This is something I have been saying for the last four years: The likes of Gaetz, MTG, Tucker Carlson, my insurrectionist neighbors have no sense of history, no idea of what their betrayal of this country will bring. Same with the fat goose in the red tie who went to military school then fled Selective Service, tail between his legs. They all think war will never touch them because they live on the west side of the Atlantic.
They are wrong, and they will have brought this all to the rest of us.
Not only do they have “no idea” of history, they have no idea that a war in Europe would destroy our economy.
America First is America alone, and all of our Multinational corporations, international trade, and our GDP will pay the price; and it will be only a matter of time before we have to enter the conflict anyway; at a great cost.
Helping Ukraine keeps Russia preoccupied and weak to mount any strikes against the US. It keeps our Allie’s safe, which ultimately keeps America safe.
Unfortunately, there are too many Americans who have no clue how the global economy works, and how our military keeps shipping lanes and airspace free from our adversaries and allows the flow of cheap goods to keep Americans happy.
They have never had to serve in the military. They have never seen a combat zone. They have no concept of a war that touches them directly. What the people of Ukraine or Gaz are experiencing. Bombs dropping on them. As they play around with democracy like it is their own personal treasure and their birthright. Like it cannot be lost no matter what they do. Like fascism is to be admired. Like they will be in charge when democracy is lost.
No, they, too, will be victimized if we lose to fascism. They have zero clue.
I continue to quote "my" good comic strip friend, Pogo: "I have seen the enemy, and he is us." The elephant in the room is the Republican Party standing proud on Nazism and fascism. That one entire political Party in our country would be so boldly and nakedly anti-America is chilling. The authoritarianism being proffered by Trump and his minions is nothing like this country has ever witnessed or experienced. The Civil War pales in comparison. Trump seeks blood and violence. True Americans must stay this beast of evil.
Those who wish to avoid another world war--i.e. almost all Americans, and, I hope, almost all of the members of Congress--better listen to Poland's prime minister. Donald Tusk observes that our world is now "in a pre-war era." Balking at funding Ukraine's defense, the House is steering the U.S. toward a dictatorship by a senile and angry Trump piloted by cynical neo-fascists. Trump may be failing mentally, but he is piloted by highly intelligent followers of Hitler's playbook. Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon know how to manipulate Trump, and will encourage myopics such as House Speaker Mike Johnson and most of the "Republicans" remaining in both houses of Congress to ditch NATO and destabilize the world as much as possible. Why? They will stop at nothing to advance their own rise to power. For these men, Trump is nothing more than a stepping stone. If you haven't yet, please reread at least the first half of William Shirer's book, THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH.
Tusk is right. In 1935-6, If the Europeans hadn't been exhausted and demoralized by WWI, they could have taken Hitlers Germany out with ease since the Germans were not yet fully re-militarized. Instead, the Chamberlain appeasement program kept war at bay, but not for long. The rest is history. We now have the chance to keep a less than fully militarized Russia at bay. We must step up and help Ukraine finish the job.
I didn't face combat in Vietnam, fighting for global Democracy, to see America elect corrupt MAGA Traitors who support Putin & Traitor trump. I daily interface and support VoteVets, The American legion, VFW, Stars and Stripes. Knowledge Is Truth to Power. You do not have to be a veteran to support these groups. Protect the future of your family by supporting these groups. VOTE BLUE.
Thank you, Steve. This is the history that every American needs to know.
Two powerful narratives of the realities of war come from two historians, one identified as conservative and the other as liberal. Both are brilliant and comprehensive: Niall Furgeson's "The War of the World" and Timothy Snyder's "Bloodlands."
Hi James, you can correct a typo by clicking on the three dots on the right of your post, which pulls down a menu that includes "Edit." That allows you to edit your post.
A Passage from Madeleine Albright's Book "FASCISM: A WARNING."
On the morning of March 23, 1933, an enormous banner stretched across the front wall of the Kroll Opera House, in Berlin. At its center was a giant swastika, symbol of the Nazis. The Opera House was the temporary home of the Reichstag, the German Parliament, whose permanent headquarters had been ravaged by arson four weeks earlier. Approaching the lectern was the country’s new chancellor, an Austrian by birth, who on January 30 had assumed power not via popular acclaim but because he commanded the most violent gangs and had Communists for enemies. The building in which he was about to speak was guarded on the outside by Heinrich Himmler’s secret police and on the inside by the brown-shirted Sturmabteilung (SA), the Nazi paramilitary force, already larger than the German army.
Adolf Hitler spoke quietly, in a soothing tone. The forty-three-year-old appealed to the legislators for their trust, hoping that they would not think too hard before voting themselves into oblivion. His goal was to secure approval of a law authorizing him to ignore the constitution, bypass the Reichstag, and govern by decree. He assured his listeners that they had nothing to worry about; his party had no intention of undermining German institutions. Should they pass the law, the parliament would remain intact, freedom of speech would be unhindered, the rights of the Church would not be altered, and Christian values would, as ever, still be cherished. The powers requested under the “Law for Removing the Distress of the People and Reich” would be used only to shield the country from its adversaries. There was no need for concern: legislators could count on the Nazis to act in good faith.
The chancellor sat down so that the leaders of other parties could have their say. One by one, the Catholics, conservatives, and centrists fell in line and slipped Hitler’s bit between their teeth. Only the spokesman for the Social Democrats resisted, saying that to be defenseless did not mean to be without honor. Hitler, no longer the conciliator, stormed back to the rostrum. “I do not want your votes,” he screamed at the Socialists. “The star of Germany is in the ascendant, yours is about to disappear, your death knell has sounded.”
The legislators cast their votes, approving the Enabling Law by a wide margin. Within weeks, the compliant political parties were abolished and the Socialists put under arrest. The Third Reich had begun.
Republicans are simply self absorbed whiney little kids. They yell and scream about everything and accomplish nothing positive. They destroy things not build. To the rest of the world they are simply loud mouthed and can’t be depended upon for anything. Their words are as empty as their heads. They worship a criminally insane narcissist.
They have no sense of history because these people like MTG and Matt Gaetz slept through school. They spent their time either in detention or stealing other kids lunch money. The best and the brightest of America will leave just as they did from Germany with the rise of Hitler.
We won’t be alone with Trump. We will be sold to the highest bidder. If Trump is elected, we will be fighting with the Russians against Europe (as long as Trump gets paid enough). We could invade Taiwan on behalf of the Chinese, if they pay Trump enough. Trump has no loyalty to anyone or any ideal other than “ what’s in it for me.”
Under Trump you won’t be a full class citizen unless you are a white Christian.
This country, once ruled by MAGA will economically, militarily, and financially go bankrupt like every entity Trump has run.
His businesses only exist because of fraud. He could not successfully run a business legitimately, much less a country.
His cult will become impoverished and the billionaires will become oligarchs. We will become a Russian satellite with no middle class.
The biblical phrase that comes to mind on this Easter weekend for the cult is:” Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”
They are really not worthy of forgiveness. They made their pact with the devil and he is not forgiving.
My first comment is for Steve. My SIL has a set of grandparents, in their 80’s, that live in Warsaw. I was fortunate to visit Krakow and Warsaw 2 years ago. Actually 3 months after the war started.
It is a beautiful green, clean, safe modern country. The people are delightful and kind. They know their history. The new generation knows their history. A couple of times we were reminded that they are NOT Eastern Europe but central. They are proud to belong to NATO, the EU, and to have rebuilt their country.
I’ll be waiting for your review. And lastly, yes, we visited Auschwitz. Every MAGA idiot should get on a plane and go.
Regarding the comments: I agree with the remarks that the MAGA elected representatives have no clue, have never read a history book, are low information individuals, and have let a grifter lead this country to the brink.
He is a narcissist grifter but he is even more dangerous than that. He clearly has a profound personality disorder and is demonstrating a serious decline in his cognitive abilities including his higher functioning reasoning abilities. It is also reported that he can’t control his own bowl movements anymore and that loss of personal autonomy at his age also contributes to his irrational behavior and his increasingly angry, irrational outbursts. And this is the cult leader of the most dangerous insurrectionist movement since the Civil War. God have mercy on us all.
Robert Jackson said at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: "If we cannot **eliminate the causes** and prevent the repetition of these barbaric events, it is not an irresponsible prophecy to say that this twentieth century may yet succeed in bringing the doom of civilization."
And here we have Trump releasing those same causes, throwing matches at the fuses of those dormant causes that should be long dead. As Judge Luttig made clear, Trump is a clear and present danger.
With billionaires returning to the Tr*mp fold, we may not find “the market” an ally. Today’s plutocrats, like those of the Nazi era, have found they can further enrich themselves whatever the political circumstances. They know that the useful idiot they support will at least maintain, if not expand, their precious tax cuts. Money isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. We’ll be hoist by their petard.
Spying was also used in a positive way by the West. See Jason Bell’s book “Cracking the Nazi Code” which is about the Canadian super-spy, Winthrop Best who knew about and tried to warn people about the Nazi menace in the mid-1920’s, long before anyone knew. Unfortunately although Winston Churchill did believe him, most other Western leaders did not believe him and ignored the Nazi plan for extermination of all non-Aryans until the outbreak of war, and by then it was too late to stop the Holocaust. Just as it will be too late for America and the free world to stop the huge menace of Trump and his MAGA sycophants unless people take heed of all the warnings now.
But as a Canadian I am proud that Winthrop Best did his best. (No pun intended.)
Wow, so Donald Tusk said this! I'm no mensa member and I've wondered this very thought, "is the world careening into another world war?" Russia's destruction of Ukraine is monstrous, utterly amazing to my generation (turning 78 this year) who lived a life where world wars were in the past, we had fortunately been born too late to experience, then....but not now. When you see Russia's occupation of Donetsk Oblast and five other parts of Oblast plus all of Crimea there cannot remain any question what Russia intends. They are coming for all of us and the US better not get too complacent because we're toast without Europe's well being. Unbelievably we're in the throes of the GOP having lost its mind and becoming fascists. Imagine the brass balls to be up in arms about people TRANSforming into another gender and the GOP is TRANSformng into fascists, authoritarians. Maybe we can't outrun the Russians, we're facing them right HERE!
I have lost faith in a lot of Americans. I see how they vote and who they like, and it is awful. Perhaps if Trump loses my faith will be somewhat restored.
This is something I have been saying for the last four years: The likes of Gaetz, MTG, Tucker Carlson, my insurrectionist neighbors have no sense of history, no idea of what their betrayal of this country will bring. Same with the fat goose in the red tie who went to military school then fled Selective Service, tail between his legs. They all think war will never touch them because they live on the west side of the Atlantic.
They are wrong, and they will have brought this all to the rest of us.
Not only do they have “no idea” of history, they have no idea that a war in Europe would destroy our economy.
America First is America alone, and all of our Multinational corporations, international trade, and our GDP will pay the price; and it will be only a matter of time before we have to enter the conflict anyway; at a great cost.
Helping Ukraine keeps Russia preoccupied and weak to mount any strikes against the US. It keeps our Allie’s safe, which ultimately keeps America safe.
Unfortunately, there are too many Americans who have no clue how the global economy works, and how our military keeps shipping lanes and airspace free from our adversaries and allows the flow of cheap goods to keep Americans happy.
America First and the MAGA cult have a very selfish and simplistic view of the world. Your comment is very good. I agree.
Thank you, so was your comment…:)
Americans, unfortunately, are a product of government design. Clueless, to almost everything around them, including their kids, and parents.
If we the commoners, can see the many flaws and understand to some degree what's needed. Why can't they, by design perhaps.
What makes you think they have no idea? I think they have a clear idea. They think they can win the day and the rewards.
They have never had to serve in the military. They have never seen a combat zone. They have no concept of a war that touches them directly. What the people of Ukraine or Gaz are experiencing. Bombs dropping on them. As they play around with democracy like it is their own personal treasure and their birthright. Like it cannot be lost no matter what they do. Like fascism is to be admired. Like they will be in charge when democracy is lost.
No, they, too, will be victimized if we lose to fascism. They have zero clue.
I continue to quote "my" good comic strip friend, Pogo: "I have seen the enemy, and he is us." The elephant in the room is the Republican Party standing proud on Nazism and fascism. That one entire political Party in our country would be so boldly and nakedly anti-America is chilling. The authoritarianism being proffered by Trump and his minions is nothing like this country has ever witnessed or experienced. The Civil War pales in comparison. Trump seeks blood and violence. True Americans must stay this beast of evil.
Those who wish to avoid another world war--i.e. almost all Americans, and, I hope, almost all of the members of Congress--better listen to Poland's prime minister. Donald Tusk observes that our world is now "in a pre-war era." Balking at funding Ukraine's defense, the House is steering the U.S. toward a dictatorship by a senile and angry Trump piloted by cynical neo-fascists. Trump may be failing mentally, but he is piloted by highly intelligent followers of Hitler's playbook. Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon know how to manipulate Trump, and will encourage myopics such as House Speaker Mike Johnson and most of the "Republicans" remaining in both houses of Congress to ditch NATO and destabilize the world as much as possible. Why? They will stop at nothing to advance their own rise to power. For these men, Trump is nothing more than a stepping stone. If you haven't yet, please reread at least the first half of William Shirer's book, THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH.
Tusk is right. In 1935-6, If the Europeans hadn't been exhausted and demoralized by WWI, they could have taken Hitlers Germany out with ease since the Germans were not yet fully re-militarized. Instead, the Chamberlain appeasement program kept war at bay, but not for long. The rest is history. We now have the chance to keep a less than fully militarized Russia at bay. We must step up and help Ukraine finish the job.
I didn't face combat in Vietnam, fighting for global Democracy, to see America elect corrupt MAGA Traitors who support Putin & Traitor trump. I daily interface and support VoteVets, The American legion, VFW, Stars and Stripes. Knowledge Is Truth to Power. You do not have to be a veteran to support these groups. Protect the future of your family by supporting these groups. VOTE BLUE.
Thank you, Steve. This is the history that every American needs to know.
Two powerful narratives of the realities of war come from two historians, one identified as conservative and the other as liberal. Both are brilliant and comprehensive: Niall Furgeson's "The War of the World" and Timothy Snyder's "Bloodlands."
Please excuse the typo. The historian is Niall Ferguson, not Furgeson!
Hi James, you can correct a typo by clicking on the three dots on the right of your post, which pulls down a menu that includes "Edit." That allows you to edit your post.
Thanks! I wondered how editing was done.
Thanks. Much easier.
A Passage from Madeleine Albright's Book "FASCISM: A WARNING."
On the morning of March 23, 1933, an enormous banner stretched across the front wall of the Kroll Opera House, in Berlin. At its center was a giant swastika, symbol of the Nazis. The Opera House was the temporary home of the Reichstag, the German Parliament, whose permanent headquarters had been ravaged by arson four weeks earlier. Approaching the lectern was the country’s new chancellor, an Austrian by birth, who on January 30 had assumed power not via popular acclaim but because he commanded the most violent gangs and had Communists for enemies. The building in which he was about to speak was guarded on the outside by Heinrich Himmler’s secret police and on the inside by the brown-shirted Sturmabteilung (SA), the Nazi paramilitary force, already larger than the German army.
Adolf Hitler spoke quietly, in a soothing tone. The forty-three-year-old appealed to the legislators for their trust, hoping that they would not think too hard before voting themselves into oblivion. His goal was to secure approval of a law authorizing him to ignore the constitution, bypass the Reichstag, and govern by decree. He assured his listeners that they had nothing to worry about; his party had no intention of undermining German institutions. Should they pass the law, the parliament would remain intact, freedom of speech would be unhindered, the rights of the Church would not be altered, and Christian values would, as ever, still be cherished. The powers requested under the “Law for Removing the Distress of the People and Reich” would be used only to shield the country from its adversaries. There was no need for concern: legislators could count on the Nazis to act in good faith.
The chancellor sat down so that the leaders of other parties could have their say. One by one, the Catholics, conservatives, and centrists fell in line and slipped Hitler’s bit between their teeth. Only the spokesman for the Social Democrats resisted, saying that to be defenseless did not mean to be without honor. Hitler, no longer the conciliator, stormed back to the rostrum. “I do not want your votes,” he screamed at the Socialists. “The star of Germany is in the ascendant, yours is about to disappear, your death knell has sounded.”
The legislators cast their votes, approving the Enabling Law by a wide margin. Within weeks, the compliant political parties were abolished and the Socialists put under arrest. The Third Reich had begun.
Republicans are simply self absorbed whiney little kids. They yell and scream about everything and accomplish nothing positive. They destroy things not build. To the rest of the world they are simply loud mouthed and can’t be depended upon for anything. Their words are as empty as their heads. They worship a criminally insane narcissist.
They have no sense of history because these people like MTG and Matt Gaetz slept through school. They spent their time either in detention or stealing other kids lunch money. The best and the brightest of America will leave just as they did from Germany with the rise of Hitler.
We won’t be alone with Trump. We will be sold to the highest bidder. If Trump is elected, we will be fighting with the Russians against Europe (as long as Trump gets paid enough). We could invade Taiwan on behalf of the Chinese, if they pay Trump enough. Trump has no loyalty to anyone or any ideal other than “ what’s in it for me.”
Under Trump you won’t be a full class citizen unless you are a white Christian.
This country, once ruled by MAGA will economically, militarily, and financially go bankrupt like every entity Trump has run.
His businesses only exist because of fraud. He could not successfully run a business legitimately, much less a country.
His cult will become impoverished and the billionaires will become oligarchs. We will become a Russian satellite with no middle class.
The biblical phrase that comes to mind on this Easter weekend for the cult is:” Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”
They are really not worthy of forgiveness. They made their pact with the devil and he is not forgiving.
Agree with all, but adding a clarification:
"Under Trump you won’t be a full class citizen unless you are a white Christian." should be
"Under Trump you won’t be a full class citizen unless you are a white male Christian."
Trump would show Christian men the door the moment he walks into our Oval office.
This is all a very real possibility and so is the apocalypse.
I do believe that Trump is pure evil without one redeeming quality but if I were satan, I’d pick someone smarter to be the archangel.
My first comment is for Steve. My SIL has a set of grandparents, in their 80’s, that live in Warsaw. I was fortunate to visit Krakow and Warsaw 2 years ago. Actually 3 months after the war started.
It is a beautiful green, clean, safe modern country. The people are delightful and kind. They know their history. The new generation knows their history. A couple of times we were reminded that they are NOT Eastern Europe but central. They are proud to belong to NATO, the EU, and to have rebuilt their country.
I’ll be waiting for your review. And lastly, yes, we visited Auschwitz. Every MAGA idiot should get on a plane and go.
Regarding the comments: I agree with the remarks that the MAGA elected representatives have no clue, have never read a history book, are low information individuals, and have let a grifter lead this country to the brink.
He is a narcissist grifter but he is even more dangerous than that. He clearly has a profound personality disorder and is demonstrating a serious decline in his cognitive abilities including his higher functioning reasoning abilities. It is also reported that he can’t control his own bowl movements anymore and that loss of personal autonomy at his age also contributes to his irrational behavior and his increasingly angry, irrational outbursts. And this is the cult leader of the most dangerous insurrectionist movement since the Civil War. God have mercy on us all.
Robert Jackson said at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: "If we cannot **eliminate the causes** and prevent the repetition of these barbaric events, it is not an irresponsible prophecy to say that this twentieth century may yet succeed in bringing the doom of civilization."
And here we have Trump releasing those same causes, throwing matches at the fuses of those dormant causes that should be long dead. As Judge Luttig made clear, Trump is a clear and present danger.
With billionaires returning to the Tr*mp fold, we may not find “the market” an ally. Today’s plutocrats, like those of the Nazi era, have found they can further enrich themselves whatever the political circumstances. They know that the useful idiot they support will at least maintain, if not expand, their precious tax cuts. Money isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. We’ll be hoist by their petard.
I can't "like" what you say, Tom, but I do agree.
Spying was also used in a positive way by the West. See Jason Bell’s book “Cracking the Nazi Code” which is about the Canadian super-spy, Winthrop Best who knew about and tried to warn people about the Nazi menace in the mid-1920’s, long before anyone knew. Unfortunately although Winston Churchill did believe him, most other Western leaders did not believe him and ignored the Nazi plan for extermination of all non-Aryans until the outbreak of war, and by then it was too late to stop the Holocaust. Just as it will be too late for America and the free world to stop the huge menace of Trump and his MAGA sycophants unless people take heed of all the warnings now.
But as a Canadian I am proud that Winthrop Best did his best. (No pun intended.)
Yes to all you say here!
I join you in honoring Winthrop Best.
Ty
Wow, so Donald Tusk said this! I'm no mensa member and I've wondered this very thought, "is the world careening into another world war?" Russia's destruction of Ukraine is monstrous, utterly amazing to my generation (turning 78 this year) who lived a life where world wars were in the past, we had fortunately been born too late to experience, then....but not now. When you see Russia's occupation of Donetsk Oblast and five other parts of Oblast plus all of Crimea there cannot remain any question what Russia intends. They are coming for all of us and the US better not get too complacent because we're toast without Europe's well being. Unbelievably we're in the throes of the GOP having lost its mind and becoming fascists. Imagine the brass balls to be up in arms about people TRANSforming into another gender and the GOP is TRANSformng into fascists, authoritarians. Maybe we can't outrun the Russians, we're facing them right HERE!
Steve, I just finished watching Against All Enemies. So much to take in. I will probably watch it again.
"Purposeful cruelty and oppression."
Sums it all up, out of balance, out of mind, out of heart & soul.
F'n madness.
We must send arms to Ukraine!
I have lost faith in a lot of Americans. I see how they vote and who they like, and it is awful. Perhaps if Trump loses my faith will be somewhat restored.