I’ll never understand how Americans became so weak and apathetic. Trump is like a drunk teenager who was given the keys to his dad’s brand new Porsche. He is smashing it to bits and his dad is afraid to yell at him and make him stop. Americans better get informed and pissed off!
Thanks to Steve for bringing Tara Palmieiri to the fore. I greatly honor her courage and integrity and always am grateful for hones journalism. There is no Freedom or Democracy without that.
I did have a problem with the interview, however. It was seen in the how threats from the Left and MAGA are the same, and it was seen in the denial of the role of Reagan in bringing us Trump.
First, the threats. I do not dismiss the disgusting nature of any real threats. Let's have conversation, not threat and I applaud Steve and his guests for giving us that. But there is a world of difference between the anger of the Left and the Death Squads of MAGA. To deny the chasm is to soft pedal the grave danger we all live in now that the Tyranny has taken power. I remember when the Health Director during COVID in Ohio did a great job in the early days of the pandemic. And then the crazed MAGA nuts gathered on her front lawn with Nazi slogans and intents, bringing actual death threats to her and her family. She served a Republican Governor. That Governor was a fanatic anti-abortion person and got tons of vituperation from the Left, but none of the Left ever showed up his lawn and actually threatened his life, NEVER.
Now we live in an America where somehow it's considered OK to celebrate violent criminals as heroes of a Party, OK that when someone dares to question Trump, Vance, or Musk, the MAGA death threats begin flowing, not just to you but your children too. The reign of terror is intense enough that GOP Senators (!) reveal in private they tremble for their lives. This is NOT in any way comparable to the hatred the Left of course spews, as any movement does at its worst.
Now to Reagan.
Let me clear, Trump is the greatest destroyer of our Democracy ever, ever. No one else even comes close. I will agree Biden's lies about his incapacity opened the door. It reminds me of the President of Germany deciding to invite Hitler to form a government in 1933. That was Hindenburg. He opened the door to Hitler and is culpable for quite a bit. But let's not pretend that Hindenburg's responsibility in any way is similar or at all equal to Hitler's. Please.
And now Reagan. As you say, Reagan's Cold War posture was no different that Truman-Eisenhower-Kennedy-LBJ-Nixon-Carter's. It's great he held the line and did so well. But it's not exactly like the Soviet Union would have continued if Carter got elected. The military build up of Reagan was launched by Carter.
But my real point is that Reagan was a huge force in turning the ship of the American state away from the era of FDR, we can even say he launched the era of Reagan. And there are several key, defining features of the era of Reagan that have never really gone away, and whose festering failures created the fury that is MAGA. Again, Trump is the true Destroyer here, a far more malignant character in our history than Reagan. That does not excuse what Reagan did, however.
Here are some highlights that define the Reagan era that we are now living a culmination of:
1. Reagan hated the Federal goverment. He wanted to crush it, destroy it. Under David Stockman, his OMB Director, he tried his hand at chopping down the Federal tree and it was a mess. He had to rehire folks, etc. But Reagan established for a majority of America that the government was their enemy. That was not how most folks felt from FDR to Carter. Keep in mind Reagan had a special hatred of Medicaid and Medicare and did not look kindly on Social Security.
2. Reagan crushed the unions. These days of plane crashes it is good to remember he began his crusade to strip workers of their best champions with the air traffic controller union. America has been scrambling to fill those posts since, but more importantly, the awesome rise of the middle class seen from FDR thru Carter came to a screeching halt with Reagan's clear intent and success in halting wage growth by crippling American unions.
3. Reagan brought in white nationalist Christianity into the halls of power. Jerry Falwell got his start when Jimmy Carter threatened to cut off non-profit status from private schools that would not integrate. Jerry ran a little school like that and got furious. It was white nationalist Christianity that fueled Falwell, and Reagan helped raise up this nut and his bigoted movement into a national cause.
4. Reagan created the culture of tax cuts for the wealthy, deficits and debts be damned. Maybe the GOP squawked the most about deficits and debts, but it was Reagan who launched an era in which they exploded. He cut those taxes, and there were no savings to pay for them. It crippled the Federal budget process and froze our Democracy's ability to address our real problems, all the money was spent.
Every one of these era defining actions, none of which would have happened without Reagan, defined the era of 1980-Now. Reagan is responsible for all these and as such set the stage for Trump. Trump could never have gotten away with crushing the Federal government, vilifying unions, elevating white nationalist Christianity to its highest powers, and driving tax cuts to the wealthy to extremes hard to imagine without 45 years of Reaganism cooking the nation.
There were important movements that paved the way for Hitler too. I hold them culpable, but again Hitler was by far the most evil of Germany's leaders. And so, yes, no need to take our eye off the real evil that threatens us all right now- the Musk-Trump regime and their MAGA followers.
Thank you again Steve for being a Champion of Democracy.
Arthur, thank you very much for that eloquent, factual argument that Reagan was the first step toward the "Christian" Nationalist oligarchy currently threatening us.
I am tired of equating progressives in America with either fascism or communism. I am tired of hearing that Democrats are as responsible as Republicans for the current administration and the domestic and foreign policies betraying our values and democracy.
What you wrote was perfect in every respect and I would love to see Mr. Schmidt respond directly to your comment. That would take courage. I await Mr. Schmidt's response.
I agree with you on all points. "It was seen in the how threats from the Left and MAGA are the same," I have a lot of problems with the shortsighted, unrealistic illiberal Left myself. But the number of violent threats and encounters pales in comparison to MAGA fanatics.
Another outstanding podcast this evening, Steve, with Tara Palmeri. Brilliance encapsulates you and your universe. I am humbled, Thank you, and will reStack ASAP 🙏
Steve. You are so very smart and insightful. I wish you would have handled this differently. I would have liked to understand better who Tara is, and to hear more from her. Thanks.
I’ll never understand how Americans became so weak and apathetic. Trump is like a drunk teenager who was given the keys to his dad’s brand new Porsche. He is smashing it to bits and his dad is afraid to yell at him and make him stop. Americans better get informed and pissed off!
Thanks to Steve for bringing Tara Palmieiri to the fore. I greatly honor her courage and integrity and always am grateful for hones journalism. There is no Freedom or Democracy without that.
I did have a problem with the interview, however. It was seen in the how threats from the Left and MAGA are the same, and it was seen in the denial of the role of Reagan in bringing us Trump.
First, the threats. I do not dismiss the disgusting nature of any real threats. Let's have conversation, not threat and I applaud Steve and his guests for giving us that. But there is a world of difference between the anger of the Left and the Death Squads of MAGA. To deny the chasm is to soft pedal the grave danger we all live in now that the Tyranny has taken power. I remember when the Health Director during COVID in Ohio did a great job in the early days of the pandemic. And then the crazed MAGA nuts gathered on her front lawn with Nazi slogans and intents, bringing actual death threats to her and her family. She served a Republican Governor. That Governor was a fanatic anti-abortion person and got tons of vituperation from the Left, but none of the Left ever showed up his lawn and actually threatened his life, NEVER.
Now we live in an America where somehow it's considered OK to celebrate violent criminals as heroes of a Party, OK that when someone dares to question Trump, Vance, or Musk, the MAGA death threats begin flowing, not just to you but your children too. The reign of terror is intense enough that GOP Senators (!) reveal in private they tremble for their lives. This is NOT in any way comparable to the hatred the Left of course spews, as any movement does at its worst.
Now to Reagan.
Let me clear, Trump is the greatest destroyer of our Democracy ever, ever. No one else even comes close. I will agree Biden's lies about his incapacity opened the door. It reminds me of the President of Germany deciding to invite Hitler to form a government in 1933. That was Hindenburg. He opened the door to Hitler and is culpable for quite a bit. But let's not pretend that Hindenburg's responsibility in any way is similar or at all equal to Hitler's. Please.
And now Reagan. As you say, Reagan's Cold War posture was no different that Truman-Eisenhower-Kennedy-LBJ-Nixon-Carter's. It's great he held the line and did so well. But it's not exactly like the Soviet Union would have continued if Carter got elected. The military build up of Reagan was launched by Carter.
But my real point is that Reagan was a huge force in turning the ship of the American state away from the era of FDR, we can even say he launched the era of Reagan. And there are several key, defining features of the era of Reagan that have never really gone away, and whose festering failures created the fury that is MAGA. Again, Trump is the true Destroyer here, a far more malignant character in our history than Reagan. That does not excuse what Reagan did, however.
Here are some highlights that define the Reagan era that we are now living a culmination of:
1. Reagan hated the Federal goverment. He wanted to crush it, destroy it. Under David Stockman, his OMB Director, he tried his hand at chopping down the Federal tree and it was a mess. He had to rehire folks, etc. But Reagan established for a majority of America that the government was their enemy. That was not how most folks felt from FDR to Carter. Keep in mind Reagan had a special hatred of Medicaid and Medicare and did not look kindly on Social Security.
2. Reagan crushed the unions. These days of plane crashes it is good to remember he began his crusade to strip workers of their best champions with the air traffic controller union. America has been scrambling to fill those posts since, but more importantly, the awesome rise of the middle class seen from FDR thru Carter came to a screeching halt with Reagan's clear intent and success in halting wage growth by crippling American unions.
3. Reagan brought in white nationalist Christianity into the halls of power. Jerry Falwell got his start when Jimmy Carter threatened to cut off non-profit status from private schools that would not integrate. Jerry ran a little school like that and got furious. It was white nationalist Christianity that fueled Falwell, and Reagan helped raise up this nut and his bigoted movement into a national cause.
4. Reagan created the culture of tax cuts for the wealthy, deficits and debts be damned. Maybe the GOP squawked the most about deficits and debts, but it was Reagan who launched an era in which they exploded. He cut those taxes, and there were no savings to pay for them. It crippled the Federal budget process and froze our Democracy's ability to address our real problems, all the money was spent.
Every one of these era defining actions, none of which would have happened without Reagan, defined the era of 1980-Now. Reagan is responsible for all these and as such set the stage for Trump. Trump could never have gotten away with crushing the Federal government, vilifying unions, elevating white nationalist Christianity to its highest powers, and driving tax cuts to the wealthy to extremes hard to imagine without 45 years of Reaganism cooking the nation.
There were important movements that paved the way for Hitler too. I hold them culpable, but again Hitler was by far the most evil of Germany's leaders. And so, yes, no need to take our eye off the real evil that threatens us all right now- the Musk-Trump regime and their MAGA followers.
Thank you again Steve for being a Champion of Democracy.
Arthur, thank you very much for that eloquent, factual argument that Reagan was the first step toward the "Christian" Nationalist oligarchy currently threatening us.
I am tired of equating progressives in America with either fascism or communism. I am tired of hearing that Democrats are as responsible as Republicans for the current administration and the domestic and foreign policies betraying our values and democracy.
What you wrote was perfect in every respect and I would love to see Mr. Schmidt respond directly to your comment. That would take courage. I await Mr. Schmidt's response.
I agree with you on all points. "It was seen in the how threats from the Left and MAGA are the same," I have a lot of problems with the shortsighted, unrealistic illiberal Left myself. But the number of violent threats and encounters pales in comparison to MAGA fanatics.
Another outstanding podcast this evening, Steve, with Tara Palmeri. Brilliance encapsulates you and your universe. I am humbled, Thank you, and will reStack ASAP 🙏
Thank you Steve. Best of luck to you and stay safe.
Steve. You are so very smart and insightful. I wish you would have handled this differently. I would have liked to understand better who Tara is, and to hear more from her. Thanks.
Steve can you bring my son on that camping weekend.
That was an impressive opening soliloquy from Tara