There is trouble ahead. No doubt about it. There has never been a time without it. What changes is the nature of the trouble and the temperature. The boundaries of the world are pushing outward past the lifetimes of the men and women who were the warriors, liberators, survivors and participants of the Second World War. These events are rapidly slipping into history, past the line of lived and shared human experience. They will soon no longer exist as memory, but rather purely history. There will be no one alive who remembers the events – and that will be significant for the first generations freed from the lived memory of humanity’s greatest trial and most dangerous hours.
I’m practically left speechless, my father and his 2 brothers who fought the scourge of fascism wouldn’t believe it was possible that the country they risked their lives for, on a daily basis for years, could possibly embrace the debased ideology they fought against. You are right Steve to call out the press for their lack of clarity in reporting what they are witnessing. I didn’t go to CPAC, nor did I watch any of the drivel that was spouted by the participants, but the press did, and why wasn’t the obscenity of what took place there front page news all over this country? I would like to think we are in another Y2K moment which turned out to much ado about nothing, but there are way too many alarm bells ringing to ignore the threat we as a society are now facing, and as we face this threat, we need to remember that we are doing it, as the tip of the spear, for the rest of the world, if it doesn’t stop here where will it stop?
The writing I find each morning when I open The Warning is amazing and alarming. How can one person keep this up day after day? Reading Steve Schmidt, I feel transported to somewhere high above, where I can look down with clear eyes on a world (not just America) caught in a moment that few, if any, are seeing with such clarity. The context and scope of this daily writing is astonishing. Is there anyone else conveying what is happening in this moment with such a grasp of history? Or such conviction? If we were to get just one commentary a week like the one today - Call Fascism by its Name - it would be remarkable. I don't think it's alarmist to be framing events like CPAC this way. The darkness of authoritarianism is rising everywhere. Here in Canada the same forces are building, and have been for years. We could well have a prime minister after the next election whose ethics and instincts differ little from Trump. (But pace yourself Steve. We need you to endure.)
Orban invoked that ol' "globalist" dogwhistle within the first few seconds of his speech, and that grotesque crowd greeted it with a standing O. The entirety of CPAC was an assault on decency and truth, from Orban (and why is a Hungarian, with their ancestral melange of cultures, going on about "racial purity"?) to the stage-pacing, MLM-conference-style speechifying of the ridiculous Lauren Boebert, to famewhore Marge whatserface getting on her knees in a faux jail cell to pray for Jan. 6 insurrectionists in a demented piece of performance art, to hundreds of lies upon lies upon lies vomited all over the stage by major GOP players.
Through all the buffoonery it was too easy for the public to ignore the dangerous, seditious rhetoric which now seems to be the entirety of the GOP party platform.
There is something particularly bracing about how you use past history to illuminate the here-and-now. Definitely not reading for the faint of heart...
My Uncle Dan was a very bright man, he had many gifts, he could play the accordion, liked photography, he prospected for gold in his beloved Colorado, drove an old Jeep in 1964 when we visited him, his nickname was Daniel Boone. But 20 years earlier he was serving in Europe during WWII, delivering mail to the troops, crossing the Great Pyrenees on a US government motorcycle, a welcomed and valuable guy. He toted his camera with him. So when the war ended, he found himself in the non-enviable position of being a soldier with a camera, documenting the atrocities of the liberated POW camps, I don’t know which one/s, he never spoke of it. But when I visited those famous towered walls at the National Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, and I looked at those photographs, I kept thinking, am I looking through my Uncle Dan‘s eyes? Am I seeing the horrors he documented for the first time with his camera? It was a chilling, haunting, visit, I had to leave. RIP my dear Uncle Dan. What a decent and wonderful man.
As usual, Steve, you do not disappoint! Please, for the love of God, the country, and humanity, keep on saying what needs to be said!
I am old enough to remember when ignorance was something to be overcome by education, not a synonym for conservative, something to be worn as a badge of honor!
In 1965, Lyndon Johnson said something to the effect ( I am not quoting LBJ because I can not remember the exact quote) that as long as the worst white man thought he was better than the best black man, America would never achieve the greatness she was capable of achieving. How incredibly sad and painful that 57 years later, in 2022, that this is still the truth because there are those who want to hang on to all their grievances and resentments, and unfortunately for the country, no shortage of those who will exploit them for their greed and lust for power.
However, we would be remiss if we turn a blind eye to the mainstream media enablers. Working backwards, you are absolutely right Steve when you say that CPAC, Orban, Matt Schlapp, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and all the other bottom feeders get covered like a sports event and not as the socio-political power grab it is. Also, let’s not forget the self-justification offered by the media, that they have to be fair to both sides. This justifies giving equal coverage to both sides, the most salient example being that the media, in covering Donald Trump, whether it was the “locker room talk” tape, the allegations of Russian interference, or various other issues, the media then felt compelled to give equal negative coverage to Hilary Clinton, and when there was nothing, there were the e-mails.
I believe strongly in a free press! That said, though, when you have rights you also have responsibility, and the media has failed miserably at being responsible.
Keep up the good work Steve, we need your voice now more than ever,
Some will argue that CPAC was not always a radical organization but I disagree. CPAC has always been first and foremost about religious zealous. The difference now is in order to fill their ranks and gain power they are uniting with the extreme right and embracing fascism. It is a most dangerous game and it will be devastating if it is allowed to grow stronger. We have always had a minority of malcontents anti government and assorted neo nazis but with union of the Christian Right it has given fascism a Sronghold in the USA. We are our own most dangerous adversary this country will face and it will only benefit Putin and Ping. Russia and China know if we are fighting each other in the USA we can be beaten or at least weakened in the eyes of the world.
It would not surprise me to learn monies from outside influence is behind the movement to the right here. We know now the NRA had close ties with know Russian agent.
The only thing worse than Orban's speech was Trump's campaign announcement speech.
We all have to hammer what Steve's hammering here. I had a good friend when I first came to Hollywood, you'd recognize him as a "Hollywood Legend" if I dropped his name. He came here from Germany in 1933. He'd recognized the Nazis for what they were in 1928 and kept telling his friends what he knew. Only his friends saw the Nazis as "clowns" and assured him they couldn't possibly take power. They called him a "crank" on the subject. The night the Nazis won the election and Hitler got called by Hindenburg, he packed everything he owned in a steamer trunk, called a cab to the Berlin Railway, bought a one-way ticket on the Paris Express. "I returned 12 years later to find all my friends were dead. Killed by the clowns."
Steve thanks for sounding the alarm. Too bad the media isn’t sounding the alarm. On the other hand, they do have to be fair and balanced to the Fuhrer and national conservatism, right. This is what real journalism is all about, covering both sides fairly, and letting you decide, lol. Steve I got chills when you wrote that almost everyone, the liberators, the survivors of WW2 are almost gone. And the shared experience and living memory of the horror of hitler and the nazis, and all that America sacrificed to defeat them and preserve our republic, freedom, and way of life, will soon go from living memory to purely history. I’m not sure what this means for us, but I hope and pray this fact does not give aid and comfort to the national conservatism movement. But it probably does. I fear what will happen if they win in 2024. As a result of his first term, Trump won’t make the same mistakes and appoint Patriots to positions of power. Instead he will appoint sycophants, loyal not to the Constitution, but to Trump. The law and the Constitution will be whatever Trump says it is. Who’s going to enforce the court order for Trump to comply with the Constitution? Who’s going to arrest Trump? His FBI Director? His Dir. of the U.S. Marshalls? Who’s going to physically remove him from the White House if he’s impeached, the Senate at Arms? Good luck getting through Trump’s hand picked Secret Service detail. He isn’t going anywhere. Many years ago, I remember this guy who would stand in front of a courthouse in LA every day with a sign, Fascism is coming to America, and yelling to everyone going by, “beware Fascism is coming.” I would think to myself. Man this guy is nuts and shake my head. Let us heed the Warning, get into action, get President Biden re-elected and smash MAGA this November!
Oh boy. So much to write. Don’t know where to start. The media needs to get its shit together plain and simple. Stop coveriytjede events. They need publicity. Don’t give it but cursory superficial notice. We need to know they are out there but don’t give them the poet of publicity. They lie and some people believe the lies. Destroy the lies. AND MIST IMPORTANTLY VOTE VOTE VOTE. Thanks Steve for continuing to remind us of this stink-hole of an organization.
Steve, I am frankly terrified of what is happening in our country. Thank you for putting into words. I will vote, talk with all people I know, and refer them to your clear writings.
Thank you for the historical context. I agree that as a general rule, journalists are prioritizing shiny topics over substance and this will have grave consequences.
The press is critical to democracy as emphasized in the bill of rights, but are increasingly viewed as “presenters” of curated editorials and opinions rather than impartial “reporters.”
I’m practically left speechless, my father and his 2 brothers who fought the scourge of fascism wouldn’t believe it was possible that the country they risked their lives for, on a daily basis for years, could possibly embrace the debased ideology they fought against. You are right Steve to call out the press for their lack of clarity in reporting what they are witnessing. I didn’t go to CPAC, nor did I watch any of the drivel that was spouted by the participants, but the press did, and why wasn’t the obscenity of what took place there front page news all over this country? I would like to think we are in another Y2K moment which turned out to much ado about nothing, but there are way too many alarm bells ringing to ignore the threat we as a society are now facing, and as we face this threat, we need to remember that we are doing it, as the tip of the spear, for the rest of the world, if it doesn’t stop here where will it stop?
The writing I find each morning when I open The Warning is amazing and alarming. How can one person keep this up day after day? Reading Steve Schmidt, I feel transported to somewhere high above, where I can look down with clear eyes on a world (not just America) caught in a moment that few, if any, are seeing with such clarity. The context and scope of this daily writing is astonishing. Is there anyone else conveying what is happening in this moment with such a grasp of history? Or such conviction? If we were to get just one commentary a week like the one today - Call Fascism by its Name - it would be remarkable. I don't think it's alarmist to be framing events like CPAC this way. The darkness of authoritarianism is rising everywhere. Here in Canada the same forces are building, and have been for years. We could well have a prime minister after the next election whose ethics and instincts differ little from Trump. (But pace yourself Steve. We need you to endure.)
Orban invoked that ol' "globalist" dogwhistle within the first few seconds of his speech, and that grotesque crowd greeted it with a standing O. The entirety of CPAC was an assault on decency and truth, from Orban (and why is a Hungarian, with their ancestral melange of cultures, going on about "racial purity"?) to the stage-pacing, MLM-conference-style speechifying of the ridiculous Lauren Boebert, to famewhore Marge whatserface getting on her knees in a faux jail cell to pray for Jan. 6 insurrectionists in a demented piece of performance art, to hundreds of lies upon lies upon lies vomited all over the stage by major GOP players.
Through all the buffoonery it was too easy for the public to ignore the dangerous, seditious rhetoric which now seems to be the entirety of the GOP party platform.
There is something particularly bracing about how you use past history to illuminate the here-and-now. Definitely not reading for the faint of heart...
My Uncle Dan was a very bright man, he had many gifts, he could play the accordion, liked photography, he prospected for gold in his beloved Colorado, drove an old Jeep in 1964 when we visited him, his nickname was Daniel Boone. But 20 years earlier he was serving in Europe during WWII, delivering mail to the troops, crossing the Great Pyrenees on a US government motorcycle, a welcomed and valuable guy. He toted his camera with him. So when the war ended, he found himself in the non-enviable position of being a soldier with a camera, documenting the atrocities of the liberated POW camps, I don’t know which one/s, he never spoke of it. But when I visited those famous towered walls at the National Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, and I looked at those photographs, I kept thinking, am I looking through my Uncle Dan‘s eyes? Am I seeing the horrors he documented for the first time with his camera? It was a chilling, haunting, visit, I had to leave. RIP my dear Uncle Dan. What a decent and wonderful man.
The Holocaust is a horror studied I will never forget. It is alive and well at CPAC. That word should be put in context directly as Fascist.
It’s absolutely horrific to think in my 62 years, it’s really never gone away.
It disgusts me beyond comprehension.
Where are the public announcements, saying what this is.
Right here. I will Share this Public always.
Thank you Steve, for keeping us informed.
As usual, Steve, you do not disappoint! Please, for the love of God, the country, and humanity, keep on saying what needs to be said!
I am old enough to remember when ignorance was something to be overcome by education, not a synonym for conservative, something to be worn as a badge of honor!
In 1965, Lyndon Johnson said something to the effect ( I am not quoting LBJ because I can not remember the exact quote) that as long as the worst white man thought he was better than the best black man, America would never achieve the greatness she was capable of achieving. How incredibly sad and painful that 57 years later, in 2022, that this is still the truth because there are those who want to hang on to all their grievances and resentments, and unfortunately for the country, no shortage of those who will exploit them for their greed and lust for power.
However, we would be remiss if we turn a blind eye to the mainstream media enablers. Working backwards, you are absolutely right Steve when you say that CPAC, Orban, Matt Schlapp, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and all the other bottom feeders get covered like a sports event and not as the socio-political power grab it is. Also, let’s not forget the self-justification offered by the media, that they have to be fair to both sides. This justifies giving equal coverage to both sides, the most salient example being that the media, in covering Donald Trump, whether it was the “locker room talk” tape, the allegations of Russian interference, or various other issues, the media then felt compelled to give equal negative coverage to Hilary Clinton, and when there was nothing, there were the e-mails.
I believe strongly in a free press! That said, though, when you have rights you also have responsibility, and the media has failed miserably at being responsible.
Keep up the good work Steve, we need your voice now more than ever,
Some will argue that CPAC was not always a radical organization but I disagree. CPAC has always been first and foremost about religious zealous. The difference now is in order to fill their ranks and gain power they are uniting with the extreme right and embracing fascism. It is a most dangerous game and it will be devastating if it is allowed to grow stronger. We have always had a minority of malcontents anti government and assorted neo nazis but with union of the Christian Right it has given fascism a Sronghold in the USA. We are our own most dangerous adversary this country will face and it will only benefit Putin and Ping. Russia and China know if we are fighting each other in the USA we can be beaten or at least weakened in the eyes of the world.
It would not surprise me to learn monies from outside influence is behind the movement to the right here. We know now the NRA had close ties with know Russian agent.
The only thing worse than Orban's speech was Trump's campaign announcement speech.
We all have to hammer what Steve's hammering here. I had a good friend when I first came to Hollywood, you'd recognize him as a "Hollywood Legend" if I dropped his name. He came here from Germany in 1933. He'd recognized the Nazis for what they were in 1928 and kept telling his friends what he knew. Only his friends saw the Nazis as "clowns" and assured him they couldn't possibly take power. They called him a "crank" on the subject. The night the Nazis won the election and Hitler got called by Hindenburg, he packed everything he owned in a steamer trunk, called a cab to the Berlin Railway, bought a one-way ticket on the Paris Express. "I returned 12 years later to find all my friends were dead. Killed by the clowns."
That's what we're up against.
Trump so changed the dynamic that the abnormal and horrific now seems mundane.
Thank you Steve for so clearly articulating reality.
Steve, you’re the best of the best...
Steve thanks for sounding the alarm. Too bad the media isn’t sounding the alarm. On the other hand, they do have to be fair and balanced to the Fuhrer and national conservatism, right. This is what real journalism is all about, covering both sides fairly, and letting you decide, lol. Steve I got chills when you wrote that almost everyone, the liberators, the survivors of WW2 are almost gone. And the shared experience and living memory of the horror of hitler and the nazis, and all that America sacrificed to defeat them and preserve our republic, freedom, and way of life, will soon go from living memory to purely history. I’m not sure what this means for us, but I hope and pray this fact does not give aid and comfort to the national conservatism movement. But it probably does. I fear what will happen if they win in 2024. As a result of his first term, Trump won’t make the same mistakes and appoint Patriots to positions of power. Instead he will appoint sycophants, loyal not to the Constitution, but to Trump. The law and the Constitution will be whatever Trump says it is. Who’s going to enforce the court order for Trump to comply with the Constitution? Who’s going to arrest Trump? His FBI Director? His Dir. of the U.S. Marshalls? Who’s going to physically remove him from the White House if he’s impeached, the Senate at Arms? Good luck getting through Trump’s hand picked Secret Service detail. He isn’t going anywhere. Many years ago, I remember this guy who would stand in front of a courthouse in LA every day with a sign, Fascism is coming to America, and yelling to everyone going by, “beware Fascism is coming.” I would think to myself. Man this guy is nuts and shake my head. Let us heed the Warning, get into action, get President Biden re-elected and smash MAGA this November!
Oh boy. So much to write. Don’t know where to start. The media needs to get its shit together plain and simple. Stop coveriytjede events. They need publicity. Don’t give it but cursory superficial notice. We need to know they are out there but don’t give them the poet of publicity. They lie and some people believe the lies. Destroy the lies. AND MIST IMPORTANTLY VOTE VOTE VOTE. Thanks Steve for continuing to remind us of this stink-hole of an organization.
Steve, I am frankly terrified of what is happening in our country. Thank you for putting into words. I will vote, talk with all people I know, and refer them to your clear writings.
Thank you for the historical context. I agree that as a general rule, journalists are prioritizing shiny topics over substance and this will have grave consequences.
The press is critical to democracy as emphasized in the bill of rights, but are increasingly viewed as “presenters” of curated editorials and opinions rather than impartial “reporters.”