Once again, I'm startled at how trivial our national politicians-- especially the Trump regime, but not just them-- think the increasingly de-monied ordinary voters are.
I don't think the populace is into it-- but Trump's success garnering votes with "drain the swamp [of experienced public servants" shows how important it is to direct public disgust with being treated like game pieces. May the people rouse to demand institutions designed and operating and monitored to create sustainability and equity-- not to hail some cheapass supposed superhero.
It means that a minority is holding a majority hostage. Come November hopefully enough Republicans either won’t vote or switch. Hopefully enough Republican voters will express their not in support of war, high energy costs, being lied to regularly & enormously inflated debt, being at odds with Canada, Mexico & most of Europe & beyond.If most voting was simply popular voting the world would be a different place now.It’s all simple but sometimes that’s not enough for some people who are lazy & ignorant in terms of how & where they get political reporting.Most algorithms are for suckers.
I agree that a minority is currently holding a majority hostage.
What I'm trying to get at is that most people I know don't like being treated as game pieces, which I think that a lot of the consultant class and higher-levels pols are doing.
That I hope the many small players-not-game-pieces who are potential voters and potentially publicly/politically active people will flex our individual power in the direction of moving to government for sustainability and equity.
I personally have much more interest and faith in the work of people who haven't been voting than I do in repentant Republicans, and I wish there wasn't so much constant concern for their supposed preferences.
I agree that laziness, along with a certain resignation, has been a problem.
Mary Ann Dimand, In a way, we must acknowledge that we have always been game pieces. I always thought though, that it was a bit more level of a game board. And that we had guardians elected to protect us. But new tech tools, and power ascending to positions to simply buy off everyone -or socially compromise them into impotency- leaves us here. In real time we are having to figure out how to fight a version of fascism that doesn’t fit our pre-programmed story of what it would look like to “take-over America”. They have leveraged the “Give them bread and circuses” modus operandi and seem to be succeeding in hoodwinking enough of us. They are preparing for the voters to reject them, I feel, and gaming it out. Deep dive into Elon’s 2024 election shennanigans, and look at current voter suppression tactics and dark money influence campaigns, and “Ballots, Not Bullets” seems pretty impotent. Mass rejection of the fascists without violence will be nothing short of a miracle. I’m not calling or predicting violence. I’m just lacking imagination as to how to unify enough grassroots power -over the long-term- to crush these “Same Old Serpents”.
Oh no! I am never anyone's pawn. A pawn is without its own mind. A drone. I am not disposable. I am not to be used so someone else can get ahead of me. No. I will never be the pawn of a perianal pustule.
Much agreed as I make note again instead of The People only being the gamed pieces, why not be part of being the change whereby The People actually run government by collective community self-organizing via a vote123 ranked ballot poll before election day and with this info on election, The People have the democratic power via a united voice assert who will be the representative supported by a majority instead of merely a monied elite plurality?
Generic charisma for the masses and a level of sophistication that satisfies academics and singularly focused thinkers is not a wholesale commodity. For now I’ll take generic charm with a touch of dignity & respectably.
I think of most of the indifferent, apathetic, non-voters as having a mental acuity more closely aligned with that of "children", living in isolation with enough food and vapid, dumbed down entertainment/distraction to occupy their days and nights. They have little to no knowledge about the external world, politics, geography, history, or anything outside their cozy bubble of ignorance - nor do they care to enlighten themselves. Why bother.
This will only change when their needs are not met, they can't afford food or housing. Perhaps when it becomes a question of survival, they will perk up and start to pay attention. Let's hope...
Whether here or in our native Canada the so-called "pathetic" IMO&O are actually more rational than many voters, knowing that without community self-serving organization the majority who vote in many districts could've all stayed home and not affected the outcome when little bit!
Unless and until the gamed pieces do not chew on that, the few will continue running the show. Not agreed?
They’ve been holding us hostage for nearly 200 years. They refused to accept the Hayes presidential election outcome unless we ended reconstruction. We caved and they were unduly empowered. Déjà vu all over again.
ISOe, thanks for the article about drump's anti - Emancipation Proclamation and condemnation of non-White immigrants. His push for the installation of his 'New Confederacy' for his nativist 35 % 'ers can take place after he's purged another 4 or 5 million potential slaves from the voter rolls. O happy, happy ol' White boys!
So true Steve!! We the people need to drain the swamp! November will be a good start! trump n rethuglikkkrussians are a lot like swamp creatures! Az Biggs will work for the 🍊🫏, not you!!!
Thank you, that was fun. Now let’s spend a zillion dollars to try & correct this mess. A shocking amount of people need it beat into their head in between game shows & in the simplest form why things are the way things are.
Super timing to hear back from you as I'm reminded of several pro-democracy concepts that you embarrassed Mary Ann into talking about.
However The People who are so many more than the few with money, don't need a zillion dollars to turn things democratic but if The People reassert that 1 Person = 1 Vote and certainly not $1 = 1 Vote AND only candidates who have the confidence of the majority are declared elected, would you not be agreed the government following the next midterms would be stellar compared to what is there now.
Is this doable? 100% if Americans in any Single-Member District speak with a united voice knowing that "there is ‘no power greater’ than the organized working and popular classes". Howard Zinn (1922-2010) A People's History of the United States.
If not yet, what's keeping you from today's RR forum? :-)
Thank you for a hopeful post - that the electorate will repudiate the kleptocracy, corruption, and illegality of the Trump / MAGA / Project 2025 political rot.
I commend Mary Ann Dimand’s comment (currently at the top).
Like you, albeit from abroad and a non-American myself, I sincerely hope the US electorate will react as you point hopefully to…
I’m not counting on it; I think that too many are cowed or complacent or, horrifyingly, still think that Trump is a good president - God help America if for some reason it doesn’t go the way you hope.
What confuses me, Mary Ann, is that the rich are a slim minority in the US (and the world), while the people being hurt are the vast majority. I don't understand what they think they're getting out of this "deal" with trump and colleagues. Any thoughts folks?
They will get theirs. It is only a matter of time. Every story has a beginning middle and an end. I learned that from Sesame Street. The story of repulsive pedophilic, abusive, violent, narcissistic greed will end. It has to. This is not sustainable. There is no way any of us can continue and the bottom will fall out and the greedy will fall hard. Everything comes to an end. And boy am I waiting for that orange perianal pustule to end.
It has been likened in a Guardian article a while back to ‘racial wages’—that is the notion that white people vote against their own interests for the assurance that they are superior to people of color (whether immigrant or home-grown).
First of all, Eduard, though I'm considered an American by the US government, I've been a Canadian for over 50 years, so I'm a little out of touch. If I lived there, I'd certainly be on the street protesting every day and trying to talk to people about what's actually happening, NOT what they find (and are directed to) in social media.
I also think that America's public education system has really deteriorated (underpaid teachers, overt political influence, suspicion of science, not enough attention to the basics), but that must come under a different administration. I'm a person of average intelligence, but I've always admired people who are very intelligent AND use it wisely; that really seems to have fallen out of favour. Furthermore, there's all kinds of intelligence and we need to get out of our little groups and meet others who aren't like us... recognize them, argue with them, laugh with them, play cards with them, and for God's sake let them live in your neighbourhood.
Name calling, and I see a lot of it, is guaranteed to rub folks the wrong way and drive them into the arms of oppressors such as trump, and why? Simply because he gets mad and name-calls the lefties, which pleases his admirers even though trump's getting rich at their expense. There... that's enough of me for now.
Your point re: American education brings to mind an article from the Atlantic (Ruth Horowitz, “The End of Reading Is Here”) that in 2023 only 16% of Americans read for pleasure down from 28% in 2004. The overwhelming availability of digital devices and their usage in the educative process has an impact. There is, I think, a negative impact to human conceptual understanding when analog (books, handwriting) is discarded. Do we retain or spend time in contemplation or conceptual thinking/ understanding from a screen?
Susan, I never understood charter schools. What is it they do, that isn't done in public schools, and why do people such as Obama support them? Thanks!
Mary Ann, with much appreciation, several moments after posting your excellent and rousing three point sermon you then literally clarified and agreed "that a minority is currently holding a majority hostage"!
Knowing as well that "the people being hurt are the vast majority (Dorothy King)", with all the social capital you have accumulated over the last several forums, instead of only advancing your highly aspirational concluding statement, why not do some simple problem-solving in order to put your finger on how and why, again in your own words The People only "hail some cheapass supposed superhero" as their elected instead of The PEOPLE actually running The PEOPLE's House and Senate?
Mike---The birds must have eaten the bread crumbs--
Where does Trump go from here? Finding his way back from whence he came is all but an impossibility now that the crumbs have been consumed by our Iranian advisories. The Strait of Whoremuz has Trump mumbling to himself, one of his aides reported the conversation actually made sense. He kept repeating that he's always known the truth about the outcome of the 2020 election, it was just more fun lying about it. We keep hearing that "Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon." Yet, to me, they are efforting to develop such a device as we speak. Trump's inapt leadership has put the world on hold. With ignorance in control of our military and his twin brother shackling our Government here at home, Trump and his gang of idiots are at a loss as to what to do next. Public opinion is a relentless force that Trump has no answer for. I'd hate to think of what he might do if the mid-terms weren't staring him in the face. Sooner or later Mr. Trump is going to come to the realization that nothing the Iranians say holds an ounce of truth, either in content or proposal. We have to ask ourselves a simple question; are we Okay with Iran becoming a nuclear power? If your answer is no--there is only one way to stop them. The 18 service members we've lost to date will become a daily KIA statistic. The conflict in Iran could become our next pandemic.
Don, they’re looking to establish a century long dynasty and put Don Jr. in power ASAP. I heard this a few years ago when some Maga guys were talking about exactly that, around the time they were saying they’d rather live in Russia than under liberals. That somehow really sunk in on a deeper level of my brain. It’s exactly true.
Mike, I think that's true about the MAGAs, but I'd say they'd rather have Moscow's governing principles installed in the new 'TrumpoMuskovia'
(from T. Snyder) one-party state. These are the same people who despise A. Lincoln's memory for overthrowing the Confederacy, their greatest government ever to exist.
A one way ticket, no return, surrender their passport. Free tickets for any MAGA folks who would rather live in Russia than here would be good use our tax money.
Mike, even if offered as total sarcasm, how does that help move the needle so that The People, instead of simply being game pieces actually run government for The People, by The People and above all of The People?
Hi Ed. I agree we need to write content that specifically addresses the disaster created by the president and the Republican Party. We also need to alert one another as to the facts behind the current administration’s plans to never leave. Thanks for chirping in.
As important as the latter is, is not the former even more important? And to re-ask my implied question, what examples can you provide of being the change we all want?
One thing I would love for the new Congress to do is to pass a law that prohibits the use of "riders" by either party when presenting bills they want passed. Trying to sneak in a rider about mail in voting doesn't have one thing to do with the insider trading politicians do now. This whole paying for information from the president before anyone else gets it is just plain illegal! Voters are fed up with all of this 'in your face' criminality! I know I have had it! It is one thing to do something illegal behind people's backs, but this regime just laughs in our faces with their corruption. One lawmaker even laughed at a reporter and said, "What are they gonna do about it?" That infuriates me! Most of us live our lives within the laws of this country. We follow the laws because that is what keeps us from a breakdown of social order and governance and economic collapse; however, those we have chosen to represent us in government pick and choose what laws they want to follow and seemingly don't care if we know it or not! They should not be insider trading at all! The only thing we can do to stop this flagrant disregard for our rules and laws in this country is to go to the polls in November and make our voices heard! Research your candidates. If possible go to campaign events and listen to what they are saying, then talk to those around you and see if you can determine if that candidate is actually going to work for you or is going to Washington to enrich themselves. Enough is enough! Keep fighting, America! Stay strong and stay safe!
Peggy, I am too. "All the world is full of piggies, leading piggy lives. You can see them out for dinner with their piggy wives, clutching forks and knives, to EAT THEIR BACON!"
Not only is pork bad, but it kills the bill completely, as far as it's helpfulness to the Common Good. A trap for the desperate who are doomed to lose again.
True joy actually comes from simply doing the right and moral thing! That often involves denying ourselves things we THINK we want or need - so we can reach a higher good than simply self-preservation and self-satisfaction. This philosophy is most wonderfully successful when those around us are choosing to do the right and moral thing, too. Amazingly, the more people are experiencing that true (and often selfless) kind of joy, the more joy there actually can be. It can reach the sky and beyond! The ultimate in joy. Takes a leap of faith to begin but it definitely can happen.
Whenever greed, corruption, bribery, breach of trust, and fraud are on the global agenda, trump and the USA take center stage. No matter how you look at it, trump and the USA have become synonymous with the worst traits a society can exhibit.
Who still has any respect for them? No one.
What shocks me even more is the lack of resistance — as if resistance were a matter of money. It is not.
Perhaps the resistance lies in the fact many lawmakers consider their positions permanent & need to maintain at any cost. Term limits and stronger laws, particularly for corrupt policy makers.
There is no genuine resistance as of yet. Not in any highly visible sense. Delaney Hall may be the exception.
Genuine resistance would come out of a type of patriotism that seeks to restore and preserve the REPUBLIC. The one that Franklin referred to when he said "If you can keep it." There's almost nothing of that yet.
The resistance comes in more than one form. Republicans staying home in November for instance because in their hearts they know things are very wrong & who’s responsible.
Really? What do you think I've missed? The fact that this pathetic clown show is going on for years now, or that people fall for the same fraud again and again?
Exactly what is your definition of resistance? Because there is plenty of resistance - legal resistance. If you mean violent resistance, STHU because you’re just aiding and abetting Trump.
Susie, are you trying to suggest that I’m advocating for violence? You know I’m not.
There are many peaceful methods of resistance — ranging from boycotts, frontyard signs, activity groups, awareness campaigns, and demonstrations to general strikes. Take your pick.
I'm agreeing with you in a way. Yes, we would love to see a revolution occur. But we have not one person to organize this country. We are in cluster fuck. If there was a means to really organize we would not pay our taxes, stop using Amazon, stop using AI, etc etc etc. Resistance is a mantra, a lifestyle, a belief system. I embrace all resistance to this regime. I may be quiet in my resistance on a global scale, but locally I have a very loud voice.
But, Susie, what happens when legal options fail? The supreme court is a dead end now. Even when they do come out with a proper judgment (think tariffs), the regime simply ignores it. What do you advise? And no, I don't think we're yet at a point of a violent uprising, but it isn't far off if the midterms fail.
When the word revolution is foolishly used you give them the very thing they want. They will use it to declare Martial Law and start shooting at anyone with a hint of color in their skin (profiling), which they’ve already done every chance they get. The only thing that really moves MAGA is financial hardship and Trump and his suckups are doing that and they know it. The worst thing we could do is give Trump and his goons a reason to blame Dems.
Maybe we could label the current regime with practising revolution, because, in fact, they are. Seriously though, your point on financial hardship is an important one. If people such as yourself were to stop buying American-made products (to the best of one's ability, of course), as well as anything that's unnecessary to basic survival, as well as stop shopping at places like Walmart, Amazon, etc., this regime would be shut down pretty damn fast. Seems like a small price to pay for sanity.
Yes, so many rethuglikkkrussians in congress, kkkabinet, administration that kiss trumps ass n the praise they lay on is fing unbelievable. These are supposedly educated people! It’s unbelievable!! Embarrassing!
Get rid of as many 🍊🫏kissing congressional members as possible!
202 225 3121 or 202 224 3121
Call n tell them no damn Dave act n no blanche!!
Voted by mail so long I can’t remember!
Been an election observer too! Cameras ALL over! Live streaming too!!!
Trump campaigned on Draining the Swamp. He has, in his mind, drained the swamp of all the excess people who are not loyal to him and has turned the swamp into a sewer.
100,000 a month to get a jump on the rest of us who are willing to wait for the truth. That should bankrupt Truth Social and make the Swamp creature become a lasting legend of hypocrisy.
I didn't know the President could sell insider information on the country. I would have thought this is the same thing as selling state secrets, which I believe falls under the Espionage Act, especially if trump is essentially leaking critical information about a war the U.S. is engaged in. This would also not seem to be covered by his blanket immunity while President, since it does not involve any "official" Presidential act but is instead a private business venture outside his official role. I am certainly no lawyer, but why do we have laws set up to prosecute criminals and when confronted by Trump's obvious criminal behaviour we don't have the proper mechanisms in place to hold him accountable? Since this involves insider information that will also pertain to other nations isn't there an international court that can try him?
Dumpft is so dirty I’m surprised he doesn’t bet on which washer will clean his filthy sheets faster so he can bed more women than any other human male.
But what angers me is that so many republicans hate him,are disgusted by him,but do nothing to stop him. Then there are the Democrats who sit there mouthing off and also do nothing to stop him from their DC offices.
Either all these people are scared spitless of the fallout from taking actions or they’re just spineless.
Either way,they’re all screwing America and the World.
Tell us exactly what Democrats can do to stop Trump. Sick and tired of you fools demeaning Dems for what Rs are clearly responsible for enabling. If you can’t give me a real viable answer that is beyond the many efforts the Dems are doing legally, then shut up with the name calling.
Bull manure on your dem comment. They are fighting. It may not be as effective as you like in a sea of illegality, but many of our dems are taking action.
The old graft was artisanal…the wink, the shell company, the consulting "fee."
Trump Media just productized it: insider-trading-as-a-service, $100k/month, presumably with a dashboard. McGurn's "lasting value for shareholders" is the most honest thing any executive said all decade, since the value is legal access to what people used to go to prison for.
Either it's a crime against the Republic or its midterm messaging.
Meanwhile Congress heroically bans itself from a smaller version of the same move. Everyone's running the grift. They've just negotiated different rates.
Self-Dealing 101. There is a lot of experience being demonstrated aside from 32 felonies.
Breakdown: The Six Trump Corporate Bankruptcies
1. Trump Taj Mahal (1991)
Over $3 billion in debt.
High interest payments and construction overruns.
Restructured with creditors taking equity.
2. Trump Castle Hotel & Casino (1992)
Struggled with declining Atlantic City revenues.
Debt restructuring reduced obligations.
3. Trump Plaza Casino (1992)
Filed alongside other properties during early 1990s downturn.
Consolidated restructuring across multiple casinos.
4. Plaza Hotel (1992)
Trump personally guaranteed $300M in debt.
Lost majority ownership but retained management role.
5. Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts (2004)
Publicly traded company.
Filed due to ongoing losses and high debt.
Renamed Trump Entertainment Resorts after restructuring.
6. Trump Entertainment Resorts (2009)
Hit by recession and continued Atlantic City decline.
Trump resigned from the board; creditors took control.
Key Takeaways:
Use of Debt
Trump: Heavy reliance on high-interest loans and junk bonds to finance expansion and renovations.
Typical Corporations: Debt is common, but Trump’s companies often carried exceptionally high leverage.
Takeaway: Trump’s strategy leaned heavily on aggressive borrowing, increasing bankruptcy risk. Trump used Chapter 11 strategically to protect personal assets while restructuring corporate debt.
Trump's patterns show he squanders to himself but makes available the assets to alternate benefactors and this is an enormous threat to the Bank of the American People and the financial relationships with the world.
The gap in the resume.
Donald Trump officially entered politics on June 16, 2015, when he announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, though his political involvement began decades earlier.
He wants to bankrupt the entire country, then skip away, while laughing all the way to the bank, (JP. Morgan Chase) while blaming Biden, Obama and the Democrats.
He's failed on cost of living promises, to keep out of wars and is leading the worst corruption in US history. Time to remove the creeps from Congress.
Colin, time, time, time, time, time!!! IT IS MORE THAN TIME! IT IS LONG PAST TIME! If Trump isn't actually killing you physically, he's killing all of us with his very presence on this earth! I heard on NPR yesterday on one of their programs that studies are being done now on black holes. Maybe scientists will discover which one Trump crawled out of!!!
Most working class Americans have no idea of the scope of corruption in the White House. I’m informed because of Professor Reich and Substack. Fox News (the choice of MAGA) spews whatever would make the regime happy and certainly covers none of the fraud and corruption. The "president” has immunity, no one can touch him. Where (and when) will it end?
Trump himself is trying to sell the idea that the electoral system was rigged in 2020 by the Dems when they were out of power but not rigged in 2024 when they were in power. Now they're out of power again, according to him, they're once again trying to rig the elections. He seems to actually believe this nonsense, but then he keeps saying that the Strait of Hormuz is open.
The worst thing ever allowed was for a president to communicate to the public through a social media venue. Trump began this first with "tweets" on Twitter; now with Truth Social. It leaves Congress completely out of the loop and allows a president to say what he wants, when he wants, and to the extent he wants. This practice needs to be abolished.
Stunning, right out in the open, flag waving, no attempt to hide it, brass band parade insider trading and presidential corruption. And I'll bet the Supreme Court justices will be at the front of the line with their cryto wallets open to sign up for the 'service'.
The proposed legislation to prohibit all market trading by Congress is a good first step, but I am skeptical that it will ever pass, even if the Dems sweep the House and the Senate. There's just too much vested interest.
Why not introduce legislation that bans the president and his cabinet from all social media accounts. No more foreign policy by tweet. No more royal pronouncements via the presidential personal propaganda platform.
Only when enough people are finally convinced that the devastating economic realities and corruption of the Trump administration far outweigh the “woke” issues they have been led to believe ( incorrectly, I might add )are the major problems they face can we even hope to put an end to this nightmare. The enemy is not trans people. The enemy is not gay people. The enemy is not immigrants. The enemy is not abortion. The enemy is not Muslims or any other religious minority. The biggest threat to the wellbeing of 99% of Americans sits in the damned White House. Wake up!!!
Once again, I'm startled at how trivial our national politicians-- especially the Trump regime, but not just them-- think the increasingly de-monied ordinary voters are.
I don't think the populace is into it-- but Trump's success garnering votes with "drain the swamp [of experienced public servants" shows how important it is to direct public disgust with being treated like game pieces. May the people rouse to demand institutions designed and operating and monitored to create sustainability and equity-- not to hail some cheapass supposed superhero.
Mary Ann, Tell me if it’s not as simple as 17% or so of Americans are holding America hostage. The, for now Republican law makers in charge included
I don't know what "simple" means here.
It means that a minority is holding a majority hostage. Come November hopefully enough Republicans either won’t vote or switch. Hopefully enough Republican voters will express their not in support of war, high energy costs, being lied to regularly & enormously inflated debt, being at odds with Canada, Mexico & most of Europe & beyond.If most voting was simply popular voting the world would be a different place now.It’s all simple but sometimes that’s not enough for some people who are lazy & ignorant in terms of how & where they get political reporting.Most algorithms are for suckers.
I agree that a minority is currently holding a majority hostage.
What I'm trying to get at is that most people I know don't like being treated as game pieces, which I think that a lot of the consultant class and higher-levels pols are doing.
That I hope the many small players-not-game-pieces who are potential voters and potentially publicly/politically active people will flex our individual power in the direction of moving to government for sustainability and equity.
I personally have much more interest and faith in the work of people who haven't been voting than I do in repentant Republicans, and I wish there wasn't so much constant concern for their supposed preferences.
I agree that laziness, along with a certain resignation, has been a problem.
Mary Ann Dimand, In a way, we must acknowledge that we have always been game pieces. I always thought though, that it was a bit more level of a game board. And that we had guardians elected to protect us. But new tech tools, and power ascending to positions to simply buy off everyone -or socially compromise them into impotency- leaves us here. In real time we are having to figure out how to fight a version of fascism that doesn’t fit our pre-programmed story of what it would look like to “take-over America”. They have leveraged the “Give them bread and circuses” modus operandi and seem to be succeeding in hoodwinking enough of us. They are preparing for the voters to reject them, I feel, and gaming it out. Deep dive into Elon’s 2024 election shennanigans, and look at current voter suppression tactics and dark money influence campaigns, and “Ballots, Not Bullets” seems pretty impotent. Mass rejection of the fascists without violence will be nothing short of a miracle. I’m not calling or predicting violence. I’m just lacking imagination as to how to unify enough grassroots power -over the long-term- to crush these “Same Old Serpents”.
Oh no! I am never anyone's pawn. A pawn is without its own mind. A drone. I am not disposable. I am not to be used so someone else can get ahead of me. No. I will never be the pawn of a perianal pustule.
Much agreed as I make note again instead of The People only being the gamed pieces, why not be part of being the change whereby The People actually run government by collective community self-organizing via a vote123 ranked ballot poll before election day and with this info on election, The People have the democratic power via a united voice assert who will be the representative supported by a majority instead of merely a monied elite plurality?
Generic charisma for the masses and a level of sophistication that satisfies academics and singularly focused thinkers is not a wholesale commodity. For now I’ll take generic charm with a touch of dignity & respectably.
I think of most of the indifferent, apathetic, non-voters as having a mental acuity more closely aligned with that of "children", living in isolation with enough food and vapid, dumbed down entertainment/distraction to occupy their days and nights. They have little to no knowledge about the external world, politics, geography, history, or anything outside their cozy bubble of ignorance - nor do they care to enlighten themselves. Why bother.
This will only change when their needs are not met, they can't afford food or housing. Perhaps when it becomes a question of survival, they will perk up and start to pay attention. Let's hope...
Whether here or in our native Canada the so-called "pathetic" IMO&O are actually more rational than many voters, knowing that without community self-serving organization the majority who vote in many districts could've all stayed home and not affected the outcome when little bit!
Unless and until the gamed pieces do not chew on that, the few will continue running the show. Not agreed?
They think they are better than the majority of people, and therefore have a right to their shenanigans.
If you don't want to be treated like a game piece you have to organize and stand up for individual rights..
They’ve been holding us hostage for nearly 200 years. They refused to accept the Hayes presidential election outcome unless we ended reconstruction. We caved and they were unduly empowered. Déjà vu all over again.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-old-fangs-of-magas-new-nativism/
ISOe, thanks for the article about drump's anti - Emancipation Proclamation and condemnation of non-White immigrants. His push for the installation of his 'New Confederacy' for his nativist 35 % 'ers can take place after he's purged another 4 or 5 million potential slaves from the voter rolls. O happy, happy ol' White boys!
They’re happy for now.
You are right, ISO, and this is no longer sustainable.
So true Steve!! We the people need to drain the swamp! November will be a good start! trump n rethuglikkkrussians are a lot like swamp creatures! Az Biggs will work for the 🍊🫏, not you!!!
Congrats Steve in eliciting an existentially important engaged reply!
Thank you, that was fun. Now let’s spend a zillion dollars to try & correct this mess. A shocking amount of people need it beat into their head in between game shows & in the simplest form why things are the way things are.
Super timing to hear back from you as I'm reminded of several pro-democracy concepts that you embarrassed Mary Ann into talking about.
However The People who are so many more than the few with money, don't need a zillion dollars to turn things democratic but if The People reassert that 1 Person = 1 Vote and certainly not $1 = 1 Vote AND only candidates who have the confidence of the majority are declared elected, would you not be agreed the government following the next midterms would be stellar compared to what is there now.
Is this doable? 100% if Americans in any Single-Member District speak with a united voice knowing that "there is ‘no power greater’ than the organized working and popular classes". Howard Zinn (1922-2010) A People's History of the United States.
If not yet, what's keeping you from today's RR forum? :-)
Agree.
Dear Robert,
Thank you for a hopeful post - that the electorate will repudiate the kleptocracy, corruption, and illegality of the Trump / MAGA / Project 2025 political rot.
I commend Mary Ann Dimand’s comment (currently at the top).
Like you, albeit from abroad and a non-American myself, I sincerely hope the US electorate will react as you point hopefully to…
I’m not counting on it; I think that too many are cowed or complacent or, horrifyingly, still think that Trump is a good president - God help America if for some reason it doesn’t go the way you hope.
Anthony
What confuses me, Mary Ann, is that the rich are a slim minority in the US (and the world), while the people being hurt are the vast majority. I don't understand what they think they're getting out of this "deal" with trump and colleagues. Any thoughts folks?
They will get theirs. It is only a matter of time. Every story has a beginning middle and an end. I learned that from Sesame Street. The story of repulsive pedophilic, abusive, violent, narcissistic greed will end. It has to. This is not sustainable. There is no way any of us can continue and the bottom will fall out and the greedy will fall hard. Everything comes to an end. And boy am I waiting for that orange perianal pustule to end.
Yes! Continue to pray he is dead soon.
I wish that would solve the problem.
It will definitely change it!
It will definitely change it!
It has been likened in a Guardian article a while back to ‘racial wages’—that is the notion that white people vote against their own interests for the assurance that they are superior to people of color (whether immigrant or home-grown).
Susan I agree with you. It always comes back to this.
The potent question you ask does not seem answerable. It seems to be a basic human flaw, to bend our knees to the worst among us.
Dorothy, with the utmost of apology, as applied above, thanks for coining "the people being hurt are the vast majority".
With you asking "Any thoughts folks?" might you too provide me with further thoughtful answer there?
First of all, Eduard, though I'm considered an American by the US government, I've been a Canadian for over 50 years, so I'm a little out of touch. If I lived there, I'd certainly be on the street protesting every day and trying to talk to people about what's actually happening, NOT what they find (and are directed to) in social media.
I also think that America's public education system has really deteriorated (underpaid teachers, overt political influence, suspicion of science, not enough attention to the basics), but that must come under a different administration. I'm a person of average intelligence, but I've always admired people who are very intelligent AND use it wisely; that really seems to have fallen out of favour. Furthermore, there's all kinds of intelligence and we need to get out of our little groups and meet others who aren't like us... recognize them, argue with them, laugh with them, play cards with them, and for God's sake let them live in your neighbourhood.
Name calling, and I see a lot of it, is guaranteed to rub folks the wrong way and drive them into the arms of oppressors such as trump, and why? Simply because he gets mad and name-calls the lefties, which pleases his admirers even though trump's getting rich at their expense. There... that's enough of me for now.
Your point re: American education brings to mind an article from the Atlantic (Ruth Horowitz, “The End of Reading Is Here”) that in 2023 only 16% of Americans read for pleasure down from 28% in 2004. The overwhelming availability of digital devices and their usage in the educative process has an impact. There is, I think, a negative impact to human conceptual understanding when analog (books, handwriting) is discarded. Do we retain or spend time in contemplation or conceptual thinking/ understanding from a screen?
You’re right Dorothy, our education system has deteriorated because it has been under attack
by republicans for decades. Undermining public education has been and still is part of their plan. They did it with Charter Schools.
In the last couple of decades they managed to redirect public money meant for public schools
to private schools using vouchers.
Susan, I never understood charter schools. What is it they do, that isn't done in public schools, and why do people such as Obama support them? Thanks!
It's all based on deception.
Mary Ann, with much appreciation, several moments after posting your excellent and rousing three point sermon you then literally clarified and agreed "that a minority is currently holding a majority hostage"!
Knowing as well that "the people being hurt are the vast majority (Dorothy King)", with all the social capital you have accumulated over the last several forums, instead of only advancing your highly aspirational concluding statement, why not do some simple problem-solving in order to put your finger on how and why, again in your own words The People only "hail some cheapass supposed superhero" as their elected instead of The PEOPLE actually running The PEOPLE's House and Senate?
Trump IS the Swamp.
Ego-scrumptious. If Trump was a fast food--he'd eat himself.
The trash should take itself out already.
Mike---The birds must have eaten the bread crumbs--
Where does Trump go from here? Finding his way back from whence he came is all but an impossibility now that the crumbs have been consumed by our Iranian advisories. The Strait of Whoremuz has Trump mumbling to himself, one of his aides reported the conversation actually made sense. He kept repeating that he's always known the truth about the outcome of the 2020 election, it was just more fun lying about it. We keep hearing that "Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon." Yet, to me, they are efforting to develop such a device as we speak. Trump's inapt leadership has put the world on hold. With ignorance in control of our military and his twin brother shackling our Government here at home, Trump and his gang of idiots are at a loss as to what to do next. Public opinion is a relentless force that Trump has no answer for. I'd hate to think of what he might do if the mid-terms weren't staring him in the face. Sooner or later Mr. Trump is going to come to the realization that nothing the Iranians say holds an ounce of truth, either in content or proposal. We have to ask ourselves a simple question; are we Okay with Iran becoming a nuclear power? If your answer is no--there is only one way to stop them. The 18 service members we've lost to date will become a daily KIA statistic. The conflict in Iran could become our next pandemic.
Don, they’re looking to establish a century long dynasty and put Don Jr. in power ASAP. I heard this a few years ago when some Maga guys were talking about exactly that, around the time they were saying they’d rather live in Russia than under liberals. That somehow really sunk in on a deeper level of my brain. It’s exactly true.
bwahahahahaha. Don Jr. What a dipshit. And how wonderful would it be if all the oligarchs went to live in Russia? Go! Go now! Go!
Yeah, that's what they said about Bone Spurs!
I wish Humpty Dumpty had gone to Russia and stayed in his piss bed with the Russians.
Mike, I think that's true about the MAGAs, but I'd say they'd rather have Moscow's governing principles installed in the new 'TrumpoMuskovia'
(from T. Snyder) one-party state. These are the same people who despise A. Lincoln's memory for overthrowing the Confederacy, their greatest government ever to exist.
Thanks Mike.
A one way ticket, no return, surrender their passport. Free tickets for any MAGA folks who would rather live in Russia than here would be good use our tax money.
Vote Blue... make it happen... GH
Its Christofascism, the kind of American theocracy predicted by Kevin Phillips.
He will go back to where he came from. HELL.
Mike, even if offered as total sarcasm, how does that help move the needle so that The People, instead of simply being game pieces actually run government for The People, by The People and above all of The People?
Hi Ed. I agree we need to write content that specifically addresses the disaster created by the president and the Republican Party. We also need to alert one another as to the facts behind the current administration’s plans to never leave. Thanks for chirping in.
As important as the latter is, is not the former even more important? And to re-ask my implied question, what examples can you provide of being the change we all want?
Before the big fire comes. They'd better get out.
and die of food poisoning
was that zen? funny zen!
One thing I would love for the new Congress to do is to pass a law that prohibits the use of "riders" by either party when presenting bills they want passed. Trying to sneak in a rider about mail in voting doesn't have one thing to do with the insider trading politicians do now. This whole paying for information from the president before anyone else gets it is just plain illegal! Voters are fed up with all of this 'in your face' criminality! I know I have had it! It is one thing to do something illegal behind people's backs, but this regime just laughs in our faces with their corruption. One lawmaker even laughed at a reporter and said, "What are they gonna do about it?" That infuriates me! Most of us live our lives within the laws of this country. We follow the laws because that is what keeps us from a breakdown of social order and governance and economic collapse; however, those we have chosen to represent us in government pick and choose what laws they want to follow and seemingly don't care if we know it or not! They should not be insider trading at all! The only thing we can do to stop this flagrant disregard for our rules and laws in this country is to go to the polls in November and make our voices heard! Research your candidates. If possible go to campaign events and listen to what they are saying, then talk to those around you and see if you can determine if that candidate is actually going to work for you or is going to Washington to enrich themselves. Enough is enough! Keep fighting, America! Stay strong and stay safe!
Very well said! We the people, the small fry, that’s why government exists. Not to make the rich richer.
Government for the people, etc, is a nice theory, but, if we review history, it rarely happens at any level.
VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE
202 225 3121 or 202 224 3121
Call all 🍊🫏kissing members of congress!!
No damn save act!
N no damn blanche!!
https://www.nobelprize.org/contact
And no damn Nobel for the 🍊🫏!!
It's a trick that is as old as the hills, to put pork that is unpopular into proposed bills that are popular.
I guess they figure the popularity of the proposed bill will cause them to swallow it and accept the "pork". That needs to stop.
It sure does, Peggy, and I can't think of a single rational reason why it exists.
Pork makes some people ill.
Hahahahahahahaha! I guess I am one of those people!
Peggy, I am too. "All the world is full of piggies, leading piggy lives. You can see them out for dinner with their piggy wives, clutching forks and knives, to EAT THEIR BACON!"
Not only is pork bad, but it kills the bill completely, as far as it's helpfulness to the Common Good. A trap for the desperate who are doomed to lose again.
Some wish to weaponize the rotten. They rig the bill with self-destruction. It destroys what is most desired by the voters and defeats its purpose.
And stay accessible to joy!
It just may return some day....
Yes, Foofraw, the joy is important.
True joy actually comes from simply doing the right and moral thing! That often involves denying ourselves things we THINK we want or need - so we can reach a higher good than simply self-preservation and self-satisfaction. This philosophy is most wonderfully successful when those around us are choosing to do the right and moral thing, too. Amazingly, the more people are experiencing that true (and often selfless) kind of joy, the more joy there actually can be. It can reach the sky and beyond! The ultimate in joy. Takes a leap of faith to begin but it definitely can happen.
Whenever greed, corruption, bribery, breach of trust, and fraud are on the global agenda, trump and the USA take center stage. No matter how you look at it, trump and the USA have become synonymous with the worst traits a society can exhibit.
Who still has any respect for them? No one.
What shocks me even more is the lack of resistance — as if resistance were a matter of money. It is not.
Perhaps the resistance lies in the fact many lawmakers consider their positions permanent & need to maintain at any cost. Term limits and stronger laws, particularly for corrupt policy makers.
There is no genuine resistance as of yet. Not in any highly visible sense. Delaney Hall may be the exception.
Genuine resistance would come out of a type of patriotism that seeks to restore and preserve the REPUBLIC. The one that Franklin referred to when he said "If you can keep it." There's almost nothing of that yet.
The resistance comes in more than one form. Republicans staying home in November for instance because in their hearts they know things are very wrong & who’s responsible.
And why instead of mass resistance is the Stockholm syndrome the operating paradigm?
Atomized,. self-centered individuals.
Sorry Thomas, based on what the Stockholm syndrome and the bystander effect involve, IMO&O you haven't a clue what you're talking about.
Instead of feeding the world largest data miner, Duck Duck Go (https://duckduckgo.com) might be a good place to start.
You obviously aren’t paying attention.
Really? What do you think I've missed? The fact that this pathetic clown show is going on for years now, or that people fall for the same fraud again and again?
Exactly what is your definition of resistance? Because there is plenty of resistance - legal resistance. If you mean violent resistance, STHU because you’re just aiding and abetting Trump.
Susie, are you trying to suggest that I’m advocating for violence? You know I’m not.
There are many peaceful methods of resistance — ranging from boycotts, frontyard signs, activity groups, awareness campaigns, and demonstrations to general strikes. Take your pick.
You are spot on. Susie. Not so much.
First time on substack that somebody tells me to "STFU". I didn't even know what it meant, had to look it up. 😅
I'm agreeing with you in a way. Yes, we would love to see a revolution occur. But we have not one person to organize this country. We are in cluster fuck. If there was a means to really organize we would not pay our taxes, stop using Amazon, stop using AI, etc etc etc. Resistance is a mantra, a lifestyle, a belief system. I embrace all resistance to this regime. I may be quiet in my resistance on a global scale, but locally I have a very loud voice.
But, Susie, what happens when legal options fail? The supreme court is a dead end now. Even when they do come out with a proper judgment (think tariffs), the regime simply ignores it. What do you advise? And no, I don't think we're yet at a point of a violent uprising, but it isn't far off if the midterms fail.
When the word revolution is foolishly used you give them the very thing they want. They will use it to declare Martial Law and start shooting at anyone with a hint of color in their skin (profiling), which they’ve already done every chance they get. The only thing that really moves MAGA is financial hardship and Trump and his suckups are doing that and they know it. The worst thing we could do is give Trump and his goons a reason to blame Dems.
Maybe we could label the current regime with practising revolution, because, in fact, they are. Seriously though, your point on financial hardship is an important one. If people such as yourself were to stop buying American-made products (to the best of one's ability, of course), as well as anything that's unnecessary to basic survival, as well as stop shopping at places like Walmart, Amazon, etc., this regime would be shut down pretty damn fast. Seems like a small price to pay for sanity.
Yes, so many rethuglikkkrussians in congress, kkkabinet, administration that kiss trumps ass n the praise they lay on is fing unbelievable. These are supposedly educated people! It’s unbelievable!! Embarrassing!
Get rid of as many 🍊🫏kissing congressional members as possible!
202 225 3121 or 202 224 3121
Call n tell them no damn Dave act n no blanche!!
Voted by mail so long I can’t remember!
Been an election observer too! Cameras ALL over! Live streaming too!!!
https://www.nobelprize.org/contact
Just no!!
Time to light up their FUMES! For keeps!
Trump campaigned on Draining the Swamp. He has, in his mind, drained the swamp of all the excess people who are not loyal to him and has turned the swamp into a sewer.
100,000 a month to get a jump on the rest of us who are willing to wait for the truth. That should bankrupt Truth Social and make the Swamp creature become a lasting legend of hypocrisy.
I didn't know the President could sell insider information on the country. I would have thought this is the same thing as selling state secrets, which I believe falls under the Espionage Act, especially if trump is essentially leaking critical information about a war the U.S. is engaged in. This would also not seem to be covered by his blanket immunity while President, since it does not involve any "official" Presidential act but is instead a private business venture outside his official role. I am certainly no lawyer, but why do we have laws set up to prosecute criminals and when confronted by Trump's obvious criminal behaviour we don't have the proper mechanisms in place to hold him accountable? Since this involves insider information that will also pertain to other nations isn't there an international court that can try him?
Exactly. Servicemen in harms way won’t know that he just threatened to launch a new attack, but Iran will?
Dumpft is so dirty I’m surprised he doesn’t bet on which washer will clean his filthy sheets faster so he can bed more women than any other human male.
But what angers me is that so many republicans hate him,are disgusted by him,but do nothing to stop him. Then there are the Democrats who sit there mouthing off and also do nothing to stop him from their DC offices.
Either all these people are scared spitless of the fallout from taking actions or they’re just spineless.
Either way,they’re all screwing America and the World.
Tell us exactly what Democrats can do to stop Trump. Sick and tired of you fools demeaning Dems for what Rs are clearly responsible for enabling. If you can’t give me a real viable answer that is beyond the many efforts the Dems are doing legally, then shut up with the name calling.
Bull manure on your dem comment. They are fighting. It may not be as effective as you like in a sea of illegality, but many of our dems are taking action.
So true! So why not one word on how you are being the change sought after? :)
The old graft was artisanal…the wink, the shell company, the consulting "fee."
Trump Media just productized it: insider-trading-as-a-service, $100k/month, presumably with a dashboard. McGurn's "lasting value for shareholders" is the most honest thing any executive said all decade, since the value is legal access to what people used to go to prison for.
Either it's a crime against the Republic or its midterm messaging.
Meanwhile Congress heroically bans itself from a smaller version of the same move. Everyone's running the grift. They've just negotiated different rates.
Russia?
Trump appears to have a very relaxed attitude towards all types of white collar fraud and cheating. Birds of a feather...?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/06/trump-pardons-stephen-buyer-insider-trading
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/26/why-trump-pardons-fraud-clemency
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ktyjH0ff4hI
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-6CJM2jjUVE
Self-Dealing 101. There is a lot of experience being demonstrated aside from 32 felonies.
Breakdown: The Six Trump Corporate Bankruptcies
1. Trump Taj Mahal (1991)
Over $3 billion in debt.
High interest payments and construction overruns.
Restructured with creditors taking equity.
2. Trump Castle Hotel & Casino (1992)
Struggled with declining Atlantic City revenues.
Debt restructuring reduced obligations.
3. Trump Plaza Casino (1992)
Filed alongside other properties during early 1990s downturn.
Consolidated restructuring across multiple casinos.
4. Plaza Hotel (1992)
Trump personally guaranteed $300M in debt.
Lost majority ownership but retained management role.
5. Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts (2004)
Publicly traded company.
Filed due to ongoing losses and high debt.
Renamed Trump Entertainment Resorts after restructuring.
6. Trump Entertainment Resorts (2009)
Hit by recession and continued Atlantic City decline.
Trump resigned from the board; creditors took control.
Key Takeaways:
Use of Debt
Trump: Heavy reliance on high-interest loans and junk bonds to finance expansion and renovations.
Typical Corporations: Debt is common, but Trump’s companies often carried exceptionally high leverage.
Takeaway: Trump’s strategy leaned heavily on aggressive borrowing, increasing bankruptcy risk. Trump used Chapter 11 strategically to protect personal assets while restructuring corporate debt.
Trump's patterns show he squanders to himself but makes available the assets to alternate benefactors and this is an enormous threat to the Bank of the American People and the financial relationships with the world.
The gap in the resume.
Donald Trump officially entered politics on June 16, 2015, when he announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, though his political involvement began decades earlier.
Decades. 6 Bankruptcies?
He wants to bankrupt the entire country, then skip away, while laughing all the way to the bank, (JP. Morgan Chase) while blaming Biden, Obama and the Democrats.
Let's face it. He is an idiot and a scumbag.
I worry that the people who were stupid enough to vote for a 2nd term for tRump will be too stupid to vote the Republicans out this November.
He's failed on cost of living promises, to keep out of wars and is leading the worst corruption in US history. Time to remove the creeps from Congress.
Colin, time, time, time, time, time!!! IT IS MORE THAN TIME! IT IS LONG PAST TIME! If Trump isn't actually killing you physically, he's killing all of us with his very presence on this earth! I heard on NPR yesterday on one of their programs that studies are being done now on black holes. Maybe scientists will discover which one Trump crawled out of!!!
We should have seen how long his tongue is before this!!
Most working class Americans have no idea of the scope of corruption in the White House. I’m informed because of Professor Reich and Substack. Fox News (the choice of MAGA) spews whatever would make the regime happy and certainly covers none of the fraud and corruption. The "president” has immunity, no one can touch him. Where (and when) will it end?
It will end when enough of us wake up.
Fox should have had their fumes blown a long time ago!
He campaigned on lying to delusional moronic voters who think the insurrection and theft are good things. USA RIP.
You would have to be pretty dumb (dumb with a 'b') to have voted for Trump, right?
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8QDeEPU2Y28
Trump himself is trying to sell the idea that the electoral system was rigged in 2020 by the Dems when they were out of power but not rigged in 2024 when they were in power. Now they're out of power again, according to him, they're once again trying to rig the elections. He seems to actually believe this nonsense, but then he keeps saying that the Strait of Hormuz is open.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gX1oc805NT8
Dumb Don needs to wear a STRAIT jacket in his office, in every picture! INCOMPETENCE IS IMPEACHMENT WORTHY!
You left out the head in the sand type. They are equally as guilty.
The worst thing ever allowed was for a president to communicate to the public through a social media venue. Trump began this first with "tweets" on Twitter; now with Truth Social. It leaves Congress completely out of the loop and allows a president to say what he wants, when he wants, and to the extent he wants. This practice needs to be abolished.
Slobbering dumboy should have been stoppedWAAAYY. before this!
Ding ding ding. We have a winner. I just posted the exact same thought.
Stunning, right out in the open, flag waving, no attempt to hide it, brass band parade insider trading and presidential corruption. And I'll bet the Supreme Court justices will be at the front of the line with their cryto wallets open to sign up for the 'service'.
The proposed legislation to prohibit all market trading by Congress is a good first step, but I am skeptical that it will ever pass, even if the Dems sweep the House and the Senate. There's just too much vested interest.
Why not introduce legislation that bans the president and his cabinet from all social media accounts. No more foreign policy by tweet. No more royal pronouncements via the presidential personal propaganda platform.
Only when enough people are finally convinced that the devastating economic realities and corruption of the Trump administration far outweigh the “woke” issues they have been led to believe ( incorrectly, I might add )are the major problems they face can we even hope to put an end to this nightmare. The enemy is not trans people. The enemy is not gay people. The enemy is not immigrants. The enemy is not abortion. The enemy is not Muslims or any other religious minority. The biggest threat to the wellbeing of 99% of Americans sits in the damned White House. Wake up!!!