I am so very, very sick of constant trump on the news. I don't want to hear him or see his loathsome face...just tell me the facts without the sound effects. The only thing I'm looking forward to about trump is reading his obituary.
Ditto. It would be God's way of ending this nightmare on the world. Trumpism will survive but at this time Trump himself is the gravest danger to world wide order..
Wow. No one is blaming God! It's the opposite. I'm asking for his intervention. God is the one who controls Trump's ultimate destiny before trials and voting etc. It's my way of asking God to help in our plight and take him away so all this insanity can slow down. But it's pretty sad that I literally had to explain what I meant..seems everyone else understood.
Please don’t take my comment as a personal criticism, Deb, it’s not meant as an insult. My point is only that our citizens need to act in unison to protect our freedoms and to decry the permissive behaviors we’ve adopted in allowing the unfit to reach positions of power. That much we can and should do.
Escalation within repetition is Trump’s main tactic. Its value is two fold: First it convinces his followers that what he says is true. Second, it sickens us and makes us want to withdraw just to stop the pain of seeing and listening to and thinking about him.
But we mustn’t. Today is nothing compared to the horror if he is elected and our Constitution and ideals are trashed. Ok to turn him off, but find a way to shine light into his darkness: Support a candidate (maybe one who’s challenging one of the crazies or collaborators) or a group like CREW or the Lincoln Project, have the difficult discussions with people who have swallowed his lies.
So why doesn't Steve write about the Aeneid, or great paintings, or great people who uplifted us through art? He cannot, because he did not serve art all his life, and instead is the slave to Trump's magnet. If this were an great column celebrating the meaningfulness of great Art, I would prefer it.
Then why ever would you have subscribed? I am here because, by and large, I respect Steve Schmidt's opinions and admire his eloquence and restraint in discussing the evil forces that are working overtime trying to subvert our democracy and our way of life. I am so disturbed and angered by what has become of this country since that malevolent POS rode down the escalator, I am unable to rationally discuss the situation without ultimately melting down into a stream of epithets. Go read about art and stop trolling.
Hi, tracy! Steve writes about what he is an expert in, which is politics and political persons. He is not a “slave to Trump’s magnet.” If you read him for a while you will find he writes about other political topics than Trump. In fact he often gives examples of great writing - surely we recognize the art in great oratory. Just in the last week he has written about antisemitism- including a beautiful speech @ the White House by Elie Wiesel, about Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s lives of honor and service, and about JFK and some of his most famous and inspiring words. Steve is experienced and thoughtful even idealistic in his domain.
You might enjoy watching reading Ari Melber. Now Ari is a lawyer and talks very informtively about the legal action, but he often interviews people from contemporary arts. The ones i find most mind-expanding are from the rap/hip hop sphere --not my native territory ( putting it mildly), more of an Aeneid girl myself and getting past the language inthe music is not easy for me, but I have been very impressed by their thoughtfulness developed from their own American experiences so different from mine.
Democracy's future, ironically, will depend on its present.
Today, American democracy is threatened by US Congressional Republicans, extremist right-wing media including Fox News, and social media (X and Truth Social,) morbidly rich mega-donors and wealthy Corporations, the former guy, red state congresses and judiciary, SCOTUS majorities, Evangelicals and Christian Nationalists, misogynists, election, vaccine and climate change deniers, anti-abortionists, anti-LGBTQ "patriots," anti-immigrant, anti-Semites and other racists, white supremacists, gun-toting Second Amendment militia, (Proud Boys, Oath Keepers,) red state Governor "banners," (CRT, DEI, SEL, Disney, drag shows, books, trans healthcare,) Moms for Liberty, and Artificial Intelligence-using foreign nationals' mis- and disinformation campaigns.
Their "Job One" will be to destroy American democracy by encouraging voter suppression and purges, gerrymandering, and voter intimidation, including through violence, (using firearms if necessary,) and stochastic terrorism.
Voting will be very important in '24, to the extent "permitted" by those with power, and their supporters, who'd rather we didn't.
I do not know how anyone who wakes each day could deny what David Sea (Steve Schmidt) has stated clearly. It is all TRUE. We cannot survive this attack on ourselves,(let alone our Nation,families, friends, neighbors and THE WORLD)
I know for certain that the last eight+ years have damaged our Nation and so much more. I know my Substack community feels the same. I hope with all my heart that it will not come to fruition.
Thank you to all that want to keep the TRUTH at the forefront and work together to keep us together through all of this.
Well, i am a white Evangelical Christian senior woman so im on your list but likely six or more of the first ten things you’re probably thinking about me are likely wrong.
Then why do you have “Evangelicals” on your list of threats to Democracy? I know that word is used to label certain kinds of people who might not be what we call evangelical in the sense, for example, that my denomination has “evangelical” in its name. Im just curious.
After his MaL visit, Mike Johnson should be asked if he supports this point by point and , if not, how can he endorse Trump? (And, if he thinks religion and morality are important in our government, how can he endorse Trump?)
These are questions for the next Republican debate: Do you support this agenda point by point?
Trump is right thst the biggest threat is within: IT’S HIM AND HIS HORDES OF HATE.
This should be in a full- page, black- bordered ad in every paper in the country. On every news broadcast.
These are promises to violate the presidential oath that is still binding on him.
As with every dictator his deluded followers think somehow that he’s on their side. He’s not. He is only on his own delusional side.
Liz Cheney, john kasich, mitt Romney: time to stand tall.
Wehner and Michael Gerson, another wonderful evangelical writer ( now deceased) whose column ran in the Washington Post, wrote a thoughtful and thought- provoking book about Christianity and politics ( maybe i should say Christians and politics?) called “City of Man” (deliberately evoking Augustine’s “City of God”. )
Steve, thank you for this list of questions to ask, I will begin posting these questions to the editors of the 4 regional newspapers and 6 major TV stations in my local market each day. THESE are the questions they need to ask now. And they are not asking these questions it's time to begin to ask them, the editors, the gatekeepers of the print and electronic media - why? So let's go, let's ask these very logical and thoughtful questions. Thank you and Steve please keep doing what you are doing. Also though, please take care of your self, and I hope you are able to put all this aside a while and rest over the holiday, and also every day too.
Powerful, disturbing and true. As John Kelly reportedly noted recently, how anyone can seriously vote for someone with these views is inexplicable. I am not sure how to get this out but this truly is an existential election.
Gone, and perhaps forgotten. Me. Little old lady recovering from emergency appendix-removal surgery. Go figure. Why am I telling you this? Because, though this Minnesotan thoroughly disapproves of Dean Phillips' grab for glory, I value Steve's communications. So, I didn't go away.
Steve's list of trump's threats should (choose one or all):
> Be placed on billboards throughout the nation.
> Be the sign-on image of every TV news show.
> Be duplicated and air-dropped a la WW2 communications.
> Be recited on every radio news show and Tik Tok.
> Be brightly-colored refrigerator magnets.
> Be set to music by Taylor Swift.
Nothing about trump should generate smart-ass commentary. Nevertheless, I hope mine underscores the urgency of getting trump's stated sedition before the eyes of the nation. Over and over and over again.
But especially the Taylor Swift idea. Ari melber is talking about protest songs- we need a good one. We could start withe the Sesame Street Preamble to the Constitution song
All his accusations and threats are confessions. Imagine the result if all that he promises and threatens to carry out, were in place when he lead the insurrection? Trump would have received a death sentence and many of his own loyalists would be imprisoned in his “camps”. How unsettling that The Constitution and the very institutions that we cherish have made us vulnerable to our own destruction by Trump- his malice and scores of his disillusioned followers, some of whom are extraordinarily powerful. History will show, if we survive as a Democratic Republic, that we are living through dark and dangerous times.
Most of his powerful followers seek power toward their own ends through corrupting Trump. But in the end they would find, as the anti-abortion folks are now, that their agendas are not his, that he is only interested in his ( and his family’s) power and wealth. He feels no loyalty to supporters, regardless of how they have enabled him. If they criticize him, he will gladly toss them in jail.
“Oh, but he won’t raise my taxes”, should be believed by nobody ever. The way to keep the non MAGA voters, who’s support he needs to win, from voting for TFG is to show them the truth of tRumpenomics. i.e. debt debt and more debt to pay for his walls and camps and grift. Apparently the survival of democracy argument is falling short until (hopefully) election day when their conscience may be their guide.
I'm not a mental health professional so I'm not qualified to make the diagnosis, but I don't have to be an orintholigist to know that if a bird waddles and quacks, it's probably a duck
Trump has created a troop of flying monkeys out of 40+% of our voters. Folks who don't realize they've fallen under the spell of the narcissist. They've been told they're special. They do his bidding.
All of this is part of the phenomenon of this serious debilitating disorder called narcissist personality disorder.
Can we take this seriously? Can our country have a conversation about it? Would it matter?
We are walking straight into the maw of psychosis.
12 signs of narcissism. (Fulham consulting.com) Sound familiar?
1. Superiority and entitlement
2. Exaggerated need for attention and validation
3. Lack of responsibility - blaming and deflection
4. Lack of boundaries
5. Lack of empathy
6. Emotional reasoning
7. Splitting (everything either good and bad)
8. Fear (primarily motivated by fear. Fear of being a "loser" perhaps?)
Anyone else feel the FEAR running through their veins after reading this piece today?
Anyone else think this FEAR message would resonate with the “handful” of swing voters in several swing states who will decide whether Trump takes power again?
The same people who are proving they respond to FEAR by telling pollsters they plan to vote for Trump?
Steve’s columns should be serving as creative strategy for all messaging coming from Democrats. Only the threat of losing one’s way of life to plunge into an irreversible fascist state can counter the lying FEAR narrative of vengeance and punishment simply for acting like free Americans.
That wonderful replacement bridge due for completion in 2029 is no match for the barrage of FEAR to capture hearts and minds just long enough to tick a box for Trump.
Yes to all. Why the HELL are the Democrats so completely inept at messaging? The Republican authoritarians are handing nightmarish material to them daily. Nothing. The Dems respond with soft lobs. F that! Democracy, freedom, the environment, and literally world peace are at stake. Take one issue - Ukraine. We all know what will happen if Trump regains the Presidency. There is no question whether Russia will stop at Ukraine. In that ONE issue, world peace and countless lives are at stake.
The list of imminent disasters looming in a Trump second term - for this country and the planet - is real and very long.
Democrats need to plaster Trump’s promises on every wall, billboard, television screen, computer, and anywhere else the uninvolved, disinterested people of this country’s eyes land. Trump’s authoritarian threats need to be OUR ammunition, not stored out of sight as if it’s all just rhetoric. It’s not. It’s all too real.
I feel your anger, LC. Your line about “Trump’s authoritarian threats need to be OUR ammunition” is the fuel to power our... what?
Is our only hope some random cataclysmic event to galvanize the hypnotized in this country, in advance of the one that will take place after it’s too late? Or are they already planning their own ‘event’ to seal Trump’s victory (it’s right there at the top of their playbook).
The fate of world order is at stake. Read Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s Substack today, if you can. I had to step away for a few moments to go throw up.
I just don’t think people understand the gravity of a Trump second presidency. They don’t appreciate the the true danger that electing a malignant narcissist, who can’t discern between reality and fantasy and simply possesses no remnant of empathy in the position of power. People don’t know the things he wanted to do in his first term by the adults in the room. There will be no adults this time.
By the adults in the room, they all attest that Trump has the temperament and acuity of a 5 year old. He has no attention span, no ability or desire to learn what is happening around him, and is dumb as a rock. It is a shame that the opposition to Trump is so feeble. Then we have third party egos that can’t see that they will only help Trump succeed.
If Trump replaces loyalty for competence, you can imagine how this country will soon become Russia, including our economy.
On point commentary Steve, but with one small needed tweek; The people who are “letting this happen” aren’t “almost as bad as Trump” - They are worse.
Its not those in Trumps inner power circle, and who’s motives are transparent, that we should revile the most. It’s the sick bastard next door who flies the MAGA flag and feels the need to strap on a side arm for a trip to the Winn Dixie Grocer. The only thing we have to fear, is Bubba-Nation.
We can only hope the polls are as spectacularly inaccurate as they usually are.
Trump - mass murderer of Americans via Covid - over 1 Million dead Americans and that piece of orange 💩knew they would die!! He had the figures ahead of time. 3% death rate Trump told Bob Woodward - 3 % of 330 million people is over 1 million Americans.
Mass Murderer Donald Trump. He allowed his scheming son in law to “step on” the PPE so desperately needed by the country in competition with the individual states - when there were directions ALREADY drawn up on how to handle a pandemic just waiting to be accessed. But “No” Trump the President wouldn’t use the preplanned emergency protocol because there was no money in it for “his family of grifters” running the country. Instead he preferred to let Americans die. He didn’t want to wear a mask because it ruined his orange makeup. Mass Murderer already and no one is willing to stop this piece of 💩from taking the Oval Office again and murdering more Americans.
Trump continues to bend the rules of decorum and tradition while nobody does anything about it. He should have to defend these promises and positions on the debate stage. He would fold under such cross-examination. Yet, he is allowed to hold simultaneous rallies to keep his followers fed with propaganda and away from seeing the other candidates. Our democracy will be lost due to no one holding Trump accountable to the rules everyone else feels they need to follow.
I am so very, very sick of constant trump on the news. I don't want to hear him or see his loathsome face...just tell me the facts without the sound effects. The only thing I'm looking forward to about trump is reading his obituary.
Yes! Every day I wake up and pray I read that he dropped dead during the night...every day since 2016! Every damn day!
Ditto. It would be God's way of ending this nightmare on the world. Trumpism will survive but at this time Trump himself is the gravest danger to world wide order..
Don’t blame God; Trump is an example of what we, ourselves, allow to reach our airwaves and positions of influence. We have to undo this ourselves.
Wow. No one is blaming God! It's the opposite. I'm asking for his intervention. God is the one who controls Trump's ultimate destiny before trials and voting etc. It's my way of asking God to help in our plight and take him away so all this insanity can slow down. But it's pretty sad that I literally had to explain what I meant..seems everyone else understood.
Bayjh
Writes Bayjh’s Substack
3 mins ago
Please don’t take my comment as a personal criticism, Deb, it’s not meant as an insult. My point is only that our citizens need to act in unison to protect our freedoms and to decry the permissive behaviors we’ve adopted in allowing the unfit to reach positions of power. That much we can and should do.
Sure know what you mean.
Escalation within repetition is Trump’s main tactic. Its value is two fold: First it convinces his followers that what he says is true. Second, it sickens us and makes us want to withdraw just to stop the pain of seeing and listening to and thinking about him.
But we mustn’t. Today is nothing compared to the horror if he is elected and our Constitution and ideals are trashed. Ok to turn him off, but find a way to shine light into his darkness: Support a candidate (maybe one who’s challenging one of the crazies or collaborators) or a group like CREW or the Lincoln Project, have the difficult discussions with people who have swallowed his lies.
So why doesn't Steve write about the Aeneid, or great paintings, or great people who uplifted us through art? He cannot, because he did not serve art all his life, and instead is the slave to Trump's magnet. If this were an great column celebrating the meaningfulness of great Art, I would prefer it.
Then why ever would you have subscribed? I am here because, by and large, I respect Steve Schmidt's opinions and admire his eloquence and restraint in discussing the evil forces that are working overtime trying to subvert our democracy and our way of life. I am so disturbed and angered by what has become of this country since that malevolent POS rode down the escalator, I am unable to rationally discuss the situation without ultimately melting down into a stream of epithets. Go read about art and stop trolling.
I apologize. Mr. Schmidt is a necessary voice.
Hi, tracy! Steve writes about what he is an expert in, which is politics and political persons. He is not a “slave to Trump’s magnet.” If you read him for a while you will find he writes about other political topics than Trump. In fact he often gives examples of great writing - surely we recognize the art in great oratory. Just in the last week he has written about antisemitism- including a beautiful speech @ the White House by Elie Wiesel, about Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s lives of honor and service, and about JFK and some of his most famous and inspiring words. Steve is experienced and thoughtful even idealistic in his domain.
You might enjoy watching reading Ari Melber. Now Ari is a lawyer and talks very informtively about the legal action, but he often interviews people from contemporary arts. The ones i find most mind-expanding are from the rap/hip hop sphere --not my native territory ( putting it mildly), more of an Aeneid girl myself and getting past the language inthe music is not easy for me, but I have been very impressed by their thoughtfulness developed from their own American experiences so different from mine.
Grace and peace to you.
💯 perfectly said. So much angst is caused by one malificent man!
Barbara, you are spot on!
Democracy's future, ironically, will depend on its present.
Today, American democracy is threatened by US Congressional Republicans, extremist right-wing media including Fox News, and social media (X and Truth Social,) morbidly rich mega-donors and wealthy Corporations, the former guy, red state congresses and judiciary, SCOTUS majorities, Evangelicals and Christian Nationalists, misogynists, election, vaccine and climate change deniers, anti-abortionists, anti-LGBTQ "patriots," anti-immigrant, anti-Semites and other racists, white supremacists, gun-toting Second Amendment militia, (Proud Boys, Oath Keepers,) red state Governor "banners," (CRT, DEI, SEL, Disney, drag shows, books, trans healthcare,) Moms for Liberty, and Artificial Intelligence-using foreign nationals' mis- and disinformation campaigns.
Their "Job One" will be to destroy American democracy by encouraging voter suppression and purges, gerrymandering, and voter intimidation, including through violence, (using firearms if necessary,) and stochastic terrorism.
Voting will be very important in '24, to the extent "permitted" by those with power, and their supporters, who'd rather we didn't.
I do not know how anyone who wakes each day could deny what David Sea (Steve Schmidt) has stated clearly. It is all TRUE. We cannot survive this attack on ourselves,(let alone our Nation,families, friends, neighbors and THE WORLD)
I know for certain that the last eight+ years have damaged our Nation and so much more. I know my Substack community feels the same. I hope with all my heart that it will not come to fruition.
Thank you to all that want to keep the TRUTH at the forefront and work together to keep us together through all of this.
TRUTH
Well, i am a white Evangelical Christian senior woman so im on your list but likely six or more of the first ten things you’re probably thinking about me are likely wrong.
That's OK, I’m a white Evangelical Christian senior man, married and straight. How's that for breaking stereotypes!!
Then why do you have “Evangelicals” on your list of threats to Democracy? I know that word is used to label certain kinds of people who might not be what we call evangelical in the sense, for example, that my denomination has “evangelical” in its name. Im just curious.
Not ALL Evangelicals, of course! You and I are exceptional! Seriously, as you're undoubtedly aware, not all Evangelicals are cut from the same cloth.
Sorry, the Supreme Court already has voter suppression well in hand. Don't need no help from the outside.
That was superb Steve. Please help President Biden
Remember Trump’s campaign slogan:
“Promises Made; Promises Kept”?
These are the promises he’s making.
He’ll keep them.
After his MaL visit, Mike Johnson should be asked if he supports this point by point and , if not, how can he endorse Trump? (And, if he thinks religion and morality are important in our government, how can he endorse Trump?)
These are questions for the next Republican debate: Do you support this agenda point by point?
Trump is right thst the biggest threat is within: IT’S HIM AND HIS HORDES OF HATE.
This should be in a full- page, black- bordered ad in every paper in the country. On every news broadcast.
These are promises to violate the presidential oath that is still binding on him.
As with every dictator his deluded followers think somehow that he’s on their side. He’s not. He is only on his own delusional side.
Liz Cheney, john kasich, mitt Romney: time to stand tall.
Johnson is a CINO, and uses his ‘religiosity’ as a means for gaining power and prosperity. There’s not a single moral fiber in his useless body.
Just for fun
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/donald-trump-is-a-unique-threat-to-american-democracy/2016/07/22/a6d823cc-4f4f-11e6-aa14-e0c1087f7583_story.html
Peter wehner has an article in Atlantic on danger of Trump.
Wehner and Michael Gerson, another wonderful evangelical writer ( now deceased) whose column ran in the Washington Post, wrote a thoughtful and thought- provoking book about Christianity and politics ( maybe i should say Christians and politics?) called “City of Man” (deliberately evoking Augustine’s “City of God”. )
MaL? Mal also means bad in Latin and French. Mar-a-Lago is aptly named.
Steve, thank you for this list of questions to ask, I will begin posting these questions to the editors of the 4 regional newspapers and 6 major TV stations in my local market each day. THESE are the questions they need to ask now. And they are not asking these questions it's time to begin to ask them, the editors, the gatekeepers of the print and electronic media - why? So let's go, let's ask these very logical and thoughtful questions. Thank you and Steve please keep doing what you are doing. Also though, please take care of your self, and I hope you are able to put all this aside a while and rest over the holiday, and also every day too.
It would also be helpful him have links to the source material demonstrating these are his agenda.
Powerful, disturbing and true. As John Kelly reportedly noted recently, how anyone can seriously vote for someone with these views is inexplicable. I am not sure how to get this out but this truly is an existential election.
It’s alarming when one person espouses these beliefs and wants to put them into action. That an entire political party agrees is horrific.
Because they support them. They have such a twisted view of what America is today--far from the actual truth--that they think his way is the answer.
Gone, and perhaps forgotten. Me. Little old lady recovering from emergency appendix-removal surgery. Go figure. Why am I telling you this? Because, though this Minnesotan thoroughly disapproves of Dean Phillips' grab for glory, I value Steve's communications. So, I didn't go away.
Steve's list of trump's threats should (choose one or all):
> Be placed on billboards throughout the nation.
> Be the sign-on image of every TV news show.
> Be duplicated and air-dropped a la WW2 communications.
> Be recited on every radio news show and Tik Tok.
> Be brightly-colored refrigerator magnets.
> Be set to music by Taylor Swift.
Nothing about trump should generate smart-ass commentary. Nevertheless, I hope mine underscores the urgency of getting trump's stated sedition before the eyes of the nation. Over and over and over again.
All
But especially the Taylor Swift idea. Ari melber is talking about protest songs- we need a good one. We could start withe the Sesame Street Preamble to the Constitution song
I'm in for that. If you can do melody, I can do lyrics!!
All his accusations and threats are confessions. Imagine the result if all that he promises and threatens to carry out, were in place when he lead the insurrection? Trump would have received a death sentence and many of his own loyalists would be imprisoned in his “camps”. How unsettling that The Constitution and the very institutions that we cherish have made us vulnerable to our own destruction by Trump- his malice and scores of his disillusioned followers, some of whom are extraordinarily powerful. History will show, if we survive as a Democratic Republic, that we are living through dark and dangerous times.
Most of his powerful followers seek power toward their own ends through corrupting Trump. But in the end they would find, as the anti-abortion folks are now, that their agendas are not his, that he is only interested in his ( and his family’s) power and wealth. He feels no loyalty to supporters, regardless of how they have enabled him. If they criticize him, he will gladly toss them in jail.
If Trump wins in 2024, he’ll have history rewritten in his favor! That’s what dictators do!
Bust out the Trump voodoo dolls and start stickin’ ‘em....
“Oh, but he won’t raise my taxes”, should be believed by nobody ever. The way to keep the non MAGA voters, who’s support he needs to win, from voting for TFG is to show them the truth of tRumpenomics. i.e. debt debt and more debt to pay for his walls and camps and grift. Apparently the survival of democracy argument is falling short until (hopefully) election day when their conscience may be their guide.
Very scary list of promises!
But very consistent behavior from a narcissist.
I'm not a mental health professional so I'm not qualified to make the diagnosis, but I don't have to be an orintholigist to know that if a bird waddles and quacks, it's probably a duck
Trump has created a troop of flying monkeys out of 40+% of our voters. Folks who don't realize they've fallen under the spell of the narcissist. They've been told they're special. They do his bidding.
All of this is part of the phenomenon of this serious debilitating disorder called narcissist personality disorder.
Can we take this seriously? Can our country have a conversation about it? Would it matter?
We are walking straight into the maw of psychosis.
12 signs of narcissism. (Fulham consulting.com) Sound familiar?
1. Superiority and entitlement
2. Exaggerated need for attention and validation
3. Lack of responsibility - blaming and deflection
4. Lack of boundaries
5. Lack of empathy
6. Emotional reasoning
7. Splitting (everything either good and bad)
8. Fear (primarily motivated by fear. Fear of being a "loser" perhaps?)
9. Anxiety (doom mentality)
10. Shame (don't have it)
11. Inability to be truly vulnerable
12. Inability to be part of a team.
Anyone else feel the FEAR running through their veins after reading this piece today?
Anyone else think this FEAR message would resonate with the “handful” of swing voters in several swing states who will decide whether Trump takes power again?
The same people who are proving they respond to FEAR by telling pollsters they plan to vote for Trump?
Steve’s columns should be serving as creative strategy for all messaging coming from Democrats. Only the threat of losing one’s way of life to plunge into an irreversible fascist state can counter the lying FEAR narrative of vengeance and punishment simply for acting like free Americans.
That wonderful replacement bridge due for completion in 2029 is no match for the barrage of FEAR to capture hearts and minds just long enough to tick a box for Trump.
One. Galvanizing. Message. To. Save. Democracy.
.
Yes to all. Why the HELL are the Democrats so completely inept at messaging? The Republican authoritarians are handing nightmarish material to them daily. Nothing. The Dems respond with soft lobs. F that! Democracy, freedom, the environment, and literally world peace are at stake. Take one issue - Ukraine. We all know what will happen if Trump regains the Presidency. There is no question whether Russia will stop at Ukraine. In that ONE issue, world peace and countless lives are at stake.
The list of imminent disasters looming in a Trump second term - for this country and the planet - is real and very long.
Democrats need to plaster Trump’s promises on every wall, billboard, television screen, computer, and anywhere else the uninvolved, disinterested people of this country’s eyes land. Trump’s authoritarian threats need to be OUR ammunition, not stored out of sight as if it’s all just rhetoric. It’s not. It’s all too real.
I feel your anger, LC. Your line about “Trump’s authoritarian threats need to be OUR ammunition” is the fuel to power our... what?
Is our only hope some random cataclysmic event to galvanize the hypnotized in this country, in advance of the one that will take place after it’s too late? Or are they already planning their own ‘event’ to seal Trump’s victory (it’s right there at the top of their playbook).
The fate of world order is at stake. Read Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s Substack today, if you can. I had to step away for a few moments to go throw up.
.
I just don’t think people understand the gravity of a Trump second presidency. They don’t appreciate the the true danger that electing a malignant narcissist, who can’t discern between reality and fantasy and simply possesses no remnant of empathy in the position of power. People don’t know the things he wanted to do in his first term by the adults in the room. There will be no adults this time.
By the adults in the room, they all attest that Trump has the temperament and acuity of a 5 year old. He has no attention span, no ability or desire to learn what is happening around him, and is dumb as a rock. It is a shame that the opposition to Trump is so feeble. Then we have third party egos that can’t see that they will only help Trump succeed.
If Trump replaces loyalty for competence, you can imagine how this country will soon become Russia, including our economy.
Sorry for the rant. But democracy is endangered and fascism has all momentum.
Big business seems to want this so they can become oligarchs in the “new” America
On point commentary Steve, but with one small needed tweek; The people who are “letting this happen” aren’t “almost as bad as Trump” - They are worse.
Its not those in Trumps inner power circle, and who’s motives are transparent, that we should revile the most. It’s the sick bastard next door who flies the MAGA flag and feels the need to strap on a side arm for a trip to the Winn Dixie Grocer. The only thing we have to fear, is Bubba-Nation.
We can only hope the polls are as spectacularly inaccurate as they usually are.
Trump - mass murderer of Americans via Covid - over 1 Million dead Americans and that piece of orange 💩knew they would die!! He had the figures ahead of time. 3% death rate Trump told Bob Woodward - 3 % of 330 million people is over 1 million Americans.
Mass Murderer Donald Trump. He allowed his scheming son in law to “step on” the PPE so desperately needed by the country in competition with the individual states - when there were directions ALREADY drawn up on how to handle a pandemic just waiting to be accessed. But “No” Trump the President wouldn’t use the preplanned emergency protocol because there was no money in it for “his family of grifters” running the country. Instead he preferred to let Americans die. He didn’t want to wear a mask because it ruined his orange makeup. Mass Murderer already and no one is willing to stop this piece of 💩from taking the Oval Office again and murdering more Americans.
Trump continues to bend the rules of decorum and tradition while nobody does anything about it. He should have to defend these promises and positions on the debate stage. He would fold under such cross-examination. Yet, he is allowed to hold simultaneous rallies to keep his followers fed with propaganda and away from seeing the other candidates. Our democracy will be lost due to no one holding Trump accountable to the rules everyone else feels they need to follow.
No. He is not bending the rules. He’s setting out new antiDemocracy ( and we must stop saying anti- democratic. )rules.