil reserves.
Donna, Iʻm so sorry you have to be around those people. The people who voted for this and are still cheering Trump on were and are a minority in the population because during the last presidential election so many registered voters didnʻt vote and the results were split almost evenly. Besides that, the GOP cheated blatantly. If the majority would just take action and control to rid us of this evil regime .....
I fear for your grandchildren and all children. What Trump and his amoral allies around the world are doing is destroying the future of humankind--and they don't care. What amazes me even more are the moronic voters who are in complete denial of what is taking place.
I agree Trump is pulling us into another Vietnam, and he is also pulling us into a civil war - whatever that will look like is anyone's guess. I vote for Secession of Blue states.
It has been said before, they support him because he hates the same people they do. There are a lot of people on the right who carry generational personality disorders and process the world through strange colored glasses. They were easy marks for Rupert Murdoch who succeeded in enculting them and profited handsomely. tRump is literally mad and is attacking the Nation and its Economy with an ax. We will have a big nasty recession. That might be our only chance to start to start to right the ship of State.
It seems to me that the President has far too much power which enables him to behave like a KING which is the very last thing that the people of the FIRST FLEET wanted and from which they fled!
When he is dead or impeached, when Noem is languishing in jail, and when the the tech bros face massive tax bills, the position of President should be abolished or reduced in scale. Our King used to have unlimited powers but now is relegated to ceremonial duties. Trump would be a fucking embarrassment even in that position.
It's not so much the 'position' of President that's the problem, it's the corruption of one of the major political parties, having absolved itself of responsibility and an abrogation of their oath of office (republicans turned fascist). The major issue is a weak Constitution full of loopholes that the same said political party has refused to plug.
Unless the colonists from England had made the journey across the Atlantic in the 17th century your country wouldn't exist at all. Oh and by the way if we hadn't stood against Nazism from Sept 1939 to early 1942, you'd have lost anyway.
Please. Your island was used by the USA as a stationing point to defeat germany. And we did that. Europe had been over run and england was next. The original settlers had to leave england because of the unfair monarchy. Lets not get into the monarchy's behavior.
It is people with your attitude that are fueling the current crisis and turning virtually the rest of the world against the “United” States. There is no room for your attitude this world today, you would not make it very far without the cooperation of the rest of the “West”.
Especially as a MAD KING! If not for his syncopates and enablers…this would not have happened to easily. Maybe. It is shocking to realize how swiftly it has happened.
Proj2025 and many conservative groups have been working on this plan and action for some time. I believe that Mad King has been working his own agenda along side theirs, to their detriment at times.
I agree that leading republicans have been working a long time for this, but I think that ‘Mad King', as you put it, has had little to do with it other than to act as the public puppet for his handlers. His only agenda is to stuff his own finances with as much grifft from the public as possible.
You’re naming the core problem. There is no plan, and that’s exactly why every “we must” collapses into frustration. People talk about resistance as if it’s a mood rather than a strategy. Without coordinated structure, discipline, and sacrifice, nothing moves.
And that’s the real question. Not “what should we do,” but “what are people actually willing to give up.” Collective action only works when millions decide that comfort is less important than leverage. Most of the power ordinary people have is economic, but even that only matters if it’s organized, sustained, and done with clear eyes about the risks and tradeoffs.
Right now, there’s no unified framework, no shared plan, no infrastructure for coordinated action. That’s the vacuum. Until people are willing to think in terms of real strategy rather than symbolic gestures, the imbalance of power stays exactly where it is.
If you want, I can break down the structural forms of non‑violent economic pressure that are historically effective, and the conditions required for them to work.
Real leverage only appears when millions act together. If even a fraction of the population redirected their capital elsewhere, the system would feel the shock instantly. Mass capital flight is the one pressure point no government or corporation can ignore.
Yes.. please do break down the effective forms of resistance that can work. I’m old and ready to sacrifice whatever has to be done to keep America a democracy and not a replica of Nazi Germany.
Here’s an idea and I’ll post it in other places too:
Here’s a simple thought experiment….not a plan, not a proposal, just an idea if someone with the right expertise ever wanted to explore it. The median American has about $8,000 in liquid savings, but politically engaged households usually sit closer to the $10k–$30k range. If 20 million people redirected even that modest amount into a euro‑denominated index fund or another stable foreign asset (let’s say a pro-democracy private equity fund that’s easy to invest in from your personal bank account to this fund, like the stock market) you’re looking at $400–$600 billion moving in a coordinated window. That’s not symbolic. That’s a macro‑signal: reduced marginal demand for dollars, upward pressure on the euro, and a political‑risk premium that U.S. corporations and the Federal Reserve would have to register.
Launching something like this would require a regulated, transparent investment vehicle …essentially a professionally managed fund open to U.S. investors; very possible, these already exist for other investments. I’m not saying I know how to build it or whether it’s even feasible.
But if you extend the same logic outward, you can see how it scales: if participation ever reached the level where the aggregate capital approached $1 trillion, you’re suddenly talking about a figure equal to several percentage points of U.S. GDP. At that level, the signal becomes impossible to ignore.
And participation wouldn’t just be financial. It would function almost like a referendum: people would sign on publicly and commit to coordinated economic behavior—- including stepping away from the corporations and platforms driving the very dynamics they’re resisting. No Amazon, no big‑tech ecosystems, no convenience‑based backsliding, The leverage only works if the commitment is real.
It’s just an idea, nothing more, but if anyone with the right background wants to think about real, non‑violent leverage, the math shows where scale actually lives.
Interesting. The only thing I haven’t quit is Amazon and I feel guilty about it every day. I have already planned to ask for our investments to be directed towards Canada, Europe and other places outside the US.
Amazon sucks. Just stop. And Jeff Bezos is an obscenely rich and greedy monster. And he rubs it in withe the pictures of his ridiculous wedding. The bride’s fake boobs falling out of her dress.
No it is not performance. This weekend we need enough people on the streets, on the grass as Tim Snyder would say that the legislators and other electeds feel the pressure to rein in he federal government. This is the moment.
The people who get more involved or involved for the first time, will be more interested in economic pressure. This will take awhile but it is building. Spotify and Avelo Airlines have just given in to boycotts. Pressure on oil companies is going to grow. This weekend you can join the first salvos on Citgo and Chevron.
Next stop, Citizens Bank, which is funding the construction and operation of the concentration camps.
Sadly, I don’t think enough people (yet) are feeling outrage and horror. For too many, their lives haven’t changed enough and too many are pretty self absorbed and self centered. Readers of these great substack writers are left wondering where are all the millions and millions are that should be protesting, boycotting, calling their reps. etc. It may take a while for many people to realize what kind of country they are living in. Hope it’s not too late.
Economic pressure is all that would make our corporate “owners” take notice. Money is all they care about…not Democracy..not America. MONEY MONEY MONEY.
I could not agree with you more Judy. MONEY is their god and only value and lots of it has bought them power. Just us 'individually' boycotting huge corporations will not be enough! We need a nationally organized strategic plan in which hopefully millions can participate in ASAP. Where are these leaders?? We're waiting for you to emerge! As my friend says, "You can't bring a knife to a gunfight". Their weapon is money so we need to use the same but to use our money to reflect our own 'moral' values. I hope some bright, courageous leaders will come up with ideas soon. I look forward to hearing Johan's specific ideas of economic non-violent pressure and capital flight. Thank you Judy.
Here’s an idea and I’ll post it in other places too:
Here’s a simple thought experiment….not a plan, not a proposal, just an idea if someone with the right expertise ever wanted to explore it. The median American has about $8,000 in liquid savings, but politically engaged households usually sit closer to the $10k–$30k range. If 20 million people redirected even that modest amount into a euro‑denominated index fund or another stable foreign asset (let’s say a pro-democracy private equity fund that’s easy to invest in from your personal bank account to this fund, like the stock market) you’re looking at $400–$600 billion moving in a coordinated window. That’s not symbolic. That’s a macro‑signal: reduced marginal demand for dollars, upward pressure on the euro, and a political‑risk premium that U.S. corporations and the Federal Reserve would have to register.
Launching something like this would require a regulated, transparent investment vehicle …essentially a professionally managed fund open to U.S. investors; very possible, these already exist for other investments. I’m not saying I know how to build it or whether it’s even feasible.
But if you extend the same logic outward, you can see how it scales: if participation ever reached the level where the aggregate capital approached $1 trillion, you’re suddenly talking about a figure equal to several percentage points of U.S. GDP. At that level, the signal becomes impossible to ignore.
And participation wouldn’t just be financial. It would function almost like a referendum: people would sign on publicly and commit to coordinated economic behavior—- including stepping away from the corporations and platforms driving the very dynamics they’re resisting. No Amazon, no big‑tech ecosystems, no convenience‑based backsliding, The leverage only works if the commitment is real.
It’s just an idea, nothing more, but if anyone with the right background wants to think about real, non‑violent leverage, the math shows where scale actually lives.
Right on. I am tired of "what we need to do." "We must." What we need to do should have been thoroughly implemented years ago. Look at Iran. Israel. Coordinated mass protests. At least during the Vietnam War we had coordinated protests for a decade.
Johan, I agree with you that "real leverage only appears when 'Millions' act together". We so need a unified structural framework and a shared plan. I also would like to hear more specifically about your ideas of "redirecting capital elsewhere". The values of this regime seem to only consist of money and power and not people. They have lost any moral compass or interest in helping the essential needs of the lives of ordinary Americans. As you stated, "Mass capital flight is the one pressure point no government or corporation can ignore". Please share with us more specifically your ideas for both a shared plan and redirecting capital elsewhere. Thank you for your post.
Here’s an idea and I’ll post it in other places too:
Here’s a simple thought experiment….not a plan, not a proposal, just an idea if someone with the right expertise ever wanted to explore it. The median American has about $8,000 in liquid savings, but politically engaged households usually sit closer to the $10k–$30k range. If 20 million people redirected even that modest amount into a euro‑denominated index fund or another stable foreign asset (let’s say a pro-democracy private equity fund that’s easy to invest in from your personal bank account to this fund, like the stock market) you’re looking at $400–$600 billion moving in a coordinated window. That’s not symbolic. That’s a macro‑signal: reduced marginal demand for dollars, upward pressure on the euro, and a political‑risk premium that U.S. corporations and the Federal Reserve would have to register.
Launching something like this would require a regulated, transparent investment vehicle …essentially a professionally managed fund open to U.S. investors; very possible, these already exist for other investments. I’m not saying I know how to build it or whether it’s even feasible.
But if you extend the same logic outward, you can see how it scales: if participation ever reached the level where the aggregate capital approached $1 trillion, you’re suddenly talking about a figure equal to several percentage points of U.S. GDP. At that level, the signal becomes impossible to ignore.
And participation wouldn’t just be financial. It would function almost like a referendum: people would sign on publicly and commit to coordinated economic behavior—- including stepping away from the corporations and platforms driving the very dynamics they’re resisting. No Amazon, no big‑tech ecosystems, no convenience‑based backsliding, The leverage only works if the commitment is real.
It’s just an idea, nothing more, but if anyone with the right background wants to think about real, non‑violent leverage, the math shows where scale actually lives.
Thank you Johan for these great ideas! I like the idea of something like a pro-democracy private equity fund and/or a euro-denominated index fund. I have no background in finances so I hope those who do will respond to your comment. I wonder if perhaps funds like this and open to US investors all ready exist. I understand what you mean by scale. This could have a much greater impact than us just individually boycotting businesses and corporations. We are all ready living under a fascist regime and need to think and act with a much wider lens that reaches many more people. I so want to invest according to my values. Thank you Johan for brainstorming and presenting ideas for a next step.
Here’s an idea and I’ll post it in other places too:
Here’s a simple thought experiment….not a plan, not a proposal, just an idea if someone with the right expertise ever wanted to explore it. The median American has about $8,000 in liquid savings, but politically engaged households usually sit closer to the $10k–$30k range. If 20 million people redirected even that modest amount into a euro‑denominated index fund or another stable foreign asset (let’s say a pro-democracy private equity fund that’s easy to invest in from your personal bank account to this fund, like the stock market) you’re looking at $400–$600 billion moving in a coordinated window. That’s not symbolic. That’s a macro‑signal: reduced marginal demand for dollars, upward pressure on the euro, and a political‑risk premium that U.S. corporations and the Federal Reserve would have to register.
Launching something like this would require a regulated, transparent investment vehicle …essentially a professionally managed fund open to U.S. investors; very possible, these already exist for other investments. I’m not saying I know how to build it or whether it’s even feasible.
But if you extend the same logic outward, you can see how it scales: if participation ever reached the level where the aggregate capital approached $1 trillion, you’re suddenly talking about a figure equal to several percentage points of U.S. GDP. At that level, the signal becomes impossible to ignore.
And participation wouldn’t just be financial. It would function almost like a referendum: people would sign on publicly and commit to coordinated economic behavior—- including stepping away from the corporations and platforms driving the very dynamics they’re resisting. No Amazon, no big‑tech ecosystems, no convenience‑based backsliding, The leverage only works if the commitment is real.
It’s just an idea, nothing more, but if anyone with the right background wants to think about real, non‑violent leverage, the math shows where scale actually lives.
Absent a large organized labor union movement we must perforce seek an alliance with billionaires who do not support Project 2025. The coming elections will be crucial, but whatever the outcome, the struggle will go on.
I am not wealthy enough to indulge in capital flight. But if I was, this dreadful incident would see me planning it. If you are very wealthy, returns may not matter. Security does.
The funds that Trump is withholding are there because of the taxes paid by each of the states. So my question- why should the residents of these states who pay a disproportionate share of the taxes that finance the federal government continue to pay these taxes? Patriots need to unite against the traitor.
When states coordinate their economic weight, when residents shift where they spend, invest, and save, and when millions act together instead of as isolated individuals, the federal structure has no choice but to respond. The power has always flowed upward from the states, not the other way around. The moment people recognize that and organize around it, the balance shifts.
I share the concern you’re naming, and I think what makes this moment so important is that it forces a deeper reckoning. When governance becomes reactive and punitive, it exposes how fragile our systems have become after decades of polarization and erosion of public trust. The question before us is not only what we refuse to accept, but what we are ready to rebuild in its place. A future grounded in fairness, shared responsibility, and care for all communities will require steady civic engagement, legal accountability, and a renewed commitment to the common good. This is difficult work, but it is also necessary work.
Here’s an idea and I’ll post it in other places too:
Here’s a simple thought experiment….not a plan, not a proposal, just an idea if someone with the right expertise ever wanted to explore it. The median American has about $8,000 in liquid savings, but politically engaged households usually sit closer to the $10k–$30k range. If 20 million people redirected even that modest amount into a euro‑denominated index fund or another stable foreign asset (let’s say a pro-democracy private equity fund that’s easy to invest in from your personal bank account to this fund, like the stock market) you’re looking at $400–$600 billion moving in a coordinated window. That’s not symbolic. That’s a macro‑signal: reduced marginal demand for dollars, upward pressure on the euro, and a political‑risk premium that U.S. corporations and the Federal Reserve would have to register.
Launching something like this would require a regulated, transparent investment vehicle …essentially a professionally managed fund open to U.S. investors; very possible, these already exist for other investments. I’m not saying I know how to build it or whether it’s even feasible.
But if you extend the same logic outward, you can see how it scales: if participation ever reached the level where the aggregate capital approached $1 trillion, you’re suddenly talking about a figure equal to several percentage points of U.S. GDP. At that level, the signal becomes impossible to ignore.
And participation wouldn’t just be financial. It would function almost like a referendum: people would sign on publicly and commit to coordinated economic behavior—- including stepping away from the corporations and platforms driving the very dynamics they’re resisting. No Amazon, no big‑tech ecosystems, no convenience‑based backsliding, The leverage only works if the commitment is real.
It’s just an idea, nothing more, but if anyone with the right background wants to think about real, non‑violent leverage, the math shows where scale actually lives.
Actually, I think that the 'Red vs. Blue' narrative has completely fallen apart - there is little indication that Trump has much more than 25% support for any of his actions anymore. The only reason that he's polling into the 30's or above is that there are now so many fake polls mixed into the aggregates (and they are meant to deliberately distort the view of public opinion).
The Trump signs are gone, the bumper stickers are gone, the Trump stores are closing - nobody really likes him anymore and now that the former supporters have gotten a taste of what the rhetoric looks like when translated into reality - they don't like it. The House voted to restore ACA subsidies this week, the Senate voted to restrict Trump's War Powers as well. The more desperate and the more extreme Trump gets in his final days, the greater the pushback will be. This isn't about us vs. us - people are now realizing that it is definitely about us vs. him.
You may say it, but does it matter when most Republicans are not even swayed by it.
It may not be the President calling the shots, but the people behind the Epstein project.
Not very long ago, SCOTUS was all forthe States Rights, I wonder how they would rule now? When US Congress and SCOTUS have abdicated their responsibilities, do we have the 3 equal branches of Government.
Yes, Xplisset, but according to the libertarian ideology guiding Trump and Project 2025 states, be they red or blue, should not rely on federal subsidies. Period. This is why even FEMA is in their crosshairs. Trumpists are implementing Project 2025, which is first and foremost a project to dismantle the federal government created by the Constitution. They intend to enact a new constitution.
Let me amend that. Miller must go too. I've seen a substack by a former Senator Rick Wilson saying Miller is behind this outrage. He is the terror in the machine. He is Trump's Himmler.
. The Republicans may well be thinking that. My suspicion has been for some time that this is why they haven't got rid of Trump. He could be worse, as he has some idea what he is doing. Not much, but then he could be more dangerous.
The hope is that in ‘28 we would have somewhat free and fair elections and vote his ass out. I don’t think Couchfuck McGee can win a national election on his own merit. If you think it’s fait accompli, then we need to start leaving the country.
He doesn’t need a following. He just needs to be in place, with the current cabinet and staff all committed to p 25, and a R majority. Putin probably doesn’t have a following either.
Are you saying there won’t be a national election for President in 2028? Do you think Republicans will fear him and submit to him like they do to Trump? That the base will swear allegiance to this fetid imitation of white trash? I don’t think so. And if they do, then this country is doomed.
It Miller who is behind it. According to another Sub stacker Rick Wilson Strategist with the Lincoln foundation he has been behind the deployment of ICE. Good fitted the profile for a fascist victim. Cultured and well educated she is an ideal target. The Nazis were well known for their hatred of intellectuals and I've no doubt Miller is aware of this
There may be problems with getting rid of elected officers, but Miller is not one. Lets see if he can stay in the kitchen when the heat is turned up.
When they killed Mrs. Good they had no idea who she was. They didn't even get close enough to see whether she 'looked like' an immigrant. This was random murder not even as targetted as a lynching in the Jim zCrow south.
I live in blood red Missouri. My hard-working neighbor who drives her kids to 2 different schools and is married to a (good) cop says, "Well I'm sure there was something they knew that we haven't heard about yet." Baaaaa
Unfortunately a certain percentage of every society (at least 25%, probably more) has an authoritarian personality. Reminds of when I was on a jury (in deep blue San Francisco of all places). When we first got in the jury room, every went around and said what their initial impression was. One older gentlemen said "If the cops say they did it, they're guilty". That was literally all he had to say about it during the entire process.
Sometimes it takes one small observation to make people think outside of the box.
I was on a jury once for a civil car accident case where a driver failed to signal to turn, and caused another driver to rear end her. She claimed extensive physical damage to her back and neck.
One juror immediately started calculating what he thought her injuries were worth once we were free to deliberate.
I watched the plaintiff during the entire trial as she claimed extensive back pain and remarked that it was curious how not once during those many days did she seem uncomfortable, shift, change positions, or appear in pain sitting in court and a few other things I noticed about her.
Her award was substantially reduced and her attorney was very angry at the result and I was surprised that people were so quick to come to a decision without considering other variables.
How juries think and decide matters is often the result of past conditioning whereas critical thinking requires more effort and time and prosecutors often search for those types of jurors to see through their opponents unfounded claims.
Thats a key difference between Trump voters and non Trump voters and why they pursue the uneducated with fevor.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Being on a jury is certainly an interesting window on human psychology. Aside from the guy who had the kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out attitude, my jury experience actually reaffirmed my faith in our justice system. This was a DWI/DUI case that in the end was fairly straightforward but we deliberated for a long time and discussed every aspect of the case in great detail. We could have reached a fair verdict in less time, but I was pleased that the majority of my fellow jurors were so thoughtful about the process. We found the defendant guilty because in the end there really wasn't any reason to doubt the evidence presented by the prosecutor. The defense attorney tried to use emotional appeals about how bad it would be for the defendant if she were found guilty. It didn't work.
Trump may lack moral "clarity," but he does have ideological clarity. Russell Vought, Stephen Miller, and Pete Hegseth speak for him with ample clarity.
I'm sick of all the hand-wringing, tut-tutting and strongly worded essays. Decisive action to destroy the Trump administration is way overdue. As Robert said recently: " Where are the leaders?"
Dr. Robert Reich hit the bull’s eye when he wrote: Punishing states based on whom their residents voted for directly violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, which requires that the government treat citizens equally under the law: No “State [shall] deprive … to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
As such, Blue States should bring a suit immediately against this nightmare regime to resolve this once and for all! If corporations (founded only for profit for the few) are considered people, then what are US States which were created for the benefit of all the people in a region based originally on population?
Robert and Norman, I agree. However, tell me this, what recourse is there when someone or some organization, violates the Constitution. If the SCOTUS makes a ruling and it is ignored, who makes the arrest? who goes to jail? Who decides the penalty?
A Constitutional Crisis, complicated by the Republican controlled Congress. If they do not live up to their responsibility, it may take the people either through elections or revolution to make the change. This has happened before. We cannot survive long with a President who believes the only check on his power is his mind!
When we get to the other side of this, and we will, one of the most urgent priorities will be the impeachment of the corrupted members of the SCOTUS. It's also long overdue to expand the court, which is supposed to grow in equal proportion to the population of the United States.
Disbanded? No. But maybe an Originalist interpretation, since some of them seem to like Originalism. Each Originalist should be responsible for a Circuit, and they should have to ride a horse to deal with the judicial matters of said Circuit. Just like the Founders did.
I think the RV-driving contingent would retire quickly if they had to do that.
We know he's a dirtbag, always has been, always will be. Nothing is too rotten for him and his coterie. What needs to happen STAT is get rid of him and his inner circle (especially that psycho Miller who doesn'teven rememberhis own family's history) and get rid of Citizens United and put a cap on individual election donations to stop billionaires deciding our elections. Until the playing field gets levelled the gerbil will be spinning this wheel until the bombs rain down on us. Forget turning the MAGAts, they're beyond hope if they haven't yet noticed their prez doesn't give a flying ... about them or America.
Deborah Keegan. We should ask our Governors to remove the power given to corporations to have a voice in our state elections, and the bribing and buying of seats. We are not properly represented by our reps if they are receiving money from powerful interests who do not care about our needs and interests. We are now afflicted with minority rule that wants to take away a our freedom to self rule. They have installed actors into power who are now attacking and killing us! They ignore the Constitution and the rule of law. This is an ongoing insurrection inspired and led by a convicted felon and child rapist, who wants to end Democracy. He is the enemy within. Along with his "Cabinet" of henchmen and women. All oath violators, and criminals.
When will the American people wake up and just literally march upon the Capitol by the millions overthrow this government and take control when when are the American people going to just start eliminating the Nazi regime
We need the 25th Amendment for this corrupt convicted felon Putin puppet Trump! The corrupt maga trump regime is destroying the US and global economy and world order, ALL our government, programs, stealing our tax dollars, using lawless untrained immoral felons to murder our citizens for expressing the 1 st Amendment!
When are Americans going to face we are in a dictatorship? The corrupt Trump regime with the Roberts MAGA Six Justices are trying to destroy our voting rights so they can remain in power and stop Americans of all our safety nets while they invade other sovereign nations
Corrupt Trump and his corrupt cabinet secretaries are building gulags for desenting citizens!
The Roberts maga Six Justices are giving a corrupt convicted felon, Putin puppet old crazy dementia Don power to destroy our Constitution, Rule of Law, freedoms, liberties , and our Democratic Republic because they believe in a Unitarian President and not the three branches of government!
Why haven’t we thrown out ALL of these corrupt maga criminals who broke their oath to the Constitution?
We the people , meaning ALL the people who believe in our Democratic Republic and our constitution should ALL be out in the streets fighting for our country and what our founders fought for and created for us to protect!
It is far beyond irony that Trump's lawless federal government and it's lawless police goons aka ICE are using the Constitution to shield ICE murders from prosecution by state authorities.
Our Constitution is the People's Constitution and not Donald Trump's. He swore an oath to protect it. Now he's claiming his own "moral judgement" matters not the Constitution. This is similar to his claim in his first term that "he and only he can solve our problems".
It's time for No Kings rallies to morph into other forms of non-violent protest. We need consumer boycotts, we need tax strikes and we need a general strike. We need the "moral judgement" of 100 million Americans to say "No".
I think the size of our country works against organizing the things you listed (all good ideas) as well as the lack of interest by millions and the lack of one organizing group. Oh, and the lack of information to those not reading substacks. So much propaganda. I’m retired and have time to read them and all the comments; but none of my five kids do - they have work and family all day every day. As yet, they haven’t engaged. 🙁
Much to my surpriseband optimism, I know lots of younger people, yrs 20-40, very engaged, angry and looking for ways to protest. My son asks all the time when we'll see a tax strike. He's incredibly worried about raising his two preschool daughters in the US.
Looking at the 1960s and 1970s, it was younger people and students who led the protest movement and brought in their parents and grandparents. This time around, it's the parents and grandparents who are l bring in the kids.
DJT/MAGAs evil pestilence continues to poison our politics in extreme ways. When Trump loses the People, he loses his power. Our pushback is accelerating. We shall overcome. Don't give up.
And it looks as if finally even supine Dem legislators are beginning to act.
Though I realized something horrific this morning. Not that we're going to lose: if we keep going we will win, and though the administration's overreaching thrashing will make it really costly*, it will no wy be Pyrrhic. Though tyranny trumpets an impression of having infinite resources, it is always hollow, and we can perceive the hollowness in this one.
The thing I realized, though, is that Trump probably *can't* perceive this. From his bankruptcy days in the 1980s he loudly disbelieved that any balance sheet of his has a debit side.
And this will make the struggle costlier than it otherwise would be.
I said from the beginning with Trump that support for him is a revelation of personal character. It is even more so today. That is, to back all of Trump, his actions, his words, his entire demeanor, has to reflect that person's moral, ethical, honor, and honesty values. There are those who excuse parts of him--"it's just Trump being Trump," "ignore what he says," "I wish he would tone it down,"--but that is no better than full throated MAGAtism. With Trump the situation is truly black and white. Because of the consequences of his occupying the White House, there is no halfway. One cannot say something as witless as "well, he's good for the economy." Even if that were true, and of course it is not true overall, it is not in any way sufficient to counter the damage to the country and world. To back Trump in even a small way reflects deficiency in cognitive function, morality, honor, and humanity. Of course, I am absolutist. I am "in a bubble." I insist, however, that I see the big picture, and there is nothing in Trumpism that is not evil. If one thing turns out all right, it is purely by accident, not intent. Every motive with Trump and his most loyal sycophants reflects everything that is wrong in the human mind and spirit.
Spot on! Trump et al are what our society has become. His supporters and enablers are copies of him, same greed, lack of integrity, amoral behavior and disdain for humanity. Those of us who are not willing to accept his degraded attitudes are the enemy. Oligarchs now are in charge, Trump's their puppet and woe be unto anyone in opposition. America is unraveling. The Republican empire is disintegrating.
You do not have a democracy anymore. You have a monarchy now, and the king sets the rules. He has already turned the supreme court into a nodding machine, the media into a clown parade, and he cancelled most of your protective organizations.
Next he will close congress, perhaps for another shutdown, or because of "urgent renovation works", or because Mike Johnson has the measles, whatever.
Anyway, you are running out of institutions which guarantee stability in your country. And if putting up a strong fence in between red and blue is the only way to rescue both, then you must do it.
As another outside observer, I agree entirely. 10 months ago I was saying "If it wasn't so serious, it would be laughable". Now, it is way too serious to be remotely funny. Every day brings new, grotesque abuses.
It appears that a large percentage of the population simply don't care. I wonder what it will take - a complete economic collapse? Their sons (and maybe daughters) being dragged into more overseas conflicts? Irrefutable evidence of Trump's involvement with the Epstein atrocities (unlikely to be disclosed)? The regime trying to cancel the mid-terms?
That he still has the support of almost 40 % of the voting public is frightening. I fear that it is already too late.
Can any objective observer deny that Donald Trump is guilty of treason? The release of the transcript of Jack Smith’s testimony to the Judiciary Committee confirms “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Donald Trump tried to overthrow the government on January 6, 2021—a blatant act of treason.
In an attempt to seize unconstitutional powers to rule the USA as a dictator, Donald Trump has deployed both ICE and the military in American cities. His goal: to overthrow our Constitutional Republic and replace it with a Fascist, White-Supremacist, Christian-Nationalist Kleptocracy ruled by the Trump Family Crime Syndicate.
Donald Trump pardoned the violent criminals who—in response to his call—had attacked a Joint Session of Congress on January 6th, 2021. Some of these criminals are now ICE deployed bounty-hunters—a Gestapo-like private police force directed by Donald Trump to ignore the law, ignore due-process, kidnap People of Color, and (before the courts can learn of their existence) make them disappear.
Who supports Trump’s treasonous acts?
Trump’s MAGA base includes a hopelessly corrupt Supreme Court. It includes criminals serving in the President’s Cabinet. It includes hundreds of corrupt Republican Members of Congress, thousands of corrupt Republican office-holders, and millions of Neo-Nazis who hate People-of-Color.
Who does not support Trump’s treasonous acts?
Donald Trump’s Fascist presidency is opposed by the majority of Americans. This is an irrefutable fact revealed by the October 18th “NO KINGS” protests, followed by the total rejection of MAGA Republicans in the November 4th elections. The Trump presidency—as reported by Fox News—is currently approved by only 38% of Americans; 60% of the American people disapprove.
The 60% majority will not rest until Donald Trump, and his MAGA Neo-Nazi enablers, are removed from office, prosecuted for treason, convicted, and rendered the punishment dictated by the Constitution.
Why don’t blue states fight back and not send money out? They send out more than they take in. I’ve been saying this for 20 years. Red states would collapse without the blue states money.
This is what vengeance governance looks like: punish the communities that didn’t clap, starve the places that didn’t bow, and call it “policy.” And if we let it stand, we’re not a union anymore. We are a hostage situation with state lines.
This isn’t “red vs blue.” This is whether voting is still a right or a trigger for retaliation. Whether equal protection is still real or just pretty words. Whether the federal government serves the people or the president’s grudges.
So I’m saying it plain: we don’t accept this. We don’t normalize this. We don’t comply with this.
www.xplisset.com
I fear more and more for the USA. I would imagine that Republicans could actually see what is happening here. But they don't. Several are leaving Congress... rather than stay and fight. The MAGAs I know are cheering that Trump is vindictive -- they think "the libs deserve it". They don't want the Epstein files revealed because "you libs will find that people you support are on the list." (Really? I don't care. A pedo is a pedo, no matter which party they belong to.) They are criticizing anyone with an education, as if ignorance is a virtue. They are cheering that Trump has invaded Venezuela "because oil companies invested there, and they want their stuff returned."
Trump is pulling us into another Vietnam. And these people are cheering for it. I fear for my children and my grandchildren. I fear for the entire country.
I am with you Donna. Terrified for all of us. This man and his Administration is destroying us and our Congress on both sides of the aisle are doing nothing!
Terrified, too, but not enough to stop resisting. If a stupid, untrained ICE goon
Tells me I can’t check a pulse on a shooting victim, I would like to push his fat ass aside. They can shoot me, too. The cover up started then. No ICE goon was injured, not even close, you lying piece of shit Noem
Each day on TV, at our expense, Noem tell us the Trum is making us safer.
Tell that to Renee Good's family and friends.
Lies all lies, it's what the GOP as its entire self does best. Even the ones not saying anything because they don't want to tell any of the lies outright, but refuse to tell the truth. They think that lets them off the hook. But it doesn't. The number two thing the GOP is excellent at is HATE. They and their Christian Nationalist buddies are spreading as thick a mud everywhere. Between the lying and the hate, they are the very last people you should be voting for, for anything, including dog pooh pickup. Let's leave them to rot somewhere in the desert.
Beth, love it! Hope today is the Dumpster's last day on the planet! Sure can't wait for the next assassination report!
I just tried to call the Department of Homeland "Security" to leave Noem a message, telling her to get out, just like I do Trump at the W.H. Boy, are they SQUIRRELY! First they give a long list of depts.within the Dept., then they say there is a long waiting list to speak with an agent, which they then declare is ZERO people waiting, then this truly AWFUL music starts playing! I was going to leave a message for Noem, telling her to GET OUT and to go kill herself, since her future on federal death row is going to be pretty grim! Too bad I wasn't able to!
It's her job to tell us that lie, over and over and over.
Cyndi
Yes, Reich is correct that Trump and his administration with illegal supprot from Republicans in Congress and six justices on the Supreme Court are destroying America by violating the Constitution. The felony crime causing the destruction is an ongoing insurrection led by Trump which is outside the scope of official acts and invalidates any immunity for Trump and others in the federal government.
The corrupt legal system in American has created inhumanity and enabled an ongoing insurrection in America to create a lawless fascist autocracy. The insurrection began on January 6, 2021, and continued in 2025 as planned in PROJECT 2025. From 2021 to 2024, Biden, Garland and Jack Smith were blocked from enforcing the law and putting Trump the insurrectionist in jail. The corrupt SCOTUS illegally refused to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to bar Trump from being on the ballot and holding office which was illegal support of the insurrection.
Monroe Doctrine? Qualified immunity as doctrine that protects unjustified ICE murder in Minneapolis? Doctrine is not law. Trump and his administration illegally invaded and took control of Venezuela with military force as an act of War without Congressional approval and kidnapped the president, Maduro. ICE acted outside their official duty in Minneapolis which was finding and detaining illegal immigrants not replacing domestic police and unjustified murder of innocent citizens. Trump and ICE are conducting an insurrection that violates federal law.
The federal criminal law in the United States is created by Congress and then described in Title 18 Part 1 of the U.S. Code which has multiple Chapters.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/part-I
The crime of insurrection is defined in 18 U.S. Code Chapter 115 Part I - TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/part-I/chapter-115
Specifically, the crime of insurrection is defined in 18 U.S. Code § 2383 - Rebellion or insurrection which clearly states who is guilty of the felony crime with this language.
Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.
What is the solution? The law must be enforced on insurrectionists including Trump, members of his administration, Republicans in Congress, and six justices on the Supreme Court. When Democrats get elected to the presidency and take control of Congress in 2028, the insurrectionists must be arrested, convicted and imprisoned. And the corrupt legal system must be revised by removing false doctrines including qualified immunity.
What qualified immunity? JD Vance just declared that ICE agents have "absolute immunity." Why, because ICE is an arm of the president, and the Supreme Court has granted immunity to Trump. Justice Roberts and his colleagues now have blood on their hands.
I agree with every word.
It would be interesting to go back and look at the Dissents. In retrospect, it seems pretty predictable that "official acts" immunity would include the right to kill at home and abroad.
Hold the justices accountable. They have blood on their hands, and they are not immune..
So-called justice Roberts and his conservative GOON CRONIES can be sentenced to die on federal death row, just like other people! I call him the impotent, erectile dysfunction, can't-get-it-up LOSER!
So many cowards. Who would have expected that?
SOOO many. They should all be ashamed. They are letting our country slip away from us!! VILE human beings.
Donald Trump declared that his power is only limited by his morality, his mind. He is demented, and he has been amoral all his life. Republicans in Congress have allowed him to turn our lives into a nightmare. Hold them accountable this coming November.
Victor, Trump stating that his power is only limited by his morality, his mind, is now world news. It was mentioned on Al Jazeera this morning. Shown up as the obscene statement that it is. Republicans in Congress have indeed turned your lives into a nightmare, but their complicity has also threatened the peace of the democratic world.
IF there is a "November".
My worry is we cannot wait until Nov. It might be too late by then.
Just to avoid a primary!
But wait! don't you know, it gives meaning and purpose to their pathetic little lives.
That's the sad truth.
Judy, Reich and many others, myself included, have warned of this, and please note that we also warned that this will but a beginning unless we stop it now.
Yes Victor, stop it now. I understand that people in USA are terrified. I would be too. That terror will disable you. Turn it into anger. Anger with a purpose. Not anger to produce more mayhem, but anger to plan, gather support, plan some more, and start a resistance that grows exponentially. There is a lot that people can do to resist the Corporations that are funding this turn of events. No one will arrest you for walking past Starbucks or Home Depot and going back to shopping on Main Street. And that is just ONE idea.
Actually, that component of our society has been out, loud, murderous and persistent for - well, maybe all along. Drat! I can't get back to the famous woman historian who has a YouTube post today that this catastrophe is a continuation of the Civil War. Her name will come to me as soon as I post this, but Right On! But how about the Bundy Standoff of 2014, not to mention Jan. 6 "heroes?" Now these "usual suspects' are the Trump Horde. From the outcome of the 2024 election, who didn't expect this?
Ah hah! Found it! Heather Cox Richardson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8ciF6AFSQ8
Maybe the Civil War slowly, slowly strangled the whole Dream in the end.
Assuming the Nov 2024 election results were real, more votes were cast for him than for his very worthy opponent. Why? I will never understand. He cheated on all three of his marriages and bragged about grabbing “women’s pussies” and getting away with it.
I can no longer stomach this administration, they sicken me, to put it mildly.
Yet, more nauseating to me are those who continue to support him. They are mean-spirited, arrogant (thinking they will never be migrants) creatures.
Then, there are the ones who never bothered to vote in Nov 2024; not the ones who could not (illness, family issues), the ones who chose not to vote. The outcome may have been the same but the result would be somewhat easier to recognize.
On a more positive note, I love the map of the USA at the top of this post. All of the blue areas are contiguous to Canada. Maybe, just maybe, with time, the blue states will petition Canada to accept them. Then the red states can feed themselves, pave their own roads, etc.
For now, I wish those states who are having previously approved federal funds denied to them, would continue to withhold the federal deductions from their state employees payroll but put it into a type of escrow account and not remit it to the feds until the feds shape up.
It's a very strange attitude for a country nearly all of whose origins are in immigration.
It happens here in the UK too. Thousands of years ago our island was uninhabited. People came from the low countries Scandinavia and Germany. I myself come from Liverpool and am largely Irish. My ancestors came from Ireland in the 19th century.
Yet the right demonise anyone who has come recently, even those from Eastern Europe.
Colin, from my 'studies' of human history, all populations of - Homo sapiens - ancestry, from the earliest days - came from - somewhere else = Migrants ! Even the earliest Indigenous populations came from somewhere else via the diaspora out of Africa, millions of years ago. And NOW with climate change being taken very lightly, migrations will become the norm of humanity (IMO) as planetary climates shift planet wide. i.e. many Oceanic Island nations are now facing total obliteration by being submerged into the Pacific. And to have this administration 'secede' from any/all environmental organizations and calling climate change a "hoax",,, at some point even these deniers will face a form of 'migration' as their locals face increasing environmental degradation to become - basically - unlivable by way many humans. Luckily where I live in Seattle, this winter has been very mild by comparison to the eastern U.S., so I rather expect a serious start to - climate migration - of U.S. citizens within our own country ~ ~ ~
Well put, Colin, thank you.
I agree Colin. I spend time there with my son and his family. There is a class system in UK that is odious, but not dangerous. However it is the ignorance that is fanned to produce anti-immigration sentiments that is much more dangerous. Nigel Farage would make a shocking Prime Minister as he would encourage this attitude.
The class system is less so than it used to be. But it is still there. Farage talks a better game than Trump, (not difficult most people could). But that is all. He has no idea at all otherwise and some of his policy pronouncements are ridiculous. He also blows up under pressure. He becomes aggressive and combative, but not as extreme as Trump. When he was due to appear at PM questions, he went AWOL. He said he didn't want to sit there and be insulted by the PM. Actually the PM is very funny and our Nigel can't handle a joke. You need a tougher hide to be in politics.
The class system is probably more apparent in Bucks than in other parts of the UK. I was pleased to hear your estimation of the performance of Nigel Farage. Maybe he won't get in. Fingers crossed.
With (literally) each passing day, civic pride, a sense of America as a unique, united country, a belief in democracy collapses further and further. Being replaced by a deepening belief of “what’s in it for me”, exclusive interest in my bank account and 401K, a deep belief in “beggar thy.neighbor.” Trump’s now public declaration (it was always private but unsaid) that the only constraint on his power “is my own morality” is only the most recent example of the collapse of America.
Step by step Trump and those who think like him are taking over America. Yes, need to be optimistic and fight, fight, fight. But all I feel is despair.
I think I share your sentiments, A L. I see people younger than me and I worry for their future.
On a humorous note, I read the “my own morality” comment. At first I thought it was “mortality” but then I realized I read it wrong. It made me laugh, does he really think he has a moral compass?! OMG!
I thought he said mortality also! Scary that "my mind" is "Mein Kampf"
Mary, it may be that he was parroting Ayn Rand, who claimed that the government has no right to tell us what to do, that each one of us must follow our own morality. So we may refer to this BS as "the Randian paradox:" What happens when someone totally irresponsible, and amoral gains control over the government?
I am chuckling as I type this, V, because I would be surprised if he has ever read Ayn Rand. 😉
On one of this morning's news shows a US representative said he initially made the same misreading of 'mortality' for 'morality' and my first thought was sadly, that he is probably now going to be investigated by the FBI for threatening the president.
LOL, you’re 100% right.
He received only one and a half percent more popular votes than did Harris. Don’t let him fool you when he says that he won by a landslide. He did not. In fact, he got less than 50% of the popular vote, which means more people voted against him, then voted for him. Do not believe his rhetoric.
Donna, I've 'always' believed that 'he' totally discounts anyone and any vote from 'his' opposition as - non existent and therefore, in his own mind, he did win by a - landslide ~ dementia takes many forms and (IMO) he has - all - of them ! ! ! [[ and BTW I really appreciate your posts here ]]]
Thanks, Sweetie!
In addition, if we factor in the eligible voters who did not vote, his 49.8% of those who did vote drops. Factoring in all eligible voters, the sum of those who voted + those who could but did not, 47 had, at most, 37% of the eligible voters vote for him.
Please see the efforts to assure election integrity - still many unanswered questions about the 2024 presidential election. See the work of Election Truth Alliance. Every vote must be counted correctly - we need this assurance!! This is a nonpartisan issue.
There may be no election. If ICE has been let loose and there are more shootings, there will, inevitably, be some individual actors' violence back and he will use the Insurrection Act to cancel elections.
Thanks, G B, I’ll take a look.
Good ideas. Wish I still could still live in a Blue state.
You can use my address, J Cz
Miss my favorite NJ town very much…
Excellent post ! Now, if only our Congress will activate the power they are obligated to perform provided by the Constitution. 🤨
Well, never mind Canada pipe dreams, but the Trump campaign to unshare tax dollars to the States that contribute the most certainly calls for a new, serious look at the paying States to meet extraordinary wrong with some kind of extraordinary self-preservation.
Two fantastic ideas Mary E! I imagine that many in red states would decide to move to blue states. Making the withholding of federal deductions an even more effective strategy. Canada, like my country, NZ, is part of the British Commonwealth, so one would have to accept a King. Charles is not the sort of King Trump is trying to be. The complete opposite. His favourite pastime is gardening.
I was in New Zealand thirty years ago; LOVED IT.
That would have been 1995. I was working in isolated mental health on the East Coast in a community full of tragedy but also fun. It was a wild run. I was much younger. I could change a tyre in 7 minutes in my white uniform, with logging trucks speeding by. The roads were terrible. So was the weather at times. I recall driving to work over half a bridge. Two of the locals travelled to Wellington and were surprised when they got arrested on the street. For having their hunting knives on show. What was normal there, certainly wasn't in the big smoke.
The comment about a new confederation is interesting. It might take 20 or 30 years or longer, but we can today see dramatic divisions that may never be healed. Those writing here are strongly opposed but most Whites like it. White racism started when the Mayflower landed. There is a sense of entitlement. What people miss is that more people support what THEY are doing than you think. This is their country and they are taking it back. The rest of us can go suck wind.
Project 2025 is delusional. It cannot possibly hold because of the nature of the country and the international environment in which the country lives.
Well, G S, I’m only second generation so maybe, according to some, any right of mine to be here is secondary to some others. I guess ‘they’ who consider the U.S. ‘their country’ must have a static view of the life on this planet. I’ll have to think about this more. Thank you for replying.
Great insight. I live in a place where people are of so many racial strains that it isn’t worth trying to figure out. Most of us could care less about our racial mixture or where you and your ancestors came from. It’s about your character. If that sounds nice, it is.
Two reasons trump won: first, he used media well. He was on podcasts and Twitter, and despite what you may think about his inability to speak coherently, his messages are clear and his promises are bold. Second, the democrats put forward a ticket that was breathtakingly uninspiring. There only reason I voted for Kamala was that she wasn’t trump. I can’t remember a single thing she said that left any memory trace with me. Can you?
Hi P R,
I’m thrilled you pointed out Trump’s speaking. I have been running with this thought: please do not consider him demented or mentally failing in any way. My reason, I admit, is not honorable; it is so he or his counsel cannot have him labeled ‘incompetent to stand trial’ if/when the trials happen.
As for Kamala, there are several things about her that impressed me, for purposes of this reply, it is that she wiped him around the floor during their one and only debate. He (wisely) declined the second debate.
Thank you for replying. Your thought of his campaigning effectiveness is valid, although I do not favor his “in your face” campaign style. I find it alienating.
True, Harris trounced Trump in the debate to such an extent that he refused to have a second chance. During his debate with Waltz JD Vance lied impudently and was able to get away with it.
Noteworthy comment, Paul. Outrageous lies are memorable, plain truths aren't.
Um, California?
Yes, I think California was included in the blue section on the west coast.
CA isn't contiguous to Canada, though. It's CA, then Oregon, then Washington, which is the state that shares a border with our good friends in Canada. Just want to make sure CA isn't left off the list of "please, please, let us unite with you, dear Canada!"
From what I have observed lately Susan, California has proven itself worthy of being considered part of a bloc of West Coast States that is contiguous with Canada. I wish Montana would join.
Sorry, poor choice of words on my part.
I do not know any MAGA’s and I’m terrified hearing your description of the attitude they hold. Denying education and expertise, vengeance and resentments. Simply downright hatefulness. What happened to Living by Judeo-Christian values.
I’m terrified that America will fall into permanent disrepair and poverty being governed by a dictator. So happy I’m old and closer to the end of my days. Heartbreaking……,
I’m old (82) but I’m never going to stop pushing back against injustice until my last breath!! This nation belongs to We, the People, and NOT to the orange grifter and his gestapo!! Over my dead body!!
I applaud your determination and agree that people should push back; but unfortunately we have no real power to stop this transition. Reps and senators stand by and take no action on our behalf; we don’t have a true s. court and he has control of every aspect of government who ignore laws and judgements. That he can get away with the violence and canceling of funds and social programs as he is, is definitely terrifying.
I observed a shift yesterday when both House and Senate passed bipartisan measures to oppose Administration actions on Venezuela (both) and health care subsidies (House only).
Dear Ms Oates, please do not be discouraged at the media's lack of energy in not reporting legal victories against t's and his admin's illegal actions. I receive some reports from environmental organizations which say they have won court decisions against t's EPA and attempted legal crimes. Many lower courts stand firm against his lawlessness, and some higher courts do as well, even the nominally Supreme. Support your legal defenders, the ACLU and numerous other groups.
Power comes with organization. Join and support organizations defending that which you hold dear.
Oh Helen, don't despair, we oldies have life in us yet. I just pray at night and work during the day to change hearts and minds. How can that not help, just a tiny bit? I hope you have a garden Helen, as mine is a wonderful refuge in which I confer with the birds and insects plus my wonderful plants. Call me a batty old lady, but I'm not. I still belong to a Board and a Committee, still have brain cells and respect for my work. My children and grandchildren are supportive, plus a few friends who think like me, and my colleagues that I work with - many much younger. They make me keep up with technological changes. I hope you are not lonely Helen, as this would be a real reason for despair. Don't let Trump be that reason.
Helen, I still believe there are more good Americans equally horrified by this admin. We will have a bumpy road ahead but keep in mind and don't forget, there are more good Americans than the magas. The magas like being loud and abnotious. But good Americans are trying to push back.
“No Kings”
An Anthem for America
By The People, for The People
Verse 1
Two hundred fifty years gone by,
Our patriots fought and bled,
They carved a path for unity,
That wrote our country’s name;
Now chaos tests our union,
Yet the Constitution shows,
A promise for the future,
From our Founding Fathers long ago!
Chorus 1
No Kings! No kings! No kings!, we cry,
Here throughout the land,
Our stalwart mission rings aloud,
Autocracy will not stand,
Fear and hate will not stand!
Verse 2
Through trials, storms, and oppression,
This vision still holds true,
Democracy’s enduring light,
Belongs to me and you;
The Constitution guides us still,
From division and through strife,
It calls us back to Liberty,
The heartbeat of our life!
Chorus 2
“No King! No kings! No kings!” we cry,
Here throughout the land,
Our stalwart mission rings aloud,
Autocracy will not stand,
Injustice will not stand!
Verse 3
Thrones and crowns and kings alike,
The warning signs we face,
Our love of country sees clearly,
Tyranny’s ruthless shame;
Both red and blue we gather now,
Drawn by equality’s flame,
Our common voice we raise in song,
For the USA!
Chorus 3
“No King! No kings! No kings!” we cry,
Here throughout the land,
Our stalwart mission rings aloud,
Autocracy will not stand,
Demagogues will not stand!
Many bad things have been happening hidden behind years of deflection and propaganda. Too many to list. But, social media helps spread the disease of hate and intolerance. Magas have been indoctrinated into cult fantasies The propaganda they have been told, is their problems are a result of immigrants and dems.
An example: shortly after moving to our current home, there is an old couple across the street--who became maga at the beginning of #45 run for office.
Prior to 2015, we noticed while listening to them talk, they had some strange views about people. Convos were quite revealing.
They expressed a real intolerance of all people. They believed opportunity was being taken from them. But especially, they did not like hispanic people. And, their comments about other neighbors in our community as a whole was negative. They lacked all self reflection.
To me, this is one example of maga. They blame others for their own problems and failings. They also seem to be negative.
For what happened to Judeo-Christian values, read "Jesus and John Wayne" by Kristin Kobes Du Mez.
Jesus got nailed to the cross to make us immortal. (So who needs vaccines?) How not to like Jesus and John Wayne, but Donald Trump, a slime bag?
They don't even say "Judeo-" these days!
Me too!
I also am afraid for my children and grandchildren.
Not just an American people's fear. People world-wide are terrified of the USA now - especially people living in countries contiguous with the country and those with American bases in their country
I would too and I have my kitties. No children. Just plain fearful what else this lunatic will do. He enjoys instilling fear into us. I just pray there’s a real plan to end this madness
MAGAts have, at best, 35% of the registered vote. There is no way they can control the outcome of an election if all the sane people go to the polls and vote.. The best and last resort, that is legal and morally right, is to win the mid-term elections with unquestionable majorities in both houses of Congress. Then Trump and his handlers could be nullified until voted out. No moral issues about “removal”.
People are dying for the sake of our current laws. Therefore wouldn’t it be wise for resistance to change these laws I know Republicans dominate power now. This hunting down human beings and abuse needs to end immediately. Experts find a way please. You were elected to represent citizens and laws. If those laws no longer serve our society and are detrimental to our well being they need to be discarded and replaced. Until then I request impeachment
Yes Anne I agree with you, any and all resistance is needed now. But until the republicans are removed from positions of influence not much is likely to change.
The most efficient, legal way of making that happen is massive voter turnout to "throw the bums out” Then there is a chance that impeachment would succeed.
But we need to assure the mid- term vote is legitimate. See the nonpartisan work of Election Truth Alliance for concerns about the 2024 presidential election. We must assure that every vote is correctly counted!! Foreign interests may have breached our election security.
My opinion and votes are unimportant to you. I’m for law and order too. There’s no longer order here. I pray no more killings and injuries. That’s all I have left
It will be questioned by extremists and therefore declared void. It doesn’t matter how many I’s you dot or t’s you cross. They will declare it void. Somebody please needs to end this madness
Donna - Agree. What saddens me (oh so many things) is that this is an administration that is only worried about what is portrayed online and couldn’t care less about who gets hurt. The guy who planted bombs was a supporter of his election lies so they were quick to move on. The guy who killed the healthcare CEO is questionable so they moved on. The Brown University shooter turned out not to support their narrative so they moved on. They didn’t like how the stories of his alleged assassins were portrayed so they changed the narrative to suit them better. Why? Because having republican ties is not what they wanted to hear. They smeared a woman before they even had the chance to do a proper investigation not caring that her children will grow up one day and see everything that they sh*tposted online. Same with the families of all of the other people who have had their lives destroyed by this administration. ICE/Border Patrol just shot two more people in Portland. The man in the arm and his wife in the chest but it’s their fault according to DHS. They didn’t bother to protect the people of Venezuela when they launched a strike to kidnap their (very crappy) president. Now they are still insisting that the people who were stripped of their TPO status go back to Venezuela. I remember when it came out that during a strike in the Middle East, by Obama, killed civilians and we were so aghast but that’s no longer the case. The media moves on and expects us to do the same. All while this administration continues to ask us “are we not entertained?”. It’s long past enough is enough but we still have 3 more years of this bs. I don’t see it as getting any better - especially with this administration. It’s our new pandemic created by a bunch of idiots and the face mask is protecting the wrong people.
Donna - in the news this morning is that Iran has an internet blackout on their people.
China has restricted their citizens' access to selected sites for years. I truly expect that to happen shortly in this country. We need only realize that the techbroligarchs own our digital infrastructure. What was once Dominion voting machines has been bought by one of dumpster's techbroligarch friends. What could go wrong?
Could well happen Paul. Talk to your neighbours. Set up real networking, much like what happened in the French Resistance. Visit your seniors and disabled neighbours and immigrant neighbours. Become a caring community even more than you were up until now. This will keep communication going and restore mental health to millions. And parents, tell your teens to do the same, and why. They are old enough to grow up a bit and get off their phones.
The mental health part is an incredibly important benefit of being part of a community. I would add also cooperative gardening among neighbors if possible.
Great idea Paul. Get out, get busy, grow food, chat with your neighbours. An antidote to all this madness.
R’s cowards. Running instead of facing their consequences
Sadly, there seems to be little done to actually implement consequences for breaking or twisting laws to cheat more people
Fear not, Donna . . . Someone is going to kill him, you mark my words!
I wish that would solve the problem. It would promote Vance who is younger, healthier, articulate and equally if not more vile. He is Stephen Miller with a beard and mascara
But, do the MAGAs like him?
Vance was not a Trump choice. Peter Theil is responsible. He and the other billionaires will fund MAGA for decades ahead.
JD Vance is a lot more than that, Miriam. He is Peter Thiel's boy, the founder of Palantir, the cyber sleuth company. Its stock shot through the roof once ICE and the FBI adopted it. This is why Vance wants the president to have absolute immunity. Once in office he, Thiel, Musk, Kerr would be able to do absolutely anything with absolute immunity. I hope the Republican elite in Congress awakens to the danger.
It has to look completely natural. Those MAGAs will otherwise make a martyr of him.
That would not matter, he could trip going up the stairs to AF1 on camera and hit his head, the Cult would still scream “Conspiracy!”
"Biden did it!"
Valkryie Project
Trump will only exhibit more and more radical behavior and the MAGA GOP & MAGA Supreme Court will continue to obstruct justice. All treasonous actions and actors. Trump and his infectious administration is a cancer to the US body and the cure is radical.
I am so worried as well. I just can't believe that he gets away with this time after time. Courts may rule against him but he doesn't care. Quote from the NYT " I trust my own morality" with regard to world affairs???? Please someone do something to stop this horrible person!!!!
In Vietnam, the pretext was to fight against the spread of communism. In Venezuela (and anywhere else Trump thinks we should take over, like Greenland), it's to promote American imperialism instead of the right of self-determination for all nations. I wouldn't be surprised one bit if he and his family get a substantial kickback from oil companies for giving them access to the oil reserves.
Donna, Iʻm so sorry you have to be around those people. The people who voted for this and are still cheering Trump on were and are a minority in the population because during the last presidential election so many registered voters didnʻt vote and the results were split almost evenly. Besides that, the GOP cheated blatantly. If the majority would just take action and control to rid us of this evil regime .....
- Karen Cooper
I fear for your grandchildren and all children. What Trump and his amoral allies around the world are doing is destroying the future of humankind--and they don't care. What amazes me even more are the moronic voters who are in complete denial of what is taking place.
I agree Trump is pulling us into another Vietnam, and he is also pulling us into a civil war - whatever that will look like is anyone's guess. I vote for Secession of Blue states.
It has been said before, they support him because he hates the same people they do. There are a lot of people on the right who carry generational personality disorders and process the world through strange colored glasses. They were easy marks for Rupert Murdoch who succeeded in enculting them and profited handsomely. tRump is literally mad and is attacking the Nation and its Economy with an ax. We will have a big nasty recession. That might be our only chance to start to start to right the ship of State.
It seems to me that the President has far too much power which enables him to behave like a KING which is the very last thing that the people of the FIRST FLEET wanted and from which they fled!
When he is dead or impeached, when Noem is languishing in jail, and when the the tech bros face massive tax bills, the position of President should be abolished or reduced in scale. Our King used to have unlimited powers but now is relegated to ceremonial duties. Trump would be a fucking embarrassment even in that position.
It's not so much the 'position' of President that's the problem, it's the corruption of one of the major political parties, having absolved itself of responsibility and an abrogation of their oath of office (republicans turned fascist). The major issue is a weak Constitution full of loopholes that the same said political party has refused to plug.
Colin, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen to that!!!
Definitely. We need a new Continental Congress but instead of only white men, everyone should have a say in creating new laws.
Yes, yes, YES!!!!
Your nation is a joke, if it were not for my father you would be speaking german. And your monarchy is a bigger joke than england
Unless the colonists from England had made the journey across the Atlantic in the 17th century your country wouldn't exist at all. Oh and by the way if we hadn't stood against Nazism from Sept 1939 to early 1942, you'd have lost anyway.
Please. Your island was used by the USA as a stationing point to defeat germany. And we did that. Europe had been over run and england was next. The original settlers had to leave england because of the unfair monarchy. Lets not get into the monarchy's behavior.
It is people with your attitude that are fueling the current crisis and turning virtually the rest of the world against the “United” States. There is no room for your attitude this world today, you would not make it very far without the cooperation of the rest of the “West”.
If you have any ideas. Please share. Thank you UK for being there. I appreciate your support
Let’s hope we can get to that point. Hard to have hope at this moment.
Especially as a MAD KING! If not for his syncopates and enablers…this would not have happened to easily. Maybe. It is shocking to realize how swiftly it has happened.
Proj2025 and many conservative groups have been working on this plan and action for some time. I believe that Mad King has been working his own agenda along side theirs, to their detriment at times.
I agree that leading republicans have been working a long time for this, but I think that ‘Mad King', as you put it, has had little to do with it other than to act as the public puppet for his handlers. His only agenda is to stuff his own finances with as much grifft from the public as possible.
Blame the Nazis on SCOTUS
You’re naming the core problem. There is no plan, and that’s exactly why every “we must” collapses into frustration. People talk about resistance as if it’s a mood rather than a strategy. Without coordinated structure, discipline, and sacrifice, nothing moves.
And that’s the real question. Not “what should we do,” but “what are people actually willing to give up.” Collective action only works when millions decide that comfort is less important than leverage. Most of the power ordinary people have is economic, but even that only matters if it’s organized, sustained, and done with clear eyes about the risks and tradeoffs.
Right now, there’s no unified framework, no shared plan, no infrastructure for coordinated action. That’s the vacuum. Until people are willing to think in terms of real strategy rather than symbolic gestures, the imbalance of power stays exactly where it is.
If you want, I can break down the structural forms of non‑violent economic pressure that are historically effective, and the conditions required for them to work.
Real leverage only appears when millions act together. If even a fraction of the population redirected their capital elsewhere, the system would feel the shock instantly. Mass capital flight is the one pressure point no government or corporation can ignore.
Until then, it’s all performance.
—Johan
Yes.. please do break down the effective forms of resistance that can work. I’m old and ready to sacrifice whatever has to be done to keep America a democracy and not a replica of Nazi Germany.
Here’s an idea and I’ll post it in other places too:
Here’s a simple thought experiment….not a plan, not a proposal, just an idea if someone with the right expertise ever wanted to explore it. The median American has about $8,000 in liquid savings, but politically engaged households usually sit closer to the $10k–$30k range. If 20 million people redirected even that modest amount into a euro‑denominated index fund or another stable foreign asset (let’s say a pro-democracy private equity fund that’s easy to invest in from your personal bank account to this fund, like the stock market) you’re looking at $400–$600 billion moving in a coordinated window. That’s not symbolic. That’s a macro‑signal: reduced marginal demand for dollars, upward pressure on the euro, and a political‑risk premium that U.S. corporations and the Federal Reserve would have to register.
Launching something like this would require a regulated, transparent investment vehicle …essentially a professionally managed fund open to U.S. investors; very possible, these already exist for other investments. I’m not saying I know how to build it or whether it’s even feasible.
But if you extend the same logic outward, you can see how it scales: if participation ever reached the level where the aggregate capital approached $1 trillion, you’re suddenly talking about a figure equal to several percentage points of U.S. GDP. At that level, the signal becomes impossible to ignore.
And participation wouldn’t just be financial. It would function almost like a referendum: people would sign on publicly and commit to coordinated economic behavior—- including stepping away from the corporations and platforms driving the very dynamics they’re resisting. No Amazon, no big‑tech ecosystems, no convenience‑based backsliding, The leverage only works if the commitment is real.
It’s just an idea, nothing more, but if anyone with the right background wants to think about real, non‑violent leverage, the math shows where scale actually lives.
Think about, do you agree? What’s the next step?
Interesting. The only thing I haven’t quit is Amazon and I feel guilty about it every day. I have already planned to ask for our investments to be directed towards Canada, Europe and other places outside the US.
Maybe today’s the day 👹
Amazon sucks. Just stop. And Jeff Bezos is an obscenely rich and greedy monster. And he rubs it in withe the pictures of his ridiculous wedding. The bride’s fake boobs falling out of her dress.
And people cant put food on the table.
Have you seen the excellent series, "A French Village?"
We need a workable plan.
No it is not performance. This weekend we need enough people on the streets, on the grass as Tim Snyder would say that the legislators and other electeds feel the pressure to rein in he federal government. This is the moment.
The people who get more involved or involved for the first time, will be more interested in economic pressure. This will take awhile but it is building. Spotify and Avelo Airlines have just given in to boycotts. Pressure on oil companies is going to grow. This weekend you can join the first salvos on Citgo and Chevron.
Next stop, Citizens Bank, which is funding the construction and operation of the concentration camps.
Sadly, I don’t think enough people (yet) are feeling outrage and horror. For too many, their lives haven’t changed enough and too many are pretty self absorbed and self centered. Readers of these great substack writers are left wondering where are all the millions and millions are that should be protesting, boycotting, calling their reps. etc. It may take a while for many people to realize what kind of country they are living in. Hope it’s not too late.
Economic pressure is all that would make our corporate “owners” take notice. Money is all they care about…not Democracy..not America. MONEY MONEY MONEY.
I could not agree with you more Judy. MONEY is their god and only value and lots of it has bought them power. Just us 'individually' boycotting huge corporations will not be enough! We need a nationally organized strategic plan in which hopefully millions can participate in ASAP. Where are these leaders?? We're waiting for you to emerge! As my friend says, "You can't bring a knife to a gunfight". Their weapon is money so we need to use the same but to use our money to reflect our own 'moral' values. I hope some bright, courageous leaders will come up with ideas soon. I look forward to hearing Johan's specific ideas of economic non-violent pressure and capital flight. Thank you Judy.
Good suggestions. Use every tool at your disposal.
Wow did not realize that TY
Here’s an idea and I’ll post it in other places too:
Here’s a simple thought experiment….not a plan, not a proposal, just an idea if someone with the right expertise ever wanted to explore it. The median American has about $8,000 in liquid savings, but politically engaged households usually sit closer to the $10k–$30k range. If 20 million people redirected even that modest amount into a euro‑denominated index fund or another stable foreign asset (let’s say a pro-democracy private equity fund that’s easy to invest in from your personal bank account to this fund, like the stock market) you’re looking at $400–$600 billion moving in a coordinated window. That’s not symbolic. That’s a macro‑signal: reduced marginal demand for dollars, upward pressure on the euro, and a political‑risk premium that U.S. corporations and the Federal Reserve would have to register.
Launching something like this would require a regulated, transparent investment vehicle …essentially a professionally managed fund open to U.S. investors; very possible, these already exist for other investments. I’m not saying I know how to build it or whether it’s even feasible.
But if you extend the same logic outward, you can see how it scales: if participation ever reached the level where the aggregate capital approached $1 trillion, you’re suddenly talking about a figure equal to several percentage points of U.S. GDP. At that level, the signal becomes impossible to ignore.
And participation wouldn’t just be financial. It would function almost like a referendum: people would sign on publicly and commit to coordinated economic behavior—- including stepping away from the corporations and platforms driving the very dynamics they’re resisting. No Amazon, no big‑tech ecosystems, no convenience‑based backsliding, The leverage only works if the commitment is real.
It’s just an idea, nothing more, but if anyone with the right background wants to think about real, non‑violent leverage, the math shows where scale actually lives.
Think about, do you agree? What’s the next step?
Good god help us
Right on. I am tired of "what we need to do." "We must." What we need to do should have been thoroughly implemented years ago. Look at Iran. Israel. Coordinated mass protests. At least during the Vietnam War we had coordinated protests for a decade.
Johan, I agree with you that "real leverage only appears when 'Millions' act together". We so need a unified structural framework and a shared plan. I also would like to hear more specifically about your ideas of "redirecting capital elsewhere". The values of this regime seem to only consist of money and power and not people. They have lost any moral compass or interest in helping the essential needs of the lives of ordinary Americans. As you stated, "Mass capital flight is the one pressure point no government or corporation can ignore". Please share with us more specifically your ideas for both a shared plan and redirecting capital elsewhere. Thank you for your post.
Here’s an idea and I’ll post it in other places too:
Here’s a simple thought experiment….not a plan, not a proposal, just an idea if someone with the right expertise ever wanted to explore it. The median American has about $8,000 in liquid savings, but politically engaged households usually sit closer to the $10k–$30k range. If 20 million people redirected even that modest amount into a euro‑denominated index fund or another stable foreign asset (let’s say a pro-democracy private equity fund that’s easy to invest in from your personal bank account to this fund, like the stock market) you’re looking at $400–$600 billion moving in a coordinated window. That’s not symbolic. That’s a macro‑signal: reduced marginal demand for dollars, upward pressure on the euro, and a political‑risk premium that U.S. corporations and the Federal Reserve would have to register.
Launching something like this would require a regulated, transparent investment vehicle …essentially a professionally managed fund open to U.S. investors; very possible, these already exist for other investments. I’m not saying I know how to build it or whether it’s even feasible.
But if you extend the same logic outward, you can see how it scales: if participation ever reached the level where the aggregate capital approached $1 trillion, you’re suddenly talking about a figure equal to several percentage points of U.S. GDP. At that level, the signal becomes impossible to ignore.
And participation wouldn’t just be financial. It would function almost like a referendum: people would sign on publicly and commit to coordinated economic behavior—- including stepping away from the corporations and platforms driving the very dynamics they’re resisting. No Amazon, no big‑tech ecosystems, no convenience‑based backsliding, The leverage only works if the commitment is real.
It’s just an idea, nothing more, but if anyone with the right background wants to think about real, non‑violent leverage, the math shows where scale actually lives.
Think about, do you agree? What’s the next step?
Thank you Johan for these great ideas! I like the idea of something like a pro-democracy private equity fund and/or a euro-denominated index fund. I have no background in finances so I hope those who do will respond to your comment. I wonder if perhaps funds like this and open to US investors all ready exist. I understand what you mean by scale. This could have a much greater impact than us just individually boycotting businesses and corporations. We are all ready living under a fascist regime and need to think and act with a much wider lens that reaches many more people. I so want to invest according to my values. Thank you Johan for brainstorming and presenting ideas for a next step.
Thus, we are doomed. Ironically, it time for a big Anniversary, no less. How depressing is that?
I refuse to cave in. That’s what orange man wants. Never give up. Thank you Winston Churchill
Exactly, good point
Here’s an idea and I’ll post it in other places too:
Here’s a simple thought experiment….not a plan, not a proposal, just an idea if someone with the right expertise ever wanted to explore it. The median American has about $8,000 in liquid savings, but politically engaged households usually sit closer to the $10k–$30k range. If 20 million people redirected even that modest amount into a euro‑denominated index fund or another stable foreign asset (let’s say a pro-democracy private equity fund that’s easy to invest in from your personal bank account to this fund, like the stock market) you’re looking at $400–$600 billion moving in a coordinated window. That’s not symbolic. That’s a macro‑signal: reduced marginal demand for dollars, upward pressure on the euro, and a political‑risk premium that U.S. corporations and the Federal Reserve would have to register.
Launching something like this would require a regulated, transparent investment vehicle …essentially a professionally managed fund open to U.S. investors; very possible, these already exist for other investments. I’m not saying I know how to build it or whether it’s even feasible.
But if you extend the same logic outward, you can see how it scales: if participation ever reached the level where the aggregate capital approached $1 trillion, you’re suddenly talking about a figure equal to several percentage points of U.S. GDP. At that level, the signal becomes impossible to ignore.
And participation wouldn’t just be financial. It would function almost like a referendum: people would sign on publicly and commit to coordinated economic behavior—- including stepping away from the corporations and platforms driving the very dynamics they’re resisting. No Amazon, no big‑tech ecosystems, no convenience‑based backsliding, The leverage only works if the commitment is real.
It’s just an idea, nothing more, but if anyone with the right background wants to think about real, non‑violent leverage, the math shows where scale actually lives.
Think about, do you agree? What’s the next step?
Absent a large organized labor union movement we must perforce seek an alliance with billionaires who do not support Project 2025. The coming elections will be crucial, but whatever the outcome, the struggle will go on.
I am not wealthy enough to indulge in capital flight. But if I was, this dreadful incident would see me planning it. If you are very wealthy, returns may not matter. Security does.
The funds that Trump is withholding are there because of the taxes paid by each of the states. So my question- why should the residents of these states who pay a disproportionate share of the taxes that finance the federal government continue to pay these taxes? Patriots need to unite against the traitor.
When states coordinate their economic weight, when residents shift where they spend, invest, and save, and when millions act together instead of as isolated individuals, the federal structure has no choice but to respond. The power has always flowed upward from the states, not the other way around. The moment people recognize that and organize around it, the balance shifts.
I share the concern you’re naming, and I think what makes this moment so important is that it forces a deeper reckoning. When governance becomes reactive and punitive, it exposes how fragile our systems have become after decades of polarization and erosion of public trust. The question before us is not only what we refuse to accept, but what we are ready to rebuild in its place. A future grounded in fairness, shared responsibility, and care for all communities will require steady civic engagement, legal accountability, and a renewed commitment to the common good. This is difficult work, but it is also necessary work.
ABSOLUTELY, Xplisset! We fight on!
What can be done to not accept this and not comply?
Here’s an idea and I’ll post it in other places too:
Here’s a simple thought experiment….not a plan, not a proposal, just an idea if someone with the right expertise ever wanted to explore it. The median American has about $8,000 in liquid savings, but politically engaged households usually sit closer to the $10k–$30k range. If 20 million people redirected even that modest amount into a euro‑denominated index fund or another stable foreign asset (let’s say a pro-democracy private equity fund that’s easy to invest in from your personal bank account to this fund, like the stock market) you’re looking at $400–$600 billion moving in a coordinated window. That’s not symbolic. That’s a macro‑signal: reduced marginal demand for dollars, upward pressure on the euro, and a political‑risk premium that U.S. corporations and the Federal Reserve would have to register.
Launching something like this would require a regulated, transparent investment vehicle …essentially a professionally managed fund open to U.S. investors; very possible, these already exist for other investments. I’m not saying I know how to build it or whether it’s even feasible.
But if you extend the same logic outward, you can see how it scales: if participation ever reached the level where the aggregate capital approached $1 trillion, you’re suddenly talking about a figure equal to several percentage points of U.S. GDP. At that level, the signal becomes impossible to ignore.
And participation wouldn’t just be financial. It would function almost like a referendum: people would sign on publicly and commit to coordinated economic behavior—- including stepping away from the corporations and platforms driving the very dynamics they’re resisting. No Amazon, no big‑tech ecosystems, no convenience‑based backsliding, The leverage only works if the commitment is real.
It’s just an idea, nothing more, but if anyone with the right background wants to think about real, non‑violent leverage, the math shows where scale actually lives.
Think about, do you agree? What’s the next step?
Good question Johan. It seems there’s nothing that can be done. Hopefully the states affected are working on something.
I largely agree with you, but I think there are intriguing economic moves individuals can make.
Is www.xpkisset.com supposed to be www.xplisset.com? Typo, I assume.
Yep. Appreciate the catch. Thx.
Actually, I think that the 'Red vs. Blue' narrative has completely fallen apart - there is little indication that Trump has much more than 25% support for any of his actions anymore. The only reason that he's polling into the 30's or above is that there are now so many fake polls mixed into the aggregates (and they are meant to deliberately distort the view of public opinion).
The Trump signs are gone, the bumper stickers are gone, the Trump stores are closing - nobody really likes him anymore and now that the former supporters have gotten a taste of what the rhetoric looks like when translated into reality - they don't like it. The House voted to restore ACA subsidies this week, the Senate voted to restrict Trump's War Powers as well. The more desperate and the more extreme Trump gets in his final days, the greater the pushback will be. This isn't about us vs. us - people are now realizing that it is definitely about us vs. him.
The blue state support the government financial - so they should withhold monies from Washington?
Best to target the creeps behind it. Lets out Miller et al.
Miller is quite unusual..a Jewish Nazi.
You may say it, but does it matter when most Republicans are not even swayed by it.
It may not be the President calling the shots, but the people behind the Epstein project.
Not very long ago, SCOTUS was all forthe States Rights, I wonder how they would rule now? When US Congress and SCOTUS have abdicated their responsibilities, do we have the 3 equal branches of Government.
Yes, Xplisset, but according to the libertarian ideology guiding Trump and Project 2025 states, be they red or blue, should not rely on federal subsidies. Period. This is why even FEMA is in their crosshairs. Trumpists are implementing Project 2025, which is first and foremost a project to dismantle the federal government created by the Constitution. They intend to enact a new constitution.
They don't want to abolish FEMA funding for everyone, just the masses.
“No Kings”
An Anthem for America
By The People, for The People
Verse 1
Two hundred fifty years gone by,
Our patriots fought and bled,
They carved a path for unity,
That wrote our country’s name;
Now chaos tests our union,
Yet the Constitution shows,
A promise for the future,
From our Founding Fathers long ago!
Chorus 1
No Kings! No kings! No kings!, we cry,
Here throughout the land,
Our stalwart mission rings aloud,
Autocracy will not stand,
Fear and hate will not stand!
Verse 2
Through trials, storms, and oppression,
This vision still holds true,
Democracy’s enduring light,
Belongs to me and you;
The Constitution guides us still,
From division and through strife,
It calls us back to Liberty,
The heartbeat of our life!
Chorus 2
“No King! No kings! No kings!” we cry,
Here throughout the land,
Our stalwart mission rings aloud,
Autocracy will not stand,
Injustice will not stand!
Verse 3
Thrones and crowns and kings alike,
The warning signs we face,
Our love of country sees clearly,
Tyranny’s ruthless shame;
Both red and blue we gather now,
Drawn by equality’s flame,
Our common voice we raise in song,
For the USA!
Chorus 3
“No King! No kings! No kings!” we cry,
Here throughout the land,
Our stalwart mission rings aloud,
Autocracy will not stand,
Demagogues will not stand!
Xplisset, writing like that, explains your popularity.
Sounds like North Korea
Trump's lack of moral clarity is a concern for us all, for when our leader views death as a necessary evil this society is in terrible trouble.
Trump has no morals.
There is really one death we need above all. His.
Let me amend that. Miller must go too. I've seen a substack by a former Senator Rick Wilson saying Miller is behind this outrage. He is the terror in the machine. He is Trump's Himmler.
That won't solve the problem. Vance is just as bad.
. The Republicans may well be thinking that. My suspicion has been for some time that this is why they haven't got rid of Trump. He could be worse, as he has some idea what he is doing. Not much, but then he could be more dangerous.
But Vance has zero charisma, no following. He’s an awkward man that nobody reveres.
Just because he's a turnip brain doesn't mean Thiel won't find a use for him.
The hope is that in ‘28 we would have somewhat free and fair elections and vote his ass out. I don’t think Couchfuck McGee can win a national election on his own merit. If you think it’s fait accompli, then we need to start leaving the country.
He doesn’t need a following. He just needs to be in place, with the current cabinet and staff all committed to p 25, and a R majority. Putin probably doesn’t have a following either.
Are you saying there won’t be a national election for President in 2028? Do you think Republicans will fear him and submit to him like they do to Trump? That the base will swear allegiance to this fetid imitation of white trash? I don’t think so. And if they do, then this country is doomed.
Then Bannon is his Goebbels.
What is Bannon doing out of prison? Is this another Presidential idiocy? This is one power that the presidency should lose.
It Miller who is behind it. According to another Sub stacker Rick Wilson Strategist with the Lincoln foundation he has been behind the deployment of ICE. Good fitted the profile for a fascist victim. Cultured and well educated she is an ideal target. The Nazis were well known for their hatred of intellectuals and I've no doubt Miller is aware of this
There may be problems with getting rid of elected officers, but Miller is not one. Lets see if he can stay in the kitchen when the heat is turned up.
When they killed Mrs. Good they had no idea who she was. They didn't even get close enough to see whether she 'looked like' an immigrant. This was random murder not even as targetted as a lynching in the Jim zCrow south.
I live in blood red Missouri. My hard-working neighbor who drives her kids to 2 different schools and is married to a (good) cop says, "Well I'm sure there was something they knew that we haven't heard about yet." Baaaaa
Unfortunately a certain percentage of every society (at least 25%, probably more) has an authoritarian personality. Reminds of when I was on a jury (in deep blue San Francisco of all places). When we first got in the jury room, every went around and said what their initial impression was. One older gentlemen said "If the cops say they did it, they're guilty". That was literally all he had to say about it during the entire process.
Sometimes it takes one small observation to make people think outside of the box.
I was on a jury once for a civil car accident case where a driver failed to signal to turn, and caused another driver to rear end her. She claimed extensive physical damage to her back and neck.
One juror immediately started calculating what he thought her injuries were worth once we were free to deliberate.
I watched the plaintiff during the entire trial as she claimed extensive back pain and remarked that it was curious how not once during those many days did she seem uncomfortable, shift, change positions, or appear in pain sitting in court and a few other things I noticed about her.
Her award was substantially reduced and her attorney was very angry at the result and I was surprised that people were so quick to come to a decision without considering other variables.
How juries think and decide matters is often the result of past conditioning whereas critical thinking requires more effort and time and prosecutors often search for those types of jurors to see through their opponents unfounded claims.
Thats a key difference between Trump voters and non Trump voters and why they pursue the uneducated with fevor.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Being on a jury is certainly an interesting window on human psychology. Aside from the guy who had the kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out attitude, my jury experience actually reaffirmed my faith in our justice system. This was a DWI/DUI case that in the end was fairly straightforward but we deliberated for a long time and discussed every aspect of the case in great detail. We could have reached a fair verdict in less time, but I was pleased that the majority of my fellow jurors were so thoughtful about the process. We found the defendant guilty because in the end there really wasn't any reason to doubt the evidence presented by the prosecutor. The defense attorney tried to use emotional appeals about how bad it would be for the defendant if she were found guilty. It didn't work.
Too lazy to think for themselves.
Obey law enforcement orders. And a little respect never hurts. It's worked for me- 76 years.
He IS a terrorist, Donald Hodgins.
I agree.
Killing us off from the inside.
Trump may lack moral "clarity," but he does have ideological clarity. Russell Vought, Stephen Miller, and Pete Hegseth speak for him with ample clarity.
Trump has no moral values, no empathy, apparently no brains either. Vance is no better. Or Noem, or Patel. They’re all “idjuts”.
Oh he’s plenty clear on his own morals. They’re just an abomination.
No morals.
Can we stop acting like this regime gives a shit about the Constitution?
They’ve apparently abdicated their duty and oath to defend the constitution..in order to stay in Trump’s good graces.
This 👆
They burned that parchment in one of the White House fireplaces..years ago.
I'm sick of all the hand-wringing, tut-tutting and strongly worded essays. Decisive action to destroy the Trump administration is way overdue. As Robert said recently: " Where are the leaders?"
Dr. Robert Reich hit the bull’s eye when he wrote: Punishing states based on whom their residents voted for directly violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, which requires that the government treat citizens equally under the law: No “State [shall] deprive … to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
As such, Blue States should bring a suit immediately against this nightmare regime to resolve this once and for all! If corporations (founded only for profit for the few) are considered people, then what are US States which were created for the benefit of all the people in a region based originally on population?
Robert and Norman, I agree. However, tell me this, what recourse is there when someone or some organization, violates the Constitution. If the SCOTUS makes a ruling and it is ignored, who makes the arrest? who goes to jail? Who decides the penalty?
A Constitutional Crisis, complicated by the Republican controlled Congress. If they do not live up to their responsibility, it may take the people either through elections or revolution to make the change. This has happened before. We cannot survive long with a President who believes the only check on his power is his mind!
Exactly!
Mad Kings do not care about Amendments..Constitutions…Laws… because they do not have to. It’s Good To Be King.
It also violates the apportionment powers of Congress
Right.
That’s not how the Constitution works.
But that’s never stopped trump and his administration before, and it won’t stop them now.
Nor will it stop the corrupt “supreme” court from ignoring the Constitution and siding with trump once again.
When we get to the other side of this, and we will, one of the most urgent priorities will be the impeachment of the corrupted members of the SCOTUS. It's also long overdue to expand the court, which is supposed to grow in equal proportion to the population of the United States.
That gang in black robes is OBSOLETE and should be disbanded. What do they do, actually? Really? Legends In Their Own Minds.
Disbanded? No. But maybe an Originalist interpretation, since some of them seem to like Originalism. Each Originalist should be responsible for a Circuit, and they should have to ride a horse to deal with the judicial matters of said Circuit. Just like the Founders did.
I think the RV-driving contingent would retire quickly if they had to do that.
I like your sense of humor, Eric.
Great idea!
Well said! 👏
Imbeciles shouldn't expouse such commie thoughts
We know he's a dirtbag, always has been, always will be. Nothing is too rotten for him and his coterie. What needs to happen STAT is get rid of him and his inner circle (especially that psycho Miller who doesn'teven rememberhis own family's history) and get rid of Citizens United and put a cap on individual election donations to stop billionaires deciding our elections. Until the playing field gets levelled the gerbil will be spinning this wheel until the bombs rain down on us. Forget turning the MAGAts, they're beyond hope if they haven't yet noticed their prez doesn't give a flying ... about them or America.
Deborah Keegan. We should ask our Governors to remove the power given to corporations to have a voice in our state elections, and the bribing and buying of seats. We are not properly represented by our reps if they are receiving money from powerful interests who do not care about our needs and interests. We are now afflicted with minority rule that wants to take away a our freedom to self rule. They have installed actors into power who are now attacking and killing us! They ignore the Constitution and the rule of law. This is an ongoing insurrection inspired and led by a convicted felon and child rapist, who wants to end Democracy. He is the enemy within. Along with his "Cabinet" of henchmen and women. All oath violators, and criminals.
When will the American people wake up and just literally march upon the Capitol by the millions overthrow this government and take control when when are the American people going to just start eliminating the Nazi regime
I’m ready!
We need the 25th Amendment for this corrupt convicted felon Putin puppet Trump! The corrupt maga trump regime is destroying the US and global economy and world order, ALL our government, programs, stealing our tax dollars, using lawless untrained immoral felons to murder our citizens for expressing the 1 st Amendment!
When are Americans going to face we are in a dictatorship? The corrupt Trump regime with the Roberts MAGA Six Justices are trying to destroy our voting rights so they can remain in power and stop Americans of all our safety nets while they invade other sovereign nations
Corrupt Trump and his corrupt cabinet secretaries are building gulags for desenting citizens!
The Roberts maga Six Justices are giving a corrupt convicted felon, Putin puppet old crazy dementia Don power to destroy our Constitution, Rule of Law, freedoms, liberties , and our Democratic Republic because they believe in a Unitarian President and not the three branches of government!
Why haven’t we thrown out ALL of these corrupt maga criminals who broke their oath to the Constitution?
We the people , meaning ALL the people who believe in our Democratic Republic and our constitution should ALL be out in the streets fighting for our country and what our founders fought for and created for us to protect!
The more ICE agents are sent to our American cities to frighten citizens..the more obvious it is that they are NAZI Brownshirts/Storm Troopers.
We are just too large a country.
That is true, and it is working against them as well as us.
It is far beyond irony that Trump's lawless federal government and it's lawless police goons aka ICE are using the Constitution to shield ICE murders from prosecution by state authorities.
Our Constitution is the People's Constitution and not Donald Trump's. He swore an oath to protect it. Now he's claiming his own "moral judgement" matters not the Constitution. This is similar to his claim in his first term that "he and only he can solve our problems".
It's time for No Kings rallies to morph into other forms of non-violent protest. We need consumer boycotts, we need tax strikes and we need a general strike. We need the "moral judgement" of 100 million Americans to say "No".
I think the size of our country works against organizing the things you listed (all good ideas) as well as the lack of interest by millions and the lack of one organizing group. Oh, and the lack of information to those not reading substacks. So much propaganda. I’m retired and have time to read them and all the comments; but none of my five kids do - they have work and family all day every day. As yet, they haven’t engaged. 🙁
Much to my surpriseband optimism, I know lots of younger people, yrs 20-40, very engaged, angry and looking for ways to protest. My son asks all the time when we'll see a tax strike. He's incredibly worried about raising his two preschool daughters in the US.
Looking at the 1960s and 1970s, it was younger people and students who led the protest movement and brought in their parents and grandparents. This time around, it's the parents and grandparents who are l bring in the kids.
DJT/MAGAs evil pestilence continues to poison our politics in extreme ways. When Trump loses the People, he loses his power. Our pushback is accelerating. We shall overcome. Don't give up.
We need SOMETHING STRONG..and soon.
'But that’s not how the Constitution works. Nor is it how American democracy works.'
It is now.
And will be forever if MAGA get their way.
And it looks as if finally even supine Dem legislators are beginning to act.
Though I realized something horrific this morning. Not that we're going to lose: if we keep going we will win, and though the administration's overreaching thrashing will make it really costly*, it will no wy be Pyrrhic. Though tyranny trumpets an impression of having infinite resources, it is always hollow, and we can perceive the hollowness in this one.
The thing I realized, though, is that Trump probably *can't* perceive this. From his bankruptcy days in the 1980s he loudly disbelieved that any balance sheet of his has a debit side.
And this will make the struggle costlier than it otherwise would be.
Unless his adherents prudently abandon him.
Here's hoping.
And persisting.
* Lying down under them is costly, too.
Someone should remind trump that mob bosses wind up dead or in jail. But the people around him are too chicken and blindly loyal.
I said from the beginning with Trump that support for him is a revelation of personal character. It is even more so today. That is, to back all of Trump, his actions, his words, his entire demeanor, has to reflect that person's moral, ethical, honor, and honesty values. There are those who excuse parts of him--"it's just Trump being Trump," "ignore what he says," "I wish he would tone it down,"--but that is no better than full throated MAGAtism. With Trump the situation is truly black and white. Because of the consequences of his occupying the White House, there is no halfway. One cannot say something as witless as "well, he's good for the economy." Even if that were true, and of course it is not true overall, it is not in any way sufficient to counter the damage to the country and world. To back Trump in even a small way reflects deficiency in cognitive function, morality, honor, and humanity. Of course, I am absolutist. I am "in a bubble." I insist, however, that I see the big picture, and there is nothing in Trumpism that is not evil. If one thing turns out all right, it is purely by accident, not intent. Every motive with Trump and his most loyal sycophants reflects everything that is wrong in the human mind and spirit.
Mr. Helmers,
Spot on! Trump et al are what our society has become. His supporters and enablers are copies of him, same greed, lack of integrity, amoral behavior and disdain for humanity. Those of us who are not willing to accept his degraded attitudes are the enemy. Oligarchs now are in charge, Trump's their puppet and woe be unto anyone in opposition. America is unraveling. The Republican empire is disintegrating.
You do not have a democracy anymore. You have a monarchy now, and the king sets the rules. He has already turned the supreme court into a nodding machine, the media into a clown parade, and he cancelled most of your protective organizations.
Next he will close congress, perhaps for another shutdown, or because of "urgent renovation works", or because Mike Johnson has the measles, whatever.
Anyway, you are running out of institutions which guarantee stability in your country. And if putting up a strong fence in between red and blue is the only way to rescue both, then you must do it.
As another outside observer, I agree entirely. 10 months ago I was saying "If it wasn't so serious, it would be laughable". Now, it is way too serious to be remotely funny. Every day brings new, grotesque abuses.
It appears that a large percentage of the population simply don't care. I wonder what it will take - a complete economic collapse? Their sons (and maybe daughters) being dragged into more overseas conflicts? Irrefutable evidence of Trump's involvement with the Epstein atrocities (unlikely to be disclosed)? The regime trying to cancel the mid-terms?
That he still has the support of almost 40 % of the voting public is frightening. I fear that it is already too late.
We must do something and soon. It may already be too late.
Can any objective observer deny that Donald Trump is guilty of treason? The release of the transcript of Jack Smith’s testimony to the Judiciary Committee confirms “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Donald Trump tried to overthrow the government on January 6, 2021—a blatant act of treason.
In an attempt to seize unconstitutional powers to rule the USA as a dictator, Donald Trump has deployed both ICE and the military in American cities. His goal: to overthrow our Constitutional Republic and replace it with a Fascist, White-Supremacist, Christian-Nationalist Kleptocracy ruled by the Trump Family Crime Syndicate.
Donald Trump pardoned the violent criminals who—in response to his call—had attacked a Joint Session of Congress on January 6th, 2021. Some of these criminals are now ICE deployed bounty-hunters—a Gestapo-like private police force directed by Donald Trump to ignore the law, ignore due-process, kidnap People of Color, and (before the courts can learn of their existence) make them disappear.
Who supports Trump’s treasonous acts?
Trump’s MAGA base includes a hopelessly corrupt Supreme Court. It includes criminals serving in the President’s Cabinet. It includes hundreds of corrupt Republican Members of Congress, thousands of corrupt Republican office-holders, and millions of Neo-Nazis who hate People-of-Color.
Who does not support Trump’s treasonous acts?
Donald Trump’s Fascist presidency is opposed by the majority of Americans. This is an irrefutable fact revealed by the October 18th “NO KINGS” protests, followed by the total rejection of MAGA Republicans in the November 4th elections. The Trump presidency—as reported by Fox News—is currently approved by only 38% of Americans; 60% of the American people disapprove.
The 60% majority will not rest until Donald Trump, and his MAGA Neo-Nazi enablers, are removed from office, prosecuted for treason, convicted, and rendered the punishment dictated by the Constitution.
Excellent comment. Sadly, true.
Why don’t blue states fight back and not send money out? They send out more than they take in. I’ve been saying this for 20 years. Red states would collapse without the blue states money.