And RW talking heads keep saying crime is up in cities controlled by Democrats. The truth is it's higher in cities controlled by Republicans, and red states.
Cliff, you are right about the crime rates up in red state and Republican-controlled communities, but alas, the truth is something Republicans and conservatives have surrendered years ago.
Urban areas have higher crime rates, largely due to population density and poverty. Doesn't matter if their governments are Red or Blue. However, urban/suburban areas tend to run Democratic, which makes it a useful talking point for the more rural Republican base, as well as the focus for gerrymandering.
Aug 25, 2022·edited Aug 25, 2022Liked by Robert Reich
On a much smaller level- I'm afraid to put Biden stickers or other Democratic support bumper stickers on my car for fear it will be keyed. Never worried about that before. Don't EVER remember the trolling and gaslighting- not to mention the flat out lying- like we see today. The combination of Trump and social media started it but the Republicans seemed to spread it.
THIS is actually what the likes of Steve Bannon wanted — he wanted Trump to facilitate “blowing it all up.” He wanted the US constitutional system to collapse, so it could be rewritten [of course, according to HIS preferences for how it is rewritten]. The more this goes on, the happier that slug is about the prospects of violence in the streets and the collapse of the system we’ve been working on making better for more than 200 years.
Jeannie, I am sorry you live in a place where those who might disagree with you feel it is their right to damage property that isn't theirs. I do believe that comes from the Republican, Fox Not Really News driven lack of morality disguised as patriotism and "saving America." So many of these folks are Christian (or pseudo-Christian) but have ditched the beliefs of Christianity for making themselves feel important through their allegiance to Baby Donnie.
Yep Nancy, you have that right! You can tell what Republicans are doing in all its negativity by seeing what Republicans are accusing Democrats of doing. It is an almost identical match.
Trump is a model of successful parasitism. He cannot claim even one grandparent born in this country, let alone an ancestor who served the general welfare of the country in uniform or otherwise, yet he poses as a model American. While my father was dying in the wreckage of his plane following a night recon mission against Nazi Germany, Trump's father was cowering in the shelter of his racist ghetto in New York. While my great-great grandfather was closing his Vermont Classroom and marching off with two of his older students to answer Lincoln's call for volunteers, not one of Trump's ancestors was doing anything resembling Judeo-Christian civic duty in the nations they then inhabited. Yet Trump wants to operate our political system as his personal board game. He is ignorant, ill-bred, narcissistic, amoral, and a congenital emotional predator on the naive citizens in our society. He is a fly on a batch of road-apples, posing as a monarch butterfly. Trump and his catamites must be deleted from our electorate--they are treponema spirochetes in our body politic.
"He cannot claim even one grandparent born in this country, let alone an ancestor who served the general welfare of the country in uniform or otherwise, yet he poses as a model American." And I wonder how many DRAs, SCVs, et al support him.
wowww, and all this rage because the bigoted cultists in amerikkka are angry that a black man won the white house -- twice.
okay, most of this rage is a red-neck backlash to obama's presidency, but these people are raging control freaks and bullies who are determined to get what they want (even if they're not really sure what they want and must rely upon an outside lunatic, like trump, who openly hates them, to tell them what that is).
i am impressed that violence in the country has decreased from last year -- a covid lockdown year, when people were REALLY getting tired of being cooped up.
Hey Girl Scientist, I agree that there is a lot of redneck response to Obama's presidency It is also, a kind of terror on their part that they are becoming irrelevant. People are coming more and more to accept our diverse society and conservative white men can't bear it. Those white men have ruled for so long, pretending their rule was benevolent and fair to all those folks inferior to themselves. The Bush dad and son were not exactly supportive of women and minorities unless they could use them to make the Bushes look inclusive. Obama showed those scared old white boys that a Black man could be a better president than the Bushes and a whole lot of other white men. Couldn't have that, so they needed to build their fear and anger into a movement from the bottom up that would undermine our nation and make it look like Democrats, people of color, women, and LGBTQ persons caused all the upheaval. Lying was and is the only way they can get the uninformed or underinformed white people to go along with the BS, and it seems lying works and those doing the lying are certainly not being held accountable for it.
you are so correct about Obama's election bringing out the racists. I was worried that if Hillary had been elected, a similar surge in violence against women would occur. Needn't have worried, drumpf took up the cudgel.
This November we all need to decide do we go FORWARD and compete with our changing World while also treating our fellow men and women with decency and respect?
Or do we go backwards and lose more of our RIGHTS and FREEDOMS while treating others we don’t agree with rudeness, insults,
And Disrespect?
Who is the role model for your children, the previous or our incumbent President?
Keith, I wish all parents were shown your choice and then matched it with the party that is actually living it. Right now, Republicans have decided that treating people not like them as expendable pawns in some kind of pathetic but impactful game is acceptable. I wonder if parents would like to think they and their kids are being used that way and would prefer to vote the really bad chess masters out of office. I hope they will.
The numbers are staggering with regards to threats of violence coming directly from the Right and incitement by their orange leader. Oh the hypocrisy of it all when it is they who killed law enforcement January 6th, as he sat in his ketchup stained dining room reveling in it for three hours and seventeen minutes.
I just mentioned to a family member last night how relieved we felt when Biden was elected that TFG would fade away and yet here we are with him plastered all over the news media just so they can’t sell their online clicks and papers… It’s revolting. He needs to be indicted soon!
Anne. Yes, Baby Donnie needs to be indicted then prosecuted for the many crimes he has committed. His threats, lies, stealing of government property, incitement of violence, and more have warranted more oversight than they have gotten so far. He also needs to be purged from the news cycle. That will be hard since Fox Not Really News keeps pumping out everything Baby Donnie says and does, and the other media think they have to pick it all up or be irrelevant. maybe it is our mainstream media who need to get some courage and start to rethink how news is gathered and presented. Maybe we need a media revolution that promotes more honesty and weighs more carefully the value of what they plan to present.
For many, it was a sad and despairing day when the orange man and company entered The White House. So many with no respect or sense of integrity has proven a bane of the country’s existence. Those who were to have carried the mantle of the oath of responsibility to the great ideas of this country, were literally white men who proved very small inside, where it matters most. The profound shock of President John Kennedy killed, Bob Kennedy assassinated and living to see Ronald Reagan elected in a landslide that just wasn’t right; witnessing little inner souls, such as Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and the human fallout that is current. To those persons of deepest thoughts—come to, take heart and step forth. You are needed and those who care will be nourished having the presence of a higher quality of being.
We are at a make or break point. Too many people right now WANT a civil war. I most certainly do not want anything of the kind! That will be the end of everything. No matter which side “won,” all of us would lose, and there is NO telling what would fall into place afterward to “govern.” This is what some of them wanted, and we must VOTE to prevent them from fomenting this craziness. VOTE, and TALK, and resist this war mongering. The world all over is in turmoil, and we have our problems, but most days I live a quiet peaceful life. I would rather try to spread THAT to more Americans, than encourage us to fight with each other.
Keep the peace .. If we can … Aye, there’s the rub.
You forget this is a country that bombs the shit out of anyone wanting peace. Sells weapons to anyone with the money to line the pockets of war criminals and infiltrates and causes the overthrow of "Peaceful Elected" governments.
I don’t forget shit. Pardon the frank language, but all you say can be “on the table” for us to clean up this country’s behavior, but not if we let the likes of the Military Industrial Oligarchy continue to run things. I’d actually like to spread a little more peace to all Americans AND more people everywhere. I’m not deluded about the realities of the world. Does your disgust with so much of American Empire behavior worldwide mean you WANT to blow it all up and see what happens? Because I can assure you, if we let them blow it all up, it won’t get BETTER. We will get chaos and a lot worse. So you can preach to someone else, not me. I want to stop our outrageous foreign policies that abuse weaker countries and exploit the planet to the detriment of non-Americans everywhere. But that is a different conversation. THIS conversation is, do we want to let the Republican Party and their convenient Tool Donald J Trump take over to do with us what they will, regardless of what we want?
I was actually being rather whimsical with you as I fully agree with you that we need peace and much better care for our fellow beings on this planet. I simply suggest that if these idiots start world war 3 perhaps with nukes (I have heard comments from these war mongers) that Trump will be the least of our worries! I am a member of ICAN! So don't take my disgust with the overwhelming control one person can have over the fate of the planet as an affront to your original message.
Right on man. And just to be clear to everyone, I don't think Democrats are perfect, but they do tend to be most often better than Republicans in many ways as far as I can see.
I remember when Clindong was President. Somewhere around the end of that mess he made a trip to Africa. Among the countries he visited was Nigeria. At the time I was a university undergrad, and while I was I took several International Studies as Electives.
At precisely the time Clindong was made his trip to Africa, I happened to be working on a paper about the Nigerian government's reaction to environmental activists. They hung a few for treason, which caused quite an international fuss for a while, so they cut back on hangings. Much of the rest of the environmental movement, which consisted almost entirely of Christians from Southern Nigeria, worked out of the swamps of the Niger Delta where they carried on such anti-government activities as kidnapping foreign oil workers and holding them for ransom, and also attacking Nigerian troops and driving them out of the Delta whenever they got the chance. The government of Nigeria consisted more or less entirely of Northern Muslims.
While Clindong was in Nigeria he made a speech in which he referred to General Olusegun Obasango, the military ruler of Nigeria at the time, as "a shining example of democracy for the rest of Africa." At the time the US had over 400 Special Forces troops in Nigeria, a fact that was openly reported in the Nigerian newspapers that I was reading online, but never mentioned in the American media as far as I could find.
The American Special Forces troops were technically non-combatants, there to teach Obasanjo's troops how to use the stainless steel boats the USA was selling to Nigeria. These high-speed boats were a little over 40 feet long, very fast, very shallow draft, and equipped with some extremely serious firepower. Several of the Nigerian reporters that I was reading reported that the Americans were actually operating the boats because they were much better at it than the Nigerians.
There may have been other reasons too for the big smile on Clindong's face while he praised Obasanjo, but I assume a lot of the smile came from the way he had forced the Christianized, indigenous peoples of the Niger people to accept the destruction of their homeland, and let the oil flow out of the Niger Delta more freely.
It was episodes like this that convinced me in 2016 that the American people were being given the chance to choose the worst President ever. They picked Trump. I have no trouble believing that if voters had made the other choice, or problems would be much different now. But I don't believe things would be much if any better.
Well on this we can agree and the same problem you describe here goes just as well for how these same administrations treat and treated the Native Americans. It seems every time they choose to run the most toxic substances of fossil fuel production (tar) they do it through Indian land!
As a graduate student my main historical interest was the relations with Aboriginal peoples in North America during the colonization of Western North America in both Canada and the US. I did my MA thesis on the construction of the historical memory of the Indian Wars of the PNW in the 1850s. For the last part of my MA studies and for several years afterward, I worked as a legal historian and Aboriginal Litigation Researcher for a prominent Cree lawyer whose Band was suing the Canadian Government doing historical research and then ended up writing the first draft of legal briefs.
As grad students we had to select 4 areas on interest and prepare ourselves to teach those areas. My second area of interest was 20th Century Middle East history. The third was World War 2, particularly in Asia.
I cannot remember the last one for sure because I changed it at least a couple of times. I believe it ended up as the Numbered Treaties signed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries between the Canadian Govt and the various Aboriginal Nations on the Prairies of Western Canada. That was what paid my bills for over 5 years. But my 4th area of expertise and interest may have stayed at 20th Century World history, which is what it was before my Prof introduced me to the Cree lawyer.
So I know my history and I enjoy debating with others who are knowledgeable about history.
I agree to a certain extent with what you say here, but off the top of my head, without any real research into this, I think it was mostly Republican Administrations that did this.
I remember Guatemala 1954; Chile in the 1970s, and Indonesia at least twice over the years.
I could go on for a while just from memory, but I think it is instead time for some proper historical research. The first step would be to make a list of incidents.
Tons of CIA records have become available to the public now through the information act where there is lots of admissions to what is done through propaganda in printing discontent in Iran for instance. There are even documentaries showing years of infiltration done were the Ayatollah Khomeini was placed as a puppet it is so disgusting I really don't care to continue.
One more little tidbit, whenever it comes time to pay the current squeaker like the war machine, there is only one party and it is fully bought and paid for.
Anne, I agree with you that it is time for the people with positive values and integrity to step up and act. The first major action, vote, and get everyone you know to check registration, then vote! Then, pledge to vote in every election!
And we need to remember that all politics is local. The republicans are trying to get their people into vote-counting positions and I think we can figure out the danger there. Also people need to remember to vote the WHOLE ballot, since there are already I think about 30 red state legislatures, if they get 5 or 6 more they can have a Constitutional Convention and...believe me, we don't want that.
There's NO protocol in the current Constitution how the Constitution rewrite members are to be chosen. If the Republicans pull a fast one and allow only themselves to be members, the Democrats will fight back and say both sides need to be on the Committee. It'll end up @ SCOTUS and they will be just fine w/o any Democrats being allowed to have any input.
This is ALWAYS how it has been with trump: projecting his evildoing onto Democrats. Republicans took his cue and have been doing it as well. The fact that 15-20 million Americans buy his lies and hate and approve violence to further his agenda, only solidifies how the former Republican party has become a cult.
While I understand their fear and concern for their safety, it upsets me when people threatened by these lunatics cave in and quit. This only serves to encourage and escalate the cult's violence. To me, stooping to threatening a target's family is a clear indicator these are cultists who have run off the rails. I have been concerned about a new civil war ever since that mad orange dog was elected.
OK, riddle me this, Batman: Everywhere poll workers are needed. Who's going to volunteer? I usually do and intend to this time also. But it sure feels different and I cannot honestly say I'm not unnerved about it, to say the least.
2020 elections was a litmus test. EVERYONE will have to do the best they can to defend the process. All we can do is acknowledge fear and KEEP FIGHTING.
Hey Suzanne, you are right about how scary Republicans have become. Trump did not teach them, though. There have been practicing Republican liars and deceivers for decades. Nixon was testing the waters in the 1950s and honed his skills even before he was elected by lying about crime, the anti-war protesters, and by sabotaging the Vietnam peace talks in 1968. Ford lied when he told the American people his pardon of Nixon was to save the American people from more problems and to get us to move on. He was right about the move on part, but we needed to see that a president who broke the law was treated as any other citizen. Reagan was a pretty good liar too, "I didn't know about Iran-Contra." I know he had Alzheimers going on by then, but he knew. People felt sorry for him and acquitted those involved who clearly broke the law. Daddy Bush's use of the Willy Horton ad proved his racist bonafides and nothing he did in office let anyone thing he was less than racist. Newt Gingrich lied at every opportunity while acting holier than though until he whipped up impeachment for Clinton who was not doing anything Gingrich wasn't himself doing. Baby Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction to get us into Iraq when the real reason was so he could do what his daddy hadn't done. In short, Trump only pulled together his own business cheating and lying practices with what Republicans had been practicing forever. Now lying and cheating are the main planks on the Republican platform. The problem is that their followers either don't care or don't know. I am going for the former.
Ruth, I probably didn't phrase that clearly, but what I was referring to was trump sanctioning VIOLENCE. He brought a level of hostile instability and dangerous behavior to the White House and to the office of President I've never seen. His lunacy, narcissism and approval of physical violence have given license to all the haters and wackadoos who worship him to act out aggressions against others on a level not seen on the political stage since IMO the civil rights movement, and, as to inciting his followers to stage a coup to overthrow our government? Since the Civil War, possibly? 😵💫
I agree with you on Trump but he is but a symptom of the political malaise we experienced since Nixon. Democrats did their share in eroding trust in the government. These days i vote for the lesser of 2 evils.. not sustainable in the future for our Republic.
You do forget the lies Bill Clinton told us.. its not just Republicans who lied to us. The Tea Party rose to prominence when Wall Street was bailed out by Obama.. we are all guilty
Bill Clinton's lies were on a different level. He lied about a personal failure, not one that affected or made a drop of difference to the country as a whole. 'Sexual morality' is no ones business but the perpetrator and his/her family. Lying about things like packing the Supreme Court against the rights of the majority of citizens affects us all.
I mean, cheating on your wife is infinitely worse to the people of the US than inciting followers to violently attempt to overthrow the government with a coup and personally contacting officials to interfere with electing one of the leaders of the free world, right? 🙄
Once again, we see tRump pointing his finger at our legitimate Democrat President and Democrats in general and accusing them of doing exactly what he and his followers are doing. Call it projection ; whatever it is ; it's a lie and can clearly be seen and heard, like so many things he says and repeats, like some kind of deranged parrot. Only fools believe him and his buddies.
There are many more who are not as foolish. They elected Biden by a large margin last time, and it's looking like another blue wave. The anti choice thing for women and girls (and their loved ones ) was a bad policy for the other side. Book banning and deadly weapons of war another.
True, however, Biden needs major pressure to expand the court. It's been done 7 times before, it could be done again. We also need term limits. But yeah, it's going around that this is shaping up to be the "year of the pissed off woman". Let's hope they're right!
I did move overseas. Initially it wasn't because of the violence, but in part because of the endemic inequality that bothers me deeply and which I think affects even the wealthiest and most uncaring people in ways they've become used to, like the need for body guards, complicated security systems and walled estates. But there was a long period of time after moving that I was deeply homesick although Trump's election cured me, the only good thing you could say about it,lol. Still, for about 15 years I wanted to return except I feared gun violence too much to put my daughter in an American school. If you choose the right country, you will feel freer in that sense. Sad but true.
I can't blame anyone for that choice but it's not an option for millions of seniors on a very small fixed income with medical issues out the wazoo (I have just described myself and my husband). I know of quite a few people who have migrated elsewhere and it's perfectly understandable.
I completely understand and am not advocating it because there were numerous downsides for me. I had a great career in the US and had to start all over here. I see myself as a gun exile. I’m getting older too and will probably never retire because of the break in my career. No place is free of corruption, bigots or aggressive people. In the US I really do think strictly enforced media standards may go a long way to settling things down somewhat over time. If 15 million Americans are still confused about the last election and that babies are aborted at 40 weeks obviously what they hear and read in the media is vastly different than what you or I hear and read. A truth standard needs to be enforced. But you know there were always violent secret societies in the US so the culture of those people won’t entirely vanish. I’m sure this organized disinformation push started and continues to be a far-right domestic and foreign strategy for regime change exploiting existing tendencies. I’s here too. So the grass isn’t completely greener but yes it’s safer here.
So interesting. Violence is the bread and butter of fascism because fascism has nothing substantial to offer aside from denying "others" the right to exist. What fascinates me at the moment is how the whole Republican party also denies to reality this same right. To its members, the justification to assert something is not facts or logic but... to say it loud enough! From a psychological standpoint, I find this, again, fascinating.
Philippe, I must admit I find it really frightening that Republicans are choosing to move closer to fascism. I am thinking that this is their admission that they have nothing to offer, and when one has nothing to offer, one will push fear of and anger toward the others. Since Trump entered the 2016 campaign 7 years ago, I have been noting that his people respond more affirmatively when he said things really loud, and over and over. Normally, one would see that as signs of an onset of dementia or some other impairment, but the Trump faithful think it is a sign that Trump is brilliant and knows what is true. I find it interesting how this pre-dementia has pulled so many people into a place of near adoration for a man who has nothing but contempt for nearly everyone. Interesting but frightening!
Does anyone remember Trump going on about the test with a picture of an elephant on the front that showed he took that showed he was a genius?
Very shortly afterward I saw a photo of Trump holding a test booklet with a picture of an elephant that looked like it belonged in a kid's coloring book. That is one of a group of standard tests used for monitoring the progress of dementia AFTER DIAGNOSIS, not an intelligence test.
I watched both my maternal grandmother and my mother develop one of the non-Alzheimer dementias, and I previously took several British MOOCs from Open University, so I was already convinced well before the elephant incident that Trump was also affected by one of the slow-moving non-Alzheimer dementias.
The elephant incident clearly demonstrated to me that some White House staff were thinking likewise.
I believe you're referring to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test, where tRump bragged he was a genius, because he was able to repeat Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV. He didn't think Biden could do as well. HaHa. t was actually a test to measure cognitive decline.
I don't know the answer to your question, however, Person, woman, man, camera, tv was the one tRump bragged about and recited like a two year old ad nauseam.
Race, power and privilege. That's what this is all about in America, and always has been, except the demographics are no longer on the White man's side .... And that's why they're resorting to violence.
Well said Erin. The question is can the majority rely on the structural support systems- law enforcement and military to support and protect the majority as things continue to deteriorate and these privileged white Neanderthals get more violent. Law and Order are now terms to be manipulated in the media.
Thank you. Noam Chomsky has been effectively banned from mainstream media for decades. Look where we are now. I cannot help but think about what R. Reich said earlier about the call he received from Chris Licht, CEO of CNN.
I'm sure America's enemies are delighted at the tribal partisan political division they have brought about. I hope you and your country's friends will encourage bipartisan or multipartisan activities in every way.
Thank you for pointing out that what we are seeing is "partisan political division they have brought about." The they, as you point out, is America's enemies. It is a point that needs to made again and again. This disinformation garbage is clearly sourced with enemies. Where else could it be coming from? And Fox just sucks and spews the exhaust from that tailpipe all over the place -- in the name of making money. Shame on them. And shame on Republicans for buying into this garbage.
Professor Reich, were there truth in broadcasting regulations in the age of Walter Cronkite?
Whether there were or not regulations requiring true news reports existed before, there's an urgent need for regulations now for any broadcast, publication or public online presence that calls itself news.
Everything said under the heading of news needs to be a verifiable fact under penalty of heavy fines. To avoid getting around this, an allowance for editorial opinion on news broadcasts, could be limited to say, 40% of total content. That seems generous to me, with the rule that opinions must be responses referring to verifiable facts.
I don't think that impedes 1st amendment rights and we urgently need this. There was always a wide chasm between left and right in America, but we all know it's become even more incendiary since Reagan fast tracked Rupert Murdoch's application for citizenship and Fox was born. If I'm not mistaken, Reagan cancelled some version of truth in broadcasting regulations and the Fairness Doctrine.
I will really like to hear what you think Professor Reich and the thoughts of anyone else here who cares to comment. From where I sit (I'm an ex-pat watching ardently from a distance), this seems to be the single most important issue in America today and so far it's unaddressed by this or any administration.
And RW talking heads keep saying crime is up in cities controlled by Democrats. The truth is it's higher in cities controlled by Republicans, and red states.
Cliff, you are right about the crime rates up in red state and Republican-controlled communities, but alas, the truth is something Republicans and conservatives have surrendered years ago.
Urban areas have higher crime rates, largely due to population density and poverty. Doesn't matter if their governments are Red or Blue. However, urban/suburban areas tend to run Democratic, which makes it a useful talking point for the more rural Republican base, as well as the focus for gerrymandering.
On a much smaller level- I'm afraid to put Biden stickers or other Democratic support bumper stickers on my car for fear it will be keyed. Never worried about that before. Don't EVER remember the trolling and gaslighting- not to mention the flat out lying- like we see today. The combination of Trump and social media started it but the Republicans seemed to spread it.
THIS is actually what the likes of Steve Bannon wanted — he wanted Trump to facilitate “blowing it all up.” He wanted the US constitutional system to collapse, so it could be rewritten [of course, according to HIS preferences for how it is rewritten]. The more this goes on, the happier that slug is about the prospects of violence in the streets and the collapse of the system we’ve been working on making better for more than 200 years.
Please don’t give slugs a bad name!
Isn't he supposed to go to jail?
I believe TFG pardoned him.
Jeannie, I am sorry you live in a place where those who might disagree with you feel it is their right to damage property that isn't theirs. I do believe that comes from the Republican, Fox Not Really News driven lack of morality disguised as patriotism and "saving America." So many of these folks are Christian (or pseudo-Christian) but have ditched the beliefs of Christianity for making themselves feel important through their allegiance to Baby Donnie.
I'm putting my MO Dem Party sticker on today.
Republicans always say democrats are doing what they themselves are actually doing.
Yep Nancy, you have that right! You can tell what Republicans are doing in all its negativity by seeing what Republicans are accusing Democrats of doing. It is an almost identical match.
Yes, it's called projection. And they will tell us exactly what they're going to do, I guess just too many of us don't want to believe it.
Trump is a model of successful parasitism. He cannot claim even one grandparent born in this country, let alone an ancestor who served the general welfare of the country in uniform or otherwise, yet he poses as a model American. While my father was dying in the wreckage of his plane following a night recon mission against Nazi Germany, Trump's father was cowering in the shelter of his racist ghetto in New York. While my great-great grandfather was closing his Vermont Classroom and marching off with two of his older students to answer Lincoln's call for volunteers, not one of Trump's ancestors was doing anything resembling Judeo-Christian civic duty in the nations they then inhabited. Yet Trump wants to operate our political system as his personal board game. He is ignorant, ill-bred, narcissistic, amoral, and a congenital emotional predator on the naive citizens in our society. He is a fly on a batch of road-apples, posing as a monarch butterfly. Trump and his catamites must be deleted from our electorate--they are treponema spirochetes in our body politic.
"He cannot claim even one grandparent born in this country, let alone an ancestor who served the general welfare of the country in uniform or otherwise, yet he poses as a model American." And I wonder how many DRAs, SCVs, et al support him.
Thank you, sir, for your untiring efforts -- texts, videos, interviews, audio -- all. Greatly appreciated (and shared widely).
wowww, and all this rage because the bigoted cultists in amerikkka are angry that a black man won the white house -- twice.
okay, most of this rage is a red-neck backlash to obama's presidency, but these people are raging control freaks and bullies who are determined to get what they want (even if they're not really sure what they want and must rely upon an outside lunatic, like trump, who openly hates them, to tell them what that is).
i am impressed that violence in the country has decreased from last year -- a covid lockdown year, when people were REALLY getting tired of being cooped up.
Hey Girl Scientist, I agree that there is a lot of redneck response to Obama's presidency It is also, a kind of terror on their part that they are becoming irrelevant. People are coming more and more to accept our diverse society and conservative white men can't bear it. Those white men have ruled for so long, pretending their rule was benevolent and fair to all those folks inferior to themselves. The Bush dad and son were not exactly supportive of women and minorities unless they could use them to make the Bushes look inclusive. Obama showed those scared old white boys that a Black man could be a better president than the Bushes and a whole lot of other white men. Couldn't have that, so they needed to build their fear and anger into a movement from the bottom up that would undermine our nation and make it look like Democrats, people of color, women, and LGBTQ persons caused all the upheaval. Lying was and is the only way they can get the uninformed or underinformed white people to go along with the BS, and it seems lying works and those doing the lying are certainly not being held accountable for it.
Well said, again.
you are so correct about Obama's election bringing out the racists. I was worried that if Hillary had been elected, a similar surge in violence against women would occur. Needn't have worried, drumpf took up the cudgel.
And what a cudgel!
Yes. But will anyone know it’s declining, or believe it? We live in “What I want to believe, I believe” world.
It’s Do or Die America !
This November we all need to decide do we go FORWARD and compete with our changing World while also treating our fellow men and women with decency and respect?
Or do we go backwards and lose more of our RIGHTS and FREEDOMS while treating others we don’t agree with rudeness, insults,
And Disrespect?
Who is the role model for your children, the previous or our incumbent President?
. . . _ _ _ _ . .
Save Our Democracy
Keith, I wish all parents were shown your choice and then matched it with the party that is actually living it. Right now, Republicans have decided that treating people not like them as expendable pawns in some kind of pathetic but impactful game is acceptable. I wonder if parents would like to think they and their kids are being used that way and would prefer to vote the really bad chess masters out of office. I hope they will.
Dear Ruth,
We can only hope that being Civil to one another will prevail.
Field Team Six has a database of unregistered people who fall within our demographic.
Contact: Mervis Reissig merv4peace@gmail.com
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
The numbers are staggering with regards to threats of violence coming directly from the Right and incitement by their orange leader. Oh the hypocrisy of it all when it is they who killed law enforcement January 6th, as he sat in his ketchup stained dining room reveling in it for three hours and seventeen minutes.
I just mentioned to a family member last night how relieved we felt when Biden was elected that TFG would fade away and yet here we are with him plastered all over the news media just so they can’t sell their online clicks and papers… It’s revolting. He needs to be indicted soon!
*sigh*
🌻
Anne. Yes, Baby Donnie needs to be indicted then prosecuted for the many crimes he has committed. His threats, lies, stealing of government property, incitement of violence, and more have warranted more oversight than they have gotten so far. He also needs to be purged from the news cycle. That will be hard since Fox Not Really News keeps pumping out everything Baby Donnie says and does, and the other media think they have to pick it all up or be irrelevant. maybe it is our mainstream media who need to get some courage and start to rethink how news is gathered and presented. Maybe we need a media revolution that promotes more honesty and weighs more carefully the value of what they plan to present.
For many, it was a sad and despairing day when the orange man and company entered The White House. So many with no respect or sense of integrity has proven a bane of the country’s existence. Those who were to have carried the mantle of the oath of responsibility to the great ideas of this country, were literally white men who proved very small inside, where it matters most. The profound shock of President John Kennedy killed, Bob Kennedy assassinated and living to see Ronald Reagan elected in a landslide that just wasn’t right; witnessing little inner souls, such as Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and the human fallout that is current. To those persons of deepest thoughts—come to, take heart and step forth. You are needed and those who care will be nourished having the presence of a higher quality of being.
We are at a make or break point. Too many people right now WANT a civil war. I most certainly do not want anything of the kind! That will be the end of everything. No matter which side “won,” all of us would lose, and there is NO telling what would fall into place afterward to “govern.” This is what some of them wanted, and we must VOTE to prevent them from fomenting this craziness. VOTE, and TALK, and resist this war mongering. The world all over is in turmoil, and we have our problems, but most days I live a quiet peaceful life. I would rather try to spread THAT to more Americans, than encourage us to fight with each other.
Keep the peace .. If we can … Aye, there’s the rub.
You forget this is a country that bombs the shit out of anyone wanting peace. Sells weapons to anyone with the money to line the pockets of war criminals and infiltrates and causes the overthrow of "Peaceful Elected" governments.
I don’t forget shit. Pardon the frank language, but all you say can be “on the table” for us to clean up this country’s behavior, but not if we let the likes of the Military Industrial Oligarchy continue to run things. I’d actually like to spread a little more peace to all Americans AND more people everywhere. I’m not deluded about the realities of the world. Does your disgust with so much of American Empire behavior worldwide mean you WANT to blow it all up and see what happens? Because I can assure you, if we let them blow it all up, it won’t get BETTER. We will get chaos and a lot worse. So you can preach to someone else, not me. I want to stop our outrageous foreign policies that abuse weaker countries and exploit the planet to the detriment of non-Americans everywhere. But that is a different conversation. THIS conversation is, do we want to let the Republican Party and their convenient Tool Donald J Trump take over to do with us what they will, regardless of what we want?
I say, “No.”
I was actually being rather whimsical with you as I fully agree with you that we need peace and much better care for our fellow beings on this planet. I simply suggest that if these idiots start world war 3 perhaps with nukes (I have heard comments from these war mongers) that Trump will be the least of our worries! I am a member of ICAN! So don't take my disgust with the overwhelming control one person can have over the fate of the planet as an affront to your original message.
Right on man. And just to be clear to everyone, I don't think Democrats are perfect, but they do tend to be most often better than Republicans in many ways as far as I can see.
I remember when Clindong was President. Somewhere around the end of that mess he made a trip to Africa. Among the countries he visited was Nigeria. At the time I was a university undergrad, and while I was I took several International Studies as Electives.
At precisely the time Clindong was made his trip to Africa, I happened to be working on a paper about the Nigerian government's reaction to environmental activists. They hung a few for treason, which caused quite an international fuss for a while, so they cut back on hangings. Much of the rest of the environmental movement, which consisted almost entirely of Christians from Southern Nigeria, worked out of the swamps of the Niger Delta where they carried on such anti-government activities as kidnapping foreign oil workers and holding them for ransom, and also attacking Nigerian troops and driving them out of the Delta whenever they got the chance. The government of Nigeria consisted more or less entirely of Northern Muslims.
While Clindong was in Nigeria he made a speech in which he referred to General Olusegun Obasango, the military ruler of Nigeria at the time, as "a shining example of democracy for the rest of Africa." At the time the US had over 400 Special Forces troops in Nigeria, a fact that was openly reported in the Nigerian newspapers that I was reading online, but never mentioned in the American media as far as I could find.
The American Special Forces troops were technically non-combatants, there to teach Obasanjo's troops how to use the stainless steel boats the USA was selling to Nigeria. These high-speed boats were a little over 40 feet long, very fast, very shallow draft, and equipped with some extremely serious firepower. Several of the Nigerian reporters that I was reading reported that the Americans were actually operating the boats because they were much better at it than the Nigerians.
There may have been other reasons too for the big smile on Clindong's face while he praised Obasanjo, but I assume a lot of the smile came from the way he had forced the Christianized, indigenous peoples of the Niger people to accept the destruction of their homeland, and let the oil flow out of the Niger Delta more freely.
It was episodes like this that convinced me in 2016 that the American people were being given the chance to choose the worst President ever. They picked Trump. I have no trouble believing that if voters had made the other choice, or problems would be much different now. But I don't believe things would be much if any better.
Well on this we can agree and the same problem you describe here goes just as well for how these same administrations treat and treated the Native Americans. It seems every time they choose to run the most toxic substances of fossil fuel production (tar) they do it through Indian land!
As a graduate student my main historical interest was the relations with Aboriginal peoples in North America during the colonization of Western North America in both Canada and the US. I did my MA thesis on the construction of the historical memory of the Indian Wars of the PNW in the 1850s. For the last part of my MA studies and for several years afterward, I worked as a legal historian and Aboriginal Litigation Researcher for a prominent Cree lawyer whose Band was suing the Canadian Government doing historical research and then ended up writing the first draft of legal briefs.
As grad students we had to select 4 areas on interest and prepare ourselves to teach those areas. My second area of interest was 20th Century Middle East history. The third was World War 2, particularly in Asia.
I cannot remember the last one for sure because I changed it at least a couple of times. I believe it ended up as the Numbered Treaties signed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries between the Canadian Govt and the various Aboriginal Nations on the Prairies of Western Canada. That was what paid my bills for over 5 years. But my 4th area of expertise and interest may have stayed at 20th Century World history, which is what it was before my Prof introduced me to the Cree lawyer.
So I know my history and I enjoy debating with others who are knowledgeable about history.
I agree to a certain extent with what you say here, but off the top of my head, without any real research into this, I think it was mostly Republican Administrations that did this.
I remember Guatemala 1954; Chile in the 1970s, and Indonesia at least twice over the years.
I could go on for a while just from memory, but I think it is instead time for some proper historical research. The first step would be to make a list of incidents.
Anyone who wants to help would be welcome, and they can volunteer to help at: history.repeats.itself.again@proton.me
Tons of CIA records have become available to the public now through the information act where there is lots of admissions to what is done through propaganda in printing discontent in Iran for instance. There are even documentaries showing years of infiltration done were the Ayatollah Khomeini was placed as a puppet it is so disgusting I really don't care to continue.
One more little tidbit, whenever it comes time to pay the current squeaker like the war machine, there is only one party and it is fully bought and paid for.
The more you continue the less sense you make, and the more unclear your position becomes.
I really cannot see this forum as a suitable place for conspiracy theories. The vast majority of such theories do not stand up to research.
Anne, I agree with you that it is time for the people with positive values and integrity to step up and act. The first major action, vote, and get everyone you know to check registration, then vote! Then, pledge to vote in every election!
And we need to remember that all politics is local. The republicans are trying to get their people into vote-counting positions and I think we can figure out the danger there. Also people need to remember to vote the WHOLE ballot, since there are already I think about 30 red state legislatures, if they get 5 or 6 more they can have a Constitutional Convention and...believe me, we don't want that.
There's NO protocol in the current Constitution how the Constitution rewrite members are to be chosen. If the Republicans pull a fast one and allow only themselves to be members, the Democrats will fight back and say both sides need to be on the Committee. It'll end up @ SCOTUS and they will be just fine w/o any Democrats being allowed to have any input.
This is ALWAYS how it has been with trump: projecting his evildoing onto Democrats. Republicans took his cue and have been doing it as well. The fact that 15-20 million Americans buy his lies and hate and approve violence to further his agenda, only solidifies how the former Republican party has become a cult.
While I understand their fear and concern for their safety, it upsets me when people threatened by these lunatics cave in and quit. This only serves to encourage and escalate the cult's violence. To me, stooping to threatening a target's family is a clear indicator these are cultists who have run off the rails. I have been concerned about a new civil war ever since that mad orange dog was elected.
I think many of them would stay if there were consequences for those who make the threats against them. And there should be.
Celeste, I am with you on this one. Those threats, when credible should be prosecuted. I do wish there were more courage among the threatened, though.
Absolutely
OK, riddle me this, Batman: Everywhere poll workers are needed. Who's going to volunteer? I usually do and intend to this time also. But it sure feels different and I cannot honestly say I'm not unnerved about it, to say the least.
2020 elections was a litmus test. EVERYONE will have to do the best they can to defend the process. All we can do is acknowledge fear and KEEP FIGHTING.
Hey Suzanne, you are right about how scary Republicans have become. Trump did not teach them, though. There have been practicing Republican liars and deceivers for decades. Nixon was testing the waters in the 1950s and honed his skills even before he was elected by lying about crime, the anti-war protesters, and by sabotaging the Vietnam peace talks in 1968. Ford lied when he told the American people his pardon of Nixon was to save the American people from more problems and to get us to move on. He was right about the move on part, but we needed to see that a president who broke the law was treated as any other citizen. Reagan was a pretty good liar too, "I didn't know about Iran-Contra." I know he had Alzheimers going on by then, but he knew. People felt sorry for him and acquitted those involved who clearly broke the law. Daddy Bush's use of the Willy Horton ad proved his racist bonafides and nothing he did in office let anyone thing he was less than racist. Newt Gingrich lied at every opportunity while acting holier than though until he whipped up impeachment for Clinton who was not doing anything Gingrich wasn't himself doing. Baby Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction to get us into Iraq when the real reason was so he could do what his daddy hadn't done. In short, Trump only pulled together his own business cheating and lying practices with what Republicans had been practicing forever. Now lying and cheating are the main planks on the Republican platform. The problem is that their followers either don't care or don't know. I am going for the former.
Ruth, I probably didn't phrase that clearly, but what I was referring to was trump sanctioning VIOLENCE. He brought a level of hostile instability and dangerous behavior to the White House and to the office of President I've never seen. His lunacy, narcissism and approval of physical violence have given license to all the haters and wackadoos who worship him to act out aggressions against others on a level not seen on the political stage since IMO the civil rights movement, and, as to inciting his followers to stage a coup to overthrow our government? Since the Civil War, possibly? 😵💫
I agree with you on Trump but he is but a symptom of the political malaise we experienced since Nixon. Democrats did their share in eroding trust in the government. These days i vote for the lesser of 2 evils.. not sustainable in the future for our Republic.
You do forget the lies Bill Clinton told us.. its not just Republicans who lied to us. The Tea Party rose to prominence when Wall Street was bailed out by Obama.. we are all guilty
Bill Clinton's lies were on a different level. He lied about a personal failure, not one that affected or made a drop of difference to the country as a whole. 'Sexual morality' is no ones business but the perpetrator and his/her family. Lying about things like packing the Supreme Court against the rights of the majority of citizens affects us all.
I disagree.. a lying Politician is a lying politician.. there is no grey area.
Of course not.
I mean, cheating on your wife is infinitely worse to the people of the US than inciting followers to violently attempt to overthrow the government with a coup and personally contacting officials to interfere with electing one of the leaders of the free world, right? 🙄
He lied about cheating to a congressional panel investigation.. Clinton was no hero to Democracy.. did he not repeal the Glass steagal act to boot?
Not to mention Johnson and the Gulf of Tonkin.
We can agree to disagree
We can get rid of Trump; but Trumpism will be with us way longer, unfortunately.
Especially if we don't stand up to it.
Mr.Reich has an amazing communication gift.
Once again, we see tRump pointing his finger at our legitimate Democrat President and Democrats in general and accusing them of doing exactly what he and his followers are doing. Call it projection ; whatever it is ; it's a lie and can clearly be seen and heard, like so many things he says and repeats, like some kind of deranged parrot. Only fools believe him and his buddies.
Unfortunately there are tens of millions of those fools who could vote.
There are many more who are not as foolish. They elected Biden by a large margin last time, and it's looking like another blue wave. The anti choice thing for women and girls (and their loved ones ) was a bad policy for the other side. Book banning and deadly weapons of war another.
True, however, Biden needs major pressure to expand the court. It's been done 7 times before, it could be done again. We also need term limits. But yeah, it's going around that this is shaping up to be the "year of the pissed off woman". Let's hope they're right!
the only pause I have with expanding the court is that the expansion not be of more Right wingers!
Robert, thank you for your insight.
The escalation of political violence is unnerving and my
Family is beginning to consider
Moving overseas as a result.
I did move overseas. Initially it wasn't because of the violence, but in part because of the endemic inequality that bothers me deeply and which I think affects even the wealthiest and most uncaring people in ways they've become used to, like the need for body guards, complicated security systems and walled estates. But there was a long period of time after moving that I was deeply homesick although Trump's election cured me, the only good thing you could say about it,lol. Still, for about 15 years I wanted to return except I feared gun violence too much to put my daughter in an American school. If you choose the right country, you will feel freer in that sense. Sad but true.
I can't blame anyone for that choice but it's not an option for millions of seniors on a very small fixed income with medical issues out the wazoo (I have just described myself and my husband). I know of quite a few people who have migrated elsewhere and it's perfectly understandable.
Kay, I am 78 and recently had Spinal
Stenosis operation.
Still, the unpalatable
Situation in the US
Political arena is such
That we continue our
Overseas search.
I can't blame you but we are not in a financial position for anything like that. I hope your surgery helped you (((((Jeffrey)))))
I completely understand and am not advocating it because there were numerous downsides for me. I had a great career in the US and had to start all over here. I see myself as a gun exile. I’m getting older too and will probably never retire because of the break in my career. No place is free of corruption, bigots or aggressive people. In the US I really do think strictly enforced media standards may go a long way to settling things down somewhat over time. If 15 million Americans are still confused about the last election and that babies are aborted at 40 weeks obviously what they hear and read in the media is vastly different than what you or I hear and read. A truth standard needs to be enforced. But you know there were always violent secret societies in the US so the culture of those people won’t entirely vanish. I’m sure this organized disinformation push started and continues to be a far-right domestic and foreign strategy for regime change exploiting existing tendencies. I’s here too. So the grass isn’t completely greener but yes it’s safer here.
So interesting. Violence is the bread and butter of fascism because fascism has nothing substantial to offer aside from denying "others" the right to exist. What fascinates me at the moment is how the whole Republican party also denies to reality this same right. To its members, the justification to assert something is not facts or logic but... to say it loud enough! From a psychological standpoint, I find this, again, fascinating.
Philippe, I must admit I find it really frightening that Republicans are choosing to move closer to fascism. I am thinking that this is their admission that they have nothing to offer, and when one has nothing to offer, one will push fear of and anger toward the others. Since Trump entered the 2016 campaign 7 years ago, I have been noting that his people respond more affirmatively when he said things really loud, and over and over. Normally, one would see that as signs of an onset of dementia or some other impairment, but the Trump faithful think it is a sign that Trump is brilliant and knows what is true. I find it interesting how this pre-dementia has pulled so many people into a place of near adoration for a man who has nothing but contempt for nearly everyone. Interesting but frightening!
Does anyone remember Trump going on about the test with a picture of an elephant on the front that showed he took that showed he was a genius?
Very shortly afterward I saw a photo of Trump holding a test booklet with a picture of an elephant that looked like it belonged in a kid's coloring book. That is one of a group of standard tests used for monitoring the progress of dementia AFTER DIAGNOSIS, not an intelligence test.
I watched both my maternal grandmother and my mother develop one of the non-Alzheimer dementias, and I previously took several British MOOCs from Open University, so I was already convinced well before the elephant incident that Trump was also affected by one of the slow-moving non-Alzheimer dementias.
The elephant incident clearly demonstrated to me that some White House staff were thinking likewise.
I believe you're referring to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test, where tRump bragged he was a genius, because he was able to repeat Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV. He didn't think Biden could do as well. HaHa. t was actually a test to measure cognitive decline.
If that is the one that had the picture of an elephant on it, then yes. If not, then that is another test.
I don't know the answer to your question, however, Person, woman, man, camera, tv was the one tRump bragged about and recited like a two year old ad nauseam.
Maybe there were 2 tests at 2 different times. That's quite possible. I will see if I can turn up anything. Thanks for the info.
Race, power and privilege. That's what this is all about in America, and always has been, except the demographics are no longer on the White man's side .... And that's why they're resorting to violence.
Well said Erin. The question is can the majority rely on the structural support systems- law enforcement and military to support and protect the majority as things continue to deteriorate and these privileged white Neanderthals get more violent. Law and Order are now terms to be manipulated in the media.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlHa3RJBgyM
Thank you. Noam Chomsky has been effectively banned from mainstream media for decades. Look where we are now. I cannot help but think about what R. Reich said earlier about the call he received from Chris Licht, CEO of CNN.
I'm sure America's enemies are delighted at the tribal partisan political division they have brought about. I hope you and your country's friends will encourage bipartisan or multipartisan activities in every way.
Takes 2 to tango.
There is only one side that's guilty.
Yo Daniel, you are right. In this case, only one side is right and it ain't the Republicans.
Thank you for pointing out that what we are seeing is "partisan political division they have brought about." The they, as you point out, is America's enemies. It is a point that needs to made again and again. This disinformation garbage is clearly sourced with enemies. Where else could it be coming from? And Fox just sucks and spews the exhaust from that tailpipe all over the place -- in the name of making money. Shame on them. And shame on Republicans for buying into this garbage.
Wende Reid
Professor Reich, were there truth in broadcasting regulations in the age of Walter Cronkite?
Whether there were or not regulations requiring true news reports existed before, there's an urgent need for regulations now for any broadcast, publication or public online presence that calls itself news.
Everything said under the heading of news needs to be a verifiable fact under penalty of heavy fines. To avoid getting around this, an allowance for editorial opinion on news broadcasts, could be limited to say, 40% of total content. That seems generous to me, with the rule that opinions must be responses referring to verifiable facts.
I don't think that impedes 1st amendment rights and we urgently need this. There was always a wide chasm between left and right in America, but we all know it's become even more incendiary since Reagan fast tracked Rupert Murdoch's application for citizenship and Fox was born. If I'm not mistaken, Reagan cancelled some version of truth in broadcasting regulations and the Fairness Doctrine.
I will really like to hear what you think Professor Reich and the thoughts of anyone else here who cares to comment. From where I sit (I'm an ex-pat watching ardently from a distance), this seems to be the single most important issue in America today and so far it's unaddressed by this or any administration.