This morning, former president Trump told a Newsmax host that he was “financially supporting” some of the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Calling it “disgraceful” that they are being prosecuted, he said that If reelected, he would look “very favorably at full pardons” for them and would apologize to them.
If one of the over-educated, under-intelligent, otherwise unemployable Twitter twits of the Washington Press Corpse asks him why he's "being so partisan," Biden can quote Harry Truman: "I tell the truth about them and they think it's hell."
the bullies don't know what to do when the nice buy comes up and punches their face in front of their fans.
That @#$%#$#@!! Gingrich is more responsible than any other Republican including Nixon for turning the party into the Kooky Kollection of Klucks who were ready for Trump. You can take the boy out of the trailer park (he really was raised n one) but you can't take the trailer park out of the boy. What a worthless piece of shit he has been since the day he was born. Just like Trump.
I'm not sure that the trailer park has that much to do with it, since a number of similarly-motivated "Republicans" were born with golden spoons in their mouths, and plutocrat's money has greatly fueled the R-party's authoritarian trend.
Corruption seems to be an equal opportunity proclivity, but plutocrats have the most to gain from it. It would seem that when one tells the truth, "they think it's hell" because their superpower is carpet-bombing lies in order to confuse the public, and injection of truth threatens everything they stand for. Often their response to confrontation with truth is violence, psychological and physical.
And their key programming tactic (of all authoritarian regimes and hostage takers) is to change the narrative, no matter how big a lie it is, and push it so hard, so often, that the sheep who are listening have it bludgeoned into their heads. They completely identify with their captors. It is a narrative propaganda warfare. There should be quite a few arrests and education of the public as these traitors like Gingrich have their heads rolled out for us to witness how despicable they truly are.
Educate Americans on exactly how tyrannical tactics and grooming work so they can defend themselves and TURN IT OFF or Stand Up to It, to its' LIES. This is exactly why they want to destroy our educational system-- which is in dire need attention for sure, but not dumbing down, just the opposite. Education of hearts and minds and critical thinkers. The DOJ and the J6 Committee are really doing their jobs and people are coming forward. Thank goodness. And thank Biden for speaking loudly to the elephantine corruption in the republican party's livingroom. It just grow bigger and bigger and shows their ridiculous projections of the deep state to be themselves. Good republicans need to separate themselves from MAGA rethuglicans, anti-Americans. Traitors to their fellow citizens and families. The party of sedition and disorder.
I am SO glad Pres Biden is calling them out. For many years they thought themselves impervious, "normal" Americans. Even classrooms are/ were infected with mouthy students who threatened harm to teachers and classmates. Far too many MAGAs carried out their deranged fantasies. As we know, entire communities are filled with ignorant supremacists.
You're right. A young girl (5th grade?) attended my adult writing workshop yesterday and when we reminisced about back-to-school memories she described the constant bullying she and her classmates were subjected to. We all expressed our support for her; I wondered if this was another infection from the current political climate.
Well, I used to get bullied because I was "fat." (size 14/16!) But it was only name-calling - never physical. It might have been different for boys especially who were bullied for being "sissies." But I do think the range and level of violence may be a reflection of the current political climate.
I like to watch films and TV from many parts of the world, and schoolyard bullying is portrayed in many cultures. It is also a theme in classic literature. The “pecking order” impulse seems to be in our DNA. Self-serving aggression may have played a useful role in the origin of the species, and those who defend the practice are wont to claim it as the only driving force in evolution. Yet one also sees bountiful cooperation in the evolutionary process, even at the unicellular level, and even inter species. I don’t see how complex organisms such as ourselves could have evolved without it.
And given how clever we have become, it seems to me that the so-called “forbidden fruit” (which originally could not have been an apple) of knowledge of good and evil is likely the only thing that can save us from ourselves as we carelessly alter our environment and greatly empower “reptile” impulses with our technological prowess. With our ultra-plastic (in the sense of plasticity) brains we have shifted our own course of evolution primarily from trial and error of DNA “hardware” to intelligent “software”; and with that power comes unshakable responsibilities. Without embracing responsible choices, we are like a four-year old with a loaded gun, and we collectively threaten the whole ecosystem, our missteps now already epic.
Dishonesty and bullying appear to me to be the source of most avoidable human suffering. It’s crazy to tolerate it. Slavery is and genocide are the most extreme and vicious forms of bullying. It's through that lens though with I read Lincoln’s famed remark:
“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.”
Your response is a full semester course. Meanwhile, I'm watching a butterfly weed bush awash in Monarch caterpillars with their bright tiger stripes. One newly hatched happened to be munching on the same leaf as an elder (by about 3 days) and got swiped with his jaw. As the little guy made his way up a completely denuded branch to recover, I considered giving the bully a time out. Monarchs are seriously endangered, thanks to Monsanto wiping out their milkweed food source on their migration path, so I let him finish his feast in peace.
That's right. And it's time to take on those big talkers and call them out. No more "nicey, nicey". These are packs of crooks and cronies. Time for them to go now.
So. How do we legally get rid of the numerous propaganda machines that have been spewing this garbage out for forty years without damaging the right to freedom of speech? How do we find an intellectual platform for saying “NO” to organizations that lobby to let Nazis march in the United States. And if we are able to do this, how will we be able to tell those who have been brainwashed that we are “the good guys”? I am not asking this ironically. I am asking as if we had a national diagnosis of political cancer, and knowing we face life threatening surgery to cure it.
The door opened up to Goebbels-like propaganda when Ronald Reagan vetoed the Fairness Doctrine, a law instituted in 1949 that required FCC airwave licensees to "afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views on issues of public importance.” In support of his veto, Reagan said:
“This type of content-based regulation by the federal government is, in my judgment, antagonistic to the freedom of expression guaranteed by the First Amendment,” Reagan said in his veto message. “In any other medium besides broadcasting, such federal policing of the editorial judgment of journalists would be unthinkable.”
Out from the depths of depravity and racism came Rush Limbaugh and Rupert Murdoch and his Fox "News" who best monetized and promoted the far right dogma through the likes of Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson.
There has always been hate and bigotry in America, first enumerated in our Constitution (as a compromise) despite our founding fathers ideals, then in a rebellion to divide our nation and, thereafter, in an ongoing undercurrent of racism and anti-semitism.
IMO, the only way to put these forces of evil and hate back in the bottle is defeat them at the ballot box. We must overcome their tools of deception, disenfranchisement and threat or use of violence. As Joe Biden said, we are in a "battle for the soul of the Nation."
I agree. Nixon's mistakes were more a personal flaw, not a deliberate attempt to destroy democracy. It was the well-meant but short-sighted failure to hold him accountable that set the stage for later misuse of power.
Excellent deductions. Thank you for that perspective. The Heritage Foundation gave Ronnie the Leadership Mandate. I think it will be necessary to read their mandates so we are fully informed to the methods of their power.
I think successful social movements win with motivating voting and (part of the same process) impacting "public sentiment". I think there is a lot of truth in Lincoln's "In this and like communities, public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed. Consequently he who moulds public sentiment, goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions. He makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to be executed." That's what Reagan "Republicans" and plutocratic money have spent year trying to affect.
"I have a dream" which means it's unlikely to be put into action. However, one of the stranger aspects of American living, at least compared to countries I've visited, is housing elitism and segregation. Is it a myth or real possibility that intentional communities can be built with homes that reflect the composition of America? Small homes next to large, financial assistance for low income owners and price controls on rents and sales? Even the best of us are racists in ways we don't think we are. That includes buying ever-increasing expensive homes and condos as a way to keep "them" at bay. There is nothing like a mixed neighborhood with community services to squelch misunderstandings and prejudices, and where children can play together.
Hope, I agree with your take on this. It is one of the things I am interested in, and to my regret was never able to participate in- unlikely now as I approach 80, though I still yearn for that kind of community. For many decades I have watched communities like this grow and thrive, both urban and rural. There are several such communities within driving distance of me here in Vermont. It does take time, and real commitment, but I think we are starting to move in that direction, if in fits and starts.
The very first I was aware of was in Washington state back in the 80s, and it was far from the first. Every year, more are being created, and in some places even existing neighborhoods are recreating themselves along those lines, using various approaches, but with the kinds of goals you mention.
It's a nice dream. Before the millennium, I lived in a mixed, largely middle class black neighborhood in DC, with some middle class whites and some lower middle blacks. My next door neighbors were an illiterate transmission rebuilder and his wife, who'd been a checker in one of the local department stores. They were very nice people, who'd come to DC from the Carolinas.
There was one black lady in particular, and and I remember laughing about a lot of stuff with her. She was a wonderful character. I even wrote a poem about her, teasing her for the way she spent time on the telephone (...I ring and ring/the line is busy/for three long hours/I'm in a tizzy/Missus Tyler, ho I say/Are you on the phone today?/I have come to take a look/to see if it is off the hook.) She got a huge kick out of it.
HMMMMMMMM. What’s the date line for rises in “separatism” and ‘gated communities”? Growing up in the 1950s, We had Doctors, lawyers, Taxi drivers, business owners, and immigrants all living in our small cul de sac.
Great questions Patricia! Progress starts with questions like these. There are millions of brilliant American's amongst us. Let's put our minds together and find a way!
I have made some temporary suggestions whilst we are in a Constitutional Crisis and been told that we cannot mess with freedom of speech, ever. But authoritarian-leaning terrorists can mess with our rights, our votes, our bodies? Ahhhh..... Once in a great while, we might have to break the glass (or the precedent) and pull in an emergency.
Real emergencies can affect best practices, and we are in one. But straying too far from due diligence is always risky. You may know Naomi Klein's "shock doctrine". Trump always had an excuse to break the rules. I think that as a society have become way too tolerant of weaponized speech, and of people in official roles of trust telling provable, dangerous or harmful lies. Everybody is wrong about something, but the lack of due diligence is negligence in some circumstances; and consequential lies are not harmless as the Powell and Giuliani comedy team are finding out. Nixon was primarily facing impeachment conviction for "the coverup", a concept that now seems quaint in an age of Trump, but which is actually essential to fully functioning democracy and rule of law. And considering the pile of Trump shenanigans, there is hope that there is only so much obstruction of justice our society is willing to bear.
I do believe more is being done. The Southern Poverty Law Center keeps track of hate groups as does ACLU and now, DOJ. If any group threatens organized violence, they are on it. For example, the Patriot Front was arrested in Utah in June for organizing an anti-Pride event. Personally, I intend to campaign for making semi-automatic weapons illegal for civilian use, since that is the weapon of choice for menacing individuals and groups. I will inquire of any candidates in my district if that is a plank in their platform.
I am thinking of printing a handout to give to people who spout the %$#& on Fox, et al. It will simply say, "Do You Know...? and list the accomplishments of the Biden admin. I say that because I take public transportation for seniors in which other riders often get into a chat that is totally Fox news spawn.
If fully automatic weapons are illegal, why is banning semi-automatic weapons, which present many of the same dangers so hard to regulate? Why does any civilian need weapons of war?
Right wing folks tell me endlessly, sometimes in great detail, how the Constitution mandates them for the purpose of forcefully overthrowing any government we don't like. It says nothing of the kind. Quite the opposite. Somehow the mythology of revolution against the exploitation by a distant, semi-autocratic, colonial power because an all-purpose meme to plaster over anything.
There is NO place in the United States of America for the promotion of hate (sectarianism's bigotry).
Some of us grew up with Mothers who said more than one time, "If you can't say something nice about someone, then keep your sinful thoughts to yourself"
Why can't our freedom of speech embrace such love of each other, Eh!?
And we can start here on this forum, eh, George? We do need to speak up loudly and clearly when things are wrong, but we also need to keep open the possibility of understanding and compassion. Freedom of speech DOES include respect and caring, and was written with that context in mind.
I am learning from reading a plethora of responses to my respectful caring comments of their thanks and support regarding my compassionate understanding respecting the love that is America.
We must condemn harmfully irresponsible behavior (such as gross pollution, drunk driving) or predation (like rape) but not objectify the person. I think that has profound implications for the criminal justice system. I think we need to cultivate solidarity (as opposed to conformity). In my mind solidarity affirms mutual responsibilities to each other as human beings, mutual caring, yet accepts diversity.
I couldn't agree more completely. People have been given license to say whatever they want under the guise of Freedom of Speech. Trump lent a big lift to this but it's degenerated over the years - especially with negative campaigning like Bush's 1998 Willie Horton attack ad and the "swiftboating" attack on Kerry in 2004.
The only thing I thought that was missing from Biden's speech was a reference to exactly what you are saying: we all need to treat each other with kindness and respect just as we (at least most of us) were taught by our parents and in kindergarten!
Do you recall a book or a list with a heading something like - Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten? I know that isnt quite right - but maybe someone here will come up with it. Its been years since I've seen it - likely because kindness & empathy seem to have been pushed right to the brink - or over it.
I wonder: not so much a cancer but more a lack of nourishment that leads to poor health and susceptibility to dis-ease. The cure for that is less life-threatening surgery (which is what Trump and his predecessors have done to put our nation's health at risk), but an attention to the lack of nourishment in the form of acknowledgement, recognition, acceptance, gentle regard, and a willingness to include as many people as possible in the conversation, regardless of their political identity. We are just practicing a different form of bigotry on this forum when we consistently create an us/them perspective. Not all of us, but too many, and it is persistant. For a while we realize that we are part of both the problem and the solution. Then it goes off track again.
I was startled to come here the day after Biden's striking speech in which he included so much of the American community in positive terms while calling out the sickness- those lacking the nourishment that could make our community healthier- only to find more of the kind of ugly judgement Biden asked us to disengage from.
Yes, some people must be held accountable for their actions, and (thanks be) that is happening. But so do we need to be accountable for what we contribute to keeping the schism open. Please, I ask you, what do any of us get out of that? To the extent that we continue to point fingers and call names, and talking of what's wrong as something that needs to be surgically removed, we miss the opportunity to change the terms upon which we meet the problem.
The actions that have wronged our nation and our democracy must be judged and dealt with accordingly. But to fail to open ourselves to acceptance for others simply because we disagree with their perspective makes us complicit in maintaining those thing that keep us from healing.
I believe that this particular problem, and quite a few others, can be traced to the fact that our system has few checks on economic power, and -- as HCR has mentioned more than once, anyone who challenges the oligarchs' and plutocrats' power gets trashed as a socialist, communist, anarchist, etc. Big Money fuels the propaganda outlets, and as long as the Citizens United decision holds sway I don't see that changing. IOW, it's not just a First Amendment issue.
Corruption flourished during the laissez faire "Gilded Age". Social movements and civic-centered leaders spent decades pushing back on excesses, and legislating safeguards, such as Glass-Steagall and media dominance rules. Telegenic Reagan managed to convince the public and the press that all those rules were dragging the country down instead of lifting the public's interests up.
And here we are. The very, very rich are (by the government's own stats) much, much richer, there rest overall and all things considered, are poorer and less secure, or else running in place. Super massive corporations increasingly affect the course of our lives and our politics. Yet, over 40 years later, the "Reagan" gospel has only grown more strident, so the shift in political power and wealth would have to be what was intended all along; and we vote against our own interests when supporting it.
Though distrusting mob mentality, Enlightenment philosophies that informed the founders seemed to believe that open, dialectical discussion would keep most fools and tricksters on the fringe, but misjudged how many love Big Brother. Still, saying the truth out loud seems to embolden our "better angels, which makes such expressions a target for despots.
In the founders' day, white superiority wasn't a contested issue, women had few rights, and both these truths were self-evident to most people. "Dialectical discussion" in the founders' day took place in a closed shop open mostly to white educated men. Since the 1960s white superiority has been very much contested, and in the early '70s women started gaining rights and access we hadn't had before. These developments, coupled with the notion that the U.S. should be a "Christian nation," provided a powerful tool for the wealthy to use in persuading USians to vote against their economic and political interests. And it still works very, very well. I don't think the level of public discussion was ever as high as some like to believe, and anti-intellectualism was a thing before Hofstadter wrote about it in the 1960s.
I'm rather fond of private defamation law suits: The Sandy Hook parents who sued Alex Jones, and Dominion, the maker of voting machines has sued (Fox News?) also. Way to go.
I recommend the episode on the We The People Podcast entitled 'Is the First Amendment Enough Today?' A group of experts discuss and debate the social media dilemma regarding free speech and harmful communication. The problems and solutions offered are thought-provoking. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-the-people/id83213431?i=1000577366784
Thank you for this, Nancy, this is an area I am deeply interested in exploring further. But I really need to get off my doofus and get something done today!
I was able to listen to that podcast you recommended and it was really helpful in understanding a bit more the 1st Amendment and different people interpret it. I need more of this-- would love Heather or some grounded person to do more talks about this as it is equally as confusing, and perhaps outdated as the 2nd Amendment in this modern world.
Yes. We have to teach people how to turn off this noise. We have to speak out and take action. Lots of us have been doing that for a long time, but we have to pick up the pace. We have to support what Biden is doing. Especially the "golden spoon" MAGAs are cowards. I'm glad we have these comment sections to learn from one another. It truly helps.
Morning JL. In the loathsome Gingrich lineage of resentment, opinion and influence, the “trailer park” does have a lot to do with it.
So hope the Committee’s “invitation” to come talk will be just the hook needed to get his trashy mouth on record. And I hope he brings that trashy influencer Ginny along with him.
I guess it’s evident what I think. The woodshed has plenty of cans of shellac just waiting.
Yes, Christine....get that Ginni Thomas before the committee to see how she holds up. But, then, I guess she'll turn to her hubby to get her out of trouble when the case comes before SCOTUS....and you know it will at some point.
I have to smile when I think of the hypocrisy of Thomas, both of them, knowing that mixed marriages, while not specifically enumerated as a right in the in Constitution, will be upheld before this conservative Supreme Court anchored by Thomas who didn’t find a right to privacy with respect to a woman’s body so said there was none in spite of the previously held constitutional right found in Roe versus Wade. Do I need to spell this out😎
Not everyone has the good luck, mind, education and or privilege to choose what they do with their life. For those who are capable of a life well lived and choose wrongly it inflames me for the waste of good resources. Ted Cruz and his Ivy League education come to mind. No idea of how rewarding his family life may be, however, his public life must mean lots of anxiety.
Trailer parks, like every other kind of community, are home to all kinds of people: good/ bad/ indifferent and law abiding, not so much and educated/ not so much and Republican/RINO/MAGA and Democrat and Independent - some of my beloved friends...
I might point out that it has long been the standard to never refer to an “upscale” trailer park as a “trailer park” like we have in Florida. Hundreds of them. Now it’s politically correct to say “mobile home parks” or communities.
What I usually comment is that we are not talking about money or poverty. We are talking about ingrained, multi-generational attitude.
Absolutely. I'm 95 and have compressed my life in a two bed/two bath/laundry/eat-in kitchen into a one-roomer - w/two baths, etc - because it's so much easier to keep. If there were someone willing to move and settle me in a trailer, that would be great. As it is, I live in a +55 coop next to a university so we have many/mostly retirees and there is a very nice mobile home park nearby with similar kinds of folks. "Be like water." Wherever you are, FL where it is fluid or the South Pole where it is solid but melting - adapt. And keep well. L&B&L
Many "trailer parks" are more real communities than most subdivisions and urban neighborhoods. There are many examples where the occupants took over as a coop when the owner allowed the facility to deteriorate to the point of being shut down. And some states, including where I live, provided guidance and assistance. Our need for low-income housing would be deeply aggravated otherwise. I adore TC, but I think he needs to get out of his anger bubble and get to know people before he uses them as a bludgeon to insult others.
Ever read “The Lord of the Flies”? Honestly, for many many years, I called Gingrich “Piggy”. He is a disgusting deplorable pathetic lyin’ piece of 💩! He always has been a know-it-all, smile at the camera-stab-you-in-the-back kinda guy. Like Piggy, the sad little chubby guy, described in the book, Newt’s head should be on a stick surrounded by MAGA flies.
I so appreciate you sugar-coated the Gingrich story, Marlene. Don't think I could have handled the unvarnished version! Never read "The Lord of the Flies," but do have a neighbor who showed me pictures of her "Piggy's" newly birthed piglets. All eleven of them were too cute for words!🐖🐽🐷
The “trailer park” mentality is hard to erase. Makes him want to lord over the “elites” by whatever means. A coalition forged in hell by the phoniest of Pharisees. “Carpet-bombing lies” couldn’t be a better description, starting with the BIG LIE.
Jeri, I accidentally hit like on your comment. I meant to hit reply and say that I hate it when people stereotype me based on my religion, gender, or other characteristics, so I wish you’d drop the term “trailer park” mentality. All sorts of people live in trailer parks just as all sorts of people live in other neighborhoods in the U.S.A. It feels derogatory and condescending to assume that all folks in a particular neighborhood have one mentality.
Yeah, it bothered me too. It's a stereotype that demeans poor people. And guess what, I WAS a person in a trailer park for a while in order to pay my bills. It was by no means perfect (had to haul water and my adjacent neighbor suffered from horrible PTSD) but were not bad people.
There was an Article in the Boston Globe recently about residents of a trailer park banding together to fight the corporation that was planning to buy them up and push them out. They sounded like good people to have on our side.
I have a couple of friends who live in a trailer park. And I had the same reaction to the Globe article that Carolyn Paul did. There are a lot of really bad people who buy trailer parks so that they can feed off of people who have next to nothing.
In today's world Abraham Lincoln would have grown up in something like a trailer park. Lincoln had little formal education but he sure became educated. It doesn't get a lot of play today but Lincoln gave us the land grant colleges. Both of my parents, farm kids, were able to go to a land grant college during the 30's. In the 60's so was I, thank you Mr. Lincoln.
This doesn't change how much damage Gingrich has and continues to do.
Agree. "Trailer Parks" come in all sorts of flavors. Some are very expensive, some are not. Stereotypes alienate. My grandparents and my wife's aunt and uncle lived in a "trailer park". They were nicely landscaped. It was what they could afford. They were people of integrity who had worked very hard for many years.
With the crash of 2008- 9 we took a blood bath on our home. Sold everything, bought a 5th wheel and lived in it until 2019. Many, many people are in the same situation. We are one of the lucky ones. We had/have choices. Many don't.
Michele&henry -- Thank you _very_ much for leading the way with your comment! For several weeks now, I've been quite taken aback at the increasing negative and derogatory comments by many commenters on Dr. Richardson's letters -- comments going from extremely intelligent and furthering our discussions to comments sounding like the worst Far Right rhetoric we've all become used to.
Judith Smith 1111 - "For several weeks now, I've been quite taken aback at the increasing negative and derogatory comments ... sounding like the worst Far Right rhetoric we've all become used to."
Merrian-Webster says "name-calling": the use of offensive names especially to win an argument or to induce rejection or condemnation without objective consideration of the facts
This is nothing new. TCinLA, for instance, has quite a history of this behavior. "Trailer Park" is new, however, as "Moron" to describe everyone is the usual term used to make himself feel superior.
I think it's the glorification of "hit and run snark" that is plaguing our discourse. Skilled comedians can get away with a lot in their political commentary because they are skilled and it's their job to walk that fine line. When the rest of us try, it usually comes across as mean spirited and even ignorant. But unfortunately, social media, especially Twitter makes it too easy to do this. I think it's the 21st century version of "Nah nah nah nah nah" or "fatty fatty two by four....etc.) I am doing my best not to succumb myself, and call it out "Non-snarkily" when I see it.
Judith, I had to speak up to someone I actually like reading about using a smear of Italians as mobsters. I thought that did not belong here. Today I saw “Mega Maga” writing some hateful tripe and people responded politely! I asked : how we can get such trash off this forum!
Elisabeth, it's breaking my heart. Many of the people I used to appreciate the most have already left. I stay because there are still many people here I really respect, and because when there is a good discussion, I learn so much. But, like you and so many others, I am disheartened that the general tone has gone down. I'm going to let my subscription lapse this time when it runs out. I am already moving on to other places (including signing on to be a Troublemaker Coach as a result of HCR's appearance on the remarkable "RedWineandBlue" last night. Yippee!
I have also at one time been a resident in a “trailer park”, by which experience, I can agree with the derogatory implications. Why do we get the vapors over “trailer trash” and “deplorables”? What we are REALLY saying is there is “civilized” behavior, and there is behavior that is “beyond the pall”, and anyone who wants to live in a “civilized” fashion doesn’t glorify living in squalor — not physical (temporary), but intellectual (repairable).
Sorry for your experience. And I don't think we should be shy about calling a spade a spade. But for millions of people a trailer is not an episode out of "Ozark". It can be an affordable abode for very decent people.
KKKoch is the finding source supporting such confrontation with truth.
when we vote intelligently and help others likewise vote the results will jam those golden spoons down those plutocrat's flapping jowls choking them into a pouting fuming silence.
George, unfortunately, the Kochs aren’t the only ones. The Mercer family is equal to funding the insurrection and the 147 R’s from the Pro-Rape Party. What I really despise about the Kochs is that they have kept their plants operating in Russia. Their father admired Hitler, as did Henry Ford. He started his plastics industry there because of what he could make from oil and petroleum. His sons, albeit with the exception of one, stayed in the company to rape our environment and cause climate change.
J L Graham, In summarizing ‘Joe Biden’s This-Is-Not-Normal Speech’ in The New Yorker,
Susan B. Glaser provided how a few MAGA seeking Republicans portrayed Biden’s speech to Americans.
‘The current President may not have mentioned his predecessor’s name much, but Biden’s speech, as is the case with the rest of his Presidency, was all about standing against Trump and the unique threat to American democracy that he and his “Make America Great Again” supporters pose. ‘
‘MAGA Republicans seemed to think that the scary setting for Biden’s alarming message was somehow beneficial to them, and they soon began sharing images of the dramatic black-and-neon-red scene. “I can’t believe this is a real photograph,” J. D. Vance, the Trump-backed Republican nominee for Senate in Ohio, tweeted. “It depicts the president of our nation, as he took to the airwaves and spoke about his fellow citizens as if they were sewer rats.” Rick Scott, the Republican Senate campaign chief, tweeted the photo and dismissed Biden as a “raving lunatic” who “attacked half the country tonight.” Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, called it a “hate speech.” Over on Fox News, Tucker Carlson was very, very angry about the “blood-red Nazi background” and the Marine honor guard in front of Independence Hall, a setting that he termed a “complete outrage.”
The important comparison she made was one with Russia when Putin took over.
‘What scares me most about this moment is that I remember hearing this lament before—in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.’ (NewYorker) See link below for this article.
FERN McBride -- Thanks as always for your sane voice. I think this list has been highjacked by trollers and the like, and I'm glad you are still in evidence.
Long live the Great American Tradition of euphemism, more euphemism and mealy-mouthed hypocrisy.
Completely incomprehensible to this furriner. Especially given the contrast with the unending stream of insults emanating from the mouth of the last occupant of the White House.
Dear Friend Ashley, GED never gets the point when he comments about one of my comments. In this case it is the connection of quotes writer, Susan B. Glaser, used of Republicans courting MAGA and their similarity to the lamentations she heard in Putin's Russia. Many of the Russians faulted Gorbachev for the Soviet collapse and welcomed Putin. It would be a stretch for him, perhaps, even if he read the article, for which I provided the link. Glaser wrote the following:
'Arriving in Moscow a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union, I often heard Russians I interviewed complaining about the upending of their world, with the attendant economic and social collapse, in ways that were strikingly similar to the complaints of many Americans today. Where we in the West saw Mikhail Gorbachev as a hero who had helped bring an end to decades of Communist tyranny, all too many Russians agreed with Putin that the collapse of the Soviet Union, which Gorbachev helped bring about, was a “catastrophe.'
AshleyR, The gentleman has an obsession. Imagine his replies to me as the 'love letters' Kim Jong-un wrote to DJT. Please don't bother about him. So, I am a target of his 'wisdom'.. I'm smiling.
So, Ashley you find disagreement with my comments.
So, one wonders why you read my opinions if you become so agitated you feel compelled to report me to??? the thought police...How silly...That is a trump tactic you know. Whaa whaa whaa
"Thirteen times, in fact, Biden called out the Trumpists who have seized hold of one of America’s two great political parties—in just about the most unsparing terms a President has ever used for political opponents."
And within that sentence the key words: "the Trumpists who have seized hold of one of America’s two great political parties".
Except that, as we are reminded by a certain political zombie that has just crawled out from under a stone to remind us of its role in the wrecking of the American polity, the hijacking of the Republican Party began quite a while ago and the "Trumpists" arrival on the scene is a mafia turf war in which the ultimate mobsters have taken over the scene.
Why do we need to endure yet another rehash of bigots' hatefulness as they become exposed to the truth, which is the same sprinkling water on the Wicked Old Witch Of The West and hearing her screeching!
Unless one has been in a coma for the last 15 years such ugly repetition serves only one purpose: to project ones own true convictions through others tired old blasphemies.
How about an original thought about love for a change, Eh!?
“the bullies don't know what to do when the nice buy comes up and punches their face in front of their fans”. I know it’s a typo, but it reminds me that unlike the horror story ex prez, Joe Biden can’t be bought. Go, Joe. You knocked it out of the park. Only a partisan of the the big maga-liar would say that your speech was partisan. Maga=make America greedy again. The medals he gave out were bad enough, now he wants to give pardons to treasonous rioters that he’s been financially supporting. 🎃💩🤡💔🇺🇸
Gonna bet that's a reference to donations made out of a retirement pension. I use mine to donate small amounts to my favorite emerging blue candidates, and to buy card stock and toner to support our political postcarders here. About 45% through a 2000 card request for cards for writing to local non-affiliateds and Dems in our small county!
I'm with you on the small donations, Kathy. And I like postcarding as well ~ there's something very personal about a few well-chosen words, attractively illustrated, and delivered directly to one's mailbox. The receiver has the opportunity to toss it, of course, or more hopefully, be drawn to it enough to read the message more than once and let it sink in. I've often wondered how effective phone banking can be with more and more people using their option to ignore calls from unknown numbers these days.
More than likely tfg is using monies obtained from the Republican Nat’l Committee for his legal problems. He certainly doesn’t pay for his legal aid. I can’e see him doing for anyone else.
I wondered as well about tfg's claim about "financially supporting" some of the Jan. 6 rioters. Seems and sounds bogus to me. Up until this latest muckhole Trump got himself into (by stealing and refusing to release the classified documents) the RNC were indeed paying Trump's legal fees. They have (finally!) drawn a line in the sand, however, and SAY they will not be paying his legal fees on this latest matter.
Ha! Ha! Ha! So would I. And I hope that my above comments about trailer parks and deplorables will be considered as rhetorical and not bullying. In planning, there are many details to consider in finding solutions. Some of them are not polite.
It appears to me that the the despicable one is trying his best to get himself indicted—he just cannot stop his main drain. This is domestic abuse of our people and our democracy. Put the fricking guy in confinement with all his comrades. He is such an insult to our intelligence (in more ways than one).
Bet he hasn't got beyond saying it...but wait, hold hard! is this his Robin Hood moment? All those donations he's been soliciting? All for the "financial" support of his "special" rioters, that he loves? A paper towel in every household, imagine how their eyes must light up!
Probably not a Robin Hood moment-he’s signaling to them that he needs them to keep the violence going and he’ll take care of them with $ and pardons-he’s nothing now without his threats of violence and the anger he can stir up
I mentioned this yesterday, I think, that Adam Kinzinger said the next focus for the January 6th hearings is to look into how these groups that rioted on January 6th were/are being funded. As always, "following the money" can be a very revealing exercise. Who knows where it can lead? I still think that the more DJT is shown to be the criminal we all know he is, it's possible more and more people will start singing like canaries.
And now they're going to subpoena Gingrich to appear before the January 6th committee. Good luck with that. He's already called the committee a "Stalinist" panel and I expect he'll either ignore a subpoena or fight it. The man is the lowest piece of slime that ever oozed out of the state of Georgia, and we have some real slime-balls down here.
I am offended by your comment about you can’t take the Trailor park out of the boy. So if you come from a family in poverty than you are forever scarred.
A worthless piece of shit since the day he was born. Your income level is what makes you worthy? I don’t agree. This attitude feeds the narcissism of the wealthy and powerful. Democracy is about the equal opportunity for all. Prejudice against those who live in poverty says more about our politics and lack of support of equal opportunity. We are a wealthy nation with such discrepancy in income it is disgraceful we tolerate our fellow citizens to live in abject poverty. If we feel no guilt about this than the soul of of our nation is beyond help. We have easy targets now to blame MAGA Trump etc and we need to look inwards as well.
The trailer park “trash” reference is a broad stereotype that enrages many. On a day when POTUS is calling for unity it might be good to look at the old ways our language harms others. People are not trash. The trash was not said out loud but most everybody understood it. And it hurts.
Sizzlin suggestion, TC, for a response to all the whining and cheap fury theater from the Repubs who obv are conditioned now not to listen to any damn sense and just push their button and cry “partisan politics, partisan politics”, “inflation”, “woke takin’ away your fweedums”.
Go Harry. Go Joe. “I tell the truth about them and they think it’s hell”.
For a sense of who TC calls the 'Kooky Kollection of Klucks', this is what I have learned about MAGA, so far.
‘Who are MAGA supporters, and what do they believe in? In these figures, we elaborate on these questions. As the results make clear, they’re not a terribly diverse group: at least 60 percent of them are White, Christian, and male. Further, around half are retired, over 65 years of age, and earn at least $50K per year. Finally, roughly 30 percent have at least a college degree. That MAGA supporters are older, Christian, men, more than half of whom are retired, comports with the now-familiar images of the Capitol riots. What may seem a bit surprising is that about half are middle-class by income, and almost 1/3 are middle-class by educational criteria. Apparently, these same images of the riot participants, ones portraying a mainly working-class crowd, were misleading.’
The preceding description of MAGA supporters came from PSMM. In my research efforts to find out what and who MAGA are I learned of following study.
Panel Study Of The MAGA Movement (PSMM)
Rachel M. Blum, Assistant Professor, University of Oklahoma
Christopher Sebastian Parker, Professor, University of Washington
‘The Panel Study of the MAGA Movement (PSMM) is a survey designed to assess the attitudes and behavior of the people who consider themselves part of the “Make America Great Again” movement, popularized by the Trump campaign in 2016. Understanding them is paramount. For as the base to which former President Trump played (and plays), the MAGA movement ultimately motivated his challenges to American democracy. For example, exhorted by then-President Trump, many in the MAGA movement participated in the Capitol riot, an effort to stifle the peaceful transfer of power, a staple of democracy. As the principal source of perhaps the most divisive period in American history, we thought it wise to conduct a systematic, thorough investigation of the movement. As such, the PSMM permits us to distinguish between movement supporters and activists, among other things. Ultimately, ours is a study that gauges the opinions and behavior of MAGA supporters before and, more importantly, after the events of January 6, 2021’.
This study has provided me with a broad outline of who, what and where MAGA is. It is a research tool, not the only or last word on MAGA. I do not know how UpToDate PSMM is or of another such wide ranging study/report at this signature Trump support group. The link below covers the HOME, DEMOGRAPHICS AND GROUP AFFINITIES, MAGA AND POLITICS, THE PANDEMIC AND PARANOIA, MAGA & DIFFERENCE menu of this MAGA MOVEMENT study.
‘Where do MAGA supporters live? This heat map (see link) shows the geographic locations of the MAGA supporters who participated in our survey. Each dot in the map corresponds with one survey respondent. Dark clusters of dots indicate that multiple respondents resided in the same geographic area. A few things stand out in this map. The first is that the MAGA movement has a presence in every state in the continental U.S. (with a few respondents residing in Alaska and Hawaii, not shown on this map). This much is expected, as we recruited survey respondents from all 50 states, proportional to state population. We discuss this more on our methods summary page. Second, MAGA presence corresponds with population density. As expected, less populous states in the Mountain West and Great Plains regions showed less activity. More populous states such as California, Texas, Florida, and other states in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic region registered more MAGA activity. Third, MAGA presence was not constrained to rural areas, as contemporary rhetoric about the urban-rural divide might lead us to expect. In most states, MAGA respondents were clustered around major cities like Atlanta, Chicago, and Dallas.’
‘The MAGA movement, it seems, is not a isolated phenomenon. Movement sympathizers make up a healthy portion of the Republican electorate, and they are well-represented throughout the country.’
‘Turning to group affinities, it’s clear that conservative groups are popular among MAGA supporters. Given the demography of the group, this should come as no great shock. For instance, roughly 85 percent of MAGA supporters are members of gun-rights groups, though not necessarily gun owners. Approximately 60 percent of them are members of charities and pro-police groups, respectively. In addition, roughly 50 percent of MAGA supporters belong to anti-lockdown and pro-life groups, respectively. Here’s where matters take an interesting turn. It seems like the “Stop the Steal” campaign, and militia groups, are less popular among the MAGA movement than the popular press suggests. Though not insignificant, only 38 percent of the MAGA movement identifies with the “Stop the Steal” campaign. Likewise, only roughly 23 percent of the insurgent movement identifies with militia movements of any kind.’ (UniversityofWashington) For more information on the study, see link below.
I seem to remember reading that some? many? of the Jan. 6th rioters were people who have had issues with debt and bankruptcy, in spite of their income level. I'll have to look for the article.
Ellen, I think this is the article (or an offshoot of the original WAPO article by Todd Frankel) you’re thinking about; & you’re correct in the context of the then-200 people facing charges in Feb. of 2021.
Do you have data that shows any coincidence of age? It seems to me that so many of these MAGA folks might have been in their youth during 1968. Another year that was roiled with political conflict.
Patricia, I recommend that you open the link. You will find details concerning age. and other categories covered by the study , which I listed. Correspondences with the '60s were not addressed..
I knew that you didn't want to steer subscribers to GOtv's media platform, 'A Supa-sized GOtv experience. ... local channels, ...' blah, blah, blah. Thank you for spelling it out! GOTV: GET OUT THE VOTE!
Thanks for posting....very interesting. Not surprised that over half of them are male and that they are older. Fits the older guy across the street who is apparently worried now that the National Guard is coming to take his guns. He looks and sounds like Dick Cheney.
Sorry that you have a my neighbor like that. My backdoor neighbor of over 25 years hasn’t spoken to me in about 2 years. He isn’t MAGA but he fits the over 60’s role described by Fern’s article. He used to tell me how much he admired ousted Sheriff Arpaio for the way he horribly treated inmates. The fact that he doesn’t speak to me anymore is a good thing.
He doesn't speak to us either and his last words to my husband were, "Get the f....off my property" when we were trying to get him to close his shop door to cut down on some awful noise. My last word to him some time ago....also asking for the shop door down....was "jackass." He mows his postage stamp lawn about three times a week with a huge loud riding mower. Must measure the grass with a micrometer. His wife is a D. Our neighbors are friendly with them, but he wouldn't attend their 50th anniversary because...horrors....we would be there.
TC, not sure if growing up poor is the problem with an opportunistic narcissist like Newty, as he has embraced not just the politics of grievance but also an ideology of fascist imperialistic elitism that has driven him ever since his claim, in his doctoral dissertation, that the Belgians' genocidic activities in Africa was a "good thing" (he is a more appalling example of neo-imperialism even than Niall Ferguson, whose support of the British Empire reaches the grotesque--but y'know, outlets like the NYTimes love stuff like that). But I, too, find it hilarious that people are complaining that the President is being "partisan" after the antics of TFG.
I think the issue becomes one of implication. “Trailer Trash” doesn’t specifically describe one’s income level, but rather their poverty of “mind set”. Having lived in a trailer park myself at one point, that “trailer trash” moniker brings a certain behavioral image to mind that has nothing to do with money, and everything to do with behavior.
Thanks for this tidbit about Newt's doctoral thesis. I can remembering reading a book about the Belgian activities in the Congo, owned personally by Leopold II and it made me sick. I spent three and a half years in Sierra Leone and the aftermath of colonialism was alive and well in the 1960s. I have just ordered a book on the British Empire and look forward to reading it.....from Powell's in Portland, my fav bookstore.
King Leopoldo’s Ghost is the book I read about the horrific colonization of what was called the Belgian Congo. A couple of years ago, some activists in Belgium threw a statue of King Leopold into the sea. After reading this book, it was clear to see why. That Gingrich defended what happened during this time fits with his despicable politics.
Yes, that is the book. I read it years ago and have it in our library. I have read many books on colonialism, but that one made the deepest impression. I am glad that they threw the statue into the sea. I have always found it interesting that it was his personal property.
Bless you, Ms. Mitchell! Gingrich has been an evil little worm in the body politic, since the "tea party" days and before.
Both Al Franken and Molly Ivins singled out Newt--in Franken's books and Ivins' columns--as being an under-educated (despite his doctorate degree, which was a grotesquerie quite beyond belief) sociopath with an out-sized ego and even bigger ambitions, ever since he slithered onto the political scene. And my apologies to worms, who at least have a useful purpose in the world--unlike Newt Gingrich.
Newt just wanted to be the power behind the throne since he was rejected as the power on the throne, and, not inconsequential, have his third “beautiful” wife hang with the pope. Add Ginni Thomas and the treachery of the Borgias comes to mind. They used chump or he used them. Lock them all up…
It’s breathtaking to sit back and watch how, one by one, all those working behind the curtain are being yanked forth. Thank you God for the 1/6 Committee, Letitia, Fani, and the DOJ….
Hey TC! Good morning! I do not think it is "partisan" to call a spade a spade. And Gingrich just wants to be back in the news because he has fallen off the radar. I agree with your assessment of him, though. Isn't it sad to watch these old fat white guys flail about trying to rule the world? Too bad they are damn near doing it. Seriously, until the people in this country stop taking the vote for granted, and actually USE it, we will continue down this road until we become the next Hungary. That is what they are shooting for.
American democracy can’t survive an asymmetric internal struggle where one side uproots elections, basic fairness, self evident truths, and the rule of law while the other is expected to stay “non-partisan.”
The absurdity here would be laughable if it were not for such anti-democracy long gamers emerging like Gingrich, the Thomases, Giuliani, etc etc.
Calling out the MAGA Republicans for what they are is as necessary as combating climate change, restoring women’s rights, and protecting our sacred vote. MAGA has a maggot-like phonetic ring to it anyway, and my moderate Republican friends cringe to be associated with it.
As a proud Philadelphian I only wish Biden had taken a lap down South 9th Street, through the Italian Market, fire and smoke rising from the burn barrels like a phoenix, with the Rocky theme playing.
Taunt him with “Let’s go Brandon?” He’s come back to us now, at the turn of the tide, Dark Brandon if you must, and that’s a BFD.
While I believe a process of pardon is necessary for correcting errors and changing understandings of justice, it seems to be that pardons on the whim of presidents and governors is a remnant of imperial power in our democratic republican system, which lacks prudent checks and balances and which can (now obviously) be used to undermine just rule of law as well as to improve it. The pardon of Nixon was such an abuse of power, and Trump's abuses are as corrupt as hell.
“Power must never be trusted without a check.” – John Adams
I suspect that this is only one of several ways we are inclined to conflate a president with a king.
JL Graham: "I suspect that this [pardons] is only one of several ways we are inclined to conflate a president with a king."
Another, and even more extreme, is the notion that a president, or former president, cannot be prosecuted. How in the name of reason can anyone support that position while declaring that "NO ONE is above the law"?
Bill Clinton, after subjecting the American people to years of trashy, dishonorable, lifestyle choices, pardoned 140 people in the last hours of his Presidency.
I think Clinton holds the record for handing out pardons to trashy criminals.
Me? I voted for Ross Perot. And?
Perot was right about NAFTA and right to oppose it.
I’d forgotten about Clinton’s pre-departure pardoning spree. The link you provide, Mike, includes the crimes committed by those pardoned. One example: Susan Lisa Rosenberg was pardoned for her “role in the 1983 bombing of the United States Capitol Building, the U.S. National War College and the New York Patrolmen's Benevolent Association.” The crime of treason should be UNPARDONABLE! Such grievous pardoning precedent can now be used by tfg to forgive the traitorous, J6 criminals! ARGH! $(@&%
Susan Lisa Rosenberg wasn’t pardoned. Her sentence was commuted to time served after more than 16 years in prison. Still unfathomable, but not a pardon.
You are right about Clinton’s pardons, but Ross, while having good points, was a spoiler. Bill did try to overcome his “trailer park” raising, with a lapse, or two, or three…
NAFTA support could have been justified if labor had been supported. Something on the lines of a Build Back Better program. Many jobs could have been created by infrastructure spending vs giving tax breaks and wasting on useless military involvement. Blame every elected representative who did not make an effort for labor and by extension for us all. I would imagine Robert Reich was making the effort as he always has done.
I always held NAFTA against Clinton. I never ever was a fan of that idea, the way it was laid out. I so feel your comment about “if labor had been supported” is absolutely correct.
Clinton's lapses had more to do with his hound-dog propensities rather than his lifestyle--Clinton was quite bright, actually...too bad he was seduced by the Democratic Leadership Council into believing in the "third way".
Bill Clinton left office with a surplus in the budget and a warning for Dubya that Dubya ignored to the lasting detriment of this country. Bill was a centrist, and some of his policy decisions stunk, but there isn't even a near correspondence between WJClinton and the putrid garbage heap that is Trump.
Yeah but otherwise the guy (Perot) was easily as paranoid and demented as is Trump. And his track record in business dealings and where he got his money to make money wasn't exactly spotless either. He did have a few shining moments of true populism in his brief campaigns, though.
I think you are right. I suspect that after 40+ centuries of rule by royal families, it was difficult for the founding fathers to wrap their minds around not having a king. So they basically created a king that can be elected.
President Biden in Philadelphia spoke of his/our fight for the soul of America.
On January 21, 2022, with the heart of an historian rather than the glibness of a daily political analyst, I wrote that the then-dismal political prospects of President Biden and the Democratic Congress could change with startling speed. I wrote more with an attaboy attitude than a deep conviction.
I related to Jon Meacham’s magnificent THE SOUL OF AMERICA, He wrote about America’s stutter step pattern of ups, downs, and ups over two-and-one-half centuries. The trend line has been up.
At present President Biden is deservedly up, Manchin/Sinema have permitted some Democratic legislative triumphs, gas prices have plummeted, and MAGAISTS have a ‘soul’ that is being filleted.
I am an American who has experienced such downs as Pearl Harbor, Watergate, the 1970s Rust Belt, Vietnam, 9/11, Iraq, and Covid. I have also experienced Brown v. Board of Education, Medicare, the end of the Cold War, and the Pelosi/Pence completion of the constitutional election of President Biden on the day of the Capitol Hill insurrection.
I am thankful that America’s ‘soul pendulum’ recently has swing in a positive and, for many, surprising direction. I am heartened without being complacent.
The battle for the soul of America is a never ending struggle.
I like the call to be exceptional. It rouses my emotion and reminds me that if you work 14 hours a day, are lucky enough to be considered white, manage to find nearly free college education, and willing to endure a workforce where favorite sons, with the ability to crawl on their knees, get promoted……then you or I can also become exceptional.
However. I think it is important to say and recognize that America has also been a country with exceptionally harsh, negative outcomes for “others”.
Without that conscious, fearless look at our current reality and past history we become complacent.
I would say:
Let us make America truly exceptional for the first time.
Let us fund the Innocence Project.
Let us support, with funding, native public schools instead of WV coal companies.
Let us pass laws requiring military contractors, which have the best benefits and pay in America, to hire non whites who are not related to current employees (almost all of whom are white). Military contractors almost exclusively hire white people.
Let us stop Harvard from using “Legacy” admission which openly targets admitting poor performing white people.
Thank you. The level of anger and blaming other in today’s comments is disheartening to me. Thank you for sharing how we might pursue fo a more just society. Anger is important but it is time to transform that energy to build a better America. To my total surprise Joe Biden is leading us in that direction. We are very lucky to have such a skilled politician move us in a more positive direction. Building back the soul of the nation requires all of us to look inwards to see how we have been effected by the attack on our Democracy and our role in this.
Susan, I was thinking the same thing. Justified or not, let’s stop the sniping at each other and stop the stereotyping. We as a country have bigger goals right now.
Yes, I was beginning to wonder if I had popped in to a different Substack comments section. I’m not used to all of the sniping at one another on this forum. Some, yes... but today it seems we’ve gotten away from commenting on what HCR’s letter was about. All of us need to fight for the soul of America and snarling at one another is wasting time. IMHO of course.
Yes, I do not think we ever made it to being exceptional, except theoretically. That would require taking a honest look at our true history and humbling ourselves to raise the stakes and not repeat how we were formed. We would have to disband the caste system that the Euros brought here. That might require some deeply heartfelt apologies and reparations to our Native Americans and Africans that were destroyed and enslaved to make white people so "great" and "prosperous." Another elephantine thing to ask of Americans to put things right which could make us Exceptional. New Zealand did this for their Maori, and are ahead of us in that path. We might be able to learn a thing or two about how to make amends for so much historical trauma. New Zealand negotiated settlement packages described include those in relation to the more traditional, historical, kin-based grievances as well as three examples of pan-Maori settlements: commercial fisheries, commercial forests, and broadcasting. I believe we cannot be whole until we look at roots of our shadows and face them. Otherwise, we are a just a fake, hypocritical nation and our "patriotism" nothing but a sham. I said it several years ago here...Americans need to do some very Deep Gardening in our roots and planting new seeds, All of Us, Together. Then we can call ourselves Exceptional, as we grow more United. It will be our Intentions, Actions and our Processes that will determine how great a People we can be.
Exceptional. Aspirational. Preceeded by much reimagining, creation, uplifting an hard slogging from where we are now, all based on an honest history and actions to change, especially in how equality is demonstrated to all of US.
Mike America has been a work in progress ever since the 7-year American revolution, the failed Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution, with its extraordinary real-world compromises.
We have come a long way from slavery and the early role of women. Our ‘stutter step’ evolution had had, and still has, severe downsides, including those that you have enumerated.
I willingly put my life on the line for my country. Today I fear for the country that my grandchildren will inherit.
My hope and, indeed, my expectation is that the ongoing struggle to preserve and expand the soul of America will, over time, result in a better America for the great majority of citizens.
I agree that the word ‘exceptionalism’ ignores many of the dark spots in America’s evolution, including some of the slippage that has occurred in recent years.
I have lived in other countries for more than a decade. On balance, there is no country in which I would choose to live than the United States. I hope that you and the readers of LFAA will join me in endeavoring to make America a better place for those who come after us.
Mike My great grandmother was Greek and gave birth to my British grandfather in Baghdad in the 1860s. [I spent a month in Baghdad in 1960, which was more than enough.]
I fantasize about the glorious Greek Islands. There was a plan, after my graduation in 1955, of a sailing voyage across the Atlantic ending up in the Greek isles which, alas, never occurred.
In 1953 & 1954 I took my Middle East Yale group to Greece—no money—had to sell the remainder of my free documentary film to eat and rent a Jeep without brakes. Wonderful trips to Corinth, Delos, Epidarus, and elsewhere. Learned from experience not to buy the hind quarter of an old goat—we were tasting it for a month.
Alas, I shan’t be seeing you in Anemotia, but welcome the LFAA exchanges with such an erudite gentleman..
Keith and Mike, you have both done us a favor. By refocusing our thoughts and goals, we can achieve exceptional progress. And Susan, all of what you commented on is “right on”!
America is exceptional as being the only country in the advanced western world who has been involved in or begun a war since WWII. Military is our currency. That needs to change.
From a latrine wall in Da Nang: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for I am the baddest m****r f****r in the valley". That's been our philosophy for decades.
James, Are you taking a swing at the USA's foreign policy or the country's general attitude? I hope that you will elaborate on the country's philosophy as you see it?
Both, I think. We were the world's policeman, starting in the 1950s but, beginning with Viet Nam, we began starting wars, rather than finishing them. Some will say we had good intentions, but who, ultimately, profits from these undeclared wars? We are the world's armorer. Eisenhower was right: the military-industrial complex has to be reined in. That's difficult, because there is so much money to be made.
How many guns, per capita, in the US? I think it's way more than one. Yesterday, in an interview, the new congresswoman-elect from Alaska, in response to a question about Biden's proposed ban on assault weapons, said she had to consider it after seeing the details: she is aware of 2nd Amendment rights. Then she said she had 176 guns in her house. One hundred and seventy-six. Let that sink in for a moment. Yes, they're hunters, so they have need of tools. But I wonder how many of those guns are assault weapons.
We may strive mightily for peace, but when it comes to dealing death and destruction, we have no equal on the planet. What other nation has used nuclear weapons against an enemy? And it's not just the weapons and wars: our mediocre response to climate change could also be considered as an attack - on the planet.
But perhaps our worst mistake was electing T****, giving the world a monumentally bad example to follow. It's going to be hard to live that down. And if the Brasilians don't see the problem with their T**** clone, it may be a moot point: we won't have the air to breathe when they finish the destruction of the Amazon.
Thank you, James, for your well considered response. This very difficult and dangerous time in America has in some measure revealed more of the USA's history and the forces that have been working against Democracy from the beginning and in various forms since then. You ended strongly in terms of climate change. I would more specifically add the necessity of us examining the role of fossil fuels, businesses/owners/influences and the politics behind it. How fossil fuels can be reduced and adapted to a safe environment is of the highest priority.
Thank you for taking the conversation back to the gist of HCR's letter today and to the purpose of Biden's excellent speech. I thought I was in the wrong room with the first series of comments expressing such anger off topic. My life, too, spans those and other concomitant markers of the ups and downs of our democracy. We are not perfect and we have far to go. Yet, when the MSM and the 3 major networks choose not to carry such a critically important speech, and the cable networks cherry pick his statements, we know the battle is uphill. Biden is that right person in these dangerous and frightening times. We need to heed his words and call.
Exceptional for being the realm of the possible -- the best possible, as opposed to the worst with which the world has been force-fed in recent years -- exceptional, because free at last of exceptionalism. Exceptional because exemplary.
So, Joe Biden speaks. More than once, even. I hope he speaks like he's personally running for office this November. I'd like to hear that he's speaking like a candidate for office, 2-3 times/week until November and the election. His words, empowered by the office he holds, are in fact the most powerful tools in his arsenal to influence Americans toward voting out lies and liars, voting for the constitution and those who agree to swear their allegiance to it. If we achieve that, we'll have that more generous majority in the Senate and we'll preserve the majority in the House and the next two years of this administration will be more fruitful than the last, which were remarkable by many measures. This president will stand tall amongst his peers, even though he was dealt a weak hand in 2020.
What's roaring off to one side is a paper tiger, less and less convincing as the days and weeks progress, sinking deeper and deeper into the very swamp he claimed to drain. I want to watch as the last orange hair atop his orange tan-in-a-can head sinks below the water. When his voice has been smothered, it'll be interesting to see who slinks back into the Congress, hoping they won't be noticed as they attempt to rehabilitate their names and reputations.
I do agree about increased addresses from our president 2-3 times a week, Nathan. You know the kid’s game of freeze? There are so many just frozen in place when it comes to politics. The assault on the senses and sensibilities of people has been bombarded during the Twitter reign of terror and governing for 4 yrs of the former culminating in the extensive coup staged on January 6th. Even I, who have stayed pretty active in a constant state of pushing back since Jan 6th, was jumping around listening to President Biden tonight. I imagine his increased presence in the homes of America like many great presidents have done during war and crisis and turning points will be like a tap on the shoulder giving permission to “unfreeze”.
Yes! Biden should be doing “mini” soul of America speeches with frequency. And…
we need to hear from all of those who represent We The People as often as is possible. Let’s hear from a brilliant and passionate Adam Schiff. Where is Kamala? Some of the lesser known Dems and Independents. Just this week, Adam Kinzinger gave a loud shoutout for democracy. So yes, let’s get loud in huge numbers.
Exactly. We need Fireside Chats with The President. And we could continue that with Heather and Biden talks. It could be the antidote to all the brainwashing tactics of the authoritarians.
I think that Biden was at his absolute best in his sit-down conversation with Heather. Seemingly off the cuff, articulate and informed. We need to get more of that Biden out to the greater public. How?
Christine I remember FDR’s Fireside Chats. They were extremely effective—FDR spoke directly to the people over radio [before TV, cable, and Youtube]. Though he had many press conferences, he only gave 31 Fireside Chats in 12 years.
I’m looking for a Democratic Greek chorus that will fervently sing President Biden’s ‘soul song’ AND point out what the Dems have/are accomplished compared to the Trumpists’ dog-in-the-manger uncontrolled pooping.
Agree. Joe Biden needs to speak like this for the remainder of his office. Get dem’s and independents fired up. Tell the truth with conviction and passion, forget being nice. Every message doesn’t have to be - they are fascists but SPEAK THE TRUTH. What does he have to lose? He can keep up the heat and if he loses well, concede, move on and be noted as a fighter until the end. Isn’t that what we are doing? Fighting for democracy? Don’t do it with a mouth full of candy and try to sugarcoat anything. PASSION AND CONVICTION AND FREQUENT AND LOUD
Thursday evening, President Biden delivered a forceful speech brilliantly defending the continuation of American democracy. Still, when he said he would not stand by and watch as elections were stolen nor watch as people’s voting rights were taken, I was perplexed by what he meant, seeing these rights, as we speak, are being taken.
Nationwide, GOP controlled state legislatures unilaterally are undermining our elections, passing provisions making it difficult for voters to be able to cast their ballots and have those ballots counted. Moreover, county election officials (largely black) are being removed from their offices and replaced with state and local personnel who don’t believe in free and fair elections.
Simultaneously, this past January, two Senate Democrats (Manchin and Sinema) refused, without support from Republicans, to pass legislation (the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act) that would have ensured that all eligible votes were cast, counted correctly, and certified without interference and without their being diluted either through partisan gerrymandering or through using false allegations of fraud as a pretext not to include all the ballots in the certified results.
Presuming we agree that democracy is not static but a dynamic process, it then follows, at least in my view, that words alone are insufficient unless we engage now in the necessary actions to protect our democracy.
Christine, To be clear, despite my disgust at any attempt to shrink the electorate, I’m far less worried about voter suppression provisions than I am about election subversion measures. As you and MaryPat, also part of this thread, have indicated, the former can be redressed by turbo-charging turnout. As for the latter—voter nullification—absent any federal voter protection safeguards, there is no amount of organizing that is going to get us around those obstacles
Still, I would note that no amount of emotional duress would so burden me that I would despair of ever being able to change things. Hence, I persist because I believe the cause is right and just and moral. That said, I think, when one appreciates the full extent of the challenge ahead, one can be more effective.
Christine, My intent certainly wasn’t to appear elitist. Truthfully, the intentional shift from first person to third person was my way merely of asserting a generalization that seemed important.
I noted the shift. I am still wondering about the implication of that generalization. But that’s OK. Please know that I believe election subversion is paramount in those voting for democracy in November. I just do not believe we have the chance of passing any acts into law without a greater majority in Congress.
Christine, Regrettably, I agree, especially since the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 must pass before this Congressional term ends, considering Dems could lose one or both chambers. Still, whether it’s Democracy Docket Founder Marc Elias or Protect Democracy Executive Director Ian Bassin, both of whom track the increasing sophistication of Republican election subversion planning, I believe, for a host of reasons, that their findings merit repeated amplification.
On another matter, I deeply regret any misunderstanding my wording produced, especially considering I invest a great deal of care in increasing the chances of being understood.
Biden has armed us with the force of words : "Mainstream Republicans" vs. "MAGA Republicans." It is up to us, WE THE PEOPLE, to carry his message forward to every political battle across the country, split the Republican Party, and save democracy. We have our marching orders.
P.S. I was heartened this early morning to have messages from several organizations urging me to do just that, and specifying exactly how. These groups didn't exist 2 years ago (The Union, Red Wine & Blue, Dr. Bob Lorinser for Congress.)
Why are we treating “mainstream” Republicans with respect?
Dick Cheney is a mainstream Republican responsible for the largest refugee diaspora since WWII and responsible for hundreds of thousands of innocent deaths.
The Republican neighbors and friends whom we want to reach with our Northen Michigan "Send Bergman Back to Louisiana" campaign are "mainstream" Republicans whom I respect as "good people." Our goal is to enlighten them about how their party has left them, exactly how Rep. Bergman voted against their interests, and how our moderate Democratic candidate Dr. Bob Lorinser's positions and values actually align with theirs. Mainstream is a word THEY can identify with, that respects THEM.
Dr. Heather was the guest at Last night's Red Wine & Blue Zoom meeting which provided excellent insights and tools on this approach. Watch It! We have Good Trouble to do!
Your anger is completely understood, but I think we need to be prepared that this will be messy. Even after WWII, many who participated as Nazis quieted down and became members of the community with their Nazi propaganda masters deceased or arrested. We may not like it, but in order to unite, we will have to forgive the followers who wanted to belong to some group or Thing. Let's create something Good for them to follow. Like healthy republican leaders who believe in democracy and the rule of law.
Gee, I don’t remember ever thinking or hearing that Dick Cheney was a mainstream Republican. He was and is focused on making his companies profitable-he started a nonsensical war against the wrong country, based on lies, just to get his companies involved in increasing control of mid-eastern war, didn’t he? All that cowboy ethos posturing was cover for the ruthless businessman.
MaryPat, The groups you cite are critical for turbo-charging turnout, garnering momentum that certainly will redress voter suppression provisions. The greater concern is the Republican election subversion plan expected to be enacted as early as this fall that would change state election rules to change who can be in charge, how votes are counted, and how they’re certified. Regrettably, no amount of organizing is going to get us around those obstacles.
Still, as I wrote to Christine, also on this thread, I persist because I believe the cause is right and just and moral. That said, I also would note that I think we benefit from appreciating the full extent of the challenges with which we must contend.
Jeri, Like you, my goal, too, is to hold the House and pick up at least 2 Senate seats. In the interim, however, we have both voter suppression and voter nullification provisions expected to be enacted as early as this fall, with which to contend. As I’ve written to others on this thread, despite detesting any effort to shrink the electorate, I worry less about voter suppression than voter nullification. While the former can be redressed by turbo-charging turnout, no amount of organizing is going to circumvent the Republican election subversion plan that would change state election rules to change who can be in charge, how votes are counted, and how they’re certified.
Still, as with all my fellow subscribers, I won’t allow the emotional weight of the challenges ahead to so burden me that I despair of ever being able to change things.
There is no distinction between ‘extremist’ MAGA and MAGA. MAGA is the mainstream Republican position. 74 million people voted for Trump in 2020. Being silently complicit may appear less extreme, but it’s no less harmful. Let’s call mainstream Republicanism what it is: extremism.
The malware of the MAGA cult infects a lot of people that one would think would know better, and pulled in people that previously seemed "normal", but it seems to me there degrees of possession and some have backed away, from the little I have seen anyway. I don't think all Trump supporters are full-blown sociopathic, and some would perhaps take a path of diplomatic exit, as the biggest of big liars and cheaters are investigated, and presumably charged.
Not as a favor or exoneration for peripheral Trumpsters, but to help dial down plot against democracy, We are just not going to be prosecuting millions of Trump supporters , so if some are willing to walk away from extremism, I think it is wise to make a space for that; which is what I think Biden is trying to do. It was once "The Party of Lincoln", before rejecting everything the Lincoln had stood for.
Absolutely. They may not realize that they are the fascist party. Makes it so much more dangerous. They believe they have a right to lie. To steal. To determine who is an American. Who has the right to vote. Who has the right to be educated.
Torally agree! Time for them all to be exposed for what they are. The ones that have broken the law put in jail, the ones that supported breaking the law exposed. And by all means, follow the money. A lot of the actions taken (ie against gun control, fossil fuel, and lower drug prices) are taken by lawmakers paid off by someone. Let´s have no more dark money.
We certainly need to tame capitalism and campaign money and bring them to heel at a our side rather than dragging us on their leash. But it means we also must have strong boundaries and be assertive in protecting our country from right and wrongdoing both foreign and domestic. I think Democracy has to be fought by All The People because, and excuse my French, there are too many power hungry dicks and dicketts out there.
Certainly the authors of fascistic Big Lies and illegal, anti-democratic plots must be discredited, and some the big players arrested. They attempted a coup d'etat after all, and they're still at it. But there are also a lot of their believers being had, and while their allegiance to Trump, etc. was theirs by choice, what do we do about them, assuming we really can bring the kingpins down?
One party rule by Democrats isn't democratic either, so encouraging the growth of an ethical and sane alternative party seems worth a shot. IF we can turn the tide, there will still be millions of alienated Republicans out there, and if they don't find something responsible to do with their energy, it's more likely to just not change, and just resurge later.
If there are any innocent passengers on the 'ship of fools' that is the current Republican Party, perhaps they can jump ship and start some new party. But to call them 'mainstream' is a misnomer: the main part of the Republican Party are T**** supporters. For that, they deserve our scorn.
Thank you. McCarthy is a tool and a fool and clearly quaking in his shoes lest he lose his position amongst his perfervid MAGA Repub cohorts....but even cutting him some slack for having to appease his own party members, I thought his "counter attack speech" was preposterous.
Pretty much. Political corruption, like street crime, is to be found anywhere you go, but modern"Яepublicans" are the pretty much the anti-Lincoln party. Lincoln defined as the legitimate object of government... to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves -- in their separate, and individual capacities"; which is pretty much anti-Reagan. Lincoln was phobic of black people but protected their legal rights, and fought with the Union, not the Confederacy.
Treachery never goes away because you can use it to win, if that's the way you are willing to go, but society is wise to protect itself from you. "Яepublicans" hoovered up and pandered to fanatical ultra-racists, after Democrats finally began distancing themselves from them, in a "devil's bargain" if there ever was one. The history of both parties is more complex than that, but a switcheroo indeed.
Biden is refusing to be pushed into a corner by Republicans and rightly calls for defense of democracy. In another display of what is routinely GOP projection, Kevin Mccarthy demanded an apology from Biden for slandering millions of Americans. It is the GOP that name-calls, none more shamelessly than TFG. And, the reality is that, at the very least, TFG'S followers are authoritarians opposed to democracy. Good for Biden!
This evening I passed a home that had a huge sign in the living room window that says "FUCK BIDEN". Republicans cal this "legitimate political discourse", but blow a gasket if anyone speaks ill of them. I recall as Obama was making a speech, a Republican lawmaker yelled "YOU LIE", but when President Trump was speaking, I guess everyone figured it was obvious. A lady was convicted of laughing during Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearing.
Boo hoo. The repubs have always had the best crocodile tears. Idjt recently asked why is everyone so mean. His mini-me wife made cyberbullying her cause 🐊🐊🐊 to spread it, not stop it. 🐊🐊🐊 Another excellent summary Dr R. Thank you.
My favorite bit of disingenousness to date is the official government twitter feed @housejudiciarygop (supervised, and sometimes! posted to by Jim Jordan - though more lately the syntax indicates someone else is posting there). Hope they are turning in their tweets to NARA.
The facts and choices become better delineated by the day. Will America chose democracy and finally slay the former Confederacy? Throughout history Confederates have gotten 'a pass', from insisting on slavery in the Constitution, through Reconstruction and Jim Crow to now financial support and a promise of pardons for convicted Insurrectionists. I don't think this way of thinking and acting can be put behind us without sending MAGA leadership and enablers to jail for lengthy terms of incarceration?
Trump financially supporting Insurrectionists, perhaps another link in the ‘hub & spike’ conspiracy? Like in drug cases or smuggling cases with captain of boat and crew, prosecutors go after financial support to co-defendants as Obstruction of Justice. Sort of surprised he said that, if true, he is a cheapskate who doesn’t pay his own lawyers. Hmmmm…?!?!
It is most likely republican dark money paying for it, but as their king, the drub thinks it is all his and this is his photo op. God I wish the indictable emperor would put some damned clothes on and leave the stage and take all his little mutts with him!
So, I might have missed something. Wasn't the testimony of the two men convicted of crimes for their participation in the riot on January 6th supposed to establish that fpotus was the kingpin of that event? Is this not simply playing right into their hands and telling everyone "Yeah, it was me. I sent them. I'll protect them."
I couldn't find Biden's speech live on PBS or the networks. I managed to dig it up on YouTube so I got to listen to the whole presentation and skip the editing and "analysis" (root word; anal,) of the "experts". Link below.
I think Biden is tying to isolate TFG and his Mega Mob and give sensible Republicans, (I've got to assume there are some,) and conservative independents a place to go.
Thank you, Ralph! I was taken aback that none of the networks carried the speech. I found it on YouTube just in time to see/hear his entire presentation.
I watched it on MSNBC. But yes, Lynell, "The Networks" should have carried one of the most important speeches of our democracy. Therein may lie our problem.
I found it on Reuters. But I don't have tv reception so I have to use Youtube.
And I don't think freedom of speech means hanging giant F-Biden flags on your house. I am so embarrassed for our young people to have to see such despicable, disrespectful, hate-filled behaviors from adults. How the heck do we raise decent human beings with that kind of modeling? ...I hope parents really help their children understand use these moments as teachable in what not do do. They do not need any more fear about adults out of control.
That's precisely what he is doing. Here in Northern Michigan, we who have been searching for a word to describe our Republican friends and colleagues (Good? Decent? Milliken?) now have a nonjudgemental and powerful word, "Mainstream." We can run with that.
Every day I still ask myself, HOW is it possible that tfg has any supporters, given the known facts about his narcissism, greed, immaturity, self-serving nature and complete lack of moral compass, and his own self-incriminating statements over the years? It completely amazes me regularly and is also frightening how many still believe him to have been a "decent president" [gag] and a viable candidate for another term - it's mindboggling and nauseating.
So thankful for the many voices of reason in Dr Heather's Substack community. Y'all give me hope for the preservation of democracy in this country.
“Our democracy is imperfect, Biden said, but “history and common sense tell us that opportunity, liberty, and justice for all are most likely to come to pass in a democracy.” President Biden’s emphasis on our country as a Democracy is a callout to the MAGAs who are intent on destroying it. And he was bold in distinguishing the difference between MAGAS and traditional repubs. I felt represented tonight and reassured that our country is going in the right direction with leadership and commitment. Night and day between a TFG presidency that was all about power and no substance and President Biden who can list all he and Dems have accomplished as they continue to work for the country and all the people.
Take note that many of those leading the insurrection against the USA are Ivy League graduates. Harvard and Yale are close to the top represented. And yet Republicans claim they are defending the nation against elites.
As an Ivy League grad myself, I am disgusted that my alma mater has not taken action to call out those grads who have lied and violated the standards and values that were expected of us. "Veritas", Harvard's motto is "truth". No Harvard degree should stand when "truth" is violated by the degree holder. This would include many MAGA Republicans.
No coincidence that James O’Keefe’s propaganda machine is called “Veritas.” Made me heave when I heard this, right out of Goebbel’s playbook. Orwell would love this crowd, especially Frank Luntz, who taught them that the masses of asses wouldn’t smell the shit if you called it a rose.
And it is Harvard graduates, David, that should lead that confrontation and hold Harvard's accountable for the lack of standing up for decency and truth in its' alumni. The extremist repubs make H. graduates look like what they are: entitled, spoiled brats whose fathers paid well for the degree mill and the connections. What about expecting quality and integrity in their students instead of just tuition?
I’ll start with the quote that most caught my attention during last night’s stirring speech by President Biden: “... a shot at lives of prosperity and consequence.” That summed up for me what makes life worth living. The “prosperity” part less than the “consequence” part. I was lucky enough to start from the most humble beginnings to grow into adulthood in the sixties, to have a career of public service in New York City and to help thousands of students realize their dreams. That is the whole ball of wax for me. Thank you, Heather. Thank you, Substack Forum and thank you President Biden. We’ve got this!
Thank you TC for saying exactly what I was thinking. Newt and Rush were the instigators of the tRump maggots. So glad to to see that he might be held to account. Rush is gone ( with his tRump medal around his neck) but Newt needs to esplain Lucy. It’s been a long day. Thank you Heather for your excellent letters.
Trump tells Newsmax host that "he was “financially supporting” some of the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021…" Really? Since when… I cannot understand why anyone would continue to believe anything Trump said, especially if it involves him ponying up his own money to pay someone else's expenses. It's the same lie that Trump reflexively tells anyone who cares to listen; and, needless to say, the Newsmax host is not being paid to question Trump's veracity. I do have to marvel at the unending stupidity of these people who hear the same lies told to them over and over and over, and accept them at face value. But what does that say about our fellow countrymen who suck up this nonsense as if it were gospel… Nothing good, I would venture to say. Hillary Clinton got herself in trouble by calling these people a basket of deplorable's, but I am suggesting that there has to be something behind this willful ignorance that Trump supporters indulge themselves. We have a third of our countrymen who seem to be able to focus on nothing other than their self pitying, and unending grievances, about which they undoubtedly bear most of the blame for whatever ails them. Joe Biden was right when he said that these people cannot be allowed to control our national destiny.
You go Joe. Barack Obama called Joe Biden America's happy warrior and right now nobody is more effective or necessary in the battle to safeguard the soul of America. Without the peaceful transfer of power, without the rule of law placing nobody above the law, the United States is just another casualty on the list of failed democracies.
If one of the over-educated, under-intelligent, otherwise unemployable Twitter twits of the Washington Press Corpse asks him why he's "being so partisan," Biden can quote Harry Truman: "I tell the truth about them and they think it's hell."
the bullies don't know what to do when the nice buy comes up and punches their face in front of their fans.
That @#$%#$#@!! Gingrich is more responsible than any other Republican including Nixon for turning the party into the Kooky Kollection of Klucks who were ready for Trump. You can take the boy out of the trailer park (he really was raised n one) but you can't take the trailer park out of the boy. What a worthless piece of shit he has been since the day he was born. Just like Trump.
I'm not sure that the trailer park has that much to do with it, since a number of similarly-motivated "Republicans" were born with golden spoons in their mouths, and plutocrat's money has greatly fueled the R-party's authoritarian trend.
Corruption seems to be an equal opportunity proclivity, but plutocrats have the most to gain from it. It would seem that when one tells the truth, "they think it's hell" because their superpower is carpet-bombing lies in order to confuse the public, and injection of truth threatens everything they stand for. Often their response to confrontation with truth is violence, psychological and physical.
And their key programming tactic (of all authoritarian regimes and hostage takers) is to change the narrative, no matter how big a lie it is, and push it so hard, so often, that the sheep who are listening have it bludgeoned into their heads. They completely identify with their captors. It is a narrative propaganda warfare. There should be quite a few arrests and education of the public as these traitors like Gingrich have their heads rolled out for us to witness how despicable they truly are.
Educate Americans on exactly how tyrannical tactics and grooming work so they can defend themselves and TURN IT OFF or Stand Up to It, to its' LIES. This is exactly why they want to destroy our educational system-- which is in dire need attention for sure, but not dumbing down, just the opposite. Education of hearts and minds and critical thinkers. The DOJ and the J6 Committee are really doing their jobs and people are coming forward. Thank goodness. And thank Biden for speaking loudly to the elephantine corruption in the republican party's livingroom. It just grow bigger and bigger and shows their ridiculous projections of the deep state to be themselves. Good republicans need to separate themselves from MAGA rethuglicans, anti-Americans. Traitors to their fellow citizens and families. The party of sedition and disorder.
I am SO glad Pres Biden is calling them out. For many years they thought themselves impervious, "normal" Americans. Even classrooms are/ were infected with mouthy students who threatened harm to teachers and classmates. Far too many MAGAs carried out their deranged fantasies. As we know, entire communities are filled with ignorant supremacists.
You're right. A young girl (5th grade?) attended my adult writing workshop yesterday and when we reminisced about back-to-school memories she described the constant bullying she and her classmates were subjected to. We all expressed our support for her; I wondered if this was another infection from the current political climate.
Well, I used to get bullied because I was "fat." (size 14/16!) But it was only name-calling - never physical. It might have been different for boys especially who were bullied for being "sissies." But I do think the range and level of violence may be a reflection of the current political climate.
I like to watch films and TV from many parts of the world, and schoolyard bullying is portrayed in many cultures. It is also a theme in classic literature. The “pecking order” impulse seems to be in our DNA. Self-serving aggression may have played a useful role in the origin of the species, and those who defend the practice are wont to claim it as the only driving force in evolution. Yet one also sees bountiful cooperation in the evolutionary process, even at the unicellular level, and even inter species. I don’t see how complex organisms such as ourselves could have evolved without it.
And given how clever we have become, it seems to me that the so-called “forbidden fruit” (which originally could not have been an apple) of knowledge of good and evil is likely the only thing that can save us from ourselves as we carelessly alter our environment and greatly empower “reptile” impulses with our technological prowess. With our ultra-plastic (in the sense of plasticity) brains we have shifted our own course of evolution primarily from trial and error of DNA “hardware” to intelligent “software”; and with that power comes unshakable responsibilities. Without embracing responsible choices, we are like a four-year old with a loaded gun, and we collectively threaten the whole ecosystem, our missteps now already epic.
Dishonesty and bullying appear to me to be the source of most avoidable human suffering. It’s crazy to tolerate it. Slavery is and genocide are the most extreme and vicious forms of bullying. It's through that lens though with I read Lincoln’s famed remark:
“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.”
Your response is a full semester course. Meanwhile, I'm watching a butterfly weed bush awash in Monarch caterpillars with their bright tiger stripes. One newly hatched happened to be munching on the same leaf as an elder (by about 3 days) and got swiped with his jaw. As the little guy made his way up a completely denuded branch to recover, I considered giving the bully a time out. Monarchs are seriously endangered, thanks to Monsanto wiping out their milkweed food source on their migration path, so I let him finish his feast in peace.
That's right. And it's time to take on those big talkers and call them out. No more "nicey, nicey". These are packs of crooks and cronies. Time for them to go now.
Agreed. Emotionally adult Democrats prove that you can be very stern yet civil. Demagoguery is for demagogues.
So. How do we legally get rid of the numerous propaganda machines that have been spewing this garbage out for forty years without damaging the right to freedom of speech? How do we find an intellectual platform for saying “NO” to organizations that lobby to let Nazis march in the United States. And if we are able to do this, how will we be able to tell those who have been brainwashed that we are “the good guys”? I am not asking this ironically. I am asking as if we had a national diagnosis of political cancer, and knowing we face life threatening surgery to cure it.
The door opened up to Goebbels-like propaganda when Ronald Reagan vetoed the Fairness Doctrine, a law instituted in 1949 that required FCC airwave licensees to "afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views on issues of public importance.” In support of his veto, Reagan said:
“This type of content-based regulation by the federal government is, in my judgment, antagonistic to the freedom of expression guaranteed by the First Amendment,” Reagan said in his veto message. “In any other medium besides broadcasting, such federal policing of the editorial judgment of journalists would be unthinkable.”
Out from the depths of depravity and racism came Rush Limbaugh and Rupert Murdoch and his Fox "News" who best monetized and promoted the far right dogma through the likes of Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson.
There has always been hate and bigotry in America, first enumerated in our Constitution (as a compromise) despite our founding fathers ideals, then in a rebellion to divide our nation and, thereafter, in an ongoing undercurrent of racism and anti-semitism.
IMO, the only way to put these forces of evil and hate back in the bottle is defeat them at the ballot box. We must overcome their tools of deception, disenfranchisement and threat or use of violence. As Joe Biden said, we are in a "battle for the soul of the Nation."
Reagan was worse than Nixon.
I agree. Nixon's mistakes were more a personal flaw, not a deliberate attempt to destroy democracy. It was the well-meant but short-sighted failure to hold him accountable that set the stage for later misuse of power.
Never could stomach that guy. My father never referred to him as anything but "an amiable dolt." Father knows best...
Excellent deductions. Thank you for that perspective. The Heritage Foundation gave Ronnie the Leadership Mandate. I think it will be necessary to read their mandates so we are fully informed to the methods of their power.
I think successful social movements win with motivating voting and (part of the same process) impacting "public sentiment". I think there is a lot of truth in Lincoln's "In this and like communities, public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed. Consequently he who moulds public sentiment, goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions. He makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to be executed." That's what Reagan "Republicans" and plutocratic money have spent year trying to affect.
Liar liar pants on fire. Douse their buts in gasoline. Ignite. Middle Age methodology. If they lied their buts will burn.
Good call.
👍🏼
"I have a dream" which means it's unlikely to be put into action. However, one of the stranger aspects of American living, at least compared to countries I've visited, is housing elitism and segregation. Is it a myth or real possibility that intentional communities can be built with homes that reflect the composition of America? Small homes next to large, financial assistance for low income owners and price controls on rents and sales? Even the best of us are racists in ways we don't think we are. That includes buying ever-increasing expensive homes and condos as a way to keep "them" at bay. There is nothing like a mixed neighborhood with community services to squelch misunderstandings and prejudices, and where children can play together.
Hope, I agree with your take on this. It is one of the things I am interested in, and to my regret was never able to participate in- unlikely now as I approach 80, though I still yearn for that kind of community. For many decades I have watched communities like this grow and thrive, both urban and rural. There are several such communities within driving distance of me here in Vermont. It does take time, and real commitment, but I think we are starting to move in that direction, if in fits and starts.
The very first I was aware of was in Washington state back in the 80s, and it was far from the first. Every year, more are being created, and in some places even existing neighborhoods are recreating themselves along those lines, using various approaches, but with the kinds of goals you mention.
A heartfelt hug, Annie! (I couldn't "heart" your comment.)
It's a nice dream. Before the millennium, I lived in a mixed, largely middle class black neighborhood in DC, with some middle class whites and some lower middle blacks. My next door neighbors were an illiterate transmission rebuilder and his wife, who'd been a checker in one of the local department stores. They were very nice people, who'd come to DC from the Carolinas.
There was one black lady in particular, and and I remember laughing about a lot of stuff with her. She was a wonderful character. I even wrote a poem about her, teasing her for the way she spent time on the telephone (...I ring and ring/the line is busy/for three long hours/I'm in a tizzy/Missus Tyler, ho I say/Are you on the phone today?/I have come to take a look/to see if it is off the hook.) She got a huge kick out of it.
HMMMMMMMM. What’s the date line for rises in “separatism” and ‘gated communities”? Growing up in the 1950s, We had Doctors, lawyers, Taxi drivers, business owners, and immigrants all living in our small cul de sac.
Great questions Patricia! Progress starts with questions like these. There are millions of brilliant American's amongst us. Let's put our minds together and find a way!
I have made some temporary suggestions whilst we are in a Constitutional Crisis and been told that we cannot mess with freedom of speech, ever. But authoritarian-leaning terrorists can mess with our rights, our votes, our bodies? Ahhhh..... Once in a great while, we might have to break the glass (or the precedent) and pull in an emergency.
Real emergencies can affect best practices, and we are in one. But straying too far from due diligence is always risky. You may know Naomi Klein's "shock doctrine". Trump always had an excuse to break the rules. I think that as a society have become way too tolerant of weaponized speech, and of people in official roles of trust telling provable, dangerous or harmful lies. Everybody is wrong about something, but the lack of due diligence is negligence in some circumstances; and consequential lies are not harmless as the Powell and Giuliani comedy team are finding out. Nixon was primarily facing impeachment conviction for "the coverup", a concept that now seems quaint in an age of Trump, but which is actually essential to fully functioning democracy and rule of law. And considering the pile of Trump shenanigans, there is hope that there is only so much obstruction of justice our society is willing to bear.
The only way to successfully, "... find a way..." must begin with love, Eh!?
I do believe more is being done. The Southern Poverty Law Center keeps track of hate groups as does ACLU and now, DOJ. If any group threatens organized violence, they are on it. For example, the Patriot Front was arrested in Utah in June for organizing an anti-Pride event. Personally, I intend to campaign for making semi-automatic weapons illegal for civilian use, since that is the weapon of choice for menacing individuals and groups. I will inquire of any candidates in my district if that is a plank in their platform.
I am thinking of printing a handout to give to people who spout the %$#& on Fox, et al. It will simply say, "Do You Know...? and list the accomplishments of the Biden admin. I say that because I take public transportation for seniors in which other riders often get into a chat that is totally Fox news spawn.
If fully automatic weapons are illegal, why is banning semi-automatic weapons, which present many of the same dangers so hard to regulate? Why does any civilian need weapons of war?
Right wing folks tell me endlessly, sometimes in great detail, how the Constitution mandates them for the purpose of forcefully overthrowing any government we don't like. It says nothing of the kind. Quite the opposite. Somehow the mythology of revolution against the exploitation by a distant, semi-autocratic, colonial power because an all-purpose meme to plaster over anything.
There is NO place in the United States of America for the promotion of hate (sectarianism's bigotry).
Some of us grew up with Mothers who said more than one time, "If you can't say something nice about someone, then keep your sinful thoughts to yourself"
Why can't our freedom of speech embrace such love of each other, Eh!?
And we can start here on this forum, eh, George? We do need to speak up loudly and clearly when things are wrong, but we also need to keep open the possibility of understanding and compassion. Freedom of speech DOES include respect and caring, and was written with that context in mind.
Annie D Stratton (VT, PacNW)
Indeed!
I am learning from reading a plethora of responses to my respectful caring comments of their thanks and support regarding my compassionate understanding respecting the love that is America.
Thank you for your concern.
We must condemn harmfully irresponsible behavior (such as gross pollution, drunk driving) or predation (like rape) but not objectify the person. I think that has profound implications for the criminal justice system. I think we need to cultivate solidarity (as opposed to conformity). In my mind solidarity affirms mutual responsibilities to each other as human beings, mutual caring, yet accepts diversity.
J L Graham:
" solidarity affirms mutual responsibilities to each other as human beings, mutual caring, yet accepts diversity..."
INDEED!
Each and every POSITIVE human condition you ascribe as affirming can be better said in the all encompassing interrelationship known as:
LOVE
Love your neighbor as yourself, Eh!?
I couldn't agree more completely. People have been given license to say whatever they want under the guise of Freedom of Speech. Trump lent a big lift to this but it's degenerated over the years - especially with negative campaigning like Bush's 1998 Willie Horton attack ad and the "swiftboating" attack on Kerry in 2004.
The only thing I thought that was missing from Biden's speech was a reference to exactly what you are saying: we all need to treat each other with kindness and respect just as we (at least most of us) were taught by our parents and in kindergarten!
Do you recall a book or a list with a heading something like - Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten? I know that isnt quite right - but maybe someone here will come up with it. Its been years since I've seen it - likely because kindness & empathy seem to have been pushed right to the brink - or over it.
I wonder: not so much a cancer but more a lack of nourishment that leads to poor health and susceptibility to dis-ease. The cure for that is less life-threatening surgery (which is what Trump and his predecessors have done to put our nation's health at risk), but an attention to the lack of nourishment in the form of acknowledgement, recognition, acceptance, gentle regard, and a willingness to include as many people as possible in the conversation, regardless of their political identity. We are just practicing a different form of bigotry on this forum when we consistently create an us/them perspective. Not all of us, but too many, and it is persistant. For a while we realize that we are part of both the problem and the solution. Then it goes off track again.
I was startled to come here the day after Biden's striking speech in which he included so much of the American community in positive terms while calling out the sickness- those lacking the nourishment that could make our community healthier- only to find more of the kind of ugly judgement Biden asked us to disengage from.
Yes, some people must be held accountable for their actions, and (thanks be) that is happening. But so do we need to be accountable for what we contribute to keeping the schism open. Please, I ask you, what do any of us get out of that? To the extent that we continue to point fingers and call names, and talking of what's wrong as something that needs to be surgically removed, we miss the opportunity to change the terms upon which we meet the problem.
The actions that have wronged our nation and our democracy must be judged and dealt with accordingly. But to fail to open ourselves to acceptance for others simply because we disagree with their perspective makes us complicit in maintaining those thing that keep us from healing.
I believe that this particular problem, and quite a few others, can be traced to the fact that our system has few checks on economic power, and -- as HCR has mentioned more than once, anyone who challenges the oligarchs' and plutocrats' power gets trashed as a socialist, communist, anarchist, etc. Big Money fuels the propaganda outlets, and as long as the Citizens United decision holds sway I don't see that changing. IOW, it's not just a First Amendment issue.
Corruption flourished during the laissez faire "Gilded Age". Social movements and civic-centered leaders spent decades pushing back on excesses, and legislating safeguards, such as Glass-Steagall and media dominance rules. Telegenic Reagan managed to convince the public and the press that all those rules were dragging the country down instead of lifting the public's interests up.
And here we are. The very, very rich are (by the government's own stats) much, much richer, there rest overall and all things considered, are poorer and less secure, or else running in place. Super massive corporations increasingly affect the course of our lives and our politics. Yet, over 40 years later, the "Reagan" gospel has only grown more strident, so the shift in political power and wealth would have to be what was intended all along; and we vote against our own interests when supporting it.
Though distrusting mob mentality, Enlightenment philosophies that informed the founders seemed to believe that open, dialectical discussion would keep most fools and tricksters on the fringe, but misjudged how many love Big Brother. Still, saying the truth out loud seems to embolden our "better angels, which makes such expressions a target for despots.
In the founders' day, white superiority wasn't a contested issue, women had few rights, and both these truths were self-evident to most people. "Dialectical discussion" in the founders' day took place in a closed shop open mostly to white educated men. Since the 1960s white superiority has been very much contested, and in the early '70s women started gaining rights and access we hadn't had before. These developments, coupled with the notion that the U.S. should be a "Christian nation," provided a powerful tool for the wealthy to use in persuading USians to vote against their economic and political interests. And it still works very, very well. I don't think the level of public discussion was ever as high as some like to believe, and anti-intellectualism was a thing before Hofstadter wrote about it in the 1960s.
Political and social cancer indeed.
I'm rather fond of private defamation law suits: The Sandy Hook parents who sued Alex Jones, and Dominion, the maker of voting machines has sued (Fox News?) also. Way to go.
Pensa VT:
INDEED!
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/07/us/elections/electoral-college-biden-objectors.html
Vote them all out of office forever. TRAITORS!
All of that requires a little education, the thing republicans are striving to destroy.
Agree! Maybe a LOT of education, beginning in pre-school.
“I must judge for myself, but how can I judge, how can any man (sic) judge, unless his mind has been opened and enlarged by reading.”
– John Adams
Bingo, Loree!
I recommend the episode on the We The People Podcast entitled 'Is the First Amendment Enough Today?' A group of experts discuss and debate the social media dilemma regarding free speech and harmful communication. The problems and solutions offered are thought-provoking. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-the-people/id83213431?i=1000577366784
Thank you for this, Nancy, this is an area I am deeply interested in exploring further. But I really need to get off my doofus and get something done today!
I was able to listen to that podcast you recommended and it was really helpful in understanding a bit more the 1st Amendment and different people interpret it. I need more of this-- would love Heather or some grounded person to do more talks about this as it is equally as confusing, and perhaps outdated as the 2nd Amendment in this modern world.
Or spurious interpretations of it.
Well said. We are in a conflict, and must support the men and women who are taking on this despicable attack on America, and Americans.
Yes. We have to teach people how to turn off this noise. We have to speak out and take action. Lots of us have been doing that for a long time, but we have to pick up the pace. We have to support what Biden is doing. Especially the "golden spoon" MAGAs are cowards. I'm glad we have these comment sections to learn from one another. It truly helps.
Morning JL. In the loathsome Gingrich lineage of resentment, opinion and influence, the “trailer park” does have a lot to do with it.
So hope the Committee’s “invitation” to come talk will be just the hook needed to get his trashy mouth on record. And I hope he brings that trashy influencer Ginny along with him.
I guess it’s evident what I think. The woodshed has plenty of cans of shellac just waiting.
UNITA. 🗽🇺🇸
Yes, Christine....get that Ginni Thomas before the committee to see how she holds up. But, then, I guess she'll turn to her hubby to get her out of trouble when the case comes before SCOTUS....and you know it will at some point.
Loathsome couple. I would love to see her on the carpet. If he had a nano drop of integrity, he would not help her, but he doesn't.
You mean on Trump’s ugly carpet? 😁 Just kidding...I want Ginni crawling and begging for mercy. Clarence must be removed from the court!!
Yes, crawling and begging is a delightful image for that insurrectionist.
Michele, he doesn't even know what "integrity" means.
I know. That's why I used nano drop.
I have to smile when I think of the hypocrisy of Thomas, both of them, knowing that mixed marriages, while not specifically enumerated as a right in the in Constitution, will be upheld before this conservative Supreme Court anchored by Thomas who didn’t find a right to privacy with respect to a woman’s body so said there was none in spite of the previously held constitutional right found in Roe versus Wade. Do I need to spell this out😎
Oh, and you can be certain he'll vote against gay marriage. Seems that his marriage is "legal" but mine isn't in his eyes. 💩 on them both
There are a lot of us with eyes that support you!
Something rendered him loathsome, that for sure.
Don't forget racism and the desire to be excessively rich (wealth is, of course, the best pretense to white male supremacy.)
Greed, money, power & their penis envy so very typical of all those who would attempt destruction of American democracy, Eh!?
Not everyone has the good luck, mind, education and or privilege to choose what they do with their life. For those who are capable of a life well lived and choose wrongly it inflames me for the waste of good resources. Ted Cruz and his Ivy League education come to mind. No idea of how rewarding his family life may be, however, his public life must mean lots of anxiety.
Nothing more I can say here, except maybe...Morning, Christine!
Morning, all!
Just barely morning here in Salem, but good morning to you, Ally, and all of you.
Morning Lynell, morning Christine 🗽🇺🇸☀️
Morning Lynell! Morning Christine!
Trailer parks, like every other kind of community, are home to all kinds of people: good/ bad/ indifferent and law abiding, not so much and educated/ not so much and Republican/RINO/MAGA and Democrat and Independent - some of my beloved friends...
Yeah. I wish TCinLA would leave ad hominem attacks like this out of his comments. They weaken them.
I might point out that it has long been the standard to never refer to an “upscale” trailer park as a “trailer park” like we have in Florida. Hundreds of them. Now it’s politically correct to say “mobile home parks” or communities.
What I usually comment is that we are not talking about money or poverty. We are talking about ingrained, multi-generational attitude.
🗽
Absolutely. I'm 95 and have compressed my life in a two bed/two bath/laundry/eat-in kitchen into a one-roomer - w/two baths, etc - because it's so much easier to keep. If there were someone willing to move and settle me in a trailer, that would be great. As it is, I live in a +55 coop next to a university so we have many/mostly retirees and there is a very nice mobile home park nearby with similar kinds of folks. "Be like water." Wherever you are, FL where it is fluid or the South Pole where it is solid but melting - adapt. And keep well. L&B&L
Many "trailer parks" are more real communities than most subdivisions and urban neighborhoods. There are many examples where the occupants took over as a coop when the owner allowed the facility to deteriorate to the point of being shut down. And some states, including where I live, provided guidance and assistance. Our need for low-income housing would be deeply aggravated otherwise. I adore TC, but I think he needs to get out of his anger bubble and get to know people before he uses them as a bludgeon to insult others.
Trashy. The word of the hour! 😈
Ever read “The Lord of the Flies”? Honestly, for many many years, I called Gingrich “Piggy”. He is a disgusting deplorable pathetic lyin’ piece of 💩! He always has been a know-it-all, smile at the camera-stab-you-in-the-back kinda guy. Like Piggy, the sad little chubby guy, described in the book, Newt’s head should be on a stick surrounded by MAGA flies.
I so appreciate you sugar-coated the Gingrich story, Marlene. Don't think I could have handled the unvarnished version! Never read "The Lord of the Flies," but do have a neighbor who showed me pictures of her "Piggy's" newly birthed piglets. All eleven of them were too cute for words!🐖🐽🐷
Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!
The “trailer park” mentality is hard to erase. Makes him want to lord over the “elites” by whatever means. A coalition forged in hell by the phoniest of Pharisees. “Carpet-bombing lies” couldn’t be a better description, starting with the BIG LIE.
Jeri, I accidentally hit like on your comment. I meant to hit reply and say that I hate it when people stereotype me based on my religion, gender, or other characteristics, so I wish you’d drop the term “trailer park” mentality. All sorts of people live in trailer parks just as all sorts of people live in other neighborhoods in the U.S.A. It feels derogatory and condescending to assume that all folks in a particular neighborhood have one mentality.
Yeah, it bothered me too. It's a stereotype that demeans poor people. And guess what, I WAS a person in a trailer park for a while in order to pay my bills. It was by no means perfect (had to haul water and my adjacent neighbor suffered from horrible PTSD) but were not bad people.
There was an Article in the Boston Globe recently about residents of a trailer park banding together to fight the corporation that was planning to buy them up and push them out. They sounded like good people to have on our side.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/08/13/metro/vultures-want-it-theyre-not-going-get-it-cape-cod-band-mobile-home-owners-fight-their-park/
I have a couple of friends who live in a trailer park. And I had the same reaction to the Globe article that Carolyn Paul did. There are a lot of really bad people who buy trailer parks so that they can feed off of people who have next to nothing.
In today's world Abraham Lincoln would have grown up in something like a trailer park. Lincoln had little formal education but he sure became educated. It doesn't get a lot of play today but Lincoln gave us the land grant colleges. Both of my parents, farm kids, were able to go to a land grant college during the 30's. In the 60's so was I, thank you Mr. Lincoln.
This doesn't change how much damage Gingrich has and continues to do.
Agree. "Trailer Parks" come in all sorts of flavors. Some are very expensive, some are not. Stereotypes alienate. My grandparents and my wife's aunt and uncle lived in a "trailer park". They were nicely landscaped. It was what they could afford. They were people of integrity who had worked very hard for many years.
Yes, well said. "Trailer Parks" is a most damaging and judgmental stereotype.
With the crash of 2008- 9 we took a blood bath on our home. Sold everything, bought a 5th wheel and lived in it until 2019. Many, many people are in the same situation. We are one of the lucky ones. We had/have choices. Many don't.
Michele&henry -- Thank you _very_ much for leading the way with your comment! For several weeks now, I've been quite taken aback at the increasing negative and derogatory comments by many commenters on Dr. Richardson's letters -- comments going from extremely intelligent and furthering our discussions to comments sounding like the worst Far Right rhetoric we've all become used to.
Judith Smith 1111 - "For several weeks now, I've been quite taken aback at the increasing negative and derogatory comments ... sounding like the worst Far Right rhetoric we've all become used to."
Merrian-Webster says "name-calling": the use of offensive names especially to win an argument or to induce rejection or condemnation without objective consideration of the facts
This is nothing new. TCinLA, for instance, has quite a history of this behavior. "Trailer Park" is new, however, as "Moron" to describe everyone is the usual term used to make himself feel superior.
As you say, " like the worst Far Right rhetoric,"
I think it's the glorification of "hit and run snark" that is plaguing our discourse. Skilled comedians can get away with a lot in their political commentary because they are skilled and it's their job to walk that fine line. When the rest of us try, it usually comes across as mean spirited and even ignorant. But unfortunately, social media, especially Twitter makes it too easy to do this. I think it's the 21st century version of "Nah nah nah nah nah" or "fatty fatty two by four....etc.) I am doing my best not to succumb myself, and call it out "Non-snarkily" when I see it.
Judith, I had to speak up to someone I actually like reading about using a smear of Italians as mobsters. I thought that did not belong here. Today I saw “Mega Maga” writing some hateful tripe and people responded politely! I asked : how we can get such trash off this forum!
Elisabeth, it's breaking my heart. Many of the people I used to appreciate the most have already left. I stay because there are still many people here I really respect, and because when there is a good discussion, I learn so much. But, like you and so many others, I am disheartened that the general tone has gone down. I'm going to let my subscription lapse this time when it runs out. I am already moving on to other places (including signing on to be a Troublemaker Coach as a result of HCR's appearance on the remarkable "RedWineandBlue" last night. Yippee!
I have also at one time been a resident in a “trailer park”, by which experience, I can agree with the derogatory implications. Why do we get the vapors over “trailer trash” and “deplorables”? What we are REALLY saying is there is “civilized” behavior, and there is behavior that is “beyond the pall”, and anyone who wants to live in a “civilized” fashion doesn’t glorify living in squalor — not physical (temporary), but intellectual (repairable).
Sorry for your experience. And I don't think we should be shy about calling a spade a spade. But for millions of people a trailer is not an episode out of "Ozark". It can be an affordable abode for very decent people.
Well said.
Thank you for saying that. I too was beginning to feel uncomfortable about that.
It bothered me too as I wrote in an earlier comment. I'm glad to hear more of this kind of thinking about the harm of stereotypes. Thank you!
JL Graham
KKKoch is the finding source supporting such confrontation with truth.
when we vote intelligently and help others likewise vote the results will jam those golden spoons down those plutocrat's flapping jowls choking them into a pouting fuming silence.
George, unfortunately, the Kochs aren’t the only ones. The Mercer family is equal to funding the insurrection and the 147 R’s from the Pro-Rape Party. What I really despise about the Kochs is that they have kept their plants operating in Russia. Their father admired Hitler, as did Henry Ford. He started his plastics industry there because of what he could make from oil and petroleum. His sons, albeit with the exception of one, stayed in the company to rape our environment and cause climate change.
I dream, it will take a deluge. Hope my retirement “largesse” can help.
J L Graham, In summarizing ‘Joe Biden’s This-Is-Not-Normal Speech’ in The New Yorker,
Susan B. Glaser provided how a few MAGA seeking Republicans portrayed Biden’s speech to Americans.
‘The current President may not have mentioned his predecessor’s name much, but Biden’s speech, as is the case with the rest of his Presidency, was all about standing against Trump and the unique threat to American democracy that he and his “Make America Great Again” supporters pose. ‘
‘MAGA Republicans seemed to think that the scary setting for Biden’s alarming message was somehow beneficial to them, and they soon began sharing images of the dramatic black-and-neon-red scene. “I can’t believe this is a real photograph,” J. D. Vance, the Trump-backed Republican nominee for Senate in Ohio, tweeted. “It depicts the president of our nation, as he took to the airwaves and spoke about his fellow citizens as if they were sewer rats.” Rick Scott, the Republican Senate campaign chief, tweeted the photo and dismissed Biden as a “raving lunatic” who “attacked half the country tonight.” Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, called it a “hate speech.” Over on Fox News, Tucker Carlson was very, very angry about the “blood-red Nazi background” and the Marine honor guard in front of Independence Hall, a setting that he termed a “complete outrage.”
The important comparison she made was one with Russia when Putin took over.
‘What scares me most about this moment is that I remember hearing this lament before—in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.’ (NewYorker) See link below for this article.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/joe-bidens-this-is-not-normal-speech
FERN McBride -- Thanks as always for your sane voice. I think this list has been highjacked by trollers and the like, and I'm glad you are still in evidence.
Still breathing and kicking where necessary. Thank you, Judith.
Oooh!
Ferny!
Such cleverly disguised coded violence ala trump, Eh!?
Long live the Great American Tradition of euphemism, more euphemism and mealy-mouthed hypocrisy.
Completely incomprehensible to this furriner. Especially given the contrast with the unending stream of insults emanating from the mouth of the last occupant of the White House.
Dear, Fern!
Yet another thank you for your posts. Note, I’ve reported GED for his comment below (and others).
Friendly reminder to other commenters who may be chafed by his seeming obsession with trying to bait you here. 💙🕊
Dear Friend Ashley, GED never gets the point when he comments about one of my comments. In this case it is the connection of quotes writer, Susan B. Glaser, used of Republicans courting MAGA and their similarity to the lamentations she heard in Putin's Russia. Many of the Russians faulted Gorbachev for the Soviet collapse and welcomed Putin. It would be a stretch for him, perhaps, even if he read the article, for which I provided the link. Glaser wrote the following:
'Arriving in Moscow a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union, I often heard Russians I interviewed complaining about the upending of their world, with the attendant economic and social collapse, in ways that were strikingly similar to the complaints of many Americans today. Where we in the West saw Mikhail Gorbachev as a hero who had helped bring an end to decades of Communist tyranny, all too many Russians agreed with Putin that the collapse of the Soviet Union, which Gorbachev helped bring about, was a “catastrophe.'
AshleyR, The gentleman has an obsession. Imagine his replies to me as the 'love letters' Kim Jong-un wrote to DJT. Please don't bother about him. So, I am a target of his 'wisdom'.. I'm smiling.
Ashley R TN
So, Ashley you find disagreement with my comments.
So, one wonders why you read my opinions if you become so agitated you feel compelled to report me to??? the thought police...How silly...That is a trump tactic you know. Whaa whaa whaa
when you see my name try turning the other cheek
So much for freedom of speech, Eh!?
Fern, I read the New Yorker article you posted.
I was particularly struck by these words:
"Thirteen times, in fact, Biden called out the Trumpists who have seized hold of one of America’s two great political parties—in just about the most unsparing terms a President has ever used for political opponents."
And within that sentence the key words: "the Trumpists who have seized hold of one of America’s two great political parties".
Except that, as we are reminded by a certain political zombie that has just crawled out from under a stone to remind us of its role in the wrecking of the American polity, the hijacking of the Republican Party began quite a while ago and the "Trumpists" arrival on the scene is a mafia turf war in which the ultimate mobsters have taken over the scene.
Oh! Fern, Fern, Fern,
How sad life must be........
Why do we need to endure yet another rehash of bigots' hatefulness as they become exposed to the truth, which is the same sprinkling water on the Wicked Old Witch Of The West and hearing her screeching!
Unless one has been in a coma for the last 15 years such ugly repetition serves only one purpose: to project ones own true convictions through others tired old blasphemies.
How about an original thought about love for a change, Eh!?
Oh! George, George, George. Take you trolling comments somewhere else.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7iSO0eE1CA
Yeah, but it's coming from where he did that made him such a "striver" of a con artists.
That's exactly right. Violence, violence, and more violence. Stop them now.
“the bullies don't know what to do when the nice buy comes up and punches their face in front of their fans”. I know it’s a typo, but it reminds me that unlike the horror story ex prez, Joe Biden can’t be bought. Go, Joe. You knocked it out of the park. Only a partisan of the the big maga-liar would say that your speech was partisan. Maga=make America greedy again. The medals he gave out were bad enough, now he wants to give pardons to treasonous rioters that he’s been financially supporting. 🎃💩🤡💔🇺🇸
I'd be (mildly) interested in the details of this financial support.
Gonna bet that's a reference to donations made out of a retirement pension. I use mine to donate small amounts to my favorite emerging blue candidates, and to buy card stock and toner to support our political postcarders here. About 45% through a 2000 card request for cards for writing to local non-affiliateds and Dems in our small county!
I'm with you on the small donations, Kathy. And I like postcarding as well ~ there's something very personal about a few well-chosen words, attractively illustrated, and delivered directly to one's mailbox. The receiver has the opportunity to toss it, of course, or more hopefully, be drawn to it enough to read the message more than once and let it sink in. I've often wondered how effective phone banking can be with more and more people using their option to ignore calls from unknown numbers these days.
My retirement largess goes to liberal candidates as well.
Patricia, anything I can spare goes to Warnock and Abrams. All politics is local, in my book, right now.
“Follow the Money” is the most revelatory path to Truth.
Hopefully so will Liz Cheney and the Jan 6 committee. https://www.politico.com/video/2022/09/01/audio-trump-tells-wendy-bell-hes-financially-supporting-jan-6-rioters-685718
More than likely tfg is using monies obtained from the Republican Nat’l Committee for his legal problems. He certainly doesn’t pay for his legal aid. I can’e see him doing for anyone else.
More than likely TFG considers all that money his own. “MINE!!”
I wonder if his claim is true. According to long known history, he doesn't even pay his own bills.
I seriously doubt that it is. Remember the time Donald Trump gave financial support to someone in need? Me neither.
I wondered as well about tfg's claim about "financially supporting" some of the Jan. 6 rioters. Seems and sounds bogus to me. Up until this latest muckhole Trump got himself into (by stealing and refusing to release the classified documents) the RNC were indeed paying Trump's legal fees. They have (finally!) drawn a line in the sand, however, and SAY they will not be paying his legal fees on this latest matter.
Me, too. I read the RNC has stopped tRump's legal fees. https://www.salon.com/2022/08/30/rnc-cuts-off-and-makes-him-pay-for-his-own-lawyers-in-mar-a-lago-documents-mess-report_partner/. Makes me wonder if tRump has used the RNC to pay other "fees"
Yes, me too. I call BS
One does wonder as he is well known for not paying his bills. It is probably just talk.
Ha! Ha! Ha! So would I. And I hope that my above comments about trailer parks and deplorables will be considered as rhetorical and not bullying. In planning, there are many details to consider in finding solutions. Some of them are not polite.
It appears to me that the the despicable one is trying his best to get himself indicted—he just cannot stop his main drain. This is domestic abuse of our people and our democracy. Put the fricking guy in confinement with all his comrades. He is such an insult to our intelligence (in more ways than one).
Well said. Thank you!
Bet he didn’t part with much, he is still the greedy bastard
Bet he hasn't got beyond saying it...but wait, hold hard! is this his Robin Hood moment? All those donations he's been soliciting? All for the "financial" support of his "special" rioters, that he loves? A paper towel in every household, imagine how their eyes must light up!
Probably not a Robin Hood moment-he’s signaling to them that he needs them to keep the violence going and he’ll take care of them with $ and pardons-he’s nothing now without his threats of violence and the anger he can stir up
Truth!
I mentioned this yesterday, I think, that Adam Kinzinger said the next focus for the January 6th hearings is to look into how these groups that rioted on January 6th were/are being funded. As always, "following the money" can be a very revealing exercise. Who knows where it can lead? I still think that the more DJT is shown to be the criminal we all know he is, it's possible more and more people will start singing like canaries.
And now they're going to subpoena Gingrich to appear before the January 6th committee. Good luck with that. He's already called the committee a "Stalinist" panel and I expect he'll either ignore a subpoena or fight it. The man is the lowest piece of slime that ever oozed out of the state of Georgia, and we have some real slime-balls down here.
I am offended by your comment about you can’t take the Trailor park out of the boy. So if you come from a family in poverty than you are forever scarred.
A worthless piece of shit since the day he was born. Your income level is what makes you worthy? I don’t agree. This attitude feeds the narcissism of the wealthy and powerful. Democracy is about the equal opportunity for all. Prejudice against those who live in poverty says more about our politics and lack of support of equal opportunity. We are a wealthy nation with such discrepancy in income it is disgraceful we tolerate our fellow citizens to live in abject poverty. If we feel no guilt about this than the soul of of our nation is beyond help. We have easy targets now to blame MAGA Trump etc and we need to look inwards as well.
He’s not talking about poverty.
🗽
The trailer park “trash” reference is a broad stereotype that enrages many. On a day when POTUS is calling for unity it might be good to look at the old ways our language harms others. People are not trash. The trash was not said out loud but most everybody understood it. And it hurts.
Those of us who could only afford to live in trailer parks beg to disagree.
❤
Sizzlin suggestion, TC, for a response to all the whining and cheap fury theater from the Repubs who obv are conditioned now not to listen to any damn sense and just push their button and cry “partisan politics, partisan politics”, “inflation”, “woke takin’ away your fweedums”.
Go Harry. Go Joe. “I tell the truth about them and they think it’s hell”.
Slither, slither traitors.
🗽🇺🇸
Always loved that quote. How appropriate HST has been in these evil republican times. He knew them well.
Apologies to snakes.
For a sense of who TC calls the 'Kooky Kollection of Klucks', this is what I have learned about MAGA, so far.
‘Who are MAGA supporters, and what do they believe in? In these figures, we elaborate on these questions. As the results make clear, they’re not a terribly diverse group: at least 60 percent of them are White, Christian, and male. Further, around half are retired, over 65 years of age, and earn at least $50K per year. Finally, roughly 30 percent have at least a college degree. That MAGA supporters are older, Christian, men, more than half of whom are retired, comports with the now-familiar images of the Capitol riots. What may seem a bit surprising is that about half are middle-class by income, and almost 1/3 are middle-class by educational criteria. Apparently, these same images of the riot participants, ones portraying a mainly working-class crowd, were misleading.’
The preceding description of MAGA supporters came from PSMM. In my research efforts to find out what and who MAGA are I learned of following study.
Panel Study Of The MAGA Movement (PSMM)
Rachel M. Blum, Assistant Professor, University of Oklahoma
Christopher Sebastian Parker, Professor, University of Washington
‘The Panel Study of the MAGA Movement (PSMM) is a survey designed to assess the attitudes and behavior of the people who consider themselves part of the “Make America Great Again” movement, popularized by the Trump campaign in 2016. Understanding them is paramount. For as the base to which former President Trump played (and plays), the MAGA movement ultimately motivated his challenges to American democracy. For example, exhorted by then-President Trump, many in the MAGA movement participated in the Capitol riot, an effort to stifle the peaceful transfer of power, a staple of democracy. As the principal source of perhaps the most divisive period in American history, we thought it wise to conduct a systematic, thorough investigation of the movement. As such, the PSMM permits us to distinguish between movement supporters and activists, among other things. Ultimately, ours is a study that gauges the opinions and behavior of MAGA supporters before and, more importantly, after the events of January 6, 2021’.
This study has provided me with a broad outline of who, what and where MAGA is. It is a research tool, not the only or last word on MAGA. I do not know how UpToDate PSMM is or of another such wide ranging study/report at this signature Trump support group. The link below covers the HOME, DEMOGRAPHICS AND GROUP AFFINITIES, MAGA AND POLITICS, THE PANDEMIC AND PARANOIA, MAGA & DIFFERENCE menu of this MAGA MOVEMENT study.
‘Where do MAGA supporters live? This heat map (see link) shows the geographic locations of the MAGA supporters who participated in our survey. Each dot in the map corresponds with one survey respondent. Dark clusters of dots indicate that multiple respondents resided in the same geographic area. A few things stand out in this map. The first is that the MAGA movement has a presence in every state in the continental U.S. (with a few respondents residing in Alaska and Hawaii, not shown on this map). This much is expected, as we recruited survey respondents from all 50 states, proportional to state population. We discuss this more on our methods summary page. Second, MAGA presence corresponds with population density. As expected, less populous states in the Mountain West and Great Plains regions showed less activity. More populous states such as California, Texas, Florida, and other states in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic region registered more MAGA activity. Third, MAGA presence was not constrained to rural areas, as contemporary rhetoric about the urban-rural divide might lead us to expect. In most states, MAGA respondents were clustered around major cities like Atlanta, Chicago, and Dallas.’
‘The MAGA movement, it seems, is not a isolated phenomenon. Movement sympathizers make up a healthy portion of the Republican electorate, and they are well-represented throughout the country.’
‘Turning to group affinities, it’s clear that conservative groups are popular among MAGA supporters. Given the demography of the group, this should come as no great shock. For instance, roughly 85 percent of MAGA supporters are members of gun-rights groups, though not necessarily gun owners. Approximately 60 percent of them are members of charities and pro-police groups, respectively. In addition, roughly 50 percent of MAGA supporters belong to anti-lockdown and pro-life groups, respectively. Here’s where matters take an interesting turn. It seems like the “Stop the Steal” campaign, and militia groups, are less popular among the MAGA movement than the popular press suggests. Though not insignificant, only 38 percent of the MAGA movement identifies with the “Stop the Steal” campaign. Likewise, only roughly 23 percent of the insurgent movement identifies with militia movements of any kind.’ (UniversityofWashington) For more information on the study, see link below.
https://sites.uw.edu/magastudy/maga-and-politics/
Thanks for this, Fern.
Thank you for reading, Ally.
Timely data FERN after Biden's Speech. Thank you for your cogent Link at the end. Salud.
Fern, you are always a welcomed wealth of information!
I seem to remember reading that some? many? of the Jan. 6th rioters were people who have had issues with debt and bankruptcy, in spite of their income level. I'll have to look for the article.
Ellen, This study indicates that it would be inaccurate to think that MAGA equals those who attacked The Capitol, although, some MAGA were among them.
True.
Ellen, I think this is the article (or an offshoot of the original WAPO article by Todd Frankel) you’re thinking about; & you’re correct in the context of the then-200 people facing charges in Feb. of 2021.
https://www.alternet.org/2021/02/capitol-rioters/
Thanks, Linda. That's the one I was thinking of. I found it quite interesting.
Interesting! Thanks!
Do you have data that shows any coincidence of age? It seems to me that so many of these MAGA folks might have been in their youth during 1968. Another year that was roiled with political conflict.
Patricia, I recommend that you open the link. You will find details concerning age. and other categories covered by the study , which I listed. Correspondences with the '60s were not addressed..
Thank you.
Thank you! Different fight than if they’re all rioters. Which I already knew from acquaintances. We need to GOTV.
Jeri, Please explain what GOTV is and why you are recommending it. Thank you.
Sorry. GOTV = get out the vote. Which I think makes it self-explanatory.
I knew that you didn't want to steer subscribers to GOtv's media platform, 'A Supa-sized GOtv experience. ... local channels, ...' blah, blah, blah. Thank you for spelling it out! GOTV: GET OUT THE VOTE!
I had absolutely no idea GOtv was a thing! My bad, for sure! Too much alphabet soup floating around, and I’m a lazy thumb phone typist!
Completely fascinating (and sickening, of course)!
Thanks for posting....very interesting. Not surprised that over half of them are male and that they are older. Fits the older guy across the street who is apparently worried now that the National Guard is coming to take his guns. He looks and sounds like Dick Cheney.
Sorry that you have a my neighbor like that. My backdoor neighbor of over 25 years hasn’t spoken to me in about 2 years. He isn’t MAGA but he fits the over 60’s role described by Fern’s article. He used to tell me how much he admired ousted Sheriff Arpaio for the way he horribly treated inmates. The fact that he doesn’t speak to me anymore is a good thing.
He doesn't speak to us either and his last words to my husband were, "Get the f....off my property" when we were trying to get him to close his shop door to cut down on some awful noise. My last word to him some time ago....also asking for the shop door down....was "jackass." He mows his postage stamp lawn about three times a week with a huge loud riding mower. Must measure the grass with a micrometer. His wife is a D. Our neighbors are friendly with them, but he wouldn't attend their 50th anniversary because...horrors....we would be there.
Harry Biden...errrr Joe Truman...? Really starting to see similarities.
TC, not sure if growing up poor is the problem with an opportunistic narcissist like Newty, as he has embraced not just the politics of grievance but also an ideology of fascist imperialistic elitism that has driven him ever since his claim, in his doctoral dissertation, that the Belgians' genocidic activities in Africa was a "good thing" (he is a more appalling example of neo-imperialism even than Niall Ferguson, whose support of the British Empire reaches the grotesque--but y'know, outlets like the NYTimes love stuff like that). But I, too, find it hilarious that people are complaining that the President is being "partisan" after the antics of TFG.
I think the issue becomes one of implication. “Trailer Trash” doesn’t specifically describe one’s income level, but rather their poverty of “mind set”. Having lived in a trailer park myself at one point, that “trailer trash” moniker brings a certain behavioral image to mind that has nothing to do with money, and everything to do with behavior.
Thanks for this tidbit about Newt's doctoral thesis. I can remembering reading a book about the Belgian activities in the Congo, owned personally by Leopold II and it made me sick. I spent three and a half years in Sierra Leone and the aftermath of colonialism was alive and well in the 1960s. I have just ordered a book on the British Empire and look forward to reading it.....from Powell's in Portland, my fav bookstore.
King Leopoldo’s Ghost is the book I read about the horrific colonization of what was called the Belgian Congo. A couple of years ago, some activists in Belgium threw a statue of King Leopold into the sea. After reading this book, it was clear to see why. That Gingrich defended what happened during this time fits with his despicable politics.
Yes, that is the book. I read it years ago and have it in our library. I have read many books on colonialism, but that one made the deepest impression. I am glad that they threw the statue into the sea. I have always found it interesting that it was his personal property.
Bless you, Ms. Mitchell! Gingrich has been an evil little worm in the body politic, since the "tea party" days and before.
Both Al Franken and Molly Ivins singled out Newt--in Franken's books and Ivins' columns--as being an under-educated (despite his doctorate degree, which was a grotesquerie quite beyond belief) sociopath with an out-sized ego and even bigger ambitions, ever since he slithered onto the political scene. And my apologies to worms, who at least have a useful purpose in the world--unlike Newt Gingrich.
Newt just wanted to be the power behind the throne since he was rejected as the power on the throne, and, not inconsequential, have his third “beautiful” wife hang with the pope. Add Ginni Thomas and the treachery of the Borgias comes to mind. They used chump or he used them. Lock them all up…
Yes, the monkey chump was the perfect narcissist actor for the final authoritarian coup against democracy and decency from the KKKrazies.
I wish you wouldn't use the trailer park stereotype, but otherwise, agreed 100%. The Truman quote is great.
Not everyone raised in a log cabin turned out to be Abraham Lincoln, and not everyone brought up in a trailer park became Newt Gingrich.
Of course they didn't. As I point out though, it goes a way to explain why he is such a "striver" at being a turd.
Oh TCinLA I love this so. Thank you! Yes re Gingrich. I remember when he began his deliberate war against 'across the aisle' relationships.
I remember too, watched friends become blithering idiots with help from Rupert
It’s breathtaking to sit back and watch how, one by one, all those working behind the curtain are being yanked forth. Thank you God for the 1/6 Committee, Letitia, Fani, and the DOJ….
Hey TC! Good morning! I do not think it is "partisan" to call a spade a spade. And Gingrich just wants to be back in the news because he has fallen off the radar. I agree with your assessment of him, though. Isn't it sad to watch these old fat white guys flail about trying to rule the world? Too bad they are damn near doing it. Seriously, until the people in this country stop taking the vote for granted, and actually USE it, we will continue down this road until we become the next Hungary. That is what they are shooting for.
I hate to see people criticized for where they grew up. Some people are just stuck in poverty. Nevertheless, I get the intended meaning.
American democracy can’t survive an asymmetric internal struggle where one side uproots elections, basic fairness, self evident truths, and the rule of law while the other is expected to stay “non-partisan.”
The absurdity here would be laughable if it were not for such anti-democracy long gamers emerging like Gingrich, the Thomases, Giuliani, etc etc.
Calling out the MAGA Republicans for what they are is as necessary as combating climate change, restoring women’s rights, and protecting our sacred vote. MAGA has a maggot-like phonetic ring to it anyway, and my moderate Republican friends cringe to be associated with it.
As a proud Philadelphian I only wish Biden had taken a lap down South 9th Street, through the Italian Market, fire and smoke rising from the burn barrels like a phoenix, with the Rocky theme playing.
Taunt him with “Let’s go Brandon?” He’s come back to us now, at the turn of the tide, Dark Brandon if you must, and that’s a BFD.
Morning, Doc! Nicely put...and I love the visual of Biden on South 9th Street!
Yeah, I like that Rocky visual. And that MAGAts definitely are.
I hate when people are referred to as trailer trash. I heartily agree to hate Gingrich, TC you need to knock that shit off. Too far below you.
Yes. Criticize what people say or do, not what they look like or where they come from.
Same goes for praise!
While I believe a process of pardon is necessary for correcting errors and changing understandings of justice, it seems to be that pardons on the whim of presidents and governors is a remnant of imperial power in our democratic republican system, which lacks prudent checks and balances and which can (now obviously) be used to undermine just rule of law as well as to improve it. The pardon of Nixon was such an abuse of power, and Trump's abuses are as corrupt as hell.
“Power must never be trusted without a check.” – John Adams
I suspect that this is only one of several ways we are inclined to conflate a president with a king.
JL Graham: "I suspect that this [pardons] is only one of several ways we are inclined to conflate a president with a king."
Another, and even more extreme, is the notion that a president, or former president, cannot be prosecuted. How in the name of reason can anyone support that position while declaring that "NO ONE is above the law"?
Lock Trump Up.
Make sure he has a cell mate willing to provide him tutoring on how to show respect and control his nasty mouth.
Being his cell mate would be hell. Literally hell.
I would agree.
Wishing rape on anyone is something you might want to rethink.
I think You’re jumping to conclusions …let’s all put aside our stereotypes for the rest of the day.
Thank you. Perhaps we could momentarily consider them to be metaphors instead of stereotypes?
OK.
Please do.
Kathy. I was thinking more along the lines of learning respect and how to control his mouth where being respectful is relevant.
I have updated my comment.
There are so many to choose from!
It was a crap decision, hopefully not to be the case for a “former.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_by_Bill_Clinton
Bill Clinton, after subjecting the American people to years of trashy, dishonorable, lifestyle choices, pardoned 140 people in the last hours of his Presidency.
I think Clinton holds the record for handing out pardons to trashy criminals.
Me? I voted for Ross Perot. And?
Perot was right about NAFTA and right to oppose it.
I’d forgotten about Clinton’s pre-departure pardoning spree. The link you provide, Mike, includes the crimes committed by those pardoned. One example: Susan Lisa Rosenberg was pardoned for her “role in the 1983 bombing of the United States Capitol Building, the U.S. National War College and the New York Patrolmen's Benevolent Association.” The crime of treason should be UNPARDONABLE! Such grievous pardoning precedent can now be used by tfg to forgive the traitorous, J6 criminals! ARGH! $(@&%
Precedent shouldn’t automatically mean it’s alright.
Of course it shouldn’t, but he will exploit any justification he can find
Susan Lisa Rosenberg wasn’t pardoned. Her sentence was commuted to time served after more than 16 years in prison. Still unfathomable, but not a pardon.
Thanks for the clarification, Candace!
You are right about Clinton’s pardons, but Ross, while having good points, was a spoiler. Bill did try to overcome his “trailer park” raising, with a lapse, or two, or three…
Jeri.
Clinton’s main lapse was supporting NAFTA which continued the Republican destruction of the Middle class.
He also signed into law the repeal of the Glass Steagal Act of 1932 setting the stage for 2008.
Clinton had literally hundreds of lapses Jeri.
NAFTA support could have been justified if labor had been supported. Something on the lines of a Build Back Better program. Many jobs could have been created by infrastructure spending vs giving tax breaks and wasting on useless military involvement. Blame every elected representative who did not make an effort for labor and by extension for us all. I would imagine Robert Reich was making the effort as he always has done.
I always held NAFTA against Clinton. I never ever was a fan of that idea, the way it was laid out. I so feel your comment about “if labor had been supported” is absolutely correct.
Clinton's lapses had more to do with his hound-dog propensities rather than his lifestyle--Clinton was quite bright, actually...too bad he was seduced by the Democratic Leadership Council into believing in the "third way".
Bill Clinton left office with a surplus in the budget and a warning for Dubya that Dubya ignored to the lasting detriment of this country. Bill was a centrist, and some of his policy decisions stunk, but there isn't even a near correspondence between WJClinton and the putrid garbage heap that is Trump.
Yeah but otherwise the guy (Perot) was easily as paranoid and demented as is Trump. And his track record in business dealings and where he got his money to make money wasn't exactly spotless either. He did have a few shining moments of true populism in his brief campaigns, though.
I think you are right. I suspect that after 40+ centuries of rule by royal families, it was difficult for the founding fathers to wrap their minds around not having a king. So they basically created a king that can be elected.
President Biden in Philadelphia spoke of his/our fight for the soul of America.
On January 21, 2022, with the heart of an historian rather than the glibness of a daily political analyst, I wrote that the then-dismal political prospects of President Biden and the Democratic Congress could change with startling speed. I wrote more with an attaboy attitude than a deep conviction.
I related to Jon Meacham’s magnificent THE SOUL OF AMERICA, He wrote about America’s stutter step pattern of ups, downs, and ups over two-and-one-half centuries. The trend line has been up.
At present President Biden is deservedly up, Manchin/Sinema have permitted some Democratic legislative triumphs, gas prices have plummeted, and MAGAISTS have a ‘soul’ that is being filleted.
I am an American who has experienced such downs as Pearl Harbor, Watergate, the 1970s Rust Belt, Vietnam, 9/11, Iraq, and Covid. I have also experienced Brown v. Board of Education, Medicare, the end of the Cold War, and the Pelosi/Pence completion of the constitutional election of President Biden on the day of the Capitol Hill insurrection.
I am thankful that America’s ‘soul pendulum’ recently has swing in a positive and, for many, surprising direction. I am heartened without being complacent.
The battle for the soul of America is a never ending struggle.
LET’S MAKE AMERICA EXCEPTIONAL AGAIN.
Keith,
I like the call to be exceptional. It rouses my emotion and reminds me that if you work 14 hours a day, are lucky enough to be considered white, manage to find nearly free college education, and willing to endure a workforce where favorite sons, with the ability to crawl on their knees, get promoted……then you or I can also become exceptional.
However. I think it is important to say and recognize that America has also been a country with exceptionally harsh, negative outcomes for “others”.
Without that conscious, fearless look at our current reality and past history we become complacent.
I would say:
Let us make America truly exceptional for the first time.
Let us fund the Innocence Project.
Let us support, with funding, native public schools instead of WV coal companies.
Let us pass laws requiring military contractors, which have the best benefits and pay in America, to hire non whites who are not related to current employees (almost all of whom are white). Military contractors almost exclusively hire white people.
Let us stop Harvard from using “Legacy” admission which openly targets admitting poor performing white people.
Let us be honest.
Thank you. The level of anger and blaming other in today’s comments is disheartening to me. Thank you for sharing how we might pursue fo a more just society. Anger is important but it is time to transform that energy to build a better America. To my total surprise Joe Biden is leading us in that direction. We are very lucky to have such a skilled politician move us in a more positive direction. Building back the soul of the nation requires all of us to look inwards to see how we have been effected by the attack on our Democracy and our role in this.
Susan, I was thinking the same thing. Justified or not, let’s stop the sniping at each other and stop the stereotyping. We as a country have bigger goals right now.
Yes, I was beginning to wonder if I had popped in to a different Substack comments section. I’m not used to all of the sniping at one another on this forum. Some, yes... but today it seems we’ve gotten away from commenting on what HCR’s letter was about. All of us need to fight for the soul of America and snarling at one another is wasting time. IMHO of course.
Yes, I do not think we ever made it to being exceptional, except theoretically. That would require taking a honest look at our true history and humbling ourselves to raise the stakes and not repeat how we were formed. We would have to disband the caste system that the Euros brought here. That might require some deeply heartfelt apologies and reparations to our Native Americans and Africans that were destroyed and enslaved to make white people so "great" and "prosperous." Another elephantine thing to ask of Americans to put things right which could make us Exceptional. New Zealand did this for their Maori, and are ahead of us in that path. We might be able to learn a thing or two about how to make amends for so much historical trauma. New Zealand negotiated settlement packages described include those in relation to the more traditional, historical, kin-based grievances as well as three examples of pan-Maori settlements: commercial fisheries, commercial forests, and broadcasting. I believe we cannot be whole until we look at roots of our shadows and face them. Otherwise, we are a just a fake, hypocritical nation and our "patriotism" nothing but a sham. I said it several years ago here...Americans need to do some very Deep Gardening in our roots and planting new seeds, All of Us, Together. Then we can call ourselves Exceptional, as we grow more United. It will be our Intentions, Actions and our Processes that will determine how great a People we can be.
I like your garden analogy. We must look at our roots, excise those that are not healthy, and nourish those that are.
Exceptional. Aspirational. Preceeded by much reimagining, creation, uplifting an hard slogging from where we are now, all based on an honest history and actions to change, especially in how equality is demonstrated to all of US.
AMEN, Pensa!!!
Mike America has been a work in progress ever since the 7-year American revolution, the failed Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution, with its extraordinary real-world compromises.
We have come a long way from slavery and the early role of women. Our ‘stutter step’ evolution had had, and still has, severe downsides, including those that you have enumerated.
I willingly put my life on the line for my country. Today I fear for the country that my grandchildren will inherit.
My hope and, indeed, my expectation is that the ongoing struggle to preserve and expand the soul of America will, over time, result in a better America for the great majority of citizens.
I agree that the word ‘exceptionalism’ ignores many of the dark spots in America’s evolution, including some of the slippage that has occurred in recent years.
I have lived in other countries for more than a decade. On balance, there is no country in which I would choose to live than the United States. I hope that you and the readers of LFAA will join me in endeavoring to make America a better place for those who come after us.
Keith.
Thank you and very well written.
If you ever get a chance to go to the island of Lesvos, Greece be sure to visit the village of Anemotia.
I am pretty sure you would not mind living in Anemotia Keith.
Mike My great grandmother was Greek and gave birth to my British grandfather in Baghdad in the 1860s. [I spent a month in Baghdad in 1960, which was more than enough.]
I fantasize about the glorious Greek Islands. There was a plan, after my graduation in 1955, of a sailing voyage across the Atlantic ending up in the Greek isles which, alas, never occurred.
In 1953 & 1954 I took my Middle East Yale group to Greece—no money—had to sell the remainder of my free documentary film to eat and rent a Jeep without brakes. Wonderful trips to Corinth, Delos, Epidarus, and elsewhere. Learned from experience not to buy the hind quarter of an old goat—we were tasting it for a month.
Alas, I shan’t be seeing you in Anemotia, but welcome the LFAA exchanges with such an erudite gentleman..
Keith,
Now I know why your posts are so thoughtful and insightful. You are Greek!
So, is my wife.
And, thank you for referring to me as a gentleman.
Mike
YES!
And especially to The Innocence Project! Exceptional organization: https://innocenceproject.org/about/
I have a good friend who does pro bono work for them.
Thanks for this, Rose!
Keith and Mike, you have both done us a favor. By refocusing our thoughts and goals, we can achieve exceptional progress. And Susan, all of what you commented on is “right on”!
👏👏👏
America is exceptional as being the only country in the advanced western world who has been involved in or begun a war since WWII. Military is our currency. That needs to change.
From a latrine wall in Da Nang: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for I am the baddest m****r f****r in the valley". That's been our philosophy for decades.
What was on the wall at Abu Ghraib?
James, Are you taking a swing at the USA's foreign policy or the country's general attitude? I hope that you will elaborate on the country's philosophy as you see it?
Both, I think. We were the world's policeman, starting in the 1950s but, beginning with Viet Nam, we began starting wars, rather than finishing them. Some will say we had good intentions, but who, ultimately, profits from these undeclared wars? We are the world's armorer. Eisenhower was right: the military-industrial complex has to be reined in. That's difficult, because there is so much money to be made.
How many guns, per capita, in the US? I think it's way more than one. Yesterday, in an interview, the new congresswoman-elect from Alaska, in response to a question about Biden's proposed ban on assault weapons, said she had to consider it after seeing the details: she is aware of 2nd Amendment rights. Then she said she had 176 guns in her house. One hundred and seventy-six. Let that sink in for a moment. Yes, they're hunters, so they have need of tools. But I wonder how many of those guns are assault weapons.
We may strive mightily for peace, but when it comes to dealing death and destruction, we have no equal on the planet. What other nation has used nuclear weapons against an enemy? And it's not just the weapons and wars: our mediocre response to climate change could also be considered as an attack - on the planet.
But perhaps our worst mistake was electing T****, giving the world a monumentally bad example to follow. It's going to be hard to live that down. And if the Brasilians don't see the problem with their T**** clone, it may be a moot point: we won't have the air to breathe when they finish the destruction of the Amazon.
Thank you, James, for your well considered response. This very difficult and dangerous time in America has in some measure revealed more of the USA's history and the forces that have been working against Democracy from the beginning and in various forms since then. You ended strongly in terms of climate change. I would more specifically add the necessity of us examining the role of fossil fuels, businesses/owners/influences and the politics behind it. How fossil fuels can be reduced and adapted to a safe environment is of the highest priority.
Gah!!!! 176 guns???? Who freakin' needs that many guns???
I grew up in a very rural area of a mostly wooded state and my Dad fished and hunted to put protein on the table.
We lived on our and my grandparent's gardens and my Dad's ability to bring home venison and trout.
We had a mighty arsenal of two rifles, a shotgun (for the occasional partridge) and two fishing rods in the house and we managed just fine.
Lordy
Hear ye, Hear ye!!
Appreciate your comments.
Regarding "here, here", not at all meant to be snarky. (I was corrected on this awhile back for which I am grateful.)
https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/feature/Here-here-or-hear-hear
Martyrita,
Many thanks for clarification!!!
America is already exceptional in all the wrong ways ("America is the only developed Western country where....")
Keith,
Thank you for taking the conversation back to the gist of HCR's letter today and to the purpose of Biden's excellent speech. I thought I was in the wrong room with the first series of comments expressing such anger off topic. My life, too, spans those and other concomitant markers of the ups and downs of our democracy. We are not perfect and we have far to go. Yet, when the MSM and the 3 major networks choose not to carry such a critically important speech, and the cable networks cherry pick his statements, we know the battle is uphill. Biden is that right person in these dangerous and frightening times. We need to heed his words and call.
Heartened without being complacent, my goal as well.
Exceptional for being the realm of the possible -- the best possible, as opposed to the worst with which the world has been force-fed in recent years -- exceptional, because free at last of exceptionalism. Exceptional because exemplary.
A dream yearning to be made true.
Love this!
So, Joe Biden speaks. More than once, even. I hope he speaks like he's personally running for office this November. I'd like to hear that he's speaking like a candidate for office, 2-3 times/week until November and the election. His words, empowered by the office he holds, are in fact the most powerful tools in his arsenal to influence Americans toward voting out lies and liars, voting for the constitution and those who agree to swear their allegiance to it. If we achieve that, we'll have that more generous majority in the Senate and we'll preserve the majority in the House and the next two years of this administration will be more fruitful than the last, which were remarkable by many measures. This president will stand tall amongst his peers, even though he was dealt a weak hand in 2020.
What's roaring off to one side is a paper tiger, less and less convincing as the days and weeks progress, sinking deeper and deeper into the very swamp he claimed to drain. I want to watch as the last orange hair atop his orange tan-in-a-can head sinks below the water. When his voice has been smothered, it'll be interesting to see who slinks back into the Congress, hoping they won't be noticed as they attempt to rehabilitate their names and reputations.
I do agree about increased addresses from our president 2-3 times a week, Nathan. You know the kid’s game of freeze? There are so many just frozen in place when it comes to politics. The assault on the senses and sensibilities of people has been bombarded during the Twitter reign of terror and governing for 4 yrs of the former culminating in the extensive coup staged on January 6th. Even I, who have stayed pretty active in a constant state of pushing back since Jan 6th, was jumping around listening to President Biden tonight. I imagine his increased presence in the homes of America like many great presidents have done during war and crisis and turning points will be like a tap on the shoulder giving permission to “unfreeze”.
Two to three times a week. I like it.
Let’s get loud.
Unita! 🗽🇺🇸🙋🏻🙋🏽🙋🏾🙋🏼♂️🙋🏽♂️🙋🏿♂️
Yes! Biden should be doing “mini” soul of America speeches with frequency. And…
we need to hear from all of those who represent We The People as often as is possible. Let’s hear from a brilliant and passionate Adam Schiff. Where is Kamala? Some of the lesser known Dems and Independents. Just this week, Adam Kinzinger gave a loud shoutout for democracy. So yes, let’s get loud in huge numbers.
I saw Adam Kinzinger on Meet the Press...words to the effect: "Durn Tootin', I'm voting for Democrats!"
And, shout outs matter!
Exactly. We need Fireside Chats with The President. And we could continue that with Heather and Biden talks. It could be the antidote to all the brainwashing tactics of the authoritarians.
I think that Biden was at his absolute best in his sit-down conversation with Heather. Seemingly off the cuff, articulate and informed. We need to get more of that Biden out to the greater public. How?
Be nice if a mainstream media that loves our democracy would publish a fireside chat during weekly at 9:00pm. Is that after primetime?
Cue Jennifer Lopez …
Let’s Get Loud
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q91hydQRGyM
Exactamente, Lena. I love when smokin’ hot women remind everybody to wake up and get loud. Let’s dance!
🗽💃🏻💃🏼💃🏽💃🏾💃🏿
It’s our party! Democrats get loud! Mmm-hmm, in a dancing mood.
Holy Cow!
Christine I remember FDR’s Fireside Chats. They were extremely effective—FDR spoke directly to the people over radio [before TV, cable, and Youtube]. Though he had many press conferences, he only gave 31 Fireside Chats in 12 years.
I’m looking for a Democratic Greek chorus that will fervently sing President Biden’s ‘soul song’ AND point out what the Dems have/are accomplished compared to the Trumpists’ dog-in-the-manger uncontrolled pooping.
I really appreciate your wording "...compared to the Trumpists’ dog-in-the-manger uncontrolled pooping."
But those words are so polite when you consider that we're talking about the Augean stables in reverse.
The stink could last decades unless there's a truly Herculean clean-out.
Peter BINGO with the Augean Stables. Is President Biden the Odysseus who is successfully navigating between Scylla and Charybdis? Muck on!
Agree. Joe Biden needs to speak like this for the remainder of his office. Get dem’s and independents fired up. Tell the truth with conviction and passion, forget being nice. Every message doesn’t have to be - they are fascists but SPEAK THE TRUTH. What does he have to lose? He can keep up the heat and if he loses well, concede, move on and be noted as a fighter until the end. Isn’t that what we are doing? Fighting for democracy? Don’t do it with a mouth full of candy and try to sugarcoat anything. PASSION AND CONVICTION AND FREQUENT AND LOUD
Yikes...Yes, Laurie!
I dream with you
Thursday evening, President Biden delivered a forceful speech brilliantly defending the continuation of American democracy. Still, when he said he would not stand by and watch as elections were stolen nor watch as people’s voting rights were taken, I was perplexed by what he meant, seeing these rights, as we speak, are being taken.
Nationwide, GOP controlled state legislatures unilaterally are undermining our elections, passing provisions making it difficult for voters to be able to cast their ballots and have those ballots counted. Moreover, county election officials (largely black) are being removed from their offices and replaced with state and local personnel who don’t believe in free and fair elections.
Simultaneously, this past January, two Senate Democrats (Manchin and Sinema) refused, without support from Republicans, to pass legislation (the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act) that would have ensured that all eligible votes were cast, counted correctly, and certified without interference and without their being diluted either through partisan gerrymandering or through using false allegations of fraud as a pretext not to include all the ballots in the certified results.
Presuming we agree that democracy is not static but a dynamic process, it then follows, at least in my view, that words alone are insufficient unless we engage now in the necessary actions to protect our democracy.
C’mon Barbara. You know exactly what he meant. His last two words of the speech said it. “VOTE! Democracy”.
Keep and increase the majority in November and then just watch the legislation that will be passed. It’s stacked and waiting.
I loved that it was a speech like he was campaigning. For our country’s soul. Because that’s exactly what it was.
Unita! 🗽
Christine, To be clear, despite my disgust at any attempt to shrink the electorate, I’m far less worried about voter suppression provisions than I am about election subversion measures. As you and MaryPat, also part of this thread, have indicated, the former can be redressed by turbo-charging turnout. As for the latter—voter nullification—absent any federal voter protection safeguards, there is no amount of organizing that is going to get us around those obstacles
Still, I would note that no amount of emotional duress would so burden me that I would despair of ever being able to change things. Hence, I persist because I believe the cause is right and just and moral. That said, I think, when one appreciates the full extent of the challenge ahead, one can be more effective.
Dems have been slow to respond to election subversion. Distressing.
Frankom, I couldn’t agree more. Hence, my gratitude to everyone in my life that repeatedly has sustained me in this fight.
Appreciate the full extent of the challenge ahead???? What or who are you suggesting does not recognize or “appreciate” that?
That sounds elitist to me.
🗽
Christine, My intent certainly wasn’t to appear elitist. Truthfully, the intentional shift from first person to third person was my way merely of asserting a generalization that seemed important.
I noted the shift. I am still wondering about the implication of that generalization. But that’s OK. Please know that I believe election subversion is paramount in those voting for democracy in November. I just do not believe we have the chance of passing any acts into law without a greater majority in Congress.
🗽
Christine, Regrettably, I agree, especially since the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 must pass before this Congressional term ends, considering Dems could lose one or both chambers. Still, whether it’s Democracy Docket Founder Marc Elias or Protect Democracy Executive Director Ian Bassin, both of whom track the increasing sophistication of Republican election subversion planning, I believe, for a host of reasons, that their findings merit repeated amplification.
On another matter, I deeply regret any misunderstanding my wording produced, especially considering I invest a great deal of care in increasing the chances of being understood.
Biden has armed us with the force of words : "Mainstream Republicans" vs. "MAGA Republicans." It is up to us, WE THE PEOPLE, to carry his message forward to every political battle across the country, split the Republican Party, and save democracy. We have our marching orders.
P.S. I was heartened this early morning to have messages from several organizations urging me to do just that, and specifying exactly how. These groups didn't exist 2 years ago (The Union, Red Wine & Blue, Dr. Bob Lorinser for Congress.)
“Mainstream” repubs have gone along with the MAGAts by their silence.
There is that...
Better to get off now then go over the cliff with the bus
One Question.
Why are we treating “mainstream” Republicans with respect?
Dick Cheney is a mainstream Republican responsible for the largest refugee diaspora since WWII and responsible for hundreds of thousands of innocent deaths.
Forget respect for anything Republican.
Take them all down. Leave none standing.
The Republican neighbors and friends whom we want to reach with our Northen Michigan "Send Bergman Back to Louisiana" campaign are "mainstream" Republicans whom I respect as "good people." Our goal is to enlighten them about how their party has left them, exactly how Rep. Bergman voted against their interests, and how our moderate Democratic candidate Dr. Bob Lorinser's positions and values actually align with theirs. Mainstream is a word THEY can identify with, that respects THEM.
Dr. Heather was the guest at Last night's Red Wine & Blue Zoom meeting which provided excellent insights and tools on this approach. Watch It! We have Good Trouble to do!
https://fb.watch/fhGtYmIwD-/
Thank you for the link and thoughts
Many thanks for the link and the prompt.
Your anger is completely understood, but I think we need to be prepared that this will be messy. Even after WWII, many who participated as Nazis quieted down and became members of the community with their Nazi propaganda masters deceased or arrested. We may not like it, but in order to unite, we will have to forgive the followers who wanted to belong to some group or Thing. Let's create something Good for them to follow. Like healthy republican leaders who believe in democracy and the rule of law.
Yes.
Gee, I don’t remember ever thinking or hearing that Dick Cheney was a mainstream Republican. He was and is focused on making his companies profitable-he started a nonsensical war against the wrong country, based on lies, just to get his companies involved in increasing control of mid-eastern war, didn’t he? All that cowboy ethos posturing was cover for the ruthless businessman.
I respect R who have earned it...Cheney
Agree. She has been instrumental in saving democracy in the USA. That said, I'd never vote for her because I don't respect her positions.
MaryPat, The groups you cite are critical for turbo-charging turnout, garnering momentum that certainly will redress voter suppression provisions. The greater concern is the Republican election subversion plan expected to be enacted as early as this fall that would change state election rules to change who can be in charge, how votes are counted, and how they’re certified. Regrettably, no amount of organizing is going to get us around those obstacles.
Still, as I wrote to Christine, also on this thread, I persist because I believe the cause is right and just and moral. That said, I also would note that I think we benefit from appreciating the full extent of the challenges with which we must contend.
Yes there has to be a face saving off ramp to the MAGA identity.
May we make S and M irrelevant. My goal for Nov.
Jeri, Like you, my goal, too, is to hold the House and pick up at least 2 Senate seats. In the interim, however, we have both voter suppression and voter nullification provisions expected to be enacted as early as this fall, with which to contend. As I’ve written to others on this thread, despite detesting any effort to shrink the electorate, I worry less about voter suppression than voter nullification. While the former can be redressed by turbo-charging turnout, no amount of organizing is going to circumvent the Republican election subversion plan that would change state election rules to change who can be in charge, how votes are counted, and how they’re certified.
Still, as with all my fellow subscribers, I won’t allow the emotional weight of the challenges ahead to so burden me that I despair of ever being able to change things.
“Extremist MAGA Republicans”
There is no distinction between ‘extremist’ MAGA and MAGA. MAGA is the mainstream Republican position. 74 million people voted for Trump in 2020. Being silently complicit may appear less extreme, but it’s no less harmful. Let’s call mainstream Republicanism what it is: extremism.
The malware of the MAGA cult infects a lot of people that one would think would know better, and pulled in people that previously seemed "normal", but it seems to me there degrees of possession and some have backed away, from the little I have seen anyway. I don't think all Trump supporters are full-blown sociopathic, and some would perhaps take a path of diplomatic exit, as the biggest of big liars and cheaters are investigated, and presumably charged.
Not as a favor or exoneration for peripheral Trumpsters, but to help dial down plot against democracy, We are just not going to be prosecuting millions of Trump supporters , so if some are willing to walk away from extremism, I think it is wise to make a space for that; which is what I think Biden is trying to do. It was once "The Party of Lincoln", before rejecting everything the Lincoln had stood for.
After seeing Kevin McCarthy's response to Biden's speech, I don't agree. The MAGA ship has to go down. Hard by the bow. No quarter asked or given.
Absolutely. They may not realize that they are the fascist party. Makes it so much more dangerous. They believe they have a right to lie. To steal. To determine who is an American. Who has the right to vote. Who has the right to be educated.
And?
We have the right to disagree.
And a right to observe that anyone born here is an American citizen.
Looks like Alaska just did a bit of disagree by shutting Sarah Palin out of the game.
We matter.
Ranked choice voting matters!! 🤩
Leaves out the whole citizenship thing.
Torally agree! Time for them all to be exposed for what they are. The ones that have broken the law put in jail, the ones that supported breaking the law exposed. And by all means, follow the money. A lot of the actions taken (ie against gun control, fossil fuel, and lower drug prices) are taken by lawmakers paid off by someone. Let´s have no more dark money.
We certainly need to tame capitalism and campaign money and bring them to heel at a our side rather than dragging us on their leash. But it means we also must have strong boundaries and be assertive in protecting our country from right and wrongdoing both foreign and domestic. I think Democracy has to be fought by All The People because, and excuse my French, there are too many power hungry dicks and dicketts out there.
Certainly the authors of fascistic Big Lies and illegal, anti-democratic plots must be discredited, and some the big players arrested. They attempted a coup d'etat after all, and they're still at it. But there are also a lot of their believers being had, and while their allegiance to Trump, etc. was theirs by choice, what do we do about them, assuming we really can bring the kingpins down?
One party rule by Democrats isn't democratic either, so encouraging the growth of an ethical and sane alternative party seems worth a shot. IF we can turn the tide, there will still be millions of alienated Republicans out there, and if they don't find something responsible to do with their energy, it's more likely to just not change, and just resurge later.
If there are any innocent passengers on the 'ship of fools' that is the current Republican Party, perhaps they can jump ship and start some new party. But to call them 'mainstream' is a misnomer: the main part of the Republican Party are T**** supporters. For that, they deserve our scorn.
How true this is.
Thank you. McCarthy is a tool and a fool and clearly quaking in his shoes lest he lose his position amongst his perfervid MAGA Repub cohorts....but even cutting him some slack for having to appease his own party members, I thought his "counter attack speech" was preposterous.
❤️
The “party of Lincoln” is now the Democrats. Switcheroo
More needs to be talked about this. Tooooooo many believe that today's Republican Party is the party of Lincoln.
The Orange Oracle discovered that Lincoln had called himself a "Republican" and announced it to the world.
Pretty much. Political corruption, like street crime, is to be found anywhere you go, but modern"Яepublicans" are the pretty much the anti-Lincoln party. Lincoln defined as the legitimate object of government... to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves -- in their separate, and individual capacities"; which is pretty much anti-Reagan. Lincoln was phobic of black people but protected their legal rights, and fought with the Union, not the Confederacy.
Treachery never goes away because you can use it to win, if that's the way you are willing to go, but society is wise to protect itself from you. "Яepublicans" hoovered up and pandered to fanatical ultra-racists, after Democrats finally began distancing themselves from them, in a "devil's bargain" if there ever was one. The history of both parties is more complex than that, but a switcheroo indeed.
Then 74 million Americans are MAGA Americans
That leaves only 258,778,543 who aren't.
Sad, isn't it. That many fools.
An American Tragedy
Hitler did it better, just barely.
Most mainstream Americans who had identified with the Republican Party have left. I'm one of them.
Sad but true, even for family and “friends.”
Biden is refusing to be pushed into a corner by Republicans and rightly calls for defense of democracy. In another display of what is routinely GOP projection, Kevin Mccarthy demanded an apology from Biden for slandering millions of Americans. It is the GOP that name-calls, none more shamelessly than TFG. And, the reality is that, at the very least, TFG'S followers are authoritarians opposed to democracy. Good for Biden!
This evening I passed a home that had a huge sign in the living room window that says "FUCK BIDEN". Republicans cal this "legitimate political discourse", but blow a gasket if anyone speaks ill of them. I recall as Obama was making a speech, a Republican lawmaker yelled "YOU LIE", but when President Trump was speaking, I guess everyone figured it was obvious. A lady was convicted of laughing during Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearing.
Yes. The F*CK Biden signs are here in rural Western NY as well.
I was never this openly disrespectful of that half wit failed gangster Trump who inherited everything he has and never worked a minute in his life.
But. Here goes.
F*CK Trump.
Long past time for me to gear up.
Mike. That is the funniest post ever from you. LOL
Let’s get loud!
Unita 🗽
👍👍
I can’t stand the thought, may he just self-combust
He already has.
I think it is over for Trump Jeri.
He now has too many real enemies.
YES! YES! YES! I want what Mikey had this morning! FIRED UP!
Agreed, Mike S. I find posting such signs very disrespectful.
I guess the only benefit, if there is one, is that you don't have to work to figure them out.
Locally, someone used electrical tape to put Let's Go Brandon! on their garage door. I note this was not in a trailer park!
One of the minor delights has been the various co-optings of the F* Joe branding over time, with Dark Brandon the latest iteration.
🤩
They are ALL doing it on their Twitter feeds.
Boo hoo. The repubs have always had the best crocodile tears. Idjt recently asked why is everyone so mean. His mini-me wife made cyberbullying her cause 🐊🐊🐊 to spread it, not stop it. 🐊🐊🐊 Another excellent summary Dr R. Thank you.
You are so right, whine, whine, whine, and go lower
My favorite bit of disingenousness to date is the official government twitter feed @housejudiciarygop (supervised, and sometimes! posted to by Jim Jordan - though more lately the syntax indicates someone else is posting there). Hope they are turning in their tweets to NARA.
McCarthy makes Ryan look absolutely patriotic, he sold his soul and thinks all republicans should. Pure evil
My first thought was "Joe McCarthy?" Then realized you mean Kevin. Same dif.
The facts and choices become better delineated by the day. Will America chose democracy and finally slay the former Confederacy? Throughout history Confederates have gotten 'a pass', from insisting on slavery in the Constitution, through Reconstruction and Jim Crow to now financial support and a promise of pardons for convicted Insurrectionists. I don't think this way of thinking and acting can be put behind us without sending MAGA leadership and enablers to jail for lengthy terms of incarceration?
I agree 100. Send them to jail. They are criminals slicing out the heart of our really wonderful country. Enough!
Trump financially supporting Insurrectionists, perhaps another link in the ‘hub & spike’ conspiracy? Like in drug cases or smuggling cases with captain of boat and crew, prosecutors go after financial support to co-defendants as Obstruction of Justice. Sort of surprised he said that, if true, he is a cheapskate who doesn’t pay his own lawyers. Hmmmm…?!?!
It is most likely republican dark money paying for it, but as their king, the drub thinks it is all his and this is his photo op. God I wish the indictable emperor would put some damned clothes on and leave the stage and take all his little mutts with him!
Wouldn't the "paying for the insurrectionists" and "promising pardons" fall into witness tampering territory?
He pays for nothing, crook all the way. Another sucker coming up.
So, I might have missed something. Wasn't the testimony of the two men convicted of crimes for their participation in the riot on January 6th supposed to establish that fpotus was the kingpin of that event? Is this not simply playing right into their hands and telling everyone "Yeah, it was me. I sent them. I'll protect them."
Yeah, giving them $4.95 per week.
I couldn't find Biden's speech live on PBS or the networks. I managed to dig it up on YouTube so I got to listen to the whole presentation and skip the editing and "analysis" (root word; anal,) of the "experts". Link below.
I think Biden is tying to isolate TFG and his Mega Mob and give sensible Republicans, (I've got to assume there are some,) and conservative independents a place to go.
Let's hope he succeeded.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wygovCnX8Uw
Thank you, Ralph! I was taken aback that none of the networks carried the speech. I found it on YouTube just in time to see/hear his entire presentation.
I watched it on MSNBC. But yes, Lynell, "The Networks" should have carried one of the most important speeches of our democracy. Therein may lie our problem.
It is Our Problem, and has been since Rupert raked in the bucks. Our MSM wanted some too. We need Walter
Not a problem, Mary Pat. Watch them slither once we do the exciting newsworthy reporting for them.
Russian leaky tugboats….go f*ck yourselves.
🗽
As did I.
I watched it on CNN.
🗽
I found it on Reuters. But I don't have tv reception so I have to use Youtube.
And I don't think freedom of speech means hanging giant F-Biden flags on your house. I am so embarrassed for our young people to have to see such despicable, disrespectful, hate-filled behaviors from adults. How the heck do we raise decent human beings with that kind of modeling? ...I hope parents really help their children understand use these moments as teachable in what not do do. They do not need any more fear about adults out of control.
Absolutely agree with you 100%!!
I read this morning his speech was not carried on CBS, NBC, or ABC...I think it is just outrageous as it was such an important speech!!!
🤯🤯🤯
That's precisely what he is doing. Here in Northern Michigan, we who have been searching for a word to describe our Republican friends and colleagues (Good? Decent? Milliken?) now have a nonjudgemental and powerful word, "Mainstream." We can run with that.
Every day I still ask myself, HOW is it possible that tfg has any supporters, given the known facts about his narcissism, greed, immaturity, self-serving nature and complete lack of moral compass, and his own self-incriminating statements over the years? It completely amazes me regularly and is also frightening how many still believe him to have been a "decent president" [gag] and a viable candidate for another term - it's mindboggling and nauseating.
So thankful for the many voices of reason in Dr Heather's Substack community. Y'all give me hope for the preservation of democracy in this country.
You can thank Fox (Faux) News and its newer ilk for that, Janice. 🤬🤬🤬
They watch Fox, no mystery
And listened to trump rallies and the propaganda tactics spewed there.
“Our democracy is imperfect, Biden said, but “history and common sense tell us that opportunity, liberty, and justice for all are most likely to come to pass in a democracy.” President Biden’s emphasis on our country as a Democracy is a callout to the MAGAs who are intent on destroying it. And he was bold in distinguishing the difference between MAGAS and traditional repubs. I felt represented tonight and reassured that our country is going in the right direction with leadership and commitment. Night and day between a TFG presidency that was all about power and no substance and President Biden who can list all he and Dems have accomplished as they continue to work for the country and all the people.
I see no "power" in tfg's presidency. Lots of exaggerated self-promotion, lots of crude mockery, lots of bullying.
It is a mistake to distinguish traditional Pubs from MAGA Pubs.
All of them, 100%, are misguided, amoral and corrupt.
Take note that many of those leading the insurrection against the USA are Ivy League graduates. Harvard and Yale are close to the top represented. And yet Republicans claim they are defending the nation against elites.
As an Ivy League grad myself, I am disgusted that my alma mater has not taken action to call out those grads who have lied and violated the standards and values that were expected of us. "Veritas", Harvard's motto is "truth". No Harvard degree should stand when "truth" is violated by the degree holder. This would include many MAGA Republicans.
No coincidence that James O’Keefe’s propaganda machine is called “Veritas.” Made me heave when I heard this, right out of Goebbel’s playbook. Orwell would love this crowd, especially Frank Luntz, who taught them that the masses of asses wouldn’t smell the shit if you called it a rose.
Kinda like "pravda" I imagine.
Jared Bin Lyin’.at the top of the list from Harvard..the worst of the worst. Talk to your alumni group, as a start, David.
And it is Harvard graduates, David, that should lead that confrontation and hold Harvard's accountable for the lack of standing up for decency and truth in its' alumni. The extremist repubs make H. graduates look like what they are: entitled, spoiled brats whose fathers paid well for the degree mill and the connections. What about expecting quality and integrity in their students instead of just tuition?
David,
You must have been one of the "competetive" admisssions and not a Legacy admission.
It is the Legacy admissions that are causing trouble.
I’ll start with the quote that most caught my attention during last night’s stirring speech by President Biden: “... a shot at lives of prosperity and consequence.” That summed up for me what makes life worth living. The “prosperity” part less than the “consequence” part. I was lucky enough to start from the most humble beginnings to grow into adulthood in the sixties, to have a career of public service in New York City and to help thousands of students realize their dreams. That is the whole ball of wax for me. Thank you, Heather. Thank you, Substack Forum and thank you President Biden. We’ve got this!
Thank you TC for saying exactly what I was thinking. Newt and Rush were the instigators of the tRump maggots. So glad to to see that he might be held to account. Rush is gone ( with his tRump medal around his neck) but Newt needs to esplain Lucy. It’s been a long day. Thank you Heather for your excellent letters.
Trump tells Newsmax host that "he was “financially supporting” some of the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021…" Really? Since when… I cannot understand why anyone would continue to believe anything Trump said, especially if it involves him ponying up his own money to pay someone else's expenses. It's the same lie that Trump reflexively tells anyone who cares to listen; and, needless to say, the Newsmax host is not being paid to question Trump's veracity. I do have to marvel at the unending stupidity of these people who hear the same lies told to them over and over and over, and accept them at face value. But what does that say about our fellow countrymen who suck up this nonsense as if it were gospel… Nothing good, I would venture to say. Hillary Clinton got herself in trouble by calling these people a basket of deplorable's, but I am suggesting that there has to be something behind this willful ignorance that Trump supporters indulge themselves. We have a third of our countrymen who seem to be able to focus on nothing other than their self pitying, and unending grievances, about which they undoubtedly bear most of the blame for whatever ails them. Joe Biden was right when he said that these people cannot be allowed to control our national destiny.
You go Joe. Barack Obama called Joe Biden America's happy warrior and right now nobody is more effective or necessary in the battle to safeguard the soul of America. Without the peaceful transfer of power, without the rule of law placing nobody above the law, the United States is just another casualty on the list of failed democracies.