This question has been asked so many times over the 10+ years since he slithered into the public electoral forum. Until his party (and it truly is his now) steps up, the answer is NO. The demonstrations have not yet fermented into national political action against the regime.
I will celebrate being proven wrong.
"The problem is not civil disobedience, it is civil obedience." - Howard Zinn
Zinn’s point (with which I agree) was well made. Your point (with which I disagree) also is well made. Consider this also from Zinn: “Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it.” Why do I disagree with you? I think you are willing to throw in the towel too quickly and too easily. You can look to the actions of others, but as part of you challenge to be proved wrong, I ask you: How are resisting? How are you helping others in desperate need? What are you doing? The fact that demonstrations have not achieved the desired outcome does not suggest that abandoning them bring about any result of than capitulation. Continuing and increasing the depth, breadth, frequency and [peaceful] intensity of them may not. But it may. In the alternative, I invite you to consider some of the words of John Lewis: “A democracy cannot thrive where power remains unchecked and justice is reserved for a select few. Ignoring these cries and failing to respond to this movement is simply not an option — for peace cannot exist where justice is not served.”
Yes. This is tyranny. This is an attack on the freedom of press. This is yet another attack on free speech. This is an attack on our civil liberties. They go after reporters because they only want you to see what they want you to see. The First Amendment is under attack!
When a president targets journalists instead of criminals, democracy is in danger. Arresting reporters, ignoring corruption, and silencing dissent are authoritarian tactics.
Nothing frightens a dictator more than millions on the streets. We will never be intimidated by tyranny! I like this "We the People will NOT comply with tyranny" shirt 👇
Totally agree. Despair is not an answer. We have to fight Trump and all his evil minions. We also need to (after that big job is accomplished) revamp these United States into a better, more fair, more just, and more equal union. The powers of billionaires and giant corporations must be reined in. The dangers and deceits of high technology -- spying on us, providing untold amounts of data to the government and corporations, creating AI systems that may destroy many working lives and ultimately our ability to resist and be free -- must be tackled. Trump is evil, but he's just a symptom of a broader, deeper disease.
Exactly. And if that doesn't seem a hard enough lift, keep in mind oligarchs are global now, and it's gonna need global solutions to really put them back in their place. I talk to many people in other parts of the world. There's a growing awareness that these people are the troublemakers across the world, and we're going to have to work together for the best results.
Great observation. This Authoritarian Spring isn't just an American vice, it's a horrific trend throughout much of the world. Despots and would-be kings are watching what others do, and helping them undermine democracy and undermine confidence in the very concept of people working together to build something better. We, freedom-loving Americans who can see with our eyes, need to build alliances with others like us, in Canada, in Britain, in the EU, in Australia, in New Zealand, and a host of other places.
You are misreading the comment. If you follow me, you will most assuredly see that I am not throwing in the towel, and my post does not suggest that. I am merely saying that none of these heinous actions have moved his base/enablers/sycophants to take action against him. Until that happens, the question is moot. 🖖
His supporters in positions of power haven't given ind a spine yet, but his voters do not sound now like they did a few months ago. I don't expect regular people who support him to actively oppose him. They'll just go quiet. Many will sit out the next elections, and some will vote Dem because they feel that betrayed. It was the same with staunch Nixon supporters when I was young.
Maybe 10% of voters are actually dialed into what's going on. That's how you get 2016 and 2024. People vote for the most tenuous of reasons. Run a precinct for a couple of decades and you'll get a pretty good grasp, even though no one directly talks about campaigns in the precinct.
The clown slips on a banana peel. God threw the banana peel and we slipped on it. Banana peels are our human flaws.
Laughing at our flaws would be a great upgrade to our humanity at an individual and societal level.
The science of Cognitive behavior techniques includes a comprehensive list of our emotional flaws.
Scientists trained middle schoolers on these flaws. They documented this successful training in the book Resilience Factor and they won a 117 million Federal contract to train over a million young employees to be on the lookout for these flaws.
I’m sure the Trump-scum are busily contriving excuses, rationales, what-aboutism, deflections and more lies. THEIR IDOL RAPED CHILDREN and they are okay with that. God will have her vengeance.
It's painful even in shoes. Now imagine a few boxes while barefoot. Having your feet run over by a custom made power wheelchair is less painful. Don't ask how I know.
We truly have become a demented world. Has it always been this deranged, and we’re merely seeing history repeating itself in real time under this shameless, insanity of the Trump regime 2.0?
It's always some level deranged. From time to time the inmates get to run the asylum. Though this iteration does have a level of incompetent gifting that looks weirder than the last time we dealt with robber barons. Perhaps it's just because it's harder to hide things now.
Yes, And technology/social media immediately provides access to information 24/7 then amplifies it. Yet staying informed is so important that it’s now essential, like reading a daily newspaper used to be, and which I did. Several. Add AI and extreme discernment is also required.
It's meant to be exhausting. That's why I'm off to ignore the news the rest of the day and play rpgs. Everyone needs time to breathe. 🤷 But I remember well how the cops treated antiwar and civil rights protestors. They beat the shit out of the with billy clubs for daring to protest. They set dogs on people. Oh witnesses saw and spoke, but you rarely saw it mentioned on the news, and everyone pictured was someone who looked like they were trying to be violent. Now we get to see Renee Good and Alex Pretti gunned down in the street, and good luck trying to pretend that didn't happen.
I think that maybe this is a bridge too far and highly improbably. Seriously, Meta and child recruiting robots? That would never meet Meta’s targeted return on investment and growth expectations.
That is the best thing I’ve heard in some time. We will soon learn just how big a majority is really needed to actually change anything. A loss of power means prison. They are not going to give it up easily.
I'm not saying look away. At the same time? Take care of yourself. That means taking breaks to read/watch trash. It means enjoying your life so that they don't win. It means donating to charities to piss them off. Etc.
Unfortunately, I do not believe we are at an inflection or breaking point. I live in an upper-middle class New Jersey town heavily MAGA. My grandson's 8th grade class here wears MAGA merch and sings songs about Charlie Kirk daily. My friends are liberal-leaning PhDs, MDs, CEOs, attorneys, etc.but they do not wish to know more. Their stock portfolios, 401Ks and residences are contributing to their sense of impenetrability. They sigh in despair when I explain the latest regime horror. Your readers, Steven, we are at the breaking point. But I fear for the rest, there does not seem to be any 9/11 or Pearl Harbor on the horizon that might occur to awaken the satisfied.
Keep in mind that it wasn't a 9/11 or a Pearl Harbor that started or sustained the civil rights movement. It was year after year, decade after decade, of hard, often dangerous work -- and as a result, when white people in the North and West saw on TV what was happening in the Jim Crow South, they woke the hell up. Not all of them, of course; nowhere close. But enough. Things changed. Needless to say, the white backlash got under way immediately and made it possible for the Reagan Republicans to capture the White House and Congress.
Funny thing, though: they didn't do all that much for the white people who elected them. Gutting unions and cutting corporate taxes benefited the wealthy, not working people. Nevertheless, "white rage" continues to focus on people of color, not the corporate types, billionaires, and mega-multimillionaires who are literally making out like bandits.
Totally agree, Susanna. I grew up in the South during civil rights (I'm still an active attorney/educator at 80 yo) and saw first hand how this evolved. What frightens me is that I don't believe we have the time for an evolutionary trend to fight this well planned, well financed fascist regime. Even the demise of trump will not stop the evil from spreading.
I had the time and misfortune to read the entire 902 pages of PROJECT 2025 and if you use it as a regime to-do list, about 1/2 of it is done. The fact that his entire Cabinet consists of crumbs is the entire point: "I was just following orders."
I look at it through a different frame, I guess. If they were competent the pushback wouldn't be taking hold now. While I sure don't like the wholesale destruction, there is also an opportunity we would not have had otherwise to rethink them. My whole life has been watching people putting bandaids on a patient that is increasingly bleeding out. There is no going back now - only forward. Think like a (nonviolent) revolutionary about the possibilities.
"watching people putting bandaids on a patient that is increasingly bleeding out" -- yeow, yes. Agree with "there's no going back now -- only forward," but "forward" has several directions. Like Germany after Weimar made a beeline for the Nazis. Lucky for us, the U.S. in 2026 doesn't have a lot in common with Weimar. After 1929 and the Depression, the U.S. went for the New Deal while Germany went for Hitler. I wish I had more confidence in our leaders and our leaders in waiting, but hey, there's a lot going on (barely) under the surface that I know nothing about.
I just started rereading LORD OF THE RINGS. Can't imagine why.
I reluctantly agree. Some political scientists talk of a "revolutionary civil war" where we undo everything that needs revising. Our wise founders could scarcely consider what we are faced with today with billionaire/trillionaires having bought the 3 branches of government and ground them to corrupt standstills so checks and balances are stymied.
Good question. On one hand, yes, it's been the right-wing/white-wing/corporate agenda since early in the 20th century. They made some progress during Nixon then went into overdrive with Reagan. Solidified it with the Bush II SCOTUS appointments, Roberts and Alito. Had a setback with the corporate types crashing the economy (again), which helped lead to Obama, which led to the white/right going into overdrive *again* with the Citizens United decision and the Tea Party election. (Jane Mayer's DARK MONEY is excellent on all this.)
Short(er) version: Many elements of the Project 2025 playbook have been around at least since Reagan. My personal opinion is that Trump would never have been their top choice to implement it, but Trump was all they could get. This gives us a better chance to defeat it than if we had, say, a Dick Cheney to deal with.
How do you think Vance will enact the most extreme parts? As vassal to Thiel I fear him in a sense more in some ways but less as incapable of having MAGA get behind him as cult leader.
I'm mixed about impeachment/removal and use of the 25th Amendment for similar reasons. I don't see the MAGAs rallying behind Vance (which was probably one reason Trump picked him), and I really, really want to believe that the America that was once deeply suspicious of corporations and the ultra-rich still exists. OTOH, that America tended to be racist AF and unwilling to acknowledge that white working people and working people of color had a lot in common.
I agree with your assessment. I grew up working class in the 60s. I watched the Dems abandon the field in the 70s, and the GOP stoke the religious right. When the government wasn't doing shit for my working class neighbors, well no one was going to, but at least we can save some babies huh? Operation Rescue managed to get Protestants and Catholics to stop yelling at each other about who was going to hell. Go figure.
It may take something monumental, like a civil war or mass indiscriminate murders of protesters. It has to “hit home” first, to rattle some people out of their stupors.
We kind of are already imploding. But I sure wouldn’t mind seeing those rich and snobby people looking down their noses at us lose their snobbery money.
I still don't see the national will for nationwide action at that level. I know people who purposely refuse to even follow the news lest it disrupt their lives or upset them.
Do not disagree, unfortunately, but there are mutterings, especially in the big unions, although they are less than 20% of the voting population. Something is going to be unleashed before the midterms. Don't know what, but something. Just hope it is not too violent.
The last time Americans had large scale strikes was...maybe I was an infant? We've forgotten how and need to relearn. We should definitely aim for that, but we need to build some strike skills. Also strikes can be in key areas. If air traffic controllers strike it shuts everything down, for example. But there needs to be support if they take that risk. It's like every time I hear someone advocate for a strike no one remembers a strike fund was a real thing. Our family depended on that during a strike when we were kids.
Totally agree. As long as it doesn't affect their portfolios they're fine. No morality. No concern for the suffering of their fellow Americans. This was evident during the Gaza genocide. That's why I protested what was happening there -- because it revealed the self interest of Americans who didn t even care. And now it's here. Same people. "Social liberal and fiscal conservative.' Perhaps it was this group that is to blame for 2.0
I live among the middle and lower middle(many retirees) and I see the lack of outrage. When socializing with some well off friends I hear..."Trump's an a..hole, but my pocketbook is doing pretty good."
For the most part, when Americans are removed from "where the action is", such as Minneapolis, they will tend to their day to day affairs fairly care free. This is why I pray for an economic crash!
It's the same in the upper middle class. They only care about their pocketbook. They DGAF about others around them. As long as they have their tax breaks for now and that their kids won't be punnished financially if they drop dead today/tomorrow, they DGAF about others.
W.J., wow, you and I are in the same situation. The "undisturbed" will be the death of democracy. I agree about the economic crash when the billionaire/trillionaire class come in to lick up the crumbs. Perhaps it will be too late, especially if the stock market stays stable thru the midterms. After the crash, once the "undisturbed" are rattled, we need a new Reconstruction except one better than the pale, weak, South-apologist events after the Civil War. We need 7 more non-MAGA Justices appointed to the Supreme Court. We need a revision of Presidential powers and ethics with new guardrails. We need erasure of the Departments that became agents of fascism, and perhaps making the Justice Department quasi-independent like the Federal Reserve.. We need to overturn Citizens United, return reproductive and voter rights. Lots of work for us to do!
"Is the utter madness of handing the levers of power again to one of the worst humans to ever walk this earth a sign that we have avoided reality and accountability for too long—and now we must pay the price that so many Americans refused to pay by looking forward and ignoring the crimes of the past? Are we still capable of confronting the mass psychosis that has gripped millions of our fellow citizens? Is America hitting a breaking point?"
While there are millions of deluded, apathetic, and proudly ignorant members of American society, I'm still not convinced there wasn't extensive interference if not downright manipulation by Elon Musk and his minions in the election of 2024. I worked that election and the fact it was called while we poll workers were still counting paper ballots at 11:30PM in AZ still stinks to high heaven to me. But yes, many have ignored the truth of our past for the truth is hard to swallow.
Is this a breaking point? Oh Lordy, I hope so. The flagrant dismissal of lives killed in broad daylight excused by easily disproven lies, the shredding of the Bill of Rights, and wanton violence by thugs cosplaying as federal agents must hit hard with some of these folks who have been hiding their heads in the sand. Yet, I have to admit I don't really know what it will take for these folks to wake the hell up and realize we are already living in a police state.
What's next? The purges of any critics of the regime, as in 1934 during The Night of the Long Knives? Stephen Miller's copying of the Nazi playbook certainly indicates it: 1) he's trashed the Fourth Amendment by not requiring judicial warrants for thugs to bust into homes, 2) trashed the First by jailing journalists and labeling protestors as "domestic terrorists", 3) "No one should be allowed to criticize the president", 4) he's turned out of control ICE thugs into the SA, 5) we have fully functioning huge concentration camps in the US where they take five year olds and babies without any process at all, let alone due process in a court of law.
Also, Ellison has bought up more than half of the nation's media outlets to control the narrative.
What do we do?
STAY LOUD. GET INTO THE STREETS IF YOU CAN. Read independent journalists or foreign news outlets. If you can't physically protest, share the truth and the facts as much as possible. Keep demanding accountability and keep nagging your reps and senators to do their damn jobs. But most of all, stay connected with your neighbors and community. Alone, we can do nothing. But there is strength in numbers. We did it before in 1776--are we not at least as determined as those who fought a king and the most powerful army/navy on the planet at the time?
I agree the 2024 election was tampered with. What I don't understand is WHY the electors and state governments went along with the results without waiting until the next day to count all ballots. This is foul play -- it happened also in 2016. It's really as though the entire system has been corrupted by money. What's going on behind the curtain?
Why did Al Gore quit over 537 votes in FL, where the SOS charged with counting the ballots was on Bush's team? SCOTUS had no jurisdiction - this was for Congress under Amendment 20(3)): "Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified." https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxx. Because this rotten to the core
Thank you, Steven, for your unflinching reportage of the horror which is Trump’s Amerika. As a Canadian, I have long followed the political life of your country. I have told myself for years that my doing so is a kind of civics lesson and a way to help me understand and contribute to maintaining a free and participatory democracy in my own country. As an aside, we have Trump-loving, Alberta Conservatives here who are, even now, conspiring with the Trump regime to prevail in a referendum which would break up Canada.
I digress. With the firehose of unthinkable and daily events occurring “down south”, i now find that i am having to carefully manage and ration the news for my own mental health - while still maintaining a political awareness.
So I listen to certain voices, yours being one of them. And i try to answer my 93-year-old mother-in-law who asks, “But how did the U.S. get to this point?”
Once again, thank you for helping me to answer that question.
I have daughters. I can’t even bear to think about those children. How brave the survivors are! Monsters like trump must have people to bully and abuse, but Minnesotans won’t take it. Many people there are from Sweden and Norway and Germany and won’t be frightened or bullied by a maniac. I am protesting in my town and thinking of and praying for my friends in Minneapolis.
Thanks Steven: What a pathetic sick nation. The administration is filtering pedophiles through the ranks. Raping a violating little children is just abhorrent. Todd Blanche claims the DOJ will prosecute and pedophiles (men) who are in the file with the whole extent of the law. Well Todd you can start with President Trump. Ask Trump why he slapped a thirteen year old child because she laughed after biting his pathetic manhood. I wish that thirteen year old , now a young lady would come forth and testify. I suppose if your rich, famous and threatening you can just violate any young child or women. I understand Alan Dershowitz spoke to a young child who claimed she was violated, physically , spiritually and emotionally and she did not process with any sort of action. I wonder what Dershowitz said to her?? So much happening , flooding the zone with debauchery and slime. The ICE gestapo executing citizens on a whim. The administration is doing all it can to get the states voter data so they can rig the elections just like Orban and Putin.
Yes, I absolutely believe America is hitting a breaking point - and I know beyond a doubt that I am hitting a breaking point. It’s literally killing me to see what’s happening and to look around and see others in my sphere completely ignoring it and acting as if everything is fine. Everything is most definitely not fine and we all better step up or the country we all knew will be gone. It’s truly stunning to me how serious this moment is.
I have always been astounded by our cruelty,but more our casual disregard of our history as we say we champion human rights. Irony, you are the United States of America.
The Bulwark published some focus group info I found interesting. Sarah Longwell was very surprised to find the voters she talked to had all heard and/or seen video of the killing of Alex Pretti. Voters that normally don't tune in like people on this Substack have sat up and taken notice. And they don't like what they see.
I have been saying--shouting into the wilderness--since January 2025 that Trump is our country's Karma writ large. I have been saying that you cannot claim you're "the greatest country in the world" while you refuse to look at or apologize for or even admit that you stole native land, commited act after act ofr genocide against Native people, enslaved Africans and African-Americans for over 300 years, stole land from and then imprisoned Japanese Americans, used immigrant Chinese laborers to build railroads for a pittance, allowed lynchings to occur without punishment, dropped Agent Orange on innocent civilians in Vietnam, lied about "weapons of mass destruction" and on and on and on without Karma kicking the country's butt. "All the waters of the Nile cannot wash the blood" from the hands of our country. But we can make a start at redemption by recognizing, making amends for, and correcting our gross imperfections.
Those supporting these criminal ways have something to loose, and it is likely money. Probably subsidies, tax relief, or something that supports a way of life they lead. Free money from workers is a great benefit if you can swing it, especially if you live better than the poor suckers paying you and your tax rate is nothing compared to theirs.
It's easy to give up, but our families fought in the Revolutionary War and all the others. We believe in freedom. There are more of us than there are of them.
My comment dear Professor is the same as always...maybe boring but true. You, all of us, our supposed leaders must call for immediate massive peaceful (from our side as has been ) relentless resistance, strikes. without stopping across the country NOW. Shut the country down. They are going to kill some of us anyway. Might as well be as we are shutting the country down to hurt Trump, his regime, and the complicit enablers. I say it again and again it is the only effective way. Yes, it will lead to more casualties, and if the MAGA forces are determined to civil war. I say what happens will happen, or we will give up our rights to this vile brain damaged being, oh yeah for those recording my posts...I am talking about Donald J. Trump, the vilest individual to walk our earth since....I don't know Caligula?.
This question has been asked so many times over the 10+ years since he slithered into the public electoral forum. Until his party (and it truly is his now) steps up, the answer is NO. The demonstrations have not yet fermented into national political action against the regime.
I will celebrate being proven wrong.
"The problem is not civil disobedience, it is civil obedience." - Howard Zinn
I hear you, Al. But the question must still be asked... BTW: The Zinn quote is particularly apt.
No quarrel with that. Keep pushing it, Steve.
Zinn’s point (with which I agree) was well made. Your point (with which I disagree) also is well made. Consider this also from Zinn: “Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it.” Why do I disagree with you? I think you are willing to throw in the towel too quickly and too easily. You can look to the actions of others, but as part of you challenge to be proved wrong, I ask you: How are resisting? How are you helping others in desperate need? What are you doing? The fact that demonstrations have not achieved the desired outcome does not suggest that abandoning them bring about any result of than capitulation. Continuing and increasing the depth, breadth, frequency and [peaceful] intensity of them may not. But it may. In the alternative, I invite you to consider some of the words of John Lewis: “A democracy cannot thrive where power remains unchecked and justice is reserved for a select few. Ignoring these cries and failing to respond to this movement is simply not an option — for peace cannot exist where justice is not served.”
Yes! Keep doing something, one thing at least. Protests are powerful. Celebrate small cracks in the regime. Read “On Tyranny” by Timothy Snyder.
Yes. This is tyranny. This is an attack on the freedom of press. This is yet another attack on free speech. This is an attack on our civil liberties. They go after reporters because they only want you to see what they want you to see. The First Amendment is under attack!
When a president targets journalists instead of criminals, democracy is in danger. Arresting reporters, ignoring corruption, and silencing dissent are authoritarian tactics.
Nothing frightens a dictator more than millions on the streets. We will never be intimidated by tyranny! I like this "We the People will NOT comply with tyranny" shirt 👇
https://libtees.dashery.com/products/78688428-we-the-people-will-not-comply-with-tyranny-t-shirt
If you need another company to check out, LMMs TEERICO has great merchandise.
Thinking about... Timothy Snyder, Jan 06, 2024; Thinking about... 'On Tyranny - Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century': "These are twenty lessons from the twentieth century I published seven years ago, first as a kind of online declaration, and then, with historical examples, in a pamphlet called On Tyranny" © 2017, 2024 Tim Snyder; https://snyder.substack.com/p/on-tyranny
1. Do not obey in advance.
2. Defend institutions.
3. Beware the one-party state.
4. Take responsibility for the face of the world.
5. Remember professional ethics.
6. Be wary of paramilitaries.
7. Be reflective if you must be armed.
8. Stand out.
9. Be kind to our language.
10. Believe in truth.
11. Investigate.
12. Make eye contact and small talk.
13. Practice corporeal politics.
14. Establish a private life.
15. Contribute to good causes.
16. Learn from peers in other countries.
17. Listen for dangerous words.
18. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives.
19. Be a patriot.
20. Be as courageous as you can.
Totally agree. Despair is not an answer. We have to fight Trump and all his evil minions. We also need to (after that big job is accomplished) revamp these United States into a better, more fair, more just, and more equal union. The powers of billionaires and giant corporations must be reined in. The dangers and deceits of high technology -- spying on us, providing untold amounts of data to the government and corporations, creating AI systems that may destroy many working lives and ultimately our ability to resist and be free -- must be tackled. Trump is evil, but he's just a symptom of a broader, deeper disease.
Exactly. And if that doesn't seem a hard enough lift, keep in mind oligarchs are global now, and it's gonna need global solutions to really put them back in their place. I talk to many people in other parts of the world. There's a growing awareness that these people are the troublemakers across the world, and we're going to have to work together for the best results.
Great observation. This Authoritarian Spring isn't just an American vice, it's a horrific trend throughout much of the world. Despots and would-be kings are watching what others do, and helping them undermine democracy and undermine confidence in the very concept of people working together to build something better. We, freedom-loving Americans who can see with our eyes, need to build alliances with others like us, in Canada, in Britain, in the EU, in Australia, in New Zealand, and a host of other places.
We now have some tools in psychology to spot certain traits. The youngest folks speak openly about it. Educating ourselves is a must for prevention.
America is due for a reset.
You are misreading the comment. If you follow me, you will most assuredly see that I am not throwing in the towel, and my post does not suggest that. I am merely saying that none of these heinous actions have moved his base/enablers/sycophants to take action against him. Until that happens, the question is moot. 🖖
His supporters in positions of power haven't given ind a spine yet, but his voters do not sound now like they did a few months ago. I don't expect regular people who support him to actively oppose him. They'll just go quiet. Many will sit out the next elections, and some will vote Dem because they feel that betrayed. It was the same with staunch Nixon supporters when I was young.
*found sorry
His base alone (~35% of voters) will not sustain him. Stopping voting fraud will
So they said in 2016 and 2024. -30-
Maybe 10% of voters are actually dialed into what's going on. That's how you get 2016 and 2024. People vote for the most tenuous of reasons. Run a precinct for a couple of decades and you'll get a pretty good grasp, even though no one directly talks about campaigns in the precinct.
Yes. This is my experience with local campaigns I’ve worked on .
Your sense of optimism is inspiring in the most despairing of ways
The Economist/YouGov Poll June 30 - July 2, 2024 - 1608 U.S. Adult Citizens
https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/econTabReport_xTDr4ON.pdf
4. Likely to Vote in 2024 How likely is it that you will vote in the 2024 presidential election this year? (data are on page 7)
Definitely will vote: 79% (Registered voters: 84%)
Probably will vote: 12% (Registered voters: 9%)
Maybe will vote: 6% (Registered voters: 3%)
Probably will not vote: 2% (Registered voters: 1%)
Definitely will not vote: 1% (Registered voters: 1%)
Don't know: 1% (Registered voters: 1%)
Totals: 101% (Total people polled) / 99% (Registered voters polled)
10% as "dialed in" not only is inaccurate beyond the MOE but just plain wrong.
Posting misleading, doom-filled, discouraging and inaccurate information is unhelpful.
Real data compiled from trusted organizations are far more reliable. As to 2024:
91% of those polled (79%+12%) of all polled definitely/probably will vote
93% of those polled (84%+9%) of registered voters polled definitely/probably will vote
The clown slips on a banana peel. God threw the banana peel and we slipped on it. Banana peels are our human flaws.
Laughing at our flaws would be a great upgrade to our humanity at an individual and societal level.
The science of Cognitive behavior techniques includes a comprehensive list of our emotional flaws.
Scientists trained middle schoolers on these flaws. They documented this successful training in the book Resilience Factor and they won a 117 million Federal contract to train over a million young employees to be on the lookout for these flaws.
A free AI version of this training is available at feelingGoodapp.com
Zinn was always right! Great writer and historian.
I’m sure the Trump-scum are busily contriving excuses, rationales, what-aboutism, deflections and more lies. THEIR IDOL RAPED CHILDREN and they are okay with that. God will have her vengeance.
IMO, they all should be tried at the ICC. Let them survive off colonoscopy prep, May they walk barefoot on LEGOS for the rest of their lives.
You are way too kind-way too kind for that lot.
Apparently you've never stepped on LEGOS barefoot.
Barbie shoes 👀
Ha! You’re right but now I can imagine it.
It's painful even in shoes. Now imagine a few boxes while barefoot. Having your feet run over by a custom made power wheelchair is less painful. Don't ask how I know.
Zuckerberg worse than Epstein: MAGA/QAnon should be reminded?
Meta sends army of robots to seduce children?
https://news.google.com/search?q=Meta+sensual+children+AI
We truly have become a demented world. Has it always been this deranged, and we’re merely seeing history repeating itself in real time under this shameless, insanity of the Trump regime 2.0?
It's always some level deranged. From time to time the inmates get to run the asylum. Though this iteration does have a level of incompetent gifting that looks weirder than the last time we dealt with robber barons. Perhaps it's just because it's harder to hide things now.
Yes, And technology/social media immediately provides access to information 24/7 then amplifies it. Yet staying informed is so important that it’s now essential, like reading a daily newspaper used to be, and which I did. Several. Add AI and extreme discernment is also required.
IT’S EXHAUSTING!!!
It's meant to be exhausting. That's why I'm off to ignore the news the rest of the day and play rpgs. Everyone needs time to breathe. 🤷 But I remember well how the cops treated antiwar and civil rights protestors. They beat the shit out of the with billy clubs for daring to protest. They set dogs on people. Oh witnesses saw and spoke, but you rarely saw it mentioned on the news, and everyone pictured was someone who looked like they were trying to be violent. Now we get to see Renee Good and Alex Pretti gunned down in the street, and good luck trying to pretend that didn't happen.
Yep. It’s all by design. Trump has always been masterful at controlling the media hence the narrative. So I read selectively.
And I also get what I need then step away. But never lose my resolve.
I think that maybe this is a bridge too far and highly improbably. Seriously, Meta and child recruiting robots? That would never meet Meta’s targeted return on investment and growth expectations.
I think the 1 account might be a bot.
That is the best thing I’ve heard in some time. We will soon learn just how big a majority is really needed to actually change anything. A loss of power means prison. They are not going to give it up easily.
I refuse to look away! My husband gets upset that it seems I am always upset,
I feel we need to bear witness and take what action is necessary to stop this
Same here. He watches the news all the time but doesn't want to hear it when I get angry. So I don't say anything when I leave to go protest.
I'm not saying look away. At the same time? Take care of yourself. That means taking breaks to read/watch trash. It means enjoying your life so that they don't win. It means donating to charities to piss them off. Etc.
Unfortunately, I do not believe we are at an inflection or breaking point. I live in an upper-middle class New Jersey town heavily MAGA. My grandson's 8th grade class here wears MAGA merch and sings songs about Charlie Kirk daily. My friends are liberal-leaning PhDs, MDs, CEOs, attorneys, etc.but they do not wish to know more. Their stock portfolios, 401Ks and residences are contributing to their sense of impenetrability. They sigh in despair when I explain the latest regime horror. Your readers, Steven, we are at the breaking point. But I fear for the rest, there does not seem to be any 9/11 or Pearl Harbor on the horizon that might occur to awaken the satisfied.
Keep in mind that it wasn't a 9/11 or a Pearl Harbor that started or sustained the civil rights movement. It was year after year, decade after decade, of hard, often dangerous work -- and as a result, when white people in the North and West saw on TV what was happening in the Jim Crow South, they woke the hell up. Not all of them, of course; nowhere close. But enough. Things changed. Needless to say, the white backlash got under way immediately and made it possible for the Reagan Republicans to capture the White House and Congress.
Funny thing, though: they didn't do all that much for the white people who elected them. Gutting unions and cutting corporate taxes benefited the wealthy, not working people. Nevertheless, "white rage" continues to focus on people of color, not the corporate types, billionaires, and mega-multimillionaires who are literally making out like bandits.
Totally agree, Susanna. I grew up in the South during civil rights (I'm still an active attorney/educator at 80 yo) and saw first hand how this evolved. What frightens me is that I don't believe we have the time for an evolutionary trend to fight this well planned, well financed fascist regime. Even the demise of trump will not stop the evil from spreading.
This is well planned?
I had the time and misfortune to read the entire 902 pages of PROJECT 2025 and if you use it as a regime to-do list, about 1/2 of it is done. The fact that his entire Cabinet consists of crumbs is the entire point: "I was just following orders."
I look at it through a different frame, I guess. If they were competent the pushback wouldn't be taking hold now. While I sure don't like the wholesale destruction, there is also an opportunity we would not have had otherwise to rethink them. My whole life has been watching people putting bandaids on a patient that is increasingly bleeding out. There is no going back now - only forward. Think like a (nonviolent) revolutionary about the possibilities.
"watching people putting bandaids on a patient that is increasingly bleeding out" -- yeow, yes. Agree with "there's no going back now -- only forward," but "forward" has several directions. Like Germany after Weimar made a beeline for the Nazis. Lucky for us, the U.S. in 2026 doesn't have a lot in common with Weimar. After 1929 and the Depression, the U.S. went for the New Deal while Germany went for Hitler. I wish I had more confidence in our leaders and our leaders in waiting, but hey, there's a lot going on (barely) under the surface that I know nothing about.
I just started rereading LORD OF THE RINGS. Can't imagine why.
I reluctantly agree. Some political scientists talk of a "revolutionary civil war" where we undo everything that needs revising. Our wise founders could scarcely consider what we are faced with today with billionaire/trillionaires having bought the 3 branches of government and ground them to corrupt standstills so checks and balances are stymied.
Good question. On one hand, yes, it's been the right-wing/white-wing/corporate agenda since early in the 20th century. They made some progress during Nixon then went into overdrive with Reagan. Solidified it with the Bush II SCOTUS appointments, Roberts and Alito. Had a setback with the corporate types crashing the economy (again), which helped lead to Obama, which led to the white/right going into overdrive *again* with the Citizens United decision and the Tea Party election. (Jane Mayer's DARK MONEY is excellent on all this.)
Short(er) version: Many elements of the Project 2025 playbook have been around at least since Reagan. My personal opinion is that Trump would never have been their top choice to implement it, but Trump was all they could get. This gives us a better chance to defeat it than if we had, say, a Dick Cheney to deal with.
How do you think Vance will enact the most extreme parts? As vassal to Thiel I fear him in a sense more in some ways but less as incapable of having MAGA get behind him as cult leader.
No one likes Vance though. Not MAGA. Lots of rank and file MAGA don't care for the techbros. I'm less worried about Vance.
I'm mixed about impeachment/removal and use of the 25th Amendment for similar reasons. I don't see the MAGAs rallying behind Vance (which was probably one reason Trump picked him), and I really, really want to believe that the America that was once deeply suspicious of corporations and the ultra-rich still exists. OTOH, that America tended to be racist AF and unwilling to acknowledge that white working people and working people of color had a lot in common.
I agree with your assessment. I grew up working class in the 60s. I watched the Dems abandon the field in the 70s, and the GOP stoke the religious right. When the government wasn't doing shit for my working class neighbors, well no one was going to, but at least we can save some babies huh? Operation Rescue managed to get Protestants and Catholics to stop yelling at each other about who was going to hell. Go figure.
I really like your take on Operation Rescue. <g>
It may take something monumental, like a civil war or mass indiscriminate murders of protesters. It has to “hit home” first, to rattle some people out of their stupors.
Maybe just a stock market crash to see all their cushy money disappear. That could do it.
Yes. That would definitely cause a HEADS UP response! Unfortunately the whole country would implode. 1929 redux
We kind of are already imploding. But I sure wouldn’t mind seeing those rich and snobby people looking down their noses at us lose their snobbery money.
Good point! 😂🙄😢😫
So yes, bring ‘em along for the show!
Maybe a few can defenestrate some windows like in '29 👀
lol, maybe….
Or a nationwide general strike, especially if Congress again puts the country into another shut down mode. That's the time to strike
I still don't see the national will for nationwide action at that level. I know people who purposely refuse to even follow the news lest it disrupt their lives or upset them.
Do not disagree, unfortunately, but there are mutterings, especially in the big unions, although they are less than 20% of the voting population. Something is going to be unleashed before the midterms. Don't know what, but something. Just hope it is not too violent.
The last time Americans had large scale strikes was...maybe I was an infant? We've forgotten how and need to relearn. We should definitely aim for that, but we need to build some strike skills. Also strikes can be in key areas. If air traffic controllers strike it shuts everything down, for example. But there needs to be support if they take that risk. It's like every time I hear someone advocate for a strike no one remembers a strike fund was a real thing. Our family depended on that during a strike when we were kids.
I think the problem with the idea of a national strike is you need to really be specific. It doesn't work to say 'no shopping.' No shopping WHERE?
Their economic Pearl Harbor is on the way. And boy will they be surprised.
Totally agree. As long as it doesn't affect their portfolios they're fine. No morality. No concern for the suffering of their fellow Americans. This was evident during the Gaza genocide. That's why I protested what was happening there -- because it revealed the self interest of Americans who didn t even care. And now it's here. Same people. "Social liberal and fiscal conservative.' Perhaps it was this group that is to blame for 2.0
I'm so sorry that he's in 8th grade and is surrounded by that.
He likes the idea of being a part of The Resistance, sort of like a spy....
I live among the middle and lower middle(many retirees) and I see the lack of outrage. When socializing with some well off friends I hear..."Trump's an a..hole, but my pocketbook is doing pretty good."
For the most part, when Americans are removed from "where the action is", such as Minneapolis, they will tend to their day to day affairs fairly care free. This is why I pray for an economic crash!
It's the same in the upper middle class. They only care about their pocketbook. They DGAF about others around them. As long as they have their tax breaks for now and that their kids won't be punnished financially if they drop dead today/tomorrow, they DGAF about others.
W.J., wow, you and I are in the same situation. The "undisturbed" will be the death of democracy. I agree about the economic crash when the billionaire/trillionaire class come in to lick up the crumbs. Perhaps it will be too late, especially if the stock market stays stable thru the midterms. After the crash, once the "undisturbed" are rattled, we need a new Reconstruction except one better than the pale, weak, South-apologist events after the Civil War. We need 7 more non-MAGA Justices appointed to the Supreme Court. We need a revision of Presidential powers and ethics with new guardrails. We need erasure of the Departments that became agents of fascism, and perhaps making the Justice Department quasi-independent like the Federal Reserve.. We need to overturn Citizens United, return reproductive and voter rights. Lots of work for us to do!
Lots of work ahead! I don't like wishing for a poor economic situation to occur, but a crisis is needed to wake up Americans.
"Is the utter madness of handing the levers of power again to one of the worst humans to ever walk this earth a sign that we have avoided reality and accountability for too long—and now we must pay the price that so many Americans refused to pay by looking forward and ignoring the crimes of the past? Are we still capable of confronting the mass psychosis that has gripped millions of our fellow citizens? Is America hitting a breaking point?"
While there are millions of deluded, apathetic, and proudly ignorant members of American society, I'm still not convinced there wasn't extensive interference if not downright manipulation by Elon Musk and his minions in the election of 2024. I worked that election and the fact it was called while we poll workers were still counting paper ballots at 11:30PM in AZ still stinks to high heaven to me. But yes, many have ignored the truth of our past for the truth is hard to swallow.
Is this a breaking point? Oh Lordy, I hope so. The flagrant dismissal of lives killed in broad daylight excused by easily disproven lies, the shredding of the Bill of Rights, and wanton violence by thugs cosplaying as federal agents must hit hard with some of these folks who have been hiding their heads in the sand. Yet, I have to admit I don't really know what it will take for these folks to wake the hell up and realize we are already living in a police state.
What's next? The purges of any critics of the regime, as in 1934 during The Night of the Long Knives? Stephen Miller's copying of the Nazi playbook certainly indicates it: 1) he's trashed the Fourth Amendment by not requiring judicial warrants for thugs to bust into homes, 2) trashed the First by jailing journalists and labeling protestors as "domestic terrorists", 3) "No one should be allowed to criticize the president", 4) he's turned out of control ICE thugs into the SA, 5) we have fully functioning huge concentration camps in the US where they take five year olds and babies without any process at all, let alone due process in a court of law.
Also, Ellison has bought up more than half of the nation's media outlets to control the narrative.
What do we do?
STAY LOUD. GET INTO THE STREETS IF YOU CAN. Read independent journalists or foreign news outlets. If you can't physically protest, share the truth and the facts as much as possible. Keep demanding accountability and keep nagging your reps and senators to do their damn jobs. But most of all, stay connected with your neighbors and community. Alone, we can do nothing. But there is strength in numbers. We did it before in 1776--are we not at least as determined as those who fought a king and the most powerful army/navy on the planet at the time?
Brilliant. Would Thomas Paine ever have written, "sure, sure, folks, it's bad but just suck it up?
I agree the 2024 election was tampered with. What I don't understand is WHY the electors and state governments went along with the results without waiting until the next day to count all ballots. This is foul play -- it happened also in 2016. It's really as though the entire system has been corrupted by money. What's going on behind the curtain?
Why did Al Gore quit over 537 votes in FL, where the SOS charged with counting the ballots was on Bush's team? SCOTUS had no jurisdiction - this was for Congress under Amendment 20(3)): "Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified." https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxx. Because this rotten to the core
Thank you, Steven, for your unflinching reportage of the horror which is Trump’s Amerika. As a Canadian, I have long followed the political life of your country. I have told myself for years that my doing so is a kind of civics lesson and a way to help me understand and contribute to maintaining a free and participatory democracy in my own country. As an aside, we have Trump-loving, Alberta Conservatives here who are, even now, conspiring with the Trump regime to prevail in a referendum which would break up Canada.
I digress. With the firehose of unthinkable and daily events occurring “down south”, i now find that i am having to carefully manage and ration the news for my own mental health - while still maintaining a political awareness.
So I listen to certain voices, yours being one of them. And i try to answer my 93-year-old mother-in-law who asks, “But how did the U.S. get to this point?”
Once again, thank you for helping me to answer that question.
I have daughters. I can’t even bear to think about those children. How brave the survivors are! Monsters like trump must have people to bully and abuse, but Minnesotans won’t take it. Many people there are from Sweden and Norway and Germany and won’t be frightened or bullied by a maniac. I am protesting in my town and thinking of and praying for my friends in Minneapolis.
Thanks Steven: What a pathetic sick nation. The administration is filtering pedophiles through the ranks. Raping a violating little children is just abhorrent. Todd Blanche claims the DOJ will prosecute and pedophiles (men) who are in the file with the whole extent of the law. Well Todd you can start with President Trump. Ask Trump why he slapped a thirteen year old child because she laughed after biting his pathetic manhood. I wish that thirteen year old , now a young lady would come forth and testify. I suppose if your rich, famous and threatening you can just violate any young child or women. I understand Alan Dershowitz spoke to a young child who claimed she was violated, physically , spiritually and emotionally and she did not process with any sort of action. I wonder what Dershowitz said to her?? So much happening , flooding the zone with debauchery and slime. The ICE gestapo executing citizens on a whim. The administration is doing all it can to get the states voter data so they can rig the elections just like Orban and Putin.
Yes, I absolutely believe America is hitting a breaking point - and I know beyond a doubt that I am hitting a breaking point. It’s literally killing me to see what’s happening and to look around and see others in my sphere completely ignoring it and acting as if everything is fine. Everything is most definitely not fine and we all better step up or the country we all knew will be gone. It’s truly stunning to me how serious this moment is.
I have always been astounded by our cruelty,but more our casual disregard of our history as we say we champion human rights. Irony, you are the United States of America.
The Bulwark published some focus group info I found interesting. Sarah Longwell was very surprised to find the voters she talked to had all heard and/or seen video of the killing of Alex Pretti. Voters that normally don't tune in like people on this Substack have sat up and taken notice. And they don't like what they see.
I have been saying--shouting into the wilderness--since January 2025 that Trump is our country's Karma writ large. I have been saying that you cannot claim you're "the greatest country in the world" while you refuse to look at or apologize for or even admit that you stole native land, commited act after act ofr genocide against Native people, enslaved Africans and African-Americans for over 300 years, stole land from and then imprisoned Japanese Americans, used immigrant Chinese laborers to build railroads for a pittance, allowed lynchings to occur without punishment, dropped Agent Orange on innocent civilians in Vietnam, lied about "weapons of mass destruction" and on and on and on without Karma kicking the country's butt. "All the waters of the Nile cannot wash the blood" from the hands of our country. But we can make a start at redemption by recognizing, making amends for, and correcting our gross imperfections.
Those supporting these criminal ways have something to loose, and it is likely money. Probably subsidies, tax relief, or something that supports a way of life they lead. Free money from workers is a great benefit if you can swing it, especially if you live better than the poor suckers paying you and your tax rate is nothing compared to theirs.
It's easy to give up, but our families fought in the Revolutionary War and all the others. We believe in freedom. There are more of us than there are of them.
That’s the spirit.
My comment dear Professor is the same as always...maybe boring but true. You, all of us, our supposed leaders must call for immediate massive peaceful (from our side as has been ) relentless resistance, strikes. without stopping across the country NOW. Shut the country down. They are going to kill some of us anyway. Might as well be as we are shutting the country down to hurt Trump, his regime, and the complicit enablers. I say it again and again it is the only effective way. Yes, it will lead to more casualties, and if the MAGA forces are determined to civil war. I say what happens will happen, or we will give up our rights to this vile brain damaged being, oh yeah for those recording my posts...I am talking about Donald J. Trump, the vilest individual to walk our earth since....I don't know Caligula?.
Keep showing up!! This will end.
Right you are, Leslie.
What to do? Support our heroes in Minnesota any way you can!