Remember when Abraham Lincoln called our country the ‘Last Best Hope on Earth’? Hard to conceive of that any more. The arc of progress no longer bends toward justice. The rule of law is on its last legs. The Supreme Court just killed it. I go back to 2016 when some voters in swing states voted 3rd party instead of voting for Hillary. No matter what her issues were we would not have a conservative takeover of the court. Women’s reproductive rights would still be protected. Once a demagogue took over the WH the future was sealed for generations. Frankly, the educational system of this country is broken. That’s probably the root cause of our failures.
Joe promised to be a transitional President. There should have been an open and democratic Democratic primary. So sad.
Well, it is indeed a dark day, even in a dark time. And likely to get darker.
Still, I'm reminded of the immortal words of Sgt. Dan Daly. If you don't know Dan Daly--and, I confess, I didn't until my son became a Marine officer--he's revered by Marines for leading the charge at Belleau Wood. (You know Belleau Wood, right? It's the place that by tradition earned the Marines the name "Teufelhunden" ("Devil Dogs") with their German foes, and the battle from which the fallen were buried at Aisne-Marne, which Trump as President declined to visit on a rainy day because it's filled with "sucker" and "losers.")
Anyway, Daly urged his Marines forward into the treeline with the cry "Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?"
Perhaps those who honor the Constitution and the Republic now need to ask themselves that same question: Are you willing to raise yourselves from out of the safety of fulfilling jobs and happy communities and hard-earned stability to fight? Because the fight is here. And I don't mean "fight" with fists and bullets. I mean "fight" with voices, shoe leather, attention, volunteer hours, wages, and wherewithal, if not for ourselves then for the sake of our children and grandchildren who stand to inherit the nation. Are you willing to do for them what others did for us, to beat back the dark opportunists of Trumpism.
Each needs to ask that question and to answer it without fairy tale or foolishness. The. Fight. Is. Here.
I appreciate your willingness to voice a degree of despair now and then, JVL. Somehow it provides some much-needed relief and a sense of solidarity during rough stretches that unrelenting calls for cheeriness (and donations) do not. When someone willing to share such sentiments ultimately says "let's get back on our horses," I listen.
Since coming down the golden staircase in 2015, the Insurrectionist D.J. Trump has done a number on America. Our tradition of democracy is threatened by the authoritarian ticket of Trump/Vance. How sad it's come to this. The Insurrectionist Trump should have been prosecuted soon afer the attack on the U.S. Capitol, but the Biden Justice Dept. waited too long, so here we are with American democracy on the line.
"If there is a silver lining, it’s that Democratic elites, at least, have held to the norms. They have said the right things. They have offered their thoughts and prayers."
I'm not a Democrat, let alone an "elite," but God just told me that "thoughts and prayers" won't cut it. He commanded me to VOTE for the Democratic candidate. I thanked him and said that I was already prepared to walk on coals to do that if necessary, and added "but you knew that already." I thought of asking if He could give me a hint as to who that candidate will be, but decided against bothering Him, because it was just my curiosity as a scientist, and that knowing the answer now would not affect my vote.
Oh, God did say that he intervened to save Trump's life, because Trump's voters need to feel a lot more pain before overcoming their addiction. He added "Think of it as tough love. You Never-Trumpers need some too for your lousy turnout in 2016 and 2020."
"Trump is different. His abuses have been ratified by powerful constituencies. He has conquered and colonized one of the two major parties."
Here is where I think everyone is getting it backwards. The GOP was already careening towards that radical state well before Trump "fell into it." Or was "thrown into it" by the "true conquerors" who recognized him as the perfect "useful idiot." One who could serve as their messenger to the "masses" simply because he had already been famous - or infamous if you have a moral code - for decades. Trump never cared either way if the US was a "liberal democracy" or a fascist state, as long as his instant gratification, which included being adored by millions, is met every second. In fact he never wanted to be president in the traditional (Constitutional) sense. But the "conquerors" assured him that, as long as he took their advice, which, with rare exceptions when he reluctantly deferred, coincided with his instant gratification. And most importantly that he never had to take any of the RESPONSIBILITIES of a president.
On the one hand, MAGAs gloat about having killed off the old GOP and replaced it with the Trump Party. There are practically no serious representatives of the old GOP speaking at the RNC. MAGAs also boast about drawing in people who formerly didn't vote at all, or used to vote Democrat.
In the first 2016 primaries, Trump took longer to sew up the nomination than have some previous nominees. Some prominent voices in right-wing media were critical until it was clear that he would be the nominee -- and then they went all in and became fanatical propagandists for him.
At the same time, it's obvious that the right-wing base was susceptible to a demagogue who promised to crush the Establishment and shake up the institutions, and "save America" by his unique power. And the right-wing media complex did a lot to build a readiness to embrace a cult leader who didn't much like to be restrained by the rules and norms that had hitherto been operative.
Right, and that only shows that the voters were part of those "conquerors." Many GOP politicians who had been planning an authoritarian takeover were cautious because they had no idea how much public support they'd get. Some probably did not even recognize Trump as the perfect useful idiot until he started shooting his mouth off and the voters only craved more. Then the other factions of GOP politicians, what I call the shameless opportunists and spineless cowards, went along only because it was the path of least resistance. Bottom line, none of it was a shrewd plan, orchestrated and commandeered by Trump himself. He just did what he always does, says whatever feels good, always confident that millions will defend and protect him.
Some people recognized Trump early on as the nearly empty vessel into which they could pour their own agendas. It took longer for others to recognize that he could be their cudgel against their enemies. He doesn't' know much or have any capacity to weigh issues thoughtfully, but he does have prejudices and grievances.
"Mere weeks ago Trump inflamed his supporters by claiming that the FBI and Joe Biden had attempted to assassinate him back in 2022."
Without evidence, as usual. But his supporters, like authoritarians in general, require no evidence to believe what they want - or claim it even if deep down they don't believe it. And no evidence is ever sufficient to make them admit anything that's inconvenient to their cause.
Yesterday Mike Johnson made an comment that many others have made, that Trump is, to paraphrase, "the most persecuted President in history."
It's nonsense, of course. Barack Obama got no free ride, particularly from Trump. Neither did George W. Bush. Clinton? I think Newt Gingrich gave as good as he could. Rush Limbaugh made his life miserable. I don't think any President gets a free ride and Trump was treated exactly the same as every other President. Thing is, he thrives on being a victim and his supporters back him up on it.
When is someone going to push back on this? Donald Trump yelled into any microphone he could find for at least a year questioning Barack Obama's citizenship.
How about Gingrich in "America at Risk: The Owls of Ga'Hoole":
"What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?” Gingrich asks. “That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior.”
“This is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president,” Gingrich tells us.
“I think he worked very hard at being a person who is normal, reasonable, moderate, bipartisan, transparent, accommodating — none of which was true,” Gingrich continues. “In the Alinksy tradition, he was being the person he needed to be in order to achieve the position he needed to achieve . . . He was authentically dishonest.”
Is that what Mike Johnson considers the kid glove treatment? Really?
Republicans elevated a sociopathic scofflaw to the presidency and formed a crazy cult around him.
Then, whenever anyone notes that he said something noxious or lunatic, or did something cruel, or broke the law, all of MAGA world screeches that he's being PERSECUTED.
it's rubbish. He has been protected and coddled by powerful people and groups. "Respectable" conservatives insisted from the start that special moral allowances must be made for him.
So he gets away with things that most other people would not. He is glorified and empowered BECAUSE he flouts rules and lacks moral scruples. But he performatively hugged the flag, which some dullards imagine is deeply meaningful.
Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. A long time ago, I hoped that, if something bad happened, people would be shocked into changing their ways. (I hoped for the change of heart, not the bad thing.) But now, it feels like they are too many instigators and people rush to conspiracy theories to find out why every bad thing that happens should encourage them to act worse. I've come to believe that things won't get better until someone is vanquished or everyone is too exhausted to continue fighting. I tremble at the thought of what it would take.
Do you remember when leftist were attacking (even) old people wearing Make American Great Again hats in the summer of 2016? Trump's fault to be sure, eh? I remember people, including us, being afraid to show public support for Trump in the Summer of 2016. All Trump's fault! Though, I do recall guys were sent into Trump rallies to start fights and hope for a response, something admitted by Democrat operatives. All Trump's fault. The left has always been violent, long before Trump rode down the escalator. Read Brian Burrough's masterful history of leftwing violence in the late 1960. The left has always been violent and the left promised violence if Trump was elected. They delivered and they still deliver. Secret sauce indeed.
Re: "I remember people, including us, being afraid to show public support for Trump in the Summer of 2016."
I don't recall this at all. There were Trump flags everywhere. And lawn signs. And those red hats. Everywhere. And making eye contact with the people in those hats was an invitation to hearing about Trump and how great he was and how terrible Hillary and Obama were and how he was going to transform the nation into something wonderful. As I recall it, there was great pride among his followers in their membership in the MAGA movement. I don't recall any shame at all.
I was GOP until recently. There is such a thing as right-wing violence historically, and in the present. And rather than being rage-attacks on property, it's more likely to target specific people seen as enemies.
The gun culture is overwhelmingly right-wing. GOP politicians love to pose with guns and make ads of themselves firing them. Polls find Republicans twice as likely as Democrats to say they believe that political violence may be acceptable or necessary. Fantasizing about "civil war" and saying it may be needed has come mainly from the right, even from "conservative intellectuals."
Trump boasted that he could openly shoot someone and not lose any support. He suggested that "2nd Amendment people" could handle Hillary Clinton. He encourages a climate of menace against anyone who crosses him. He flirts with militia groups, who see him as their champion. He exhorted his followers to "fight like hell' for him and then gleefully watched them doing it, then praised them and called them "patriots."
He calls his political opponents "demonic ... sick & demented .. wicked ...," etc.
Republican security officials reported a big uptick on violent threats and actions coming mostly from the right in the Trump era. Election workers & officials were threatened because they would not throw the election to Trump. Two women had to flee their home because Trump and Giuliani viciously slandered them.
People have had to go into hiding just for being critical of Trump (e.g. Miles Taylor). GOP members of Congress said privately that they wanted to convict Trump after impeachment, but they feared for the safety of themselves and their family. Mitt Romney has had to pay huge sums for personal security, simply because he did not submit to Trump.
Trump and his fanatical cult have definitely fostered a readiness to do political violence.
Yeah, when the leftists burned the freedom riders' bus, when the left broke up the anti-war protests in NYC in 1970, when the left fire-bombed abortion clinics.... Violence is not uniquely on one side, and it has a long history in our country. Trump's rhetoric is unlike anything else in modern American history, though. No other leader has invoked the specter of violence and accused his opponents of being un-American in the same way. If you don't see that after January 6th, then I think you're willfully ignoring reality.
People I know weren't afraid to show their support of trump -- they were pretty happy to finally be able to publicly acknowledge their own racism and hate.
trump is a threat to American democracy. It's pretty clear to everyone including people who support him.
It's bizarre that anyone can see Trump as a victim of vast forces that are constantly persecuting him, when he dominates a major political party as no one has done before; he owns the Supreme Court; he owns a judge in Florida who's been determined to protect him; he has the loyalty of large media organizations; the richest man on earth and owner of a hugely influential social media platform is pulling for him; he has even cowed mainstream media into applying a double standard that greatly benefits him.
No one else I can think of has been blessed with so much favoritism despite being grossly unworthy of it.
I was wondering when someone would have the guts to say that Trump is reaping what he has sowed. All the hate and violence in this country is a result of his manipulation of the people who follow him. The hate some people feel for Trump himself is self inflicted. He doesn’t give us any reason to look at him in any way but an evil disrupter.
Someone has maybe already said this but here goes: the gunman who attempted to kill or injure Trump was bullied incessantly all through high school, according to a school mate. So, maybe the gunman was out to get the ultimate bully. Maybe Trump stirred up something him with his hateful rhetoric and denigration of those who don’t follow him. Just an idea.
As if now, he is still benefiting from his malignance. Aside from monetary judgments against him, he has paid no real price for being a sociopathic scofflaw. In fact, it has gotten him an adoring cult and the status of a hero-martyr.
i will also point out that the end of democracy language, the rise of dictatorship language published here contributed to teh atmosphere surrounding this assassination attempt. It is as if you wanted violence. After all, if Trump is literally Hitler, what is allowed?
I must admit i was looking forward to criminally prosecuting not just Joe (border etc) but Barack (disposition matrix). I mean the precedent was there. It would have been awesome.
Umm. You do know that it was Trump who nearly got his head blown off, right? Just checking. Take a cue from Morning Joe and sit out a few plays JVL. Nothing you said was factually wrong…now is just not the time
"Which is more or less how I feel about America today." So, what are you going to do?
Why won't any of the Bulwark contributors answer this simple question: What are you going to do if Trump wins the election? I would really like to know.
I know what I'm going to do. Keep my head down and get through the next forty-eight months as best I can. I figure most Americans are going to do the same.
I remember acquaintances back when George W. Bush was running. They said they'd leave the country if that happened. It did and they didn't. They're still here and doing quite well.
Look, it's a democracy. We have rules. Trump doesn't follow them because he doesn't have to, but the rest of us do. We're going to have an election. It's highly likely that the majority of our fellow Americans will choose Trump-Vance over Biden-Harris because they want what Trump is peddling. That's it. We've gotta live with it the best we can. We cast our votes and the majority wins. The losers have to accept it, unless the loser is Trump and then he can summon an Army of Retards to kill anyone who gets in his way. It's right in the Constitution.
James, it is to be hoped that the America you beseech offers more than the "thoughts and Prayers" that have been spouted ad nauseun by the Dem elite since that misguided young idiot took his wasted shot. "Thoughts and prayers" is an empty pointless facile expression devoid of any meaning whatsoever.
Angry rhetoric aimed at securing the election is more to the point.
‘"Thoughts and prayers" is an empty pointless facile expression devoid of any meaning whatsoever.’ Which is exactly why I used it. My anger is white hot at this point.
You know, I was wondering the same thing. But if you read the headline describing the main podcast today, the Bulwark crew is not ready to wave the white flag on this election. That is why they are not talking about what happens if Trump wins.
What do we do now?
Remember when Abraham Lincoln called our country the ‘Last Best Hope on Earth’? Hard to conceive of that any more. The arc of progress no longer bends toward justice. The rule of law is on its last legs. The Supreme Court just killed it. I go back to 2016 when some voters in swing states voted 3rd party instead of voting for Hillary. No matter what her issues were we would not have a conservative takeover of the court. Women’s reproductive rights would still be protected. Once a demagogue took over the WH the future was sealed for generations. Frankly, the educational system of this country is broken. That’s probably the root cause of our failures.
Joe promised to be a transitional President. There should have been an open and democratic Democratic primary. So sad.
Well, it is indeed a dark day, even in a dark time. And likely to get darker.
Still, I'm reminded of the immortal words of Sgt. Dan Daly. If you don't know Dan Daly--and, I confess, I didn't until my son became a Marine officer--he's revered by Marines for leading the charge at Belleau Wood. (You know Belleau Wood, right? It's the place that by tradition earned the Marines the name "Teufelhunden" ("Devil Dogs") with their German foes, and the battle from which the fallen were buried at Aisne-Marne, which Trump as President declined to visit on a rainy day because it's filled with "sucker" and "losers.")
Anyway, Daly urged his Marines forward into the treeline with the cry "Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?"
Perhaps those who honor the Constitution and the Republic now need to ask themselves that same question: Are you willing to raise yourselves from out of the safety of fulfilling jobs and happy communities and hard-earned stability to fight? Because the fight is here. And I don't mean "fight" with fists and bullets. I mean "fight" with voices, shoe leather, attention, volunteer hours, wages, and wherewithal, if not for ourselves then for the sake of our children and grandchildren who stand to inherit the nation. Are you willing to do for them what others did for us, to beat back the dark opportunists of Trumpism.
Each needs to ask that question and to answer it without fairy tale or foolishness. The. Fight. Is. Here.
I appreciate your willingness to voice a degree of despair now and then, JVL. Somehow it provides some much-needed relief and a sense of solidarity during rough stretches that unrelenting calls for cheeriness (and donations) do not. When someone willing to share such sentiments ultimately says "let's get back on our horses," I listen.
Since coming down the golden staircase in 2015, the Insurrectionist D.J. Trump has done a number on America. Our tradition of democracy is threatened by the authoritarian ticket of Trump/Vance. How sad it's come to this. The Insurrectionist Trump should have been prosecuted soon afer the attack on the U.S. Capitol, but the Biden Justice Dept. waited too long, so here we are with American democracy on the line.
"If there is a silver lining, it’s that Democratic elites, at least, have held to the norms. They have said the right things. They have offered their thoughts and prayers."
I'm not a Democrat, let alone an "elite," but God just told me that "thoughts and prayers" won't cut it. He commanded me to VOTE for the Democratic candidate. I thanked him and said that I was already prepared to walk on coals to do that if necessary, and added "but you knew that already." I thought of asking if He could give me a hint as to who that candidate will be, but decided against bothering Him, because it was just my curiosity as a scientist, and that knowing the answer now would not affect my vote.
Oh, God did say that he intervened to save Trump's life, because Trump's voters need to feel a lot more pain before overcoming their addiction. He added "Think of it as tough love. You Never-Trumpers need some too for your lousy turnout in 2016 and 2020."
"Trump is different. His abuses have been ratified by powerful constituencies. He has conquered and colonized one of the two major parties."
Here is where I think everyone is getting it backwards. The GOP was already careening towards that radical state well before Trump "fell into it." Or was "thrown into it" by the "true conquerors" who recognized him as the perfect "useful idiot." One who could serve as their messenger to the "masses" simply because he had already been famous - or infamous if you have a moral code - for decades. Trump never cared either way if the US was a "liberal democracy" or a fascist state, as long as his instant gratification, which included being adored by millions, is met every second. In fact he never wanted to be president in the traditional (Constitutional) sense. But the "conquerors" assured him that, as long as he took their advice, which, with rare exceptions when he reluctantly deferred, coincided with his instant gratification. And most importantly that he never had to take any of the RESPONSIBILITIES of a president.
On the one hand, MAGAs gloat about having killed off the old GOP and replaced it with the Trump Party. There are practically no serious representatives of the old GOP speaking at the RNC. MAGAs also boast about drawing in people who formerly didn't vote at all, or used to vote Democrat.
In the first 2016 primaries, Trump took longer to sew up the nomination than have some previous nominees. Some prominent voices in right-wing media were critical until it was clear that he would be the nominee -- and then they went all in and became fanatical propagandists for him.
At the same time, it's obvious that the right-wing base was susceptible to a demagogue who promised to crush the Establishment and shake up the institutions, and "save America" by his unique power. And the right-wing media complex did a lot to build a readiness to embrace a cult leader who didn't much like to be restrained by the rules and norms that had hitherto been operative.
Right, and that only shows that the voters were part of those "conquerors." Many GOP politicians who had been planning an authoritarian takeover were cautious because they had no idea how much public support they'd get. Some probably did not even recognize Trump as the perfect useful idiot until he started shooting his mouth off and the voters only craved more. Then the other factions of GOP politicians, what I call the shameless opportunists and spineless cowards, went along only because it was the path of least resistance. Bottom line, none of it was a shrewd plan, orchestrated and commandeered by Trump himself. He just did what he always does, says whatever feels good, always confident that millions will defend and protect him.
Some people recognized Trump early on as the nearly empty vessel into which they could pour their own agendas. It took longer for others to recognize that he could be their cudgel against their enemies. He doesn't' know much or have any capacity to weigh issues thoughtfully, but he does have prejudices and grievances.
"Mere weeks ago Trump inflamed his supporters by claiming that the FBI and Joe Biden had attempted to assassinate him back in 2022."
Without evidence, as usual. But his supporters, like authoritarians in general, require no evidence to believe what they want - or claim it even if deep down they don't believe it. And no evidence is ever sufficient to make them admit anything that's inconvenient to their cause.
Yesterday Mike Johnson made an comment that many others have made, that Trump is, to paraphrase, "the most persecuted President in history."
It's nonsense, of course. Barack Obama got no free ride, particularly from Trump. Neither did George W. Bush. Clinton? I think Newt Gingrich gave as good as he could. Rush Limbaugh made his life miserable. I don't think any President gets a free ride and Trump was treated exactly the same as every other President. Thing is, he thrives on being a victim and his supporters back him up on it.
When is someone going to push back on this? Donald Trump yelled into any microphone he could find for at least a year questioning Barack Obama's citizenship.
How about Gingrich in "America at Risk: The Owls of Ga'Hoole":
"What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?” Gingrich asks. “That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior.”
“This is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president,” Gingrich tells us.
“I think he worked very hard at being a person who is normal, reasonable, moderate, bipartisan, transparent, accommodating — none of which was true,” Gingrich continues. “In the Alinksy tradition, he was being the person he needed to be in order to achieve the position he needed to achieve . . . He was authentically dishonest.”
Is that what Mike Johnson considers the kid glove treatment? Really?
Republicans elevated a sociopathic scofflaw to the presidency and formed a crazy cult around him.
Then, whenever anyone notes that he said something noxious or lunatic, or did something cruel, or broke the law, all of MAGA world screeches that he's being PERSECUTED.
it's rubbish. He has been protected and coddled by powerful people and groups. "Respectable" conservatives insisted from the start that special moral allowances must be made for him.
So he gets away with things that most other people would not. He is glorified and empowered BECAUSE he flouts rules and lacks moral scruples. But he performatively hugged the flag, which some dullards imagine is deeply meaningful.
Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. A long time ago, I hoped that, if something bad happened, people would be shocked into changing their ways. (I hoped for the change of heart, not the bad thing.) But now, it feels like they are too many instigators and people rush to conspiracy theories to find out why every bad thing that happens should encourage them to act worse. I've come to believe that things won't get better until someone is vanquished or everyone is too exhausted to continue fighting. I tremble at the thought of what it would take.
Do you remember when leftist were attacking (even) old people wearing Make American Great Again hats in the summer of 2016? Trump's fault to be sure, eh? I remember people, including us, being afraid to show public support for Trump in the Summer of 2016. All Trump's fault! Though, I do recall guys were sent into Trump rallies to start fights and hope for a response, something admitted by Democrat operatives. All Trump's fault. The left has always been violent, long before Trump rode down the escalator. Read Brian Burrough's masterful history of leftwing violence in the late 1960. The left has always been violent and the left promised violence if Trump was elected. They delivered and they still deliver. Secret sauce indeed.
Re: "I remember people, including us, being afraid to show public support for Trump in the Summer of 2016."
I don't recall this at all. There were Trump flags everywhere. And lawn signs. And those red hats. Everywhere. And making eye contact with the people in those hats was an invitation to hearing about Trump and how great he was and how terrible Hillary and Obama were and how he was going to transform the nation into something wonderful. As I recall it, there was great pride among his followers in their membership in the MAGA movement. I don't recall any shame at all.
Naturally, people who are afraid to show their political affiliations are inclined to wear red hats declaring them.
I was GOP until recently. There is such a thing as right-wing violence historically, and in the present. And rather than being rage-attacks on property, it's more likely to target specific people seen as enemies.
The gun culture is overwhelmingly right-wing. GOP politicians love to pose with guns and make ads of themselves firing them. Polls find Republicans twice as likely as Democrats to say they believe that political violence may be acceptable or necessary. Fantasizing about "civil war" and saying it may be needed has come mainly from the right, even from "conservative intellectuals."
Trump boasted that he could openly shoot someone and not lose any support. He suggested that "2nd Amendment people" could handle Hillary Clinton. He encourages a climate of menace against anyone who crosses him. He flirts with militia groups, who see him as their champion. He exhorted his followers to "fight like hell' for him and then gleefully watched them doing it, then praised them and called them "patriots."
He calls his political opponents "demonic ... sick & demented .. wicked ...," etc.
Republican security officials reported a big uptick on violent threats and actions coming mostly from the right in the Trump era. Election workers & officials were threatened because they would not throw the election to Trump. Two women had to flee their home because Trump and Giuliani viciously slandered them.
People have had to go into hiding just for being critical of Trump (e.g. Miles Taylor). GOP members of Congress said privately that they wanted to convict Trump after impeachment, but they feared for the safety of themselves and their family. Mitt Romney has had to pay huge sums for personal security, simply because he did not submit to Trump.
Trump and his fanatical cult have definitely fostered a readiness to do political violence.
Yeah, when the leftists burned the freedom riders' bus, when the left broke up the anti-war protests in NYC in 1970, when the left fire-bombed abortion clinics.... Violence is not uniquely on one side, and it has a long history in our country. Trump's rhetoric is unlike anything else in modern American history, though. No other leader has invoked the specter of violence and accused his opponents of being un-American in the same way. If you don't see that after January 6th, then I think you're willfully ignoring reality.
People I know weren't afraid to show their support of trump -- they were pretty happy to finally be able to publicly acknowledge their own racism and hate.
trump is a threat to American democracy. It's pretty clear to everyone including people who support him.
I had the same experience. That red MAGA hat was always an invitation to "bring it."
Wow. There it is.
Yep.
TDS
Get new material.
It's bizarre that anyone can see Trump as a victim of vast forces that are constantly persecuting him, when he dominates a major political party as no one has done before; he owns the Supreme Court; he owns a judge in Florida who's been determined to protect him; he has the loyalty of large media organizations; the richest man on earth and owner of a hugely influential social media platform is pulling for him; he has even cowed mainstream media into applying a double standard that greatly benefits him.
No one else I can think of has been blessed with so much favoritism despite being grossly unworthy of it.
I was wondering when someone would have the guts to say that Trump is reaping what he has sowed. All the hate and violence in this country is a result of his manipulation of the people who follow him. The hate some people feel for Trump himself is self inflicted. He doesn’t give us any reason to look at him in any way but an evil disrupter.
Someone has maybe already said this but here goes: the gunman who attempted to kill or injure Trump was bullied incessantly all through high school, according to a school mate. So, maybe the gunman was out to get the ultimate bully. Maybe Trump stirred up something him with his hateful rhetoric and denigration of those who don’t follow him. Just an idea.
As if now, he is still benefiting from his malignance. Aside from monetary judgments against him, he has paid no real price for being a sociopathic scofflaw. In fact, it has gotten him an adoring cult and the status of a hero-martyr.
i will also point out that the end of democracy language, the rise of dictatorship language published here contributed to teh atmosphere surrounding this assassination attempt. It is as if you wanted violence. After all, if Trump is literally Hitler, what is allowed?
Interesting that he picked a man who literally said he was Hitler as his VP. Waiting for VP to be appointed the Head of the Retribution Czar.
Do you mean he changed his view over almost a decade?
From the available information, the shooter was a 20 year old kid with an AR-15, not an Antifa or BLM operative.
when a guy wants absolute immunity that tells you exactly what he thinks he deserves
Absolute immunity for official acts...Just like Federal Judges and Congressmen. And he wants it for all presidents.
LOL. Sure.
Only one guy wants it b/c he's the only one who needs it.
I must admit i was looking forward to criminally prosecuting not just Joe (border etc) but Barack (disposition matrix). I mean the precedent was there. It would have been awesome.
Please cite the criminal statutes that you and your team of Facebook educated lawyers believe they broke.
JVL, you should read Ross Douthat's latest: Trump a Man of Destiny. You might want to take a Xanax first.
Umm. You do know that it was Trump who nearly got his head blown off, right? Just checking. Take a cue from Morning Joe and sit out a few plays JVL. Nothing you said was factually wrong…now is just not the time
The guy who said that "2nd Amendment people" might be able to handle Hillary Clinton.
... who joked about the near-fatal hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, meant for Nancy.
... who said the "Hang Mike Pence" chant was "common sense" and "the right idea."
... who gleefully watched a MAGA mob attacking the police in his name for hours and calls the violent MAGAs "unbelievable patriots.'
... who has not bothered to call the widow of the man who was killed by a bullet aimed at him.
... who said we need to "get over it" after innocent children are gunned down.
... who mocked John McCain for having been "captured" and tortured as a POW.
... who said that protestors and migrants and suspected shoplifters should simply be shot.
... who wanted to put alligators in the river at the border, and sharp spikes on his wall.
There is hardly anyone less deserving of moral sympathy than Donald J. Trump.
"Which is more or less how I feel about America today." So, what are you going to do?
Why won't any of the Bulwark contributors answer this simple question: What are you going to do if Trump wins the election? I would really like to know.
I know what I'm going to do. Keep my head down and get through the next forty-eight months as best I can. I figure most Americans are going to do the same.
I remember acquaintances back when George W. Bush was running. They said they'd leave the country if that happened. It did and they didn't. They're still here and doing quite well.
Look, it's a democracy. We have rules. Trump doesn't follow them because he doesn't have to, but the rest of us do. We're going to have an election. It's highly likely that the majority of our fellow Americans will choose Trump-Vance over Biden-Harris because they want what Trump is peddling. That's it. We've gotta live with it the best we can. We cast our votes and the majority wins. The losers have to accept it, unless the loser is Trump and then he can summon an Army of Retards to kill anyone who gets in his way. It's right in the Constitution.
James, it is to be hoped that the America you beseech offers more than the "thoughts and Prayers" that have been spouted ad nauseun by the Dem elite since that misguided young idiot took his wasted shot. "Thoughts and prayers" is an empty pointless facile expression devoid of any meaning whatsoever.
Angry rhetoric aimed at securing the election is more to the point.
‘"Thoughts and prayers" is an empty pointless facile expression devoid of any meaning whatsoever.’ Which is exactly why I used it. My anger is white hot at this point.
You know, I was wondering the same thing. But if you read the headline describing the main podcast today, the Bulwark crew is not ready to wave the white flag on this election. That is why they are not talking about what happens if Trump wins.