Precisely. I've been telling people exactly this. He knows he's several kinds of done, including the permanent kind, and he can't stand the idea he won't be here to run his fat dumb mouth forever. He wants to destroy it all because he's old and failing.
And this one: "E.B. White defined democracy as, among other things, “the hole in the stuffed shirt through which the sawdust slowly trickles” and “the feeling of vitality everywhere.” That defiant pulse is with us still."
Inspiring.
I am also (as always) inspired by the camaraderie and competitive joy of the World Cup. Fatso tried but failed to ruin that, because it is so much bigger than him.
Well said, Ms. Houser. Less than a century ago, a racist, power-crazed sociopath named Adolf Hitler brought his country to ruin and died a coward by his own hand. Tomorrow, we must redouble our resolve to not let Donald Trump do the same to our, not his, country.
The simplest explanation (as required to pass the Occam's Razor test) is that welfare-aligned sentience (the ability to choose the best option to promote one's long-term viability) first requires sentience (the ability to perceive one's environment through one's senses). Donald J. Trump is apparently so divorced from reality that he lacks sentience beyond the capacity to avoid walking into walls. All else follows from that observation.
I've never had any fear that Donald Trump will actually finish out his second term. There are too many ways his administration could go belly up before then.
Own up, America ! Traitor Trump made no secret that a return to the White House would be his "retribution tour" - and in your stratospheric stupidity you STILL elected him. NOW SUFFER THE DISASTROUS SPIRAL THAT HE - LIKE HITLER BEFORE HIM - HAS DECREED FOR THIS ONCE-GREAT COUNTRY OF OURS
True, but post Hitler, Germans recognized the horror they had supported. They put “stumble stones” engraved with the names of those killed to make walkers remember, they built memorials to the synagogues that had been destroyed, you enter German churches and cathedrals by passing under a large Menorah representing the Jewish faith and one half of the Bible, and they created a new Constitution more democratic than our own. I hope all my fellow citizens will be able to admit our errors, cooperate with each other, and create a society even better than what we had before. (Anybody ready to update our Constitution?)
The wonders of technology have provided us with incredible “tools, computers and communication,” most of which did not exist when the parameters of the Constitution were spelled out. Certainly, we need a 21st Century update, but we must address the sinister side of humans and computers, which we are about to “receive,” like it or not! Imagine data centers as one-way traffic cops, completely eliminating any individual privacy.
Yesterday I was writing a short note to a friend saying I was looking forward to the Swift-Kelce wedding and not Trump's celebrations, but the Google AI wrote the opposite... saying that the 250 year celebration would outdo the wedding. I was able to delete the AI comment before sending mine.. But Big Brother is watching.
Yes, perhaps update the constitution. But, not while Trump and some of his cronies are still in power. I sincerely hope that any updates would prevent future presidents from doing all the harm that "Trump the Terrible" has done such as starting a war, arresting people and destroying innocent lives via ICE etc.
Thank you! We will make it through the MAGA/Trump disaster. We will rebuild, replace and restore. We will emerge stronger and even better. Have faith, continue to fight, and be ready. We have work to do.
I'm more inclined to think that Turnip is not running the country but, as a reward for hoodwinking enough citizens to win by a whisker, is being given free rein to spend as much of our money as he can to bankrupt the Treasury so the Project 2025 folks who are really running the country can claim there's no money for a safety net. The plan is to destroy the country as we have known it and build their white male krishchun dictatorship upon the ruins. Turnip is living his best life right now, gleeful in his undeserved position as a world "leader" with all attention on him, all that money to spend, and nobody to stop him from doing whatever he likes.
This should be written in all capital letters. The people who wrote Project 2025 are the true villains. In a way I wonder if Trump is more interested in building monuments to himself and just going along with whatever the ultra-conservatives want to do to throw us back decades. He doesn't seem to comprehend the effects of what he is doing, nor does he care.
Tremendous reflection! Thank you so much! Happy 250th Anniversary of Our Democracy! Happy 4th of July!
Precisely. I've been telling people exactly this. He knows he's several kinds of done, including the permanent kind, and he can't stand the idea he won't be here to run his fat dumb mouth forever. He wants to destroy it all because he's old and failing.
Wow, this was a hunk of good writing. Each and every paragraph. Thank you!
This is a really really good essay. The truth is so truthfully described! "The far right is adrift in a curdling fantasy."
Lucille Clifton, every day of her life, "something has tried to kill me/and has failed."
Brava. Thank you. Happy 250th to us.
And this one: "E.B. White defined democracy as, among other things, “the hole in the stuffed shirt through which the sawdust slowly trickles” and “the feeling of vitality everywhere.” That defiant pulse is with us still."
Inspiring.
I am also (as always) inspired by the camaraderie and competitive joy of the World Cup. Fatso tried but failed to ruin that, because it is so much bigger than him.
Let that sawdust trickle!
Oh yes, agreed!
This is also the mindset of that quintessentially American phenomenon, the mass shooter who finishes off his massacre by turning the gun on himself.
"Well, I crossed my old man back in Oregon..."
Ever word you wrote is true. But their children and grandchildren cannot escape what they have done.
Neither can the rest of us. It will take a lot of concerted effort and work to clean up what has been left. We can and will do it.
That will be their punishment- knowing their descendants will understand exactly what they’ve done.
But they will train ‘their descendants’ to think like themselves? 🙄
Thank you! This column has revived by Fourth of July spirit!
Well said, Ms. Houser. Less than a century ago, a racist, power-crazed sociopath named Adolf Hitler brought his country to ruin and died a coward by his own hand. Tomorrow, we must redouble our resolve to not let Donald Trump do the same to our, not his, country.
The simplest explanation (as required to pass the Occam's Razor test) is that welfare-aligned sentience (the ability to choose the best option to promote one's long-term viability) first requires sentience (the ability to perceive one's environment through one's senses). Donald J. Trump is apparently so divorced from reality that he lacks sentience beyond the capacity to avoid walking into walls. All else follows from that observation.
Give him another year or two and he'll start walking into walls ... .
I've never had any fear that Donald Trump will actually finish out his second term. There are too many ways his administration could go belly up before then.
Own up, America ! Traitor Trump made no secret that a return to the White House would be his "retribution tour" - and in your stratospheric stupidity you STILL elected him. NOW SUFFER THE DISASTROUS SPIRAL THAT HE - LIKE HITLER BEFORE HIM - HAS DECREED FOR THIS ONCE-GREAT COUNTRY OF OURS
Please do not include those of us who DID NOT elect him.
that goes w/o saying OK ...but the horrifying fact is that american voters elected him
True, but post Hitler, Germans recognized the horror they had supported. They put “stumble stones” engraved with the names of those killed to make walkers remember, they built memorials to the synagogues that had been destroyed, you enter German churches and cathedrals by passing under a large Menorah representing the Jewish faith and one half of the Bible, and they created a new Constitution more democratic than our own. I hope all my fellow citizens will be able to admit our errors, cooperate with each other, and create a society even better than what we had before. (Anybody ready to update our Constitution?)
And, the German people still pay penance for their crimes against humanity.
The wonders of technology have provided us with incredible “tools, computers and communication,” most of which did not exist when the parameters of the Constitution were spelled out. Certainly, we need a 21st Century update, but we must address the sinister side of humans and computers, which we are about to “receive,” like it or not! Imagine data centers as one-way traffic cops, completely eliminating any individual privacy.
Yesterday I was writing a short note to a friend saying I was looking forward to the Swift-Kelce wedding and not Trump's celebrations, but the Google AI wrote the opposite... saying that the 250 year celebration would outdo the wedding. I was able to delete the AI comment before sending mine.. But Big Brother is watching.
Yes, perhaps update the constitution. But, not while Trump and some of his cronies are still in power. I sincerely hope that any updates would prevent future presidents from doing all the harm that "Trump the Terrible" has done such as starting a war, arresting people and destroying innocent lives via ICE etc.
What a stellar piece of writing! Thank you!
Loved this article! Gives me hope!
Thank you! We will make it through the MAGA/Trump disaster. We will rebuild, replace and restore. We will emerge stronger and even better. Have faith, continue to fight, and be ready. We have work to do.
Excellent piece. This validates my position completely. Hope it is read by millions of people.
I'm more inclined to think that Turnip is not running the country but, as a reward for hoodwinking enough citizens to win by a whisker, is being given free rein to spend as much of our money as he can to bankrupt the Treasury so the Project 2025 folks who are really running the country can claim there's no money for a safety net. The plan is to destroy the country as we have known it and build their white male krishchun dictatorship upon the ruins. Turnip is living his best life right now, gleeful in his undeserved position as a world "leader" with all attention on him, all that money to spend, and nobody to stop him from doing whatever he likes.
This should be written in all capital letters. The people who wrote Project 2025 are the true villains. In a way I wonder if Trump is more interested in building monuments to himself and just going along with whatever the ultra-conservatives want to do to throw us back decades. He doesn't seem to comprehend the effects of what he is doing, nor does he care.
Good point. And if and when it suits THEIR purpose, they will find a way to dump him and install their android puppet JD Vance.
Excellent essay