I’m going to share something evil with you this morning, and I would like for you to consider reading every word of it slowly. In fact, I’d like for you to share it as well. “The Storm is Coming” was delivered by a man named Joseph Goebbels in July of 1932, a few weeks before the last German elections that would occur for 17 years.
The storm arrived almost 10 years ago and the devastation has been and still is of epic proportion. In fact, since the Trump tidal wave of sewage descended down the escalator it has caused mass erosion of democracy on our American shores. The stench of the Trump wave is causing illness in the population infected by his toxic rhetoric. So much so, that his legion of zombie followers no longer have the capacity to tell truth from fiction. They would rather side with evil and Putin than the American people who have fought so hard to give them the right to their opinion. This is the true damage caused by Trump and his toxic storm.
Trump’s influence in helping Bernie Moreno win in Ohio yesterday is especially most troubling. It is the darkest warning of the coming storm. Are we ready? Is Joe Biden ready? Can the republic survive? Can we do something until the Election Day and beyond? https://apple.news/AwasCB1iCTCGJMEZAb6UIJA
The truly sad part is that the Democratic party thought it was wise to back Moreno too but for obvious different reasons. I do not see the wisdom of backing candidates that do not have democracy in mind, whether they are Democrat or Republican.
Geez I just saw Bill Kristol mention this too, and yes, unless it was specifically Sherrod's idea to boost Moreno as a weaker opponent than Dolan, they should have saved those resources for Sherrod. Extremely aggravating!
I’m not 100% sold on the idea of Democrats boosting the most MAGA candidate. But if a Democrat runs ads saying the a Trump-supporting Republican wack-job is terrible because he’s a Trump-supporting, Republican wack-job, it’s not deceptive advertising. The fact that those types of ads help in Republican primaries raises other questions.
Just saw that Larry Hogan has a double-digit lead over one of two proposed (no primary yet) Maryland Senate Candidates to replace a strong Dem. seat. THEY too may change control of the Senate.
We have to look overall at the elections. Local, state, and Federal - all seemingly controlled by Trump and MAGA tho' Hogan in MD says he isn't .. he has policy views that would align with the GOP if elected to the Senate.
Actually, I think Sherrod Brown will have a better chance of beating the rabid MAGAette who won the Republican nomination. Moderate, independent, sane and sober Republicans will never be nominated by their party again.
I agree. Sherrod vs Moreno in the general is a different race from the GOP primary. Sherrod has a stronger statewide/national footprint than Tim did (who I absolutely loved). Vance wrote a bestselling book then turned his back on his roots at Peter Theil's behest. Moreno is a successful but local car dealer, and Dems are already set up with the ads Dolan ran against him. I'm personally gratified that LaRose's deceptive mechanisms against Ohioans in 2023 helped sink him in 2024.
3 factors working in Moreno's win, which is disappointing but not surprising:
1) LaRose shot himself in the foot as the face of two losing statewide referenda in in Aug and Nov 2023, both of which were deceptive and anti-democratic, and lost even in some red counties.
2) Dolan had a late surge, but he's a more traditional Repub i.e. not in Trump's pocket, so even with DeWine's late endorsement (shocking since LaRose was still running!) large swathes of the corrupt OH GOP machine would never support him. His deep pockets kept him going longer though, with more ads than LaRose could muster.
3) Trump & Vance swooped in for frightening 3/16 rally in southwest Ohio to shore up the base. Vance benefited from similar timing/event in 2022 and has done almost nothing since, except boycott the SOTU this year, critique Pence's choice on 1/6 to defend the constitutional electoral process, and accept Sherrod's generous invite to ride his coattails on East Palestine safety bill.
It will be interesting to see if Dolan's voters are similar in potentially voting Brown rather than Moreno, just as many Haley voters have indicated they'll vote Biden rather than Trump.
Did all of you see the House Oversight Committee meeting today? Lev Parnas exposed & condemned Republicans who are, in reality, Russian assets! Every American should hear his words!
The unfortunate reality is that none of this matters to the people who intend to vote for him. And I have not come across many fence-sitters about Trump or Biden. At least not here in North Carolina. In other news, our Lieutenant Governor, who is running for Governor, said Planned Parenthood is as bad as the KKK.
Also in NC, Michele Morrow comfortably won the GOP primary against the more moderate incumbent for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Morrow is a QAnon cultist who homescchools her kids and considers public schools "socialist indoctrination centers." She has called for the assassination of Obama by firing squad, to be televised with a pay-per-view option. She's also called for the murder of Biden, NC Gov. Roy Cooper and other prominent democrats, as well as the imprisonment of GA Gov. Brian Kemp. She participated in J6. Brainwashed, Deranged, Dangerous. Out of touch with reality and the worst role model for our kids one could imagine. Of course, she's a so called "Christian Conservative." QAnon is a malign psyop likely emanating from Russian intelligence and allied with the Mike Flynn network. This mind virus designed to divide and weaken the country and bring about violent conflict is now poised to infect the highest levels of government in NC. We MUST stop this from happening this November.
And my home state of Ohio put a far right MAGA against Sherrod Brown for Nov. If my home state has TWO MAGA Senators, I fear for my family and for all who are not MAGA and especially for immigrants.
My husband and I were born and raised in Ohio. We love Ohio. But the Maga blight has changed our beloved state and it is not what it once was. The beautiful rural parts are infested with hostile and aggressive Maga and they are not shy about bringing their propaganda to the suburbs. We finally left and, much as it pained us to go, I'm so glad we did.
Watch out for the right wing invasion of local government as well - school boards, city councils, county commissions! They’ll turn everything upside down! Issues are book banning, curriculum rewriting and current school organizational configuration!
That’s how they got started. By pressuring local evangelical far right Republicans in rural America to run for office as Water Conservation District 3 commissioner, running for a seat on local school boards, city councils, county board of supervisors, etc. I know this to be true.
I live in Georgia where a group (Mama Bears) have about wrecked the Forsyth County School System. Main issue for them, other than getting pictures in newspapers, has been book banning! Supt. retiring at end of this year. Suspect he’s fed up!
I just watched a brief interview with her on CNN. Not really an interview, as she would not answer questions. What a ghastly human being. How did she get this far? If this is the kind of person people want for public schools, we are in deep, deep trouble.
It’s the independent voters and Democrats who are going to have to turn out huge if we’re gonna win this thing. Trying to convince the Maga cult is useless. Cults by definition are in a word brainwashed. Think Jamestown and Jim Jones.
Complete reversal of thought....One has to begin to ask what is causing this illogical thinking..None of it makes any sense......Could it be the covid injections given to all?
It seems like different forces at work. The Christian Right is on the march. I was just reading in the Washington Post that the latest effort is chaplains in public schools. Then you have the Internet, which gave rise to so many demons. Then there is the ghastly wealth inequality we have. We have people with $400 in the bank; meanwhile billionaires are looking for more tax breaks and will get them. And NAFTA destroyed the manufacturing middle class here. You take a lot of this, mix it together, and you have people who no longer care about democracy. Why should they? Look what has happened to them.
You are so correct about all you write....They are what is referred to as "Pseudoselfs", Those that follow the Beliefs & Value of others...As if there is no capacity, ability or desire to do otherwise.... Call those at work in this mess we witness, Obstructionists or Fascists.....It appears there is a strong surge for conformity. No pondering if the gift of Freedoms will disappear if they no longer care about a democratic structure.
One could say that it is almost a delusional state of being that all are willing to follow the ideas of madness that hide under a surface of normalcy if life as they live it does not produce sufficient support. Thank you for your message.
“People, rise up, and storm, break loose!” Hasn't Trump already said something similar to the Proud Boys with, "Stand back and stand by" ? When he speaks about all that will happen when he's President, like 100% tariffs on car imports, isn't he saying something like, “The day of freedom and prosperity is coming”? When the dust settles, when 2024 is over, when Biden is reelected after a hard fought bloody battle and inaugurated on Monday, January 20, 2025, the hard work must begin. America must finally look herself in the mirror and ask, "how did this happen? What is so wrong, what is so toxic in our society, in our educational system, in our American institutional systems and culture to have allowed poison to run through our veins for this long unattended? Trump, The Federalist Society, The Koch Brothers, The White Evangelical Church, Mitch McConnell, The Supreme Court, etc., didn't happen overnight and certainly didn't happen in a vacuum. We saw the beginnings of the infection fifty, sixty years ago and did nothing. We pretended it didn't exist. And so it festered and spread. Years and years of planning by men in dark suits with money to burn held court. It paid off, they found their avatar in Donald J. Trump. A man willing to break every rule of accepted behavior. More importantly he was equipped with something none of them had. Something you cannot teach, nor can you buy: pure unadulterated magnetism. I have seen it first hand. When he first ran in 2015. I attended a rally in Lowell, Massachusetts. Not because I was a fan. Far, far from it. He was mesmerizing. That he said nothing but a bevy of non sequiturs mattered none. He held that audience of over 6,000 in the palm of his hand. I knew then he would win. And so began my years of fear, anxiety and of doing all I could to fight back. I told everyone who would listen I had witnessed the man who would break America. People thought I was being hyperbolic. I responded, "there is something very, very wrong with America for this man to be able, in a matter of months capture the imagination of so many." The media refused to look. Worse they deemed those of us screaming from the rooftops Trump was a baby fascist, crazy. Which brings us to today. A man easily identified as demented, filled with a white hot rage, a criminal of the highest order is so close to power he and his dark money billionaires are already divying up the spoils. I say they will lose - this round. What we do the day after the election will be the true test of America and her ideals.
I feel your pain Debbie, It is mine also. All I can do is donate to the Democrats running to stop this insanity. I shun anyone in my organization who is a pro Trump fascist. Others think that is unspiritual but they don't understand how easily Germany fell for the evil Nazies. IT is happening in the USA now. Not in my home state of Hawaii but in so many other states.
Thank you, Marian. You are so right. I too feel lucky. I live in Massachusetts. But none of us living in blue states can take a breath and think we're safe. Our educational system has failed us. Too many are uneducated in world history, let alone our very own. So much so I bet many in the MAGA cult couldn't pass the US Citizenship test: USCIS Civics Test themselves. I believe women will make the difference. I only hope those women living in red states understand the men they voted for hate them. I pray they stand up and vote if not for themselves, then for their daughters. As Edmund Burke is often thought to have famously said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
The media is obviously afraid of their shadow & mostly is afraid to ruffle feathers! Some of my favorite journalists have been disappointing. I thought they might step up to the plate and call it exactly like it is!
I think that Trump is a demagogue. I looked up "demagogue" in my dictionary and here is what it said: A demagogue is a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power.
Terrifying echoes. Those who ignore this historical precedent are deaf, dumb and blind, doomed to lap up MAGA autocracy. We are charged with erecting a firewall around democracy. We must work for it, particularly for the next 250 days. It must be a crushing repudiation or there will be 4 more years of "stolen election" nonsense.
And furthermore on Steve’s post here, North Carolina Senator Ted Budd got back to me. I asked him his thoughts about his party nominating a Holocaust Denier to run for Governor.
He said that is a campaign issue and he would not comment. So, this is what we get these days.
Interesting snapshot of a most disturbing reality, a politician revealing his absolute contempt for those who elected him by unashamedly stating that lies are just campaigning ploys.
Budd is an extremist involved trained in Dallas in a very fundamentalist strain of Christianity. Many folks think he's a mainstream type like Richard Burr because that's the kind of family background he comes from.My take on Budd is that he's pure MAGA.
I’m still waiting to hear back from Tillis. The saddest part is 2.8 million people voted for this man to be Lieutenant Governor — and he won. His verbal diarrhea was well known to most people.
MAGA now GOP to a tee. Very frightening. In my view Joe Biden needs to call Trump out in no uncertain terms on his fascist hate speak. Wherever and whenever it erupts from the fascist bloated pie hole. In addition to the entirety of his self-serving idiocracy policy flip flops, that are unmistakably joined at the hip with how much money he needs and what way he thinks he’s gonna sell out the US to the highest bidder once in office. .
What strikes me the most, is the fact that in Germany, at a time when people truly were starving, and suffering from very low self-esteem, at least had a point. The Treaty of Versailles was a really bad deal for the German people. It’s not shocking that a large portion of the population would believe that their government failed them, and turn to a demagogue as a result since no other party offered the people a solution.
I don’t agree at all with the solution, but at least the German people had a point, and were truly in pain. That said, scapegoating never leads to good outcomes, and the Nazi’s were evil its core exponentially.
Which leads me to my main point! America today is not Nazi Germany. So what exactly are the MAGA mob complaining about? America isn’t post-WW1 screwed. Our economy rebounded better than any country in the world after COVID.
And it’s not like Trump handled COVID well or competently. We had 1.5 million deaths; more than all our wars combined, and at least 500,000 deaths could have been prevented had Trump taken the virus seriously.
Yet here we are; with 40% of the country believing we are in a recession. That Biden’s policies have destroyed this country, and only Trump, a failed businessman, at least six times over, is going to be our nation’s savior by scapegoating immigrants and anyone else who opposes him.
Yet, we have the lowest unemployment since the early 60’s, and the wage gap at its lowest rate in three decades. Crimes rates have dropped. We’ve made investments in infrastructure, and rebuilding our manufacturing base. And most economic indicators say we will avoid a recession completely.
Robert, I can't answer for the MAGA cultists who won't change their minds on Trump no matter what, but I can relate on this level only: 1) I retired about 16 months ago, so on a fixed income unless I decide or need to go back to work. Grocery prices went WAY up and they are not ever coming down in any significant way. So even if increasing inflation is under control, there won't be any deflation, and this may be why 40% believe we are still in recession (no doubt most of them don't understand the true definition of "recession", they just know they are paying more for groceries and here in Arizona, gas is nearing $4/gallon and will go up as the "summer blend" kicks in. So people, include Biden supporters like me are feeling the financial pain. 2) We have been trying to sell our home for 13 months (it has been priced competitively, but does not have a swimming pool - it's one flaw). It's a 7 year old home 2400 SF and beautiful inside (Phoenix metro), and only a single offer that came last month - a lowball. We countered and no response. In short, lots of people feel they are not in control of their lives (like us) where we are basically trapped in this house until interest rates drop. Not a good feeling at all. 3) I don't think the average person knows or cares about the unemployment rate or crime rates - this is the the problem with anyone trying to make this a point in a campaign... they care if the THEY have a job or if their family members have jobs and if those jobs are paying them enough to feel like they can afford their life. I knew this following fact as a manager in the telecom industry, but it applies to any: a pay increase makes one feel great for maybe a week. It is not a long term motivator for job performance or productivity. I'm guessing it also would not carry over months later when you still "feel" like paying $19 for hamburger at a sit down restaurant is WAY too much money. But again, I doubt those prices are ever coming down. So the groceries, the menu prices, the gas are constant reminders of prices that increased substantially in the near past (and are never coming down).... it FEELS like inflation, even if it is technically not. I have NEVER voted based on economic issues, but sadly I am not the majority. I am mostly a one issue voter when voting for president: SCOTUS.
Fair enough and excellent points. I know everything you said is true, but inflation actually started with Trump. It’s manufactured inflation when he put tariffs on Europe and China, except they didn’t affect food prices. And our current predicament was exacerbated by COVID and Trump’s incompetent response.
My point is that they are blaming the wrong person. We also had the bird flu that destroyed 25% of our poultry supply. The supply chain issues were a result of 40 years of outsourcing our manufacturing base. 60% of today’s inflation is due to price gouging and it’s Congress that would have to act; something neither party will address. The lists are endless.
No president can be held responsible for a lot of the problems we face today. It’s forty plus years in the making, and equal blame on both sides.
I just don’t understand why people can’t understand that. Instead, they’ll give in to an authoritarian kleptocrat who is a billionaire pretender, and bankrupt businessman. And he’ll do to America what he did to his companies; leave us insolvent!
I agree with everything you said. And yet I still know that the average person doesn't know ANY of that. Most feel a president should help them out and I am guessing they are feeling "Helped out". I disagree, of course. And if they watch right wing news, forget it.
I don't think the avg person can discern these nuances (poultry problem, gouging, the outsourcing, etc...) of our economy. They may have heard about some of this, but I don't believe 90% of the American electorate could tell you what you just responded with regarding the economy. But as you said.... Go figure!
Absolutely right Robert & Cindy. As for grocery prices...blame mergers and mfg.'s and St. Ronald's green lighting for monopolies . Blame the media--corporate owned--for deliberately ignoring the cause of inflation and allowing the MAGA mob to get away with outrageous lies and blaming Biden.
There's an individual on this site who spouts MAGA bullshit, making no sense whatsoever but eloquently expressing the MAGA mindset. I find him pathetically hilarious.
In the Presidential race I'm a one issue voter too. One guy is a convicted rapist who for decades has sexually assaulted dozens of women and then buys them off or defames and shames them. The other guy is not a rapist.
Robert, Since you asked for explanations from "anyone" about "What's going on?" I will offer explanations which are incomplete, speculative, and have not (yet) been substantiated by facts. I think that those who have played around with ChatGPT may very well see AI as a threat to the livelihoods of many ordinary workers. We all know that the Congress is too unintelligent to stop the transfer of jobs from humans to Artificial Intelligence because these computers and robots can do the work without collective bargaining, sick leave, retirement benefits, etc. Another thing is that the Civil War is not over. Also, we are unequal when it comes to voting because of the Electoral College. And, things are changing too damn fast !!
Possibly! However, even if everything you say is true, it still doesn’t explain why people assume Trump would stop AI and protect workers.
If anything republicans would be far worse than democrats when it comes to worker’s rights.
When was the last time republicans supported unions, workers rights a minimum wage, or worker safety.? They are the first to attack all these rights and to side with big business….:)
A storm is coming. Trump knows, as stupid as he is, that he will never win based on the popular vote. He simply sets about poisoning the election with rhetoric that if he doesn’t win, it’s only because it was rigged. He even did it in 2016.
The storm comes from those that know better who perpetrate the lies and amplifies them.
Conmen and grifters have always been among us like parasites. There have always been “dirty politicians “. They used to be in the minority. But we have a new breed of politicians. They are the enablers. They know it’s wrong but are too cowardly to do anything about it. They give the citizens that shred of false credibility to Trump’s vile rhetoric.
The storm is coming for all of us. Maybe not the billionaire supporters, or the propagandists, or the useful idiots Trump needs.
America has really and simply lost its way. It’s not a majority of the population but it is a large minority. We have regressed from a melting pot of cultures and ideas that would spur on greater achievements that benefit everyone to cynicism and narrowing views.
Trump has no answers and stands for no one but himself. It is always about him and what he personally gets from it.
We have a storm coming, because of enablers, moral cowardice, and simply people who just want to destroy for the sake of destroying.
Trump is not really a bully because he is too much of a cowardly snowflake who is literally stupid. He is propped up by others that know how to manipulate him. They see in him a way to achieve what they couldn’t. Trump has no morals, integrity, ethics or loyalty . Trump is really the puppet not the puppeteer. He is the useful idiot.
Trump is the character of Lenny in Mice and Men. Putin, Orban , Bannon , Stephen Miller and the billionaires that donate see Trump as their Manchurian candidate.
We have set this storm in motion by electing cowards, morally corrupt and mentally unqualified people to Congress, the Senate and even the Supreme Court ( no they aren’t elected but are morally unqualified for the job).
Football coaches, baseball players, CrossFit teachers, bar owners, scam artists , holocaust deniers, and just plain crazy people are being elected because of the way they would vote not because of their qualifications to lead.
The storm is coming because of our failure to encourage and nurture the best of our society rather than the lowest denominator.
And what can we do? All of us reading this agree with you but how to we reach out to the unreachable? Much of father’s side of the family died in concentration camps which I am now hearing from the younger generation didn’t happen!
In 2020 I phone banked and texted and canvassed but honestly I don’t know if that is going to work this time. We all know who both candidates are and the one’s who are choosing Trump know his game and they like it. I saw them saying on the news that they want a dictatorship.
And then you also have the younger crowd who are angry at Biden and our country in general about the situation in the Middle East and I don’t know if they understand that if Trump wins, it won’t be the Jews he kicks out first - it’ll be the same people he attempted to ban last time.
The storm arrived almost 10 years ago and the devastation has been and still is of epic proportion. In fact, since the Trump tidal wave of sewage descended down the escalator it has caused mass erosion of democracy on our American shores. The stench of the Trump wave is causing illness in the population infected by his toxic rhetoric. So much so, that his legion of zombie followers no longer have the capacity to tell truth from fiction. They would rather side with evil and Putin than the American people who have fought so hard to give them the right to their opinion. This is the true damage caused by Trump and his toxic storm.
I would argue that storm has been on the horizon since 1968.
Trump’s influence in helping Bernie Moreno win in Ohio yesterday is especially most troubling. It is the darkest warning of the coming storm. Are we ready? Is Joe Biden ready? Can the republic survive? Can we do something until the Election Day and beyond? https://apple.news/AwasCB1iCTCGJMEZAb6UIJA
The truly sad part is that the Democratic party thought it was wise to back Moreno too but for obvious different reasons. I do not see the wisdom of backing candidates that do not have democracy in mind, whether they are Democrat or Republican.
Geez I just saw Bill Kristol mention this too, and yes, unless it was specifically Sherrod's idea to boost Moreno as a weaker opponent than Dolan, they should have saved those resources for Sherrod. Extremely aggravating!
I agree
I’m not 100% sold on the idea of Democrats boosting the most MAGA candidate. But if a Democrat runs ads saying the a Trump-supporting Republican wack-job is terrible because he’s a Trump-supporting, Republican wack-job, it’s not deceptive advertising. The fact that those types of ads help in Republican primaries raises other questions.
My thoughts are, I don't think it is the best way to spend resources on Republican candidates.
Agree. Posted above that my home state has a potential nightmare. Donate, work for, speak up for Sherrod.
Yes. I will volunteer to write postcards and will donate to his campaign. This seat, like the one in AZ is a must win for Dems.
Thank you, @Sky 777!
Just saw that Larry Hogan has a double-digit lead over one of two proposed (no primary yet) Maryland Senate Candidates to replace a strong Dem. seat. THEY too may change control of the Senate.
We have to look overall at the elections. Local, state, and Federal - all seemingly controlled by Trump and MAGA tho' Hogan in MD says he isn't .. he has policy views that would align with the GOP if elected to the Senate.
Yep. I don’t want ANY republicans to win. In this day and age, anyone who identifies as Republican is dead to me.
Actually, I think Sherrod Brown will have a better chance of beating the rabid MAGAette who won the Republican nomination. Moderate, independent, sane and sober Republicans will never be nominated by their party again.
I hope you are right. It is so crucial, no room for any failure.
I agree. Sherrod vs Moreno in the general is a different race from the GOP primary. Sherrod has a stronger statewide/national footprint than Tim did (who I absolutely loved). Vance wrote a bestselling book then turned his back on his roots at Peter Theil's behest. Moreno is a successful but local car dealer, and Dems are already set up with the ads Dolan ran against him. I'm personally gratified that LaRose's deceptive mechanisms against Ohioans in 2023 helped sink him in 2024.
3 factors working in Moreno's win, which is disappointing but not surprising:
1) LaRose shot himself in the foot as the face of two losing statewide referenda in in Aug and Nov 2023, both of which were deceptive and anti-democratic, and lost even in some red counties.
2) Dolan had a late surge, but he's a more traditional Repub i.e. not in Trump's pocket, so even with DeWine's late endorsement (shocking since LaRose was still running!) large swathes of the corrupt OH GOP machine would never support him. His deep pockets kept him going longer though, with more ads than LaRose could muster.
3) Trump & Vance swooped in for frightening 3/16 rally in southwest Ohio to shore up the base. Vance benefited from similar timing/event in 2022 and has done almost nothing since, except boycott the SOTU this year, critique Pence's choice on 1/6 to defend the constitutional electoral process, and accept Sherrod's generous invite to ride his coattails on East Palestine safety bill.
It will be interesting to see if Dolan's voters are similar in potentially voting Brown rather than Moreno, just as many Haley voters have indicated they'll vote Biden rather than Trump.
Did all of you see the House Oversight Committee meeting today? Lev Parnas exposed & condemned Republicans who are, in reality, Russian assets! Every American should hear his words!
“No longer have the capacity to tell the truth!” Powerful depiction!
Your Truth here is million percent!!!!
The unfortunate reality is that none of this matters to the people who intend to vote for him. And I have not come across many fence-sitters about Trump or Biden. At least not here in North Carolina. In other news, our Lieutenant Governor, who is running for Governor, said Planned Parenthood is as bad as the KKK.
Also in NC, Michele Morrow comfortably won the GOP primary against the more moderate incumbent for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Morrow is a QAnon cultist who homescchools her kids and considers public schools "socialist indoctrination centers." She has called for the assassination of Obama by firing squad, to be televised with a pay-per-view option. She's also called for the murder of Biden, NC Gov. Roy Cooper and other prominent democrats, as well as the imprisonment of GA Gov. Brian Kemp. She participated in J6. Brainwashed, Deranged, Dangerous. Out of touch with reality and the worst role model for our kids one could imagine. Of course, she's a so called "Christian Conservative." QAnon is a malign psyop likely emanating from Russian intelligence and allied with the Mike Flynn network. This mind virus designed to divide and weaken the country and bring about violent conflict is now poised to infect the highest levels of government in NC. We MUST stop this from happening this November.
And my home state of Ohio put a far right MAGA against Sherrod Brown for Nov. If my home state has TWO MAGA Senators, I fear for my family and for all who are not MAGA and especially for immigrants.
My husband and I were born and raised in Ohio. We love Ohio. But the Maga blight has changed our beloved state and it is not what it once was. The beautiful rural parts are infested with hostile and aggressive Maga and they are not shy about bringing their propaganda to the suburbs. We finally left and, much as it pained us to go, I'm so glad we did.
And we almost moved back to be with family & have a lower cost of housing. Politics are an indication of values. Ours don’t match Ohio now.
That's the sad truth. Stay strong.
Watch out for the right wing invasion of local government as well - school boards, city councils, county commissions! They’ll turn everything upside down! Issues are book banning, curriculum rewriting and current school organizational configuration!
That’s how they got started. By pressuring local evangelical far right Republicans in rural America to run for office as Water Conservation District 3 commissioner, running for a seat on local school boards, city councils, county board of supervisors, etc. I know this to be true.
I live in Georgia where a group (Mama Bears) have about wrecked the Forsyth County School System. Main issue for them, other than getting pictures in newspapers, has been book banning! Supt. retiring at end of this year. Suspect he’s fed up!
So do I. Have seen it live and in person!
Try Googling "Mass Hysteria" and see if this is what we're witnessing.
I just watched a brief interview with her on CNN. Not really an interview, as she would not answer questions. What a ghastly human being. How did she get this far? If this is the kind of person people want for public schools, we are in deep, deep trouble.
It’s the independent voters and Democrats who are going to have to turn out huge if we’re gonna win this thing. Trying to convince the Maga cult is useless. Cults by definition are in a word brainwashed. Think Jamestown and Jim Jones.
There is a lot you can learn about the danger of personality cults by reading bios of Stalin, Hitler, Jim Jones, and Trump.
Complete reversal of thought....One has to begin to ask what is causing this illogical thinking..None of it makes any sense......Could it be the covid injections given to all?
What is it?
It seems like different forces at work. The Christian Right is on the march. I was just reading in the Washington Post that the latest effort is chaplains in public schools. Then you have the Internet, which gave rise to so many demons. Then there is the ghastly wealth inequality we have. We have people with $400 in the bank; meanwhile billionaires are looking for more tax breaks and will get them. And NAFTA destroyed the manufacturing middle class here. You take a lot of this, mix it together, and you have people who no longer care about democracy. Why should they? Look what has happened to them.
You are so correct about all you write....They are what is referred to as "Pseudoselfs", Those that follow the Beliefs & Value of others...As if there is no capacity, ability or desire to do otherwise.... Call those at work in this mess we witness, Obstructionists or Fascists.....It appears there is a strong surge for conformity. No pondering if the gift of Freedoms will disappear if they no longer care about a democratic structure.
One could say that it is almost a delusional state of being that all are willing to follow the ideas of madness that hide under a surface of normalcy if life as they live it does not produce sufficient support. Thank you for your message.
“People, rise up, and storm, break loose!” Hasn't Trump already said something similar to the Proud Boys with, "Stand back and stand by" ? When he speaks about all that will happen when he's President, like 100% tariffs on car imports, isn't he saying something like, “The day of freedom and prosperity is coming”? When the dust settles, when 2024 is over, when Biden is reelected after a hard fought bloody battle and inaugurated on Monday, January 20, 2025, the hard work must begin. America must finally look herself in the mirror and ask, "how did this happen? What is so wrong, what is so toxic in our society, in our educational system, in our American institutional systems and culture to have allowed poison to run through our veins for this long unattended? Trump, The Federalist Society, The Koch Brothers, The White Evangelical Church, Mitch McConnell, The Supreme Court, etc., didn't happen overnight and certainly didn't happen in a vacuum. We saw the beginnings of the infection fifty, sixty years ago and did nothing. We pretended it didn't exist. And so it festered and spread. Years and years of planning by men in dark suits with money to burn held court. It paid off, they found their avatar in Donald J. Trump. A man willing to break every rule of accepted behavior. More importantly he was equipped with something none of them had. Something you cannot teach, nor can you buy: pure unadulterated magnetism. I have seen it first hand. When he first ran in 2015. I attended a rally in Lowell, Massachusetts. Not because I was a fan. Far, far from it. He was mesmerizing. That he said nothing but a bevy of non sequiturs mattered none. He held that audience of over 6,000 in the palm of his hand. I knew then he would win. And so began my years of fear, anxiety and of doing all I could to fight back. I told everyone who would listen I had witnessed the man who would break America. People thought I was being hyperbolic. I responded, "there is something very, very wrong with America for this man to be able, in a matter of months capture the imagination of so many." The media refused to look. Worse they deemed those of us screaming from the rooftops Trump was a baby fascist, crazy. Which brings us to today. A man easily identified as demented, filled with a white hot rage, a criminal of the highest order is so close to power he and his dark money billionaires are already divying up the spoils. I say they will lose - this round. What we do the day after the election will be the true test of America and her ideals.
I feel your pain Debbie, It is mine also. All I can do is donate to the Democrats running to stop this insanity. I shun anyone in my organization who is a pro Trump fascist. Others think that is unspiritual but they don't understand how easily Germany fell for the evil Nazies. IT is happening in the USA now. Not in my home state of Hawaii but in so many other states.
Thank you, Marian. You are so right. I too feel lucky. I live in Massachusetts. But none of us living in blue states can take a breath and think we're safe. Our educational system has failed us. Too many are uneducated in world history, let alone our very own. So much so I bet many in the MAGA cult couldn't pass the US Citizenship test: USCIS Civics Test themselves. I believe women will make the difference. I only hope those women living in red states understand the men they voted for hate them. I pray they stand up and vote if not for themselves, then for their daughters. As Edmund Burke is often thought to have famously said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
The media is obviously afraid of their shadow & mostly is afraid to ruffle feathers! Some of my favorite journalists have been disappointing. I thought they might step up to the plate and call it exactly like it is!
I think that Trump is a demagogue. I looked up "demagogue" in my dictionary and here is what it said: A demagogue is a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power.
Terrifying echoes. Those who ignore this historical precedent are deaf, dumb and blind, doomed to lap up MAGA autocracy. We are charged with erecting a firewall around democracy. We must work for it, particularly for the next 250 days. It must be a crushing repudiation or there will be 4 more years of "stolen election" nonsense.
"Persecution." "An army of revenge." "We speak in your name." Clearly Trump has learned from the Master of Evil.
And that’s not the America I grew up in.
And furthermore on Steve’s post here, North Carolina Senator Ted Budd got back to me. I asked him his thoughts about his party nominating a Holocaust Denier to run for Governor.
He said that is a campaign issue and he would not comment. So, this is what we get these days.
Interesting snapshot of a most disturbing reality, a politician revealing his absolute contempt for those who elected him by unashamedly stating that lies are just campaigning ploys.
Budd is an extremist involved trained in Dallas in a very fundamentalist strain of Christianity. Many folks think he's a mainstream type like Richard Burr because that's the kind of family background he comes from.My take on Budd is that he's pure MAGA.
So much for principals and courage, right?
I’m still waiting to hear back from Tillis. The saddest part is 2.8 million people voted for this man to be Lieutenant Governor — and he won. His verbal diarrhea was well known to most people.
What nonsense. What absurdity.
Yes, this is so frightening. Nothing I want to experience.
MAGA now GOP to a tee. Very frightening. In my view Joe Biden needs to call Trump out in no uncertain terms on his fascist hate speak. Wherever and whenever it erupts from the fascist bloated pie hole. In addition to the entirety of his self-serving idiocracy policy flip flops, that are unmistakably joined at the hip with how much money he needs and what way he thinks he’s gonna sell out the US to the highest bidder once in office. .
That’s my greatest fear right now. You spelled it out concisely. Thank you
I thought I was reading a Trump or Stephen miller speech. Absolutely terrifying.
“History Doesn't Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes” – Mark Twain.
And here we are.
Excellent history class Steve.
What strikes me the most, is the fact that in Germany, at a time when people truly were starving, and suffering from very low self-esteem, at least had a point. The Treaty of Versailles was a really bad deal for the German people. It’s not shocking that a large portion of the population would believe that their government failed them, and turn to a demagogue as a result since no other party offered the people a solution.
I don’t agree at all with the solution, but at least the German people had a point, and were truly in pain. That said, scapegoating never leads to good outcomes, and the Nazi’s were evil its core exponentially.
Which leads me to my main point! America today is not Nazi Germany. So what exactly are the MAGA mob complaining about? America isn’t post-WW1 screwed. Our economy rebounded better than any country in the world after COVID.
And it’s not like Trump handled COVID well or competently. We had 1.5 million deaths; more than all our wars combined, and at least 500,000 deaths could have been prevented had Trump taken the virus seriously.
Yet here we are; with 40% of the country believing we are in a recession. That Biden’s policies have destroyed this country, and only Trump, a failed businessman, at least six times over, is going to be our nation’s savior by scapegoating immigrants and anyone else who opposes him.
Yet, we have the lowest unemployment since the early 60’s, and the wage gap at its lowest rate in three decades. Crimes rates have dropped. We’ve made investments in infrastructure, and rebuilding our manufacturing base. And most economic indicators say we will avoid a recession completely.
So what the fu*k is going on?????? Anyone?????…:)
One factor seems to be extreme propaganda amplified by insidious social media algorithms.
Robert, I can't answer for the MAGA cultists who won't change their minds on Trump no matter what, but I can relate on this level only: 1) I retired about 16 months ago, so on a fixed income unless I decide or need to go back to work. Grocery prices went WAY up and they are not ever coming down in any significant way. So even if increasing inflation is under control, there won't be any deflation, and this may be why 40% believe we are still in recession (no doubt most of them don't understand the true definition of "recession", they just know they are paying more for groceries and here in Arizona, gas is nearing $4/gallon and will go up as the "summer blend" kicks in. So people, include Biden supporters like me are feeling the financial pain. 2) We have been trying to sell our home for 13 months (it has been priced competitively, but does not have a swimming pool - it's one flaw). It's a 7 year old home 2400 SF and beautiful inside (Phoenix metro), and only a single offer that came last month - a lowball. We countered and no response. In short, lots of people feel they are not in control of their lives (like us) where we are basically trapped in this house until interest rates drop. Not a good feeling at all. 3) I don't think the average person knows or cares about the unemployment rate or crime rates - this is the the problem with anyone trying to make this a point in a campaign... they care if the THEY have a job or if their family members have jobs and if those jobs are paying them enough to feel like they can afford their life. I knew this following fact as a manager in the telecom industry, but it applies to any: a pay increase makes one feel great for maybe a week. It is not a long term motivator for job performance or productivity. I'm guessing it also would not carry over months later when you still "feel" like paying $19 for hamburger at a sit down restaurant is WAY too much money. But again, I doubt those prices are ever coming down. So the groceries, the menu prices, the gas are constant reminders of prices that increased substantially in the near past (and are never coming down).... it FEELS like inflation, even if it is technically not. I have NEVER voted based on economic issues, but sadly I am not the majority. I am mostly a one issue voter when voting for president: SCOTUS.
Fair enough and excellent points. I know everything you said is true, but inflation actually started with Trump. It’s manufactured inflation when he put tariffs on Europe and China, except they didn’t affect food prices. And our current predicament was exacerbated by COVID and Trump’s incompetent response.
My point is that they are blaming the wrong person. We also had the bird flu that destroyed 25% of our poultry supply. The supply chain issues were a result of 40 years of outsourcing our manufacturing base. 60% of today’s inflation is due to price gouging and it’s Congress that would have to act; something neither party will address. The lists are endless.
No president can be held responsible for a lot of the problems we face today. It’s forty plus years in the making, and equal blame on both sides.
I just don’t understand why people can’t understand that. Instead, they’ll give in to an authoritarian kleptocrat who is a billionaire pretender, and bankrupt businessman. And he’ll do to America what he did to his companies; leave us insolvent!
Go figure!…:)
I agree with everything you said. And yet I still know that the average person doesn't know ANY of that. Most feel a president should help them out and I am guessing they are feeling "Helped out". I disagree, of course. And if they watch right wing news, forget it.
I don't think the avg person can discern these nuances (poultry problem, gouging, the outsourcing, etc...) of our economy. They may have heard about some of this, but I don't believe 90% of the American electorate could tell you what you just responded with regarding the economy. But as you said.... Go figure!
Absolutely right Robert & Cindy. As for grocery prices...blame mergers and mfg.'s and St. Ronald's green lighting for monopolies . Blame the media--corporate owned--for deliberately ignoring the cause of inflation and allowing the MAGA mob to get away with outrageous lies and blaming Biden.
There's an individual on this site who spouts MAGA bullshit, making no sense whatsoever but eloquently expressing the MAGA mindset. I find him pathetically hilarious.
In the Presidential race I'm a one issue voter too. One guy is a convicted rapist who for decades has sexually assaulted dozens of women and then buys them off or defames and shames them. The other guy is not a rapist.
Robert, Since you asked for explanations from "anyone" about "What's going on?" I will offer explanations which are incomplete, speculative, and have not (yet) been substantiated by facts. I think that those who have played around with ChatGPT may very well see AI as a threat to the livelihoods of many ordinary workers. We all know that the Congress is too unintelligent to stop the transfer of jobs from humans to Artificial Intelligence because these computers and robots can do the work without collective bargaining, sick leave, retirement benefits, etc. Another thing is that the Civil War is not over. Also, we are unequal when it comes to voting because of the Electoral College. And, things are changing too damn fast !!
Possibly! However, even if everything you say is true, it still doesn’t explain why people assume Trump would stop AI and protect workers.
If anything republicans would be far worse than democrats when it comes to worker’s rights.
When was the last time republicans supported unions, workers rights a minimum wage, or worker safety.? They are the first to attack all these rights and to side with big business….:)
All this is echoed in the rants of Donald Trump nowadays. If this storm is coming, we’d better be ready.
Not ready. We must help stop it by donating and working for candidates of moral judgement and knowledge.
A storm is coming. Trump knows, as stupid as he is, that he will never win based on the popular vote. He simply sets about poisoning the election with rhetoric that if he doesn’t win, it’s only because it was rigged. He even did it in 2016.
The storm comes from those that know better who perpetrate the lies and amplifies them.
Conmen and grifters have always been among us like parasites. There have always been “dirty politicians “. They used to be in the minority. But we have a new breed of politicians. They are the enablers. They know it’s wrong but are too cowardly to do anything about it. They give the citizens that shred of false credibility to Trump’s vile rhetoric.
The storm is coming for all of us. Maybe not the billionaire supporters, or the propagandists, or the useful idiots Trump needs.
America has really and simply lost its way. It’s not a majority of the population but it is a large minority. We have regressed from a melting pot of cultures and ideas that would spur on greater achievements that benefit everyone to cynicism and narrowing views.
Trump has no answers and stands for no one but himself. It is always about him and what he personally gets from it.
We have a storm coming, because of enablers, moral cowardice, and simply people who just want to destroy for the sake of destroying.
Trump is not really a bully because he is too much of a cowardly snowflake who is literally stupid. He is propped up by others that know how to manipulate him. They see in him a way to achieve what they couldn’t. Trump has no morals, integrity, ethics or loyalty . Trump is really the puppet not the puppeteer. He is the useful idiot.
Trump is the character of Lenny in Mice and Men. Putin, Orban , Bannon , Stephen Miller and the billionaires that donate see Trump as their Manchurian candidate.
We have set this storm in motion by electing cowards, morally corrupt and mentally unqualified people to Congress, the Senate and even the Supreme Court ( no they aren’t elected but are morally unqualified for the job).
Football coaches, baseball players, CrossFit teachers, bar owners, scam artists , holocaust deniers, and just plain crazy people are being elected because of the way they would vote not because of their qualifications to lead.
The storm is coming because of our failure to encourage and nurture the best of our society rather than the lowest denominator.
And what can we do? All of us reading this agree with you but how to we reach out to the unreachable? Much of father’s side of the family died in concentration camps which I am now hearing from the younger generation didn’t happen!
In 2020 I phone banked and texted and canvassed but honestly I don’t know if that is going to work this time. We all know who both candidates are and the one’s who are choosing Trump know his game and they like it. I saw them saying on the news that they want a dictatorship.
And then you also have the younger crowd who are angry at Biden and our country in general about the situation in the Middle East and I don’t know if they understand that if Trump wins, it won’t be the Jews he kicks out first - it’ll be the same people he attempted to ban last time.
So what do we do?
Absolutely chilling! And supporters cannot hear what Trump is spewing?
If we forget our past, what can we expect in the future?
“Has any dictator ever been content to be “dictator for one day?”
Of course not. He said he would be dictator starting on day one, and once you suspend civil liberties and habeous corpus, democracy is doomed.