We are all so weary. I just wrote about this from a different perspective on my Substack, too. As a therapist, I see this combination of exhaustion and necessary vigilance upending the lives of people not just in the USA but around the world.
Tragically, it's not only this country that's being "put on edge" but the entire global community. But this pyromaniac will stop his mad fiddling in the not too distant future - he will self-destruct - unfortunately, until that happens - especially until November's mid-term elections - the United States will have become an unrecognizable, rudderless country with its precious democratic underpinning dismantled; held hostage by a cabal of racist, corrupt, depraved and utterly unscrupulous villains.
He is more dangerous now than ever. He's talks about nukes and destruction A LOT. He's at the end of his life. He may think that the world shouldn't continue to exist without him in it.
I felt it months ago, way before he started this war to detract from the Epstein files, that he was starting to feel like a trapped rat, and he was becoming his most dangerous as trapped creatures do. His need to leave his name on everything, monuments to himself, his mark. Also the talk about him knowing he is not getting to heaven. I'm not a believer, but if he's counting on it, then they are the only true words he has ever uttered. He knows where he is going 🔥. And he is a malignant narcissist who absolutely does not want to go alone...so he'll just take us along with him. He's demented...it's not just his dementia. Delusions of grandeur. But he could hang on for years.
I, too, long for a day uninterrupted by the assault upon my state of mind brought by the actions of this unhinged man. Even while traveling far from home, in countries so different from ours and with rich cultures to explore, I cannot avoid the compulsion to check in with the latest atrocity. “What’s he done now?” is the first thing my husband and I ask when we open our phones in the morning. This plague upon us cannot end soon enough.
I know I need a pause when time starts racing. I lose track and get a couple days ahead of the calendar. This usually comes with a feeling that I’ve forgotten to do something if I have time without tasks. The only solution that works for me is more time without tasks and the drumbeat of news — only things to enjoy.
I don’t even remember how that feels…I mean, I can’t pull it up from memory…how it feels to be secure and confident in the basic goodness and fairness of our government’s direction and the people who are in power positions within it. I, too, long for the day when that sense of relief and peace will wash over me. I will then remember how it felt to elect responsible and serious people to the unravel the chaos and restore order to our troubled country and put forth its best effort to do the same for our (former) allies.
I have to say that the most deeply troubling and painful thing I have read in the last two days was Trump’s declaration the Democratic Party is, after Iran, the country’s greatest threat. That one gutted me. I am just waiting for some official declaration of such a notion in order to stop the midterm elections from actually taking place. If he uses the idea that all democrats should be designated as some sort of terrorist organization whose votes will corrupt the results, then we are in trouble. I’m trying not to let my imagination run wild, but I see this statement as a precursor to yet another avenue of election interference. Trump is swinging his authoritarianism wildly, in all directions.
Please tell me I am wild-eyed and wrong about this latest declaration. Please. Make. It. Stop.
Don’t forget that it is the states who run elections, not the feds. Many judges have fought against his overreach when he threatens to take over elections. They have ruled against him every single time he says he will meddle in the way states handle the privilege of voting.
He has been saying this all along just like Hitler did with the Jewish people. He has created such animosity, contempt and hatred for any democratic person or independent person that disagrees with him.
Anyone that holds him accountable or talks about any of his corruption and evil deeds is considered an enemy, and he is the victim. He will trash and annihilate anyone and everyone that disagrees with him or points out anything negative about him.
Anyone who speaks up about fascism corruption,right from wrong the constitution and legality.
It is always to create an enemy and convince his followers, his targets are enemies of them also.
Unfortunately, those that are following him have been so negatively impacted emotionally and cognitively from the malignant narcissism and psychopathy. Anyone caught in the orbit or taken in by these severe personality disorders many times take on the same mental illness becoming so compromised emotionally and intellectually that they cannot discern right from wrong, and all values and morals are obliterated.
The thoughts in his mind and the words that come out of his mouth, the hatred he expresses are beyond comprehension.
Truly, a total void as a human being. The most primitive reflexes.
The only path he knows is to double down. There is no self reflection, regret or remorse.
It is shocking. On the other hand he ran using similar statements. He’s flailing and failing. The Senate GOP is getting desperate for a compromise & he refusing. This does feel like crunch time.
Thank you for your reflective writing, Steven, about the anxiety and dread caused by the latest actions of the corrupt and cruel autocratic inhabitant in the White House. “Flooding the zone” has resulted in a constant feeling of fearful malaise that flows over our American Democracy and the entire world in a seemingly endless tide. I actually think Felon47 wants to place ICE in our country’s airports today because he is worried about defenders of democracy (my preferred term for protesters) gathering for “No Kings Day” this coming Saturday, March 28th! Millions upon millions of people will non-violently speak!
I really appreciate the grounding influence of being a faithful reader of “America, America”, Steven! Your writing is definitely helping to keep our dream of recovering the promise of our Constitution afloat!
so far the pictures I've seen show ICE standing around in the public areas. At least they don't have masks. But I'm not sure they are doing a whole lot of "guarding the exits to free up TSA" and the lines don't look much shorter. Actually, it turns out that about 1 in 11 million passenger tried reverse entry into secure areas in 2023-4. An actual successful breach can require full evacuation of the secure area, very disruptive, but few reach that point.
I read your essays so that I can get breaking news that is truthful and straightforward. This allows me to have the quiet time that you so aptly described. Although I know that I need to stay engaged, I don't want to spend my day doom scrolling for factual reporting. So thank you for being an honest source that I come to for news.
Thank you, Mr. Beschloss. This is “flood the zone” at work. I hesitate to say that this is as bad as it can get because neither djt, the Project 2025 crew, the administration or the maga caucus have a bottom - no red line - no this far and no further. Yesterday sean duffy said we need to give djt “grace”. Give me an example of ANY time djt has given grace to anyone other than a felon paying for a pardon or a J6er who tried to help djt overthrow our government. Does djt give any grace to the epstein victims? He shrugs them off like the expendable he believes they are. He allows their names and their pictures to be exposed. bessent talks about what djt’s family has gone through. Is the family gagging on all the money they’ve made using the presidency using our military as leverage. Is any member of djt’s family in an American concentration camp? Are they cut off from family members? Are they separated from their children? Just like djt has rained death and terror on innocent people, death and terror is going to appear in America and it won’t be ICE this time - although it looks like ICE will be getting new terror and killing grounds in our airports. At this point our immediate problem has more to do with the maga caucus than the day-to-day insanity in the White House. djt’s noise is probably a cover for far worse goings on.
In the scheme of things I’m less alarmed by ICE being in airports (which are points of entry). They already had the legal right & are often in & around them. Holman is hard pressed to come up with tasks they can do without specialized training for which there was no time. Duffy says they are trained to use the same screening machines at the southern border. That’s not aviation security.
DJT posted & said publicly he does not want ICE wearing masks at the airports!! How ironic. He does want to make a show of solving problems he created while refusing to agree to a bill that separates & funds TSA, FEMA etc. Seems he received the message that this will be unpopular among travelers who are not all Dems and “illegal immigrants.”
My grandson is in the Navy which is a constant worry now. He has a type of specialized training that Navy does not publicly indicate how many certifications / positions there are. His other grandparents are the West Coast. They and other folks in the region have posted photos of US warships and also saw submarines not normally in those waters. 😩 When there are deployments we hear (and sometimes feel) low flying military helicopters. Maybe from Ft Knox. Those have paused.
He can't .... he needs us spinning ... all that does for us is seeing that he is completely evil ...be it epstein, Mueller, Iran, ICE, RFK, now all Democrats, inept attorneys ruining our doj, hegseth in his make up chair, all his botox barbies with 2' hair extensions the latest being, Erica Kirk, she has outdone them all with her 3' hair extensions!!!..... yes I'm being catty ..... we are now in an Eyes Wide Shut world with no showers to wash this off.....his Middle East gambit may actually ruin him... if the Saudis ,Qatar etc pull out of any deals they have made with this corrupt family... and Russia supporting Iran?? you cannot make this shite up
We should take heart that there are signs the discontent in the country has reached Congress and the White House. This makes it all the more crucial that our voices are loud and the resistance is visible.
• DJT did the TACO on the 48 hour notice to Iran. The planned destruction (likely a war crime) is “postponed”. The market made a swing of roughly 1000 pts as it opened. Iran is touting it as a win with DJT backing down. DJT says “we are talking” and listed as US demands the same things offered by Iran before the war. Iran continues to fire missiles.
• DJT announced he does not want ICE at airports wearing masks. (Holman is tap dancing as he tries to come up with tasks for ICE that don’t require specialized training. ICE by law was already allowed in & around airports.)
• Senate GOP wants to separate TSA funding (and other $$) from immigration enforcement funding - particularly ICE. — Cruz and other Senators want to separate the funding & pass ICE funding in a reconciliation bill later. Thune got a “No” from trump. Nothing happens until he gets his Show Your Papers bill. (Meanwhile DJT claims Dems are being hurt & begging blah blah blah.)
• Kash Patel was asked by Jim Himes in a committee meeting if he was surprised Heritage Foundation data showed only 77 instances of non-citizen voting between 1999 and 2023. Patel responded that he was not surprised by the number, stating it was "low". CATO reached similar conclusion noting in 2024: “the likely percent of non-citizen voters in recent US elections is 0. … Zero, of course, functions here as a rounding number and not as an assertion that literally no noncitizens voted in 2008.” So long history of minuscule #s of non-citizens voting.
— As a side note as bad as the requirements for documents (“show your papers bill”) is, we shouldn’t ignore the clause that requires states send their voter rolls to the Feds. If we pretend they would “in good faith” search for only unqualified voters, the algorithm is known to be WRONG 14% of the time. There is not a requirement to notify voters.
To show animus towards a good man, an honorable man, by declaring: “Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!” is indeed despicable but I realize someday I might say the same about said speaker and would be righteous in saying so.
Maybe we'll all share a quiet day when this madman is hauled off to a mental ward, and we all can breathe again. I still fail to understand why, as he plunges further into insanity, we must put up with a raging dry drunk and his band of nihilists getting rich off their criminal activities. He won't be around to enjoy his "excursions" into madness; and WE won't have to live in his hell.
We are all so weary. I just wrote about this from a different perspective on my Substack, too. As a therapist, I see this combination of exhaustion and necessary vigilance upending the lives of people not just in the USA but around the world.
I fear that it will lead to massive acting out by folks due to toxic stress.
this is a concern of mine as well, Ann
“I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it." - Voltaire
Sadly, the joke’s on us.
Tragically, it's not only this country that's being "put on edge" but the entire global community. But this pyromaniac will stop his mad fiddling in the not too distant future - he will self-destruct - unfortunately, until that happens - especially until November's mid-term elections - the United States will have become an unrecognizable, rudderless country with its precious democratic underpinning dismantled; held hostage by a cabal of racist, corrupt, depraved and utterly unscrupulous villains.
He is more dangerous now than ever. He's talks about nukes and destruction A LOT. He's at the end of his life. He may think that the world shouldn't continue to exist without him in it.
I felt it months ago, way before he started this war to detract from the Epstein files, that he was starting to feel like a trapped rat, and he was becoming his most dangerous as trapped creatures do. His need to leave his name on everything, monuments to himself, his mark. Also the talk about him knowing he is not getting to heaven. I'm not a believer, but if he's counting on it, then they are the only true words he has ever uttered. He knows where he is going 🔥. And he is a malignant narcissist who absolutely does not want to go alone...so he'll just take us along with him. He's demented...it's not just his dementia. Delusions of grandeur. But he could hang on for years.
Very well said!
I, too, long for a day uninterrupted by the assault upon my state of mind brought by the actions of this unhinged man. Even while traveling far from home, in countries so different from ours and with rich cultures to explore, I cannot avoid the compulsion to check in with the latest atrocity. “What’s he done now?” is the first thing my husband and I ask when we open our phones in the morning. This plague upon us cannot end soon enough.
I know I need a pause when time starts racing. I lose track and get a couple days ahead of the calendar. This usually comes with a feeling that I’ve forgotten to do something if I have time without tasks. The only solution that works for me is more time without tasks and the drumbeat of news — only things to enjoy.
I just refuse to let a trump plague overcome me.
I don’t even remember how that feels…I mean, I can’t pull it up from memory…how it feels to be secure and confident in the basic goodness and fairness of our government’s direction and the people who are in power positions within it. I, too, long for the day when that sense of relief and peace will wash over me. I will then remember how it felt to elect responsible and serious people to the unravel the chaos and restore order to our troubled country and put forth its best effort to do the same for our (former) allies.
I have to say that the most deeply troubling and painful thing I have read in the last two days was Trump’s declaration the Democratic Party is, after Iran, the country’s greatest threat. That one gutted me. I am just waiting for some official declaration of such a notion in order to stop the midterm elections from actually taking place. If he uses the idea that all democrats should be designated as some sort of terrorist organization whose votes will corrupt the results, then we are in trouble. I’m trying not to let my imagination run wild, but I see this statement as a precursor to yet another avenue of election interference. Trump is swinging his authoritarianism wildly, in all directions.
Please tell me I am wild-eyed and wrong about this latest declaration. Please. Make. It. Stop.
Don’t forget that it is the states who run elections, not the feds. Many judges have fought against his overreach when he threatens to take over elections. They have ruled against him every single time he says he will meddle in the way states handle the privilege of voting.
I will rely on this holding into the midterms. I wish I had more confidence about it, but I am not sure!
Ellen, his post about the Democratic Party gutted me too.
He has been saying this all along just like Hitler did with the Jewish people. He has created such animosity, contempt and hatred for any democratic person or independent person that disagrees with him.
Anyone that holds him accountable or talks about any of his corruption and evil deeds is considered an enemy, and he is the victim. He will trash and annihilate anyone and everyone that disagrees with him or points out anything negative about him.
Anyone who speaks up about fascism corruption,right from wrong the constitution and legality.
It is always to create an enemy and convince his followers, his targets are enemies of them also.
Unfortunately, those that are following him have been so negatively impacted emotionally and cognitively from the malignant narcissism and psychopathy. Anyone caught in the orbit or taken in by these severe personality disorders many times take on the same mental illness becoming so compromised emotionally and intellectually that they cannot discern right from wrong, and all values and morals are obliterated.
The thoughts in his mind and the words that come out of his mouth, the hatred he expresses are beyond comprehension.
Truly, a total void as a human being. The most primitive reflexes.
The only path he knows is to double down. There is no self reflection, regret or remorse.
Hard for most of us to comprehend, eh?
Absolutely
Preach, Sister!
It is shocking. On the other hand he ran using similar statements. He’s flailing and failing. The Senate GOP is getting desperate for a compromise & he refusing. This does feel like crunch time.
Thank you for your reflective writing, Steven, about the anxiety and dread caused by the latest actions of the corrupt and cruel autocratic inhabitant in the White House. “Flooding the zone” has resulted in a constant feeling of fearful malaise that flows over our American Democracy and the entire world in a seemingly endless tide. I actually think Felon47 wants to place ICE in our country’s airports today because he is worried about defenders of democracy (my preferred term for protesters) gathering for “No Kings Day” this coming Saturday, March 28th! Millions upon millions of people will non-violently speak!
I really appreciate the grounding influence of being a faithful reader of “America, America”, Steven! Your writing is definitely helping to keep our dream of recovering the promise of our Constitution afloat!
Thank you, Laurel.
Ditto
so far the pictures I've seen show ICE standing around in the public areas. At least they don't have masks. But I'm not sure they are doing a whole lot of "guarding the exits to free up TSA" and the lines don't look much shorter. Actually, it turns out that about 1 in 11 million passenger tried reverse entry into secure areas in 2023-4. An actual successful breach can require full evacuation of the secure area, very disruptive, but few reach that point.
Thanks for sharing this update, Susan!
I read your essays so that I can get breaking news that is truthful and straightforward. This allows me to have the quiet time that you so aptly described. Although I know that I need to stay engaged, I don't want to spend my day doom scrolling for factual reporting. So thank you for being an honest source that I come to for news.
Agreed
Thank you, Mr. Beschloss. This is “flood the zone” at work. I hesitate to say that this is as bad as it can get because neither djt, the Project 2025 crew, the administration or the maga caucus have a bottom - no red line - no this far and no further. Yesterday sean duffy said we need to give djt “grace”. Give me an example of ANY time djt has given grace to anyone other than a felon paying for a pardon or a J6er who tried to help djt overthrow our government. Does djt give any grace to the epstein victims? He shrugs them off like the expendable he believes they are. He allows their names and their pictures to be exposed. bessent talks about what djt’s family has gone through. Is the family gagging on all the money they’ve made using the presidency using our military as leverage. Is any member of djt’s family in an American concentration camp? Are they cut off from family members? Are they separated from their children? Just like djt has rained death and terror on innocent people, death and terror is going to appear in America and it won’t be ICE this time - although it looks like ICE will be getting new terror and killing grounds in our airports. At this point our immediate problem has more to do with the maga caucus than the day-to-day insanity in the White House. djt’s noise is probably a cover for far worse goings on.
It take Duffy’s comment as an indication he had no excuses left. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-calls-democrats-greatest-enemy-164428100.html
In the scheme of things I’m less alarmed by ICE being in airports (which are points of entry). They already had the legal right & are often in & around them. Holman is hard pressed to come up with tasks they can do without specialized training for which there was no time. Duffy says they are trained to use the same screening machines at the southern border. That’s not aviation security.
DJT posted & said publicly he does not want ICE wearing masks at the airports!! How ironic. He does want to make a show of solving problems he created while refusing to agree to a bill that separates & funds TSA, FEMA etc. Seems he received the message that this will be unpopular among travelers who are not all Dems and “illegal immigrants.”
My grandson is in the Navy which is a constant worry now. He has a type of specialized training that Navy does not publicly indicate how many certifications / positions there are. His other grandparents are the West Coast. They and other folks in the region have posted photos of US warships and also saw submarines not normally in those waters. 😩 When there are deployments we hear (and sometimes feel) low flying military helicopters. Maybe from Ft Knox. Those have paused.
He can't .... he needs us spinning ... all that does for us is seeing that he is completely evil ...be it epstein, Mueller, Iran, ICE, RFK, now all Democrats, inept attorneys ruining our doj, hegseth in his make up chair, all his botox barbies with 2' hair extensions the latest being, Erica Kirk, she has outdone them all with her 3' hair extensions!!!..... yes I'm being catty ..... we are now in an Eyes Wide Shut world with no showers to wash this off.....his Middle East gambit may actually ruin him... if the Saudis ,Qatar etc pull out of any deals they have made with this corrupt family... and Russia supporting Iran?? you cannot make this shite up
Thanks for fighting every day, Steve.
Agree. I would be so happy for some boring days!
We should take heart that there are signs the discontent in the country has reached Congress and the White House. This makes it all the more crucial that our voices are loud and the resistance is visible.
• DJT did the TACO on the 48 hour notice to Iran. The planned destruction (likely a war crime) is “postponed”. The market made a swing of roughly 1000 pts as it opened. Iran is touting it as a win with DJT backing down. DJT says “we are talking” and listed as US demands the same things offered by Iran before the war. Iran continues to fire missiles.
• DJT announced he does not want ICE at airports wearing masks. (Holman is tap dancing as he tries to come up with tasks for ICE that don’t require specialized training. ICE by law was already allowed in & around airports.)
• Senate GOP wants to separate TSA funding (and other $$) from immigration enforcement funding - particularly ICE. — Cruz and other Senators want to separate the funding & pass ICE funding in a reconciliation bill later. Thune got a “No” from trump. Nothing happens until he gets his Show Your Papers bill. (Meanwhile DJT claims Dems are being hurt & begging blah blah blah.)
• Kash Patel was asked by Jim Himes in a committee meeting if he was surprised Heritage Foundation data showed only 77 instances of non-citizen voting between 1999 and 2023. Patel responded that he was not surprised by the number, stating it was "low". CATO reached similar conclusion noting in 2024: “the likely percent of non-citizen voters in recent US elections is 0. … Zero, of course, functions here as a rounding number and not as an assertion that literally no noncitizens voted in 2008.” So long history of minuscule #s of non-citizens voting.
— As a side note as bad as the requirements for documents (“show your papers bill”) is, we shouldn’t ignore the clause that requires states send their voter rolls to the Feds. If we pretend they would “in good faith” search for only unqualified voters, the algorithm is known to be WRONG 14% of the time. There is not a requirement to notify voters.
A good list. Thanks, Ann.
To show animus towards a good man, an honorable man, by declaring: “Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!” is indeed despicable but I realize someday I might say the same about said speaker and would be righteous in saying so.
🧵Yes, how ‘bout it?
We’ve got enough to worry about!
And now, there’s a crash at LaGuardia!
Maybe we'll all share a quiet day when this madman is hauled off to a mental ward, and we all can breathe again. I still fail to understand why, as he plunges further into insanity, we must put up with a raging dry drunk and his band of nihilists getting rich off their criminal activities. He won't be around to enjoy his "excursions" into madness; and WE won't have to live in his hell.
Agree it makes little sense that it's come to this...even as we can provide detailed "reasons."
Steven, Although rightly peppered with Reality, - Lovely introduction and conclusion-soothing…
And we appreciate your stated vow for our future.
Glad you weren’t at LaGuardia too.
🇺🇸