I am disgusted that Vance, Hegseth, Trump, Rubio and Musk have been able to lay waste to our standing in the world in a mere three weeks. Their combination of arrogance and ignorance coupled with the apparent fact that they think every meeting is a MAGA rally, will set back US soft, and the effective use of hard, power for decades. And far too many people, not just the MAGAs, do not understand what that means.
I think a majority of Americans agree with Musk/Trump/Vance/Rubio/Hegseth. Including Hegseth's mother. They hate Jews and need anti-democratic forces to rid the world of the "undesirables". It is not surprising, but few called the alarm before the election. Americans voted for removing undesirables here and abroad. M/T/V were quite vocal about the policies they are now carrying out. Rubio and Hegseth wanted to be apart of the administration to be the spokesmen for Trump.
I don't think this is true. I think most people are too busy working multiple jobs or too tired to pay attention. All they cared about was the price of eggs.
But at the same time they have no idea what actually affects the price of eggs (or gas, or many other things). Do they really want to know? I suspect not. The racist, sexist, anti-immigrant dog whistles are more than enough.
Correction: A plurality (less than a majority) of the 63% of eligible voters voted for Trump-Vance. They did not vote for Musk, Rubio, or Hegseth. It's actually hard to tell what they voted for, or thought they were voting for. I'd be surprised if many of them knew anything about Project 2025. Especially in swing states, they were swamped with campaign ads, and more voters get their "news" from social media than from reasonably legitimate news sources (e.g., those that do at least some fact-checking).
Btw, a very slightly smaller plurality of those 63% of eligible voters voted for Harris-Walz, even though the Harris-Walz ticket was handicapped by a very late start.
These are the people the Democrats need to reach. Democrats
need to give up the idea of "communing with" MAGA people or "compromising." MAGA folks are in a cult, and they will have to emerge from it on their own. It's the sit-at-home-don't-care people who need to be registered and encouraged, ie, with a ride to the polls, who will make a difference, IMHO.
True, we do not need to change who we are or our goals. However, 49% is more than just hardcore maga people. So we do not need to demonize everyone who voted for this thinking the worst of his promises were only talk & they’d get the best of what they remember — a better economy.
There are others who were too young to remember what the first term was like. (8-10 yrs ago 18-22 yr olds for instance.) I’m glad David Hogg is DNC Vice Chair. He wants to focus on young people - something the DNC in 2024 refused to do & they are slipping away.
Well, maybe. You realize this is not unusual? Therefore we don’t know how it influences the outcome each election. We can guess which usually means blaming them for not delivering whatever outcome we wanted. All we really know is the greatest portion of these potential voters are a-political, disaffected and low consumers of news.
Because population grows, we can better measure potential (eligible) nonvoters by their percentage of potentially eligible voters.
— This figure is based on the https://election.lab.ufl.edu/voter-turnout/ – not registered voters – in the United States, which the Election Lab defines as “the voting-age population (those 18 years or older in the U.S.) minus ineligible noncitizens and felons.” It is considered a “more consistent” measure of voter turnout, according to the lab. —
That’s why he received a plurality of the vote not a majority. Voting for someone else didn’t help matters any more than not voting did. We could just as easily say the people who voted against Harris were the majority. It would be accurate but misleading.
I think it is something we need to keep in mind as people discuss moving from a basically 2 party system, necessitating coalitions. Hitler only had 30% of the vote. He leveraged it in their legislature.
Germany has a serious problem now with the AfD Musk started courting and now Vance. It has 21% and is closely connected to the coup plotters of 2022 and 2024. They trail the lead party by less than 8%.
IMO, the only good from the Orange Felon and his antics may be the shrinking poll numbers for the CAN Conservative Party with elections to replace Trudeau coming up soon.
It depends on how much right-wing media they consume. I know literally 2 people who sound like Vance; everyone else i know is horrified. What's interesting is both of them are 100% sure theirs is the majority opinion by far. That's what right-wing media produces.
But, Susan, I know (not friends) many people who are absolutely not horrified. But I reside in a red state, and support of Fascism is ignorantly viewed as patriotic.
I knew this and repeated myself many times with the analogy to Hitler and Nazi Germany. Given my small following it isn’t a surprise that few people seemed to care. Thank you for raising this point. We must fight this.
Steven(modified to reflect science): "...What level of ignorance is required to tell them...who suffered the deadliest of [GULLIBILITY TO THE PLACEBO EFFECT]that their biggest problems stem from their failure to embrace[BLARING HUMAN FLAWS]"
Restated: if Nazism cures 60% of America.... maybe it's time to STOP DENYING SCIENCE...so no one resorts to needing placebo...
...First Do No Harm...
STOP THE LYING...
"Don't Sweat It."...is a LIE... Exercise and Exposure are mandatory, and BOTH CAUSE SWEAT
Note: Exposure Therapy aka Desensitization, aka Face Your Fear, aka Anti-Fragile, aka Middle Schoolers have "free range" CHILD'S PLAY, aka "Do one thing every day that scares you."--Ms.FDR, aka FREEDOM FROM FEAR
It's been said that history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. It seems very ironic that Vance is in Munich in 2025 to give away part of Ukraine to Russia, the same city in which Neville Chamberlain gave the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Hitler in 1938. How did that cowardice work out?
My fear is that to stop MAGA in all its flavors will require violence in the USA. My hope is that the Democrats can regain control of the House in a few months and get bigger majority in 2026. We all have to RESIST and have non-stop actions to prevent the worst that MAGA can do.
I agree with you Larry. As a progressive leftie, I will not be able to sit , idly watching all of our democratic initiatives go down the drain. I prefer to go down fighting, however that manifests itself.... I will NOT go down quietly.
Vance's performance at the Munich Security Conference was beyond embarrassing for your country. His arrogance and disrespect of other democratic leaders in the room was palpable and made me sick. If his words are any indication of how he and Trump will lead, our country will be destroyed on the world stage. We must resist all of it every chance we get.
Insulting your host in public; not meeting with the democratically elected leader & then meeting with the political party tied to 2 coups attempts. That’s quite a disrespectful performance.
Technocrats like his grandfather Haldeman did not believe in democracy. Scientists and technical experts would be selected to run things. Technocracy, Inc. A fascist aligned group. He was a leader in that movement in CAN and briefly jailed when it was outlawed. Then headed up a CAN anti-Semitic party. Moved on to South Africa.
The most fanatical of the Technocrats used numbers for their first names. The Muskrat has proposed a technocracy when Mars is settled.
I totally agree. Every other email and multiple texts are requests for $$. I gave before the election but that wasn’t good enough. What we need is real leadership from the democrats. We need leaders who are on the news every single day talking about the embarrassment we are facing AND the implications of Trump’s destructive actions. Thousands of public servants are losing their jobs. Farmers are losing their livelihood. During the pandemic I tuned in to listen to Andrew Cuomo, even though I live in the west. Whatever you think of him, he displayed calm, intelligent, data driven explanations and he talked with people, not at them. We need leadership in the democratic party. People who are not out for themselves. People who can speak with the electorate about their problems. We need to get angry and take action. Nothing will change in the balance of power unless we take action. Who are your leaders of choice?
Agree, while they are on opposite sides of the party line - Cuomo, Liz Cheney, Adam Kizinger appear to be logical, forward thinking politicians and patriots first. Not towing the party line..The time for a strong independent 3rd party to force clear, logical discussion, discourse and compromise is long past due...
I'm not sure what you mean by "real Americans," Steven, so I'm going to answer the question, "Is what Vance is doing going to work?" No. He, Trump, and Muck are alienating so many people that they're going to go down in flames. Europeans aren't stupid. People who rely on Social Security and Medicare, even if they're Trump supporters, are not going to be happy about being left to go broke and die. Government employees who lose their jobs, fire and hurricane victims who are left helpless, etc., etc. are going to say "WTF." Vance will never be elected to anything again. Yes, there will continue to be extremists and hate groups, but they will once again be marginalized. Unfortunately a lot of damage will occur before any of this happens.
I agree. A significant number of people who voted for trump fall into that “low-information voter” category. Even though he eked out a slight plurality, I would argue that the Trump “coalition” includes a lot of people who were willfully mislead by Trump, the GOP and the mainstream media. Of course, 2024 was not a referendum on Project 2025…. Trump and the GOP lied through their teeth about their intentions. (Recall when Joe B called them out in his 2024 SOTU speech…and as a group the House Republicans and Mike Johnson shook their heads in denial). Well, now we see that their denials were the most cynical of lies, and while the GOP may be able to fool some of the people all of the time, many of those fooled in 2024 will feel the impact of those lies in 2026.
The point is: REPUBLICANS did not call out the LIE. Blame "low-information voters" but they did have Information - FOXTV. They were informed by a network that they agreed with. A Navy Veteran is now worried about his checks and medical needs, but he would vote for Trump again. He likes Hegseth because he is strong and manly (not BLACK).
Also TRUE, there are ‘low information voters’ and they matter. We deny, vilify and stereotype at our own peril.
The maga hardcore base is about 35%.
Many people do not follow the news. There is a strong correlation between not following the news and voting for trump/vance. Only about 34% in each party get their news from TV. Younger folks are not keen on watching Fox or consuming as “legacy” media. As the younger population grows each cycle this phenomenon grows. Accidental influence from ‘doom scrolling’ - unintentional consumption of headlines is a thing.
• Data for Progress — What Political News Engagement Tells Us About Donald Trump’s Victory — “Support for Harris Decreases as News Consumption Decreases“
Trump won because he went after the low info and low preponderance people who are 40% of the population. S. Wiles pulled out the stops on early voting, vote by mail, buying votes and bullet ballots to get this vote out. Interestingly, zRepublicans in my state (Utah) are working hard to restrict voting. Who is that going to hurt? Trump lost in 2000 because he surpressed the vote.
I don’t understand why so many people seem to be waiting for the mid-term elections to fix everything & rebalance our government. Personally, I have no confidence there will be mid-term elections. I don’t have confidence there will be any future elections unless by then, the administration has total control of voting systems that they can guarantee the outcome…like their mentor, Vlad.
All my life I’ve heard about our system of checks & balances…where are they now?? Turns out they relied on people of integrity and courage who seem to be missing.
IMO, if some sort of definitive action isn’t taken very soon, there will be no mid-terms or those that do happen will be a sham.
I know what you mean, Carrie. There are many lawsuits and protests going on and we have yet to see whether they'll help. We also have some great new news outlets and advocacy groups that are attracting a lot of new people. I'm hoping these boycotts will help too, although we need a lot of people to participate for them to work. Fortunately we have a lot of examples from history to inspire us. Fingers crossed.
I agree, except for the cash flowing to support their lies and bullshit coming from the very wealthiest here and abroad apparently.. who have insistently neglected the lessons of history so obvious that their sheer ignorance of what consequences they will invariably face.
I know what you mean, Patris. I just can't imagine this house of cards not collapsing, money or not. My husband is a student of World War II, and he keeps telling me that one major difference between Hitler and Trump is that Hitler gave the people security--benefits and a safety net. In so doing he got them on his side. Trump is stupidly taking all that away. Veterans, older people, and everyone who can't make ends meet is going to notice. Some may rationalize but because he's made so many promises he isn't keeping I can't believe they can do that forever. Even Republicans in the legislature are beginning to question what's going on. Did you see that Wicker, who shepherded Hegseth through, is upset with H's ridiculous remarks about Ukraine?
I used to think Americans would never support such a satanic philosophy, but now I am not so sure. The MAGA cult is so unhinged that -- as I recently read -- they would burn down their own homes on the chance a Democrat might cough on the smoke. This is mass psychosis on a scale history has never seen. Please keep up the good work.
Unfortunately, I think more support the ideas more than we realize. I have recently been having a bit of a back and forth with a now former friend (what a word group I never expected to write), who uses the same talking points including the ones about “doing my research”. So I asked point blank, “Research of what?”, and their sites are filled with conspiracies rooted in white supremecy while layered in intelligent sounding “facts”. Many are from dark shadows of websites and of course they are in a complete conservative vacuum, while she claims I am only in a liberal vacuum. (It is going to get tougher as more people are kept out of the inner workings so not able to report on it all).
I grew up in Akron, Ohio, attended an almost entirely black high school, and that shaped my views forever. Also shaping them was my horror at the casual way my dad felt the n word was acceptable to use, and while he claimed several black friends and always welcomed mine, he would still use it in the privacy of home, not seeing the way it caused me to churn inside at the oppositional feelings of what was the right thing. If he had been able to afford it, he would have fast tracked us to all white private school and he blamed a lot of my views on going to that school.
By college’s first week, it was clear university was separated by color (this was the late 70s), even though the majority of my black friends were attending the same university. Greek rush included not being allowed to speak to anyone of another race and that was not only the white organizations. And to this day, my childhood neighbor is by far one of the most racist people I know, even having attended the identical school, and all while back clapping at every reunion, his superiority intact.
So yes, they exist, not all with shaved heads and swastikas. They are in the courts, they are coworkers, they are in the heritage foundation and in the church. They look “normal”, but the depth of the white supremacy is a power they will never relinquish.
It isn’t only white supremacy. If you grew up in OH then you may have noticed JD’s book mimicked the things he heard growing up in OHIO about Appalachians. You might know that in the 90s Cincinnati added Appalachians as a protected class because of the bigotry.
Yes, I experienced it as a visitor. Insulted and mocked to my face in public. For the record, I’m about as white as you can get. My husband experienced it in school from adults. Needless to say, we don’t spend much time in neighboring OH. It’s drive - thru territory.
Wherever these things happen, I see it as some sort of deep seated need to blame someone regardless of color; to have a target for anger and to prove someone else - not they - are at the bottom of the totem pole.
I also lived in Columbus and rarely experienced anything like you’re describing. I think there are parts of Ohio that have strongly been given that megaphone, but as an adult raising kids it was still a blue place.
How often do you have to experience it to know it’s there? Maybe if you’re not Appalachian or people don’t realize it you never notice. I grew up in Michigan and was clueless until I moved to Ky. The way my husband talked I thought it was old news.
Vance is younger than my husband and I. He grew up - not in Ky like his grandparents - but in Middletown OH. This happened over decades. It wasn’t just a GOP thing. JD reached back to his youth and made it great again. The accolades poured in and he catapulted to public office. Obviously it is a prevalent attitude & not only in OH.
Yes, Columbus was like that. It’s where my husband periodically went to elementary school. When his dad had long-term work they stayed with relatives there. He still remembers the one teacher who was the exception and treated all the students as humans who deserved to be there.
I also had a supv - who was a licensed clinical social worker - who went to college in Columbus and practiced there after graduating for years before moving back home. She brought back the same attitudes.
The other day, here on Substack, I came across a blog about black history. The story reported was about a massacre of blacks that took place in Georgia in 1918, not that long ago.
While several blacks were murdered in response to the murder of an abusive white man, the article focused on the murders of two blacks, a couple, not involved in the white man’s death. The husband had been jailed for complaining about his wife being beaten by that white man, and when the massacre occurred, the jailer handed him over to a lynch mob.
When the man’s wife complained, she too was arrested, brutalized and lynched the next day. She was 8 months pregnant at the time & her stomach was cut open; the baby stomped to death by the mob. The couple’s three older children were orphaned.
This is what White Supremacy/Christian Nationalism will bring back to America. This is what openly endorsed racism leads to: atrocities on a grand scale. These White Supremacist Republicans, who are so ‘fake scared’ their children may have to go to school with some trans kid—highly unlikely in most schools since trans people are a teensy-weensy proportion of society,— but they’re okay with the likelihood of their kids being exposed to the brutalizing cruelty of government sanctioned racism. There is no such thing as ‘separate but equal’. There is only separate, marginalized, & brutalized.
Bravo! I have just shared this excellent piece on my Facebook page with the following comment: "Steven Beschloss is right up there with Heather Cox Richardson among people I respect and follow. In this column, he expresses the disgust and embarrassment I share with the performances of Vance and the new secretary of defense for their indefensible presentations attacking our allies and bypassing our real enemies. The fact is that the new leadership of our nation, including co-president Musk, is the most dangerous threat to our nation's independence, security, well-being, democracy, respectability internationally, and in so many other ways. Can we restore the rule of law through the courts, or will it take a major uprising to rescue our nation? Will Republicans and their MAGA constituents finally realize what they are doing to our nation and help stop the coup. How sad it is that we must ask that question...😢
A lot of thoughts have flitted through my brain over all this. First, one of the stupidest men I ever met had a degree from Harvard, so knowing Vance went to Yale doesn’t impress me with his intelligence. I think he might “out-stupid” the Harvard man. That doesn’t even begin to talk about his venal nature. Second, for a long time (I was born on VJ Day, just so you know) I have trusted my “blind date test: as a young adult, and the mother and grandmother of girls: would I have gone out with DJT, EM, or JDV, or quietly let either of my girls go out the door with creeps like them? Having dated rather a lot I think I have a well-honed creep sensor. Third, the comedian Josh Johnson did a wonderful performance (can be seen on YouTube, titled “Why They Are Turning on Elon…”) about Musk. Takes an hour, but absolutely worth watching to the end: “He’s just dancing…”. So I practice rage and rebellion in small ways: I have bought a “Canada Isn’t For Sale” hat…in French, just to show how pretentious I can be. I’ll wear it! I watch the Johnson episode every couple of days. I also watch the Full Frontal episode titled “Trump in Scotland”. I don’t yet have the statically charged balloon, but I believe the Scottish farmer: “Just keep making fun of him - he’ll crack up”. I read the entire letter of resignation that Danielle Sassoon wrote. Brilliant! And now, seriously, I’m thinking of practical things I can do at my age - League of Women Voters? Add my voice to those who have written to every member of the House and my senators? Working on it.
I made a previous reply…rather long, so sorry…. I forgot to mention reading Tim Eagan’s “Fever in the Heartland” about the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana 100 years ago. There is so much US history doesn’t get taught. Remember Sam Baldwin’s (Tom Hanks) comment in “Sleepless in Seattle”: I *don’t* want to think what they are not teaching you in school!”
Sadly there is a huge amount of illiteracy in this country, and sadly most of them only understand memes full of propaganda, these folks don’t read or listen to the news, sadly that’s also a large part of the maga base. It’s difficult to reach them on their level. Civic Sundays does a very good job of pointing this out…
• large format, mass mailed postcards featuring short, clear messages such as some of the posts featured on Substack.
Many Substack posts feature brief statements such as:
• how much profit Tesla posted & how much tax it paid (0). Or
• how much the wealth of billionaires increased in the last 10 years vs how much the average wages increased. Or
• simple statements like ‘ immigrants & minorities aren’t the problem. Billionaires are’.
You can’t reach people on right-wing media with intelligent posts and articles like those on Substack. And no one, I repeat NO ONE, is going to read the multiple pages of text-saturated political letters sent in the mail to ‘educate’ the public about important issues.
Short & sweet, low tech outreach is accessible to everyone…and probably much cheaper to produce than all those long, tedious pages & pages that will never be read & kill millions of trees.
As an American who lives and works in Europe, Vance will appall the public and leaders, just in the same way Musk does. Their question will be ‘how did Trump get elected and does Vance represent the view of Americans of today?’ The damage this administration could do may we’ll force Europe to turn away from a country they didn’t alway admire but admire the spirit in which is was founded and what it has achieved. I live in the UK and work in Europe. Mainland Europe is bitter about Brexit and unlikely to welcome a chastened (now generally agreed in UK Brexit a failure) UK back. Future generations of mainland Europeans and the UK citizens are losers in that. Vance is destroying an alliance he clearly does not understand and playing into a geopolitical dynamic that accelerates the fall of US global influence— if he is the face of the US today, we can expect to be shunned by our European allies.
Vance is following the Muskrat and joining an alliance he will eventually regret. How much is destroyed first is a serious question. The leading party in Germany is slightly more than 8 points ahead of AfD. The same AfD that loves our Orange Felon and is connected to 2 recent coups interrupted by the German government (2022 - on trial now - and November 2024).
Back when George W. Bush was president & pushing such stupidities as ‘Freedom Fries’, I found myself in Istanbul, Turkey, about to hire a taxi. As soon as the driver realized I was an American, he threw me out of his cab! I had to ask a police officer to get a cab for me so I could get to my host’s home. About the same time, a colleague, traveling with her husband in Italy, was slapped with a fish for being American.
You may recall, you could actually buy a guide that told travelers how to pass themselves off as Canadians. LOL, Good Times….🥶
All too true. Nonetheless, I’ve not been hit with a fish (yet) but was nearly run off the road on my bike when foolishly wearing an old Stars and Stripes T-shirt in the early 80s. I have spent last 40 years trying mitigate the resentment which can turn to rage, and remind my colleagues that the US government does not speak for all Americans. Never has this been more acute than now. I thought it was bad during Reagan and George W., but turns out I didn’t have sufficient imagination to realise what Trump 2.0 would mean. Other countries are incredulous we would loose these people on the world stage and the anger and resentment is growing much quicker during the last month than any previous US administration in my lifetime.
I most emphatically do not agree or support Vance’s comments. It is becoming embarrassing to be a US citizen in just a few short weeks and be lumped in with them.
It’s not enough that the Trumphuk -Muskalini Regime is trying to impose their proto -Nazism here in the US, but now are undermining our international commitment to support and maintain democracy in Europe and interfere in their elections. Then they put Ukraine on the chopping block. Clearly this is reprehensible—but how do we stop this insanity?
The United States has been subsumed by the confederacy. We are now the confederate states of america. The plantation owners are at the helm, Jefferson Davis sits behind the resolute desk as the useful idiot. And we are extending our confederate values to the rest of the world. Its interesting, Mussolini is credited with inventing fascism. But like with many things we perfected the "values" of fascism in the post reconstruction south long before. We just called it Jim Crow.
They studied Jim Crow and modified it to suit their objectives. 😪
Blacks were suppressed but Jews in Germany were painted as powerful, so they looked also to other aspects of US laws accepted by Americans.
— Nazis were more interested in how the U.S. had designated Native Americans, Filipinos and other groups as non-citizens even though they lived in the U.S. or its territories. These models influenced the citizenship portion of the Nuremberg Laws, which stripped Jewish Germans of their citizenship and classified them as “nationals.” —
Ann —your post made me wonder about Jews looking powerful in Europe. Didn’t that eventually get turned on them to make their assumed power look controlling & negative? A great deal more focus must be put on billionaires and the fact that they actually are using their power against the rest of us.
Yes, it did. It is the fiction of their ‘power’ that made nazism begin at a different point - denying the rights of citizenship, dehumanization. By being pushed out of some professions they were overrepresented in others that put them in the public eye as did being mostly middle class. Too complicated to begin with an argument that such a group incompetent.
“Historically prohibited from many professional endeavors, Jews were disproportionately represented in some areas of the economy, such as journalism, law, medicine, and retailing. Concentrated in a small number of professions (more often than not in urban areas).”
I think we are at the point now where the focus can go to point by point words & deeds of the Orange Felon and Muskrat with little explanation. It is harder re: Musk. They are secretive & lie.
However the tricky part is getting it out to people. There are a lot of things not being reported on. Maybe a social media truth squad with different ‘chapters’ working in a variety of social media platforms. Humor helps. Graphics. Caricatures repeated repeated repeated. parody style.
• Dictator on day 1 — Words today: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law"
• Campaign promises to cut taxes for the rich & give those who donated enough $$ the policies they want — and after being in the WH - reiterated permits & regulations would be easier for them.
• Trump’s Project 2025 is a plan of destruction
Musk can do nothing Without the Orange Felon so —
• Trump let Musk take your personal data
• Trump let Musk use cybercrime kids to stop payments to farmers for food
• Trump let Musk use those kids to take $80M from NYC bank account. He can do it to you.
• DOGE is a fake group that put real NONFORN classified info about our satellites on their unsecured website.
• 2 out of 3 SpaceX launches failed recently. Musk isn’t worried. It was our $$.
And so on. Little factoids based on big bad facts.
Vance plays to the 1/3 of the voters who are brutally racist, fascist, theocrats, or in the clutches of White Christian Nationalist fever. As a share of the vote, that 1/3 was all Hitler needed. As long as you stack the courts, purge the military, and inject fear into the sheep. Get the churches in line etc. Checklist in process. The US authoritarian ambitions have the added advantage of a minority rules electoral college. Then they stack the state legislatures and gerrymander the whole show. So far it is working. Convince the fearful and angry that “God wills it” like Hegseth’s tattoos... “deus vult”and a lot of hair product and you can be a hero too!
Glenn Reynolds — Let’s not let the media off the hook. The mainstream media & their rush to make money resulted in pandering to every bit of nonsense Trump’s ugly mouth spewed, including his lies about Biden and Biden’s health & mental condition while they gave a complete pass to Trump’s completely obvious growing mental deterioration.
The MSM ignored or glossed over Trump’s clearly fascist rhetoric. They emboldened Trump and White Supremacists.
Mainstream media can’t be excused with the claim they fear retribution if they don’t support Trump. There would not be retribution had they not secured him the presidency with their dishonest reporting.
I am sure not excusing them! Agreed. The cart and the horse is still the assholes (Trump and JD) pulling the cart and the media hitching the ride. Mainstream media is a parasitic greedy disgrace! They softball these guys and duck hard fact follow-up to keep the guest turnstile going. Pushing just a little is sane washing etc. They faded badly so many times. Funny the Pentagon is kicking some out for Breitbart etc. cowardice doesn’t pay unless you are a Senator.
No, a majority of real Americans do not support neo-nazism. A minority perhaps do. While I can’t speak for every American, I can tell you that I have spoken with average, everyday Americans and they are appalled at the corruption, dishonesty and the venality of the Musk/Trump/Vance team. They are appalled by the indifference to the law (when it applies to them) exhibited by Musk/Trump/Vance and recognize the danger this poses to our society.
I want to throw this up for debate. I believe neo-fascist is the appropriate term. NAZI PARTY was extreme antisemitism and antiRomani to the point of genocide. I don’t see the same degree of madness. I do see psychopathic neo-fascism. What do you think, Steven? https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/unity?r=3m1bs
I always say that if you want to reach people, use words an 8th grader can understand. I taught my 8th grade U.S. history students "Fascist Party," "fascism" and "fascist." They would not get "neo-fascist" without another lesson. I agree that Nazi really meant something else but...so did fascist, originally. I can live with it.
I cares about your clarifying semantics. I'm always harping about using the right word, words matter... it just we are distracted right now by the building of the NAZI PARTY and probable genocide in Gaza... and all the rest.
I think Americans who actually support neo-nazism are a very small percentage. But a larger number of voters are ignorant of history and how we can get to this place of crisis where guys like Vance and Musk can try to normalize it. Too tunnel-visioned about the culture wars and egg prices they’ve been gaslit about, and too lazy to care about considering the danger affecting us all.
Yes. Too many Americans today do not understand the social compact: “what’s good for you is also good for me.” It is a scary time but I truly believe that most Americans are not fascists or Nazis; they’re ignorant, they’re brainwashed, they’re angry about rapid social changes, and Trumpism (which is also White Nationalism and Nazism and fascism to varying degrees) was appealing in the last election—in a shallow way, for many. I’m pretty sure a big portion of those who voted for him, as well as those who foolishly stayed home, will think differently as their own lives are negatively affected going forward. People genuinely do not understand how much *good* government does for them. “You don’t know what you’ve lost till it’s gone.” Joni was sure right about that.
I am disgusted that Vance, Hegseth, Trump, Rubio and Musk have been able to lay waste to our standing in the world in a mere three weeks. Their combination of arrogance and ignorance coupled with the apparent fact that they think every meeting is a MAGA rally, will set back US soft, and the effective use of hard, power for decades. And far too many people, not just the MAGAs, do not understand what that means.
I think a majority of Americans agree with Musk/Trump/Vance/Rubio/Hegseth. Including Hegseth's mother. They hate Jews and need anti-democratic forces to rid the world of the "undesirables". It is not surprising, but few called the alarm before the election. Americans voted for removing undesirables here and abroad. M/T/V were quite vocal about the policies they are now carrying out. Rubio and Hegseth wanted to be apart of the administration to be the spokesmen for Trump.
I don't think this is true. I think most people are too busy working multiple jobs or too tired to pay attention. All they cared about was the price of eggs.
But at the same time they have no idea what actually affects the price of eggs (or gas, or many other things). Do they really want to know? I suspect not. The racist, sexist, anti-immigrant dog whistles are more than enough.
Correction: A plurality (less than a majority) of the 63% of eligible voters voted for Trump-Vance. They did not vote for Musk, Rubio, or Hegseth. It's actually hard to tell what they voted for, or thought they were voting for. I'd be surprised if many of them knew anything about Project 2025. Especially in swing states, they were swamped with campaign ads, and more voters get their "news" from social media than from reasonably legitimate news sources (e.g., those that do at least some fact-checking).
Btw, a very slightly smaller plurality of those 63% of eligible voters voted for Harris-Walz, even though the Harris-Walz ticket was handicapped by a very late start.
A plurality of the voters who actually voted selected the trump/vance ticket which received 49%.
A small sliver of voters went with none of the above which made the difference because so many stayed home.
Approximately 90M people decided to not exercise their franchise. And that made a huge difference in the outcome.
These are the people the Democrats need to reach. Democrats
need to give up the idea of "communing with" MAGA people or "compromising." MAGA folks are in a cult, and they will have to emerge from it on their own. It's the sit-at-home-don't-care people who need to be registered and encouraged, ie, with a ride to the polls, who will make a difference, IMHO.
True, we do not need to change who we are or our goals. However, 49% is more than just hardcore maga people. So we do not need to demonize everyone who voted for this thinking the worst of his promises were only talk & they’d get the best of what they remember — a better economy.
There are others who were too young to remember what the first term was like. (8-10 yrs ago 18-22 yr olds for instance.) I’m glad David Hogg is DNC Vice Chair. He wants to focus on young people - something the DNC in 2024 refused to do & they are slipping away.
The answer to initial policy question are mostly positive for the WH. The responses on their specific actions are moving the other way. https://www.marquette.edu/news-center/2025/new-marquette-law-poll-national-survey-finds-public-strongly-favors-some-trump-policies-strongly-opposes-others.php
Well, maybe. You realize this is not unusual? Therefore we don’t know how it influences the outcome each election. We can guess which usually means blaming them for not delivering whatever outcome we wanted. All we really know is the greatest portion of these potential voters are a-political, disaffected and low consumers of news.
Because population grows, we can better measure potential (eligible) nonvoters by their percentage of potentially eligible voters.
— This figure is based on the https://election.lab.ufl.edu/voter-turnout/ – not registered voters – in the United States, which the Election Lab defines as “the voting-age population (those 18 years or older in the U.S.) minus ineligible noncitizens and felons.” It is considered a “more consistent” measure of voter turnout, according to the lab. —
https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2024-11-15/how-many-people-didnt-vote-in-the-2024-election
My 90M comment was pulled from the same web site as you’ve cited.
But more people voted for Harris or someone else than voted for the orange blob.
That’s why he received a plurality of the vote not a majority. Voting for someone else didn’t help matters any more than not voting did. We could just as easily say the people who voted against Harris were the majority. It would be accurate but misleading.
I think it is something we need to keep in mind as people discuss moving from a basically 2 party system, necessitating coalitions. Hitler only had 30% of the vote. He leveraged it in their legislature.
Germany has a serious problem now with the AfD Musk started courting and now Vance. It has 21% and is closely connected to the coup plotters of 2022 and 2024. They trail the lead party by less than 8%.
https://www.reuters.com/graphics/GERMANY-ELECTION/POLLS/akveedlravr/
IMO, the only good from the Orange Felon and his antics may be the shrinking poll numbers for the CAN Conservative Party with elections to replace Trudeau coming up soon.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/conservative-caucus-meets-trump-1.7460043
The Trump voters were voting for an improvement in their personal economic circumstances. Well, the joke is on them.
Well, we are caught in that, as well. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a joke, but that’s me.
Thanks for reminding readers here that DJT did *not* win a majority of the vote, but only a small plurality. He has no mandate. Period. Case closed.
It depends on how much right-wing media they consume. I know literally 2 people who sound like Vance; everyone else i know is horrified. What's interesting is both of them are 100% sure theirs is the majority opinion by far. That's what right-wing media produces.
Deplorables? Hillary was right.
But, Susan, I know (not friends) many people who are absolutely not horrified. But I reside in a red state, and support of Fascism is ignorantly viewed as patriotic.
The undesirable have infested our government.
I knew this and repeated myself many times with the analogy to Hitler and Nazi Germany. Given my small following it isn’t a surprise that few people seemed to care. Thank you for raising this point. We must fight this.
MANY people sounded the alarm. Dozens of pundits, plus the entire Dem party. But MAGAs gonna MAGA.
Up to 60% of anxious people are cured by placebo.
Steven(modified to reflect science): "...What level of ignorance is required to tell them...who suffered the deadliest of [GULLIBILITY TO THE PLACEBO EFFECT]that their biggest problems stem from their failure to embrace[BLARING HUMAN FLAWS]"
Restated: if Nazism cures 60% of America.... maybe it's time to STOP DENYING SCIENCE...so no one resorts to needing placebo...
...First Do No Harm...
STOP THE LYING...
"Don't Sweat It."...is a LIE... Exercise and Exposure are mandatory, and BOTH CAUSE SWEAT
www.google.com/search?q=3+great+untruths
Note: Exposure Therapy aka Desensitization, aka Face Your Fear, aka Anti-Fragile, aka Middle Schoolers have "free range" CHILD'S PLAY, aka "Do one thing every day that scares you."--Ms.FDR, aka FREEDOM FROM FEAR
😱🫣❤️🥷🤯🧠💡😁🤔🚣
1.)Obey the Law to Stop the Killing(see below)
https://youtu.be/it3N0j9fw8k?t=331
1.)Mission Impossible is afflicted by extreme case of American Gullibility
https://youtu.be/A8kYJodhYrw?t=2454
1.)Why did America "vote for"(aka "buy pills from") the Mass Murderer** over the First Lady's FREE HEALTHCARE and FREEDOM FROM FEAR?*
Why did Americans put the Mass Murderers pill in their mouth and swallow it*** 2.3 billion times in ONE YEAR?
Why did America ignore Ms.FDR. and believe the Mass Murder's "our pills aren't addictive?"
*science
**science denial by Purdue Pharma(used Valium sales to launch the opioid epidemic)
***Valium was the most prescribed medication for the years 1969-1982
Eleanor Roosevelt:"Do one thing every day that scares you."
The scientific consensus agrees. Two top scientists' statements are available on DM request... DONT SUBSCRIBE UNLESS YOU WANT TO JOIN OUR FOCUS GROUP.
...the law requires ...
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=WIC§ionNum=5150
"At a minimum, assessment... shall be conducted and provided on an ongoing basis."
...but a Congressional Study found...
Congressman Kennedy:
https://www.patrickjkennedy.net/agenda#Quality
"...only about 18 percent of psychiatrists and 11 percent of psychologists in the U.S. routinely administer symptom rating scales..."
...the difference between the assessments required by law and the lack of routinely administered symptom rating scales may explain:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-therapy/200901/seven-questions-david-d-burns
"...one of the most common causes of suicide-the therapist..."
It's been said that history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. It seems very ironic that Vance is in Munich in 2025 to give away part of Ukraine to Russia, the same city in which Neville Chamberlain gave the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Hitler in 1938. How did that cowardice work out?
My fear is that to stop MAGA in all its flavors will require violence in the USA. My hope is that the Democrats can regain control of the House in a few months and get bigger majority in 2026. We all have to RESIST and have non-stop actions to prevent the worst that MAGA can do.
I agree with you Larry. As a progressive leftie, I will not be able to sit , idly watching all of our democratic initiatives go down the drain. I prefer to go down fighting, however that manifests itself.... I will NOT go down quietly.
https://substack.com/@snyder/note/p-157131118?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=5mwrm
Vance's performance at the Munich Security Conference was beyond embarrassing for your country. His arrogance and disrespect of other democratic leaders in the room was palpable and made me sick. If his words are any indication of how he and Trump will lead, our country will be destroyed on the world stage. We must resist all of it every chance we get.
Insulting your host in public; not meeting with the democratically elected leader & then meeting with the political party tied to 2 coups attempts. That’s quite a disrespectful performance.
And frankly to repeat an oft said remark by President Biden: “It’s unamerican”.
Yes satanic worship .... Musk is the devil incarnate ... All his branding is negative, nihilistic ... X (twitter), X his son's name etc
Technocrats like his grandfather Haldeman did not believe in democracy. Scientists and technical experts would be selected to run things. Technocracy, Inc. A fascist aligned group. He was a leader in that movement in CAN and briefly jailed when it was outlawed. Then headed up a CAN anti-Semitic party. Moved on to South Africa.
The most fanatical of the Technocrats used numbers for their first names. The Muskrat has proposed a technocracy when Mars is settled.
Well, I have always called MItch McConnell the devil incarnate but I guess there could be two of them.
It’s going to take more than just talk. Even the opposition leaders appear to be blind in the headlights not sure what to do next.
I totally agree. Every other email and multiple texts are requests for $$. I gave before the election but that wasn’t good enough. What we need is real leadership from the democrats. We need leaders who are on the news every single day talking about the embarrassment we are facing AND the implications of Trump’s destructive actions. Thousands of public servants are losing their jobs. Farmers are losing their livelihood. During the pandemic I tuned in to listen to Andrew Cuomo, even though I live in the west. Whatever you think of him, he displayed calm, intelligent, data driven explanations and he talked with people, not at them. We need leadership in the democratic party. People who are not out for themselves. People who can speak with the electorate about their problems. We need to get angry and take action. Nothing will change in the balance of power unless we take action. Who are your leaders of choice?
Agree, while they are on opposite sides of the party line - Cuomo, Liz Cheney, Adam Kizinger appear to be logical, forward thinking politicians and patriots first. Not towing the party line..The time for a strong independent 3rd party to force clear, logical discussion, discourse and compromise is long past due...
Agree💯
Sadly, yes.
I'm not sure what you mean by "real Americans," Steven, so I'm going to answer the question, "Is what Vance is doing going to work?" No. He, Trump, and Muck are alienating so many people that they're going to go down in flames. Europeans aren't stupid. People who rely on Social Security and Medicare, even if they're Trump supporters, are not going to be happy about being left to go broke and die. Government employees who lose their jobs, fire and hurricane victims who are left helpless, etc., etc. are going to say "WTF." Vance will never be elected to anything again. Yes, there will continue to be extremists and hate groups, but they will once again be marginalized. Unfortunately a lot of damage will occur before any of this happens.
I agree. A significant number of people who voted for trump fall into that “low-information voter” category. Even though he eked out a slight plurality, I would argue that the Trump “coalition” includes a lot of people who were willfully mislead by Trump, the GOP and the mainstream media. Of course, 2024 was not a referendum on Project 2025…. Trump and the GOP lied through their teeth about their intentions. (Recall when Joe B called them out in his 2024 SOTU speech…and as a group the House Republicans and Mike Johnson shook their heads in denial). Well, now we see that their denials were the most cynical of lies, and while the GOP may be able to fool some of the people all of the time, many of those fooled in 2024 will feel the impact of those lies in 2026.
The point is: REPUBLICANS did not call out the LIE. Blame "low-information voters" but they did have Information - FOXTV. They were informed by a network that they agreed with. A Navy Veteran is now worried about his checks and medical needs, but he would vote for Trump again. He likes Hegseth because he is strong and manly (not BLACK).
I hope you're wrong, Mary. I have to laugh at the description of Hegseth as strong and manly though. He seems like a little wimp to me.
TRUE, the GOP did not call out the lie.
Also TRUE, there are ‘low information voters’ and they matter. We deny, vilify and stereotype at our own peril.
The maga hardcore base is about 35%.
Many people do not follow the news. There is a strong correlation between not following the news and voting for trump/vance. Only about 34% in each party get their news from TV. Younger folks are not keen on watching Fox or consuming as “legacy” media. As the younger population grows each cycle this phenomenon grows. Accidental influence from ‘doom scrolling’ - unintentional consumption of headlines is a thing.
• Data for Progress — What Political News Engagement Tells Us About Donald Trump’s Victory — “Support for Harris Decreases as News Consumption Decreases“
https://www.dataforprogress.org/insights/2024/11/14/what-political-news-engagement-tells-us-about-donald-trumps-victory
• Facebook was the most popular place for adults re: news consumption - https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/11/09/social-media-traditional-news-elections-00188548
• Deciding the old-fashioned way - friends and family input - more among GOP than Dems https://news.northeastern.edu/2024/11/06/trump-voters-news-divide-research/
Trump won because he went after the low info and low preponderance people who are 40% of the population. S. Wiles pulled out the stops on early voting, vote by mail, buying votes and bullet ballots to get this vote out. Interestingly, zRepublicans in my state (Utah) are working hard to restrict voting. Who is that going to hurt? Trump lost in 2000 because he surpressed the vote.
I can only hope the population responds as you anticipate rather than sleep walks towards a much darker future.
Hope you are right. Unfortunately the damage is going to be severe.
Yes, it is. Which is why we have to fight hard to contain it.
Hi Paula, I hope we will actually have free and fair elections with these criminals as the watchdogs, threatened, snarling?
A Good Earth
a rat fat with greed slips past
three dogs and a scrawny boy
rummaging in the trash
weighing piece by piece
the heat each object will raise
a helicopter circles like a bird
with metal talons and dart like feathers
above the rotting methane smells
he finds a photo of a large family
drifting on a yacht
lobbed golden apple i-phone
meteorology text book
tangle of maggots on
discarded pig's head
an old weather beaten world globe
he checks to make sure
America is still visible
hoists it onto his shoulder
—feels its weight—
wonders how the rats missed this treasure
in this self-serving delicatessen
he ponders how he will get earth home
Gorgeous poetry as usual, Lynn. As to the elections, I don't know but we have to keep fighting.
Absolutely, never give in or give up, and remember what we want.
Thanks Paula.
I don’t understand why so many people seem to be waiting for the mid-term elections to fix everything & rebalance our government. Personally, I have no confidence there will be mid-term elections. I don’t have confidence there will be any future elections unless by then, the administration has total control of voting systems that they can guarantee the outcome…like their mentor, Vlad.
All my life I’ve heard about our system of checks & balances…where are they now?? Turns out they relied on people of integrity and courage who seem to be missing.
IMO, if some sort of definitive action isn’t taken very soon, there will be no mid-terms or those that do happen will be a sham.
I know what you mean, Carrie. There are many lawsuits and protests going on and we have yet to see whether they'll help. We also have some great new news outlets and advocacy groups that are attracting a lot of new people. I'm hoping these boycotts will help too, although we need a lot of people to participate for them to work. Fortunately we have a lot of examples from history to inspire us. Fingers crossed.
Thank you for reigning us in Paula. ❤️
From your keyboard to G*d’s screen, Paula
I agree, except for the cash flowing to support their lies and bullshit coming from the very wealthiest here and abroad apparently.. who have insistently neglected the lessons of history so obvious that their sheer ignorance of what consequences they will invariably face.
I know what you mean, Patris. I just can't imagine this house of cards not collapsing, money or not. My husband is a student of World War II, and he keeps telling me that one major difference between Hitler and Trump is that Hitler gave the people security--benefits and a safety net. In so doing he got them on his side. Trump is stupidly taking all that away. Veterans, older people, and everyone who can't make ends meet is going to notice. Some may rationalize but because he's made so many promises he isn't keeping I can't believe they can do that forever. Even Republicans in the legislature are beginning to question what's going on. Did you see that Wicker, who shepherded Hegseth through, is upset with H's ridiculous remarks about Ukraine?
I used to think Americans would never support such a satanic philosophy, but now I am not so sure. The MAGA cult is so unhinged that -- as I recently read -- they would burn down their own homes on the chance a Democrat might cough on the smoke. This is mass psychosis on a scale history has never seen. Please keep up the good work.
The ultimate ugly Americans…
Unfortunately, I think more support the ideas more than we realize. I have recently been having a bit of a back and forth with a now former friend (what a word group I never expected to write), who uses the same talking points including the ones about “doing my research”. So I asked point blank, “Research of what?”, and their sites are filled with conspiracies rooted in white supremecy while layered in intelligent sounding “facts”. Many are from dark shadows of websites and of course they are in a complete conservative vacuum, while she claims I am only in a liberal vacuum. (It is going to get tougher as more people are kept out of the inner workings so not able to report on it all).
I grew up in Akron, Ohio, attended an almost entirely black high school, and that shaped my views forever. Also shaping them was my horror at the casual way my dad felt the n word was acceptable to use, and while he claimed several black friends and always welcomed mine, he would still use it in the privacy of home, not seeing the way it caused me to churn inside at the oppositional feelings of what was the right thing. If he had been able to afford it, he would have fast tracked us to all white private school and he blamed a lot of my views on going to that school.
By college’s first week, it was clear university was separated by color (this was the late 70s), even though the majority of my black friends were attending the same university. Greek rush included not being allowed to speak to anyone of another race and that was not only the white organizations. And to this day, my childhood neighbor is by far one of the most racist people I know, even having attended the identical school, and all while back clapping at every reunion, his superiority intact.
So yes, they exist, not all with shaved heads and swastikas. They are in the courts, they are coworkers, they are in the heritage foundation and in the church. They look “normal”, but the depth of the white supremacy is a power they will never relinquish.
It isn’t only white supremacy. If you grew up in OH then you may have noticed JD’s book mimicked the things he heard growing up in OHIO about Appalachians. You might know that in the 90s Cincinnati added Appalachians as a protected class because of the bigotry.
Yes, I experienced it as a visitor. Insulted and mocked to my face in public. For the record, I’m about as white as you can get. My husband experienced it in school from adults. Needless to say, we don’t spend much time in neighboring OH. It’s drive - thru territory.
Wherever these things happen, I see it as some sort of deep seated need to blame someone regardless of color; to have a target for anger and to prove someone else - not they - are at the bottom of the totem pole.
I also lived in Columbus and rarely experienced anything like you’re describing. I think there are parts of Ohio that have strongly been given that megaphone, but as an adult raising kids it was still a blue place.
How often do you have to experience it to know it’s there? Maybe if you’re not Appalachian or people don’t realize it you never notice. I grew up in Michigan and was clueless until I moved to Ky. The way my husband talked I thought it was old news.
Vance is younger than my husband and I. He grew up - not in Ky like his grandparents - but in Middletown OH. This happened over decades. It wasn’t just a GOP thing. JD reached back to his youth and made it great again. The accolades poured in and he catapulted to public office. Obviously it is a prevalent attitude & not only in OH.
Yes, Columbus was like that. It’s where my husband periodically went to elementary school. When his dad had long-term work they stayed with relatives there. He still remembers the one teacher who was the exception and treated all the students as humans who deserved to be there.
I also had a supv - who was a licensed clinical social worker - who went to college in Columbus and practiced there after graduating for years before moving back home. She brought back the same attitudes.
The other day, here on Substack, I came across a blog about black history. The story reported was about a massacre of blacks that took place in Georgia in 1918, not that long ago.
While several blacks were murdered in response to the murder of an abusive white man, the article focused on the murders of two blacks, a couple, not involved in the white man’s death. The husband had been jailed for complaining about his wife being beaten by that white man, and when the massacre occurred, the jailer handed him over to a lynch mob.
When the man’s wife complained, she too was arrested, brutalized and lynched the next day. She was 8 months pregnant at the time & her stomach was cut open; the baby stomped to death by the mob. The couple’s three older children were orphaned.
This is what White Supremacy/Christian Nationalism will bring back to America. This is what openly endorsed racism leads to: atrocities on a grand scale. These White Supremacist Republicans, who are so ‘fake scared’ their children may have to go to school with some trans kid—highly unlikely in most schools since trans people are a teensy-weensy proportion of society,— but they’re okay with the likelihood of their kids being exposed to the brutalizing cruelty of government sanctioned racism. There is no such thing as ‘separate but equal’. There is only separate, marginalized, & brutalized.
Bravo! I have just shared this excellent piece on my Facebook page with the following comment: "Steven Beschloss is right up there with Heather Cox Richardson among people I respect and follow. In this column, he expresses the disgust and embarrassment I share with the performances of Vance and the new secretary of defense for their indefensible presentations attacking our allies and bypassing our real enemies. The fact is that the new leadership of our nation, including co-president Musk, is the most dangerous threat to our nation's independence, security, well-being, democracy, respectability internationally, and in so many other ways. Can we restore the rule of law through the courts, or will it take a major uprising to rescue our nation? Will Republicans and their MAGA constituents finally realize what they are doing to our nation and help stop the coup. How sad it is that we must ask that question...😢
Thank you kindly, Stanley.
I am right there with Stanley. Historians seem to be among those with the clearest and most nuanced views about our current disastrous situation.
A lot of thoughts have flitted through my brain over all this. First, one of the stupidest men I ever met had a degree from Harvard, so knowing Vance went to Yale doesn’t impress me with his intelligence. I think he might “out-stupid” the Harvard man. That doesn’t even begin to talk about his venal nature. Second, for a long time (I was born on VJ Day, just so you know) I have trusted my “blind date test: as a young adult, and the mother and grandmother of girls: would I have gone out with DJT, EM, or JDV, or quietly let either of my girls go out the door with creeps like them? Having dated rather a lot I think I have a well-honed creep sensor. Third, the comedian Josh Johnson did a wonderful performance (can be seen on YouTube, titled “Why They Are Turning on Elon…”) about Musk. Takes an hour, but absolutely worth watching to the end: “He’s just dancing…”. So I practice rage and rebellion in small ways: I have bought a “Canada Isn’t For Sale” hat…in French, just to show how pretentious I can be. I’ll wear it! I watch the Johnson episode every couple of days. I also watch the Full Frontal episode titled “Trump in Scotland”. I don’t yet have the statically charged balloon, but I believe the Scottish farmer: “Just keep making fun of him - he’ll crack up”. I read the entire letter of resignation that Danielle Sassoon wrote. Brilliant! And now, seriously, I’m thinking of practical things I can do at my age - League of Women Voters? Add my voice to those who have written to every member of the House and my senators? Working on it.
I made a previous reply…rather long, so sorry…. I forgot to mention reading Tim Eagan’s “Fever in the Heartland” about the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana 100 years ago. There is so much US history doesn’t get taught. Remember Sam Baldwin’s (Tom Hanks) comment in “Sleepless in Seattle”: I *don’t* want to think what they are not teaching you in school!”
Sadly there is a huge amount of illiteracy in this country, and sadly most of them only understand memes full of propaganda, these folks don’t read or listen to the news, sadly that’s also a large part of the maga base. It’s difficult to reach them on their level. Civic Sundays does a very good job of pointing this out…
Truth Bomb Workshop on Feb 28 at 2pm PST, 5pm EST sign up HERE: https://www.mobilize.us/civicsundays/event/755706/
I’m gonna say this again& again& again.
Today’s Trump believers can only be reached by:
• low tech billboards in high traffic areas &
• large format, mass mailed postcards featuring short, clear messages such as some of the posts featured on Substack.
Many Substack posts feature brief statements such as:
• how much profit Tesla posted & how much tax it paid (0). Or
• how much the wealth of billionaires increased in the last 10 years vs how much the average wages increased. Or
• simple statements like ‘ immigrants & minorities aren’t the problem. Billionaires are’.
You can’t reach people on right-wing media with intelligent posts and articles like those on Substack. And no one, I repeat NO ONE, is going to read the multiple pages of text-saturated political letters sent in the mail to ‘educate’ the public about important issues.
Short & sweet, low tech outreach is accessible to everyone…and probably much cheaper to produce than all those long, tedious pages & pages that will never be read & kill millions of trees.
As an American who lives and works in Europe, Vance will appall the public and leaders, just in the same way Musk does. Their question will be ‘how did Trump get elected and does Vance represent the view of Americans of today?’ The damage this administration could do may we’ll force Europe to turn away from a country they didn’t alway admire but admire the spirit in which is was founded and what it has achieved. I live in the UK and work in Europe. Mainland Europe is bitter about Brexit and unlikely to welcome a chastened (now generally agreed in UK Brexit a failure) UK back. Future generations of mainland Europeans and the UK citizens are losers in that. Vance is destroying an alliance he clearly does not understand and playing into a geopolitical dynamic that accelerates the fall of US global influence— if he is the face of the US today, we can expect to be shunned by our European allies.
Vance is following the Muskrat and joining an alliance he will eventually regret. How much is destroyed first is a serious question. The leading party in Germany is slightly more than 8 points ahead of AfD. The same AfD that loves our Orange Felon and is connected to 2 recent coups interrupted by the German government (2022 - on trial now - and November 2024).
https://www.reuters.com/graphics/GERMANY-ELECTION/POLLS/akveedlravr/
Back when George W. Bush was president & pushing such stupidities as ‘Freedom Fries’, I found myself in Istanbul, Turkey, about to hire a taxi. As soon as the driver realized I was an American, he threw me out of his cab! I had to ask a police officer to get a cab for me so I could get to my host’s home. About the same time, a colleague, traveling with her husband in Italy, was slapped with a fish for being American.
You may recall, you could actually buy a guide that told travelers how to pass themselves off as Canadians. LOL, Good Times….🥶
All too true. Nonetheless, I’ve not been hit with a fish (yet) but was nearly run off the road on my bike when foolishly wearing an old Stars and Stripes T-shirt in the early 80s. I have spent last 40 years trying mitigate the resentment which can turn to rage, and remind my colleagues that the US government does not speak for all Americans. Never has this been more acute than now. I thought it was bad during Reagan and George W., but turns out I didn’t have sufficient imagination to realise what Trump 2.0 would mean. Other countries are incredulous we would loose these people on the world stage and the anger and resentment is growing much quicker during the last month than any previous US administration in my lifetime.
I most emphatically do not agree or support Vance’s comments. It is becoming embarrassing to be a US citizen in just a few short weeks and be lumped in with them.
It’s not enough that the Trumphuk -Muskalini Regime is trying to impose their proto -Nazism here in the US, but now are undermining our international commitment to support and maintain democracy in Europe and interfere in their elections. Then they put Ukraine on the chopping block. Clearly this is reprehensible—but how do we stop this insanity?
More exposure. Especially on the motivation: Helping Russia which needs a breather to regroup.
The United States has been subsumed by the confederacy. We are now the confederate states of america. The plantation owners are at the helm, Jefferson Davis sits behind the resolute desk as the useful idiot. And we are extending our confederate values to the rest of the world. Its interesting, Mussolini is credited with inventing fascism. But like with many things we perfected the "values" of fascism in the post reconstruction south long before. We just called it Jim Crow.
They studied Jim Crow and modified it to suit their objectives. 😪
Blacks were suppressed but Jews in Germany were painted as powerful, so they looked also to other aspects of US laws accepted by Americans.
— Nazis were more interested in how the U.S. had designated Native Americans, Filipinos and other groups as non-citizens even though they lived in the U.S. or its territories. These models influenced the citizenship portion of the Nuremberg Laws, which stripped Jewish Germans of their citizenship and classified them as “nationals.” —
https://www.history.com/news/how-the-nazis-were-inspired-by-jim-crow
Ann —your post made me wonder about Jews looking powerful in Europe. Didn’t that eventually get turned on them to make their assumed power look controlling & negative? A great deal more focus must be put on billionaires and the fact that they actually are using their power against the rest of us.
Yes, it did. It is the fiction of their ‘power’ that made nazism begin at a different point - denying the rights of citizenship, dehumanization. By being pushed out of some professions they were overrepresented in others that put them in the public eye as did being mostly middle class. Too complicated to begin with an argument that such a group incompetent.
“Historically prohibited from many professional endeavors, Jews were disproportionately represented in some areas of the economy, such as journalism, law, medicine, and retailing. Concentrated in a small number of professions (more often than not in urban areas).”
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/jewish-communities-of-prewar-germany
I think we are at the point now where the focus can go to point by point words & deeds of the Orange Felon and Muskrat with little explanation. It is harder re: Musk. They are secretive & lie.
However the tricky part is getting it out to people. There are a lot of things not being reported on. Maybe a social media truth squad with different ‘chapters’ working in a variety of social media platforms. Humor helps. Graphics. Caricatures repeated repeated repeated. parody style.
• Dictator on day 1 — Words today: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law"
• Campaign promises to cut taxes for the rich & give those who donated enough $$ the policies they want — and after being in the WH - reiterated permits & regulations would be easier for them.
• Trump’s Project 2025 is a plan of destruction
Musk can do nothing Without the Orange Felon so —
• Trump let Musk take your personal data
• Trump let Musk use cybercrime kids to stop payments to farmers for food
• Trump let Musk use those kids to take $80M from NYC bank account. He can do it to you.
• DOGE is a fake group that put real NONFORN classified info about our satellites on their unsecured website.
• 2 out of 3 SpaceX launches failed recently. Musk isn’t worried. It was our $$.
And so on. Little factoids based on big bad facts.
Vance plays to the 1/3 of the voters who are brutally racist, fascist, theocrats, or in the clutches of White Christian Nationalist fever. As a share of the vote, that 1/3 was all Hitler needed. As long as you stack the courts, purge the military, and inject fear into the sheep. Get the churches in line etc. Checklist in process. The US authoritarian ambitions have the added advantage of a minority rules electoral college. Then they stack the state legislatures and gerrymander the whole show. So far it is working. Convince the fearful and angry that “God wills it” like Hegseth’s tattoos... “deus vult”and a lot of hair product and you can be a hero too!
Good point. In Germany the AfD is working on getting that 1/3.
Glenn Reynolds — Let’s not let the media off the hook. The mainstream media & their rush to make money resulted in pandering to every bit of nonsense Trump’s ugly mouth spewed, including his lies about Biden and Biden’s health & mental condition while they gave a complete pass to Trump’s completely obvious growing mental deterioration.
The MSM ignored or glossed over Trump’s clearly fascist rhetoric. They emboldened Trump and White Supremacists.
Mainstream media can’t be excused with the claim they fear retribution if they don’t support Trump. There would not be retribution had they not secured him the presidency with their dishonest reporting.
I am sure not excusing them! Agreed. The cart and the horse is still the assholes (Trump and JD) pulling the cart and the media hitching the ride. Mainstream media is a parasitic greedy disgrace! They softball these guys and duck hard fact follow-up to keep the guest turnstile going. Pushing just a little is sane washing etc. They faded badly so many times. Funny the Pentagon is kicking some out for Breitbart etc. cowardice doesn’t pay unless you are a Senator.
No, a majority of real Americans do not support neo-nazism. A minority perhaps do. While I can’t speak for every American, I can tell you that I have spoken with average, everyday Americans and they are appalled at the corruption, dishonesty and the venality of the Musk/Trump/Vance team. They are appalled by the indifference to the law (when it applies to them) exhibited by Musk/Trump/Vance and recognize the danger this poses to our society.
Thank you for the hope, because I’m feeling really hopeless right now
I want to throw this up for debate. I believe neo-fascist is the appropriate term. NAZI PARTY was extreme antisemitism and antiRomani to the point of genocide. I don’t see the same degree of madness. I do see psychopathic neo-fascism. What do you think, Steven? https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/unity?r=3m1bs
Psychopathic neo-fascism surely works. I put “neo” in front of Nazism on purpose, but they are many appropriate terms for this bunch.
I always say that if you want to reach people, use words an 8th grader can understand. I taught my 8th grade U.S. history students "Fascist Party," "fascism" and "fascist." They would not get "neo-fascist" without another lesson. I agree that Nazi really meant something else but...so did fascist, originally. I can live with it.
Hi Carl, You are so impatient, they have had less than a month! Remember about ducks, if it waddles and quacks, it's a duck.
“A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose” is a line from Gertrude Stein's 1913 poem “Sacred Emily”. No one cares about my clarifying semantics.
I cares about your clarifying semantics. I'm always harping about using the right word, words matter... it just we are distracted right now by the building of the NAZI PARTY and probable genocide in Gaza... and all the rest.
I think Americans who actually support neo-nazism are a very small percentage. But a larger number of voters are ignorant of history and how we can get to this place of crisis where guys like Vance and Musk can try to normalize it. Too tunnel-visioned about the culture wars and egg prices they’ve been gaslit about, and too lazy to care about considering the danger affecting us all.
Yes. Too many Americans today do not understand the social compact: “what’s good for you is also good for me.” It is a scary time but I truly believe that most Americans are not fascists or Nazis; they’re ignorant, they’re brainwashed, they’re angry about rapid social changes, and Trumpism (which is also White Nationalism and Nazism and fascism to varying degrees) was appealing in the last election—in a shallow way, for many. I’m pretty sure a big portion of those who voted for him, as well as those who foolishly stayed home, will think differently as their own lives are negatively affected going forward. People genuinely do not understand how much *good* government does for them. “You don’t know what you’ve lost till it’s gone.” Joni was sure right about that.