509 Comments

When will the Republican Party members realize that they are the Titanic and Trump is the iceberg?

Trump killed the border bill, he appointed 3 Supreme Court judges who repealed Roe, he kowtows to Putin and has never said anything negative about him! Are they all really that stupid?

Can you believe that this is the party of Lincoln?

Expand full comment

It ISN’T the party of Lincoln. Hasn’t been for decades.

Expand full comment
Feb 17Edited

It was infiltrated by Jessee Helms Republicans - that is, the neo-Confederate Southern Democrats, called simply "Southern Democrats" - along with Newt Gingrich in response to the Civil Rights Era, when the Democratic party started getting "darker" - as they would've been inclined to say >at that time< among other whites.

Expand full comment

Knowing Trump, he has already arranged to have a printing press installed in Mar-A-Lago, one that is capable of producing bills with ink that won't run in the wash.

Expand full comment

will they say "In Trump we Trust"?

Expand full comment

Penny--Sadly, it has a nice ring to it.

Expand full comment

🤣🤣

Expand full comment

And there are all those who deny racism is the core of conservative Republican

policies. The denials come in the usual rationalizations which is the forte of racists.

Expand full comment

The GOP would love living in Russia. When I was there a few years ago it was lily white

Expand full comment
Feb 17Edited

At one time that was more or less true. Eisenhower started to ball rolling on integration: https://www.politico.com/story/2007/09/eisenhower-was-key-desegregation-figure-005885

These are not those times, and the Confederates are avenging themselves on the party that "drove dixie down" in 1865.

I think it no accident this song was popular in 1969, or thereabouts: https://youtu.be/QC-eDtV5O0Q?si=jUj5F54jS88t-Nzl Nostalgia or "bloody shirt"?

Compare with the contemporaneous Joan Baez version: https://youtu.be/28cg3iCEtWM?si=lAdBXQiE6XDR69w-

The Joan Baez version obscures the message a bit in the medium. At the time, the only part you could usually make out on a juke box or transistor radio was the hook lyric - the song's title. It's not clear that it's supposed to be a Confederate soldier singing it. After all, it was a group of young, soldier age men, "The Band"'s song.

Expand full comment

Precisely Christopher. So ridiculous for R fascists to take credit for a liberal minded president!

Expand full comment

Trump isn't a Republican and has no sense of this party's history or indeed any other history.He is a product of American capitalism forged by graft,deceit and the hyperbole fostered by tv presence.Few however in the media have landed any punches on him and indeed the Internet has amplified the image of him as a martyr to liberal thinkers and their system of self advancement. American democracy hangs by a thread held in the capricious hands of its supreme court judges and quirky legal processes which may grind on past the election day and nullify the final day of rrckoning for Donald J.Trump.My conclusion is influenced by the inability of Biden to project presidential potency and the US voters' general scepticism about this particular party 'product' and his lacklustre impact on overseas affairs that of course matter alot in the preservation of US dominance in military and economic affairs.

Expand full comment

Democracy or Fascism?

Expand full comment

Yes, that is the question.

Expand full comment

Where is Stanistan ? I know where Canuckistan is, but Stanistan ????

Expand full comment

Near Cossittstan.

Expand full comment

Which is nowhere near Trumpistan! Or if it bordered Trumpistan, I would do a Putin on it and invade it.

Expand full comment

Jim, read about it at www.foreignpolicy.com/Welcome to Stanistan.

Expand full comment

I have been bothered lately by the possibility of something scary happening. Having witnessed the transformation so many who have suffered because of the MAGA infection, I'm consumed with fear over the future possibility that whatever they contracted might mutate and jump into the human population.

Expand full comment

In the end, when they lose, they are always the ones to say, I never did like him!

The deadly coup attempt and lackluster legal consequences have affected the health of the public. This on top of having our voices silenced when we repeatedly win the popular vote but don’t get the person in office that WE elected!

Expand full comment

Literally affecting our health, Seeking. Not just those who needlessly died from covid but all the headaches, ulcers, palpitations, etc. he’s giving all of us.

Expand full comment

That’s what I meant. I am getting borderline high blood pressure…I’ve always had blood pressure below what is considered ideal. Many doctors have reported on the increased number of anxieties and stress due specifically to trump’s attempt to destroy hard-fought-for rights! And general democracy!

Expand full comment

Can you believe the havoc this one idiot is creating? It defies belief. And all because of a weak ego. Incredible.

BTW, I just subscribed to your Substack. I’m looking forward to it!

Expand full comment

Seeking--It is time for the EC to go--

Expand full comment

It is a system that allows corrupting the vote. I wholeheartedly agree Donald.

Expand full comment

You’re really on a roll today, Donald. Good one!

Expand full comment

And if they say that Jan. 6 was a test run, then........

Expand full comment

Gordon--Then grab your bible and pass the ammunition.

Expand full comment

Donald ; education and the truth will give immunity.

Expand full comment

Laurie--those two things will make immunity unnecessary.

Expand full comment

Donald, that's really funny. thanks, I needed that.

Expand full comment

Trump has an estrogen carrying attorney who no doubt charges for her services. Oddly similar to the arrangement he had with Stormy Daniels. The only difference being one was worth his time while the other wasted it. Trump loved "Stormy" whether she knows it or not.

Expand full comment

Donald, wherever do you get all these titillating tidbits? Anyway, with respect to A. Habba, I find it interesting to watch her performances for the cameras after court proceedings. I wonder if she rehearses them? like a grade b actress, not even as good as boobert or marjtraitorgreen. but at least she's (according to her) pretty. how can she still have a law license?

Expand full comment

Paul--One can do wonders if you know whose bed your boots are under. As for my tidbits, I have a bush out back.

Expand full comment

I'm not that gifted, but I knew Trump was rotten after his casinos failed, stiffing workers and investors alike.

Expand full comment

Failed casino has always floored me. The house (small h) always wins. What kind of an idiot tanks a casino? (Rhetorical question of the day.) 😆

Expand full comment

Don't understand it, Gordon. MAGA & Donald Trump has *always* been thin-of-mind and character, yet he controls the entire R party??

Simply incomprehensible.

At least Trump is getting torched by the Courts 🙏...

Expand full comment

Trashing Biden plays right into Putin’s hands. Biden isn’t the problem. We’re fortunate he’s our president right now. Trump is a tool being used by the GOP to create chaos. So is the 2nd amendment. It’s another tool that’s meant to somehow make the majority of Americans long for a dictatorship instead of a President—an iron-fisted “Daddy” figure promising to make everything all better.

Expand full comment

Republicans can’t get the popular vote - they’re always too extreme - so now they’ve backed an extreme liar -Trump - willing to do or say anything - makes no sense when they get caught in their own lies

Expand full comment

Arch, I agree with you, but there’s a dark twist in play as well. Corporate owned media has gone over to the dark side. They’ve done it because the GOP

has promised more tax cuts for corporations and an

end to having to fund half of their employees’ Social Sec. In return republicans can expect large campaign contributions and other perks like Justice

Thomas got for voting the “right” way.

In past years we could and did expect the bigger

media outlets to explain various things our government did in an honest and unbiased way. Of

course there were some that leaned to the right and others that leaned to the left, but no one disputed the facts. The media attitude that was prevalent in Watergate days is long gone. They simply don’t care about our government operating honestly or dishonestly or care about the American people as long as they keep making money—the more money the better.

Corporations, especially media corporations have made a choice. They aren’t covering President Biden to the extent they covered other presidents before Trump appeared on the scene. When they do cover him it’s often slanted negatively. When Trump was president they covered his trip to North Korea like it was the second coming of Christ. They found very few negative things to say about a president who boasted he and a murderous dictator were exchanging “love letters.”

During Watergate the press had a field day, “Today, Watergate is a symbol of investigative reporting worldwide, and the suffix ‘-gate’is used to describe scandals everywhere…Their stories got little traction at first, as the White House stonewalled and Nixon won a landslide re-election that year. But the evidence kept piling up. The team’s reporting helped unravel the threads of a massive criminal conspiracy, filled with break-ins, political dirty tricks, laundered money, illegal spying, and obstruction of justice. ‘Nixon had turned his White House, to a remarkable extent, into a criminal enterprise,’Bernstein and Woodward later wrote.” (impact.gijn.org) (Investigative Impact)

When Trump was president, all of the above that

made Nixon’s presidency a “criminal enterprise” was

happening again only worse, much worse. But it hasn’t been covered the same way by the major media outlets. They aren’t even covering Russia’s

substantial and ongoing interference in our political system. Why not?

Not only did Russia spend millions and fund an enormous social media disinformation machine

to help Trump get elected—they’re still doing it.

“The Russian government spent money to create

and run botnets, spent money to organize and promote dozens of political rallies within the U.S.

and spent money to successfully hack the Clinton campaign, Democratic Party orgs, and state election administrators and agencies. Every bit of this activity is in connection with a federal, state, or local election, and every bit of it violates 52 U.S.C. § 30121, the ban on foreign-national spending in U.S. elections. From the Special Counsel [ Mueller’s] report and other analysis, we know that much of this activity continues today.” (Ellen Weintraub, Chair,

Federal Election Commission, fec.gov, 4/18/19)

Did the large media outlets cover Ms. Weintraub’s

statement above? If so, I don’t remember reading or hearing about it. I do remember Attorney General

Barr giving us a very slanted & dishonest report

about Special Counsel Mueller’s report, but very

little was made of it. Why? In the Watergate years

Ms. Weintraub’s statement would’ve been a major media event, because what she’s saying is, a foreign, long-term ENEMY head of state fraudulently interfered in our elections on behalf of the Republican party’s candidate who was elected and we’ve done nothing about it.

Expand full comment

Yes I can. They have shown us exactly who and what they are since Nixon. They canonized Ronald Reagen, who brought forth much of the rot that destroyed America with Citizens United and the end of the Fairness Act. Thus we got the creation of FOX and other propaganda outlets that poisoned our citizenry and brought us an increasingly illegitimate and corrupt (no longer) Supreme Court. Their crowning achievement, the hideous, insidious trump.

Expand full comment

And don’t forget Reagan created the Welfare Queen meme, which demonized both Black mothers and the social safety net.

Expand full comment

The audacity to call people welfare queens when his deregulation created welfare for corporations! And since then the Rescumlicons have taken it to warp-speed.

Expand full comment

We need legislation that addresses corporate subsidies because thanks to republicans it’s out of control. But, the only way to pass that legislation would be if we have dem majorities in both the House and Senate.

Expand full comment

Exactly. No matter what happens in November, having strong control of both is so important and I wish there were more outlets to get that word out. EVERY position matters, from local water district to POTUS.

Expand full comment

Exactly

Expand full comment

Benefits of every kind are almost nonexistent in the southern states. Eduction, maternal-child mortality, etc etc. I can’t understand why anyone but an oligarch would choose to live there.

Expand full comment

There's no shortage of audacity among that crowd.

Expand full comment

Nancy, I agree. And yet so many Republicans (Christie included) hail Reagan as the “gold standard”. Far from it. Remember his treasonous involvement with the Contras? (Thom Hartmann’s Substack newsletter. He should have been tried for treason along with Nixon).

Expand full comment

Saint Ronnie was a fraud with a great speech writer and with a big headed wife and her astrologer running this country. Mr. Trickle Down has been falsely revered for far too long. I still cant believe Jennifer Rubin bought his bullshit.

Expand full comment

Make Reagan National Washington National again.

Expand full comment

Reagan’s deregulation caused collapse in banking and financial markets later - Trump wants even more deregulation- Will people ever learn from these hucksters?

Expand full comment

Keith--If Trump reached into his pants pocket and grabbed his loose change, the man would find he has no common "cents."

Expand full comment

Donald-What! With all the “two cents” he puts in, minute after minute, day after day? He must have cornered the market on copper by now!

Expand full comment

Stephanie--The 2 pence coin was originally struck in bronze. That would explain the hair color.

Expand full comment

Good one!! I'm going to use that one, Donald!!

Expand full comment

Peggy--Feel free.

Expand full comment

If you're talking about the higher up Repub electeds there are plenty nearly all that know Trump is an iceberg. They are willing hostages and wait for the natural course of events to bring him down. They won't say the emperor has no clothes. Nobody wants to be another Cheney.Profiles in cowardice.

Expand full comment

@steve reed. I get what you are saying. But I would like to warn that calling people cowards is a way of de-fang-ing a very dangerous beast. The most fervent supporters of the tangerine twat waddle are not cowards - they are co-conspirators with their own agenda to undermine our rule of law and the constraints on their moneyed sponsors. Their caucus is made up of both abject cowards who know better and who won't risk their jobs over a principled stand plus the co-conspirators who are not cowards, but rather dangerous agents of negative change.

Expand full comment

Agree. The Jim Jordan type treasonous SOBs.

Expand full comment

@steve reed. How do we get this message out to ex-Trump supporters who might be wavering on how to vote?

Expand full comment

MESSAGING CONTENT AND DISTRIBUTION

For content see https://researchcollaborative.org/messaging

I wish you had not asked that. I find it hard to resist a challenge but it gives me a chance to clarify my own thoughts on the general question of influencing people for 2024.

So there are 2 facets of "messaging"

First is the content of the message .

Second is its distribution, though McLuhan's "the medium is the message" means that the medium of distribution also carries a message. Include in that who the deliver of the message is perceived to be. Are they perceived to be trusted?

Message content always need to be fashioned with the audience in mind. I doubt that messaging on Trump as a dangerous iceberg, dangerous to democracy and America, is the strongest message for ex-Trump or weak Trump undecideds. I say that based on some polling I have seen that also agree with my intuitions.

What should the content be ? Start with what the demographics should be for the top priority target audience. If you look at this polling you find where the undecided vote is:

south 9% west 8%

independents 7% and even democrats 5%

(Repubs are 1% undecided-forget them.)

<50K income 10% undecided

non college 9% black 12% , latino 13%

genZ and millenials 11% (vs silent generation 2%)

rural 9%

also, Democrat women undecideds 7%, vs Democratic men undecideds 3%

So, low income blacks and Latinos who are non-college living in the south rural areas would be the ideal low hanging fruit.

The level of messaging (volume) would be modified by which areas are critical to notch wins for Biden, House and Senate. You’ll not going to throw much effort into southern areas where there is zero win chance, though I would argue one has to spend something as an investment.

https://maristpoll.marist.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/NPR_PBS-NewsHour_Marist-Poll_USA-NOS-and-Tables_202402021437.pdf

Message content generally: This is still relevant https://www.vox.com/vox-conversations-podcast/2022/1/31/22869091/democrats-messaging-dan-pfeiffer-midterms-2022

Democrats have a built in disadvantage as long as the MSM reports an event X with the headline “Trumps says this about X”. I don’t know that this can be fixed.

I’d like to write more on content and distribution but have to go.

See https://researchcollaborative.org/messaging

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/winning-messages-anat-shenker-osorio/id1334328470?i=1000550681279

Expand full comment

Yes, and I think they should be called that as often and as publicly as possible.

Expand full comment

Exactly - I’ve never seen more cowards in one room before

Expand full comment

Keith, if Lincoln could speak from his grave, I truly believe he would say that the republicans today are most definitely NOT a part of the party he belonged to!!

Expand full comment

Answers

1 In November if they lose BIG

2 Yes they are

3 Has not been since Goldwate in 64

Expand full comment

They are not stupid. They only want the craven priorities of power and greed. They don't give a crap anymore about their country, they no longer care about democracy here or around the world - in fact they threaten national security here and around the world. They have ditched the constitution, the bill of rights and are covertly throwing half the country under the bus. They are inciting a civil war - are basically criminals being derelict in their duties. They are traitors and long after Trump is gone - their dishonor will remain.

Expand full comment

Forever!

Expand full comment

Yes, they are that stupid.

Can a felon be President?

Expand full comment

According to a forthcoming Supreme Court decision, apparently so, even if he’s tried to overthrow the government. What a country.

Expand full comment

Keith, you’re assuming republicans are still interested in democracy & governing. They aren’t.

They support Trump because he creates chaos.

Republicans are almost bizarrely opposed to any kind of serious gun control even though gunfire is now the leading cause of death for children in America. They screamed about non-existent “open borders” & “Biden’s border policies,” then after months of negotiations they are handed a bill that has 90% of what they demanded and they refuse to even consider it. Republicans stood by Trump as he hawked quack cures (remember horse paste?)and said people should drink bleach and refuse to

wear a mask during a viral pandemic. They lowered

the corporate tax rate on profitable corporations & then insist on cutting spending on social safety net programs so we can lower our national debt. They manipulate parents with disinformation who then go to School Board meetings and shout at board members or they accost teachers and shout at them.

They make it hard for people to vote and scream “voter fraud” when they don’t like the result of an election. None of these behaviors make any sense unless they’re deliberately trying to create prolonged chaos. Prolonged chaos destabilizes our government and our culture. The GOP is a corrupt

political party that has in turn corrupted our U.S. Supreme Court and Federal Election Commission.

Their goal is to destroy our democratic government

and replace it with a dictatorship.

Expand full comment

Maybe, just maybe, the ignorant Trump supporters will finally realize they are the fools who believed that he was sent here by God! “Hope springs eternal”

Expand full comment

With all due respect to you, Keith, and to everyone who reads this . . . sadly I have to respond, Yeah, but look what happened to Lincoln.

I keep reading and hearing on the news that so many of the Republicans in office are living in fear for their families' security and lives. Mitt Romney is paying $5,000 a week for beefed-up security. Look what happened to Nancy Pelosi's husband. Many pro-Trumpers in office are being swatted. Trump puts out the call daily on his "Truth" Social, and in his campaign speeches, and even from outside court houses where he's had to appear for hearings, thru hateful rhetoric that his followers then act upon. I think many would quit on Trump, but Trump has his base so riled up with all of his lies . . . OBVIOUSLY, MANY OF THEM WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO GO AFTER ANYONE WHO OPPOSES TRUMP. I heard on the news this morning that Mike Johnson has left the House the aid money package to act upon, AND HE'S LEFT TOWN FOR TWO WEEKS! WHAT does THAT tell you??

Expand full comment

I have said for year that this is the way Nazi Germany started. Now we have a band of people in power at all levels that are full of power greed and believe the BS the Chump and his minions have pedaled (and we know that he didn't start it, he is just the figure head that made it acceptable to everyone to get behind). We are headed to our own "1939 Germany" and take over of Government if we don't find a way of preventing Chump from getting a second term! Our democracy is already starting to crumble...we need to prop our country try up--somehow!

Expand full comment

Dear Elizabeth, I keep saying that we must each take braver steps than just talking to each other. Many people advocate for working to get out the vote, to contact as many people in that way as possible. I advocate for contacting people in what are supposed to be more powerful positions, such as the Dept. of Justice, the White House Contact website, calling legislators on both sides of the aisle and leaving strong messages. I said that I wrote to Sen. Chuck Schumer last week; I fired off a letter to Biden and had it out in the mailbox at 6:30 yesterday morning for pickup. You can send emails but I don't recommend that if you want to remain somewhat anonymous. Just get really mad and don't cower before the "powers that be." WE THE PEOPLE PAY THEIR SALARIES, AFTER ALL! Wasn't it a former FBI agent who just got snagged for lying about something Biden supposedly did regarding his and Hunter's attempts (NOT!) to "bribe" Barrisma officials in Ukraine, which never happened! They're just flawed humans, in some cases. This isn't Russia . . . I seriously doubt it ever will be. And look at the Navalny situation. Even though Putin has had people arrested and detained JUST FOR LAYING FLOWERS AND PROTESTING AT MEMORIALS, STILL THEY ARE DOING IT. People are sick of Putin! He has to keep KILLING people who've stood up against him, and The People are getting wiser over there. He didn't kill Pussy Riot members. He feared Navalny, and Pregozin (sp?), the head of the Wagner Group, who started to stage a coup against him. Putin's actions are known to the whole world . . . Let's see how much longer HE lasts! Take heart! And act with strength and bravery.

Expand full comment

What’s truly amazing is how completely different Trump and his idiots’ rhetoric is outside of the courtroom and when they are inside the courtroom! What a bunch of liars!

Expand full comment

It’s not a question of stupidity although it sure seems that way. I used to say the same thing.

The problem is they have an agenda and they

talk and act the way they do because it supports their agenda. They’re creating a false reality.

I suspect that technique might have worked well

in the past, but today we have instant access to factual information and websites like this one

where we get together as a community and

compare notes. So that technique doesn’t work

as well as it used to.

Expand full comment

I'm afraid the nation is the Titanic and tRump and the tRumplicans are the iceberg. Unless we can steer the nation away from the iceberg, or melt the iceberg, we're in trouble....

Expand full comment

Stupid, no. What does Trump have on them is a better question.

Expand full comment

The GOP is not the party of Lincoln. It is some grotesque corrupt monster today set on the destruction of our country. The most dangerous political party in the world. It IS Donald Trump.

Expand full comment

And Trump is not very intelligent - he keeps tripping over his narcissism

Expand full comment

An interesting piece. I don't know this outlet, so take this report under advisement. I'd be interested in follow-up: https://youtu.be/OrUx1kZp6QM?si=DOt2LfnVw4YQ6Les

If this piece is true, it seems that loss would nobble his campaign a bit.

Expand full comment

When I heard of Navalny’s assassination, it was one of the most painful days of my long life (80 in April!).

When I learned Judge Engeron had imposed a 400 million dollar fine on THE BIG JERK, I felt a bit more hope.

Expand full comment

It's a story from the King Arthur cycle, or from an Irish saga. Yulia Navalny, widow of an honorable rebel murdered by an evil king, stands before the Court of good kings and demands justice.

Expand full comment

It would seem Donald Trump is testing a mathematical theory that states when two negatives are multiplied together the answer is always a positive integer. However, in Trump's case the man has accumulated enough social and personal faux pas to qualify him as being voted Mr. Negativity and I'm positive of that. Trump collects indiscretions like a bee collects pollan. An invisible aura of questionable legality surrounds Trump's inwardly spiraling lifestyle which seems to be sucking the life out of any aspirations he might have about stayed out of the gray bar motel. Sadly, if Trump was a dog he would be a dirty one! Trump doesn't fear Hell he actually looks forward to the experience, he thinks all the women in Hell are in Heat.

Expand full comment

Just remember, the cube of a negative is negative!

Expand full comment

DZK--That's 3 negatives multiplied together not two.

Expand full comment

Right. That's exactly what it means.

Expand full comment

Trump has never had any discipline- he’s always gotten away with his indiscretions - it’s about time to get the wooden spoon out and whack him on his butt- he deserves all punishment we can deal out - the man tried to overthrow our government

Expand full comment

Susan--That thought isn't in the past tense.

Expand full comment

Agree.

Expand full comment

Me too !

Expand full comment

Good news/bad news.

Expand full comment

What about TREASON?

Expand full comment

Yes, I should have included treason in my answer. I must have had a senior moment to leave it out.

Expand full comment

Yes, and throughout all Trump’s TREASONOUS remarks about NATO and Putin, Merrick Garland remains silent.

Expand full comment

The billionaires will figure a way to cover Trump's bills. Foreign and domestic billionaires

Expand full comment

So far, he has not paid the E.Jean II supersedeas. 9 days to go.

Expand full comment