I too, would never wish for hardship among human beings just to prove a point that this soulless felon should NEVER have been allowed near our government again. BUT … I do hope that the EXTRAORDINARY degree of chaos, misery, selfishness, pain and inequity that has already begun before he even has been sworn in. Before he even is President. I hope that it will be so drastic that people who ‘don’t pay attention to politics or are too busy just getting by day to day to focus on the details of government and elections’ … that they will be FORCED TO NOTICE. That this horrific time of painful disarray that will hurt an unfathomable number of Americans and non-Americans will actually be the bottom we apparently needed to hit in order to make real meaningful changes in our government, our political system and our ways of being. That this absolute dissolution of everything we have known will, while very painful and upsetting, be THE THING we all needed to finally get serious about our environment decay, our rights being stripped from us, the way we treat each others and those we consider ‘different’ from us. That we will get money out of politics. Money out of our prison system. Police reform. Gun control. Resources allocated for public goods like the public school system, PBS, NPR, Medicare, Universal Healthcare. Head start, preschool, early intervention programs, therapies and programs for all children who are in need. Truly reforming this wonderful country of ours. Equality and social justice. Reparations for many many people. Teaching the FULL AND ACCURATE history of this country to all of our children so they will be educated and equipped to sustain these changes in our manner of moving forward with peace and justice for all.
Maybe we need to go through entropy of massive proportion in order to reach the other side. In order to actually have the country out ancestors dreamt could be possible? This is what I hope. This is what I BELIEVE can be true.
Although, having said that "there are consequences to actions", I must point out that so far there have been NO consequences for any of the stunningly criminal actions over the past 60 years of the orange sadist. I wish someone could explain that to me.
Private Bone Spurs is a bully, taught by his father. Like some/most/all bullies he is a coward at his core. To support my opinion, I refer to the opening scene of “Miss Congeniality”. If the Republicans in Congress sit him down, and tell him *how* things are going to be, he will, in my opinion, “fold like a cheap suit”. Also: praise Musk to the hilt, as the effective president of the country, no mention of DJT. Musk will be gone. As the farmer said in the Full Frontal episode “Trump in Scotland”: “Keep pissing him off. He’ll crack up!” We can learn a thing or two from the Scots. Now more seriously: I’d argue that there have been consequences. Think of Trump University, Trump steaks, Trump football team, The Apprentice, Trump airline, and best of all, Trump casino in Atlantic City. The organization couldn’t even manage an already built hotel in Panama. Make failures public. Watch him mess with relief for areas that voted for him. Make that public.
"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 (a Canadian).
I have a very different opinion about what the references to Canada entail. Trump is setting his sights on conquering Canada.
He's conquered America, the richest most powerful country in the world. Why not conquer Canada as well? And after that? Mexico. Just imagine, a super North American mega country under his express and singular command and control.
I'm not joking. I think his Canada being the 51st state talk is planting seeds. Sure, it looks outlandish now. But going back a few years so was his talk about rounding up illegal immigrants, putting them in concentration camps for deportation. Today that looks like a real possibility. The same can be said for his desires to politicize our military to do his bidding by invoking the insurrection act and using the military to squash opposition to him. Same for shutting down the Fourth Estate, i.e. the free press. He's already made moves to do that the First Amendment be damned.
As a Canadian, I concur with your assessment that trump is planting the seed. His oft-repeated “joke” is no laughing matter when 2 of his best buddies have attempted to eradicate two Peoples: Ukrainians and Gazan/Palestinians. Fortunately for us, we are a very proud people even though we don’t walk around pumping our chests and telling the world we’re the greatest country. And if he tries to take over our country, he’ll find out quickly the mettle of which we are made.
Trudeau ran to Mar a Lago, ignoring the fact that this guy is president-ELECT. Leaving MX on its own - forgetting there is strength in unity. Divide and conquer with threats & tariffs is the much more likely playbook for the Orange Menace in efforts to extract concessions from other countries. He’s trolling Trudeau because Trudeau showed weakness.
In his last administration, the Orange Menace raked in piles of cash and assets while talking tough - as he withheld his taxes from public view. It is also hard to track the assets through his companies.
That is his lifelong MO. He doesn’t own all the buildings with his name on them. He gets $$ for putting his name on them. When he doesn’t get what he wants he makes it expensive for you to resist. So he threatens tariffs to pick winners & losers. (Outside of government he uses harassing lawsuits & refuses to pay bills. His attorneys tell contractors when he breaks contracts terms of payment to take what he offers because it will cost them more as he drags them through court.) He brags about loving OPM, spending Other People’s Money. It’s OPM he lost in bankruptcies. Not his money.
China is a prime example. Million$ to a mostly defunct Chinese trump company. Expedited trademarks for the daughter. Nations offered free land, roads etc. for his developments. China promised to meet certain trade benchmarks. They never did and the trump tariffs never matched the threats. The Saudis “they pay cash” who infamously transferred $2B to Kushner; a lesser amount to Mnuchin etc. The Russians buying up trump condos (as did others).
This report by CREW is limited because when the GOP took over the House, the new GOP chairman of the committee receiving the reports from the accounting firm stopped the flow of information. CREW acknowledges politely that the extent of the worldwide grift will never be known.
— As CREW has previously reported, Trump’s own tax returns showed that he made up to $160 million from foreign sources during his time in office—one-tenth of the up to $1.6 billion he made from his businesses over that same time, according to his financial disclosures. That total includes his income from all sources: foreign properties, licensing deals and beyond—not just the foreign government spending we focus on in this report.—
Trump/Musk presidency: “It might finally convince a solid majority of Americans why they should be mad as hell and why they shouldn’t take it any more from corrupt, self-serving billionaires.”
We very seriously considered moving to Canada in 2016. For better or worse, we hung on through Biden's administration hoping for good results in 2024. Instead the nightmare has occurred. We are preparing our house for sale. However, Canada is NOT a realistic option. As Susan Linehan writes below: (1) "The rules in 2016 were you can only live in Canada for 6 months and then have to stay OUT of Canada for six months. That would need maintaining two residences, and probably being subjected to two tax systems." and (2) "Medicare isn't portable." What seems like a (relatively) easy and ideal location is, in fact, out of reach. We're looking at Portugal. There is a growing ex-pat community there, and one can purchase health insurance for a reasonable price. I'm not sure about the 6-month limit, however. That is the situation (even 4 months, in some cases) for almost every country in Europe. Leaving ain't gonna be nearly as easy as you think.
We have been planning to move to the UK because my husband is English. It's a project! We have found it so overwhelming that we called it off, but we're still considering doing it. We could save some enormous amount of money on healthcare alone. And, you don't have to worry about being shot. If only the weather weren't so awful. I guess we'll see. Good luck! I hope the move works out for you.
My grandfather and uncles some uncles came from Canada. Many are still there. I am an American and this is my country. My father served as a medic in W.W. I.I. and many family members in other conflicts. My entire career was in service. Why should we leave our country? Our founders left a promise to us.
Thank you, kd! My in-laws live in Canada, so I am doubly lucky. BTW, my husband has friends who moved to Portugal decades ago. Let me know if you'd like me to put you in touch. (They're English and gay, FWIW.)
WOW! That's FABULOUS! Thank you so much, Paula! What's a good way to share information? BTW, I've read that the limit on time non-citizens are allowed to stay in European countries has decreased substantially in recent years. People who lived in those countries prior to that date, are allowed to continue living there. Now the rules are much tighter. Your friends obviously were in Portugal long before these rules were put in place/set in stone (?)
You can DM me or email me if you like: paula@writingshow.com. I don't know the particulars regarding the guys' move but I can try to find out. Since they live there all the time they must have visas or have become citizens, though. I am entitled to apply for a UK visa based on my husband's UK citizenship. (He is also a US citizen.) We have thought about other countries but it's more difficult, either because of the language barrier, immigration rules, or the cost of living. I do have other friends who emigrated to Mexico. They started by having a residence both there and in California but eventually sold the California place. They love it there but my Spanish is lousy and I don't think I want to struggle that much.
Good post! As we work our way through this, let’s also not treat the Musk-Trump duo as if they were 10 feet tall… more like 5’ 9” with platform shoes. And gettin shorter by the day.
Do they have great capacity to do harm? Yes. But their callous greed and cowardly bullying will not succeed, especially as “We the People” stand up and stand strong.
After the first Trump onslaught, many looked upon Canada as a Utopian brass ring that could perhaps be caught. I think most people realize that every country has its problems, Canada among them. I think what so many of us are looking for is an escape from an anticipated daily terrors of the Trump administration. Where to start, now that Trump is locked in a Tango of Terror with Elon Musk, who has rightly been dubbed Co-President Musk? I think this Laurel and Hardy version of our country is by terms fascinating and horrifying…right? Who needs whom the most? Trump is indebted up to his eyeballs to Musk, and Musk smelled blood and power in the water from the ‘get-go’…and what Musk wants, Musk gets. Trump can stamp and snort like an outraged bull, but without Musk, his pockets are relatively empty. The money he gets from his endeavors is peanuts compared to what Musk can provide and what Musk will take away if the royal “We” are not pleased.
So what does Trump do? He puts out all kinds of outrageous and idiotic statements such as Canada being the 51st state…and what does Trudeau do? What do they all do? They laugh nervously and hope that Musk doesn’t have the same idea.
Regarding the proposition that America splits into red and blue states … nearly 160 years ago America fought to split between blue and gray states—has the South finally won?
I am always amazed at the brazen lies when Trump proposes something ridiculous, and it’s shot down; Trump was only joking. Begs the question: Did anyone actually laugh at his “joke”?
Excellent! Good grief this is getting scary. How can they be stopped? The rich are taking over our country and the rest of us can just blow in the wind! Way to go America? Shoot yourself in the foot, again and again and again….
We now know for certain who the REAL president (with a small letter “p”) will be on Jan 20, 2025 and the real Republican “dear” leader is now: Musk; 500 billionaire who bought the 47th “presidency” from an apparently weak and willing Trump.
Americans wishing for a rescue. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. It is also dangerous because with it is a strong desire for officials to act outside their constitutional roles — only for our benefit or should I say, only when it is what we want? The election was our chance to rescue ourselves. Our next chance is the mid-term elections. Americans need to stop looking for a rescue. It’s our responsibility.
Yesterday the Orange Menace wanted the debt ceiling handled on Biden’s watch. Considering that he’s been whispering in Speaker Johnson’s ear it can’t be a coincidence that it went into the bill as a 2 yr suspension of the debt ceiling. That was the mostly likely nail in the coffin for many GOPers.
Today the Orange Menace has already announced if there is to be a government shutdown he wants it to happen on Biden’s watch. Johnson has a secret plan.
I detect a pattern. It seems a lot like the way the Orange Menace killed off the immigration bill.
For now, my hope is the chaos he & his sidekick create slows their agenda and infuriated voters give them what they deserve in the mid-terms.
Meanwhile, I’m reflecting on the muskrat, his tentacles that are all through the government including our military and his actual philosophy that scientists should be in charge.
Nice thoughts, but at the risk of being Grinch-like, Trump, Musk, MAGA, will just lie to the voters. Flat out. They will take and take and destroy and ravage, and lie about it...until maybe, just maybe, one too many "disappeared" government programs helping Red Staters/MAGA hits home. Dems just need to keep resisting, letting the Reep Congress embarrass itself, flop around for leadership, and experience whip lash trying to figure out who is, in fact, their master: Trump or Musk. High times ahead.
I too, would never wish for hardship among human beings just to prove a point that this soulless felon should NEVER have been allowed near our government again. BUT … I do hope that the EXTRAORDINARY degree of chaos, misery, selfishness, pain and inequity that has already begun before he even has been sworn in. Before he even is President. I hope that it will be so drastic that people who ‘don’t pay attention to politics or are too busy just getting by day to day to focus on the details of government and elections’ … that they will be FORCED TO NOTICE. That this horrific time of painful disarray that will hurt an unfathomable number of Americans and non-Americans will actually be the bottom we apparently needed to hit in order to make real meaningful changes in our government, our political system and our ways of being. That this absolute dissolution of everything we have known will, while very painful and upsetting, be THE THING we all needed to finally get serious about our environment decay, our rights being stripped from us, the way we treat each others and those we consider ‘different’ from us. That we will get money out of politics. Money out of our prison system. Police reform. Gun control. Resources allocated for public goods like the public school system, PBS, NPR, Medicare, Universal Healthcare. Head start, preschool, early intervention programs, therapies and programs for all children who are in need. Truly reforming this wonderful country of ours. Equality and social justice. Reparations for many many people. Teaching the FULL AND ACCURATE history of this country to all of our children so they will be educated and equipped to sustain these changes in our manner of moving forward with peace and justice for all.
Maybe we need to go through entropy of massive proportion in order to reach the other side. In order to actually have the country out ancestors dreamt could be possible? This is what I hope. This is what I BELIEVE can be true.
Let us do it together. ☮️
Unfortunately hardship is necessary. There are consequences to actions. The rest of us will have to suffer along with those responsible.
Although, having said that "there are consequences to actions", I must point out that so far there have been NO consequences for any of the stunningly criminal actions over the past 60 years of the orange sadist. I wish someone could explain that to me.
Money talks and b*****t walks
Or money just talks louder. Especially when it's promoting b******t.
Private Bone Spurs is a bully, taught by his father. Like some/most/all bullies he is a coward at his core. To support my opinion, I refer to the opening scene of “Miss Congeniality”. If the Republicans in Congress sit him down, and tell him *how* things are going to be, he will, in my opinion, “fold like a cheap suit”. Also: praise Musk to the hilt, as the effective president of the country, no mention of DJT. Musk will be gone. As the farmer said in the Full Frontal episode “Trump in Scotland”: “Keep pissing him off. He’ll crack up!” We can learn a thing or two from the Scots. Now more seriously: I’d argue that there have been consequences. Think of Trump University, Trump steaks, Trump football team, The Apprentice, Trump airline, and best of all, Trump casino in Atlantic City. The organization couldn’t even manage an already built hotel in Panama. Make failures public. Watch him mess with relief for areas that voted for him. Make that public.
"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 (a Canadian).
And here we are…
Oh Canada!
I have a very different opinion about what the references to Canada entail. Trump is setting his sights on conquering Canada.
He's conquered America, the richest most powerful country in the world. Why not conquer Canada as well? And after that? Mexico. Just imagine, a super North American mega country under his express and singular command and control.
I'm not joking. I think his Canada being the 51st state talk is planting seeds. Sure, it looks outlandish now. But going back a few years so was his talk about rounding up illegal immigrants, putting them in concentration camps for deportation. Today that looks like a real possibility. The same can be said for his desires to politicize our military to do his bidding by invoking the insurrection act and using the military to squash opposition to him. Same for shutting down the Fourth Estate, i.e. the free press. He's already made moves to do that the First Amendment be damned.
Canada, inmyhumbleopinion, is on the list.
As a Canadian, I concur with your assessment that trump is planting the seed. His oft-repeated “joke” is no laughing matter when 2 of his best buddies have attempted to eradicate two Peoples: Ukrainians and Gazan/Palestinians. Fortunately for us, we are a very proud people even though we don’t walk around pumping our chests and telling the world we’re the greatest country. And if he tries to take over our country, he’ll find out quickly the mettle of which we are made.
I agree. Certainly sounds like the Putin plan to end democracy
He also wanted Greenland.
Trudeau ran to Mar a Lago, ignoring the fact that this guy is president-ELECT. Leaving MX on its own - forgetting there is strength in unity. Divide and conquer with threats & tariffs is the much more likely playbook for the Orange Menace in efforts to extract concessions from other countries. He’s trolling Trudeau because Trudeau showed weakness.
In his last administration, the Orange Menace raked in piles of cash and assets while talking tough - as he withheld his taxes from public view. It is also hard to track the assets through his companies.
That is his lifelong MO. He doesn’t own all the buildings with his name on them. He gets $$ for putting his name on them. When he doesn’t get what he wants he makes it expensive for you to resist. So he threatens tariffs to pick winners & losers. (Outside of government he uses harassing lawsuits & refuses to pay bills. His attorneys tell contractors when he breaks contracts terms of payment to take what he offers because it will cost them more as he drags them through court.) He brags about loving OPM, spending Other People’s Money. It’s OPM he lost in bankruptcies. Not his money.
China is a prime example. Million$ to a mostly defunct Chinese trump company. Expedited trademarks for the daughter. Nations offered free land, roads etc. for his developments. China promised to meet certain trade benchmarks. They never did and the trump tariffs never matched the threats. The Saudis “they pay cash” who infamously transferred $2B to Kushner; a lesser amount to Mnuchin etc. The Russians buying up trump condos (as did others).
This report by CREW is limited because when the GOP took over the House, the new GOP chairman of the committee receiving the reports from the accounting firm stopped the flow of information. CREW acknowledges politely that the extent of the worldwide grift will never be known.
— As CREW has previously reported, Trump’s own tax returns showed that he made up to $160 million from foreign sources during his time in office—one-tenth of the up to $1.6 billion he made from his businesses over that same time, according to his financial disclosures. That total includes his income from all sources: foreign properties, licensing deals and beyond—not just the foreign government spending we focus on in this report.—
https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/trump-likely-benefited-from-13-6-million-in-payments-from-foreign-governments-during-his-presidency/
Oh, Lord!!!
Trump/Musk presidency: “It might finally convince a solid majority of Americans why they should be mad as hell and why they shouldn’t take it any more from corrupt, self-serving billionaires.”
If only......
We very seriously considered moving to Canada in 2016. For better or worse, we hung on through Biden's administration hoping for good results in 2024. Instead the nightmare has occurred. We are preparing our house for sale. However, Canada is NOT a realistic option. As Susan Linehan writes below: (1) "The rules in 2016 were you can only live in Canada for 6 months and then have to stay OUT of Canada for six months. That would need maintaining two residences, and probably being subjected to two tax systems." and (2) "Medicare isn't portable." What seems like a (relatively) easy and ideal location is, in fact, out of reach. We're looking at Portugal. There is a growing ex-pat community there, and one can purchase health insurance for a reasonable price. I'm not sure about the 6-month limit, however. That is the situation (even 4 months, in some cases) for almost every country in Europe. Leaving ain't gonna be nearly as easy as you think.
We have been planning to move to the UK because my husband is English. It's a project! We have found it so overwhelming that we called it off, but we're still considering doing it. We could save some enormous amount of money on healthcare alone. And, you don't have to worry about being shot. If only the weather weren't so awful. I guess we'll see. Good luck! I hope the move works out for you.
Thanks, Paula. And good luck to you. (How wonderful to have a spouse who is a citizen of a European country -- or a Canadian!)
My grandfather and uncles some uncles came from Canada. Many are still there. I am an American and this is my country. My father served as a medic in W.W. I.I. and many family members in other conflicts. My entire career was in service. Why should we leave our country? Our founders left a promise to us.
I guess people leave when they believe their lives and/or the lives of people they love are or will be in danger.
Thank you, kd! My in-laws live in Canada, so I am doubly lucky. BTW, my husband has friends who moved to Portugal decades ago. Let me know if you'd like me to put you in touch. (They're English and gay, FWIW.)
WOW! That's FABULOUS! Thank you so much, Paula! What's a good way to share information? BTW, I've read that the limit on time non-citizens are allowed to stay in European countries has decreased substantially in recent years. People who lived in those countries prior to that date, are allowed to continue living there. Now the rules are much tighter. Your friends obviously were in Portugal long before these rules were put in place/set in stone (?)
You can DM me or email me if you like: paula@writingshow.com. I don't know the particulars regarding the guys' move but I can try to find out. Since they live there all the time they must have visas or have become citizens, though. I am entitled to apply for a UK visa based on my husband's UK citizenship. (He is also a US citizen.) We have thought about other countries but it's more difficult, either because of the language barrier, immigration rules, or the cost of living. I do have other friends who emigrated to Mexico. They started by having a residence both there and in California but eventually sold the California place. They love it there but my Spanish is lousy and I don't think I want to struggle that much.
Good post! As we work our way through this, let’s also not treat the Musk-Trump duo as if they were 10 feet tall… more like 5’ 9” with platform shoes. And gettin shorter by the day.
Do they have great capacity to do harm? Yes. But their callous greed and cowardly bullying will not succeed, especially as “We the People” stand up and stand strong.
Right. They are not so tall.
We short people don't really care how tall they are. We know that you don't have to be tall to be awesome (which they are not).
The felon has become the First Lady to the unelected president muskrat.
I'd looked into moving to Canada in 2016. Gee, if Canada acquired my state, I wouldn't have to move. Hmmm.
This is just amazing to watch. It would be difficult to sell a movie that had a script this ridiculous and stupid. Or maybe not, sadly.
After the first Trump onslaught, many looked upon Canada as a Utopian brass ring that could perhaps be caught. I think most people realize that every country has its problems, Canada among them. I think what so many of us are looking for is an escape from an anticipated daily terrors of the Trump administration. Where to start, now that Trump is locked in a Tango of Terror with Elon Musk, who has rightly been dubbed Co-President Musk? I think this Laurel and Hardy version of our country is by terms fascinating and horrifying…right? Who needs whom the most? Trump is indebted up to his eyeballs to Musk, and Musk smelled blood and power in the water from the ‘get-go’…and what Musk wants, Musk gets. Trump can stamp and snort like an outraged bull, but without Musk, his pockets are relatively empty. The money he gets from his endeavors is peanuts compared to what Musk can provide and what Musk will take away if the royal “We” are not pleased.
So what does Trump do? He puts out all kinds of outrageous and idiotic statements such as Canada being the 51st state…and what does Trudeau do? What do they all do? They laugh nervously and hope that Musk doesn’t have the same idea.
From your lips to God’s ears.
Regarding the proposition that America splits into red and blue states … nearly 160 years ago America fought to split between blue and gray states—has the South finally won?
America tried to take Canada during the Revolutionary War & the War of 1812. Didn't work then, wouldn't work now. Wonder if DumDum even knows that ??
Absolutely not!
I am always amazed at the brazen lies when Trump proposes something ridiculous, and it’s shot down; Trump was only joking. Begs the question: Did anyone actually laugh at his “joke”?
Excellent! Good grief this is getting scary. How can they be stopped? The rich are taking over our country and the rest of us can just blow in the wind! Way to go America? Shoot yourself in the foot, again and again and again….
Funding tanked by money.
Well,
We now know for certain who the REAL president (with a small letter “p”) will be on Jan 20, 2025 and the real Republican “dear” leader is now: Musk; 500 billionaire who bought the 47th “presidency” from an apparently weak and willing Trump.
Americans wishing for a rescue. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. It is also dangerous because with it is a strong desire for officials to act outside their constitutional roles — only for our benefit or should I say, only when it is what we want? The election was our chance to rescue ourselves. Our next chance is the mid-term elections. Americans need to stop looking for a rescue. It’s our responsibility.
Yesterday the Orange Menace wanted the debt ceiling handled on Biden’s watch. Considering that he’s been whispering in Speaker Johnson’s ear it can’t be a coincidence that it went into the bill as a 2 yr suspension of the debt ceiling. That was the mostly likely nail in the coffin for many GOPers.
Today the Orange Menace has already announced if there is to be a government shutdown he wants it to happen on Biden’s watch. Johnson has a secret plan.
I detect a pattern. It seems a lot like the way the Orange Menace killed off the immigration bill.
For now, my hope is the chaos he & his sidekick create slows their agenda and infuriated voters give them what they deserve in the mid-terms.
Meanwhile, I’m reflecting on the muskrat, his tentacles that are all through the government including our military and his actual philosophy that scientists should be in charge.
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/technocracy-incorporated-elon-musk/
Nice thoughts, but at the risk of being Grinch-like, Trump, Musk, MAGA, will just lie to the voters. Flat out. They will take and take and destroy and ravage, and lie about it...until maybe, just maybe, one too many "disappeared" government programs helping Red Staters/MAGA hits home. Dems just need to keep resisting, letting the Reep Congress embarrass itself, flop around for leadership, and experience whip lash trying to figure out who is, in fact, their master: Trump or Musk. High times ahead.