The Point of No Return has been passed. Last night on MSNBC, no less than Jon Meacham stated that he has “reluctantly concluded” that we are in a political state similar to that of the 1850s, in which one political party attempts to defend and protect the union and the other is set on its destruction.
me too, but I still expect that any losers on the other side will still be calling "foul.
and the really enraging thing is that the other side seems to be very good at the "long game." think abortion rights, gun rights, the government's regulatory functions....ALL of it. and now elections. all elections. everywhere.
So contemplating one of the multiple worst cases for a moment, suppose the MAGAts did manage to take over and establish their pro-guns anti-women anti-Semitic anti-democracy racist "christian" white nationalist one-depraved-party dictatorship? So coal is again king, all the money funnels up to the 1%, they axe Social Security and Medicare... and then most of the state of Florida floods out -> 20 million starving, desperate climate refugees start walking north. The mountain west and southwest are decimated by fire and drought, and the Gulf states are either under water or 120 - 130 degrees F with killer humidity, and the majority in those states was already desperate because they were all ekeing by on Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and farm subsidy money funded by the Blue states up north near the coasts. Another 100 million climate poverty refugees are marching north, by now probably by necessity pillaging the supplies of any rich Republicans in their path. They all arrive at State capitols, or DC, or Bedminster, they are beyond exhausted and desperate, they are supremely pissed, and millions of them are armed to the teeth. Do today's Depravity Sweepstakes winning Ultra MAGA "leaders" somehow imagine that there will be anywhere to hide from the wrath of this mob of millions? Do they think the wealthier states of the Blue North Coasts will not already have seceded, taking their superior tax coffers with them? Just one of dozens of thought experiment I have run that all lead to one inescapable fact: The MAGA Power Mob are 1. Idiots, 2. Too stupid to realize they are idiots, and 3. Would be unlikely to survive the conflagration they don't realize they are trying to create. Now I need to run an as-yet-un-thought-of thought experiment where even if the MAGAts do manage to prevail in this election, somehow the entire remaining decent population rises up, resists, rebels, and vanquishes them by 2024. Somebody, help me out here...
I think you describe the macro excellently, but what about the micro? The purple states, and even in the blue states there are hundreds of thousands of Republican voters and Orangetan45 supporters. Wouldn't there be outbursts of armed madness popping up in pockets all over the country? Sections of law enforcement and military would be prone to supporting the "2nd amendment militias" against their fellows defending civil government. It would be like a zombie Armageddon but worse, urban warfare with no way to tell who was friend or foe.
Yes, that's what Maher was referring to when he pointed to the Pelosi incident, which happened in very blue San Francisco with an attacker from even-more-blue Berkeley (we used to call it Berserkely when I lived there). A civil war in America now will look more like "The Troubles" in Ireland.
@Vague Craig, I’ve thought about that possibility, too. It’s a very scary line of thought. Most of our neighbors seem like very kind people, who would never take up arms against anyone. But a couple of the families have MAGA-adjacent signs or flags up. And one is someone whose temperament I would not want to have to rely on. So the potential of risk feels very close if the larger country went to the worst case. I aim to restrain my unfortunately vivid imagination—and I succeed less often than I wish.
In your scenario, millions of Americans will experience firsthand the desperation now experienced by so many from Central and South America who have been willing to walk and cadge rides, hazarding their own health and lives, for weeks, even months on end, in order to reach the United where they believe life will be better. Soon enough, if Republicans take control at the federal and many states levels, it won't be better.
Exactly. A MAGAt one-party dictatorship would rapidly become a deeply poor country run by armed gangs of criminal domestic terrorists. One of the things the Rs are too self-focused to realize is that the smart, educated “coastal elites” whom they abhor are the population that know how to successfully run a very large, very complex economy so well that even major disruptions like foreign wars and oil shocks have historically only rocked the boat with recessions and mostly civil disobedience. In the past, the reign of terror in the South against people of color was horrific, but even that did not bring the country down but eventually led to important, though insufficient reforms. Now the Republicans are enabling domestic terrorists and the they are deliberately doing it to break our democracy. So no, under MAGAt rule, life in America might not be any better than the poverty and violence in countries to our south whose people come here by the tens of thousands.
I think there are millions of us who be ready and maybe even thrilled to let there be two nations. I hate the idea. But I am also fed up, discouraged and disgusted. The Magats are etching their hate and bigotry in stone.
Maybe we really should break up. But one thing is for sure. The Blue States keep the military and the nukes. And our revenue and our superior education systems, etc. Let the Red States figure out how to live without our subsidies.
I know this is crazy talk. But I am so done with the idiots.
Here's an idea. Instead of secession. The US expells certain states as "failed democracies". We stop subsidizing them. They can go their own way. Silly fantasy, of course. But it would feel great to simply dump those states that are embracing fascism. I'm tired of arguing with angry arrogant fake Christians.
You and me both. But after a friend pointed out that problem with paying Social Security, which woke me to the intractable problem of administrative intertwinement, and after more than a few good friends pointed out they live in those "failed states," I have finally been dragged kicking and screaming to the truth that we are stuck with each other. My blood pressure doesn't like acknowledging that, but it's unavoidable. Somehow, we either find a way out or go the way of the Roman Republic.
Yes. We are stuck with each other. And even if we sent all the MAGAts to some designated location to all live together, we would be like Ukraine with a constant threat of them invading. They don't just want to live their way, they want to force all the rest of us to live "their way."
My daughter is a zombie fan. At the beginning of the pandemic she had me read World War Z. The images keep coming back to me now, not unlike the future you describe. I used to be an unquenchable optimist but I've lost it.
I'm so sorry, Diane. I didn't want to be adding to the weight of anyone else's worries. I can't watch zombie movies, or any kind of horror. They give me nightmares.
It's a tough one, Elizabeth! I keep trying to see it too, but my best so far is the young people. I don't think they will put up with fascist dictates because they have seen enough progress to experience at least some idea of what democracy can be and do.
The Repubs want to put government into your bedroom, but remove it from regulating corporations that are price gouging and destroying the environment.
I don't think we will be able to avoid some violence. Too many gun owners are just itching to use their "toys" against people that have been taught to hate. The near future looks pretty dark, but we may come through it with a greater appreciation of the values we seem largely to have lost. I wish I could say HOW.😪
I'm becoming increasingly sure I will need to emigrate for my own safety in a few years. I've already started looking at possible destinations. The R's don't like smart people, especially those that fight back.
Come to Massachusetts. It is still safe here. And we are about elect a tough as nails woman attorney general as governor. We have a few Magats but they are looked at with scorn. And we are close to passing a mllionaires tax. Some of the oligarchs may leave. Yay.
Bill, as a fellow Massachusetts native, I am very proud of our state, and I do still feel safe here. But it is still very sobering to look at where the country could go in the next several years. I keep breaking my vow an adding to my credit card balance, answering one more last minute GOTV funding appeal. I wrote hundreds of postcards to voters before it got too late. As soon as I beat this cough I will start phonebanking as I did before the 2020 election. I'll write more voter letters if Georgia has a runoff again. And I'm waiting in terrible suspense.
Is it too late to buy a house in Canada and start spending more than six months there every year? Children of Canadian citizens are apparently entitled to become citizens. How about great grandchildren, which I am? These are very scary times.
These MAGA people are psychopathic. They laugh at attempted murder of an 82 year old man whose wife happens to be Speaker if the House. They sit armed at early voting drop boxes. The Big Lie that the election was stolen, that a former president stole state secrets on his way out the door. This is all so batsh*t crazy that I feel sick to my stomach. Sadly, America bought and paid for by robber barons like Charles Koch and Peter Thiel, has an electorate chocked full of the dumbest, whiniest people ever. TC, if you ever had tried to peddle the crap that now passes for our national life as a movie, surely someone would have laughed you out the door.
Not only that, they would have called my agent and told him never to talk to them about me, and would have told people they knew to stay away from me because I was crazy.
The Republicans are filthy traitors. I have studied American history and I can connect the dots. Until 1876 during Reconstruction Republicans were never an advocate for Black people. It's just that the Democrats were worse.
Blah, blah, blah history. It's the history no white, christian, straight male wants you to learn.
Well too fucking bad.
I have given up on this country. This bullshit that America is the greatest country ever is pure bullshit..
And has been since forever. I know this country is great at spinning the lie. Just study real history.
I don't care anymore. This country gets what it deserves. If you are marginalized or just a progressive in any way and do not vote. Fuck it. I'll vote next week, fuck you.
I'm voting as I have since 1974. I'm going down but with a kick in the nuts.
This country has shown its true colors.
I am enraged, embarrassed and dejected. Fuck the fascists.
We are doomed and it is the result of stupid, scared white people afraid of everything.
Fuck Amerikkkka. You got want you wanted. We have met the enemy........
I say this as a Meacham fan: The irony of his comment is that Heather Richardson has been saying that in her daily journal for several years. But NOW the media people who know him might pay attention. No wonder they are the enemies of the people.
Yes, HCR certainly has. Many of the rest of us. Maybe we made it safe for Meacham to take that stand. If so, I'm fine with that. Meacham saying it blows the doors off.
Thank you TC. Powerful and honest. I hurt. I just used my "expressive" voice to share with my husband. Apparently I now need to go find Red Wine and Blue and try to keep my spirits up. Hope? No. Holding the line? As long as we can . See you at the polls.
once again, Tom, your lovely rage has added plenty of velocity to your writing. I figure that's a pretty good thing to say to someone who loves flying.
there is really nothing to add, except possibly the completely obvious fact that you are being in no way hyperbolic. there's this "friend" I keep mentioning who lives upstairs who manages to subscribe to every fucking piece of weirdness out there. and he knows that 1) I reserve the right to throw him out if he breaks MY rules, which are pretty much that he is not allowed to mention politics in my place and 2) I have no tolerance for ANY of his miserable ideas because he refuses to pay attention to "mainstream media" and every item he brings up is something that's shown up in his feed which he doesn't know is precisely the day's rightwing talking point. on HIS end, he tells me that my hatred of TFF is a splendid example of "T***P derangement syndrome" and that I lack critical thinking skills by not accepting the fact that virtually everything anybody did about Covid was wrong, wrong, wrong and evil and fascistic...you know the drill. this naturally includes the vaccines (and I think he's graduated to a full-on anti-vax position about ALL vaccines)..a moronic position. tonight, he tried to rile me by trashing anyone who thinks that Kanye West (in his estimation, a "genius," whatever the fuck THAT means..I have no way to determine the truth of this since I don't know his music and am not interested) is antisemitic and then on to trashing Zelensky. he didn't finish that last sentence before I told him that now he had to go home, that I consider his behavior to be one of the shit ways he manages his extra time (he has nothing BUT extra time) and that I don't appreciate his hostility (which is what it is, especially given my current health concerns. he told me that I was acting like Stalin and I said yes, in my apartment I am free to be Stalin if I want to be. why have I just said all this? I guess because I'm still irritated. no, FURIOUS is a better word. this fool just decided to become a citizen to avoid having to renew his fake green card every six months, but he needed me (and my longtime best friend) to coach him for his test questions, as he had--and has--no idea how the most basic aspects of this political system work. but he has LOTS of opinions. it strikes me that he might be the walking definition of a "useful idiot." but (again, as I keep saying), he's a really sweet guy. I think all of us know people who answer this description...you know, very nice guys with horrifying (and completely uninformed) political opinions.
I think I've gone into this excruciating detail to confirm my complete, enraged agreement with you.
I also think that, with the "new normal" being the refusal to accept ANY defeat in ANY election, we might just be doomed. it's certainly gonna get ugly. when these folks operate as a group, it doesn't matter how nice they might be on an individual basis. this is from someone who directed a group of a few hundred people to cross First Avenue to the UN and "get Dean Rusk" in the Fall of 1968. the result was getting a good ass-kicking from a bunch of waiting NYC TPF cops, resulting in my appearance on TWO network evening broadcasts. since I was running as fast as I could to get the fuck out of there, I hadn't exactly covered myself (or my cause) in glory. but I did manage to learn a valuable lesson about "crowds and power." actually reading Canetti's great and essential book came much later.
thanks to everybody for being so patient with me and with this rather incoherent post.
but shit, I'm just mad. and not a little terrified....
You are infinitely more patient than I would be. He'd be out on the street if I knew him. I've already kicked out two QAnon crazy cleaning ladies and a yard helper who lied about having his shots. I'm pretty protective of my space, especially due to my own health issues. No one is allowed inside unless fully vaxxed and boosted and NO ONE is allowed inside if a MAGAt.
oh, I kick him out all the time...to get home, he just takes the elevator to the sixth floor. sometimes I feel like George Burns firing Harry Von Zell; his problem is that he thinks it's funny that he can get what's become a stereotyped response from me.
I just wish he wouldn't do it. and since Tom mentioned his blood pressure, I'm in the middle of some "issues" and not-very-well-controlled hypertension is one of them, although the least serious.
Just a note, TC. The Drag Queen Story Hour was in Eugene at Old Nick’s Pub. Some of our Reich Wing Nut Jobs showed up in their cosplaytriot garb and were far outnumbered by “our side”. I was out of town (else I’d have first hand reports for you) but it was a pretty pathetic “protect our youth” turnout.
One small consolation: This past weekend's events and the disgusting performances in medias from all on the right may have motivated a few more voters who lost impetus to turn out.
At least in another week you'll have an idea of the percentages. How many care about your democracy and preserving it; how many want to tear it down; and how many don't care, aren't paying any attention, or are just too damn lazy to do the one thing that might prevent them and their families being the ones in the near future getting loaded into the stock trains to be shipped off to a camp for "reeducation" or "showers."
Okay, nobody’s getting into any stock trains. We’re smarter than they are. We will already have sabotaged the tracks and bought up and neutralized all stocks of sodium and chlorine.
I can't help but wonder if similar sentiments were held by any of the Germans who didn't vote 90 years ago on 6 November 1932. The last true election they had until after WWII ended.
TC, reading this makes me very sad for America and the whole world. Events unfolding in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario tell me we are not too far behind in going to one party hate filled government for the rich only. People who don't vote at all levels of government are responsible. I wish voting were mandatory like Australia. You can turn in a blank ballot but you must show up or face a stiff fine
the first time I heard about the Australian approach to elections, I thought it was a really excellent idea.
of course, I also think (and have for well more than thirty years) that, given the two-party system that "evolved" here, we'd be much better off with a Parliamentary system.
and I'll only briefly mention the idea of capping everyone's campaign expenses, probably with some modest public funding. it'd be great to never have to read about who's raised more money on some random weekend. like, why are we supposed to care? same deal with weekend movie grosses, but that's obviously an entirely different conversation.
I’ve shared some of TC’s Substack columns recently that contain strong(est) language and disgust at the state of political degradation in the GOP
Some folks have criticized (me) for his “approach” as being no better than the people he rails against. That’s a fair comment, to a point
The point being, Americans are ignoring GOP depravity as being somehow “normal”, as being okay, as being strong in the battle over MAGA authoritarian (coming) rule. This is a deja vu moment harkening back to Weimar 1930’s. The people, decent people, were lulled into a coma of “normality” by propaganda and lies and when it was too late to stop the beast, they were powerless to object
People who study history understand this is happening again. Now. TC is an historian. Evidently, the people supporting GOP candidates don’t. They are propelling it, their media lapdogs are amplifying it. Americans are condoning it. Where is the GOP outrage at the ghouls laughing at Paul Pelosi’s situation? Silence: don’t expose one’s self to the Base, its bad for business. America is losing its soul. “Cruelty IS the point “. Elon Musk pays 44 million dollars so he can join in.
For years Democrats have failed to meet the rhetoric of the GOP lies with opposition in kind. When they do, the “conservatives” say “ see? You’re doing it too
The German people regret their complicity in their era of “look the other way”. Americans? That remains to play out
TC, you wrote: "Now that all attempts at reason have failed, the rest of us need to shun those whose twisted, dark hearts lead them to publicly revel in such perverted poison."
I agree with every word, with the exception of "publicly" and that's only because I know people like this who put on a "good" front but behind the facade have twisted and dark hearts that DO revel at this "perverted poison." I LOVE that you used "shun" in this sentence. That's what I am doing and that's what I put on my FB page every day. To my knowledge, I haven't yet lost any followers and only on occasion does a troll dare to limp into my space, only to be reported and blocked.
There was so much about this that resonated with me. I shared the whole thing on FB, and I hope it is widely read and shared there.
I am trying very, very, very hard to maintain hope that good will win on the 8th in overwhelming numbers that cannot be contested.
All of us are.
me too, but I still expect that any losers on the other side will still be calling "foul.
and the really enraging thing is that the other side seems to be very good at the "long game." think abortion rights, gun rights, the government's regulatory functions....ALL of it. and now elections. all elections. everywhere.
So contemplating one of the multiple worst cases for a moment, suppose the MAGAts did manage to take over and establish their pro-guns anti-women anti-Semitic anti-democracy racist "christian" white nationalist one-depraved-party dictatorship? So coal is again king, all the money funnels up to the 1%, they axe Social Security and Medicare... and then most of the state of Florida floods out -> 20 million starving, desperate climate refugees start walking north. The mountain west and southwest are decimated by fire and drought, and the Gulf states are either under water or 120 - 130 degrees F with killer humidity, and the majority in those states was already desperate because they were all ekeing by on Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and farm subsidy money funded by the Blue states up north near the coasts. Another 100 million climate poverty refugees are marching north, by now probably by necessity pillaging the supplies of any rich Republicans in their path. They all arrive at State capitols, or DC, or Bedminster, they are beyond exhausted and desperate, they are supremely pissed, and millions of them are armed to the teeth. Do today's Depravity Sweepstakes winning Ultra MAGA "leaders" somehow imagine that there will be anywhere to hide from the wrath of this mob of millions? Do they think the wealthier states of the Blue North Coasts will not already have seceded, taking their superior tax coffers with them? Just one of dozens of thought experiment I have run that all lead to one inescapable fact: The MAGA Power Mob are 1. Idiots, 2. Too stupid to realize they are idiots, and 3. Would be unlikely to survive the conflagration they don't realize they are trying to create. Now I need to run an as-yet-un-thought-of thought experiment where even if the MAGAts do manage to prevail in this election, somehow the entire remaining decent population rises up, resists, rebels, and vanquishes them by 2024. Somebody, help me out here...
I think he country breaks apart if this happens.
It's cracking now TC. I know you
see this.
I agree, TC.
I think you describe the macro excellently, but what about the micro? The purple states, and even in the blue states there are hundreds of thousands of Republican voters and Orangetan45 supporters. Wouldn't there be outbursts of armed madness popping up in pockets all over the country? Sections of law enforcement and military would be prone to supporting the "2nd amendment militias" against their fellows defending civil government. It would be like a zombie Armageddon but worse, urban warfare with no way to tell who was friend or foe.
Yes, that's what Maher was referring to when he pointed to the Pelosi incident, which happened in very blue San Francisco with an attacker from even-more-blue Berkeley (we used to call it Berserkely when I lived there). A civil war in America now will look more like "The Troubles" in Ireland.
@Vague Craig, I’ve thought about that possibility, too. It’s a very scary line of thought. Most of our neighbors seem like very kind people, who would never take up arms against anyone. But a couple of the families have MAGA-adjacent signs or flags up. And one is someone whose temperament I would not want to have to rely on. So the potential of risk feels very close if the larger country went to the worst case. I aim to restrain my unfortunately vivid imagination—and I succeed less often than I wish.
In your scenario, millions of Americans will experience firsthand the desperation now experienced by so many from Central and South America who have been willing to walk and cadge rides, hazarding their own health and lives, for weeks, even months on end, in order to reach the United where they believe life will be better. Soon enough, if Republicans take control at the federal and many states levels, it won't be better.
Exactly. A MAGAt one-party dictatorship would rapidly become a deeply poor country run by armed gangs of criminal domestic terrorists. One of the things the Rs are too self-focused to realize is that the smart, educated “coastal elites” whom they abhor are the population that know how to successfully run a very large, very complex economy so well that even major disruptions like foreign wars and oil shocks have historically only rocked the boat with recessions and mostly civil disobedience. In the past, the reign of terror in the South against people of color was horrific, but even that did not bring the country down but eventually led to important, though insufficient reforms. Now the Republicans are enabling domestic terrorists and the they are deliberately doing it to break our democracy. So no, under MAGAt rule, life in America might not be any better than the poverty and violence in countries to our south whose people come here by the tens of thousands.
Sadly, I must agree.
This was really good Elizabeth. I've
thought some of these things myself. You're on a roll. Keep
rolling. My daughter stopped by to
see me today and talked about
buying a gun. This is a woman who
has devoted half her life to saving
lives.
I think there are millions of us who be ready and maybe even thrilled to let there be two nations. I hate the idea. But I am also fed up, discouraged and disgusted. The Magats are etching their hate and bigotry in stone.
Maybe we really should break up. But one thing is for sure. The Blue States keep the military and the nukes. And our revenue and our superior education systems, etc. Let the Red States figure out how to live without our subsidies.
I know this is crazy talk. But I am so done with the idiots.
The problem is that, administratively, we are too entangled to separate.
If California was to secede, how would the people on Social Security be paid?
Just one example.
Here's an idea. Instead of secession. The US expells certain states as "failed democracies". We stop subsidizing them. They can go their own way. Silly fantasy, of course. But it would feel great to simply dump those states that are embracing fascism. I'm tired of arguing with angry arrogant fake Christians.
You and me both. But after a friend pointed out that problem with paying Social Security, which woke me to the intractable problem of administrative intertwinement, and after more than a few good friends pointed out they live in those "failed states," I have finally been dragged kicking and screaming to the truth that we are stuck with each other. My blood pressure doesn't like acknowledging that, but it's unavoidable. Somehow, we either find a way out or go the way of the Roman Republic.
Yes. We are stuck with each other. And even if we sent all the MAGAts to some designated location to all live together, we would be like Ukraine with a constant threat of them invading. They don't just want to live their way, they want to force all the rest of us to live "their way."
My daughter is a zombie fan. At the beginning of the pandemic she had me read World War Z. The images keep coming back to me now, not unlike the future you describe. I used to be an unquenchable optimist but I've lost it.
Every silver lining has a cloud, but I still keep looking (and finding silver if not gold linings).
I'm so sorry, Diane. I didn't want to be adding to the weight of anyone else's worries. I can't watch zombie movies, or any kind of horror. They give me nightmares.
It's a tough one, Elizabeth! I keep trying to see it too, but my best so far is the young people. I don't think they will put up with fascist dictates because they have seen enough progress to experience at least some idea of what democracy can be and do.
The Repubs want to put government into your bedroom, but remove it from regulating corporations that are price gouging and destroying the environment.
I don't think we will be able to avoid some violence. Too many gun owners are just itching to use their "toys" against people that have been taught to hate. The near future looks pretty dark, but we may come through it with a greater appreciation of the values we seem largely to have lost. I wish I could say HOW.😪
I'm becoming increasingly sure I will need to emigrate for my own safety in a few years. I've already started looking at possible destinations. The R's don't like smart people, especially those that fight back.
Come to Massachusetts. It is still safe here. And we are about elect a tough as nails woman attorney general as governor. We have a few Magats but they are looked at with scorn. And we are close to passing a mllionaires tax. Some of the oligarchs may leave. Yay.
Bill, as a fellow Massachusetts native, I am very proud of our state, and I do still feel safe here. But it is still very sobering to look at where the country could go in the next several years. I keep breaking my vow an adding to my credit card balance, answering one more last minute GOTV funding appeal. I wrote hundreds of postcards to voters before it got too late. As soon as I beat this cough I will start phonebanking as I did before the 2020 election. I'll write more voter letters if Georgia has a runoff again. And I'm waiting in terrible suspense.
Is it too late to buy a house in Canada and start spending more than six months there every year? Children of Canadian citizens are apparently entitled to become citizens. How about great grandchildren, which I am? These are very scary times.
In The Handmaid's Tale Series, Canda is the place of refuge forty-seven who manage to escape from Gilead.
These MAGA people are psychopathic. They laugh at attempted murder of an 82 year old man whose wife happens to be Speaker if the House. They sit armed at early voting drop boxes. The Big Lie that the election was stolen, that a former president stole state secrets on his way out the door. This is all so batsh*t crazy that I feel sick to my stomach. Sadly, America bought and paid for by robber barons like Charles Koch and Peter Thiel, has an electorate chocked full of the dumbest, whiniest people ever. TC, if you ever had tried to peddle the crap that now passes for our national life as a movie, surely someone would have laughed you out the door.
Not only that, they would have called my agent and told him never to talk to them about me, and would have told people they knew to stay away from me because I was crazy.
The Republicans are filthy traitors. I have studied American history and I can connect the dots. Until 1876 during Reconstruction Republicans were never an advocate for Black people. It's just that the Democrats were worse.
Blah, blah, blah history. It's the history no white, christian, straight male wants you to learn.
Well too fucking bad.
I have given up on this country. This bullshit that America is the greatest country ever is pure bullshit..
And has been since forever. I know this country is great at spinning the lie. Just study real history.
I don't care anymore. This country gets what it deserves. If you are marginalized or just a progressive in any way and do not vote. Fuck it. I'll vote next week, fuck you.
I'm voting as I have since 1974. I'm going down but with a kick in the nuts.
This country has shown its true colors.
I am enraged, embarrassed and dejected. Fuck the fascists.
We are doomed and it is the result of stupid, scared white people afraid of everything.
Fuck Amerikkkka. You got want you wanted. We have met the enemy........
And Putin will have his new world order.
I say this as a Meacham fan: The irony of his comment is that Heather Richardson has been saying that in her daily journal for several years. But NOW the media people who know him might pay attention. No wonder they are the enemies of the people.
Yes, HCR certainly has. Many of the rest of us. Maybe we made it safe for Meacham to take that stand. If so, I'm fine with that. Meacham saying it blows the doors off.
I hope so.
Thank you TC. Powerful and honest. I hurt. I just used my "expressive" voice to share with my husband. Apparently I now need to go find Red Wine and Blue and try to keep my spirits up. Hope? No. Holding the line? As long as we can . See you at the polls.
Holding the line we are.
once again, Tom, your lovely rage has added plenty of velocity to your writing. I figure that's a pretty good thing to say to someone who loves flying.
there is really nothing to add, except possibly the completely obvious fact that you are being in no way hyperbolic. there's this "friend" I keep mentioning who lives upstairs who manages to subscribe to every fucking piece of weirdness out there. and he knows that 1) I reserve the right to throw him out if he breaks MY rules, which are pretty much that he is not allowed to mention politics in my place and 2) I have no tolerance for ANY of his miserable ideas because he refuses to pay attention to "mainstream media" and every item he brings up is something that's shown up in his feed which he doesn't know is precisely the day's rightwing talking point. on HIS end, he tells me that my hatred of TFF is a splendid example of "T***P derangement syndrome" and that I lack critical thinking skills by not accepting the fact that virtually everything anybody did about Covid was wrong, wrong, wrong and evil and fascistic...you know the drill. this naturally includes the vaccines (and I think he's graduated to a full-on anti-vax position about ALL vaccines)..a moronic position. tonight, he tried to rile me by trashing anyone who thinks that Kanye West (in his estimation, a "genius," whatever the fuck THAT means..I have no way to determine the truth of this since I don't know his music and am not interested) is antisemitic and then on to trashing Zelensky. he didn't finish that last sentence before I told him that now he had to go home, that I consider his behavior to be one of the shit ways he manages his extra time (he has nothing BUT extra time) and that I don't appreciate his hostility (which is what it is, especially given my current health concerns. he told me that I was acting like Stalin and I said yes, in my apartment I am free to be Stalin if I want to be. why have I just said all this? I guess because I'm still irritated. no, FURIOUS is a better word. this fool just decided to become a citizen to avoid having to renew his fake green card every six months, but he needed me (and my longtime best friend) to coach him for his test questions, as he had--and has--no idea how the most basic aspects of this political system work. but he has LOTS of opinions. it strikes me that he might be the walking definition of a "useful idiot." but (again, as I keep saying), he's a really sweet guy. I think all of us know people who answer this description...you know, very nice guys with horrifying (and completely uninformed) political opinions.
I think I've gone into this excruciating detail to confirm my complete, enraged agreement with you.
I also think that, with the "new normal" being the refusal to accept ANY defeat in ANY election, we might just be doomed. it's certainly gonna get ugly. when these folks operate as a group, it doesn't matter how nice they might be on an individual basis. this is from someone who directed a group of a few hundred people to cross First Avenue to the UN and "get Dean Rusk" in the Fall of 1968. the result was getting a good ass-kicking from a bunch of waiting NYC TPF cops, resulting in my appearance on TWO network evening broadcasts. since I was running as fast as I could to get the fuck out of there, I hadn't exactly covered myself (or my cause) in glory. but I did manage to learn a valuable lesson about "crowds and power." actually reading Canetti's great and essential book came much later.
thanks to everybody for being so patient with me and with this rather incoherent post.
but shit, I'm just mad. and not a little terrified....
and thanks again, Tom.
That guy's lucky you're as nice a guy as you are David. He would get a different response here.
thanks, Tom, for not buying into that "Levine=Stalin" shtick.
You are infinitely more patient than I would be. He'd be out on the street if I knew him. I've already kicked out two QAnon crazy cleaning ladies and a yard helper who lied about having his shots. I'm pretty protective of my space, especially due to my own health issues. No one is allowed inside unless fully vaxxed and boosted and NO ONE is allowed inside if a MAGAt.
oh, I kick him out all the time...to get home, he just takes the elevator to the sixth floor. sometimes I feel like George Burns firing Harry Von Zell; his problem is that he thinks it's funny that he can get what's become a stereotyped response from me.
I just wish he wouldn't do it. and since Tom mentioned his blood pressure, I'm in the middle of some "issues" and not-very-well-controlled hypertension is one of them, although the least serious.
I completely understand those HP issues. "Essential hypertension" by chance? Or something like this?
well, I've had EP for something like 35 years, but I've had recent spikes so the cardiologist awaits....
and thanks for asking.
Just a note, TC. The Drag Queen Story Hour was in Eugene at Old Nick’s Pub. Some of our Reich Wing Nut Jobs showed up in their cosplaytriot garb and were far outnumbered by “our side”. I was out of town (else I’d have first hand reports for you) but it was a pretty pathetic “protect our youth” turnout.
Well, I am glad to know that, and still upset to know it happened at all.
Oh, same here. I cannot believe the bile that people that I thought that I knew buy into.
One small consolation: This past weekend's events and the disgusting performances in medias from all on the right may have motivated a few more voters who lost impetus to turn out.
At least in another week you'll have an idea of the percentages. How many care about your democracy and preserving it; how many want to tear it down; and how many don't care, aren't paying any attention, or are just too damn lazy to do the one thing that might prevent them and their families being the ones in the near future getting loaded into the stock trains to be shipped off to a camp for "reeducation" or "showers."
Okay, nobody’s getting into any stock trains. We’re smarter than they are. We will already have sabotaged the tracks and bought up and neutralized all stocks of sodium and chlorine.
I can't help but wonder if similar sentiments were held by any of the Germans who didn't vote 90 years ago on 6 November 1932. The last true election they had until after WWII ended.
Glad I just left a Red, White & Blue podcast with HCR. I’ll only deflate a little.
I Laughed Out Loud.
TC, reading this makes me very sad for America and the whole world. Events unfolding in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario tell me we are not too far behind in going to one party hate filled government for the rich only. People who don't vote at all levels of government are responsible. I wish voting were mandatory like Australia. You can turn in a blank ballot but you must show up or face a stiff fine
I like the Australian model too.
the first time I heard about the Australian approach to elections, I thought it was a really excellent idea.
of course, I also think (and have for well more than thirty years) that, given the two-party system that "evolved" here, we'd be much better off with a Parliamentary system.
and I'll only briefly mention the idea of capping everyone's campaign expenses, probably with some modest public funding. it'd be great to never have to read about who's raised more money on some random weekend. like, why are we supposed to care? same deal with weekend movie grosses, but that's obviously an entirely different conversation.
I’ve shared some of TC’s Substack columns recently that contain strong(est) language and disgust at the state of political degradation in the GOP
Some folks have criticized (me) for his “approach” as being no better than the people he rails against. That’s a fair comment, to a point
The point being, Americans are ignoring GOP depravity as being somehow “normal”, as being okay, as being strong in the battle over MAGA authoritarian (coming) rule. This is a deja vu moment harkening back to Weimar 1930’s. The people, decent people, were lulled into a coma of “normality” by propaganda and lies and when it was too late to stop the beast, they were powerless to object
People who study history understand this is happening again. Now. TC is an historian. Evidently, the people supporting GOP candidates don’t. They are propelling it, their media lapdogs are amplifying it. Americans are condoning it. Where is the GOP outrage at the ghouls laughing at Paul Pelosi’s situation? Silence: don’t expose one’s self to the Base, its bad for business. America is losing its soul. “Cruelty IS the point “. Elon Musk pays 44 million dollars so he can join in.
For years Democrats have failed to meet the rhetoric of the GOP lies with opposition in kind. When they do, the “conservatives” say “ see? You’re doing it too
The German people regret their complicity in their era of “look the other way”. Americans? That remains to play out
TC isn’t waiting
Read at your own risk
It breaks my heart to agree with everything you said. I yearn for some prominent leader to clear a path out of this quagmire of evil.
We can't expect a leader to save us, but I do believe that an inspiring leader can help us organize to save ourselves.
TC, you wrote: "Now that all attempts at reason have failed, the rest of us need to shun those whose twisted, dark hearts lead them to publicly revel in such perverted poison."
I agree with every word, with the exception of "publicly" and that's only because I know people like this who put on a "good" front but behind the facade have twisted and dark hearts that DO revel at this "perverted poison." I LOVE that you used "shun" in this sentence. That's what I am doing and that's what I put on my FB page every day. To my knowledge, I haven't yet lost any followers and only on occasion does a troll dare to limp into my space, only to be reported and blocked.
There was so much about this that resonated with me. I shared the whole thing on FB, and I hope it is widely read and shared there.
I keep having flashes of scenes from Octavia Butler's Parable series.