"There is no nonsense so gross that society will not, at some time, make a doctrine of it and defend it with every weapon of communal stupidity." ~ Robertson Davies.
Too often in history it is the lemmings who bring forth disaster and destruction. So easily duped and deceived, they yield to the evil over against the good. They never know what they have lost until they have lost it. In the 1930s Germany, roughly 33% of the population were the deluded and disenfranchised that gave way to Hitler and the Nazis. Yet, Germany had been driven into social and economic despair because of the punishments applied against Germany through the Treaty of Versaille. (World War 1) The United States knows NO such desperation, socially or economically. Therein resides the question: What, in fact, are the grievances of the Trump supporter? Simply put, it is the evil that lives inside each of us. Trump knows how to key into that evil. The imagined becomes the reality. Too often in human history evil has prevailed over good. Trump is evil. His followers and supporters have opted for that evil over against the good. We must gird against that evil and assure the success of the good.
The areas which quickly latched onto DJT were primarily economically depressed and have been for generations. In many if not most of those places there is a long history of not trusting the government and they were distrustful of elections before the orange wonder came along. Vote buying and various other forms of election chicanery date back over 150 years.
People who live in depressed areas have shorter life expectancies, high rates of drug & alcohol use and mental health issues. These are facts. It is also a fact that people who are living in a state of anxiety and feel forgotten are more open to radical ideas, grievances and willing to buy into nonsense that tells them who to blame.
Now we have the added complication of DJT giving the groups who were living under the rocks and muck a purpose & power as his enforcers. Then his acolytes and competitors (like DeSantis) have done the same.
Every day I hear our voices growing louder as we resist the madness of MAGA and the evil darkness of Project 2025. I will not be silent, join the fight now.
"...Elie Weisel spoke there in 1992. Talking then about confronting the past, Wiesel said that “the change cannot come from the balcony. It must come from below.” "
Thanks Steve, This IS the message most needed today. Throw a better party and everyone will come.
Milei-Argintina; Balsonaro-Brazil; Orban-Hungary. Nationalism is on the rise, a main cause is opposition to immigrant influx.
196M people have been born in the US since WW II and the evils of fascism . 60% don't know who we fought. Less than half know FDR was president or that Ike was supreme commander of the allied forces. In fact, 12% think Ike fought in the Civil War. 15% think D Day took place at Pearl Harbor. Surveys show that college graduates have the historical knowledge of 12th graders. 80% don't know the meaning of Memorial Day,
WWII , to many, has been romanticized. A time of music-Glenn Miller, The Andrew Sisters, Vera Lynn.
Rosie the Riveter leading women to work, soldiers kissing French women along their tank routes. The sailor kissing the unknown woman when he leaves the ship.Movies of fighting men, raising the flag in Iwo Jima. Spies. A golden era of movies stars. The heroism of Audie Murphy.
Is it any wonder so many follow donald trump? Democracy........huh?
He may look like an idiot & talk like an idiot, but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot.
Yes, he's an idiot, but beyond that, deep inside he is evil. For many his charisma is overwhelming and addictive, and at this time they're beyond saving. We're at a tipping point. Can we save our Democracy, or will it become a historical failure. Silence is not an option. When did we stop valuing education and knowledge?
Not many will agree with me I suppose, but $ needs spent on public schools, not private or parochial ones, & teacher pay. So many quitting, also because Republicans threaten jail if subjects they oppose are taught. Am very against paying off college debt. An exclusive act leaving out a majority whose taxes will be used to fund this.
Not an electable policy to brag about either. Not a vote getter for Biden.
I agree with you Rita. Republicans have a head start on their crusade to end public education. They want to end the Dept.of Education and they don’t want to pay taxes to educate other peoples’ children. In fact the founders of this nation were adamant about having a system of public education:
“Even before the U.S. had a Constitution, its founders were advocating for the creation of public education systems. The U.S. was an experiment in democracy unlike anything the world had ever seen.
If this ‘experiment’ had any chance of standing the test of time, the nation needed far more schools to prepare everyday citizens for self-government.”
“The Constitution declared that “wisdom and knowledge . . . diffused generally among the body of the people [are] necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties. . . . [Thus,] it shall be the duty of legislatures and magistrates…to cherish …public schools.” (Time. com, 9/22/20, Derek Black)
As far as the Biden administration’s “paying off college debt,” there were conditions involved.
Some had to do with the borrower’s unpaid monthly interest. Some loans were rigged so that unpaid interest on the loan was added to the loan balance, causing it to grow.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program forgave the remaining balance on federal student loans after 120 payments, if they were working full time for federal, state, Tribal, local government, the military; or a qualifying non-profit.
There were other requirements for other types of loans. If anyone is interested in knowing what they were, they can go to: studentaid. gov.
I think we need to put more money into our public schools and pay teachers more. People with kids in school need to know that, depending on the state they live in, private schools aren’t accredited and there’s often no oversight on curriculum or anything else. Teachers don’t even need to have any qualifications in some states.
American people need to hear the truth of democracy and the f<ture of freedom above the angry shouts of corruption. Those desperately afraid the time may end when the people may right the wrong, and the criminals and wealthy may loose their way of gathering easy money. This is time to see the forest through the trees. The propaganda needs to be shut down. Government dollars should not be spent to tear down public education. Private education should be paid by parents.
What a strong and true message. Thank you. Hitler and his deranged mind led millions of people to their death. Many more souls died on the battlefields attempting to end Hitler's reign. This movement and philosophy has again begun with Vladimir Putin - who spent his spy years in East Germany, absorbed Hitler's methodologies, and returned to Russia to become the world's next ruthless, murderous, and heartless dictator. In 1997, a book published in Russia called The Foundations of Geopolitics could have been Volume 2 of Hitler's manifesto called Mein Kampf. Hitler's book describes the process by which Hitler outlines his political ideology and his plans to achieve his goals
The Foundations of Geopolitics describes Putin's presidential goals which include (1) the destruction of American democracy, (2) BREXIT, (3) annihilation of Ukraine, (4) take over the governments of France and Germany, (5) restore Russia's borders to pre-NATO timeframe and re-establish the glory of the USSR, (6) Russian military in post-communist era, and on and on. He blames the U.S. for the downfall of the Soviet Union and he wishes revenge.
Putin is succeeding and just like Hitler, Putin is using massive mind control / brainwashing as one of his primary tools. His other manipulative tool is bribery, which is exactly what happened to ignorant Donald Trump. Both Eric and Don Jr. have bragged about receiving $100 Million from Russian banks. (www.vanityfair.com, www.businessinsider.com) These banks, all controlled by the KGB/FSB, loan money to foreigners to either laundry black cash or to enlist a foreigner to work for Russia. They have also given $9.8 million to Marie LePen in France (politico.eu) to overturn the French Government of President Emmanuel Macron.
From the time Trump attended the Helsinki Summit up until today it is obvious that Trump is controlled by Putin. Russian's bribe foreigners to work for Russia using beautiful women and money - and Trump fell for both traps. He has used the exact same brainwashing tools used by Putin - who learned these coercive mind control techniques while in East Germany.
Unfortunately, my words and yours will not be read by those who are brainwashed, MAGA, or other die-hard Trump followers. Biden's campaign to save democracy is not failing, it's that his opponent in this political race is not simply Trump but the world-leader in misinformation, disinformation, brainwashing, and propaganda - Vladimir Putin.
When Putin assumed office in 2000, the first thing he did was create a one-man "dictatorship" and the second step was to eliminate - through contract killings - all independent media. One woman reporter was shot right outside of my apartment building. I heard the gun shots and looked outside my balcony. Her dark red blood was staining the dirty Moscow snow - and in less than an hour her body was gone. And such murders were not limited to Moscow or even within Russia. In a Washington, D.C. west-end neighborhood, Dan Rapoport fell from his luxury apartment building (15th floor) on the night of August 4th, 2022. He made a fortune in Moscow and then moved back to the U.S. after running afoul of Putin. His death was never investigated just like the untimely death of Ivana Trump in her N.Y. apartment only a few months after Trump lost the 2020 election. My oldest daughter Lize worked as the manager of the Beverly Hills nightclub, casino, and restaurant in Moscow. When she left Russia, she took a suitcase of joint venture documents. These documents were kept in a storage unit in Chandler, Arizona until her death when I destroyed them. Her death in 2016 was ruled a homicide by the Tokyo Police and the cause of death was by an unknown substance - a form of poison - which is a common murder method used by Russians.
Cassidy Hutchinson remarked that Trump is terrified of being poisoned. (The Hill, October 5, 2023) This Trump comment is an admission of guilt concerning his relationship to Russia.
Putin is often compared to Stalin and he appreciates this juxtaposition. During Stalin's reign in Russia, over 20 million Ukrainians were deliberately starved in a man-made famine called the Holodomor and engineered by Stalin and his government.
I wrote From Democracy to Democrazy as a warning to Americans about the Trump-Putin relationship. I find, however, that the Americans who read this book are not Trump followers - and therein lies the PROBLEM.. Biden and other Democrats have approached this election as if the opposition is Donald Trump. In reality, it is the Putin/Russia propaganda machine that has infiltrated the United States and the minds of millions of Americans just like Hitler converted Germans from a free and peaceful nation into a society of mass murderers.
When Trump talks about a "bloodbath" - believe him.
Thank you, Steven, for the wonderful post today. It should be required reading for everyone under the age of fifty-five. If anyone wants to know what our country will look like if Mr. Trump becomes our president, they have only to read the book Hitler's Ovens. I was mesmerized and horrified when I happened to read this book in high school, over 60 years ago. It is a true story written by Olga Langyel, the only member of her family who survived the concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland. This paperback is an unforgettable read and details what can happen to people who go against the will of a dictator.
"There is no nonsense so gross that society will not, at some time, make a doctrine of it and defend it with every weapon of communal stupidity." ~ Robertson Davies.
“Dictatorships are one-way streets. Democracy boasts two-way traffic.” Albert Moravia
Thank you, Steven. I hope the firefighters were not sent to remove the sign. And I recommend Elie Wiesel’s book “Night” as a warning.
Too often in history it is the lemmings who bring forth disaster and destruction. So easily duped and deceived, they yield to the evil over against the good. They never know what they have lost until they have lost it. In the 1930s Germany, roughly 33% of the population were the deluded and disenfranchised that gave way to Hitler and the Nazis. Yet, Germany had been driven into social and economic despair because of the punishments applied against Germany through the Treaty of Versaille. (World War 1) The United States knows NO such desperation, socially or economically. Therein resides the question: What, in fact, are the grievances of the Trump supporter? Simply put, it is the evil that lives inside each of us. Trump knows how to key into that evil. The imagined becomes the reality. Too often in human history evil has prevailed over good. Trump is evil. His followers and supporters have opted for that evil over against the good. We must gird against that evil and assure the success of the good.
I think that is overly simplistic and misleading.
The areas which quickly latched onto DJT were primarily economically depressed and have been for generations. In many if not most of those places there is a long history of not trusting the government and they were distrustful of elections before the orange wonder came along. Vote buying and various other forms of election chicanery date back over 150 years.
People who live in depressed areas have shorter life expectancies, high rates of drug & alcohol use and mental health issues. These are facts. It is also a fact that people who are living in a state of anxiety and feel forgotten are more open to radical ideas, grievances and willing to buy into nonsense that tells them who to blame.
Now we have the added complication of DJT giving the groups who were living under the rocks and muck a purpose & power as his enforcers. Then his acolytes and competitors (like DeSantis) have done the same.
https://usafacts.org/articles/how-does-poverty-affect-peoples-mental-and-physical-health/
Every day I hear our voices growing louder as we resist the madness of MAGA and the evil darkness of Project 2025. I will not be silent, join the fight now.
"...Elie Weisel spoke there in 1992. Talking then about confronting the past, Wiesel said that “the change cannot come from the balcony. It must come from below.” "
Thanks Steve, This IS the message most needed today. Throw a better party and everyone will come.
Thank you Steven, for this timely reminder.
History is repeating itself. Autocracy is spreading throughout the world.
LePen-France; Meloni-Italy; AFD-Germany; Abscal-Spain; Erdogan-Turkey;Maduro-Venezuela;
Milei-Argintina; Balsonaro-Brazil; Orban-Hungary. Nationalism is on the rise, a main cause is opposition to immigrant influx.
196M people have been born in the US since WW II and the evils of fascism . 60% don't know who we fought. Less than half know FDR was president or that Ike was supreme commander of the allied forces. In fact, 12% think Ike fought in the Civil War. 15% think D Day took place at Pearl Harbor. Surveys show that college graduates have the historical knowledge of 12th graders. 80% don't know the meaning of Memorial Day,
WWII , to many, has been romanticized. A time of music-Glenn Miller, The Andrew Sisters, Vera Lynn.
Rosie the Riveter leading women to work, soldiers kissing French women along their tank routes. The sailor kissing the unknown woman when he leaves the ship.Movies of fighting men, raising the flag in Iwo Jima. Spies. A golden era of movies stars. The heroism of Audie Murphy.
Is it any wonder so many follow donald trump? Democracy........huh?
He may look like an idiot & talk like an idiot, but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot.
Groucho Marx.
Yes, he's an idiot, but beyond that, deep inside he is evil. For many his charisma is overwhelming and addictive, and at this time they're beyond saving. We're at a tipping point. Can we save our Democracy, or will it become a historical failure. Silence is not an option. When did we stop valuing education and knowledge?
Not many will agree with me I suppose, but $ needs spent on public schools, not private or parochial ones, & teacher pay. So many quitting, also because Republicans threaten jail if subjects they oppose are taught. Am very against paying off college debt. An exclusive act leaving out a majority whose taxes will be used to fund this.
Not an electable policy to brag about either. Not a vote getter for Biden.
I agree with you Rita. Republicans have a head start on their crusade to end public education. They want to end the Dept.of Education and they don’t want to pay taxes to educate other peoples’ children. In fact the founders of this nation were adamant about having a system of public education:
“Even before the U.S. had a Constitution, its founders were advocating for the creation of public education systems. The U.S. was an experiment in democracy unlike anything the world had ever seen.
If this ‘experiment’ had any chance of standing the test of time, the nation needed far more schools to prepare everyday citizens for self-government.”
“The Constitution declared that “wisdom and knowledge . . . diffused generally among the body of the people [are] necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties. . . . [Thus,] it shall be the duty of legislatures and magistrates…to cherish …public schools.” (Time. com, 9/22/20, Derek Black)
As far as the Biden administration’s “paying off college debt,” there were conditions involved.
Some had to do with the borrower’s unpaid monthly interest. Some loans were rigged so that unpaid interest on the loan was added to the loan balance, causing it to grow.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program forgave the remaining balance on federal student loans after 120 payments, if they were working full time for federal, state, Tribal, local government, the military; or a qualifying non-profit.
There were other requirements for other types of loans. If anyone is interested in knowing what they were, they can go to: studentaid. gov.
I think we need to put more money into our public schools and pay teachers more. People with kids in school need to know that, depending on the state they live in, private schools aren’t accredited and there’s often no oversight on curriculum or anything else. Teachers don’t even need to have any qualifications in some states.
Loved this post!
Thank you. : )
American people need to hear the truth of democracy and the f<ture of freedom above the angry shouts of corruption. Those desperately afraid the time may end when the people may right the wrong, and the criminals and wealthy may loose their way of gathering easy money. This is time to see the forest through the trees. The propaganda needs to be shut down. Government dollars should not be spent to tear down public education. Private education should be paid by parents.
What a strong and true message. Thank you. Hitler and his deranged mind led millions of people to their death. Many more souls died on the battlefields attempting to end Hitler's reign. This movement and philosophy has again begun with Vladimir Putin - who spent his spy years in East Germany, absorbed Hitler's methodologies, and returned to Russia to become the world's next ruthless, murderous, and heartless dictator. In 1997, a book published in Russia called The Foundations of Geopolitics could have been Volume 2 of Hitler's manifesto called Mein Kampf. Hitler's book describes the process by which Hitler outlines his political ideology and his plans to achieve his goals
The Foundations of Geopolitics describes Putin's presidential goals which include (1) the destruction of American democracy, (2) BREXIT, (3) annihilation of Ukraine, (4) take over the governments of France and Germany, (5) restore Russia's borders to pre-NATO timeframe and re-establish the glory of the USSR, (6) Russian military in post-communist era, and on and on. He blames the U.S. for the downfall of the Soviet Union and he wishes revenge.
Putin is succeeding and just like Hitler, Putin is using massive mind control / brainwashing as one of his primary tools. His other manipulative tool is bribery, which is exactly what happened to ignorant Donald Trump. Both Eric and Don Jr. have bragged about receiving $100 Million from Russian banks. (www.vanityfair.com, www.businessinsider.com) These banks, all controlled by the KGB/FSB, loan money to foreigners to either laundry black cash or to enlist a foreigner to work for Russia. They have also given $9.8 million to Marie LePen in France (politico.eu) to overturn the French Government of President Emmanuel Macron.
From the time Trump attended the Helsinki Summit up until today it is obvious that Trump is controlled by Putin. Russian's bribe foreigners to work for Russia using beautiful women and money - and Trump fell for both traps. He has used the exact same brainwashing tools used by Putin - who learned these coercive mind control techniques while in East Germany.
Unfortunately, my words and yours will not be read by those who are brainwashed, MAGA, or other die-hard Trump followers. Biden's campaign to save democracy is not failing, it's that his opponent in this political race is not simply Trump but the world-leader in misinformation, disinformation, brainwashing, and propaganda - Vladimir Putin.
When Putin assumed office in 2000, the first thing he did was create a one-man "dictatorship" and the second step was to eliminate - through contract killings - all independent media. One woman reporter was shot right outside of my apartment building. I heard the gun shots and looked outside my balcony. Her dark red blood was staining the dirty Moscow snow - and in less than an hour her body was gone. And such murders were not limited to Moscow or even within Russia. In a Washington, D.C. west-end neighborhood, Dan Rapoport fell from his luxury apartment building (15th floor) on the night of August 4th, 2022. He made a fortune in Moscow and then moved back to the U.S. after running afoul of Putin. His death was never investigated just like the untimely death of Ivana Trump in her N.Y. apartment only a few months after Trump lost the 2020 election. My oldest daughter Lize worked as the manager of the Beverly Hills nightclub, casino, and restaurant in Moscow. When she left Russia, she took a suitcase of joint venture documents. These documents were kept in a storage unit in Chandler, Arizona until her death when I destroyed them. Her death in 2016 was ruled a homicide by the Tokyo Police and the cause of death was by an unknown substance - a form of poison - which is a common murder method used by Russians.
Cassidy Hutchinson remarked that Trump is terrified of being poisoned. (The Hill, October 5, 2023) This Trump comment is an admission of guilt concerning his relationship to Russia.
Putin is often compared to Stalin and he appreciates this juxtaposition. During Stalin's reign in Russia, over 20 million Ukrainians were deliberately starved in a man-made famine called the Holodomor and engineered by Stalin and his government.
I wrote From Democracy to Democrazy as a warning to Americans about the Trump-Putin relationship. I find, however, that the Americans who read this book are not Trump followers - and therein lies the PROBLEM.. Biden and other Democrats have approached this election as if the opposition is Donald Trump. In reality, it is the Putin/Russia propaganda machine that has infiltrated the United States and the minds of millions of Americans just like Hitler converted Germans from a free and peaceful nation into a society of mass murderers.
When Trump talks about a "bloodbath" - believe him.
Elizabeth
www.democrazy2020.org
Thanks for this post!
FYI. Trump has had plenty of predecessors. Here’s one from my little mountain hometown for instance.
https://avlwatchdog.org/long-before-trump-asheville-politician-wanted-to-build-border-wall-to-bar-undesirables-from-entry-and-keep-america-for-americans/
As usual thx Steven for your insight and timely reminders. I agree with Katherine. I hope the firefighters were there for other reasons.
Thank you, Steven, for the wonderful post today. It should be required reading for everyone under the age of fifty-five. If anyone wants to know what our country will look like if Mr. Trump becomes our president, they have only to read the book Hitler's Ovens. I was mesmerized and horrified when I happened to read this book in high school, over 60 years ago. It is a true story written by Olga Langyel, the only member of her family who survived the concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland. This paperback is an unforgettable read and details what can happen to people who go against the will of a dictator.
Thank you for the suggestion.
Thank you,Steven. Really important message.
Thank you, Karen.
Chilling.