After Trump won, I cancelled my subscription to the Bulwark in a post-election rage. I just rejoined again today, but I am already regretting that decision. All the stories I used to devour on here seem like they no longer matter. Trump is grifting and doing bad things? Who cares? Trump has immunity now, and any grift or illegal behavior can look like a presidential duty if the Surpreme Court squints hard enough. Trump doing things that hurt his own MAGA followers? Who cares? They knew that when they voted for him, and anything that DOES happen to creep into their lizard brains through independent sources is easily dismissed as fake news. Trump picking cabinet members who would never pass muster? Who cares? He will just call for a congressional recess and make everyone an "acting" cabinet member, FBI background checks be damned. Sure, he might someday eventually get overturned by the Surpreme Court (and that is a BIG might) but if Trump could delay a dozen criminal and civil trials against him, he can certainly drag his feet on this.
That certainly doesn't mean that I am giving up. I will still fight hard to minimize whatever damage he is about to inflict on my country and my family and my friends. But logging onto this site every day for the falso hope that whatever nugget of anti-Trump news Tim or Bill dangle in front of us will make a damn bit of difference, seems...quaint. Naive. Almost cruel.
So, I offer the question: What am I doing here? What are you doing here?
The joke I wish to share is, I wish somebody would shoot RFK Jr.
Remember how our culture took note of how death seemed to occur more often and more strikingly among the Kennedy family such that a rock band even named itself, Dead Kennedys. And writers in all levels pondered its strange deaths. This was the same way people have always identified and spoken about haunted houses and other places with “bad luck”. Perhaps there is a deeper unresolved ancestor or spirit behind it? And this “one” is either in the driver’s seat of RFK Jr, or he has grabbed the wheel and is trying to fight it off by means of obsessional health (life) promotions and extreme, body building (public and bare). His fight with and/or possession by this unresolved spirit, or “death demon”, shall we say, could soon put him in a direct position to cause thousands of American deaths too, just as Trump’s callous slight of hand over covid management also resulted in many deaths—only it being Trump, always with deniability and at a remove: “Did he really say that? Do that? Mean it? Did it really happen, or is somebody else making it up?” With Bobby Jr there will be no question. Instead of being a victim of extraneous death, the next receiver of the family curse, he will be on the doling-it-out end? And once again the Kennedys will lock into American history, only this time not to deliver not their heroic, positive leadership, but rather—direct and unmitigated—the Family Curse.
Isn’t it interesting how Trump always gets someone else to do the killing for him, but destruction is his aim.
Bill, your poetic swallows are a fine flourish, but they skirt perilously close to romanticizing a storm that’s anything but whimsical. The chill in this political winter is not just Trump; it’s the calcified machinery of self-preservation and moral abdication that has shielded him through scandal after scandal. A few murmurs about Gabbard and Hegseth? The occasional defense of Ukraine? These aren’t harbingers of spring—they’re desperate gasps of a canary begging one last time for relevance in a GOP drowning in its own complicity.
Let’s talk about this “advice and consent” charade. Where was it when unqualified sycophants were paraded into positions of immense power during Trump’s first term? Where was it when constitutional norms were shredded in plain view? Suddenly, the Senate establishment remembers its duty—now that we’re on the precipice of another Trump term, one they likely expect to be his last. But will any of them stand against a 3rd term? If they’d truly cared about the republic, Trump wouldn’t have survived his first impeachment, nor the 2nd. He’d have been held accountable for inciting insurrection, for bending justice to his will, for the countless crimes we all witnessed. Heroes? No, this Congress is not composed of heroes.
The problem isn’t Trump alone—it’s the ecosystem of enablers who’ve transformed cowardice into a governing philosophy. These “swallows” you see are dwarfed by the vultures circling above—those who feast on division, cruelty, and nihilism, who have turned extremism into a political virtue. If the GOP establishment wants redemption, it must do more than whisper in hearings. It must actively dismantle the monster it created.
Spring? Not even close. But perhaps these flickers of dissent could inspire something greater—if only the rest of us weren’t so accustomed to winter. For now, the warmth of accountability remains a distant pipe dream, buried under layers of frostbitten governance.
NYT "Breaking News: Trump Says He Will Impose 25% Tariff on Canada and Mexico on Day 1 President-elect Donald Trump said that he would impose a 25 percent tariff on all products coming into the United States from Canada and Mexico on his first day in office, a move that would scramble North American supply chains."
Oh, good. He's going to tank the economy on Day 1. Anyone getting the tar and feathers in stock?
Why leave out Senator Lisa Murkowski, who spoke out before any of these guys, commenting that Gaetz did not sound like a serious nomination. She has frequently shown considerable backbone and independence.
And, in reaction to the pessimism and sarcasm of many of these comments, i believe our energy is better spent supporting those gathering strength to stand up against these terrible nominations. Let's show some backbone ourselves, my friends.
Pete C raises an important task about how to help future generations. Kakistocracy (government by the least qualified and most corrupt), autocracy (authoritarianism/dictatorship), kleptocracy (state sanctioned corruption), and theocracy (no separation of church and state), have already arrived. We and they must figure out how to change the Age of Criminality and Mediocrity to an Age of Integrity and Decency. My grand kids, 19 and 22, are well prepared. They have courage. There are more good people in America like them, than those who are ignorant, bad, or clueless. We need to figure out how to get us all together so good can triumph over evil.
As a septuagenarian who remembers when the US government was functional, my top concern is this: How do we prepare our children and grandchildren for what is likely, that is, an authoritarian kleptocracy?
"Some notable elected Republicans are showing faint signs of independent thought". That's about the same as saying that parrot in the Monty Python skit is showing faint signs of life.
Hopefully, you are right that moderate GOP Senators will re-emerge from their do-nothing opposition to Biden legislation. I also think that they realize now that primary challenges from MAGA are not necessarily that dangerous to them, especially in a mid-term. Recall the 2022 losses by such as Kari Lake, Herschel Walker, Doug Mastriano, and Mehmet Oz (oh, how they try and try again!). I continue to wonder why Trump decided to announce his picks so early, giving so much time for others to gather and consolidate opposition. Is it just his arrogance, or is he really so deluded as to think that he has a mandate and there won't be any opposition? It seems like a really stupid move to me.
I can't understand why anyone is giving Trump or his toady minions or the GOP any possible benefit of any doubt. We know that Trump is going to do everything he did the first time, only worse. Emoluments clause? The GOP blocked all efforts to hold Trump to account and enforce the law. This time all he has to do is claim presidential authority. Trump voters have, eyes wide open, turned the white House into a crime syndicate. Calling Trump dangerous beggars the word "dangerous." Crossing the street without looking is dangerous, so we look both ways. Trump is beyond dangerous.
After Trump won, I cancelled my subscription to the Bulwark in a post-election rage. I just rejoined again today, but I am already regretting that decision. All the stories I used to devour on here seem like they no longer matter. Trump is grifting and doing bad things? Who cares? Trump has immunity now, and any grift or illegal behavior can look like a presidential duty if the Surpreme Court squints hard enough. Trump doing things that hurt his own MAGA followers? Who cares? They knew that when they voted for him, and anything that DOES happen to creep into their lizard brains through independent sources is easily dismissed as fake news. Trump picking cabinet members who would never pass muster? Who cares? He will just call for a congressional recess and make everyone an "acting" cabinet member, FBI background checks be damned. Sure, he might someday eventually get overturned by the Surpreme Court (and that is a BIG might) but if Trump could delay a dozen criminal and civil trials against him, he can certainly drag his feet on this.
That certainly doesn't mean that I am giving up. I will still fight hard to minimize whatever damage he is about to inflict on my country and my family and my friends. But logging onto this site every day for the falso hope that whatever nugget of anti-Trump news Tim or Bill dangle in front of us will make a damn bit of difference, seems...quaint. Naive. Almost cruel.
So, I offer the question: What am I doing here? What are you doing here?
The joke I wish to share is, I wish somebody would shoot RFK Jr.
Remember how our culture took note of how death seemed to occur more often and more strikingly among the Kennedy family such that a rock band even named itself, Dead Kennedys. And writers in all levels pondered its strange deaths. This was the same way people have always identified and spoken about haunted houses and other places with “bad luck”. Perhaps there is a deeper unresolved ancestor or spirit behind it? And this “one” is either in the driver’s seat of RFK Jr, or he has grabbed the wheel and is trying to fight it off by means of obsessional health (life) promotions and extreme, body building (public and bare). His fight with and/or possession by this unresolved spirit, or “death demon”, shall we say, could soon put him in a direct position to cause thousands of American deaths too, just as Trump’s callous slight of hand over covid management also resulted in many deaths—only it being Trump, always with deniability and at a remove: “Did he really say that? Do that? Mean it? Did it really happen, or is somebody else making it up?” With Bobby Jr there will be no question. Instead of being a victim of extraneous death, the next receiver of the family curse, he will be on the doling-it-out end? And once again the Kennedys will lock into American history, only this time not to deliver not their heroic, positive leadership, but rather—direct and unmitigated—the Family Curse.
Isn’t it interesting how Trump always gets someone else to do the killing for him, but destruction is his aim.
Bill, your poetic swallows are a fine flourish, but they skirt perilously close to romanticizing a storm that’s anything but whimsical. The chill in this political winter is not just Trump; it’s the calcified machinery of self-preservation and moral abdication that has shielded him through scandal after scandal. A few murmurs about Gabbard and Hegseth? The occasional defense of Ukraine? These aren’t harbingers of spring—they’re desperate gasps of a canary begging one last time for relevance in a GOP drowning in its own complicity.
Let’s talk about this “advice and consent” charade. Where was it when unqualified sycophants were paraded into positions of immense power during Trump’s first term? Where was it when constitutional norms were shredded in plain view? Suddenly, the Senate establishment remembers its duty—now that we’re on the precipice of another Trump term, one they likely expect to be his last. But will any of them stand against a 3rd term? If they’d truly cared about the republic, Trump wouldn’t have survived his first impeachment, nor the 2nd. He’d have been held accountable for inciting insurrection, for bending justice to his will, for the countless crimes we all witnessed. Heroes? No, this Congress is not composed of heroes.
The problem isn’t Trump alone—it’s the ecosystem of enablers who’ve transformed cowardice into a governing philosophy. These “swallows” you see are dwarfed by the vultures circling above—those who feast on division, cruelty, and nihilism, who have turned extremism into a political virtue. If the GOP establishment wants redemption, it must do more than whisper in hearings. It must actively dismantle the monster it created.
Spring? Not even close. But perhaps these flickers of dissent could inspire something greater—if only the rest of us weren’t so accustomed to winter. For now, the warmth of accountability remains a distant pipe dream, buried under layers of frostbitten governance.
For anyone that enjoys Canadian whiskey or Mexican tequila, this might be a good time to stock up.
NYT "Breaking News: Trump Says He Will Impose 25% Tariff on Canada and Mexico on Day 1 President-elect Donald Trump said that he would impose a 25 percent tariff on all products coming into the United States from Canada and Mexico on his first day in office, a move that would scramble North American supply chains."
Oh, good. He's going to tank the economy on Day 1. Anyone getting the tar and feathers in stock?
Hello inflation rate; round 1 Round 2; deportation
"sober Aristotle" He founded IT, right?
Why leave out Senator Lisa Murkowski, who spoke out before any of these guys, commenting that Gaetz did not sound like a serious nomination. She has frequently shown considerable backbone and independence.
And, in reaction to the pessimism and sarcasm of many of these comments, i believe our energy is better spent supporting those gathering strength to stand up against these terrible nominations. Let's show some backbone ourselves, my friends.
Pete C raises an important task about how to help future generations. Kakistocracy (government by the least qualified and most corrupt), autocracy (authoritarianism/dictatorship), kleptocracy (state sanctioned corruption), and theocracy (no separation of church and state), have already arrived. We and they must figure out how to change the Age of Criminality and Mediocrity to an Age of Integrity and Decency. My grand kids, 19 and 22, are well prepared. They have courage. There are more good people in America like them, than those who are ignorant, bad, or clueless. We need to figure out how to get us all together so good can triumph over evil.
Ha ha. It's like when you get a cat for a pet. You don't want to make sudden movements and spook him.
The Senators have to go home and live among their constituents. I think their cowardice will remain.
Of course. We're getting together Fruday.
As a septuagenarian who remembers when the US government was functional, my top concern is this: How do we prepare our children and grandchildren for what is likely, that is, an authoritarian kleptocracy?
Encourage them to learn foreign languages to expand their geographic options.
And study history; US and World. Those who don't learn from it are bound to repeat its mistakes.
"Some notable elected Republicans are showing faint signs of independent thought". That's about the same as saying that parrot in the Monty Python skit is showing faint signs of life.
I think that they probably spent the only shot they had in them on Gaetz.
Hopefully, you are right that moderate GOP Senators will re-emerge from their do-nothing opposition to Biden legislation. I also think that they realize now that primary challenges from MAGA are not necessarily that dangerous to them, especially in a mid-term. Recall the 2022 losses by such as Kari Lake, Herschel Walker, Doug Mastriano, and Mehmet Oz (oh, how they try and try again!). I continue to wonder why Trump decided to announce his picks so early, giving so much time for others to gather and consolidate opposition. Is it just his arrogance, or is he really so deluded as to think that he has a mandate and there won't be any opposition? It seems like a really stupid move to me.
With Jack Smith dropping the federal charges against Trump, it has to be said that this career criminal is truly the Teflon Don. God help us all.
I can't understand why anyone is giving Trump or his toady minions or the GOP any possible benefit of any doubt. We know that Trump is going to do everything he did the first time, only worse. Emoluments clause? The GOP blocked all efforts to hold Trump to account and enforce the law. This time all he has to do is claim presidential authority. Trump voters have, eyes wide open, turned the white House into a crime syndicate. Calling Trump dangerous beggars the word "dangerous." Crossing the street without looking is dangerous, so we look both ways. Trump is beyond dangerous.