We were warned by Washington, Lincoln and others. Now we must oppose this authoritarian regime, firmly voice our commitment to the Constitution and rule of law—and assert what it means to be American.
I think this is one of your best essays. You’ve crystallized the feeling of dread and perfectly described the nightmarish crisis we are all experiencing, especially those of us who could not imagine that Trump would be given a second term. We were sure that memories of his catastrophic first term would linger; that his attempt to stage a coup would be enough to wipe him from the political slate for 2024, as would his status as a convicted felon. But alas….there were enough voters that thought electing an autocratic carnival barker, to quote “Citizen Kane”, “would be fun”. I awaken each morning with the entreaty, “Help!”…on my lips. And with this essay, and all your essays, you have. Thank you!
Block the road now. Too much is at risk to wait! Mobilize Blue state National Guards when threatened. Wait until then. The invasion of one state by another is a call to state Governors to mobilize their National Guards to resist an UNLAWFUL assault. The U.S. military should not accept UNLAWFUL orders. The sooner we get this over with, the better. This confrontation is coming. It is coming! We are stronger now than we will be tomorrow. The confrontation is not a battle or a war. It is a standoff at State borders. One state would be trying to invade another. One is the offender. The other, the defender. We know TACO.
Also, the gerrymander fight is on. There is a new playbook. The old rules have been struck down by the Supreme Court. We need to change the gears here as fast as possible for deadly PREEMPTIVE strikes. Newsom has moved out on this already. Who is next? Hochul. Where are you? NO EXCUSE! Change your state Constitution. Pritzker. What are you doing?
This is what it may come down to,Carl.."The U.S. military should not accept UNLAWFUL orders." Something dramatic has to occur to prevent what seems to be the inevitable.
You need to read more and find out exactly what Pritzker is doing. Start by showing up at the Great Lakes Naval Station to Protest Trump's staging the BLITZ into Chicago with his Southern Troops after Labor Day We could use some trees planted, mulch spread, pot-holes filled, speeders on Lake Shore Drive arrested -lots of things I assume gun-toting Southern Troops will gladly do. When you have time, please read how a Constitution of a State is changed, what forces will cause changes you don't ever want and the TIME it takes to VOTE by the PUBLIC to make any Changes. Illinois is not run by a dictator. We have RULES and LAWS that govern what a Governor may do. We have a Governor who will not act like Trump and the Supreme Court of the United States.
A superb and very moving post, Stephen. God, you write well.
I choked up when I read the passage about the existential need to respect the rule of law. Under such toxic attack currently.
And since all of what you write about needs to be said over and over, it’s a gift to have a writer like you to do that with such inspiring passion, such an ability to move hearts and minds. Thank you.
We MUST modernize the 240 year old Constitution so that when we THE GOVERNED elect a person who proves to be threat to our democracy we can RECALL by petition and plebiscite and replace that person, VETO or AMEND all bad policies they adopted whi\le they are in office and not have to wait 4 years for the next scheduled election while they dismantle our democracy. Trying to fix the Constitution and re-establish our democracy one amendment at a time will take decades.
I write my Senator every day to express my frustration. Today, I used your words to help me:
Senator Tills,
George Washington, as he left the presidency after 8 years, described the dangers of factionalism and the rise of “cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men [who] will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.” When a despot exploits the needs of people “to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual” and exploits the nation’s “disorders and miseries” for “the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty,” such a thing becomes possible.
Even realized?
And our first president (from Steven Beschloss), "who described his warning as the counsel “of an old and affectionate friend,” had a solution to ensure our beloved country did not reach such a tragic predicament. He urged that any “sincere friend” of free government would promote “as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge.” He offered an equation: “In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.” In other words, education and particularly civic education would provide the necessary antidote: An informed citizenry."
So, Senator Tillis, are you a sincere friend of free government and of an informed citizenry? Are any of you in the GOP sincere friends of free government? How about the Supreme Court, any sincere friends there? All I see and smell is insincerity.
You, your whole party, your Heritage Foundation and your Project 2025, are no friends of the United States of America. Only of each other. Come on, man, tell me I'm wrong and tell me how I'm wrong. Waiting with bated breath, but not holding it.
Sincerely,
P.S. -- Watched any good, fawning cabinet meetings lately? What a disgrace? What public servants? What pigs at the trough!
Robbie, thank you. I don’t write everyday but I should. I usually write when my blood boils which is often now. My senators are Moran and Marshall from Kansas, the latter has his head so far up Trumps ass it’s almost not worth the effort and I have probably been relegated to junk status. Again, thanks and we must all continue to fight!
This is a superb essay that touches all the important aspects of the challenges facing us today. Should we be amazed that Washington and Lincoln wrote such similar warnings? The linking thread is education. Teaching and learning history is an essential bulwark between losing our heritage and living up to it.
A villain is bad enough. A sycophantic villain is so dangerous. The unfortunate similarities of America now to the Roman empire then are striking. I think people have come to believe one has to appeal to the worst in people instead of the best. The founders believed people serving in government would be educated and moral, and would be serving--they would not be Visigoths, raping and pillaging. I have friends all over the country, and no one wants what we have. No one.
I think they know what they don't want--to be shamed and humiliated by Trump and his horrible minions. I don't think they want their districts left wanting after a tornado, flood, hurricane or other natural disaster. But, God help us, maybe you are right. I hope they are just scared, not evil.
Steven, this is a powerfully created masterpiece and expose contrasting the hopes, dreams and dedication to Democracy by the people - of our visionary leaders of the past
with
the current roiling corruption and dehumanizing galloping creeping of a level of cruelty in our country so forceful and widespread it will require almost superhuman efforts to quell.
Though very difficult to be reminded, we need these Truths of our plight to shake and pierce the still existing complacency of many of our citizens.
Excerpt from your article:
“The outcome of the 2024 election is not just about sustaining democracy. It's also a question of whether civilization as we know it will survive.”
Thank You Steven ...Yes we are supposed to be a nation of laws. I cannot watch any of them . I spend part of time trying to understand who these people are. I am a life long democrat but I can tell you it is country over party no matter what. I am going to share your essay with a couple of friends . I love this one. It calms me to know that I am not alone....thanks again ..lost in america.
This is clearly the best commentary ever on the malignant one. We have our marching orders: pass this along to all our contacts and friends and ask them to do the same. It’s the best history lesson one could give, and having any opportunity to share it is our foremost duty and obligation as citizens of this country.
“Scholars and concerned citizens, including many of us, will spend the rest of our lives wondering exactly how and why we’ve descended so low.”
We already KNOW how and why we have descended so low. We also already know that we will continue this descent until we reach the depths that Nazi Germany reached in the 1930’s and 1940’s. The reason is the scourge of racism that is at the core of this nation and that has always been its fatal flaw. White Americans are so afraid of being in the minority that they chose a deranged and dangerous man with obvious early stage dementia because he holds out hope that whites can stay in the majority and stay in power. And he has allies in this effort who control Congress, the Supreme Court and the majority of state capitals. Racism is the motivating force behind every plan embedded in Project 2025. It is the motivating force behind mass deportations. It is the motivating force behind every attack on universities. It is the motivating force behind the decimation of the federal workforce (where so many of the Black middle class were employed). It is the motivating force behind Chief Justice Roberts’ efforts to dismantle the civil rights acts and decimate the voting rights act.
Please stop pretending that every single white person in this country does not already fully comprehend why we have descended so low. It’s because the majority of you have mistreated, abused and debased your Black, Brown and Asian fellow citizens for so long that the very notion of being in the minority terrifies you. And yes, some deluded minority group members also fell for the felon’s allure. Some people of color believed that only “criminal” Latinos would be rounded up and deported, even though nothing in the words “mass deportation” implied that there would be any limits on his attacks on Brown people. And some African Americans were too misogynistic to vote for a woman for POTUS. And some pro-Palestinian groups were too blinded over anger at Biden’s support for Netanyahu to recognize that staying home from the polls would result in the full scale ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the West Bank.
But those handful’s of minority votes could not have put the felon in the White House. They did not account for enough votes. The man was put in the White House (with the still un-investigated help of South African Elon Musk) by white voters who knew EXACTLY what he stood for. Many stood in opposition to this insanity, but far too many, including the vast majority of white men, embraced it. When he labeled Brown people vermin and called the native lands of Black people “shithole” countries, white people knew his full intent. Please stop pretending otherwise as it does not help anyone.
So now he’s building concentration camps in swamps and loosing armed military in blue cities under the paper thin guise of “crime fighting,” while simultaneously dismantling the liberal state upon which the majority of Americans depend.
Trump is this century’s Hitler, and just as Hitler’s targets were Europe’s marginalized groups, this felon’s targets are America’s marginalized groups: Black, Brown, Asian, LGBTQ. And that is precisely why he was put in power.
I hope your message is read near and far across the U.S. Steven, your passion for our predicament is so well expressed - but the needy audience probably will not read or even listen. The enormous sadness regarding Republicans, the Trump blind and dumb cabinet, and MAGA followers, and others who have been brainwashed - but do not even know what that word means - is that they all have closed minds and will listen only to words that support their mental illness.
For me, the bitter and somber truth is the Russian role in our demise. I spent about ten years studying Russia and Russian, and another twenty years living there. I became bi-cultural - a natural process of assemilation over time. This allowed me to not only look and speak as a Russian, but to grasp the reality of Russian life and government - which is the opposite of the way Americans think and live.
I returned to the US to retire, and then to warn Americans of (1) Putin's vendetta and revenge against he US., (2) the infiltration of Russians into the US to enact Putin's vision of destroying American democrazy within our infrastructure. The 2020 Census said there are over 3 million Russians living in the US, and other researched sources say there are over 17,000 Russians working inside American tech companies. This is bottom-up destruction of organized crime - drugs, raging fires, prostitution, etc.
Do you really think that any other country in the world has had 474 mass shootings of children since the first in Columbine in 1999? Do you really think that the majority of these deranged shooters just woke up one day and said "I think I will go kill kids?" Drugs played a role in generating these demented and insane white, males aged from 17 to 35. And where do you think they got their drugs? Russian organized crime is rampant and found in every single state, and in large cities and rural towns. Russians look like average Americans, and most of them speak flawless english.
Craig Unger has spoken with KGB/FSB men in the United States, and they have confirmed that Trump is a "Russian asset." He was wined and dined and befriended and given millions of dollars to save him from another bankruptcy and most likely was provided women/girls when he was in Russia - a common and widespread KGB tactic to entrap western men. What these men - and Trump do not realize - that graphic photos are a by-product.
Putin believes the US is an "evil emphire" and needs to be destroyed. He blames the US for the fall of the Soviet Union, for NATO's expansion, and a host of other hateful motives. His grand plan was to wreck and dismantle the U.S. - from the top down with Trump and from the ground up with crime, disasters, drugs, and so on. Yes, the Russians wanted and instilled Trump in the WH. Many Americans could not believe this could happen, but there he is.
Because of American isolation, most citizens do not graps what I am saying and probably think I am an alarmist. I am not. I have seen, heard, lived, and clearly understood Putin's intentions toward the US. He is winning this game - and people - mostly Republicans - have no idea of what is infecting our democracy.
I think this is one of your best essays. You’ve crystallized the feeling of dread and perfectly described the nightmarish crisis we are all experiencing, especially those of us who could not imagine that Trump would be given a second term. We were sure that memories of his catastrophic first term would linger; that his attempt to stage a coup would be enough to wipe him from the political slate for 2024, as would his status as a convicted felon. But alas….there were enough voters that thought electing an autocratic carnival barker, to quote “Citizen Kane”, “would be fun”. I awaken each morning with the entreaty, “Help!”…on my lips. And with this essay, and all your essays, you have. Thank you!
Thank you, Ellen. Glad to hear it helps.
Block the road now. Too much is at risk to wait! Mobilize Blue state National Guards when threatened. Wait until then. The invasion of one state by another is a call to state Governors to mobilize their National Guards to resist an UNLAWFUL assault. The U.S. military should not accept UNLAWFUL orders. The sooner we get this over with, the better. This confrontation is coming. It is coming! We are stronger now than we will be tomorrow. The confrontation is not a battle or a war. It is a standoff at State borders. One state would be trying to invade another. One is the offender. The other, the defender. We know TACO.
Also, the gerrymander fight is on. There is a new playbook. The old rules have been struck down by the Supreme Court. We need to change the gears here as fast as possible for deadly PREEMPTIVE strikes. Newsom has moved out on this already. Who is next? Hochul. Where are you? NO EXCUSE! Change your state Constitution. Pritzker. What are you doing?
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/gerrymander-fight?r=3m1bs
This is what it may come down to,Carl.."The U.S. military should not accept UNLAWFUL orders." Something dramatic has to occur to prevent what seems to be the inevitable.
You need to read more and find out exactly what Pritzker is doing. Start by showing up at the Great Lakes Naval Station to Protest Trump's staging the BLITZ into Chicago with his Southern Troops after Labor Day We could use some trees planted, mulch spread, pot-holes filled, speeders on Lake Shore Drive arrested -lots of things I assume gun-toting Southern Troops will gladly do. When you have time, please read how a Constitution of a State is changed, what forces will cause changes you don't ever want and the TIME it takes to VOTE by the PUBLIC to make any Changes. Illinois is not run by a dictator. We have RULES and LAWS that govern what a Governor may do. We have a Governor who will not act like Trump and the Supreme Court of the United States.
A superb and very moving post, Stephen. God, you write well.
I choked up when I read the passage about the existential need to respect the rule of law. Under such toxic attack currently.
And since all of what you write about needs to be said over and over, it’s a gift to have a writer like you to do that with such inspiring passion, such an ability to move hearts and minds. Thank you.
Thank you, Genevieve.
We MUST modernize the 240 year old Constitution so that when we THE GOVERNED elect a person who proves to be threat to our democracy we can RECALL by petition and plebiscite and replace that person, VETO or AMEND all bad policies they adopted whi\le they are in office and not have to wait 4 years for the next scheduled election while they dismantle our democracy. Trying to fix the Constitution and re-establish our democracy one amendment at a time will take decades.
I write my Senator every day to express my frustration. Today, I used your words to help me:
Senator Tills,
George Washington, as he left the presidency after 8 years, described the dangers of factionalism and the rise of “cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men [who] will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.” When a despot exploits the needs of people “to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual” and exploits the nation’s “disorders and miseries” for “the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty,” such a thing becomes possible.
Even realized?
And our first president (from Steven Beschloss), "who described his warning as the counsel “of an old and affectionate friend,” had a solution to ensure our beloved country did not reach such a tragic predicament. He urged that any “sincere friend” of free government would promote “as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge.” He offered an equation: “In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.” In other words, education and particularly civic education would provide the necessary antidote: An informed citizenry."
So, Senator Tillis, are you a sincere friend of free government and of an informed citizenry? Are any of you in the GOP sincere friends of free government? How about the Supreme Court, any sincere friends there? All I see and smell is insincerity.
You, your whole party, your Heritage Foundation and your Project 2025, are no friends of the United States of America. Only of each other. Come on, man, tell me I'm wrong and tell me how I'm wrong. Waiting with bated breath, but not holding it.
Sincerely,
P.S. -- Watched any good, fawning cabinet meetings lately? What a disgrace? What public servants? What pigs at the trough!
This is great, can I use your words to scold my senators as well?
Of course. I would be honored. I write my senator (the one that I think has some sentience) every day.
Robbie, thank you. I don’t write everyday but I should. I usually write when my blood boils which is often now. My senators are Moran and Marshall from Kansas, the latter has his head so far up Trumps ass it’s almost not worth the effort and I have probably been relegated to junk status. Again, thanks and we must all continue to fight!
Mine are Tillis and Budd, and the latter is probably keeping things so clogged up Trump’s ass that Marshall can’t get through.
This is a superb essay that touches all the important aspects of the challenges facing us today. Should we be amazed that Washington and Lincoln wrote such similar warnings? The linking thread is education. Teaching and learning history is an essential bulwark between losing our heritage and living up to it.
Thank you. It’s so simple and obvious: Education and an informed citizenry.
A villain is bad enough. A sycophantic villain is so dangerous. The unfortunate similarities of America now to the Roman empire then are striking. I think people have come to believe one has to appeal to the worst in people instead of the best. The founders believed people serving in government would be educated and moral, and would be serving--they would not be Visigoths, raping and pillaging. I have friends all over the country, and no one wants what we have. No one.
Someone does….an entire Republican Congress does…
I think they know what they don't want--to be shamed and humiliated by Trump and his horrible minions. I don't think they want their districts left wanting after a tornado, flood, hurricane or other natural disaster. But, God help us, maybe you are right. I hope they are just scared, not evil.
How is Kerr County doing? Still waiting for help?
Steven, this is a powerfully created masterpiece and expose contrasting the hopes, dreams and dedication to Democracy by the people - of our visionary leaders of the past
with
the current roiling corruption and dehumanizing galloping creeping of a level of cruelty in our country so forceful and widespread it will require almost superhuman efforts to quell.
Though very difficult to be reminded, we need these Truths of our plight to shake and pierce the still existing complacency of many of our citizens.
Excerpt from your article:
“The outcome of the 2024 election is not just about sustaining democracy. It's also a question of whether civilization as we know it will survive.”
Painfully and Brilliantly written, thank you.
💙💙🇺🇸💙💙
I don’t recall any other cabinet so addicted to sucking up and applause as this one.
Steven, you hit all the high notes with this column—well done! I’m even more inspired than before! Excellent and uplifting!
Let’s imagine something different.
https://albellenchia.substack.com/p/imagine?r=7wk5d
Thank You Steven ...Yes we are supposed to be a nation of laws. I cannot watch any of them . I spend part of time trying to understand who these people are. I am a life long democrat but I can tell you it is country over party no matter what. I am going to share your essay with a couple of friends . I love this one. It calms me to know that I am not alone....thanks again ..lost in america.
WOW‼️ TY for this - of course sharing.
Just one thing: Stephen, BE SAFE
This is clearly the best commentary ever on the malignant one. We have our marching orders: pass this along to all our contacts and friends and ask them to do the same. It’s the best history lesson one could give, and having any opportunity to share it is our foremost duty and obligation as citizens of this country.
That’s very kind. And thank you for sharing.
“Scholars and concerned citizens, including many of us, will spend the rest of our lives wondering exactly how and why we’ve descended so low.”
We already KNOW how and why we have descended so low. We also already know that we will continue this descent until we reach the depths that Nazi Germany reached in the 1930’s and 1940’s. The reason is the scourge of racism that is at the core of this nation and that has always been its fatal flaw. White Americans are so afraid of being in the minority that they chose a deranged and dangerous man with obvious early stage dementia because he holds out hope that whites can stay in the majority and stay in power. And he has allies in this effort who control Congress, the Supreme Court and the majority of state capitals. Racism is the motivating force behind every plan embedded in Project 2025. It is the motivating force behind mass deportations. It is the motivating force behind every attack on universities. It is the motivating force behind the decimation of the federal workforce (where so many of the Black middle class were employed). It is the motivating force behind Chief Justice Roberts’ efforts to dismantle the civil rights acts and decimate the voting rights act.
Please stop pretending that every single white person in this country does not already fully comprehend why we have descended so low. It’s because the majority of you have mistreated, abused and debased your Black, Brown and Asian fellow citizens for so long that the very notion of being in the minority terrifies you. And yes, some deluded minority group members also fell for the felon’s allure. Some people of color believed that only “criminal” Latinos would be rounded up and deported, even though nothing in the words “mass deportation” implied that there would be any limits on his attacks on Brown people. And some African Americans were too misogynistic to vote for a woman for POTUS. And some pro-Palestinian groups were too blinded over anger at Biden’s support for Netanyahu to recognize that staying home from the polls would result in the full scale ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the West Bank.
But those handful’s of minority votes could not have put the felon in the White House. They did not account for enough votes. The man was put in the White House (with the still un-investigated help of South African Elon Musk) by white voters who knew EXACTLY what he stood for. Many stood in opposition to this insanity, but far too many, including the vast majority of white men, embraced it. When he labeled Brown people vermin and called the native lands of Black people “shithole” countries, white people knew his full intent. Please stop pretending otherwise as it does not help anyone.
So now he’s building concentration camps in swamps and loosing armed military in blue cities under the paper thin guise of “crime fighting,” while simultaneously dismantling the liberal state upon which the majority of Americans depend.
Trump is this century’s Hitler, and just as Hitler’s targets were Europe’s marginalized groups, this felon’s targets are America’s marginalized groups: Black, Brown, Asian, LGBTQ. And that is precisely why he was put in power.
It is the “Reality Show From Hell.”
I hope your message is read near and far across the U.S. Steven, your passion for our predicament is so well expressed - but the needy audience probably will not read or even listen. The enormous sadness regarding Republicans, the Trump blind and dumb cabinet, and MAGA followers, and others who have been brainwashed - but do not even know what that word means - is that they all have closed minds and will listen only to words that support their mental illness.
For me, the bitter and somber truth is the Russian role in our demise. I spent about ten years studying Russia and Russian, and another twenty years living there. I became bi-cultural - a natural process of assemilation over time. This allowed me to not only look and speak as a Russian, but to grasp the reality of Russian life and government - which is the opposite of the way Americans think and live.
I returned to the US to retire, and then to warn Americans of (1) Putin's vendetta and revenge against he US., (2) the infiltration of Russians into the US to enact Putin's vision of destroying American democrazy within our infrastructure. The 2020 Census said there are over 3 million Russians living in the US, and other researched sources say there are over 17,000 Russians working inside American tech companies. This is bottom-up destruction of organized crime - drugs, raging fires, prostitution, etc.
Do you really think that any other country in the world has had 474 mass shootings of children since the first in Columbine in 1999? Do you really think that the majority of these deranged shooters just woke up one day and said "I think I will go kill kids?" Drugs played a role in generating these demented and insane white, males aged from 17 to 35. And where do you think they got their drugs? Russian organized crime is rampant and found in every single state, and in large cities and rural towns. Russians look like average Americans, and most of them speak flawless english.
Craig Unger has spoken with KGB/FSB men in the United States, and they have confirmed that Trump is a "Russian asset." He was wined and dined and befriended and given millions of dollars to save him from another bankruptcy and most likely was provided women/girls when he was in Russia - a common and widespread KGB tactic to entrap western men. What these men - and Trump do not realize - that graphic photos are a by-product.
Putin believes the US is an "evil emphire" and needs to be destroyed. He blames the US for the fall of the Soviet Union, for NATO's expansion, and a host of other hateful motives. His grand plan was to wreck and dismantle the U.S. - from the top down with Trump and from the ground up with crime, disasters, drugs, and so on. Yes, the Russians wanted and instilled Trump in the WH. Many Americans could not believe this could happen, but there he is.
Because of American isolation, most citizens do not graps what I am saying and probably think I am an alarmist. I am not. I have seen, heard, lived, and clearly understood Putin's intentions toward the US. He is winning this game - and people - mostly Republicans - have no idea of what is infecting our democracy.