In some ways, Vance is worse than TFG. And he's going to live a lot longer. Hopefully, the good people of OH will oust him when his Senate term is up. And the rest of us have to keep him the hell out of the White House.
absolutely worse. When I saw him accept the VP nomination I felt I was looking at the future of their movement, slicker, younger, smarter, and knowingly cunningly bad -- and far more dangerous.
Dan nailed it also: "...a wildly ambitious and opportunistic chameleon," where "ambitious" is defined to include a willingness to do, say and lie about anything and to spew hate at will. An unusual trait for someone who has only recently found God and converted from atheism to Catholicism. I wonder what the Pope and the Catholic church think of him. If he goes to confession, he must be talking a long time!
And what on Earth does his wife think about all of this...the hate- and lie-spewing man he has become?
I don’t think JD Vance believes in anything but his own advancement. He will say and do anything in support of that cause. He operates on convenience. He changed his name several times, after all.
All very dangerous, it amazes me how far they will go to lie, cheat and destroy their party.
I received a video from a friend yesterday and I had enough common sense to call the Care clinic in Bethesda, Maryland to find out that they have lawyers working on the fake video and anybody with common sense would know that it was fake because no receptionist gives the detailed information to supposed Woman calling about an abortion. It gets very tiring and frustrating.
Vance raised a great deal of money from very creepy Peter Thiel. Tim would not take PAC money and Schumer did not provide enough support. I cried when Tim lost even though I don’t live in his state.
Peter Thiel is only part of the JD Vance story. Leonard Leo is another.
Rather notes that Vance converted to Catholicism 5 years ago. 6 years ago Vance joined the Teneo network.
"Leonard Leo, a key architect of the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority, is now the chairman of Teneo Network, a group that aims to influence all aspects of American politics and culture."
"Leo conveyed his inspiration and intentions: “I just said to myself, ‘Well, if this can work for law, why can’t it work for lots of other areas of American culture and American life where things are really messed up right now?’”"
By 'messed up' Leo means all social progress since at least the 1960s.
Leo is also associated with the Catholic extremist group Opus Dei ;which does not recognize the Vatican 2 reforms. And is a Knight of Malta. Is it a coincidence that the right wing religious extremists Leo has promoted for the Supreme Court - from Clarence Thomas to Amy Coney Barrett - are Catholic. (Gorsuch was raised and educated in the Catholic church but since marriage to an Anglican has attended Episcopal services.) Hypocrites all, because as Catholics - as Irish, Black, Italian, and female Catholics - each of them benefited from the liberalization of American society which the are destroying in their repurposing of our democratic republic as a corporate clerical fascist state.
Vance converted to MAGA to forward his career in the GOP.
It seems in character that his religious conversion was similarly tied to political ambition. Please Leo and get a chance to please Trump.
Lin. Thank you for this summary, I was not aware of much of this, All I know is that one choice for hurt people is to want to make sure they are never hurt again by gaining power, money and control of others, They loose the capacity for empathy or remorse , justify lying, cheating, and manipulating others and some even take joy in hurting others, I wish these groups were recognized for the hate groups that they and the damage they do to a civil society. They should not be tolerated. Violence has no place in a democracy
You know who else pushes stuff like a “Catholic Taliban but in a good way”? Nick Fuentes in a podcast where he stated clearly that they don’t have the votes to win elections. Solution: “we” need a dictator. Guess who? Use the military to make people comply. I believe that streamed shortly after the 2020 election. Next stop Mar a Lago for dinner. RightWingWatch saved some clips in their archive.
They have no research skills. Jews were the first, then Roman Catholics. PROTESTants separated from the Catholic church in England. Then came all the Protestant spinoffs.
Thank you, Lin. This was quite the eye-opener! It seems we only learn of these really crazy extremists in spurts and pieces. The Heritage Foundation, the AFPI, Musk with all of his craziness baggage. When you put all of the information together, all I see is an Orwellian future and a very, very bleak landscape for America.
One thing I recently learned about Trump, according to the Wiki page, is that from 2020 to now he actually raised more money for the Republican party that the Republican party did. THIS may be why he was able to dominate the party the way he did. Not necessarily because of his charm, charisma or bullying. Although they may have helped.
And he was able to do this in large part due to the popularity he has ,which really took off because of The Apprentice, which created a very fictionalized but attractive image of Trump. The New York Times recently published a very interesting article on it:
He may have raised it, but the republican party was paying his legal bills that stemmed from the 2020 election, think of the RNC as a clearing house. There no longer is a Republican party. It's the MAGA party. His daughter-in-law runs it and all of the members of the RNC are MAGA devotés.
The Harris/Walz campaign is eating their lunch in terms of fund raising. Enough so, that they are now distributing money to down ballot races.
At the end of the 2016 race? His campaign was running on fumes - the RNC asked him to pony up $10 million of his own money to cover the debts - well, he allegedly got a little help from his friend Sisi, dictator of Egypt. $10 million. The turd wrote the check to the RNC after he was in the White House. Imagine that.
True on the Republican party thing. It should henceforth be referred to as "The party formerly known as the Republican party" As Dan said before, it is no longer the party of Lincoln or even Reagan. Heck, it's not even the party of Dick Cheney anymore.
Pure speculation here: Trump loses the election. MAGA party implodes. Democratic party pretty much takes over where the pre-MAGA Republican party leaves off. A new left party emerges out of the dust.
That’s why there was such turmoil in the midterms, even afterward in some states. The state GOP parties in several states (Michigan for one. For a while it had dueling state GOPs.) fought among themselves; spent their $$ on the phony election cases and shenanigans. Literal fist fights too not mere rhetoric.
Linda, I agree. Money speaks when the masses don’t know the truth about the lies they are being told, Hopefully more now see through the con, Hey neighbor, I grew up in Lawrenceville, but have since moved. Take care,
It was $15 million worth of thinking. All put up by Peter Thiel, the only person he has ever been employed by. Thiel flooded the airwaves and Ohio being Ohio bit and took it, hook, line and sinker.
Hopefully the OH voters will turn the page. But there are plenty more where JD came from. Even though the Governor and local officials have clearly stated the Haitians are here legally; filled a need for workers & Springfield’s economy is growing again and the businesses are glad to have them there is more trouble brewing.
The Ohio AG has his eye on the governor’s mansion when DeWine leaves. He says these reports are from people who would be “credible witnesses” in court. Blah blah blah.
The Sheriff in Portage County 3 hours away is on a voter intimidation campaign.
Ohio is the fascist laboratory for the country. They keep ‘experimenting’, like what’s happening in Portage County, and when it works, they share it with the other states. From DeWeenie to LaStink, to The Bad Joke Yost, the corruption in Ohio is blatant and rampant.
Makes sense. That’s the way it works all over the country. Same for legislation.
I notice OH is in the top 10 for most extremist groups. There is a lot of bias in some areas - even against folks like JD Vance’s family. I suspect that’s why he wrote the book and put all the stereotypes in it. A “I rose above those lazy addicts” book.
I’ve told this before. Met a friend in Covington KY who lived in JD’s town before anyone knew his name (late 90s). She was from NJ originally. I was working there a couple days but lived in another part of KY. I grew up in Michigan.
There’d been a flood so not many places to eat. She took me across the bridge to Cincinnati. We found a place. The young college age waiter asked where are you from & we told him where we lived. He brought our menus. My friend got a dinner menu & I got a children’s placemat with pictures of the food choices. I looked at him & said, excuse me, we don’t have any children joining us. He started laughing at his ‘joke’. Pulled himself together and said, that’s so you don’t have to read. (Yeah, I already knew. I wanted him to say it out loud.) A lot of ugliness. Cinci added Appalachians as a protected class so they could get housing.
I’m on the North Shore. The trump-lickers, and hence, the hatred, is everywhere, and it’s palpable. If it wasn’t for my elderly parents, I’d spit on Ohio as I exited this hellhole.
I still live in KY. N KY is like an extension of Cinci nuttiness. Thomas Massie for one. We inherited Rand Paul in W KY from TX. After our deadly floods, E KY helped tip the balance for our Dem gov to have a 2nd term. And voted for the rest of the GOP. I live in a blue area and we’re always subject to targeted legislation.
I don’t think GOPers would be ratcheting up the temperatures if they weren’t afraid. Harris / Walz have scared the daylights out of them. So wherever they can the haters will set fires and the trump/vance crew will fan the flames. Not that they are afraid of OH turning blue, but to make Springfield / Central OH an example and spread fear. The hate groups love it because it makes the look powerful & helps recruitment. DJT/JD love it. I think it is pushing people away. https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2024/09/10/neo-nazis-hate-groups-and-extremists-target-ohio-november-election/74968949007/
I am a native Ohioan and really don't care for your comments. Yes, we have some bad apples but we are not fascists! Dewine really doesn't like Trump but because he is Republican he can't say much, as is the case with most loyal party goers. Yost is good and bad; he did help me when I was trying to get a marker engraved for my late husband and the gal took off with my money. I did get it back eventually, however, because of Yost. So he is not all bad as you imply.
Of course, you're entitled to your opinion, as I am to mine. I could site multiple examples, beginning with First Energy, and Householder, to amplify my case, but I won't. What I will say is that, if they had ANY values left, they would be speaking out against this "movement" within the Republican party. As Liz Chaney has done. As Adam Kinzinger is doing. As so many former Cabinet members have done. But they don't. And to me, silence is complicity.
"If only Trump and his homunculus, J. D. Vance, cared as much about the safety of others as so many others care about theirs.
My colleague David A. Graham has already noted the misery that Vance is bringing down on his own constituents in Ohio, using hatred against immigrants to set neighbors against one another, a conflict that has led to the closure of schools and the lockdown of two hospitals. Vance is a product of such a working-class town, but in reality he is an utterly synthetic politician, a power-seeking drone who will do almost anything to further his political fortunes. In this case, he is casting the innocent people of Springfield, Ohio, in his own obscene little drama about migrant savages roaming the streets of the heartland trying to sink their teeth into Fluffy and Fido. Sure, it’s a pack of lies—Vance admitted on CNN that he and Trump are “creating stories”—but it’s all for the greater good, you see, of advancing the career of the Hillbilly Senator."
"his homunculus"--brilliant! Thanks for the laugh. I really needed it on a day when we woke to see our Harris Walz lawn signs had disappeared overnight, in blue MA!
Don't remind me that Vance is our Ohio senator. I certainly did not vote for him! He is a bad apple, as far as I am concerned and with his stories of Springfield, is giving Ohio a bad name. I have been an Ohioan all my life and the Trumpers here are awful!
My sympathies. I am in FL where the Governor is doing everyone else's job except his own and attempting to destroy higher education in an effort to garner headlines.
Two of our three state universities do not have presidents and the third dropped from #1 to #34 in the public university rankings.
He also uses less word salad. People know what he’s saying. He dropped this one tonight. I think he borrowed the core idea from Musk’s now deleted “joke”.
Mr. Rather, I am 72 years old, have lived outside of Seattle all of my life. Mom was a Democrat as she was a union supporter; my dad, was not. I left the US when it was my draft year because I was opposed to the Vietnam war (if it's a war, declare and make it real... then I would have volunteered. I voted republican all my life until Barrack Obama - inspiring to say the least.
I HATE this rhetoric, lying BS we have heard since 2012 from the misogynistic, racism, Hitler-like lying OLD man who can't actually talk in a sentence. And now his protégé in JD Vance. WTH? Why can't 60% of the voting population see the ludicrousness of the fiasco?
My wife and I have traveled the world these last two years since I sold my company and retired. 90 countries, 160 ports and all 7 continents. Bluntly, America is the joke of the world solely and completely because of Donald Trump. what you said only make this more urgent - "In the meantime, the Trump-Vance lies continue to distract and dominate news coverage."
Let's end this with the biggest pro-Harris vote in US History and then send Trump where he belongs - jail. The Orange suit will match!
One more thing I forgot to mention --- I was a loyal Dan Rather listener all my life and was totally blown away how you got set up... yet learned what an honorable man you are when you took one when you didn't need to. you are one of my life idols!
Because unlike Dana Bash of the MSM, Alt-Right media like FOX, Newsmax, etc. do NOT call out politicians when they spew made up stories created out of whole cloth by said media outlets.
100% of this problem is caused by Conservative entertainers masquerading as journalists, who hide behind their 1st Amendment rights when they fabricate ridiculous stories.
Absolutely spot on! When you’re around people who watch Fox constantly, you’ll know it in just a few seconds. They love to parrot the Fox line…I avoid these people like the plague. Life is much easier that way. Cult members for sure.
Dana Bash? You’re joking. Did she do ANYTHING during the debate w Biden except nod her empty head while the blob gish-galloped all over Biden spewing hate and lies. Unlike David Muir who handled the debate situation professionally and did not allow that to happen.
Agree! Trump reveals traits during the debate with Harris that Cornell Weill Professor of Psychiatry Friedman says merits a thorough neuropsychological evaluation for dementia and questions his fitness for President. Together with Vance, Trump lies about legal Haitian immigrants in Springfield, OH fits the definition of stochastic terrorism! Vance admits on CNN that his memes are his way of focusing on an immigration problem in Springfield, OH, which DOES NOT EXIST! The good people of Springfield and the rest of AMERICA should not tolerate this type of TERRORISM! Vance’s behavior is dangerous and unacceptable! Neither Trump nor Vance should be anywhere near the codes for America’s nuclear weapons.
I talked to a German woman about thirty years ago who had lived in her homeland during Hitler's takeover. When I asked her how hard it was to endure, she told me, "Many of us had no idea what was happening until it was too late." I hear her words every time I read the news.
When I was a student teacher I was fortunate to be there when one of the social studies teachers had an older gentleman who lived in Indiana visit the class. He was a child when hitler came to power. He explained that none of the adults talked about what went on in the distance where they could see big buildings and sometimes smoke. He never knew until later. He suspected some people knew but eyes & ears were everywhere - which as a child he also did not realize.
My uncle was a POW for most of the war and did not know exactly what was happening then. He said the soldiers were in about as bad a condition as their prisoners. They rifled through their care packages. Not being a smoker he used the cigarettes to trade for food. Hard times, people were isolated and no one was connected by the internet.
Both of my parents were Holocaust victims. My mother was born and raised in Berlin. My father was born and raised in Boryslav Poland which is now in the Ukraine. After my mother and her siblings gained passage to the US, their parents were removed from their home and placed in a work camp. Then they were taken to a camp called Chelmno. In 1942, my grandparents were gassed to death in a van with 9 others. I tell you this story because I do not believe people did not know what was happening. Why? Because they were told by the SS that their neighbors left town on vacation.
I remember you mentioning some of this before. So many terrible stories.
Yes, it would be too fantastical for no one to suspect or even know someone with direct knowledge. Willful ignorance. When the gentleman said there were “eyes and hears” everywhere, I think he meant it was too dangerous to talk about it. Especially in front of children who are not always discreet.
Of course there were people who were loyal to that regime also. I went to middle school with a girl, impeccable in English, but defended hitler one day because he did good things for the common people. A very noteworthy comment in our little community. Perhaps too noteworthy because nothing like that was said by her or anyone again.
They have their pockets of support. However, I’ve notices that when they stray into other places and meddle, communities don’t like outside troublemakers.
Communities pushed back when they come to organize. They came to the Kentucky capital 2x, several years apart since I lived in KY. Both times they were outnumbered by counter protestors. (A friend of mine who they had targeted flinched when I greeted him with a hug. He whispered he was wearing a bulletproof vest.)
It’s been the same story around the state. A few yrs ago a Neo-Nazi who was driven out of a TN community went to So. Indiana and was working in social services. He was fired and came into KY to ‘organize.’ He was charged for assaulting a woman at a trump rally. (Trump didn’t pay his legal fees.) He and his motley crew tried to hold an event in Pikeville KY park (far Eastern KY) under the guise of hosting a ‘family group.’ They were met by irate locals who ran them out of town. He went on to some other state.
The immigrants in Ohio are real people They are there LEGALLY. They don't want to sleep with their daughters and they do not make up identities to get power. It is sickening what the party of family values has been dimenishes to by these ...whatever the hell they are. They are not patriots, nor are they men.
They are not patriots, nor are they men. Excellent point Tobey.
They are simply opportunists....the only time Vance has pushed back was against Lake's comment about the White House will smell like curry. I was impressed, I seriously thought he would shed his Indian wife.
I keep waiting for these so-called reporters to actually ask him, if these people are suffering in Springfield, then why haven't you and the Republicans running the state done anything to relieve this so-called suffering? Why is he trying to draw attention to something that can only be laid at the feet of the GOP, since HE is in the party that is in charge in the state.
How is the Biden/Harris administration responsible for the suffering in a Republican run state? And why hasn't the GOP done more to help towns in Ohio recover, or stay afloat WITHOUT immigrants of any kind?
It's past time for the government to demand a divestment of multiple news outlets owned by a single entity.
You left out the part where he told her to shut up. I really don’t know how to respond to these anymore. I’m way passed appalled and angry. I don’t care anything about either one of them. They are both completely worthless human beings if you can call them that and I don’t really care if either one of them lives another day. They have used their families, immigrants, assassination attempts and anything else possible to their advantage for their campaigns. How about never speaking their names again?
Vance is "damaged" - the obvious misogyny - he probably married a woman from another culture because most American women would pick up on it - the need to reinvent himself, thus no one you could trust - and the desire for pure power makes him one very scary guy....maybe even more than Stephen Miller, who makes me think of Vampires.....
I just started listening to Liz Cheney's memoir--Oath and Honor. How the man whose name I cannot speak is allowed to run for office, absolutely boggles the mind....
Vance is scary! I think he’s banking on trump not being around long if they get elected so he can just waltz right into the job. The only positive thing he could say about his wife is “she is a good mother”. His views on women are horrendous. Saying grandparents should step in and take over child care duties. He changes his views, beliefs like the rest of change our undies. I truly think he is worse than trump.
Vance is much scarier than Trump. He’s more intelligent, but also a ruthless, unscrupulous sociopath. It’s scary how he is incapable of empathy or any warmth or kindness. Trump, on the other hand, is very stupid and uneducated, in spite of the Ivy League degree that daddy bought for him. He is a pure narcissist. It’s sad that this pair of dung sacks are so popular among so many Americans.
Oh, I foolishly thought we might be heading into the last few pre-election weeks with Trump and Vance moderating their commentary to try and hold on to some of their supporters. But no, they are going all out for extremism! Please help keep us sane and focused with your “Steady Newletters”
Trump is trying to stay out of prison. I expect we are in for a blizzard of insanity between now and November. I expect it to get worse when these goons lose. Grateful to Dan Rather and his Steady life raft.
There are very good reasons why honest Republicans like Liz Cheney and her father and Adam K are supporting the Harris ticket and this should be at the top of the list. JDV and DJT are just too scary to contemplate.
JDV may be more of an existential problem for US than DJT. So, as if it wasn’t before, it’s more important than ever to vote - up and down the ballot - as if our lives and nation depended on it.
In some ways, Vance is worse than TFG. And he's going to live a lot longer. Hopefully, the good people of OH will oust him when his Senate term is up. And the rest of us have to keep him the hell out of the White House.
absolutely worse. When I saw him accept the VP nomination I felt I was looking at the future of their movement, slicker, younger, smarter, and knowingly cunningly bad -- and far more dangerous.
Dan nailed it also: "...a wildly ambitious and opportunistic chameleon," where "ambitious" is defined to include a willingness to do, say and lie about anything and to spew hate at will. An unusual trait for someone who has only recently found God and converted from atheism to Catholicism. I wonder what the Pope and the Catholic church think of him. If he goes to confession, he must be talking a long time!
And what on Earth does his wife think about all of this...the hate- and lie-spewing man he has become?
I don’t think JD Vance believes in anything but his own advancement. He will say and do anything in support of that cause. He operates on convenience. He changed his name several times, after all.
All very dangerous, it amazes me how far they will go to lie, cheat and destroy their party.
I received a video from a friend yesterday and I had enough common sense to call the Care clinic in Bethesda, Maryland to find out that they have lawyers working on the fake video and anybody with common sense would know that it was fake because no receptionist gives the detailed information to supposed Woman calling about an abortion. It gets very tiring and frustrating.
Destroy the party? Parties come and go. We can replace the cult with a real political party. It's our nation he wants to destroy.
You nailed it.
Tim Ryan would have been a fabulous Senator. Yet they chose JD. What were they thinking?? Or not thinking.
Vance raised a great deal of money from very creepy Peter Thiel. Tim would not take PAC money and Schumer did not provide enough support. I cried when Tim lost even though I don’t live in his state.
Peter Thiel is only part of the JD Vance story. Leonard Leo is another.
Rather notes that Vance converted to Catholicism 5 years ago. 6 years ago Vance joined the Teneo network.
"Leonard Leo, a key architect of the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority, is now the chairman of Teneo Network, a group that aims to influence all aspects of American politics and culture."
"Leo conveyed his inspiration and intentions: “I just said to myself, ‘Well, if this can work for law, why can’t it work for lots of other areas of American culture and American life where things are really messed up right now?’”"
By 'messed up' Leo means all social progress since at least the 1960s.
Leo is also associated with the Catholic extremist group Opus Dei ;which does not recognize the Vatican 2 reforms. And is a Knight of Malta. Is it a coincidence that the right wing religious extremists Leo has promoted for the Supreme Court - from Clarence Thomas to Amy Coney Barrett - are Catholic. (Gorsuch was raised and educated in the Catholic church but since marriage to an Anglican has attended Episcopal services.) Hypocrites all, because as Catholics - as Irish, Black, Italian, and female Catholics - each of them benefited from the liberalization of American society which the are destroying in their repurposing of our democratic republic as a corporate clerical fascist state.
Vance converted to MAGA to forward his career in the GOP.
It seems in character that his religious conversion was similarly tied to political ambition. Please Leo and get a chance to please Trump.
https://www.propublica.org/article/leonard-leo-teneo-videos-documents
https://www.propublica.org/article/jd-vance-alex-jones-leonard-leo-teneo-maddow-video
ProPublica video of Vance Teneo speech.
https://youtu.be/XU7n4id7uSM?si=8wrhPC-bcqjZAvId
https://accountable.us/leonard-leo-makes-mar-a-lago-appearance-for-maga-rockbridge-donor-group/
"The conservative activist Leonard Leo has declared his intention to spend $1 billion on promoting right-wing ideas in news and entertainment."
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/leonard-leo-liberal-media/
Lin. Thank you for this summary, I was not aware of much of this, All I know is that one choice for hurt people is to want to make sure they are never hurt again by gaining power, money and control of others, They loose the capacity for empathy or remorse , justify lying, cheating, and manipulating others and some even take joy in hurting others, I wish these groups were recognized for the hate groups that they and the damage they do to a civil society. They should not be tolerated. Violence has no place in a democracy
Unfortunately violence has been in all of our history
🥺God help us: We don't need religious extremism of any stripe or American Taliban either.
The lunatic fringe in religion has always been with us, but not it was a prominent place at the table.
You know who else pushes stuff like a “Catholic Taliban but in a good way”? Nick Fuentes in a podcast where he stated clearly that they don’t have the votes to win elections. Solution: “we” need a dictator. Guess who? Use the military to make people comply. I believe that streamed shortly after the 2020 election. Next stop Mar a Lago for dinner. RightWingWatch saved some clips in their archive.
The irony is that most of my hardcore Evangelical Christian relatives do not consider Catholics part of Christianity.
Yep. 100%!
They have no research skills. Jews were the first, then Roman Catholics. PROTESTants separated from the Catholic church in England. Then came all the Protestant spinoffs.
Terrifying.
Thank you, Lin. This was quite the eye-opener! It seems we only learn of these really crazy extremists in spurts and pieces. The Heritage Foundation, the AFPI, Musk with all of his craziness baggage. When you put all of the information together, all I see is an Orwellian future and a very, very bleak landscape for America.
Thanks for those informative links lin; I'm happy to see you here friend.
Why don't people like Thiel and Leo move to a country like Poland where they can celebrate their anti-Americanism?
And Ryan also refused help from the Lincoln Project—not a wise move.
What was he thinking?
Excellent question—no idea, but Rick Wilson mentioned it in a column about how Vance won
One thing I recently learned about Trump, according to the Wiki page, is that from 2020 to now he actually raised more money for the Republican party that the Republican party did. THIS may be why he was able to dominate the party the way he did. Not necessarily because of his charm, charisma or bullying. Although they may have helped.
And he was able to do this in large part due to the popularity he has ,which really took off because of The Apprentice, which created a very fictionalized but attractive image of Trump. The New York Times recently published a very interesting article on it:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/14/business/donald-trump-apprentice.html
It's worth a read if you're interested. I found it almost shocking how different Trump is from the image of him on The Apprentice.
He may have raised it, but the republican party was paying his legal bills that stemmed from the 2020 election, think of the RNC as a clearing house. There no longer is a Republican party. It's the MAGA party. His daughter-in-law runs it and all of the members of the RNC are MAGA devotés.
The Harris/Walz campaign is eating their lunch in terms of fund raising. Enough so, that they are now distributing money to down ballot races.
At the end of the 2016 race? His campaign was running on fumes - the RNC asked him to pony up $10 million of his own money to cover the debts - well, he allegedly got a little help from his friend Sisi, dictator of Egypt. $10 million. The turd wrote the check to the RNC after he was in the White House. Imagine that.
True on the Republican party thing. It should henceforth be referred to as "The party formerly known as the Republican party" As Dan said before, it is no longer the party of Lincoln or even Reagan. Heck, it's not even the party of Dick Cheney anymore.
Pure speculation here: Trump loses the election. MAGA party implodes. Democratic party pretty much takes over where the pre-MAGA Republican party leaves off. A new left party emerges out of the dust.
That’s why there was such turmoil in the midterms, even afterward in some states. The state GOP parties in several states (Michigan for one. For a while it had dueling state GOPs.) fought among themselves; spent their $$ on the phony election cases and shenanigans. Literal fist fights too not mere rhetoric.
Linda, I agree. Money speaks when the masses don’t know the truth about the lies they are being told, Hopefully more now see through the con, Hey neighbor, I grew up in Lawrenceville, but have since moved. Take care,
Many us were thinking and are terribly disappointed.
It was $15 million worth of thinking. All put up by Peter Thiel, the only person he has ever been employed by. Thiel flooded the airwaves and Ohio being Ohio bit and took it, hook, line and sinker.
Not thinking, I believe. I also believe that Ryan did not get much support nationally to help bolster local support.
Ask that empty suit Chuck Schumer who refused to support Tim Ryan’s campaign.
Hopefully the OH voters will turn the page. But there are plenty more where JD came from. Even though the Governor and local officials have clearly stated the Haitians are here legally; filled a need for workers & Springfield’s economy is growing again and the businesses are glad to have them there is more trouble brewing.
The Ohio AG has his eye on the governor’s mansion when DeWine leaves. He says these reports are from people who would be “credible witnesses” in court. Blah blah blah.
The Sheriff in Portage County 3 hours away is on a voter intimidation campaign.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/09/16/sheriff-bruce-zuchowski-portage-county-ohio-kamala-harris-campaign/75248800007/
Sorry to say but the truth is the Columbus area is being targeted because in a red state they vote blue.
Ohio is the fascist laboratory for the country. They keep ‘experimenting’, like what’s happening in Portage County, and when it works, they share it with the other states. From DeWeenie to LaStink, to The Bad Joke Yost, the corruption in Ohio is blatant and rampant.
Makes sense. That’s the way it works all over the country. Same for legislation.
I notice OH is in the top 10 for most extremist groups. There is a lot of bias in some areas - even against folks like JD Vance’s family. I suspect that’s why he wrote the book and put all the stereotypes in it. A “I rose above those lazy addicts” book.
I’ve told this before. Met a friend in Covington KY who lived in JD’s town before anyone knew his name (late 90s). She was from NJ originally. I was working there a couple days but lived in another part of KY. I grew up in Michigan.
There’d been a flood so not many places to eat. She took me across the bridge to Cincinnati. We found a place. The young college age waiter asked where are you from & we told him where we lived. He brought our menus. My friend got a dinner menu & I got a children’s placemat with pictures of the food choices. I looked at him & said, excuse me, we don’t have any children joining us. He started laughing at his ‘joke’. Pulled himself together and said, that’s so you don’t have to read. (Yeah, I already knew. I wanted him to say it out loud.) A lot of ugliness. Cinci added Appalachians as a protected class so they could get housing.
https://www.wyso.org/government-politics-news/2024-01-03/examining-extremism-in-ohio-the-heart-of-it-all-home-to-over-50-extremist-groups
I’m on the North Shore. The trump-lickers, and hence, the hatred, is everywhere, and it’s palpable. If it wasn’t for my elderly parents, I’d spit on Ohio as I exited this hellhole.
I still live in KY. N KY is like an extension of Cinci nuttiness. Thomas Massie for one. We inherited Rand Paul in W KY from TX. After our deadly floods, E KY helped tip the balance for our Dem gov to have a 2nd term. And voted for the rest of the GOP. I live in a blue area and we’re always subject to targeted legislation.
I don’t think GOPers would be ratcheting up the temperatures if they weren’t afraid. Harris / Walz have scared the daylights out of them. So wherever they can the haters will set fires and the trump/vance crew will fan the flames. Not that they are afraid of OH turning blue, but to make Springfield / Central OH an example and spread fear. The hate groups love it because it makes the look powerful & helps recruitment. DJT/JD love it. I think it is pushing people away. https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2024/09/10/neo-nazis-hate-groups-and-extremists-target-ohio-november-election/74968949007/
I am a native Ohioan and really don't care for your comments. Yes, we have some bad apples but we are not fascists! Dewine really doesn't like Trump but because he is Republican he can't say much, as is the case with most loyal party goers. Yost is good and bad; he did help me when I was trying to get a marker engraved for my late husband and the gal took off with my money. I did get it back eventually, however, because of Yost. So he is not all bad as you imply.
Of course, you're entitled to your opinion, as I am to mine. I could site multiple examples, beginning with First Energy, and Householder, to amplify my case, but I won't. What I will say is that, if they had ANY values left, they would be speaking out against this "movement" within the Republican party. As Liz Chaney has done. As Adam Kinzinger is doing. As so many former Cabinet members have done. But they don't. And to me, silence is complicity.
True, they're Complicit and Parroting Hitler's definition of GOOD GERMANS!
From Tom Nichols in The Atlantic:
"If only Trump and his homunculus, J. D. Vance, cared as much about the safety of others as so many others care about theirs.
My colleague David A. Graham has already noted the misery that Vance is bringing down on his own constituents in Ohio, using hatred against immigrants to set neighbors against one another, a conflict that has led to the closure of schools and the lockdown of two hospitals. Vance is a product of such a working-class town, but in reality he is an utterly synthetic politician, a power-seeking drone who will do almost anything to further his political fortunes. In this case, he is casting the innocent people of Springfield, Ohio, in his own obscene little drama about migrant savages roaming the streets of the heartland trying to sink their teeth into Fluffy and Fido. Sure, it’s a pack of lies—Vance admitted on CNN that he and Trump are “creating stories”—but it’s all for the greater good, you see, of advancing the career of the Hillbilly Senator."
"his homunculus"--brilliant! Thanks for the laugh. I really needed it on a day when we woke to see our Harris Walz lawn signs had disappeared overnight, in blue MA!
Synthetic 👍🏻
I hope nobody perishes due to Vances Negligence, but if someone does die due his Falsehood, Vance should be Prosecuted for Inciting Violence!
Excellent—thanks for sharing this from The Atlantic.
The irony is that Vance is an Ohio Senator. He is supposed to be working for the people of Ohio not targeting them.
Don't remind me that Vance is our Ohio senator. I certainly did not vote for him! He is a bad apple, as far as I am concerned and with his stories of Springfield, is giving Ohio a bad name. I have been an Ohioan all my life and the Trumpers here are awful!
My sympathies. I am in FL where the Governor is doing everyone else's job except his own and attempting to destroy higher education in an effort to garner headlines.
Two of our three state universities do not have presidents and the third dropped from #1 to #34 in the public university rankings.
He also uses less word salad. People know what he’s saying. He dropped this one tonight. I think he borrowed the core idea from Musk’s now deleted “joke”.
https://www.rawstory.com/jd-vance-2669215785/
What a POS
So true, Julie.
Mr. Rather, I am 72 years old, have lived outside of Seattle all of my life. Mom was a Democrat as she was a union supporter; my dad, was not. I left the US when it was my draft year because I was opposed to the Vietnam war (if it's a war, declare and make it real... then I would have volunteered. I voted republican all my life until Barrack Obama - inspiring to say the least.
I HATE this rhetoric, lying BS we have heard since 2012 from the misogynistic, racism, Hitler-like lying OLD man who can't actually talk in a sentence. And now his protégé in JD Vance. WTH? Why can't 60% of the voting population see the ludicrousness of the fiasco?
My wife and I have traveled the world these last two years since I sold my company and retired. 90 countries, 160 ports and all 7 continents. Bluntly, America is the joke of the world solely and completely because of Donald Trump. what you said only make this more urgent - "In the meantime, the Trump-Vance lies continue to distract and dominate news coverage."
Let's end this with the biggest pro-Harris vote in US History and then send Trump where he belongs - jail. The Orange suit will match!
Mike Grady, Redmond Washington
One more thing I forgot to mention --- I was a loyal Dan Rather listener all my life and was totally blown away how you got set up... yet learned what an honorable man you are when you took one when you didn't need to. you are one of my life idols!
Mine, too! He's a straight talker, tells us the background and truths of situations, which reassures me. I trust him.
I have this idea of having my most admired famous people being my neighbors. Dan Rather is in the top 5.
We always trusted Dan Rather to tell us the truth when he was on TV. I’m so happy he’s still here for us with “Steady.”
He’s a national treasure!
Ditto Mike. Many more of us here too as I firmly believe.
Neither Trump nor Vance would pass military screening now. How do we let lunatics take office?
Because unlike Dana Bash of the MSM, Alt-Right media like FOX, Newsmax, etc. do NOT call out politicians when they spew made up stories created out of whole cloth by said media outlets.
100% of this problem is caused by Conservative entertainers masquerading as journalists, who hide behind their 1st Amendment rights when they fabricate ridiculous stories.
Absolutely spot on! When you’re around people who watch Fox constantly, you’ll know it in just a few seconds. They love to parrot the Fox line…I avoid these people like the plague. Life is much easier that way. Cult members for sure.
Well said Nub.
Dana Bash? You’re joking. Did she do ANYTHING during the debate w Biden except nod her empty head while the blob gish-galloped all over Biden spewing hate and lies. Unlike David Muir who handled the debate situation professionally and did not allow that to happen.
Agree! Trump reveals traits during the debate with Harris that Cornell Weill Professor of Psychiatry Friedman says merits a thorough neuropsychological evaluation for dementia and questions his fitness for President. Together with Vance, Trump lies about legal Haitian immigrants in Springfield, OH fits the definition of stochastic terrorism! Vance admits on CNN that his memes are his way of focusing on an immigration problem in Springfield, OH, which DOES NOT EXIST! The good people of Springfield and the rest of AMERICA should not tolerate this type of TERRORISM! Vance’s behavior is dangerous and unacceptable! Neither Trump nor Vance should be anywhere near the codes for America’s nuclear weapons.
I talked to a German woman about thirty years ago who had lived in her homeland during Hitler's takeover. When I asked her how hard it was to endure, she told me, "Many of us had no idea what was happening until it was too late." I hear her words every time I read the news.
When I was a student teacher I was fortunate to be there when one of the social studies teachers had an older gentleman who lived in Indiana visit the class. He was a child when hitler came to power. He explained that none of the adults talked about what went on in the distance where they could see big buildings and sometimes smoke. He never knew until later. He suspected some people knew but eyes & ears were everywhere - which as a child he also did not realize.
My uncle was a POW for most of the war and did not know exactly what was happening then. He said the soldiers were in about as bad a condition as their prisoners. They rifled through their care packages. Not being a smoker he used the cigarettes to trade for food. Hard times, people were isolated and no one was connected by the internet.
Both of my parents were Holocaust victims. My mother was born and raised in Berlin. My father was born and raised in Boryslav Poland which is now in the Ukraine. After my mother and her siblings gained passage to the US, their parents were removed from their home and placed in a work camp. Then they were taken to a camp called Chelmno. In 1942, my grandparents were gassed to death in a van with 9 others. I tell you this story because I do not believe people did not know what was happening. Why? Because they were told by the SS that their neighbors left town on vacation.
I remember you mentioning some of this before. So many terrible stories.
Yes, it would be too fantastical for no one to suspect or even know someone with direct knowledge. Willful ignorance. When the gentleman said there were “eyes and hears” everywhere, I think he meant it was too dangerous to talk about it. Especially in front of children who are not always discreet.
Of course there were people who were loyal to that regime also. I went to middle school with a girl, impeccable in English, but defended hitler one day because he did good things for the common people. A very noteworthy comment in our little community. Perhaps too noteworthy because nothing like that was said by her or anyone again.
Yes, unfortunately our country has always harbored the KKKers (whom I once witnessed in NC as a 15 year old) and Nazis, plus their sympathizers.
They have their pockets of support. However, I’ve notices that when they stray into other places and meddle, communities don’t like outside troublemakers.
Communities pushed back when they come to organize. They came to the Kentucky capital 2x, several years apart since I lived in KY. Both times they were outnumbered by counter protestors. (A friend of mine who they had targeted flinched when I greeted him with a hug. He whispered he was wearing a bulletproof vest.)
It’s been the same story around the state. A few yrs ago a Neo-Nazi who was driven out of a TN community went to So. Indiana and was working in social services. He was fired and came into KY to ‘organize.’ He was charged for assaulting a woman at a trump rally. (Trump didn’t pay his legal fees.) He and his motley crew tried to hold an event in Pikeville KY park (far Eastern KY) under the guise of hosting a ‘family group.’ They were met by irate locals who ran them out of town. He went on to some other state.
The immigrants in Ohio are real people They are there LEGALLY. They don't want to sleep with their daughters and they do not make up identities to get power. It is sickening what the party of family values has been dimenishes to by these ...whatever the hell they are. They are not patriots, nor are they men.
It’s a strategy. They light the fuse and others fan the flames. I hope they’ve overstepped whatever boundaries are left.
They are not patriots, nor are they men. Excellent point Tobey.
They are simply opportunists....the only time Vance has pushed back was against Lake's comment about the White House will smell like curry. I was impressed, I seriously thought he would shed his Indian wife.
They behave like opportunistic predators, hyenas come to mind.
I keep waiting for these so-called reporters to actually ask him, if these people are suffering in Springfield, then why haven't you and the Republicans running the state done anything to relieve this so-called suffering? Why is he trying to draw attention to something that can only be laid at the feet of the GOP, since HE is in the party that is in charge in the state.
How is the Biden/Harris administration responsible for the suffering in a Republican run state? And why hasn't the GOP done more to help towns in Ohio recover, or stay afloat WITHOUT immigrants of any kind?
It's past time for the government to demand a divestment of multiple news outlets owned by a single entity.
We did this once in the 1960s and it's time to do it again. Congress has been entirely too lax in enforcing antitrust/antimonopoly laws.
They respond by saying the ‘open borders’ policy caused the problem. They lie and say the Haitians are here illegally.
As my dad said, you can’t catch a liar because they tell another lie.
Boy, he’s got to be kept far away from the White House!!💙
Creepy to see this kind of thinking in one so educated, and so young. Where did he learn to hate women? Or is he so weak as to be afraid of them?
I'm no shrink, but I'd have to say, "Mommy issues."
He’s now blaming Harris for the assignation attempt! That really is the most incredible nasty thing yet! He must not win!
Trust me, he will not win.
Thank you
🤞
Oh definitely!
Can we skip to the end where they're tried for treason and face the consequences?
You left out the part where he told her to shut up. I really don’t know how to respond to these anymore. I’m way passed appalled and angry. I don’t care anything about either one of them. They are both completely worthless human beings if you can call them that and I don’t really care if either one of them lives another day. They have used their families, immigrants, assassination attempts and anything else possible to their advantage for their campaigns. How about never speaking their names again?
BRAVA, Betty!!
Voldemort I & II
Vance is "damaged" - the obvious misogyny - he probably married a woman from another culture because most American women would pick up on it - the need to reinvent himself, thus no one you could trust - and the desire for pure power makes him one very scary guy....maybe even more than Stephen Miller, who makes me think of Vampires.....
All sociopaths.
Vance reminds me of Miller every time he opens his mouth. Both are the stuff of nightmares!
I just started listening to Liz Cheney's memoir--Oath and Honor. How the man whose name I cannot speak is allowed to run for office, absolutely boggles the mind....
Lifelong, unprincipled shyster.
World champion grifter. He deserves prison, & I hope I live to see it!
I would need a thesaurus to list all the adjectives I would need to describe tfg.
Vance is scary! I think he’s banking on trump not being around long if they get elected so he can just waltz right into the job. The only positive thing he could say about his wife is “she is a good mother”. His views on women are horrendous. Saying grandparents should step in and take over child care duties. He changes his views, beliefs like the rest of change our undies. I truly think he is worse than trump.
Vance is much scarier than Trump. He’s more intelligent, but also a ruthless, unscrupulous sociopath. It’s scary how he is incapable of empathy or any warmth or kindness. Trump, on the other hand, is very stupid and uneducated, in spite of the Ivy League degree that daddy bought for him. He is a pure narcissist. It’s sad that this pair of dung sacks are so popular among so many Americans.
Your comment about dung sacks made me laugh out loud! So true, though!
Oh, I foolishly thought we might be heading into the last few pre-election weeks with Trump and Vance moderating their commentary to try and hold on to some of their supporters. But no, they are going all out for extremism! Please help keep us sane and focused with your “Steady Newletters”
Yes, please!
Trump is trying to stay out of prison. I expect we are in for a blizzard of insanity between now and November. I expect it to get worse when these goons lose. Grateful to Dan Rather and his Steady life raft.
There are very good reasons why honest Republicans like Liz Cheney and her father and Adam K are supporting the Harris ticket and this should be at the top of the list. JDV and DJT are just too scary to contemplate.
Liz Cheney is the true example of a patriotic American, she’s put partisanship aside and is stalwart fighting for our democracy.
Thank you, Dan and Team Steady.
JDV may be more of an existential problem for US than DJT. So, as if it wasn’t before, it’s more important than ever to vote - up and down the ballot - as if our lives and nation depended on it.
As an old white dyke with only chosen family of Black Americans, I fear for their lives, safety, and mine.