Meanwhile, Putin and Xi have just met to strategize how to create a new global economic and security order, to refill the vacuum left, now that the US has retreated from sane world leadership. I'm no fan of Reagan, but he and other traditionally-conservative Republicans must be spinning in their graves (those still breathing aren't yet aware that they are already dead.)
The world sees his instability, weakness and unreliability, is moving forward with plans that just circumvent him - and us. We are dangerously exposed, from without and within.
And NanceeM, we are no longer to be trusted. I forget which foreign minister said of us, shortly after 47 took office (paraphrased): “Why should we trust America, when its policies may be determined by a swing voter in Michigan?”
As soon as I heard that Epstein had private dealings with Daddy Vlad, I knew that must be it. Plus he has all the receipts for the finance he has provided the Orange Oaf over the years.
Apparently, the Treasury Department is well aware of thousands
of money transfers in the Epstein account over ten years. Line for line! Time to legally get the info which would trace the sender, dates, and recipients.
Wait, oh wait!! The Treasury Dept. has *full* access to the $1.5 BILLION in transactions that went into and out of Epstein's accounts during his last year alive?! Well, surely BOTH the Trump Admin AND our GOP House and Senate are working tirelessly to investigate this money trail?!!
Because if they *don't* follow the Epstein money trail, that'd make them just more Deep State pedo-enablers, right?
"No one needs to wonder any longer how nations morph into police states under the thumb of dictators determined to wreak vengeance and destroy the lives and livelihoods of millions. It happens gradually and then suddenly." It's Putin's vengeance. Ukraine by force and America by Trump. Republicans and MAGA are completely deceived by Putin.
“Trump was the perfect target in a lot of ways: his vanity, narcissism made him a natural target to recruit. He was cultivated over a 40-year period, right up through his election.”
Friedrike: I think you are right ("by default or design") and, further, another two-sided FACT is that he is so ignorant and inept about so many things tends to hide the monster who lives behind the lines of his very real stupidity. All we see is the stupidity, until we have to step over the mess and mayhem that he leaves in his wake.
By design, m' dear. Think of all the Russian money which has supported Trump in his rickety real estate actions (in part to launder the money, but it helped to soften him up by making him beholden to Russia), the under age 'models' and related 'beauty pagents' he & Vladdy enjoyed while Trump was his guest, and all the rest. I'm not even going to go there about his first and third wives, who were the daughters of communist party bosses in their then Soviet countries when he married them. Who knows? They might have just been desperate for a green card rather than undercover operatives. But still.
He was recruited by the then KGB (FSB) in the 1980's or '90's.
Since his win in 2016, his continual doglike obedience to Putin can be only explained by either the "Useful Idiot" or "KGB-Thrall" theories. The preponderance of evidence, such that it is, supports the latter.
SUPINE. That's a nice word to describe the Republican caucus. And JR is spot-on - if any of Trump's actions to move towards Socialism (Intel), move towards national bankruptcy (massive debt increases), or move towards national pandemics (anti-vax policies) had been pursued, and actually accomplished, under Biden or Obama, honorable opposition leaders (unlike the incumbents) would have been raising cane. I can't believe Lutnick's and Vance's claims that the world respects us now more than last year.
It's doubtful that they could have gotten as far as they have by being stupid, and as one of the prerequisites for a job in this administration is to be able to lie at will, that is more likely the case.
Hi Steve, keep in mind that the maga voters are more stupid than they are. They voted against their own interests and while already feeling the consequences they keep supporting the regime. Need more proof. Thanks for your reply 👍
This week we have another chance to ask some Congressional Republicans to stop this. Only need a few. Many Congressional Republicans privately admit Trump is crazy.
The role of John Roberts and his accomplices in bringing about the death of the rule of law and the rise of king Trump has not received sufficient attention from the media, legacy and otherwise.
14 years ago, following Citizens United, I believed Roberts had permanently skewed our politics in favor of the GOP. But, adding to that, is now the raft of presidential immunity favors, the constriction on women's bodily autonomy, and the evident support for doing away with the separation of church and state and the denigration of the legislature in favor of the executive branch. He's put himself in the company of Roger Taney for all ages.
And the Democrats too; let's give discredit where it's due. Despite their rollover on the Big B***s*** Bill, nothing has changed at the national party level that gives any reason to expect a different result this time with the budget.
In my list of funding issues I'm concerned about, being retired, are our Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, SNAP, NOAA/NWS, VOA/CPB, Transportation Department. Somehow, off my list are, White House transportation costs to golf games, Make-up studios for former FOX commentators, new ballrooms at the White House, more prisons for children, and more tax breaks for real estate developers.
Supine is exactly the word I use as well to describe the subservient GOP congressional majority. I had to remind myself Congress was in recess last month because there was nary a peep out of them for all our mad-would-be-king’s fascist antics, but if they’d been in session, the Republicans still would have said nothing.
I missed it at first, but she didn’t state the obvious. She pointed out that Democrats would be drawing up impeachment articles or demanding activation of the 25th. (To which I thought, yeah, well, bipartisan, unanimous, etc.)
It might interest readers to know that staff at the Holocaust Museum are no longer permitted to use the term “threats to democracy” when discussing the rise of Hitler. Wouldn’t want people to start putting 2+2 together…
Yes. It's a good thing the list is published here because it may not be long until it is "disappeared" like other info has been from various other places..
We have yet to hit #13 yet, in spite of Trump's bellowing, and roughly 60 cases determined that the 2020 election wasn't fraudulent. However, if nothing is done to stop the status quo, the 2026 midterm election might well be a different story. We have work to do.
That's true. I'm only voicing my suspicions. It could take decades to dig into this, if we ever can. I don't think anyone's yet said we can say with surety who was behind the JFK assassination, let alone who might have engineered a sophisticated takeover of electronic voting.
The issue with manipulation of electronic voting is that it's almost impossible to prove unless there is a paper trail. At least here in Illinois, (and other states) the "voting machines" only tabulate what is on marked paper ballots. If there is a question, the ballots can still be hand-counted.
Great list, BUT: it does not come from the Holocaust museum.
Please please please, everyone: vet things carefully before posting. Let MAGA be the misinformation folks. If the Dems wanna win, they need, among other things, to be the brand that tells the truth, and only the truth. That's a winning brand.
* **The True Origin:** The list was written by Dr. Laurence W. Britt, a political scientist. It was first published in an article titled "Fascism, Anyone?" in the Spring 2003 issue of *Free Inquiry* magazine. It's a great article. Here's a link: https://secularhumanism.org/2003/03/fascism-anyone/
* **The Original List:** Dr. Britt's original list actually contains **14 points**. The version you have is missing point #11: **Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts**.
* **Museum's Position:** The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) has repeatedly stated that it did not create this list. It is frequently and incorrectly attributed to the museum or to a poster supposedly on display there.
This misattribution has been debunked by numerous fact-checking organizations like Snopes, Reuters, and PolitiFact.
While the USHMM has extensive resources on the historical rise of Nazism, propaganda, and the conditions that led to the Holocaust, it does not publish generalized political checklists like this one.
Please speak about what's happening behind the curtain- yes project 2025 but also peter thiel and his command and control of all our personal data, curtis yarvin who inspires both thiel and vance and is insane. The data breaches seem especially important and dangerous. Can we file a nationwide class action suit??? If really on an unsecured cloud then all the other bad actors have access too.... finally can't someone go after Stephen Miller???? There are so many bad things but I feel that these need more attention than they are getting. I love the contrarians and am so grateful to be a part of this community. If we survive/ save our democracy it will be because of work like theirs- and community🙏💖
We have an eject button. But we ALL have to press it, and the timing is tricky. First, we have to agree on a few things ( like rule of law), and commit to cooperating on the hard, hard work in some semblance of cooperation. We need absolutely to ensure fair, accurate elections that are universally accessible to ALL citizens.
And any person(s) interfering with that process must be caught, charged, tried, convicted, and punished severely. Part of this will be ensuring the non-partisan authority for and conduct of all elections.
I agree, and add to that that Harris was Black. But there is a drive to disenfranchise women, from voting to health care, leading to an illusion of strong white men ruling the world. We're harkening back to the 1800s and before. Where are the wives of the Rs? Oh, they must like all of this for themselves and their children.
But……how extremely sad that SO MANY of our fellow countrymen are so afflicted? What can other countries think of citizenry that, in essence, votes to destroy THEMSELVES? Just: INSANE!
Oh my gosh, the complicity that all these corporations, rich folks, military men, newspapers and news stations, and Republicans in general have evinced in the last eight months would make the Germans in 1940 look brave and righteous by comparison!
The glee apparent over the plans for a ‘sovereign wealth’ fund able to take over private firms seems to indicate the intent of the plan. A really giant slush fund to rob for Mr. Trump and his cronies.
Republicans only care about Socialism when the charge is aimed at Democrats, otherwise it's making America great again. I can't believe how foolish I was to think - 10 years ago - how stupid that slogan was and how surely no one would take it seriously. Now it's actually the key item on Trump's agenda.
Term limits would obviate the leverage MAGA has on "spineless Republicans" since keeping their "jobs" would be but temporary. The gravy train that serving in Congress has become, would dry up nicely. Can someone dredge up an effort to pass a Constitutional Amendment to effect such a change?
With the bunch in power today, opening up the Constitution to amendments would be the equivalent to the opening of Pandora's box. It would no longer be the guiding document that it is; likely becoming one of favoritism and subjugation. You are correct however in seeking mandatory term limits. Add campaign finance reform and cessation of gerrymandering and you have a winner.
I think these reforms can/need take place...but not until dems take control of congress.
Because we have come so close to the end of our hard won system of gov, I think the dems ,and probably some repubs, will be highly motivated to erase all the flaws brought to light by treasonous groups.
Easier said than done, as it would take a change of the Constitution to have shut of it. Fortunately, there is a workaround if states would join the The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
One necessary adjustment amongst a growing number of'em, Dave C..
Once we "fumigate" this regime the heck out of our government, we shall have a huge list of "the People's Work" to do in order to repair the damage we know about, and the additional ruinations we discover along the way!
The worst part is that it is happening from within!! The GOP is allowing our democracy to be destroyed putting themselves above the good of all the citizens of this country. Don't they have a backbone and the ability to think independently??
The GOP has moved farther to the right in so many ways. If there are any GOP senators and representatives with genuine concern for our nation, they aren't making their views public.
I am sitting in a parking lot getting ready to protest under the banner WORKERS, NOT BILLIONAIRES.
I see other cars parking and headed to the street with their signs. This is democracy. Do we want to spend Labor Day doing this? Maybe going on a picnic? Well,we have to, because we see what is happening. I hope all of you who read this also see it and mobilize.
I wonder these days if peaceful means will be enough to halt the Mussolini in the White House and his unruly minions. of course, I believe in peaceful, democratic means, but can they work?
They are working hard to create an excuse to go violent and maximize repression with military force. Hence the replacement of high-level officers with assorted toadies and thugs. Fortunately, they are mostly incompetent.
Jim C., don't forget Trump's financiers, handlers, promoters and influencers. He's just their mouthy puppet. He only THINKS he's running things. But part of what makes him so cranky is that he knows very well that he is there on sufferance, and had better toe their line...or else.
Force, fear, and coercion are the only things he understands.
Began with Nixon, accelerated with Reagan... but the incremental change was spurred first in the school districts and munis, then it trickled into the House (how did so much power to control the agenda ever coalesce in just the Speaker?), and then our archaic Senate, before W. was anointed, and now Trump 1 & 2.0. We need term limits, age limits, and some other way of restoring at least some level of normalcy with people trying to do the right thing for the vast minority, not the select few.
This concern is not new. It can be found well expressed by Aristotle who also advocated for power for the middle class. Concentration of serious power in too few hands nearly always leads to excesses. It exposes the weaknesses and blindness of the few because there is no one who can tell truth to power safely. Ernest Shackleton (Shackleton's Way) demonstrated the best practice of choosing his strongest critic to be his tentmate to give him direct voice; that way he didn't need to lead an insurrection to get his views heard.
Whether by default or design, the felon in our White House is a Russian asset.
Meanwhile, Putin and Xi have just met to strategize how to create a new global economic and security order, to refill the vacuum left, now that the US has retreated from sane world leadership. I'm no fan of Reagan, but he and other traditionally-conservative Republicans must be spinning in their graves (those still breathing aren't yet aware that they are already dead.)
The world sees his instability, weakness and unreliability, is moving forward with plans that just circumvent him - and us. We are dangerously exposed, from without and within.
And NanceeM, we are no longer to be trusted. I forget which foreign minister said of us, shortly after 47 took office (paraphrased): “Why should we trust America, when its policies may be determined by a swing voter in Michigan?”
And, according to Marketplace Morning Report, Xi also met with India’s Prime Minister Modi, renewing relations in the wake of T’s 50% tariffs. Xi stepping into the void T’s created. (Gee, how novel.) This is in the first few minutes of an 8 minute podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marketplace-morning-report/id137329814?i=1000724380725
I'm guessing Putin has the relevant Epstein videos.
As soon as I heard that Epstein had private dealings with Daddy Vlad, I knew that must be it. Plus he has all the receipts for the finance he has provided the Orange Oaf over the years.
Apparently, the Treasury Department is well aware of thousands
of money transfers in the Epstein account over ten years. Line for line! Time to legally get the info which would trace the sender, dates, and recipients.
Do your job, Congress!
Congressional rethugs have prostrated themselves in total obeisance before Dear Leader.
You are asking for too much JA, after all Rep Comer is too busy investigating Biden's autopen scandal......
Wait, oh wait!! The Treasury Dept. has *full* access to the $1.5 BILLION in transactions that went into and out of Epstein's accounts during his last year alive?! Well, surely BOTH the Trump Admin AND our GOP House and Senate are working tirelessly to investigate this money trail?!!
Because if they *don't* follow the Epstein money trail, that'd make them just more Deep State pedo-enablers, right?
Lol
Child sex offense that occurred prior to 2016 would be a serious crime. This may be one of the things tRump hates about Biden: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3647958-biden-signs-bill-eliminating-civil-statute-of-limitations-for-child-sex-abuse-victims/
I'm thinking the pee pee tapes.
Please Nick, don't think about it too much, it might be contagious....
Don't guess Science, you can bet on it and win big.
A really DUMB Russian asset — the classic epitome of the “useful idiots” in the West the USSR used to be so fond of.
I agree! Putin takes great pleasure in making his "useful idiot" look like fool. It doesn't take much.
And Putin doesn't need much help accomplishing that goal. It comes so naturally .
"No one needs to wonder any longer how nations morph into police states under the thumb of dictators determined to wreak vengeance and destroy the lives and livelihoods of millions. It happens gradually and then suddenly." It's Putin's vengeance. Ukraine by force and America by Trump. Republicans and MAGA are completely deceived by Putin.
A bit outdated, but never refuted -- by design!!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book?CMP=share_btn_url
“Trump was the perfect target in a lot of ways: his vanity, narcissism made him a natural target to recruit. He was cultivated over a 40-year period, right up through his election.”
Thanks for posting. As relevant as ever.
Friedrike: I think you are right ("by default or design") and, further, another two-sided FACT is that he is so ignorant and inept about so many things tends to hide the monster who lives behind the lines of his very real stupidity. All we see is the stupidity, until we have to step over the mess and mayhem that he leaves in his wake.
By design, m' dear. Think of all the Russian money which has supported Trump in his rickety real estate actions (in part to launder the money, but it helped to soften him up by making him beholden to Russia), the under age 'models' and related 'beauty pagents' he & Vladdy enjoyed while Trump was his guest, and all the rest. I'm not even going to go there about his first and third wives, who were the daughters of communist party bosses in their then Soviet countries when he married them. Who knows? They might have just been desperate for a green card rather than undercover operatives. But still.
He was recruited by the then KGB (FSB) in the 1980's or '90's.
Since his win in 2016, his continual doglike obedience to Putin can be only explained by either the "Useful Idiot" or "KGB-Thrall" theories. The preponderance of evidence, such that it is, supports the latter.
Yes, he's an Unwitting Asset. Even sadder and scarier.
I do not agree.
Trump is not Putin's asset.
Trump does all this all by himself while pleasing Xi and Putin along the way.
SUPINE. That's a nice word to describe the Republican caucus. And JR is spot-on - if any of Trump's actions to move towards Socialism (Intel), move towards national bankruptcy (massive debt increases), or move towards national pandemics (anti-vax policies) had been pursued, and actually accomplished, under Biden or Obama, honorable opposition leaders (unlike the incumbents) would have been raising cane. I can't believe Lutnick's and Vance's claims that the world respects us now more than last year.
Neither Lutnick nor Vance have a grip on reality or truth. They are typical of MAGA in general.
Either they are totally stupid or they are lying.....or a combination of both...
It's doubtful that they could have gotten as far as they have by being stupid, and as one of the prerequisites for a job in this administration is to be able to lie at will, that is more likely the case.
Hi Steve, keep in mind that the maga voters are more stupid than they are. They voted against their own interests and while already feeling the consequences they keep supporting the regime. Need more proof. Thanks for your reply 👍
I forgot that with this cult, there is no critical thinking, (and notmuch thinking at all) so anything is possible. Too much propaganda.
This week we have another chance to ask some Congressional Republicans to stop this. Only need a few. Many Congressional Republicans privately admit Trump is crazy.
Brian Fitzpatrick is the prototype. https://problemsolverscaucus.house.gov/
Thanks for sharing. Wouldn't it be wonderful if they could nudge the US Government into working for all the people most of the time?
Privately doesn't count.
But with secondary reinforcement, they may come forward.
It would be nice, but: nope. They are who they are. Any with a spine or conscience left the GOP building long ago.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
If you don't pressure them, you are complicit.
Nope. I focus on votes we can organize and win. I have no interest in pi**ing into a hurricane of cowardice and avarice.
“Supine” — only because no one word exists in the English language that says “head voluntarily shoved up one’s own ass.”
That applies to so many of the millions that voted for the scumbag president .....
The role of John Roberts and his accomplices in bringing about the death of the rule of law and the rise of king Trump has not received sufficient attention from the media, legacy and otherwise.
14 years ago, following Citizens United, I believed Roberts had permanently skewed our politics in favor of the GOP. But, adding to that, is now the raft of presidential immunity favors, the constriction on women's bodily autonomy, and the evident support for doing away with the separation of church and state and the denigration of the legislature in favor of the executive branch. He's put himself in the company of Roger Taney for all ages.
Yes, supine is a "nice" word but why be nice when the more apt description is coward.
And the Democrats too; let's give discredit where it's due. Despite their rollover on the Big B***s*** Bill, nothing has changed at the national party level that gives any reason to expect a different result this time with the budget.
In my list of funding issues I'm concerned about, being retired, are our Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, SNAP, NOAA/NWS, VOA/CPB, Transportation Department. Somehow, off my list are, White House transportation costs to golf games, Make-up studios for former FOX commentators, new ballrooms at the White House, more prisons for children, and more tax breaks for real estate developers.
Supine is exactly the word I use as well to describe the subservient GOP congressional majority. I had to remind myself Congress was in recess last month because there was nary a peep out of them for all our mad-would-be-king’s fascist antics, but if they’d been in session, the Republicans still would have said nothing.
But the constant bubbling of new crazy proposals is certainly effective at keeping the Epstein Capers off our radar.
DS, prone, face down, butt up, applies much better to those hypocrites....
I missed it at first, but she didn’t state the obvious. She pointed out that Democrats would be drawing up impeachment articles or demanding activation of the 25th. (To which I thought, yeah, well, bipartisan, unanimous, etc.)
Lutnick and Vance are confounding bending over to vomit by the site of trump with bending the knee to trump.
EARLY WARNING SIGNS OF FASCISM
from the Holocaust Museum, Wash. DC
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
2. Disdain for Human Rights
3. Identification of Enemies as a Unifying Cause
4. Supremacy of the Military
5. Rampant Sexism
6. Controlled Mass Media
7. Obsession with National Security
8. Religion and Government Intertwined
9. Corporate Power Protected
10. Labor Power Suppressed
11. Obsession with Crime and Punishment
12. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
13. Fraudulent Elections
It might interest readers to know that staff at the Holocaust Museum are no longer permitted to use the term “threats to democracy” when discussing the rise of Hitler. Wouldn’t want people to start putting 2+2 together…
Yes. It's a good thing the list is published here because it may not be long until it is "disappeared" like other info has been from various other places..
Maybe, given their mental capacity, they need to practice first putting 1+ 1 together....
We have yet to hit #13 yet, in spite of Trump's bellowing, and roughly 60 cases determined that the 2020 election wasn't fraudulent. However, if nothing is done to stop the status quo, the 2026 midterm election might well be a different story. We have work to do.
I'm not sure the 2024 election wasn't fraudulent.
There are some developing questions about this. Nobody has made a legal issue of them yet.
That's true. I'm only voicing my suspicions. It could take decades to dig into this, if we ever can. I don't think anyone's yet said we can say with surety who was behind the JFK assassination, let alone who might have engineered a sophisticated takeover of electronic voting.
The issue with manipulation of electronic voting is that it's almost impossible to prove unless there is a paper trail. At least here in Illinois, (and other states) the "voting machines" only tabulate what is on marked paper ballots. If there is a question, the ballots can still be hand-counted.
Here in Baltimore County, Maryland, it is the same procedure. As a 12 year veteran Election Judge, our system has proven itself over and over again.
Robert Tannenbaum’s “That Day in Dallas” is a moon-shot on 11/22/63. GIVE HIM A TRY!
Look up the court case over results in Rockland County, NY.
Great list, BUT: it does not come from the Holocaust museum.
Please please please, everyone: vet things carefully before posting. Let MAGA be the misinformation folks. If the Dems wanna win, they need, among other things, to be the brand that tells the truth, and only the truth. That's a winning brand.
* **The True Origin:** The list was written by Dr. Laurence W. Britt, a political scientist. It was first published in an article titled "Fascism, Anyone?" in the Spring 2003 issue of *Free Inquiry* magazine. It's a great article. Here's a link: https://secularhumanism.org/2003/03/fascism-anyone/
* **The Original List:** Dr. Britt's original list actually contains **14 points**. The version you have is missing point #11: **Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts**.
* **Museum's Position:** The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) has repeatedly stated that it did not create this list. It is frequently and incorrectly attributed to the museum or to a poster supposedly on display there.
This misattribution has been debunked by numerous fact-checking organizations like Snopes, Reuters, and PolitiFact.
While the USHMM has extensive resources on the historical rise of Nazism, propaganda, and the conditions that led to the Holocaust, it does not publish generalized political checklists like this one.
It's still a very good list, but thanks for the exacting clarification, and for #14. Accuracy isn't a luxury; we do need to be careful about that.
Authoritarian regimes are mortally threatened by intellectuals, scholarship, the arts, science, and a well educated population.
Check!
The kibosh put on wind turbines in states he doesn’t like reveals a petty little man.
He shoulda just claimed to have invented the turbine idea himself and we'd be ROLLING in green energy!
His brain is a turbine spreading you know what at a 1 Million RPM. It needs to stop.
You’re so right!🤣👏
Please speak about what's happening behind the curtain- yes project 2025 but also peter thiel and his command and control of all our personal data, curtis yarvin who inspires both thiel and vance and is insane. The data breaches seem especially important and dangerous. Can we file a nationwide class action suit??? If really on an unsecured cloud then all the other bad actors have access too.... finally can't someone go after Stephen Miller???? There are so many bad things but I feel that these need more attention than they are getting. I love the contrarians and am so grateful to be a part of this community. If we survive/ save our democracy it will be because of work like theirs- and community🙏💖
If only we had a magic diet Coke button!!
Or an eject button!
We have an eject button. But we ALL have to press it, and the timing is tricky. First, we have to agree on a few things ( like rule of law), and commit to cooperating on the hard, hard work in some semblance of cooperation. We need absolutely to ensure fair, accurate elections that are universally accessible to ALL citizens.
And any person(s) interfering with that process must be caught, charged, tried, convicted, and punished severely. Part of this will be ensuring the non-partisan authority for and conduct of all elections.
I can feel your desperation Gina and I share it deep in my soul.
How could ANYONE, use their free choice to cast a vote for this obvious incompetent?!
TWICE?!
Just does NOT make sense!
Racism, misogyny, religious bigotry, ignorance-take your pick. All reasons people voted for Trump.
I'd just go for misogyny as the strongest reason.
I agree, and add to that that Harris was Black. But there is a drive to disenfranchise women, from voting to health care, leading to an illusion of strong white men ruling the world. We're harkening back to the 1800s and before. Where are the wives of the Rs? Oh, they must like all of this for themselves and their children.
They are the current generation of Southern belles. The new Phyllis Schlafly wannabes.
They believed their patrimonial religious (male) leaders.
(PS. Leaders who lied...and still do.)
They are totally propagandized. Critical thinking is hard work and the political right are intellectually lazy.
It's a cult-Think Jim Jones and KoolAid
@ Justin Ans. Psy ops.
Plus we wuz robbed. Did Trump admit Musk stole Pennsylvania?
People do not pay attn to politics but vote anyway.
Stupidity doesn't make sense Justin.
Bingo!
But……how extremely sad that SO MANY of our fellow countrymen are so afflicted? What can other countries think of citizenry that, in essence, votes to destroy THEMSELVES? Just: INSANE!
2016,2020,2024
Beyond sad. A tragedy….and a travesty.
Oh my gosh, the complicity that all these corporations, rich folks, military men, newspapers and news stations, and Republicans in general have evinced in the last eight months would make the Germans in 1940 look brave and righteous by comparison!
By now the entire country knows that he is leading us over the edge. Let’s focus on how to get rid of him and his cronies before they do more damage.
dB
The glee apparent over the plans for a ‘sovereign wealth’ fund able to take over private firms seems to indicate the intent of the plan. A really giant slush fund to rob for Mr. Trump and his cronies.
Isn't the government takeover of private businesses.....socialism?
Yes, and why aren't the Ds shouting about this? Of maybe they are and I've missed it.
Good question. And a few liberal/progressive commentators are, but the politicians? Not that I have heard.
Republicans only care about Socialism when the charge is aimed at Democrats, otherwise it's making America great again. I can't believe how foolish I was to think - 10 years ago - how stupid that slogan was and how surely no one would take it seriously. Now it's actually the key item on Trump's agenda.
Two words: "Term limits."
Term limits would obviate the leverage MAGA has on "spineless Republicans" since keeping their "jobs" would be but temporary. The gravy train that serving in Congress has become, would dry up nicely. Can someone dredge up an effort to pass a Constitutional Amendment to effect such a change?
With the bunch in power today, opening up the Constitution to amendments would be the equivalent to the opening of Pandora's box. It would no longer be the guiding document that it is; likely becoming one of favoritism and subjugation. You are correct however in seeking mandatory term limits. Add campaign finance reform and cessation of gerrymandering and you have a winner.
I think these reforms can/need take place...but not until dems take control of congress.
Because we have come so close to the end of our hard won system of gov, I think the dems ,and probably some repubs, will be highly motivated to erase all the flaws brought to light by treasonous groups.
From your mind and keyboard to reality! It's understood that it will take a change of majority in Congress for any of this to take place.
also get rid of the electoral college ASAP
Easier said than done, as it would take a change of the Constitution to have shut of it. Fortunately, there is a workaround if states would join the The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
do it or die...It is a big part of why we are here
One necessary adjustment amongst a growing number of'em, Dave C..
Once we "fumigate" this regime the heck out of our government, we shall have a huge list of "the People's Work" to do in order to repair the damage we know about, and the additional ruinations we discover along the way!
Without a complacent Republican Party, Trump would be toast by now.
The worst part is that it is happening from within!! The GOP is allowing our democracy to be destroyed putting themselves above the good of all the citizens of this country. Don't they have a backbone and the ability to think independently??
The GOP has moved farther to the right in so many ways. If there are any GOP senators and representatives with genuine concern for our nation, they aren't making their views public.
That's what Khrushchev warned, wasn't it? Defeating us from within.
Ummmm.....No.
Nope
I am sitting in a parking lot getting ready to protest under the banner WORKERS, NOT BILLIONAIRES.
I see other cars parking and headed to the street with their signs. This is democracy. Do we want to spend Labor Day doing this? Maybe going on a picnic? Well,we have to, because we see what is happening. I hope all of you who read this also see it and mobilize.
I won’t get to march, but I’ll damn sure be driving by, honkin’ and wavin’ like a teenager on Saturday night!
We will be on the streets later too. This is important.
I wonder these days if peaceful means will be enough to halt the Mussolini in the White House and his unruly minions. of course, I believe in peaceful, democratic means, but can they work?
“It will be bloodless if the (right) allows it to be.”
Addendum: we have to commit to nonviolent means or it’ll turn bloody pretty quickly. Trump and ilk are working hard to provoke us into violent action.
They are working hard to create an excuse to go violent and maximize repression with military force. Hence the replacement of high-level officers with assorted toadies and thugs. Fortunately, they are mostly incompetent.
Maybe we need a Julius Caesar, or maybe it will only hasten our demise--who can really say...
Jason: Or a Brutus.
Ha, yes good pt.
Jim C., don't forget Trump's financiers, handlers, promoters and influencers. He's just their mouthy puppet. He only THINKS he's running things. But part of what makes him so cranky is that he knows very well that he is there on sufferance, and had better toe their line...or else.
Force, fear, and coercion are the only things he understands.
Good points, Kathleen, and with all of those billions as the carrot to keep him toeing the line!
Putin has Trump by the short hairs. Netanyahu does a good job of manipulation as well.
The gradual phase began with Nixon. The suddenly phase began with tRump 2.0.
Timescales matter.
Began with Nixon, accelerated with Reagan... but the incremental change was spurred first in the school districts and munis, then it trickled into the House (how did so much power to control the agenda ever coalesce in just the Speaker?), and then our archaic Senate, before W. was anointed, and now Trump 1 & 2.0. We need term limits, age limits, and some other way of restoring at least some level of normalcy with people trying to do the right thing for the vast minority, not the select few.
This concern is not new. It can be found well expressed by Aristotle who also advocated for power for the middle class. Concentration of serious power in too few hands nearly always leads to excesses. It exposes the weaknesses and blindness of the few because there is no one who can tell truth to power safely. Ernest Shackleton (Shackleton's Way) demonstrated the best practice of choosing his strongest critic to be his tentmate to give him direct voice; that way he didn't need to lead an insurrection to get his views heard.