I voted yesterday. Similar sentiments as you have so eloquently stated. I add, I vote for my brother and all those like him who have lost their minds to the evil that is the MAGA rot. May the scales fall from their eyes. May they see the lunacy and manipulation for what it is. May they come back to us.
Ditto that, 100%. Not in a million years would I have ever thought my brother and I could be so diametrically opposed. Especially over someone as glaringly vile and self-absorbed. I hope some day he'll snap out of it.
I have a feeling my brother may have been swayed into Trumpism. He passed in 2010 so I never had to feel the pain of political division, just the grief of losing him to a heart attack.
Sorry for your loss. At least you didn’t have to watch him descend into the cult. Since you don’t know for sure, let us be charitable and assume he would NOT have joined the MATAs.
What I find worse than men who have lost their way is women who have lost their way, who think it's okay to be cast as second class citizens, willing to vote for someone who will take their rights away and open them up to abuse and neglect.
My ballot has been sent and received. I abhor the orange traitor and anyone who would vote for him and his cronies.
Ditto! I have not spoken to my brother for a long time-politics and religion have wedged us to be a part. After all this is over, I wonder if we can ever come together, or has the damage been so bad, that we can never look at each other again as brother and sister. For those who are familiar with the Bible more than I am; didn't Jesus state that families would be against families: mothers against children, brothers against sisters, etc.! I never dreamed it would be like this: Jesus (Truth) vs lies; Love vs hate; democracy vs (of all people) Trump! I am not a "christian nationalist", and it makes me damn mad that Jesus and christianity are being used "in the name of Donald J. Trump"! May God forgive us!
I will be standing up for the women in my life on election day. I am not able to drive myself because of my health but my wife is in excellent condition. However, once inside the booth I will no longer be physically disabled. I will be able to stand tall (in spirit) and I will cast my vote for all the women I have known and for all I have not met. I will cast my vote for democracy and stand up to those who rely on lies and cheat in order to try and steal an election. I will proudly cast my vote for Kamala Harris and all Democrats up and down the ballot.
I love reading the stories from all of "The Warning" friends! As a 70 year old woman, who fought for women's rights, both health/reproductive rights, and in the work force; it just breaks my heart to see women having to face unsafe/unfair choices again! I voted Monday, the first day that my state allowed early voting! That vote was for our first woman POTUS! For our first teacher as VP! For all women and girls who live in fear! For our democracy! For our Constitution! For our voting rights! For freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom to protest! I proudly signed 125 "get out the vote" cards to women across the nation! "Your vote=your voice!" This Monday, I will begin my assignment as an election judge, in my "red" district, that I was "called" to do since 2016! I believe that this election will be and the "win or lose" election-so very important! God bless you all, and God bless America!
Please send the following to the undecided, non-voting, and MAGA men in your lives:
"I will cast a vote with deep gratitude for my ancestors, who spent a final night together in the only country they had ever known before leaving with everything and nothing for an idea in a place they had never seen or visited. I will vote with awe for their courage, grit and stamina. I will keep faith with what they believed in and passed down to me.
I will vote to protect the women I love from the stripping of their rights, dignity, agency, and liberty by a cabal of hypocrites, religious fanatics, and abusive men, led by an adjudicated rapist who is worshipped as an instrument of God by his followers.
I will vote for my daughters and their daughters not yet born. I’ll vote for a restoration of their full rights against a dogma of malice, control and madness that is steeped in the delusions of fundamentalist grifters who claim divinity, while practicing the pursuit of wealth and power.
The polls say that Trump has an enormous advantage with men. What a sign of weakness. Trump is a pathetic figure even more than he is an abhorrent one. When the manhood of a nation idolizes softness, it is always a sign of rot, corruption and impending disaster. Trump is a philosopher of loserdom. He is a grievance busker who has created a community of pinched men — many young — who have heard the siren song of easy excuses and constant rationales for failure that Trump sells like snake oil. Everyone is a victim under the MAGA small tent, and so long as Trump gets to take as much as he wants, he’ll allow a small group of religious nut jobs and fraudsters to prey on America’s women to sate America’s newly empowered fanatics.
It is up to America’s sons, brothers, husbands, fathers and grandfathers to put a stop to an assault on our moms, sisters, wives, daughters and granddaughters by an out-of-control political party that long ago embraced a dogma of big government that includes placing women into a position of submission because that’s how God wants it."
Thank you Steve Schmidt! Powerful and so beautifully written -moving and inspiring.
The most disgusting part of all is that it’s so blatantly obvious that Trump has Dementia, there is no doubt about that the signs are so obvious! It’s criminal to have this person running for the highest office in the land! There is no telling what he might do! He can’t stay on subject he’s meaner every day he was in Detroit and started bad mouthing the city as he didn’t even know where he was!! This is frightening! God knows what he might do! This is the same man who took thousands of secret documents to his Florida home and has been convicted of many felonies! The Republican Party doesn’t care!
As far as I see it, Trump is the puppet for the 2025 long-game. His puppeteers are powerful foreign dictators and oligarchs, media giants like Musk (richest man on the planet), leaders of the Christian Nationalist movement, corrupt leaders in congress, and so on. Trump, the puppet, has his wires crossed and is dancing to any drummer that stokes his narcissistic appetite. He's tangled in an insane web that lives in his head :-(
Yes to Thom he is presidential more so than JD and tRomp. I consider a vote for stank former potus as a vote for jd since that’s the plan get dumb ass in office then get him out, proceed to stack the deck with extremists. I believe that’s what happens and they’re practicing killing him a lot lately.
I’m sure Steve is aware that he’s preaching to the choir and that there are few or no Magas following him. IMHO, appearing on Fox or Newsmax is perhaps too little too late. I’m not sure how many minds he would actually change at this point. Perhaps the time to experiment with both networks should have been done much earlier in the campaign and once Biden decided to cede his place to Kamala Harris.
It is not too late until a person casts his/her ballot! I think that only 17 states have early voting. There is still time to hope! However, I do wish that Biden would have realized his time was up, earlier than he did. I love and respect him, he is still doing good for our country, but he was way too stubborn!
Thank you for your comment. There are 17 days left before E day, and IMHO, money and time would be better spent on an ad blitz similar to what the Lincoln Project is doing. Even Rick Wilson of the LP has hung up his boots and is focusing on ads. I believe that you need not be a paid member to peruse his substack. His Friday Brief was superb, not only because of his astute comments but also for the terrific ads that he appended.
And yes, I wholeheartedly agree with you on Biden.
Agreed -Ads reach everyone in every state. Just because you live in a "blue state" doesn't mean that there are no "trumpers", and/or people on the fence. In my "red district" in a "blue state", Democrats are trying to prevent Boebart from winning our district! She knew she was losing in her "home district" so she moved to ours! What a piece of s**t!
I LOVE "The Lincoln Project"! I donate to "the project", and have bought several T-shirts from them! Love their ads! So powerful and so true! Thanks to "The Lincoln Project", many of the "normal' GOP, have switched to helping out the Democrats!
Trump is a blowhard buffoon…”I wont pay the bill”, because the PA wasn’t working…what a joke…Trump never pays his bills…ask how many cities are trying to collect on bills he hasn’t paid from the 2020 campaign. He didn’t even try to mitigate the problem…instead, as always if he is inconvenienced, he reverts to the petulant child that he is…sulking and throwing a tantrum.
Our City of Tucson made him pay his 2016 bill never paid for renting our convention center for his hate rally with interest before he held a similar hate rally about one month ago!!! Money up front for the asshole grifter!!!
Just like the ones, same place in 1919 and the big one in 1939. The Nazi sympathizers filled it up with a giant picture of George Washington behind the rally leader
I really don’t think people understand what Trump truly stands for and the irreversible consequences his election would cause. They think it’s just rhetoric but look at the people he surrounds himself with. Evil is on our doorstep…evangelists have sold their souls to the devil for a handful of magic beans (abortion), Hispanics for second class citizenship or deportation, young black males for arrests and tougher sentences, Jill Stein voters for nothing because that’s what they will get, spineless republicans who know the evil coming for them think it will save them from the flood of tyranny to follow and for the cult…a lifetime of servitude to the oligarchs that will control our economy….
he's already caused irreparable damage to the country, our institutions, faith in those institutions, and on a more personal level, hurt and damage in countless families across this country. All this will take decades to repair, even if it is repairable.
I cast my early ballot in MA yesterday. I felt much the same as you say today. I confess I feel relieved that for me I've done my best. However, as a former N.H. resident I am sorry my vote won't be as meaningful in MA as it would have been in N.H. Fortunately, NH residents appear to be in strong support of Harris anyway. Reason, intelligence, concern, and likely the number of residents who moved to N.H. from MA during the pandemic have made a difference.
Thanks Steve! Many humans have a tough time acknowledging reality, while it's happening. The mark doesn't see the con game until after their money is gone.
400 years ago Galileo built a telescope and published his findings. The Inquisitors threw him in prison for opposing their opinion of reality.
A Bible expert calculated that the Earth was created 6,000 years ago and the Bible and the expert can't be wrong. While direct observation indicates 4 Billion years. The Speaker of the House chooses not to acknowledge this reality. The third person in line to the White House is irrational.
The GOP candidate for President spouts obvious lies and his true believers send him millions. The reality is that the entire Trump for President campaign is a fraud. Snake oil. Deception for money. All MAGAs and many Dems think Donald is a real candidate. However Kamala is beginning to reveal the truth. Even the skeptical journalists and editors are promoting his scam. They go along because he makes them money. They don't ever ask WHY questions in a Trump story. Corruption.
Take a step back and look at Donald's career. He took a Masterclass from the master conman Roy Cohn. Roy was a gay-bashing gay man. A blatant liar for money and power.
Donald is only competent, a master, of one thing. Lying for money. He's lied to banks and insurance companies and tax authorities for money. He's lied to judges and contractors and employees for money. He tells a lie and millions of MAGAs send him money. His "Stop the Steal" lie earned him $250 million! A record in the fraud industry! He's suborned corruption of 147 members of Congress. He's conned 260 million American adults, including the skeptical Press, into thinking he's a legit candidate for a public office of trust and service! So give Donald applause for his ability to talk people into thinking he's legit.
When Donald utters his next snake oil lies, if you think he's serious and actually believes what he's saying, and you start to combat the lie with good faith arguments, walk to the bathroom, look in the mirror and yell "Sucker!"
Went up the street when early voting started Thursday morning and voted. Couldn’t wait to get mine on the books in this often nauseating and often inspiring political season. Let’s see if I can go find work to help them what wait til November 5th.
Thank you for going through some of the issues that you hold close to your heart. I hope it reinforces independents who might be still sitting on the fence.
Assuming we survive this moment, we must take a long hard look at the factors that brought us to the point where a Donald J. Trump could be any more than an amusing, if ridiculous, fringe figure on the most bizarre edges of our politics. How did he/we get here? Who are his supporters? Why do many of our wealthiest individuals and corporations shower him with donations? How and why has our justice system failed us in this time? How and why has the Fourth Estate similarly failed us? (Recent works by David Corn and Stuart Stevens provide excellent insights).
I cast my vote for Kamala Harris last week, but since I live in Florida I have no idea whether it will be counted.
Tom, those are really excellent questions. It will take teams of historians, psychologists, anthropologists, political scientists, and sociologists to answer those questions. If answers are possible. It is bewidering, stunning, dismaying, upsetting, unsettling etc. that we find ourselves in this precarious point in history.
Well, let's start with greed and power. Then it is lack of ethics/morals. It is lobbyists, using these weaknesses, promising money and power. It is cooperations, and billionaires giving money, and promising money and power. Publicity/stardom; interviews by the press, TV and radio appearances, social media, all puffing up the politicians' egos. Judges, from the Supreme Court on down, are being bribed and appointed for political purposes, not for "balanced justice". No term limits and/or age limits to vote the a-holes out! And finally, the ignorance of the American voters! Put them, and other corruptive ways together, and you end up with a person like Trump running and becoming POTUS! I can't see this being fixed for generations! Can you?
My spouse and I voted today. It felt good and righteous but I am having waning faith in a lot of my fellow voters. It is insane that so many people will vote for Trump and thus against the constitution and the reality that is in front of them
Your words, as always, are magnificent. I can only imagine how those ancestors you speak of would be beaming with utter pride at YOU. Thank you for sharing your gifts with the rest of us. I forwarded part of your piece today to many people, in hopes they will be as inspired as I am.
I voted yesterday. Similar sentiments as you have so eloquently stated. I add, I vote for my brother and all those like him who have lost their minds to the evil that is the MAGA rot. May the scales fall from their eyes. May they see the lunacy and manipulation for what it is. May they come back to us.
Ditto that, 100%. Not in a million years would I have ever thought my brother and I could be so diametrically opposed. Especially over someone as glaringly vile and self-absorbed. I hope some day he'll snap out of it.
I have a feeling my brother may have been swayed into Trumpism. He passed in 2010 so I never had to feel the pain of political division, just the grief of losing him to a heart attack.
Sorry for your loss. At least you didn’t have to watch him descend into the cult. Since you don’t know for sure, let us be charitable and assume he would NOT have joined the MATAs.
What I find worse than men who have lost their way is women who have lost their way, who think it's okay to be cast as second class citizens, willing to vote for someone who will take their rights away and open them up to abuse and neglect.
My ballot has been sent and received. I abhor the orange traitor and anyone who would vote for him and his cronies.
It still hurts. And he has lost his family
Ditto! I have not spoken to my brother for a long time-politics and religion have wedged us to be a part. After all this is over, I wonder if we can ever come together, or has the damage been so bad, that we can never look at each other again as brother and sister. For those who are familiar with the Bible more than I am; didn't Jesus state that families would be against families: mothers against children, brothers against sisters, etc.! I never dreamed it would be like this: Jesus (Truth) vs lies; Love vs hate; democracy vs (of all people) Trump! I am not a "christian nationalist", and it makes me damn mad that Jesus and christianity are being used "in the name of Donald J. Trump"! May God forgive us!
Agree.
I will be standing up for the women in my life on election day. I am not able to drive myself because of my health but my wife is in excellent condition. However, once inside the booth I will no longer be physically disabled. I will be able to stand tall (in spirit) and I will cast my vote for all the women I have known and for all I have not met. I will cast my vote for democracy and stand up to those who rely on lies and cheat in order to try and steal an election. I will proudly cast my vote for Kamala Harris and all Democrats up and down the ballot.
Thank you, Patrick! To All Women: Your Body, Your Choice; Your Vote, Your Voice! (Men, too!)
I love reading the stories from all of "The Warning" friends! As a 70 year old woman, who fought for women's rights, both health/reproductive rights, and in the work force; it just breaks my heart to see women having to face unsafe/unfair choices again! I voted Monday, the first day that my state allowed early voting! That vote was for our first woman POTUS! For our first teacher as VP! For all women and girls who live in fear! For our democracy! For our Constitution! For our voting rights! For freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom to protest! I proudly signed 125 "get out the vote" cards to women across the nation! "Your vote=your voice!" This Monday, I will begin my assignment as an election judge, in my "red" district, that I was "called" to do since 2016! I believe that this election will be and the "win or lose" election-so very important! God bless you all, and God bless America!
Donna, what you've written is so inspiring and so true! It takes what you're doing to keep our Democracy. Thank You!
And, thanks to Michelle Obama, for calling us to "do something about it"!
Yes, Wonderful! We have many good-hearted and hard-working folks working together to make a difference and save our Democracy and to protect us!
Thanks, Lisa, for your kind words! We all do what we can!
I’ll fill out my ballot today, too, joining millions of Americans in electing Harris in a landslide, supported by Democratic Congress.
Inshallah
Please send the following to the undecided, non-voting, and MAGA men in your lives:
"I will cast a vote with deep gratitude for my ancestors, who spent a final night together in the only country they had ever known before leaving with everything and nothing for an idea in a place they had never seen or visited. I will vote with awe for their courage, grit and stamina. I will keep faith with what they believed in and passed down to me.
I will vote to protect the women I love from the stripping of their rights, dignity, agency, and liberty by a cabal of hypocrites, religious fanatics, and abusive men, led by an adjudicated rapist who is worshipped as an instrument of God by his followers.
I will vote for my daughters and their daughters not yet born. I’ll vote for a restoration of their full rights against a dogma of malice, control and madness that is steeped in the delusions of fundamentalist grifters who claim divinity, while practicing the pursuit of wealth and power.
The polls say that Trump has an enormous advantage with men. What a sign of weakness. Trump is a pathetic figure even more than he is an abhorrent one. When the manhood of a nation idolizes softness, it is always a sign of rot, corruption and impending disaster. Trump is a philosopher of loserdom. He is a grievance busker who has created a community of pinched men — many young — who have heard the siren song of easy excuses and constant rationales for failure that Trump sells like snake oil. Everyone is a victim under the MAGA small tent, and so long as Trump gets to take as much as he wants, he’ll allow a small group of religious nut jobs and fraudsters to prey on America’s women to sate America’s newly empowered fanatics.
It is up to America’s sons, brothers, husbands, fathers and grandfathers to put a stop to an assault on our moms, sisters, wives, daughters and granddaughters by an out-of-control political party that long ago embraced a dogma of big government that includes placing women into a position of submission because that’s how God wants it."
Thank you Steve Schmidt! Powerful and so beautifully written -moving and inspiring.
The most disgusting part of all is that it’s so blatantly obvious that Trump has Dementia, there is no doubt about that the signs are so obvious! It’s criminal to have this person running for the highest office in the land! There is no telling what he might do! He can’t stay on subject he’s meaner every day he was in Detroit and started bad mouthing the city as he didn’t even know where he was!! This is frightening! God knows what he might do! This is the same man who took thousands of secret documents to his Florida home and has been convicted of many felonies! The Republican Party doesn’t care!
As far as I see it, Trump is the puppet for the 2025 long-game. His puppeteers are powerful foreign dictators and oligarchs, media giants like Musk (richest man on the planet), leaders of the Christian Nationalist movement, corrupt leaders in congress, and so on. Trump, the puppet, has his wires crossed and is dancing to any drummer that stokes his narcissistic appetite. He's tangled in an insane web that lives in his head :-(
I just started reading Thom Hartmann substack and thought of your comment here. "Crazy Alert": https://hartmannreport.com/p/saturday-report-101824-crazy-alert
Yes to Thom he is presidential more so than JD and tRomp. I consider a vote for stank former potus as a vote for jd since that’s the plan get dumb ass in office then get him out, proceed to stack the deck with extremists. I believe that’s what happens and they’re practicing killing him a lot lately.
Right ON Sister!!!!
You’re preaching to the choir! No MAGAs are following you! You should be going on Fox and Newsmax!
Harris went on Fox and owned the interview with Baier. Still waiting for trump to appear with Maddow on MSNBC…..
Hear, hear!
I’m sure Steve is aware that he’s preaching to the choir and that there are few or no Magas following him. IMHO, appearing on Fox or Newsmax is perhaps too little too late. I’m not sure how many minds he would actually change at this point. Perhaps the time to experiment with both networks should have been done much earlier in the campaign and once Biden decided to cede his place to Kamala Harris.
Agree! I’ve messaged before that he needs to branch out but to no avail 🙁
It is not too late until a person casts his/her ballot! I think that only 17 states have early voting. There is still time to hope! However, I do wish that Biden would have realized his time was up, earlier than he did. I love and respect him, he is still doing good for our country, but he was way too stubborn!
Thank you for your comment. There are 17 days left before E day, and IMHO, money and time would be better spent on an ad blitz similar to what the Lincoln Project is doing. Even Rick Wilson of the LP has hung up his boots and is focusing on ads. I believe that you need not be a paid member to peruse his substack. His Friday Brief was superb, not only because of his astute comments but also for the terrific ads that he appended.
And yes, I wholeheartedly agree with you on Biden.
Agreed -Ads reach everyone in every state. Just because you live in a "blue state" doesn't mean that there are no "trumpers", and/or people on the fence. In my "red district" in a "blue state", Democrats are trying to prevent Boebart from winning our district! She knew she was losing in her "home district" so she moved to ours! What a piece of s**t!
I hope she loses “bigly”.
Oh, me too! Highly unlikely though, I live in a very "red" district. I'll let you know what happens, after the election! Keep your fingers crossed!
I LOVE "The Lincoln Project"! I donate to "the project", and have bought several T-shirts from them! Love their ads! So powerful and so true! Thanks to "The Lincoln Project", many of the "normal' GOP, have switched to helping out the Democrats!
Trump is a blowhard buffoon…”I wont pay the bill”, because the PA wasn’t working…what a joke…Trump never pays his bills…ask how many cities are trying to collect on bills he hasn’t paid from the 2020 campaign. He didn’t even try to mitigate the problem…instead, as always if he is inconvenienced, he reverts to the petulant child that he is…sulking and throwing a tantrum.
Our City of Tucson made him pay his 2016 bill never paid for renting our convention center for his hate rally with interest before he held a similar hate rally about one month ago!!! Money up front for the asshole grifter!!!
Wonder whether Radio City Music Hall will be getting their money up front? NYC knows how Trump operates! He owes the State of New York a fortune!
I thought his NAZI hate fest was set for Madison Square Garden in NYC???
Just like the ones, same place in 1919 and the big one in 1939. The Nazi sympathizers filled it up with a giant picture of George Washington behind the rally leader
But he can pay for Stormy Daniel’s silence once and try a second time just before this election.🤔
I really don’t think people understand what Trump truly stands for and the irreversible consequences his election would cause. They think it’s just rhetoric but look at the people he surrounds himself with. Evil is on our doorstep…evangelists have sold their souls to the devil for a handful of magic beans (abortion), Hispanics for second class citizenship or deportation, young black males for arrests and tougher sentences, Jill Stein voters for nothing because that’s what they will get, spineless republicans who know the evil coming for them think it will save them from the flood of tyranny to follow and for the cult…a lifetime of servitude to the oligarchs that will control our economy….
he's already caused irreparable damage to the country, our institutions, faith in those institutions, and on a more personal level, hurt and damage in countless families across this country. All this will take decades to repair, even if it is repairable.
And yes I have voted, by mail, and the state has confirmed that my vote was accepted
“sold their soles” 😄
If elected I will make it illegal and punishable by massive fines to alter any words an author writes on their computer without express permission!
“… delusions of fundamentalist grifters who claim divinity, while practicing the pursuit of wealth and power.” Christians in name only.
I cast my early ballot in MA yesterday. I felt much the same as you say today. I confess I feel relieved that for me I've done my best. However, as a former N.H. resident I am sorry my vote won't be as meaningful in MA as it would have been in N.H. Fortunately, NH residents appear to be in strong support of Harris anyway. Reason, intelligence, concern, and likely the number of residents who moved to N.H. from MA during the pandemic have made a difference.
Trump feels he is getting 'schlonged', bigly, by Harris; What a pathetic Loser. Hit him hard, Harris!
Thanks Steve! Many humans have a tough time acknowledging reality, while it's happening. The mark doesn't see the con game until after their money is gone.
400 years ago Galileo built a telescope and published his findings. The Inquisitors threw him in prison for opposing their opinion of reality.
A Bible expert calculated that the Earth was created 6,000 years ago and the Bible and the expert can't be wrong. While direct observation indicates 4 Billion years. The Speaker of the House chooses not to acknowledge this reality. The third person in line to the White House is irrational.
The GOP candidate for President spouts obvious lies and his true believers send him millions. The reality is that the entire Trump for President campaign is a fraud. Snake oil. Deception for money. All MAGAs and many Dems think Donald is a real candidate. However Kamala is beginning to reveal the truth. Even the skeptical journalists and editors are promoting his scam. They go along because he makes them money. They don't ever ask WHY questions in a Trump story. Corruption.
Take a step back and look at Donald's career. He took a Masterclass from the master conman Roy Cohn. Roy was a gay-bashing gay man. A blatant liar for money and power.
Donald is only competent, a master, of one thing. Lying for money. He's lied to banks and insurance companies and tax authorities for money. He's lied to judges and contractors and employees for money. He tells a lie and millions of MAGAs send him money. His "Stop the Steal" lie earned him $250 million! A record in the fraud industry! He's suborned corruption of 147 members of Congress. He's conned 260 million American adults, including the skeptical Press, into thinking he's a legit candidate for a public office of trust and service! So give Donald applause for his ability to talk people into thinking he's legit.
When Donald utters his next snake oil lies, if you think he's serious and actually believes what he's saying, and you start to combat the lie with good faith arguments, walk to the bathroom, look in the mirror and yell "Sucker!"
Went up the street when early voting started Thursday morning and voted. Couldn’t wait to get mine on the books in this often nauseating and often inspiring political season. Let’s see if I can go find work to help them what wait til November 5th.
Thank you for going through some of the issues that you hold close to your heart. I hope it reinforces independents who might be still sitting on the fence.
Assuming we survive this moment, we must take a long hard look at the factors that brought us to the point where a Donald J. Trump could be any more than an amusing, if ridiculous, fringe figure on the most bizarre edges of our politics. How did he/we get here? Who are his supporters? Why do many of our wealthiest individuals and corporations shower him with donations? How and why has our justice system failed us in this time? How and why has the Fourth Estate similarly failed us? (Recent works by David Corn and Stuart Stevens provide excellent insights).
I cast my vote for Kamala Harris last week, but since I live in Florida I have no idea whether it will be counted.
Tom, those are really excellent questions. It will take teams of historians, psychologists, anthropologists, political scientists, and sociologists to answer those questions. If answers are possible. It is bewidering, stunning, dismaying, upsetting, unsettling etc. that we find ourselves in this precarious point in history.
Well, let's start with greed and power. Then it is lack of ethics/morals. It is lobbyists, using these weaknesses, promising money and power. It is cooperations, and billionaires giving money, and promising money and power. Publicity/stardom; interviews by the press, TV and radio appearances, social media, all puffing up the politicians' egos. Judges, from the Supreme Court on down, are being bribed and appointed for political purposes, not for "balanced justice". No term limits and/or age limits to vote the a-holes out! And finally, the ignorance of the American voters! Put them, and other corruptive ways together, and you end up with a person like Trump running and becoming POTUS! I can't see this being fixed for generations! Can you?
Yes, and we need to prioritize teaching civics, history, and critical thinking skills in school.
Amen!
My spouse and I voted today. It felt good and righteous but I am having waning faith in a lot of my fellow voters. It is insane that so many people will vote for Trump and thus against the constitution and the reality that is in front of them
Your words, as always, are magnificent. I can only imagine how those ancestors you speak of would be beaming with utter pride at YOU. Thank you for sharing your gifts with the rest of us. I forwarded part of your piece today to many people, in hopes they will be as inspired as I am.
Ditto that!!!