George Washington did not have the insight to realize that all men are created equal, despite fighting for a cause that declared it an unalienable truth.
I hope you are correct but there are so many Americans who refuse to listen to anything negative about Trump. Three of my brothers are among them and are unwilling and not receptive to a message of hope. I lost 2 brothers a decade ago out of nine children and my parents also died more than decade ago. That left my family evenly divided but now one of my sister has been listening to my brothers and I fear she is also becoming unreceptive to reality. I have been blocked by my maga family. At first I thought it was funny but now I am deeply concerned because maybe there are other families out there who have members in the Trump cult. That is what trumpism has become, a cult. My health has been failing. I have an as of yet undiagnosed neurological condition. I am scheduled for a new MRI and hopefully will get some answers from the VA. It sucks not knowing what to call my disorder but at the same time a little scary. I have made plans to vote early just to be safe. Who knows I could possibly be one of the dead people voting Trump is so worried about which makes me extremely happy and proud I am able to get under his skin.
I'm sorry to hear about the discord in your family, especially when you're struggling with your health. I also salute your dedication to voting. These are times that try our souls for certain.
Sorry to hear about your siblings in the cult. If and when Trump tanks, some of the cult members will gradually or not so gradually peel away. Some will likely sacrifice themselves for him. That’s the way cults work. Good luck with your mri.
Patrick, I'm so sorry you're struggling with your health. The stress of the MAGA-Cult over nearly a decade, the loss of our families, the dire threat to our Democracy must surely sadly be factor in our health conditions. I struggle with anxiety and autoimmune conditions, isolation, and a sense of devastation having lost my family to MAGA, to having become the 'enemy' to the family I love. Our families don't even know they have been horrifically exploited by those who ONLY want power and care nothing at all for them. Our country has been polarized by those who want to destroy Democracy, as you know. I'm so sickened by this.
If you ever want to talk or be in touch, let me know and I'll share contact info. As you said, some of us have, overtime, become a family here on The Warning and it has been so helpful.
Thank you Lisa, I am hopeful that I will finally get some answers for my symptoms. I have taken many falls over the past few weeks and the VA has been stepping up their testing. Next week I see my Neurologist and the following Monday I am getting a MRI on my brain. I had a MRI 3 years ago that showed abnormalities but my symptoms improved so they weren't followed up. Unfortunately, they never told me about the MRI and I kept having relapses. However this past June my symptoms worsened and caused me to lose my mobility. Last night I fell out of my chair trying to take off my socks. I just want answers. Not knowing is worse than knowing because my mind goes to the worst possible outcomes when I look online and Google my symptoms. My wife has been wonderful but there are limits to her patience with me. Thank you for your offer but I don't want to trouble you or put you at risk for revealing your personal contact.
Patrick, four years ago I was diagnosed as having incurable, metastatic cancer and my oncologist told me that I had at most four months to live. But after six months of chemotherapy here I am four years later, still quite well and definitely alive.
Never give up hoping my friend.
And for the execrable Donald (Duck) to be kicked out on his big ass from ever being elected again as POTUS, and his crazy, dog and cat eating sidekick JD Vance left in his own shit, might do a lot to restore your health and mine too.
I am glad you are proving them wrong. Stay strong and I will do the same. My wife is also a cancer survivor. She has twice the courage and gives me strength.
Thank you, Patrick. I have been helped very much by having had both an MRI and a CT-Scan, as well as a help from a naturopath. I had a diagnosis of severe Rheumatoid Arthritis 16 years ago and was told by numerous medical experts I would need biological injection drugs or I would be in a wheel chair, as my father was for 15 years before he passed away. I took an alternative path to the drugs and found out that RA is in now in remission. This was three years ago and I hope this is still the case. Stress is a huge factor, at least in my own case, and as we've discussed this insanity going on in our culture, around the globe, grinds some of us down and it takes a toll. I dearly hope you're getting the very best medical help there is available, and the medical technology we having is incredible and hopeful.
Patrick, you have made some comments to me in this community that uplifted me when I needed it the most. Forever grateful and best to you in finding the help you need to resolve this medical condition. Take very best of care, Lisa
Another awful byproduct of trumpism-dividing families. Not surprising as he has divided America and the world as well. Best wishes to you, and thank you for your service, Patrick.
Patrick, I am soooo sorry to hear of your health worries and to hear that your family is so divided. It boggles the mind, right?
For what it's worth, my dad had your symptoms and was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, which is apparently very common now in older men as the diagnostics have become so much better to detect it. You have my best wishes for a full recovery, whatever it is.
That said, I understand your worry. Just over two years ago, I was diagnosed with a fatal and untreatable form of leukemia, and was given three years to live by a surgeon who was putting SO MUCH PRESSURE on me to do a stem cell transplant, which for this illness is almost a death sentence. So I went for two more opinions at top hospitals and was told I would likely live much longer, and screw the transplant.
So that's my advice to you. If you don't like what the doctor tells you, go to a different doctor! Lol! Curiously, and for reasons I can't explain, I'm more joyous now than I have ever been in my entire life. I have no time for bullsh*t or for fools, and the ejected weight has yielded surprising results.
While it's profoundly challenging to get bad news, there can also be stunning silver linings that can catch us off guard. No matter what your diagnosis, that's my wish for you. And as others have said, please feel free to reach out if you want to talk. We can send private messages now through our blogs on substack. Feel free to go to my blog here and DM me! I'm here.
Thank you for your kindness and support. I will accept whatever comes my way. I only need to find out what my diagnosis is so I can stop letting my worst thoughts override my mind. I gather strength by your experience with wish you the best possible life for you and your family.
Here's hoping your prognosis is good, and that your family will come to their senses. My brothers are like yours, and there is really nothing you can do except set a good example.
I'm sorry for the pain and suffering you have experienced through your family's brainwashing by maga ignorance and lies inculcated by trump and his ilk. Truth is still the lesser of the pain to living a life colored by lies and deception, gaslighting, and all those tools designed to keep truth out. Sadly it occurs to me that some folks like being deceived, and prefer to live in an alternate world built on deception.
“In the end, I have faith in America that — despite everything — is fairly unshakeable. Because of this, I believe Trump is finished.”
I hope you are right, Steve, I hope you are right.
It reminds me of what Obama said during the summer of 2016. He said, “The American people are smart”. This was in the context of these smart Americans will never elect such a poor specimen as trump to be President. At the time I screamed at the tv, “No! No they are not smart enough to see the man behind the screen. Thank you so very much mainstream media!”
I am one of the “shaken”. And I am shaken, shaken to my core by the sheer number of fellow citizens that still, still, after all the insanity of 9 years, still think trump/vance would be good for the country.
My 7th grade English teacher (god rest her soul) would be apoplectic at that last sentence!
Trump’s ascension and the 24/7 never stop hateful/racist/misogynistic right wing media has destroyed my family and led many down a path of despair to an early grave.
His take over of the GOP has brought our legislative branch to its knees. And his appointments to the judiciary will take years to undo.
Vote blue up and down the ballot. You don’t have to love the democrats. You just have to love democracy. You don’t have to convert to the DNC. You just have to stand up this one time for what is truly a noble cause, saving our democracy.
And then, when the fascist threat of Project 2025 is dead and buried with a stake through its heart, we can all live to fight another day.
Hi Sky, I wholeheartedly agree with all you're saying here. I feel that the fall-out from MAGA will go on for a long time. I'm wondering if you are familiar with the work of the cult expert Stephen Hassan? I just now looked for a short video on youtube to post here and of all things I found a 13 minute one of Megyn Kelly interviewing Hassan about cults, from 1 years ago. It was so bizarre to watch this! They're talking about Scientology and the Moonies (Hassan was drawn into the Moonies for a couple years when he was 19 years old)...and right behind Hassan is his book "The Cult of Trump". Kelly is THAT far gone as are millions of people:
I hope anti-Trump conservatives are prepared to vote Blue for a long time, as this will take a generation or more to unravel.
One silver lining that happened for me personally during this time was that I joined the FB group "Republicans Against Trump" even tho I'm a Democrat. (I told them that upfront when I joined.) I was simply curious about their thoughts, and what astonished me was that there was so much agreement on nearly all issues. (There were a few other Dems in the group, too.)
That's why Steve's posting of the George Washington comment is so profound, because what I learned from that experience is that when we dissociate from a party-line agenda, a remarkable thing occurs...discussion, understanding and very often consensus.
I don't know what the solution is in order to unravel our two-party system, but a start would be outlawing corporate contributions to campaigns.
It was a remarkable experience to be in that group. After a few nasty people joined, I made my exit, but for a few years it was fascinating.
Steve – Love ya’, man, but your optimism is bordering on Pollyannish. Even if Harris wins, it will be by the skin of her teeth. Almost half the country will have voted for the most vile, despicable American in my lifetime.
I am growing tired of the incessant lampooning of Trump. It’s time to focus on the true source of the problem: Americans themselves.
This has been my concern. Chump is just a symptom of a larger problem, a sickness, in American Society. Anyone who has gotten the numbers he has — 75 million in 2020 — is no blip on the radar, nor an accident of history. We downplay this at our own peril.
I think you're exactly right. American society is plagued by a sickness that has been growing worse for over 40 years. Like many illnesses, it has been the result of the interaction of different factors, many of which were previously extant. But the critical factor has been the accelerated deregulation of capitalism, which has devastated the lives of so many of our fellow citizens. I think capitalism must be understood as a natural force, like nuclear energy, that can only be unleashed by human intervention. That force can be used for constructive purposes, but if not restrained it can destroy you.
I want her elected really, really badly, but she won’t fix what’s wrong with our system, because we don’t even have true capitalism any more, we have corporatism. All of our politicians are owned by the huge corporations who fund their campaigns. If they go rogue & try to do too much for “The People” who voted for them, like raise the minimum wage, or raise taxes on the wealthy, dig in their heels against govt money funding private schools
which are usually religion connected; then pressure will be put on them to fall in line & stop rocking the boat so much. If they don’t comply, then funds for their re-election will suddenly dry up.
We have to get really, really angry & get big money out of campaigns.
I mean if Supreme Court justices can be on the take to the tune of well over 4 MILLION & we can’t get anything done about that, that should be a screaming red flag that the entire thing is corrupt as hell.
John, I just found a short youtube video interview with the cult expert, Stephen Hassan, to share with another member here today. Hassan was interviewing Megyn Kelly about Scientology and the Moonies. Right behind Hassan is his book "The Cult of Trump". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJzwRmXLadI (The irony, to me, was stunning.)
There’s no way that I believe that Megyn Kelly actually believes that nonsense she spouts these days; she’s just playing a part for money & to remain relevant. She’s almost on a par with Candace Owens, goes wherever the money is.
We have to stop the damned school voucher scam, & the funding of nonsense home schooling with zero regulations or standards, & definitely fight like hell against govt funding of religious schools! Those things are draining the funding away from what was once a wonderful public school system in America.
Someone suggested that the decline in the quality of our public schools can be correlated with the creation of the Fed Dept of Education. I’ve also heard it can be correlated to the Bush era of “No Child Left Behind.”
I’m open to considering either one or both as contributing to the problem.
I was a public school teacher. I fought hard for the humanities which teach critical and creative thinking skills. It truly was a battle. Sports and technology got the funding and the arts were low priority, underfunded and under staffed.
Good ideas all. Add to them the for profit education scams that proliferate today. The D of E and NCLB are interesting cases with unintended results. The former lacks a clear mission and the latter has led to an emphasis on standardized testing, to the detriment of real education. Perhaps it all comes down to how poorly we pay our teachers and (perhaps associated) how little respect we give them.
Home schooling is what really scares me. I don't know what the regulations are except they vary state to state. I can just imagine a state with zero regulations -- kids receiving indoctrination in their parents' beliefs and no exposure to alternatives. Again, scary!
I'm hoping that once Trump is out of the picture and a new day has dawned, many of the Maggots will forget where they put their hats as the new cycle takes over and we have other things to worry about. Trump is/was an aberration and even though there are plenty of wannabe dictators out there, I doubt many of them can drum up the kind of cult following he has/had.
If you read historians they will tell you that these terrible upheavals in a society almost always occur when the wealth gap becomes really wide, with a small percentage at the top hoarding almost all of the wealth & resources of that society.
That is exactly what has happened in America. The people begin to feel that the deck has been stacked against them, the game is rigged so that they can’t win, can never get ahead, & they begin looking for something or someone to blame.
At that point they are extremely susceptible to someone who steps forward & tells them that they can fix it, & that person will always have a scapegoat to point the those angry, disaffected people to.
We The People who are supposedly
“Self-governing” have allowed our political process & politicians to be corrupted by money, & until enough of us get fed up enough to hold the people we elect accountable to doing our will instead of what the corporatists/oligarchs pay them to do, it’s not going to get better.
Electing someone new who still takes large donations from those ppl, only releases the pressure for a little while; like a pop-off valve.
The pressure will just build up again because that new person can only do a little bit of what they promised us, but mostly deliver what the corporatists want. And what they want is; their tax rate kept low, not too much regulation, & very little interference in their ability to do mergers & acquisitions.
If you’d like to get an eyes wide open glimpse into whet we really need to do to fix things, I highly recommend that you look up the Lex Fridman interview with Cenk Uygar on YT, it’s
So ironic that the vast wealth disparity is due to Republicans, who consistently veto any attempt to redistribute wealth. Yet most of the folk suffering from this vote Republican! They are idiots, willfully misinformed, and/or motivated more by cultural issues.
"Nevertheless, the silly and corrupted media continues to demand that Kamala Harris offer specific policy proposals even though she has-"
And the "undecided" panel voters follow the media's lead, demanding specifics from Harris so they can fill the vacuum in their otherwise empty heads. Once again, the people that know the least matter the most, thanks to a media ecosystem that obfuscates the truth for eyeballs.
Racism and sexism are embedded in our culture. That will be a factor for Harris in this election. As a black woman, she has to work twice as hard and be twice as good as most of those at the top of our political arena. Our Prosecutor, our Humanitarian Harris is a FORCE!
Trump and his MAGA henchmen are using immigrants, specifically Haitians,the same way that Hitler and the Nazis' used the Jews in the 1920's. Tear down one minority group to build up the much larger majority.The difference..Trump has MUCH MORE support than Hitler did. We all know how that turned out. The media must start doing its job. Failing to accurately and consistently report the insanity being promoted by the sick MAGA bleeps is not only irresponsible, it is also dangerous. Come on, people.
It will be my JOY to vote for the brilliant, hard working and quintessentially American Kamala Harris and against “the wicked cause that is a desecration of every noble quality that built America.”
I like your depiction of VP Harris as quintessentially American. She is physically and culturally the epitome of "E Pluribus Unum." What makes us Americans, rather than American citizens, is not so much where or to whom we were born, but the degree to which we embrace our founding principles, as stated in our founding documents.
I was born and raised in the Buckeye State. The tweets, memes, and social media rants that have injected such hateful and xenophobic ideas into the Presidential race make me physically ill. That the people who publish them have so little regard for the damage they do shows the utter emptiness of their souls. They fully deserve the electoral beating they are going to receive in November.
I think we are shakeable. But I also think we are unbreakable.
We’ve been shaken and stirred by the Trumplican fascist era. We will stand strong and end it once and for all. On Nov. 5th or in the bloodbath that may follow. They aren’t sneaking up on us this time. Nope.
That Trump has gotten as far as he has reminds me that we humans have a reptilian brain stem which at times is impervious to facts, evidence, and reason.
Or our "higher" brain area, specifically the limbic system, responsible for memory and emotion, injects our fears and biases that we have been manipulated to have, into our decision making process
Have you seen the Netflix documentary "The Social Dilemma"? People who design social-media algorithms come clean about how dangerous they are to humanity. A short trailer can be googled. I'd post it here, but the link is about 6 inches long in this thread. I saw this a couple of years ago and it made a lasting impression on me, although I already knew a little.
I'm so with you on this concern. The 63 million who voted for him in 2016 can be explained, at least in part, by him being a political unknown. Remember s many pundits saying, "Oh that's just him campaigning. When he wins, he will be presidential." Nope, never happened. We watched with abject horror for 4 years of utter chaos and while that was still fresh in people's minds, that 63 million increased to 74 million in 2020. The old adage, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" does not assuage my concerns at all. He's far more unstable and clearly suffering mentally, but I have little faith that people will do the right thing. Especially since it comes down to fewer than 50k votes in 6 states. This could easily go sideways. Ugh.
Excellent column, Steve. It's not just CNN--it is much of the so-called liberal media who refuse to dig down deep inot any public social or political issue whatsoever. I hate to pin it on the next generation, but they have very short attention spans and cannot be bothered or do not know how to search for the truth. This is a problem. Note that the older reporters and personalities on liberal TV do dig down deep, such as Lawrence O'Donnell and Rachel Maddow. They are just about the only ones I believe any more, along with you.
Patrick Henry warned in 1788 that the proposed Constitution gave too much power to the president and the minority. He said "it squints toward monarchy".
"Your president may easily become king. Your Senate is so imperfectly constructed that your dearest rights may be sacrificed to what may be a small minority;"
"If your American chief be a man of ambition and abilities, how easy is it for him to render himself absolute! The army is in his hands, and if he be a man of address, it will be attached to him, and it will be the subject of long meditation with him to seize the first auspicious moment to accomplish his design, and, sir, will the American spirit solely relieve you when this happens?"
"It is on a supposition that your American governors shall be honest that all the good qualities of this government are founded; but its defective and imperfect construction puts it in their power to perpetrate the worst of mischiefs should they be bad men; and, sir, would not all the world, blame our distracted folly in resting our rights upon the contingency of our rulers being good or bad? Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men without a consequent loss of liberty!"
So we are stuck with a "democratic republic" Constitution that grants huge power to the minority. The Fathers were hopeful that the president and senators would be good and honorable. Patrick Henry recognized what would happen to American freedom if a Bad Man gained power.
Does anyone have a recommendation on the best book about Washington and the founders?
For those of us living in blue states, lets not forget to lend support to some of the close senate races by canvassing or phone banks Everything is on the line.
What I see is a sane, professional, even tempered individual against a maga retread, who continues to decompensate before our eyes There really is no choice but to vote for Kamala
I hope you are correct but there are so many Americans who refuse to listen to anything negative about Trump. Three of my brothers are among them and are unwilling and not receptive to a message of hope. I lost 2 brothers a decade ago out of nine children and my parents also died more than decade ago. That left my family evenly divided but now one of my sister has been listening to my brothers and I fear she is also becoming unreceptive to reality. I have been blocked by my maga family. At first I thought it was funny but now I am deeply concerned because maybe there are other families out there who have members in the Trump cult. That is what trumpism has become, a cult. My health has been failing. I have an as of yet undiagnosed neurological condition. I am scheduled for a new MRI and hopefully will get some answers from the VA. It sucks not knowing what to call my disorder but at the same time a little scary. I have made plans to vote early just to be safe. Who knows I could possibly be one of the dead people voting Trump is so worried about which makes me extremely happy and proud I am able to get under his skin.
I'm sorry to hear about the discord in your family, especially when you're struggling with your health. I also salute your dedication to voting. These are times that try our souls for certain.
Sorry to hear about your siblings in the cult. If and when Trump tanks, some of the cult members will gradually or not so gradually peel away. Some will likely sacrifice themselves for him. That’s the way cults work. Good luck with your mri.
Patrick, I'm so sorry you're struggling with your health. The stress of the MAGA-Cult over nearly a decade, the loss of our families, the dire threat to our Democracy must surely sadly be factor in our health conditions. I struggle with anxiety and autoimmune conditions, isolation, and a sense of devastation having lost my family to MAGA, to having become the 'enemy' to the family I love. Our families don't even know they have been horrifically exploited by those who ONLY want power and care nothing at all for them. Our country has been polarized by those who want to destroy Democracy, as you know. I'm so sickened by this.
If you ever want to talk or be in touch, let me know and I'll share contact info. As you said, some of us have, overtime, become a family here on The Warning and it has been so helpful.
Thank you Lisa, I am hopeful that I will finally get some answers for my symptoms. I have taken many falls over the past few weeks and the VA has been stepping up their testing. Next week I see my Neurologist and the following Monday I am getting a MRI on my brain. I had a MRI 3 years ago that showed abnormalities but my symptoms improved so they weren't followed up. Unfortunately, they never told me about the MRI and I kept having relapses. However this past June my symptoms worsened and caused me to lose my mobility. Last night I fell out of my chair trying to take off my socks. I just want answers. Not knowing is worse than knowing because my mind goes to the worst possible outcomes when I look online and Google my symptoms. My wife has been wonderful but there are limits to her patience with me. Thank you for your offer but I don't want to trouble you or put you at risk for revealing your personal contact.
Patrick, four years ago I was diagnosed as having incurable, metastatic cancer and my oncologist told me that I had at most four months to live. But after six months of chemotherapy here I am four years later, still quite well and definitely alive.
Never give up hoping my friend.
And for the execrable Donald (Duck) to be kicked out on his big ass from ever being elected again as POTUS, and his crazy, dog and cat eating sidekick JD Vance left in his own shit, might do a lot to restore your health and mine too.
I am glad you are proving them wrong. Stay strong and I will do the same. My wife is also a cancer survivor. She has twice the courage and gives me strength.
Thank you, Patrick. I have been helped very much by having had both an MRI and a CT-Scan, as well as a help from a naturopath. I had a diagnosis of severe Rheumatoid Arthritis 16 years ago and was told by numerous medical experts I would need biological injection drugs or I would be in a wheel chair, as my father was for 15 years before he passed away. I took an alternative path to the drugs and found out that RA is in now in remission. This was three years ago and I hope this is still the case. Stress is a huge factor, at least in my own case, and as we've discussed this insanity going on in our culture, around the globe, grinds some of us down and it takes a toll. I dearly hope you're getting the very best medical help there is available, and the medical technology we having is incredible and hopeful.
Patrick, you have made some comments to me in this community that uplifted me when I needed it the most. Forever grateful and best to you in finding the help you need to resolve this medical condition. Take very best of care, Lisa
Another awful byproduct of trumpism-dividing families. Not surprising as he has divided America and the world as well. Best wishes to you, and thank you for your service, Patrick.
I am a veteran but not a combat veteran but thank you for your kindness.
Patrick, I am soooo sorry to hear of your health worries and to hear that your family is so divided. It boggles the mind, right?
For what it's worth, my dad had your symptoms and was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, which is apparently very common now in older men as the diagnostics have become so much better to detect it. You have my best wishes for a full recovery, whatever it is.
That said, I understand your worry. Just over two years ago, I was diagnosed with a fatal and untreatable form of leukemia, and was given three years to live by a surgeon who was putting SO MUCH PRESSURE on me to do a stem cell transplant, which for this illness is almost a death sentence. So I went for two more opinions at top hospitals and was told I would likely live much longer, and screw the transplant.
So that's my advice to you. If you don't like what the doctor tells you, go to a different doctor! Lol! Curiously, and for reasons I can't explain, I'm more joyous now than I have ever been in my entire life. I have no time for bullsh*t or for fools, and the ejected weight has yielded surprising results.
While it's profoundly challenging to get bad news, there can also be stunning silver linings that can catch us off guard. No matter what your diagnosis, that's my wish for you. And as others have said, please feel free to reach out if you want to talk. We can send private messages now through our blogs on substack. Feel free to go to my blog here and DM me! I'm here.
Thank you for your kindness and support. I will accept whatever comes my way. I only need to find out what my diagnosis is so I can stop letting my worst thoughts override my mind. I gather strength by your experience with wish you the best possible life for you and your family.
Here's hoping your prognosis is good, and that your family will come to their senses. My brothers are like yours, and there is really nothing you can do except set a good example.
I'm sorry for the pain and suffering you have experienced through your family's brainwashing by maga ignorance and lies inculcated by trump and his ilk. Truth is still the lesser of the pain to living a life colored by lies and deception, gaslighting, and all those tools designed to keep truth out. Sadly it occurs to me that some folks like being deceived, and prefer to live in an alternate world built on deception.
“In the end, I have faith in America that — despite everything — is fairly unshakeable. Because of this, I believe Trump is finished.”
I hope you are right, Steve, I hope you are right.
It reminds me of what Obama said during the summer of 2016. He said, “The American people are smart”. This was in the context of these smart Americans will never elect such a poor specimen as trump to be President. At the time I screamed at the tv, “No! No they are not smart enough to see the man behind the screen. Thank you so very much mainstream media!”
I am one of the “shaken”. And I am shaken, shaken to my core by the sheer number of fellow citizens that still, still, after all the insanity of 9 years, still think trump/vance would be good for the country.
My 7th grade English teacher (god rest her soul) would be apoplectic at that last sentence!
Trump’s ascension and the 24/7 never stop hateful/racist/misogynistic right wing media has destroyed my family and led many down a path of despair to an early grave.
His take over of the GOP has brought our legislative branch to its knees. And his appointments to the judiciary will take years to undo.
Vote blue up and down the ballot. You don’t have to love the democrats. You just have to love democracy. You don’t have to convert to the DNC. You just have to stand up this one time for what is truly a noble cause, saving our democracy.
And then, when the fascist threat of Project 2025 is dead and buried with a stake through its heart, we can all live to fight another day.
Hi Sky, I wholeheartedly agree with all you're saying here. I feel that the fall-out from MAGA will go on for a long time. I'm wondering if you are familiar with the work of the cult expert Stephen Hassan? I just now looked for a short video on youtube to post here and of all things I found a 13 minute one of Megyn Kelly interviewing Hassan about cults, from 1 years ago. It was so bizarre to watch this! They're talking about Scientology and the Moonies (Hassan was drawn into the Moonies for a couple years when he was 19 years old)...and right behind Hassan is his book "The Cult of Trump". Kelly is THAT far gone as are millions of people:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJzwRmXLadI
Hassan's website (he has strategies for how people can get out of cults):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJzwRmXLadI
I will head over to this STAT!
Oh wow. I just saw this same guy interviewed this evening on the David Pakman Show. Yes, he's fascinating, having been a Moonie 40 years ago.
Wow! I will check out the link to Hassan.
I hope anti-Trump conservatives are prepared to vote Blue for a long time, as this will take a generation or more to unravel.
One silver lining that happened for me personally during this time was that I joined the FB group "Republicans Against Trump" even tho I'm a Democrat. (I told them that upfront when I joined.) I was simply curious about their thoughts, and what astonished me was that there was so much agreement on nearly all issues. (There were a few other Dems in the group, too.)
That's why Steve's posting of the George Washington comment is so profound, because what I learned from that experience is that when we dissociate from a party-line agenda, a remarkable thing occurs...discussion, understanding and very often consensus.
I don't know what the solution is in order to unravel our two-party system, but a start would be outlawing corporate contributions to campaigns.
It was a remarkable experience to be in that group. After a few nasty people joined, I made my exit, but for a few years it was fascinating.
What the cat’s MAGA hat actually stands for is “make animals great again” (screw you JD).
Steve – Love ya’, man, but your optimism is bordering on Pollyannish. Even if Harris wins, it will be by the skin of her teeth. Almost half the country will have voted for the most vile, despicable American in my lifetime.
I am growing tired of the incessant lampooning of Trump. It’s time to focus on the true source of the problem: Americans themselves.
This has been my concern. Chump is just a symptom of a larger problem, a sickness, in American Society. Anyone who has gotten the numbers he has — 75 million in 2020 — is no blip on the radar, nor an accident of history. We downplay this at our own peril.
I think you're exactly right. American society is plagued by a sickness that has been growing worse for over 40 years. Like many illnesses, it has been the result of the interaction of different factors, many of which were previously extant. But the critical factor has been the accelerated deregulation of capitalism, which has devastated the lives of so many of our fellow citizens. I think capitalism must be understood as a natural force, like nuclear energy, that can only be unleashed by human intervention. That force can be used for constructive purposes, but if not restrained it can destroy you.
Let's see that Harris is our next POTUS and addresses what you clearly state here!
I want her elected really, really badly, but she won’t fix what’s wrong with our system, because we don’t even have true capitalism any more, we have corporatism. All of our politicians are owned by the huge corporations who fund their campaigns. If they go rogue & try to do too much for “The People” who voted for them, like raise the minimum wage, or raise taxes on the wealthy, dig in their heels against govt money funding private schools
which are usually religion connected; then pressure will be put on them to fall in line & stop rocking the boat so much. If they don’t comply, then funds for their re-election will suddenly dry up.
We have to get really, really angry & get big money out of campaigns.
I mean if Supreme Court justices can be on the take to the tune of well over 4 MILLION & we can’t get anything done about that, that should be a screaming red flag that the entire thing is corrupt as hell.
If we CAN get VP Harris in office, hopefully she we go after the significant problems we face with out of control Capitalism! Equality For All!
John, I just found a short youtube video interview with the cult expert, Stephen Hassan, to share with another member here today. Hassan was interviewing Megyn Kelly about Scientology and the Moonies. Right behind Hassan is his book "The Cult of Trump". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJzwRmXLadI (The irony, to me, was stunning.)
There’s no way that I believe that Megyn Kelly actually believes that nonsense she spouts these days; she’s just playing a part for money & to remain relevant. She’s almost on a par with Candace Owens, goes wherever the money is.
Yes, Kelly knows what she is doing! It was such a bizarre interview between her and Hassan though. Idiocracy.
Without proper education in history, civics, and critical thinking skills, we're doomed.
And deservedly so. But we ain’t dead yet and hope springs eternal. As the song said, “Teach your children well..”
We have to stop the damned school voucher scam, & the funding of nonsense home schooling with zero regulations or standards, & definitely fight like hell against govt funding of religious schools! Those things are draining the funding away from what was once a wonderful public school system in America.
Someone suggested that the decline in the quality of our public schools can be correlated with the creation of the Fed Dept of Education. I’ve also heard it can be correlated to the Bush era of “No Child Left Behind.”
I’m open to considering either one or both as contributing to the problem.
I was a public school teacher. I fought hard for the humanities which teach critical and creative thinking skills. It truly was a battle. Sports and technology got the funding and the arts were low priority, underfunded and under staffed.
Good ideas all. Add to them the for profit education scams that proliferate today. The D of E and NCLB are interesting cases with unintended results. The former lacks a clear mission and the latter has led to an emphasis on standardized testing, to the detriment of real education. Perhaps it all comes down to how poorly we pay our teachers and (perhaps associated) how little respect we give them.
Home schooling is what really scares me. I don't know what the regulations are except they vary state to state. I can just imagine a state with zero regulations -- kids receiving indoctrination in their parents' beliefs and no exposure to alternatives. Again, scary!
Yes, we must teach our children well. "Children Will Listen" Barbra Streisand:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7RNcioWnW0
I'm hoping that once Trump is out of the picture and a new day has dawned, many of the Maggots will forget where they put their hats as the new cycle takes over and we have other things to worry about. Trump is/was an aberration and even though there are plenty of wannabe dictators out there, I doubt many of them can drum up the kind of cult following he has/had.
I would love for Steve to speculate on the “post-Trump“ era, whenever that commences. How can we bring the MAGAts back into the fold?
Yes, well said.
If you read historians they will tell you that these terrible upheavals in a society almost always occur when the wealth gap becomes really wide, with a small percentage at the top hoarding almost all of the wealth & resources of that society.
That is exactly what has happened in America. The people begin to feel that the deck has been stacked against them, the game is rigged so that they can’t win, can never get ahead, & they begin looking for something or someone to blame.
At that point they are extremely susceptible to someone who steps forward & tells them that they can fix it, & that person will always have a scapegoat to point the those angry, disaffected people to.
We The People who are supposedly
“Self-governing” have allowed our political process & politicians to be corrupted by money, & until enough of us get fed up enough to hold the people we elect accountable to doing our will instead of what the corporatists/oligarchs pay them to do, it’s not going to get better.
Electing someone new who still takes large donations from those ppl, only releases the pressure for a little while; like a pop-off valve.
The pressure will just build up again because that new person can only do a little bit of what they promised us, but mostly deliver what the corporatists want. And what they want is; their tax rate kept low, not too much regulation, & very little interference in their ability to do mergers & acquisitions.
If you’d like to get an eyes wide open glimpse into whet we really need to do to fix things, I highly recommend that you look up the Lex Fridman interview with Cenk Uygar on YT, it’s
3hrs & 50 min long, but we’ll worth it.
So ironic that the vast wealth disparity is due to Republicans, who consistently veto any attempt to redistribute wealth. Yet most of the folk suffering from this vote Republican! They are idiots, willfully misinformed, and/or motivated more by cultural issues.
Excellent explanation of what is driving the mess we're in. Thank you!
"Nevertheless, the silly and corrupted media continues to demand that Kamala Harris offer specific policy proposals even though she has-"
And the "undecided" panel voters follow the media's lead, demanding specifics from Harris so they can fill the vacuum in their otherwise empty heads. Once again, the people that know the least matter the most, thanks to a media ecosystem that obfuscates the truth for eyeballs.
Racism and sexism are embedded in our culture. That will be a factor for Harris in this election. As a black woman, she has to work twice as hard and be twice as good as most of those at the top of our political arena. Our Prosecutor, our Humanitarian Harris is a FORCE!
You are right on!!!
Trump and his MAGA henchmen are using immigrants, specifically Haitians,the same way that Hitler and the Nazis' used the Jews in the 1920's. Tear down one minority group to build up the much larger majority.The difference..Trump has MUCH MORE support than Hitler did. We all know how that turned out. The media must start doing its job. Failing to accurately and consistently report the insanity being promoted by the sick MAGA bleeps is not only irresponsible, it is also dangerous. Come on, people.
It will be my JOY to vote for the brilliant, hard working and quintessentially American Kamala Harris and against “the wicked cause that is a desecration of every noble quality that built America.”
I like your depiction of VP Harris as quintessentially American. She is physically and culturally the epitome of "E Pluribus Unum." What makes us Americans, rather than American citizens, is not so much where or to whom we were born, but the degree to which we embrace our founding principles, as stated in our founding documents.
I was born and raised in the Buckeye State. The tweets, memes, and social media rants that have injected such hateful and xenophobic ideas into the Presidential race make me physically ill. That the people who publish them have so little regard for the damage they do shows the utter emptiness of their souls. They fully deserve the electoral beating they are going to receive in November.
Kamala Harris - for the people.
For the people!
Yes, love that: "Kamala Harris -For the People"
I think we are shakeable. But I also think we are unbreakable.
We’ve been shaken and stirred by the Trumplican fascist era. We will stand strong and end it once and for all. On Nov. 5th or in the bloodbath that may follow. They aren’t sneaking up on us this time. Nope.
That Trump has gotten as far as he has reminds me that we humans have a reptilian brain stem which at times is impervious to facts, evidence, and reason.
Or our "higher" brain area, specifically the limbic system, responsible for memory and emotion, injects our fears and biases that we have been manipulated to have, into our decision making process
Have you seen the Netflix documentary "The Social Dilemma"? People who design social-media algorithms come clean about how dangerous they are to humanity. A short trailer can be googled. I'd post it here, but the link is about 6 inches long in this thread. I saw this a couple of years ago and it made a lasting impression on me, although I already knew a little.
I haven't seen it. I'll look into it.
It is extremely eye opening about how sm manipulates people
Here's the link to the trailer:
https://youtu.be/uaaC57tcci0?si=cx_rtoO6nLd3Oilj
Steve, From your lips to God’s ears is all I can say. I do not have the same faith that Americans will not follow DJT again… I hope you are right.
I'm so with you on this concern. The 63 million who voted for him in 2016 can be explained, at least in part, by him being a political unknown. Remember s many pundits saying, "Oh that's just him campaigning. When he wins, he will be presidential." Nope, never happened. We watched with abject horror for 4 years of utter chaos and while that was still fresh in people's minds, that 63 million increased to 74 million in 2020. The old adage, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" does not assuage my concerns at all. He's far more unstable and clearly suffering mentally, but I have little faith that people will do the right thing. Especially since it comes down to fewer than 50k votes in 6 states. This could easily go sideways. Ugh.
Excellent column, Steve. It's not just CNN--it is much of the so-called liberal media who refuse to dig down deep inot any public social or political issue whatsoever. I hate to pin it on the next generation, but they have very short attention spans and cannot be bothered or do not know how to search for the truth. This is a problem. Note that the older reporters and personalities on liberal TV do dig down deep, such as Lawrence O'Donnell and Rachel Maddow. They are just about the only ones I believe any more, along with you.
Patrick Henry warned in 1788 that the proposed Constitution gave too much power to the president and the minority. He said "it squints toward monarchy".
"Your president may easily become king. Your Senate is so imperfectly constructed that your dearest rights may be sacrificed to what may be a small minority;"
"If your American chief be a man of ambition and abilities, how easy is it for him to render himself absolute! The army is in his hands, and if he be a man of address, it will be attached to him, and it will be the subject of long meditation with him to seize the first auspicious moment to accomplish his design, and, sir, will the American spirit solely relieve you when this happens?"
"It is on a supposition that your American governors shall be honest that all the good qualities of this government are founded; but its defective and imperfect construction puts it in their power to perpetrate the worst of mischiefs should they be bad men; and, sir, would not all the world, blame our distracted folly in resting our rights upon the contingency of our rulers being good or bad? Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men without a consequent loss of liberty!"
https://www.redhill.org/primary-sources/liberty-or-empire/#:~:text=Some%20way%20or%20other%20we,was%20then%20the%20primary%20object.
So we are stuck with a "democratic republic" Constitution that grants huge power to the minority. The Fathers were hopeful that the president and senators would be good and honorable. Patrick Henry recognized what would happen to American freedom if a Bad Man gained power.
Does anyone have a recommendation on the best book about Washington and the founders?
For those of us living in blue states, lets not forget to lend support to some of the close senate races by canvassing or phone banks Everything is on the line.
Check books by David McCullough.
I would recommend Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis. He also has other books on that era. Very readable history.
What I see is a sane, professional, even tempered individual against a maga retread, who continues to decompensate before our eyes There really is no choice but to vote for Kamala
CNN: Creating Nonsense News