There’ a recent Wall Street Journal poll of 1,500 registered voters that now has all the easily-terrified terrified. In the wake of its release there have been many attempts to dismiss it as a clever piece of ratfucking. Yes, it’s true - one of the firms that did the poll is on Trump’s payroll. But another participating firm has long worked with Democrats, including John Fetterman and Sherrod Brown. It’s not that lousy CNN poll.
Joe Biden needs a new speech writer, a guy named Tom Cleaver. Man, this a killer, clarion call to the barricades if ever there was one, a beautiful jolt of righteous reality that the delirious patient Democracy badly needed.
The great H.L Mencken, the journalist who described himself as "absolutely devoid of what is called religious feeling," once said "Faith maybe defined as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable." What could be more implausible than the idea that Trump could have a vision of anything acceptable to the average American. But as you make the case in this piece, Americans are suckers for demagogues because their perceptions are whacked. That's how Trump got elected. The fantasy that a lying fascist pig like Trump "has a vision for the future," a delusion that 51% of Americans illogically believe, despite the Tangerine Turd's actual record, is proof of Mencken's point that "nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." Trump, for example, has made millions in donations as evidence that he fits Mencken's description of the demagogue-- "one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots."
In short, all the suffering that has ensued in the wake of the 2016 election is the consequence of voters whose minds are out of alignment with reality and locked into an almost "religious" obsession with the toxic gas passing from the fat ass of a windbag elevated to the status of a God by a degenerate political party that has gone totally fascist. In Delaware, where I live, not far from Trump's sparring partner, the territory below the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and especially the southernmost county of the state, is now known as Trump Country. Down there, to borrow Bob Dylan's line, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." It blows hard and it blows RIGHT, right across the green sky and over the blue grass with a rude vengeance and up the sorry asses of the Delamorons, who like the folks you describe in LA talk "about things that Do Not Exist In Reality."
These are the people who in the polls believe Trump "has a vision for the future." Perhaps because of some major fault in our educational system, these saps have mistaken the word "vision" for "agenda," specifically in Trump's case, one that doesn't include the words "democracy," or "equality," or "ecology," or any other word that corresponds to what's pertinent to the crisis we face today. Trump doesn't even care about America, the Constitution and definitely not the welfare of the dopes who send him millions of dollars to fund his narcissistic insanity. All Trump cares about is himself. Even the rest of America's fascist billionaire class will admit that. The question now is, will Joe jump into the ring and mobilize what Sheldon Wolin called the party of "inauthentic opposition," and "hammer the traitors to America they are? Repeatedly?"
As Trump infamously says, "We'll have to wait and see." But here's hoping, and although H.L. would disapprove, praying. This is Joe Biden's Harry Truman-FDR-Abraham Lincoln-save Democracy moment, and he's gonna need all the help he can get. "Give 'em Hell," Joe!
it's also good to mention that, in fact, TFF NEVER got anything like 51% of the votes cast in 2016. he didn't even get a majority. with the Electoral College STILL embracing the winner-take-all bullshit that still prevails in almost every state, we're dealing with...what is it it? six states? eight states?
the "vision for the future" thing I see and hear a lot. but talking about Biden's physical performance being in any way worse than TFF's is pretty fucking, uhhh.....risible.
and I LOVE seeing Sheldon Wolin's name. anywhere. why don't more people know it?
Thank you for saying all this. Hope somebody is paying attention. Propaganda has worked its magic, not only on the citizens (MAGAts and otherwise), but on institutions that I would have thought paid attention to the chump destruction derby which spared NO ONE. Save the wealthy and the powerful. Now propaganda spews, not only from Rupert’s filthy orifices, but from other media outlets, social media (currently a cesspool), religious institutions (some of the most egregious offenders), and the power oligarchs. They have turned well-meaning dolts into admirers of a golden calf. History has taught us cruel lessons, have we learned? Tell the truth Dems, they will think it’s hell. Do it by whatever means, no one else will save you…
Where to “get this out”? These morons only listen to Fox. My state (IN) is a catastrophe of NO information. I live in a mid sized purple city. Once it was blue. We have a R super majority in the state house. So some company came to the state and wanted to set up shop. The state house decided this should happen 40 miles down the interstate from us. But, there’s a problem. This company needs 100m gallons of water per day to operate. They don’t have that there. The state says, we can fix that. We’ll just pipe it down from the county 40 miles north... yup, my county. All of this happened in a vacuum. None of us had any information. No citizen input. Now they’re blaming our Democratic mayor. He won’t win reelection. I’m really tired of this 💩.
Exactly the right prescription. We all need to push hard and be vocal, but Biden especially. He has to call out foolishness and stupidity. He has to be assertive. Truman is the model. It’s the only way he can push his message through the morons who man the main stream media.
He must talk to the nation like a stern but loving father, scolding us for failing to appreciate what he's done--especially the correctives to Trump's idiot policies--and then highlighting how he's built a foundation for the middle class that Trump has promised to destroy. He needs to tap into whatever residual anger our general apathy permits. He's the candidate of building, and his presumed opponent is the candidate of destruction--by his own statements. Some nice videos of farmers in their fields and home builders on the left with buildings collapsing on the right. Stark contrast.
Here’s one way to remind the Morons: When they complain about the economy, ask them, “DID YOU TAKE THE MONEY?” All that covid-related relief money had to be paid out to keep everything afloat when tRump’s botched agenda resulted in an unrestrained epidemic with a million deaths in the USA alone. DID THEY TAKE THE MONEY? And if they did, did they spend it on electronics and frivolous stuff when they needed to apply it to debts and housing? The nay-sayers of the Repugs TOOK THE MONEY, and they didn’t use it for its intended purposes.
Also, Biden and all his supporters need to create messaging that teaches people that Biden cannot do everything on his own; he needs Congress.
Many Obama voters switched to Trump because they had become disillusioned when Obama didn’t bring the “change” they were all wanting. They didn’t understand he had lost Congress after his first two years and could pass nothing more for the common folk.
Most Americans do not know the importance of Congress.
TC you need to copy edit your columns, or have a copy editor. I would have sent this to my national Rep, Whip Katherine Clark, but I can't send it with all the mistakes in it. If you fix it, I'll send it, with a note to her people that she knows me, and she ***might*** be able to get it to Biden's people. I'll also send it to Markey and Warren.
TC, you nailed this one. I do think that Biden is also facing a reality that many people are experiencing a decline in quality of life due to the housing crisis, which is impacted by a variety of factors. Any candidate would face this, but Trump appeals to his base by spouting imaginary promises that people latch onto. Those of us who are grounded in reality and not so susceptible to delusion have to live with a sobering view of increasing consequences of climate change which we feel generally at a loss to do anything about.
Great post. TC. I have faith the Biden team will eventually follow your advice 😉. Although as GarySanDiego said, we all need to push hard to call out the bull#$&* Truman is the model, although he didn’t have our mess media and Faux News showing repeated clips of Biden’s literal trip alongside RFK Jr doing repeated push-ups.
I do a lot of get out the vote stuff here in Fl(sigh). Rates of inflation, job numbers ++does not compute with many here as food/housing costs continue to rise.Yes, all those wealthy boomers moving to the “ freedom” state.
Biden campaign does have some good ads. Short for those attention spans!
I agree that Biden needs to do more. But I also know why the grass is blue for so many. They are looking at a single blade at a time.
I have a friend who is by no means dumb nor a trump supporter. He was recently complaining how "bad" the economy is. I basically said WTF? Turns out he is entirely focused on gas prices. His work requires a lot of car travel and gas is cutting into his earnings. But no way would that mean he would vote (if he could; he's not a citizen) for trump.
Certain of my expenses have increased drastically. My storage unit has doubled in the past few years. Several of my Subscribe and Save items went up 15% since last I ordered them--the past month to past few months. I'm retired and on the proverbial "fixed income." (I rarely drive anymore so gas prices are just a minor inconvenience. I fill the tank about once a month). I could piss and moan about the economy.
But in fact even my income is "fixed" only because my financial guy and I have agreed to try to keep the income at the same level to make sure I will hit 90 with money. In fact, I am lucky to have retirement investments that are more than keeping pace.
The surveys about the economy have to dig deeper to be meaningful. If someone says "the economy is bad" there need to be follow up questions included AND publicized. "Are you personally in a financial bind?" "Has your income increased in the last three years?" "What specifically is "bad" about the economy." "In comparison to the three pre-Covid years of trump, is your situation overall better or worse? Did the tax cuts actually help you personally?
Even in a robust economy there are people hurting. There always have been. But somehow we have to figure out whether the respondents to these polls are actually hurting and if so, most important, how does it affect their vote. Even if the major polls won't do this kind of deep dive, the Dems should certainly run their own--not to get possibly biased "good news" but to find out where the disgruntled people are actually coming from, point by point, so that those points can be addressed.
Good comment, Susan, I'm kind of in the same boat - SS,, altho having been retired for 20 years (since I was 65) my financial guy has much less to work with. I feel the same about the price of gas - dont usually drive more than once a week.
My daughter (single mother) works full time & is just barely scraping by - barely.
Yes, Biden has done a lot of good. But most is what he has to do to FIX what numnuts managed to ban, delete or screw up in his 4 years. Which is the same story every time a Democrat wins an election after the Repubs do their 4 years worth of damage!
As much as we liked the Obamas, the "When they go low, we go high" philosophy isn't going to work this time around. Show Americans the "truth" that tRump posts on his social media while in his toilet in the middle of the night. Show Americans the shit that spews out of the mouths of the "Fwee-dumb Kaw-cuss". Especially the likes of Marjorie Traitor Goon and Bitchy Barbie Boebert and Gym Jordan, etc, ad nauseum. Get right into the gutter with them and fight like hell, because, if not "we'll all hang separately".
Ah, your bimbo moment... sigh. The mind reels. Welcome to a excruciating Moment of udder, (snort), utter unreality. Apropos of a recent post asking about what content folks want to read, here are some more thoughts. You can never please all of the people all of the time but you have loads of great content that will appeal to a vast swath of Substack readers. $70 might be a bit steep for some folks but there other ways to shake a little moola from the pockets of recalcitrant readers. Have them leave you a tip.
I got these from a Jessica Craven post. Make it easy....Leave links to these.
Patreon
Venmo
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PayPal
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Become a paid subscriber
I will personally pledge to send you $1 extra for all Cat posts. That is a potential $52 extra a year... nothing to kitty hiss at.😻
Joe Biden needs a new speech writer, a guy named Tom Cleaver. Man, this a killer, clarion call to the barricades if ever there was one, a beautiful jolt of righteous reality that the delirious patient Democracy badly needed.
The great H.L Mencken, the journalist who described himself as "absolutely devoid of what is called religious feeling," once said "Faith maybe defined as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable." What could be more implausible than the idea that Trump could have a vision of anything acceptable to the average American. But as you make the case in this piece, Americans are suckers for demagogues because their perceptions are whacked. That's how Trump got elected. The fantasy that a lying fascist pig like Trump "has a vision for the future," a delusion that 51% of Americans illogically believe, despite the Tangerine Turd's actual record, is proof of Mencken's point that "nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." Trump, for example, has made millions in donations as evidence that he fits Mencken's description of the demagogue-- "one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots."
In short, all the suffering that has ensued in the wake of the 2016 election is the consequence of voters whose minds are out of alignment with reality and locked into an almost "religious" obsession with the toxic gas passing from the fat ass of a windbag elevated to the status of a God by a degenerate political party that has gone totally fascist. In Delaware, where I live, not far from Trump's sparring partner, the territory below the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and especially the southernmost county of the state, is now known as Trump Country. Down there, to borrow Bob Dylan's line, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." It blows hard and it blows RIGHT, right across the green sky and over the blue grass with a rude vengeance and up the sorry asses of the Delamorons, who like the folks you describe in LA talk "about things that Do Not Exist In Reality."
These are the people who in the polls believe Trump "has a vision for the future." Perhaps because of some major fault in our educational system, these saps have mistaken the word "vision" for "agenda," specifically in Trump's case, one that doesn't include the words "democracy," or "equality," or "ecology," or any other word that corresponds to what's pertinent to the crisis we face today. Trump doesn't even care about America, the Constitution and definitely not the welfare of the dopes who send him millions of dollars to fund his narcissistic insanity. All Trump cares about is himself. Even the rest of America's fascist billionaire class will admit that. The question now is, will Joe jump into the ring and mobilize what Sheldon Wolin called the party of "inauthentic opposition," and "hammer the traitors to America they are? Repeatedly?"
As Trump infamously says, "We'll have to wait and see." But here's hoping, and although H.L. would disapprove, praying. This is Joe Biden's Harry Truman-FDR-Abraham Lincoln-save Democracy moment, and he's gonna need all the help he can get. "Give 'em Hell," Joe!
Or maybe you (As Biden's new speech writer)!
I was about to say the same thing...
but why not BOTH?
it's also good to mention that, in fact, TFF NEVER got anything like 51% of the votes cast in 2016. he didn't even get a majority. with the Electoral College STILL embracing the winner-take-all bullshit that still prevails in almost every state, we're dealing with...what is it it? six states? eight states?
the "vision for the future" thing I see and hear a lot. but talking about Biden's physical performance being in any way worse than TFF's is pretty fucking, uhhh.....risible.
and I LOVE seeing Sheldon Wolin's name. anywhere. why don't more people know it?
Sadly, we seem to be at the point at which Jesse Jackson found himself during the Reagan years, when he ran for the Presidency.
At one point, he said that, "If I walked on water, the headlines the next day would read "Jesse Jackson Can't Swim".
Thank you for saying all this. Hope somebody is paying attention. Propaganda has worked its magic, not only on the citizens (MAGAts and otherwise), but on institutions that I would have thought paid attention to the chump destruction derby which spared NO ONE. Save the wealthy and the powerful. Now propaganda spews, not only from Rupert’s filthy orifices, but from other media outlets, social media (currently a cesspool), religious institutions (some of the most egregious offenders), and the power oligarchs. They have turned well-meaning dolts into admirers of a golden calf. History has taught us cruel lessons, have we learned? Tell the truth Dems, they will think it’s hell. Do it by whatever means, no one else will save you…
Where to “get this out”? These morons only listen to Fox. My state (IN) is a catastrophe of NO information. I live in a mid sized purple city. Once it was blue. We have a R super majority in the state house. So some company came to the state and wanted to set up shop. The state house decided this should happen 40 miles down the interstate from us. But, there’s a problem. This company needs 100m gallons of water per day to operate. They don’t have that there. The state says, we can fix that. We’ll just pipe it down from the county 40 miles north... yup, my county. All of this happened in a vacuum. None of us had any information. No citizen input. Now they’re blaming our Democratic mayor. He won’t win reelection. I’m really tired of this 💩.
Exactly the right prescription. We all need to push hard and be vocal, but Biden especially. He has to call out foolishness and stupidity. He has to be assertive. Truman is the model. It’s the only way he can push his message through the morons who man the main stream media.
He must talk to the nation like a stern but loving father, scolding us for failing to appreciate what he's done--especially the correctives to Trump's idiot policies--and then highlighting how he's built a foundation for the middle class that Trump has promised to destroy. He needs to tap into whatever residual anger our general apathy permits. He's the candidate of building, and his presumed opponent is the candidate of destruction--by his own statements. Some nice videos of farmers in their fields and home builders on the left with buildings collapsing on the right. Stark contrast.
Here’s one way to remind the Morons: When they complain about the economy, ask them, “DID YOU TAKE THE MONEY?” All that covid-related relief money had to be paid out to keep everything afloat when tRump’s botched agenda resulted in an unrestrained epidemic with a million deaths in the USA alone. DID THEY TAKE THE MONEY? And if they did, did they spend it on electronics and frivolous stuff when they needed to apply it to debts and housing? The nay-sayers of the Repugs TOOK THE MONEY, and they didn’t use it for its intended purposes.
Here, in Arkansas, Resort Cable is laying fiber optic
for broadband and TV, with Covid funds left over from Feds. They also reaped millions from the Fed Infrastructure Plan Biden
passed, for rural internet access. Of course, AT&T did
the same thing, but didn't lay
cable up here, Resort did last
week. The installation and
hookup fees are where they
make the $$$.
Also, Biden and all his supporters need to create messaging that teaches people that Biden cannot do everything on his own; he needs Congress.
Many Obama voters switched to Trump because they had become disillusioned when Obama didn’t bring the “change” they were all wanting. They didn’t understand he had lost Congress after his first two years and could pass nothing more for the common folk.
Most Americans do not know the importance of Congress.
TC you need to copy edit your columns, or have a copy editor. I would have sent this to my national Rep, Whip Katherine Clark, but I can't send it with all the mistakes in it. If you fix it, I'll send it, with a note to her people that she knows me, and she ***might*** be able to get it to Biden's people. I'll also send it to Markey and Warren.
copy edited
I'll get it off to my reps this afternoon.
TC, you nailed this one. I do think that Biden is also facing a reality that many people are experiencing a decline in quality of life due to the housing crisis, which is impacted by a variety of factors. Any candidate would face this, but Trump appeals to his base by spouting imaginary promises that people latch onto. Those of us who are grounded in reality and not so susceptible to delusion have to live with a sobering view of increasing consequences of climate change which we feel generally at a loss to do anything about.
Great post. TC. I have faith the Biden team will eventually follow your advice 😉. Although as GarySanDiego said, we all need to push hard to call out the bull#$&* Truman is the model, although he didn’t have our mess media and Faux News showing repeated clips of Biden’s literal trip alongside RFK Jr doing repeated push-ups.
I do a lot of get out the vote stuff here in Fl(sigh). Rates of inflation, job numbers ++does not compute with many here as food/housing costs continue to rise.Yes, all those wealthy boomers moving to the “ freedom” state.
Biden campaign does have some good ads. Short for those attention spans!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOiHWXK_vd8
I agree that Biden needs to do more. But I also know why the grass is blue for so many. They are looking at a single blade at a time.
I have a friend who is by no means dumb nor a trump supporter. He was recently complaining how "bad" the economy is. I basically said WTF? Turns out he is entirely focused on gas prices. His work requires a lot of car travel and gas is cutting into his earnings. But no way would that mean he would vote (if he could; he's not a citizen) for trump.
Certain of my expenses have increased drastically. My storage unit has doubled in the past few years. Several of my Subscribe and Save items went up 15% since last I ordered them--the past month to past few months. I'm retired and on the proverbial "fixed income." (I rarely drive anymore so gas prices are just a minor inconvenience. I fill the tank about once a month). I could piss and moan about the economy.
But in fact even my income is "fixed" only because my financial guy and I have agreed to try to keep the income at the same level to make sure I will hit 90 with money. In fact, I am lucky to have retirement investments that are more than keeping pace.
The surveys about the economy have to dig deeper to be meaningful. If someone says "the economy is bad" there need to be follow up questions included AND publicized. "Are you personally in a financial bind?" "Has your income increased in the last three years?" "What specifically is "bad" about the economy." "In comparison to the three pre-Covid years of trump, is your situation overall better or worse? Did the tax cuts actually help you personally?
Even in a robust economy there are people hurting. There always have been. But somehow we have to figure out whether the respondents to these polls are actually hurting and if so, most important, how does it affect their vote. Even if the major polls won't do this kind of deep dive, the Dems should certainly run their own--not to get possibly biased "good news" but to find out where the disgruntled people are actually coming from, point by point, so that those points can be addressed.
Good comment, Susan, I'm kind of in the same boat - SS,, altho having been retired for 20 years (since I was 65) my financial guy has much less to work with. I feel the same about the price of gas - dont usually drive more than once a week.
My daughter (single mother) works full time & is just barely scraping by - barely.
Yes, Biden has done a lot of good. But most is what he has to do to FIX what numnuts managed to ban, delete or screw up in his 4 years. Which is the same story every time a Democrat wins an election after the Repubs do their 4 years worth of damage!
Re-read this & have to add - started SS when I was 65 - retired at 75! small difference.
TC, you nailed it with this one. Keep up the fire.
This needs to go to Biden! Needs to go to his team, often!
Eventually isn't going to hack it. Dems need to start NOW!
Biden needs to start NOW!
Bully pit! NOW!
I couldn't agree with you more Tom.
As much as we liked the Obamas, the "When they go low, we go high" philosophy isn't going to work this time around. Show Americans the "truth" that tRump posts on his social media while in his toilet in the middle of the night. Show Americans the shit that spews out of the mouths of the "Fwee-dumb Kaw-cuss". Especially the likes of Marjorie Traitor Goon and Bitchy Barbie Boebert and Gym Jordan, etc, ad nauseum. Get right into the gutter with them and fight like hell, because, if not "we'll all hang separately".
Ah, your bimbo moment... sigh. The mind reels. Welcome to a excruciating Moment of udder, (snort), utter unreality. Apropos of a recent post asking about what content folks want to read, here are some more thoughts. You can never please all of the people all of the time but you have loads of great content that will appeal to a vast swath of Substack readers. $70 might be a bit steep for some folks but there other ways to shake a little moola from the pockets of recalcitrant readers. Have them leave you a tip.
I got these from a Jessica Craven post. Make it easy....Leave links to these.
Patreon
Venmo
Cash App
PayPal
Zelle
Become a paid subscriber
I will personally pledge to send you $1 extra for all Cat posts. That is a potential $52 extra a year... nothing to kitty hiss at.😻
I have a Paypal account under Thomas M. Cleaver. A "cat tip" is accepted! :-)
Fab, say hi to the Beav and Mrs Cleaver. 😻
Hiya, can’t find Thomas M. Cleaver. On PayPal... sigh... it says try mobil number or email. You can find me at Bermobabe@gmail.com. R 😻
Tips everywhere have become ubiquitous and irritating. I’ll stick with the $70