Yesterday, I woke up at a marina in the beautiful town of Niagara-on-the-Lake at the edge of Lake Ontario, a few miles down river from the famous falls.
I watched a video from Dean Obeidellah's show on You Tube last night; he had a psychiatrist on, one of 36 who sent a warning to Congress that as long as Trump remains in power we are in grave danger since he can launch a nuclear attack, likely, in his frustration and rage, against Iran. He was talking about the possible diagnoses of a man who exhibits Trump's behavior. Tertiary syphilis was one of the possibilities the doctor said fits the rage, unsteady gait, sleeping patterns, and incoherent statements of Trump.
The fact that Republicans are not willing to cooperate with Democrats to get this man out of office is....there is no single word: incomprehensible, outrageous, insane etc.
The fact that Trump's supporters in Congress are willing to pretend a nuclear attack initiated by Trump couldn't happen is beyond belief. When has the man shown a modicum of restraint, thoughtfulness, intelligence, or willingness to listen to others ? I guess they don't realize there won't be enough room in the ballroom bunker for all of them and their families.
“The fact that Republicans are not willing to cooperate with Democrats to get this man out of office is....there is no single word: incomprehensible, outrageous, insane etc.”
At a cabinet meeting at Camp David today, Trump said, “With drug prices we’re achieving record discounts on prescription drugs. Prescription drugs that were going through the roof for many years. And now we’re getting record discounts with price differences of 300, 400, 500, 600%. Nobody’s ever heard of a thing like that." Trump has also referred to Iran as Venezuela.
This is another sign of a serious cognitive and/or mental health issue. On Dean M.'s video the psychiatrist pointed out that we all misspeak at times. However, we correct ourselves and acknowledge we misspoke. Trump has repeatedly referenced lowering drug prices by several times more than 100%. He has never acknowledged that this or any of his other ridiculously incorrect statements were incorrect or made by mistake. Something is very wrong on the inside of the ridiculous tangle of spider monkey hair on his head.
Whether or not its true, he deserves to have the rumor spread far and wide so he can never escape it. repeat, repeat, repeat -- just asking questions...
WOW! I said years ago that trump might have tertiary syphilis based on what Winston Churchill's father was like in the English politics and some research. I should have been a doctor!
I have been worried about this since he has been unable to stop Iran. His judgement has always been terrible . It wouldn't suprise me if some war hawk talks him into dropping a nuclear bomb on Iran. He can be talked into anything except decency . I like Dean Obeidellah . He is smart, funny and kind.
To paraphrase Mr Paine on The Warning’s new tee-shirt (ordered), If there must be a fight, let it come now such that my children can live in peace. I’m afraid POTUS will force the issue and the old Boy Scout motto “Be Prepared” will take on an urgent meaning!
I hate this for my children and grandchildren. Can we get him out because of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment? He’s an illegitimate president in my mind because of the insurrection he incited.
As Richmond Doctor posted, 70 percent of Americans..which equates to 230 million of us...are against Trump. As long as we do whatever it takes to secure our next 2 elections, in 2026 and 2028, we will survive Trump and Miller's fascist takeover. ( And if they reuse to leave, the American people must be prepared to remove them.) When we do, President Ossoff/Newsom/Shapiro will have a big job ahead of them, a part of which will be the reckoning that will fall like a sledge hammer on the wretched heads of Trump, his demon spawn sons, and the treasonous MAGA leaders. Those folks should be very, very afraid.
I remember when we were younger, my wife and I visited Greece, and we had to learn how to drink Greek coffee. You had to drink only 80% of the coffee because the last 20% had coffee beans in it.
In our country, we have 30% of our population still supporting Trump, and I say let it be. Just like the Greek coffee, there are always sections of our population that we should ignore, and we should consider the 70% as one group.
Why is the House and the Senate divided in half according to party affiliation? Where did that come from? Why, according to political parties? Why not according to the 30/70 line? We should have a division between the 30% and the 70%. Both the House and the Senate should be divided according to this division, not according to party affiliation.
We should have a party of the 70%, and we should call it THE AMERICAN PEOPLE'S PARTY, THE PARTY OF THE 70%. I believe we have 70% of our country who all think alike, who all want the same thing, but this is not what our politicians want; they can only exist if we have two parties, not one party of 70 %.
Let's talk about those politicians: why do we have them, and where did they come from? Let's distinguish between politicians and administrators. We need administrators, but we don't need politicians. What is the definition of a politician? A politician is a person who participates in policy-making processes, usually holding a position in a political party or an elective office in government (Wikipedia). But present-day politicians are influenced by lobbyists and wealthy people like Elon Musk, and they have an agenda to keep themselves employed.
Remember that 70% party and think of them as a cohesive, homogeneous group, not a group divided into North and South or between Republicans and Democrats, but a group of people who have the same interests and want the same things for their government. In the NO KING marches, I am sure that they were not just Democrats walking but Americans from that 70% group, both from the North and the South, both republicans and democrats.
Our politicians are the gong in our thinking; they have an agenda unlike that of all of us in that 70% group, and they scream that this or that will raise your taxes, even though that is not true. Consider why they do that. Our politicians are paid performers, acting on behalf of the wealthy oligarchs who want to maintain or improve their wealth. They do not have the interests of that 70% group.
How do I get the 70% group to become active and organized so they can take care of themselves and eliminate the power of these politicians?
My dream is for this 70% to form their own party of one, where the platform is their platform, and the people fund this party. Consider the fact that our two political parties will hold secluded meetings to determine their platform. They make the choosing of the pope less secluded than these platform meetings, and their platforms are developed not by our needs, but by what will get them votes.
This group of 70%, among other things, will install controls to prevent the oligarchs from infecting their party and realizes that there is a fundamental agreement in that group about what they want and what they will work to have.
A parliamentary system with one legislative body and every state divided into districts with the same number of people (adjusted after every census) would solve many of the problems you have discussed in your excellent commentary. Of course, we would also have to eliminate PACS and unlimited donations to any political organization or individual; ideally, elections would be publicly funded.
FIRST, WE have to get big domestic and foreign money, crypto, dark money out of politics. Candidates must travel around their state, territory as candidates did for years. They should be ranked on telling the truth for national education on elections.
The architect of our disaster is a dementia riddled, physically compromised form. His plan is the absence of a plan. He is relying on those who are lacking plans as well. Hence the orange rage and stupid memes
We are living in times that in a book on history written in the future will be regarded as an important chapter.
Men induced climate change. The resources of our planet plundered. Large amount of people migrating across the globe. Potential world war conflicts. A political class more interested in their own wallet then in the common good.
Lets hope that the outcome written at the end of that chapter , after all of this, will be good but as Mr. Schmidt states..... it will be up to us to make that happen although most likely it will not be us who'll experience the outcome.
Gee, Steve, it’s a good thing that you’re an optimist. I shudder to think of what your description of the current state of affairs in the world would be if you were a pessimist!
All kidding aside, the world looks like a very bleak and desperate place right now, and clearly the prime architect of the multitude of crises afflicting us is the one and only orange turd himself. It simply amazes me that someone as stupid, corrupt and incompetent as Trump could wreak such havoc on an entire planet. As a lifelong optimist myself I expect that we’ll come back from this eventually. I’m just not sure that at 84, I’ll live to see it.
Whether one is a believer or not in Karma, Fate, a Higher Power, whatever: we are facing a destiny of choice here - not just in this country, but for the entire human race!
We are at an inflection point that’s already quite urgent and it fits right in with what Steve is talking about!
I like to look at this from a spiritual point of view, which helps me stay calm and peaceful, being able to sleep at night.
No matter what is going on around us, I hold to Viktor Frankl’s, Man’s Search for Meaning, in dealing with demonic behavior, and how he stayed sane through it all, even forgiving his murderous captors!
Frankl’s mental acuity is at a place where I need to be while not putting my head in the sand, knowing that with the worst case scenario, Steve and fellow commenters/colleagues here are right!
Steven, I agree that we’re at a turning point, and balanced upon a knife’s edge, hoping for a deliverance to keep us from falling into the abyss. I still find it difficult to get my mind around the fact that Trump has brought us to this point in only ten years.
How quickly and how easily we have fallen so far from G-d’s grace in such a short time.
We have always had a rendez-vous with mortality. That may strike some (many?) as morbid. It is certainly counter-cultural. Perhaps I come by it more easily because I grew up in the shadow of WWII (which, my European mother would point out, was just an extension of WWI). It was not the American triumphalist version.
I just heard how the "family reunion" tradition in the American black community started: after the Civil War and emancipation, newly-freed peoples traveled the country in search of their family members who had been sold off. Parents, siblings, their children, searching.
As we face a fierce future, I find comfort in the stories of resistance from our past. And Ukraine, always remember Ukraine.
Thank you for the reminder and especially for the context of Franklin Roosevelt's famous "rendezvous with destiny" statement. While always moving, this quote in this Warning is even more impactful.
You are exactly right. Just as the air pressure changes and sometimes wind direction shifts before a storm, there is an uneasy atmosphere. What will it be? A whirlwind? Sheets of rain? Even an earthquake? It will not be good.
Thank You Steve ..I have to respectfully disagree a little bit. I can't help but feel angry at my neighbors & friends who voted for him. They knew he was a convicted felon and they still voted for him. I don't care that they have all these grievances against whoever and whatever . They are not living in a slum . They have health care . They have family . They have money. They have been willfully ignorant and we are all paying the price . The worst part of this is I have no idea what they will do on election day .. Let's remember they knew he sent those people to the capital to take back our country or we are not going to have a country anymore.. No it's not just the evil one but everyone who helped us get to where we are now. If nothing else an apology for helping to ruin our coutnry might help. That's my mood today .
May your resentment melt a bit so that you don’t allow these folks who are in that 30% of incorrigibles have any (inner) power over you or me.
And that our anger and disappointment towards them and their actions, fuel the resistance! Yet, I think we have to be even more loving than ever with one another.
And certainly that does not mean to turn the other cheek nor avoid keeping a safe distance from those who are toxic!
Donald Trump has lost control of the events he set in motion. Indeed he has and we will all pay the price for his failure, sad times indeed. Thanks again Steve for having the courage and insight to hold Trump’s actions accountable. We need many more voices like yours.
I watched a video from Dean Obeidellah's show on You Tube last night; he had a psychiatrist on, one of 36 who sent a warning to Congress that as long as Trump remains in power we are in grave danger since he can launch a nuclear attack, likely, in his frustration and rage, against Iran. He was talking about the possible diagnoses of a man who exhibits Trump's behavior. Tertiary syphilis was one of the possibilities the doctor said fits the rage, unsteady gait, sleeping patterns, and incoherent statements of Trump.
The fact that Republicans are not willing to cooperate with Democrats to get this man out of office is....there is no single word: incomprehensible, outrageous, insane etc.
The fact that Trump's supporters in Congress are willing to pretend a nuclear attack initiated by Trump couldn't happen is beyond belief. When has the man shown a modicum of restraint, thoughtfulness, intelligence, or willingness to listen to others ? I guess they don't realize there won't be enough room in the ballroom bunker for all of them and their families.
“The fact that Republicans are not willing to cooperate with Democrats to get this man out of office is....there is no single word: incomprehensible, outrageous, insane etc.”
…………………..Complicit…………..
I think it takes three words "Access Trump's Power", "End Justifies Means", "Maximize High Income", "Lacking Moral Character".
At a cabinet meeting at Camp David today, Trump said, “With drug prices we’re achieving record discounts on prescription drugs. Prescription drugs that were going through the roof for many years. And now we’re getting record discounts with price differences of 300, 400, 500, 600%. Nobody’s ever heard of a thing like that." Trump has also referred to Iran as Venezuela.
This is another sign of a serious cognitive and/or mental health issue. On Dean M.'s video the psychiatrist pointed out that we all misspeak at times. However, we correct ourselves and acknowledge we misspoke. Trump has repeatedly referenced lowering drug prices by several times more than 100%. He has never acknowledged that this or any of his other ridiculously incorrect statements were incorrect or made by mistake. Something is very wrong on the inside of the ridiculous tangle of spider monkey hair on his head.
Spider monkey hair is good ..haha
Whether or not its true, he deserves to have the rumor spread far and wide so he can never escape it. repeat, repeat, repeat -- just asking questions...
WOW! I said years ago that trump might have tertiary syphilis based on what Winston Churchill's father was like in the English politics and some research. I should have been a doctor!
I have been worried about this since he has been unable to stop Iran. His judgement has always been terrible . It wouldn't suprise me if some war hawk talks him into dropping a nuclear bomb on Iran. He can be talked into anything except decency . I like Dean Obeidellah . He is smart, funny and kind.
Trump hates him, I'm sure. I don't know if Trump knows Dean M. is a Muslim. That would really make his belly boil.
Yes I'm sure it would..
So Trump didn’t dodge a bullet in the 1970s then
The great testing will end in ruination or a stronger and more resilient democracy…the choice is ours…
To paraphrase Mr Paine on The Warning’s new tee-shirt (ordered), If there must be a fight, let it come now such that my children can live in peace. I’m afraid POTUS will force the issue and the old Boy Scout motto “Be Prepared” will take on an urgent meaning!
Even a small troop of Boy Scouts could easily defeat a division of ICE thugs, led by Tom "$50K" Homan. Brains always beats brawn.
I hate this for my children and grandchildren. Can we get him out because of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment? He’s an illegitimate president in my mind because of the insurrection he incited.
https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-138/sweeping-section-three-under-the-rug-a-comment-on-trump-v-anderson/
As Richmond Doctor posted, 70 percent of Americans..which equates to 230 million of us...are against Trump. As long as we do whatever it takes to secure our next 2 elections, in 2026 and 2028, we will survive Trump and Miller's fascist takeover. ( And if they reuse to leave, the American people must be prepared to remove them.) When we do, President Ossoff/Newsom/Shapiro will have a big job ahead of them, a part of which will be the reckoning that will fall like a sledge hammer on the wretched heads of Trump, his demon spawn sons, and the treasonous MAGA leaders. Those folks should be very, very afraid.
YES! 🤸🙏
Forget the 30%, focus on the 70%
I remember when we were younger, my wife and I visited Greece, and we had to learn how to drink Greek coffee. You had to drink only 80% of the coffee because the last 20% had coffee beans in it.
In our country, we have 30% of our population still supporting Trump, and I say let it be. Just like the Greek coffee, there are always sections of our population that we should ignore, and we should consider the 70% as one group.
Why is the House and the Senate divided in half according to party affiliation? Where did that come from? Why, according to political parties? Why not according to the 30/70 line? We should have a division between the 30% and the 70%. Both the House and the Senate should be divided according to this division, not according to party affiliation.
We should have a party of the 70%, and we should call it THE AMERICAN PEOPLE'S PARTY, THE PARTY OF THE 70%. I believe we have 70% of our country who all think alike, who all want the same thing, but this is not what our politicians want; they can only exist if we have two parties, not one party of 70 %.
Let's talk about those politicians: why do we have them, and where did they come from? Let's distinguish between politicians and administrators. We need administrators, but we don't need politicians. What is the definition of a politician? A politician is a person who participates in policy-making processes, usually holding a position in a political party or an elective office in government (Wikipedia). But present-day politicians are influenced by lobbyists and wealthy people like Elon Musk, and they have an agenda to keep themselves employed.
Remember that 70% party and think of them as a cohesive, homogeneous group, not a group divided into North and South or between Republicans and Democrats, but a group of people who have the same interests and want the same things for their government. In the NO KING marches, I am sure that they were not just Democrats walking but Americans from that 70% group, both from the North and the South, both republicans and democrats.
Our politicians are the gong in our thinking; they have an agenda unlike that of all of us in that 70% group, and they scream that this or that will raise your taxes, even though that is not true. Consider why they do that. Our politicians are paid performers, acting on behalf of the wealthy oligarchs who want to maintain or improve their wealth. They do not have the interests of that 70% group.
How do I get the 70% group to become active and organized so they can take care of themselves and eliminate the power of these politicians?
My dream is for this 70% to form their own party of one, where the platform is their platform, and the people fund this party. Consider the fact that our two political parties will hold secluded meetings to determine their platform. They make the choosing of the pope less secluded than these platform meetings, and their platforms are developed not by our needs, but by what will get them votes.
This group of 70%, among other things, will install controls to prevent the oligarchs from infecting their party and realizes that there is a fundamental agreement in that group about what they want and what they will work to have.
A parliamentary system with one legislative body and every state divided into districts with the same number of people (adjusted after every census) would solve many of the problems you have discussed in your excellent commentary. Of course, we would also have to eliminate PACS and unlimited donations to any political organization or individual; ideally, elections would be publicly funded.
FIRST, WE have to get big domestic and foreign money, crypto, dark money out of politics. Candidates must travel around their state, territory as candidates did for years. They should be ranked on telling the truth for national education on elections.
The architect of our disaster is a dementia riddled, physically compromised form. His plan is the absence of a plan. He is relying on those who are lacking plans as well. Hence the orange rage and stupid memes
Trump is a Plague
You make the POSOTUS sound as if he's playing multi-level Romulan chess. He isn't smart enough to play even tic-tac-toe.
Exactly my feelings.
We are living in times that in a book on history written in the future will be regarded as an important chapter.
Men induced climate change. The resources of our planet plundered. Large amount of people migrating across the globe. Potential world war conflicts. A political class more interested in their own wallet then in the common good.
Lets hope that the outcome written at the end of that chapter , after all of this, will be good but as Mr. Schmidt states..... it will be up to us to make that happen although most likely it will not be us who'll experience the outcome.
Wish I could share your confidence in Democrats being willing and able to be up to the tasks.
Hi friend, this is about if we are up to the task because obviously the current 'class' of politicians is not with an exception here and there.
Gee, Steve, it’s a good thing that you’re an optimist. I shudder to think of what your description of the current state of affairs in the world would be if you were a pessimist!
All kidding aside, the world looks like a very bleak and desperate place right now, and clearly the prime architect of the multitude of crises afflicting us is the one and only orange turd himself. It simply amazes me that someone as stupid, corrupt and incompetent as Trump could wreak such havoc on an entire planet. As a lifelong optimist myself I expect that we’ll come back from this eventually. I’m just not sure that at 84, I’ll live to see it.
Whether one is a believer or not in Karma, Fate, a Higher Power, whatever: we are facing a destiny of choice here - not just in this country, but for the entire human race!
We are at an inflection point that’s already quite urgent and it fits right in with what Steve is talking about!
I like to look at this from a spiritual point of view, which helps me stay calm and peaceful, being able to sleep at night.
No matter what is going on around us, I hold to Viktor Frankl’s, Man’s Search for Meaning, in dealing with demonic behavior, and how he stayed sane through it all, even forgiving his murderous captors!
Frankl’s mental acuity is at a place where I need to be while not putting my head in the sand, knowing that with the worst case scenario, Steve and fellow commenters/colleagues here are right!
Steven, I agree that we’re at a turning point, and balanced upon a knife’s edge, hoping for a deliverance to keep us from falling into the abyss. I still find it difficult to get my mind around the fact that Trump has brought us to this point in only ten years.
How quickly and how easily we have fallen so far from G-d’s grace in such a short time.
Robert, look how long it took Hitler and General Tojo to bring destruction onto the world: just 12 years.
And since Trump and his cronies model themselves on Nazi Germany, there’s no surprise with the swiftness of this desecration.
It’s hugely ironic how at this time Germany and Japan are far more solid with their democracies than we are!
Eloquent and precise.
We do indeed have a rendez-vous with destiny..
We have always had a rendez-vous with mortality. That may strike some (many?) as morbid. It is certainly counter-cultural. Perhaps I come by it more easily because I grew up in the shadow of WWII (which, my European mother would point out, was just an extension of WWI). It was not the American triumphalist version.
I just heard how the "family reunion" tradition in the American black community started: after the Civil War and emancipation, newly-freed peoples traveled the country in search of their family members who had been sold off. Parents, siblings, their children, searching.
As we face a fierce future, I find comfort in the stories of resistance from our past. And Ukraine, always remember Ukraine.
Indeed!
Thank you for the reminder and especially for the context of Franklin Roosevelt's famous "rendezvous with destiny" statement. While always moving, this quote in this Warning is even more impactful.
You are exactly right. Just as the air pressure changes and sometimes wind direction shifts before a storm, there is an uneasy atmosphere. What will it be? A whirlwind? Sheets of rain? Even an earthquake? It will not be good.
Nancy, I am praying for a Blue Earthquake felt around the world!
Thank You Steve ..I have to respectfully disagree a little bit. I can't help but feel angry at my neighbors & friends who voted for him. They knew he was a convicted felon and they still voted for him. I don't care that they have all these grievances against whoever and whatever . They are not living in a slum . They have health care . They have family . They have money. They have been willfully ignorant and we are all paying the price . The worst part of this is I have no idea what they will do on election day .. Let's remember they knew he sent those people to the capital to take back our country or we are not going to have a country anymore.. No it's not just the evil one but everyone who helped us get to where we are now. If nothing else an apology for helping to ruin our coutnry might help. That's my mood today .
May your resentment melt a bit so that you don’t allow these folks who are in that 30% of incorrigibles have any (inner) power over you or me.
And that our anger and disappointment towards them and their actions, fuel the resistance! Yet, I think we have to be even more loving than ever with one another.
And certainly that does not mean to turn the other cheek nor avoid keeping a safe distance from those who are toxic!
Thanks Steve ...luckily that was my mood in the moment. i actually like some of my neighbors ..And of all things they like me.
Anything to hide the files of the pedophiles and their orange protector….
Donald Trump has lost control of the events he set in motion. Indeed he has and we will all pay the price for his failure, sad times indeed. Thanks again Steve for having the courage and insight to hold Trump’s actions accountable. We need many more voices like yours.
Paraphrasing Bette Davis (All About Eve): Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy year.
First, the midterms, then when DJT walks away or is walked away in 2027.
Death is too good for them….☠️👺