Pam, at first I wrote that we'll find our leader when she/he demonstrates leadership. But, after a few hours, I removed my comment, and I rewrote it. If a leader doesn't realize our country is in a crisis, and start acting like a leader, then they aren't one.
Our top priority must be to defeat the Big Brutal Budget Bill. It's not just Medicaid and SNAP that are terrible. It's every single part of this budget. It takes power from Congress and gives it to the president. It guts our healthcare, and food programs, and give trillions in tax cuts to the richest people. It will bankrupt states by forcing them to pay for programs that are the government's responsibility. Republicans support all of this; Democrats don't, but we need a better strategy for fighting it. And, Trump's enablers need to remember that after the war ended, Germans who supported Hitler were tried at the Hague. Congressional Republicans are traitors, cowards and liars, and should be treated as such!
So, yes we need a leader, and we can't wait. Trump is breaking the law on a daily basis, and SCOTUS is protecting him. Is there truly no Democratic politician who sees this as the emergency that we all do?
Mr Lee may be interesting but vets to the mall today.
The BIG NEWS yesterday is Musk called for Trump to be impeached after mocking his connections to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as the president threatened to cancel federal contracts and tax subsidies for Musk’s companies in an extraordinary social media feud on Thursday.
Musk has lost $152bn of Tesla's shares. Although Space X isn't publicly traded, shares in its rival space companies have risen as a result. Musk has retliated by threatening to decommission a spacecraft contracted to the government. Both of these fools would be acting in breach of contract and this would doubtless play out in the courts (with the 250 other lawsuits being defended by this hapless administration).
Sen Warren’s report is a bombshell and I hope is distributed far and wide so ‘someone’ (or a lot of someones) can start taking actions to reverse these utter disasters. This is worse than I thought; just awful!!! Thanks for presenting this.
2:00 PM ET Over 200 sister events organized by Indivisible and 50501 around the country and livestreaming from the mall.
"We want those in power to know we aren’t going to sit back while they quietly try to destroy the benefits and healthcare our veterans fought to earn. We won’t accept them firing thousands of veterans and others from their jobs at the will of a child. We will not accept the attacks on our Constitution that we swore oaths to uphold."
Thank goodness for Elizabeth Warren’s careful accounting of this space travesty named Musk. Perhaps with the king’s divorce, Musk’s business interests will shrivel and die. I believe Bannon, of all people, is suggesting the nationalization of Starlink—a pity to leave in the hands of Republican know-nothings, though.
People like Russ Vought, Steve Miller and JD Vance are all dangerous people. They are the authors of Project 2025 or at least a contributor to the fascist manifesto. These people are far more influential than you may think. We need some undaunted leaders in both the Democratic and Republican parties who are not afraid to dismantle their anti democratic agenda. The food fight that is going on with Trump-Musk to some extent is a distraction we need others to dismantle the far right agenda of the MAGA party.
I was very excited until I saw that Lindsey Graham is the sponsor. I despise him, but I guess a bill is a bill is a bill. (My apology to Gertrude Stein)
I had almost forgotten that there is political drama elsewhere in the world. The lesson to be learned here is that Democracy is messy and when it is under a deep and pervasive threat, brave people need to stand up and say 'this must not be allowed to take place.' We are in need of quite a number of people with fire in the belly. At present, tRump has put our Constitutional Republic on hold. If you don't like his worldview, get out there on the 14th and protest like you mean it. And carpe diem!
Reminiscent of Boris Yeltsin climbing up on a tank to condemn the "Vodka Coup" plotters in 1991. All hos personal issues and family corruption aside, Yeltsin defying the old USSR's attempt to stave off its death throes was a shining moment.
That was the beginning of the total destruction of a country hailed as a great success only because he was not a communist. The obsessive fear of communism -- the essence of the post WW2 propaganda - makes the US embrace fascists, even nazis abroad, as long as these people hate socialism. Even if they destroy education, science, economy, you name it, as Yeltsin did. He made sure that Russia soon be in the hands of a few oligarchs and directly lead it to Putin - and Russia never recovered again. How is it possible that even here, on this platform, democracy is not understood - it is not about constant search of great leaders, it is about social, political, economical measures that protect human rights and social justice, the latter equally important. In a true democracy, leaders are almost non visible, as say in Scandinavian countries.
You are not wrong about Yeltsin's role in enabling Putin's rise to power. But I woukd argue that he didn't will Putin to power, he let the democratic impulse he showed that day in 1991 erode and wither through corruption and alcoholism until he was too enfeebled to resist Putin's maneuvering and extortion. I don't think any serious student of the UUSR suffered the illusion that Yeltdin wasn't a communist. He was, right up until the Vodka Coupshattered the iron straps that bound the Sovirt Republics together. Yeltsin had been loyal party member, a member of the Politburo and an occasional supporter of Gorbachev's. Shortly before the Coup Yeltsin had been elected President of the Russian Federation. His act of defiance mobilized opposition in Moscow and led to the Coup's collapse and Gorbaclhev's release and return to Moscow. As I noted, Yektsin's later failures can't be excused by that early act of patriotism, but neither do those later failures erase a moment when Russian history took a sharp, albeit, temporary turn away from tyranny and oppression.
I see your point, and I grant you that he what he did could have been characterised as noble and courageous. However, we somehow disagree on the rhetoric and interpretation. You say: 'temporary turn away from tyranny and oppression.' Tyranny and oppression are the right words for the decades of communism in Soviet Union, but I would never use them for late seventies and eighties, when it all eased. In the seventies my own country of Yugoslavia was hailed as progressive - and it was in great terms with the so-called West - and yet we had more political prisoners, relatively, than Soviet Union. And nobody ever used such terms for us.
Our ideas, thoughts, pictures of the world are built on images, far more than facts, and moreover, the language we use influences deeply our views on the world. And anti communism is the core of the American society, to such a degree that American fear even socialism, and are totally unprepared for the dangers of fascism - which is in my opinion the main problem of today, the reason why the US democracy and the rule of law are threatened - it is high time to shift or focus to fascism and modern day nazism (read Israel), the main dangers of today. And here language is crucial too, the anti Soviet Union rhetoric is a serious problem, especially when basically all stay silent on the Gaza genocide. Throughout the post WW2 history, the US has practiced war crimes on regular basis, literally destroying countries, from Vietnam to Iraq to the support of the ethnical cleansing ad slow but sure extermination of Palestinians - and at the same time crying about tyrannies of others. Not to speak of overthrowing democracies basically everywhere outside Europe. This is coming back home as a boomerang today that the US is not anymore the master of the world that it used to for decades.
And once again, the economical, political, social and moral destruction of the Soviet Union - destruction praised and loved in the US - was a human catastrophe, and Yeltsin was instrumental in it. Russia can simply not recover from that damage. One of the most tragic aspects of this is the destruction of great science they had, especially high energy physics, my own field - to me a symbol of that tragedy. My heart breaks when I think how Yeltsin orchestrated this biblical destruction that is turning Russia into shambles. You and I will never what would have happened had he lacked courage on that day, but we do know what he did and this is a moral, social, political and economical destruction of Russia.
The population of South Korea rose up to the 80% voting level to keep their democratic country. Lee is inspirational and tough and devoted to the cause, it seems -- the people rallied in response. WeThePeople must rally together in the cause of keeping our country democratic in freedom and equality.
So many Americans have embraced South Korean popular culture (boy and girl groups, films, cars) without knowing the history. In December 2024 they impeached President Yoon for declaring martial law. Public support was more than 60% and he was removed from office. Within six months they elected a new president. South Korea didn't become a democracy until 1987. Since the 1953 Korean war armistice, they struggled under various authoritarian governments. They understood the consequences of losing their hard won democracy. The South Koreans used their laws to save their country. But not enough of our fellow Americans realize that we should be defending our own democracy.
While reading Jen Rubin's column this morning I was struck with the idea that U.S. governance could be greatly improved by making it easier to form grassroots political organizations (i.e., political parties). Only between 40% and 50% of U.S. voters claim one of the two major parties, and the percentage of "independents" seems to be growing. If it were easier to form smaller political parties, giving voters choices that better reflect their political views, it could force the two majors into more compromises that would improve governance. Today's parties know that it takes only slim majorities to dominate the government. Citizens are forced to choose between starkly different, ideologically rigid political organizations--which statistics show they overwhelmingly reject. More smaller parties would give citizens more choices and force political power centers to make more compromises, drawing governance more toward the center, where American culture actually resides.
Good coverage of the South Korean situation. Thank you for that!
If the present regimen in our once Democratic country is concerned about China influencing or getting points with other democracies and countries fighting for democracy don’t be a dumb isolationist. We once had friends aided allies and kadump here it is the chaos of this so called Government, executive and their majority of muzzled congress people.
Plans to rebuild repair and survive on my to do list for national we call home
Where and when will we find our Lee Jae–Myung?
Yes, and where and when will we get a groundswell of support for our Lee Jae-Myung?
Our Mr. Lee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ0eoH4l4us
But soon got tired of his jive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT_Yvpt2Jjw.
Daniel, that was hilarious and so clever!
Pam, at first I wrote that we'll find our leader when she/he demonstrates leadership. But, after a few hours, I removed my comment, and I rewrote it. If a leader doesn't realize our country is in a crisis, and start acting like a leader, then they aren't one.
Our top priority must be to defeat the Big Brutal Budget Bill. It's not just Medicaid and SNAP that are terrible. It's every single part of this budget. It takes power from Congress and gives it to the president. It guts our healthcare, and food programs, and give trillions in tax cuts to the richest people. It will bankrupt states by forcing them to pay for programs that are the government's responsibility. Republicans support all of this; Democrats don't, but we need a better strategy for fighting it. And, Trump's enablers need to remember that after the war ended, Germans who supported Hitler were tried at the Hague. Congressional Republicans are traitors, cowards and liars, and should be treated as such!
So, yes we need a leader, and we can't wait. Trump is breaking the law on a daily basis, and SCOTUS is protecting him. Is there truly no Democratic politician who sees this as the emergency that we all do?
Hopefully not one facing corruption charges.
Mr Lee may be interesting but vets to the mall today.
The BIG NEWS yesterday is Musk called for Trump to be impeached after mocking his connections to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as the president threatened to cancel federal contracts and tax subsidies for Musk’s companies in an extraordinary social media feud on Thursday.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/05/trump-elon-musk-fallout
Musk has lost $152bn of Tesla's shares. Although Space X isn't publicly traded, shares in its rival space companies have risen as a result. Musk has retliated by threatening to decommission a spacecraft contracted to the government. Both of these fools would be acting in breach of contract and this would doubtless play out in the courts (with the 250 other lawsuits being defended by this hapless administration).
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/05/trump-tariffs-republicans
Did Trump admit that Musk fixed Pennsylvania? A Pennsylvaninia grand jury should be on the case.
Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released a new report entitled, “Special Interests over the Public Interest: Elon Musk's 130 Days in the Trump Administration.” https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/130_days_of_elon_musk_report.pdf
What about other liability exposure? The other day Bill Gates accused Musk of the killing of 300,000 Africans.
Trump again made a fool of himself re Ukraine.
Sen Warren’s report is a bombshell and I hope is distributed far and wide so ‘someone’ (or a lot of someones) can start taking actions to reverse these utter disasters. This is worse than I thought; just awful!!! Thanks for presenting this.
2:00 PM ET Over 200 sister events organized by Indivisible and 50501 around the country and livestreaming from the mall.
"We want those in power to know we aren’t going to sit back while they quietly try to destroy the benefits and healthcare our veterans fought to earn. We won’t accept them firing thousands of veterans and others from their jobs at the will of a child. We will not accept the attacks on our Constitution that we swore oaths to uphold."
FP Wellman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFXqb3IVf3s
Thank goodness for Elizabeth Warren’s careful accounting of this space travesty named Musk. Perhaps with the king’s divorce, Musk’s business interests will shrivel and die. I believe Bannon, of all people, is suggesting the nationalization of Starlink—a pity to leave in the hands of Republican know-nothings, though.
People like Russ Vought, Steve Miller and JD Vance are all dangerous people. They are the authors of Project 2025 or at least a contributor to the fascist manifesto. These people are far more influential than you may think. We need some undaunted leaders in both the Democratic and Republican parties who are not afraid to dismantle their anti democratic agenda. The food fight that is going on with Trump-Musk to some extent is a distraction we need others to dismantle the far right agenda of the MAGA party.
Encourage the 80 senators who have co-sponsored a bill to impose stronger sanctions against Russia. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1241
Picket, sit in against any who won't support it.
I was very excited until I saw that Lindsey Graham is the sponsor. I despise him, but I guess a bill is a bill is a bill. (My apology to Gertrude Stein)
I had almost forgotten that there is political drama elsewhere in the world. The lesson to be learned here is that Democracy is messy and when it is under a deep and pervasive threat, brave people need to stand up and say 'this must not be allowed to take place.' We are in need of quite a number of people with fire in the belly. At present, tRump has put our Constitutional Republic on hold. If you don't like his worldview, get out there on the 14th and protest like you mean it. And carpe diem!
https://www.nokings.org
An engaged electorate, 80% of whom cast ballots.
Would that indifferent, lazy, fat-assed Americans take such an interest on the fate of their own country.
I appreciate the well-rounded analysis. Not too many saints around these days and it's best to know the whole story.
Reminiscent of Boris Yeltsin climbing up on a tank to condemn the "Vodka Coup" plotters in 1991. All hos personal issues and family corruption aside, Yeltsin defying the old USSR's attempt to stave off its death throes was a shining moment.
And then it went to his head, and Yeltsin saw the chance to grab power, which then led to Putin.
That was the beginning of the total destruction of a country hailed as a great success only because he was not a communist. The obsessive fear of communism -- the essence of the post WW2 propaganda - makes the US embrace fascists, even nazis abroad, as long as these people hate socialism. Even if they destroy education, science, economy, you name it, as Yeltsin did. He made sure that Russia soon be in the hands of a few oligarchs and directly lead it to Putin - and Russia never recovered again. How is it possible that even here, on this platform, democracy is not understood - it is not about constant search of great leaders, it is about social, political, economical measures that protect human rights and social justice, the latter equally important. In a true democracy, leaders are almost non visible, as say in Scandinavian countries.
You are not wrong about Yeltsin's role in enabling Putin's rise to power. But I woukd argue that he didn't will Putin to power, he let the democratic impulse he showed that day in 1991 erode and wither through corruption and alcoholism until he was too enfeebled to resist Putin's maneuvering and extortion. I don't think any serious student of the UUSR suffered the illusion that Yeltdin wasn't a communist. He was, right up until the Vodka Coupshattered the iron straps that bound the Sovirt Republics together. Yeltsin had been loyal party member, a member of the Politburo and an occasional supporter of Gorbachev's. Shortly before the Coup Yeltsin had been elected President of the Russian Federation. His act of defiance mobilized opposition in Moscow and led to the Coup's collapse and Gorbaclhev's release and return to Moscow. As I noted, Yektsin's later failures can't be excused by that early act of patriotism, but neither do those later failures erase a moment when Russian history took a sharp, albeit, temporary turn away from tyranny and oppression.
I see your point, and I grant you that he what he did could have been characterised as noble and courageous. However, we somehow disagree on the rhetoric and interpretation. You say: 'temporary turn away from tyranny and oppression.' Tyranny and oppression are the right words for the decades of communism in Soviet Union, but I would never use them for late seventies and eighties, when it all eased. In the seventies my own country of Yugoslavia was hailed as progressive - and it was in great terms with the so-called West - and yet we had more political prisoners, relatively, than Soviet Union. And nobody ever used such terms for us.
Our ideas, thoughts, pictures of the world are built on images, far more than facts, and moreover, the language we use influences deeply our views on the world. And anti communism is the core of the American society, to such a degree that American fear even socialism, and are totally unprepared for the dangers of fascism - which is in my opinion the main problem of today, the reason why the US democracy and the rule of law are threatened - it is high time to shift or focus to fascism and modern day nazism (read Israel), the main dangers of today. And here language is crucial too, the anti Soviet Union rhetoric is a serious problem, especially when basically all stay silent on the Gaza genocide. Throughout the post WW2 history, the US has practiced war crimes on regular basis, literally destroying countries, from Vietnam to Iraq to the support of the ethnical cleansing ad slow but sure extermination of Palestinians - and at the same time crying about tyrannies of others. Not to speak of overthrowing democracies basically everywhere outside Europe. This is coming back home as a boomerang today that the US is not anymore the master of the world that it used to for decades.
And once again, the economical, political, social and moral destruction of the Soviet Union - destruction praised and loved in the US - was a human catastrophe, and Yeltsin was instrumental in it. Russia can simply not recover from that damage. One of the most tragic aspects of this is the destruction of great science they had, especially high energy physics, my own field - to me a symbol of that tragedy. My heart breaks when I think how Yeltsin orchestrated this biblical destruction that is turning Russia into shambles. You and I will never what would have happened had he lacked courage on that day, but we do know what he did and this is a moral, social, political and economical destruction of Russia.
A glimmer of hope that democracy can survive and perhaps even thrive. 80% voter turnout? THAT'S THE KEY TO OUR OVERTHROWING THE NAZI REGIME.
The population of South Korea rose up to the 80% voting level to keep their democratic country. Lee is inspirational and tough and devoted to the cause, it seems -- the people rallied in response. WeThePeople must rally together in the cause of keeping our country democratic in freedom and equality.
So many Americans have embraced South Korean popular culture (boy and girl groups, films, cars) without knowing the history. In December 2024 they impeached President Yoon for declaring martial law. Public support was more than 60% and he was removed from office. Within six months they elected a new president. South Korea didn't become a democracy until 1987. Since the 1953 Korean war armistice, they struggled under various authoritarian governments. They understood the consequences of losing their hard won democracy. The South Koreans used their laws to save their country. But not enough of our fellow Americans realize that we should be defending our own democracy.
While reading Jen Rubin's column this morning I was struck with the idea that U.S. governance could be greatly improved by making it easier to form grassroots political organizations (i.e., political parties). Only between 40% and 50% of U.S. voters claim one of the two major parties, and the percentage of "independents" seems to be growing. If it were easier to form smaller political parties, giving voters choices that better reflect their political views, it could force the two majors into more compromises that would improve governance. Today's parties know that it takes only slim majorities to dominate the government. Citizens are forced to choose between starkly different, ideologically rigid political organizations--which statistics show they overwhelmingly reject. More smaller parties would give citizens more choices and force political power centers to make more compromises, drawing governance more toward the center, where American culture actually resides.
Good coverage of the South Korean situation. Thank you for that!
If the present regimen in our once Democratic country is concerned about China influencing or getting points with other democracies and countries fighting for democracy don’t be a dumb isolationist. We once had friends aided allies and kadump here it is the chaos of this so called Government, executive and their majority of muzzled congress people.
Plans to rebuild repair and survive on my to do list for national we call home
Jen another great editorial Forget the cards played in foreign policy Seems the administration doesn’t know how to play the game
Great description of the election results in Korea. An example for us!
I'm not sure why "center left with a streak of pragmatism" makes sense. One can be center left, even left left and still be pragmatic.
Good article - thank you.
Former Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri thinks leaders will come up from what we sow today.
So we keep working and keep the faith.
I guess we're stuck in an era when only charismatic, larger than life, rule-breaking figures can rise to top political leadership.
That is frightening. I would like to see the comeback of quiet competence.