"I didn’t like Joe Biden’s inflation, but what Trump is going to unleash is going to be next level."
Steve, it was not Biden's inflation. Quite the opposite. His administration limited the economic impact of covid, shortages and supply chain interruptions, very effectively.
I totally agree, Anthony. "Joe Biden's inflation" was a post-pandemic global problem. So it was as much Rishi Sunak's inflation and Olaf Scholtz's inflation as Joe Biden's. Meaning not at all.
Well done Steve, but I’m not sure his deportation plan will be executed as advertised. Wall Street won the Treasury battle: For now! And Bessent isn’t going to go along with a blanket tariff on Mexico, Canada, or China, for the matter.
And from all accounts, Trump is already claiming victory against Mexico, by literally doing nothing; as to be expected! So he’s already collapsing faster than a cheap lounge chair! And as the wise Cowboy once said: Trump is all hat, and no cattle!
Moreover, Bessent must be reminding Trump that his deportation and tariffs policies will increase inflation, since half of the construction workers are undocumented. Additionally, over one million agricultural workers are undocumented. And approximately half of our hospitality workers are undocumented!
If Trump implemented his agenda as promised; food prices, construction costs, and hotel and resort fees will increase exponentially. Not to mention, undocumented immigrants account for close to $3 trillion in annual GDP, and close to $500 billion in annual tax revenue. They also pay FICA: Social Security and Medicare; two programs they will never be eligible for, so they’re essentially helping to fund many of our unfunded liabilities we can’t pay for.
Furthermore, if Trump is true to his word about tax cuts, while trying to implement his tariffs and deportation agenda, then our economy will implode by the fourth quarter of 2026. Moreover, the short-term Treasury Yield Curve is currently inverted, which means the bond markets are reacting very cautiously, and sending a message; regardless of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s actions, the bond markets will set the interest rates, and they will be higher than the fed target rate. Thus, costing America more to borrow into the future. This will have a tremendous impact on our cost to service the debt; reducing our discretionary income for all other programs, including Medicare, Social Security, and the military.
That said, Trump has a fight brewing within his inner circle. The Wall Street Master’s of the Universe, who are singlehandedly supporting Trump’s DJT stock (TMTG), making his a REAL billionaire; they can dump it at any time! Or the religious fascist’s like Miller, who are hell bent on creating perpetual crisis (Shock Doctrine), based on chaos and cruelty; just because they can!
The bottom line: grab your popcorn, and smoke a bowl, because it’s going to be a very bumpy ride. And until we know the winners and losers, expect lots of uncertainty, and market volatility; just the way MAGA and Trump like it! IMHO!…:)
Odd, that every developed country experienced what you call “ Joe Biden’s inflation” and in every other developed country it was much worse and did not correct with President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.” I do not understand why you Steve feel it is necessary to attack President Joe Biden with every post of yours. President Biden successfully got America through the Covid Pandemic with all that came with this and gave us the best economic recovery on the planet and made our alliances stronger and saved Ukraine at least for now. President Biden’s record of achievements in the face of Republican goal of destroying our country is remarkable, however we got here now in a crisis because of Trump and GOP fueled greed and hate. I hope you will focus us on how to deal with what lies ahead and please recognize your bizarre fixation on attacking President Biden undermines your argument and your goal of saving our democracy.
Biden’s sin is that he didn’t get out of the way and announce in ‘22 that he would be a transitional one-termer. The Democratic sin is that they believed in old-fashioned news and governance and the FoxNews, Joe Rogan, X-fueled info barrage overwhelmed them while they weren’t even looking.
This is a bit of a different perspective but I think if President Biden had succeeded in getting the funding for Ukraine in the Fall of 2023 when he requested it and got the immigration bill passed he would have step aside sooner but he could not be in a lame duck position and get the Ukraine funding accomplished which he could not get Speaker Johnson to pass without a lot of arm twisting until late spring of 2024, then it was too late. This is my view on that subject. Then it is simple, President Biden is an incredibly positive person and still expected honesty and integrity from the Republicans and his high expectations of them was in the end what may end our democracy.
Homan's bombast at Congressional hearings fails to cover up his cruelty, in fact, it makes it more obvious. He is a loud-mouth bully and should have no power in government.
"Trump’s exaggerated mandate made clear was that Biden’s failures paved the way for draconian enforcement."
Democrats worked with Republicans in the Senate and produced a bipartisan immigration reform bill that Trump ordered Mike Johnson to deep-six. The horrors Americans and immigrants are about to face are entirely on Trump and Maga, not Biden and Democrats!
Steve, other than warning others about the coming deportation, and challenging reckless and feeble institutions to act to document this coming American autrocity, what will you be doing from your perch of privilege when the first details of the plan are made public, when the first concentration camp (I named it) site is chosen, the first guard is hired, the first brick is laid, the first child is separated from its parents, the first bus is loaded? Other than writing about the coming storm, what risks will you take to prevent it from happening, to document it, to find people of conscience to join you in resisting this evil? What will you do when our day of infamy inevitably occurs. To quote the esteemed Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, "While not all of us are guilty, all of us are responsible," and I add, unless we act to prevent or stop the authority from happening. And to quote the 1st century BCE Jewish sage, Hillel the Elder, "If not now, when?"
I too have thought of those and other like words for our responsibility. Do we link arms to keep buses from moving? I ask seriously because too few understand the humanitarian & economic nightmare.
As much as I hate this mass deportation, I think it must be allowed to proceed. A plurality of Americans voted for this. They must experience the consequences of their choices if we are ever to return to sanity.
It also looks like a big push will be made to roll back no-fault divorce. Vance and the Theocrats want it. The Great Unwashed may have buyer’s remorse, but that would be giving them a brain they do not possess.
Steve, you are being a bit hard on Mayor Johnston. He is basically a decent man who understands that the saber-rattling of deportation in a multi-cultural city, including Hispanic but also huge Eritrean and Ethiopian communities, has the potential to destabilize his entire city. That he is outspoken about his refusal to cave to cruelty is what every American should be doing.
Chain of command? A head guy and a bunch of thugs under him. Medical, educational, legal, and humanitarian are quaint ideas considered important pre-Trump but rendered meaningless in deportation world. Access restricted? You betcha. Consular access? No. Public records access? You’d have to invade the bathroom at Mar a Lago for that.News media access? Not if you are not on the (small) approved list of podcasters tand bros. Who will pay for it? You will, and i will. It will be an indictment of us in the fullest sense of that word. Some day, finding folks who admit to being part of MAGA will be like finding Nazi supporters in post-WWII Germany. I am always fascinated by footage of the massive crowds at Nazi rallies, and how few of those folks trumpeted that affiliation later on. We should all be Mayor Johnston right now. Not petulance, but patriotism.
More than a bit hard. Oh, the mayor must obey the law. Fuvk that. It was against the law in Germany and Nazi occupied countries to harbor Jews, but many broke the law — disobeyed — and did it anyway.
And Cathlynn, every bit of your post was spot on. Unfortunately, Steve ignored it and the rest of us.
Steve probably not ignoring what folks say in response to his posts….we’ll see if he re-evaluates his position on Denver in the coming days. His harsh words for Mayor Johnston were at odds with the rest of his article!
Steve, I love your columns, but I think a little of the old Republican blood still runs in your veins. *Biden's inflation*? That's straight out of the GOP playbook. Please explain.
There are so many pain points on the horizon, and that is Trump's, his advisers', his planned administration's, the incoming majority's in Congress, intention. Overwhelm with an onslaught of horribleness. Austerity promised by Musk and Ramaswamy, two guys among many who will not feel the impact of their cuts. Neither will ANY of his top donors.
People will literally die because of what is coming. No, not specifically like the concentration camps of WWII that Steve wrote about and linked to in this article, although people will certainly die in these "deportation camps", but in so many other ways. People not being able to afford medication, food, utilities such as water, electricity with the likely cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
The details Steve seeks are missing. That is intentional as well. They will not be provided, if ever conceived. There will merely be concepts, executive orders, and then actions. Consequences and impact to human beings will not be considered. Why should they be? His supporters are convinced that the targets of these policies are all the hated "other" that this POS, convicted felon, adjudicated rapist, fraud, tax cheat campaigned on. They will quickly forget, as many apparently already did on 11/05, that he said during a campaign rally, "I don't care about you, I just need your vote". The damage will be unreal, and sadly, the collateral damage to those who didn't vote for him, will be just as devastating. Elections have consequences indeed.
You’re so right. I can’t believe this. I hope Hegseth and RFK2 aren’t confirmed, because untold horrors await us if they are. What a dystopian hellscape the US is about to become, and the majority of voters CHOSE THIS. The US did, as Steve said, press the Trumpian gun to the collective temple and pull the trigger.
I agree, but I do want to point out that it was technically about 31% of the electorate who voted for him. One of the most important 'autopsies', imo, is to figure out why voting turnout was so low. I imagine it was a combination of things. Obviously, the hundreds of voter suppression laws that Rs passed in red states from 2016 on, the Extreme Court's destruction of the Voting Rights Act, and I also think that people in non-swing states think that their vote does not matter.
Very fair to point out, but I question framing it as "low" voter turnout. Last count it's about 151 million. In 2020, the largest ever, it was 155 million. In 2016, the two major parties combined for 129 million, with about 7 million for third parties. But agree with the impacts of voter suppression and the destruction of the VRA definitely kept some away, but how many for those reasons we'll never know. There also may have been some impact due to indifference with these two candidates. Trump should have raised concerns, but he didn't. He got 3 million more votes than 2020, and in 2024, 14 million more than in 2016. that's alarming. All said, it may not have been a majority of all eligible voters, but he got a majority (50.31%) of those who voted. But we're splitting hairs.
And as you state, the voter suppression laws were in red states. That means Trump just won those states he was going to win anyway by larger margins. EC wise, it made absolutely no difference. And the EC isn't going away either. I'm worried less about losing red states than losing every single swing state and losing margins in several key blue states. That is appeal, platform, and messaging. And sadly, the candidate. I thought she was qualified and earned my vote, but there is still a segment of people that are not ready or willing to vote for a female of color - and that's how we end up with an effing felon, fascist, and authoritarian returning to the WH.
With control of the WH, both houses of Congress, and SCOTUS, none of that is going to change. They will never approve of the 2021 John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement bill and VRA is not coming back in much or any significant way any time soon. So, we can spend time figuring out and guessing why 2.5% fewer people showed up or we can work on a platform and messaging that appeals to a wider group of voters.
The wisdom to learn. MAGA. Diametric opponents. Is the word empathy in the MAGA vocabulary? I’ve missed it, if so. Empathy was obviously missing from the previous family separation, and I don’t expect to see it in the coming deportation. Nor wisdom. The two seem inexorably linked, completely human and consciously forsaken by the incoming crapsters.
Too I’ve wondered and spoken that there is no memory or teaching about WWII and Japanese American citizens being stripped of property, businesses, and worst, their humanity. IF people - MAGAts - think the rights of a fertilized egg are greater than fully functional humans contributing to medical care, food growth, production & distribution, building trades & the revitalization of small towns, then we have failed more in education. When the expressed need for “cheaper food” turns into “why are there no (fill in the blank) at any cost”, will it need to be explained?
It is going to be very interesting to watch all of the maggots who were so concerned with the price of eggs, or gas for their 3 row SUV’s, when there are no eggs or vegetables or fruit because they are all rotting, when there are no undocumented immigrants available to help get them to market. Our collective wisdom has just elected the most unqualified and ignorant among us to lead us right off a cliff. They will write about this long after we are gone, in wonder at our stupidity. I have a question as a no longer practicing catholic, how come I can’t hear from inside my house the righteous thunder coming from every pulpit in Christendom, at the depravity and abject immorality of this plan to deport the weakest among us? Where are these self styled leaders of the true way to oneness with the almighty? Their hypocrisy has a stench that no amount of sane washing can cleanse, this is not a both sides issue, there is only one side that anyone that professes to be a moral human can stand on. I like the idea of referring to these places as Concentration Kamps, the KKK will probably wish they had thought of it. And maybe, just maybe the ring of its truthfulness will get through to some of the maggot base. 🤷♂️
I’m not sure the price of food (though stated as such) is/was the actual reason for the discontented vote throughout the land — perhaps an excuse for cruelty and entitlement. But when there are no (fill in the blank) at any cost, there will be a specific backlash based on lack.
As well as you write and as honorable as you are, I hope you are one who will bear witness and write of it for posterity. You must, and future Americans (as well as present Americans) would be wise to pay heed.
I’m having an opinionated day. Feel free to disagree with me.
Garland more than any single person is responsible for the aberration of Trump II. His foolish preoccupation with proving the DOJ’s impartiality resulted in his dithering to insane extremes with the very strong case he had against Trump. If Trump was readily convicted of 34 out of 34 felonies by a jury in New York in a somewhat confusing fact scenario, what would have been his fate before a DC jury in a relatively slam dunk January 6 case prosecuted by Jack Smith before no-nonsense federal Judge Chutkan? He would be behind bars or at least disqualified from ever holding office again. Instead he is on his way back to power, this time with a vengeance. In a sense, Garland is the James Comey of this election cycle, the public official who most single handedly affected the result out of a misplaced sense of duty. For his blatantly negligent foot dragging that was tantamount to gross prosecutorial malpractice and the consequential reemergence of Trump now unrestrained, he richly deserves to be remembered as the worst and most cowardly and ineffectual AG in the country’s history.
Biden is a close second when it comes to those most responsible for Trump II. Whether or not he actually pledged at the outset to serve for a single term isn’t the question. It should have been obvious from his consistently rock bottom approval ratings (shared by Harris) and the head of steam that Trump and MAGA were gaining with each new indictment that the guy everyone outside of MAGA and the Fox bubble was characterizing as an “existential” threat to democracy was for real, very real. Ensuring his defeat should have been the No. 1 priority of Democrats and the WH, meaning that a timely passing of the baton to a new generation was critical. That required a full blown Democratic primary season from which the strongest possible slate could have been produced, given the party’s very deep and talented bench. For his arrogance and lack of vision that are quite arguably responsible for the perilous situation in which we now find ourselves, Biden, not Trump, will deservedly be viewed as the worst president in the nation’s history.
Last but surely not least, the Democrats and progressives and those who voted with them, whoever they are, need to be called to task for the role they played (or didn’t play!) in this fiasco of an election. How could 81 million of them have shown up to vote for Biden (or, more accurately, against Trump) in 2020 and only 74 million manage to drag themselves to the polls for Harris with so much more than in 2020 on the line (of course, many of the “missing” seven million apparently voted for Trump, which is infinitely worse than just staying home)? Yes, the Democratic coalition was, unbelievably, not sufficiently motivated to defeat Trump. Well, they made their own bed—so now let them sleep in it! Let them now complain about Trump’s outrageous cabinet picks. Not to worry! If they are able to defeat a few, MAGA has a very long list of horribles standing ready to replace them. Okay, then let them pin their hopes on retaking the House in two years. After the next two years of Trump and Congressional Republicans running roughshod over the country, a Democratic House in 2026 will surely be able to put everything back in order! Let them continue to scream about women’s reproductive freedom as the confounding differences among states’ laws create an ever more perilous predicament. Not to worry! A national abortion ban will render those laws uniform. Just joking, actually they should thank the 53% of white women voters who backed Trump—Vance told them Trump wouldn’t sign such a ban, you see. What, you say they’re going to deport millions of “dreamers” who were brought here by their parents when they were very young and have never known any other country? Do you actually think Trump and Miller will get away with that? Oh, you do. Well, seriously, don’t become despondent. No matter what Trump and his cohorts have up their sleeves, a Democratic administration surely will come to the rescue in 2028! Wait, you say you’ve gone back to last Jan/Feb’s issue of The Atlantic and read the warnings of 24 prominent writers and scholars as to the potential perils of a Trump II and are now worried whether there will even be an election in 2028? Are you serious? What do those clueless intellectuals know? Don’t they realize we have a Constitution that protects our rights and freedoms?!!
These are important questions Steve, but, I doubt even Trump/Administration has the answers. He flys by the seat of his pants, mercurial at every turn. He’ll be doing the “weave” for four long years. He hopes to exhaust us into surrender. I’ve signed up for Pro Publica, for their investigative reporting.
For nearly five years, America tergiversated, denied and isolated itself when faced with the horror of Hitler’s Lebensraum-driven Anschluss into Austria in 1938 followed by his invasion of Poland in 1939 before summoning the sense of practical exigency and reserves of moral courage to militarily intervene at Normandy in 1944 on D-Day to stop this madman from threatening the citadels of Western democracy and freedom.
Trump’s Anschluss will take place within his own country, his Big Lie-fueled, collective MAGA cult psychopathy unleashing the venomous, white racist equivalent of German anti-Semitism, running rampant in every corner of American civil society. The victims of this omnivorous purge will be omnipresent, the collateral damage of blood and chaos affecting nearly all Americans and their precious freedoms in the process. The opposition to this oncoming paroxysm of violence and destruction will be led by a yet unknown leader or leaders, as you indicate, Steve. But soon we will know whether some quotient of the rebellious and indefatigable moral courage that animated our revolutionary forefathers to declare their independence from an English monarchy still retains a pulse and harbors an instinct to save America from itself by galvanizing a mass nonviolent, MLK-like resistance movement for self-survival to confront, challenge and slay the heart of human darkness and evil that fires the maniacal Trump psychocracy.
Yes, as crazy as it seems, psycho-fascist Trump's White House and his shared psychotic platoons of pandemic-level mental pathology are poised to become the proverbial psychiatric ward where the in-patients have killed the psychiatric staff and are running amok, armed with the delusional psychotic certitude that they know better than the experts what America needs and deserves. Absent a reflexive, well-organized and disciplined resistance, America will soon be feasting on its own entrails (shades of Jonestown), having deported its creedal beliefs along with millions of scapegoated and defenseless, migratory human beings seeking, with a wickedly ironic twist, the same hopeful life the persecutors' own ancestors once sought in America.
"I didn’t like Joe Biden’s inflation, but what Trump is going to unleash is going to be next level."
Steve, it was not Biden's inflation. Quite the opposite. His administration limited the economic impact of covid, shortages and supply chain interruptions, very effectively.
You’re right Anthony Santo, it wasn’t Joe Bidens inflation.
I totally agree, Anthony. "Joe Biden's inflation" was a post-pandemic global problem. So it was as much Rishi Sunak's inflation and Olaf Scholtz's inflation as Joe Biden's. Meaning not at all.
Exactly. If anything, it was COVID’s inflation.
Thank you!
I came here just to say this
Well done Steve, but I’m not sure his deportation plan will be executed as advertised. Wall Street won the Treasury battle: For now! And Bessent isn’t going to go along with a blanket tariff on Mexico, Canada, or China, for the matter.
And from all accounts, Trump is already claiming victory against Mexico, by literally doing nothing; as to be expected! So he’s already collapsing faster than a cheap lounge chair! And as the wise Cowboy once said: Trump is all hat, and no cattle!
Moreover, Bessent must be reminding Trump that his deportation and tariffs policies will increase inflation, since half of the construction workers are undocumented. Additionally, over one million agricultural workers are undocumented. And approximately half of our hospitality workers are undocumented!
If Trump implemented his agenda as promised; food prices, construction costs, and hotel and resort fees will increase exponentially. Not to mention, undocumented immigrants account for close to $3 trillion in annual GDP, and close to $500 billion in annual tax revenue. They also pay FICA: Social Security and Medicare; two programs they will never be eligible for, so they’re essentially helping to fund many of our unfunded liabilities we can’t pay for.
Furthermore, if Trump is true to his word about tax cuts, while trying to implement his tariffs and deportation agenda, then our economy will implode by the fourth quarter of 2026. Moreover, the short-term Treasury Yield Curve is currently inverted, which means the bond markets are reacting very cautiously, and sending a message; regardless of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s actions, the bond markets will set the interest rates, and they will be higher than the fed target rate. Thus, costing America more to borrow into the future. This will have a tremendous impact on our cost to service the debt; reducing our discretionary income for all other programs, including Medicare, Social Security, and the military.
That said, Trump has a fight brewing within his inner circle. The Wall Street Master’s of the Universe, who are singlehandedly supporting Trump’s DJT stock (TMTG), making his a REAL billionaire; they can dump it at any time! Or the religious fascist’s like Miller, who are hell bent on creating perpetual crisis (Shock Doctrine), based on chaos and cruelty; just because they can!
The bottom line: grab your popcorn, and smoke a bowl, because it’s going to be a very bumpy ride. And until we know the winners and losers, expect lots of uncertainty, and market volatility; just the way MAGA and Trump like it! IMHO!…:)
Very well said, Robert! I’ve got my popcorn ready.
Odd, that every developed country experienced what you call “ Joe Biden’s inflation” and in every other developed country it was much worse and did not correct with President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.” I do not understand why you Steve feel it is necessary to attack President Joe Biden with every post of yours. President Biden successfully got America through the Covid Pandemic with all that came with this and gave us the best economic recovery on the planet and made our alliances stronger and saved Ukraine at least for now. President Biden’s record of achievements in the face of Republican goal of destroying our country is remarkable, however we got here now in a crisis because of Trump and GOP fueled greed and hate. I hope you will focus us on how to deal with what lies ahead and please recognize your bizarre fixation on attacking President Biden undermines your argument and your goal of saving our democracy.
Biden’s sin is that he didn’t get out of the way and announce in ‘22 that he would be a transitional one-termer. The Democratic sin is that they believed in old-fashioned news and governance and the FoxNews, Joe Rogan, X-fueled info barrage overwhelmed them while they weren’t even looking.
This is a bit of a different perspective but I think if President Biden had succeeded in getting the funding for Ukraine in the Fall of 2023 when he requested it and got the immigration bill passed he would have step aside sooner but he could not be in a lame duck position and get the Ukraine funding accomplished which he could not get Speaker Johnson to pass without a lot of arm twisting until late spring of 2024, then it was too late. This is my view on that subject. Then it is simple, President Biden is an incredibly positive person and still expected honesty and integrity from the Republicans and his high expectations of them was in the end what may end our democracy.
Well said.
Homan's bombast at Congressional hearings fails to cover up his cruelty, in fact, it makes it more obvious. He is a loud-mouth bully and should have no power in government.
His bloodlust is unmistakable. It's written all over his face.
"Trump’s exaggerated mandate made clear was that Biden’s failures paved the way for draconian enforcement."
Democrats worked with Republicans in the Senate and produced a bipartisan immigration reform bill that Trump ordered Mike Johnson to deep-six. The horrors Americans and immigrants are about to face are entirely on Trump and Maga, not Biden and Democrats!
Correct.
Thanks for your continued bravery and forcing all to retain a consciousness during this time of darkening clouds over our civic body!! 😢😬
Steve, other than warning others about the coming deportation, and challenging reckless and feeble institutions to act to document this coming American autrocity, what will you be doing from your perch of privilege when the first details of the plan are made public, when the first concentration camp (I named it) site is chosen, the first guard is hired, the first brick is laid, the first child is separated from its parents, the first bus is loaded? Other than writing about the coming storm, what risks will you take to prevent it from happening, to document it, to find people of conscience to join you in resisting this evil? What will you do when our day of infamy inevitably occurs. To quote the esteemed Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, "While not all of us are guilty, all of us are responsible," and I add, unless we act to prevent or stop the authority from happening. And to quote the 1st century BCE Jewish sage, Hillel the Elder, "If not now, when?"
I too have thought of those and other like words for our responsibility. Do we link arms to keep buses from moving? I ask seriously because too few understand the humanitarian & economic nightmare.
As much as I hate this mass deportation, I think it must be allowed to proceed. A plurality of Americans voted for this. They must experience the consequences of their choices if we are ever to return to sanity.
Back at you, Frank. What will YOU be doing? I’m in AZ. I am going to be making a huge fucking ruckus in any way I can. You also?
What are you going to do?
It also looks like a big push will be made to roll back no-fault divorce. Vance and the Theocrats want it. The Great Unwashed may have buyer’s remorse, but that would be giving them a brain they do not possess.
Steve, you are being a bit hard on Mayor Johnston. He is basically a decent man who understands that the saber-rattling of deportation in a multi-cultural city, including Hispanic but also huge Eritrean and Ethiopian communities, has the potential to destabilize his entire city. That he is outspoken about his refusal to cave to cruelty is what every American should be doing.
Chain of command? A head guy and a bunch of thugs under him. Medical, educational, legal, and humanitarian are quaint ideas considered important pre-Trump but rendered meaningless in deportation world. Access restricted? You betcha. Consular access? No. Public records access? You’d have to invade the bathroom at Mar a Lago for that.News media access? Not if you are not on the (small) approved list of podcasters tand bros. Who will pay for it? You will, and i will. It will be an indictment of us in the fullest sense of that word. Some day, finding folks who admit to being part of MAGA will be like finding Nazi supporters in post-WWII Germany. I am always fascinated by footage of the massive crowds at Nazi rallies, and how few of those folks trumpeted that affiliation later on. We should all be Mayor Johnston right now. Not petulance, but patriotism.
More than a bit hard. Oh, the mayor must obey the law. Fuvk that. It was against the law in Germany and Nazi occupied countries to harbor Jews, but many broke the law — disobeyed — and did it anyway.
And Cathlynn, every bit of your post was spot on. Unfortunately, Steve ignored it and the rest of us.
Steve probably not ignoring what folks say in response to his posts….we’ll see if he re-evaluates his position on Denver in the coming days. His harsh words for Mayor Johnston were at odds with the rest of his article!
Steve, I love your columns, but I think a little of the old Republican blood still runs in your veins. *Biden's inflation*? That's straight out of the GOP playbook. Please explain.
There are so many pain points on the horizon, and that is Trump's, his advisers', his planned administration's, the incoming majority's in Congress, intention. Overwhelm with an onslaught of horribleness. Austerity promised by Musk and Ramaswamy, two guys among many who will not feel the impact of their cuts. Neither will ANY of his top donors.
People will literally die because of what is coming. No, not specifically like the concentration camps of WWII that Steve wrote about and linked to in this article, although people will certainly die in these "deportation camps", but in so many other ways. People not being able to afford medication, food, utilities such as water, electricity with the likely cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
The details Steve seeks are missing. That is intentional as well. They will not be provided, if ever conceived. There will merely be concepts, executive orders, and then actions. Consequences and impact to human beings will not be considered. Why should they be? His supporters are convinced that the targets of these policies are all the hated "other" that this POS, convicted felon, adjudicated rapist, fraud, tax cheat campaigned on. They will quickly forget, as many apparently already did on 11/05, that he said during a campaign rally, "I don't care about you, I just need your vote". The damage will be unreal, and sadly, the collateral damage to those who didn't vote for him, will be just as devastating. Elections have consequences indeed.
You’re so right. I can’t believe this. I hope Hegseth and RFK2 aren’t confirmed, because untold horrors await us if they are. What a dystopian hellscape the US is about to become, and the majority of voters CHOSE THIS. The US did, as Steve said, press the Trumpian gun to the collective temple and pull the trigger.
I agree, but I do want to point out that it was technically about 31% of the electorate who voted for him. One of the most important 'autopsies', imo, is to figure out why voting turnout was so low. I imagine it was a combination of things. Obviously, the hundreds of voter suppression laws that Rs passed in red states from 2016 on, the Extreme Court's destruction of the Voting Rights Act, and I also think that people in non-swing states think that their vote does not matter.
Very fair to point out, but I question framing it as "low" voter turnout. Last count it's about 151 million. In 2020, the largest ever, it was 155 million. In 2016, the two major parties combined for 129 million, with about 7 million for third parties. But agree with the impacts of voter suppression and the destruction of the VRA definitely kept some away, but how many for those reasons we'll never know. There also may have been some impact due to indifference with these two candidates. Trump should have raised concerns, but he didn't. He got 3 million more votes than 2020, and in 2024, 14 million more than in 2016. that's alarming. All said, it may not have been a majority of all eligible voters, but he got a majority (50.31%) of those who voted. But we're splitting hairs.
And as you state, the voter suppression laws were in red states. That means Trump just won those states he was going to win anyway by larger margins. EC wise, it made absolutely no difference. And the EC isn't going away either. I'm worried less about losing red states than losing every single swing state and losing margins in several key blue states. That is appeal, platform, and messaging. And sadly, the candidate. I thought she was qualified and earned my vote, but there is still a segment of people that are not ready or willing to vote for a female of color - and that's how we end up with an effing felon, fascist, and authoritarian returning to the WH.
With control of the WH, both houses of Congress, and SCOTUS, none of that is going to change. They will never approve of the 2021 John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement bill and VRA is not coming back in much or any significant way any time soon. So, we can spend time figuring out and guessing why 2.5% fewer people showed up or we can work on a platform and messaging that appeals to a wider group of voters.
The wisdom to learn. MAGA. Diametric opponents. Is the word empathy in the MAGA vocabulary? I’ve missed it, if so. Empathy was obviously missing from the previous family separation, and I don’t expect to see it in the coming deportation. Nor wisdom. The two seem inexorably linked, completely human and consciously forsaken by the incoming crapsters.
Too I’ve wondered and spoken that there is no memory or teaching about WWII and Japanese American citizens being stripped of property, businesses, and worst, their humanity. IF people - MAGAts - think the rights of a fertilized egg are greater than fully functional humans contributing to medical care, food growth, production & distribution, building trades & the revitalization of small towns, then we have failed more in education. When the expressed need for “cheaper food” turns into “why are there no (fill in the blank) at any cost”, will it need to be explained?
It is going to be very interesting to watch all of the maggots who were so concerned with the price of eggs, or gas for their 3 row SUV’s, when there are no eggs or vegetables or fruit because they are all rotting, when there are no undocumented immigrants available to help get them to market. Our collective wisdom has just elected the most unqualified and ignorant among us to lead us right off a cliff. They will write about this long after we are gone, in wonder at our stupidity. I have a question as a no longer practicing catholic, how come I can’t hear from inside my house the righteous thunder coming from every pulpit in Christendom, at the depravity and abject immorality of this plan to deport the weakest among us? Where are these self styled leaders of the true way to oneness with the almighty? Their hypocrisy has a stench that no amount of sane washing can cleanse, this is not a both sides issue, there is only one side that anyone that professes to be a moral human can stand on. I like the idea of referring to these places as Concentration Kamps, the KKK will probably wish they had thought of it. And maybe, just maybe the ring of its truthfulness will get through to some of the maggot base. 🤷♂️
The volume of the hypoKrisy is deafening.
I’m not sure the price of food (though stated as such) is/was the actual reason for the discontented vote throughout the land — perhaps an excuse for cruelty and entitlement. But when there are no (fill in the blank) at any cost, there will be a specific backlash based on lack.
I agree. It's an excuse. They are angry, petty, ugly, vindictive morons who want to burn it all down.
As well as you write and as honorable as you are, I hope you are one who will bear witness and write of it for posterity. You must, and future Americans (as well as present Americans) would be wise to pay heed.
I’m having an opinionated day. Feel free to disagree with me.
Garland more than any single person is responsible for the aberration of Trump II. His foolish preoccupation with proving the DOJ’s impartiality resulted in his dithering to insane extremes with the very strong case he had against Trump. If Trump was readily convicted of 34 out of 34 felonies by a jury in New York in a somewhat confusing fact scenario, what would have been his fate before a DC jury in a relatively slam dunk January 6 case prosecuted by Jack Smith before no-nonsense federal Judge Chutkan? He would be behind bars or at least disqualified from ever holding office again. Instead he is on his way back to power, this time with a vengeance. In a sense, Garland is the James Comey of this election cycle, the public official who most single handedly affected the result out of a misplaced sense of duty. For his blatantly negligent foot dragging that was tantamount to gross prosecutorial malpractice and the consequential reemergence of Trump now unrestrained, he richly deserves to be remembered as the worst and most cowardly and ineffectual AG in the country’s history.
Biden is a close second when it comes to those most responsible for Trump II. Whether or not he actually pledged at the outset to serve for a single term isn’t the question. It should have been obvious from his consistently rock bottom approval ratings (shared by Harris) and the head of steam that Trump and MAGA were gaining with each new indictment that the guy everyone outside of MAGA and the Fox bubble was characterizing as an “existential” threat to democracy was for real, very real. Ensuring his defeat should have been the No. 1 priority of Democrats and the WH, meaning that a timely passing of the baton to a new generation was critical. That required a full blown Democratic primary season from which the strongest possible slate could have been produced, given the party’s very deep and talented bench. For his arrogance and lack of vision that are quite arguably responsible for the perilous situation in which we now find ourselves, Biden, not Trump, will deservedly be viewed as the worst president in the nation’s history.
Last but surely not least, the Democrats and progressives and those who voted with them, whoever they are, need to be called to task for the role they played (or didn’t play!) in this fiasco of an election. How could 81 million of them have shown up to vote for Biden (or, more accurately, against Trump) in 2020 and only 74 million manage to drag themselves to the polls for Harris with so much more than in 2020 on the line (of course, many of the “missing” seven million apparently voted for Trump, which is infinitely worse than just staying home)? Yes, the Democratic coalition was, unbelievably, not sufficiently motivated to defeat Trump. Well, they made their own bed—so now let them sleep in it! Let them now complain about Trump’s outrageous cabinet picks. Not to worry! If they are able to defeat a few, MAGA has a very long list of horribles standing ready to replace them. Okay, then let them pin their hopes on retaking the House in two years. After the next two years of Trump and Congressional Republicans running roughshod over the country, a Democratic House in 2026 will surely be able to put everything back in order! Let them continue to scream about women’s reproductive freedom as the confounding differences among states’ laws create an ever more perilous predicament. Not to worry! A national abortion ban will render those laws uniform. Just joking, actually they should thank the 53% of white women voters who backed Trump—Vance told them Trump wouldn’t sign such a ban, you see. What, you say they’re going to deport millions of “dreamers” who were brought here by their parents when they were very young and have never known any other country? Do you actually think Trump and Miller will get away with that? Oh, you do. Well, seriously, don’t become despondent. No matter what Trump and his cohorts have up their sleeves, a Democratic administration surely will come to the rescue in 2028! Wait, you say you’ve gone back to last Jan/Feb’s issue of The Atlantic and read the warnings of 24 prominent writers and scholars as to the potential perils of a Trump II and are now worried whether there will even be an election in 2028? Are you serious? What do those clueless intellectuals know? Don’t they realize we have a Constitution that protects our rights and freedoms?!!
Well done. Well said. Brilliant writing.
👏👏👏
I don't agree with all your points but am 100% with your acidic sarcastic view of the wishful states of mind abounding in our county.
These are important questions Steve, but, I doubt even Trump/Administration has the answers. He flys by the seat of his pants, mercurial at every turn. He’ll be doing the “weave” for four long years. He hopes to exhaust us into surrender. I’ve signed up for Pro Publica, for their investigative reporting.
Mercurial is almost too kind a description and implies at least some long-range thinking. You had it pegged at the seat of his soiled pants.
For nearly five years, America tergiversated, denied and isolated itself when faced with the horror of Hitler’s Lebensraum-driven Anschluss into Austria in 1938 followed by his invasion of Poland in 1939 before summoning the sense of practical exigency and reserves of moral courage to militarily intervene at Normandy in 1944 on D-Day to stop this madman from threatening the citadels of Western democracy and freedom.
Trump’s Anschluss will take place within his own country, his Big Lie-fueled, collective MAGA cult psychopathy unleashing the venomous, white racist equivalent of German anti-Semitism, running rampant in every corner of American civil society. The victims of this omnivorous purge will be omnipresent, the collateral damage of blood and chaos affecting nearly all Americans and their precious freedoms in the process. The opposition to this oncoming paroxysm of violence and destruction will be led by a yet unknown leader or leaders, as you indicate, Steve. But soon we will know whether some quotient of the rebellious and indefatigable moral courage that animated our revolutionary forefathers to declare their independence from an English monarchy still retains a pulse and harbors an instinct to save America from itself by galvanizing a mass nonviolent, MLK-like resistance movement for self-survival to confront, challenge and slay the heart of human darkness and evil that fires the maniacal Trump psychocracy.
Yes, as crazy as it seems, psycho-fascist Trump's White House and his shared psychotic platoons of pandemic-level mental pathology are poised to become the proverbial psychiatric ward where the in-patients have killed the psychiatric staff and are running amok, armed with the delusional psychotic certitude that they know better than the experts what America needs and deserves. Absent a reflexive, well-organized and disciplined resistance, America will soon be feasting on its own entrails (shades of Jonestown), having deported its creedal beliefs along with millions of scapegoated and defenseless, migratory human beings seeking, with a wickedly ironic twist, the same hopeful life the persecutors' own ancestors once sought in America.