Writing every day through these awful Trump years can be tedious and depressing, but over time, the words have accumulated a written record that maybe one day — far in the future — my grandkids or theirs might be interested in reading to understand a bit what this era of history was like.
I’m so thankful to be a child of the greatest generation who taught me the true meaning of freedom and democracy and why it’s worth fighting for. This boomer will never surrender!
Neither will I, sister! 👊🏼 My parents grew up under Hitler’s Third Reich and finally escaped the bad memories by emigrating to America as young adults, with two toddlers in tow. Mom and dad were liberal Democrats and loved their adopted country. They raised us kids right, with no hate and no organized religion, for which I am grateful.
Go to Poland, go to Germany and see and learn how everything Hitler did was demolished.
We can never forget the millions of innocent people that lost their lives.
We shall never forget the thousands of immigrants that are being treated worst than animals. Many that were waiting on their citizenship, others that died while in.Custody because Trump and this administration misled Americans for what?
Reading your words this morning helped me realize an issue I have experienced lately but could not articulate. It is that being a child of a WW2 vet, whose uncle died at the Battle of the Bulge, I grew up studying this war. Now, I can barely stand to read about it, or watch a movie or documentary. Why? Because we are throwing away their sacrifice with both hands. I looked hard at the LIFE photo of the men carrying their fallen soldier and felt love for them and shame for us.We are allowing a tyrant to ruin this country.
I’m also the child of a WW2 veteran. He read every book available about WW2 and hundreds of those books are now on my shelves. I think he was trying to understand how & why. But all he would ever say about his own experience over seas was ‘the heros are the ones who did not come home’.
As usual, well written, timely and important. When this first wave of MAGA is defeated, as we know there will be more, I hope that Mr Schmitt earns the public praise he deserves for his writing, his vigilance and his strength in opposition. I, for one, find it inspiring.
I agree & I thought someone would manipulate him away from that but his brain must not have been malleable enough to distract him with another lesser evil to commit.
Somehow, I wasn’t shocked by it. Oddly, I happened to awaken in the wee hours that Sunday (around 2 am EST) to see the news on my phone that Trump/USA attacked Iran. He is one truly stupid, stupid fool.
Quotes from Justice Louis Brandeis, warnings and advice unheeded. Had we understood these quotes and acted accordingly there would have been no Christian nationalism, MAGA, or Trump and his evil enablers:
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill it teaches the whole people by example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that in the administration of the criminal law the end justifies the means - to declare that the Government may commit crimes in order to secure the conviction of a private criminal - would bring terrible retributions.
The only title in our democracy superior to that of President is the title of citizen.
The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people.
The function of the press is very high. It is almost holy. It ought to serve as a forum for the people, through which the people may know freely what is going on. To misstate or suppress the news is a breach of trust.
The most important office, and the one which all of us can and should fill, is that of private citizen.
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
At the foundation of our civil liberties lies the principle that denies to government officials an exceptional position before the law and which subjects them to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen.
Democracy is moral before it is political.
In differentiation, not in uniformity, lies the path of progress.
Steve, your writings are enormously powerful, timely and accurate. You are one of few chronichling the truth in these dark and troubled times. I agree, it is depressing, but this is the task at hand. The only other option is denial which only exacerbates the ongoing disaster. I subscribe because I know I'll get the whole truth every day, painful as it is. The alternative is to stay numb and dumb, an even worse existence than the painful truth. I believe your writings will hold a valuable place in the historical record. Thank you as ever.
Thank you. My father fought in the second world war and survived. When I think of the sacrifice he, my mother, and many others made for me I am brought to tears. I only wish to repay them with my little ways to save our nation. Service and sacrifice…..
Every now and then I walk on one of the many cemeteries here around me. I live in Flanders, Belgium.
First WW, second WW. Allied forces, Germans, Italian graves from WW1 (on the good side), Italian graves of WW2 (on the wrong side). Or to some place where atrocities occurred. A camp, an execution site.
There are many such places, many cemeteries.
And I take the time to look at two or three names. I will speak out those names with a loud voice.
I will never forget. I will always remember that I am free because they gave their lives.
I will never forget.
As I'll never forget what trump and his enablers are doing to the US and to the world.
The country has marched ever more reichward since Nixon, accelerated exponentially by Reagan, aided and abetted by compliant neoliberal “Democratic leadership” afraid of disturbing the same corporate masters underwriting fascism. It is profoundly discouraging to witness that lame, hypocritical leadership actively working (conspiring) to throttle virtually anyone slightly to the left of “moderate”. The so called “center” is the Heritage Foundation’s reactionary baseline. Verbal hand-wringing unaccompanied by pro active action only serves to embolden those bent on destroying democracy, a fact reiterated daily.
You hit the nail on the head. You are absolutely right in pinpointing Reagan as the pivotal figure and era that pushed this nation's democracy off the rails and drove it to it's disastrous plunge to its terminus in Trump & MAGA.
Thank you Steve. I appreciate your efforts that show the destructive path that Trump is having on our Democracy. My subscription cost is worth more than you can imagine.
As always, spot on. This 84 year old woman, never thought she would be Living under the Lights of this diabolical tyrant.
I’m so thankful to be a child of the greatest generation who taught me the true meaning of freedom and democracy and why it’s worth fighting for. This boomer will never surrender!
Neither will I, sister! 👊🏼 My parents grew up under Hitler’s Third Reich and finally escaped the bad memories by emigrating to America as young adults, with two toddlers in tow. Mom and dad were liberal Democrats and loved their adopted country. They raised us kids right, with no hate and no organized religion, for which I am grateful.
I understand. My great grandparents fled from the bolsheviks
So thankful they survived! 💙
My grandparents did too.
It takes work to keep our predator gene under control. We still need several million citizens to accept the danger we are in and pay attention.
Yes, History reminds us of the past.
Go to Poland, go to Germany and see and learn how everything Hitler did was demolished.
We can never forget the millions of innocent people that lost their lives.
We shall never forget the thousands of immigrants that are being treated worst than animals. Many that were waiting on their citizenship, others that died while in.Custody because Trump and this administration misled Americans for what?
Reading your words this morning helped me realize an issue I have experienced lately but could not articulate. It is that being a child of a WW2 vet, whose uncle died at the Battle of the Bulge, I grew up studying this war. Now, I can barely stand to read about it, or watch a movie or documentary. Why? Because we are throwing away their sacrifice with both hands. I looked hard at the LIFE photo of the men carrying their fallen soldier and felt love for them and shame for us.We are allowing a tyrant to ruin this country.
I’m also the child of a WW2 veteran. He read every book available about WW2 and hundreds of those books are now on my shelves. I think he was trying to understand how & why. But all he would ever say about his own experience over seas was ‘the heros are the ones who did not come home’.
Thanks Steve!!! We must never assume nor shall we forget.
As usual, well written, timely and important. When this first wave of MAGA is defeated, as we know there will be more, I hope that Mr Schmitt earns the public praise he deserves for his writing, his vigilance and his strength in opposition. I, for one, find it inspiring.
It looks like everything was foreseen—except the Iranian war. Who knew he was even that stupid.
I agree & I thought someone would manipulate him away from that but his brain must not have been malleable enough to distract him with another lesser evil to commit.
Somehow, I wasn’t shocked by it. Oddly, I happened to awaken in the wee hours that Sunday (around 2 am EST) to see the news on my phone that Trump/USA attacked Iran. He is one truly stupid, stupid fool.
Raised hand, here.
Yes, the bar keeps getting lower.
Quotes from Justice Louis Brandeis, warnings and advice unheeded. Had we understood these quotes and acted accordingly there would have been no Christian nationalism, MAGA, or Trump and his evil enablers:
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill it teaches the whole people by example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that in the administration of the criminal law the end justifies the means - to declare that the Government may commit crimes in order to secure the conviction of a private criminal - would bring terrible retributions.
The only title in our democracy superior to that of President is the title of citizen.
The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people.
The function of the press is very high. It is almost holy. It ought to serve as a forum for the people, through which the people may know freely what is going on. To misstate or suppress the news is a breach of trust.
The most important office, and the one which all of us can and should fill, is that of private citizen.
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
At the foundation of our civil liberties lies the principle that denies to government officials an exceptional position before the law and which subjects them to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen.
Democracy is moral before it is political.
In differentiation, not in uniformity, lies the path of progress.
Here is another of Justice Brandeis' quotes. If only supply-side economists and presidents read and understood it:
We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.
Louis D. Brandeis
Steve, your writings are enormously powerful, timely and accurate. You are one of few chronichling the truth in these dark and troubled times. I agree, it is depressing, but this is the task at hand. The only other option is denial which only exacerbates the ongoing disaster. I subscribe because I know I'll get the whole truth every day, painful as it is. The alternative is to stay numb and dumb, an even worse existence than the painful truth. I believe your writings will hold a valuable place in the historical record. Thank you as ever.
Thank you. My father fought in the second world war and survived. When I think of the sacrifice he, my mother, and many others made for me I am brought to tears. I only wish to repay them with my little ways to save our nation. Service and sacrifice…..
I will never forget.
Every now and then I walk on one of the many cemeteries here around me. I live in Flanders, Belgium.
First WW, second WW. Allied forces, Germans, Italian graves from WW1 (on the good side), Italian graves of WW2 (on the wrong side). Or to some place where atrocities occurred. A camp, an execution site.
There are many such places, many cemeteries.
And I take the time to look at two or three names. I will speak out those names with a loud voice.
I will never forget. I will always remember that I am free because they gave their lives.
I will never forget.
As I'll never forget what trump and his enablers are doing to the US and to the world.
God bless you.
Bless you🙏🏻
God bless you for yourbprofound dedication to the ideals upon which this nation was founded.
The country has marched ever more reichward since Nixon, accelerated exponentially by Reagan, aided and abetted by compliant neoliberal “Democratic leadership” afraid of disturbing the same corporate masters underwriting fascism. It is profoundly discouraging to witness that lame, hypocritical leadership actively working (conspiring) to throttle virtually anyone slightly to the left of “moderate”. The so called “center” is the Heritage Foundation’s reactionary baseline. Verbal hand-wringing unaccompanied by pro active action only serves to embolden those bent on destroying democracy, a fact reiterated daily.
You hit the nail on the head. You are absolutely right in pinpointing Reagan as the pivotal figure and era that pushed this nation's democracy off the rails and drove it to it's disastrous plunge to its terminus in Trump & MAGA.
Thank you Steve. I appreciate your efforts that show the destructive path that Trump is having on our Democracy. My subscription cost is worth more than you can imagine.
Thank you for creating records of the realities we are living through. 😔 Such powerful, moving writing - as always.
Sadly, all true. You could have written the exact same thing in 2016. You probably did.
A chilling thought.
Some time from now some of your countrymen will say "Wir haben es nicht gewußt", translated to the English 'we did not know', 'we had no idea'.
As Mr. Schmidt points out, we will all know that they did know and that they cheered this maga regime.