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, 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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
“It’s appalling to realize that millions of Americans voted for this—not just because they were angry about the price of eggs or despised immigrants, but because they were attracted to or even addicted to Trump’s non-stop “entertainment” and wanted to watch him burn it all down.”
Addiction is the problem in a nutshell. From the relatively benign and somewhat superficial “own the libs” to “root out the deep state” to “oblivion.” The need to proclaim victory over Iraq is rooted in the simple truth that MAGA is made up of those who fight daily to satisfy their addiction to violence, images of violence, and obscuring their violence behind uniforms and badges. Is there a twelve-step program to control their needs to dominate others?
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.
“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.
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.
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.
Very well said!
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, 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.
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
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.
Ellen, his post about the Democratic Party gutted me too.
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!
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
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
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
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.
🧵Yes, how ‘bout it?
We’ve got enough to worry about!
And now, there’s a crash at LaGuardia!
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.
🇺🇸
Thanks for fighting every day, Steve.
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.
“It’s appalling to realize that millions of Americans voted for this—not just because they were angry about the price of eggs or despised immigrants, but because they were attracted to or even addicted to Trump’s non-stop “entertainment” and wanted to watch him burn it all down.”
Addiction is the problem in a nutshell. From the relatively benign and somewhat superficial “own the libs” to “root out the deep state” to “oblivion.” The need to proclaim victory over Iraq is rooted in the simple truth that MAGA is made up of those who fight daily to satisfy their addiction to violence, images of violence, and obscuring their violence behind uniforms and badges. Is there a twelve-step program to control their needs to dominate others?
Thank you always Steven for your clarity and insight.
Thank you, Diane.
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.