Great analysis! I loved the description of congressional Democrats as NPCs. The leadership definitely is. Also wise advice on finding that Golden Mean to stay engaged and remain healthy over the next 4 years.
He is clearly at war with the US Coast Guard - firing the Commandant at midnight - one might wonder if this is it or will the heads of the other services be instantly relieved of their duties. Is it legal? Nobody seems to know - but nobody in the news industry is even discussing this unprecedented action
Yes Trump is targeting pain for Democratic voters, but Trump and MAGA rhetoric seems like they will mostly focus fire on the “woke” activists. JVL observes that the Democratic leadership like Schumer do not seem to be concerned about Trump back in office. One reason could be that the Democrat elected officials are the biggest victims of the woke activists aka “The Groups” who regularly hold them hostage, demand democratic elected officials support broadly unpopular, political costly policies or they threaten they will sink the Dems election chances. Democrat leaders are almost certainly tired of this game. So if the woke, “The Groups” were politically neutralized, their power broken, Democratic leadership would probably not be unhappy about that.
Hi JVL, first, I agree that the Democratic soul-searching is irritating, but I hope at some point you give us an alternative approach. I agreed with what you said when you were on the focus group podcast, that a large number of people who voted for Trump are just not serious. But Democrats can't do anything except try to figure out how to get more people to vote for them. They aren't even willing to subtly snub Trump by skipping the inauguration or not allowing him in the White House before he's inaugurated. Which means they are certainly not going to set up left-wing militias to prepare for war against the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. So some constructive advice there would be useful at some point.
Second, simple genuine concern about women's sports is a gateway to going along with the full GOP anti-trans agenda. Put another way, by refusing to acknowledge that trans rights might someday come into conflict with women's sports, the left allows the right to peel off support.
100% with you on the birthright attack on the constitution. Its just his favorite topic, xenophobia, as cover for probing how to alter and weaken the constitution.
I don't spend much time on Twitter, but I did see today that Bill Kristol joined the somewhat-insane chorus of those saying that Elon Musk made a Nazi salute. He didn't make a Nazi salute. He thanked the crowd, put his hand on his heart, then thrust his arm out toward the crowd and said "My heart goes out to you." To claim this was a Nazi salute is counterproductive, to put it mildly. In response to Bill's preposterous claim, scores of people (I stopped after a quick scroll through the first one hundred) posted photos of...well, Hilary, AOC, Kamala, Obama, etc., etc., making the exact identical gesture. This, my friends, only discredits the Bulwark and other anti-Trump efforts. A point many many people made in their response posts. Not smart, to say the least. Like some of the Lawfare cases, this approach only backfires. No one thinks Elon is a Nazi. Not even the many people who really really dislike him for a host of reasons.
The Democratic Party appears to be floundering about, not able to figure out what went wrong in the recent election. And if Kristol's comment on Musk is an indication, The Resistance is going to repeat the same disastrous approach as the last eight years. It didn't work.
Have no idea what your comment means. Some dig against the Free Press. My impression is that its readers tend to be moderates -- the very people that will be essential to the Democrats regaining a majority. But you be you.
The link to the Democrats doing the Nazi salute are all screenshots for a reason. If you look at the actual video where they are supposedly making the hand gestures, you'll clearly see it's not a Nazi salute. I found the underlying video within 10 seconds of googling it.
What approach? The truth? I was pointing out that Twitter saying that prominent Democrats had done Nazi salutes was false. You can decide for yourself whether you think Musk did the Nazi salute.
Of course they weren't Nazi salutes!! I don't need to look up videos to know that Hilary, Elizabeth Warren, Obama, etc., weren't making Nazi salutes. Anyone who says they were forfeits all credibility. That was my EXACT POINT about Mr. Kristol.
Don't you see that you just embolden neo-Nazis by telling them "Oh, Elon agrees with you, Elon is one of you, you can count on him." Counterproductive strategy in so many ways, including, as I said in my original post, that normal people dismiss you as having, in this instance, Elon-Derangement-Syndrone. You discredit yourself; people tune it out. Don't you have conversations with any everyday people? If you do, ask them, "Did you see Elon give the Nazi salute at the Trump rally"? and see what reaction you get. Does it help or hurt the cause? Very stupid of Kristol.
If you want to find REAL Nazis -- the type that would be happy to murder all Jews -- go to one of the many pro-Hamas rallies (you might bump into AOC there).
Nazis and white supremacists don't need Bill Kristol or anybody else to embolden them. They're plenty bold. And they already think Elon agrees with them because he reminds the world regularly that does.
Nice pivot to Hamas! I had a feeling that's where we were headed. Of course, the mere existence of Hamas completely negates any possibility that the richest man in the world is a dangerous, unhinged bigot. How could I have failed to see that?
Anyhow, good luck doing PR for Elon. I fear you have your work cut out for you.
Fine. You just keep it up. Keep calling Musk a Nazi. And his followers, too, I suppose. Make yourself feel good. Do that -- make that your strategy -- and the Democrats will be shut out for a generation.
I reckon we'll see, as my late granny liked to say. If sucking up to rich racists is what it takes to win, better to lose elections than your soul. Have a nice evening.
The snarky "have a nice evening" captures your character better than the phony-virtue talk about losing one's soul. But you just keep going....call everyone a Nazi -- or now I see it's "rich racist" -- and things will go just dandy. (As to the "rich" part, I read Zuckerberg's response to Elizabeth Warren the other day, saying she didn't have a problem with his money when he was giving a ton of it to Democrats.)
I cannot lie....this hurts bad...I wish I could blame trump. He is not doing this.....It's every single creature that rose up from the bowels of hell(or what ever you want to call it). They sat dormant for many many moons, orbits, generations, waiting, painfully patient, festuring on the anticipation of just the right time, when energies meet to transform them into a plan.
Seriously trump doesn't have enough concentration to read a book, let alone create a plan. He's only the spark. He needs thousands of smelly, belching, viscous creatures to do this. People capable of being unaffected by human suffering.
My stomach turns when I think of these people sitting in groups developing plans like this. Where does their mind go when they devise this sh#t?
How many days left in his term? How many nights left?
Resistance has already started though....I hear there are lawsuits and protests and people inspired by the cruelty to get involved in refurbishing and repairing the country.
JVL there will be so many difficult days from now on! So you are right to say that we need to take a step back and take a deep breath! Otherwise we need to continue to show integrity in what we are doing every day! We need to be honest with ourselves and the people around us, we need to be supportive to each other.
The biggest issue I've been struggling with since the election - what do we DO?
JVL talks about pace, and I think he's right about it, but - what are we pacing ourselves for? What am I saving/recharging energy to do exactly? What concrete actions are we going to take to stop Trump or fix what's broken when he's gone? This brings me back to JVL's earlier post about "Let Trump Be Trump" - Dems have shielded the American people from what Trump is, and if they are going to learn, they need to feel it. I can get on board with part of that, but what are we as concerned Americans and members of the Bulwark community supposed to tangibly undertake in our communities to move past Trumpism?
Read more articles? Comment on X, FB, Insta, or Bluesky?
There's a lot of talk about staying vigilant and not getting exhausted, but you have to actually do something with the energy, power and influence you have, otherwise, you're just doom-scrolling through America's descent into autocracy.
I don't want to sit here and wallow, I want to stop it from happening or participate in a positive recovery and re-building in America.
This is scary stuff.
Great analysis! I loved the description of congressional Democrats as NPCs. The leadership definitely is. Also wise advice on finding that Golden Mean to stay engaged and remain healthy over the next 4 years.
He is clearly at war with the US Coast Guard - firing the Commandant at midnight - one might wonder if this is it or will the heads of the other services be instantly relieved of their duties. Is it legal? Nobody seems to know - but nobody in the news industry is even discussing this unprecedented action
Yes Trump is targeting pain for Democratic voters, but Trump and MAGA rhetoric seems like they will mostly focus fire on the “woke” activists. JVL observes that the Democratic leadership like Schumer do not seem to be concerned about Trump back in office. One reason could be that the Democrat elected officials are the biggest victims of the woke activists aka “The Groups” who regularly hold them hostage, demand democratic elected officials support broadly unpopular, political costly policies or they threaten they will sink the Dems election chances. Democrat leaders are almost certainly tired of this game. So if the woke, “The Groups” were politically neutralized, their power broken, Democratic leadership would probably not be unhappy about that.
Thank you JVL
Hi JVL, first, I agree that the Democratic soul-searching is irritating, but I hope at some point you give us an alternative approach. I agreed with what you said when you were on the focus group podcast, that a large number of people who voted for Trump are just not serious. But Democrats can't do anything except try to figure out how to get more people to vote for them. They aren't even willing to subtly snub Trump by skipping the inauguration or not allowing him in the White House before he's inaugurated. Which means they are certainly not going to set up left-wing militias to prepare for war against the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. So some constructive advice there would be useful at some point.
Second, simple genuine concern about women's sports is a gateway to going along with the full GOP anti-trans agenda. Put another way, by refusing to acknowledge that trans rights might someday come into conflict with women's sports, the left allows the right to peel off support.
Trump is going wild.
And nary a peep from Democrats and Republicans.
Looks like "Shock and Awe" is working. 😱
Relieved to see you back, JVL. When I didn’t see a Triad yesterday I was afraid you had jumped off a bridge somewhere. (Only half joking.)
100% with you on the birthright attack on the constitution. Its just his favorite topic, xenophobia, as cover for probing how to alter and weaken the constitution.
I don't spend much time on Twitter, but I did see today that Bill Kristol joined the somewhat-insane chorus of those saying that Elon Musk made a Nazi salute. He didn't make a Nazi salute. He thanked the crowd, put his hand on his heart, then thrust his arm out toward the crowd and said "My heart goes out to you." To claim this was a Nazi salute is counterproductive, to put it mildly. In response to Bill's preposterous claim, scores of people (I stopped after a quick scroll through the first one hundred) posted photos of...well, Hilary, AOC, Kamala, Obama, etc., etc., making the exact identical gesture. This, my friends, only discredits the Bulwark and other anti-Trump efforts. A point many many people made in their response posts. Not smart, to say the least. Like some of the Lawfare cases, this approach only backfires. No one thinks Elon is a Nazi. Not even the many people who really really dislike him for a host of reasons.
https://x.com/Deano9981/status/1881808025406833099
The Democratic Party appears to be floundering about, not able to figure out what went wrong in the recent election. And if Kristol's comment on Musk is an indication, The Resistance is going to repeat the same disastrous approach as the last eight years. It didn't work.
hahahahahaha. hooboy funny stuff. your free press subscription is showing. anti antis always find a way to get to the essential command.
Have no idea what your comment means. Some dig against the Free Press. My impression is that its readers tend to be moderates -- the very people that will be essential to the Democrats regaining a majority. But you be you.
yes yes i know….we made you do it.
The link to the Democrats doing the Nazi salute are all screenshots for a reason. If you look at the actual video where they are supposedly making the hand gestures, you'll clearly see it's not a Nazi salute. I found the underlying video within 10 seconds of googling it.
Fine. You just keep up this approach, and the Democrats will be shut out for a generation. Congratulations.
What approach? The truth? I was pointing out that Twitter saying that prominent Democrats had done Nazi salutes was false. You can decide for yourself whether you think Musk did the Nazi salute.
Of course they weren't Nazi salutes!! I don't need to look up videos to know that Hilary, Elizabeth Warren, Obama, etc., weren't making Nazi salutes. Anyone who says they were forfeits all credibility. That was my EXACT POINT about Mr. Kristol.
One of many differences between Musk and all the other people you named is that he endorses nazis: https://apnews.com/article/germany-scholz-elon-musk-far-right-afd-95cc5325bde8f5a0065da9dad98da926
Also, nazis think he's their boy: https://www.wired.com/story/neo-nazis-love-elon-musk-nazi-like-salutes-trumps-inauguration/
If it talks like a nazi and hangs with nazis and throws a Sieg Heil like a nazi, it's a nazi.
Don't you see that you just embolden neo-Nazis by telling them "Oh, Elon agrees with you, Elon is one of you, you can count on him." Counterproductive strategy in so many ways, including, as I said in my original post, that normal people dismiss you as having, in this instance, Elon-Derangement-Syndrone. You discredit yourself; people tune it out. Don't you have conversations with any everyday people? If you do, ask them, "Did you see Elon give the Nazi salute at the Trump rally"? and see what reaction you get. Does it help or hurt the cause? Very stupid of Kristol.
If you want to find REAL Nazis -- the type that would be happy to murder all Jews -- go to one of the many pro-Hamas rallies (you might bump into AOC there).
Nazis and white supremacists don't need Bill Kristol or anybody else to embolden them. They're plenty bold. And they already think Elon agrees with them because he reminds the world regularly that does.
Nice pivot to Hamas! I had a feeling that's where we were headed. Of course, the mere existence of Hamas completely negates any possibility that the richest man in the world is a dangerous, unhinged bigot. How could I have failed to see that?
Anyhow, good luck doing PR for Elon. I fear you have your work cut out for you.
Fine. You just keep it up. Keep calling Musk a Nazi. And his followers, too, I suppose. Make yourself feel good. Do that -- make that your strategy -- and the Democrats will be shut out for a generation.
I reckon we'll see, as my late granny liked to say. If sucking up to rich racists is what it takes to win, better to lose elections than your soul. Have a nice evening.
The snarky "have a nice evening" captures your character better than the phony-virtue talk about losing one's soul. But you just keep going....call everyone a Nazi -- or now I see it's "rich racist" -- and things will go just dandy. (As to the "rich" part, I read Zuckerberg's response to Elizabeth Warren the other day, saying she didn't have a problem with his money when he was giving a ton of it to Democrats.)
"No one thinks Elon is a Nazi. No one."
Assertion in need of evidence. I wouldn't call him a Nazi myself, but there are certainly people who, given his support of AfD, would call him a Nazi.
I cannot lie....this hurts bad...I wish I could blame trump. He is not doing this.....It's every single creature that rose up from the bowels of hell(or what ever you want to call it). They sat dormant for many many moons, orbits, generations, waiting, painfully patient, festuring on the anticipation of just the right time, when energies meet to transform them into a plan.
Seriously trump doesn't have enough concentration to read a book, let alone create a plan. He's only the spark. He needs thousands of smelly, belching, viscous creatures to do this. People capable of being unaffected by human suffering.
My stomach turns when I think of these people sitting in groups developing plans like this. Where does their mind go when they devise this sh#t?
How many days left in his term? How many nights left?
Resistance has already started though....I hear there are lawsuits and protests and people inspired by the cruelty to get involved in refurbishing and repairing the country.
You seem to be saying we're already in a kind of civil war. I can't fault your thinking so am going to need to sit with that a while.
JVL there will be so many difficult days from now on! So you are right to say that we need to take a step back and take a deep breath! Otherwise we need to continue to show integrity in what we are doing every day! We need to be honest with ourselves and the people around us, we need to be supportive to each other.
Hanging in.
Great Triad. Glad JVL was recharging.
The courts were the most significant barrier to Trump's fever dreams in the last term, too, as I remember.
The biggest issue I've been struggling with since the election - what do we DO?
JVL talks about pace, and I think he's right about it, but - what are we pacing ourselves for? What am I saving/recharging energy to do exactly? What concrete actions are we going to take to stop Trump or fix what's broken when he's gone? This brings me back to JVL's earlier post about "Let Trump Be Trump" - Dems have shielded the American people from what Trump is, and if they are going to learn, they need to feel it. I can get on board with part of that, but what are we as concerned Americans and members of the Bulwark community supposed to tangibly undertake in our communities to move past Trumpism?
Read more articles? Comment on X, FB, Insta, or Bluesky?
There's a lot of talk about staying vigilant and not getting exhausted, but you have to actually do something with the energy, power and influence you have, otherwise, you're just doom-scrolling through America's descent into autocracy.
I don't want to sit here and wallow, I want to stop it from happening or participate in a positive recovery and re-building in America.
So, what are we actually going to do...
Excellent questions, I also want to know this!
Get ready to get out the vote for the 2026 midterms, I guess?