I'm so deeply distressed by the murder of Renee Good (her first name, BTW, literally means 'rebirth'), and the completely detestable and horrific response of Trump, Noem, Vance et al. Could hardly sleep and have woken up today with a pall hanging over me.

A friend made a comparison to the Nazi regime and we wondered what ultimately brought Hitler down. A whole lot of things brought Hitler down, not least of which was the terminal hubris and divorce from reality which led him to believe that the intrinsic superiority of the Aryan nation could defeat the UK, the USSR and the USA (in W. Europe, Stalingrad, North Africa, Yugoslavia and Greece) simultaneously.

The Nazis had surprise on their side initially. Few believed that they would break all political rules and agreements domestically and internationally, or with such total brutality, and they had an incredibly organized and efficient fighting force. I think that has a lot in common with what's happening in the US now. Most, both domestically and internationally, are in shock at: how quickly MAGA abandoned ethical, constitutional and legal principles; the grotesque (and possibly intentional) flouting of crude power and blatant brutality, and; the speed and organization they have executed it with.

My hope is that opposition - domestically and internationally - will (continue to) wake up, grow, and organize in eventually overwhelming political and economic force. I also think that MAGA, and Trump in particular, are already showing signs of the hubris and isolation that brought the Nazis down: tanking in the polls, the Epstein files corroding their own base, tangible economic hardship in the American public, consistent and epic and blatant kleptomania, multiple simultaneous trade wars (including against their largest trading partners; China, Canada & Mexico), multiple lethal military interventions (Gaza, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen).... Trump, when questioned two days ago by the New York Times on the limits of his power, stated outright that the only limit is "My own morality. My own mind" (both of which are demented).

It’s really dark times. Never thought I'd see this in my lifetime, and this morning I truly wonder whether our children will be growing up and enduring some significant form of Authoritarianism.