147 Comments

Yep. As I read this I was thinking how did these people ever get into our government. They represent everything we stand against as a country. My 2nd thought was we may never be able to weed everything out. The extent of the extremism has touched so many levels of government from federal to states, to local. It is a parasite that has attached itself to people and institutions, feeding off of the darker tendencies of its host.

Traveling home on Sunday, I was zipping along a major highway though farm country, when I saw a red sign along the road. This sign said “Stop Biden from killing America”. I almost slammed on my brakes, I was so shocked. I should not have been shocked, but something about that sign hit me. It was not necessarily because it was wrong, but for me it represented the blight that is consuming us. Stopping just short of calling out evil, but maybe it is.

Expand full comment

A product of permitting this scourge to permeate, largely unanswered while we huddled in our bunkers with fellow Sane Americans waiting for others to regain their senses while on fact they were plummeting deeper into depraved absurdity.

Expand full comment

Depraved is the right word.

Expand full comment

Biden is not killing America Susan. Americans are killing America. Be aware, Be positive and keep writers like Steve in your mind's eye. We can not bring our Country out of this mess quickly nor easily but it can be done as the children of the 60s and early 70s did then. Much has been accomplished since 1972 but the mistake that I/we made was in 2016 by looking the other way and allowing Trump to gain the controls of power and the press.

Expand full comment

We have a similar sign in my home area. It just says, "Stop Biden, vote republican". This is in a republican county/town in my Blue state, so the sign is unnecessary. When I drive by it, nearly daily, I think...stop him from what? Making this a better, stronger country that strives to serve the people and rebuild our image to our world partners? I've not always been a fan of Biden, but he is making me one. In fact, because I live in a reliably Blue state, I voted with my heart: a write-in for Bernie. Just my quiet, tiny 1-finger salute to my neighbors.

Expand full comment
Mar 13, 2023·edited Mar 13, 2023

It is a cult and unfortunately since THIS cult doesn't live in one compound, there is no "rescuing" . There is no cure. The people that have chosen to be brainwashed do not see themselves as such. They see the rest of us as sheep. I really do not know how we come back from this.

I sometimes wonder if MTG isn't on the right track and we split up and draw a new line. We could still be one country, just two parts with two governments, etc. I don't even see the benefit of the states that receive more federal money than they pay in. Maybe we don't even need them. Let them go off in their experiment of returning to the wild west.

Many folks would have to move both in and out of the "new old America". My brain hurts just thinking about it, but this division feels different than anything in the past. The mega wealthy would have to make a choice; live in the rubble with the people that are used to make you more wealthy or live with the people who would tax you fairly but you live in a place with services and is kept up.

Expand full comment
Feb 14, 2023Liked by Steve S

Why aren't any of these crooks in jail? I read the whole story yesterday on this in WaPo and it is amazing. Until we stop them, they will keep doing it.

Expand full comment

And who will stop THEM? The courts are packed with people they chose. TFG has been a criminal for his entire life, it was known by those of us who live in the area. I doubt he will ever be brought to task.

Christie got Jared's father locked up, which shocked me. Jared is just the next generation of the bad seed. Marrying Ivanka is just doubling down on the evil in their souls. They are all true sociopaths.

Expand full comment

Good to get this out. But I cannot help but believe in this time Ron DiSantos is the most dangerous politician in our country. His open malice, racism and authoritarian bent scares me the most.

Expand full comment

Actually, I believe it's a tie between Devil santos and Hillbilly elegy Vance, who probably will be president (God forbid) if, (God Forbid) tfg wins and dies in the next 4 years. That keeps me up at night.

Expand full comment

Oh! I wouldn t be surprised if dj resigns once he gets his hate monger vance in place.

Expand full comment

I want to know. Maybe instead of investigating Twitter and Hunter Biden, which is a colossal waste of time, Congress should investigate real possible crimes. I know, I know, that's not going to happen with an extremist GOP house.

Expand full comment

Of course they should! The whole charade, investigating Hunter Biden, who had zero to do with the WH, is laughable (except it's not funny). But Kushner, with his top secret clearance -- completely opposed by EVERYONE other than Daddy -- and HE is not investigated?! What a joke our House has become.

Expand full comment

Spot on. Kushner-Trump make the Borgias look like small town grifters. DOJ's failure to prosecute them is as damaging to democracy as Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Expand full comment

Every waking hour I think about the atrocities these people are (so far) getting away with. I grew up with an honorable father who fought in WWII. These men did not have to be coerced to fight for Democracy. Now, we have the Trump train w/all their crime. I trust our DOJ, I want him to hurry. These people are dispicable (this, is a kind word, in this scenario) there is no word to describe them. Steve, we need you to continue the job doing what you do. TRUTH MATTERS.🇺🇸 thank you so much.

Expand full comment

And don't forget those bone spurs!

Expand full comment
Feb 14, 2023·edited Feb 14, 2023

JB loved your excellent comparison of the Borgias in Florence Italian history

To the Kushner-Trump mob mafia like

Grifters…totally you called it Kudos!!!

DOJ MUST Prosecute or else what does the Department Expect Americans to think of them Existing ??

Be Outraged , Demand Justice 🌹

Expand full comment

Steve, in the 7th paragraph should that be 6.7 trillion instead of million?

Expand full comment
author

Yes! Thanks for pointing this out. Corrected.

Steve

Expand full comment

I have suspected the son in law sold US secrets to “his friend” the prince ever since it was published.. it’s overwhelming to know how much corruption happens and there is little or no accountability . 😡😡

Expand full comment

Steve please keep the spotlight on

Jared and Ivanka .. the money speaks

Volumes!

Expand full comment

YES!!!

And, Steve, you express my thoughts and questions Perfectly!

Thank you! Your writing is so “write on”!

I can’t do without it, it soothes my frustration and fires my action!

Expand full comment

And yet the now Republican-controlled House is investigating the Biden family for "influence peddling". I doubt that they are even aware of the incredible irony of their actions........

Expand full comment

Oh, they are aware. They just don’t care.

Expand full comment

I am tired of the Hunter Biden investigation already. The fanciful claims made by Republicans about hunter’s alleged profiting off of his connections to his father pale in comparison to Jared’s crimes. Clearly an effort to distract from the evil perpetrated by the trump spawn. Investigate Jared, Ivanka and the rest of them NOW!

Expand full comment

Yes, I do. I am hoping that todays honest, moral youth are paying attention, and are willing to serve this country in Congress. That our Congress works toward the greater good and punishes those who are "kushners and trumps" is what is needed for a course correction. There is no use trying to shame those who have no shame. I am afraid there will be a lot more damage done before that happens.

Expand full comment

I truly hate to say this, and I mean REALLY hate to say this, but I'm not seeing it in the Millennials I know. They are simply uninterested in politics, to my great disappointment. Hopefully this is a very skewed sample.

Expand full comment

If they look to Santos and Luna as examples, and I bet there are more that just haven't been vetted thoroughly, they will find little to emulate.

Expand full comment

Well folks when you realize the horrible

Behavior of Jared’s dad plotting against his brother and getting his uncle jailed …

JARED is Scum a Bottom feeder and so is

Ivanka…worst real estate deal Jared lost money on was 666 Fifth Ave til Chinese

Bailed him out..then Deutsche Bank gave tons to Trump because Russian laundered

Money was stored there ..Corruption of

The Mob resembles ALL of THIS MESS…

WHO is going to prosecute…EVEN if they

Lose… GET STARTED NOW….they didn’t

Get every mob boss but at least truth was told about them…… WHAT IS THE POINT TO BE Waiting??? AG GARLAND grow some balls and start NOW …. NYC go for

Trump Now …GA go for Trump Now

I’m disgusted that everyone is getting this

Extended time to hide, burn or sell info

To ANYONE….what lessons are you idiots

In charge teaching our children and my

Grandchildren about CONSEQUENCES???

Anarchy, Insurrection, Liars, Traitors at the top go free…makes me feel those already

In prison should hopefully see they’ve been duped… I want SUPPORT FROM ALL

HOMELAND SECURITY, CIA, FBI, SP OPS,

Capital Police were pummeled & killed…

These plotters overturning our sacred government ARE TRAITORS! START TO

CALL THE PEOPLE WHO PARTICIPATED

And PLANNED TRAITORS ..or even call

Them yet to be prosecuted traitors!!!

Where is the common sense?.. my sons

Were raised with rules and consequences

Without Boundaries and Consequences

Our Freedoms, Our Democracy will Not

Survive!!! I’m Not Accepting doing nothing

Want my grandkids to live free in our

Country…. Keep remembering how Hitler

Began destroying Germany’s democracy

Look it up if you’re too young to remember

Burning books. .. Hatred toward the other..

FEAR….reject it….our nation was founded on SEPARATION of CHURCH & STATE…

To me the far right Evangelical Extremism

Feels like Hitler’s SS Troops & KKK… here

Nazi’s feel like they are living in the USA

Name it NAME TELL THEM THEY ARE NOT

Going to Win we are going to STOP THE

Lunacy… I reject Authoritarianism!🌹🌹

I’m a patriotic American I will keep doing

Everything I’m Capable of doing. Marsha

Expand full comment

TRAITOR is a word that should become commonly used, especially when covering the Right's political normalization of all the travesties against democracy under the Trump Administration that almost broke America, had his enablers, the Barrs and the Pences so servants to the cause not been stopped by their own sheer political egotism, but still flourishing today in the media consumption that salivates at each blurt and grievance they still manage. Enablers are also the threatening successors in government that dominate the House (the Speaker himself thanking Donald Trump for getting the gavel!), and also state and local GOP positions of import to all that still cry out "Trump, Trump!," TRAITORS to the core in their repudiation of the 2020 Election results and the Insurrection to show for it. And then there are the Justices appointed by Trump and HIS INFLUENCERS, the Federalist Society and Dark Money, heralded by a politicized Supreme Court where there does not even exist accountability for its actions from an ETHICAL perspective!

All of the above should engage Americans. How? By looking at how the country has betrayed its younger citizens, with an alarming set of statistical cold data that signals to a dangerous increase in suicides and suicidal thoughts in girls, rape of girls, abuse of girls, demeaning of girls. Girls, dear Marsha! We were once girls. How is it possible that we are being so reduced in value even in the greatest of democracies? Girls of all races. But, always, the most brutalized are the girls that have already been ostracized from the very beginning of the founding of our nation, our Native American girls and women. So, yes, we must do what we can do and hold the TRAITORS accountable for their pillaging of American institutions that ultimately affects our boys, in the same manner it affected Native American men whose dignity was taken away and are leaving their women alone in their fight to protect, salvage, restore and heal the communities affected by the alarming disregard towards the enormity of unresolved cases of disappearance and murder of girls and women in such communities, which are AMERICAN because race, RACE IS AN IDEOLOGICAL CONSTRUCT,

Expand full comment

Thank you for what you've written here, N. Zampierollo. The word I will now loudly use, the precise and correct word, "TRAITORS" for those who have betrayed our country, our trust, our young girls and boys, the Indigenous Ones and everything we stand for and need to protect.

Expand full comment

Yes, Lisa, the children have been the most harmed by all of this. I know it is a concern of yours and I laud you for being their representing voice here in this community. And our Indigenous Ones need our attention and support. What happens in Montana is abhorrent and should move every American concerned about the future of our youth.

Expand full comment

I was raised in a violent 'Christian' cult from ages 3 to 13. My tormented younger sister, Sheila, at the age of 49 (in 2014) walked out of a town in Montana and died in the forest. I could not find her until it was too late. The terror and the trauma of childhood violence and 'The Cult' corruption and exploitation of the followers, the innocent children, could not be overcome by her, although she tried. I see MAGA as traumatizing and devastating to MILLIONS of young minds and hearts as well as irreparable damage being done to our youth by social media algorithms, designed to alter the minds and behaviors of the vulnerable. TRAITORS DO NOT CARE about the children. Does the media care? Why are we not hearing more about the children?! The polarization that gains clicks and money and power for those who only want more power, money, and control, don't care about our children, or anyone but themselves. Horrific Insanity. We must do better. We must rise up and PROTEST. Pray, Protect and Protest!

Expand full comment

Lisa, I can not even imagine what you must have gone through being such a young girl and how you had to also share most certainly and experience how the same indoctrination was affecting your little sister, younger than yourself. That she ended her life so terribly is an added weight in your own path in life. Religious indoctrination could not have found a better partner than MAGA, becoming the most extreme political movement in America, sanctioned by propaganda and conspiratorial thought and spewing the most violent attacks on democracy, with an increase in racial targeting by threat and death. What must be stressed is how it has directly sickened Americans, with mental distress and fear, especially youngsters which is its most despicable manifestation and must be stopped. That women and men in office are willing to put their children's lives at risk is deplorable. There are many journalists concerned and writing about this, because such a fundamental reality must be National News continuously and relentlessly until results are evident, so that the added trauma of gun violence, as is the latest shooting at MSU, be dealt with by means of all the resources available in law enforcement, communities and schools. It must be a priority, especially today as we remember Parkland. The problem is that we have a short memory. The way we combat it is by maintaining these topics alive and by demanding action. The House of Representatives should start legislating, not playing the role of vengeful men and women who are wasting time and money in banalities. It is about time that citizens begin protesting against their elected officials whom they pay, the ones who take their taxpaying monies and do nothing, show no results and continue to endanger the lives of American citizens.

Expand full comment

I'm greatly disturbed that the 'Christian Nationalists'/ MAGA are getting onto school boards, banning books, and threatening teachers. Classrooms are the only 'safe' place that some kids have.

We are not a trauma-informed society. We must become one in order to navigate the consequences of what is being done to millions of innocent children every day. We must do all we can to prevent further tragedies and more trauma. Thank You so much.

Expand full comment

This is so sad. I am sorry you lost your sister that way.

#Traitorsdonotcareaboutchildren

Expand full comment

Yes, the damages to the children who are raised in toxic and dangerous cult environments by TRAITORS, the leaders, who prey on the vulnerable for their own greed, money and power is just sickening.

You said it: #Traitorsdonotcareaboutchildren (Thank You.)

Expand full comment

"I’m disgusted that everyone is getting this extended time to hide, burn or sell info." You are right ON TARGET!! I, too, experience the extremist right Evangelicals as terrifying, and, as you say, similar to Hitler's followers. When I heard the orange sadist speak for the first time, I said to myself, "He's another Hitler!" Everyone laughed.

Expand full comment

P.S. 666, of course, is the mark of the Devil in the New Testament. Amazing that jared didn't know that. Perhaps that's because he's jew-ish. Oops! I mean Jewish. Interestingly, the address has recently been changed to a less toxic number. (I don't know why it took so long. Seems like some of those Evangelicals should have put a bug in the orange sadist's ear years ago.)

Expand full comment

Amen! Thank You, Marsha! XO

Expand full comment

Every person in our country should read this and ever elected Republican should be forced to go on the record about this.

Expand full comment

Steve does it again.......We want to know......certainly this is more important than Hunter Biden's laptop fiasco

Expand full comment

How can the obvious be overlooked? I guess this has to be because ~45% or so of the US population believe that the Trumps can do what they want without question. It makes me so mad, sad and I really wonder if, and when - if ever, will true investigations be done. Indictments made and prison time levied.

Expand full comment

Wow. This piece lays out the depth and breadth and incomprehensible levels of corruption, deceit, grifts and violence that trump, his family, his loyalists and eventually half of our government are willing to perpetrate for money, power and influence. Why did Jared get $2 billion? My guess would have something to do with involvement in MBN being deposed by MBS and Saudi oil. Why has he gone unscathed? That’s the $2 billion question.

Expand full comment