My 19-year-old daughter and I voted from abroad and have received, filled out and mailed off our ballots. We are team Harris-Walz all the way.
We also watched some of the debate post fact, and my worry would be that a lot of swing voters would not recognize that Vance was lying all the way through. I heard his wife prepped him, and I am sure she is the one teaching him to inject humanity into his appeal. I wonder why he was not asked whether his anti-immigrant rhetoric endangered his own children and his wife and her parents. I believe it does, and therefore he cannot wear the caring father role. Instead he comes across as a sociopath to those of us who could see his lies. I am wondering how that plays itself out with swing voters. I watched a The Bulwark discussion of it, and while I have different values from these former Republican political campaign managers, I think they speak from a point of view that helps me to see how things could be seen by millennial, swing voters. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/so-much-rage?utm_source=podcast-email&publication_id=87281&post_id=149718409&utm_campaign=email-play-on-substack%2Cwatch-video&r=f0qfn&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
It is frightening to me that the US is so filled with damaged people, who want White male chaos, over anything else, that this election is so, so close. It should not be. It should be Harris out front, with a fringe group voting for Trump. The fact that the fringe have become so common is just scary.
I agree. But we can’t waste any energy on fear. That’s what these wingnuts thrive on. Let’s starve the beast and elect Harris/Walz and then continue the hard work of reforming and strengthening our democracy. Thanks for the link. The Bulwark does a great job.
Perfectly said Susan Troy. Conserve your resources, save all the energy you can. Mix it in with the hope, and the belief that sanity can, and will, prevail next month. As my dear old friend Doug used to say, in my times of trouble, "leave yourself a lifeline" . Press the PAUSE button on the fear in some degree. Pause, breathe, most important, know you're in a well-filled boat. There are more of us.
It is supposed to scare you Linda. But, you will stay strong as ever. Just as strong as you've shown yourself to be all this time you've been posting here. lifting us up in the massive, collective roundtable of like minded, sane, empathic Americans who are only looking forward. Thank you for your strength, and your courage.
"To have total power is to have power over truth and fact and history and to reach for it over dreams and thoughts and emotions." - Rebecca Solnit, Orwell's Roses, p. 226, where she continues by quoting Orwell:
"From the totalitarian point of view history is something to be created rather than learned. A totalitarian state is an effect a theocracy and its ruling caste, in order to keep its position, has to be thought of as infallible. But since, in practice, no one is infallible, it is frequently necessary to rearrange past events in order to show that this or that mistake was not made, or that this or that imaginary triumph actually happened. ... Totalitarianism demands, in fact, the continuous alteration of the past, and in the long run probably demands a disbelief in the very existence of objective truth."
Solnit then points out that "[this] is significantly a language problem at a storytelling problem that can be fought to some extent with language -- with the language of history that is not manipulable by the regime, independent journalism uncovering the current situation, logic and scientific method demanding a basis for statements, and the language of ideas that invite people to find their own concepts and principles and to look at the world critically, with the commitment to honor the contracts that words make. With the language of love and fellowship that builds back relationships and drives away loneliness. With the poetry that captures nuance of experience and unexpected alignments. All these things require either the freedom to do them safely or the courage to do them when they are dangerous."
Thank you, Robert, for being part of the solution to MAGA totalitarianism. (I provided these quotes in HCR's comments too, since she is a fellow star in helping keep us tethered to reality.)
Yes we will. We will work our tails off to defeat this ignorant, self-serving and malignant assault on our democracy and each other. I’m writing in the middle of the night because it’s still about 90 degrees and too hot to sleep. Global warming is not a hoax but Donald and MAGA are. Lovely, lovely photo 🙏
Watch tonight's LAST WORD on MSNBC in his interview of Cassidy Hutchinson and for whom she plans to vote and why. Inspiring to know there are people like her and Liz Cheney who feel this is more important that specifics of policy.
Here in Vermont the turnip is our state vegetable. In fact, we have an annual festival that honors it, see https://www.gilfeatherturnip.org/. So we would never mistake Donald J Trump for a turnip. He is a Venus fly trap: a carnivorous plant found around Mar A Lago.
The scary part is his ability to so thoroughly take over the Republican Party. The temptation is to discount his intelligence. Clearly, his values and humanity should be discounted. But his intelligence? I don’t know.
Robert’s Letter today & Heather Cox Richardson’s Letter from an American among the best ever. My humble suggestion is to share them as widely as possible. Our Democracy depends on it.
If we continue to campaign for Harris and democracy the election won’t be close. In 2016 most voters didn’t know Trump so he won. In 2020 they knew him and he was beaten soundly by Joe Biden who campaigned from his basement. In 2022 Trump’s campaign fell far short of the “red wave” that was supposed to take over the Congress. Trump has already been proven in court hearings that he is guilty of insurrection. Insurrection, fraud, theft and sexual abuse. They are Trump’s hallmarks. His defeat won’t be close. Harris will swamp him and the candidates who support him.
Hi George, I believe you are right but what I am worried about is dirty tricks in the vote count. Are we fully prepeared to defend the true vote count?
It does not take a lot of intelligence to understand that Trump’s behavior on January 6th had nothing to do with his position as sitting president. His claim of immunity should therefore be automatically rejected by any apolitical court of law. Two points on this. One: we should work to change the way judges are appointed to avoid political appointments. Two: the MAGA crowd doesn’t care that Trump tried to overturn the election, didn’t care if there was bloodshed (including his own VP), etc.
What amazes and saddens me is I have a friend, who I aways believed to be very intelligent. She was a top editor for Hearst publications back in the day when the twp party system still had some dignity and patriotism. But sadly she has evolved into a complete MAGA hag. How on earth did this happen and how many more are just like her?
I worry about what a bumpy ride election night and the outcome may be if Trump and his supporters dispute the Harris win., and even worse, the Supreme Court decides the victor!
Those two small words “so what” define Trump to his very core: “nothing matters to me except my own power and self aggrandizement and I will destroy our republic and set the world ablaze to protect them.” Thanks for reminding us of the stakes in this election and strengthening us to do all we can to protect our precious freedom from this monster.
Dear Robert, This was an outstanding report on Jack Smith's latest move to bring Trump to Justice. Thank you.
Throughout this election campaign, in conversations with family, friends and even strangers I have just been introduced to, I have been likening this election to "our Normandy.." Today I see Jack Smith as displaying a heroic job in soldiering on with all his might to make this battle count for something, and I think of you and HCR as heroes too!
As an elder New Yorker, I have contributed to the Harris win by writing a check, but the way I feel more participatory as a soldier in winning this battle to save Democracy is by telling as many people as I can to sign up for Heather Cox Richardson's Letter to an American, and to Robert Hubbell's marvelous, profound dispatches because, to me, you both pass the ammunition of truth and patriotism to each and every American I encounter. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
“[Trump] is manifestly unfit to hold public office, and his effort to overthrow the constitutional order should disqualify him in the eyes of every American who values the peace and liberty that flow from constitutional order.”
I would add that 43 US senators disagreed with this conclusion, and most are actively supporting him in 2024.
All 43 are “manifestly unfit” as well.
This will not be over until every elected official who joined in this attempted coup are out of office. (Two are running for Senate Majority Leader.)
Thank you Robert. Trump's callousness towards the basic order of a smooth transition of power is astounding, dispiriting, and horrifying. My conclusion is: if returned to the White House, and at 82 not comatose, he may, wearing his official capacity cloak, decide to say F*uck it in 2028, and set himself and his family in a nice little forever presidency - known in some circles as a dictatorship. And our Supreme Court firewall will be made of paper.
Yup this is all anyone needs to know when voting: “Kamala Harrris supports democracy and the rule of law. Donald Trump (and for that matter the GOP) seeks to destroy them.”
Yesterday, the Editorial Board of the Washington Post did something I never thought would happen in a thousand years- They endorsed Angela Alsobrooks, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Maryland, over their good friend, Larry Hogan, Jr. This may well foreshadow that even the rats are abandoning SS Trump.
My 19-year-old daughter and I voted from abroad and have received, filled out and mailed off our ballots. We are team Harris-Walz all the way.
We also watched some of the debate post fact, and my worry would be that a lot of swing voters would not recognize that Vance was lying all the way through. I heard his wife prepped him, and I am sure she is the one teaching him to inject humanity into his appeal. I wonder why he was not asked whether his anti-immigrant rhetoric endangered his own children and his wife and her parents. I believe it does, and therefore he cannot wear the caring father role. Instead he comes across as a sociopath to those of us who could see his lies. I am wondering how that plays itself out with swing voters. I watched a The Bulwark discussion of it, and while I have different values from these former Republican political campaign managers, I think they speak from a point of view that helps me to see how things could be seen by millennial, swing voters. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/so-much-rage?utm_source=podcast-email&publication_id=87281&post_id=149718409&utm_campaign=email-play-on-substack%2Cwatch-video&r=f0qfn&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
It is frightening to me that the US is so filled with damaged people, who want White male chaos, over anything else, that this election is so, so close. It should not be. It should be Harris out front, with a fringe group voting for Trump. The fact that the fringe have become so common is just scary.
I agree. But we can’t waste any energy on fear. That’s what these wingnuts thrive on. Let’s starve the beast and elect Harris/Walz and then continue the hard work of reforming and strengthening our democracy. Thanks for the link. The Bulwark does a great job.
So what? What are we going to do about it?
GOTV. https://www.mobilize.us/
Perfectly said Susan Troy. Conserve your resources, save all the energy you can. Mix it in with the hope, and the belief that sanity can, and will, prevail next month. As my dear old friend Doug used to say, in my times of trouble, "leave yourself a lifeline" . Press the PAUSE button on the fear in some degree. Pause, breathe, most important, know you're in a well-filled boat. There are more of us.
It is supposed to scare you Linda. But, you will stay strong as ever. Just as strong as you've shown yourself to be all this time you've been posting here. lifting us up in the massive, collective roundtable of like minded, sane, empathic Americans who are only looking forward. Thank you for your strength, and your courage.
"To have total power is to have power over truth and fact and history and to reach for it over dreams and thoughts and emotions." - Rebecca Solnit, Orwell's Roses, p. 226, where she continues by quoting Orwell:
"From the totalitarian point of view history is something to be created rather than learned. A totalitarian state is an effect a theocracy and its ruling caste, in order to keep its position, has to be thought of as infallible. But since, in practice, no one is infallible, it is frequently necessary to rearrange past events in order to show that this or that mistake was not made, or that this or that imaginary triumph actually happened. ... Totalitarianism demands, in fact, the continuous alteration of the past, and in the long run probably demands a disbelief in the very existence of objective truth."
Solnit then points out that "[this] is significantly a language problem at a storytelling problem that can be fought to some extent with language -- with the language of history that is not manipulable by the regime, independent journalism uncovering the current situation, logic and scientific method demanding a basis for statements, and the language of ideas that invite people to find their own concepts and principles and to look at the world critically, with the commitment to honor the contracts that words make. With the language of love and fellowship that builds back relationships and drives away loneliness. With the poetry that captures nuance of experience and unexpected alignments. All these things require either the freedom to do them safely or the courage to do them when they are dangerous."
Thank you, Robert, for being part of the solution to MAGA totalitarianism. (I provided these quotes in HCR's comments too, since she is a fellow star in helping keep us tethered to reality.)
Timothy Snyder makes similar points about Russia and its use of history under Putin.
Yes we will. We will work our tails off to defeat this ignorant, self-serving and malignant assault on our democracy and each other. I’m writing in the middle of the night because it’s still about 90 degrees and too hot to sleep. Global warming is not a hoax but Donald and MAGA are. Lovely, lovely photo 🙏
Watch tonight's LAST WORD on MSNBC in his interview of Cassidy Hutchinson and for whom she plans to vote and why. Inspiring to know there are people like her and Liz Cheney who feel this is more important that specifics of policy.
Thanks, Merrimon! …”So important that we get past this period of Donald Trump for America to begin healing.”💙
https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/cassidy-hutchinson-voting-for-harris-fmr-trump-white-house-aide-explains-her-2024-choice-220739141797
Post on Fox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASMLggH0iyo
Possible inscription on Trump’s tombstone:
“SO WHAT!”
Indeed. That man has about as much intellectual curiosity as a turnip.
Here in Vermont the turnip is our state vegetable. In fact, we have an annual festival that honors it, see https://www.gilfeatherturnip.org/. So we would never mistake Donald J Trump for a turnip. He is a Venus fly trap: a carnivorous plant found around Mar A Lago.
Less than a turnip, I think!
The scary part is his ability to so thoroughly take over the Republican Party. The temptation is to discount his intelligence. Clearly, his values and humanity should be discounted. But his intelligence? I don’t know.
Perfect!
Robert’s Letter today & Heather Cox Richardson’s Letter from an American among the best ever. My humble suggestion is to share them as widely as possible. Our Democracy depends on it.
Hi Brent, I wrote something very much like your sentiments to Robert.
HCR and Robert are such amazing soldiers in winning the battle to save Democracy. I wrote how I liken this election to "Our Normandy."
IIt was a nice affirmation to read your comment.
If we continue to campaign for Harris and democracy the election won’t be close. In 2016 most voters didn’t know Trump so he won. In 2020 they knew him and he was beaten soundly by Joe Biden who campaigned from his basement. In 2022 Trump’s campaign fell far short of the “red wave” that was supposed to take over the Congress. Trump has already been proven in court hearings that he is guilty of insurrection. Insurrection, fraud, theft and sexual abuse. They are Trump’s hallmarks. His defeat won’t be close. Harris will swamp him and the candidates who support him.
Hi George, I believe you are right but what I am worried about is dirty tricks in the vote count. Are we fully prepeared to defend the true vote count?
I wish your premise was right. Many Republicans and lots of unregistered youth have not reached the same conclusion yet.
It does not take a lot of intelligence to understand that Trump’s behavior on January 6th had nothing to do with his position as sitting president. His claim of immunity should therefore be automatically rejected by any apolitical court of law. Two points on this. One: we should work to change the way judges are appointed to avoid political appointments. Two: the MAGA crowd doesn’t care that Trump tried to overturn the election, didn’t care if there was bloodshed (including his own VP), etc.
Hi, I agree completely.
What amazes and saddens me is I have a friend, who I aways believed to be very intelligent. She was a top editor for Hearst publications back in the day when the twp party system still had some dignity and patriotism. But sadly she has evolved into a complete MAGA hag. How on earth did this happen and how many more are just like her?
I worry about what a bumpy ride election night and the outcome may be if Trump and his supporters dispute the Harris win., and even worse, the Supreme Court decides the victor!
Those two small words “so what” define Trump to his very core: “nothing matters to me except my own power and self aggrandizement and I will destroy our republic and set the world ablaze to protect them.” Thanks for reminding us of the stakes in this election and strengthening us to do all we can to protect our precious freedom from this monster.
Dear Robert, This was an outstanding report on Jack Smith's latest move to bring Trump to Justice. Thank you.
Throughout this election campaign, in conversations with family, friends and even strangers I have just been introduced to, I have been likening this election to "our Normandy.." Today I see Jack Smith as displaying a heroic job in soldiering on with all his might to make this battle count for something, and I think of you and HCR as heroes too!
As an elder New Yorker, I have contributed to the Harris win by writing a check, but the way I feel more participatory as a soldier in winning this battle to save Democracy is by telling as many people as I can to sign up for Heather Cox Richardson's Letter to an American, and to Robert Hubbell's marvelous, profound dispatches because, to me, you both pass the ammunition of truth and patriotism to each and every American I encounter. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
“[Trump] is manifestly unfit to hold public office, and his effort to overthrow the constitutional order should disqualify him in the eyes of every American who values the peace and liberty that flow from constitutional order.”
I would add that 43 US senators disagreed with this conclusion, and most are actively supporting him in 2024.
All 43 are “manifestly unfit” as well.
This will not be over until every elected official who joined in this attempted coup are out of office. (Two are running for Senate Majority Leader.)
Here is the link for the information on the impact of Hurricane Helene on Voting in North Carolina. This information is from Marc Elias:
https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/will-hurricane-helene-disrupt-elections-in-north-carolina/
Team Harris/Walz released this pronto after the debate. They’re on it !📣
“He peacefully gave over power.”
https://x.com/KamalaHQ/status/1841330834780954704
And here’s the ad:JD Vance’s Damning Non-Answer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax0KIhHFnaE
Thank you Robert. Trump's callousness towards the basic order of a smooth transition of power is astounding, dispiriting, and horrifying. My conclusion is: if returned to the White House, and at 82 not comatose, he may, wearing his official capacity cloak, decide to say F*uck it in 2028, and set himself and his family in a nice little forever presidency - known in some circles as a dictatorship. And our Supreme Court firewall will be made of paper.
Yup this is all anyone needs to know when voting: “Kamala Harrris supports democracy and the rule of law. Donald Trump (and for that matter the GOP) seeks to destroy them.”
Yesterday, the Editorial Board of the Washington Post did something I never thought would happen in a thousand years- They endorsed Angela Alsobrooks, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Maryland, over their good friend, Larry Hogan, Jr. This may well foreshadow that even the rats are abandoning SS Trump.