"Ambitious men with no core, great ambitions and fragile egos seem to be a particular, susceptible prey for Trump."
Steve, that is a very apt statement. People who fawn over Musk and Trump can never really be satisfied. The amount of power they want is unattainable. The dollars they chase after are ultimately unfulfilling and it is all because they have no core, no goals or values beyond the superficial pursuit of money and power and never will they have enough of either to soothe their fragile egos. And Musk and Trump are exactly like the people who pay them ceaseless and nauseating homage. They just happen to be at the top of the pyramid right now. The base they are building on is weak and will crumble and fall and the aftermath will be painful for all. However, there will be a renewal of commitment to worthwhile goals and values; that is, of course, if the disaster that brings Trump and cadre down doesn't destroy us all.
Unless there is a real effort sometime in the near future to rein in the fat-takers, like CEO pay and mega businesses that don't pay their fair share or the wealthiest 1% that own 80% of everything, there will be no renewal. There will be no return to worthwhile goals and values. EVER!!!
Why can’t our Democrats see this? Every revolution, toppling of rulers or govts has occurred when most all of the wealth of a country is hoarded into the hands of a very few.
Regular citizens, no matter what party they align themselves with, are really, really angry about this. This has never been more evident than in the SM comments on the killing of the United Healthcare CEO.
Instead of our senators, representatives, mayors, & govenors scolding us, shaming us for our feelings; they should learn from this outpouring of rage & commit themselves to actually doing something about the healthcare & insurance industry. That should just be a starting point!! Raising taxes on corporations & the ultra wealthy, closing the nonsense loopholes that allow them to wiggle out of paying must get done. I fear if they don’t fix those things, there actually may be an actual armed revolt or more lone wolf murders.
I’m a retired RN, spent 41 yrs of my life caring for others, & would never harm another person; but I had those gut feelings too. I just couldn’t manage to feel empathy for that man.
Custer riding off alone, killing his own horse while trying to kill a buffalo! Pitch perfect comparison for the stupidity and hubris of "President" Musk. You make my day, Steve, even in this dark time. It is the little things that keep hope alive. Keep on. You are a national treasure.
As Lincoln said, we only cease to exist as a country by suicide. Just like Greece. This is how nations and a way of life ends. Our "way of life" is seriously ill.
A friend told me, yesterday, that it isn't that Trump/MAGA "won" so much as that the Democrats "lost". It rang very true to me. Dem campaign and media -major screw-up.
Yes, many of our Democrats made some serious errors in reading the public’s feelings, or ignoring them.
From speaking with, & arguing with, my own family members who are trump voters, & reading the comments under posts on sm, these are the things that I think they really got so wrong:
1) Not being honest about the migrant issue & not aggressively correcting the lies told by Rs.
2) Failing to address the trans issue, to answer the massive number of really despicable negative ads that the Rs flooded tv & radio with.
3) Massively underestimating the horror that people felt about the death toll in Gaza, the use of starvation as a weapon of war. Our young people were especially appalled & refused to vote for the party that they saw as facilitating it.
We must add George Stephanopolous to the VichyMSM Team, alongside Maggie Haberman, JoeMika, and the LA Times. You said it best: the media is not a player in this epic fight. Trump isn’t even president yet and look at the chaos he’s sown just this week. Where’s Biden? Where is Schumer? Good god, can’t somebody put on the field an opposing team!
Unfortunately neither Biden nor Schumer are good public communicators. Biden got so many great bills passed, he’s a hard working & ethical person; but there is no denying that age has affected his ability to think on his feet quickly & to speak extemporaneously well.
We are screwed. I knew this was going to happen when we all found out that Musk was funding the Trump campaign. Musk knew Trump would owe him for Musk purchasing Trump's presidency. Now Musk is the defacto president of the United States.
And Biden, after accomplishing the ONLY action since the election---pardoning his son---has gone into hibernation. SCOTUS gave him immense powers of immunity....& Joe used not an ounce.
I hope he can get one thing done with the time he has left. Getting the 28th amendment AKA the ERA written into the constitution. It's just sitting there waiting for someone to activate it.
YES damn it. Please everyone fill in the official “Contact the Whitehouse” form asking him to do that & follow that up by calling too. He needs to get 1000s of messages.
Truth! I suppose the comparison is Custer to Musk? Folks should know that Native people EVERYWHERE, Lakota or not, celebrate the day it all ended for Custer.
Writing our senators on each issue is something we can do. Blocking the channel and canceling the subscription are some things we can do. The strike, the boycott are some things we can do.
We are indeed at a crisis point the likes of which very very few Americans have been alive to witness. A pseudo-POTUS-elect who is the richest person on earth and who acts like the child-god in an old Star Trek episode who toyed with the crew of the Enterprise until his "parent-gods" reined him in. Alas for us, there are only "us" at some point, somehow, to rein in the pseudo-POTUS-nonelected and the pathological-POTUS-elected man-child. It is said that at such times leaders will emerge. I don't see who that might be, to save us. Pete? Hakim? Jamie? AOC?
Biden could arrest him in the interest of the People's Government. He'd be immune from prosecution. Maybe freeze his assets? Oh that would a sting to remember! Cry crocodile tears about the Marxists taking over the means of production.....ha ha.
As a former journalist, I’m stunned at the state of my once revered profession. It is now an editorial shit show, populated by partisan pols and owned and controlled by a handful of rich guys who have no interest in fact based reporting. Those who would and could actually report truth to power have been pushed out or left in disgust. Thank God for the independent media like Meidas …. They are my go-to. They deal in facts. They report the truth. Next are folks like Steve, Lincoln Project, etc. I cancelled my NY Times and WaPo subscriptions after their shoddy work during the election where they covered over the reality that was, and is, Trump. Democracy is anchored by a strong and unfettered media. You now know what happens when that’s gone.
I jumped in & became a founding subscriber to Zeteo, the independent media company started by Medhi Hasan. I was really upset when he was pushed off msnbc because he spoke the truth about the criminal behavior of Netanyahu & the IDF.
The first person accounts just now coming out from IDF soldiers who have returned from the war, are proving that he was correct. The purposeful slaughter of women, children, & the elderly & then reporting them as Hamas combatants is disgusting.
I so agree. The half hearted resistance, with the classic foot in mouth techniques so popular with Biden has dragged us down this old path of white male dominance so popular with both parties.
Steve, since when have you had your extensive vocabulary? Have you developed it since you were a kid or did you develop it once in college? Besides your political and human-centric points of view, I relish your words, many of which I look up quite frequently.
Don't forget Mitch McConnell dodged every opportunity he had to draw a line against Trump and to put country over party.
"Ambitious men with no core, great ambitions and fragile egos seem to be a particular, susceptible prey for Trump."
Steve, that is a very apt statement. People who fawn over Musk and Trump can never really be satisfied. The amount of power they want is unattainable. The dollars they chase after are ultimately unfulfilling and it is all because they have no core, no goals or values beyond the superficial pursuit of money and power and never will they have enough of either to soothe their fragile egos. And Musk and Trump are exactly like the people who pay them ceaseless and nauseating homage. They just happen to be at the top of the pyramid right now. The base they are building on is weak and will crumble and fall and the aftermath will be painful for all. However, there will be a renewal of commitment to worthwhile goals and values; that is, of course, if the disaster that brings Trump and cadre down doesn't destroy us all.
Well said Anthony. A house built on sand cannot stand....
Unless there is a real effort sometime in the near future to rein in the fat-takers, like CEO pay and mega businesses that don't pay their fair share or the wealthiest 1% that own 80% of everything, there will be no renewal. There will be no return to worthwhile goals and values. EVER!!!
Why can’t our Democrats see this? Every revolution, toppling of rulers or govts has occurred when most all of the wealth of a country is hoarded into the hands of a very few.
Regular citizens, no matter what party they align themselves with, are really, really angry about this. This has never been more evident than in the SM comments on the killing of the United Healthcare CEO.
Instead of our senators, representatives, mayors, & govenors scolding us, shaming us for our feelings; they should learn from this outpouring of rage & commit themselves to actually doing something about the healthcare & insurance industry. That should just be a starting point!! Raising taxes on corporations & the ultra wealthy, closing the nonsense loopholes that allow them to wiggle out of paying must get done. I fear if they don’t fix those things, there actually may be an actual armed revolt or more lone wolf murders.
I’m a retired RN, spent 41 yrs of my life caring for others, & would never harm another person; but I had those gut feelings too. I just couldn’t manage to feel empathy for that man.
Custer riding off alone, killing his own horse while trying to kill a buffalo! Pitch perfect comparison for the stupidity and hubris of "President" Musk. You make my day, Steve, even in this dark time. It is the little things that keep hope alive. Keep on. You are a national treasure.
Yes, Steve Schmidt brings experience, knowledge, his gifts...and sheer grit, day after day!
As Lincoln said, we only cease to exist as a country by suicide. Just like Greece. This is how nations and a way of life ends. Our "way of life" is seriously ill.
A friend told me, yesterday, that it isn't that Trump/MAGA "won" so much as that the Democrats "lost". It rang very true to me. Dem campaign and media -major screw-up.
I agree. Dem dumbasses are/were victims of their own hubris. I'm not letting myself off the hook either. I misread everything.
Yes, many of our Democrats made some serious errors in reading the public’s feelings, or ignoring them.
From speaking with, & arguing with, my own family members who are trump voters, & reading the comments under posts on sm, these are the things that I think they really got so wrong:
1) Not being honest about the migrant issue & not aggressively correcting the lies told by Rs.
2) Failing to address the trans issue, to answer the massive number of really despicable negative ads that the Rs flooded tv & radio with.
3) Massively underestimating the horror that people felt about the death toll in Gaza, the use of starvation as a weapon of war. Our young people were especially appalled & refused to vote for the party that they saw as facilitating it.
I totally agree. These are major flaws that should not have been overlooked.
We must add George Stephanopolous to the VichyMSM Team, alongside Maggie Haberman, JoeMika, and the LA Times. You said it best: the media is not a player in this epic fight. Trump isn’t even president yet and look at the chaos he’s sown just this week. Where’s Biden? Where is Schumer? Good god, can’t somebody put on the field an opposing team!
I think the Dems are waiting for the GOP to self implode, and they seem to be dangerously close to it. Fingers crossed.
Agreed.
Unfortunately neither Biden nor Schumer are good public communicators. Biden got so many great bills passed, he’s a hard working & ethical person; but there is no denying that age has affected his ability to think on his feet quickly & to speak extemporaneously well.
We are screwed. I knew this was going to happen when we all found out that Musk was funding the Trump campaign. Musk knew Trump would owe him for Musk purchasing Trump's presidency. Now Musk is the defacto president of the United States.
And the comedy of it is that neither Trump or musk have no standing in congress at this moment yet they control it? Go figure.
And Biden, after accomplishing the ONLY action since the election---pardoning his son---has gone into hibernation. SCOTUS gave him immense powers of immunity....& Joe used not an ounce.
Yeah Biden could really raise hell with the Republicans if he wanted. Maybe in Jan. Free Leonard! Etc.
Talk about pissing off the FBI and "the deep state", maybe Trump should also consider freeing Leonard if Biden doesn't. lol
Pathetic. Biden and team let us down, entirely, and Biden continues to do so.
I hope he can get one thing done with the time he has left. Getting the 28th amendment AKA the ERA written into the constitution. It's just sitting there waiting for someone to activate it.
YES damn it. Please everyone fill in the official “Contact the Whitehouse” form asking him to do that & follow that up by calling too. He needs to get 1000s of messages.
Nailed it again Steve. BTW I was wondering if President Musk gets Secret Service protection?
"...who saw a golden calf, where most saw an orange buffoon." Brilliant.
Truth! I suppose the comparison is Custer to Musk? Folks should know that Native people EVERYWHERE, Lakota or not, celebrate the day it all ended for Custer.
Writing our senators on each issue is something we can do. Blocking the channel and canceling the subscription are some things we can do. The strike, the boycott are some things we can do.
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/nomination-abominations?r=3m1bs
And add this to the list, not buying a Tesla. I drive down the road and give the finger to everyone I see, occupied or not.
We are indeed at a crisis point the likes of which very very few Americans have been alive to witness. A pseudo-POTUS-elect who is the richest person on earth and who acts like the child-god in an old Star Trek episode who toyed with the crew of the Enterprise until his "parent-gods" reined him in. Alas for us, there are only "us" at some point, somehow, to rein in the pseudo-POTUS-nonelected and the pathological-POTUS-elected man-child. It is said that at such times leaders will emerge. I don't see who that might be, to save us. Pete? Hakim? Jamie? AOC?
Biden could arrest him in the interest of the People's Government. He'd be immune from prosecution. Maybe freeze his assets? Oh that would a sting to remember! Cry crocodile tears about the Marxists taking over the means of production.....ha ha.
As a former journalist, I’m stunned at the state of my once revered profession. It is now an editorial shit show, populated by partisan pols and owned and controlled by a handful of rich guys who have no interest in fact based reporting. Those who would and could actually report truth to power have been pushed out or left in disgust. Thank God for the independent media like Meidas …. They are my go-to. They deal in facts. They report the truth. Next are folks like Steve, Lincoln Project, etc. I cancelled my NY Times and WaPo subscriptions after their shoddy work during the election where they covered over the reality that was, and is, Trump. Democracy is anchored by a strong and unfettered media. You now know what happens when that’s gone.
I jumped in & became a founding subscriber to Zeteo, the independent media company started by Medhi Hasan. I was really upset when he was pushed off msnbc because he spoke the truth about the criminal behavior of Netanyahu & the IDF.
The first person accounts just now coming out from IDF soldiers who have returned from the war, are proving that he was correct. The purposeful slaughter of women, children, & the elderly & then reporting them as Hamas combatants is disgusting.
Do not loose sight that all this is to remove the debt ceiling.
So they can spend as they wish and plunge us further in debt
Then blame that debt as reason to cut every program that benefits citizens.
I so agree. The half hearted resistance, with the classic foot in mouth techniques so popular with Biden has dragged us down this old path of white male dominance so popular with both parties.
Steve, since when have you had your extensive vocabulary? Have you developed it since you were a kid or did you develop it once in college? Besides your political and human-centric points of view, I relish your words, many of which I look up quite frequently.