Steve, I hope you trip is treating you and your son well. I admire how you can intertwine the trip with conveying wonderful morsels of the American experience and the sacrifices of our forebears and the beauty of this great nation. For too many of us, we take it for granted. My self included, so thank you!
“By 1863, the price of war was clear. Lincoln came to Gettysburg to give meaning to so much death and sacrifice. It was a short speech, just 272 words. Read it slowly. Appreciate each phrase. Let it sink in. This is what the MAGA movement wishes to burn down.”
Agreed, but I would also add it’s not just the MAGA movement. Evangelicals and other religious sects, continually try to achieve the same goals. Trump didn’t invent these people or their obtuse and parochial opinions; he just latched on to their ideas and legitimized their worst selves and thoughts, bringing them mainstream.
It’s time to do an autopsy and try to uncover the root causes of these horrific movements that divide this nation, and allow these morally bankrupt souls to continue to drive this nation into the abyss.
Democracy is on the menu and these people are relentless, reckless and ruthless in trying to turn this great nation into a fascist, authoritarian kakistocracy.
They may continually lose the battles, but they haven’t lost the war. It’s a war of attrition, and most of us are fatigued or suffering from PTSD! It’s time to end this now, before it’s too late.
Unfortunately, we need to fix the system that allows a minority in the United States to have a outsized voice. Washington DC should have two senators. Puerto Rico should have two senators. The filibuster should be eliminated. Gerrymandering and the electoral college should be abolished. This would make our elected government more closely reflect the will of the people. Until these things are corrected, the American people will continue to be frustrated that government doesn’t work.
This should be our main goal to stand up to the corrupt SC. When you have 3 justices appointed by the biggest threat to democracy, MAGA leader Trump, it calls for drastic measures to uphold what the framers intended in the Constitution. For now we must get the vote out. It’s all we have if we are going to make the changes we need in order to survive the dismantling of democracy by the fascists in America.
60% of the population of the United States is represented by a quarter of the senate seats. And the peoples house is really the gerrymandered house. This is why a budget can’t get past and nothing gets done.
Agreed, what a sad state of affairs. We need to make Puerto Rico and DC states. Possibly even adding the US Virgin Islands, Guam, The Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.
35% of the population has too much power. CA has 39.5 million people, yet only 2 senate seats. The Dakotas combined, has a population of approximately 1.8 million and four senate seats. Enough is enough!
‘their obtuse and parochial opinions” - you nailed it! Most adequate description I’ve heard yet of these evangelicals and other religious sects who/which are trying to achieve the same goals as the MAGA movement - burning down our democracy, turning our nation into a fascistic kleptocracy - a kakistocracy. (Great term, kakistocracy - government by the least suitable, the least competent citizens of a state.) Trying to destroy the soul of our nation and anyone in it who is more human, more intelligent, more educated, more humane than the least of “them”. And ironically influencing many of us to dumb ourselves down to fit in with the mob created by this dynamic. Which is why, to my thinking, we see so many who are intelligent and educated, who know better and still choose to be less, turning themselves inside out to be a part of this dangerously destructive cult of MAGA. Why seemingly competent, capable and educated people do this, deny their very selves to become less than they are, to support this notion of “what’s in it for me”, a short sighted approach if ever I’ve seen one. MAGA Donald and his adherents are the Pol Pot of our time, masquerading as religious zealots and fascistic Nazis, jack booting around, smashing and destroying everything and everyone decent in our world. Allied with their like nationally AND internationally, all for the same purpose, and the only possible outcome being turning on themselves, on each other, after they’ve done with the rest of us. Never seeing their own demise coming while plotting ours. Wow.
Thanks Steve and Ken, and Robert. Much to think about, reconcile and integrate into my own thinking and actions.
Sadly, that's true. The North let the Confederates off too lightly. They are here - the class systems and churches, all of it. It's become obvious to me now that I live in the southeast.
I cant believe my family members that support Trump! Shocking. I think back to the civil rights era & have an idea of what it must’ve been like. The videos we have today of murdered black men & young boys....the SC’s decision against affirmative action. We are facing a crisis in America. A corrupt Court!!!
It's at minimum a partially captured court. The Trump justices are all extremist Catholics hand picked by Leonard Leo. Alito and Thomas are as bad or worse. Why so many Catholics?
Hopefully these storms headed their way will take care of some of it. Did you see the look on De Satan's face when he had to declare a state of emergency with this last hurricane?
It seems from most of what I have been reading the term MAGA is misleading, even a cover up, that obscures where Trumps real support comes from. Much comes from the board rooms, the CEO’s, the one percent of all religions and backgrounds. They support the Republican agenda too. They don’t wear the hats, they write the checks in obscure ways to hide there identity. Do you see or hear them speaking up in defense of democracy? This is what we’re up against! Be ready!
Lovely photos from Canada. So glad you're taking the long road back to campus.
On the 60th Anniversary of the March on Washington, we are watching a deliberate, calculated rebirth of ignorance and oppression. We see it in the actions of Governors ignoring Supreme Court redistricting rulings. We see it in the actions of banning books and turning school libraries into detention centers. We see it in the rolling back of child labor laws. We see it in voter suppression. We see it in the entire MAGA movement.
Our role is to carry the vision set by Lincoln at Gettysburg, restated by MKL on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and by others calling for freedom, liberty and equality. We have begun the work, as the most recent vote in Ohio demonstrated. The next 17 months (January 2025) will be difficult. I also know we will meet the challenge. We will work for freedom and to heal the nation.
the North had the shakers and builders to construct the rest of the country. The smallminded slave owners did not have the brain power to change much, just their evil brains.
Wow! Thank you for the journey from the town of Nelson to the Gettysburg address, to MLK at the Lincoln memorial to Ken Burns. I always want to suggest you start a breakout travel Susbstack, but you weave it all together beautifully here.
The rise of MAGA began before Trump road down that escalator in Trump Tower. It began mostly in the white evangelical population with their acceptance of QAnon as the Word. They believed, due to QAnon that Trump would bring white Christianity to rule over America and reclaim white dominance with the aid of God. With white evangelicals being somewhere between 15% and 25% of the population and/or 40% of the Republican Party, it's no wonder that weak self-serving politicians follow them, and we found ourselves in a very bad place. I lost some friends due to their new belief and I know they will never return to us having lost their minds and souls to a false god. How to solve the problem? We began solving it with the 2020 election and if we continue to do so, it will be self-solving, although it will take time. Yes, it will be solved but those people will still be with us, those who can be easily swayed into some false truth. Keep a watchful eye into the future.
Be that the battle cry from now on, to redeem what strive this Great Nation was designated to. That along the way greatness is attained the follies be recognized, learned from , and taught as steps to avoid holding principle to its task. Like a culmination thrust this may be to lead...
The photos you share reveal a pristine world where the daily bump and grind fade into the recesses.
As I read your column this morning, I was compelled to think about and reflect on yesterday's triple murders of three black people by a white male supremacist in Jacksonville, Florida. I do not know which is greater, my outrage or my dismay and disgust. That "tide of war" about which you write so eloquently is being turned upon us once again. As a retired U.S. Marine friend said to me years ago, "Vince, we are like rats. We eat our own." You write, "Freedom and liberty are a moral proposition." There are those among us who would tighten the reins around that freedom, that moral proposition, choking the wind and promise out of the lives of the everyday citizen and our institutions. The brick and mortar that formed our country's foundation are beginning to crumble. What many of us believed or wanted to believe to be true about our country has become naked to the world as the ultimate lie; a falsehood. The blood spilled at Gettysburg (51,000) and Chickamauga (35,000) represent the two bloodiest battles during our Civil War. There are those among us who swoon for the opportunity today to give witness to yet more spillage of blood. The traitors among us do not see our United States as a melding of diversity and of difference. They see our country as belonging to them, and them alone, at the disposal of the "other". That “them”, as you know well, is white.
Listening to Martin Luther King's speech during these times when it seems the very essence of our country hangs in the balance, what hits me is that this speech at its core is a plea for brotherhood. That's his dream - that we can live together in brotherhood. My God, why can't we?
Words alone do not hold the importance of meaning. However if you put them together into sentences the true meaning of words shines through. I believe the great orators in history were able to transcend sentences into movements and influence minds and causes. There are only a few speeches that stand up to history and and influence nations. The Gettysburg Address and the I have a dream speech are 2 examples of the power of language that move nations and change the world. They both have influenced young minds to think and at the same time to honor. This is why fascism and trumpism can not sustain itself. They rely on lies rather than truth and lies do not honor. Truth is the only way forward, It honors the past, the present and the future. Nations die when there is no future and nations are never build on lies because they require a foundation of truth.
"You know, one of the things that I admire most about you is your righteous indignation about the state of things, whether it be politics, or some aspect of American history." Ken Burns, speaking to Steve Schmidt. Is a higher compliment possible, considering that it comes from the greatest historian of U.S. history? I think not.
Steve, I hope you trip is treating you and your son well. I admire how you can intertwine the trip with conveying wonderful morsels of the American experience and the sacrifices of our forebears and the beauty of this great nation. For too many of us, we take it for granted. My self included, so thank you!
“By 1863, the price of war was clear. Lincoln came to Gettysburg to give meaning to so much death and sacrifice. It was a short speech, just 272 words. Read it slowly. Appreciate each phrase. Let it sink in. This is what the MAGA movement wishes to burn down.”
Agreed, but I would also add it’s not just the MAGA movement. Evangelicals and other religious sects, continually try to achieve the same goals. Trump didn’t invent these people or their obtuse and parochial opinions; he just latched on to their ideas and legitimized their worst selves and thoughts, bringing them mainstream.
It’s time to do an autopsy and try to uncover the root causes of these horrific movements that divide this nation, and allow these morally bankrupt souls to continue to drive this nation into the abyss.
Democracy is on the menu and these people are relentless, reckless and ruthless in trying to turn this great nation into a fascist, authoritarian kakistocracy.
They may continually lose the battles, but they haven’t lost the war. It’s a war of attrition, and most of us are fatigued or suffering from PTSD! It’s time to end this now, before it’s too late.
How? Good question; anyone have any ideas?
Unfortunately, we need to fix the system that allows a minority in the United States to have a outsized voice. Washington DC should have two senators. Puerto Rico should have two senators. The filibuster should be eliminated. Gerrymandering and the electoral college should be abolished. This would make our elected government more closely reflect the will of the people. Until these things are corrected, the American people will continue to be frustrated that government doesn’t work.
This should be our main goal to stand up to the corrupt SC. When you have 3 justices appointed by the biggest threat to democracy, MAGA leader Trump, it calls for drastic measures to uphold what the framers intended in the Constitution. For now we must get the vote out. It’s all we have if we are going to make the changes we need in order to survive the dismantling of democracy by the fascists in America.
Agree, but good luck with that. We can’t even get a budget passed these days...:)
60% of the population of the United States is represented by a quarter of the senate seats. And the peoples house is really the gerrymandered house. This is why a budget can’t get past and nothing gets done.
Agreed, what a sad state of affairs. We need to make Puerto Rico and DC states. Possibly even adding the US Virgin Islands, Guam, The Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.
35% of the population has too much power. CA has 39.5 million people, yet only 2 senate seats. The Dakotas combined, has a population of approximately 1.8 million and four senate seats. Enough is enough!
‘their obtuse and parochial opinions” - you nailed it! Most adequate description I’ve heard yet of these evangelicals and other religious sects who/which are trying to achieve the same goals as the MAGA movement - burning down our democracy, turning our nation into a fascistic kleptocracy - a kakistocracy. (Great term, kakistocracy - government by the least suitable, the least competent citizens of a state.) Trying to destroy the soul of our nation and anyone in it who is more human, more intelligent, more educated, more humane than the least of “them”. And ironically influencing many of us to dumb ourselves down to fit in with the mob created by this dynamic. Which is why, to my thinking, we see so many who are intelligent and educated, who know better and still choose to be less, turning themselves inside out to be a part of this dangerously destructive cult of MAGA. Why seemingly competent, capable and educated people do this, deny their very selves to become less than they are, to support this notion of “what’s in it for me”, a short sighted approach if ever I’ve seen one. MAGA Donald and his adherents are the Pol Pot of our time, masquerading as religious zealots and fascistic Nazis, jack booting around, smashing and destroying everything and everyone decent in our world. Allied with their like nationally AND internationally, all for the same purpose, and the only possible outcome being turning on themselves, on each other, after they’ve done with the rest of us. Never seeing their own demise coming while plotting ours. Wow.
Thanks Steve and Ken, and Robert. Much to think about, reconcile and integrate into my own thinking and actions.
Well said...:)
It is impossible for me to fathom the hate that racists hold within themselves for their fellow men and women. I will never understand it.
The Civil War never ended. The country is still torn apart by prejudice and grievances. This is one of the great sadnesses of Gettysburg.
Sadly, that's true. The North let the Confederates off too lightly. They are here - the class systems and churches, all of it. It's become obvious to me now that I live in the southeast.
Trump is the pied piper for the racists down south. I should know, I live here.
We got here in 2015, and Trump sure brought them out from under the rocks. I never knew there were that many of them here. What a rude awakening.
I cant believe my family members that support Trump! Shocking. I think back to the civil rights era & have an idea of what it must’ve been like. The videos we have today of murdered black men & young boys....the SC’s decision against affirmative action. We are facing a crisis in America. A corrupt Court!!!
It's at minimum a partially captured court. The Trump justices are all extremist Catholics hand picked by Leonard Leo. Alito and Thomas are as bad or worse. Why so many Catholics?
Hopefully these storms headed their way will take care of some of it. Did you see the look on De Satan's face when he had to declare a state of emergency with this last hurricane?
It seems from most of what I have been reading the term MAGA is misleading, even a cover up, that obscures where Trumps real support comes from. Much comes from the board rooms, the CEO’s, the one percent of all religions and backgrounds. They support the Republican agenda too. They don’t wear the hats, they write the checks in obscure ways to hide there identity. Do you see or hear them speaking up in defense of democracy? This is what we’re up against! Be ready!
Lovely photos from Canada. So glad you're taking the long road back to campus.
On the 60th Anniversary of the March on Washington, we are watching a deliberate, calculated rebirth of ignorance and oppression. We see it in the actions of Governors ignoring Supreme Court redistricting rulings. We see it in the actions of banning books and turning school libraries into detention centers. We see it in the rolling back of child labor laws. We see it in voter suppression. We see it in the entire MAGA movement.
Our role is to carry the vision set by Lincoln at Gettysburg, restated by MKL on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and by others calling for freedom, liberty and equality. We have begun the work, as the most recent vote in Ohio demonstrated. The next 17 months (January 2025) will be difficult. I also know we will meet the challenge. We will work for freedom and to heal the nation.
the North had the shakers and builders to construct the rest of the country. The smallminded slave owners did not have the brain power to change much, just their evil brains.
Wow! Thank you for the journey from the town of Nelson to the Gettysburg address, to MLK at the Lincoln memorial to Ken Burns. I always want to suggest you start a breakout travel Susbstack, but you weave it all together beautifully here.
Thank you :-)
Steve
Just watched your Ken Burns interview .
#BESTEVER💥☮️
The rise of MAGA began before Trump road down that escalator in Trump Tower. It began mostly in the white evangelical population with their acceptance of QAnon as the Word. They believed, due to QAnon that Trump would bring white Christianity to rule over America and reclaim white dominance with the aid of God. With white evangelicals being somewhere between 15% and 25% of the population and/or 40% of the Republican Party, it's no wonder that weak self-serving politicians follow them, and we found ourselves in a very bad place. I lost some friends due to their new belief and I know they will never return to us having lost their minds and souls to a false god. How to solve the problem? We began solving it with the 2020 election and if we continue to do so, it will be self-solving, although it will take time. Yes, it will be solved but those people will still be with us, those who can be easily swayed into some false truth. Keep a watchful eye into the future.
* “began in 2020...”
Be that the battle cry from now on, to redeem what strive this Great Nation was designated to. That along the way greatness is attained the follies be recognized, learned from , and taught as steps to avoid holding principle to its task. Like a culmination thrust this may be to lead...
💙💙VOTE THEM ALL OUT💙💙
☮️🫶
Excellent discussion with Ken Burns.
The photos you share reveal a pristine world where the daily bump and grind fade into the recesses.
As I read your column this morning, I was compelled to think about and reflect on yesterday's triple murders of three black people by a white male supremacist in Jacksonville, Florida. I do not know which is greater, my outrage or my dismay and disgust. That "tide of war" about which you write so eloquently is being turned upon us once again. As a retired U.S. Marine friend said to me years ago, "Vince, we are like rats. We eat our own." You write, "Freedom and liberty are a moral proposition." There are those among us who would tighten the reins around that freedom, that moral proposition, choking the wind and promise out of the lives of the everyday citizen and our institutions. The brick and mortar that formed our country's foundation are beginning to crumble. What many of us believed or wanted to believe to be true about our country has become naked to the world as the ultimate lie; a falsehood. The blood spilled at Gettysburg (51,000) and Chickamauga (35,000) represent the two bloodiest battles during our Civil War. There are those among us who swoon for the opportunity today to give witness to yet more spillage of blood. The traitors among us do not see our United States as a melding of diversity and of difference. They see our country as belonging to them, and them alone, at the disposal of the "other". That “them”, as you know well, is white.
Thank you, thank you.
Thank you for the reminder that in many ways, the quest for Equality goes on . The backlash is as ugly as ever.
Trump has groomed this fear and hatred as much as George Wallace did. Only George Wallace was a little more overt.
The dog whistles of he ( Trump)and his followers are constant and shrill with the same frequency throughout the years.
Trump and his sordid followers have more media coverage. George Wallace was a known entity, a racist who made no bones about it.
Trump is a slick and manipulative huckster. But he is no different at heart than the fearful hater, George Wallace.
Thank you again Steve for putting all this into context. Safe travels!
Listening to Martin Luther King's speech during these times when it seems the very essence of our country hangs in the balance, what hits me is that this speech at its core is a plea for brotherhood. That's his dream - that we can live together in brotherhood. My God, why can't we?
Words alone do not hold the importance of meaning. However if you put them together into sentences the true meaning of words shines through. I believe the great orators in history were able to transcend sentences into movements and influence minds and causes. There are only a few speeches that stand up to history and and influence nations. The Gettysburg Address and the I have a dream speech are 2 examples of the power of language that move nations and change the world. They both have influenced young minds to think and at the same time to honor. This is why fascism and trumpism can not sustain itself. They rely on lies rather than truth and lies do not honor. Truth is the only way forward, It honors the past, the present and the future. Nations die when there is no future and nations are never build on lies because they require a foundation of truth.
"You know, one of the things that I admire most about you is your righteous indignation about the state of things, whether it be politics, or some aspect of American history." Ken Burns, speaking to Steve Schmidt. Is a higher compliment possible, considering that it comes from the greatest historian of U.S. history? I think not.
I was deeply touched when Ken said that!
Steve
Yeah, that was the truth teller taking to the truth teller..I felt good for you as soon as I heard it!! He, like you, call it like it is..
You've got that right, Sam!
I can't imagine any greater praise.
https://link.sbstck.com/redirect/c3c06ea1-a7a0-4c85-81e5-71b733cae04a?j=eyJ1IjoiNWt4dXAifQ.tz1bSqn6EJT1yNg7P83xzktrnbudbCqKZmrc_vYtl5I
Can you double check this link? It's not working. Thank you!
Fixed! Thanks for pointing it out.
Steve