1192 Comments

A clear eyed call to arms. The fact is ALL who oppose the ending of American democracy should vote for whoever stands for the Dems, a semi cogent Biden, Harris whoever- it’s not an idea choice but it’s the only responsible action. One thing I can’t understand though, is why the media is still chasing and cheerleading Trump generated ratings like it’s 2015. Surely they understand it’ll be over for them (literally) if he gets in again? Why the conspiracy of silence around Project 25?

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❤️Reich's Eleven suggestions❤️ missed humor. For Vonnegut fans: it's OK to indulge in your placebo! 😁"Live by the lies that make you kind and brave and healthy and happy." 😁 The suicide promised at the end of Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle" NEVER HAPPENED BECAUSE IT REQUIRED FINISHING THE VOLUMINOUS HISTORY OF HUMAN STUPIDITY... BUT ***HUMAN STUPIDITY IS ENDLESS***(finding the joy of human stupidity in high school... my dad built nukes so the End of the World was being NOURISHED IN MY KITCHEN... has been like a "secret engine" to ENDLESS JOY)😁😁😁

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Colbert on Biden debate on debate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF5pcrdvnSQ

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Oh Power corrupts, that was the best Colbert I have seen in some time. Thank you for the needed giggle!!!

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Jul 9
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If trump wins, I want to hear what you say after he starts his "revolution" of America! When your freedoms start disappearing, will you still be glad you voted for him?

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If Trump wins I am moving out of the US, because Rome will fall the next time. I am a older lady, I don't want to be marched to the gas chamber because I am a older lady. Just Saying

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Jan, of course Tom will. He would never admit he is suffering from the actions of his hero. That's how we get cults.

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So true!!!!!!!

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Biden mandated a shot that didn't work and threatened the bread basket of America..... the working class of people who pay the taxes that assist us to live beyond our means. Now the dollar set to lose the Reserve currency status America will be an impoverished country. happened under Biden. let's stop this selecta memory behavior.

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Which freedom is that?

More than 2000 have been arrested for peaceful protest against this genocide that is squarely due to Joenocide Biden complicity.

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Mehrdad, are 2000 people in jail? Being arrested and being imprisoned aren't the same thing. Just ask convicted criminal Trump.

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Jul 9
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It's not a marriage, it's a bus. You don't wait for the perfect one, you take the one most likely to get you where you want to go. Just standing on the street corner waiting illustrates your inability to make a reasonable choice.

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Given that it will take every available vote to keep Trump and Project 2025 out of the White House. Any vote for a third party, or any non vote is in fact a vote for Trump

So Tom, you are in reality voting for Trump.

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My dad turned into a grumpy old man. He locked his doors and kept a gun by it. He gritted his teeth a lot too. But he had his buddies. I hope you have yours. This is humanity and this EXPERIMENT is what we got and what we have to work with. People who don't vote at all help us to circle the drain and go down it. That's complete abdication.

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If only Bernie. . . or Elizabeth Warren.

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Not voting for president is worse than voting for trump

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You forget important facts - presidents can’t act unless Congress goes along with it - hmmmmm, wonder what that means ??

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Stop whining.

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Obama failed to.prosecute Bush? If you want tyranny, vote for Trump or don’t vote, it amounts to the same thing. I guess it was OK for Hamas to attack Israel and or Israel and its allies to just take it on the chin. Please crawl back under the rock you came from.

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I hope I am as bad*ss as you when I get to your age <3

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I don't like the DNC any better than you. I was furious with how they treated Bernie (twice), and am only voting for Biden because Trump will definitely take us down a road that will be very hard to come back from. Maybe it won't be in your or my lifetime, but with the choices we have, I have to vote for Biden or his replacement.

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Yes, we're at a low point. But what do you think not voting for Biden will do but take us even lower? If he wins, then you can make these very good suggestions. But if you don't fight for him (or whoever takes his place) to win, we'll have dug the hole even deeper.

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You are not alone in feeling this way. I am right behind you both in age and belief. Democrats are the pigs with the lipstick

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So you just don't vote in the presidential election? Just to be clear

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You forgot to mention "in the name of Christianity"

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Tom,

Would you have been against America's entrance into WWII against German fascism? Are you now against America's support of Ukraine in its fight against Russian fascism? Apparently, from your remarks, you are against America's support of Israel against Arab fascism.

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well said

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In a Trump tin pot dictatorship, you will have to pay bribes to government officials for services that now come as part of the general funding of government. If you express dissatisfaction with any Trump government official, you will be thrown in jail. Availability and safety of life-saving drugs will be decided by corrupt, ignorant judges, not by FDA scientific experts. Capable, experienced civil servants will be replaced with incompetent doofuses, such that government will not perform the basic functions that we have come to expect. It won't be pretty.

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How are people so blind not to see this?

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Correct! Corruption will abound! It's already gotten pretty bad in some parts. Trump is as corrupt as they come. And now the whole GOP is corrupt.

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Jul 9
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Tom, can you give us some of your ideas as to what we're supposed to do about all this then? What have YOU been doing to improve the situation?

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Not outrage at what’s going on, outrage at what could be the end of freedom and democracy.

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Why are you focused on Biden’s senior moment when Beelzebub Trump will destroy the world ? Like the Dutch boy with his finger in the dike ….

It’s easy, if Biden becomes incapacitated Harris will take over.

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Susan, the best idea I have heard is having an open democratic convention. Making the presidential wannabes compete for our vision & vote. Already, Biden’s team is making decisions. Is that why Gaza will continue to live in genocide? Because Biden is NOT strong enough to meet the challenge?

If Biden is partially there as he appears, then others are not or are making unelected decisions. Like Rotten Ronnie Reagan & his obscene wife.

There is no guarantee Biden will die. His unelected team lives on. The VP then is NOT making decisions. It drags on.

Trumpties say nada because they feel they can beat Biden. But, a democrat elected from a real convention, not the DNC lackies for Wall Street, could boost the excitement. Watch the Colbert footage. Don’t cry. Seek a real candidate. What happened prior does not mean it will happen now as we fight the Nazis.

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An open convention is a recipe for disaster. A candidate/nominee starts from scratch, receives o e week of fame,then loses to Trump. Convention is for a limited number of people. About14 million people voted for Biden during the primaries. You want to disenfranchise them? You want to overturn their will just like Trump did on January 6. There is no difference between this suggestion and Trump. I will grant you the exception that I am sure you will not use violence.

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Just utter nonsense. The Left keeps waiting and hoping for that "revolution" to come along. Must be nice high on that mountain top with all the answers and all the moral high ground. In the meantime the real fight is down here in the dirt. Trying to keep a real fascist idiot from getting back in the WH. Anyone who is delusional enough to think there is no difference between Trump and Biden has not much of a memory. It is not one man it is an administration. An agenda. So keep hoping for that revolution which will never come. In the meantime all of us "neo" liberals will keep going to the polls doing the heavy lifting to try and keep what little rights we have left intact. More evidence that the extremes of both "sides" are actually just one side.

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Indeed, while there are real resonances here insofar as what took place in Germany in the 1930's. One does not try to appease dictators like Trump or his institutional supporters; rather one must fight them! That said, Biden is no longer anything resembling Churchill (perhaps he never was?) with the further dilemma being that there do not appear to be - at least at this stage - sufficient enough blocs within the Democratic Party who have the moral clarity to realise what is at stake, indeed not only in regard to the US but the entire world!! Put simply, Biden HAS TO GO, while to rewrite Pablo Casals, "The situation is hopeless (the Dem Party) must take the next step"!

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Watch the Colbert link at the beginning. Get out of your Reich fantasy called Groupthink. Wake up to what real people think about Biden now.

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I don’t know that my teacher’s teacher, Maestro Casals, would appreciate his words being used in this context.

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Excellent post!

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And the neo “liberals” will continue to concern themselves with the color of the curtains in the kitchen while the house burns down…

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Jul 9
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If throwing your vote away is smart, so is pissing into the wind.

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I also have wondered if Biden is actually doing anything. More often than not, he is invisible. During the 2020 election, he was absent.

But whoever is running the country is doing the best job in decades. It isn't perfect of course. More should have been done to reduce the border problem. More should have been done to restrain Israel. But overall, a lot of good action has been taken.

I suspect that a group of centrist politicians, or others might be incharge. Looking at the actions that were taken, a lot of money flowed to big business. But at least the big business were tasked with improving the country. Take for example the EV subsidies: They were for improving the charging network. Only US car manufacturing was included in the rebates. Only better sources of batteries were allowed. Battery production in the US was encouraged.

Take for example renewable energy: Gobs of land were given to business to install solar. But rebates for individuals for solar and battery systems was enhanced.

Even during the Trump administration, a bunch of good legislation was signed, but it all came from bipartisn bills, with none of Trump's help in the making.

Yeah, maybe there is a deep state, but whatever it is, it is good instead of evil like Trump. And Trump will be happy to follow the far right oligarchs.

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Jul 9
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Meanwhile a lot of people are moochers. I see some who don't do a lick of work, but find ways to extract money from the system. I see democrats that worry about trivial people issues, who don't give a thought to the collapse of civilization due to climate change. You have to be able to sort out what must be done, from what is nice to have done.

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America has become balkanized, with the huge majority of the USA supporting Donald Trump and a nearly identical number of Progressive Democrats living at the extreme edges of the continent. America would be well served if the rich elites on the coastline created their own nation.

Reich will never convince anyone with arrogant and extremely partisan nonsense.

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Tom, that was quite a rant, but it was total BS! Good for you, you managed to keep it going for a couple of paragraphs worth too!

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Is "Kaitlin Johnson" a real person or a bot? She has been around since before the first Trump campaign. I have tried,but never been able to find any evidence that "Kaitlin Johnson "is a real person.

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I keep seeing that name posted (with a C, not a K) here & there as the apparent author of some quote or idea, but I have no idea who (she?) is or what (she) stands for. I do think that this particular supposed quote by (her) is apropos.

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This is so true. This means many of the American people has Parkinson's disease or mental issues. It was self evident he is not running the coutry.

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Mine too! We had the bomb at the dinner table. The GenZs don't understand that this real, like REAL. My 7th grade class was dismissed early during the Cuban missile crisis...of course in Our Town nobody's mom worked, moms were home if the Nuclear End of Days came to pass.

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Gen z’s nor any of the modern gen’s understand what it was like to live under threat of war or nuclear war - they are more interested in cats dancing on TikTok.

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Hey, Susan, watching funny cat videos may be a distraction from todays rancorous political climate, but that's sorta the whole point, right?

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Jul 9
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You’re just a troll -

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Jul 9
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Why is it those with no historical background always have to get the last word and it is always namecalling with no substance? Maybe checking out family history of who in their family fought in W.W.I.I. would help. Did someone get pulled into Vietnam? Do they understand what the draft used to be?

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Agree, completely. And we need wide knowledge of more recent events than ww2.

My father, stationed in Orleans France, was due to retire from the US Army when the Berlin wall went up, August 1961. Out of fear of Soviet sttack, all Army personnel were "frozen" in place. 11 months later my father was permitted to retire and return to the. US. My US Army American high school was designed as a field hospital. There were no stairs, only curving ramps., in expectation of no power.

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Such a life story. I really wish these heros could tell their stories more to young people. There really are many young people interested in history and stories bring history alive.

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Good point. Vietnam vets, nurses, pilots should be interviewed on tape. If short interviews were somehow made available to American and world history teachers, it would help young people connect to wartime experiences

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Reminds me of that great line, "What part of 'Leave-it-to-Beaver-land are you taking me to?" (with apologies to "The Wire" for possible paraphrase).

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Joe Biden has pushed the US closer to nuclear war than any president in 21st century. He keeps escalating Russia and throwing Ukrainian lives into a meatgrinder proxy war that Russia has already won. Trump de-escalated nuclear tensions with North Korea, which brought more peace and stability to the world. So how are you invoking nuclear fear as an anti-Trump argument?

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Put "Trump," and "MAGA," and "Fascism," and "Dictator," and "Nazisim," and "Hitler," etc into the blender and what do you get? You find out that they are all made out of the same thing:

Gullibility:

Now imagine that the 60% of Americans that scientists found are sometimes cured by placebo... HAD THEIR PLACEBO REPLACED WITH SCIENCE!

Science:"Do one thing every day that scares you." --Ms.FDR, Eleanor Roosevelt(aka FREEDOM FROM FEAR...aka one of FDR's* FOUR FREEDOMS: Fear, Want, Speech, Placebo...ooops... I mean POSITIVE PLACEBOS... aka Religion )😁😁😁

*and the UN.org

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MAGA: Manipulating America's Gullible Assholes!

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Jul 10
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Yeah, I’m still waiting for these constitutional geniuses to explain how Trump is going to steal the country.

Idiots.

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Look at most of Trump’s followers. Other than Christian zealots, they’re mainly (not all) a LOT of ignorant hillbillies.

These “folks” can be extremely scary.

I know from experience 🤦‍♀️

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Please, explain your experiences. How is it you call me ANYTHING when you’ve never met me? I’m anxious to see your list of experiences.

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Jul 10
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Well, I sure didn’t mean to, but I see what you’re saying.

It’s because I have had in-laws from a scary part of the South who were extremely backwards and treated me rather nasty because I wasn’t from the South.

I’m from Missouri, it’s Midwestern, not Northern!

Cruel even after my husband died.

It was not a pleasant situation and THEY were extreme and the MIL still tries to hurt me.

I just don’t allow it anymore…

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Being naive is a very dangerous thing. I would rather be a little paranoid and see dangers that may not exist than to think “every little thing is going to be alright “

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What do you get with that noxious blend, PC? Pure, lethal poison. No thanks.

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😂

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Well, Trump is no Howard W. Campbell, Jr. However, this is apropos from Wikipedia

I got the idea at a cocktail party on Cape Cod. [...] I lived there for 20 years, and I met a spymaster. The guy had been a spymaster during the Second World War, and he was complaining about spy films, that they made no sense. He said, "Any time you have an agent inside an enemy country, this is a very sick person you are dealing with."

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Jul 9
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Who’s sick?

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The CEOs of the media companies (including MSNBC and CNN) have donated $$ millions to the Deranged Yam’s campaign. They’ll make lots more $ w him as president (if they survive at all).

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I love your moniker for Drumpf -- "Deranged Yam"! How clever! We should all start using that. 😀

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I can’t take credit for it, unfortunately. It’s so clever! A commenter on Substack (I cannot remember where) used and it cracked me up. If anyone knows who the commenter was, let me know so I can credit them!

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I agree!

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Joni, I agree with you. All the wealthy individuals and media corporations who gave obscene amounts of money to Trump’s campaign are supersized fools. Their shortsightedness prevents them from understanding how his fascist government will enslave them to serve his vile purposes. They think they own him but the opposite will surely prove true as they will be forced to extol their leader on every broadcast.

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I’ve lived in Iran during the Shah’s time and then in Persian Gulf Emirates. All countries run by Powerful families who keep a secret service in order to remain in power. Every person must toe the line. Every home and every business is required to have a government approved photo of the head guy on prominent display.

How would you like to be required to have a photo of a Yam in your living room?

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Kinda like the media that is enslaved to the left wing agenda and have no choice but to spout the lies that they are fed from their handlers

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What, exactly do you think Trump can do to actually overthrow the government and society that ONLY TRUMP CAN DO?

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By himself, Trump can’t do much since he’s only one person. But like Hitler, Trump is the figurehead leading a cabinet of selected loyalists, and an army of mean crazy and fully armed fools who are sworn to obey him and enhance his ideas for the destruction of democracy. Brown shirts or MAGA hats; different colors, but the same battle cry.

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😂 Yeah, ok. 😂

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I meant the CEOs of the company that owns those stations now…

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Oh, just stick with Deranged Yam, Joni, it's a winner!

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"Deranged Yam." 🤣🤣🤣

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Seriously?!?!?! Even the CEO’s of the more liberal channels?!

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They may not recognize the danger of trump because many of them are trump supporters! They donate to trump so why would they write anything against him? They would rather attack Biden and try to convince people to go with trump! They will NEVER get me to vote for trump. They also know that Project 25 exposes trump, and the MAGA republicans, for what they really intend to do if he is elected! They want to keep it away from publicity!

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All you have to do is ask a Chinese or Russian defector that now lives in USA what it was like behind the “ red curtain” of communism to know what it will be like under a trump DICKtatorship

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Trump too shall pass….. in 4 years!

He can fuck-up alot of things in 4 years but if he is capable of completely destroying our republic it isn’t worth saving!

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Omg - if he and his heritage foundation completely disassemble the constitution- all is lost - people didn’t fight all those wars for America just to have a slimebag liar with pretend bone spurs and never fought or worked a day Iin his life throw it all away

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Susan, what I've seen on social media is that many Europeans from dictatorships are Trumpers -- they apparently brought their predilection for authoritarianism with them. During the 2020 campaign they burbled on about the dangers of socialism and never noticed that the alternative was fascism.

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For another interesting perspective on life under a dictatorship, check out the Netflix series, ‘The 3 Body Problem’. Science fiction is only fiction until it isn’t.

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He will disavow it... On the other,

Hand, he lies...alot... He doesn't have a lot of original ideas... He's not much of a thinker... Just a feral attention seeker.

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For something that the “MAGA” wants to keep away from the people they are doing a lousy job seeing as you know all about it

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Jul 11
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Art, How much are they paying you to be a flame-thrower?

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@Steve Bell. Register Democrats to defeat Trump.

https://www.fieldteam6.org/

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Would have done it already but I’m a (very concerned) Brit!

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If you have to register democrats to vote you are losing already

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Biden is quite cogent, if tongue tied. Don't be confused.

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cognizant

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Good choice. Need more coffee. Often cogent though.

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lol tongue tied!😂😂😂 That is the greatest excuse I have seen for dementia man in a while

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Ding ding ding! 🛎️

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Mandate for Leadership, The Conservative Promise 2025 (Project 2025) has been in the news and briefly mentioned in the Substacks of Robert Reich and Heather Cox Richardson. I downloaded the PDF and am up to page forty-five. It feels and reads a bit like the recent book from Kohei Saito called Slow Down. Project 2025, describes how the government is currently organized, but it also reminds the reader of what the book wants out of a president who will conform to its contents.

Coming from and living in what is now a low % impoverished neighborhood with a good mix from all walks of life, thus far, the book contains things that are not going to fly with many level-headed Democrats, Republicans, or Independents. The book is naïve that any American President would submit to the covert control of the Executive Office and the power it yields, much less to American society as a whole.

O