I had to read through this well designed drum beat of warnings twice as it is packed with information defining the status of the attack on our Democracy.
I still have hope in my soul.
Excerpt from Steven’s words:
“Despite this onslaught of gaslighting, aggression and attacks on facts, don’t assume we are powerless to respond. Beyond the growing body of lawsuits that slow the constitutional violations, we need to seek reliable independent sources of information and knowledge. I also believe the Democrats need to gather together the best communicators to speak to the public on a regular basis, to hold daily press conferences much like some governors did during the terrible uncertainty and fear caused by COVID and an untethered president.”
Good piece, but there's more to it than that. Our collective "untethering from factual reality" began before Trump was elected the first time. In fact, it almost certainly contributed to Trump's being elected the first time. The rise of social media, the dwindling of the "free press," and the fragmentation of the TV/cable-viewing audience have all contributed to what we're up against now.
In his excellent 2023 book THE END OF REALITY, Jonathan Taplin notes that many more USians get their "news" from social media, where fact-checking is nearly non-existent (because the platforms are not liable for the consequences of lies spread by their users), than from news outlets that at least pay lip service to facts and fact-checking. Taplin's subtitle is long but worth repeating: "How Four Billionaires are Selling a Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars, and Crypto."
USians are notorious for ignoring economic power. Now that it's bought or at least co-opted all three constitutional branches of government, we really need to start paying closer attention to it.
Let’s also be clear—these billionaires don’t care about the people they hurt … because they aren’t really people, they’re the disembodied hands that open the limo doors.
That is, at The Guardian , then Culture, then TV & Radio - basically its the opening monologues from Seth Meyers, Stephen Colber, and Jimmy Kimmel, etc.
Seth Meyers on Musk and his agency’s corruption: ‘It’s so transparent’
Late-night hosts discuss Elon Musk’s conflicts of interest as Trump’s head of the so-called ‘department of government efficiency’
Guardian staff
Thu 13 Feb 2025 10.22 EST
Late-night hosts talked Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s bizarre Oval Office press conference and their dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Seth Meyers
Though Trump promised throughout his campaign to lower grocery prices as president, to date, “we still don’t have a plan for lowering eggs prices,” said Seth Meyers on Wednesday night. “But we do have a plan for building hotels in Gaza.”
The Late Night host had a theory for why Trump remained so fixated on his “plan”, announced seemingly on a whim at a press conference, to expel Palestinians and build hotels: “It’s called the Gaza Strip, and the only other strip he knows is the Vegas Strip, so he thinks that can work there,” Meyers explained. “And if you think the people around him are going to say, ‘Actually, sir, it’s a different kind of strip,’ just remember that the people around him also suggest Red, White and Blueland” as an alternative name for Greenland.
“This is what Trump does,” Meyers continued. “We’ve seen it for years. It’s nothing new. He’s hoping voters will pay attention to his plans for Gaza and Greenland, and ignore what he’s doing to the rest of the government.”
Jimmy Kimmel on Trump: “He was on TV from morning until night. It’s like the Jerry Lewis telethon with this guy.”
Jimmy Kimmel on Trump’s TV ubiquity: ‘It’s like the Jerry Lewis telethon’
Read more
Such as disbanding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). After firing its employees, Musk tweeted “CFBP RIP” with a tombstone emoji. “First of all, don’t announce policy via emoji,” Meyers said. “Second, think about how corrupt this is: they’re eliminating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency that stops companies from ripping you off. It’s so transparent.” Meyers noted that Musk is in the process of turning X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter that he owns, into a peer-to-peer payment and financial services app, while also dismantling the agency that oversees payments and financial services.
At a press conference in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Musk defended his conflicts of interest, claiming transparency via posts to the Doge handle on X. Meyers didn’t buy it – “so to find out what our government is up to, we just have to wade through a sea of Nazis, trolls, ads for Cheech & Chong weed gummies and bots with women in bikinis offering to send us 1m units of something called Sex Coin as long as we send our social security and bank routing numbers.”
Thank you so much for spelling out the extent of the many threats posed by the current regime. We stand together and with you to counter the onslaught one stupid move at a time.
It would be nice to imagine certain Republicans “of conscience” are slyly hoisting Trump, Musk, et al. on their own petards … waiting for the inevitable technicolor downfall … but that’s three-dimensional chess, and MAGA plays Go Fish.
Republicans "of conscience"? bit of an oxymoron don't you think? I get what you're saying but I also think you're overestimating the average MAGA politician's thought process and ability to understand Go Fish.
These are the same people that chose Anna Luna to lead the Task Force on Declassification and Transparency. Her response was to express the desire to start off speaking to the dead members of the Warren Commission and the attending physicians that tried to save JFK(also most likely deceased)
True, there are only two of the Warren Commission staff left and I'm unsure if any of the Parkland Memorial physicians who attended JFK and/or Connoly are still with us.
Gerald Ford was the last member and he died in 2006, there are still some staff members surviving. Howard Willens served as staff attorney and liaison with the DOJ is still alive. All of the primary physicians are deceased as of 2019.
thank you. I believe your column and readers should share both historical and contemporary examples of American resilience against political deception:
*McCarthy's red scare crumbled when confronted by Edward R. Murrow and public outrage;
*Nixon's Watergate lies fell to determined journalists and whistleblowers; and
*Tobacco companies' decades of health deception collapsed under the combined pressure of science, litigation, and public health advocacy.
What to do about Lies: In Iowa this week, a state senator called out our governor for her comments based on a Michael Flynn tweet falsely accusing Lutheran Services of receiving federal aid and being involved in trafficking. The senator took action—addressing the issue on the Senate floor, releasing a press statement, and filing a bill to require Iowa to help refugees abandoned by Trump’s policies. This is also an example of fighting the false narrative that only criminal immigrants were affected by Trump’s orders.
I couldn't agree more, Steven: "(T)he Democrats need to gather together the best communicators to speak to the public on a regular basis, to hold daily press conferences much like some governors did during the terrible uncertainty and fear caused by COVID and an untethered president. "
This is exactly the role that the "shadow cabinet" - as advocated by Timothy Snyder - would fulfil. Let's push our Democratic leaders to nominate a shadow cabinet as rapidly as possible. To date, their responses have been fragmented and ineffective in countering the torrent of lies that the regime is issuing.
So the question is where are these brave Democrats who will lead the charge? All this horseshit is hitting the fan and no Democrat “leader” is calling for hearings on Trumphuk & Muskalini and their illegalities. Few are standing up in front of the assaulted agencies and declaiming the unconstitutional measures being taken to cut off their funding, remove their personnel and close their doors, and access our personal data. None that I know of are organizing demonstrations or rallies to REINSTATE OUR DEMOCRACY.
This is exactly why Timothy Snyder’s call for the Democratic leadership to form a shadow cabinet in order to respond factually and on an ongoing basis to the torrent of lies is so important.
For instance, the Muskrats claim that people in the Social Security system are 150 years old and benefits go out to them. I’m not a coder. However, I’ve worked with data systems and eons ago did data entry. So when I read a comment from someone who was familiar with COBOL and coding defaults I paid attention. Then I checked with someone familiar with early coding language and was able to verify it in online articles.
Defaults like this kick in if you enter data in a system and it is outside the parameters or if you leave a required field blank. Therefore a date with the year 1875 appears as the default and the person’s age becomes 150.
Heaven knows how old these entries are or how they were brought into the system.
Edit note: Does being in the system mean payments are generated to them? We only have Muskrats and their word for that.
It reminds me of Bondi saying DOJ was bringing ‘charges’ against NY and NYC officials. Nope, not charges - lawsuits naming those officials.
"Be Careful What You Wish For" is an old Chinese curse... Stopping funding of everything that keeps us healthy feed & able to care for our families are the people that also care/work for you oligarchs and will become ill, covered in sores that they hide, have infectious diseases you cannot see, but must go to work to do your cooking cleaning or work in your factories or offices. When diseases run rampant everything unravels... but you only wish for more money...my vision is very bleak today unfortunately
I’ll offer a curse attributed to the Chinese (which may or may not be true) that is fitting for our current circumstances: “May you live in interesting times.”
One of the greatest mysteries on Earth today is that someone with so many children would completely fail them by calling climate change a hoax. Both of these guys have kids, and one has grandkids. Astonishing how little they seem to care about their own progeny. (Unless they are planning to ship them all to Mars??)
I had to read through this well designed drum beat of warnings twice as it is packed with information defining the status of the attack on our Democracy.
I still have hope in my soul.
Excerpt from Steven’s words:
“Despite this onslaught of gaslighting, aggression and attacks on facts, don’t assume we are powerless to respond. Beyond the growing body of lawsuits that slow the constitutional violations, we need to seek reliable independent sources of information and knowledge. I also believe the Democrats need to gather together the best communicators to speak to the public on a regular basis, to hold daily press conferences much like some governors did during the terrible uncertainty and fear caused by COVID and an untethered president.”
I totally agree with you . And hope in my heart too. We shall get through this, we are the majority
And I highly doubt that 19 millions of democrats decided in 2024 to not go voting.
Good piece, but there's more to it than that. Our collective "untethering from factual reality" began before Trump was elected the first time. In fact, it almost certainly contributed to Trump's being elected the first time. The rise of social media, the dwindling of the "free press," and the fragmentation of the TV/cable-viewing audience have all contributed to what we're up against now.
In his excellent 2023 book THE END OF REALITY, Jonathan Taplin notes that many more USians get their "news" from social media, where fact-checking is nearly non-existent (because the platforms are not liable for the consequences of lies spread by their users), than from news outlets that at least pay lip service to facts and fact-checking. Taplin's subtitle is long but worth repeating: "How Four Billionaires are Selling a Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars, and Crypto."
USians are notorious for ignoring economic power. Now that it's bought or at least co-opted all three constitutional branches of government, we really need to start paying closer attention to it.
Agree. There’s always more to it.
Like! Also like your "USian" term.
I picked up "USian" from a Canadian editor friend over a dozen years ago and have been doing my best ever since to spread it around. <g>
Let’s also be clear—these billionaires don’t care about the people they hurt … because they aren’t really people, they’re the disembodied hands that open the limo doors.
Thank you for the positivity at the end of the brutal reality you write about… that’s what I’m left with, some hope
As this will be a long slog, talented comedians will be a valuable resource. Regularly available on video here:
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/feb/13/seth-meyers-elon-musk-doge-trump
That is, at The Guardian , then Culture, then TV & Radio - basically its the opening monologues from Seth Meyers, Stephen Colber, and Jimmy Kimmel, etc.
Seth Meyers on Musk and his agency’s corruption: ‘It’s so transparent’
Late-night hosts discuss Elon Musk’s conflicts of interest as Trump’s head of the so-called ‘department of government efficiency’
Guardian staff
Thu 13 Feb 2025 10.22 EST
Late-night hosts talked Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s bizarre Oval Office press conference and their dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Seth Meyers
Though Trump promised throughout his campaign to lower grocery prices as president, to date, “we still don’t have a plan for lowering eggs prices,” said Seth Meyers on Wednesday night. “But we do have a plan for building hotels in Gaza.”
The Late Night host had a theory for why Trump remained so fixated on his “plan”, announced seemingly on a whim at a press conference, to expel Palestinians and build hotels: “It’s called the Gaza Strip, and the only other strip he knows is the Vegas Strip, so he thinks that can work there,” Meyers explained. “And if you think the people around him are going to say, ‘Actually, sir, it’s a different kind of strip,’ just remember that the people around him also suggest Red, White and Blueland” as an alternative name for Greenland.
“This is what Trump does,” Meyers continued. “We’ve seen it for years. It’s nothing new. He’s hoping voters will pay attention to his plans for Gaza and Greenland, and ignore what he’s doing to the rest of the government.”
Jimmy Kimmel on Trump: “He was on TV from morning until night. It’s like the Jerry Lewis telethon with this guy.”
Jimmy Kimmel on Trump’s TV ubiquity: ‘It’s like the Jerry Lewis telethon’
Read more
Such as disbanding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). After firing its employees, Musk tweeted “CFBP RIP” with a tombstone emoji. “First of all, don’t announce policy via emoji,” Meyers said. “Second, think about how corrupt this is: they’re eliminating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency that stops companies from ripping you off. It’s so transparent.” Meyers noted that Musk is in the process of turning X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter that he owns, into a peer-to-peer payment and financial services app, while also dismantling the agency that oversees payments and financial services.
At a press conference in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Musk defended his conflicts of interest, claiming transparency via posts to the Doge handle on X. Meyers didn’t buy it – “so to find out what our government is up to, we just have to wade through a sea of Nazis, trolls, ads for Cheech & Chong weed gummies and bots with women in bikinis offering to send us 1m units of something called Sex Coin as long as we send our social security and bank routing numbers.”
Thank you so much for spelling out the extent of the many threats posed by the current regime. We stand together and with you to counter the onslaught one stupid move at a time.
Thanks Steven for reinforcing the daily TRUTH presser!
Thank you, Rachel.
Again they think that by erasing videos they are erasing history … just like those silly Nazis did, just like winning the war, so successfully.
It would be nice to imagine certain Republicans “of conscience” are slyly hoisting Trump, Musk, et al. on their own petards … waiting for the inevitable technicolor downfall … but that’s three-dimensional chess, and MAGA plays Go Fish.
Republicans "of conscience"? bit of an oxymoron don't you think? I get what you're saying but I also think you're overestimating the average MAGA politician's thought process and ability to understand Go Fish.
These are the same people that chose Anna Luna to lead the Task Force on Declassification and Transparency. Her response was to express the desire to start off speaking to the dead members of the Warren Commission and the attending physicians that tried to save JFK(also most likely deceased)
True, there are only two of the Warren Commission staff left and I'm unsure if any of the Parkland Memorial physicians who attended JFK and/or Connoly are still with us.
Gerald Ford was the last member and he died in 2006, there are still some staff members surviving. Howard Willens served as staff attorney and liaison with the DOJ is still alive. All of the primary physicians are deceased as of 2019.
thank you. I believe your column and readers should share both historical and contemporary examples of American resilience against political deception:
*McCarthy's red scare crumbled when confronted by Edward R. Murrow and public outrage;
*Nixon's Watergate lies fell to determined journalists and whistleblowers; and
*Tobacco companies' decades of health deception collapsed under the combined pressure of science, litigation, and public health advocacy.
What to do about Lies: In Iowa this week, a state senator called out our governor for her comments based on a Michael Flynn tweet falsely accusing Lutheran Services of receiving federal aid and being involved in trafficking. The senator took action—addressing the issue on the Senate floor, releasing a press statement, and filing a bill to require Iowa to help refugees abandoned by Trump’s policies. This is also an example of fighting the false narrative that only criminal immigrants were affected by Trump’s orders.
It’s a time for choosing, and acting. We need to choose more wisely, and strategically.
https://open.substack.com/pub/albellenchia/p/devolving?r=7wk5d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
I couldn't agree more, Steven: "(T)he Democrats need to gather together the best communicators to speak to the public on a regular basis, to hold daily press conferences much like some governors did during the terrible uncertainty and fear caused by COVID and an untethered president. "
This is exactly the role that the "shadow cabinet" - as advocated by Timothy Snyder - would fulfil. Let's push our Democratic leaders to nominate a shadow cabinet as rapidly as possible. To date, their responses have been fragmented and ineffective in countering the torrent of lies that the regime is issuing.
We have to shape the agenda moving forward.
So the question is where are these brave Democrats who will lead the charge? All this horseshit is hitting the fan and no Democrat “leader” is calling for hearings on Trumphuk & Muskalini and their illegalities. Few are standing up in front of the assaulted agencies and declaiming the unconstitutional measures being taken to cut off their funding, remove their personnel and close their doors, and access our personal data. None that I know of are organizing demonstrations or rallies to REINSTATE OUR DEMOCRACY.
This is exactly why Timothy Snyder’s call for the Democratic leadership to form a shadow cabinet in order to respond factually and on an ongoing basis to the torrent of lies is so important.
Truth is in the hands of those who have facts.
For instance, the Muskrats claim that people in the Social Security system are 150 years old and benefits go out to them. I’m not a coder. However, I’ve worked with data systems and eons ago did data entry. So when I read a comment from someone who was familiar with COBOL and coding defaults I paid attention. Then I checked with someone familiar with early coding language and was able to verify it in online articles.
Defaults like this kick in if you enter data in a system and it is outside the parameters or if you leave a required field blank. Therefore a date with the year 1875 appears as the default and the person’s age becomes 150.
Heaven knows how old these entries are or how they were brought into the system.
Edit note: Does being in the system mean payments are generated to them? We only have Muskrats and their word for that.
It reminds me of Bondi saying DOJ was bringing ‘charges’ against NY and NYC officials. Nope, not charges - lawsuits naming those officials.
https://www.gao.gov/blog/outdated-and-old-it-systems-slow-government-and-put-taxpayers-risk
"Be Careful What You Wish For" is an old Chinese curse... Stopping funding of everything that keeps us healthy feed & able to care for our families are the people that also care/work for you oligarchs and will become ill, covered in sores that they hide, have infectious diseases you cannot see, but must go to work to do your cooking cleaning or work in your factories or offices. When diseases run rampant everything unravels... but you only wish for more money...my vision is very bleak today unfortunately
Aesop's Fables.
I’ll offer a curse attributed to the Chinese (which may or may not be true) that is fitting for our current circumstances: “May you live in interesting times.”
“We Are in a Battle for the Truth” — no, that battle was lost during Trump 1.0.
One of the greatest mysteries on Earth today is that someone with so many children would completely fail them by calling climate change a hoax. Both of these guys have kids, and one has grandkids. Astonishing how little they seem to care about their own progeny. (Unless they are planning to ship them all to Mars??)