I used to think that being president of the United States was a high goal. Now, after trump, it has been greatly diminished. He is the 'real deal' crook who will be living in the peoples house and flying around in AF1 for the next 4 years. We are paying for that and it makes me sick to think about it. It says that lying and cheating works. He got to where he is by being a loud mouthed bully. That's the example he's presenting to the world and I'm ashamed of that example. He's a cheap and greedy con artist who's going to be representing the United States.
It's Saturday so once a week I allow myself to co.ment on Trump. For his entire life, Trump exemplified the kid in your class who didn't read the assignment, got called on, and then faked his way through an answer, fooling no one, including the teacher. Sadly, half our country didn't do their homework but are happy to copy and repeat his answers thinking he might actually know something.
Dee, another layer of shame will be as T represents our entire nation during all of the 250th anniversary celebrations of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. Won’t that be fun? The Founding Fathers would be repelled.
Laurie, It's a challenge to know what to do with the shame and the anger this whole situation has created. The Founding Fathers gave us the best of themselves to create this country and then they died just like we all will. We just do what we can while we're here. We carry on with what we have to work with as we hold fast to the guidelines that the constitution outlined. It's in our hands now. So the shame and anger I feel is motivating me to never stop standing up and speaking, signing, mailing, calling or whatever I can do to support the truths upon which this country is founded, for as long as I am able. May the voices of all of us be heard and may the truths of our Founding Fathers find their way through the next 4 years. May we be tenacious and resilient in the face of what's ahead of us!
It goes way back. When someone asked Bob Dylan if he ever wanted to be president, he said Harry Truman was president when he was a kid, so, no, he didn't want to be president.
Sadly, your faith that Trump’s base will ‘get it’ when the cruel and greedy policies hit home is naive. The data in Heather McGhee’s ‘The Sum of Us’ and Jonathan Metzl’s ‘Dying of Whiteness’ suggests otherwise. Poor white people (still the majority of poor people) would rather live without a social safety net, worker protections, safe food, clean air and water, affordable housing and then die prematurely than share benefits of the programs you mention with ‘them’, i.e., people of color, immigrants, LGBTQ, pregnant teens, Muslims, etc.
Thank you Cathy for bringing this unfortunate reality to light. I agree with the points you made, and I will add that not only poor whites have behaved that way. The middle class also has behaved similarly at different moments in history. This reality is true outside the United States too, for example, in Brazil. The phenomen described and examplified by the authors you cited is one of self-destruction that will continue on... I'd love to to find ways to engage people that are not on this path of self-destruction.
Rogerio, In response to your last remark, I would note that Indivisible’s co-Founders (see indivisible.org) have released an updated Manual to guide the 3000+ local Indivisible chapters in developing action plans to use local constituent power as part of a nationwide effort to resist the infiltration of MAGA into our states and local communities.
The thinking, in a nutshell, “is to hang on until 2026 and win big in the midterms,” weakening MAGA’s hold on power at the federal, state, and local levels to help ensure “election deniers and saboteurs aren’t in charge of the 2028 election”. To learn more, visit indivisible.org
I love Invisible and they provide great guidelines but they are naive because we need more than what they offer and the last election with a million plus workers in the field we still lost. We need an attack dog who can articulate everyday all the time how voters are getting screwed. We need a spokesperson
Stephen, Instead of referring to Indivisible as “naive,” I would portray the organization as necessary but not sufficient. As for a spokesperson, I would advise every one of us do all we can to try and ensure the DNC delegates elect Wisconsin State Chair Ben Wikler as DNC Chair. Contrary to Wikler, who, within a few years, converted a state wholly controlled by Republicans to one where he has reason to anticipate a Democratic trifecta by 2026, the other candidates for DNC Chair largely will deliver business as usual to our national politics.
@T L, I appreciate you writing. I would note I’ve started drafting a letter to Indivisible National to inquire about the Organization endorsing Wikler.
Wikler may help. But we need more than one community organizer. We need a fleet of them. We need a dozen in every state--people of fire and messaging that can talk to individuals and mobilize them. So we can go to every church, every senior center, every school, every hospital, and talk to every person about America and what's right and civics.
Yes on necessary but not sufficient, and there are different tones that appeal to different people so we can't make the winning music just hitting one note. And yes on Wikler, a must for the DNC.
Stephen I encourage you to attend Indivisible meetings. Engage with the leaders and voice your opinion. Another thought: each organization serves a purpose and maybe there is another organization that aligns with your beliefs. Many organizations are on Substack and Bluesky discussing what needs to happen.
Suzanne I have attended their meetings and have worked with them but after experiencing this which made me feel good I realized as great and noble Invisible is it is not going to win back the voters we lost and that has to be our focus. Those voters are not the voters Invisible has been successful winning over.
Stephen, I feel the same way about my local Democratic organizations. All nice people and good, but hopelessly out of touch with the 21st century. Even if they wish to act, their actions are ineffective and have value as intentions only (which is not useless, but not very useful). Don't know about Indivisible: have heard good things, and will check them out.
I hear you Stephen. There’s lots to learn and think about. I talked with people before the election, 3 young men stick in my mind. I probably will come in contact with them again and it will be nice to hear what they are thinking now.
Thanks Barbara. I am involved with my local Indivisible. Along with taking positive actions with local citizens, I feel it will help keep me sane and on track in spending time with like-minded individuals whose interests remain in protecting our constitutional rights and bolstering our communities.
I am always surprised at the number of people that I speak with that have not heard about Indivisible.
Here is a short cut to the recent Indivisible guide.
Lynn, Thanks for writing. I simply would add that, for me, the appeal of both Indivisible and Hubbell’s Today’s Edition is the amplified recognition that we are faced with a real challenge where the results of a democratic election stand in real tension and contrast with the principles of the Constitution. I further would note, as I presume you, too, have observed, is that the updated Indivisible Guide offers concrete action plans for navigating that tension in the weeks, months, and years ahead if we are to preserve self-government in this country.
Sorry, but you are assuming that those poor white folks can’t learn. Democracy, and America is based on the proposition that that is not so. Maybe we need to find a better way to teach.
Thank you for this, Jon. On reading your comment, I said aloud ... 'O that's beautiful.' Because it is. May we find a better way to teach. And may we learn for the sake of the poor, and for ourselves. It may be the only way forward, for us all.
We have had twenty years or more of conservative, corporate politicians and corporate-funded reformers meddling in public education. So much of education has been reduced to teaching ao that chokdren can pass a meaningless test, rather than actually learn.
This is so important. Diane Ravich has been ringing the bell for years about how education is being reduced to meaningless standardized testing, and then poor people are being shamed when their kids do badly on the tests and then there are more tests and people with money drop out of the public schools because the education is so meaningless and boring.common core is all based on corporate Values ..
So where can people learn in a meaningful way? college teachers have to communicate simply and powerfully, although that’s not enough since most Americans don’t go to college. TV writers have an obligation to have truthful shows on that educate the public like we once had.
The first effective step the Congress could take toward that goal is to enact the section 230 liability for broadcasting misinformation and hold social media accountable. The mere threat of a $10m fine will coerce them to clean up their act.
Congress will be controlled by Republicans, Alan. There’s zero probability that they’ll enact Section 230 liability, at least during the next two years. Following that, a veto-proof Democratic majority would have to be elected in 2026.
Like teaching by metaphor — hunting, for example: on “Day One,” it will be Open Season on taking down unwitting American citizens, gutting, skinning, and field-dressing the body politic, which is all of us.
Poor white folks can learn. They just don't wanna. Have you talked to these folks lately? These are not 20th century poor white folks. Please. Find a neighbor or a service person or someone in a bar or restaurant and have a conversation with them. We all should do that. I talked to a nice middle aged single neighbor woman yesterday. We've lived in Arizona for a decade or more. We've never had a problem with immigrants. Never. Any sort of problem. Last night she was all fired up about someone dumping trash on the side of the road. She said, in a soft, almost regretful tone of voice, "Well, we live so close to the border here (?it's an eight-hour drive). You just have to expect this, I guess. There are so many immigrants here, you know..." Well, they've been here forever and they're still here and they're not behaving any differently. But this nice lady sincerely believes that some huge amount of immigrants is here suddenly and is dumping trash (and committing other crimes) right here in our neighborhood. Why does she believe this? The escalating influence of Fox News, would be my guess. Jon, you can't teach someone that already knows everything, is content with what they know, and doesn't want to learn.
People rejecting federal aid after Hurricanes this year fits in with the seemingly non rational response of people affected. And aid workers unsafe trying to provide help.
I agree with you, Cathy. I very much fear that no matter how bad things get for the 90% of us who will suffer from his policies over the next four years, all Trump has to do is periodically announce a new brutal (imaginary, will never happen) initiative against migrants and his base will sit down and shut up.
And yet another player that he and his team have and will continue to employ is AI and the likes of TikTok, etc..."Truth"Social anyone?? He has become so adept at lying and manipulation that his base are caught in this dark web of deliberate misinformation.
I'm sure when his base begins to experience the REAL truth, they will be coddled and cajoled with yet more falsehoods, however ludicrous.
Democrats haven't employed these tactics at this scale, nor lie and twist the truth. While I am not recommending appealing to our base with fear-mongering, we should be able to employ the tools of technology to broaden the spread of the REAL truth.
I have seen some stats that suggest Tiktok provided some of the most exposure to young voters to Democrat messaging during the past election cycle. Maybe that's one reason why they are again being challenged in courts and may lose access to American voters.
Trump and his people are already identifying and attacking the online media which is critical of Trump and/or views Ds with favor. We have to have access to the tools to employ them. There are those developing alternatives such as Bluesky, Meidas Touch, Substack, other web and youtube channels, but who provides the bandwidth and service for the platform to reside upon? Amazon AWS or Cloudflare? At some point someone owns the serverfarms.
I agree. The problem is most do NOT seem to be hearing the warning messages about corruption, inflation or spending cuts. A quick scan of FoxNews.com headlines today shows one story listing Trump nominees. The only other major political story shows Trump with Macron in a return to the European stage. Unless Trump followers change their information seeking habits, there is no reason to think they will feel any pain until it hits them squarely in the proverbial purse.
Exactly. For people who are hearing news from blue sources, or from AP directly, or from a mix of sources in a conscious effort to get a spread it is very difficult to imagine how extremely filtered as well as biased the news feed is for many Rs.
Yehawes, Fox is where they (Rs) get their information, and there are no facts used on Fox. We blue readers can't even imagine the breadth and depth of the lies Fox viewers have been imbibing over the last 30 years. It's done its work. Their entire political reality is based on a lifetime of lies. A factor we've discounted, too, is the degree to which Fox has spread a deep bed of lies about what Democrats stand for. The Fox viewers actually think we are evil people who wish to destroy them and the country they live in, however mythical it may be.
Robin, when Trump pain hits Trump supporters in the purse, they will blame some Democrat. Anyone other than Trump. Trump can do no wrong, ever, in these people's eyes.
True, pathetic and abhorrent. Racism and “other-ism” are still at the core of this bloody fight. So many Americans seem never to learn from their own history.
I don’t know whether poor whites would rather live without a safety net, etc. Perhaps they have low expectations and have been jaded by liberals’ unfulfilled promises (perhaps liberals’ inability to fulfill their promises).
Michael, what a good Democrat--blaming the Dems for the failure of poor whites to vote for their best interests. I don't agree. The only thing Democrats did wrong is not seeing the extent of the rot and fighting back harder earlier. Biden saw it and that's why he ran in 2020.
Cathy, I am sorry that I agree with you but I do. I also feel that Trump's base will continue to deny that Trump has anything to do with anything they don't like. They will blame Joe Biden. They will blame Nancy Pelosi. They will blame anyone that Fox news says is a bad person. There is no need in these people's minds to connect any emotion they have with any fact or any reason. If you ask them to check facts, they just say, about any fact that doesn't agree with their position, that it is lying. Their answer to anything they don't like is, "The system is rigged." There's no way to talk sensibly with these people. And I don't think they will change. They would rather suffer any hell than a) share with the "evil people" you list above or b) change.
Our top priority NOW should be national security. All the other stuff is a distraction.
Biden is still president and has the capacity to mitigate the threat or even cut it off.
Once Trump is inaugurated, we are lost, and we will be reduced to guerrilla type actions because if Trump becomes the unitary executive due to an emergency, he will be a totalitarian dictator.
I agree with what you say. I would like to know what President Biden can do. I feel something like dread and bone-chilling terror when I think about what Trump can and will not hesitate to do. That terror reaction ebbs and flows, and my reaction is based on what we know about him. Regarding the emergency, I don't anticipate him waiting for something to come about. He will take any issue, lie about it, magnify it, and invoke either the National Emergencies Act, the Insurrection Act, and even the remaining part of the notorious Alien and Sedition Acts from 1798, last used to detain Japanese nationals during World War II. He used some emergency powers in his first term when Congress didn't allocate the funds he wanted for the border wall. The Brennan Center has been working on this. Liza Goitein testified before Congress in 2023 about the need to reform the emergency powers that Congress granted the president under the 1976 National Emergencies Act. There appears to be bipartisan support for reform; however, I am unsure where it currently stands. Up in the air, most likely.
You know, I honestly think the whole Dark meme with Biden was a wishful reaction to the perception he's a bit too much of the boy scout. Every once in awhile people just want to think their protector can be both noble And fearsome in their defense. Now is the time for Biden to tap his inner fearsomeness if it is there.
Daniel, I do think guerrilla warfare and resistance is in our future. The hope may lie in numbers--the 2/3 of voters who did not vote for Trump, who either didn't vote or voted for Harris. They may be open to fight.
How so? I believe trump intends do do as he says, and what the people who stopped him last time says. There will be no one to stop him this time. They are brutal and can’t wait.
In my quest to point out lies on the FB page of FOX news, I learned a lot about their tactics. Today for example nothing about nominations or plans to cut anything. No, a restaurant chain declared that now life will get much better for them. The murder of the CEO of UHC is used to point out that the system is bad. Maga people only listen to one source of news and that is the problem. How do we reach them? I keep pointing to the truth but is it enough?
It's such a great concern Elisabeth. It's not only Fox, but the upcoming generations that do not watch TV that are bombarded with disinformation stemming from their social media algorithms. As my 36 year old nephew said last year "I do my Tik Tok research". It seems we are going to rely on them seeing the truth after observing how it's effected their lives.
Even then they'll blame anything bad on Biden and credit Trump with anything good. I actually cringe (and cringe that I'm cringing!) when I hear about things Biden is doing right now to rush money to programs that will continue to improve things over the next two years or so due to the slow momentum of the improvements he has begun. I find myself wishing he just wouldn't. I find myself thinking that's how we end up with people thinking Trump has done great things for them - let them FAFO for (eventual) goodness' sake. I want Biden to spend every bit of his remaining time on putting up guardrails, not softening the blow for those who voted this monster in even though Biden pledged to be president for all Americans.
What will actually make us all better off is if the deluded bare majority of voters figure out what the actual repercussions are from Trump's policies. You don't turn a country on a dime; it takes a quarter acre to turn this rig around (a country western song). With opinion polls finding people saying their lives are improving even Before Trump is sworn in, you see how ridiculously ignorant people can be about causality and how prone to imaginary "feels" rather than reality based assessments.
I don’t have unrealistic hopes, but I do believe some start to see the “real” MAGA as they are personally offended. As an example, yesterday my husband and I had lunch with couple friends, of whom the guy is retired military, and a former Trump voter. Since Trump’s first election, my friend has become more aware of Trump’s disrespect for the military, and he no longer supports him.
Sharon, what a great comment. It's what I feel, that there are two completely different "truths." Theirs, and ours. For instance, the killing of the United Healthcare CEO is being viewed as a vindication of Trump. Yet Trump will/does support the kind of business and the way of business practiced by United Healthcare. Trump gets kudos in both ways even though they contradict each other: he supports billionaire corporations that oppress regular Americans, and he gets credit for fighting billionaire corporations that oppress regular Americans.
Elisabeth,thanks for wading into Faux News! Perhaps try posting some links from Decoding Fox News so it’s coming from the source and not you ?? This journalist watches hours each week,so we don’t have to, and often provides video clips.
“The next day Sean Hannity said, “Nonstop nightmares about the left's very scary boogeyman Project 2025.”
“Not only did Donald Trump say he wasn't part of it. He said he wanted nothing to do with it. And now he's saying we're basically going to blacklist anyone who has worked with Project 2025,” said Pirro.
30+ years of eroding truth, facts, science, critical thinking, may not be repairable, BUT when will the Dems realize they need to figure out how to play this game!
Robert Hubbell, you write: “They will eventually figure out that Trump has lied to them—especially if we remind them of that fact in words of one syllable every chance we get.” WE did that for eight years. Trump voters have a small chance of believing they were lied to because their media machine tells them everything negative was caused by liberals. So I question whether this voters will “figure out that trump has lied to them” because he will in fact keep shamelessly lying to pile on the already told lies. AND most importantly, they WANT to believe in a strongman making everything okay. I do agree with you that we were too nice. We will never “Nice” our way out of fascism. But too few examples exist on how to conduct ourselves with strength and determination in the micro-interactions we have in our lives with maga family members/neighbors/employers/ co-workers. I don’t want to turn into maga to beat maga. So explain what it means -on the ground- daily in our lives to replace “nice” with powerful determination.
I’m not sure what Robert meant but I think our elected officials need to use their power more wisely. They could obstruct more. Instead we have 2 Dem members of Congress already willing to work with Musk (Ro Kanna and Moskowitz). You have Senators willing to vote for cracks (Fetterman to Oz, Booker for Kennedy). Dems need to use the power like the GOP does. Total opposition and hardball. They don’t. They are weak and we will keep losing if they don’t grow a spine.
Melissa, can you tell me the "Fetterman to Oz, Booker for Kennedy" information source? I find this disturbing. I have been removed from Fetterman's office but was active in his campaign. And I generally hold Booker in high esteem and have been in touch with his office several times. I would certainly write these Senators and call offices of both.
Booker was very quick to praise Kennedy probably because both don’t like the chemicals in our foods. I agree but Kennedy is NOT an honest actor and Booker’s endorsement shows me how weak he is if he can’t decipher from good and bad faith actors.
Also, Polis supports Kennedy on vaccine mandates (Polis is really a Libertarian).
Thanks, Melissa. Neither do I like chemicals in our food, and water. (I have the luxury of eating organic foods and have been vegan for decades, though arguably, it doesn't serve others but for in small ways.) However, justifying RFK Jr., who is a disgrace to his father's name, in this role mystifies me. I will be writing to Booker, and calling his office on Monday.
I didn't know Pelosi's position on Kennedy either. I'm not a big proponent of vaccines but we know immunization has saved the lives of many, globally. I just did a quick search on the World Health Organization website. Wish I could link to it here though having technical challenges.
In a joint News Release dated 24 April 2024 (on the WHO website), headline reads:
"Global immunization efforts have saved at least 154 million lives over the past 50 years."
I will write Pelosi and call her office as well. Add this to the list of disturbances these days.
I much appreciate your calling this to our attention, Melissa.
Thanks for calling this to my attention, Melissa. Embarrassingly, I'm not familiar with the governor of Colorado as I ought to be. Add to that, I thought it was a typo and you intended to write Pelosi. Not even close. Curious how at times I think others may err when I come to find it is I who mistakenly interpret something. It happened just last night and here I am again. Another lesson in humility. And thank you again for this and all that you called to our attention.
Patricia I gave more monies to Harris than even Obama in 2008! I started the women’s track program at Indiana in 1978 and saw misogyny for the first time. I had a young distance runner run in a track meet just five days after she had two fingers amputated from working as a carpenter. The guttiest performance I have ever witnessed personally in my 55 years in sports!!! It is way past time for a woman president because does anyone really think that Hillary would have effed the coronavirus pandemic as badly as the Orange monster???
Effed it he did. That is what we have to expect for the next four years and maybe longer considering what he may think he can do and will do to the law of the United States of America. Maybe it is time for California and New York to secede.
You are right and it is a terrible indictment of our society, especially after all of the work and progress made in the 60's and 70's. But even more sadly, many women also don't want a female President. Look at the absolute majority of White women who voted for Trump now as well as against Hilary in 2016.
Sadly, white women in my own family voted for the idiot. One cited the transgender athletes allowed to compete as women. There are 4 in AZ high schools! The other claimed the border situation in spite that the Orange monster got Republicans in the Senate to turn down the toughest border bill in American history! Both these women will NOT defend the utter imbeciles the Orange monster is trying to put in his cabinet to gut the U.S. military and the FBI!
A small SUV stopped at a red light ahead of me as I came home from work yesterday had two bumper stickers: “Proudly voting for the convicted felon!” and “Trump party girl!” with high-heel pump and champagne glass silhouettes.
That’s only part of the equation. There are millions of workers hurting and the economy its a real thing for them even though Biden had a great economy but it left many people behind.
I knew when I typed it that it was overly simplistic, but on a mobile phone, it is hard to get into all the nuances. There is no black or white and no absolute correct answer as to what happened of course. But on balance, I still believe what I wrote above had the biggest impact on the margin of success or, in Kamala's case, failure. We saw what happened when Obama was elected: so many Americans simply could not accept the fact of having a (half-) black President. And with regard to women, Hillary Clinton's failure with, again, white women, take a look at this very interesting analysis from 2017: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/25/white-women-husbands-voting.
To the point that Democrats are “too nice” - that is precisely how we keep losing. Biden is still President and the SCOTUS has granted him immunity from prosecution for “official acts”. He should be using his power right now to protect our Democracy. Instead, he welcomes a traitor back into the White House for a handshake and media photo op. You wonder why Democrats who have been on the ground fighting are not exactly jazzed about the party right now. And only Democratic electeds are talking about “working across the aisle”. Really??? How do we expect to bring new voters to our team when we can’t demonstrate the will to fight hard against an insurrectionist party led by a tyrant?
This was my fear of Biden all along. He didn’t see the or act on the threat. I’m totally disgusted with “leadership” right now. I put leadership in quotes because I have no idea who is leading. Not Chuck Schumer and the same old farts who just reelected themselves to Senate leadership. At least the House is changing leaders.
I’m not giving up. I call my rep everyday encouraging her to use her power. This means not bail out GOP in budget fight.
But my focus will be local and state government. Federal is in the wilderness.
One thing to remember about that SCOTUS decision is that they built in a poison pill to elevate their power. The Extreme Six decided that _they_ will be the deciders of what an 'official act' is.
de facto party leader/spokesperson now. Not Schumer. Maybe Hakeem Jeffries, if he can learn how to speak with a more forceful, arresting manner and guide an effective Congressional Opposition.
The 1940s Republican Senate Leader, Robert Taft, said that the dutty of the opposition is to oppose. Take heed, Democrats and Democratic “leadership”!
Stop thinking like a Democrat, Brent Lloyd and others. It *doesn’t matter* whether Trump received a “mandate”. He received the *power*, and he’s going to use it.
Democrats need to think about *power*, not just persuasion.
A simple way to fix Social Security would be to make EVERYONE pay FICA, whether drawing a taxable salary or making money from other sources. Presently it is limited at $168.6K If I'm correct, no one making more than that pays in. It goes without saying that the wealthy are not going to suffer during the Trump administration, yet everyone else making less than half a million will be. It is long past time for the wealthy to pay into the system. To put it as Elizebeth Warren would, no rich person got rich by themselves. Somewhere along the line workers made them rich (did Musk make Space X rockets go into space alone?). Maybe there should be a requirement that the wealthy put a prorated X million dollars into a government "community chest" for the aid of everyone else (can anyone say the dreaded S word?). After all, if Musk can drop a quarter billion to elect Trump, he can afford to help workers everywhere.
I really can't wait until the average Republican voter realizes how deep in the Trump do-do they are going to be. Yet, I still conider Ronald Reagan to be the most lasting damage president.
Your description of Trump’s massive grift is spot on, as is your exhortation to persevere until the grift catches up to him and his cult. When it does, we’ll win back the power (congress and the White House) to stop the insanity and restore a government to serve the people. I fully understand those among us readers and commentators who see this hope as naive, but I for one am unwilling and unable to live without this hope. The world is too dark a place without it. And by the way, Robert, your turn of phrase “swinging for the fences in the ballpark of depravity” leads me to see a literary future for you where metaphor is king.
Real question. Does Thom Tillis give a rat’s butt what I think? Am I just doing the same old same old “doing something”… while that fella from South Africa tosses millions around willy-nilly?
I feel a bit silly about believing those 2 thousand postcards I wrote and however many texts I sent and phone calls I made were anything more than spinning my wheels, regardless of my good intentions. How do we know what makes any difference?
I don't have handy links to research specifically about postcards and textbanking and phonebanking, but Vote Forward has been doing letters for several years now, and this is their assessment of the impact of writing:
Colleen, you did huge good work. 2/3 of American voters did NOT vote for Trump. And probably Putin had a hand in the very fine fractions by which Trump won swing states (although we're too nice to talk about that. But the FBI warned about intense Russian election interference just before the election, although no one reported it or did anything about it.) Water under the dam. But your work, in an unadulterated election, probably meant Harris won. We all have to do more now.
I respectfully disagree, Robert, that trump voters will regret their choice. Right wing media will spin any cuts to SS and Medicare as the Dems fault and the faithful will believe. And as he threatens mainstream media, the truth will be harder and harder to come by.
So my guess is that these voters will see these cuts as their pittance to make America (whatever) again. Musk has already told us the cuts will be painful. It will be the equivalent of pilgrims walking the Camino on their knees to get their reward in the afterlife.
Sharon, it helps me to believe (remember) that probably 80% of the Trump voters were drinking the Kool-Aid for many years, but the rest either held their noses and voted for him this fall, or were very low information voters who decided late to join in the excitement of a right wing revolution. It's that 20% of his voters (10% of all voters) that hopefully will be shocked by the economic pain and social safety net shredding that seems very likely in the next year.
Watching Traitor Trump's popularity numbers will be very interesting during that time. If they fall dramatically, we will know that the MAGA movement is losing vital supporters. My main worry then is whether the oligarchs will allow free and fair elections in 2026.
Tyler, they won't attribute the shredding of the social safety net to Trump. I can't even imagine what delusional fantasy they'll come up with to blame for the shredding (maybe just their fallback, Biden), but be sure they'll blame anything and anyone other than the person that did it. MAGA people have no grip on reality.
That’s what I can’t understand! How does Musk just get to be the Wicked Court Jester with No Process??? He disgusts me! The suffering we are all about to endure, but especially the most vulnerable keeps me up at night, as if the first four years weren’t enough agony…..
Very interesting and only makes sense as to motive. I look forward to your thoughts on specific action we can take to help expedite his demise as do others in our group! Thanks again Robert!
You can also text "SIGN PLQBDF" to Resistbot at 50409, as Jess Craven posted Thursday. It's an easy way to send a prepared message to your senators. You will be given the option to read the message before you decide to send it.
p.s. For those who are hesitant to try it, here's the message that will be sent:
I am deeply disturbed by Donald Trump’s nominees for critical Cabinet and other advisory positions. It is becoming increasingly clear that he intends to follow through on his threats to exact revenge for what he claims, wrongly, to be wrongful persecution and prosecution of himself and his supporters. It is also clear that he intends to sow chaos in our government for some undisclosed purpose. The impact of his impetuous actions will be felt not only in our great nation, but across the globe.
As with his first term, he has the opportunity to do the right thing and serve the American people. Unfortunately, as with his first term, he seems to see that opportunity as an impediment to his personal ambitions. I implore you to resist his destructive actions and work to reinforce the checks and balances that our forefathers put in place to protect us from such behavior. I totally understand that a change in administration will result in policy and program changes, but what he is doing and apparently plans to do is beyond the pale.
We have serious issues to address, with the economy, immigration, environment, climate, and global stability all hanging precariously over the abyss. Please make sure we don’t allow chaos to reign. Thank you.
Super easy. I've been using Resistbot since they started in 2017. Also, it's preferred if you use Resistbot with Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, or Apple Messages.
to Resistbot on Apple Messages, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, or (most costly) by text to 50409 and answer the questions texted back. In minutes, you’ll have contacted Congress or your other elected officials.
What will be the future of elections (and what happens after them)? We had Musk essentially buy this election with his $277 million dollars. We had the Russians interfere with propaganda and bomb threats (why isn’t there reporting and investigations??). We had possible interference. We definitely had mind-altering algorithms and hateful lying echo chambers. There is rampant voter suppression and gerrymandering which has corrupted and corroded the voting process. And then there’s after an election: they nullify the results with their perverted state legislatures. In Florida after a citizens initiative returned the right to vote to felons who served their time, the state legislature stripped that away by writing new laws that said they couldn’t vote until they had re-paid all the fines associated with their incarceration. In North Carolina, something similar is going on, an effort to change the laws prior to the next administration so as to strip the New Democrats of their power and a lawsuit trying to strip the votes of 60,000 voters. And now the Proud Boys and other home grown terrorists will be given license to threaten and act violently. I have serious concerns about the future of fair and free elections in this country, anymore.
I used to think that being president of the United States was a high goal. Now, after trump, it has been greatly diminished. He is the 'real deal' crook who will be living in the peoples house and flying around in AF1 for the next 4 years. We are paying for that and it makes me sick to think about it. It says that lying and cheating works. He got to where he is by being a loud mouthed bully. That's the example he's presenting to the world and I'm ashamed of that example. He's a cheap and greedy con artist who's going to be representing the United States.
It's shameful!
It's Saturday so once a week I allow myself to co.ment on Trump. For his entire life, Trump exemplified the kid in your class who didn't read the assignment, got called on, and then faked his way through an answer, fooling no one, including the teacher. Sadly, half our country didn't do their homework but are happy to copy and repeat his answers thinking he might actually know something.
Dee, another layer of shame will be as T represents our entire nation during all of the 250th anniversary celebrations of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. Won’t that be fun? The Founding Fathers would be repelled.
Laurie, It's a challenge to know what to do with the shame and the anger this whole situation has created. The Founding Fathers gave us the best of themselves to create this country and then they died just like we all will. We just do what we can while we're here. We carry on with what we have to work with as we hold fast to the guidelines that the constitution outlined. It's in our hands now. So the shame and anger I feel is motivating me to never stop standing up and speaking, signing, mailing, calling or whatever I can do to support the truths upon which this country is founded, for as long as I am able. May the voices of all of us be heard and may the truths of our Founding Fathers find their way through the next 4 years. May we be tenacious and resilient in the face of what's ahead of us!
It goes way back. When someone asked Bob Dylan if he ever wanted to be president, he said Harry Truman was president when he was a kid, so, no, he didn't want to be president.
Dylan was wrong, but your case is iron-clad.
Don't know Dylan's age, but Truman was probably president when he was a kid.
Dylan was born in 1941-so Truman was absolutely President for a large part of his childhood.
Sadly, your faith that Trump’s base will ‘get it’ when the cruel and greedy policies hit home is naive. The data in Heather McGhee’s ‘The Sum of Us’ and Jonathan Metzl’s ‘Dying of Whiteness’ suggests otherwise. Poor white people (still the majority of poor people) would rather live without a social safety net, worker protections, safe food, clean air and water, affordable housing and then die prematurely than share benefits of the programs you mention with ‘them’, i.e., people of color, immigrants, LGBTQ, pregnant teens, Muslims, etc.
Thank you Cathy for bringing this unfortunate reality to light. I agree with the points you made, and I will add that not only poor whites have behaved that way. The middle class also has behaved similarly at different moments in history. This reality is true outside the United States too, for example, in Brazil. The phenomen described and examplified by the authors you cited is one of self-destruction that will continue on... I'd love to to find ways to engage people that are not on this path of self-destruction.
Rogerio, In response to your last remark, I would note that Indivisible’s co-Founders (see indivisible.org) have released an updated Manual to guide the 3000+ local Indivisible chapters in developing action plans to use local constituent power as part of a nationwide effort to resist the infiltration of MAGA into our states and local communities.
The thinking, in a nutshell, “is to hang on until 2026 and win big in the midterms,” weakening MAGA’s hold on power at the federal, state, and local levels to help ensure “election deniers and saboteurs aren’t in charge of the 2028 election”. To learn more, visit indivisible.org
I love Invisible and they provide great guidelines but they are naive because we need more than what they offer and the last election with a million plus workers in the field we still lost. We need an attack dog who can articulate everyday all the time how voters are getting screwed. We need a spokesperson
Stephen, Instead of referring to Indivisible as “naive,” I would portray the organization as necessary but not sufficient. As for a spokesperson, I would advise every one of us do all we can to try and ensure the DNC delegates elect Wisconsin State Chair Ben Wikler as DNC Chair. Contrary to Wikler, who, within a few years, converted a state wholly controlled by Republicans to one where he has reason to anticipate a Democratic trifecta by 2026, the other candidates for DNC Chair largely will deliver business as usual to our national politics.
Totally Agree!!! Support Ben Wikler for DNC Chair!
@T L, I appreciate you writing. I would note I’ve started drafting a letter to Indivisible National to inquire about the Organization endorsing Wikler.
Wikler may help. But we need more than one community organizer. We need a fleet of them. We need a dozen in every state--people of fire and messaging that can talk to individuals and mobilize them. So we can go to every church, every senior center, every school, every hospital, and talk to every person about America and what's right and civics.
YES!!!!!
Yes on necessary but not sufficient, and there are different tones that appeal to different people so we can't make the winning music just hitting one note. And yes on Wikler, a must for the DNC.
Stephen I encourage you to attend Indivisible meetings. Engage with the leaders and voice your opinion. Another thought: each organization serves a purpose and maybe there is another organization that aligns with your beliefs. Many organizations are on Substack and Bluesky discussing what needs to happen.
Suzanne I have attended their meetings and have worked with them but after experiencing this which made me feel good I realized as great and noble Invisible is it is not going to win back the voters we lost and that has to be our focus. Those voters are not the voters Invisible has been successful winning over.
Stephen, I feel the same way about my local Democratic organizations. All nice people and good, but hopelessly out of touch with the 21st century. Even if they wish to act, their actions are ineffective and have value as intentions only (which is not useless, but not very useful). Don't know about Indivisible: have heard good things, and will check them out.
I hear you Stephen. There’s lots to learn and think about. I talked with people before the election, 3 young men stick in my mind. I probably will come in contact with them again and it will be nice to hear what they are thinking now.
Thanks Barbara. I am involved with my local Indivisible. Along with taking positive actions with local citizens, I feel it will help keep me sane and on track in spending time with like-minded individuals whose interests remain in protecting our constitutional rights and bolstering our communities.
I am always surprised at the number of people that I speak with that have not heard about Indivisible.
Here is a short cut to the recent Indivisible guide.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o1gSdFWIUpw41O5zbaxedVsr6Xik5XpPd9FwqvXYu40/edit?pli=1&tab=t.0
Lynn, Thanks for writing. I simply would add that, for me, the appeal of both Indivisible and Hubbell’s Today’s Edition is the amplified recognition that we are faced with a real challenge where the results of a democratic election stand in real tension and contrast with the principles of the Constitution. I further would note, as I presume you, too, have observed, is that the updated Indivisible Guide offers concrete action plans for navigating that tension in the weeks, months, and years ahead if we are to preserve self-government in this country.
Many thanks Lynn for this valuable prompt to action.
Thank you for this link again!!
Sorry, but you are assuming that those poor white folks can’t learn. Democracy, and America is based on the proposition that that is not so. Maybe we need to find a better way to teach.
Thank you for this, Jon. On reading your comment, I said aloud ... 'O that's beautiful.' Because it is. May we find a better way to teach. And may we learn for the sake of the poor, and for ourselves. It may be the only way forward, for us all.
We have had twenty years or more of conservative, corporate politicians and corporate-funded reformers meddling in public education. So much of education has been reduced to teaching ao that chokdren can pass a meaningless test, rather than actually learn.
This is so important. Diane Ravich has been ringing the bell for years about how education is being reduced to meaningless standardized testing, and then poor people are being shamed when their kids do badly on the tests and then there are more tests and people with money drop out of the public schools because the education is so meaningless and boring.common core is all based on corporate Values ..
So where can people learn in a meaningful way? college teachers have to communicate simply and powerfully, although that’s not enough since most Americans don’t go to college. TV writers have an obligation to have truthful shows on that educate the public like we once had.
The first effective step the Congress could take toward that goal is to enact the section 230 liability for broadcasting misinformation and hold social media accountable. The mere threat of a $10m fine will coerce them to clean up their act.
Congress will be controlled by Republicans, Alan. There’s zero probability that they’ll enact Section 230 liability, at least during the next two years. Following that, a veto-proof Democratic majority would have to be elected in 2026.
That would be an extremely complex challenge. I would not like Substack demolished by lawsuits, for instance.
Like teaching by metaphor — hunting, for example: on “Day One,” it will be Open Season on taking down unwitting American citizens, gutting, skinning, and field-dressing the body politic, which is all of us.
Poor white folks can learn. They just don't wanna. Have you talked to these folks lately? These are not 20th century poor white folks. Please. Find a neighbor or a service person or someone in a bar or restaurant and have a conversation with them. We all should do that. I talked to a nice middle aged single neighbor woman yesterday. We've lived in Arizona for a decade or more. We've never had a problem with immigrants. Never. Any sort of problem. Last night she was all fired up about someone dumping trash on the side of the road. She said, in a soft, almost regretful tone of voice, "Well, we live so close to the border here (?it's an eight-hour drive). You just have to expect this, I guess. There are so many immigrants here, you know..." Well, they've been here forever and they're still here and they're not behaving any differently. But this nice lady sincerely believes that some huge amount of immigrants is here suddenly and is dumping trash (and committing other crimes) right here in our neighborhood. Why does she believe this? The escalating influence of Fox News, would be my guess. Jon, you can't teach someone that already knows everything, is content with what they know, and doesn't want to learn.
People rejecting federal aid after Hurricanes this year fits in with the seemingly non rational response of people affected. And aid workers unsafe trying to provide help.
I agree with you, Cathy. I very much fear that no matter how bad things get for the 90% of us who will suffer from his policies over the next four years, all Trump has to do is periodically announce a new brutal (imaginary, will never happen) initiative against migrants and his base will sit down and shut up.
Trump's base may end up becoming smaller as people die of preventable diseases, become homeless and impoverished. Their vote, their choice.
So yes, we do need better education.
And yet another player that he and his team have and will continue to employ is AI and the likes of TikTok, etc..."Truth"Social anyone?? He has become so adept at lying and manipulation that his base are caught in this dark web of deliberate misinformation.
I'm sure when his base begins to experience the REAL truth, they will be coddled and cajoled with yet more falsehoods, however ludicrous.
Democrats haven't employed these tactics at this scale, nor lie and twist the truth. While I am not recommending appealing to our base with fear-mongering, we should be able to employ the tools of technology to broaden the spread of the REAL truth.
I have seen some stats that suggest Tiktok provided some of the most exposure to young voters to Democrat messaging during the past election cycle. Maybe that's one reason why they are again being challenged in courts and may lose access to American voters.
Trump and his people are already identifying and attacking the online media which is critical of Trump and/or views Ds with favor. We have to have access to the tools to employ them. There are those developing alternatives such as Bluesky, Meidas Touch, Substack, other web and youtube channels, but who provides the bandwidth and service for the platform to reside upon? Amazon AWS or Cloudflare? At some point someone owns the serverfarms.
Or stand up and cheer.
I agree. The problem is most do NOT seem to be hearing the warning messages about corruption, inflation or spending cuts. A quick scan of FoxNews.com headlines today shows one story listing Trump nominees. The only other major political story shows Trump with Macron in a return to the European stage. Unless Trump followers change their information seeking habits, there is no reason to think they will feel any pain until it hits them squarely in the proverbial purse.
Exactly. For people who are hearing news from blue sources, or from AP directly, or from a mix of sources in a conscious effort to get a spread it is very difficult to imagine how extremely filtered as well as biased the news feed is for many Rs.
Yehawes, Fox is where they (Rs) get their information, and there are no facts used on Fox. We blue readers can't even imagine the breadth and depth of the lies Fox viewers have been imbibing over the last 30 years. It's done its work. Their entire political reality is based on a lifetime of lies. A factor we've discounted, too, is the degree to which Fox has spread a deep bed of lies about what Democrats stand for. The Fox viewers actually think we are evil people who wish to destroy them and the country they live in, however mythical it may be.
Robin, when Trump pain hits Trump supporters in the purse, they will blame some Democrat. Anyone other than Trump. Trump can do no wrong, ever, in these people's eyes.
This is certainly what I am hearing in my local rural county fb group. They are no where near getting it.
😢😭🤷🏽♀️
True, pathetic and abhorrent. Racism and “other-ism” are still at the core of this bloody fight. So many Americans seem never to learn from their own history.
Cathy,
I don’t know whether poor whites would rather live without a safety net, etc. Perhaps they have low expectations and have been jaded by liberals’ unfulfilled promises (perhaps liberals’ inability to fulfill their promises).
Michael, what a good Democrat--blaming the Dems for the failure of poor whites to vote for their best interests. I don't agree. The only thing Democrats did wrong is not seeing the extent of the rot and fighting back harder earlier. Biden saw it and that's why he ran in 2020.
Cathy, I am sorry that I agree with you but I do. I also feel that Trump's base will continue to deny that Trump has anything to do with anything they don't like. They will blame Joe Biden. They will blame Nancy Pelosi. They will blame anyone that Fox news says is a bad person. There is no need in these people's minds to connect any emotion they have with any fact or any reason. If you ask them to check facts, they just say, about any fact that doesn't agree with their position, that it is lying. Their answer to anything they don't like is, "The system is rigged." There's no way to talk sensibly with these people. And I don't think they will change. They would rather suffer any hell than a) share with the "evil people" you list above or b) change.
Our top priority NOW should be national security. All the other stuff is a distraction.
Biden is still president and has the capacity to mitigate the threat or even cut it off.
Once Trump is inaugurated, we are lost, and we will be reduced to guerrilla type actions because if Trump becomes the unitary executive due to an emergency, he will be a totalitarian dictator.
I agree with what you say. I would like to know what President Biden can do. I feel something like dread and bone-chilling terror when I think about what Trump can and will not hesitate to do. That terror reaction ebbs and flows, and my reaction is based on what we know about him. Regarding the emergency, I don't anticipate him waiting for something to come about. He will take any issue, lie about it, magnify it, and invoke either the National Emergencies Act, the Insurrection Act, and even the remaining part of the notorious Alien and Sedition Acts from 1798, last used to detain Japanese nationals during World War II. He used some emergency powers in his first term when Congress didn't allocate the funds he wanted for the border wall. The Brennan Center has been working on this. Liza Goitein testified before Congress in 2023 about the need to reform the emergency powers that Congress granted the president under the 1976 National Emergencies Act. There appears to be bipartisan support for reform; however, I am unsure where it currently stands. Up in the air, most likely.
https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/bolster-checks-balances/executive-power/emergency-powers. Their website has other enlightening articles about the subject. There are several articles to refer to underneath the article I've attached.
Biden until he leaves office will be forever be the Boy Scout and not do anything drastic in part to persevere his legacy
He pardoned his son because of the oncoming threat and I’m sure he’ll do that for others, Liz Cheney, etc.
You know, I honestly think the whole Dark meme with Biden was a wishful reaction to the perception he's a bit too much of the boy scout. Every once in awhile people just want to think their protector can be both noble And fearsome in their defense. Now is the time for Biden to tap his inner fearsomeness if it is there.
And do what? Let’s see who and if he pardons anyone. A telling sign.
Daniel, I do think guerrilla warfare and resistance is in our future. The hope may lie in numbers--the 2/3 of voters who did not vote for Trump, who either didn't vote or voted for Harris. They may be open to fight.
Daniel I love your energy but your overreacting
How so? I believe trump intends do do as he says, and what the people who stopped him last time says. There will be no one to stop him this time. They are brutal and can’t wait.
*say
In my quest to point out lies on the FB page of FOX news, I learned a lot about their tactics. Today for example nothing about nominations or plans to cut anything. No, a restaurant chain declared that now life will get much better for them. The murder of the CEO of UHC is used to point out that the system is bad. Maga people only listen to one source of news and that is the problem. How do we reach them? I keep pointing to the truth but is it enough?
It's such a great concern Elisabeth. It's not only Fox, but the upcoming generations that do not watch TV that are bombarded with disinformation stemming from their social media algorithms. As my 36 year old nephew said last year "I do my Tik Tok research". It seems we are going to rely on them seeing the truth after observing how it's effected their lives.
That's embarrassing. They don't read an article or look at charts. They just like to have someone tell them what to believe on social media... /sigh 😔
Even then they'll blame anything bad on Biden and credit Trump with anything good. I actually cringe (and cringe that I'm cringing!) when I hear about things Biden is doing right now to rush money to programs that will continue to improve things over the next two years or so due to the slow momentum of the improvements he has begun. I find myself wishing he just wouldn't. I find myself thinking that's how we end up with people thinking Trump has done great things for them - let them FAFO for (eventual) goodness' sake. I want Biden to spend every bit of his remaining time on putting up guardrails, not softening the blow for those who voted this monster in even though Biden pledged to be president for all Americans.
What will actually make us all better off is if the deluded bare majority of voters figure out what the actual repercussions are from Trump's policies. You don't turn a country on a dime; it takes a quarter acre to turn this rig around (a country western song). With opinion polls finding people saying their lives are improving even Before Trump is sworn in, you see how ridiculously ignorant people can be about causality and how prone to imaginary "feels" rather than reality based assessments.
“Tik Tok research” – not *research*!
“Best-educated” generations?
Remember how the Felon pronounced "I love the poorly educated". He intends to keep them stupid, poor and sick.
I agree with you, but I don't like that it's true so, no heart.
I don’t have unrealistic hopes, but I do believe some start to see the “real” MAGA as they are personally offended. As an example, yesterday my husband and I had lunch with couple friends, of whom the guy is retired military, and a former Trump voter. Since Trump’s first election, my friend has become more aware of Trump’s disrespect for the military, and he no longer supports him.
No. Pointing out the truth is not enough. Because it’s not “their” truth.
Sharon, what a great comment. It's what I feel, that there are two completely different "truths." Theirs, and ours. For instance, the killing of the United Healthcare CEO is being viewed as a vindication of Trump. Yet Trump will/does support the kind of business and the way of business practiced by United Healthcare. Trump gets kudos in both ways even though they contradict each other: he supports billionaire corporations that oppress regular Americans, and he gets credit for fighting billionaire corporations that oppress regular Americans.
Elisabeth,thanks for wading into Faux News! Perhaps try posting some links from Decoding Fox News so it’s coming from the source and not you ?? This journalist watches hours each week,so we don’t have to, and often provides video clips.
“The next day Sean Hannity said, “Nonstop nightmares about the left's very scary boogeyman Project 2025.”
“Not only did Donald Trump say he wasn't part of it. He said he wanted nothing to do with it. And now he's saying we're basically going to blacklist anyone who has worked with Project 2025,” said Pirro.
https://open.substack.com/pub/decodingfoxnews/p/fox-news-pay-no-attention-to-all?r=fqsxl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
30+ years of eroding truth, facts, science, critical thinking, may not be repairable, BUT when will the Dems realize they need to figure out how to play this game!
How though when people gravitate toward, even seek out, the cruelty and anger? Republicans have the easy job here.
The truth is wholly inadequate to reach Fox viewers. They are uninterested in facts. I know it's hard for educated Democrats to conceive of this.
Robert Hubbell, you write: “They will eventually figure out that Trump has lied to them—especially if we remind them of that fact in words of one syllable every chance we get.” WE did that for eight years. Trump voters have a small chance of believing they were lied to because their media machine tells them everything negative was caused by liberals. So I question whether this voters will “figure out that trump has lied to them” because he will in fact keep shamelessly lying to pile on the already told lies. AND most importantly, they WANT to believe in a strongman making everything okay. I do agree with you that we were too nice. We will never “Nice” our way out of fascism. But too few examples exist on how to conduct ourselves with strength and determination in the micro-interactions we have in our lives with maga family members/neighbors/employers/ co-workers. I don’t want to turn into maga to beat maga. So explain what it means -on the ground- daily in our lives to replace “nice” with powerful determination.
I’m not sure what Robert meant but I think our elected officials need to use their power more wisely. They could obstruct more. Instead we have 2 Dem members of Congress already willing to work with Musk (Ro Kanna and Moskowitz). You have Senators willing to vote for cracks (Fetterman to Oz, Booker for Kennedy). Dems need to use the power like the GOP does. Total opposition and hardball. They don’t. They are weak and we will keep losing if they don’t grow a spine.
Melissa, can you tell me the "Fetterman to Oz, Booker for Kennedy" information source? I find this disturbing. I have been removed from Fetterman's office but was active in his campaign. And I generally hold Booker in high esteem and have been in touch with his office several times. I would certainly write these Senators and call offices of both.
Booker was very quick to praise Kennedy probably because both don’t like the chemicals in our foods. I agree but Kennedy is NOT an honest actor and Booker’s endorsement shows me how weak he is if he can’t decipher from good and bad faith actors.
Also, Polis supports Kennedy on vaccine mandates (Polis is really a Libertarian).
Thanks, Melissa. Neither do I like chemicals in our food, and water. (I have the luxury of eating organic foods and have been vegan for decades, though arguably, it doesn't serve others but for in small ways.) However, justifying RFK Jr., who is a disgrace to his father's name, in this role mystifies me. I will be writing to Booker, and calling his office on Monday.
I didn't know Pelosi's position on Kennedy either. I'm not a big proponent of vaccines but we know immunization has saved the lives of many, globally. I just did a quick search on the World Health Organization website. Wish I could link to it here though having technical challenges.
In a joint News Release dated 24 April 2024 (on the WHO website), headline reads:
"Global immunization efforts have saved at least 154 million lives over the past 50 years."
I will write Pelosi and call her office as well. Add this to the list of disturbances these days.
I much appreciate your calling this to our attention, Melissa.
Not Pelosi, Polis. Gov of CO
Thanks for calling this to my attention, Melissa. Embarrassingly, I'm not familiar with the governor of Colorado as I ought to be. Add to that, I thought it was a typo and you intended to write Pelosi. Not even close. Curious how at times I think others may err when I come to find it is I who mistakenly interpret something. It happened just last night and here I am again. Another lesson in humility. And thank you again for this and all that you called to our attention.
From their social media.
Unfortunately, correct.
Most men don't want a woman president. Even very liberal men.
Patricia I gave more monies to Harris than even Obama in 2008! I started the women’s track program at Indiana in 1978 and saw misogyny for the first time. I had a young distance runner run in a track meet just five days after she had two fingers amputated from working as a carpenter. The guttiest performance I have ever witnessed personally in my 55 years in sports!!! It is way past time for a woman president because does anyone really think that Hillary would have effed the coronavirus pandemic as badly as the Orange monster???
Mark, thank you for your support and understanding of challenges women face in our society. We need a thousand percent more American men like you.
Effed it he did. That is what we have to expect for the next four years and maybe longer considering what he may think he can do and will do to the law of the United States of America. Maybe it is time for California and New York to secede.
You are right and it is a terrible indictment of our society, especially after all of the work and progress made in the 60's and 70's. But even more sadly, many women also don't want a female President. Look at the absolute majority of White women who voted for Trump now as well as against Hilary in 2016.
Sadly, white women in my own family voted for the idiot. One cited the transgender athletes allowed to compete as women. There are 4 in AZ high schools! The other claimed the border situation in spite that the Orange monster got Republicans in the Senate to turn down the toughest border bill in American history! Both these women will NOT defend the utter imbeciles the Orange monster is trying to put in his cabinet to gut the U.S. military and the FBI!
A small SUV stopped at a red light ahead of me as I came home from work yesterday had two bumper stickers: “Proudly voting for the convicted felon!” and “Trump party girl!” with high-heel pump and champagne glass silhouettes.
🤮
EW!
This is what we're up against. There is no talking, no reasoning.
These woman did not want this black woman. Let’s be honest
I personally agree. T was elected in largest part due to the inherent racism and misogyny still so sadly prevalent in American society.
That’s only part of the equation. There are millions of workers hurting and the economy its a real thing for them even though Biden had a great economy but it left many people behind.
I knew when I typed it that it was overly simplistic, but on a mobile phone, it is hard to get into all the nuances. There is no black or white and no absolute correct answer as to what happened of course. But on balance, I still believe what I wrote above had the biggest impact on the margin of success or, in Kamala's case, failure. We saw what happened when Obama was elected: so many Americans simply could not accept the fact of having a (half-) black President. And with regard to women, Hillary Clinton's failure with, again, white women, take a look at this very interesting analysis from 2017: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/25/white-women-husbands-voting.
This country has a lot of closet bigots and misogynists.
And internalized misogyny, but, yes, the racism.
Absolutely, take a look at the article I noted above.
There’s no being more persecuted on the planet than a white man, dontcha know?
To the point that Democrats are “too nice” - that is precisely how we keep losing. Biden is still President and the SCOTUS has granted him immunity from prosecution for “official acts”. He should be using his power right now to protect our Democracy. Instead, he welcomes a traitor back into the White House for a handshake and media photo op. You wonder why Democrats who have been on the ground fighting are not exactly jazzed about the party right now. And only Democratic electeds are talking about “working across the aisle”. Really??? How do we expect to bring new voters to our team when we can’t demonstrate the will to fight hard against an insurrectionist party led by a tyrant?
This was my fear of Biden all along. He didn’t see the or act on the threat. I’m totally disgusted with “leadership” right now. I put leadership in quotes because I have no idea who is leading. Not Chuck Schumer and the same old farts who just reelected themselves to Senate leadership. At least the House is changing leaders.
I’m not giving up. I call my rep everyday encouraging her to use her power. This means not bail out GOP in budget fight.
But my focus will be local and state government. Federal is in the wilderness.
One thing to remember about that SCOTUS decision is that they built in a poison pill to elevate their power. The Extreme Six decided that _they_ will be the deciders of what an 'official act' is.
Democrats desperately need a
de facto party leader/spokesperson now. Not Schumer. Maybe Hakeem Jeffries, if he can learn how to speak with a more forceful, arresting manner and guide an effective Congressional Opposition.
The 1940s Republican Senate Leader, Robert Taft, said that the dutty of the opposition is to oppose. Take heed, Democrats and Democratic “leadership”!
Thank you for your writings Robert; just thank you 🙏🏻🇺🇸🇺🇸
Trump had only 1.5 % margin over Democrats in the election. Hardly a mandate!
Stop thinking like a Democrat, Brent Lloyd and others. It *doesn’t matter* whether Trump received a “mandate”. He received the *power*, and he’s going to use it.
Democrats need to think about *power*, not just persuasion.
A simple way to fix Social Security would be to make EVERYONE pay FICA, whether drawing a taxable salary or making money from other sources. Presently it is limited at $168.6K If I'm correct, no one making more than that pays in. It goes without saying that the wealthy are not going to suffer during the Trump administration, yet everyone else making less than half a million will be. It is long past time for the wealthy to pay into the system. To put it as Elizebeth Warren would, no rich person got rich by themselves. Somewhere along the line workers made them rich (did Musk make Space X rockets go into space alone?). Maybe there should be a requirement that the wealthy put a prorated X million dollars into a government "community chest" for the aid of everyone else (can anyone say the dreaded S word?). After all, if Musk can drop a quarter billion to elect Trump, he can afford to help workers everywhere.
I really can't wait until the average Republican voter realizes how deep in the Trump do-do they are going to be. Yet, I still conider Ronald Reagan to be the most lasting damage president.
Your description of Trump’s massive grift is spot on, as is your exhortation to persevere until the grift catches up to him and his cult. When it does, we’ll win back the power (congress and the White House) to stop the insanity and restore a government to serve the people. I fully understand those among us readers and commentators who see this hope as naive, but I for one am unwilling and unable to live without this hope. The world is too dark a place without it. And by the way, Robert, your turn of phrase “swinging for the fences in the ballpark of depravity” leads me to see a literary future for you where metaphor is king.
Please to see you are still in the fight, Brent. Best. Bob Werbel
Thanks, Bob. So good to hear from you.
Real question. Does Thom Tillis give a rat’s butt what I think? Am I just doing the same old same old “doing something”… while that fella from South Africa tosses millions around willy-nilly?
I feel a bit silly about believing those 2 thousand postcards I wrote and however many texts I sent and phone calls I made were anything more than spinning my wheels, regardless of my good intentions. How do we know what makes any difference?
I don't have handy links to research specifically about postcards and textbanking and phonebanking, but Vote Forward has been doing letters for several years now, and this is their assessment of the impact of writing:
https://votefwd.org/impact
Colleen, you did huge good work. 2/3 of American voters did NOT vote for Trump. And probably Putin had a hand in the very fine fractions by which Trump won swing states (although we're too nice to talk about that. But the FBI warned about intense Russian election interference just before the election, although no one reported it or did anything about it.) Water under the dam. But your work, in an unadulterated election, probably meant Harris won. We all have to do more now.
I respectfully disagree, Robert, that trump voters will regret their choice. Right wing media will spin any cuts to SS and Medicare as the Dems fault and the faithful will believe. And as he threatens mainstream media, the truth will be harder and harder to come by.
So my guess is that these voters will see these cuts as their pittance to make America (whatever) again. Musk has already told us the cuts will be painful. It will be the equivalent of pilgrims walking the Camino on their knees to get their reward in the afterlife.
Sharon, it helps me to believe (remember) that probably 80% of the Trump voters were drinking the Kool-Aid for many years, but the rest either held their noses and voted for him this fall, or were very low information voters who decided late to join in the excitement of a right wing revolution. It's that 20% of his voters (10% of all voters) that hopefully will be shocked by the economic pain and social safety net shredding that seems very likely in the next year.
Watching Traitor Trump's popularity numbers will be very interesting during that time. If they fall dramatically, we will know that the MAGA movement is losing vital supporters. My main worry then is whether the oligarchs will allow free and fair elections in 2026.
Tyler, they won't attribute the shredding of the social safety net to Trump. I can't even imagine what delusional fantasy they'll come up with to blame for the shredding (maybe just their fallback, Biden), but be sure they'll blame anything and anyone other than the person that did it. MAGA people have no grip on reality.
“Musk has already told us the cuts will be painful.” –
Who elected Musk? To what office?
That’s what I can’t understand! How does Musk just get to be the Wicked Court Jester with No Process??? He disgusts me! The suffering we are all about to endure, but especially the most vulnerable keeps me up at night, as if the first four years weren’t enough agony…..
For more about Musk and the election, go to Musk Rat:
https://open.substack.com/pub/statuskuo/p/the-musk-rat?r=hizau&utm_medium=ios
I follow Jay and that was a really good article. I encourage others to read it just as you have.
Very interesting and only makes sense as to motive. I look forward to your thoughts on specific action we can take to help expedite his demise as do others in our group! Thanks again Robert!
If you haven’t already done so, Scott Dworkin has an action that literally takes minutes. He makes it so easy !⬇️
If you haven’t yet please take a moment to send letters! We crossed 50,000! Wow!
To Senators on recess appointments: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-senators-dont-allow-trumps-recess-appointments/
Opposing Kash Patel: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-senators-oppose-trumps-dangerous-pick-of-kash-patel-for-fbi-director/
Opposing Bondi: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-senators-oppose-trumps-selection-of-pam-bondi-for-attorney-general/
Opposing Kennedy: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-senators-oppose-kennedy-for-health-and-human-services-secretary/
Opposing Gabbard: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-senators-oppose-tulsi-gabbard-for-director-of-national-intelligence/
Opposing Hegseth: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-senators-oppose-trumps-selection-of-pete-hegseth-for-secretary-of-defense/
Opposing Oz: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-senators-oppose-trumps-selection-of-dr-oz-to-run-medicare-and-medicaid/
https://www.dworkinsubstack.com/p/we-crossed-50000?r=fqsxl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
You can also text "SIGN PLQBDF" to Resistbot at 50409, as Jess Craven posted Thursday. It's an easy way to send a prepared message to your senators. You will be given the option to read the message before you decide to send it.
p.s. For those who are hesitant to try it, here's the message that will be sent:
I am deeply disturbed by Donald Trump’s nominees for critical Cabinet and other advisory positions. It is becoming increasingly clear that he intends to follow through on his threats to exact revenge for what he claims, wrongly, to be wrongful persecution and prosecution of himself and his supporters. It is also clear that he intends to sow chaos in our government for some undisclosed purpose. The impact of his impetuous actions will be felt not only in our great nation, but across the globe.
As with his first term, he has the opportunity to do the right thing and serve the American people. Unfortunately, as with his first term, he seems to see that opportunity as an impediment to his personal ambitions. I implore you to resist his destructive actions and work to reinforce the checks and balances that our forefathers put in place to protect us from such behavior. I totally understand that a change in administration will result in policy and program changes, but what he is doing and apparently plans to do is beyond the pale.
We have serious issues to address, with the economy, immigration, environment, climate, and global stability all hanging precariously over the abyss. Please make sure we don’t allow chaos to reign. Thank you.
Super easy. I've been using Resistbot since they started in 2017. Also, it's preferred if you use Resistbot with Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, or Apple Messages.
https://resist.bot/
Send the word
resist
to Resistbot on Apple Messages, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, or (most costly) by text to 50409 and answer the questions texted back. In minutes, you’ll have contacted Congress or your other elected officials.
What will be the future of elections (and what happens after them)? We had Musk essentially buy this election with his $277 million dollars. We had the Russians interfere with propaganda and bomb threats (why isn’t there reporting and investigations??). We had possible interference. We definitely had mind-altering algorithms and hateful lying echo chambers. There is rampant voter suppression and gerrymandering which has corrupted and corroded the voting process. And then there’s after an election: they nullify the results with their perverted state legislatures. In Florida after a citizens initiative returned the right to vote to felons who served their time, the state legislature stripped that away by writing new laws that said they couldn’t vote until they had re-paid all the fines associated with their incarceration. In North Carolina, something similar is going on, an effort to change the laws prior to the next administration so as to strip the New Democrats of their power and a lawsuit trying to strip the votes of 60,000 voters. And now the Proud Boys and other home grown terrorists will be given license to threaten and act violently. I have serious concerns about the future of fair and free elections in this country, anymore.