67 Comments
Sep 30Liked by Steven Beschloss

The main stream media is complicit in this degradation of our country. They have lost any semblance of credibility and honest journalism.

We have had trump’s throughout history, but they had a limited following. The press certainly didn’t help their cause as much. I’m not saying they are the sole reason, but they are definitely not helping the situation.

You are correct in your assessment that he is getting worse as the election gets closer. The lies and misinformation are more fantastical. The more actual republicans openly say he is unfit, the more deranged he gets. The more he is going to be left with not much more than his base.

What we need to also be concerned about is the infiltration into the government counting and certification process. The state of Georgia is probably the most publicized case at the moment. However there counties throughout the country that are waiting to disrupt the election process.

If we manage to navigate through the states, we have a Congress that is filled with evil people who will attempt to overturn the will of the people. There is a supposed speaker of the House who takes his instructions from trump. He is a back bencher who laid in wait for his opportunity.

When we navigate our way through this nightmare, the hallowed chambers and corridors of our beautiful capital will need to be disinfected.

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NPR is sadly inclusive of the "both sides" journalism. I suppose free speech, but I have to turn to other stations.

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During the Oct 1 VP nominee debate, for every lie JD tells, we all need to post on social media that CBS is neglecting their duty by not fact checking. It is unconscionable that they will not. No doubt Springfield again and these similar lies about immigration, killing babies after birth, etc. If you use Twitter (yeah, old name - it was gentler) do it there and tag it for the debate and @CBSNews. Someone has to hold them all accountable.

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What passes for reporting on this subject is so grossly inadequate. It is pure evil spew, maniacal and deliberate. The corporate media sanitizes it, in effect polishing a toxic turd. Why?

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Jon Stewart Daily Show 5/20/2024:

"Outrage is the engine of our modern media economy".

So, it's all about the money for them.

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Always has been.

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Well, there was actually a time, decades ago, when truth meant something. News was always viewed a loss leader. Now it's a money making mechanism. And the influence of likes, algorithms, and SM has significantly changed the media landscape.

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For a time, perhaps. But Hearst, Pulitzer et all were certainly capitalists.

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Yes and capitalists can tell the truth or have the truth told on their networks or channels.

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And Hearst started a war…just saying that newspaper ownership was not as altruistic as some believe. History rhymes, as Mark Twain says.

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What you said above is so true, Al. In the early 1960s, my junior college Social Science instructor lectured on the differences between Democrats and Republicans. He told us that Democrats would always be concerned for the common man and protecting the rights of everyone. The Republicans, he said, would center their programs on how to keep and make more money for themselves. My parents, being staunch Republicans, could not stand to hear us talk about this instructor and his ideas. The teacher had suffered from PTSD during World War II and was considered a traitor to his country, having been sent home before the war was over. Things haven’t changed.

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Money and power.

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They are grasping at fog.

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It makes my heart hurt and my blood boil. Trump would not be where he is without all his elected Republican enablers. Who has the greater sin? The crazy hateful orange man? Or all the elected officials who have abandoned the Constitution for the sake of temporal power? It always takes enablers. And what about all those proclaimed christians who have simply abandoned their faith, or perhaps they never knew it all. Still, we can do this hard thing. Thank you, Steven, for your eloquent contribution to this life and death effort to save our democratic republic.

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Yes, we can 😊

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So well said. Every (R) enabler of that criminal should be defeated. I don’t hold out much hope for this scenario.

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Speaking of: read that Romney won't vote for the orange putz but won't endorse Kamala. The Bushes are silent. Are they all that afraid of this monster?

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I heard (can’t verify this) that Romney said he couldn’t publicly endorse Kamala bc of threats to his family. Given what happened to Nancy Pelosi’s husband it’s hard to blame him. Also that he was paying $5000/ day for security for his family. That sounds like a lot, so idk if it’s true. But I can certainly believe they’ve threatened him.

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founding
Sep 30Liked by Steven Beschloss

Please start with coverage of the Harris campaign so all the oxygen isn’t first sucked out of the room by the Trump outrage machine.

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Sep 30Liked by Steven Beschloss

I reached the point long ago where even the sound of his voice elicits a visceral reaction in me. You are right that there is not bottom for this despicable person, and as he watches Harris continue to rise in the polls while his fear for his own future also rises, he will become more and more desperate and unhinged. I pray to God every night that our country can survive this despicable assault on our democracy and way of life. Between that and the increasingly uninhabitable planet we're leaving our kids and grandkids, it's very concerning.

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Half of America becomes sadistic for fear / hatred of minorities and because they find fun in repeating that good people should be locked up. Mein Kampf 2.0.

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Actually probably 1/3 of the country but a vocal third.

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But treat it as the minority it is?

Stand up tall, majority and VOTE! We need a tsunami this time around!

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Sep 30·edited Sep 30Liked by Steven Beschloss

Further evidence that media just doesn't care or report this, as if we NEEDED more. Tim Miller at the Bulwark discussed these speeches and some of TFG's vile hate filled rhetoric and then showed these headlines:

Axios - "Trump pounds immigration message after Harris' border visit"

Politico - "...Trump ratcheted up his hardline rhetoric om immigration on Saturday..."

Bloomberg - "...Trump sharpened his criticism on border security in a swing state visit..."

Any of those sound like an accurate representation of what TFG said? I mean, saying "Kamala was born mentally disabled" and is allowing "stone cold killers into the country that will make criminals here look like babies. They will come into your kitchens and slit your throats." So, that's what qualifies for "pounding", "ratcheted up", and "sharpened his criticism"? All to get clicks and make money; truth be damned as they're doing everything possible to keep the election close and to pave the way for an authoritarian fascist to get into the White House. This country is absolutely doomed if that happens.

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NEVER hear one Democrat stand in support of Kamala! Who has HER back?

Republicans treat Trump as a comedian, enjoying his diatribes?

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Sep 30Liked by Steven Beschloss

Steven, we appreciate your attempts to navigate these turbulent waters for us. Very trying times and it will be even more painful in the coming weeks.

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Sep 30Liked by Steven Beschloss

Despite the timeworn stereotype of politicians' mendacity, Trump takes lying to a whole 'nother level. Nearly everything he says is either a mischaracterization, a gross exaggeration, or an outright fabrication. The sheer magnitude of his prevarication is staggering. And most disturbingly, a significant portion of our populace is susceptible to his manipulation. I attribute much of this to active subversion by right wing media, coupled with the "mainstream" media abandoning their role as purveyors of factual information since Trump is very profitable for them. Sadly, the very fate of our democracy has been placed in jeopardy by all of these.

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Sep 30Liked by Steven Beschloss

Thank you for this posting, Steven. Listening to the news clips of his tirade left me angry - because I know there are magats out there who will fall for his idiocy. But it also leaves me fearful - are there enough of us, non-magats, to vote in numbers too large to question. He has killed the Republican Party, it no longer exists. Seeing his words in print only emphasizes his own mental instability and psychotic mind. His VP flunky is just as worrisome.

The MSM also have a responsibility in this. They broadcast his rantings first-hand and replay them. What is not done is any semblance of refuting his tirades, differentiating what is and is not fact. For example: if Kamala is soooo unhinged, how is it she royally whipped him in the debate?

On another issue, how is it just days before early voting in GA. they could legally change how votes will be counted?? Why is not there uprising against this ploy??

Let us not allow Franklin's warning to ring true. We CAN keep our Democracy (REPUBLIC).

WE MUST VOTE IN NUMBERS TO LARGE TO EVER QUESTION THE OUTCOME.

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Lawyers have an eagle eye on Georgia. They’re challenging all this nonsense Rs are trying to pull.

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https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/08/09/leading-civil-rights-lawyer-shows-20-ways-trump-copying-hitlers-early-rhetoric-and

^^^^^

Interview with Burt Neuborne, former national director of the ACLU and a co-founder of the Brennan Center for Justice, providing some more evidentiary ammunition to support the comparison of Trump's rhetoric and policies to Hitler.

And something both hopeful - Trump will fail - but deeply concerning, in that it will still lead to dangerous chaos if he and Shady Vance are elected:

https://www.salon.com/2024/09/29/will-try-to-end-democracy-yes--but-these-scholars-claim-he-cant-pull-it-off/

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I cannot fathom having to sit and take in the kind of filthy vitriole that is spewed out of DJT's mouth. I find him totally disgusting in just about any form.

But. It is what it is and until he is no longer on a soapbox delivering his crap, we do need to keep a handle on what is being said. I believe it is especially important since I don't think we are getting the whole unvarnished truth via the media these days. Thank you for truth, Steven.

"Know thy enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated.”, is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu, and comes to mind with this post today. It's vital to recognize the who, what, when, where, and how of the Republican campaign, as despicable as it gets.

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Sep 30Liked by Steven Beschloss

Yes, Trump and his acolytes will become even more shrill, even more deranged, over the next month. His cult, of course, would follow him off a cliff. What I hope, however, is that the so-called "independents," who still haven't made up their minds, will be turned off by his increasingly deranged rants.

But where is the mainstream media in all of this? For them to keep selling Trump as some sort of entertainment is an absolute disgrace. Do the editors and publishers not realize that by doing so they are collaborating with Trump? Their complicity will be the death of democracy.

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Sep 30Liked by Steven Beschloss

I am deeply disappointed that the journalists we rely on for our news refuse to show the truth about the lie levels to which the (R) nominees stoop to poison our democracy. This is both sides-ism at its worst. To allow the public to think that the (R) nominees even approach normal is criminal. Show them to all of us at their worst.

And if Biden was too old and demented to be elected, so is the (R) nominee. Don’t buy what the huckster is selling.

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Sep 30Liked by Steven Beschloss

Most people I know are exhausted by the GOP/Trump/election denying candidates. We do not even bring their flyers into the house. Many retirees are looking at leaving. Imagine that! A US diaspora.

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Sep 30Liked by Steven Beschloss

First, thank you for listening to the liars, be they Trump, Vance, DeSantis or others. Thank you for boiling off the froth and letting us know the heart (as dark as it may be) of their messages. Because, as I move further into ny eighth decade, I find I am using the mute button whenever I see their faces on the screen.

The silence allows time to ponder why 60 million of my fellow citizens support them and repeat their lies.

In my years I’ve not learned enough to offer an answer to that. And that, I fear will be the question to be answered if our nation has a future as the Founders might have wanted.

“Shirley,” he bellowed, “Steve and his readers have answers.”

I hope.

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And please stop calling us "Shirley"! ;^0

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