It is a horrifying experience. I had Mugabe’s Central Intelligence Office (secret police) come after me for speaking out about corruption in Zimbabwe
But this is what I know: EVEN THIS, YOU CAN GET THROUGH. But you need to start taking steps - right now- to prepare yourself for whatever is to come, mentally and emotionally. This is why I’m now here, writing on Substack— to help anyone who needs it to build resilience and stand firm.
We are coming up on a Senate vote that will provide one of the few chances to throw a log in front of the Trump runaway train. Forty-one senators need to vote against a six-month CR which will give Trump an unfettered 6-month pass to smash more things. A one-month CR will give multiple chances to expose Trump as a bunch that is ignoring congressional budgets. It will also provide clear evidence that will support intervention by the courts.
I pray they use the vote wisely Kathleen. I think so many citizens and leaders alike are frozen in place, thinking ‘This couldn’t happen here. America’s the leader of the Free World!’ and waiting for things to go back to normal. But it can, and it is. They need to ACT!
Lori and Kathleen, my problem remains the practical constraint of this bonkers regime. I called it the "emergency exit", but the problem is how to regain control. Are the US waiting for a 1929 crisis?
For a resumption of the Civil War?
Is someone thinking about a bipartisan board or directorate that can impede at least the stupidity? Legal addiction will not help. Creativity and political courage is needed to prevent more damage. Or should 50 % of the population be jailed before anyone wakes up?
I wholly understand where you’re coming from Tom. From my experience, people don’t wake up until it affects them directly. It’s the ‘I’m alright, Jack’ mentality. I suspect that in this instance, however, many still won’t wake up, because they’ve so completely bought into the lie that what’s taking place is for the greater good. They’ll try for the longest time just to bite the bullet, until they can’t any more. By that time it will be too late for opposition.
Sorry to be so pessimistic, but like many of you, I suspect this is the plan. ‘Flood the zone’ with sh*t, leave people confused, unable to think straight and unwilling to act. And while they stay frozen, set systems in place to ensure any action is too little, too late.
I’m not wholly au fait with your governmental set-up (I’m in the UK) so I don't want to speak to that directly. But externally, if we - the world at large - withdraw our financial support from Trump's backers, the impact might make them waver, and weaken the regime from within. But maybe I’m naive.
With this post by Robert, I can't help but think of that asshole Bill Maher. Every show he whined about cancel culture, because Berkeley canceled his appearance, and when cancel culture on the right was brought up, he was honest enough to say, "that doesn't affect me". He is a true libertarian, Selfish, self centered and everything is about him.
As regards Mahmoud. I have no doubt that on his own turf, Palestine, he would be canceling, in real time, people whom he disagreed with.
Here is how it works in real life. Free Speech for me, but not for thee.
As regards enemies of the state. I have no doubt that I am on the list, but there is a long list, and as far as priorities go, I am down the list, I hope, and will meet my expiry date, before they get to it, but
from what I have read of Trusks, pimple faced laddies, screwing with the social security data and considering that it is in antique COBOL, with which they aren't qualified or trained, I am trepiditious that people like me are going to be consigned to an early grave anyway, that should solve their "trust fund" problems.
Trump has almost unlimited financial support: Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, many billionaires, more than one hundred businesses backing Project 2025, most notably, oil gas, coal, uranium, timber, real estate, manufacturing. Trump also has widespread white support, especially among white males, but his appeal to males also appeals to non-white males, and last but not least Trump has the support of Evangelicals and reactionary Catholics. It is a formidable coalition, no wonder Republicans caved in. But there is one crucial item Trump lacks: overwhelming popular support. Without it he risks widespread violence and disruption on a scale that could derail his--and his supporters-- agenda. Last year's elections gave him a slim majority, and he could lose it next year. Without it he would not be able to claim that he represents We the People, that he has a mandate to violate constitutional due process and assume dictatorial powers. It is up to us to deny him that majority. We have truth and the law on our side.
Victor - Like what you wrote but my fear about the next election (if it happens) is if there will be any guardrails left since they are stopping most cybersecurity activities regarding our elections. They are doing the work early so by the time the election comes we will be incredibly vulnerable to all kinds of attacks. Money can buy a lot of things for the people who have it.
I suspect many of his financial backers are there due to greed and the potential for profit, not because they agree with the ideology. If their sole motivator is making more money, and they start losing it instead of gaining it, they will waiver in their support. There’s no honour among thieves, right?
I doubt they will do anything wisely. Many of the rethuglicans are berserkers and want to see tRump smash the things most of us value. Some of them are actually afraid for their own skins and their families - from tRump's SS - the Jan 6ers. And there are some misguided Democrats whom I am coming not to trust - I'm looking at you Jon Fetterman...
Lori, it would be wise for our senators to understand how there constituents feel right now! If they continue to ignore their constituents, they are in for a nasty surprise when they are up for re-election! Many of them are going to be out come the next election no matter what they decide to do!
Lori — let’s face it as long as Trumphuk is in the Oval Office (Offal Orifice?) with his Heritage Horribles and Muskalini we will not be the leader of the Free World. We certainly won’t be a leader and we certainly won’t be free.
I've written to three of our Republican Congressmen, imploring them to truly represent us rather than going along with whatever the president says. I requested responses. I never heard from one, got a stock response that did not address any of the issues I raised from another, and a but-look-at-the-bipartisan-stuff- I've-done response from the third, where the bipartisan activities were clearly in Republicans' interests as well, to the point that in fact it felt more like a Democrat bipartisan action.
Maureen, mine are all gqp! I write them every single day, I call them every single day and I let them know, I am their constituent, too! Their oath says they will serve ALL of the people so that includes me. I know they do not listen. I know they do not care; however, I will not stop calling and writing and letting them know where I stand!
I wrote to my Rep. Gov - Glenn Youngkin asking him directly, What are YOU doing to protect Virginia's from the wild and dangerous actions of Trump/Musk/Vance? (He wants to be president someday, right?) So I suggested that he if indeed does, he needs to start NOW by encouraging and motivating republican congressman and senators to do the right thing to stand up to the T/M/V reckless actions that are hurting the lives, livelihoods, health and security of Virginians and all Americans. To be a LEADER now to actively right these wrongs.
Am I naive? Maybe. All I got was that I should contact my congressman and senators for assistance. I will keep trying.
Way to go, Cathy! Keep at it! Persistence and consistency will pay off. We MUST keep going! I believe our voices are becoming stronger every day! I know that the orange man and the musk-rat say these protestors at town halls and other places are paid actors. That is projection! There have been video recordings of those people the orange smear and musk-rat paid to be at rallies. If you pay attention to the orange man and to the musk-rat, projection is their Achilles heel! By listening, you can tell what they have done or are going to do. They will say it is what Democrats, liberals and President Biden did, but that isn't so. You are not naive, Cathy, you are like the rest of us having to face the fact that many of our American citizens are hell bent on hurting the lives, livelihoods, health and security of those that are "woke" and "liberal". They would rather see it all burn to the ground. Once you can wrap your head around that fact, you will understand how important it is to fight these lunatics as hard as you can! Keep at it, Cathy, and know there are many of us fighting right along with you!
Gee, if I'd been paid since 2016 for every letter and call I've made to my federal legislators, not to mention petitions signed and other activities, I'd be richer than Musk by now
I wrote to 22 democrat leaders including my local reps - not a word.
Honestly if there is anyone at Columbia who needs to be singled out it’s the white female tent- city leader who demanded electricity and pizza delivery along with the gay, black male student wearing lip gloss who publicly promoted the deaths of all Zionists. Or how about those who actually vandalized buildings?
Free speech is one thing, calling for the deaths of fellow students is hate speech.
You might want to call Chuck Schumer and ask him as a loyal Democrat to lead his members to oppose the Republican CR. Ask him to support a one month CR.
Only one replies to my letters. It is the same form letter each and every time! The others completely ignore me! Also, when I call, many times I am just cut off. I just keep calling. An aide or staffer or whatever generally answers and explains how busy the congressperson is, etc., but they will definitely pass on the message! It's all just appeasement but it doesn't stop me!
Peggy,a good example was the recent example of a woman in NJ who started protesting with signs on major intersections every week.She started with her neighborhood,it grew to 150 in a month. The key,the protests have to be every week,not once a month.
"Thank you for taking the time to contact me. I appreciate the opportunity to hear from you.
In spite of the high volume of mail I receive daily, I look forward to reviewing your correspondence and providing a response as soon as possible.
As we continue our work in the 119th Congress, I look forward to supporting our men and women in uniform, assisting our veterans, repairing our economy and creating jobs, lowering the tax burden on American families, and making the federal government more accountable and efficient.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if I may be of further assistance to you or your family, and if you need immediate assistance, please call my office at 202-224-5972. If your correspondence pertains to a scheduling request, please fax your request to (202) 224-3808.
foofaraw - Your response looks exactly like the one I got back from Sen. Marino in Ohio. All of the others have never responded back to me after daily emails for the past couple of years except for Sen. Brown who used to respond to every single email I had ever sent him (or at least his aides did). Since he is new in congress I figure that it will be the only one I will get. Doesn’t deter me though ;).
Maureen, mine are all GOP here in NWFL. Yet, I call everyday using the app called 5 Calls. Believe it or not, Ashley Moody's office (she replaced Marco Rubio, who is now Head of State) actually answered the call. I was stunned when the intern/staffer picked up, as it has been jammed everyday, all day for the last several weeks. I implored them to document my concerns. We shall see? As a Vet, I hope that I made myself very clear and very loud.
You could work to get them voted out of office. But I live in South Crackerlina and there’s a snowballs chance in hell that we can oust Lascivious Lindsay or Timorous Timmy let alone nasty Nancy the malevolent mace. What a box of cracker ! So I’m going to go up to DC later this week to march in the anti-autocracy, pro democracy demonstration. Y’all come!
Though I live in Canada, I vote in Alabama; as I'm sure you know, a snowball would have a better chance in hell than voting out Tuberville, Britt, or Gary Palmer.
Call. Email. Attend a town hall if they’re brave enough to hold one. Get all your friends to call and email. Prove to your GOP folks that this obscenity does not have a mandate.
This is not a question of default. That means the government has run out of money and can no longer pay interest on the national debt. This is a question of shutting down the government because the congressional appropriation has run out. There have been many government shutdowns, but never a default.
A somewhat not entirely direct subject related reply as it relates to this and yesterday's post:
...Here are a few quick but hopefully worthwhile comments from an outsider* - albeit not so much Monsieur Camus's 'outsider' as as one who is not from or of (at least in those terms of being domiciled in) the land of the now, I'm sorry to say, 'unbrave and certainly too, unfree':
Although I've previously been critical of this type of post from Prof. Reich (while even therein having mentally described some of these as 'humanist bullshit'), I do not doubt his sincerity and or his deep concern. That said, nothing will happen 'til someone fires the first proverbial resistance shot, and one that mobilises others into action. For that NOT to occur means that 'we' will effectively remain the armchair commenters we currently are. That is not a criticism, it's merely an obvious fact, while to state the dog balls truth, 'the talk has to be walked' etc.
The other thing to mention is that 'we' won't achieve any results or tangible change unless we capture a far larger chunk of the community (with emphasis on 'community') than the small and more so-called 'educated group' who are already on board with their opposition to what I'm now calling 'TR-USK' (i.e. Trump and Musk) and 'TR-ANCE' (i.e. Trump and Vance) given that they are already on side etc., but currently smaller in number etc. We really must obtain wider support, with this initially coming from those persons who voted for Trump 2.0 and who have now been completely betrayed by it further to them now losing their jobs etc.
There is no point initiating any action until 'we' have a base of foundational support that is in place which is inclusive of this broader segmentation, while they also need to be appealed to on the basis of values which are important to them (e.g family, work etc.) while to not do this means that those of us who are more 'ontologically mobile' will continue to rage within our tribe with nothing being achieved etc. Therefore, it's time to reach out to this wider cohort in order to begin building alliances - inclusive of any disillusioned MAGA(t)'s so badly let down!
No more for now, while I'll attempt to continue this later on given it's dinner hour here in my country (Australia)*, while 'we' here have had Independent members elected to our federal parliament (while we here have another election in May) by way of using similar 'community' emphases, while despite your 'rugged individual' ethos, I'd now say that this is 'the only way' now concerning any 'turn around' following the failure of both your major parties re: change.
Every act of resistance, however small is significant. I am one of your arm chair warriors. I am disabled so physically protesting becomes difficult! But I can gather information and pass it on! Last Wednesday at a peaceful protest in Edinburgh I learned that a few people had come along because I had shared the info on threads! So we all collectively contribute, even me here across the pond! Resistance takes all forms and all are significant. I, too run the risk of a knock on the door if this regime finds me too irritating even if I now reside in the UK!
Further to my reply to Laurie just now, JG, my sincere apologies if any distress was caused to you by me, while I of course honour and respect what you're attempting to do further to your disability. Of course, what you are doing is HIGHLY important and to be valued; my point further to my post was that we REALLY do have to get a much larger momentum going which involves a much larger group of 'citizens' (as opposed to us and them being regarded as 'consumers') in order to create change! With very best wishes from Australia, while my thanks for what YOU are doing etc.
Agree! Unfortunately the capitalist system encourages individuality and isolates people from one another. The attitude which says I’m alright so why bother about others! The aspect that says success is about greed!
Mutualism needs to come back into fashion! That is people from a cross section of different areas need to come together. This is what happened when people stood up in the 1960s against racism and fought for civil rights in America! Within this movement were labor union representatives , students, black & white religious institutions, mutual aid societies and civil rights groups!
We are back to the importance of this!
Thus, I do what I can! And when I can I physically protest as I did last week! We are like an army! Some of us march, some of us research, some of us cook & care for others, some of are legal eagles, some of us are strategists. The 50501.com movement seems to be stepping up and filling this void and rallying people in the USA!
No distress or offence taken Marcus! I’m a warrior and may fall down but as I say keeping me down is always the hardest part! All the best & -greetings from Scotland to Oz!
I’m pretty sure they are too lazy to bother coming for you! My ancestors were Scots but too far back for me to move, or I’d be there in a minute. I’m preparing to be everyone’s alibi. Anyone nearby can tell the authorities that they were helping me. I am over 70 and have a bad back!
Marcus Adamson : Anyone "firing the first shot" , (or any shot), will elicit a response that will be overwhelming. If armchair commenters seem ineffective, they may still achieve some pushback. Without stimulating repression and murder. The 'vote with your wallet' ideas can get traction and be effective. Our enemies want us to engage in literal warfare. So brutal oppression will seem justified. (Hint : we are outgunned, if violence is our chosen weapon)..
With thanks for your reply, Laurie, while as I like to say in these opinion mediums, 'I wear any remonstrance(s) as a badge of pride' (albeit assuming that I'm not on the nutter opinion spectrum - which I trust is not the case). A clarification: my reference to "firing shot(s)" should not be regarded as being literal (I will leave that up to our fellow interlocker, Klare K.) despite the trigger activity that the USA is so much now defined by. On the contrary, I'm advocating 'complete non-violence' as it relates, in part, to the sort of stratagems that MLK employed, while the 'vote with your wallet' is, 'in theory', a great idea! The problem with that however is that you have to get a 'critical mass' of people doing it before it has any effect, while that CM has to come from those 'masses' who voted for 'TR-USK' and TR-ANCE'. My argument therefore is that we have to wait for what Al Gore called 'the tipping point' (albeit re: climate change) before any more favourable sociology zeitgeist change can begin to occur as it relates to a larger number of people being pissed by them, and these persons thereafter getting out into the high street to begin mounting practical offensives. I also made the 'armchair' reference as it relates to 'the potential' that may verily be had for collective non-action (despite decent individuals' attempting to fight back) becoming in Churchill's phrase, 'the order of the day' following 'all of us' delivering Shakespearean soliloquies herein as they pertain to our respective views/positions.
Whether it is "soliloquy" or just plain being broke, tRUMP will see financial disaster, (disaster being his favorite word), no matter what. Most people will have little to spend. He is not only destructive of our country, but self destructive as well. Actually everything he touches.
...Indeed, while at one level, let's hope that Trump 'self destructs' and that he is 'taken out' by the Congress on the basis of being unfit for office - even if we'd get 'trailer trash (i.e his bio.) JAY-DEE' in his place, with him (as with Pence in 2016) being potentially far worse, so yeah, maybe keep T. where he is ...Well, at least one thing is for sure: Further to one of our ex-PM's having called 'The Don' (mafia inference intended) "rude and abusive" yesterday, we're now NOT gonna get an exemption concerning T's 25% tariffs, while one of our Premier's (a bit like the Governors in each of your states) recently called Vance "a knob"!
Maybe that's what America needs: for every MAGA to get that first "taste of battle" that they have been manipulated (in near uncountable manners of manipulation) into believing that it will make them MEN in the same way the Civil War made their otherwise lame ancestors into men...dead men. Or men so shot up that the only way they could continue to live was by acquiring Soldier's Disease (i.e.-opiate addiction), or not even continuing to try, and leaving on whatever "terms" they had left.
The last time this happened kept America humble for about 160 years.
(Sorry, Laurie. This week has ALREADY provided a full week's worth of shit - both inside and outside the house. No reply expected, really.)
Who is going to say the correct word? I dare everyone to! I will! The logical explanation for what Trump is doing is that he is compromised by foreign influences. What he and Project 2025 are doing to our country is TREASON! Who else will have the balls (or ovaries) to say it with me??
I’ll say it loudly. Treason, fascism, dictatorship.
But is the audience we need even listening? For the most part, no. They won’t listen, they won’t change, they won’t break with Trump until they really suffer.
Unfortunately, we’re going to suffer worse, first.
The more of us that say it, the louder our voice will be. We must speak it to our friends, our fellow countrymen, our Representatives and our Senators, until they know that we see it for what it is.
Sorry, dictatorship I will grant you, fascism, maybe but not yet. But treason has a Constitutional definition and we _have_ had no declared enemies to support since WW2. That is why people are charged with violations of the Espionage act rather than treason.
Anne, clearly trump committed treason Jan. 6th, 2021, and has done it every single day since, every time that he opens his lying mouth. This goes for all his piddly sycophants as well, who have known for nine years that he's lying, and still double down with him on all his fascistic garbage. He and their time will come, and may it be soon. We citizens have no choice but to rise up, make more noise, and cause good trouble! Thank you!
While I am not an attorney, I believe, from what I've read and heard from legal experts, that just telling lies does not mean someone has committed "treason" - however - I think it's correct to say that when one incites violence against this great nation or "makes war against" the United States then that is treason. AND the trumpists led by trump-the-terrible obviously committed treason Jan. 6th, 2021.
I've been wearing my TREASON t-shirt for years now. (Even here in the Deep South.)
Of course, even if Trump shot someone on 5th Avenue,
AND ate a baby at a rally in front of HUNDREDS of his most deluded cultists....
It simply wouldn't matter. They would still throw grandma and grandpa on the Trump "Covid hoax" pyre...
Just like they did before. (Even living in the Deep south, I've yet to hear of the first instance of regret at having chosen Trump over family. And it's highly probable I never will.)
Of course, to "them", the mysterious "Bidbama" creature Trump so fears is the one (two?) guilty of treason, and they're been hearing that 24 hours/day on Fox for a decade now.
Anne, I hope we're right, and one day it WILL matter. I hope it's soon. Thank you, Anne.
They won’t turn until they themselves feel betrayed. And the orange turd knows how to cajole and coerce. If he continues to use the same words, eventually even the densest of his sycophants will know they’ve been had.
It seems so simple! But then, if we understood hate well enough to understand their "logic", then we'd not likely be here, sharing logical and reasonable thoughts under the auspices of Dr. Reich.
My understanding is that the "recurring donation" box being checked by default on Trump donation requests caused many T-cultists great financial hardship.
But I hear that's still the default box: RECURRING. (Even if not, I suspect it has changed very few minds. Being freed of any and all PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY by a GAWD-LIKE Daddy-figure like Trump goes well beyond anything Jesus ever offered. (And redemption and salvation have never come cheap...)
People need to be reminded: the government exists to serve us! All of us! It does not exist to empower and enrich the few. Then they can judge the distance between that and today's reality.
Unfortunately, the American constitution was established by our own Founding Fathers, especially the electoral college, to put the most power in the hands of white, male, property owners.
Also, the distribution of senators/constituents is FAR greater in rural, less populated states. In fact, Wyoming is showing signs of being the WORST state for democracy, and California among the best. Unfortunately, each has the same number of senators: 2. That gives residents of Wyoming far greater voice than Californians have.
Our Constitution has finally become a chain around our necks. What worked to exploit a continent full of natural resources has finally started to consume its human resources.
So when can we do something about the money/entertainment links that connect the judiciary to one side of our political spectrum created by the 235 year old links that bind the judiciary to both the executive and the legislature?
Our Constitution is aging and falling apart with no visible route to fixing the problem of "Wealth=Power".
I feel your pain Doctor DeLaney, but I follow the advice that has been shown to be effective: "DON'T PUSH THINGS TO THE POINT OF PAIN." I believe that you like myself are probably committed to doing no harm. The misguided sheep being led to slaughter intensely desire to be free of pain, as do we all. We need to help wake these people so that they can help...
@Anne. Treason it is! Trump knows he will be impeached if Democrats earn a majority in Congress. It worries me how aggressive and criminal the Trump faction will become in their desperation.
To speak out, no matter how known or unknown each of us is, is to take a risk. We might be watched, we might be noticed, we might be taken in an icy leisure by the strong armed enforcers. We might be disappeared. But we speak out because we must, because we can’t live under the fascist thumb or hide or go on the run. We must resist. We must fight.
I'm not only still wearing my "message" clothing after all these years, I got 6 new shirts and a FREEDOM cap just this week!
But I'm to first to admit it hasn't felt the same since Jan. 20th. Something in the air that feels like confidence, and time on their side, maybe. Something.
I agree. I suspect that losing the 2020 election may be the best thing that could have happened for Trump and his crew.
They'd had 4 years on the inside, seeing how government worked. Then they took the next 4 years to strategise, to plan how they were going to destroy it. And they made sure they had everyone they needed already onboard, so they could hit the ground running. They've come back stronger than they ever would have been in 2020, and they've come back ready.
Or so they think! They’re mostly still losers, just slightly better organized, and they will not win. Almost everything they’re doing is illegal, unconstitutional or self-defeating, and will not stand if the rest of us put up some fight.
You are right, Lori, but had Merrick Garland and SCOTUS acted in a timely way, there would have been no Trump 2. They, not Trump are the true traitors.
I could not agree with you more vehemently, and I felt the same way about it when I read about it. It's terrifying. People are sleeping through this! And the reason is because it hasn't happened to them - yet. Well, they had better wake up and smell the coffee because today it's Mahmoud Kahlil - tomorrow it's you or me.
Sally, this travesty with Mr. Kahlil is just the beginning of the purges that this illegal regime is planning for every person that gets in their way. They are effecting the diabolical plan that this seditionist element has been stewing not only for years, but for decades. As long as we still breathe, we can stop them. Drump, Mukz, and their cadre are deliberately and methodically killing the resistance, government, and educational system. selling off the remaining parts of the economy to the highest bidder and leaving us to rot. A firewall in the Legislature and Judicial branches needs to be placed, because we have a wildfire in full flame!
As Dr. Reich said, the University System is being gutted as well as all of public education. Book banning and burning is evidence of a fascist blitzkrieg, designed to quell dissent. At the U. of Wisconsin and many others, the finest students have had their prospects for federal funding terminated and their careers obstructed by this rogue regime. Read this article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from March 10th.
I live among Trump cultists, I have for > 60 years, and I’m related to thousands of them. Trust me when I say…
As long as they think this is just some kind of shooting party where they get to kill a few libs and people of color, after which life goes back to normal (but with just white men in charge), this won’t end well for America, or for the world.
And why do they care about Russia? Even if Russia IS our enemy (and Trump says otherwise) they’ve seen the first RED DAWN hundreds of times, and there’s nothing they want more than to play a real-life video game.
Unless we find a way around that, we may have little chance.
Wasn't the remake about North Korea, or something equally ridiculous?
"And why not believe that they are indeed, “the salvation of all America!” The Chinese (or previously, and once again, but NO!, the Russians, Iran, the WHO, the EU, or perhaps NATO) are surely coming! They’ve seen both versions of Red Dawn, and actually believe that the largest, most sophisticated (for lack of a better term), most technologically advanced military in the history of Earth has been neglected to the point where they can “scarcely put a saddle on a horse!”…if you listen to what’s been told these all too tragically, often borderline-illiterate dreamers and literal (not just verbal) manure-spreaders. So, why not choose to believe that millions of Chinese soldiers could just sail/swim/walk right through military detection systems almost beyond foolproof, and actually be standing on the beach in the morning among vacationing Ohio auto workers before a single American soldier “has even put his damn boots on yet.” (True, for China to attack America’s east coast seems a stretch, but that simply attests to the miraculous power of Trump!)
“Thank God in heaven that thousands of our finest, strongest, tallest, best-looking, least pimply southern men will be standing there in the morning with their shotguns, to turn the tide to American MAGA victory!”
And for every one of “the South’s finest”, there will be at least seven unblemished, untouched teenage girls, having waited their young lives long, trembling to reward such heroes as these fine young southerners, no longer boys, but MEN! (No wait…isn’t that the Muslim “seven raisins” sex fantasy? Never mind. Boys will be boys!)"
I joke, but the reality is that this house, and everything/one inside, will be burned to the ground 3 minutes after Trump yells, "PURGE DAY!" I've never been shy about JUSTICE and EQUALITY, and I wouldn't know how to start at this late point in my life.
And I’m thinking that what they want and what they get will be a real “oh, sht” moment. Perhaps that will be the only time reason can be re- established.
I'm still waiting for Trump to call gravity a hoax, and to sell small TRUMP ROCKS so his cultists will be the only people that won't float off into space. (NOT kidding. I really expect this.)
There’s no coincidence that on the days many are overwhelmed by the repercussions of the stock market collapsing under its overvalued weight, Khalil’s story comes into play. I don’t chalk it up to coincidence; there is a puppet master in the picture making sure the media can’t possibly focus on his unlawful seizure. As I’m watching ABC News 2am edition, this story isn’t even on their radar in each 30 minute segment.
There’s only one message this sends to people: Trump’s regime knows no limits. It is a big, angry dog with MAGA cultists all too happy to cheer him on as he feeds on more hatred, division and lies. Note that it was just LAST FRIDAY that Columbia University lost $400 million in funding for research. The solutions the media must give us is an ability to track more than one issue per news cycle, because terrible things like this are happening and we don’t have the bandwidth to sustain our attention or express our outrage and opposition to our Reps and Senators.
I don't think so. They're pretty much following The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. I expect something to happen between now and the Midterms. It makes strategic sense.
Indeed, the goal of the Trump-Vance-Musk administration is to "trash" American democracy, not just to weaken it but to eliminate it. A large part of the program for doing so is spelled out in "Project 2025" and a lot of Trump's seemingly off-the-cuff remarks during the campaign indicated this quite openly. And when Vance talks about America entering the "post Republican phase" he is not talking about the end of the Republican party but the end of the American Republic. Benjamin Franklin warned of the latter's fragility, over 235 years ago, about having a Republic "if you can keep it"; it is as if he could foresee the present moment. What I disagree with in your piece is that we should be ginning up for the 2026 elections. That will be far too late. It is all hands to the pumps NOW to save American democracy, with demonstrations, civil disobedience, law suits, pressure on elected officials, etc., whatever one can bring to bear. This is urgent, waiting for 2026 would be a huge mistake.
This is interesting because I've been warned these actions might really happening. The Republicans are maintaining the cuts Musk and Trump have initiated will help end corruption and waste in our government. That's an idiotic thought. The haphazard manner in which our federal agencies are being cut will yield no reduction in the fraud the administration is trying to reduce. It's like removing all the appendages from the human body because the procedure will make the heart's job so much easier, not having to supply blood to the various regions of the body so far from the heart. Dumbness! The attack on the market and the slumping economy is all part of the overall plan Musk and Trump have put into action. Republicans can't see the damage they've produced through their reckless destruction of our governmental agencies. The two personalities in charge of the carnage our people are experiencing have no understanding of economics or the recession they are pushing toward. I have no problem with Republicans voicing their opinions but I do have an issue with stupidity, (Trump's plan) trying to take over this country. Scott Jennings' mouth is permanently attached to a portion of Trump's autonomy, and the man doesn't seem to be concerned. All kidding aside, this country is in the hands of a group of morons all feeding from the crumbs Musk has dropped in an effort to find his way back home, in South Africa.
Professor Reich: as an american who frequently protested whilst a university student, but who now lives overseas, it seems this is a small crack in the system where i can fit in: expressing my (unpopular with the fascist ameriKKKan regime) opinions openly, frequently and persistently. since i'm unemployed and therefore, don't pay taxes in the USA, does the current regime know where i am? well ... probably, but my guess is they'd have some trouble arresting and detaining me despite this little snafu.
Actually some Republicans are "never-trumpers" - for example, Bill Kristol, of "The Bulwark" newsletter - I disagree with most of his political and economic opinions but welcome his participation in our mission.
I have no respect for Bill Kristol. He was one of the most asinine pundits during the Bush years, and is one of the facilitators of Trumpism, albeit unknowingly. Their “conservatism” has been unmasked by history as a ridiculous rationalization for the Musk-like destruction of the quality of life we see today overtaking the country.
Arresting people in the middle of the night for speaking their opinion is a violation of the 1st Amendment protecting free speech. But the activity is part of an insurrection by Trump, Republicans, the Republican part and oligarchs like Musk against the authority of the laws of the United States. According to the federal law on insurrection (18 U.S. Code § 2383), a felony crime is committed by “whoever assists or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof or gives aid or comfort thereto shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the united states”.
Democrats need to recognize the insurrection and enforce the law.
All votes for Trump in the 2024 election were illegal violations of federal law (18 U.S. Code § 2383) because the votes were support of the insurrection that was revealed on Jan 6 ,continued through the 2024 election, and has continued after Trump was elected.
Trump’s Accomplishments so far in his 2nd term: And Elon Musk is there to help him! Trump has tanked the stock market! (It’s Biden’s Economy) The Dow was also down another 890 points yesterday! It is now down 2,514.59 over the last month, as people watch their 401Ks go in the tank. Trump has successfully divided the country and has exposed the bigotry in his base and his MAGA party. Signed an executive order to make March, Women’s History Month! I thought it already was. Signed an executive order to stop funding for transgender mice! And he has turned America’s allies against us!
One thing I haven't seen mentioned in the US media, but is talked about in the international media, is that foreign investors are starting to pull out of US markets because of the instability he's creating. If that accelerates, it would be devastating.
Yes, but it's better to stay alive and act in ways that can help everyone. Let us do all that we can, with all that we have, when we have it, wherever we go, for as long as we can! I offer this as a Vietnam vet who risked life and limb to prevent worldwide communist tyranny - many more people died in that effort than were necessary.
Oh yeah, the defeat of the South Vietnamese government ushered in worldwide communist tyranny. I hated having to sing the “Internationale” at baseball games and memorizing Marx for my academic career.
Agent orange (a name I like, first coined by others) is coming first for those whose status is legal, but do not conform to his white male picture of the ideal citizen. It is up to us, the white male citizenry who can trace ancestry back to the 17th century, to let the orange president know that we are opposed to his entire agenda. I want my black, immigrant friends to feel safe here. I want my trans colleagues to feel safe here. I want the DEI employees in my university to feel like they are doing a valued service. We, the straight, white, males, have to let agent orange know that if he comes for our colleagues they have to go through us first.
His attitude over immigration like so much else is a result of complete ignorance. We have it in the UK, witness the ridiculous polices of Reform UK There is no such thing as a pure line of Aryans here. The people here during the stone Age were black. Before Commonwealth immigration the population was a result of waves of immigration from Continental Europe and Ireland and Scotland. The US has had immigration from all over the globe. Trumps father hailed from Germany and his Grandmother from Scotland. It's absurd.
Agent Orange! So good! Agent Orange the secret KGB asset! KAOS is breaking out. Where is Maxwell Smart when we need him? He is not here. Sorry about that, Chief.
As a former Green Card holder (I returned to Europe when my American husband died) I cannot believe what is going on in the USA. I am still in contact with my US relatives who feel quite helpless and unhappy. But still, I think you will overcome this nightmare and maybe it will teach America a lesson that slipping into a cruel dictatorship is easier than one can imagine. Think of Germany/Austria between the wars and Adolf Hitler promising a bright new world.
It is a horrifying experience. I had Mugabe’s Central Intelligence Office (secret police) come after me for speaking out about corruption in Zimbabwe
But this is what I know: EVEN THIS, YOU CAN GET THROUGH. But you need to start taking steps - right now- to prepare yourself for whatever is to come, mentally and emotionally. This is why I’m now here, writing on Substack— to help anyone who needs it to build resilience and stand firm.
We are coming up on a Senate vote that will provide one of the few chances to throw a log in front of the Trump runaway train. Forty-one senators need to vote against a six-month CR which will give Trump an unfettered 6-month pass to smash more things. A one-month CR will give multiple chances to expose Trump as a bunch that is ignoring congressional budgets. It will also provide clear evidence that will support intervention by the courts.
https://kathleenweber.substack.com/p/how-to-fight-trump-part-2a
I pray they use the vote wisely Kathleen. I think so many citizens and leaders alike are frozen in place, thinking ‘This couldn’t happen here. America’s the leader of the Free World!’ and waiting for things to go back to normal. But it can, and it is. They need to ACT!
Lori and Kathleen, my problem remains the practical constraint of this bonkers regime. I called it the "emergency exit", but the problem is how to regain control. Are the US waiting for a 1929 crisis?
For a resumption of the Civil War?
Is someone thinking about a bipartisan board or directorate that can impede at least the stupidity? Legal addiction will not help. Creativity and political courage is needed to prevent more damage. Or should 50 % of the population be jailed before anyone wakes up?
I wholly understand where you’re coming from Tom. From my experience, people don’t wake up until it affects them directly. It’s the ‘I’m alright, Jack’ mentality. I suspect that in this instance, however, many still won’t wake up, because they’ve so completely bought into the lie that what’s taking place is for the greater good. They’ll try for the longest time just to bite the bullet, until they can’t any more. By that time it will be too late for opposition.
Sorry to be so pessimistic, but like many of you, I suspect this is the plan. ‘Flood the zone’ with sh*t, leave people confused, unable to think straight and unwilling to act. And while they stay frozen, set systems in place to ensure any action is too little, too late.
I’m not wholly au fait with your governmental set-up (I’m in the UK) so I don't want to speak to that directly. But externally, if we - the world at large - withdraw our financial support from Trump's backers, the impact might make them waver, and weaken the regime from within. But maybe I’m naive.
Yes Lori, I'm a former Dutch administrative official, but you thought is pssible not practical, because only the money is not the problem.
My hope is a financial crisis, galloping inflation, international problems, indications that losing all friends is not a usefull strategy.
The elected officials may then think of an approach to avert damage while leaving most incompetent people in their seats.
Can this be done legally? Perhaps not, but with a majority of adults in the room (Congress), creativity must prevail...
With this post by Robert, I can't help but think of that asshole Bill Maher. Every show he whined about cancel culture, because Berkeley canceled his appearance, and when cancel culture on the right was brought up, he was honest enough to say, "that doesn't affect me". He is a true libertarian, Selfish, self centered and everything is about him.
As regards Mahmoud. I have no doubt that on his own turf, Palestine, he would be canceling, in real time, people whom he disagreed with.
Here is how it works in real life. Free Speech for me, but not for thee.
As regards enemies of the state. I have no doubt that I am on the list, but there is a long list, and as far as priorities go, I am down the list, I hope, and will meet my expiry date, before they get to it, but
from what I have read of Trusks, pimple faced laddies, screwing with the social security data and considering that it is in antique COBOL, with which they aren't qualified or trained, I am trepiditious that people like me are going to be consigned to an early grave anyway, that should solve their "trust fund" problems.
Trump has almost unlimited financial support: Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, many billionaires, more than one hundred businesses backing Project 2025, most notably, oil gas, coal, uranium, timber, real estate, manufacturing. Trump also has widespread white support, especially among white males, but his appeal to males also appeals to non-white males, and last but not least Trump has the support of Evangelicals and reactionary Catholics. It is a formidable coalition, no wonder Republicans caved in. But there is one crucial item Trump lacks: overwhelming popular support. Without it he risks widespread violence and disruption on a scale that could derail his--and his supporters-- agenda. Last year's elections gave him a slim majority, and he could lose it next year. Without it he would not be able to claim that he represents We the People, that he has a mandate to violate constitutional due process and assume dictatorial powers. It is up to us to deny him that majority. We have truth and the law on our side.
Victor - Like what you wrote but my fear about the next election (if it happens) is if there will be any guardrails left since they are stopping most cybersecurity activities regarding our elections. They are doing the work early so by the time the election comes we will be incredibly vulnerable to all kinds of attacks. Money can buy a lot of things for the people who have it.
I suspect many of his financial backers are there due to greed and the potential for profit, not because they agree with the ideology. If their sole motivator is making more money, and they start losing it instead of gaining it, they will waiver in their support. There’s no honour among thieves, right?
Oh, and he doesn’t have Warren Buffett. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/03/11/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-saw-trump-slump-coming/
Excellent questions, Tom!
I doubt they will do anything wisely. Many of the rethuglicans are berserkers and want to see tRump smash the things most of us value. Some of them are actually afraid for their own skins and their families - from tRump's SS - the Jan 6ers. And there are some misguided Democrats whom I am coming not to trust - I'm looking at you Jon Fetterman...
Lori, it would be wise for our senators to understand how there constituents feel right now! If they continue to ignore their constituents, they are in for a nasty surprise when they are up for re-election! Many of them are going to be out come the next election no matter what they decide to do!
I wholly agree Peggy.
Lori — let’s face it as long as Trumphuk is in the Oval Office (Offal Orifice?) with his Heritage Horribles and Muskalini we will not be the leader of the Free World. We certainly won’t be a leader and we certainly won’t be free.
Well said.
I've written to three of our Republican Congressmen, imploring them to truly represent us rather than going along with whatever the president says. I requested responses. I never heard from one, got a stock response that did not address any of the issues I raised from another, and a but-look-at-the-bipartisan-stuff- I've-done response from the third, where the bipartisan activities were clearly in Republicans' interests as well, to the point that in fact it felt more like a Democrat bipartisan action.
Watching from across the sea, most of Congress seems paralysed.
The orange grifter is watching.
What can you do if your Senators and Representatives are GQP?
Maureen, mine are all gqp! I write them every single day, I call them every single day and I let them know, I am their constituent, too! Their oath says they will serve ALL of the people so that includes me. I know they do not listen. I know they do not care; however, I will not stop calling and writing and letting them know where I stand!
I admire your persistence and stamina.
I wrote to my Rep. Gov - Glenn Youngkin asking him directly, What are YOU doing to protect Virginia's from the wild and dangerous actions of Trump/Musk/Vance? (He wants to be president someday, right?) So I suggested that he if indeed does, he needs to start NOW by encouraging and motivating republican congressman and senators to do the right thing to stand up to the T/M/V reckless actions that are hurting the lives, livelihoods, health and security of Virginians and all Americans. To be a LEADER now to actively right these wrongs.
Am I naive? Maybe. All I got was that I should contact my congressman and senators for assistance. I will keep trying.
Way to go, Cathy! Keep at it! Persistence and consistency will pay off. We MUST keep going! I believe our voices are becoming stronger every day! I know that the orange man and the musk-rat say these protestors at town halls and other places are paid actors. That is projection! There have been video recordings of those people the orange smear and musk-rat paid to be at rallies. If you pay attention to the orange man and to the musk-rat, projection is their Achilles heel! By listening, you can tell what they have done or are going to do. They will say it is what Democrats, liberals and President Biden did, but that isn't so. You are not naive, Cathy, you are like the rest of us having to face the fact that many of our American citizens are hell bent on hurting the lives, livelihoods, health and security of those that are "woke" and "liberal". They would rather see it all burn to the ground. Once you can wrap your head around that fact, you will understand how important it is to fight these lunatics as hard as you can! Keep at it, Cathy, and know there are many of us fighting right along with you!
Gee, if I'd been paid since 2016 for every letter and call I've made to my federal legislators, not to mention petitions signed and other activities, I'd be richer than Musk by now
I wrote to 22 democrat leaders including my local reps - not a word.
Honestly if there is anyone at Columbia who needs to be singled out it’s the white female tent- city leader who demanded electricity and pizza delivery along with the gay, black male student wearing lip gloss who publicly promoted the deaths of all Zionists. Or how about those who actually vandalized buildings?
Free speech is one thing, calling for the deaths of fellow students is hate speech.
You might want to call Chuck Schumer and ask him as a loyal Democrat to lead his members to oppose the Republican CR. Ask him to support a one month CR.
Thank you.
Me too.
But it at LEAST takes some tiny amount of their resources to process the email/voice message (one hopes.)
And it does keep them from forgetting us (even if it's a senator like Lindsey Graham, as mine is. And his office does reply.)
Only one replies to my letters. It is the same form letter each and every time! The others completely ignore me! Also, when I call, many times I am just cut off. I just keep calling. An aide or staffer or whatever generally answers and explains how busy the congressperson is, etc., but they will definitely pass on the message! It's all just appeasement but it doesn't stop me!
Peggy,a good example was the recent example of a woman in NJ who started protesting with signs on major intersections every week.She started with her neighborhood,it grew to 150 in a month. The key,the protests have to be every week,not once a month.
Absolutely!!
This just came back this morning...
"Thank you for taking the time to contact me. I appreciate the opportunity to hear from you.
In spite of the high volume of mail I receive daily, I look forward to reviewing your correspondence and providing a response as soon as possible.
As we continue our work in the 119th Congress, I look forward to supporting our men and women in uniform, assisting our veterans, repairing our economy and creating jobs, lowering the tax burden on American families, and making the federal government more accountable and efficient.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if I may be of further assistance to you or your family, and if you need immediate assistance, please call my office at 202-224-5972. If your correspondence pertains to a scheduling request, please fax your request to (202) 224-3808.
Sincerely,
Lindsey Graham"
Pretty much the same form letter I get back all the time!
foofaraw - Your response looks exactly like the one I got back from Sen. Marino in Ohio. All of the others have never responded back to me after daily emails for the past couple of years except for Sen. Brown who used to respond to every single email I had ever sent him (or at least his aides did). Since he is new in congress I figure that it will be the only one I will get. Doesn’t deter me though ;).
Maureen, mine are all GOP here in NWFL. Yet, I call everyday using the app called 5 Calls. Believe it or not, Ashley Moody's office (she replaced Marco Rubio, who is now Head of State) actually answered the call. I was stunned when the intern/staffer picked up, as it has been jammed everyday, all day for the last several weeks. I implored them to document my concerns. We shall see? As a Vet, I hope that I made myself very clear and very loud.
I'm sure you did. Good for you!
Thank you for your effort!
You could work to get them voted out of office. But I live in South Crackerlina and there’s a snowballs chance in hell that we can oust Lascivious Lindsay or Timorous Timmy let alone nasty Nancy the malevolent mace. What a box of cracker ! So I’m going to go up to DC later this week to march in the anti-autocracy, pro democracy demonstration. Y’all come!
Though I live in Canada, I vote in Alabama; as I'm sure you know, a snowball would have a better chance in hell than voting out Tuberville, Britt, or Gary Palmer.
Call. Email. Attend a town hall if they’re brave enough to hold one. Get all your friends to call and email. Prove to your GOP folks that this obscenity does not have a mandate.
I don’t think anyone is going to buy doing this Dance with Default month-by-month.
This is not a question of default. That means the government has run out of money and can no longer pay interest on the national debt. This is a question of shutting down the government because the congressional appropriation has run out. There have been many government shutdowns, but never a default.
The alternative is giving Musk / Trump 6 free months to do whatever the hell they want.
Good point!
Thank you!
You’re welcome Frank.
A somewhat not entirely direct subject related reply as it relates to this and yesterday's post:
...Here are a few quick but hopefully worthwhile comments from an outsider* - albeit not so much Monsieur Camus's 'outsider' as as one who is not from or of (at least in those terms of being domiciled in) the land of the now, I'm sorry to say, 'unbrave and certainly too, unfree':
Although I've previously been critical of this type of post from Prof. Reich (while even therein having mentally described some of these as 'humanist bullshit'), I do not doubt his sincerity and or his deep concern. That said, nothing will happen 'til someone fires the first proverbial resistance shot, and one that mobilises others into action. For that NOT to occur means that 'we' will effectively remain the armchair commenters we currently are. That is not a criticism, it's merely an obvious fact, while to state the dog balls truth, 'the talk has to be walked' etc.
The other thing to mention is that 'we' won't achieve any results or tangible change unless we capture a far larger chunk of the community (with emphasis on 'community') than the small and more so-called 'educated group' who are already on board with their opposition to what I'm now calling 'TR-USK' (i.e. Trump and Musk) and 'TR-ANCE' (i.e. Trump and Vance) given that they are already on side etc., but currently smaller in number etc. We really must obtain wider support, with this initially coming from those persons who voted for Trump 2.0 and who have now been completely betrayed by it further to them now losing their jobs etc.
There is no point initiating any action until 'we' have a base of foundational support that is in place which is inclusive of this broader segmentation, while they also need to be appealed to on the basis of values which are important to them (e.g family, work etc.) while to not do this means that those of us who are more 'ontologically mobile' will continue to rage within our tribe with nothing being achieved etc. Therefore, it's time to reach out to this wider cohort in order to begin building alliances - inclusive of any disillusioned MAGA(t)'s so badly let down!
No more for now, while I'll attempt to continue this later on given it's dinner hour here in my country (Australia)*, while 'we' here have had Independent members elected to our federal parliament (while we here have another election in May) by way of using similar 'community' emphases, while despite your 'rugged individual' ethos, I'd now say that this is 'the only way' now concerning any 'turn around' following the failure of both your major parties re: change.
Every act of resistance, however small is significant. I am one of your arm chair warriors. I am disabled so physically protesting becomes difficult! But I can gather information and pass it on! Last Wednesday at a peaceful protest in Edinburgh I learned that a few people had come along because I had shared the info on threads! So we all collectively contribute, even me here across the pond! Resistance takes all forms and all are significant. I, too run the risk of a knock on the door if this regime finds me too irritating even if I now reside in the UK!
We all do what we can, we have to!
Further to my reply to Laurie just now, JG, my sincere apologies if any distress was caused to you by me, while I of course honour and respect what you're attempting to do further to your disability. Of course, what you are doing is HIGHLY important and to be valued; my point further to my post was that we REALLY do have to get a much larger momentum going which involves a much larger group of 'citizens' (as opposed to us and them being regarded as 'consumers') in order to create change! With very best wishes from Australia, while my thanks for what YOU are doing etc.
Agree! Unfortunately the capitalist system encourages individuality and isolates people from one another. The attitude which says I’m alright so why bother about others! The aspect that says success is about greed!
Mutualism needs to come back into fashion! That is people from a cross section of different areas need to come together. This is what happened when people stood up in the 1960s against racism and fought for civil rights in America! Within this movement were labor union representatives , students, black & white religious institutions, mutual aid societies and civil rights groups!
We are back to the importance of this!
Thus, I do what I can! And when I can I physically protest as I did last week! We are like an army! Some of us march, some of us research, some of us cook & care for others, some of are legal eagles, some of us are strategists. The 50501.com movement seems to be stepping up and filling this void and rallying people in the USA!
No distress or offence taken Marcus! I’m a warrior and may fall down but as I say keeping me down is always the hardest part! All the best & -greetings from Scotland to Oz!
Hey Jersey Girl, I too am in Scotland, and only an hour from Edinburgh. Want to connect?
I’m pretty sure they are too lazy to bother coming for you! My ancestors were Scots but too far back for me to move, or I’d be there in a minute. I’m preparing to be everyone’s alibi. Anyone nearby can tell the authorities that they were helping me. I am over 70 and have a bad back!
Marcus Adamson : Anyone "firing the first shot" , (or any shot), will elicit a response that will be overwhelming. If armchair commenters seem ineffective, they may still achieve some pushback. Without stimulating repression and murder. The 'vote with your wallet' ideas can get traction and be effective. Our enemies want us to engage in literal warfare. So brutal oppression will seem justified. (Hint : we are outgunned, if violence is our chosen weapon)..
With thanks for your reply, Laurie, while as I like to say in these opinion mediums, 'I wear any remonstrance(s) as a badge of pride' (albeit assuming that I'm not on the nutter opinion spectrum - which I trust is not the case). A clarification: my reference to "firing shot(s)" should not be regarded as being literal (I will leave that up to our fellow interlocker, Klare K.) despite the trigger activity that the USA is so much now defined by. On the contrary, I'm advocating 'complete non-violence' as it relates, in part, to the sort of stratagems that MLK employed, while the 'vote with your wallet' is, 'in theory', a great idea! The problem with that however is that you have to get a 'critical mass' of people doing it before it has any effect, while that CM has to come from those 'masses' who voted for 'TR-USK' and TR-ANCE'. My argument therefore is that we have to wait for what Al Gore called 'the tipping point' (albeit re: climate change) before any more favourable sociology zeitgeist change can begin to occur as it relates to a larger number of people being pissed by them, and these persons thereafter getting out into the high street to begin mounting practical offensives. I also made the 'armchair' reference as it relates to 'the potential' that may verily be had for collective non-action (despite decent individuals' attempting to fight back) becoming in Churchill's phrase, 'the order of the day' following 'all of us' delivering Shakespearean soliloquies herein as they pertain to our respective views/positions.
Whether it is "soliloquy" or just plain being broke, tRUMP will see financial disaster, (disaster being his favorite word), no matter what. Most people will have little to spend. He is not only destructive of our country, but self destructive as well. Actually everything he touches.
...Indeed, while at one level, let's hope that Trump 'self destructs' and that he is 'taken out' by the Congress on the basis of being unfit for office - even if we'd get 'trailer trash (i.e his bio.) JAY-DEE' in his place, with him (as with Pence in 2016) being potentially far worse, so yeah, maybe keep T. where he is ...Well, at least one thing is for sure: Further to one of our ex-PM's having called 'The Don' (mafia inference intended) "rude and abusive" yesterday, we're now NOT gonna get an exemption concerning T's 25% tariffs, while one of our Premier's (a bit like the Governors in each of your states) recently called Vance "a knob"!
Knob fits. There are more than one. They have more money than brains, especially Musk.
Yes, Laurie, outgunned--and outsmarted if we resort to violence.
For sure.
I know it's not really what you mean, Laurie...
Maybe that's what America needs: for every MAGA to get that first "taste of battle" that they have been manipulated (in near uncountable manners of manipulation) into believing that it will make them MEN in the same way the Civil War made their otherwise lame ancestors into men...dead men. Or men so shot up that the only way they could continue to live was by acquiring Soldier's Disease (i.e.-opiate addiction), or not even continuing to try, and leaving on whatever "terms" they had left.
The last time this happened kept America humble for about 160 years.
(Sorry, Laurie. This week has ALREADY provided a full week's worth of shit - both inside and outside the house. No reply expected, really.)
foofaraw & Chiquita(ARF!) Hang in there.
Many of us are spending a lot of our still free time doing the same, Lori. Thanks for your efforts.
I'm here as your back-up, Leigh. Together (and I say that even though I'm across the pond, because this affects all of us) we'll get through it.
Thank you for your commitment to assist and guide us in this crisis.
Susan, you’re welcome. I wish that none of us needed it.
Thank you for saying this. Every little bit helps support all of us.
You’re welcome Maureen. I’m just sorry that it’s needed.
Thank you!
You’re welcome Victor.
Who is going to say the correct word? I dare everyone to! I will! The logical explanation for what Trump is doing is that he is compromised by foreign influences. What he and Project 2025 are doing to our country is TREASON! Who else will have the balls (or ovaries) to say it with me??
I’ll say it loudly. Treason, fascism, dictatorship.
But is the audience we need even listening? For the most part, no. They won’t listen, they won’t change, they won’t break with Trump until they really suffer.
Unfortunately, we’re going to suffer worse, first.
The more of us that say it, the louder our voice will be. We must speak it to our friends, our fellow countrymen, our Representatives and our Senators, until they know that we see it for what it is.
Yes, and we can use the words and tone of voice that will not alienate those we speak to.
Then let the suffering begin.
Sorry, dictatorship I will grant you, fascism, maybe but not yet. But treason has a Constitutional definition and we _have_ had no declared enemies to support since WW2. That is why people are charged with violations of the Espionage act rather than treason.
Anne, clearly trump committed treason Jan. 6th, 2021, and has done it every single day since, every time that he opens his lying mouth. This goes for all his piddly sycophants as well, who have known for nine years that he's lying, and still double down with him on all his fascistic garbage. He and their time will come, and may it be soon. We citizens have no choice but to rise up, make more noise, and cause good trouble! Thank you!
While I am not an attorney, I believe, from what I've read and heard from legal experts, that just telling lies does not mean someone has committed "treason" - however - I think it's correct to say that when one incites violence against this great nation or "makes war against" the United States then that is treason. AND the trumpists led by trump-the-terrible obviously committed treason Jan. 6th, 2021.
Sedition. It’s like treason for peacetime.
Thank you for the correction. SEDITION then
Anne,
I've been wearing my TREASON t-shirt for years now. (Even here in the Deep South.)
Of course, even if Trump shot someone on 5th Avenue,
AND ate a baby at a rally in front of HUNDREDS of his most deluded cultists....
It simply wouldn't matter. They would still throw grandma and grandpa on the Trump "Covid hoax" pyre...
Just like they did before. (Even living in the Deep south, I've yet to hear of the first instance of regret at having chosen Trump over family. And it's highly probable I never will.)
Of course, to "them", the mysterious "Bidbama" creature Trump so fears is the one (two?) guilty of treason, and they're been hearing that 24 hours/day on Fox for a decade now.
Anne, I hope we're right, and one day it WILL matter. I hope it's soon. Thank you, Anne.
What my family and the rest of MAGA don’t realize yet is that this felonious regime no longer needs them.
They’re fodder, just like the rest of us who slept thru the first tump foray while hoping “they” would save us from the worst of him.
They won’t turn until they themselves feel betrayed. And the orange turd knows how to cajole and coerce. If he continues to use the same words, eventually even the densest of his sycophants will know they’ve been had.
Joan,
It seems so simple! But then, if we understood hate well enough to understand their "logic", then we'd not likely be here, sharing logical and reasonable thoughts under the auspices of Dr. Reich.
My understanding is that the "recurring donation" box being checked by default on Trump donation requests caused many T-cultists great financial hardship.
But I hear that's still the default box: RECURRING. (Even if not, I suspect it has changed very few minds. Being freed of any and all PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY by a GAWD-LIKE Daddy-figure like Trump goes well beyond anything Jesus ever offered. (And redemption and salvation have never come cheap...)
People need to be reminded: the government exists to serve us! All of us! It does not exist to empower and enrich the few. Then they can judge the distance between that and today's reality.
Unfortunately, the American constitution was established by our own Founding Fathers, especially the electoral college, to put the most power in the hands of white, male, property owners.
Also, the distribution of senators/constituents is FAR greater in rural, less populated states. In fact, Wyoming is showing signs of being the WORST state for democracy, and California among the best. Unfortunately, each has the same number of senators: 2. That gives residents of Wyoming far greater voice than Californians have.
Our Constitution has finally become a chain around our necks. What worked to exploit a continent full of natural resources has finally started to consume its human resources.
Break the chain.
Ed, it is Trump and his fascists who find the Constitution "chain." This is why they are breaking it. Do you want to help them?
So when can we do something about the money/entertainment links that connect the judiciary to one side of our political spectrum created by the 235 year old links that bind the judiciary to both the executive and the legislature?
Our Constitution is aging and falling apart with no visible route to fixing the problem of "Wealth=Power".
I feel your pain Doctor DeLaney, but I follow the advice that has been shown to be effective: "DON'T PUSH THINGS TO THE POINT OF PAIN." I believe that you like myself are probably committed to doing no harm. The misguided sheep being led to slaughter intensely desire to be free of pain, as do we all. We need to help wake these people so that they can help...
@Anne. Treason it is! Trump knows he will be impeached if Democrats earn a majority in Congress. It worries me how aggressive and criminal the Trump faction will become in their desperation.
Their lack of management skills will haunt them.
Spot on.
To speak out, no matter how known or unknown each of us is, is to take a risk. We might be watched, we might be noticed, we might be taken in an icy leisure by the strong armed enforcers. We might be disappeared. But we speak out because we must, because we can’t live under the fascist thumb or hide or go on the run. We must resist. We must fight.
I'm not only still wearing my "message" clothing after all these years, I got 6 new shirts and a FREEDOM cap just this week!
But I'm to first to admit it hasn't felt the same since Jan. 20th. Something in the air that feels like confidence, and time on their side, maybe. Something.
They think they are going to feed on us. I’ll break their teeth.
I hope they're wrong.
(I hope you're right!)
I agree. I suspect that losing the 2020 election may be the best thing that could have happened for Trump and his crew.
They'd had 4 years on the inside, seeing how government worked. Then they took the next 4 years to strategise, to plan how they were going to destroy it. And they made sure they had everyone they needed already onboard, so they could hit the ground running. They've come back stronger than they ever would have been in 2020, and they've come back ready.
Or so they think! They’re mostly still losers, just slightly better organized, and they will not win. Almost everything they’re doing is illegal, unconstitutional or self-defeating, and will not stand if the rest of us put up some fight.
You are right, Lori, but had Merrick Garland and SCOTUS acted in a timely way, there would have been no Trump 2. They, not Trump are the true traitors.
How do you resist? How do you fight? Focus on the issues, prioritize, be flexible in your tactics, chose your battles carefully, and organize.
I could not agree with you more vehemently, and I felt the same way about it when I read about it. It's terrifying. People are sleeping through this! And the reason is because it hasn't happened to them - yet. Well, they had better wake up and smell the coffee because today it's Mahmoud Kahlil - tomorrow it's you or me.
Sally, this travesty with Mr. Kahlil is just the beginning of the purges that this illegal regime is planning for every person that gets in their way. They are effecting the diabolical plan that this seditionist element has been stewing not only for years, but for decades. As long as we still breathe, we can stop them. Drump, Mukz, and their cadre are deliberately and methodically killing the resistance, government, and educational system. selling off the remaining parts of the economy to the highest bidder and leaving us to rot. A firewall in the Legislature and Judicial branches needs to be placed, because we have a wildfire in full flame!
As Dr. Reich said, the University System is being gutted as well as all of public education. Book banning and burning is evidence of a fascist blitzkrieg, designed to quell dissent. At the U. of Wisconsin and many others, the finest students have had their prospects for federal funding terminated and their careers obstructed by this rogue regime. Read this article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from March 10th.
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2025/03/10/uw-young-scientists-careers-in-upheaval-as-trump-slows-research-funds/80743112007/
💯
You and me, and all the "leftist vermin" Trump vowed he will kick out of the country.
I live among Trump cultists, I have for > 60 years, and I’m related to thousands of them. Trust me when I say…
As long as they think this is just some kind of shooting party where they get to kill a few libs and people of color, after which life goes back to normal (but with just white men in charge), this won’t end well for America, or for the world.
And why do they care about Russia? Even if Russia IS our enemy (and Trump says otherwise) they’ve seen the first RED DAWN hundreds of times, and there’s nothing they want more than to play a real-life video game.
Unless we find a way around that, we may have little chance.
These people aren't like us.
Their days of believing In Jesus, following the Ten Commandments and believing in The Golden Rule are gone forever.
All that was LONG before GUNS & TRUMP took the place of CHURCH & FAMILY.
CHINOS--Christians In Name Only
I always call them same thing. There is nothing Christlike in any of them.
I also refer to them as "Cherrypickers".
Consequences matter. We have too few of them for people like them.
Red Dawn seems like the good old days now.
Back when "red" was synonymous with "Russia".
Wasn't the remake about North Korea, or something equally ridiculous?
"And why not believe that they are indeed, “the salvation of all America!” The Chinese (or previously, and once again, but NO!, the Russians, Iran, the WHO, the EU, or perhaps NATO) are surely coming! They’ve seen both versions of Red Dawn, and actually believe that the largest, most sophisticated (for lack of a better term), most technologically advanced military in the history of Earth has been neglected to the point where they can “scarcely put a saddle on a horse!”…if you listen to what’s been told these all too tragically, often borderline-illiterate dreamers and literal (not just verbal) manure-spreaders. So, why not choose to believe that millions of Chinese soldiers could just sail/swim/walk right through military detection systems almost beyond foolproof, and actually be standing on the beach in the morning among vacationing Ohio auto workers before a single American soldier “has even put his damn boots on yet.” (True, for China to attack America’s east coast seems a stretch, but that simply attests to the miraculous power of Trump!)
“Thank God in heaven that thousands of our finest, strongest, tallest, best-looking, least pimply southern men will be standing there in the morning with their shotguns, to turn the tide to American MAGA victory!”
And for every one of “the South’s finest”, there will be at least seven unblemished, untouched teenage girls, having waited their young lives long, trembling to reward such heroes as these fine young southerners, no longer boys, but MEN! (No wait…isn’t that the Muslim “seven raisins” sex fantasy? Never mind. Boys will be boys!)"
https://medium.com/@foofaraw/lies-for-breakfast-lunch-and-dinner-420c272ed7d0
I joke, but the reality is that this house, and everything/one inside, will be burned to the ground 3 minutes after Trump yells, "PURGE DAY!" I've never been shy about JUSTICE and EQUALITY, and I wouldn't know how to start at this late point in my life.
I just want it to matter.
And I’m thinking that what they want and what they get will be a real “oh, sht” moment. Perhaps that will be the only time reason can be re- established.
Let's hope, Patr.
Hard to imagine a "TRUMP-PROOF TRUTH" right now.
I'm still waiting for Trump to call gravity a hoax, and to sell small TRUMP ROCKS so his cultists will be the only people that won't float off into space. (NOT kidding. I really expect this.)
There’s no coincidence that on the days many are overwhelmed by the repercussions of the stock market collapsing under its overvalued weight, Khalil’s story comes into play. I don’t chalk it up to coincidence; there is a puppet master in the picture making sure the media can’t possibly focus on his unlawful seizure. As I’m watching ABC News 2am edition, this story isn’t even on their radar in each 30 minute segment.
There’s only one message this sends to people: Trump’s regime knows no limits. It is a big, angry dog with MAGA cultists all too happy to cheer him on as he feeds on more hatred, division and lies. Note that it was just LAST FRIDAY that Columbia University lost $400 million in funding for research. The solutions the media must give us is an ability to track more than one issue per news cycle, because terrible things like this are happening and we don’t have the bandwidth to sustain our attention or express our outrage and opposition to our Reps and Senators.
I’m sensing a Reichstag fire sometime , possibly around the time of the midterms but that’s probably just my paranoia.
For PUTIN to feel himself victorious, I suspect seeing American cities burning will be necessary.
And as long as they are Democratically-led cities with large Black populations, Trump will be standing there cheering the killers on.
He knows it's good TV...
I don't think so. They're pretty much following The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. I expect something to happen between now and the Midterms. It makes strategic sense.
Maybe maybe not. But we must not be complacent.
Indeed, the goal of the Trump-Vance-Musk administration is to "trash" American democracy, not just to weaken it but to eliminate it. A large part of the program for doing so is spelled out in "Project 2025" and a lot of Trump's seemingly off-the-cuff remarks during the campaign indicated this quite openly. And when Vance talks about America entering the "post Republican phase" he is not talking about the end of the Republican party but the end of the American Republic. Benjamin Franklin warned of the latter's fragility, over 235 years ago, about having a Republic "if you can keep it"; it is as if he could foresee the present moment. What I disagree with in your piece is that we should be ginning up for the 2026 elections. That will be far too late. It is all hands to the pumps NOW to save American democracy, with demonstrations, civil disobedience, law suits, pressure on elected officials, etc., whatever one can bring to bear. This is urgent, waiting for 2026 would be a huge mistake.
This is interesting because I've been warned these actions might really happening. The Republicans are maintaining the cuts Musk and Trump have initiated will help end corruption and waste in our government. That's an idiotic thought. The haphazard manner in which our federal agencies are being cut will yield no reduction in the fraud the administration is trying to reduce. It's like removing all the appendages from the human body because the procedure will make the heart's job so much easier, not having to supply blood to the various regions of the body so far from the heart. Dumbness! The attack on the market and the slumping economy is all part of the overall plan Musk and Trump have put into action. Republicans can't see the damage they've produced through their reckless destruction of our governmental agencies. The two personalities in charge of the carnage our people are experiencing have no understanding of economics or the recession they are pushing toward. I have no problem with Republicans voicing their opinions but I do have an issue with stupidity, (Trump's plan) trying to take over this country. Scott Jennings' mouth is permanently attached to a portion of Trump's autonomy, and the man doesn't seem to be concerned. All kidding aside, this country is in the hands of a group of morons all feeding from the crumbs Musk has dropped in an effort to find his way back home, in South Africa.
They should attend town halls but are chicken.
Professor Reich: as an american who frequently protested whilst a university student, but who now lives overseas, it seems this is a small crack in the system where i can fit in: expressing my (unpopular with the fascist ameriKKKan regime) opinions openly, frequently and persistently. since i'm unemployed and therefore, don't pay taxes in the USA, does the current regime know where i am? well ... probably, but my guess is they'd have some trouble arresting and detaining me despite this little snafu.
Where are the republican Patriots? Stop this nonsense,please!
My congressperson (though not my vote) was one. Tim Rice, (R-SC)
He voted against Trump in the second impeachment vote. Since he was replaced, I've never even heard his name spoken, or seen it in print:
"Tom Rice — Good Guy with a…Tragically Trump-Centric Agenda"
https://medium.com/@foofaraw/tom-rice-good-guy-with-a-tragically-trump-centric-agenda-384e0b8e26a5
You have written an oxymoron.
Actually some Republicans are "never-trumpers" - for example, Bill Kristol, of "The Bulwark" newsletter - I disagree with most of his political and economic opinions but welcome his participation in our mission.
I have no respect for Bill Kristol. He was one of the most asinine pundits during the Bush years, and is one of the facilitators of Trumpism, albeit unknowingly. Their “conservatism” has been unmasked by history as a ridiculous rationalization for the Musk-like destruction of the quality of life we see today overtaking the country.
This is horrifying.
Arresting people in the middle of the night for speaking their opinion is a violation of the 1st Amendment protecting free speech. But the activity is part of an insurrection by Trump, Republicans, the Republican part and oligarchs like Musk against the authority of the laws of the United States. According to the federal law on insurrection (18 U.S. Code § 2383), a felony crime is committed by “whoever assists or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof or gives aid or comfort thereto shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the united states”.
Democrats need to recognize the insurrection and enforce the law.
All votes for Trump in the 2024 election were illegal violations of federal law (18 U.S. Code § 2383) because the votes were support of the insurrection that was revealed on Jan 6 ,continued through the 2024 election, and has continued after Trump was elected.
Yes. And we have to tolerate seeing that if we're to have any chance of resisting.
Trump’s Accomplishments so far in his 2nd term: And Elon Musk is there to help him! Trump has tanked the stock market! (It’s Biden’s Economy) The Dow was also down another 890 points yesterday! It is now down 2,514.59 over the last month, as people watch their 401Ks go in the tank. Trump has successfully divided the country and has exposed the bigotry in his base and his MAGA party. Signed an executive order to make March, Women’s History Month! I thought it already was. Signed an executive order to stop funding for transgender mice! And he has turned America’s allies against us!
Trans genetic mice, rise up!
Personally, I have more faith in the mouse/mammoth combo. (Rather, when they get a bit larger)...
"Hoping to revive mammoths, scientists create 'woolly mice' "
https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/03/04/nx-s1-5299962/woolly-mammoth-extinction-mice-genetic-engineering
The Mouse That Roared!
Just wait until they're RIDING size!
Yikes! we will need big cats!
Chiquita LUVS cats!
(In a good way! But then, she loves everything.)
Laurie,
And on that day, Democracy (and America's beloved cat ladies) will PREVAIL!!!
The Mouse that ate New York City!
The wooly mouse in the photo was really cute.
Can we have some T-Rexs and velociraptors, please? 😉
Maybe now would be a good time to wake up some ancient DNA AND MAKE US A BUNCH OF T-REX FRIENDS.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned in the US media, but is talked about in the international media, is that foreign investors are starting to pull out of US markets because of the instability he's creating. If that accelerates, it would be devastating.
Even PUTIN only wants America if it has value.
(But he also plays hokey hokey matches where he wins, single-handedly against an opposing teams of HUNDREDS of players! Well, something like that.)
Easy to see why PUMP likes each other so much. (Well, Trump likes putin. The opposite is far less certain.)
"It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees." Emiliano Zapata.
Yes, but it's better to stay alive and act in ways that can help everyone. Let us do all that we can, with all that we have, when we have it, wherever we go, for as long as we can! I offer this as a Vietnam vet who risked life and limb to prevent worldwide communist tyranny - many more people died in that effort than were necessary.
Oh yeah, the defeat of the South Vietnamese government ushered in worldwide communist tyranny. I hated having to sing the “Internationale” at baseball games and memorizing Marx for my academic career.
Agent orange (a name I like, first coined by others) is coming first for those whose status is legal, but do not conform to his white male picture of the ideal citizen. It is up to us, the white male citizenry who can trace ancestry back to the 17th century, to let the orange president know that we are opposed to his entire agenda. I want my black, immigrant friends to feel safe here. I want my trans colleagues to feel safe here. I want the DEI employees in my university to feel like they are doing a valued service. We, the straight, white, males, have to let agent orange know that if he comes for our colleagues they have to go through us first.
His attitude over immigration like so much else is a result of complete ignorance. We have it in the UK, witness the ridiculous polices of Reform UK There is no such thing as a pure line of Aryans here. The people here during the stone Age were black. Before Commonwealth immigration the population was a result of waves of immigration from Continental Europe and Ireland and Scotland. The US has had immigration from all over the globe. Trumps father hailed from Germany and his Grandmother from Scotland. It's absurd.
Agent Orange! So good! Agent Orange the secret KGB asset! KAOS is breaking out. Where is Maxwell Smart when we need him? He is not here. Sorry about that, Chief.
Margarete Lazar, Vienna Austria
As a former Green Card holder (I returned to Europe when my American husband died) I cannot believe what is going on in the USA. I am still in contact with my US relatives who feel quite helpless and unhappy. But still, I think you will overcome this nightmare and maybe it will teach America a lesson that slipping into a cruel dictatorship is easier than one can imagine. Think of Germany/Austria between the wars and Adolf Hitler promising a bright new world.
And what Germany was like in 1945. 😔