One of your most important pieces. In my lifetime (I’m 67) standards in public life have been decimated due to the excessive influence of wealth on politics. We have to change this.
We studied the era of the robber barons in school. The Rockefellers and JP Morgans were no different. Malicious egomaniacs. For a time progressive legislation and the rule of law controlled it to some extent, but the Reagan revolution was against inhibiting anti-social behavior.
I have a high school chum that got involved with trumpet 🎺 as a tv cable installer . He got contracts to cable up trumpet 🎺 new rebuilt apts and offices.
Like Cohen he did the trumpet 🎺 bullying of workers to do it cheaper faster etc. Well he crossed the line of the law for trumpet 🎺 sake and my friend ended up doing 6 Months of Jail for being a Trumpet 🎺 sub contractor.
Who ever gets to work close with trumpet 🎺 you get played and end up being thrown under the bus and doing jail time…. The List is Long of Under The Bus Companions.( UTBC)
It’s how trumpet 🎺 does business he profits you do Jail time … Mike Cohen is just another example of trumpet 🎺 in action…
It takes a pretty despicable character to make a gold digger, a crooked lawyer and a porn star sympathetic figures. And who else but Trump could rise above the sludge to do it?!!
After taking in the particulars over months, that's my feeling, as well. Thinking now of sweet Cassidy Hutchinson trying to explain what the culture was like, what was expected, all her regrets about it, why it was so difficult to break away from, and how scary it was for her with all the Trump lawyer strong-arm stuff and her being quite young and inexperienced with such things, and having little outside support or money to deal with it all.
DJT does not deserve to be identified with the word 'Trumpet.' Doing so distracts from the integrity and power of the musical instrument in represents. The coincidence of letter-alignment with a family name to has nothing to do with the person who has acted in so many destructive and selfish ways. The trumpet is an instrument of beauty, energy,
joy, vitality, spiritual uplift, encouragement, healing, peace and hope, if that matters to anyone who reads this.
Trump's philosophy behind his refusal to take part in the other earlier Republican debates, "Rather people think me a fool than to open my mouth and prove it."
Jaime--No teleprompters on that stage. I love the idea of muting a mic that is being abused. I wrote that in several times. I still would like to see a panel of three people who would listen to the remarks given by one of the two "Masterdebaters" and determine the truth behind their positions. The world is watching, why not let them know what the truth looks like.
I think Trump will show up, go on the attack, threaten and rip, and the moderator won't shut him up, or fact check him, This is CNN after all aka Fox lite.
If they are held in the evening, his sundowner syndrome could kick in rendering him incoherent. His handlers, assuming he has them, won't permit it. If I were a gambler, I'd bet money the debates won't happen.
And no pets in his life, because they can't give him anything he wants. He has no concept of the kind of love and loyalty a pet can provide...it isn't something he grew up with. It was always about the money with his family...especially good old Dad. He's such a shallow, lonely man!
Trump is Calvin (as in Calvin and Hobbes) incarnate, and for the same reasons: a mother who took care of his physical need but ignored his yearnings for attention and affection, and a father who strove to build his character by testing him time and time again. They created a dangerous misanthrope. He is our Nero.
Hitler had no friends, Stalin, Putin, Mao, Musk, Zuckerberg, Rockefeller et al have no true friends. Shot callers in prison and on the streets have no true friends, mob bosses have no true friends.
When you have power you have sycophants,a and don't need friends, Friends are fickle anyway, they come and go. Friend today, foe tomorrow. The history of mankind
William, I'm just butting in here to say my theory on alienated people without friends. Some of them may be autistic. We don't like these autocrats for what they've made of their lives, as compensation for undiagnosed autism. I've thought this might be true of Trump for the past several years, in addition to his narcissism, psychopathy, sociopathic and other tendencies observed by brave psychiatrists who aren't supposed to psychoanalyze people in public.
Hello, Victor, I am autistic myself, and I understand the autistic struggle in people who have never been diagnosed. When Trump was born (I was three) autism wasn't known except by a few scholars and psychologists. It's absolutely possible that Trump was born autistic. His parents were very frustrated with his behavior and thought the answer would be military school. During our generation, that's where the "bad boys" were sent. There were other effects that made Trump what he is. It's absolutely possible that his life has been one of finding ways to operate outside the neurotypical realm, because he couldn't fit in. He has managed to make his own personality by trial and error, and in his youth he might have been acting out in the only way he could invent for himself. OCD, narcissism, and eventually sociopathy would have been logical manifestations of the autism he wanted to bury.
Calvin is an archetype of a young, creative boy, who gets into some mischief at times, but is also held accountable. If your comparing him to Trump, I can only assuming you're suggesting that they both represent an unbridled id, and that would be correct. Otherwise, apples to oranges, most notably because the cartoon character is not a malignant narcissist, and of course, Trump is a living, breathing carbon-based lifeform.
I agree. My career was working with people. Those who were super wealthy and told you so, generally were not popular people at meetings. People tried to avoid getting stuck sitting with them, except one or two of the same. Generally, there is no intellectual substance. In a workspace, having no brain is really annoying.
Cynthia--I think there should be a special space on questionaries. Two questions would be asked, one being "Are you crazy?" then you would be directed to check the appropriate box next to the period at the end of the sentence. Lastly it would ask what your political party of choice is. After selecting the box next to the correct party, a final thought would be expressed. If you said you were a Republican you just lied, because you are crazy.
Comical. Maybe they didn't get it. An annoying incident was when they enjoyed schooling the room with nonsense so below the caliber of the room. A definite waste of money. Let young, brilliant people work. I'm retired and volunteer. Yes, I'm pro worker.
Parkerized--That is where the problem lies. We are all countrymen, and the idea of "enemy" doesn't fit. Opponents yes, but to consider a fellow American an enemy is to admit we as a people belong to a very sick society.
Parkerized--Again an attempt is being made to separate the people of this country by giving them divisional handles. The so-called radical left is nothing more than the Democratic party with liberal views, why label them "Radical." According to many American Indians all white eyes are illegals. The world is shrinking, and our population is steadily growing. If we don't make room for those in need because of changing climates and the current conditions surrounding the droughts across the globe, the deaths caused by our indifference will dwarf the loss of innocents in Gaza.
Trumpets are musical instruments to uplift, inspire and invigorate both those who play them and those who love to listen to them. It's difficult in this situation to not incorporate the word into a political phrase, but to keep the truth of the trumpet in our thoughts listen to some Louis Armstrong, Herb Alpert, Maurice Andre, Rafael Mendez or Canadian Brass to see what a difference 'the trumpet' is! Thank you.
I wanted to mention Adolph 'Bud' Herseth, but foolishly figured it would be a name unfamiliar to readers. Here I was wrong...and I see you and raise you two:
Doc Severinsen and Maynard Ferguson, who I saw in November of 1963 as 'guest soloist' on the Fall Lab Band Concerts at NTSU (now called UNT ) here in Denton,
where the oddest political personality is expressed by someone who proudly proclaims that the earth is flat, with signs in their front yard...oh, and a local restaurant has incorporated that person's interstellar opinion into their menu with a tasty dish called
Does anyone remember how interesting Eisenhower could be? I've been wishing for Ike to come back so we could be bored with government again without feeling guilty.
BOFUS, but it isn't the man, It is the people. When Ik was president you got your news from a Newspaper, and opinions from a magazine, both of which were conservative.My godmother gifted me a yearly subscription to Readers Digest, and it influenced my political thinking.
Now we have the internet, and everyone is a journalist, an influencer, an opinionist and it just isn't the internet, anyone who has a cell phone can and do call themselves journalists.
HAMAS has, apparently an endless supply of Helmet and flak jackets with PRESS, nad have taken to calling their dead fighters Journalists. Imagine that, 100's of dead Journalists and 100's more and they don't represent any news agency, other than HAMAS.
l Jazeera is one of the few international media outlets to remain in Gaza throughout the war,
The so called Journalists killed in Gaza are HAMAS fighters,
Daniel, have all of the antitrust laws created at the end of the 19th century like the Sherman Act been done away with? Has the government taken all of those guard rails away?
Biden has unleashed the FTC for the first time since LBJ. Robert has been documenting it. However, he doesn't have Congressional authority to go after price fixers and price gougers.
Susan, first, I will do everything I can to put President Biden back in the White House for a second term. Second, why would you think we don't care about UK citizens? It is my belief that all world citizens must stand together against these would be dictators and fight for a Democratic society that works for the common good of ALL people.
Oh, Susan - but we do care. There are many of us who care - you just might not hear about us through the ceaseless ugliness in the press. Please don't be discouraged!
You be Brit, Why have the Brits gone for the Tories, year after year, and when they don't they vote for a Labour Party, and right wing sycophants like Tony Blair. From an American perspective I don't see any real diff between Conservatives and Labour.
But I see a real problem England has with migrant labor, legal and illegal, it is a small Island country, yet imports labor, and as I see it, the use of legal immigrant labor, from Poland and east Europe, was a primary reason for Brexit.
The E.U. has a no passport necessary rule for travel between countries, and that was hurting the British working population, now they have Muslims invading England in rafts from France, that threatens the culture. and economy.
For those who object to my analysis, tuff, Reality is a bitch. I am interested in reality, not ideology.
YESSS, unfortunately, the old idea of creating a government of mixed proclivities and allowing people of honorable intention to work on a government for all of us — well, that’s out the window with the Zero Sum guys, who figure they have to prevail and make their “opposition” lose —
Isn’t it sad that we no longer seek a meeting of the minds and a lot of good ideas, but just look for dominance …
Right now, we NEED a Blue Wave to stop the Project 2025. I actually resent that this attitude has FORCED caring people to “take sides” instead of talking to each other. That’s a sad state of affairs…
Pat you are a grandmother and worldly experienced, you know that caring people are not really forced to take sides. Caring people are still caring people, and as they always have they are loving, tender and caring for their own people,
Let's take the Gaza Israeli conflict for instance. Just look at the comments on RR's substack. What do you see, but an overwhelming out pouring of caring people bleeding for the poor Gazans, and hating the "evil" Israeli's.
Where are all of this caring people, when it comes to the genocidal actions of Putin against the Ukrainians.? No one has forced anyone to choose sides, they make their own choices by virtue of the ideas and beliefs that they hold.
Anyone who thinks a razor thin “majority”in a Senate that is flummoxed by a faux-filibuster that doesn’t demand ANY sacrifice to obstruct other than voting “against” — well, that’s a fiction. Even though the “majority” party sets the agenda, the filibuster keeps anything from happening.
And in the House, the R’s vilify each other for daring to TALK to Democrats, much less vote with them..Even when their own people WANT to vote with Dems, their control of the agenda doesn’t let it happen {witness these past few months…]
This Zero Sum, All -or-Nothing attitude has been paramount with R’s since New Gingrich started pushing it in the Reagan era, getting worse and worse since then. Mitch McConnell said it out loud when he claimed the R’s most important job was to make Barack Obama a one-term president.
Cheney and his crew tried to get us to accept a “unitary president” who could take a bill voted on by Congress and create a “signing statement” for which parts of the bill the president would pay attention to and which parts he’d ignore … That’s pretty much not to job of Congress and the President, bu it’s what the R’s want to institute if they get in again next year….
This is no joke … At CPAC this year, the Republicans said OUTRIGHT they would dismantle democracy. Why would we NOT take that seriously?
DJT praised Victor Orban. Donnie said there are NO controversies in Hungarian politics, because whatever Orban says, THAT’S IT! No argument. That’s what Donnie wants. He said it about Xi and Kim and Putin, too. Donnie wants to be a dictator. Period.
Amen to that, Cathleen!! I mistakenly thought that laws are made and when they are broken, whoever broke that law would be tried and face the consequences. Apparently, I was deceiving myself. So many laws are broken by people in power and they skate away without facing any consequences. It is the average American they will throw the book at!!
John, let's hope these efforts produce results!! The working class is waking up to the greed, power-hungry corporations and are beginning to move toward community, mom and pop places, farmer's markets, and anything that doesn't pander to the monopolistic corporations!!
Then President Biden and the Democratic Senate and House will have their work cut out for them to put those guard rails back into place!! Vote Blue, America!!!
Totally with you Peggy, except where the Democrat is a Republican in Democratic make up.
Like it or not, and I don't, we are stuck with a two party system. The Racists, the believers, the fascist the patriarchs are all united behind the GOP, and the Dems are far from perfect or desirable, we have our Manchins, Sinema's, Weiners, Menendez a plenty, but they aren't outright fascists.
Yes, there are some Democrats that don't measure up, but you are right, they are not fascists! I will take them any day over someone who wants to destroy our Democracy and do away with the Constitution!
Unfettered capitalism led Marx to write Das Capital, and the world hasn’t been the same since. The four factors of production are land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship, with people being used and abused until their usefulness to an employer is used up, and then they are cast off, aka fired. Trump personifies the worst aspects of capitalism, and thankfully he’s now being prosecuted for his off-the-rails entrepreneurial ways.
IMHO Marx was late to the game. The US had "communist" societies that existed pre Marx. Red states like Georgia were formed as egalitarian. Jesus was the model. https://www.oldeconomyvillage.org/
There is an argument to be made that Marx was just hype. Groucho was more profound. (and if you said the secret word, you got $50.)
Consider the epic poem, The Deserted Village, 1770. Oliver Goldsmith. More influential in the US than Marx.
Too much information, for people fed a diet of pablum. Most Americans don't know the difference between socialism and communism because the propaganda money of plutocrats and corporations dominate our "miseducation".
Americans believe that the revolution was fought over taxation without representation, but the merchants of Boston rebelled (the Virginia planters could have cared less) because the Crown had given the East India Company a monopoly charter, and colonists had to buy tea, paper, silver, fine china, fine clothing from the East India Company. The merchants resorted to smuggling, which was a capital offense, death by hanging, and that didn't stop the smuggling, so the crown imposed the Stamp Act, to identify "lawful" goods.
BTW, Virginia Planters (Tidewater Aristocracy) were unbothered by the expense and trouble, as they were made wealthy by exporting tobacco and goods to Britain. They joined the revolution because they saw it as an opportunity to become the new nobility in America, but Joe the farmer, Tom the merchant, Dick the laborer were not of a mind to replace one set of overlords (British) with a new set (Americans), so they weren't interested.
To overcome resistance, the Virginia elite formed Committees of Public Safety, to monitor loyalists and punish them, it worked, but not well enough, so they paid Ben Franklin and Rittenhouse of Phila. to publish pamphlets like Common Snese and the Rights of Man to distribute among the people, that worked, all too well because the would be subjects were now not of a mind to return to the old order, and demanded liberty.
The only unrepentant Marxists left are the rich corporatists who saw the “bad-guy industrialists” who seem to have read Marx and exulted the role of Sith Lord.
Yes, of course, Rockefeller Jr and Morgan were cruel accumulators and their chilling avarice continues to stagger the mind. There is, however, one difference between them and the current criminal defendant: their contribution to culture was and continues to be world class. The current villain makes no such contribution. One of the ways that I find respite from being overwhelmed by our threatening current situation is to get myself to the Metropolitan Museum and it's annex, The Cloisters, frequently. (I live in Manhattan and can get there and back on my senior MetroCard.) I don't know what I would do to clear my brain and reduce my rage without them. These two sparkling, world class collections have been able to grow following the thousands of pieces donated by Rockefeller and Morgan early on. The Cloisters, a gift from Rockefeller Jr. to NYC in the 1930's, is as gorgeous as the most wondrous exotic places anywhere in the world. He bought the land that is now Fort Tryon Park, one of the city's most majestic parks. He bought the collection, hired European master craftsmen to dismantle and transport the several chapels and cloisters stone by stone, and had them reconstructed according to an architect's amazing design. As if the breathtaking view of the Hudson amidst the gigantic pines up there in Washington Heights wasn't enough, he bought the Palisades across the river to ensure that the view remained unspoiled. So, yes, robber barons they were. This fiend amongst us is only evil. He makes no positive contribution to society. He is not in the same galaxy with his predecessors, certainly in this respect.
Rockefeller Jr. was atoning for the conduct of his father, the snake oil salesman who corrupted anyone he could. For Morgan, death was not the final frontier.
No Daniel, it was a clever PR ploy, as was Carnegies endowment. they were advised to imrove their image by investing in philanthropy, with their name on it of course.
When did he give it away? As he had no heirs, he was buying favor with his god. He was atoning for the dead in the 1892 Homestead Strike, and his exploitation of workers.
Carnegie was a believer and knew about rich men camels and eyes of needles.
John D. Rockefeller jr. was no "Robber Baron"! About the time of his 60th Class reunion at Brown University (1957), 'Johnny Rock', as he was known to his Classmates in 1897, confessed that his whole life had been dedicated to giving away a vast fortune. As I recall, he said "The hardest job I could have even known was giving away $160 million" (fairly and without any malice or hidden agenda). His life's work was dedicated to charity and socially beneficial giving; not robbing anyone. His 5 sons were pretty decent people and he loved them all. Many, like Nelson and Winthrop, served in government and helped many citizens honourably. They were no "Robber Barons" either. Oh how we all wish we had similar, so called "Robber Barons" today.
Donna, the difference between the gilded age, and today is the media.
There were thousands of independent media, tens of thousands of hungry reporters, and editors, who often embellished and invented stuff to sell papers. And the news was full of RR disasters, plant disasters, that killed tens if not hundreds of thousands, and the reporting resulted in an uproar over the excesses of the robber barons, as did Upton Sinclairs the Jungle, which exposed the meat packing industry and resulted in the FDA.
The robber barons were advised to spent money on philanthropy to improve their image, and the likes of Bill Gates have followed through, but now we have a new breed like Musk, and the laws that the money of the rich are responsible for are vague and allow deductions for non profit corporations, so they create non profits like the Mellon Scaiffe foundation, the Hertiage Foundation, and the Federalist society to promote their cause., meanwhile they have bought up media, print and electronic, to consolidate the source of public opinion forming information we call news.
Very illuminating, William. Thank you very much. Of course! Though I believe that there were those among them who did not avail themselves of this opportunity, like Vanderbilt, probably others.
Yes, but the robber barons paid 63 % - 97% taxes, had core Christian values, and went on to fund nonprofit enterprises that continue to create incredible value in diverse communities around the world. The public library on the shores of the St. Lawrence, in my small Canadian city, was largely built by and receives an annual stipend in perpetuity from the Carnegie Foundation. Go ahead, ask a billionaire to finance anything but a presidential library.
They had monstrous political power, and recognized the responsibility.
What today's filthy rich have in common is their abandonment of the beliefs, values, principles, and practices that made the barons and America remarkably successful.
I may need to do some research to separate the good filthy rich from the bad and ugly filthy rich. However, the good are culpable for their collusion and willingness to profit from bad actors.
Boy, that Christ guy really nailed it on the eye of the needle test.
Paul, no income tax when they were active. Carnegie never paid income tax.
Carnegie found Jesus late in life. At the time, the major Protestant sects espoused "the Social Gospel." Those days ended with the advent of the IRS. Andrew Mellon, then head of the riches family in the world, secretary of the Treasury, said he like the income tax because it would ensure that nobody else was as rich as he was.
Caarnegie and Rockefeller were Calvinists (Presbyterian follows Calvin's belief, which is also orthodox Judaism of predestination, and the way one can tell if one is favored of god is by their wealth and social standing.
Rockefeller was a Baptist. Grandpa was an itinerant preacher/snake oil salesman selling stuff like amulets, selling kerosine as a magic elixir. John D. was a teetotaler. It was his son, Jr, who crated the foundation and was a philanthropist.
Carnegie wasn't much of a Presbyterian, was probably agnostic. But he had guilt, and his philanthropy was in essence a personal penance.
Paul, it will take more than “a little research “ to determine a way to separate the morality good from the bad and ugly: the two sides of character are present in every person though the morally desirable bits can be squeezed out by greed and what used to be referred to as the temptations of the flesh. Unfortunately it is hard to find true north in another person’s moral compass. We all act to a certain extent in our own self interest, even those who are not numbered amongst the “filthy rich “.
It took a devastating Depression and the rise of Hitler to find our moral compass. What will it take this time with an intellectually-challenged psuedo-Hitler in our own midst? How many of us boomers will be around to see how this mess plays out? Aw, c'mon! I don't want to leave yet! Is there Netflix in the afterlife? How much for interstellar service?
I believe it's a deeper problem than money's corrosive influence on politics. As soon as humans invented money (got away from communal living) it afforded an individual a degree of separation and isolation from responsibility to the community. Those among us with little or no innate moral compass, and there are many, will then be swept away by their addiction to this powerful opiate; "I've got mine, and screw you"! Money is truly "the root of all evil".
While this may well be true we’re not going to do away with money. It used to be the case not long ago that shame and embarrassment were effective counters to greed and dishonesty but no longer, in fact publicity has more value. There needs to be enforcement of a code of standards in public office.
Right now the trouble is how many even understand the concept? When you watch them cheer and bravo the garbage that comes out of Trump's mouth you wonder where they left their brains!
Or if they ever understood what it means to be a moral person. To have a code of ethics. To understand and internalize right from wrong. In the “before” times I would have said “churched” but not now. I think the mega-churches didn’t do us any favors. Glad I avoided them.
It’s unbelievable what comes out of these trumptards mouths - they have no concept of how our government works - spouting racist, homophobic, misogynistic and religious zealot language - all of these are AntiAmerican signals
Linda D., they left their brains on the floors of their classrooms. School has been obsolete for decades; our kids know this. Build villages instead. Keep the teachers; make more of them.
The challenge is to not become mobsters ourselves. Who is the proper arbiter of good behaviour? With social media everywhere, anyone can be accused of violation of a social norm anywhere, and anywhen, and driven from participation in society's normal activities - whether the claimed behaviour is real or imagined. This article in The Atlantic is significant.
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.
The Left has disappeared from America. There is no Left left. There was a little under LBJ, but only a pittance. Franklin Roosevelt is thought of as leftward, but actually, he propped up capitalism with most of his programs. He was a conservative who wisely understood and empathized with the public need. He realized that without jobs and income for the lower and middle classes, all of capitalism was in trouble. Yet, the New Deal is considered about as far left as we've ever gotten. The closest thing I've found in my life to "Left" is moving to, and living in, Minnesota and all its Scandinavian socialism for the past 52 years. However, that, too is waning.
TJ - Who writes this stuff for you? Some great use of vocabulary, but the results are gibberish. Fire your ghost writer or invest in an upgraded AI-enabled word processor.
There is a concept in Islam called Murabaha. It is based on the notion of a fair profit. The merchant discloses his cost price to the buyer to enable the buyer to know it was fair. It’s a way of taking the grasping nasty edge off commerce. It has a similar impulse as frowning upon interest.
Christianity has the same beliefs about profits and charging interest, believe it or not. The Church in Rome once treated them as sins, until the Church acquired wealth.
Anti-Semitic? I don’t think so. The Bible would have it that one Jew should not lend at interest to another Jew. Until the dawn of the modern age the Church banned interest. If you were familiar with the Hadith you would find that Muhammad was resigned to the pervasive influence of interest. Personally I agree with him that lending at interest is toxic. Look at my Substack page and you will find an essay on the subject.
Interest is supposed to cover risk and opportunity cost, what's unfair about this? The God-loving folks of antiquity forbade interest, nevertheless they allowed the enslavement of those who were unable to repay loans.
Where did I say lending at interest was the unfair? I didn’t. My objection to lending at monetary interest is because it is divisive. I’m not sure that a forbidden loan and enslavement for default are compatible. But then the Church burned people for less. It’s not relevant to my argument.
It was the Protestants who opened the door under pressure from businessmen. They knew that lending at interest would turbocharge economic activity. It was then that the word usury was cut to size from lending at interest to excessive interest. The Arabic word Riba is translated as usury but it loses its meaning. Muhammad knew what would come of interest (riba) not from his visions but from experience.
I'm glad to read that others are questioning interest. I'm down to 2.5 percent on my late-in-life mortgage; otherwise, I've always paid interest, because I started out my life with having to borrow money in order to get an education, in order to find better employment, and over the years, it just allowed me to be in a place where I had to pay more interest. Today I pay my credit card to zero every month. It took me a long time to get to this point. I have (only slightly) risen above the invisible line that makes the poor poorer (because we are suspect), and the solvent richer (because they are suspicious, so they charge interest).
Have a read of my essay of 25 March. It’s the beginning of my theory to rid the world of lending at interest. Interest is deeply embedded like a noxious weed.
Robert, I'm an old lady who doesn't like to do unfamiliar tech because it gets me into too much trouble. Please tell me how to access your essay, or send me a link. I'm very interested. Thanks.
I agree, LeMoine, and would only add that money is just a symbol of the deeper duality of the good and evil that runs through all of us . It is also the instrument of the concept of free choice. 'Free choice' which we seem to tout with impunity is not ' free'; if we don't choose wisely then our choices exact their own price in the end.
Greed. Greed for $$ and the power it buys. As long as we allow the excessive this will continue. While $$ may not be the root of ALL evil, it accounts for most.
Indeed. I believe it is the same affliction as well. Ever watch that show Hoarders? Severely mentally ill people living surrounded by an absurd and shocking amount of possessions to the point of inhabitability and, quite often, remarkable filth. Wealth hoarders are, arguably, just as sick. And just as, well, disgusting and horrifying.
You’ve clearly missed the point of my post. But again, you’re a right wing troll who’s probably defending billionaires who hoard wealth - “hoarding” anything is sick and demented. Why you defend such sickness is beyond me as I’m sure you’ll never be a wealth hoarding billionaire yourself.
Billionaires' hoarding causes cash flow to slow down, causes recession, and the cash that just sits around becomes meaningless, without any value. Money is stream, flow, currency. It's meant for exchange and movement. If it's out of circulation doing nothing, our economy shrinks.
I agree LeMoine. Money is only a tool. Acquiring it is an addiction, just like gambling.
I've read that those folk who sit at the slots all day, are actually upset when they win the jackpot, it is not the jackpot or the reward that motivates them it is spin of the wheel and the rush of endorphins as the wheels start to click and stop. It isn't the orgasm, that's why people lay back and smoke, it is that leading jup to the orgasm, The orgasm is anticlimatic, actually, the endorphin rush leading up to the orgasm. Orgasm means no more endorphine rush.
Anyway, the strive is for power to get the money, money to get more power, power to keep the money, and once you have money and power, there is a need for something else to give you a hit. For the psychopath, they get their hit from inflicting pain, physical and/or mental on others. Some get it from helping others. but only after they have trod on others to acquire power and wealth.
LeMoine you have a point, But there is the tyranny of the community. Communities are ruled, and ruled by the strongest or if you will, ruled by fear. If not fear of the here and now, fear of the man, then fear of the after life. and it doesn't take much to convince people that there is an afterlife, because fear of death is biological, and most people want to live forever, and we believe that we do, by breeding and inheritance laws.
The key in your musing is: "separation and isolation from responsibility to the community." We need a social re-design, beginning with village learning.
And I fear, Sandra, that such a social redesign is only going to be achieved through a nuclear war or a sufficiently sized asteroid impact. Assuming anyone survives, that is....
LeMoine, it’s really “the love of money [greed] is the root of all evil.” Money itself is neutral, and greed existed even when barter was a main means of exchange.
There's truth in what you say, Harry, but I think the real danger in money is the anonymity it affords people (that degree of separation). Remember, when we were still bartering, and before that, existed as hunter-gatherers, a person who shirked their duties or cheated was quite visible to the community and was dealt with harshly. Today, with enough wealth you can become invisible if you want to and do tremendous harm with impunity. I believe this is how wars, for example, are engineered behind the scenes by a few very powerful individuals for personal gain. Perhaps the deeper problem is that our species has simply multiplied to the point that Mother Nature will simply chew us up and spit us out as a nasty tasting experiment.
One of the Most Surprising Things About Trumpet 🎺 Running for President is the amount of People that Worked For Trumpet 🎺 long term and Short term associates have raised the Red Flag 🚩 🚩🚩. They Refuse to Endorse trumpet 🎺 for President; the refusals run from a simple “No” to Scaramucci’s :
‘Trumpet 🎺 is the biggest threat to Democracy “
If You don’t Understand anything You Should Note The Almost Complete Lack of Support for the former President Trumpet 🎺 That range to almost completely Active Hate for Trumpet.
From Vice President Pence ( An American Hero) who said he WON’t VOTE FOR Trump…
There are Stupid people and Traitor’s that like trumpet 🎺 God Help To Chose Wisely …
I’m 75 (😳) and I totally agree. Sadly (and infuriatingly) many have been sold an additional lie: that Trump was/is just a dirty trick played on the otherwise “noble” Republican Party. To this I shout “BS”!!
I’ve been voting for 50+ years and have followed politics with interest all that time. DJT is just the logical end of the road the GOP has been traveling for 4 decades.
Nice comment, but perhaps Prof. Reich's most important posts are about economics and labor-- areas of deep expertise he has that most do not. Case in point: column on CEO and Chair of the biggest bank in the State loves Trump's policies. https://robertreich.substack.com/p/why-jamie-dimon-loves-trumps-policies
That may be true but we risk economics and labour becoming moot subjects because of the pervasive influence of wealth, bringing an end to democracy as we know it. Trump not only embodies this but actively promotes it - he knows therein lies power.
We must use the organs of democracy to fight back and regain ownership of its institutions, in this case perhaps by enforcing standards in public office.
...the only way that change can happen is if we get a more progressive minded majority in Congress as the neoliberal majority the party now has doesn't want to let go.
Repealing Buckley v. Valeo, Bank of Boston v. Bellotti and Citizens United v. FEC, all of which helped to grant power to wealthy and corporate interests, will require a (D) majority in both chambers and full solidarity among the caucus. That will not happen with the current group we have as a good number of them are already drink from the corporate money tap (hence the tepid support that President Biden received when he attempted to call out the corporate sector for their price gouging two years ago). The fact that the party establishment stooped to using dark money to thwart progressive candidates looking to unseat neoliberal incumbents and candidates during the 2022 primary shows just how low they will go to stay in power. In that sense they are not much better than their counterparts across the aisle.
This also undermines hte election process because people like myself feel our vote is pretty much inconsequential when all this big money is being thrown about to buy seats on "Capital Hill", in state legislatures, county boards, and even city councils.
Real "election integrity" begins when every ballot matters. which is not the case today with how big money has polluted the process. Candidates should be elected on their character, integrity, and commitment to work for the people of this nation, not for the big powerful corporations and institutions like the "too big to fail banks" and Wall Street. Corporations don't donate to candidates out of some idealistic or altruistic notion of democracy, they expect a healthy return on their "investment". They are not in it for the best interests of nation or its citizens they are in it for their own profit. This is why it all needs to go, including partisan and corporate "Super PACs" which are little more than giant slush funds that are used to bypass individual donation restrictions.
I support going to publicly funded elections where every candidate in a given race gets the same amount of funding and airtime ( the latter requiring a return to the Fairness Doctrine). No outside funds could be solicited or used (including personal; wealth) and all PACs would be banned. Lobbying would also be illegal as it is nothing more than legalized bribery of a public official. Those people in DC , in the various statehouses and city halls are supposed to be representing and working for us.
Time to take the "government for sale" signs down and put the decision making back in the hands of the people where it belongs.
Wealth in politics - AND, perhaps - people without sufficient legal/political knowledge to guide us up to the highest standards. There should be a way to assess people's knowledge if they are running for political knowledge. Remember, Trump didn't know that Puerto Rico is an American territory - and admitted so AFTER he became president. Ludicrous !
There is nothing the least subtle about the corrosive effect of DJT on our political life. The most loathsome feature of all his behavior is that none of it deters a large minority of Americans from supporting him, nostril-deep as he is in sleaze, to become — again!! — president of the United States. It is shameful and shameless all at once.
We have to dig down deep into ourselves, motivate others and re-elect Joe Biden. The thought of having these loathsome and goofball people in charge is just too much. Especially does it break this grandmother’s heart to see him idolized by young people. Squash people, hate, be squashed and hate. We don’t allow kiddos to see this stuff. I hope no one else is. Thank you Robert for giving voice to decency.
MAGATS only comprise about a third of the general population, and 90% are net losers when Republicans govern. MAGAT mindless sheep vote for the wolves in sheep's clothing to the detriment of their economic and physical well being. In 2020 70 million lumpen did not vote. They trend Democratic.
Those MAGA are visceral. "Trump hates Dogs" works.
Daniel, I use that 'trump hates dogs' line and am surprised to find so many that will not vote for someone who hates dogs or animals. Surprisingly they tell me that a person that is in tune with animals is more compassionate, empathetic and trusting than one who is not!!
and by all means remind them that Biden was ready to sign a strong bipartisan bill to secure the border, and then Trump vetoed, because he wants to own the wall just like everything else. Yes, the fornicator Trump!
I am just stunned, that when people voted for what they called “normalcy” in 2020, that they would now think about going back to the chaos that came before. All because of inflation. Yes, inflation is not good, but you know what? It sometimes happens, just like a recession. This is the normal cycle of a capitalist society. To now expect that the one who brought you chaos before will now fix the economy for the masses is out right delusional. If Trump is elected, he will this time bring in only weak ass kissers whom he knows he can control. No one who is smarter will be allowed in. And most of them will be totally incompetent in their roles. And we thought the chaos was bad back then? Just wait, it will be far worse. This is a very predictable progression. That is the message the public needs to hear, and reflect on.
My impulse is to say that much of the American public needs to grow up and realize they can not take things for granted. Not helpful, but just an impulse.
Steve - Agree. You would have thought that the way he did(n’t) deal with Covid would have turned off a lot of people (especially when many lost loved ones). However, it seems that too many people have forgotten about those dark times.
Hey, TJSwift's comment is agreeing with the rest of us here. What makes you think they're a troll? I confess, I've been away in recent weeks. Did I miss something?
Aping Marjorie Trailer Trash Greene I see. Nobody but MAGAt fascists use the term “uniparty.” Speaking of parties, what are you doing here? It’s as though you wandered into a nice home in a neighborhood you certainly don’t live in and crashed a soirée you’d never be invited to. Kindly leave; your sort of “company” isn’t desired here.
I believe Trump’s slime has seeped into the crevices of our country contaminating any morality and common good that is left for a large part of our population. It’s sad but true.
I believe “Trumpism” — whatever it really is — predates DJT. He is just the foul figurehead who brought the ugliest forth in full. It will be here long after he is gone, yes, unfortunately.
I think this is history’s answer to us for not holding Nixon accountable. Trump may be slightly more loathsome than expected, but sooner or later someone like that was bound to come along, especially if you stop to consider that every GOP president since Reagan has been worse and worse, dumber and more malevolent than the previous one. Every time you think they can’t go any lower the bottom drops out, over and over. I don’t see how we survive any more of them.
Well, unless you know something I don't. I'm so used to Republicans turning about-face on Trump 180°, that I'm not sure even Romney is invulnerable to that.
Jaime ; Romney had been featured before as a contender for the Vice presidential position. A short film showed him dining with tRUMP before the 2020(?) election, I think it was. The story line was that he was later dumped. Conjecture was that tfg wanted to humiliate him.
Look, Mitt Romney, was another "republiCON" born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Let that "silver shine" not blind any of us to who he really is. (Hint: Bain Capital)
I saw that. He said it would make Biden the big guy and Trump the small. I think it's because he sees Trump as being in a privledged class, his class, where the usual rules do not apply. I am against giving electeds like presidents and governors the power to pardon. It seems a vestige of kingly power. Anyone with a counterargument have at it.
Thanks for the entire story. Context is everything. From a moral perspective, he might be right. But what Mitt seems to have forgotten, is that Trump has gotten one pass after another his entire life. There has never been any accountability for anything he has done. How well has that worked Mitt? What’s the phrase uttered by Einstein about returning to approaches that failed before and expecting a different outcome?
Sometimes this is the only way to free an innocent person who was convicted of a crime they did not commit.
In Virginia, an absolute pardon may be granted when the Governor is convinced that the petitioner is innocent of the charge for which he or she was convicted. An absolute pardon is often a remedy of last resort. In order to be eligible for an absolute pardon, you must have: Pled not guilty throughout the judicial process and exhausted all forms of judicial appeals and other remedies, including a Writ of Actual Innocence.
Agree that pardons are frequently abused by morally bankrupt governors and Presidents!
During his time in office, Governor Northam issued pardons exonerating eight individuals who served lengthy prison sentences after being wrongfully convicted for crimes that they did not commit.
The problem I have is in who decides the person is innocent. No doubt a pardon can be a useful thing. It seems like it would be better to change the laws so that a "pardon" or overturn of a conviction could be done by the justice system where to my thinking the authority for such judgements rests.Otherwise one has instituted a system which can be easily abused.
In Virginia, an absolute pardon is rare and tough to get. Really need to have convincing proof of innocence. Only 8 absolute pardons out of 1,200 other pardons (simple and partial) issued by Northam. Pardons provide a "second chance" to people who deserve one. Since it was the justice system that wrongly convicted in the first place, I am not sure it is the right place to issue a pardon to correct their mistake, IMHO.
Executive authority in representative democracy represents the sovereign people. So yes, the pardon power is a kingly vestige, but clemency remains essential to sovereign authority because to err is human. We make mistakes and must be able to cure them, at least a little and sometimes.
Presidential pardon power acquired a bad odor because DJT abused it so horribly and extravagantly, as he has abused any power he ever had. To build or alter institutions based on the worst behavior of the worst character would be a mistake, I think.
The answer is no more DJT in office anywhere, nor others who support his ilk.
Don't want to debate Romney's "rightousness," however check out his company, Bain Capital. Many companies were taken over as the rust on his belt deepened and spread. He's NOT righteous, just cunning and a second generation wealthy son. No friend to the working American. Better at disguises.
Romney is playing the forget Trumpet 🎺 game and continue on with the general Republican agenda of using the tax money to line their pockets, instead of raising all citizens economic welfare …
If I was a Republican muckety-muck I to would try to Put Trumpet 🎺 in the past so they could dis associate trumpet 🎺
Did you watch the whole interview? Romney is no fan of trump. I think he despises him. He said that if Biden pardoned trump, he might (just MIGHT) move some serious fence sitters to his (Biden’s) side. I wish I could remember Romney’s reasoning because as he laid it out, I thought it was a great idea. As I’ve written it, it doesn’t sound persuasive at all. But do try to find how his idea was fleshed out.
Did you see Stephanie Rule’s interview with Mitt Romney last night on MSNBC? He said he would have stopped the Department of Justice and immediately pardoned Trump to stop all trials. What on Earth is such thinking masking? How can he have seen the facts and come to this conclusion?
Trying to prevent people from learning the depth of treasonous behavior by Trump & others in our government. It happened after Kennedy's assassination, 9/11, & once again the powers that be try to quash information from coming out on the 3rd great national tragedy of our lives.
In the old days of Gerald Ford, the reasoning was that a pardon would solve a lot of problems so the government could now pick up the pieces and start governing again. The issue was considered so bad—along with the prolonged agony we're now having over Trump—that the Nation would be better off to let it go. Lots of people didn't agree; I just went along and voted for Jimmy Carter.
Very well put. As ever Prof Reich. There seems to be a “cancer” at the heart of society with this selfish transactional obsessed group of wealthy influential people.
Professor Reich: I've worked in journalism for years and david pecker is not a journalist, regardless of what he or those around him claim. the appropriately-named pecker is an ethical criminal (as you pointed out) who insults the nation, the public and each and every one of us with his immoral actions in his endless quest for a filthy dollar.
and further, trump's loathsome world view, where people are only valued for the money they can generate by being bought or sold, is a truly disturbing example of what i think of as "russia world". tragically for us all, there's more where that came from.
Girrl scientist ; Yes and what, if any, charge could be brought against Pecker? He helped to hide the truth from the public, negatively affecting the outcome of an election. It was jarring to see his self satisfied smile as he described his deeds. He is unafraid and a good buddy of tfg.
i'm not a legal expert, but i think pecker should definitely be punished in some way. the usual approach is to fire the liar on the spot, and issue an apology to the public. but pecker ... well, this may not be possible?
I don't know, but even if he is no longer in the position he held when the dirty deeds were done, He certainly did US wrong. The 4th Estate has responsibilities, or it used to; didn't it?
Pecker conspired to kill a story that would affect an outcome of a Presidential election. I think it qualifies! He should have been charged already! Our "Justice " system is disabled!
There's no answer to the problem when significant numbers of people find harmless fun in disinformation. It metastasizes into adamant cult behavior, then fascism. How that happens, where is the answer? Our current ideas of how human intelligence can be simulated is the pitiful thing called Artificial Intelligence. Maybe the advertising researchers have reliable methods of producing mass responses in the captive audience. More than maybe. But noone yet has a clear answer to how one individual human comes to be a humanitarian while another comes to be a sociopath.
Anthony, the one hope I carry is that most of the people in public service are not the scum Trump has surrounded himself with and has lured his cult in with. Now, how do we get the ones who actually care and want things to be better for all of us to rise up and get things done. Biden has been doing a pretty good job, but of course, even he has flaws which can be glaring, although nothing like what Trump and Kump have been perpetrating on the American people. Right now, it seems a significant number of people are looking for the scum which is disguised as standing for the working people or the real Americans or whatever whining lies are being used by Republicans and a few Democrats these days. How can we break through to help people see a bigger picture rather than the narrow one they now allow themselves?
Ruth, I am trying to make sure I find out as much as I can about the candidates running where I vote. I try to determine their stance on a number of topics that concern me like abortion, voting rights, education, the right to protest, book bans, etc. I use what I find when discussing the candidates with others. I want people to KNOW who they will be voting for and that way they can vote knowledgably. Vote Blue, America!!
Peggy - Heather Cox Richardson just put out a very well spelled out article about how well we are actually doing under Biden but that most people don’t seem to know about it because the media is failing to inform them. I would also say that the Biden administration needs to spell it out simply to the voters but my only concern is that although we are doing better most people don’t feel it yet because corporations continue to keep elevated prices. Just thought that maybe you could use some of what she wrote about as ammunition when talking with others.
Thanks, Anon, I will definitely read her article!! I need all the ammunition I can get to keep informing people how important this election is and why we must give President Biden another four years to make things better for all of us! Heather Cox Richardson does an excellent job with letting people know what a great job President Biden has done and will continue to do!!
Peggy - Most welcome! Thanks to the people here, after I discovered Robert Reich, they led me to both her and Joyce Vance. I am sure that you probably already know about them but thought I would share. They both have a way of spelling it out so that even I can understand what is going on. If I can understand it then maybe the people that you try to talk to will understand too - especially when it comes from your beautiful mind and eloquent way of speaking.
Wow, Anon! I appreciate your compliment! Joyce Vance is very plain spoken and I have used many of her talking points. Some people do understand and it gives them something to think about - others are very close-minded. We must continue to try and do everything we can to open the eyes of those who don't seem to care one way or the other.
Anon, I have been frustrated with Biden's public relations crew from the very beginning. Biden and I are the same age, and while we were young it was fashionable to be suspicious of PR. It was considered sort of a shady enterprise. Then I worked for 20 years in a university public relations office, and now I see the flaws in that long-ago thinking. Joe hasn't had many instances until he was president when public relations had any positive effect for him. I don't blame the media; I put it to his outreach team. He just needs more assertive people who can roll past his latent fears.
Sandra B - I agree with you and I feel your frustration too. These days social media has changed the rules and he needs to catch up quickly. I don’t do social media but I know that most people do and it is usually the best way to reach the masses.
Jaime - Great idea! I am very much into visual learning and I think that it would help a lot of people understand just how different things are. Axios had a great article about what defendant trump has been babbling about and that it never seems to do anything with what his Actual plans are for a better future. Because he doesn’t have any good plans. Just rants and hatred that have been rinsed and repeated. However, if Biden wants credit for what he has done, and plans to do, he definitely will get help with visual references for all to understand. Then I think that people would truly appreciate where we are compared to where we were.
Yes, visual images are very important, and they immediately grab our attention. Right now the images of the border and gas prices are of paramount importance.
We only know what candidates say, not what they think. Unfortunately, politicians have a way of lying to their constituents and the truth only comes out after they have been elected. John Fetterman is a good example of this.
That's true, Margaret. With todays technology, you can find out more than what the candidate says. If a candidate says one thing and does another then that candidate is not a choice for me.
I expected him to have some sympathy for the Palestinians who are being slaughtered by Netanyahu, but his only concern has been for the Israeli stance on the Gaza situation. His performance before he was elected was as a person with concern for the little guy, not the bully!
There in lies the problem. Way too many voters don’t think a lot about what or who they vote for. It apparently is just too much work to use your brain. And for single issue voters, it’s potentially even worse. Yeah, they might get what they want regarding that issue, but what other bad things come with it?
Not defending Daniels, but Trump treated her like shit. Selling her story may indeed have been about making money, but it could also have simply been payback.
If somebody spat on me and then offered the opportunity to return serve, I'd take it. Especially if it was someone like Trump.
And to clarify, I wrote 'not defending Daniels' for a very simple reason - as we saw in court, she doesn't need defending. She's more than capable of standing her ground. Unlike a certain rapist, who prefers to crawl around in a swamp...
He earned it, by not even wearing a condom. But it is always about him, his pleasure and convenience, while dominating . Harm and cruelty is the point!
And he coerced her into sex! Why is nobody talking about that part? I’m sure she decided to call it consensual to avoid having to deal with charges, but he stood between her and the door, there was a bodyguard on the other side of that door, and most telling of all, when it was over, she was shaking so hard she could barely get her shoes on. That is NOT consensual in any way, but we keep pretending that it was. IMO, she deserves to be on this list the least for that reason—and because she’s been trying to tell the truth about him for so long now.
The legal dimension is the trap that catches such behaviour and is the last resort of decency and honesty that has any power in this vapid world of shadows cast by immoral actions.
Political life is plainly infected with such levels of corruption that it is no longer political destiny but democracy at its most basic: undoing dictators before it's too late.
Unfortunately for America, its dishonest underbelly has again been exposed to the world. It is a manifest weakness that will take decades to undo.
It is not only Trump that is the corrupted centre of this circus. The Supreme Court has been infected. The GOP has been corrupted. The Democrats must shine a spotlight on any signs of corruption in their own ranks.
Nicholas, I am glad that Democrats did not scream foul when Sen. Menendez was charged with corruption. In fact, I believe several Senators asked him politely to resign. We much always rise above what the republicans do as far as trying to protect wrongdoers at all costs!
A crucial analysis of the decline in our morality and our democracy. And I'm writing from Europe: a much wider problem than just the realm of American politics.
Avarice is not simply greed. They've been confabulated for some time now. Avarice is about power - and greed can be a component of it. The power struggle we've seen is pure avarice.
is that what's going on? The finanacialization of "everything" is leading to moral decay?
I believe that the internet has led to a certain amount of transparency, opening up to public view corruption and hypocrisy that has always been there but more hidden. I don't know. They're not paying me enuf to figure out this stuff.
I think that there is more at stake here. Trump clearly intends to turn the U.S. into his own fiefdom and establish an authoritarian dynasty. That’s very different from what Biden offers.
I agree to a certain extent but there is still a right wing bias in the majority of U.K. MSM. It has to be really bad for a Tory to be taken properly to task eg Partygate which led to Boris Johnson losing his seat in Parliament.
Democracy without honesty controls leads to this explosion of populism: big proclamations, but money and corruption always lie in the background. Democracy can only be revived with much more stringent corruption controls, I think,
To Christian Nationalists: Is this what God wants for America? Everything that Trump does is diametrically opposed to the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, a Samaritan immigrant. Jesus was never trying to start a new religion. That was done by his apostles and Paul. Jesus would be disgusted by what is done in his "name" in America today.
Sad to say I think that boat sailed some time ago. Nothing I have read of the evidence surprised me, except the fact that Cohen had 30,000 contacts on his phone. They are crooks. This is what crooks do.
From the perspective of neuroscience, the degree of cognitive dissonance that must be required by Christian Evangelicals, when they survey this loathsomeness, is stunning. What is going on inside their skulls?
Michael, I suspect there is no cognitive dissonance going on for the Trumpers and Trumpettes. They no longer really listen to what Trump is saying and probably almost nothing their preacher is saying if he even speaks anything like truth to them. They have already decided Trump is either god or from god, so nothing else matters to them. They have short memories because they can't deal with any disconnects between what they now believe and the truth. They actually think they were better off 4 years ago. It is definitely not true, but pretending it is works for them. If they actually thought about their faith, they would have to note that Jesus does not speak about hatred as being holy and that is a problem for them because hate, anger, fear, and resentment rule their lives, just as those right-wing Christian Nationalists want. I find it terribly sad and scary at the same time.
My understanding is that, theologically, they equate him with the Babylonian king who, in the biblical story, God used to bring the exiled Jews back to Jerusalem to reestablish the temple and purify His people with a return to right worship. He doesn't have to be a good man to be a harbinger of righteousness, in those terms. Non-theologically, he has in some circles been hagiographized: God has chosen an imperfect man to be transformed into his holy hammer to punish the wicked. None of his behavior matters so long as he does the hammering. In this way he has become their salvation. Shudder. There is no questioning God's choice (in these terms) of man to use. For we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, says St. Paul: it may even be a comfort, or an aspiration, that such a tainted and corrupt sinner could still be in God's hand. If Donald Trump the careless and amoral cheater, abuser and fraud is God's Annointed for our time, then I can be part of the plan to purge our nation, too! I can be part of this grand and glorious thing that will make Christian whiteness (which I equate with my family and with my own significance) safe and strong!
For people who haven't found healthy and sustaining connections elsewhere, their affiliation with church, family, and assumptions about heritage can be extremely powerful, in ways that even they know may not bear scrutiny--which is why those things cannot be questioned, and why challenges to those things can produce such fear-driven rage. Changing your mind about this affiliation would mean turning away from everything and everyone that has brought comfort and meaning in your life, and made you feel "strong" (for a given value of strength), which can have terrible consequences if you don't already have something to turn *to* that will protect and sustain you. You have seen what is done to the "unclean". Shudder. A similar dynamic can happen in some groups on the left, where dehumanizing of Trump and his supporters through habitually scornful and insulting epithets (please stop it, people!) can be paired with rigid dogma about what positions can be expressed and how, leading to gleeful references to doing harm to, or wishing harm on, those people who are not "us". Those groups on the left, though, haven't been working for decades to take over state and local governments and stack the courts to make their dangerous and disastrous dreams come true. We're in this together!
Well yes, you have to start with some assumptions. I'm certainly not suggesting that they're the brightest people on the planet, but when you go to church every week and you hear Joel Osteen talk about the meek inheriting the Earth.....oh, wait....how many private jets does this guy own? I see your point.
My late mother used to watch " The 700 Club ", CBN, TBN & even give money to them. Then I think she wised up. I wouldn't trust a televangelist with my wallet or something with real value.
Abrahamic god-botherers (people of whichever “Book”) deliberately suppress their own powers of reasoning; their auto-lobotomies leave them logically trapped, translating horizontally around the shiny surface of a tiny sphere, oscillating along chains of circular reasoning in response to every input. the rest of us move freely in all three dimensions of the infinite intellectual universe.
On CNN International I was disheartened to see and hear a Trump supporter, a woman, dismiss all the sordid details we have heard with "That's just Trump." I fear half the nation is immune to this behavior now.
Did not the questioner retort with, if you have children, would you want them to behave in the same manner? If not, then the interviewer did not do his or her job. This is all too common in reporting. You have to throw such questions back at them to get them to begin to question their beliefs, at least for that moment. It might stick.
OMG! So grateful to wake up to this. Thank you for making it plain. Coincidentally I just learned in my spiritual study this week that TRUST is a vital attribute humans should have - in a benevolent universe, in each other. Yet we are taught from childhood NOT to trust. It is as if MAGA coagulates and magnifies our worst characteristics. I do believe it gives us a tremendous national opportunity to see it for what it is and strive to overcome it. Bless you
"Which brings us to Trump himself. I don’t care that he had extramarital affairs."
I don't care how he conducts his personal life if he was just a private citizen.
I do care how he conducts his personal life if he's an elected politician. If you're willing to cheat on your spouse (let alone one who just gave birth!) then that says something about your moral compass and thus how you are likely to conduct yourself in your official role.
I think that's something the voters are entitled to know, in the same way I want to know if you're bankrupt, addicted, a malignant narcissist, believe the Earth was created 4000 years ago or in "Jewish Space Lazers".
MICE - money, ideology, compromise, ego - are the levers intelligence agency handlers use to recruit agents to do their bidding. We, the voting public, deserve to know if our politicians are vulnerable.
One of your most important pieces. In my lifetime (I’m 67) standards in public life have been decimated due to the excessive influence of wealth on politics. We have to change this.
We studied the era of the robber barons in school. The Rockefellers and JP Morgans were no different. Malicious egomaniacs. For a time progressive legislation and the rule of law controlled it to some extent, but the Reagan revolution was against inhibiting anti-social behavior.
I have a high school chum that got involved with trumpet 🎺 as a tv cable installer . He got contracts to cable up trumpet 🎺 new rebuilt apts and offices.
Like Cohen he did the trumpet 🎺 bullying of workers to do it cheaper faster etc. Well he crossed the line of the law for trumpet 🎺 sake and my friend ended up doing 6 Months of Jail for being a Trumpet 🎺 sub contractor.
Who ever gets to work close with trumpet 🎺 you get played and end up being thrown under the bus and doing jail time…. The List is Long of Under The Bus Companions.( UTBC)
It’s how trumpet 🎺 does business he profits you do Jail time … Mike Cohen is just another example of trumpet 🎺 in action…
The mystery is why anyone still wants to work for/with him.
I wonder if his current stable of lawyers have been paid or will be paid.
New York Lawyers Get Paid In Advance
After Dealing With Trumpet 🎺 and his Family. Their not any smarter than other lawyers but trumpets 🎺 reputation goes Before and Now Trails Him. 🤥🤥🤥
Mayor Rudy hasn’t had enough. He’s hanging around to get kicked in the teeth again. Is it mind control?
No. It’s loss of mind.
And dignity.
Desperation?
He is already under the bus and tfg is at the wheel.
Maybe Rudy is strung out on illegal drugs.
That is a distinct possibility.
Money …
Steve Bannon come on down! It's your turn to play The Price of Rightwingthuggery!
Look at who surrounds trump...gangsters, like Bannon, etc., all willing to commit crimes do the dastardly, to be paid big dollars to destroy decency.
Moral? NO ONE, even his THIRD WIFE, will get a happy ending if you are near Bunkerboy and his killer berdergas cloud!
. . . except possibly Michael Cohen. This has BOOSTED his popularity and earnings like literally no other former trumplican Traitor.
It takes a pretty despicable character to make a gold digger, a crooked lawyer and a porn star sympathetic figures. And who else but Trump could rise above the sludge to do it?!!
He did not “rise above the sludge”. He continues to dive ever deeper into it as he shamelessly defies all expectations of depravity.
I was envisioning the orange swampmaster emerging momentarily from the sewer before the manhole cover was returned.
I don’t think of them as sludge just victims of the trumpet 🎺 Con Man routine.
After taking in the particulars over months, that's my feeling, as well. Thinking now of sweet Cassidy Hutchinson trying to explain what the culture was like, what was expected, all her regrets about it, why it was so difficult to break away from, and how scary it was for her with all the Trump lawyer strong-arm stuff and her being quite young and inexperienced with such things, and having little outside support or money to deal with it all.
Don’t you mean “Sink below the sludge,” Enemy of?
I wish he would so we couldn't hear him.
Is that a traitor to Trump, Or a Trump taitor to the constitution
Yes!
Yes what? A traitor to Trump?
Somehow we have to pull the curtain back on this bunch. Too many people like your friend get drawn into the web and it never ends well.
Well Said; even Mike cohen a lawyer got played, ridden hard and did jail time for Trumpet 🎺.
Free Stormy Danials !!!
It’s like they sell their souls to the devil and they are punished and the devil keeps on keeping on! T👺ump!
Most of the people around him have either gone to jail or will go to jail (Bannon, etc).
Every business he runs defrauds people and goes bankrupt.
MAGA = Make Attorneys Get Attorneys.
He's always been shady.
And a jerk.
Free Stormy Daniels wow…
DJT has had nothing to do with a trumpet. If he had, and had stayed with it, he would have likely developed in creative and expressive ways.
Trumpet 🎺 is blaring his own practiced method of The Con …
Trumpet has been running his ConGame Longer than most of us have been alive.
He is so effective at Lying the the press is asking about Mike Cohen honestly…
This is Ridiculous !!!
Trumpet is the Master Liar, Con Man , Tax Cheat , philander , and all around despicable person that trumpets his fiction on a continuous basis.
You truly can tell when trumpet 🎺 is Lying ; if His Lips are Moving He Is Lying 🤥🤥🤥
Lying is trumpets one true skill; he is a master of the forked tongue 🐍🐍🐍.
DJT does not deserve to be identified with the word 'Trumpet.' Doing so distracts from the integrity and power of the musical instrument in represents. The coincidence of letter-alignment with a family name to has nothing to do with the person who has acted in so many destructive and selfish ways. The trumpet is an instrument of beauty, energy,
joy, vitality, spiritual uplift, encouragement, healing, peace and hope, if that matters to anyone who reads this.
The lonesomeness of Trump's world is echoed by the fact the man has no true friends.
Trump's philosophy behind his refusal to take part in the other earlier Republican debates, "Rather people think me a fool than to open my mouth and prove it."
...which probably means he'll skip out of the debates (if he knows what's good for him).
Jaime--No teleprompters on that stage. I love the idea of muting a mic that is being abused. I wrote that in several times. I still would like to see a panel of three people who would listen to the remarks given by one of the two "Masterdebaters" and determine the truth behind their positions. The world is watching, why not let them know what the truth looks like.
I think Trump will show up, go on the attack, threaten and rip, and the moderator won't shut him up, or fact check him, This is CNN after all aka Fox lite.
At the last "debate" he was boasting about the size of his pecker.
If they are held in the evening, his sundowner syndrome could kick in rendering him incoherent. His handlers, assuming he has them, won't permit it. If I were a gambler, I'd bet money the debates won't happen.
He’s a malignant narcissist, I doubt that he would skip out of the debates.
The lonesomeness & loathsomeness
Jaime-- they are so close in appearance, yet they hold different realities.
Which one causes the other?
And no pets in his life, because they can't give him anything he wants. He has no concept of the kind of love and loyalty a pet can provide...it isn't something he grew up with. It was always about the money with his family...especially good old Dad. He's such a shallow, lonely man!
Mary--The man doesn't have the capacity to love anything.
Trump is Calvin (as in Calvin and Hobbes) incarnate, and for the same reasons: a mother who took care of his physical need but ignored his yearnings for attention and affection, and a father who strove to build his character by testing him time and time again. They created a dangerous misanthrope. He is our Nero.
He doesn’t need friends, he has puppets.
Alan--That would mean he is actually alone. He would be living in solitary confinement.
That idea is an easy CELL!
Enemy--That was "Punny."
he thinks friendships are for pu_ _y; like serving in the military or any form of public service.
Mweiner--And the fool thinks he's a man, grabbing women by their Pu__y, is just Trump's meager way of trying to find himself.
And he cannot find his pecker.
He can find himself on the other side.
Enemy--Where is Monty Hall when we need him? Trump would take door #4 because it defines his golfing ability.
More male metaphor. Sick
Hitler had no friends, Stalin, Putin, Mao, Musk, Zuckerberg, Rockefeller et al have no true friends. Shot callers in prison and on the streets have no true friends, mob bosses have no true friends.
When you have power you have sycophants,a and don't need friends, Friends are fickle anyway, they come and go. Friend today, foe tomorrow. The history of mankind
William--Think of poor Donald, with nobodies' shoulder to cry on. Maybe he has found something better, a country's ignorance.
What "great" leaders crave is not friendship but admiration and adulation.They eat "friends" for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
William, I'm just butting in here to say my theory on alienated people without friends. Some of them may be autistic. We don't like these autocrats for what they've made of their lives, as compensation for undiagnosed autism. I've thought this might be true of Trump for the past several years, in addition to his narcissism, psychopathy, sociopathic and other tendencies observed by brave psychiatrists who aren't supposed to psychoanalyze people in public.
Autism has nothing to do with this. If you want to understand Trump read Calvin and Hobbes.
Hello, Victor, I am autistic myself, and I understand the autistic struggle in people who have never been diagnosed. When Trump was born (I was three) autism wasn't known except by a few scholars and psychologists. It's absolutely possible that Trump was born autistic. His parents were very frustrated with his behavior and thought the answer would be military school. During our generation, that's where the "bad boys" were sent. There were other effects that made Trump what he is. It's absolutely possible that his life has been one of finding ways to operate outside the neurotypical realm, because he couldn't fit in. He has managed to make his own personality by trial and error, and in his youth he might have been acting out in the only way he could invent for himself. OCD, narcissism, and eventually sociopathy would have been logical manifestations of the autism he wanted to bury.
Calvin is an archetype of a young, creative boy, who gets into some mischief at times, but is also held accountable. If your comparing him to Trump, I can only assuming you're suggesting that they both represent an unbridled id, and that would be correct. Otherwise, apples to oranges, most notably because the cartoon character is not a malignant narcissist, and of course, Trump is a living, breathing carbon-based lifeform.
I agree. My career was working with people. Those who were super wealthy and told you so, generally were not popular people at meetings. People tried to avoid getting stuck sitting with them, except one or two of the same. Generally, there is no intellectual substance. In a workspace, having no brain is really annoying.
Cynthia--I think there should be a special space on questionaries. Two questions would be asked, one being "Are you crazy?" then you would be directed to check the appropriate box next to the period at the end of the sentence. Lastly it would ask what your political party of choice is. After selecting the box next to the correct party, a final thought would be expressed. If you said you were a Republican you just lied, because you are crazy.
Comical. Maybe they didn't get it. An annoying incident was when they enjoyed schooling the room with nonsense so below the caliber of the room. A definite waste of money. Let young, brilliant people work. I'm retired and volunteer. Yes, I'm pro worker.
Cynthia--As a union member myself, the American worker is the life blood of our society.
But more than his share of rabid, mindless enemies.
Parkerized--That is where the problem lies. We are all countrymen, and the idea of "enemy" doesn't fit. Opponents yes, but to consider a fellow American an enemy is to admit we as a people belong to a very sick society.
Right you are, but for the 20mm or so illegals, and the growing ranks of the radical Left.
Parkerized--Again an attempt is being made to separate the people of this country by giving them divisional handles. The so-called radical left is nothing more than the Democratic party with liberal views, why label them "Radical." According to many American Indians all white eyes are illegals. The world is shrinking, and our population is steadily growing. If we don't make room for those in need because of changing climates and the current conditions surrounding the droughts across the globe, the deaths caused by our indifference will dwarf the loss of innocents in Gaza.
Eggzactly
E--Funny--I gave a friend some golf balls in an old egg carton, and I said "Egge-actly what you asked for."
A dog may be the only true friend a rich man can have, and Trump doesn't like dogs. Poor guy!
Victor--I have a inkling the feeling would be mutual.
Now We Have A New Era to Study :
“Psychotic lying scumbags in politics”
The trumpet 🎺 Era . Nixon’s Scumbags Returned to life Roger Stone is
re-animated to crush decent people back into subjugation…
Trumpets are musical instruments to uplift, inspire and invigorate both those who play them and those who love to listen to them. It's difficult in this situation to not incorporate the word into a political phrase, but to keep the truth of the trumpet in our thoughts listen to some Louis Armstrong, Herb Alpert, Maurice Andre, Rafael Mendez or Canadian Brass to see what a difference 'the trumpet' is! Thank you.
Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, Adolph Hirseth.
I wanted to mention Adolph 'Bud' Herseth, but foolishly figured it would be a name unfamiliar to readers. Here I was wrong...and I see you and raise you two:
Doc Severinsen and Maynard Ferguson, who I saw in November of 1963 as 'guest soloist' on the Fall Lab Band Concerts at NTSU (now called UNT ) here in Denton,
where the oddest political personality is expressed by someone who proudly proclaims that the earth is flat, with signs in their front yard...oh, and a local restaurant has incorporated that person's interstellar opinion into their menu with a tasty dish called
The Flat Earth Avacado:
_________
https://www.yelp.com/menu/greenhouse-restaurant-and-bar-denton/item/flat-earth-avocado
_________
Maynard had a number titled Give It One.
I think the term "Magats" is a much better way to discuss these strange, troubled people.
Couldn't have said it better. I was just about to say something similar. Thank you.
Biden is senile, not psychotic.
You're in for a surprise if you think he's senile!
He’s not senile - you must be
No not senile, just a dullard, always has been, Dullard is good in a President., as a comparison Trump is animated.
Does anyone remember how interesting Eisenhower could be? I've been wishing for Ike to come back so we could be bored with government again without feeling guilty.
LBJ was. pretty dull, too!
BOFUS, but it isn't the man, It is the people. When Ik was president you got your news from a Newspaper, and opinions from a magazine, both of which were conservative.My godmother gifted me a yearly subscription to Readers Digest, and it influenced my political thinking.
Now we have the internet, and everyone is a journalist, an influencer, an opinionist and it just isn't the internet, anyone who has a cell phone can and do call themselves journalists.
HAMAS has, apparently an endless supply of Helmet and flak jackets with PRESS, nad have taken to calling their dead fighters Journalists. Imagine that, 100's of dead Journalists and 100's more and they don't represent any news agency, other than HAMAS.
l Jazeera is one of the few international media outlets to remain in Gaza throughout the war,
The so called Journalists killed in Gaza are HAMAS fighters,
Daniel, have all of the antitrust laws created at the end of the 19th century like the Sherman Act been done away with? Has the government taken all of those guard rails away?
Biden has unleashed the FTC for the first time since LBJ. Robert has been documenting it. However, he doesn't have Congressional authority to go after price fixers and price gougers.
So basically, we need a blue Senate and a blue House in order to fix all of this! Vote Blue, America!!
PLEASE…
Begging from UK and rest of the Planet. We’ll chuck out the Tories, you do your bit!
(Not for one instant do I think you care about us, but it is one fewer fascist bunch)
Susan, first, I will do everything I can to put President Biden back in the White House for a second term. Second, why would you think we don't care about UK citizens? It is my belief that all world citizens must stand together against these would be dictators and fight for a Democratic society that works for the common good of ALL people.
Oh, Susan - but we do care. There are many of us who care - you just might not hear about us through the ceaseless ugliness in the press. Please don't be discouraged!
You be Brit, Why have the Brits gone for the Tories, year after year, and when they don't they vote for a Labour Party, and right wing sycophants like Tony Blair. From an American perspective I don't see any real diff between Conservatives and Labour.
But I see a real problem England has with migrant labor, legal and illegal, it is a small Island country, yet imports labor, and as I see it, the use of legal immigrant labor, from Poland and east Europe, was a primary reason for Brexit.
The E.U. has a no passport necessary rule for travel between countries, and that was hurting the British working population, now they have Muslims invading England in rafts from France, that threatens the culture. and economy.
For those who object to my analysis, tuff, Reality is a bitch. I am interested in reality, not ideology.
YESSS, unfortunately, the old idea of creating a government of mixed proclivities and allowing people of honorable intention to work on a government for all of us — well, that’s out the window with the Zero Sum guys, who figure they have to prevail and make their “opposition” lose —
Isn’t it sad that we no longer seek a meeting of the minds and a lot of good ideas, but just look for dominance …
Right now, we NEED a Blue Wave to stop the Project 2025. I actually resent that this attitude has FORCED caring people to “take sides” instead of talking to each other. That’s a sad state of affairs…
Yes, Pat, it is definitely a sad state of affairs. When 'one side' decides they will never speak to or work with the other side - everyone loses.
Excellent point. This binary thinking is so destructive and I hope is against our better natures. Very destructive.
Pat you are a grandmother and worldly experienced, you know that caring people are not really forced to take sides. Caring people are still caring people, and as they always have they are loving, tender and caring for their own people,
Let's take the Gaza Israeli conflict for instance. Just look at the comments on RR's substack. What do you see, but an overwhelming out pouring of caring people bleeding for the poor Gazans, and hating the "evil" Israeli's.
Where are all of this caring people, when it comes to the genocidal actions of Putin against the Ukrainians.? No one has forced anyone to choose sides, they make their own choices by virtue of the ideas and beliefs that they hold.
What color is the Senate and House right now, Peggy? Are we being governed by beach balls?
What happened to you?
Swift of Vladivostok?
Anyone who thinks a razor thin “majority”in a Senate that is flummoxed by a faux-filibuster that doesn’t demand ANY sacrifice to obstruct other than voting “against” — well, that’s a fiction. Even though the “majority” party sets the agenda, the filibuster keeps anything from happening.
And in the House, the R’s vilify each other for daring to TALK to Democrats, much less vote with them..Even when their own people WANT to vote with Dems, their control of the agenda doesn’t let it happen {witness these past few months…]
This Zero Sum, All -or-Nothing attitude has been paramount with R’s since New Gingrich started pushing it in the Reagan era, getting worse and worse since then. Mitch McConnell said it out loud when he claimed the R’s most important job was to make Barack Obama a one-term president.
Cheney and his crew tried to get us to accept a “unitary president” who could take a bill voted on by Congress and create a “signing statement” for which parts of the bill the president would pay attention to and which parts he’d ignore … That’s pretty much not to job of Congress and the President, bu it’s what the R’s want to institute if they get in again next year….
This is no joke … At CPAC this year, the Republicans said OUTRIGHT they would dismantle democracy. Why would we NOT take that seriously?
DJT praised Victor Orban. Donnie said there are NO controversies in Hungarian politics, because whatever Orban says, THAT’S IT! No argument. That’s what Donnie wants. He said it about Xi and Kim and Putin, too. Donnie wants to be a dictator. Period.
Is that what we want.
{Vote Blue, through and through}
R U a bot??
Laws only work when those laws are enforced.
Amen to that, Cathleen!! I mistakenly thought that laws are made and when they are broken, whoever broke that law would be tried and face the consequences. Apparently, I was deceiving myself. So many laws are broken by people in power and they skate away without facing any consequences. It is the average American they will throw the book at!!
No, but there are ongoing efforts to do so.
John, let's hope these efforts produce results!! The working class is waking up to the greed, power-hungry corporations and are beginning to move toward community, mom and pop places, farmer's markets, and anything that doesn't pander to the monopolistic corporations!!
No Peggy, the courts have taken those guard rails away, and what the courts haven't done, regulatory capture has done.
Then President Biden and the Democratic Senate and House will have their work cut out for them to put those guard rails back into place!! Vote Blue, America!!!
Totally with you Peggy, except where the Democrat is a Republican in Democratic make up.
Like it or not, and I don't, we are stuck with a two party system. The Racists, the believers, the fascist the patriarchs are all united behind the GOP, and the Dems are far from perfect or desirable, we have our Manchins, Sinema's, Weiners, Menendez a plenty, but they aren't outright fascists.
Yes, there are some Democrats that don't measure up, but you are right, they are not fascists! I will take them any day over someone who wants to destroy our Democracy and do away with the Constitution!
Let's ask Hunter!
Unfettered capitalism led Marx to write Das Capital, and the world hasn’t been the same since. The four factors of production are land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship, with people being used and abused until their usefulness to an employer is used up, and then they are cast off, aka fired. Trump personifies the worst aspects of capitalism, and thankfully he’s now being prosecuted for his off-the-rails entrepreneurial ways.
IMHO Marx was late to the game. The US had "communist" societies that existed pre Marx. Red states like Georgia were formed as egalitarian. Jesus was the model. https://www.oldeconomyvillage.org/
There is an argument to be made that Marx was just hype. Groucho was more profound. (and if you said the secret word, you got $50.)
Consider the epic poem, The Deserted Village, 1770. Oliver Goldsmith. More influential in the US than Marx.
1. Charles Fourier. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fourier
2. Robert Owen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Owen
3. Utopia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopian_socialism Some of these communities still exist.
We also had paternalism. in practice, no different than dictatorship of the proletariat.
Old fascists are now trying to scare us with "the new Marxism," which they equate with "wokeism."
Too much information, for people fed a diet of pablum. Most Americans don't know the difference between socialism and communism because the propaganda money of plutocrats and corporations dominate our "miseducation".
Americans believe that the revolution was fought over taxation without representation, but the merchants of Boston rebelled (the Virginia planters could have cared less) because the Crown had given the East India Company a monopoly charter, and colonists had to buy tea, paper, silver, fine china, fine clothing from the East India Company. The merchants resorted to smuggling, which was a capital offense, death by hanging, and that didn't stop the smuggling, so the crown imposed the Stamp Act, to identify "lawful" goods.
BTW, Virginia Planters (Tidewater Aristocracy) were unbothered by the expense and trouble, as they were made wealthy by exporting tobacco and goods to Britain. They joined the revolution because they saw it as an opportunity to become the new nobility in America, but Joe the farmer, Tom the merchant, Dick the laborer were not of a mind to replace one set of overlords (British) with a new set (Americans), so they weren't interested.
To overcome resistance, the Virginia elite formed Committees of Public Safety, to monitor loyalists and punish them, it worked, but not well enough, so they paid Ben Franklin and Rittenhouse of Phila. to publish pamphlets like Common Snese and the Rights of Man to distribute among the people, that worked, all too well because the would be subjects were now not of a mind to return to the old order, and demanded liberty.
T
Thank you, Daniel. I like it when people like you separate socialist/communism from totalitarianism. Give me Social Democracy.
The only unrepentant Marxists left are the rich corporatists who saw the “bad-guy industrialists” who seem to have read Marx and exulted the role of Sith Lord.
Putanists abound.
Yes, of course, Rockefeller Jr and Morgan were cruel accumulators and their chilling avarice continues to stagger the mind. There is, however, one difference between them and the current criminal defendant: their contribution to culture was and continues to be world class. The current villain makes no such contribution. One of the ways that I find respite from being overwhelmed by our threatening current situation is to get myself to the Metropolitan Museum and it's annex, The Cloisters, frequently. (I live in Manhattan and can get there and back on my senior MetroCard.) I don't know what I would do to clear my brain and reduce my rage without them. These two sparkling, world class collections have been able to grow following the thousands of pieces donated by Rockefeller and Morgan early on. The Cloisters, a gift from Rockefeller Jr. to NYC in the 1930's, is as gorgeous as the most wondrous exotic places anywhere in the world. He bought the land that is now Fort Tryon Park, one of the city's most majestic parks. He bought the collection, hired European master craftsmen to dismantle and transport the several chapels and cloisters stone by stone, and had them reconstructed according to an architect's amazing design. As if the breathtaking view of the Hudson amidst the gigantic pines up there in Washington Heights wasn't enough, he bought the Palisades across the river to ensure that the view remained unspoiled. So, yes, robber barons they were. This fiend amongst us is only evil. He makes no positive contribution to society. He is not in the same galaxy with his predecessors, certainly in this respect.
Rockefeller Jr. was atoning for the conduct of his father, the snake oil salesman who corrupted anyone he could. For Morgan, death was not the final frontier.
No Daniel, it was a clever PR ploy, as was Carnegies endowment. they were advised to imrove their image by investing in philanthropy, with their name on it of course.
Actually, he gave everything away. In essence had no heirs.
When did he give it away? As he had no heirs, he was buying favor with his god. He was atoning for the dead in the 1892 Homestead Strike, and his exploitation of workers.
Carnegie was a believer and knew about rich men camels and eyes of needles.
John D. Rockefeller jr. was no "Robber Baron"! About the time of his 60th Class reunion at Brown University (1957), 'Johnny Rock', as he was known to his Classmates in 1897, confessed that his whole life had been dedicated to giving away a vast fortune. As I recall, he said "The hardest job I could have even known was giving away $160 million" (fairly and without any malice or hidden agenda). His life's work was dedicated to charity and socially beneficial giving; not robbing anyone. His 5 sons were pretty decent people and he loved them all. Many, like Nelson and Winthrop, served in government and helped many citizens honourably. They were no "Robber Barons" either. Oh how we all wish we had similar, so called "Robber Barons" today.
and Mellon gave us the stupendous art collection in the National Gallery of Arts, one of the best art museums in the entire world.
Thanks, Victor.
Donna, the difference between the gilded age, and today is the media.
There were thousands of independent media, tens of thousands of hungry reporters, and editors, who often embellished and invented stuff to sell papers. And the news was full of RR disasters, plant disasters, that killed tens if not hundreds of thousands, and the reporting resulted in an uproar over the excesses of the robber barons, as did Upton Sinclairs the Jungle, which exposed the meat packing industry and resulted in the FDA.
The robber barons were advised to spent money on philanthropy to improve their image, and the likes of Bill Gates have followed through, but now we have a new breed like Musk, and the laws that the money of the rich are responsible for are vague and allow deductions for non profit corporations, so they create non profits like the Mellon Scaiffe foundation, the Hertiage Foundation, and the Federalist society to promote their cause., meanwhile they have bought up media, print and electronic, to consolidate the source of public opinion forming information we call news.
Very illuminating, William. Thank you very much. Of course! Though I believe that there were those among them who did not avail themselves of this opportunity, like Vanderbilt, probably others.
Yes, but the robber barons paid 63 % - 97% taxes, had core Christian values, and went on to fund nonprofit enterprises that continue to create incredible value in diverse communities around the world. The public library on the shores of the St. Lawrence, in my small Canadian city, was largely built by and receives an annual stipend in perpetuity from the Carnegie Foundation. Go ahead, ask a billionaire to finance anything but a presidential library.
They had monstrous political power, and recognized the responsibility.
What today's filthy rich have in common is their abandonment of the beliefs, values, principles, and practices that made the barons and America remarkably successful.
I may need to do some research to separate the good filthy rich from the bad and ugly filthy rich. However, the good are culpable for their collusion and willingness to profit from bad actors.
Boy, that Christ guy really nailed it on the eye of the needle test.
Paul, no income tax when they were active. Carnegie never paid income tax.
Carnegie found Jesus late in life. At the time, the major Protestant sects espoused "the Social Gospel." Those days ended with the advent of the IRS. Andrew Mellon, then head of the riches family in the world, secretary of the Treasury, said he like the income tax because it would ensure that nobody else was as rich as he was.
Caarnegie and Rockefeller were Calvinists (Presbyterian follows Calvin's belief, which is also orthodox Judaism of predestination, and the way one can tell if one is favored of god is by their wealth and social standing.
Rockefeller was a Baptist. Grandpa was an itinerant preacher/snake oil salesman selling stuff like amulets, selling kerosine as a magic elixir. John D. was a teetotaler. It was his son, Jr, who crated the foundation and was a philanthropist.
Carnegie wasn't much of a Presbyterian, was probably agnostic. But he had guilt, and his philanthropy was in essence a personal penance.
Daniel, thank you for this interesting clarification.
That is one way of looking at Carnegie, but not mine Daniel.
Paul, what's also significant is that they respected the Republic, which, they well knew, protected them. Trump and his supporters are fools.
Paul, it will take more than “a little research “ to determine a way to separate the morality good from the bad and ugly: the two sides of character are present in every person though the morally desirable bits can be squeezed out by greed and what used to be referred to as the temptations of the flesh. Unfortunately it is hard to find true north in another person’s moral compass. We all act to a certain extent in our own self interest, even those who are not numbered amongst the “filthy rich “.
R Hodsdon. I will distill your comment to "everyone has a price"
It took a devastating Depression and the rise of Hitler to find our moral compass. What will it take this time with an intellectually-challenged psuedo-Hitler in our own midst? How many of us boomers will be around to see how this mess plays out? Aw, c'mon! I don't want to leave yet! Is there Netflix in the afterlife? How much for interstellar service?
Daniel, you’re 100% spot on! Here’s an article on how Rockefellers and Morgan set that stage for what we’re experiencing today: https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/donating-to-a-good-cause-how-billionaires
And now, the megalomaniacs run amuck.
I believe it's a deeper problem than money's corrosive influence on politics. As soon as humans invented money (got away from communal living) it afforded an individual a degree of separation and isolation from responsibility to the community. Those among us with little or no innate moral compass, and there are many, will then be swept away by their addiction to this powerful opiate; "I've got mine, and screw you"! Money is truly "the root of all evil".
While this may well be true we’re not going to do away with money. It used to be the case not long ago that shame and embarrassment were effective counters to greed and dishonesty but no longer, in fact publicity has more value. There needs to be enforcement of a code of standards in public office.
But it’s on us - the voters, the jury - to enforce it. How many are ready to step up?
Right now the trouble is how many even understand the concept? When you watch them cheer and bravo the garbage that comes out of Trump's mouth you wonder where they left their brains!
Agreed. I “ get” Trump… I just don’t “get” his fans. Worshipers, really.
Or if they ever understood what it means to be a moral person. To have a code of ethics. To understand and internalize right from wrong. In the “before” times I would have said “churched” but not now. I think the mega-churches didn’t do us any favors. Glad I avoided them.
Why did this end up looking like a reply to PAODCFL and not Barry Spicer?
It’s unbelievable what comes out of these trumptards mouths - they have no concept of how our government works - spouting racist, homophobic, misogynistic and religious zealot language - all of these are AntiAmerican signals
Linda D., they left their brains on the floors of their classrooms. School has been obsolete for decades; our kids know this. Build villages instead. Keep the teachers; make more of them.
The challenge is to not become mobsters ourselves. Who is the proper arbiter of good behaviour? With social media everywhere, anyone can be accused of violation of a social norm anywhere, and anywhen, and driven from participation in society's normal activities - whether the claimed behaviour is real or imagined. This article in The Atlantic is significant.
theatlantic[.]com/magazine/archive/2021/10/new-puritans-mob-justice-canceled/619818/
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/10/new-puritans-mob-justice-canceled/619818/
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.
Nietzsche
Good quote, thank you!
Was that Zarathustra?
Even Nixon apologized and said he let down the American people. Can you imagine the orange blob ever doing that?
He won’t - he’s a psychopath just like Hitler- he would rather we all die along with democracy and the constitution
Leftist degenerates removed shame and embarrassment from US society years ago.
Holding people accountable for shameful acts put them at a disadvantage, and slowed the undermining of civilization.
All of the filth thus country is awash in, is the deliberate work of leftist blackguards and their witless minions.
So you think Trump and his dirty associates are all on the left??
Joyce, that’s the logical assumption to his conclusion! What a twit!
The Left has disappeared from America. There is no Left left. There was a little under LBJ, but only a pittance. Franklin Roosevelt is thought of as leftward, but actually, he propped up capitalism with most of his programs. He was a conservative who wisely understood and empathized with the public need. He realized that without jobs and income for the lower and middle classes, all of capitalism was in trouble. Yet, the New Deal is considered about as far left as we've ever gotten. The closest thing I've found in my life to "Left" is moving to, and living in, Minnesota and all its Scandinavian socialism for the past 52 years. However, that, too is waning.
TJ - Who writes this stuff for you? Some great use of vocabulary, but the results are gibberish. Fire your ghost writer or invest in an upgraded AI-enabled word processor.
There is a concept in Islam called Murabaha. It is based on the notion of a fair profit. The merchant discloses his cost price to the buyer to enable the buyer to know it was fair. It’s a way of taking the grasping nasty edge off commerce. It has a similar impulse as frowning upon interest.
Christianity has the same beliefs about profits and charging interest, believe it or not. The Church in Rome once treated them as sins, until the Church acquired wealth.
Anti-Semitic? I don’t think so. The Bible would have it that one Jew should not lend at interest to another Jew. Until the dawn of the modern age the Church banned interest. If you were familiar with the Hadith you would find that Muhammad was resigned to the pervasive influence of interest. Personally I agree with him that lending at interest is toxic. Look at my Substack page and you will find an essay on the subject.
Interest is supposed to cover risk and opportunity cost, what's unfair about this? The God-loving folks of antiquity forbade interest, nevertheless they allowed the enslavement of those who were unable to repay loans.
Where did I say lending at interest was the unfair? I didn’t. My objection to lending at monetary interest is because it is divisive. I’m not sure that a forbidden loan and enslavement for default are compatible. But then the Church burned people for less. It’s not relevant to my argument.
"Frowning on interest"?
Oy vey! That's antisemitic!
LOL
It was the Protestants who opened the door under pressure from businessmen. They knew that lending at interest would turbocharge economic activity. It was then that the word usury was cut to size from lending at interest to excessive interest. The Arabic word Riba is translated as usury but it loses its meaning. Muhammad knew what would come of interest (riba) not from his visions but from experience.
I'm glad to read that others are questioning interest. I'm down to 2.5 percent on my late-in-life mortgage; otherwise, I've always paid interest, because I started out my life with having to borrow money in order to get an education, in order to find better employment, and over the years, it just allowed me to be in a place where I had to pay more interest. Today I pay my credit card to zero every month. It took me a long time to get to this point. I have (only slightly) risen above the invisible line that makes the poor poorer (because we are suspect), and the solvent richer (because they are suspicious, so they charge interest).
Have a read of my essay of 25 March. It’s the beginning of my theory to rid the world of lending at interest. Interest is deeply embedded like a noxious weed.
Robert, I'm an old lady who doesn't like to do unfamiliar tech because it gets me into too much trouble. Please tell me how to access your essay, or send me a link. I'm very interested. Thanks.
I agree, LeMoine, and would only add that money is just a symbol of the deeper duality of the good and evil that runs through all of us . It is also the instrument of the concept of free choice. 'Free choice' which we seem to tout with impunity is not ' free'; if we don't choose wisely then our choices exact their own price in the end.
Wise choices require accurate information.
Greed. Greed for $$ and the power it buys. As long as we allow the excessive this will continue. While $$ may not be the root of ALL evil, it accounts for most.
It is a sickness like drug addiction or alcoholism to me. The more, more, more goes beyond any reasoning. Look at Elon Musk and his insanity.
Here's a couple that are possibly linked. ODD and NPD
From Mayo Clinic
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/oppositional-defiant-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20375831
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/narcissistic-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20366662
Indeed. I believe it is the same affliction as well. Ever watch that show Hoarders? Severely mentally ill people living surrounded by an absurd and shocking amount of possessions to the point of inhabitability and, quite often, remarkable filth. Wealth hoarders are, arguably, just as sick. And just as, well, disgusting and horrifying.
I've often wondered who is the most unbalanced; the subjects of shows like "Hoarders", or the people that watch them.
You’ve clearly missed the point of my post. But again, you’re a right wing troll who’s probably defending billionaires who hoard wealth - “hoarding” anything is sick and demented. Why you defend such sickness is beyond me as I’m sure you’ll never be a wealth hoarding billionaire yourself.
Billionaires' hoarding causes cash flow to slow down, causes recession, and the cash that just sits around becomes meaningless, without any value. Money is stream, flow, currency. It's meant for exchange and movement. If it's out of circulation doing nothing, our economy shrinks.
"LOVE of money is the root of all evil." (I believe this to be the accurate quote.)
remember the theme song to his show. Money Money Money
I agree LeMoine. Money is only a tool. Acquiring it is an addiction, just like gambling.
I've read that those folk who sit at the slots all day, are actually upset when they win the jackpot, it is not the jackpot or the reward that motivates them it is spin of the wheel and the rush of endorphins as the wheels start to click and stop. It isn't the orgasm, that's why people lay back and smoke, it is that leading jup to the orgasm, The orgasm is anticlimatic, actually, the endorphin rush leading up to the orgasm. Orgasm means no more endorphine rush.
Anyway, the strive is for power to get the money, money to get more power, power to keep the money, and once you have money and power, there is a need for something else to give you a hit. For the psychopath, they get their hit from inflicting pain, physical and/or mental on others. Some get it from helping others. but only after they have trod on others to acquire power and wealth.
LeMoine you have a point, But there is the tyranny of the community. Communities are ruled, and ruled by the strongest or if you will, ruled by fear. If not fear of the here and now, fear of the man, then fear of the after life. and it doesn't take much to convince people that there is an afterlife, because fear of death is biological, and most people want to live forever, and we believe that we do, by breeding and inheritance laws.
The key in your musing is: "separation and isolation from responsibility to the community." We need a social re-design, beginning with village learning.
And I fear, Sandra, that such a social redesign is only going to be achieved through a nuclear war or a sufficiently sized asteroid impact. Assuming anyone survives, that is....
LeMoine, it’s really “the love of money [greed] is the root of all evil.” Money itself is neutral, and greed existed even when barter was a main means of exchange.
There's truth in what you say, Harry, but I think the real danger in money is the anonymity it affords people (that degree of separation). Remember, when we were still bartering, and before that, existed as hunter-gatherers, a person who shirked their duties or cheated was quite visible to the community and was dealt with harshly. Today, with enough wealth you can become invisible if you want to and do tremendous harm with impunity. I believe this is how wars, for example, are engineered behind the scenes by a few very powerful individuals for personal gain. Perhaps the deeper problem is that our species has simply multiplied to the point that Mother Nature will simply chew us up and spit us out as a nasty tasting experiment.
One of the Most Surprising Things About Trumpet 🎺 Running for President is the amount of People that Worked For Trumpet 🎺 long term and Short term associates have raised the Red Flag 🚩 🚩🚩. They Refuse to Endorse trumpet 🎺 for President; the refusals run from a simple “No” to Scaramucci’s :
‘Trumpet 🎺 is the biggest threat to Democracy “
If You don’t Understand anything You Should Note The Almost Complete Lack of Support for the former President Trumpet 🎺 That range to almost completely Active Hate for Trumpet.
From Vice President Pence ( An American Hero) who said he WON’t VOTE FOR Trump…
There are Stupid people and Traitor’s that like trumpet 🎺 God Help To Chose Wisely …
Your little emjoi fetish is disturbing.
Please respond to WHAT is expressed, not to HOW another chooses to express. We simply cannot afford to alienate any "Blue People." Thanks.
Who cares?🗽🎃
I believe in using real language but the over use of invectives, attempting SHOCK values just for shock in communication is just distracting.
Sometimes it’s like a seven year old saying “poop” for shock value…
Don’t forget the degenerate level of language and debate . Foulness and insults are the norm.
What I Think, I Do, What I Do ,I Become.
Words spoken have a similar effect !!!
I’m 75 (😳) and I totally agree. Sadly (and infuriatingly) many have been sold an additional lie: that Trump was/is just a dirty trick played on the otherwise “noble” Republican Party. To this I shout “BS”!!
I’ve been voting for 50+ years and have followed politics with interest all that time. DJT is just the logical end of the road the GOP has been traveling for 4 decades.
They hate the popular Vote .
Electoral College needs to Go Away…
Yes, Martha, me too.
Nice comment, but perhaps Prof. Reich's most important posts are about economics and labor-- areas of deep expertise he has that most do not. Case in point: column on CEO and Chair of the biggest bank in the State loves Trump's policies. https://robertreich.substack.com/p/why-jamie-dimon-loves-trumps-policies
That may be true but we risk economics and labour becoming moot subjects because of the pervasive influence of wealth, bringing an end to democracy as we know it. Trump not only embodies this but actively promotes it - he knows therein lies power.
We must use the organs of democracy to fight back and regain ownership of its institutions, in this case perhaps by enforcing standards in public office.
Yes!
Excellente!
...the only way that change can happen is if we get a more progressive minded majority in Congress as the neoliberal majority the party now has doesn't want to let go.
Repealing Buckley v. Valeo, Bank of Boston v. Bellotti and Citizens United v. FEC, all of which helped to grant power to wealthy and corporate interests, will require a (D) majority in both chambers and full solidarity among the caucus. That will not happen with the current group we have as a good number of them are already drink from the corporate money tap (hence the tepid support that President Biden received when he attempted to call out the corporate sector for their price gouging two years ago). The fact that the party establishment stooped to using dark money to thwart progressive candidates looking to unseat neoliberal incumbents and candidates during the 2022 primary shows just how low they will go to stay in power. In that sense they are not much better than their counterparts across the aisle.
This also undermines hte election process because people like myself feel our vote is pretty much inconsequential when all this big money is being thrown about to buy seats on "Capital Hill", in state legislatures, county boards, and even city councils.
Real "election integrity" begins when every ballot matters. which is not the case today with how big money has polluted the process. Candidates should be elected on their character, integrity, and commitment to work for the people of this nation, not for the big powerful corporations and institutions like the "too big to fail banks" and Wall Street. Corporations don't donate to candidates out of some idealistic or altruistic notion of democracy, they expect a healthy return on their "investment". They are not in it for the best interests of nation or its citizens they are in it for their own profit. This is why it all needs to go, including partisan and corporate "Super PACs" which are little more than giant slush funds that are used to bypass individual donation restrictions.
I support going to publicly funded elections where every candidate in a given race gets the same amount of funding and airtime ( the latter requiring a return to the Fairness Doctrine). No outside funds could be solicited or used (including personal; wealth) and all PACs would be banned. Lobbying would also be illegal as it is nothing more than legalized bribery of a public official. Those people in DC , in the various statehouses and city halls are supposed to be representing and working for us.
Time to take the "government for sale" signs down and put the decision making back in the hands of the people where it belongs.
Yes, Barry, we have to change this, and the way to do this is to declare some things sacred: our children, our planet, life on Earth.
Wealth in politics - AND, perhaps - people without sufficient legal/political knowledge to guide us up to the highest standards. There should be a way to assess people's knowledge if they are running for political knowledge. Remember, Trump didn't know that Puerto Rico is an American territory - and admitted so AFTER he became president. Ludicrous !
There is nothing the least subtle about the corrosive effect of DJT on our political life. The most loathsome feature of all his behavior is that none of it deters a large minority of Americans from supporting him, nostril-deep as he is in sleaze, to become — again!! — president of the United States. It is shameful and shameless all at once.
We have to dig down deep into ourselves, motivate others and re-elect Joe Biden. The thought of having these loathsome and goofball people in charge is just too much. Especially does it break this grandmother’s heart to see him idolized by young people. Squash people, hate, be squashed and hate. We don’t allow kiddos to see this stuff. I hope no one else is. Thank you Robert for giving voice to decency.
MAGATS only comprise about a third of the general population, and 90% are net losers when Republicans govern. MAGAT mindless sheep vote for the wolves in sheep's clothing to the detriment of their economic and physical well being. In 2020 70 million lumpen did not vote. They trend Democratic.
Those MAGA are visceral. "Trump hates Dogs" works.
Here's proof. https://rvat.org/
13 million unregistered folk trend Democrat. Register Democrats -- save the world.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/all-volunteer-ops
Daniel, I use that 'trump hates dogs' line and am surprised to find so many that will not vote for someone who hates dogs or animals. Surprisingly they tell me that a person that is in tune with animals is more compassionate, empathetic and trusting than one who is not!!
and by all means remind them that Biden was ready to sign a strong bipartisan bill to secure the border, and then Trump vetoed, because he wants to own the wall just like everything else. Yes, the fornicator Trump!
You're quite obviously unhinged. I bet your family is alarmed.
I am just stunned, that when people voted for what they called “normalcy” in 2020, that they would now think about going back to the chaos that came before. All because of inflation. Yes, inflation is not good, but you know what? It sometimes happens, just like a recession. This is the normal cycle of a capitalist society. To now expect that the one who brought you chaos before will now fix the economy for the masses is out right delusional. If Trump is elected, he will this time bring in only weak ass kissers whom he knows he can control. No one who is smarter will be allowed in. And most of them will be totally incompetent in their roles. And we thought the chaos was bad back then? Just wait, it will be far worse. This is a very predictable progression. That is the message the public needs to hear, and reflect on.
Inflation happens when you put a stick through the spokes of an economy, then reboot it.
My impulse is to say that much of the American public needs to grow up and realize they can not take things for granted. Not helpful, but just an impulse.
Steve - Agree. You would have thought that the way he did(n’t) deal with Covid would have turned off a lot of people (especially when many lost loved ones). However, it seems that too many people have forgotten about those dark times.
No one with an IQ >85 forgets the scamdemic, or the reprobates that facilitated it.
Hopefully, some day they will be made to lay for the chaos they fomented and the damage they did to tens of millions of kids.
Go away troll. Your moronic MAGAt cultism isn’t going to have any influence on the intelligent people here.
your people like to talk a lot of shit for someone who cant even read a text of an iPhone faggot
Hey, TJSwift's comment is agreeing with the rest of us here. What makes you think they're a troll? I confess, I've been away in recent weeks. Did I miss something?
Calm down granny. Have some prune juice.
WOW! That reply is so, uh, "trumpian."
Prune juice: Trump leads a bowel movement.
Trump is indeed corrosive to politics, as practiced in America. That's why the Uniparty hates him; he is eroding their power.
They depend on midwits to help shore up the status quo, and protect the grift.
Thankfully, many are waking up.
Aping Marjorie Trailer Trash Greene I see. Nobody but MAGAt fascists use the term “uniparty.” Speaking of parties, what are you doing here? It’s as though you wandered into a nice home in a neighborhood you certainly don’t live in and crashed a soirée you’d never be invited to. Kindly leave; your sort of “company” isn’t desired here.
Maybe
Oh, now I see it. Sorry. It IS a little trollish.
Not only our political life. Our identity as Americans who used to be generally optimistic about our country’s future.
"Your own stench doesn't stink" is an old saying; it seems to explain MAGA.
I believe Trump’s slime has seeped into the crevices of our country contaminating any morality and common good that is left for a large part of our population. It’s sad but true.
I believe “Trumpism” — whatever it really is — predates DJT. He is just the foul figurehead who brought the ugliest forth in full. It will be here long after he is gone, yes, unfortunately.
Yes, you’re probably right.
I think this is history’s answer to us for not holding Nixon accountable. Trump may be slightly more loathsome than expected, but sooner or later someone like that was bound to come along, especially if you stop to consider that every GOP president since Reagan has been worse and worse, dumber and more malevolent than the previous one. Every time you think they can’t go any lower the bottom drops out, over and over. I don’t see how we survive any more of them.
and Mitt Romney today called for President Biden to pardon Trump of all federal crimes…
just in case you maybe thought Mitt was slithering anywhere close to righteousness!
Mitt is out of his mind
He wants to be veep!
No, he doesn't. They detest each other!
Well, unless you know something I don't. I'm so used to Republicans turning about-face on Trump 180°, that I'm not sure even Romney is invulnerable to that.
Romney did say that he will not be voting for Trump in 2024.
Jaime ; Romney had been featured before as a contender for the Vice presidential position. A short film showed him dining with tRUMP before the 2020(?) election, I think it was. The story line was that he was later dumped. Conjecture was that tfg wanted to humiliate him.
I remember that. Not seen any indication of Romney being a contender for VP this time.
Look, Mitt Romney, was another "republiCON" born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Let that "silver shine" not blind any of us to who he really is. (Hint: Bain Capital)
I saw that. He said it would make Biden the big guy and Trump the small. I think it's because he sees Trump as being in a privledged class, his class, where the usual rules do not apply. I am against giving electeds like presidents and governors the power to pardon. It seems a vestige of kingly power. Anyone with a counterargument have at it.
Thanks for the entire story. Context is everything. From a moral perspective, he might be right. But what Mitt seems to have forgotten, is that Trump has gotten one pass after another his entire life. There has never been any accountability for anything he has done. How well has that worked Mitt? What’s the phrase uttered by Einstein about returning to approaches that failed before and expecting a different outcome?
Sometimes this is the only way to free an innocent person who was convicted of a crime they did not commit.
In Virginia, an absolute pardon may be granted when the Governor is convinced that the petitioner is innocent of the charge for which he or she was convicted. An absolute pardon is often a remedy of last resort. In order to be eligible for an absolute pardon, you must have: Pled not guilty throughout the judicial process and exhausted all forms of judicial appeals and other remedies, including a Writ of Actual Innocence.
Agree that pardons are frequently abused by morally bankrupt governors and Presidents!
During his time in office, Governor Northam issued pardons exonerating eight individuals who served lengthy prison sentences after being wrongfully convicted for crimes that they did not commit.
And, Trump has "Pled not guilty throughout the judicial process" like maybe he knows how to set the stage for a pardon(?)
The problem I have is in who decides the person is innocent. No doubt a pardon can be a useful thing. It seems like it would be better to change the laws so that a "pardon" or overturn of a conviction could be done by the justice system where to my thinking the authority for such judgements rests.Otherwise one has instituted a system which can be easily abused.
In Virginia, an absolute pardon is rare and tough to get. Really need to have convincing proof of innocence. Only 8 absolute pardons out of 1,200 other pardons (simple and partial) issued by Northam. Pardons provide a "second chance" to people who deserve one. Since it was the justice system that wrongly convicted in the first place, I am not sure it is the right place to issue a pardon to correct their mistake, IMHO.
There's evidence Northam did not abuse this power. But the issue is one of where the power should rest. You assume the system wrongly convicted.
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/01/11/get-rid-of-the-presidential-pardon/
Meanwhile, yes boss those tubes are for Iraqi centrifuges and we give you cover by heartily recommending parole.
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2024/05/16/daniel-perry-pardon-abbott-garrett-foster/
Mitt has pooped in his pants.
Executive authority in representative democracy represents the sovereign people. So yes, the pardon power is a kingly vestige, but clemency remains essential to sovereign authority because to err is human. We make mistakes and must be able to cure them, at least a little and sometimes.
Presidential pardon power acquired a bad odor because DJT abused it so horribly and extravagantly, as he has abused any power he ever had. To build or alter institutions based on the worst behavior of the worst character would be a mistake, I think.
The answer is no more DJT in office anywhere, nor others who support his ilk.
He, (Mitt), did say that is what he would have done to show he's the bigger person. I certainly don't agree with his idea.
Just goes to show you that the devil does exist, such that even a righteous man can be influenced. Pretty sad!
Don't want to debate Romney's "rightousness," however check out his company, Bain Capital. Many companies were taken over as the rust on his belt deepened and spread. He's NOT righteous, just cunning and a second generation wealthy son. No friend to the working American. Better at disguises.
Romney is playing the forget Trumpet 🎺 game and continue on with the general Republican agenda of using the tax money to line their pockets, instead of raising all citizens economic welfare …
If I was a Republican muckety-muck I to would try to Put Trumpet 🎺 in the past so they could dis associate trumpet 🎺
From their party
Manly Mitt has poop in his pants.
Did you watch the whole interview? Romney is no fan of trump. I think he despises him. He said that if Biden pardoned trump, he might (just MIGHT) move some serious fence sitters to his (Biden’s) side. I wish I could remember Romney’s reasoning because as he laid it out, I thought it was a great idea. As I’ve written it, it doesn’t sound persuasive at all. But do try to find how his idea was fleshed out.
His answer and reasoning was not that simple.
He's covering his donkey.
Did you see Stephanie Rule’s interview with Mitt Romney last night on MSNBC? He said he would have stopped the Department of Justice and immediately pardoned Trump to stop all trials. What on Earth is such thinking masking? How can he have seen the facts and come to this conclusion?
Trying to prevent people from learning the depth of treasonous behavior by Trump & others in our government. It happened after Kennedy's assassination, 9/11, & once again the powers that be try to quash information from coming out on the 3rd great national tragedy of our lives.
" others in our government" is the key phrase here.
EXACTLY, Jaime! Right effin' on. EXACTLY!
In the old days of Gerald Ford, the reasoning was that a pardon would solve a lot of problems so the government could now pick up the pieces and start governing again. The issue was considered so bad—along with the prolonged agony we're now having over Trump—that the Nation would be better off to let it go. Lots of people didn't agree; I just went along and voted for Jimmy Carter.
How do we survive people who don't give $ 0 . 25 & a squirrel - fart about anyone but themselves ?
Very well put. As ever Prof Reich. There seems to be a “cancer” at the heart of society with this selfish transactional obsessed group of wealthy influential people.
@Andew. What else is new?
Professor Reich: I've worked in journalism for years and david pecker is not a journalist, regardless of what he or those around him claim. the appropriately-named pecker is an ethical criminal (as you pointed out) who insults the nation, the public and each and every one of us with his immoral actions in his endless quest for a filthy dollar.
and further, trump's loathsome world view, where people are only valued for the money they can generate by being bought or sold, is a truly disturbing example of what i think of as "russia world". tragically for us all, there's more where that came from.
Girrl scientist ; Yes and what, if any, charge could be brought against Pecker? He helped to hide the truth from the public, negatively affecting the outcome of an election. It was jarring to see his self satisfied smile as he described his deeds. He is unafraid and a good buddy of tfg.
Pecker was granted immunity from prosecution by the DOJ in 2018 for providing information to the feds about the hush money payments.
i'm not a legal expert, but i think pecker should definitely be punished in some way. the usual approach is to fire the liar on the spot, and issue an apology to the public. but pecker ... well, this may not be possible?
I don't know, but even if he is no longer in the position he held when the dirty deeds were done, He certainly did US wrong. The 4th Estate has responsibilities, or it used to; didn't it?
Didn't the prosecutors give him immunity for his testimony? I'm petty sure he would not have been in the witness stand without that.
yes, someone else in this thread pointed that out.
I guess he had immunity for coming forward as a cooperating witness.
Laurie, could pecker be charged with election interference or is it just candidates?
Pecker conspired to kill a story that would affect an outcome of a Presidential election. I think it qualifies! He should have been charged already! Our "Justice " system is disabled!
Agreed!
There's no answer to the problem when significant numbers of people find harmless fun in disinformation. It metastasizes into adamant cult behavior, then fascism. How that happens, where is the answer? Our current ideas of how human intelligence can be simulated is the pitiful thing called Artificial Intelligence. Maybe the advertising researchers have reliable methods of producing mass responses in the captive audience. More than maybe. But noone yet has a clear answer to how one individual human comes to be a humanitarian while another comes to be a sociopath.
Hilary called it a basket she was wrong it’s a dumpster of deplorables
Anthony, the one hope I carry is that most of the people in public service are not the scum Trump has surrounded himself with and has lured his cult in with. Now, how do we get the ones who actually care and want things to be better for all of us to rise up and get things done. Biden has been doing a pretty good job, but of course, even he has flaws which can be glaring, although nothing like what Trump and Kump have been perpetrating on the American people. Right now, it seems a significant number of people are looking for the scum which is disguised as standing for the working people or the real Americans or whatever whining lies are being used by Republicans and a few Democrats these days. How can we break through to help people see a bigger picture rather than the narrow one they now allow themselves?
Ruth, I am trying to make sure I find out as much as I can about the candidates running where I vote. I try to determine their stance on a number of topics that concern me like abortion, voting rights, education, the right to protest, book bans, etc. I use what I find when discussing the candidates with others. I want people to KNOW who they will be voting for and that way they can vote knowledgably. Vote Blue, America!!
Peggy - Heather Cox Richardson just put out a very well spelled out article about how well we are actually doing under Biden but that most people don’t seem to know about it because the media is failing to inform them. I would also say that the Biden administration needs to spell it out simply to the voters but my only concern is that although we are doing better most people don’t feel it yet because corporations continue to keep elevated prices. Just thought that maybe you could use some of what she wrote about as ammunition when talking with others.
Thanks, Anon, I will definitely read her article!! I need all the ammunition I can get to keep informing people how important this election is and why we must give President Biden another four years to make things better for all of us! Heather Cox Richardson does an excellent job with letting people know what a great job President Biden has done and will continue to do!!
Peggy - Most welcome! Thanks to the people here, after I discovered Robert Reich, they led me to both her and Joyce Vance. I am sure that you probably already know about them but thought I would share. They both have a way of spelling it out so that even I can understand what is going on. If I can understand it then maybe the people that you try to talk to will understand too - especially when it comes from your beautiful mind and eloquent way of speaking.
Wow, Anon! I appreciate your compliment! Joyce Vance is very plain spoken and I have used many of her talking points. Some people do understand and it gives them something to think about - others are very close-minded. We must continue to try and do everything we can to open the eyes of those who don't seem to care one way or the other.
Anon, I have been frustrated with Biden's public relations crew from the very beginning. Biden and I are the same age, and while we were young it was fashionable to be suspicious of PR. It was considered sort of a shady enterprise. Then I worked for 20 years in a university public relations office, and now I see the flaws in that long-ago thinking. Joe hasn't had many instances until he was president when public relations had any positive effect for him. I don't blame the media; I put it to his outreach team. He just needs more assertive people who can roll past his latent fears.
Sandra B - I agree with you and I feel your frustration too. These days social media has changed the rules and he needs to catch up quickly. I don’t do social media but I know that most people do and it is usually the best way to reach the masses.
We need to show a side by side comparison of the 2 sides' records & philosophies on a whole array of issues.
Jaime - Great idea! I am very much into visual learning and I think that it would help a lot of people understand just how different things are. Axios had a great article about what defendant trump has been babbling about and that it never seems to do anything with what his Actual plans are for a better future. Because he doesn’t have any good plans. Just rants and hatred that have been rinsed and repeated. However, if Biden wants credit for what he has done, and plans to do, he definitely will get help with visual references for all to understand. Then I think that people would truly appreciate where we are compared to where we were.
Yes, visual images are very important, and they immediately grab our attention. Right now the images of the border and gas prices are of paramount importance.
We only know what candidates say, not what they think. Unfortunately, politicians have a way of lying to their constituents and the truth only comes out after they have been elected. John Fetterman is a good example of this.
That's true, Margaret. With todays technology, you can find out more than what the candidate says. If a candidate says one thing and does another then that candidate is not a choice for me.
What about John Fetterman?
I expected him to have some sympathy for the Palestinians who are being slaughtered by Netanyahu, but his only concern has been for the Israeli stance on the Gaza situation. His performance before he was elected was as a person with concern for the little guy, not the bully!
Help! Nobody has an answer, but you vilify Fetterman.
There in lies the problem. Way too many voters don’t think a lot about what or who they vote for. It apparently is just too much work to use your brain. And for single issue voters, it’s potentially even worse. Yeah, they might get what they want regarding that issue, but what other bad things come with it?
The main issue in 2024 is do we keep our Constitution or not?
Bingo!
Ruth, how to accomplish it without using the tools of the mass psychologists: fear and intimidation, for example.
Not defending Daniels, but Trump treated her like shit. Selling her story may indeed have been about making money, but it could also have simply been payback.
If somebody spat on me and then offered the opportunity to return serve, I'd take it. Especially if it was someone like Trump.
And to clarify, I wrote 'not defending Daniels' for a very simple reason - as we saw in court, she doesn't need defending. She's more than capable of standing her ground. Unlike a certain rapist, who prefers to crawl around in a swamp...
He earned it, by not even wearing a condom. But it is always about him, his pleasure and convenience, while dominating . Harm and cruelty is the point!
And he coerced her into sex! Why is nobody talking about that part? I’m sure she decided to call it consensual to avoid having to deal with charges, but he stood between her and the door, there was a bodyguard on the other side of that door, and most telling of all, when it was over, she was shaking so hard she could barely get her shoes on. That is NOT consensual in any way, but we keep pretending that it was. IMO, she deserves to be on this list the least for that reason—and because she’s been trying to tell the truth about him for so long now.
As Amanda Marcotte pointed out yesterday, that same need to coerce Stormy is what we’re seeing as he seeks to coerce the nation. https://www.salon.com/2024/05/15/said-men-would-see-his-mistreatment-of-stormy-daniels-as-cool-his-trial-suggests-otherwise/
Nancy Norbeck ; well said!
Wow thanks for the link to that excellent article. Must read for everyone. Why hasn’t this been more widely circulated?
I find it interesting that be called her horse face in public but when the two were together, she reminded him of his daughter.
The legal dimension is the trap that catches such behaviour and is the last resort of decency and honesty that has any power in this vapid world of shadows cast by immoral actions.
Political life is plainly infected with such levels of corruption that it is no longer political destiny but democracy at its most basic: undoing dictators before it's too late.
Unfortunately for America, its dishonest underbelly has again been exposed to the world. It is a manifest weakness that will take decades to undo.
It is not only Trump that is the corrupted centre of this circus. The Supreme Court has been infected. The GOP has been corrupted. The Democrats must shine a spotlight on any signs of corruption in their own ranks.
Nicholas, I am glad that Democrats did not scream foul when Sen. Menendez was charged with corruption. In fact, I believe several Senators asked him politely to resign. We much always rise above what the republicans do as far as trying to protect wrongdoers at all costs!
Like Bob Menendez?
A crucial analysis of the decline in our morality and our democracy. And I'm writing from Europe: a much wider problem than just the realm of American politics.
Indeed. The shift of power and essential elements of life are being replaced by starvation, war and genocide. The love of money is the problem
I would add the love of power that money—a lot of it—confers.
Avarice is not simply greed. They've been confabulated for some time now. Avarice is about power - and greed can be a component of it. The power struggle we've seen is pure avarice.
As a Brit I have to agree with you. Lies and corruption are the norm with our present government.
Not just the norm, it's in the DNA. Jonathan Pie put it perfectly in his recent tour, "the financial sector's take over of the UK is complete"
is that what's going on? The finanacialization of "everything" is leading to moral decay?
I believe that the internet has led to a certain amount of transparency, opening up to public view corruption and hypocrisy that has always been there but more hidden. I don't know. They're not paying me enuf to figure out this stuff.
Governments & even political parties are imperfect but necessary. We simply trade undiluted chaos for a kind of CONTROLLED CHAOS.
I think that there is more at stake here. Trump clearly intends to turn the U.S. into his own fiefdom and establish an authoritarian dynasty. That’s very different from what Biden offers.
Post-Brexit and Covid they can't even be bothered to hide it anymore... E.g. The VIP WhatsApp fast lane to millions of taxpayers' money.
Well at least in Britain, the press does a better overall job of skewering bad politicians. They are generally way too nice here.
Agree
I agree to a certain extent but there is still a right wing bias in the majority of U.K. MSM. It has to be really bad for a Tory to be taken properly to task eg Partygate which led to Boris Johnson losing his seat in Parliament.
Why is it happening Victor? Poweful currents afloat.
Democracy without honesty controls leads to this explosion of populism: big proclamations, but money and corruption always lie in the background. Democracy can only be revived with much more stringent corruption controls, I think,
To Christian Nationalists: Is this what God wants for America? Everything that Trump does is diametrically opposed to the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, a Samaritan immigrant. Jesus was never trying to start a new religion. That was done by his apostles and Paul. Jesus would be disgusted by what is done in his "name" in America today.
Christian Nationalism is just Zion-envy.
When honor and integrity count for nothing, civilization is in a dangerous state!
Amen, truly.
Sad to say I think that boat sailed some time ago. Nothing I have read of the evidence surprised me, except the fact that Cohen had 30,000 contacts on his phone. They are crooks. This is what crooks do.
From the perspective of neuroscience, the degree of cognitive dissonance that must be required by Christian Evangelicals, when they survey this loathsomeness, is stunning. What is going on inside their skulls?
he promised the Evangelicals that he'd destroy Roe v. Wade, mostly. Then they declared him the GOP Messiah.
No critical thinking for THEM.
Michael, I suspect there is no cognitive dissonance going on for the Trumpers and Trumpettes. They no longer really listen to what Trump is saying and probably almost nothing their preacher is saying if he even speaks anything like truth to them. They have already decided Trump is either god or from god, so nothing else matters to them. They have short memories because they can't deal with any disconnects between what they now believe and the truth. They actually think they were better off 4 years ago. It is definitely not true, but pretending it is works for them. If they actually thought about their faith, they would have to note that Jesus does not speak about hatred as being holy and that is a problem for them because hate, anger, fear, and resentment rule their lives, just as those right-wing Christian Nationalists want. I find it terribly sad and scary at the same time.
Well said, Ruth.
My understanding is that, theologically, they equate him with the Babylonian king who, in the biblical story, God used to bring the exiled Jews back to Jerusalem to reestablish the temple and purify His people with a return to right worship. He doesn't have to be a good man to be a harbinger of righteousness, in those terms. Non-theologically, he has in some circles been hagiographized: God has chosen an imperfect man to be transformed into his holy hammer to punish the wicked. None of his behavior matters so long as he does the hammering. In this way he has become their salvation. Shudder. There is no questioning God's choice (in these terms) of man to use. For we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, says St. Paul: it may even be a comfort, or an aspiration, that such a tainted and corrupt sinner could still be in God's hand. If Donald Trump the careless and amoral cheater, abuser and fraud is God's Annointed for our time, then I can be part of the plan to purge our nation, too! I can be part of this grand and glorious thing that will make Christian whiteness (which I equate with my family and with my own significance) safe and strong!
For people who haven't found healthy and sustaining connections elsewhere, their affiliation with church, family, and assumptions about heritage can be extremely powerful, in ways that even they know may not bear scrutiny--which is why those things cannot be questioned, and why challenges to those things can produce such fear-driven rage. Changing your mind about this affiliation would mean turning away from everything and everyone that has brought comfort and meaning in your life, and made you feel "strong" (for a given value of strength), which can have terrible consequences if you don't already have something to turn *to* that will protect and sustain you. You have seen what is done to the "unclean". Shudder. A similar dynamic can happen in some groups on the left, where dehumanizing of Trump and his supporters through habitually scornful and insulting epithets (please stop it, people!) can be paired with rigid dogma about what positions can be expressed and how, leading to gleeful references to doing harm to, or wishing harm on, those people who are not "us". Those groups on the left, though, haven't been working for decades to take over state and local governments and stack the courts to make their dangerous and disastrous dreams come true. We're in this together!
they got little cubicles inside their skulls where information in one is never shared with another.
Oh, but they share with others of their kind. When you have strong beliefs, it’s difficult to realize that what you believe in might be wrong.
People believe what they want to believe.
And it’s also a part of social psychology!
I've long said they'd sell their soul to the devil in the name of going to heaven.
Well yes, you have to start with some assumptions. I'm certainly not suggesting that they're the brightest people on the planet, but when you go to church every week and you hear Joel Osteen talk about the meek inheriting the Earth.....oh, wait....how many private jets does this guy own? I see your point.
My late mother used to watch " The 700 Club ", CBN, TBN & even give money to them. Then I think she wised up. I wouldn't trust a televangelist with my wallet or something with real value.
Whoever surrenders their reason or their conscience into another’s hand, even unto God, commits an abomination.
For some reason many want to be led, and they yearn for a "strong" leader.
Especially unto God....
Abrahamic god-botherers (people of whichever “Book”) deliberately suppress their own powers of reasoning; their auto-lobotomies leave them logically trapped, translating horizontally around the shiny surface of a tiny sphere, oscillating along chains of circular reasoning in response to every input. the rest of us move freely in all three dimensions of the infinite intellectual universe.
Nice visual imagery.
A lot of this freak zoo have the intelligence of coprolites, AKA fossilized dino dung.
🤣🤣🤣
Cohen was busted. Took a "fall" for Trump. An American tradition.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_B._Fall
On CNN International I was disheartened to see and hear a Trump supporter, a woman, dismiss all the sordid details we have heard with "That's just Trump." I fear half the nation is immune to this behavior now.
Oh, that's just Hitler being Hitler. Give the guy a break and quit prosecuting him. He's just joking after all. lol.
They don't seem to get that's >exactly< the problem. He is who he is!
Did not the questioner retort with, if you have children, would you want them to behave in the same manner? If not, then the interviewer did not do his or her job. This is all too common in reporting. You have to throw such questions back at them to get them to begin to question their beliefs, at least for that moment. It might stick.
Great post, Robert. Thank you.
OMG! So grateful to wake up to this. Thank you for making it plain. Coincidentally I just learned in my spiritual study this week that TRUST is a vital attribute humans should have - in a benevolent universe, in each other. Yet we are taught from childhood NOT to trust. It is as if MAGA coagulates and magnifies our worst characteristics. I do believe it gives us a tremendous national opportunity to see it for what it is and strive to overcome it. Bless you
"Which brings us to Trump himself. I don’t care that he had extramarital affairs."
I don't care how he conducts his personal life if he was just a private citizen.
I do care how he conducts his personal life if he's an elected politician. If you're willing to cheat on your spouse (let alone one who just gave birth!) then that says something about your moral compass and thus how you are likely to conduct yourself in your official role.
I think that's something the voters are entitled to know, in the same way I want to know if you're bankrupt, addicted, a malignant narcissist, believe the Earth was created 4000 years ago or in "Jewish Space Lazers".
MICE - money, ideology, compromise, ego - are the levers intelligence agency handlers use to recruit agents to do their bidding. We, the voting public, deserve to know if our politicians are vulnerable.