“…the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack.
For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Growing up in Europe, there was always a sense that the average American was naive and simplistic, but with a strong sense of right and wrong, which would prevail in the end, a myth perpetuated by Hollywood (at least the last part of it!) A large part of the population seems to have lost that moral compass, for many reasons that we are still trying to elucidate. Other myths (which were also foundational) have taken over: Individualism and the survival of the fittest at all costs, disdain for the "weak", idealization of the "self made man", accumulation of wealth as the purpose of work. Social media has killed the need for community, creating an artificial one where the difficulties of real relationships can be skirted. Subtleties and complexities are gone. So here we are....
This native-born USian agrees with "naive and simplistic" but is skeptical about that "strong sense of right and wrong." Some of us have exhibited and acted on it over the decades and centuries: the abolitionists, the suffragists, the labor activists and more. But all along they have been opposed by others, notably white people whose sense of right and wrong applied only to members of their own group.
The foundational myths you identify are key, and so is the fact that they've been serving economic interests all along. And now indeed here we are: with those others currently in control of both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court, and the White House.
You are absolutely correct about the self serving and discriminatory side that has always existed, of course. But I am suggesting this is not the one popularized outside of the US--to truly understand the complex history requires careful study and a deeper look outside of what is widely disseminated and available, as well as motivation to do so. The world drank the Cool Aid--it felt good and hopeful. I am embarrassed to admit it took me years to wake up to the uglier side of the USA--I felt it had been left behind and overcome. Talk about naive....
Don’t I know it. We’ve been flooded — as an electorate — with recommendations for the past 10 years. We’ve seen Trump fail at everything. We are idiotic, or maybe just naive and simplistic, as you said. And the smartphone age, in which a screen in every self-absorbed palm has eliminated our shared reality, has negated our once strong sense of right and wrong.
There is another aspect of the issue on which I commented elsewhere (JVL' substack--I am on a reading/writing streak this morning.... not working!) and I am interested in your feedback. Here it is:
Even though I agree with all that you stated, your anger obscures what I think is another fundamental issue we need to address: A majority of Americans feel profoundly helpless and neglected, at all levels of society. They wish for a protector, someone who will "fix it" and that emotional need is so intense that it negates any rational thought. All of Trump's obvious contradictions do not matter to them. They just wish they could bully everyone into submission, which is what he has succeeded in doing. Take a wrecking ball and destroy everything that they feel helpless to combat. On their behalf. These are the people we need to understand and help to get out of our present situation. They are not wrong. They are left behind.
You're on the right track, Françoise, but you're missing an important piece: that "majority of Americans" you refer to is overwhelmingly white. People of color have been treated poorly and neglected for centuries, but the overwhelming majority of them are not supporting Trump, MAGA, and the current Republican Party. "Make America Great Again" = "Make America White Again."
I know. I am also simplifying. I am a (recently) avid student of the Civil Rights movement, and a horrified one at that. Never too late. I feel that the Civil Rights leaders showed us the path out of this current tragedy. Cory Booker is a shining example of it.
To some extent I agree. However, systemic poverty (lack of funding of public schools, healthcare regulation and fair pricing, housing inequalities and inability to access government services (like IDs, voting rights)) has for years been "fixed" with bandaids like Medicaid and Social Security to keep people safe. I think that the defunding of essential government services is a real culprit in our lives, Trump has accelerated the damage.
Absolutely. Income inequality and absence of support for underserved populations have been shown to open the door for authoritarianism on both sides (left and right.) The work of Dr. Bandy Lee, a psychiatrist who got fired from Yale for speaking about Trump and his dangers as early as 2015 has emphasized this important factor.
Great post. I am happy that my father, uncles and father in law aren’t alive to witness this. They fought in WWII to defeat Nazis. They would be shocked to see what is happening today.
Heck, I am still stunned. How is it that the party of Abraham Lincoln came to embrace a narcissistic authoritarian? It’s now the party tearing down our democracy. The party destroying the right to vote. The party vilifying minorities, immigrants, the weak and anyone who is not like them. The party happily watching the end of Pax Americana and the destruction of alliances that kept us safe for 80 years. I am 78 and never imagined this could happen here.
Maybe I am naive, but I believe we have the power to end the madness. We must resist in every peaceful way possible. My wife, also no youngster, and I are going to Washington today to participate in the Hands Off protest. We are boycotting the tech bros. We regularly protest locally.
These are small steps. As the pain caused by Trump’s arrogance and stupidity increases more people will join the resistance. Eventually we will take back our country. The damage won’t be undone in my lifetime. I will be satisfied to see this administration and its enablers evicted.
He thinks tariffs are a negotiating tool, that somehow he holds the cards to the world. He’s trying to starve out through tariffs other countries products so somehow American companies will benefit. He doesn’t understand the symbiotic relationship American companies have with other countries. The fact that everyday people will suffer as a result of these tariffs causing the cost of everything to go up is irrelevant to him. This isn’t about American exceptionalism, it’s isolationism.
I think Trump understands completely. An impoverished country is easier to control. The rest of the world, rendered hostile through the Trumpian rhetoric, is a convenient scapegoat. He has reached a point (as I see things) where the approval of the American public is irrelevant.
That may be the result, but I think he’s a Hitler copycat unleashed who really doesn’t understand anything and has no conception of public service. never has. what a strange electorate we are.
Hitler understood how to build on his failed coup; take a small amount of power and leverage it; how to change public opinion and silence the opposition.
He studied hitler and has a book of his speeches given to him by a friend, Marty Davis. His first wife said he kept it on his nightstand.
He also studied Nixon and Watergate. He has said Nixon should have destroyed the tapes. They became pen pals and on some occasions he flew Nixon to on his plane. Their letters are in the Nixon library.
In other words, he seeks out what he wants to know & those who can do it for him.
I’m not sure he cares. Tariffs are power. He uses them and federal $$ to weaken anyone with power. All his dictator friends have weak economies — with the possible exception of China. (If we consider him a friend of Xi.) All those dictators are quite wealthy. Orban is “officially” poor but his family has become very rich.
Here's one of many things that has changed. It used to be that negotiations produced agreements. Now, from 47 and Co., we get "deals." There's no negotiation. You either "take the deal" offered by 47 or you get your feet encased in cement and then dumped in the ocean. At last he gets to behave, as well as talk, like the mob bosses he emulates. If the catatonic U.S. House doesn't wake up and do their forking job....it's going to get even worse......I just hope all the people protesting tomorrow have a kumbaya vibe so 47 doesn't call out the military.
When the House passed the CR it put a provision in it that the House would not take up tariffs for the rest of their calendar year. (There was a push to make it for both yrs of this Congress but it didn’t have enough support.)
That is why what the Senate passes on tariffs will not get a vote in the House. As long as Speaker Johnson and the House GOP refuse to change that provision or until it expires, those bills are dead in the House. They will not take up the resolution removing tariffs on Canada; Grassley’s bill to take back the power from the president or the similar bill in the House (with no co-sponsors).
What the actions of the Senate initially pushed by Kaine are doing is putting legislators on record. For the GOP, Rand Paul, Grassley, and perhaps some others, it is CYA. For all of them it is attempt to keep the GOP and their states from dying on the operating table of self-appointed Dr. Orange Menace.
Thank you, Steven. Yes, it's disgraceful that our authorities have failed us by permitting a madman to hold sway over this nation and the world. We, the People, have to seize power to rid us of this insanity. We have to generate massive civil disobedience and then keep building the momentum until this regime falls. Each and every one of us bears the responsibility of participating.
Let's see what the turnout for the protests tomorrow will be across the nation.
You know what really pisses me off? All the pundits trying to figure out what the hell Trump is doing and why, when it is so simple: everywhere you look he is breaking things -- he LOVES breaking things, and he gets off on hurting people. The more people he can hurt, the more he enjoys it. Because the media, pundits, talking heads, and politicos up and down the ranks of both parties have failed to comprehend his psychopathology, he now has the power to destroy wide swaths of the world economy. He's going to thoroughly enjoy world leaders and business moguls begging him for exceptions to tariffs, and paying him handsomely for those exceptions. And then he'll hurt them -- and us -- some more because once you submit to the malignantly narcissistic psychopath, he never stops enjoying finding new ways to torment you. If you study his face (ugh) these last few days, you can see how much fun he is having. To all those people who said he'd never actually do what he said he was going to do: f*ck you.
Is there an authoritarian that hasn’t used the economy to control the populace? Who cares about the damage in their wake? Who isn’t personally wealthy & growing their personal wealth at the expense of others?
"The Senate on Wednesday approved a measure that would block some of the tariffs President Trump has imposed on Canada, with a handful of Republicans joining Democrats to pass a resolution that would halt levies set to take effect this week" (NY Times).
My Senator, Tim Kaine, sponsored this effort and I was so excited, but naive, to think that this meant a reprieve from the craziness of what Trump was doing to Canada.
I soon learned that Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, did not plan to put this item on the floor for a vote. That's a lot of power for one man to have--preventing consideration of something so important. Am I missing something?
It’s true Speakers determine what comes to the floor. There is one specific thing not normal about this. The CR to keep the government open had an extra provision about House rules & voting on the tariffs. Probably another reason the GOP House leaders told its members to stop the town halls.
“GOP leadership slipped language into a House rule on their stopgap funding bill that would prevent any member of Congress from bringing up a resolution terminating Trump’s declaration of a national emergency over fentanyl and undocumented immigrants entering the U.S. The president has used that emergency declaration to justify his tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.”
Senator Kaine voted AYE 8 times for Trump's Cabinet misfits: Rubio (State), Ratcliffe (CIA), Kristi Noam (Homeland Security), Bessent (Treasury). Collins (VA), Burgum (Interior) and Chavez-DeRemer(Labor), Duffy (Transportation). Kaine likes to be interviewed on TV as fighting against Trump, but when voting - he votes TRUMP
What you may be missing is that Speakers have always had this power, and when they're backed by their own caucus, there's very little that can be done about it.
Collective power. That is the way forward. Universities can band together & so can legal firms. Businesses belong to trade organizations. Nations can expand their trade partnerships while excluding the US.
His dictator friends don’t oversee thriving economies. Not Orban or Putin. Certainly not his pen pal in North Korea. Definitely not his new friend the “cool dictator” (self-named) in El Salvador. But they are all personally wealthy with a mostly docile population.
That’s where he is headed. He’s told us with the talk of a 3rd term. His admiration of Xi being ‘president for life’. It is up to us to cut him off at the pass.
Not just Trump is an idiot. Why don't the RINO Republicans who are not MAGA (Make America Gullible Again) Impeaching and removing Trump and his allies on SCOTUS? This would not only be a critical step in saving US but the world from them coming Depression. This will be a Depression not a recession count on it. When every economy on the planet has been damaged it will not just last for 6 months. The last time in 1929 it took until WWII 1939-1945 to come out of the Depression. These RINOs wu=ill mostly be voted out by the angry PEOPLE in 2026 and 2028 so Trump's threats about prinarying them out are meaningless. Rither the don;t want to Impeach because they agree with him or they re too arrogant and spineless to deserve to be in government. Either way we WILL VOTE THEM OUT. SO GROW A SPINBE and DO WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE DURING HIS FIRST TERM.
This paragraph of yours, Steven, got me thinking that for quite awhile now our “beliefs” are being put to the test. Just how different my beliefs are from others isn’t necessarily a new phenomenon but these days has me rather perplexed. Especially in regard to the depth of intelligence of some of my fellow citizens, and, particularly those who chose paths of leadership. Namely those in Congress. Maybe it is a sign of my age, or maturity. There was a time when a person’s word meant something. Lying was not tolerated. NEVER! A punishment ensued otherwise. Now it seems so common to disinform, it has become a form of entertainment. As long as it pays off, and it does so for many, it will persist. I feel like a sideliner just waiting for those who validate and persist in being complicit in this farce that now has the governments of the world on edge, to somehow suffer for the choices they have made. Sadly, this is no consolation for me. I had imagined, and yes Believed, we were on the right path for all concerned. Bumpy at times, with foreseen perils to challenge our cooperation, this is expected. And, with a sense of solidarity, we would overcome. This detour we are on now has me feeling a cliff is in sight and we are not going to be able to stop in time to avoid. Someone’s got to put the breaks on NOW! I wish I had confidence in our Congress to act. I just don’t… For me now, Seeing is Believing.
Oh, and regarding “Mitch”. You’re right, Steven. Late, WAY TOO LATE!
This falls squarely on the GOP Congress. The utter abdication of their Article I responsibility continues with the fiction of calling the whole term "one day" for purposes of Congress being able to call off a POTUS proclaimed trade emergency. Well we're in an emergency now caused by these tariffs. Congress take back your control of tariffs and save the economy!
Having come of political age in the late 1960s -- 1968, the year I turned 17, was absolutely pivotal -- I have never felt proud to be an American. Those positive post-WW2 feelings had worn off, and many of my generation were born too late to absorb them. I have, however, often been proud of what Americans have been doing all along to make the country live up to its ideals by putting them into practice.
I've come to believe that the 34 felony indictments--and at least two convictions--sent Trump over the edge. His cowardly fear of being jailed drove him insane (or more insane.) It is what is fueling all of his revenge and retribution; he's just reaching into his grab bag of 10 years of grievance to see who to go after next. If We The People are successful in taking the House in 2026, and, fingers crossed, a majority in the Senate, we can impeach and convict him of high crimes and misdemeanors--and treason. Saturday's (April 5) demonstrations throughout the country give me hope that Americans of good will are finally mobilizing to fight the power. Our message to the regime: Look out you bastards; we're coming for you in 2026.
100%. But it’s even more sinister than that, as you probably know. He is waiting for corporations and countries to come to his feet and beg him for mercy. He will sell them that mercy for millions or billions of dollars in his meme coins. No matter what, Trump aims to get out wealthy And stay out of jail. They will figure out how to give him a third term and keep him out of jail and we have to prevent that. Yes to Mitch McConnell… “Too little too late.” I feel like asking Susan Collins if she still thinks he “learned his lesson.” They all could’ve impeached him in his first term and had two opportunities to do that and they wouldn’t. In this mix is the role of Reagan and the Fairness Doctrine and the growth of Fox News and subsequent far right stations. Trump is now in the process of taking over all formerly reliable investigative mainstream media. Getting truth to the people who need to hear it is our biggest obstacle.
When I was traveling in the 1970s, mostly in third world countries, but even in Europe, the advice was to go to the British Consulate for help rather than the US one. People everywhere, though, have been kind and helpful. I think they will be the same, but sorry for us having to live through what is essentially an economic coup.
“…the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack.
For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Sadly, we have both in one…
Growing up in Europe, there was always a sense that the average American was naive and simplistic, but with a strong sense of right and wrong, which would prevail in the end, a myth perpetuated by Hollywood (at least the last part of it!) A large part of the population seems to have lost that moral compass, for many reasons that we are still trying to elucidate. Other myths (which were also foundational) have taken over: Individualism and the survival of the fittest at all costs, disdain for the "weak", idealization of the "self made man", accumulation of wealth as the purpose of work. Social media has killed the need for community, creating an artificial one where the difficulties of real relationships can be skirted. Subtleties and complexities are gone. So here we are....
This native-born USian agrees with "naive and simplistic" but is skeptical about that "strong sense of right and wrong." Some of us have exhibited and acted on it over the decades and centuries: the abolitionists, the suffragists, the labor activists and more. But all along they have been opposed by others, notably white people whose sense of right and wrong applied only to members of their own group.
The foundational myths you identify are key, and so is the fact that they've been serving economic interests all along. And now indeed here we are: with those others currently in control of both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court, and the White House.
You are absolutely correct about the self serving and discriminatory side that has always existed, of course. But I am suggesting this is not the one popularized outside of the US--to truly understand the complex history requires careful study and a deeper look outside of what is widely disseminated and available, as well as motivation to do so. The world drank the Cool Aid--it felt good and hopeful. I am embarrassed to admit it took me years to wake up to the uglier side of the USA--I felt it had been left behind and overcome. Talk about naive....
that’s a great paragraph that absolutely nails the American 20th century and how it turned into this un-American 21st century. Cheers to you.
Thank you, Robbie. I wish I could also provide recommendations, not just descriptions...
Don’t I know it. We’ve been flooded — as an electorate — with recommendations for the past 10 years. We’ve seen Trump fail at everything. We are idiotic, or maybe just naive and simplistic, as you said. And the smartphone age, in which a screen in every self-absorbed palm has eliminated our shared reality, has negated our once strong sense of right and wrong.
There is another aspect of the issue on which I commented elsewhere (JVL' substack--I am on a reading/writing streak this morning.... not working!) and I am interested in your feedback. Here it is:
Even though I agree with all that you stated, your anger obscures what I think is another fundamental issue we need to address: A majority of Americans feel profoundly helpless and neglected, at all levels of society. They wish for a protector, someone who will "fix it" and that emotional need is so intense that it negates any rational thought. All of Trump's obvious contradictions do not matter to them. They just wish they could bully everyone into submission, which is what he has succeeded in doing. Take a wrecking ball and destroy everything that they feel helpless to combat. On their behalf. These are the people we need to understand and help to get out of our present situation. They are not wrong. They are left behind.
You're on the right track, Françoise, but you're missing an important piece: that "majority of Americans" you refer to is overwhelmingly white. People of color have been treated poorly and neglected for centuries, but the overwhelming majority of them are not supporting Trump, MAGA, and the current Republican Party. "Make America Great Again" = "Make America White Again."
I know. I am also simplifying. I am a (recently) avid student of the Civil Rights movement, and a horrified one at that. Never too late. I feel that the Civil Rights leaders showed us the path out of this current tragedy. Cory Booker is a shining example of it.
To some extent I agree. However, systemic poverty (lack of funding of public schools, healthcare regulation and fair pricing, housing inequalities and inability to access government services (like IDs, voting rights)) has for years been "fixed" with bandaids like Medicaid and Social Security to keep people safe. I think that the defunding of essential government services is a real culprit in our lives, Trump has accelerated the damage.
Absolutely. Income inequality and absence of support for underserved populations have been shown to open the door for authoritarianism on both sides (left and right.) The work of Dr. Bandy Lee, a psychiatrist who got fired from Yale for speaking about Trump and his dangers as early as 2015 has emphasized this important factor.
Great post. I am happy that my father, uncles and father in law aren’t alive to witness this. They fought in WWII to defeat Nazis. They would be shocked to see what is happening today.
Heck, I am still stunned. How is it that the party of Abraham Lincoln came to embrace a narcissistic authoritarian? It’s now the party tearing down our democracy. The party destroying the right to vote. The party vilifying minorities, immigrants, the weak and anyone who is not like them. The party happily watching the end of Pax Americana and the destruction of alliances that kept us safe for 80 years. I am 78 and never imagined this could happen here.
Maybe I am naive, but I believe we have the power to end the madness. We must resist in every peaceful way possible. My wife, also no youngster, and I are going to Washington today to participate in the Hands Off protest. We are boycotting the tech bros. We regularly protest locally.
These are small steps. As the pain caused by Trump’s arrogance and stupidity increases more people will join the resistance. Eventually we will take back our country. The damage won’t be undone in my lifetime. I will be satisfied to see this administration and its enablers evicted.
From your keyboard to G*d’s screen, Buzz
He thinks tariffs are a negotiating tool, that somehow he holds the cards to the world. He’s trying to starve out through tariffs other countries products so somehow American companies will benefit. He doesn’t understand the symbiotic relationship American companies have with other countries. The fact that everyday people will suffer as a result of these tariffs causing the cost of everything to go up is irrelevant to him. This isn’t about American exceptionalism, it’s isolationism.
I think Trump understands completely. An impoverished country is easier to control. The rest of the world, rendered hostile through the Trumpian rhetoric, is a convenient scapegoat. He has reached a point (as I see things) where the approval of the American public is irrelevant.
That may be the result, but I think he’s a Hitler copycat unleashed who really doesn’t understand anything and has no conception of public service. never has. what a strange electorate we are.
Hitler understood how to build on his failed coup; take a small amount of power and leverage it; how to change public opinion and silence the opposition.
He studied hitler and has a book of his speeches given to him by a friend, Marty Davis. His first wife said he kept it on his nightstand.
He also studied Nixon and Watergate. He has said Nixon should have destroyed the tapes. They became pen pals and on some occasions he flew Nixon to on his plane. Their letters are in the Nixon library.
In other words, he seeks out what he wants to know & those who can do it for him.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he is shorting the market. He’s making money as the markets crash and we suffer.
I’m not sure he cares. Tariffs are power. He uses them and federal $$ to weaken anyone with power. All his dictator friends have weak economies — with the possible exception of China. (If we consider him a friend of Xi.) All those dictators are quite wealthy. Orban is “officially” poor but his family has become very rich.
Not to mention stupidity.
Here's one of many things that has changed. It used to be that negotiations produced agreements. Now, from 47 and Co., we get "deals." There's no negotiation. You either "take the deal" offered by 47 or you get your feet encased in cement and then dumped in the ocean. At last he gets to behave, as well as talk, like the mob bosses he emulates. If the catatonic U.S. House doesn't wake up and do their forking job....it's going to get even worse......I just hope all the people protesting tomorrow have a kumbaya vibe so 47 doesn't call out the military.
When the House passed the CR it put a provision in it that the House would not take up tariffs for the rest of their calendar year. (There was a push to make it for both yrs of this Congress but it didn’t have enough support.)
That is why what the Senate passes on tariffs will not get a vote in the House. As long as Speaker Johnson and the House GOP refuse to change that provision or until it expires, those bills are dead in the House. They will not take up the resolution removing tariffs on Canada; Grassley’s bill to take back the power from the president or the similar bill in the House (with no co-sponsors).
What the actions of the Senate initially pushed by Kaine are doing is putting legislators on record. For the GOP, Rand Paul, Grassley, and perhaps some others, it is CYA. For all of them it is attempt to keep the GOP and their states from dying on the operating table of self-appointed Dr. Orange Menace.
Thank you, Steven. Yes, it's disgraceful that our authorities have failed us by permitting a madman to hold sway over this nation and the world. We, the People, have to seize power to rid us of this insanity. We have to generate massive civil disobedience and then keep building the momentum until this regime falls. Each and every one of us bears the responsibility of participating.
Let's see what the turnout for the protests tomorrow will be across the nation.
You know what really pisses me off? All the pundits trying to figure out what the hell Trump is doing and why, when it is so simple: everywhere you look he is breaking things -- he LOVES breaking things, and he gets off on hurting people. The more people he can hurt, the more he enjoys it. Because the media, pundits, talking heads, and politicos up and down the ranks of both parties have failed to comprehend his psychopathology, he now has the power to destroy wide swaths of the world economy. He's going to thoroughly enjoy world leaders and business moguls begging him for exceptions to tariffs, and paying him handsomely for those exceptions. And then he'll hurt them -- and us -- some more because once you submit to the malignantly narcissistic psychopath, he never stops enjoying finding new ways to torment you. If you study his face (ugh) these last few days, you can see how much fun he is having. To all those people who said he'd never actually do what he said he was going to do: f*ck you.
Is there an authoritarian that hasn’t used the economy to control the populace? Who cares about the damage in their wake? Who isn’t personally wealthy & growing their personal wealth at the expense of others?
(Asking for a friend 😉)
"The Senate on Wednesday approved a measure that would block some of the tariffs President Trump has imposed on Canada, with a handful of Republicans joining Democrats to pass a resolution that would halt levies set to take effect this week" (NY Times).
My Senator, Tim Kaine, sponsored this effort and I was so excited, but naive, to think that this meant a reprieve from the craziness of what Trump was doing to Canada.
I soon learned that Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, did not plan to put this item on the floor for a vote. That's a lot of power for one man to have--preventing consideration of something so important. Am I missing something?
It’s true Speakers determine what comes to the floor. There is one specific thing not normal about this. The CR to keep the government open had an extra provision about House rules & voting on the tariffs. Probably another reason the GOP House leaders told its members to stop the town halls.
“GOP leadership slipped language into a House rule on their stopgap funding bill that would prevent any member of Congress from bringing up a resolution terminating Trump’s declaration of a national emergency over fentanyl and undocumented immigrants entering the U.S. The president has used that emergency declaration to justify his tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.”
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/03/11/congress/house-republicans-move-to-block-vote-on-trumps-tariffs-00223947
Senator Kaine voted AYE 8 times for Trump's Cabinet misfits: Rubio (State), Ratcliffe (CIA), Kristi Noam (Homeland Security), Bessent (Treasury). Collins (VA), Burgum (Interior) and Chavez-DeRemer(Labor), Duffy (Transportation). Kaine likes to be interviewed on TV as fighting against Trump, but when voting - he votes TRUMP
What you may be missing is that Speakers have always had this power, and when they're backed by their own caucus, there's very little that can be done about it.
Yes, but just in case the membership got carried away they did something sneakier.
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/03/11/congress/house-republicans-move-to-block-vote-on-trumps-tariffs-00223947
Collective power. That is the way forward. Universities can band together & so can legal firms. Businesses belong to trade organizations. Nations can expand their trade partnerships while excluding the US.
His dictator friends don’t oversee thriving economies. Not Orban or Putin. Certainly not his pen pal in North Korea. Definitely not his new friend the “cool dictator” (self-named) in El Salvador. But they are all personally wealthy with a mostly docile population.
That’s where he is headed. He’s told us with the talk of a 3rd term. His admiration of Xi being ‘president for life’. It is up to us to cut him off at the pass.
Not just Trump is an idiot. Why don't the RINO Republicans who are not MAGA (Make America Gullible Again) Impeaching and removing Trump and his allies on SCOTUS? This would not only be a critical step in saving US but the world from them coming Depression. This will be a Depression not a recession count on it. When every economy on the planet has been damaged it will not just last for 6 months. The last time in 1929 it took until WWII 1939-1945 to come out of the Depression. These RINOs wu=ill mostly be voted out by the angry PEOPLE in 2026 and 2028 so Trump's threats about prinarying them out are meaningless. Rither the don;t want to Impeach because they agree with him or they re too arrogant and spineless to deserve to be in government. Either way we WILL VOTE THEM OUT. SO GROW A SPINBE and DO WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE DURING HIS FIRST TERM.
“It has been a long-held belief…”
This paragraph of yours, Steven, got me thinking that for quite awhile now our “beliefs” are being put to the test. Just how different my beliefs are from others isn’t necessarily a new phenomenon but these days has me rather perplexed. Especially in regard to the depth of intelligence of some of my fellow citizens, and, particularly those who chose paths of leadership. Namely those in Congress. Maybe it is a sign of my age, or maturity. There was a time when a person’s word meant something. Lying was not tolerated. NEVER! A punishment ensued otherwise. Now it seems so common to disinform, it has become a form of entertainment. As long as it pays off, and it does so for many, it will persist. I feel like a sideliner just waiting for those who validate and persist in being complicit in this farce that now has the governments of the world on edge, to somehow suffer for the choices they have made. Sadly, this is no consolation for me. I had imagined, and yes Believed, we were on the right path for all concerned. Bumpy at times, with foreseen perils to challenge our cooperation, this is expected. And, with a sense of solidarity, we would overcome. This detour we are on now has me feeling a cliff is in sight and we are not going to be able to stop in time to avoid. Someone’s got to put the breaks on NOW! I wish I had confidence in our Congress to act. I just don’t… For me now, Seeing is Believing.
Oh, and regarding “Mitch”. You’re right, Steven. Late, WAY TOO LATE!
This falls squarely on the GOP Congress. The utter abdication of their Article I responsibility continues with the fiction of calling the whole term "one day" for purposes of Congress being able to call off a POTUS proclaimed trade emergency. Well we're in an emergency now caused by these tariffs. Congress take back your control of tariffs and save the economy!
Having come of political age in the late 1960s -- 1968, the year I turned 17, was absolutely pivotal -- I have never felt proud to be an American. Those positive post-WW2 feelings had worn off, and many of my generation were born too late to absorb them. I have, however, often been proud of what Americans have been doing all along to make the country live up to its ideals by putting them into practice.
I've come to believe that the 34 felony indictments--and at least two convictions--sent Trump over the edge. His cowardly fear of being jailed drove him insane (or more insane.) It is what is fueling all of his revenge and retribution; he's just reaching into his grab bag of 10 years of grievance to see who to go after next. If We The People are successful in taking the House in 2026, and, fingers crossed, a majority in the Senate, we can impeach and convict him of high crimes and misdemeanors--and treason. Saturday's (April 5) demonstrations throughout the country give me hope that Americans of good will are finally mobilizing to fight the power. Our message to the regime: Look out you bastards; we're coming for you in 2026.
100%. But it’s even more sinister than that, as you probably know. He is waiting for corporations and countries to come to his feet and beg him for mercy. He will sell them that mercy for millions or billions of dollars in his meme coins. No matter what, Trump aims to get out wealthy And stay out of jail. They will figure out how to give him a third term and keep him out of jail and we have to prevent that. Yes to Mitch McConnell… “Too little too late.” I feel like asking Susan Collins if she still thinks he “learned his lesson.” They all could’ve impeached him in his first term and had two opportunities to do that and they wouldn’t. In this mix is the role of Reagan and the Fairness Doctrine and the growth of Fox News and subsequent far right stations. Trump is now in the process of taking over all formerly reliable investigative mainstream media. Getting truth to the people who need to hear it is our biggest obstacle.
When I was traveling in the 1970s, mostly in third world countries, but even in Europe, the advice was to go to the British Consulate for help rather than the US one. People everywhere, though, have been kind and helpful. I think they will be the same, but sorry for us having to live through what is essentially an economic coup.