wonderfully said !!! (I figure that he's either blackmailed a lot of people and/or they are just as immoral as he is and they just want him in office so they can have things their way)....other than that, I believe he is guilty and ought to be found so by this jury. If they have any other finding, I will be suspicious.
I don’t have faith in this jury. I saw a tally/spreadsheet in the NYT showing where the jury members reported they get their news. One of them indicated they got their news from Truth Social, and only that source. Sadly, I think that will be a vote to not convict when the time comes.
There isn't even an equivalent opposite to that. Um, getting your news from only... what? Only Young Turks? We badly need more "liberal left news organizations" for real. I'm gobsmacked the prosecution would allow a person like that to be seated.
Amen! But that maybe the source of the issue. We left the reality of Cronkite and 3 channels a few decades ago. The peril of "free speech " is allowing so much BS, and not just shouting fire in a populated theater the actual definition. Social media, any moron with the ability to type on a platform and we get, what? This moron ( Trump) that without the BS filter would have taken our fathers and grandfather's 2 seconds to call out. Not because they weren't born in the age of the internet but because we had at minimum a moral, if unsaid, central idea of what was right ( or what an honorable man WAS).
Now, we have to bring it to a grand jury or court to understand what we rightfully know in our hearts is true. This pretender is criminal. This guy is a malignant narcissist and if not an actual psychopath at least with strong tendencies toward that behavior. And why "we" won't call him out? I think it maybe obvious and obscure at the same time. Because we $$ is now the currency of all our transactions. Whether one looks back to Newt Gingrich making a casino of Congress or earlier on what rich GOP saw and molded with Reagan, To correct this would need a lot more than the momentum of the default of the $$ that has already been at work against the Republic like a bunch of termites. Let us hope and pray with passion to save and rebuild our Democratic process, lest indeed it perish from the earth.
Also, after I wrote this I read about the people per the NYTs that won't vote for Biden again and all the flakey reasons why some would consider Trump an alternative.
Yeah, I know the price of eggs or everything else is $5. Do they really think their once every 4 year partication is all that is needed to live in politics utopia? That 17% thought Biden was the reason Roe was over turned floored me. I know I have better than average intelligence but wow, WTAF is wrong with average understanding that this is where we are?
I was under the impression that the jurors were vetted on the various Social Media accounts to see if they were on any of them/or which ones they were. I know they were asked where they go their news etc. I pray this is not so. We have all had enough of the lies and deceit. We must Vote BLUE BLUE BLUE 🇺🇸
Juror #2 is a man who works in investment banking and lives with his wife in New York. He said he follows Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and a key witness in the case, on social media, as well as Trump's Truth Social posts. He said he pays attention to "anything that might be able to move the markets I need to know about."
It is highly concerning to me, at least, that this juror was seated. His degree of self-interest is visible. Since the jury must reach a unanimous verdict, just one vote could result in a mistrial. It's unthinkable.
Well, juror #2 should be happy with how the market is moving with the current president. He may be sophisticated enough to realize that both defendant AND witness are liars; after all, the one hired the other and used him as personal attorney for most of a decade before "kicking him to the curb", for which he now has a dirty sort of whistleblower instead. I'm quite certain that liars can tell the truth when it suits them. If Mr Rosenberg's data is correct, Democratic presidents yield growth, jobs and robust markets. So, I'm not so worried about juror #2.
There was a juror who got his/her news from Fox only, if I remember correctly. But there was one who listed only Truth Social as the source of their news. With Fox I feel like there is at least a small chance of truth coming through. Not so with Truth Social.
I agree with you. trump must have dirt on every person in Congress who supports him. Heaven knows he gives nothing to anyone out of kindness or compassion.
Sadly, I have family and one dear friend who are magats. I don't get it.
Donald doesn't need dirt on all.... he IS the Pandora's box that opened to let all his followers be as criminal and narcissistic as he is. And has shown them, thru his life of never being held accountable, that whatever they do there is no punishment.
Since none of them are actual believers in Jesus, they have no morals, shame or belief in the greater good. Money+ power + no morals= corruption
I put the blame on our media and the removal of the fairness doctrine in the 80s. 24-7-the lies and altered facts are shoved on people who think they are hearing the truth. If all you ever listened to was fox news and rightwing articles then you would believe everything trump and his sycophants say
And the so called main stream media isn’t doing a good job either - they are failing miserably at reporting on the positives of the Biden administration and are obsessed with Trump but are not reporting on what he is actually saying, as well as the evidence of his mental decline.
But even the "money = power" is an illusion. Neither Nelson Mandela nor Mother Theresa were wealthy, but they exerted great power. Teachers are not wealthy, yet they are entrusted with extraordinary power. True power and strength is found in ordinary people working together to achieve extraordinary things.
Money just gives the illusion of power as it's more amassed by the few and lorded over the many. But never forget, it is an illusion and a cheap knockoff for real power.
It's been said "never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups". I'd also suggest "never underestimate the power of smart people when they're good and pissed off."
The fairness doctrine was written too long ago to cover all of the sources that we have today for accessing the media. It would need to be rewritten, and then reinstituted, which would be a great idea.
Very true. For instance, in the mid-80s the cost of cable was decreasing and cable expanded into about half of all households. Fox began as an entertainment network on cable. By the mid-90s when it ventured into “news” FD was gone but would not have applied to cable anyway. FD only applied to broadcasters who used public airwaves, not cable, etc.
There was a push to codify the FCC Fairness Doctrine regulations and Reagan vetoed it. First Amendment advocates were among those who opposed having such a bill and were definitely against modernizing or expanding it. I doubt it would pass now or be held up by this SCOTUS.
The fairness doctrine would not have had any impact on 'the news'. Rupert Murdoch has. He's made more of a fortune on lies and no doubt been manipulated by the Russians and the Chinese. But the fairness doctrine doesn't behave like the name suggests.
It would have impacted the advertising, which also is a huge problem. And Citizens United has allowed anonymous major donors to run attack ads 24/7 that may not contain a shred of truth.
Actually, they aren't. They are trying so hard to prove that they aren't biased for the left that they can't bring themselves to report positive news about the Biden administration. They only look like they lean left because they take such pains to try to act woke. There's a huge difference between acting woke and leaning left.
Ever since CNN aired that "town meeting" that turned into a mini-rally for Trump with an adoring hand-picked audience, it's hard to see that they are left biased. FOX LITE is closer to their mark.
There has definitely been a shift. CNN has been shifting too far to inclusion of GOP/ MAGAT leaning interpretersof the news. ( My guess is to have CNN as reporting true fact, freer from bias’ A concept FOX news has never held.
It’s easy to think those stations are biased because they tell the truth which is not positive for Trump… but surely you understand that that doesn’t mean they are biased. Well, perhaps their “ bias” is telling the truth…
I’m not a fan of Trump, so you’re not speaking to someone who thinks everything is biased against Trump. On a macro level, it’s very easy to understand which news stations and publications lean left and which ones lean right. There is no denying that. There is very little honest news reporting these days. The most important thing is to be aware of the biased of your news sources so you can make an informed opinion.
I love to read your opinions, Dan! I for one am sick and tired of this man. He has made hate a fashion and wears it proudly. I am so ashamed of our country for allowing a person like him to be running for the
I am truly appalled each and everyday that this person is the actual candidate for President of the United States! How can people possibly stand up for this vile, disgusting human??? Is there truly that much hate for Joe Biden?? How has the GOP sunk so low? I remember growing up in a family where there were both Democrats and Republicans and there was lots of “lively” discussion but there was never EVER hate and trash talking involved. The upcoming debates should be interesting to say the least, especially if there is a convicted felon as one of the debaters.
I like the "mic goes dead at the end of 2 minutes" idea. You kind of have to follow the rules of debate if you can't shout over the guy who's minutes are "on".
It will be America's end of our Democratic Republic. Social Security will be cut and a whole new group of aging homeless will be on the streets. Nothing nice!
Being in an area where Texas and Florida send busloads of people clad in flip flops in the middle of winter, and seeing the entire community respond with care and clothing and food, I know that an indefinite epidemic of homeless older people will not be tolerated. It won’t. It’s not easy to knock down good people when they band together. This is not Venezuela. This is America. People will make it right. We will make it right.
We will get through this. We will be altered possibly for some time if Trump is convicted, runs for office, and is elected. But we will not disintegrate and cease to exist as a country. There will be protests, riots perhaps. But this is a country of immigrants. Coming from a family of immigrants, I know our bloodlines from all the various countries we came from or were forced to come from, are very resilient and resourceful in the face of all sorts of things. We are not Europe. We are a young, bustling, presently troubled nation. We will survive this. Meanwhile, we vote. We don’t give up. We are active at our local level.
If Trump is re-elected, I doubt very seriously we'll get through it. With Project 2025 and all he and his minions have announced, our country will become a fascist state.
- Wants to be dictator (just for one day is a bad joke)
- Deport Latin American migrants
- Persecute the opposition.
- Among other atrocities
The technology available to the Gestapo was a play toy compared to what a militarized police would have available to it now.
Better not let it get that far. We must defend what we have with all we have!
We can romanticize about living in the woods and tossing Molotov cocktails when we have no other choice. Earlier is false comfort.
I believe the Russian version of the Gestapo has been working for decades to get someone like trumpty dumpty and who knows who else in power positions here. I think the American public has no idea how deep it may go long before 2016.
Yes. Start at your local level. Be sure to help registrations for voting in other states if you can as well. But really, it is not romantic to say we will get through this. Whatever happens. It’s the nature of this population. We do our best, of course give it our all, as you say. But never underestimate this country. Stupid for only so long.
I believe we got here because there are people who are angry that someone they thought inferior to themselves got equal rights and they are angry. Civil rights, reproductive freedom, bodily autonomy, gay rights and marriage and the list goes on. This showed up most clearly in the overt racism and misogyny Trump espoused during his campaign for the 2016 election and even more clearly after he took office. The idea that maybe there’s no one to look down on seems unbearable to some people and then there was Trump to tell them, no it’s ok to despise (fill in the blank) people, especially non-white, non-straight, non-cis male people. Some of those people stood up to him and now it’s a “witch hunt”. It would make the old Inquisitors proud.
You are correct! And I would add that Trump is the backlash to the Obama presidency. I live in the Deep South where for 8 years any mention of President Obama was met with frowns, head shaking, and foot shuffling. Racism isn't dead, and Trump has used that to great advantage.
There were “Nobama” signs up before Obama was elected and a few still stand, dilapidated, but in there prominent sites. Since trump won, putting stickers for Dems on your car is risking it be vandalized. Not so for the folks who plaster their cars with “trump won” stuff. It’s a much different country since the trump presidency.
Same here, old Obama signs and occasionally a new one. Guy selling flags on a street corner every weekend...Trump flags, Confederate flags, anti-Obama flags, but no American flags.
Yes, this is sad and hard to believe, but there is a well of unhappy people who feel angry and disillusioned and lacking confidence in their own abilities! So supporting Trump is like putting a bandaid over a big wound.
I actually cried the morning after the 2016 election, when I woke up and my husband told me that the Orange-faced clown had actually been elected to the highest office in our Democracy. I could not believe it! And now . . . I am furiously sickened at the number of elected "leaders" in my country who are still openly supporting him when they should be standing up against him, firmly and openly. What happens next?
I cried as well. What really made me sick was my good friend who is a Republican called me to rub it in! She just couldn’t vote for Hillary because of “those emails”. Those emails were the least of our problems then and now.
Trump has never won the popular vote. Never. He was inflicted upon us by the Electoral College through an antiquated system that puts a thumb on the scales.
And that’s probably why he will win in November. He (his team) has a strategy to manipulate the electoral college and courts to win. It’s imperative to root out all the trumpublicans at every level, right down to school boards. This is a fight for democracy.
So did I. And I attended my first protest/march in my life in Washington DC with my neighbors running to the subway in their little pink hats. I was stunned and afraid and in disbelief this could happen here. But the 2020 loss gave me renewed faith that people are not ready to live that way. They didn’t let it happen again.
He started stirring the pot as a "birther" back in 2008ish. 16 years is along time to put up with that bastard. And if we are so blessed as to dodge his current iteration of the big scam, I'm certain he'll continue to find ways to stir the pot. He won't stop blathering until the last heart beat, I fear.
The results of a candidate multiple millions of vote, but loses because of stupid “winner takes all” state electoral votes. Is an example of a democracy defiled! Too many times GOP’ers have taken the presidency with electoral votes, instead of the real candidate who wins the popular. One person, one vote must succeed! We must eliminate ou electoral college!
My daughter had gone up to her Alma mater Wellesley to celebrate. She called me in the wee hours and asked me to stay on the phone with her as she drove the several hours back home to another state. Shock doesn’t even begin to describe it.
I remember hearing Hillary saying that the other guy would mean Armageddon. Well, we got through those 4 years. But they’re sure trying to make it happen now.
That there are so many Americans who believe in his LIES and all the other despicable behavior he has exhibited and will happily vote for him is unexplainable other than they are truly brainwashed.
How good will they think Trump is when their benefits are gone? Not very, I suspect. People seem unaware that many voters just do what their parents did. Vote republican. Until their lives are ruined by that. It will maybe take this to wake them up. But they will wake up.
I am sure there are many in authoritarian countries who are aware of their hardships and lack of freedom and yet their leaders keep getting “ elected “. That’s what will happen here.
I hope you are wrong. I just don’t believe it about this country. The countries in which this has happened — the “reelection” of dictators — are very different from ours. With very different histories. America is truly unique. Young.
Imo...how we let this (and so many other "disasters") happen is that we have become dumbed down by diminished education, corporate greed and media manipulation, all endorsed/allowed by right wing government.
My theory is that Trump is a means to an end for multiple groups trying to take control of the US government, as listed below:
1. White men who want a return to pre-1960s America when they controlled American society.
2. Rich businessmen who want a return to pre-FDR times when big business ran wild with no taxes or regulations. Like the Robber Barons that caused the Great Depression.
3. Putin, who pumps money into Trump & GOP politicians who can no longer attract enough votes to win the White House fair and square, so they have become open to cheating and even dictatorship to seize and keep power. Putin wants to destroy democracy, not just in the US but around the world.
4. Religious extremists seeking to force their beliefs onto all Americans, especially through elimination of abortion, birth control and women's rights.
Having said that, I believe reasonable voters will prevail over the unreasonable people seeking a return to the past, the dismantling of democracy or religious extremism.
Our institutions are under a well organized attack from multiple forces with big money.
The forces seeking to take control of the US government have exploited loopholes in our judicial system that require reform, for example judge shopping, abuse of power by judges like Cannon and SCOTUS itself, abuse of delay tactics, etc.
I expect the ideas of freedom, democracy and separation of church and state to prevail.
Ideas are more powerful than greed or lust for power.
The way Trump and his supporters in Congress have so poorly treated the judge and the court in general, i would say the chances if convicted are good that he will be sentenced to some jail time and a lengthy probation period. Trump and his attorneys have fought this wil delaying tactics and frivolous motions.
The Swing States with Big Swinging Cities could make the difference in winning or losing the presidency. ‘Never before has so much depended on so few!’
Great post, Dan, and I absolutely agree with your comments about Trump.
How did we get here? It's complicated. 1. The Lowell memo tells us the Republican planned this carefull.y,
2. We, Democrats, were so involved in fighting for Civil Rights, "Anti-warS", Women's Rights, Everyone's right to marry whom they choose, that we didn't notice how the Republicans were packing all Federal Courts AGAINST what we were fighting for (that's on us)
3. Between Reagan, Bush's, and Trump we "allowed" the disastrous, deregulation and retraction of every safety bill FDR passed and worse yet enormous tax breaks for the top10% and increased taxes on the middle class.
4. We allowed increased costs on higher publicly owned education to the point where young people graduated saddled by a debt so high it would take a lifetime to pay.
5. We're slipping into feudalism with a comparatively small group of obscenely wealthy holding 90% of the wealth and the rest of us struggling to hold life together.
The end result? Those us us with sufficient knowledge to understand the real cause, have not explained clearly to the majority of Americans who are looking for easy answers they can understand. A case where ignorance is anything but bliss.
Yet I would like to read what Dan's readers think about, How did we loose our moral compass that a person like this is a viable candidate? People used to spurn vulgarity.
What many people don’t seem to realize is that many many many people vote without thinking. They were always republicans. So whatever was being said about Trump in 2016 was just the “opposition”. But 2020 showed that many of them refused to do that “my family had always been Republican” vote again. Actually decent people simply didn’t believe Trump was bad. When they realized, they did not repeat the mistake and he lost.
genuine curiosity... did it not make a difference in 2016 that he had no experience leading government or policy or state or local office? Had never held an office for the people. Had not overseen the military in any capacity. Or global government experience.
But a TV personality and a blustery bravado who called himself a real estate tycoon?
2016 was an abnormal match up of qualifications.
Or, was it easier to assume that US presidents "should still be" white males... that it was incomprehensible that a non white could be followed by a female in office?
Despite the fact the potus office is of highest complexity, depends on working relationship with others top in their specialties, and is a truly GLOBAL position.
Is it Civics classes that are failing us, or Sociology... or both?
wonderfully said !!! (I figure that he's either blackmailed a lot of people and/or they are just as immoral as he is and they just want him in office so they can have things their way)....other than that, I believe he is guilty and ought to be found so by this jury. If they have any other finding, I will be suspicious.
I don’t have faith in this jury. I saw a tally/spreadsheet in the NYT showing where the jury members reported they get their news. One of them indicated they got their news from Truth Social, and only that source. Sadly, I think that will be a vote to not convict when the time comes.
How did that person get on the jury?? How did they even begin to pass as unbiased?
There isn't even an equivalent opposite to that. Um, getting your news from only... what? Only Young Turks? We badly need more "liberal left news organizations" for real. I'm gobsmacked the prosecution would allow a person like that to be seated.
Amen! But that maybe the source of the issue. We left the reality of Cronkite and 3 channels a few decades ago. The peril of "free speech " is allowing so much BS, and not just shouting fire in a populated theater the actual definition. Social media, any moron with the ability to type on a platform and we get, what? This moron ( Trump) that without the BS filter would have taken our fathers and grandfather's 2 seconds to call out. Not because they weren't born in the age of the internet but because we had at minimum a moral, if unsaid, central idea of what was right ( or what an honorable man WAS).
Now, we have to bring it to a grand jury or court to understand what we rightfully know in our hearts is true. This pretender is criminal. This guy is a malignant narcissist and if not an actual psychopath at least with strong tendencies toward that behavior. And why "we" won't call him out? I think it maybe obvious and obscure at the same time. Because we $$ is now the currency of all our transactions. Whether one looks back to Newt Gingrich making a casino of Congress or earlier on what rich GOP saw and molded with Reagan, To correct this would need a lot more than the momentum of the default of the $$ that has already been at work against the Republic like a bunch of termites. Let us hope and pray with passion to save and rebuild our Democratic process, lest indeed it perish from the earth.
Thank you to those that see the hypocrisy.
Also, after I wrote this I read about the people per the NYTs that won't vote for Biden again and all the flakey reasons why some would consider Trump an alternative.
Yeah, I know the price of eggs or everything else is $5. Do they really think their once every 4 year partication is all that is needed to live in politics utopia? That 17% thought Biden was the reason Roe was over turned floored me. I know I have better than average intelligence but wow, WTAF is wrong with average understanding that this is where we are?
I was under the impression that the jurors were vetted on the various Social Media accounts to see if they were on any of them/or which ones they were. I know they were asked where they go their news etc. I pray this is not so. We have all had enough of the lies and deceit. We must Vote BLUE BLUE BLUE 🇺🇸
From https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-trial-jurors-new-york-hush-money/
Juror #2
Juror #2 is a man who works in investment banking and lives with his wife in New York. He said he follows Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and a key witness in the case, on social media, as well as Trump's Truth Social posts. He said he pays attention to "anything that might be able to move the markets I need to know about."
It is highly concerning to me, at least, that this juror was seated. His degree of self-interest is visible. Since the jury must reach a unanimous verdict, just one vote could result in a mistrial. It's unthinkable.
Well, juror #2 should be happy with how the market is moving with the current president. He may be sophisticated enough to realize that both defendant AND witness are liars; after all, the one hired the other and used him as personal attorney for most of a decade before "kicking him to the curb", for which he now has a dirty sort of whistleblower instead. I'm quite certain that liars can tell the truth when it suits them. If Mr Rosenberg's data is correct, Democratic presidents yield growth, jobs and robust markets. So, I'm not so worried about juror #2.
Thank you for this common sense and rational view. I can breathe a bit better now.
You have to wonder why the prosecution agreed to seat that person.
😥
omg
I thought it was Fox.
There was a juror who got his/her news from Fox only, if I remember correctly. But there was one who listed only Truth Social as the source of their news. With Fox I feel like there is at least a small chance of truth coming through. Not so with Truth Social.
I agree with you. trump must have dirt on every person in Congress who supports him. Heaven knows he gives nothing to anyone out of kindness or compassion.
Sadly, I have family and one dear friend who are magats. I don't get it.
Donald doesn't need dirt on all.... he IS the Pandora's box that opened to let all his followers be as criminal and narcissistic as he is. And has shown them, thru his life of never being held accountable, that whatever they do there is no punishment.
Since none of them are actual believers in Jesus, they have no morals, shame or belief in the greater good. Money+ power + no morals= corruption
I put the blame on our media and the removal of the fairness doctrine in the 80s. 24-7-the lies and altered facts are shoved on people who think they are hearing the truth. If all you ever listened to was fox news and rightwing articles then you would believe everything trump and his sycophants say
And the so called main stream media isn’t doing a good job either - they are failing miserably at reporting on the positives of the Biden administration and are obsessed with Trump but are not reporting on what he is actually saying, as well as the evidence of his mental decline.
And it disgusts me that they give the idiot so much free air time; while Biden is campaigning and we see or hear nothing.
I agree.
Right, follow the money. Lies and misinformation that sow doubt and division are more profitable than truth and consensus.
So sad to say..."it's always about the money"..... which equals power
But even the "money = power" is an illusion. Neither Nelson Mandela nor Mother Theresa were wealthy, but they exerted great power. Teachers are not wealthy, yet they are entrusted with extraordinary power. True power and strength is found in ordinary people working together to achieve extraordinary things.
Money just gives the illusion of power as it's more amassed by the few and lorded over the many. But never forget, it is an illusion and a cheap knockoff for real power.
It's been said "never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups". I'd also suggest "never underestimate the power of smart people when they're good and pissed off."
Kevin, thanks for that ray of hope........praying there are a lot of smart people out there that are good and pissed off!
The fairness doctrine was written too long ago to cover all of the sources that we have today for accessing the media. It would need to be rewritten, and then reinstituted, which would be a great idea.
Very true. For instance, in the mid-80s the cost of cable was decreasing and cable expanded into about half of all households. Fox began as an entertainment network on cable. By the mid-90s when it ventured into “news” FD was gone but would not have applied to cable anyway. FD only applied to broadcasters who used public airwaves, not cable, etc.
There was a push to codify the FCC Fairness Doctrine regulations and Reagan vetoed it. First Amendment advocates were among those who opposed having such a bill and were definitely against modernizing or expanding it. I doubt it would pass now or be held up by this SCOTUS.
The fairness doctrine would not have had any impact on 'the news'. Rupert Murdoch has. He's made more of a fortune on lies and no doubt been manipulated by the Russians and the Chinese. But the fairness doctrine doesn't behave like the name suggests.
It would have impacted the advertising, which also is a huge problem. And Citizens United has allowed anonymous major donors to run attack ads 24/7 that may not contain a shred of truth.
Indeed!
It’s not just Fox News. CNN and NPR are just as biased for the left. And forget about print news - the NYT is trash.
Actually, they aren't. They are trying so hard to prove that they aren't biased for the left that they can't bring themselves to report positive news about the Biden administration. They only look like they lean left because they take such pains to try to act woke. There's a huge difference between acting woke and leaning left.
Spot on!
Ever since CNN aired that "town meeting" that turned into a mini-rally for Trump with an adoring hand-picked audience, it's hard to see that they are left biased. FOX LITE is closer to their mark.
I feel that CNN is leaning right. So it’s hard to watch it. And forget about NYT and Haberman. Don’t trust her. She’s in Trump’s pocket and has been.
There has definitely been a shift. CNN has been shifting too far to inclusion of GOP/ MAGAT leaning interpretersof the news. ( My guess is to have CNN as reporting true fact, freer from bias’ A concept FOX news has never held.
And I feel they are more left. Regardless, neither of us feel they are providing unbiased news.
It’s easy to think those stations are biased because they tell the truth which is not positive for Trump… but surely you understand that that doesn’t mean they are biased. Well, perhaps their “ bias” is telling the truth…
I’m not a fan of Trump, so you’re not speaking to someone who thinks everything is biased against Trump. On a macro level, it’s very easy to understand which news stations and publications lean left and which ones lean right. There is no denying that. There is very little honest news reporting these days. The most important thing is to be aware of the biased of your news sources so you can make an informed opinion.
The only thing that ever stops a grandiose malignant narcissist abuser is a firm barrier like jail.
Amen!
I love to read your opinions, Dan! I for one am sick and tired of this man. He has made hate a fashion and wears it proudly. I am so ashamed of our country for allowing a person like him to be running for the
highest office in the country.
Me Too!
I am truly appalled each and everyday that this person is the actual candidate for President of the United States! How can people possibly stand up for this vile, disgusting human??? Is there truly that much hate for Joe Biden?? How has the GOP sunk so low? I remember growing up in a family where there were both Democrats and Republicans and there was lots of “lively” discussion but there was never EVER hate and trash talking involved. The upcoming debates should be interesting to say the least, especially if there is a convicted felon as one of the debaters.
I like the "mic goes dead at the end of 2 minutes" idea. You kind of have to follow the rules of debate if you can't shout over the guy who's minutes are "on".
And no audience for the debate! trump will flop w/o an audience!!
So what DID happen to Article 3 of the 14th Amendment?
WHY is that no longer in "the news" as a basis for making our voting decision.
Some of the clearest, plainest language of The Constitution.
Regardless of a couple of court decisions, that Amendment was thought out to protect ALL of us.
Why is the door being opened for a repeat, on Jan 6, 2025.
This isn't just about voting for 1 criminal... but his chosen VP, and his new régime he will put in place.
It will be America's end of our Democratic Republic. Social Security will be cut and a whole new group of aging homeless will be on the streets. Nothing nice!
Being in an area where Texas and Florida send busloads of people clad in flip flops in the middle of winter, and seeing the entire community respond with care and clothing and food, I know that an indefinite epidemic of homeless older people will not be tolerated. It won’t. It’s not easy to knock down good people when they band together. This is not Venezuela. This is America. People will make it right. We will make it right.
I hope so.
We will get through this. We will be altered possibly for some time if Trump is convicted, runs for office, and is elected. But we will not disintegrate and cease to exist as a country. There will be protests, riots perhaps. But this is a country of immigrants. Coming from a family of immigrants, I know our bloodlines from all the various countries we came from or were forced to come from, are very resilient and resourceful in the face of all sorts of things. We are not Europe. We are a young, bustling, presently troubled nation. We will survive this. Meanwhile, we vote. We don’t give up. We are active at our local level.
If Trump is re-elected, I doubt very seriously we'll get through it. With Project 2025 and all he and his minions have announced, our country will become a fascist state.
- Wants to be dictator (just for one day is a bad joke)
- Deport Latin American migrants
- Persecute the opposition.
- Among other atrocities
The technology available to the Gestapo was a play toy compared to what a militarized police would have available to it now.
Better not let it get that far. We must defend what we have with all we have!
We can romanticize about living in the woods and tossing Molotov cocktails when we have no other choice. Earlier is false comfort.
I believe the Russian version of the Gestapo has been working for decades to get someone like trumpty dumpty and who knows who else in power positions here. I think the American public has no idea how deep it may go long before 2016.
Yes. Start at your local level. Be sure to help registrations for voting in other states if you can as well. But really, it is not romantic to say we will get through this. Whatever happens. It’s the nature of this population. We do our best, of course give it our all, as you say. But never underestimate this country. Stupid for only so long.
Very well written!
Right On! VOTE BLUE!
You have a lot more confidence than I do. We’re going to cease to exist.
I believe we got here because there are people who are angry that someone they thought inferior to themselves got equal rights and they are angry. Civil rights, reproductive freedom, bodily autonomy, gay rights and marriage and the list goes on. This showed up most clearly in the overt racism and misogyny Trump espoused during his campaign for the 2016 election and even more clearly after he took office. The idea that maybe there’s no one to look down on seems unbearable to some people and then there was Trump to tell them, no it’s ok to despise (fill in the blank) people, especially non-white, non-straight, non-cis male people. Some of those people stood up to him and now it’s a “witch hunt”. It would make the old Inquisitors proud.
You are correct! And I would add that Trump is the backlash to the Obama presidency. I live in the Deep South where for 8 years any mention of President Obama was met with frowns, head shaking, and foot shuffling. Racism isn't dead, and Trump has used that to great advantage.
There were “Nobama” signs up before Obama was elected and a few still stand, dilapidated, but in there prominent sites. Since trump won, putting stickers for Dems on your car is risking it be vandalized. Not so for the folks who plaster their cars with “trump won” stuff. It’s a much different country since the trump presidency.
Same here, old Obama signs and occasionally a new one. Guy selling flags on a street corner every weekend...Trump flags, Confederate flags, anti-Obama flags, but no American flags.
Exactly! I personally would like to draft Obama back into the White House after Biden's term(s) end.
Yes, this is sad and hard to believe, but there is a well of unhappy people who feel angry and disillusioned and lacking confidence in their own abilities! So supporting Trump is like putting a bandaid over a big wound.
True
Yes!!
Really well said. And terrifying. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
OK cat lady.
I actually cried the morning after the 2016 election, when I woke up and my husband told me that the Orange-faced clown had actually been elected to the highest office in our Democracy. I could not believe it! And now . . . I am furiously sickened at the number of elected "leaders" in my country who are still openly supporting him when they should be standing up against him, firmly and openly. What happens next?
I cried as well. What really made me sick was my good friend who is a Republican called me to rub it in! She just couldn’t vote for Hillary because of “those emails”. Those emails were the least of our problems then and now.
I cried and was infuriated. My best friend of 50 years was "over the moon" when he got in. That was the end of our friendship!
She had told me a number of times he was not a bully, after I said he was!!
You might wonder, with all that has transpired since, if she still feels that way.
She wouldn’t be my friend any longer!! I’ve gotten rid of all the trumpsters in my life!
What a “good friend”
Trump has never won the popular vote. Never. He was inflicted upon us by the Electoral College through an antiquated system that puts a thumb on the scales.
And that’s probably why he will win in November. He (his team) has a strategy to manipulate the electoral college and courts to win. It’s imperative to root out all the trumpublicans at every level, right down to school boards. This is a fight for democracy.
YUP
So did I. And I attended my first protest/march in my life in Washington DC with my neighbors running to the subway in their little pink hats. I was stunned and afraid and in disbelief this could happen here. But the 2020 loss gave me renewed faith that people are not ready to live that way. They didn’t let it happen again.
He started stirring the pot as a "birther" back in 2008ish. 16 years is along time to put up with that bastard. And if we are so blessed as to dodge his current iteration of the big scam, I'm certain he'll continue to find ways to stir the pot. He won't stop blathering until the last heart beat, I fear.
Sadly the GOP Evangelical party is an extension of him, as well as enablers of him.
The results of a candidate multiple millions of vote, but loses because of stupid “winner takes all” state electoral votes. Is an example of a democracy defiled! Too many times GOP’ers have taken the presidency with electoral votes, instead of the real candidate who wins the popular. One person, one vote must succeed! We must eliminate ou electoral college!
Mentally disturbed people often break into tears. Nothing to be ashamed of.
I think there were many tears that day.
My daughter had gone up to her Alma mater Wellesley to celebrate. She called me in the wee hours and asked me to stay on the phone with her as she drove the several hours back home to another state. Shock doesn’t even begin to describe it.
I remember hearing Hillary saying that the other guy would mean Armageddon. Well, we got through those 4 years. But they’re sure trying to make it happen now.
We are here because Trump said that hatred is good.
That statement makes my brain explode. 🤯
That there are so many Americans who believe in his LIES and all the other despicable behavior he has exhibited and will happily vote for him is unexplainable other than they are truly brainwashed.
How good will they think Trump is when their benefits are gone? Not very, I suspect. People seem unaware that many voters just do what their parents did. Vote republican. Until their lives are ruined by that. It will maybe take this to wake them up. But they will wake up.
I am sure there are many in authoritarian countries who are aware of their hardships and lack of freedom and yet their leaders keep getting “ elected “. That’s what will happen here.
I hope you are wrong. I just don’t believe it about this country. The countries in which this has happened — the “reelection” of dictators — are very different from ours. With very different histories. America is truly unique. Young.
And you want to let your hatred flow. This is the place!
You’re the exception here. Take YOUR hate somewhere else.
Imo...how we let this (and so many other "disasters") happen is that we have become dumbed down by diminished education, corporate greed and media manipulation, all endorsed/allowed by right wing government.
My theory is that Trump is a means to an end for multiple groups trying to take control of the US government, as listed below:
1. White men who want a return to pre-1960s America when they controlled American society.
2. Rich businessmen who want a return to pre-FDR times when big business ran wild with no taxes or regulations. Like the Robber Barons that caused the Great Depression.
3. Putin, who pumps money into Trump & GOP politicians who can no longer attract enough votes to win the White House fair and square, so they have become open to cheating and even dictatorship to seize and keep power. Putin wants to destroy democracy, not just in the US but around the world.
4. Religious extremists seeking to force their beliefs onto all Americans, especially through elimination of abortion, birth control and women's rights.
Having said that, I believe reasonable voters will prevail over the unreasonable people seeking a return to the past, the dismantling of democracy or religious extremism.
Our institutions are under a well organized attack from multiple forces with big money.
The forces seeking to take control of the US government have exploited loopholes in our judicial system that require reform, for example judge shopping, abuse of power by judges like Cannon and SCOTUS itself, abuse of delay tactics, etc.
I expect the ideas of freedom, democracy and separation of church and state to prevail.
Ideas are more powerful than greed or lust for power.
Certainly hope so
The way Trump and his supporters in Congress have so poorly treated the judge and the court in general, i would say the chances if convicted are good that he will be sentenced to some jail time and a lengthy probation period. Trump and his attorneys have fought this wil delaying tactics and frivolous motions.
The Swing States with Big Swinging Cities could make the difference in winning or losing the presidency. ‘Never before has so much depended on so few!’
Great post, Dan, and I absolutely agree with your comments about Trump.
How did we get here? It's complicated. 1. The Lowell memo tells us the Republican planned this carefull.y,
2. We, Democrats, were so involved in fighting for Civil Rights, "Anti-warS", Women's Rights, Everyone's right to marry whom they choose, that we didn't notice how the Republicans were packing all Federal Courts AGAINST what we were fighting for (that's on us)
3. Between Reagan, Bush's, and Trump we "allowed" the disastrous, deregulation and retraction of every safety bill FDR passed and worse yet enormous tax breaks for the top10% and increased taxes on the middle class.
4. We allowed increased costs on higher publicly owned education to the point where young people graduated saddled by a debt so high it would take a lifetime to pay.
5. We're slipping into feudalism with a comparatively small group of obscenely wealthy holding 90% of the wealth and the rest of us struggling to hold life together.
The end result? Those us us with sufficient knowledge to understand the real cause, have not explained clearly to the majority of Americans who are looking for easy answers they can understand. A case where ignorance is anything but bliss.
Dan you say it so clearly.
Yet I would like to read what Dan's readers think about, How did we loose our moral compass that a person like this is a viable candidate? People used to spurn vulgarity.
What many people don’t seem to realize is that many many many people vote without thinking. They were always republicans. So whatever was being said about Trump in 2016 was just the “opposition”. But 2020 showed that many of them refused to do that “my family had always been Republican” vote again. Actually decent people simply didn’t believe Trump was bad. When they realized, they did not repeat the mistake and he lost.
genuine curiosity... did it not make a difference in 2016 that he had no experience leading government or policy or state or local office? Had never held an office for the people. Had not overseen the military in any capacity. Or global government experience.
But a TV personality and a blustery bravado who called himself a real estate tycoon?
2016 was an abnormal match up of qualifications.
Or, was it easier to assume that US presidents "should still be" white males... that it was incomprehensible that a non white could be followed by a female in office?
Despite the fact the potus office is of highest complexity, depends on working relationship with others top in their specialties, and is a truly GLOBAL position.
Is it Civics classes that are failing us, or Sociology... or both?
It apparently only occurred to those voting for Trump what a difference it made after the fact. And they didn’t elect him in 2020.
Lose