David Kurtz has it right in today’s Talking Points Memo morning newsletter: “Look, Donald Trump wouldn’t resort to the name-calling, the prickly attacks on judges and prosecutors, the self-defeating effort to appeal to his base even when it hurts him in court if – and I can’t emphasize this enough – he weren’t losing.
Nicely done Tom. I find it interesting that, of Today's Edition, Letters from an American, The Triad, The Bulwark, Politico Daily, The Morning Dispatch and TAFM, you're the only one who mentioned the post-conviction change in poll results. We definitely can't get overconfident, but, of all the reasons we've heard since Sunday not to panic, what you presented is the best.
This has to be your best column Tom. Times are bad, but you put the bad, which is real, into perspective---yes times are bad, but the bad actors are actively shooting at their feet and elsewhere :-) . Time to take the battle to them, get the word out, and act where action is needed. Thanks for the "pep talk"----time to turn the tide.... Give all the bad news, pontifications, really accurate and scary alerts, I needed this. Going to take some big swallows from this Fountain of Hope. Keep us going....
TC, you are the man. This post is a beautiful LA version of Henry V.'s St. Crispin's Day speech for the troops as we prepare to fight the Loser Trump and his fascist rabble . "He that shall live this day, and see old age, will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors, And say 'Tomorrow is Saint Crispian: Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars. And say 'These wounds I had on Crispins's day." The King's closing lines, "Give me liberty, or give me death," are words that I believe describe the mood of the majority of Americans as we rally to the fight against the domestic enemies in our midst. The love of Liberty is in our DNA and we won't stand for what Trump and his loser miscreants have in mind for us. It's a simple as that. And as brilliant as that. As Chris Hedges says, "I don't fight fascist because I think I can win. I fight fascists because they're fascists!"
I fear that the head rush Trump is getting from his downward spiral will result in him doing something so utterly despicable that many will pay the price for it. There's a reason there's an Adderall shortage for the kids who really need it; Trump's stockpiling it, infusing himself with it, and could blow at any time. Such an act may be so madness driven that he will turn on his own cultish supplicants in ways they can't deny.
Consider the sheer awfulness of him having to sell off Bedminster and remove his first wife's remains from the property where he had her placed in order to get a tax break. Consider that his past choices of advisors and inner circle characters have been traitors, by his own railings, and how he knows new choices will be no better because they will be more and more like him and therefore can't be trusted. Consider the landmines now lying between him and his progeny and wife whose checkout times are probably not as soon as his and have to live on somehow. The hubris of Lear and Macbeth pale in comparison to Trump's. He'll go out with a colossal bang rather than a whimper, and America's ears will ring from the concussion for decades. He wouldn't want it any other way, not even the Hitler way.
Well Tom, there you are again. Refering to you saying your career took off two years after retiring, I can't help but wish you had retired ten years earlier. You would have a prime time anchor slot on MSNBC by now.
I got myself tossed off Twitter quite deliberately. and, for some reason, I'm also banned from Instagram even though I never opened an account.
I get an actual rush of pleasure tevery time I see the notice that I will NEVER be welcome. and I can still read whatever it is tweets are now called in the of "X."
I had a nice community on Twitter and enjoyed them immensely, some not in the least political but no MAGAts, no where. I won’t try to go back after the monied moron took over. But the platform had such great possibilities. Potential wasted and deliberately destroyed. What money-corrupted brains can do.
Bravo, Tom! I yelled at my husband (sorry, JP!) on Sunday that the NYT was polling A YEAR OUT from the election. As you so rightly point out, anything (possibly everything) could happen between now and then. Polls have been wrong so many times before. Mark Twain could have summed this situation up very nicely with his "There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics!" Polls are, at their root, statistics.
Hitler, like most demagogues, was intellectually lazy. Personally brave, he volunteered for service in the Kaiser’s army in the Great War (unlike trump, who called those who served and were killed in combat losers), and was wounded in action, but was not promoted above the rank of Corporal because he wasn’t considered bright enough to become a commissioned officer. He could read an audience and perfected his oratorical skills, but his speeches were the usual diatribes and angry posturings that his audience found echoed their feelings, but there wasn’t much substance to them. Mostly hate and jingoism was what he peddled. When he got Germany into a war on two fronts, he meddled in military affairs and threw away what advantages the Germans had…he thought like a Corporal, not as a general. There was no great plan on how to fight the war, how to produce what weapons were needed, no production quotas or prioritizations, no War Planning Board, no central control of industry until Speer came along and by then it was too late, thankfully for the Allies. At the end as the Russian army closed in on the ruins of Berlin and the Third Reich, Hiltler at least did the world a favor and offed himself, something I doubt the squire of MaraLardo has the courage to do…
it is indeed. isn't the prevailing wisdom now that Hitler and Stalin, faced with the same information, had polar opposite responses to the invasion of Russia. Stalin (after he got out of the bed and decided to do something. he decided to trust his generals. Hitler, not just a madman but a madman on METH, decided his generals were cowardly fools and not to be taken seriously. it didn't go well for him.
Stalin listened to generals who were successful, who followed his orders. He and Hitler were both psycopathic madmen. Stalin got rid of lots of generals throughout the war.
Proof Positive that morons can be lethal. Hate and jingoism always lurking, waiting. Giant egos are always vulnerable to a pinprick or a giant explosion. And they always try to take as many with them as they can. Didn’t Hitler try to get others to finish Germany’s destruction on his orders? He surely would have been appalled at Germany’s rise thanks to the allies. Chump is likely the most cowardly bully to come our way, may he sputter and whimper when he senses defeat. But beware, can’t a dead viper strike one last blow…
To be fair, Biden faces an opponent besides the republican party: The political media, who hate his guts. First, he won't hold press conferences so that they can bounce up and down on camera. Second, he doesn't give them clickbait because he's too busy governing. Third, they are too lazy to do actual work.
But, as you remind us, we can win, and I truly believe this poll is screwed up beyond belief, designed to prove The Times right in its efforts to destroy Biden.
Agreed, but the problem is deeper. John Roberts was allegedly Dan Rather's heir apparent at CBS News. When that didn't work out, he went to Fux Noise, and he has often done reports that were, or tweeted, garbage. Yet I doubt that one person assigned to cover the White House has called him out or shunned him. They don't treat Peter Douchey like a pariah, either. When Obama wanted to ban someone at Fux Noise at one point, the White House Correspondents Association went ballistic. No. Only journalists should be allowed at the White House. Of course, that would eliminate all but ... I can't think of any.
When Dan was rising at CBS News, he and Roger Mudd became great rivals and enemies since they were seeking Cronkite's job when he retired. When Rather got it, Mudd went to NBC. When CBS forced out Rather--Leslie Moonves, that noted expert on male-female relations, had a lot to do with it, too--a reporter asked Mudd about it and he said that Dan had risked his life for that company and deserved better, and they had a quasi-reconciliation. But my point in saying it was, Dan did risk his life for that company. He was well paid for it, but he didn't have to do the work he did, and he should now be a gray eminence for CBS News instead of being a pariah at the network.
Wow, we must have the most valuable government in the history of mankind. Because the past eight years have been a bitch. Nothing easy since the wannabe tyrant came down the escalator. All this is true and I have no argument. However, I wonder if it is possible that chump can do as much damage as Adolf. His evil arse in charge of our nukes gives me nightmares. And it’s not just morons who buy his crap. There are smart people with an agenda who have signed on. And many are just hunky dory with his plans for revenge. Then there is the money. Adolf never had it so good. Sorry, I’m still cautious and living in Texas where chump adoration is preached from the pulpit. Personally, I’m praying for a Dorian Gray moment where his ugly, putrid evil is revealed to every MAGAt and any old rich dudes who are as vile as he is. A myocardial infraction would be most welcome. Barring that, it’s up to the sane among us.
This is a spine-stiffening piece, right when we need it. I know, we're all tired to our bones with the whole MAGA nightmare circus, but the real truth is that all of us who are paying attention are facing a tough slog and we've all got to pull up our drawers and get to it. Awareness means responsibility.
Wowser Tom! Just a dynamite
expose` on Trump and staying the course. Definitely a Chef's kiss 💋
Nicely done Tom. I find it interesting that, of Today's Edition, Letters from an American, The Triad, The Bulwark, Politico Daily, The Morning Dispatch and TAFM, you're the only one who mentioned the post-conviction change in poll results. We definitely can't get overconfident, but, of all the reasons we've heard since Sunday not to panic, what you presented is the best.
That's Tom.
This has to be your best column Tom. Times are bad, but you put the bad, which is real, into perspective---yes times are bad, but the bad actors are actively shooting at their feet and elsewhere :-) . Time to take the battle to them, get the word out, and act where action is needed. Thanks for the "pep talk"----time to turn the tide.... Give all the bad news, pontifications, really accurate and scary alerts, I needed this. Going to take some big swallows from this Fountain of Hope. Keep us going....
TC, you are the man. This post is a beautiful LA version of Henry V.'s St. Crispin's Day speech for the troops as we prepare to fight the Loser Trump and his fascist rabble . "He that shall live this day, and see old age, will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors, And say 'Tomorrow is Saint Crispian: Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars. And say 'These wounds I had on Crispins's day." The King's closing lines, "Give me liberty, or give me death," are words that I believe describe the mood of the majority of Americans as we rally to the fight against the domestic enemies in our midst. The love of Liberty is in our DNA and we won't stand for what Trump and his loser miscreants have in mind for us. It's a simple as that. And as brilliant as that. As Chris Hedges says, "I don't fight fascist because I think I can win. I fight fascists because they're fascists!"
Because they are fascists, the worst among us
Thank you Stewart Whisenat. A great follow on to Tom. Spirit. And add : “We shall overcome ....”
Yes!
This is the best fucking pep talk I’ve heard in a long time! Thank you Tom!!
And every word true.
I fear that the head rush Trump is getting from his downward spiral will result in him doing something so utterly despicable that many will pay the price for it. There's a reason there's an Adderall shortage for the kids who really need it; Trump's stockpiling it, infusing himself with it, and could blow at any time. Such an act may be so madness driven that he will turn on his own cultish supplicants in ways they can't deny.
Consider the sheer awfulness of him having to sell off Bedminster and remove his first wife's remains from the property where he had her placed in order to get a tax break. Consider that his past choices of advisors and inner circle characters have been traitors, by his own railings, and how he knows new choices will be no better because they will be more and more like him and therefore can't be trusted. Consider the landmines now lying between him and his progeny and wife whose checkout times are probably not as soon as his and have to live on somehow. The hubris of Lear and Macbeth pale in comparison to Trump's. He'll go out with a colossal bang rather than a whimper, and America's ears will ring from the concussion for decades. He wouldn't want it any other way, not even the Hitler way.
He will go nuclear if he can, but he will take many with him, Jim Jones style.
Invest in KoolAid?
Liked by me.
Well Tom, there you are again. Refering to you saying your career took off two years after retiring, I can't help but wish you had retired ten years earlier. You would have a prime time anchor slot on MSNBC by now.
He might have violated their community standards, sort of like what I did on FB and “X”. HA
I got myself tossed off Twitter quite deliberately. and, for some reason, I'm also banned from Instagram even though I never opened an account.
I get an actual rush of pleasure tevery time I see the notice that I will NEVER be welcome. and I can still read whatever it is tweets are now called in the of "X."
I had a nice community on Twitter and enjoyed them immensely, some not in the least political but no MAGAts, no where. I won’t try to go back after the monied moron took over. But the platform had such great possibilities. Potential wasted and deliberately destroyed. What money-corrupted brains can do.
Musk is living proof there is no connection between the brain and the bank account.
A brain is a terrible thing to waste. And a bank account that most likely belongs in our treasury, or at least the percentage that I pay in taxes.
Their community standards must be pretty slack. They only offer the truth.....
Neither liked any criticism of chump. I only alluded to the use of propaganda, Goebbels style. Well, more than once, but a bridge too far.
Doesn’t mean it wasn’t the truth. ✊🏻👊🏻
Their Goebbels-style propaganda started way before chump
Bravo, Tom! I yelled at my husband (sorry, JP!) on Sunday that the NYT was polling A YEAR OUT from the election. As you so rightly point out, anything (possibly everything) could happen between now and then. Polls have been wrong so many times before. Mark Twain could have summed this situation up very nicely with his "There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics!" Polls are, at their root, statistics.
This gets a ❤️ today! We've got work to do to get out the Democratic vote, but we can get it done!!
Hitler, like most demagogues, was intellectually lazy. Personally brave, he volunteered for service in the Kaiser’s army in the Great War (unlike trump, who called those who served and were killed in combat losers), and was wounded in action, but was not promoted above the rank of Corporal because he wasn’t considered bright enough to become a commissioned officer. He could read an audience and perfected his oratorical skills, but his speeches were the usual diatribes and angry posturings that his audience found echoed their feelings, but there wasn’t much substance to them. Mostly hate and jingoism was what he peddled. When he got Germany into a war on two fronts, he meddled in military affairs and threw away what advantages the Germans had…he thought like a Corporal, not as a general. There was no great plan on how to fight the war, how to produce what weapons were needed, no production quotas or prioritizations, no War Planning Board, no central control of industry until Speer came along and by then it was too late, thankfully for the Allies. At the end as the Russian army closed in on the ruins of Berlin and the Third Reich, Hiltler at least did the world a favor and offed himself, something I doubt the squire of MaraLardo has the courage to do…
Excellent assessment.
it is indeed. isn't the prevailing wisdom now that Hitler and Stalin, faced with the same information, had polar opposite responses to the invasion of Russia. Stalin (after he got out of the bed and decided to do something. he decided to trust his generals. Hitler, not just a madman but a madman on METH, decided his generals were cowardly fools and not to be taken seriously. it didn't go well for him.
Stalin listened to generals who were successful, who followed his orders. He and Hitler were both psycopathic madmen. Stalin got rid of lots of generals throughout the war.
Proof Positive that morons can be lethal. Hate and jingoism always lurking, waiting. Giant egos are always vulnerable to a pinprick or a giant explosion. And they always try to take as many with them as they can. Didn’t Hitler try to get others to finish Germany’s destruction on his orders? He surely would have been appalled at Germany’s rise thanks to the allies. Chump is likely the most cowardly bully to come our way, may he sputter and whimper when he senses defeat. But beware, can’t a dead viper strike one last blow…
To be fair, Biden faces an opponent besides the republican party: The political media, who hate his guts. First, he won't hold press conferences so that they can bounce up and down on camera. Second, he doesn't give them clickbait because he's too busy governing. Third, they are too lazy to do actual work.
But, as you remind us, we can win, and I truly believe this poll is screwed up beyond belief, designed to prove The Times right in its efforts to destroy Biden.
The most depressing day in the last eight years, when I realized that our MSM was following Rupert.
Agreed, but the problem is deeper. John Roberts was allegedly Dan Rather's heir apparent at CBS News. When that didn't work out, he went to Fux Noise, and he has often done reports that were, or tweeted, garbage. Yet I doubt that one person assigned to cover the White House has called him out or shunned him. They don't treat Peter Douchey like a pariah, either. When Obama wanted to ban someone at Fux Noise at one point, the White House Correspondents Association went ballistic. No. Only journalists should be allowed at the White House. Of course, that would eliminate all but ... I can't think of any.
I loved John Roberts at CBS. His Foxification really stumped me. Yes, journalistic reputations have taken a deserved hit since Rupert
Agreed. And I think he's one of those with no moral compass. I mean, I can't imagine Walter Cronkite agreeing to work for Rupert if he was starving.
Nor can I. Karl Rove did his best to destroy Dan Rather, but still he rose.
When Dan was rising at CBS News, he and Roger Mudd became great rivals and enemies since they were seeking Cronkite's job when he retired. When Rather got it, Mudd went to NBC. When CBS forced out Rather--Leslie Moonves, that noted expert on male-female relations, had a lot to do with it, too--a reporter asked Mudd about it and he said that Dan had risked his life for that company and deserved better, and they had a quasi-reconciliation. But my point in saying it was, Dan did risk his life for that company. He was well paid for it, but he didn't have to do the work he did, and he should now be a gray eminence for CBS News instead of being a pariah at the network.
“Nothing of value ever comes easily. That’s why it has value!” ❤️ Thanks Tom!
Thank you Tom - we all need some perspective - especially right now.
Tom, you really know how to lay it out there! Your best take yet. 👍🏻
Wow, we must have the most valuable government in the history of mankind. Because the past eight years have been a bitch. Nothing easy since the wannabe tyrant came down the escalator. All this is true and I have no argument. However, I wonder if it is possible that chump can do as much damage as Adolf. His evil arse in charge of our nukes gives me nightmares. And it’s not just morons who buy his crap. There are smart people with an agenda who have signed on. And many are just hunky dory with his plans for revenge. Then there is the money. Adolf never had it so good. Sorry, I’m still cautious and living in Texas where chump adoration is preached from the pulpit. Personally, I’m praying for a Dorian Gray moment where his ugly, putrid evil is revealed to every MAGAt and any old rich dudes who are as vile as he is. A myocardial infraction would be most welcome. Barring that, it’s up to the sane among us.
This is a spine-stiffening piece, right when we need it. I know, we're all tired to our bones with the whole MAGA nightmare circus, but the real truth is that all of us who are paying attention are facing a tough slog and we've all got to pull up our drawers and get to it. Awareness means responsibility.
Drawers up, and woke