Good piece, Steve. I read Tim Alberta’s story this morning. And General MacArthur had wise words to offer. I remember the video on the USS Missouri. The piece of paper he read from trembled.
I feel sour, though, about the state of things.
Third election in a row and this demented buffoon never conceded the one he lost. And yet half the electorate will gladly hand him the nuclear launch codes, thereby endangering all of us. Unforgivable.
I do not feel sour John, I feel rebelious, just like I did in the 60's. We will come out if this stronger and the next generation will build on our resolve.
I’m probably just tired of this demented buffoon. As someone who grew up across the Hudson in New Jersey, he was part of what I remember 45 years ago, more than most people. It’s been too long.
Steve, I have subscribed as a free reader for awhile and found your analysis and ideas interesting and thoughtful. I just read this piece and immediately upgraded my subscription to paid. This is one of the most insightful pieces of historical analysis I have ever read. Terrifying too.
I live in AZ and have already cast my ballot for Harris/Walz, Gallego, and Democratic/liberal candidates down the ballot. I have voted by mail in AZ since the 90’s.
Like you, after reading this piece I also upgraded my subscription to paid!
Happy to see that you are "Blue" in AZ. I grew up there. It is concerning to see that my home state may be one with the most violence happening around the election. I live in WA now, and even here I am frightened about the potential for violence. I wish you well!
I am part of the generation born just after WWII. My father fought in that war against fascism. That is why the thought of Trump returning to power scares and nauseates me. He and so many of his accolades neither know history, understand its implications or care. For the future of our country and the world this insipid man and his MAGA cult can NEVER return to power!
Steve, this piece takes my breath away. So powerful, utterly terrifying, and spot on. Thank you for consistently sounding the alarm. I pray enough of us are listening to keep this catastrophe from occurring.
Yes Steve, character is on the ballot. Our political choices will reverberate around the globe. We will reveal who we actually are as a nation and whether or not we are still fit to lead.
“Character is like a tree, and reputation is like a shadow,” Lincoln
‘Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.’ – Ronald Reagan
“The government you elect is the government you deserve.”
“We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.”
“Every government degenerates when trusted to rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safety depositories.”
We have been given a clear picture of what each candidate represents. This may be the last time in our lifetime that the people’s will decide our fate as a nation.
The fact that this race is so close is an indictment of the electorate rather than the candidates.
I agree. We have had over 200 years to fix it and no one has. In the last 2 decades alone it is rare for the person who wins the popular vote loses as a result. We are ruled by the minority in this country. The filibuster rule is antiquated and should go. Washington DC and Puerto Rico should be states. Most importantly an enforceable set of standards for the Supreme Court as well as term limits and an age ceiling for Congress/Senate/President should have been enacted. Yet no group has had the guts to do this. So we find ourselves on an abyss caused by our government not doing the right thing.
Given this election results , republicans will own Congress , the Senate, the presidency and the Supreme Court. All the checks and balances are gone. Democracy is about to become little more than a high school sweetheart, something to think about but no longer real.
Time for the JCS who hate his guts to step up if the unthinkable occurs and eliminate his presidency by jailing him and his third reich underlings and use Guantanamo and darks sites globally. ENOUGH.
If Americans still vote for Trump after he did the unthinkable at his final speech according to this video, https://youtu.be/1AebaA1AF9w?si=QozAnw481roJKV5X. Millions of people saw it last night. We better be ready for the coming decades of instability like in Russia.
Lisa I’m not going to watch I saw the.gif of him and he has no class if he did ever have any. He has proved many so many times he has nothing to offer civilization. Desperate and dumb isn’t for us we need better far better. Kamala.
I watched the video; I had heard about Trump simulating fellatio at his rally, apparently because he was upset by problems with the sound system. To watch, to witness, the idiots in attendance cheering the buffoon made me think about the time he said he could shoot someone on 5th avenue and get away with it.
His cultists, I am convinced, would say, "Please, SIR, may I have more?," if he defecated in a waffle cone and told them it was chocolate ice cream.
And the man wants to be President again. And, there is a chance, although it is dwindling rapidly, that it could happen.
MacArthur: "If we do not now devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. We have had our last chance. The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our matchless advances in science, art, literature and all material and cultural developments of the past two thousand years. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh." Reading this and then watching the GOP nominee for POTUS wannabe tyrant say and act like a deviant demented schoolyard bully: Sickened. Sad :-(
Thank you for this link. Just watched the whole 13 min. Outrageous. Thank God he's making who he is IMPOSSIBLE to not see, even if you're a Republican (for many anyway, hopefully enough).
Winston Churchill: "Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.”
Steve, as I read your column today, I was called to resurrect Winston Churchill. Your piece has the tone and spirit of Churchill's "Finest Hour."
We are at a terribly dangerous crossroad. Trump is consumed with hate and anger. He wants to lash out and punish the world. What his followers do not understand about Trump's vicious psychosis is that they will not be spared his wrath. The draconian nature of those who might serve Trump in a new administration have no measure. Theirs will be a cruel battle against all of humankind. It is not unrealistic or unreasonable to imagine Trump setting off WWIII (of which he accuses Kamala Harrison of doing). Under a Trump regime society will take a giant leap backward. It will be pernicious, vicious, violent and bloody. It will be the absolute worst moment in all of human history. Let us hope and pray that is not our destiny.
Yes Trump is consumed with hatred and anger. He is also consumed with fear… Fear of consequences for the last four years he attempted to steal the election, stole and mishandled top secret documents in the best possible scenario, sold them for profit in the worst. This guy should be in solitary confinement for quite a while just for his arrogance alone. The forces behind Trump have a secret too. And it doesn’t involve Donnie DooDoo.
It is those forces behind Trump that disturb me more than Trump disturbs me. Heritage Foundation, Federalist Society and Alliance Defending Freedom are just three fascistic groups pushing the authoritarian envelope.
Sadly, they know this and he does not. His ego is so out of whack he does not see the storm (or the enemy) surrounding him. JD Vance likely is his worst enemy. They are a dystopian, pernicious force the likes of which the world has seen only in horror movies. Trump is a means to their end.
You are absolutely right…he knows that if he loses he will be facing the consequences of arrogance and I for one cannot wait to see him in court every damn day for the next few years, as his mental capacity continues to rapidly decline, and thrown in isolation until he is no more. The chaos and pain that he inflicted on our country during Covid and then the jeopardy he placed all of us in by catering and bending for Putin, Hsih and Kim Jong-Un unbelievable. He is not a patriot and neither are those that hope he will be back in the Oval Office!
My father and his generation fought in WW2. It pains me to think their son's and daughter's, my generation are Trump's biggest supporters. I turned away from the Trump administration shortly after his inauguration. I don't know the specifics but it was enough for me to change my mind. I grew up voting mostly Republican and was proud to think of myself as a Republican. I changed to the Independent party after we invaded Iraq. I became a reluctant Democrat just before the 2012 election. I was influenced by James Comey's Hillary investigation and that is my excuse for voting for Trump. I am now a well informed voter and I vote for true patriots who hold our Constitution sacred. It makes my heart sad to think of all who sacrificed so our democracy remained free and our elections fair. I hope it remains so after the election. In fact, I have hope we still have hope after the election.
Thank You Steve.... I voted on Thursday. I believe that if Trump gets in nothing will stop him from approving Putins use of nuclear weapons. He is so limited mentally that I think he can be easily manipulated . If Putin uses tactical nuclear weapons on say Ukraine Trump will be fine with that. This may sound far fetched but when Putin invaded Ukraine Trump said , " He is brilliant " Maybe this sounds like a Stanley Kubrick film. My sadness is overwealming. When I am not sad I am angry. I hope that Kamala wins.
“It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh”. However I feel our spirit is misguided. For who represents spirit in today’s example? Surely not the Christian Nationalists, nor the Evangelicals, and definitely not that woman who spoke in tongues at the Nazi-fascist rally at MSG last weekend. Or if spirit means our spirit of patriotism then where is our cohesion at this crucial time? I keep coming back to the thought that our vast division and the ability of one man to divide a nation equates to a failure of our educational system. We as a nation have been lackadaisical about it. AND lackadaisical about wealth inequality.
For as Louis Brandeis said approx 100 years ago, “We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.”
God help us. And God bless the US of A. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. 🇺🇸 🌊🗳️
Steve, this is another essay for the ages. I was born in the late 40s and when I was growing up neither war was discussed around the kitchen, as if they had never occurred. As an adult, I vowed that I would never replicate my parents’ astonishing silence over the horrors of WW2.
I sincerely appreciate the historical references that you include for those of us who have either forgotten about them or who were ignorant of the facts and highlighting the Americans, like General MacArthur who were instrumental in defeating the enemies. Although I’m well versed in Canadian history, I am grateful to you for having enhanced my knowledge of American history and American politics.
Good piece, Steve. I read Tim Alberta’s story this morning. And General MacArthur had wise words to offer. I remember the video on the USS Missouri. The piece of paper he read from trembled.
I feel sour, though, about the state of things.
Third election in a row and this demented buffoon never conceded the one he lost. And yet half the electorate will gladly hand him the nuclear launch codes, thereby endangering all of us. Unforgivable.
I do not feel sour John, I feel rebelious, just like I did in the 60's. We will come out if this stronger and the next generation will build on our resolve.
I’m probably just tired of this demented buffoon. As someone who grew up across the Hudson in New Jersey, he was part of what I remember 45 years ago, more than most people. It’s been too long.
Steve, I have subscribed as a free reader for awhile and found your analysis and ideas interesting and thoughtful. I just read this piece and immediately upgraded my subscription to paid. This is one of the most insightful pieces of historical analysis I have ever read. Terrifying too.
I live in AZ and have already cast my ballot for Harris/Walz, Gallego, and Democratic/liberal candidates down the ballot. I have voted by mail in AZ since the 90’s.
Liz
Voted All Blue as well in AZ!!!
This subscription is worth every penny!
Like you, after reading this piece I also upgraded my subscription to paid!
Happy to see that you are "Blue" in AZ. I grew up there. It is concerning to see that my home state may be one with the most violence happening around the election. I live in WA now, and even here I am frightened about the potential for violence. I wish you well!
Steve, this piece is beautiful, inspirational, scary and depressing all at the same time. Thanks for that…:)
I am part of the generation born just after WWII. My father fought in that war against fascism. That is why the thought of Trump returning to power scares and nauseates me. He and so many of his accolades neither know history, understand its implications or care. For the future of our country and the world this insipid man and his MAGA cult can NEVER return to power!
Me too. I hope this generation of Americans are up to the task of establishing guardrails and laws for the continued health of our great nation.
Steve, this piece takes my breath away. So powerful, utterly terrifying, and spot on. Thank you for consistently sounding the alarm. I pray enough of us are listening to keep this catastrophe from occurring.
Yes Steve, character is on the ballot. Our political choices will reverberate around the globe. We will reveal who we actually are as a nation and whether or not we are still fit to lead.
“Character is like a tree, and reputation is like a shadow,” Lincoln
‘Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.’ – Ronald Reagan
I was never a fan of Reagan, but this quote says all there is to say about freedom. Thank you for sharing this.
Jefferson had three quotes I believe in:
“The government you elect is the government you deserve.”
“We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.”
“Every government degenerates when trusted to rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safety depositories.”
We have been given a clear picture of what each candidate represents. This may be the last time in our lifetime that the people’s will decide our fate as a nation.
The fact that this race is so close is an indictment of the electorate rather than the candidates.
I think it is also an indictment of our flawed electoral system. We need a democracy where every citizen's vote is equal.
I agree. We have had over 200 years to fix it and no one has. In the last 2 decades alone it is rare for the person who wins the popular vote loses as a result. We are ruled by the minority in this country. The filibuster rule is antiquated and should go. Washington DC and Puerto Rico should be states. Most importantly an enforceable set of standards for the Supreme Court as well as term limits and an age ceiling for Congress/Senate/President should have been enacted. Yet no group has had the guts to do this. So we find ourselves on an abyss caused by our government not doing the right thing.
Given this election results , republicans will own Congress , the Senate, the presidency and the Supreme Court. All the checks and balances are gone. Democracy is about to become little more than a high school sweetheart, something to think about but no longer real.
Your writing is so powerful, so dire, and completely spot on.
Time for the JCS who hate his guts to step up if the unthinkable occurs and eliminate his presidency by jailing him and his third reich underlings and use Guantanamo and darks sites globally. ENOUGH.
If Americans still vote for Trump after he did the unthinkable at his final speech according to this video, https://youtu.be/1AebaA1AF9w?si=QozAnw481roJKV5X. Millions of people saw it last night. We better be ready for the coming decades of instability like in Russia.
It is nearly incomprehensible to watch that video. People laughing and cheering = Idiocracy.
I f you told me yesterday that Trump would soon be graphically simulating fellatio at a rally, I would have said no, that isn't going to happen.
Tomorrow, I expect him to moon the cheering morons while they cackle like Tucker Carlson, good Catholic boy that he is.
Yes, and Pastor Paula with bared shoulder speaking in tongues, laying hands on him!
Pastor Paula, if anyone takes her seriously they are as batshit crazy as she is!
Are we living in an alternate universe? This stuff is just beyond comprehension . And there are voters who hang on his every sick word.
That video says it all in graphic terms!
Lisa I’m not going to watch I saw the.gif of him and he has no class if he did ever have any. He has proved many so many times he has nothing to offer civilization. Desperate and dumb isn’t for us we need better far better. Kamala.
I watched the video; I had heard about Trump simulating fellatio at his rally, apparently because he was upset by problems with the sound system. To watch, to witness, the idiots in attendance cheering the buffoon made me think about the time he said he could shoot someone on 5th avenue and get away with it.
His cultists, I am convinced, would say, "Please, SIR, may I have more?," if he defecated in a waffle cone and told them it was chocolate ice cream.
And the man wants to be President again. And, there is a chance, although it is dwindling rapidly, that it could happen.
MacArthur: "If we do not now devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. We have had our last chance. The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our matchless advances in science, art, literature and all material and cultural developments of the past two thousand years. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh." Reading this and then watching the GOP nominee for POTUS wannabe tyrant say and act like a deviant demented schoolyard bully: Sickened. Sad :-(
Thank you for this link. Just watched the whole 13 min. Outrageous. Thank God he's making who he is IMPOSSIBLE to not see, even if you're a Republican (for many anyway, hopefully enough).
Winston Churchill: "Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.”
Steve, as I read your column today, I was called to resurrect Winston Churchill. Your piece has the tone and spirit of Churchill's "Finest Hour."
We are at a terribly dangerous crossroad. Trump is consumed with hate and anger. He wants to lash out and punish the world. What his followers do not understand about Trump's vicious psychosis is that they will not be spared his wrath. The draconian nature of those who might serve Trump in a new administration have no measure. Theirs will be a cruel battle against all of humankind. It is not unrealistic or unreasonable to imagine Trump setting off WWIII (of which he accuses Kamala Harrison of doing). Under a Trump regime society will take a giant leap backward. It will be pernicious, vicious, violent and bloody. It will be the absolute worst moment in all of human history. Let us hope and pray that is not our destiny.
Yes Trump is consumed with hatred and anger. He is also consumed with fear… Fear of consequences for the last four years he attempted to steal the election, stole and mishandled top secret documents in the best possible scenario, sold them for profit in the worst. This guy should be in solitary confinement for quite a while just for his arrogance alone. The forces behind Trump have a secret too. And it doesn’t involve Donnie DooDoo.
It is those forces behind Trump that disturb me more than Trump disturbs me. Heritage Foundation, Federalist Society and Alliance Defending Freedom are just three fascistic groups pushing the authoritarian envelope.
Trump is just the foot in the door…
Sadly, they know this and he does not. His ego is so out of whack he does not see the storm (or the enemy) surrounding him. JD Vance likely is his worst enemy. They are a dystopian, pernicious force the likes of which the world has seen only in horror movies. Trump is a means to their end.
You are absolutely right…he knows that if he loses he will be facing the consequences of arrogance and I for one cannot wait to see him in court every damn day for the next few years, as his mental capacity continues to rapidly decline, and thrown in isolation until he is no more. The chaos and pain that he inflicted on our country during Covid and then the jeopardy he placed all of us in by catering and bending for Putin, Hsih and Kim Jong-Un unbelievable. He is not a patriot and neither are those that hope he will be back in the Oval Office!
My father and his generation fought in WW2. It pains me to think their son's and daughter's, my generation are Trump's biggest supporters. I turned away from the Trump administration shortly after his inauguration. I don't know the specifics but it was enough for me to change my mind. I grew up voting mostly Republican and was proud to think of myself as a Republican. I changed to the Independent party after we invaded Iraq. I became a reluctant Democrat just before the 2012 election. I was influenced by James Comey's Hillary investigation and that is my excuse for voting for Trump. I am now a well informed voter and I vote for true patriots who hold our Constitution sacred. It makes my heart sad to think of all who sacrificed so our democracy remained free and our elections fair. I hope it remains so after the election. In fact, I have hope we still have hope after the election.
Thank You Steve.... I voted on Thursday. I believe that if Trump gets in nothing will stop him from approving Putins use of nuclear weapons. He is so limited mentally that I think he can be easily manipulated . If Putin uses tactical nuclear weapons on say Ukraine Trump will be fine with that. This may sound far fetched but when Putin invaded Ukraine Trump said , " He is brilliant " Maybe this sounds like a Stanley Kubrick film. My sadness is overwealming. When I am not sad I am angry. I hope that Kamala wins.
“It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh”. However I feel our spirit is misguided. For who represents spirit in today’s example? Surely not the Christian Nationalists, nor the Evangelicals, and definitely not that woman who spoke in tongues at the Nazi-fascist rally at MSG last weekend. Or if spirit means our spirit of patriotism then where is our cohesion at this crucial time? I keep coming back to the thought that our vast division and the ability of one man to divide a nation equates to a failure of our educational system. We as a nation have been lackadaisical about it. AND lackadaisical about wealth inequality.
For as Louis Brandeis said approx 100 years ago, “We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.”
God help us. And God bless the US of A. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. 🇺🇸 🌊🗳️
Steve, this is another essay for the ages. I was born in the late 40s and when I was growing up neither war was discussed around the kitchen, as if they had never occurred. As an adult, I vowed that I would never replicate my parents’ astonishing silence over the horrors of WW2.
I sincerely appreciate the historical references that you include for those of us who have either forgotten about them or who were ignorant of the facts and highlighting the Americans, like General MacArthur who were instrumental in defeating the enemies. Although I’m well versed in Canadian history, I am grateful to you for having enhanced my knowledge of American history and American politics.