No words, no notes, no thoughts, no prayers — the wisest voices never tell us what we should do or should think or feel. They just acknowledge that all three will be necessary in the near future & that we will not be alone when that time comes....
The gist is it may be harder than we are currently fearing to overthrow a 200 plus year democracy. But it also acknowledges that we’ve taken a huge step toward fascism, and while all regimes eventually fall, this one may last a generation, in other words for the remaining lifetimes of many REBIDers.
I’m still very much in “fuck it, nothing matters” mode, but I know myself well enough to realize it will pass. Ultimately, I will refuse to let Trump and his clown car of malevolent freaks spoil my joy in life and in other people. But it’s going to take quite a while.
So here's my dotard theory: by and by we Americans do the fascist stuff in a kinder, gentler way so that it's as hard to perceive as possible.
So in turn, two questions get raised:
Just how democratic have we been both generally and the last few decades?
Have we been kind of fascistic for awhile now without realizing it?
Anyway, treasure as White is, I think he's being too optimistic. What happened in this election is less a vibe shift but is and is going to bring something that's going to stick for decades. The federal government to closed to us and, as ever, we're without an opposition party that will fight for us.
Obviously, YMMV and of course I can be full of shit.
Here's how I'd answer your two questions: Not very democratic, and yes, we've ridden ebbing and flowing waves of fascistic impulses since the founding.
Nobody really knows what happens next. Trumpism could implode within four years, or we could be on a path to fulfill the Thousand Year Reich. Probably somewhere in between. As Trump himself loved to say when he was asked a question about a policy he didn't know jack shit about, "we'll have to see."
"...we've ridden ebbing and flowing waves of fascistic impulses since the founding"
Very much agreed. To help seal the deal on this (sobering, very accurate) assessment, look at the public history work of Tad Stoermer, who studies the "Patriot Myth" as it is marketed to the public. It confirms Nikole Hannah-Jones' findings in the 1619 Project & suggests we've been swallowing propaganda whole for centuries.
Really, my questions there are exercises in hairsplitting. Dunno how much answers matter all that much, in large part because how we got here is now kind of mooted.
The problem with the Party of Trump collapsing into whatever is that there is nothing good to take its place.
Til proven wrong (if), I’m treating the federal level as something to which we have no access, no agency.
Now saying the local and state levels are paradise but it’s where we can have an effect. That’s all, they’re no better than that. Therefore, that’s where energies should be directed, not by listening to DNC BS, get caught in the grift, then get screwed with nothing good accomplished.
Again, not saying the local and state levels are great, just that thems were we can have effect and change stuff. Also where the gerrymandering can get undone.
Unlike the federal level which is completely closed to us as a practical matter.
What you said about an opposition that won’t fight…that may be the scariest part. The leadership cheerfully obeying in advance right out in the open. How demoralizing is that? When I first heard Michelle say, “when they go low, we go high” eight years ago, I took it to mean something more than abject surrender.
So how to chase the old guard out over the next2-3 years? Maybe there ARE fighters in the ranks. Who knows?
In Canada (and other places I’m sure) parties hold national conventions between elections. Policies are debated, grievances are aired, factions make themselves heard, new voices rise up. Above all, they have confidence votes over the current leader and their team.
The Democratic Party desperately needs a similar soul-searching. Calcified 20th century the-institutions-will-hold, comity-above-all thinking now that honest-to-god fascism has crossed the river and burst through the gates is nothing more than moral failure.
Actually, it’s worse because that “opposition that won’t fight” been what the Democrats have been doing for well over thirty years already. This is more that despite the election, they’re committed to business as usual. God knows that they raised a shitload of money this cycle and that’s what’s important to them — the DNC and many if not most of their politicians.
Obviously, the only answer is a takeover by progressives who know what needs to be done and are dedicated to doing it. Starts with enough people being interested in running…
And sure, it’ll take forever. Just like the GOP’s pushing of America to a locked in(?) fascist state took decades.
No one has ever tried to do what the Republican party claims it wants to do, dismantle the federal regulatory state, "mass" (we'll see) deportation, and show trial persecution of enemies of the State, 'le Trump. They have their Federalist powerpoints and Project sheets I'm sure. I think they'll walk into an office, tell everyone they're fired, then order them to "train" their sucessors. This is an area where the whole-hearted support of the Republican party doesn'f mean shit. What do you think happens next? Biden will probably order"full co-operation" because he believes he has to. We'll see what that means to the grunts.
You know and I know that there's a lot of bloat at the Pentagon waiting to tossed. Same at other agencies, State especially. (Been a problem or something since Nixon took foreign policy back into the White House.) The crises will be what's done past the firings, like Blanche at Justice.
I expect fuck ups galore. But the media won't care unless it slots into the They're weird people storyline. And, as ever, the DNC can be counted on to do approximately nothing. (Of course, they're powerless now so even if they were interested, they'd get nothing done beyond spewing BS and keep on grifting.)
By and by, the DNC is not our ally. If I haven't made my rant re the post-Clinton party clear enough, I'm not going to do it now.
And IMO (another rerun here), perspective is important. Don't fall the DNC's BS. Focus on where one can help get stuff done: on the state and local level as well as private entities that actually, you know, help people. Save compassion and stuff for the deserving.
There are no doubt a few exceptions but my new rule going forward for moi is no money goes to any D POTUS or Senatorial candidates and nearly no House candidates. I'm an old fart and the years have taken its toll: too much seeing the Clintonites spewing empty promises and getting ~nothing in exchange.
Slick Willy was already well committed to being an alt-Republican.
By 1995, FWIW, I was already turned off to the mainstream media, or at least TV which, in my naiveté, found it's sole big failure being superficial. So Cokie (queen of the TV nepo babies) was never anyone of any importance to me.
I don't think much of the Democrats except they're the people who run against the Republicans and win about half of the time. Should I be expecting something more? Gross incompetence - if you're one half of a two-party system - should produce a success rate significantly less than the coin-flip rate.
Hope that's some sort of joke. Because the question should be answering itself.
It's like I have to reference the Goldwater line daily now...
But yes, when the dominant party is destroying the nation (it is, now more than ever), the other party maybe should do more than being echo and be an actual choice. Like provide something better than joining in with the destruction.
I meant specifically in terms of success at the polls. The DNC is a bunch of fuckups who can't run a proper campaign, and yet the D gets chosen about as often as the R.
Also, they're a political party, not Braveheart. So I expect them to run candidates when there's an election, and to win about as often as they do. Historically, the role of the Dems in the Fight for Justice has been to sit on the sidelines and wait for the social movements to do all the heavy lifting and the moving of public opinion, and then to step in and take all the credit. A deal I don't object to so much, because - if they can win some elections - they get to put the social movement's goals into laws, a thing we can't do ourselves.
Well, the climate movement got quite a bit out of the Biden admin in the two years they had the trifecta. I just read about how Biden's methane rules might be hard for Trump to overturn because he had them written into the IRA.
I have no hope for global warming being addressed the way it needs to be eg globally. Gonna be addressed however much it is locally and by us however much we can.
Here's one ray of sunshine: It is apparent (to me, at least) that Trump is now trolling his own Party with his cabinet picks. He's trying to turn his process into not just a loyalty test but a public humiliation ritual for all his lickspittles in the House and Senate. Stefanik as UN ambassador? Well, okay. Not unreasonable. Huckabee to Israel? Um, getting a bit on the Rapture end of the scale, but sure.
Fox TV host as Sec Def? Even Trump's supporters are questioning this one.
Matt Gaetz as AG?!?!?! Well, this seems to be a turd too far. Having a convicted felon as president AND a self-professed child molester as AG--especially since Gaetz is someone despised by EVERYONE--is proving too much for even people who love the taste of Trump's sweaty underwear.
Funny thing about open defiance: Once it happens and nobody dies, it makes open revolt much easier.
Only thing I would argue with is that he’s trolling. Trolling would suggest there’s at least some thought, some intent, behind noms like Gaetz. But per Tiger Beat on the Potomac this morning…nah. Gaetz was Boris Epshytein’s idea, sold to Trump on a plane ride while his supposed CoS pick Wiles was in a different compartment, completely unaware of what was going on. And he just truthed it out. As we know from the first time around, the easiest way to get Donnie to do what you want is to be the last person to talk to him. Here we go again.
I wrote on Bluesky that, as Sec. of State, Liddle Marco will do what? Why, he'll go on diplomatic missions to allies and enemies. When he arrives at the former, he'll be greeted by people who have contempt for him and who desipise his boss. When he arrives at the latter, he'll be warmly welcomed by people he either hates, or knows he should hate. So maybe Trump's nomination of him was for purposes of humiliation. Clever!
I'm down for this. Would we want to assign one nominee to that role? Hell no, sez I. With so many potential equines on offer, perhaps we should distribute individual horseparts to the appropriate nominees just so's we don't run outta inventory.
Getting away with shit is Trump's superpower . It makes me so God damn man I could spit. It makes us all feel helpless. I think you're right there's nothing we can do about it. I plan on converting hardcore Christianity in my final moments, mostly so I can think about fuckers like Trump burning in hell.
Sure he's fat Hitler, but not really. Hitler was a combat veteran, a war hero by all accounts. Trump's way more Mussolini or Franco. A fat ass, greedy coward. I think this will mitigate the damage.
I like that the cabinet is full of clowns. None of them have the work ethic to run the government, much less fundamentally change it. The sidelining of Mitch McConnell is a blessing . Fucker knew how to get things done. Evil things. There's going to be a whole lot of terrible bullshit, but I bet it could get way way worse.
I've been ignoring things for the last week. I like it!
I'm not sure their job is to run anything but to provide loud, chaotic cover for the Heritage drones to eat the federal government alive. We could have four different AGs by 2026, each worse than the last. MTG could be the new head of NASA -- who's to say?
A story I've been thinking about lately is from a documentary about a small village in France that hid Jewish people during the German occupation. These folks didn't know anything about the Holocaust - most people didn't until nearly the end of the war. And they were living under absolute censorship in an occupied country so they knew nothing about what other people were doing to resist the Nazis, and they probably didn't know much about the overall progress of the war, either. So much they didn't know! But they knew enough to do what they did, and that was enough in my book.
Ignoring things, its all the rage in the Smart Set! Ignoring the horserace Kremlinology is a very good idea right now. But Trump's superpower is the robust full-bodied support of the Republican party. He already knows how to throw lawyers at a problem until it goes away. Violating the Constitution, "winning" 2 impeachments (a new record) is on the party. This is the problem everyone wants to avoid: the threat to democracy isn't Trump, it is the Republican party. They are the only reason he is where he is, and when he shuffles off to his spot on the back 9 at Mar-A-Largo the party remains, with his goals and his morality, looking for a replacement.
Weird, though, that other Republicans never do as well as Trump. Eric Hovde lied his ass off and fell short by about 30,000 votes while Trump made it just over the line by 30,000 votes. If anything, it seems a lot of voters see Generic Republican as worse than Trump.
That difference is what people talking about "charisma" are trying to quantify. I've tried to say this before, but Trump has Believers, followers, and hangers-around. Not everyone is in line to drink the Flav-R-Aid yet. Ironically it's more likely the Believers ignore down-ballot Republicans and off-year elections that the other groups. Theyre's probably more ways to slice the baloney that is Trump voters, but the key is its far from monolithic, and far from all his voters see him as God-Emperor. Its just that because of the Believers, Trump owns the Republican party, and the party is what will protect his ass for the next four years. The Bush-off Machine is gonna have a helluva job rinsing that stain out, though they've done it before. The 1 thing that would give me hope is a sign that the Democratic party understands what its antagonist is, a politicsl party dedicated to the subversion of democracy to dismantle the federal regulatory system. That's all I want. If they wanna do some Pelosi golf claps fine, but this is serious.
Here's my donation list. I give to these organizations every month. None of them gets a lot of money from me, but all of them get at least $25 a month.
The Carter Center
Planned Parenthood
National Network of Abortion Funds
Fund for the Feminist Majority
Pharmacy of Grace, a local organization that helps people with prescription costs
Elsie Publishing Institute, a woman owned, woman focused organization
PBS
NPR
I'm six or seven years from retirement and hunkering down. At this point I don't plan anymore on retiring, I'll just downshift and work part-time. But I've been working since I was 17, and I've been through hard times before. As my British ancestors would advocate, I'm keeping a stiff upper lip. I recall Elizabeth Cady Stanton as described in Betty Friedan's classic "The Feminine Mystique," writing to her friend Susan B Anthony to say that she was having yet another baby, and bluffing with the words, "Courage, Susan, we will not reach our prime till we're 50." I'm long past 50, but I'm hoping the years to come will portend my prime. My love and best wishes to the REBID gang.
This will be Nixon without the visit to China - the current wars will end somehow in a way that harms Ukraine and Palestine, political enemies will be spied on and attacked. It will be Reagan without the nuclear disarmament talks - tax cuts and assaults on public lands. Trump obsessing with Black and brown people will bring back post—Reconstruction assaults on “aliens.” However, the Nixon administration’s control of the bureaucracy depended on Haldeman and Watergate forced him out. My advice to Democrats which they won’t listen to is to pick the few competent Trump appointees like Homan and work to destroy them. Praising them publicly as the real brains of the administration is a good way to get Trump to turn on them and assholes like Homan love to be seen as the alpha male in the room. Whether Dem leaders will pivot from this “We’re the normal ones who will treat this like any other transition, unlike them” phase to working with whatever tools are available, like press access and befriending lower level stooges to gather the goods on Gaetz et al, I don’t know. Right now everyone seems to be vying for “Most Supine Response to Fascism” as if it were an Olympic sport.
Fink. That's a word I haven't heard in a long, long time. I think it's my new favorite. My cats will be called Fink instead of Shithead. Did I have an anxiety dream about Comer coming after ActBlue? Or is it true? Hm. I'll Google it later. There is just so much fuckery flying around it is hard to keep track.
I support a few independent media sites every month, in addition to a few individual writers like Roy. ProPublica, The American Prospect, Drop Site, and Judd Legum's site I've forgotten the name, Popular Comment? -- all do good work. And Wikimedia. I also donate locally to a few groups like Concerned Citizens of Iowa, Iowa Abortion Access Fund, and the Des Moines Music Coalition. That's about the best I can do for now. We'll see how it goes, I'm keeping an eye on the barricades. Meditation, a daily 15 minute Qi gong session, and remembering to breathe help.
Expecting Trump to face consequences is truly "grasping at logical straws in the madhouse that is now America." The political consultant cosplay Roy notes is as pointless as wasting attention on standard punditry. The full absurdity of Exceptionalism is for the first time completely open, and being shoved in our faces with the greatest of glee. No matter how much we know about this crew, the brazenness will have the power to shock. But Mr. Smith is not going to Washington, and it's best to have no illusions. Holding tighter than ever to values, yes, but illusions, no. And supporting worthy groups, building social capital locally and in whatever other ways we can.
Yesterday Fuck Todd tweeted that the confirmation hearings might just save cable news for a while, and i was ready to book a flight and find and strangle the motherfucker.
Increasingly clear Trump’s orbit is too online. There are a lot of normies who have no clue about the world Musk RFK Gaetz Vance all live in and believe. It’s weird and dangerous stuff; will turn off the very voters they just won over who simply hated this current economy.
I realized just now I actually go back farther than that, such that to my subconscious, "The President" means Lyndon Baines Johnson. I was watching when "Mah fellow Americuns, I come to you with a heavy heart...."
"And your brain and adrenals are probably reading it as familiar. But you may also have, justifiably, a greater sense of dread cooking on the back burners of your amygdala."
This is what I was trying to evoke yesterday.
I mean, *this* is what fascism *actually looks like*. We're conditioned by years of dystopia media to think it's all Krystallnacht all the time, but it looks normal on the outside. Think about how funny Mussolini was considered. Think about editorials in the FNYT about how Hitler was rebuilding Germany and how good for business and investment he'd be.
We're going to see a lot of evidence of evil a-brewin' for the next 10 weeks coupled with a lot of "ha ha, you said he'd be Hitler! HAHA!". But then, the fuckers were planning J6 out in the open with everyone looking and we all STILL got surprised when it happened.
The Banality Of Evil, but this time in American English.
What (especially) the MSM is missing is how motivated Trumpov is by revenge. Probably even more than greed. We wouldn't even *be* here had President Obama not humiliated him in public.
It's clear he doesn't really care about any of the responsibilities that come with the job, this is a "get out of jail free" card combined with a "put your enemies in jail or at least harass them endlessly with bullshit investigations" card.
People will say, "True, but hacks installed by the Heritage Foundation will attend to all the details." But it's hard for a President to accomplish much even when they really want to and are fully engaged with the process. When the guy at the top is mostly checked out, it's much harder.
Just look back at his first term and his inept attempt to replace Obamacare. Clear right from the start that he didn't have a clue what should replace it and cared even less. Just handed it over the Mitch & Paul and said "You guys figure it out." Harder to succeed when your "leader" is rallying the troops with "Eh, whatever."
"Major Strasser has been shot. The club's about to close and I haven't got my last espresso. The cleaning lady missed her bus and my laundry ain't done, yet, so I'll haveta wear today's uniform again tomorrow. I got 6 officer out with the flu.
Oh - and for supporting, I have a set of podcasts like Knowledge Fight, QAA, I Don't Speak German, and The Professional Left that I support as my news/entertainment sources, REBID of course, Wonkette, and a monthly donation to The Trevor Project, because fuck knows that's a vital lifeline for so many kids.
Sadly, it appears that many people who liked Harris, were anti-fascist, pro-abortion, pro-trans, etc. were so mad about inflation that they voted for Trump and his bad economic plans (not that those were easy to find in the media)
What a crowd! What a crowd! I was in rough shape last week but I'm okay now. A little comedic relief? I'm telling you, I don't get no respect, ever since I registered as a Democrat, things have been going South.
Maybe I should switch back. I voted Democrat anyway but could start conversations with, I'm a registered Republican, and confuse the heck out of people.
But seriously, folks, ask yourselves and others when do we say no and enough? What is an outrage too far? Whom do we feel is verboten to commit atrocities on?
Take the temperature early and often in the diseased state. Don't let the water come to a boil with all the amphibians feeling fine.
Hey Boss, I see the Onion just bought Infowars, I assume that includes the whole mailing list, they may be looking for talent to pump out the weekly Hardcore, who's better qualified for the job than you?
No words, no notes, no thoughts, no prayers — the wisest voices never tell us what we should do or should think or feel. They just acknowledge that all three will be necessary in the near future & that we will not be alone when that time comes....
Thanks for the detailed nuance of how to respond to catastrophe you’ve outlined in this series, Roy. Ken White (Popehat) also wrote something I like:
https://www.popehat.com/p/refuge-in-kakistocracy?_bhlid=f249ee1ceb6deb62043abd23864148fd27fbee9e&utm_campaign=refuge-in-kakistocracy&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=www.popehat.com
The gist is it may be harder than we are currently fearing to overthrow a 200 plus year democracy. But it also acknowledges that we’ve taken a huge step toward fascism, and while all regimes eventually fall, this one may last a generation, in other words for the remaining lifetimes of many REBIDers.
I’m still very much in “fuck it, nothing matters” mode, but I know myself well enough to realize it will pass. Ultimately, I will refuse to let Trump and his clown car of malevolent freaks spoil my joy in life and in other people. But it’s going to take quite a while.
I'm here for that, sis. Very much here.
So here's my dotard theory: by and by we Americans do the fascist stuff in a kinder, gentler way so that it's as hard to perceive as possible.
So in turn, two questions get raised:
Just how democratic have we been both generally and the last few decades?
Have we been kind of fascistic for awhile now without realizing it?
Anyway, treasure as White is, I think he's being too optimistic. What happened in this election is less a vibe shift but is and is going to bring something that's going to stick for decades. The federal government to closed to us and, as ever, we're without an opposition party that will fight for us.
Obviously, YMMV and of course I can be full of shit.
Here's how I'd answer your two questions: Not very democratic, and yes, we've ridden ebbing and flowing waves of fascistic impulses since the founding.
Nobody really knows what happens next. Trumpism could implode within four years, or we could be on a path to fulfill the Thousand Year Reich. Probably somewhere in between. As Trump himself loved to say when he was asked a question about a policy he didn't know jack shit about, "we'll have to see."
How long will Musk survive?
Will Miller get to establish his ersatzgruppen?
Will Bannon get federal funding for his gladiator school?
So many popcorn-worthy questions!
The possibility (probability) Musk oversteps himself and gets banished is one of the few silver linings the next few years offer.
Falcon rocket makes "accidental" landing at Mar a Lago.
Ford Falcon, Shirley.
Can you see Musk and Ramaswamy cooperating on anything for more than 20 minutes before they want to kill each other? I don't.
And I see the same with Trump and Musk.
Very much enjoying the nickname Elonia.
"...we've ridden ebbing and flowing waves of fascistic impulses since the founding"
Very much agreed. To help seal the deal on this (sobering, very accurate) assessment, look at the public history work of Tad Stoermer, who studies the "Patriot Myth" as it is marketed to the public. It confirms Nikole Hannah-Jones' findings in the 1619 Project & suggests we've been swallowing propaganda whole for centuries.
Really, my questions there are exercises in hairsplitting. Dunno how much answers matter all that much, in large part because how we got here is now kind of mooted.
The problem with the Party of Trump collapsing into whatever is that there is nothing good to take its place.
Til proven wrong (if), I’m treating the federal level as something to which we have no access, no agency.
Local/state/national varieties of fumbling fascism.
From the 'all politics is local' angle some places look pretty good now and into the future.
Who knows how long that prevails...
Now saying the local and state levels are paradise but it’s where we can have an effect. That’s all, they’re no better than that. Therefore, that’s where energies should be directed, not by listening to DNC BS, get caught in the grift, then get screwed with nothing good accomplished.
Construction contractors, car dealers, golf course operators...so many proto-fascist opportunities at the astroturfroots.
Again, not saying the local and state levels are great, just that thems were we can have effect and change stuff. Also where the gerrymandering can get undone.
Unlike the federal level which is completely closed to us as a practical matter.
What you said about an opposition that won’t fight…that may be the scariest part. The leadership cheerfully obeying in advance right out in the open. How demoralizing is that? When I first heard Michelle say, “when they go low, we go high” eight years ago, I took it to mean something more than abject surrender.
So how to chase the old guard out over the next2-3 years? Maybe there ARE fighters in the ranks. Who knows?
In Canada (and other places I’m sure) parties hold national conventions between elections. Policies are debated, grievances are aired, factions make themselves heard, new voices rise up. Above all, they have confidence votes over the current leader and their team.
The Democratic Party desperately needs a similar soul-searching. Calcified 20th century the-institutions-will-hold, comity-above-all thinking now that honest-to-god fascism has crossed the river and burst through the gates is nothing more than moral failure.
Actually, it’s worse because that “opposition that won’t fight” been what the Democrats have been doing for well over thirty years already. This is more that despite the election, they’re committed to business as usual. God knows that they raised a shitload of money this cycle and that’s what’s important to them — the DNC and many if not most of their politicians.
Obviously, the only answer is a takeover by progressives who know what needs to be done and are dedicated to doing it. Starts with enough people being interested in running…
And sure, it’ll take forever. Just like the GOP’s pushing of America to a locked in(?) fascist state took decades.
No one has ever tried to do what the Republican party claims it wants to do, dismantle the federal regulatory state, "mass" (we'll see) deportation, and show trial persecution of enemies of the State, 'le Trump. They have their Federalist powerpoints and Project sheets I'm sure. I think they'll walk into an office, tell everyone they're fired, then order them to "train" their sucessors. This is an area where the whole-hearted support of the Republican party doesn'f mean shit. What do you think happens next? Biden will probably order"full co-operation" because he believes he has to. We'll see what that means to the grunts.
I think mass firings will be the least of it.
You know and I know that there's a lot of bloat at the Pentagon waiting to tossed. Same at other agencies, State especially. (Been a problem or something since Nixon took foreign policy back into the White House.) The crises will be what's done past the firings, like Blanche at Justice.
May we live interesting times...
I don't know how fascist we are - I do know we are genocidal AF.
A few quickies...
I expect fuck ups galore. But the media won't care unless it slots into the They're weird people storyline. And, as ever, the DNC can be counted on to do approximately nothing. (Of course, they're powerless now so even if they were interested, they'd get nothing done beyond spewing BS and keep on grifting.)
By and by, the DNC is not our ally. If I haven't made my rant re the post-Clinton party clear enough, I'm not going to do it now.
And IMO (another rerun here), perspective is important. Don't fall the DNC's BS. Focus on where one can help get stuff done: on the state and local level as well as private entities that actually, you know, help people. Save compassion and stuff for the deserving.
Also, good advice: Give Scott Dworkin no money. Block his scurvy ass.
There are no doubt a few exceptions but my new rule going forward for moi is no money goes to any D POTUS or Senatorial candidates and nearly no House candidates. I'm an old fart and the years have taken its toll: too much seeing the Clintonites spewing empty promises and getting ~nothing in exchange.
And here we are.
And continually taking Cokie Roberts' advice to Bill in 1995 to "move to the right", which is a large part of how we got here.
More like don't think about moving leftward.
Slick Willy was already well committed to being an alt-Republican.
By 1995, FWIW, I was already turned off to the mainstream media, or at least TV which, in my naiveté, found it's sole big failure being superficial. So Cokie (queen of the TV nepo babies) was never anyone of any importance to me.
I don't think much of the Democrats except they're the people who run against the Republicans and win about half of the time. Should I be expecting something more? Gross incompetence - if you're one half of a two-party system - should produce a success rate significantly less than the coin-flip rate.
"Should I be expecting something more?"
Hope that's some sort of joke. Because the question should be answering itself.
It's like I have to reference the Goldwater line daily now...
But yes, when the dominant party is destroying the nation (it is, now more than ever), the other party maybe should do more than being echo and be an actual choice. Like provide something better than joining in with the destruction.
I meant specifically in terms of success at the polls. The DNC is a bunch of fuckups who can't run a proper campaign, and yet the D gets chosen about as often as the R.
Also, they're a political party, not Braveheart. So I expect them to run candidates when there's an election, and to win about as often as they do. Historically, the role of the Dems in the Fight for Justice has been to sit on the sidelines and wait for the social movements to do all the heavy lifting and the moving of public opinion, and then to step in and take all the credit. A deal I don't object to so much, because - if they can win some elections - they get to put the social movement's goals into laws, a thing we can't do ourselves.
Yeah, about that putting progressive goals into laws…
If only. Of course, these days they’re apparently cool with cool with SCOTUS undoing, blocking, whatever putting those goals into laws.
Well, the climate movement got quite a bit out of the Biden admin in the two years they had the trifecta. I just read about how Biden's methane rules might be hard for Trump to overturn because he had them written into the IRA.
Is it enough? No, never is.
I have no hope for global warming being addressed the way it needs to be eg globally. Gonna be addressed however much it is locally and by us however much we can.
Here's one ray of sunshine: It is apparent (to me, at least) that Trump is now trolling his own Party with his cabinet picks. He's trying to turn his process into not just a loyalty test but a public humiliation ritual for all his lickspittles in the House and Senate. Stefanik as UN ambassador? Well, okay. Not unreasonable. Huckabee to Israel? Um, getting a bit on the Rapture end of the scale, but sure.
Fox TV host as Sec Def? Even Trump's supporters are questioning this one.
Matt Gaetz as AG?!?!?! Well, this seems to be a turd too far. Having a convicted felon as president AND a self-professed child molester as AG--especially since Gaetz is someone despised by EVERYONE--is proving too much for even people who love the taste of Trump's sweaty underwear.
Funny thing about open defiance: Once it happens and nobody dies, it makes open revolt much easier.
Child molesters are Americans too and have a right to representation!
Only thing I would argue with is that he’s trolling. Trolling would suggest there’s at least some thought, some intent, behind noms like Gaetz. But per Tiger Beat on the Potomac this morning…nah. Gaetz was Boris Epshytein’s idea, sold to Trump on a plane ride while his supposed CoS pick Wiles was in a different compartment, completely unaware of what was going on. And he just truthed it out. As we know from the first time around, the easiest way to get Donnie to do what you want is to be the last person to talk to him. Here we go again.
"Gaetz was Boris Epshytein’s idea"
Hmmm. Should I thank Boris next time I see him?
Also, can you imagine how owned Gaetz is now?
I’m sure he’s having fun. https://substack.com/@wkamaubell/note/c-77105603?r=ez0o&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
I wrote on Bluesky that, as Sec. of State, Liddle Marco will do what? Why, he'll go on diplomatic missions to allies and enemies. When he arrives at the former, he'll be greeted by people who have contempt for him and who desipise his boss. When he arrives at the latter, he'll be warmly welcomed by people he either hates, or knows he should hate. So maybe Trump's nomination of him was for purposes of humiliation. Clever!
This is why he picked Jay-Dee as his veep - he'd said mean things about Lumpy in the past and Lumpy wanted to see him grovel.
As recently as a week or two ago, Mike Huckabee was appearing on a Z-list TV network selling sleeping pills.
Relaxium Sleep, the cries of caged immigrant children won't keep YOU awake!
I'm not the first to note that this is "Appoint your horse to the Senate to show the Senate how much contempt you have for it."
I'm down for this. Would we want to assign one nominee to that role? Hell no, sez I. With so many potential equines on offer, perhaps we should distribute individual horseparts to the appropriate nominees just so's we don't run outta inventory.
Getting away with shit is Trump's superpower . It makes me so God damn man I could spit. It makes us all feel helpless. I think you're right there's nothing we can do about it. I plan on converting hardcore Christianity in my final moments, mostly so I can think about fuckers like Trump burning in hell.
Sure he's fat Hitler, but not really. Hitler was a combat veteran, a war hero by all accounts. Trump's way more Mussolini or Franco. A fat ass, greedy coward. I think this will mitigate the damage.
I like that the cabinet is full of clowns. None of them have the work ethic to run the government, much less fundamentally change it. The sidelining of Mitch McConnell is a blessing . Fucker knew how to get things done. Evil things. There's going to be a whole lot of terrible bullshit, but I bet it could get way way worse.
I've been ignoring things for the last week. I like it!
I'm not sure their job is to run anything but to provide loud, chaotic cover for the Heritage drones to eat the federal government alive. We could have four different AGs by 2026, each worse than the last. MTG could be the new head of NASA -- who's to say?
OMG, MTG! NASA? Jewish space lasers? Or do they spell it "Lazer"? Antisemite! Dems control the weather! We may yet prevail!
Yes to the ignoration, I've been doing that myself. Because when people actually get around to DOING stuff, I'm sure I'll get an email.
A story I've been thinking about lately is from a documentary about a small village in France that hid Jewish people during the German occupation. These folks didn't know anything about the Holocaust - most people didn't until nearly the end of the war. And they were living under absolute censorship in an occupied country so they knew nothing about what other people were doing to resist the Nazis, and they probably didn't know much about the overall progress of the war, either. So much they didn't know! But they knew enough to do what they did, and that was enough in my book.
Huh.
Ignoring things, its all the rage in the Smart Set! Ignoring the horserace Kremlinology is a very good idea right now. But Trump's superpower is the robust full-bodied support of the Republican party. He already knows how to throw lawyers at a problem until it goes away. Violating the Constitution, "winning" 2 impeachments (a new record) is on the party. This is the problem everyone wants to avoid: the threat to democracy isn't Trump, it is the Republican party. They are the only reason he is where he is, and when he shuffles off to his spot on the back 9 at Mar-A-Largo the party remains, with his goals and his morality, looking for a replacement.
Weird, though, that other Republicans never do as well as Trump. Eric Hovde lied his ass off and fell short by about 30,000 votes while Trump made it just over the line by 30,000 votes. If anything, it seems a lot of voters see Generic Republican as worse than Trump.
That difference is what people talking about "charisma" are trying to quantify. I've tried to say this before, but Trump has Believers, followers, and hangers-around. Not everyone is in line to drink the Flav-R-Aid yet. Ironically it's more likely the Believers ignore down-ballot Republicans and off-year elections that the other groups. Theyre's probably more ways to slice the baloney that is Trump voters, but the key is its far from monolithic, and far from all his voters see him as God-Emperor. Its just that because of the Believers, Trump owns the Republican party, and the party is what will protect his ass for the next four years. The Bush-off Machine is gonna have a helluva job rinsing that stain out, though they've done it before. The 1 thing that would give me hope is a sign that the Democratic party understands what its antagonist is, a politicsl party dedicated to the subversion of democracy to dismantle the federal regulatory system. That's all I want. If they wanna do some Pelosi golf claps fine, but this is serious.
Here's my donation list. I give to these organizations every month. None of them gets a lot of money from me, but all of them get at least $25 a month.
The Carter Center
Planned Parenthood
National Network of Abortion Funds
Fund for the Feminist Majority
Pharmacy of Grace, a local organization that helps people with prescription costs
Elsie Publishing Institute, a woman owned, woman focused organization
PBS
NPR
I'm six or seven years from retirement and hunkering down. At this point I don't plan anymore on retiring, I'll just downshift and work part-time. But I've been working since I was 17, and I've been through hard times before. As my British ancestors would advocate, I'm keeping a stiff upper lip. I recall Elizabeth Cady Stanton as described in Betty Friedan's classic "The Feminine Mystique," writing to her friend Susan B Anthony to say that she was having yet another baby, and bluffing with the words, "Courage, Susan, we will not reach our prime till we're 50." I'm long past 50, but I'm hoping the years to come will portend my prime. My love and best wishes to the REBID gang.
🧡
Great to meet a fellow NNAF donor!
I've got a tshirt from the Indiana Abortion Fund, in large letters: #HOOSIERAF
Too bad you didn't get the Cheesehead edition.
You have just now met a new fellow donor.
If Kamala can raise ONE BILLION DOLLARS in just a few months, let's all see what we can do for abortion rights.
This will be Nixon without the visit to China - the current wars will end somehow in a way that harms Ukraine and Palestine, political enemies will be spied on and attacked. It will be Reagan without the nuclear disarmament talks - tax cuts and assaults on public lands. Trump obsessing with Black and brown people will bring back post—Reconstruction assaults on “aliens.” However, the Nixon administration’s control of the bureaucracy depended on Haldeman and Watergate forced him out. My advice to Democrats which they won’t listen to is to pick the few competent Trump appointees like Homan and work to destroy them. Praising them publicly as the real brains of the administration is a good way to get Trump to turn on them and assholes like Homan love to be seen as the alpha male in the room. Whether Dem leaders will pivot from this “We’re the normal ones who will treat this like any other transition, unlike them” phase to working with whatever tools are available, like press access and befriending lower level stooges to gather the goods on Gaetz et al, I don’t know. Right now everyone seems to be vying for “Most Supine Response to Fascism” as if it were an Olympic sport.
Fink. That's a word I haven't heard in a long, long time. I think it's my new favorite. My cats will be called Fink instead of Shithead. Did I have an anxiety dream about Comer coming after ActBlue? Or is it true? Hm. I'll Google it later. There is just so much fuckery flying around it is hard to keep track.
I support a few independent media sites every month, in addition to a few individual writers like Roy. ProPublica, The American Prospect, Drop Site, and Judd Legum's site I've forgotten the name, Popular Comment? -- all do good work. And Wikimedia. I also donate locally to a few groups like Concerned Citizens of Iowa, Iowa Abortion Access Fund, and the Des Moines Music Coalition. That's about the best I can do for now. We'll see how it goes, I'm keeping an eye on the barricades. Meditation, a daily 15 minute Qi gong session, and remembering to breathe help.
Why, yes. Republicans are scrutinizing possible foreign interference/illegal donations
made through ActBlue. Great.
I too plan to use "fink" more in the future. Possibly even "ratfink".
Yes to "fink" or "nogoodnik" if I'm feeling really angry.
Ratfink. Ratfink. I like it!
Was that a cartoon character in Mad magazine? I seem to remember a lolling tongue and protuberant eyes?
Hello, Google, my old friend. Lol
Yep. Ed Roth. But The Fink is much bigger than just Mad magazine. Fun!
There's also the film "Rat Pfink A Boo-Boo", which is mostly dull but goes kookoo 'nanners in the final 20 minutes or so.
See also "pfink"
Expecting Trump to face consequences is truly "grasping at logical straws in the madhouse that is now America." The political consultant cosplay Roy notes is as pointless as wasting attention on standard punditry. The full absurdity of Exceptionalism is for the first time completely open, and being shoved in our faces with the greatest of glee. No matter how much we know about this crew, the brazenness will have the power to shock. But Mr. Smith is not going to Washington, and it's best to have no illusions. Holding tighter than ever to values, yes, but illusions, no. And supporting worthy groups, building social capital locally and in whatever other ways we can.
I found the focus of this interview* with Daniel Hunter very worthwhile. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLBM2SEL6Rc
*Based on what Hunter wrote before the election: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/10-things-to-do-if-trump-wins/
"tighter than ever to values, yes, but illusions, no" yep
Yesterday Fuck Todd tweeted that the confirmation hearings might just save cable news for a while, and i was ready to book a flight and find and strangle the motherfucker.
[ but I didn't , alas ]
It's not too late!
Need to schedule Chuck an appointment for a haircut with that other Todd.
Ok, whose turn is it
To be the strangler, or the stranglee?
eta: Somebody.....Pleeeeeeeeeease......
Chuck Todd
@chucktodd
Increasingly clear Trump’s orbit is too online. There are a lot of normies who have no clue about the world Musk RFK Gaetz Vance all live in and believe. It’s weird and dangerous stuff; will turn off the very voters they just won over who simply hated this current economy.
"nearly all of you remember the Bush years at least and maybe some presidential disasters before that."
Aw, that's sweet. I remember the Nixon administration.
My sister wrote a letter to our small-town newspaper about the Nixon administration's support of the overthrow of Allende in Chile. She was 13.
My kinda gal....
I realized just now I actually go back farther than that, such that to my subconscious, "The President" means Lyndon Baines Johnson. I was watching when "Mah fellow Americuns, I come to you with a heavy heart...."
"Ah shall not seek, and Ah will not accept...."
Yep.
Those LBJ nationwide addresses! They were a TRIP! Remember "let us, for God's sake, resolve to live under the law"?
"And we shall overcome". Lots of racists shat themselves at that one.
Watching that on a little 12" b&w portable tv... My first moments of addiction to politics.
That's the advantage of having a TV repairman for a dad. Twenty-five inch color, bay-bay.
1968 was a helluva year for it.
"And your brain and adrenals are probably reading it as familiar. But you may also have, justifiably, a greater sense of dread cooking on the back burners of your amygdala."
This is what I was trying to evoke yesterday.
I mean, *this* is what fascism *actually looks like*. We're conditioned by years of dystopia media to think it's all Krystallnacht all the time, but it looks normal on the outside. Think about how funny Mussolini was considered. Think about editorials in the FNYT about how Hitler was rebuilding Germany and how good for business and investment he'd be.
We're going to see a lot of evidence of evil a-brewin' for the next 10 weeks coupled with a lot of "ha ha, you said he'd be Hitler! HAHA!". But then, the fuckers were planning J6 out in the open with everyone looking and we all STILL got surprised when it happened.
The Banality Of Evil, but this time in American English.
What (especially) the MSM is missing is how motivated Trumpov is by revenge. Probably even more than greed. We wouldn't even *be* here had President Obama not humiliated him in public.
It's clear he doesn't really care about any of the responsibilities that come with the job, this is a "get out of jail free" card combined with a "put your enemies in jail or at least harass them endlessly with bullshit investigations" card.
People will say, "True, but hacks installed by the Heritage Foundation will attend to all the details." But it's hard for a President to accomplish much even when they really want to and are fully engaged with the process. When the guy at the top is mostly checked out, it's much harder.
Just look back at his first term and his inept attempt to replace Obamacare. Clear right from the start that he didn't have a clue what should replace it and cared even less. Just handed it over the Mitch & Paul and said "You guys figure it out." Harder to succeed when your "leader" is rallying the troops with "Eh, whatever."
And it was an incredibly mild poke at him by Obama! The seething resentment that inspired... The skin, it's *so* thin.
Excellent point. In the movies, they take out all the boring parts.
"Major Strasser has been shot. The club's about to close and I haven't got my last espresso. The cleaning lady missed her bus and my laundry ain't done, yet, so I'll haveta wear today's uniform again tomorrow. I got 6 officer out with the flu.
Round up the...where was I?"
"The problems of two little people don't amount to a hill of beans..." (phone buzzes) "Hold on, I'm getting another text from Kamala Harris."
"Stop that plane!"...[muttering] "Oh, never mind – no one will ever believe that thing can fly anyway...when do we break for lunch?"
Oh - and for supporting, I have a set of podcasts like Knowledge Fight, QAA, I Don't Speak German, and The Professional Left that I support as my news/entertainment sources, REBID of course, Wonkette, and a monthly donation to The Trevor Project, because fuck knows that's a vital lifeline for so many kids.
Sadly, it appears that many people who liked Harris, were anti-fascist, pro-abortion, pro-trans, etc. were so mad about inflation that they voted for Trump and his bad economic plans (not that those were easy to find in the media)
"OK, asshole, get busy making chicken cheaper, because that's all you were hired to do."
All Hail Commander in Chief, Cheap Chicken.
Make Chicken Cheep Again!
Finally, liberated from the cruel reign of Kween Kamala, who said "Let them eat peeps."
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/chicken-culprit-2
What a crowd! What a crowd! I was in rough shape last week but I'm okay now. A little comedic relief? I'm telling you, I don't get no respect, ever since I registered as a Democrat, things have been going South.
Maybe I should switch back. I voted Democrat anyway but could start conversations with, I'm a registered Republican, and confuse the heck out of people.
But seriously, folks, ask yourselves and others when do we say no and enough? What is an outrage too far? Whom do we feel is verboten to commit atrocities on?
Take the temperature early and often in the diseased state. Don't let the water come to a boil with all the amphibians feeling fine.
2 marks for 'going South'
Hey Boss, I see the Onion just bought Infowars, I assume that includes the whole mailing list, they may be looking for talent to pump out the weekly Hardcore, who's better qualified for the job than you?
From your lips to God's ears
C'mon, young man, I wanna see some HUSTLE.