I have never attended a Trump rally, but I feel like I've had an experience that has some similarity. Not long before John Lee Hooker, the blues guitarist, died, friends invited me to a performance of his. It was obvious to me, as an internal medicine physician, that he had neurological deficits with both physical and cognitive deficits. His son led him out by the arm and he was unsteady. His speech was unclear. He was repeating the same lyrics over and over. He really didn't play the guitar except to aimlessly strum - there was none of the exceptional dexterity for which he was so well-known. The backing band totally carried him. This had no resemblance to the John Lee Hooker of old. Yet the audience responded to this sad display of difficulty as if it was unchanged from the John Lee Hooker they knew. I was shocked, since the difference was so painfully obvious. I therefore now have no difficulty accepting that Trump's crowd may well totally ignore whatever difficulties Trump exhibits with his speech, thought pattern, vocabulary, tangential thinking, non sequiturs, whatever, changes that are obvious to any but members of the cult-like following.
You could appreciate Hooker for what he was and for his major influence on blues and folk music. Trump has always been a liar and a criminal. He has deteriorated from Y to Z. Yet the media protects him because he still is a better show than Biden and they want a close race. Also, the owners feel they need to hedge their coverage or have their presses destroyed. What is even worse is how the courts are protecting Trump. After 3 1/2 years this will be the only trial!?!
Thank you, Gary, for your comment. I read the interview of Duty to Warn's John Gartner in thinkbigpicture.substack.com. While it is about Trump's cognitive decline into dementia, I kept thinking how his followers do not really care about the medical condition of the man himself, as long as he gets them to the promised land of authoritarianism?
…and we are a large group. Put Trump in a debate against Biden. It will clearly reveal Trump’s neurological deficit. I strongly believe that people will take notice.
It would be a horror show. The commentators can not handle Trump and manage him and he would interrupt and lie so why engage because there would be no winners. Trump would never agree to a debate because of his mental health.
Yet the difference is that the crowd response to John Lee Hooker came from a place of love and respect, and the response to Trump comes from holding him up as a caricature of power so they can release all their pent up resentments. With Hooker it was a reaction to who Hooker had been, with MAGAts it's a reaction to who they are.
I think people are missing something important when they focus on evidence that Trump is undergoing mental deterioration: Trump is a terrible danger when he possesses *all* his mental faculties.
It makes me wonder what other aspects of their lives that the thought "I'm being taken for a ride" doesn't occur to them. "It's a cult" gets tossed about continuously, but it really has reached a Jonestown level.
Robert's take on how the media is normalizing Trump is spot-on. The Washington Post is outdoing Trump in casting doubt on its integrity. The paper is featuring Trump press person Kellyanne Conway, the woman who invented “alternative facts,” in a Virtual Program event on April 24. This is the women who lied, misinformed, and lied some more when she worked for the previous president. The WaPo is normalizing and legitimizing her abhorrent behavior while she was representing American policy and programs to America and the world.
The Washington Post led the way to uncover the crimes and immorality of the Nixon administration, but that seems so old-fashioned these days. Apparently the paper believes Conway is worth our attention now. She frequently attacked the WaPo and other respectable news media, so the paper appears to be endorsing someone who forcefully denigrated a free and fair press.
I’m beyond disgusted with what appears to be this shameless pandering to Trump world (or the WaPo owners and shareholders). I encourage subscribers to tell the WaPo what you think of this! Email the Opinions editor at David.Shipley@washpost.com. Send your LTE to letters@washpost.com.
Laurie is right on with Robert, WaPo, and Conway. We think that we have seen the worst and a new week comes up and worst get's a new definition. People have lost hope in US and WE.
We see cowards everywhere and it is shameful! Governor Sununu along with most of the Gerald Ford Board are feckless, disingenuous, and unwilling to take the chance that they could lose for what is right. I am a Gerald Ford and Herbert Walker Bush Republican who became a Democrat because it was the ethical and right thing to do!! People are being bullied but they don't seem to understand that if they pulled together they would make sure that "that man" could not regain power and get them. Sununu is clueless if he thinks that if "that man" wins he won't come after him. He will go after every person who does not have blind allegiance to him.
We are reliving history of how other authoritarians have gained power and it is as stomach-turning as it always is.
Probably one of the most bitter things I've ever said in my life is that I've written off MSM. I knew it after the 2016 coverage, and I've doubled down on it now. Most are just totally hedging their bets in the event of a republican win and fear of a tyrant. George Stephanopoulos this W/E was an exception. Apologies for the negativity.
I wrote off the MSM a long time ago and am not bitter at all. Sad, but not bitter. There are a growing number of outlets that provide accurate reporting and, when noticed and amplified by people like Robert, Heather Richardson, Jessica Cravens and others, have as much impact and much more respect than the fossilized profit seekers masquerading as newspapers and television news divisions.
No need to apologize, DLJohnson. Lots of people are disillusioned. I'm astonished that the NYTimes, WaPo, and other previously respected media are obeying in advance, as Timothy Snyder writes. Hedging their bets won't protect them from a tyrant. My fear is they actually WANT the tyrant.
I partially agree but Conway in a public setting confirms for me and others she is not truthful and full of baloney. Equal and fair coverage is the game they are playing
"Equal and fair coverage" are at the core of responsible reporting and good journalism. But sponsoring and featuring Conway as a "Key Player" is showcasing a liar and a promoter of "alternative facts". By showcasing Conway, WaPo is in effect promoting a soldier in the war on democracy. A fascist with a smile.
Unless they push back in the way Stephanopoulos did, presenting people who represent two alternate views where one presents lies and one presents the truth is not even and fair. One is unconstrained by facts and the other is constrained by the truth. With equal and vigorous real time fact checking it might become even and fair - otherwise it's like contrasting an AI hero with a flesh and blood hero and saying "well, our AI hero can leap tall buildings and lift buses off school children but yours only enacts legislation increasing bus safety". Providing publicity for an AI character without saying "this isn't real, folks" relies on the public to draw the correct deductions and we've seen how that goes.
The ignorance of TFG and Chris Sununo is simply staggering!!! For the orange cancer to say that Gettysburg was beautiful was akin to him saying " there are very fine people on both sides " -He simply is deranged in a multitude of ways- and the Governor of NH is simply a moron!!
Governor Sununu is a coward! The person who stole our yard sign is a coward.The person who wrote me an anonymous letter, responding to my Letter to Ed with a litany of Faux News talking points is a coward. The person who drove by us waving his cigarette and ranting about our Register To Vote bumper sticker is a coward.
Yesterday I received an email from a neighbor praising my most recent Letter to Ed.She is a former college professor and was a prolific Letter to Ed writer.She told me she stopped writing as she was afraid.I truly understand…although it saddened me.
Three months in and I have only received. +++ responses wearing my Biden/Harris t-shirt.👕🛒
No responses from the MAGA hat-wearing cowards in my Fl county !
Just ordered another t :”I’m Voting Yes on Amendment 4” and will be alternating.
New order of yard signs arriving tomorrow. We will strategically place.My Republican evangelical neighbor even commented that we should borrow her large dog( his bark is worse than his bite!) to stand guard by our sign.Always be kind…
💙 this community.Please all, keep doing whatever is in your comfort zone. 🌊
FL? All respect, admiration and good wishes to you. Please be careful too though. Cowards are often vicious in cowardly ways that bravery cannot guard against. Staying alert is a good companion to bravery.
Thank you for this post. I have *finally* gotten enough time to start writing post cards. It isn't much, but it's what I can do right now. As they say, "Write on!"
As a psychiatric nurse practitioner in private practice, specializing in adult and geriatric psychiatry, I come across a vast number of clients who suffer from extreme anxiety brought on by watching the news. Aside from writing a prescription telling them to lay off Fox News (which specializes in fear mongering), and to limit their consumption of news to 10 minutes twice a day, I also prescribe Today's Edition Newsletter to help them put the world in perspective. I tell them to listen to the audio version because your voice has a calming effect. Just thought you might want to know how therapeutic you can be and how listening to you can help avoid adding additional medications to the mix. Thank you for all you do.
Disappointment in the former Republican Party abounds. Aside from the normalization of their standard-bearer (the Quadefendant), the utter disgrace of Chris Sununu, and the despicable criticism of our president by the person formerly known as Marco Rubio, the current squatter in the Speaker's chair continues to vacillate between the gravitational pull of the MAGAt world and the lifeline of bipartisanship.
Sununu's message should be part of every Democratic ad. He distilled the reality of the Republican abrogation of democracy into a single meme: "Yeah. Me and 51 percent of America." The day I accept that 51 percent of America is willing to overlook the litany of the Quadefendant's treasonous, illegal, immoral, and destructive behaviors is the day I no longer deserve to be called an American...or husband...or Dad...or Pop-Pop. Sununu should be sent packing.
Rubio continued the descent he began when the Quadefendant sent him running in the 2016 primaries. His blubbering and blathering has only increased over time. And to think I once respected him and looked forward to his rise in what I thought was a viable and vibrant Republican Party. His criticism of President Biden following his masterful handling of the potentially explosive Iranian attack shows that he's reached new depths. AP reported his comments at the end of this story: https://apnews.com/article/62cba0eaac095115f8386397b3ded2f4
Mike Johnson continues to dance at the end of the strings manipulated by the MAGAt puppet-master, the Quadefendant. He's promised to address funding for Israel and Ukraine (https://apnews.com/article/912a7419b00749fbc2f472df93f67bb1), but he'll certainly need help from Democrats. It will be interesting to watch him dance and attempt to keep from becoming hopelessly entangled, or worse, strangled.
This week begins the next chapter of the Quadefendant's sordid saga. Let's hope that some Republicans will wake up to the fact that they've hitched their wagons behind a horse's a$$.
Forget trying to convert Republicans and let’s focus on the Independent voters and the huge number of people who have not registered or have not voted at all. Turnout is our secret sauce.
"Debates" are useless at this point because the right wing media has created an "alternative reality" that is not based in fact and the inability to do fact checking in real time continues the "angertainment" feature that depends on clicks and eyeballs.
The questions are completely worthless, in that the underlying societal systems that impact day-to-day issues are not addressed with background explanations educating the public on "how we got here."
Example: How the original Republican Party was formed, the "flip" of Republican and Democratic parties during the mid-1960s with the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Acts, and the expulsion of "Republicans" with any moral conscience and backbone from the Tea Party/MAGA movement that welcomed the anti-government militias, former Confederates, Neo-Nazis and White Supremacy Christian Nationalists into the "take up arms unless we win" cult of "Orange Jesus."
"Name calling" and projection are childish and beneath the dignity of diplomacy needed for leadership.
Global trade, economics, resolution of conflicts and war, and the necessity of addressing the very survival of the planet require the ability to learn and to lead.
"REAL" Questions in a Presidential Debate must address
* the widening economic disparities (businesses benefitting from government subsidies and infrastructure, CEOs and the 1% making trillions of dollars while workers cannot secure housing, health care and food),
* the obstruction and inability to govern of the current Republican Party, and
* the dark money and other "legislation from the bench" tactics of this corrupt Supreme Court that must be aggressively dealt with.
* Of course, whether a person can make decisions about their own body is a given. Talk about "big government" - they are inserting themselves into every aspect of an individual's life and imposing laws that take away one's humanity.
Let us also note for the umpteenth time that US journalists are incapable of holding liar's feet to the fire. Rarely do they challenge and demand answers to the questions they post. The BBC is expert at doing this --- Judy Swallow interrupting a political mid-sentence say, "You can't REALLY mean blah blah --- and then going on to clearly articulate the BS that is being put forward.
Daniel, your many comments are always valuable, but I don't think "Trump Hates Dogs," really "hits 'em where it hurts." Sununu doesn't care whether Trump hates dogs. MAGA Republicans don't care, and the undecideds are not going to believe it or crumble before that when here is a guy who is so full of passionate hatred that he seems to be a "strong leader" in hard times (times made harder by Trump and MSM telling us they're hard) and he tells us all that it is OK to hate people, including your current President, whom you have grown fond of insulting. That's the bully rhetoric. More effective, perhaps is Stephanopoulos's questions, which can be summed up as: "Are you ready to voted for a fascist dictator who only thinks of himself and lies to us all the time?" To this, Sununu a governor of a state is eager to say, "Yeah, screw you and all the Americans who are not in my 51%. My mindless mob is bigger than your electorate." Shameful. But we have to drive home those questions to Democrats and to Independents and persuadable Republicans. All the rest is sloganeering, not that there is anything wrong with that and it may work in the schoolyard or to make us feel good, but I am afraid it won't carry the day.
Sununu is not a Trump cult member. That's the friggin point. I remember when his father supported the oil companies after 1973. Party before country.
Not someone who waited for a "hero with a thousand faces" to appear as a Pied Piper of Hamelin to rout the vermin.
On a one to one basis, it's effective. Here's proof. https://rvat.org/
I'm also a Vietnam veteran -- in a veteran's discussion group. "Not suckers and losers" has the same effect at the bars at the American Legion, VFW, AmVets, etc. They choke on their beer.
All we need to flip are about 5%. Simon Rosenberg thinks we can get to 55%.
On your rvat site I found the most common complaint about Trump is the insurrection, then statements he and his followers have made threatening to alter or repeal the constitution, then his focus on retribution, then his low moral character. Some smattering of his mental status etc. That's just an informal scan but it might be nice if DEM candidates' election committees would categorize and count the concerns and be guided at least to some extent by which issues actually penetrated GOP voters' consciousness.
Check out Working America that interviews voters in five battleground states, to report how persuadable and Democratic base voters are convinced. https://workingamerica.org/about/
Anecdotally, "Trump hates dogs" makes them tear up, shut up.
But FT6 works on unregistered people who trend Democratic, using data mining -- not voter rolls. Shooting for 13 million. https://www.fieldteam6.org/
I speak "fluent benefits" them individually, identify benefits they lose if Republicans win. In 2020 made cold calls for Biden. Doesn't always work but sometimes weeks later I'd get a thanks message when they apply for some benefit they didn't even know existed.
You've prompted me to reread "The Hero with a Thousand Faces," Daniel! This is a period when we need heroes. Robert is one, and all of us who are quietly and not so quietly fighting the good fight. And we fight on, righteously and intelligently. Yesterday I convinced my son to stop reading the NY Times for political information and to start reading this newsletter instead. He will get info from Simon Rosenberg and others, hear Robert's optimism, and feel encouraged rather than scared on a daily basis.
Please, everyone, check out the link Daniel shared, https://rvat.org/.
Republican Voters Against Trump share the arguments -- and people -- who have changed minds of Republicans. All of us would do well to hear what has led them to make a hard decision and to support their work.
Great comment. My instant reaction to the joint statement by the major news outlets which claims "General election debates have a rich tradition in our American democracy" is that the verb tense is wrong. Debates USED TO be something other than the slapstick blathering and strutting and mud-wrestling and name-calling into which they have devolved. If there were a way proper terms for debating between Trump and Biden could be set and enforced (think of the Nixon-Kennedy debate procedures), they might be useful. If there could be agreement that the opponent's microphone would be turned off during the participant's presentations and responses, then it might be useful to hear both candidates. In particular, the more air time Trump gets to run his mouth off, the more votes he will lose.
Also recognize complex issues cannot be "solved" in a soundbite.
Vice President Harris has proven to be particularly effective at this - for example, watch her appearance on THE VIEW January 17, 2024.
And continue to contrast - the Democrats have actual plans/policies/solutions ready for votes and implementation. The GOP only "scares" people without being willing to take action on solutions - the immigration bill 45 killed in order to have an issue for November is testimony to the fact the GOP is NOT interested in the good of the country, only loyalty to an unfit, criminal narcissist and grifter who is intent on ending democracy and voting for representation.
I must say that despite all the issues with debates these days (especially when trump is one of the "debaters") I was very impressed by the diversity of the news outlets joining in on the statement/request. Also, I expect a lot of republicans would tune in, and get "treated" to trumps's incoherent rambling. That could only be good.
Turning off the microphone at the end of a debater’s time is also necessary. Also gluing the candidates to their places (remember when Trump got up and stood behind Clinton while she was speaking?).
Sununu is my governor and I have always despised listening to his two-faced responses to journalists, depending upon the forum in which the questions are posed. Thanks for this summary of his actions and the link to the Stephanopoulos interview so that I can use this information when I canvass for Democratic candidates in our state and national elections. May a blue wave prevail!
During time with relatives in Ohio watching the total eclipse, I had a fraught conversation with a thirty-something nephew about our current politics. He is a progressive who has bought into the idea that Biden is too old and must step down. He’s convinced Trump will win. I will send today’s edition to him. It will resonate with him if he reads it. A job, two young children, a full time busy working wife and a sense of being overwhelmed and worried about his children’s futures …. I hope he reads your work, Robert. Thank you.
Hey, Deborah. Perhaps you could introduce your nephew to Victor Shi, a 21-year-old Biden fan making headway.
"The age of 21 is meant for legally drinking, spending time doing dumb things with friends and only vaguely taking stock of the political world that surrounds you. But those who know Shi aren’t surprised that he’s become an informal Biden ambassador to the nation’s youth."
If you read to the end, your nephew would see an opportunity to connect with Shi who will, perhaps, quell your nephew's anxiety about Biden's age, among other things:
Wow! Thank you, Lynell. I will indeed send this to him. He's about 37 (married to my niece) and so passionate about what he knows and thinks. This may be a way to get him stradied and pro-active. Right now he's accepted that Trump will win "and at least we have the other two branches of our government" still functioning okay. Oh, my. Where do we begin?
Begin where you are, Deborah! Lynell's advice is good, and we all hope your nephew is open to new information. I am always struck by how hopeful I feel after reading this newsletter, and hearing about people like Simon Rosenberg who contradict the polls with good evidence and a studied approach to each day's news. Best of luck to you!
Nephew got back to me and pointed out he has a science background and understands polls. I have a PhD that has a focus on Test & Measurement and lots of statistics, too, but ... I don't want to have a "contest" on that and he may not know this about me. One step at a time, though. Keep letting me know of more ideas anytime! I appreciate it.
1. Trump will lie, bully, bluster, and interrupt, to try to demonstrate he is "stronger." The American movie genre applauds "tough-guy" mavericks. James Bond, Rocky, Kevin Cosner's movies, Shane, Walking Tall, the Matrix, Reacher, Jack Ryan, Fast and Furious, Richard Boone in Paladin.
2.. The moderator will fail to rein in Trump. They will let him perform, to get the TV audience, when they could cut his microphone.
3. Biden will follow the rules, answer the questions, and be polite; Trump won't. On TV, Biden will look weak.
4. Murphy's Law: "Never argue with a fool, people might not know the difference."
This statement of yours is so well expressed Robert: "Until the news organizations get over their own sense of self-importance and realize that this election is not about them, they will continue to undersell the threat that is Donald Trump. Shame on them! It is our duty to urge them to recognize this is an extraordinary moment in which the maximization of profit cannot be their guiding light."
The major media in this country is rotten to the core.
Yes, Robert, President Biden and his team steered us through a most difficult and demanding moment with a steady hand and a clear compass. A photo of the President, Secretary Blinken and others in the Situation Room circulated in the (social) media over the weekend. One shudders at the thought of who might be sitting around the table next year – and with what consequences.
As to invertebrate Sununu – no surprise there. He is anti trump and anti MAGA until he isn't. Remember his clear take on Donald Bolduc during the N.H. Republican Senate primary in 2022: "not serious, a conspiracy theorist-type candidate." After he won the primary Bolduc suddenly morphed into a "true patriot, who would do great work for N.H. in Washington."
Sununu is a wolf in sheep's clothing, a male Nancy Mace. He is one of them.
Chris Sununu's capitulation to the serial philandering liar known as Trump is really a profile in cowardice. I wonder if his family and close friends feel a degree of mortification over his sell-out? I think his former admirers, the ones who thought he was a bright light in the GOP swamp, feel similarly to me? He was a beacon for hope; now the light has been snuffed out.
I don't know if Sununu has children. If he does, I wonder how he can hold himself up as a role model to his children? He stands for nothing. He is amoral, unprincipled, and a coward. But anyone who could so effortlessly accept Stephanopoulos's premise has long ago accepted their own depravity. All that is left is power and money.
Thanks. This is the second time this morning: Sununu comes from a political family. As a governor he requires brand loyalty. Issues may have something to do with his loyalty, but peer pressure, paternalism and greed are more likely. I don't think he has the ubiquitous Jungian collective racial subconscious that drives most MAGATs to vote contrary to their personal economic and physical health, he just wants power. So much for "live free or die."
Our only hope is to sweep the elections. Register Democrats, save democracy.
I am unclear about what you mean. On first reading, I thought you were accusing Jung and Jungians of being racists. After skimming your "Wikipedia" summaries of what they think Jung said, I think what you might be saying is that in Jung's discussion of the collective unconscious, he implies that we all have racist parts as well as other negative tendencies. That would include Trump, Sununu, and all of the rest of his followers. It would also include you and me. Using Wikipedia as a source is weak, in my opinion. I have read most of the source material written by Jung and his disciples, and have had Jungian analysis. If I have misunderstood your point, please enlighten me.
I took psychology courses about 50 years ago but Jung researched Nazis -- he is from the same Teutonic racial background and found a predisposition to hate "others."
I don't think Sununu and I have the same genes. I also think that it may relate to a defect in the amygdala -- heightened fright or flight impulses.
How many other cowardly republican governors support trump and demonize President Biden while happily accepting the federal funds and support provided by the President Biden administration. If they supported trump and refused federal support, I might give them an infinitesimal amount of credit. Hypocrisy thy name is republican. Profiles in Cowardice adds another chapter
I have never attended a Trump rally, but I feel like I've had an experience that has some similarity. Not long before John Lee Hooker, the blues guitarist, died, friends invited me to a performance of his. It was obvious to me, as an internal medicine physician, that he had neurological deficits with both physical and cognitive deficits. His son led him out by the arm and he was unsteady. His speech was unclear. He was repeating the same lyrics over and over. He really didn't play the guitar except to aimlessly strum - there was none of the exceptional dexterity for which he was so well-known. The backing band totally carried him. This had no resemblance to the John Lee Hooker of old. Yet the audience responded to this sad display of difficulty as if it was unchanged from the John Lee Hooker they knew. I was shocked, since the difference was so painfully obvious. I therefore now have no difficulty accepting that Trump's crowd may well totally ignore whatever difficulties Trump exhibits with his speech, thought pattern, vocabulary, tangential thinking, non sequiturs, whatever, changes that are obvious to any but members of the cult-like following.
You could appreciate Hooker for what he was and for his major influence on blues and folk music. Trump has always been a liar and a criminal. He has deteriorated from Y to Z. Yet the media protects him because he still is a better show than Biden and they want a close race. Also, the owners feel they need to hedge their coverage or have their presses destroyed. What is even worse is how the courts are protecting Trump. After 3 1/2 years this will be the only trial!?!
"He has deteriorated from Y to Z" What a perfect description!
Like the bumper sticker says, Denial is not a river in Egypt.
Thank you, Gary, for your comment. I read the interview of Duty to Warn's John Gartner in thinkbigpicture.substack.com. While it is about Trump's cognitive decline into dementia, I kept thinking how his followers do not really care about the medical condition of the man himself, as long as he gets them to the promised land of authoritarianism?
https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/john-gartner-trump-cognitive-decline
But the rest of us notice.
…and we are a large group. Put Trump in a debate against Biden. It will clearly reveal Trump’s neurological deficit. I strongly believe that people will take notice.
It would be a horror show. The commentators can not handle Trump and manage him and he would interrupt and lie so why engage because there would be no winners. Trump would never agree to a debate because of his mental health.
My point exactly, Stephen!
Yet the difference is that the crowd response to John Lee Hooker came from a place of love and respect, and the response to Trump comes from holding him up as a caricature of power so they can release all their pent up resentments. With Hooker it was a reaction to who Hooker had been, with MAGAts it's a reaction to who they are.
I think people are missing something important when they focus on evidence that Trump is undergoing mental deterioration: Trump is a terrible danger when he possesses *all* his mental faculties.
Has he ever possessed normal metal faculties? I ask that seriously.
It struck me that perhaps Hooker's fans noticed, but they were carrying him out of love.
It makes me wonder what other aspects of their lives that the thought "I'm being taken for a ride" doesn't occur to them. "It's a cult" gets tossed about continuously, but it really has reached a Jonestown level.
Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!
True. But others are paying attention!
Robert's take on how the media is normalizing Trump is spot-on. The Washington Post is outdoing Trump in casting doubt on its integrity. The paper is featuring Trump press person Kellyanne Conway, the woman who invented “alternative facts,” in a Virtual Program event on April 24. This is the women who lied, misinformed, and lied some more when she worked for the previous president. The WaPo is normalizing and legitimizing her abhorrent behavior while she was representing American policy and programs to America and the world.
The Washington Post led the way to uncover the crimes and immorality of the Nixon administration, but that seems so old-fashioned these days. Apparently the paper believes Conway is worth our attention now. She frequently attacked the WaPo and other respectable news media, so the paper appears to be endorsing someone who forcefully denigrated a free and fair press.
I’m beyond disgusted with what appears to be this shameless pandering to Trump world (or the WaPo owners and shareholders). I encourage subscribers to tell the WaPo what you think of this! Email the Opinions editor at David.Shipley@washpost.com. Send your LTE to letters@washpost.com.
Emailed both addresses with my outrage.
Laurie is right on with Robert, WaPo, and Conway. We think that we have seen the worst and a new week comes up and worst get's a new definition. People have lost hope in US and WE.
We see cowards everywhere and it is shameful! Governor Sununu along with most of the Gerald Ford Board are feckless, disingenuous, and unwilling to take the chance that they could lose for what is right. I am a Gerald Ford and Herbert Walker Bush Republican who became a Democrat because it was the ethical and right thing to do!! People are being bullied but they don't seem to understand that if they pulled together they would make sure that "that man" could not regain power and get them. Sununu is clueless if he thinks that if "that man" wins he won't come after him. He will go after every person who does not have blind allegiance to him.
We are reliving history of how other authoritarians have gained power and it is as stomach-turning as it always is.
COWARDS!
Probably one of the most bitter things I've ever said in my life is that I've written off MSM. I knew it after the 2016 coverage, and I've doubled down on it now. Most are just totally hedging their bets in the event of a republican win and fear of a tyrant. George Stephanopoulos this W/E was an exception. Apologies for the negativity.
I'm so proud of Stephanopoulos!
I wrote off the MSM a long time ago and am not bitter at all. Sad, but not bitter. There are a growing number of outlets that provide accurate reporting and, when noticed and amplified by people like Robert, Heather Richardson, Jessica Cravens and others, have as much impact and much more respect than the fossilized profit seekers masquerading as newspapers and television news divisions.
No need to apologize, DLJohnson. Lots of people are disillusioned. I'm astonished that the NYTimes, WaPo, and other previously respected media are obeying in advance, as Timothy Snyder writes. Hedging their bets won't protect them from a tyrant. My fear is they actually WANT the tyrant.
Agree! Thank you!
I partially agree but Conway in a public setting confirms for me and others she is not truthful and full of baloney. Equal and fair coverage is the game they are playing
"Equal and fair coverage" are at the core of responsible reporting and good journalism. But sponsoring and featuring Conway as a "Key Player" is showcasing a liar and a promoter of "alternative facts". By showcasing Conway, WaPo is in effect promoting a soldier in the war on democracy. A fascist with a smile.
Agree but she also is considered a Trump flunky and a joke by many. She only appeals to the Trump mafia who don’t read WaPo
I hope you're right, Stephen!
Unless they push back in the way Stephanopoulos did, presenting people who represent two alternate views where one presents lies and one presents the truth is not even and fair. One is unconstrained by facts and the other is constrained by the truth. With equal and vigorous real time fact checking it might become even and fair - otherwise it's like contrasting an AI hero with a flesh and blood hero and saying "well, our AI hero can leap tall buildings and lift buses off school children but yours only enacts legislation increasing bus safety". Providing publicity for an AI character without saying "this isn't real, folks" relies on the public to draw the correct deductions and we've seen how that goes.
The ignorance of TFG and Chris Sununo is simply staggering!!! For the orange cancer to say that Gettysburg was beautiful was akin to him saying " there are very fine people on both sides " -He simply is deranged in a multitude of ways- and the Governor of NH is simply a moron!!
Too bad his serious case of bone spurs kept him from participating in a battles he so obviously adores.
He’s is just plain stupid and self absorbed.
Chris Sununu is anything but a moron. That fact makes his adherence to Trump disgraceful.
Governor Sununu is a coward! The person who stole our yard sign is a coward.The person who wrote me an anonymous letter, responding to my Letter to Ed with a litany of Faux News talking points is a coward. The person who drove by us waving his cigarette and ranting about our Register To Vote bumper sticker is a coward.
Yesterday I received an email from a neighbor praising my most recent Letter to Ed.She is a former college professor and was a prolific Letter to Ed writer.She told me she stopped writing as she was afraid.I truly understand…although it saddened me.
Three months in and I have only received. +++ responses wearing my Biden/Harris t-shirt.👕🛒
No responses from the MAGA hat-wearing cowards in my Fl county !
Just ordered another t :”I’m Voting Yes on Amendment 4” and will be alternating.
New order of yard signs arriving tomorrow. We will strategically place.My Republican evangelical neighbor even commented that we should borrow her large dog( his bark is worse than his bite!) to stand guard by our sign.Always be kind…
💙 this community.Please all, keep doing whatever is in your comfort zone. 🌊
✍️📲💲🚶🏻📣👕🪧
I marched Saturday for Yes on 4 rally. I recognize another Floridian! Keep on doing what you are and I will too!
Kathy, what wise and compassionate thoughts and actions. Deeply moved to work harder. Thank you.
FL? All respect, admiration and good wishes to you. Please be careful too though. Cowards are often vicious in cowardly ways that bravery cannot guard against. Staying alert is a good companion to bravery.
Thank you for this post. I have *finally* gotten enough time to start writing post cards. It isn't much, but it's what I can do right now. As they say, "Write on!"
As a psychiatric nurse practitioner in private practice, specializing in adult and geriatric psychiatry, I come across a vast number of clients who suffer from extreme anxiety brought on by watching the news. Aside from writing a prescription telling them to lay off Fox News (which specializes in fear mongering), and to limit their consumption of news to 10 minutes twice a day, I also prescribe Today's Edition Newsletter to help them put the world in perspective. I tell them to listen to the audio version because your voice has a calming effect. Just thought you might want to know how therapeutic you can be and how listening to you can help avoid adding additional medications to the mix. Thank you for all you do.
Hi, Valerie. Thanks for your note, and thanks for your service to the many Americans who are understandably shaken and frightened by today's events.
Disappointment in the former Republican Party abounds. Aside from the normalization of their standard-bearer (the Quadefendant), the utter disgrace of Chris Sununu, and the despicable criticism of our president by the person formerly known as Marco Rubio, the current squatter in the Speaker's chair continues to vacillate between the gravitational pull of the MAGAt world and the lifeline of bipartisanship.
Sununu's message should be part of every Democratic ad. He distilled the reality of the Republican abrogation of democracy into a single meme: "Yeah. Me and 51 percent of America." The day I accept that 51 percent of America is willing to overlook the litany of the Quadefendant's treasonous, illegal, immoral, and destructive behaviors is the day I no longer deserve to be called an American...or husband...or Dad...or Pop-Pop. Sununu should be sent packing.
Rubio continued the descent he began when the Quadefendant sent him running in the 2016 primaries. His blubbering and blathering has only increased over time. And to think I once respected him and looked forward to his rise in what I thought was a viable and vibrant Republican Party. His criticism of President Biden following his masterful handling of the potentially explosive Iranian attack shows that he's reached new depths. AP reported his comments at the end of this story: https://apnews.com/article/62cba0eaac095115f8386397b3ded2f4
Mike Johnson continues to dance at the end of the strings manipulated by the MAGAt puppet-master, the Quadefendant. He's promised to address funding for Israel and Ukraine (https://apnews.com/article/912a7419b00749fbc2f472df93f67bb1), but he'll certainly need help from Democrats. It will be interesting to watch him dance and attempt to keep from becoming hopelessly entangled, or worse, strangled.
This week begins the next chapter of the Quadefendant's sordid saga. Let's hope that some Republicans will wake up to the fact that they've hitched their wagons behind a horse's a$$.
Forget trying to convert Republicans and let’s focus on the Independent voters and the huge number of people who have not registered or have not voted at all. Turnout is our secret sauce.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/mission
On it; thanks, Daniel!
"Debates" are useless at this point because the right wing media has created an "alternative reality" that is not based in fact and the inability to do fact checking in real time continues the "angertainment" feature that depends on clicks and eyeballs.
The questions are completely worthless, in that the underlying societal systems that impact day-to-day issues are not addressed with background explanations educating the public on "how we got here."
Example: How the original Republican Party was formed, the "flip" of Republican and Democratic parties during the mid-1960s with the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Acts, and the expulsion of "Republicans" with any moral conscience and backbone from the Tea Party/MAGA movement that welcomed the anti-government militias, former Confederates, Neo-Nazis and White Supremacy Christian Nationalists into the "take up arms unless we win" cult of "Orange Jesus."
"Name calling" and projection are childish and beneath the dignity of diplomacy needed for leadership.
Global trade, economics, resolution of conflicts and war, and the necessity of addressing the very survival of the planet require the ability to learn and to lead.
"REAL" Questions in a Presidential Debate must address
* the widening economic disparities (businesses benefitting from government subsidies and infrastructure, CEOs and the 1% making trillions of dollars while workers cannot secure housing, health care and food),
* the obstruction and inability to govern of the current Republican Party, and
* the dark money and other "legislation from the bench" tactics of this corrupt Supreme Court that must be aggressively dealt with.
* Of course, whether a person can make decisions about their own body is a given. Talk about "big government" - they are inserting themselves into every aspect of an individual's life and imposing laws that take away one's humanity.
Let us also note for the umpteenth time that US journalists are incapable of holding liar's feet to the fire. Rarely do they challenge and demand answers to the questions they post. The BBC is expert at doing this --- Judy Swallow interrupting a political mid-sentence say, "You can't REALLY mean blah blah --- and then going on to clearly articulate the BS that is being put forward.
That's why I go with "Trump hates dogs" and Trump stole from kids with cancer."
Hits 'em where it hurts!
Daniel, your many comments are always valuable, but I don't think "Trump Hates Dogs," really "hits 'em where it hurts." Sununu doesn't care whether Trump hates dogs. MAGA Republicans don't care, and the undecideds are not going to believe it or crumble before that when here is a guy who is so full of passionate hatred that he seems to be a "strong leader" in hard times (times made harder by Trump and MSM telling us they're hard) and he tells us all that it is OK to hate people, including your current President, whom you have grown fond of insulting. That's the bully rhetoric. More effective, perhaps is Stephanopoulos's questions, which can be summed up as: "Are you ready to voted for a fascist dictator who only thinks of himself and lies to us all the time?" To this, Sununu a governor of a state is eager to say, "Yeah, screw you and all the Americans who are not in my 51%. My mindless mob is bigger than your electorate." Shameful. But we have to drive home those questions to Democrats and to Independents and persuadable Republicans. All the rest is sloganeering, not that there is anything wrong with that and it may work in the schoolyard or to make us feel good, but I am afraid it won't carry the day.
Sununu is not a Trump cult member. That's the friggin point. I remember when his father supported the oil companies after 1973. Party before country.
Not someone who waited for a "hero with a thousand faces" to appear as a Pied Piper of Hamelin to rout the vermin.
On a one to one basis, it's effective. Here's proof. https://rvat.org/
I'm also a Vietnam veteran -- in a veteran's discussion group. "Not suckers and losers" has the same effect at the bars at the American Legion, VFW, AmVets, etc. They choke on their beer.
All we need to flip are about 5%. Simon Rosenberg thinks we can get to 55%.
Expand our base and we'll get there. https://www.fieldteam6.org/
On your rvat site I found the most common complaint about Trump is the insurrection, then statements he and his followers have made threatening to alter or repeal the constitution, then his focus on retribution, then his low moral character. Some smattering of his mental status etc. That's just an informal scan but it might be nice if DEM candidates' election committees would categorize and count the concerns and be guided at least to some extent by which issues actually penetrated GOP voters' consciousness.
Thanks.
Check out Working America that interviews voters in five battleground states, to report how persuadable and Democratic base voters are convinced. https://workingamerica.org/about/
Also https://playbook.galvanizeaction.org/
Anecdotally, "Trump hates dogs" makes them tear up, shut up.
But FT6 works on unregistered people who trend Democratic, using data mining -- not voter rolls. Shooting for 13 million. https://www.fieldteam6.org/
I speak "fluent benefits" them individually, identify benefits they lose if Republicans win. In 2020 made cold calls for Biden. Doesn't always work but sometimes weeks later I'd get a thanks message when they apply for some benefit they didn't even know existed.
You've prompted me to reread "The Hero with a Thousand Faces," Daniel! This is a period when we need heroes. Robert is one, and all of us who are quietly and not so quietly fighting the good fight. And we fight on, righteously and intelligently. Yesterday I convinced my son to stop reading the NY Times for political information and to start reading this newsletter instead. He will get info from Simon Rosenberg and others, hear Robert's optimism, and feel encouraged rather than scared on a daily basis.
Please, everyone, check out the link Daniel shared, https://rvat.org/.
Republican Voters Against Trump share the arguments -- and people -- who have changed minds of Republicans. All of us would do well to hear what has led them to make a hard decision and to support their work.
Great comment. My instant reaction to the joint statement by the major news outlets which claims "General election debates have a rich tradition in our American democracy" is that the verb tense is wrong. Debates USED TO be something other than the slapstick blathering and strutting and mud-wrestling and name-calling into which they have devolved. If there were a way proper terms for debating between Trump and Biden could be set and enforced (think of the Nixon-Kennedy debate procedures), they might be useful. If there could be agreement that the opponent's microphone would be turned off during the participant's presentations and responses, then it might be useful to hear both candidates. In particular, the more air time Trump gets to run his mouth off, the more votes he will lose.
Turning off the microphone seems to be necessary.
Also recognize complex issues cannot be "solved" in a soundbite.
Vice President Harris has proven to be particularly effective at this - for example, watch her appearance on THE VIEW January 17, 2024.
And continue to contrast - the Democrats have actual plans/policies/solutions ready for votes and implementation. The GOP only "scares" people without being willing to take action on solutions - the immigration bill 45 killed in order to have an issue for November is testimony to the fact the GOP is NOT interested in the good of the country, only loyalty to an unfit, criminal narcissist and grifter who is intent on ending democracy and voting for representation.
I must say that despite all the issues with debates these days (especially when trump is one of the "debaters") I was very impressed by the diversity of the news outlets joining in on the statement/request. Also, I expect a lot of republicans would tune in, and get "treated" to trumps's incoherent rambling. That could only be good.
Turning off the microphone at the end of a debater’s time is also necessary. Also gluing the candidates to their places (remember when Trump got up and stood behind Clinton while she was speaking?).
Sununu is my governor and I have always despised listening to his two-faced responses to journalists, depending upon the forum in which the questions are posed. Thanks for this summary of his actions and the link to the Stephanopoulos interview so that I can use this information when I canvass for Democratic candidates in our state and national elections. May a blue wave prevail!
During time with relatives in Ohio watching the total eclipse, I had a fraught conversation with a thirty-something nephew about our current politics. He is a progressive who has bought into the idea that Biden is too old and must step down. He’s convinced Trump will win. I will send today’s edition to him. It will resonate with him if he reads it. A job, two young children, a full time busy working wife and a sense of being overwhelmed and worried about his children’s futures …. I hope he reads your work, Robert. Thank you.
Hey, Deborah. Perhaps you could introduce your nephew to Victor Shi, a 21-year-old Biden fan making headway.
"The age of 21 is meant for legally drinking, spending time doing dumb things with friends and only vaguely taking stock of the political world that surrounds you. But those who know Shi aren’t surprised that he’s become an informal Biden ambassador to the nation’s youth."
If you read to the end, your nephew would see an opportunity to connect with Shi who will, perhaps, quell your nephew's anxiety about Biden's age, among other things:
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/west-wing-playbook/2023/08/17/meet-bidens-gen-z-hype-man-00111724
Wow! Thank you, Lynell. I will indeed send this to him. He's about 37 (married to my niece) and so passionate about what he knows and thinks. This may be a way to get him stradied and pro-active. Right now he's accepted that Trump will win "and at least we have the other two branches of our government" still functioning okay. Oh, my. Where do we begin?
Begin where you are, Deborah! Lynell's advice is good, and we all hope your nephew is open to new information. I am always struck by how hopeful I feel after reading this newsletter, and hearing about people like Simon Rosenberg who contradict the polls with good evidence and a studied approach to each day's news. Best of luck to you!
Nephew got back to me and pointed out he has a science background and understands polls. I have a PhD that has a focus on Test & Measurement and lots of statistics, too, but ... I don't want to have a "contest" on that and he may not know this about me. One step at a time, though. Keep letting me know of more ideas anytime! I appreciate it.
It would be a mistake for Biden to debate Trump.
1. Trump will lie, bully, bluster, and interrupt, to try to demonstrate he is "stronger." The American movie genre applauds "tough-guy" mavericks. James Bond, Rocky, Kevin Cosner's movies, Shane, Walking Tall, the Matrix, Reacher, Jack Ryan, Fast and Furious, Richard Boone in Paladin.
2.. The moderator will fail to rein in Trump. They will let him perform, to get the TV audience, when they could cut his microphone.
3. Biden will follow the rules, answer the questions, and be polite; Trump won't. On TV, Biden will look weak.
4. Murphy's Law: "Never argue with a fool, people might not know the difference."
5. Don't wrestle with pigs...
This statement of yours is so well expressed Robert: "Until the news organizations get over their own sense of self-importance and realize that this election is not about them, they will continue to undersell the threat that is Donald Trump. Shame on them! It is our duty to urge them to recognize this is an extraordinary moment in which the maximization of profit cannot be their guiding light."
The major media in this country is rotten to the core.
Yes, Robert, President Biden and his team steered us through a most difficult and demanding moment with a steady hand and a clear compass. A photo of the President, Secretary Blinken and others in the Situation Room circulated in the (social) media over the weekend. One shudders at the thought of who might be sitting around the table next year – and with what consequences.
As to invertebrate Sununu – no surprise there. He is anti trump and anti MAGA until he isn't. Remember his clear take on Donald Bolduc during the N.H. Republican Senate primary in 2022: "not serious, a conspiracy theorist-type candidate." After he won the primary Bolduc suddenly morphed into a "true patriot, who would do great work for N.H. in Washington."
Sununu is a wolf in sheep's clothing, a male Nancy Mace. He is one of them.
Chris Sununu's capitulation to the serial philandering liar known as Trump is really a profile in cowardice. I wonder if his family and close friends feel a degree of mortification over his sell-out? I think his former admirers, the ones who thought he was a bright light in the GOP swamp, feel similarly to me? He was a beacon for hope; now the light has been snuffed out.
I don't know if Sununu has children. If he does, I wonder how he can hold himself up as a role model to his children? He stands for nothing. He is amoral, unprincipled, and a coward. But anyone who could so effortlessly accept Stephanopoulos's premise has long ago accepted their own depravity. All that is left is power and money.
And that's enough for many!
Thanks. This is the second time this morning: Sununu comes from a political family. As a governor he requires brand loyalty. Issues may have something to do with his loyalty, but peer pressure, paternalism and greed are more likely. I don't think he has the ubiquitous Jungian collective racial subconscious that drives most MAGATs to vote contrary to their personal economic and physical health, he just wants power. So much for "live free or die."
Our only hope is to sweep the elections. Register Democrats, save democracy.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/mission
Jungian racists? Where do you get that? I know many Jungians, and none of us is racist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious
I am unclear about what you mean. On first reading, I thought you were accusing Jung and Jungians of being racists. After skimming your "Wikipedia" summaries of what they think Jung said, I think what you might be saying is that in Jung's discussion of the collective unconscious, he implies that we all have racist parts as well as other negative tendencies. That would include Trump, Sununu, and all of the rest of his followers. It would also include you and me. Using Wikipedia as a source is weak, in my opinion. I have read most of the source material written by Jung and his disciples, and have had Jungian analysis. If I have misunderstood your point, please enlighten me.
I took psychology courses about 50 years ago but Jung researched Nazis -- he is from the same Teutonic racial background and found a predisposition to hate "others."
I don't think Sununu and I have the same genes. I also think that it may relate to a defect in the amygdala -- heightened fright or flight impulses.
Thanks Robert for your continued vigilance and advocacy!
How many other cowardly republican governors support trump and demonize President Biden while happily accepting the federal funds and support provided by the President Biden administration. If they supported trump and refused federal support, I might give them an infinitesimal amount of credit. Hypocrisy thy name is republican. Profiles in Cowardice adds another chapter