Truer words could not be spoken. He is more deranged by the hour. Can the Republicans in Congress not see what he is doing to the nation and the world? What will it take for them to summon the courage needed to reject him and his cruelty, his lawlessness, his corruption, his pathologies of personality? He must be impeached immediately.
The Rethuglicans have a margin of control of all three branches of our Government which is, at present, insurmountable. And, they have paralyzed said Government with the Libertarian ethic that government has no function except for National Defense . All other services governments perform, to them, must be obtained from private contractors out in 'the market'. They hold this as an article of faith. They don't care how cruel or corrupt tRump is, because he is giving them the economic and social structure of society that they want. That structure includes no restraints on gun ownership. And, certainly no restraints on public hatred.
This is exactly what this regime wants…privatization of all former federal services. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. #47 has no desire to govern. All he wants is to be a billionaire, to play with his corrupt billionaire cronies, and stay out of jail. He is accomplishing his goals because we have a Congress (both houses & the judiciary) that are silent or have given their stamp of approval to all that he has done. He knows nothing about what Vought & Miller have put in front of him to sign as an EO. He just likes to use his sharpie to make a big deal of the act of signing anything as he sits behind his presidential desk in his very gaudy office. He thinks that makes him presidential…something he will never be!
They fit one of Dorothy Parker's book reviews: she said - "This is not a book to cast aside lightly. No. It should be thrown across the room with great force."
I don’t believe that any books should be banned, but that doesn’t mean that I agree with Ayn Rand. It simply means that such an authoritarian action does not belong in our country.
No book should be burned. If you don't like Rand, then don't read her. It's pretty simple. Denying other people's rights to read what they want to, to say what they want to, as long as it's not menacing, degrading, or threatening, are what we used to be about in this country.
I believe the greater risk to the Republican Party is loss of support by the MAGAs in the event of Trump's impeachment. The loss of power, the loss of control of government, and the loss of members seats in Congress (and the perks that go with them) is more important than the country.
Thanks very much for the reference to Norm Ornstein article, which I'd missed. Yes, Newt Gingrich became a great pox on the nation with his extremist tactics. And yes, tribalism is the reality we need to deal with; in comparison, polarization is relatively easy.
We all look out on the same reality and see it so differently. It's mystifying to me.
An apt slogan. I do remember that endearing fact about Newt and his then-girlfriend, who became his second wife until Newt cheated on her with the woman who became his third wife before being named Ambassador to the Vatican by...the 47th president!!
Ross Perot said, when he was campaigning, If a man breaks his promises to the most important people in his life, what makes you think he'll keep his promises to voters? I think he was referring to Bill Clinton but Gingrich comes under that umbrella too. To say nothing of the current serial breaker-of-promises.
The Trump "Thing" did not just happen. We let it happen and we KNEW better as citizens in a democracy that depends on participation. Some voters are super partisan above all regardless or did not vote because they did not care or could not see the difference in the quality of candidates. We let it happen.. and we are STILL letting it happen. Trump needs to be impeached.
"That is how a responsive and responsible government behaves in the wake of a devastating event: It acts." Not only it acts but also acknowledges the work of predecessors - continuous improvement. This is the way that ordinary people can invest in their lives. Also who is responsible for Patel? Trump or the Senate?
and the MAGA response, as voiced by the more-than-deplorable J.D.Vance, is in essence "too bad Australian gun laws prevented members of the crowd being attacked having a gun to defend themselves."
Rather than noting that Australian gun laws prevented the shooters from having AR-15s and equivalent, by which they could have killed scores or even hundreds of the crowd rather than having to take single shots.
Lord only knows what the beach would have looked like if members of the crowd had started shooting back (at what or whom, exactly? Firing into chaos is not a recipe for increasing safety.) It turns out that the most effective response to the shooting was by a single unarmed (and brave) man.
Gun regulation in the United States is favored by a majority of the people, but is not enacted because Republican legislators are payed off by the NRA and gun manafactures.
VOTE EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN OUT OF OFFICE ON NOV. 3, 2026.
A better solution would be to ban lobbies and special interest groups from funding the legislators. It's a form of bribery that reduces the voters' interests and should be illegal.
But Jen is right that it's also due to the bizarre cultural delusions held by just enough voters with disproportionate representation in government. Those delusions are fostered and fed by the gun lobby but they are very real and very deeply cherished and held by those who hold them.
And I might add: only vote in Democrats or Independents who are courageous, willing to enact meaningful gun laws, prosecute the current administration, term limits on and additional judges for the Supreme Court, get rid of Citizens United, reinstitute reproductive choice for women…
Excellent piece as always Jennifer. I will never understand how callous and I different soany Americans are when it comes to these mass slaughters. Do you really have to lose someone in your family to wake the hell up? This virus of stupidity and idolization of the monster in the White House is every bit as dangerous pandemic as Covid when it comes to guns.
Meanwhiile, 220 Republicans in the House of Representatives cower from the threat of Trump's mean tweets. They were sent from their districts to Washington not to lead, not to legislate, but to applaud loudly any utterance of Donald Trump, Pam Bondi and Kash Patel.
And the appalling thing is that those legislators really do seem to actually represent their MAGA voters, who repeatedly voted against their own interests. Unbelievable.
Lack of a response by the Republican Majority is appalling, and we should take the Australians Lead and actually Do something just not continuing to support the NRA, and Gun Manufacturers who no doubt contributes heavily to the Current Administration.
Do we have the will, or do donations from the Radical Right have the priority?
Actually, I think Citizens United in 2010 enabled the NRA and its billionaire supporters to keep monied interests ahead of all others. The SCOTUS has hurt us terribly.
Donna, that's a perfect summary of the situation here in the US. I've worked in Australia on special assignments and found that culture so very workable and honest. You forgot to mention all of the extortion he has extracted from all sorts of industries, institutions and people in his first year. He's only in this gig to enrich himself and the family minions. An immediate impeachment is not soon enough!!!
As a psychologist, I'm used to dealing with outrageous beliefs and bizarre behavior. But not in government, not as the code of the land!! It boggles my mind every time I read Jen's scathingly accurate columns or watch the demented ramblings and actions of those now in charge, or (much as I try to avoid it) hear about the latest outrage from our Dear Leader's mouth, when there isn't ketchup going in.
The central, prevailing ethic is now clear: "grab while you can while the getting's good!" This helps otherwise intelligent people to discard their values, morals, the rule of law and even good common sense, and line up at the trough.
I'm old enough to remember when it wasn't that way. It doesn't seem that long ago.
Conservatives complain about a declining birthrate,then allow our children to be slaughtered in order to retain unfettered access to firearms. They value their guns over the lives of their fellow Americans. Of course, under Donald J Trump they don’t see other Americans as their fellows, at least half of us are thugs and vermin, polluting the blood of their reich.
The US suffers from gun sickness, a disease caused by a mistaken interpretation of the Second Amendment. In 1789 what was on the Founders mind was to insure that there would not be large armies but rather a “well regulated militia “ who could be deployed to defend the country. In the 1960s, The National Rifle Association found that it was losing members as interest in hunting waned. To retain membership they took up the “right to bear arms “ slogan with Charles Heston screaming about no one will take my gun from my hands and all that hype. The NRA still has too much influence in Congress and the country suffers from the disease
Jen calls it out in her post: “We cannot ignore the role played by a reactionary ideology antithetical to American progress and reform, one badly ignorant of our own history…”. And “…a paranoid anti-government cult allergic to social responsibility,…”. This ideology is reflected throughout our history by the southern slave owners, the mythical American cowboy and “rugged individualism” and the “ taming of the west”, the robber barons of the roaring 20’s,Reagan’s “welfare queens”, Christian Nationalism, Bundy’s take over of the Mahler Wildlife Refuge, the paramilitary hate groups monitored by the Southern Poverty Law Center. I know I’m not saying this eloquently or even coherently but I believe the camouflaged continuity of powerful, monied, influential forces have been plotting and planning for what we’re seeing today since the inception of our country with all its richness and potential. And we ( the people) were helped to sleep-walk into it, believing in our exceptionalism, distracted by chasing that “American Dream”, pushed by corporations and social media. I really hope this trump/Project 2025 period wakes us up - at least for another generation before we forget again.
Kash Patel, clearly not suited for this job should be terminated immediately. Congress should demand his dismissal immediately if he doesn’t resign on his own then congress should impeach him. After all, they did impeach Mayorkas from the Biden administration without success in the senate. This should not be some partisan effort they should all want a competent FBI director who can run the department efficiently as well as competently. It’s clear Trump wants loyalists not competent heads in his cabinet. Constituents should demand more from who they elect. We should have term limits for not only the president but also for congress and the senate as well. Though it may be unlikely we’ll ever see term limits perhaps since Republicans like to tout “states rights” then maybe states should put forth laws to demand such from our government. We have to start somewhere.
“ Constituents should demand more from who they elect.”
The MAGA voters are getting what they voted for, unfortunately. Shielded from gun controls makes them feel safer, even though it actually makes them less safe.
“Things happen”. Trump being the worst thing that’s happened in a long time.
Truer words could not be spoken. He is more deranged by the hour. Can the Republicans in Congress not see what he is doing to the nation and the world? What will it take for them to summon the courage needed to reject him and his cruelty, his lawlessness, his corruption, his pathologies of personality? He must be impeached immediately.
The Rethuglicans have a margin of control of all three branches of our Government which is, at present, insurmountable. And, they have paralyzed said Government with the Libertarian ethic that government has no function except for National Defense . All other services governments perform, to them, must be obtained from private contractors out in 'the market'. They hold this as an article of faith. They don't care how cruel or corrupt tRump is, because he is giving them the economic and social structure of society that they want. That structure includes no restraints on gun ownership. And, certainly no restraints on public hatred.
This is exactly what this regime wants…privatization of all former federal services. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. #47 has no desire to govern. All he wants is to be a billionaire, to play with his corrupt billionaire cronies, and stay out of jail. He is accomplishing his goals because we have a Congress (both houses & the judiciary) that are silent or have given their stamp of approval to all that he has done. He knows nothing about what Vought & Miller have put in front of him to sign as an EO. He just likes to use his sharpie to make a big deal of the act of signing anything as he sits behind his presidential desk in his very gaudy office. He thinks that makes him presidential…something he will never be!
Great point on how Libertarianism has shaped this Administration.
If you have the stomach for it, read Ayn Rand - 'The Virtue of Selfishness'. It is Libertarian scripture.
Rand’s are some books that should be burned
They fit one of Dorothy Parker's book reviews: she said - "This is not a book to cast aside lightly. No. It should be thrown across the room with great force."
I don’t believe that any books should be banned, but that doesn’t mean that I agree with Ayn Rand. It simply means that such an authoritarian action does not belong in our country.
No book should be burned. If you don't like Rand, then don't read her. It's pretty simple. Denying other people's rights to read what they want to, to say what they want to, as long as it's not menacing, degrading, or threatening, are what we used to be about in this country.
In effect, there is no government. A regime doesn't govern. It enforces its leader's whims.
We will likely have to wait until after the midterm elections, when with hope, we'll have a Democratic majority in Congress.
@donna - yes, they can see it. They just cannot oppose the great cult leader without risking of expulsion from the tribe.
I recommend the following by Norm Ornstein
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/the-cancer-of-tribalism
I believe the greater risk to the Republican Party is loss of support by the MAGAs in the event of Trump's impeachment. The loss of power, the loss of control of government, and the loss of members seats in Congress (and the perks that go with them) is more important than the country.
Thanks very much for the reference to Norm Ornstein article, which I'd missed. Yes, Newt Gingrich became a great pox on the nation with his extremist tactics. And yes, tribalism is the reality we need to deal with; in comparison, polarization is relatively easy.
We all look out on the same reality and see it so differently. It's mystifying to me.
Remember, Newt argued with his separated wife when she was laying in a hospital bed after tumor surgery. What a well intentioned guy.
My favorite campaign button is from 1980 - "Immoral Minority"
https://www.factcheck.org/2011/12/the-gingrich-divorce-myth/#:~:text=Q%3A%20Did%20Newt%20Gingrich%20ask,of%20the%201980%20hospital%20visit.
An apt slogan. I do remember that endearing fact about Newt and his then-girlfriend, who became his second wife until Newt cheated on her with the woman who became his third wife before being named Ambassador to the Vatican by...the 47th president!!
Ross Perot said, when he was campaigning, If a man breaks his promises to the most important people in his life, what makes you think he'll keep his promises to voters? I think he was referring to Bill Clinton but Gingrich comes under that umbrella too. To say nothing of the current serial breaker-of-promises.
They're complicit.
What a couple.
He "Things happen".
She "I really don't care, do U?"
Some couples just belong together...
The Trump "Thing" did not just happen. We let it happen and we KNEW better as citizens in a democracy that depends on participation. Some voters are super partisan above all regardless or did not vote because they did not care or could not see the difference in the quality of candidates. We let it happen.. and we are STILL letting it happen. Trump needs to be impeached.
...and REMOVED.
"That is how a responsive and responsible government behaves in the wake of a devastating event: It acts." Not only it acts but also acknowledges the work of predecessors - continuous improvement. This is the way that ordinary people can invest in their lives. Also who is responsible for Patel? Trump or the Senate?
and the MAGA response, as voiced by the more-than-deplorable J.D.Vance, is in essence "too bad Australian gun laws prevented members of the crowd being attacked having a gun to defend themselves."
Rather than noting that Australian gun laws prevented the shooters from having AR-15s and equivalent, by which they could have killed scores or even hundreds of the crowd rather than having to take single shots.
Lord only knows what the beach would have looked like if members of the crowd had started shooting back (at what or whom, exactly? Firing into chaos is not a recipe for increasing safety.) It turns out that the most effective response to the shooting was by a single unarmed (and brave) man.
An unarmed, brave, Muslim man!
Great and thoughtful comment.
Thank you. This specific combination of self-evident facts says it all. I came here to make exactly these points and you did it already.
Gun regulation in the United States is favored by a majority of the people, but is not enacted because Republican legislators are payed off by the NRA and gun manafactures.
VOTE EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN OUT OF OFFICE ON NOV. 3, 2026.
A better solution would be to ban lobbies and special interest groups from funding the legislators. It's a form of bribery that reduces the voters' interests and should be illegal.
Lobbying is legal bribery and should be treated as such.
Are you saying that it's legal and should be allowed to continue?
No, I meant that it should be treated the same as bribery, with jail time.
Tha's what I was hoping that you meant. Thenk you!
But Jen is right that it's also due to the bizarre cultural delusions held by just enough voters with disproportionate representation in government. Those delusions are fostered and fed by the gun lobby but they are very real and very deeply cherished and held by those who hold them.
And I might add: only vote in Democrats or Independents who are courageous, willing to enact meaningful gun laws, prosecute the current administration, term limits on and additional judges for the Supreme Court, get rid of Citizens United, reinstitute reproductive choice for women…
Excellent piece as always Jennifer. I will never understand how callous and I different soany Americans are when it comes to these mass slaughters. Do you really have to lose someone in your family to wake the hell up? This virus of stupidity and idolization of the monster in the White House is every bit as dangerous pandemic as Covid when it comes to guns.
Not just guns..We can add the important issues of climate change, rise of oligarchy and more. Our generation has failed future generations..
Apologize for typos. Wish I could go back to edit this but can't figure out how.
Clickon those little dots to the right of your name. Then click on Edit. Voila!
Thanks
Three dots on the right...see Donna's note.
Ho hum.
Another day in the good ol' US of A
Another mass shooting
Thoughts and prayers all around
To everyone, every day
And twice on Sundays
Next round of thoughts and prayers is on me
Nothing to see here, folks
So just keep moving along
Lather, rinse, repeat
The reason I'll spring for a round of thoughts and prayers for everybody is because thoughts and prayers don't cost anything.
And they're worth every penny of it.
As if Trump would lead us in prayer? He'd pass the plate.
He’d steal the plate along with the collection; “well they gave it to me so it’s mine.”
Meanwhiile, 220 Republicans in the House of Representatives cower from the threat of Trump's mean tweets. They were sent from their districts to Washington not to lead, not to legislate, but to applaud loudly any utterance of Donald Trump, Pam Bondi and Kash Patel.
And Pete Hegseth, RFK jr., and on and on ....
And the appalling thing is that those legislators really do seem to actually represent their MAGA voters, who repeatedly voted against their own interests. Unbelievable.
Lack of a response by the Republican Majority is appalling, and we should take the Australians Lead and actually Do something just not continuing to support the NRA, and Gun Manufacturers who no doubt contributes heavily to the Current Administration.
Do we have the will, or do donations from the Radical Right have the priority?
It is ridiculous that that question really is rhetorical in our current times. 🤨
Actually, I think Citizens United in 2010 enabled the NRA and its billionaire supporters to keep monied interests ahead of all others. The SCOTUS has hurt us terribly.
Donna, that's a perfect summary of the situation here in the US. I've worked in Australia on special assignments and found that culture so very workable and honest. You forgot to mention all of the extortion he has extracted from all sorts of industries, institutions and people in his first year. He's only in this gig to enrich himself and the family minions. An immediate impeachment is not soon enough!!!
As a psychologist, I'm used to dealing with outrageous beliefs and bizarre behavior. But not in government, not as the code of the land!! It boggles my mind every time I read Jen's scathingly accurate columns or watch the demented ramblings and actions of those now in charge, or (much as I try to avoid it) hear about the latest outrage from our Dear Leader's mouth, when there isn't ketchup going in.
The central, prevailing ethic is now clear: "grab while you can while the getting's good!" This helps otherwise intelligent people to discard their values, morals, the rule of law and even good common sense, and line up at the trough.
I'm old enough to remember when it wasn't that way. It doesn't seem that long ago.
Conservatives complain about a declining birthrate,then allow our children to be slaughtered in order to retain unfettered access to firearms. They value their guns over the lives of their fellow Americans. Of course, under Donald J Trump they don’t see other Americans as their fellows, at least half of us are thugs and vermin, polluting the blood of their reich.
No one ever said they were consistent.
The US suffers from gun sickness, a disease caused by a mistaken interpretation of the Second Amendment. In 1789 what was on the Founders mind was to insure that there would not be large armies but rather a “well regulated militia “ who could be deployed to defend the country. In the 1960s, The National Rifle Association found that it was losing members as interest in hunting waned. To retain membership they took up the “right to bear arms “ slogan with Charles Heston screaming about no one will take my gun from my hands and all that hype. The NRA still has too much influence in Congress and the country suffers from the disease
We are not saying that one cannot have guns.
We are just asking for common sense gun laws .
They have no problem, taking away women’s rights, but when it comes to their guns, they want to protect their freedoms .
The slaughtering of children mean nothing to Maga !!
Thoughts and prayers !!
How did this man ever get elected? He cares about no one except him self.
Because he shares a core set of personality disorders with his base and allows them to hate publicly.
We wuz robbed.
Did Trump admt that Musk stole Pennsylvania?
Jen calls it out in her post: “We cannot ignore the role played by a reactionary ideology antithetical to American progress and reform, one badly ignorant of our own history…”. And “…a paranoid anti-government cult allergic to social responsibility,…”. This ideology is reflected throughout our history by the southern slave owners, the mythical American cowboy and “rugged individualism” and the “ taming of the west”, the robber barons of the roaring 20’s,Reagan’s “welfare queens”, Christian Nationalism, Bundy’s take over of the Mahler Wildlife Refuge, the paramilitary hate groups monitored by the Southern Poverty Law Center. I know I’m not saying this eloquently or even coherently but I believe the camouflaged continuity of powerful, monied, influential forces have been plotting and planning for what we’re seeing today since the inception of our country with all its richness and potential. And we ( the people) were helped to sleep-walk into it, believing in our exceptionalism, distracted by chasing that “American Dream”, pushed by corporations and social media. I really hope this trump/Project 2025 period wakes us up - at least for another generation before we forget again.
Fantastic piece that every American should read. My only point of disagreement is that Patel’s incompetence assures his place in the administration.
Kash Patel, clearly not suited for this job should be terminated immediately. Congress should demand his dismissal immediately if he doesn’t resign on his own then congress should impeach him. After all, they did impeach Mayorkas from the Biden administration without success in the senate. This should not be some partisan effort they should all want a competent FBI director who can run the department efficiently as well as competently. It’s clear Trump wants loyalists not competent heads in his cabinet. Constituents should demand more from who they elect. We should have term limits for not only the president but also for congress and the senate as well. Though it may be unlikely we’ll ever see term limits perhaps since Republicans like to tout “states rights” then maybe states should put forth laws to demand such from our government. We have to start somewhere.
“ Constituents should demand more from who they elect.”
The MAGA voters are getting what they voted for, unfortunately. Shielded from gun controls makes them feel safer, even though it actually makes them less safe.