I can't watch it. He makes me physically ill. I'll wait for your thoughts when it's over. Of course, he's bragged that it's going to be really special. let the clown show begin. gag.
Ditto! Big thanks to the Bulwark for taking one for the team. Make sure you have a stiff drink in your hands during or meditate before and after. It will be gross.
to moderate that properly one may have to require adding adjectives in front of the word dem. Like drink when 3 adjectives are used, those radical, evil, cheating dems. if not, it's a trip to the ER.
Couldn't agree more with everything you noted. And an added benefit of not watching will be to minimize the viewership numbers that he cares so much about. Of course, he'll inflate them publicly regardless but not going to take part.
Yeah- me too. I will not watch it. I'll hop on Substack or Bluesky to check in from time to time & see thoughts from those I follow. Such as The Bulwark! :)
Of course they want to extinguish Social Security … they don’t suffer, they don’t want, they only desire to those who DO need & want to suffer. How dare they! Billionaires are the only true patriots. To the country of ME MYSELF: Let ‘’em eat … nothing!
They won’t abolish it, they want to keep it on life support to loot it.
Privatized SS is a stream of taxes from which management fees beyond the wildest dreams of avarice can be extracted. And which can be funneled into investments—“investments” in quotes— that managers can sell to a vastly expanded universe of people who can’t even figure out how to amortize a loan using a spreadsheet. 99% of Americans are a dream clientele of ignorant suckers who are totally incapable of understanding how they are being fleeced.
A truly privatized system is not contemplated. Contributions will continue to be mandatory. .
This is too harsh on the victims It is not to be expected that the average citizen will have devoted the time and energy required to decode our economic system. Or the health system. Or science. Which is why liberals want a Nanny state — to prevent exploitation of those whose lives through no fault of their own have not afforded them the experience needed to recognize every sort of hot stove to avoid.
And I get reamed by trumpsters living next to us because I called mump exactly what he is - a dictator. They don't get it and it doesn't take a HS education to see what has been happening for a long long time now.
This piece paints a bleak picture of what’s happening to Social Security under Trump and Musk’s so-called "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE). The term itself is ironic, "efficiency" in government, at least in this context, seems to mean gutting vital services, hollowing out agencies, and setting the stage for a privatization push that no one actually voted for.
The warning signs are clear:
1. Mass layoffs and office closures at SSA → This directly affects service levels. If you’ve ever had to deal with Social Security, you know that long wait times and bureaucratic headaches are already a challenge. Cutting staff and closing offices will only make this worse, especially for the elderly and disabled who rely on in-person support.
2. "Outsourcing non-essential functions" → What exactly does that mean? It sounds like they’re laying the groundwork for handing pieces of Social Security over to private industry, potentially shifting responsibilities to corporations that will prioritize profit over service. AI replacing human call center agents may be part of this plan, but as O’Malley pointed out, Social Security isn't just about numbers—it’s about helping people navigate complex, life-altering situations.
3. Deliberate dismantling of SSA to justify privatization → This is a classic playbook move: starve a public program of resources, watch it struggle, then claim that the private sector is the only solution. Wyden is right to call this out—hollowing out Social Security first, then using its decline as a justification for privatization, is a calculated strategy.
4. Potential for Social Security "interruption" → If O’Malley is right and benefit payments get delayed or disrupted, it would be the first time in SSA’s history that such a crisis happens. That would be catastrophic. Millions rely on those checks to survive.
There’s also a more profound concern here—DOGE is operating with seemingly unchecked executive power. Even if Congress allocates funds, Trump’s team is signaling that they’ll simply ignore legislative intent unless the courts intervene. This creates a dangerous precedent where the executive branch can unilaterally sabotage programs it dislikes, regardless of public or congressional opposition.
It’s a textbook case of authoritarian erosion:
1. Destroy an institution from within.
2. Make it nonfunctional.
3. Use the chaos as an excuse to replace it with a privatized, less accountable alternative.
Democrats can scream about this all they want, but without power, their options are limited. The best they can do is push for funding in budget bills (which Trump might ignore) or hope lawsuits can slow the process. The fact that this is happening while baby boomers are retiring en masse is especially cruel; this is exactly when Social Security needs more resources, not fewer.
The biggest question is: Where does this end? If Social Security is being dismantled, what’s next? Medicare? Public education? USPS? If efficiency means gutting essential programs to enrich private industry, then no public service is safe.
This isn’t just about Social Security. It’s about whether public institutions that support ordinary people will continue to exist; or whether they’ll be replaced by corporate interests that treat basic survival as a business opportunity.
When I was hired by USPS (40 + years ago), there were just under 1 million employees there. Today the number is a little over 400,000. More than half of those remaining employees deliver the mail to more than 80 million distinct delivery points (addresses) six days a week. The letter carriers. Your mailman. The simple story of the slashing of personnel is a reduction in mail volume. Banks, Insurance companies, advertisers and more began slowly and then rapidly moving to electronic distribution. But the larger issue was the subletting and subcontracting of equipment and personnel to perform the work of getting the mail ready for delivery. Functions performed at hundreds of mail processing and distribution centers were slowly contracted out to be performed more cheaply. Still today, more than 100 thousand humans work nights and weekends processing the mail to get it ready for the letter carrier to deliver the mail to the customer every day.
And the real problem is that delivering mail to every mail box in America - and checking every mailbox in America every day in case that mailbox might have a piece of mail going out- is a losing proposition financially. It always was. It might well be tenable in cities, where people live on top of one another, but in rural areas it is a loss leader every day. Maintaining the largest vehicle fleet in the western hemisphere is expensive. Paying half a million employees is expensive. The constitution (who cares?) provides for the establishment of the postal service. People trust the postal service more than any other government agency. But selling off the profitable sections (read: metropolitan delivery) of the USPS has been on the horizon for decades. And who will be most victimized by such privatization? The same folks who elect Republican leaders who will gladly sell them out in exchange for a campaign contribution from FEDEX, UPS And other entities who will send them an email that tells them to come and get their medication at the nearest center and pay an additional surcharge for their trouble.
When I went to work for the Postal Service, the old timers told me at the time, ‘kid, you’ll never get rich working here, but you’ll never go hungry either’. And they were right. I raised a family, sent kids to school, and paid a mortgage. I took advantage of an opportunity to contribute to a retirement fund and the organization matched (up to 5%) those contributions and allowed me to select options in managing that fund. I retired with a package that paid for continuance of my health insurance and consider myself very fortunate to have done so.
Thanks for this information. A lot of things has changed that the postal service has to deal with and the delivery at every mail box is quite a sticking point. The biggest issue for rural communities is that they can't easily benefit from scale and volume. Their services are expensive to provide, and they keep voting for the party that does not want to pay for their services. Then they get mad at the government. Speaking as someone who lives in the country and does not get made at the government. My rural carrier has gone out of his way to deliver my mail in a few different circumstances. I've had Amazon ignore my delivery instructions, with the end result that my packages have gotten destroyed by my dog. I prefer USPS.
This is not a 2025 plan it’s the same plan the former GOP has had all along, none of these ideas are new! I had an employee that went to dubya war, he told me the repugnants were the one talking big pensions for time put in and I reamed him. I said just watch they will be cutting your benefits and it’s all the time! Again no surprise to me but boy did he get screwed VA give your life and get nothing if you survive or are permanently disabled. I really despise them all.
Regarding the gutting of Social Security staffing, unfortunately this is the wave of our future. Try getting to a live body when you are dealing with an internet/cable connection with Comcast that does not deal with one of their bullet points on their chat line....happened to my neighborhood (four blocks) back in January into February. Not sure what the answer is going forward. Regarding Trump's oratorio tonight, I'm going to a Mardi Gras party, no TVs, cell phones on allowed 😁
Eventually, AI will probably be better than the cheap human labor at a call center. But we're not there yet. We're all going to serve as Elon's guinea pigs.
What they want with SS is to make the experience so bad that they get away with privatizing it. And then they get access to the stream of taxes.
Privatized SS at best is skimming SS with fees and private plans. The best we can hope for under privatized SS is that some of it actually winds up going to recipients. The worst is that AI manages to divert SS payments and all taxes and somehow just can’t seem to keep straight where should go. And straightening it out requires connections and proof of loyalty to MAGA. And in that wise, everyone up the chain from your local Gaultier to the Big Guy at the top will have his hand out.
I hate to tell everybody but they have already done it to Medicare or Social Security health. I was never consulted and they put me into the privatized advance, such a deceitful name they make sure the really uninformed use their verbiage so I have time to switch it to ACA. Not much talk about Obamacare anymore is there, only problem I have to contact them so there goes another week of my life. Good luck everyone.
I hope Ukraine is the issue that Democrats want to make noise about. Unfortunately, they're talking about walking out over transwomen in sports, which would play right into Trump's tiny hands.
It depresses me that Dems are so disorganized and can't organize around the tried-and-true method of mockery against authoritarians - an especially easy task given that Trump is such an incompetent nincompoop wannabe anyway.
Show up in clown suits, don't even pay attention, laugh at everything, interrupt by playing circus organist clips. Dress like caricatures of Republicans and mimic their ass-kissing nonsense. Wear sub BDSM collars with chains if you're dressed as Marco Rubio or Lindsey Graham (the list goes on). Blow kisses and bubbles. Distribute tokens like it's an AA meeting (Here's your 1 month chip, boys. 30 days with no balls). Throw some actually ironic Nazi salutes at certain key phrases, but make sure they're as stupid-looking as Elon's. Distribute Newspeak dictionaries.
But no, they show up all serious and say serious things, which is exactly what these yahoos want. NOBODY CARES about dead children or tragic stories or honor or duty: we LITERALLY JUST HAD AN ELECTION ABOUT THAT. Try something new. Mockery works.
You're absolutely right. Authoritarians thrive on seriousness because it legitimizes them. They want the opposition to show up, act solemn, and play by the old rules. Meanwhile, they get to be outrageous, shameless, and ridiculous without consequences.
Mockery is a powerful weapon, and Trump is uniquely vulnerable to it. He cannot handle being laughed at. He needs to be feared, respected, or at least taken seriously. The absolute worst thing for him is widespread public ridicule that turns him into a joke. The GOP machine follows suit—when their strongman looks weak, their whole identity collapses.
Imagine if Democrats treated every Trump event like a comedy show. Organize flash mobs of people dressed as Trump’s failed businesses. Have someone follow him around playing a sad trombone. Make his rallies a sea of inflatable baby Trump balloons. Treat Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio like the submissive fanboys they are.
The point isn’t just to laugh at them but to strip them of their power by making them objects of mockery. The GOP runs on fear. The antidote? Public humiliation. Turn them into cartoons, and watch their power crumble.
“We have a 50-year low in staffing while the baby boomer generation is swelling their ranks,” he explained. “That’s the underlying reality here, and these guys appear hell-bent on breaking it. It seems they really want to break Social Security.”
From O'Malley's lips to God's ears.
Both of my boomer Trump cult parents rely on their Social Security every month. I'd sure hate it (love) if their deliberate and enthusiastic trifecta of votes to take away my rights also included taking their financial security. Yes, I am a terrible person, exactly as advertised.
Spent hours that I won’t get back in February refreshing my banking app, waiting for the SS deposit. Guess I’ll do the same this month.
I retired in 2015 and remember how kind and helpful the staffer at the local SS office was as I figured out the process. Have to settle for memories, I guess.
Man, talk about bear hugging the third rail. I'm more and more convinced that Trump has surrounded himself with people who are using him as a chaos agent to literally smash the US Government beyond repair so they can rebuild it into some futuristic alt-right/tech-bro utopia. (Believe me, it was strange to type that but it seems more and more true)
I want to give an example of what we the people stand to lose if Muskalini and the Doogies get their way with Social Security. A couple of days ago I needed to contact SSA since I had not received my 1099 income tax form and when I went online I was unable to get my identity information accepted. So, somewhat grudgingly I called the help number. It took about 20 minutes on hold, but “Jane” located in Pennsylvania answered my questions and verbally gave me the information I needed for my taxes and said “I’ve already put a duplicate 1099 income tax form in the mail for you.” Jane was very pleasant, very knowledgeable, and very helpful. I fear with all of Muskalini’s DOGE efficiency such help and support will be gone forever. Of course with these Jackasses screwing with the system we might not have any Social Security to worry about. And Jane and her helpful coworkers will be in the unemployment line.
My oldest son is dependent on Section 8 housing (low income renter assistance). Although it is still in place, the cuts to HUD have him terrified of becoming homeless. For people with mental health conditions, the added anxiety is devastating. It is a very scary time for those who are functional but need a little support to be contributing members of society.
Billionaires profit from economic collapse. That is their goal and agenda--chaos, and serfdom or worse for those not of their supposed ilk. Which means the only cut that will matter is the one that gets all of them. I'm beginning not to care how or by whom. Our politicians lack courage, spine, integrity. Average Americans are numb or support, absurdly, the disaster that is upon us. It will take courageous people willing to sacrifice pretty much everything to stop the dark forces now in control. Not a remotely happy prospect. But the alternative is the end of what most of us love about America--its ideals, its Constitutional form of government, the rights we enjoy. Or used to, at any rate. We are in a tragedy of our own making, and only we can undo it, if we will.
I read a book that came out recently by Bill Adair, who was the founder, I think, of Politifact, a fact-checking organization. The book was "Beyond the Big Lie: The Epidemic of Political Lying, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Can Burn Down Our Democracy." And while Adair is quick to point out he's not trying to create false equivalences, and that Republicans are much worse, he does want to stress that Democrats lie, too. Except, his favorite go-to example for Democratic lying is their insistence that Republicans are going to come for people's Social Security. Adair insists there is no evidence for this.
But there is plenty of evidence! Bush literally tried to privatize it in his second term, turning Social Security into a winners and losers affair. Rick Scott's GOP platform for 2024 explicitly included cuts to entitlements, which forced Mitch McConnell to publicly distance himself from his own party's platform. And now we have DOGE.
There simply is no comparison between the two major parties.
Exactly. The "both sides lie" argument is one of the laziest, most corrosive tropes in political journalism. It gives cover to the party actively trying to dismantle democracy while nitpicking the party trying to prevent it.
Republicans have tried to gut Social Security. George W. Bush went full steam ahead on privatization. Paul Ryan spent his entire career dreaming of slashing entitlements. Rick Scott proposed sunsetting Social Security entirely every five years. And now we have Donald Trump openly calling for cuts, while his Super PAC just put out a budget blueprint pushing the same thing.
Bill Adair might have founded PolitiFact, but this take is PolitiFiction. There’s a difference between distorting the truth and stating the obvious based on historical precedent. When one party repeatedly introduces legislation, floats budgets, and openly states their desire to "reform" (read: gut) Social Security, it’s not a lie to say they’ll do it. It’s a warning based on observable reality.
Democrats aren’t perfect. But only one party is actively trying to strip away fundamental rights, dismantle democracy, and serve the ultra-rich at everyone else's expense. Pretending otherwise isn’t “balance.” It’s malpractice.
I'm anxiously awaiting my March SS deposit next Wednesday! Our local electric company is Canadian, in the middle of the Midwest. I've always wondered why people who want to abolish Social Security don't know that the payroll deposits will also stop. 🤔
I can't watch it. He makes me physically ill. I'll wait for your thoughts when it's over. Of course, he's bragged that it's going to be really special. let the clown show begin. gag.
I’m with you. I will not watch
Ditto! Big thanks to the Bulwark for taking one for the team. Make sure you have a stiff drink in your hands during or meditate before and after. It will be gross.
Take a drink every time he bashes a Dem.
Don’t do it! You’ll die of alcohol poisoning!
You drink when he bashes a Dem, and I'll drink when he bashes a Republican. Who will be drunk first?
to moderate that properly one may have to require adding adjectives in front of the word dem. Like drink when 3 adjectives are used, those radical, evil, cheating dems. if not, it's a trip to the ER.
Couldn't agree more with everything you noted. And an added benefit of not watching will be to minimize the viewership numbers that he cares so much about. Of course, he'll inflate them publicly regardless but not going to take part.
Yeah- me too. I will not watch it. I'll hop on Substack or Bluesky to check in from time to time & see thoughts from those I follow. Such as The Bulwark! :)
I’d rather go to a slaughterhouse
Trump’s spirit animal is a feral hog
Destroys everything, shits on crops, etc. Think of all the things Trump and MAGA have ruined…..
American Flag, Friendship with Canada, baseball caps, red ties, travel to Europe (coming soon!)
Ditto.
Amen.
His self aggrandizing and puerile style of speaking makes me queasy and the Republican's worshipful responses would make me barf 🤮
Looking forward to the response though.
Of course they want to extinguish Social Security … they don’t suffer, they don’t want, they only desire to those who DO need & want to suffer. How dare they! Billionaires are the only true patriots. To the country of ME MYSELF: Let ‘’em eat … nothing!
They won’t abolish it, they want to keep it on life support to loot it.
Privatized SS is a stream of taxes from which management fees beyond the wildest dreams of avarice can be extracted. And which can be funneled into investments—“investments” in quotes— that managers can sell to a vastly expanded universe of people who can’t even figure out how to amortize a loan using a spreadsheet. 99% of Americans are a dream clientele of ignorant suckers who are totally incapable of understanding how they are being fleeced.
A truly privatized system is not contemplated. Contributions will continue to be mandatory. .
This is too harsh on the victims It is not to be expected that the average citizen will have devoted the time and energy required to decode our economic system. Or the health system. Or science. Which is why liberals want a Nanny state — to prevent exploitation of those whose lives through no fault of their own have not afforded them the experience needed to recognize every sort of hot stove to avoid.
Yes, of course—the lootable USA.
And I get reamed by trumpsters living next to us because I called mump exactly what he is - a dictator. They don't get it and it doesn't take a HS education to see what has been happening for a long long time now.
This piece paints a bleak picture of what’s happening to Social Security under Trump and Musk’s so-called "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE). The term itself is ironic, "efficiency" in government, at least in this context, seems to mean gutting vital services, hollowing out agencies, and setting the stage for a privatization push that no one actually voted for.
The warning signs are clear:
1. Mass layoffs and office closures at SSA → This directly affects service levels. If you’ve ever had to deal with Social Security, you know that long wait times and bureaucratic headaches are already a challenge. Cutting staff and closing offices will only make this worse, especially for the elderly and disabled who rely on in-person support.
2. "Outsourcing non-essential functions" → What exactly does that mean? It sounds like they’re laying the groundwork for handing pieces of Social Security over to private industry, potentially shifting responsibilities to corporations that will prioritize profit over service. AI replacing human call center agents may be part of this plan, but as O’Malley pointed out, Social Security isn't just about numbers—it’s about helping people navigate complex, life-altering situations.
3. Deliberate dismantling of SSA to justify privatization → This is a classic playbook move: starve a public program of resources, watch it struggle, then claim that the private sector is the only solution. Wyden is right to call this out—hollowing out Social Security first, then using its decline as a justification for privatization, is a calculated strategy.
4. Potential for Social Security "interruption" → If O’Malley is right and benefit payments get delayed or disrupted, it would be the first time in SSA’s history that such a crisis happens. That would be catastrophic. Millions rely on those checks to survive.
There’s also a more profound concern here—DOGE is operating with seemingly unchecked executive power. Even if Congress allocates funds, Trump’s team is signaling that they’ll simply ignore legislative intent unless the courts intervene. This creates a dangerous precedent where the executive branch can unilaterally sabotage programs it dislikes, regardless of public or congressional opposition.
It’s a textbook case of authoritarian erosion:
1. Destroy an institution from within.
2. Make it nonfunctional.
3. Use the chaos as an excuse to replace it with a privatized, less accountable alternative.
Democrats can scream about this all they want, but without power, their options are limited. The best they can do is push for funding in budget bills (which Trump might ignore) or hope lawsuits can slow the process. The fact that this is happening while baby boomers are retiring en masse is especially cruel; this is exactly when Social Security needs more resources, not fewer.
The biggest question is: Where does this end? If Social Security is being dismantled, what’s next? Medicare? Public education? USPS? If efficiency means gutting essential programs to enrich private industry, then no public service is safe.
This isn’t just about Social Security. It’s about whether public institutions that support ordinary people will continue to exist; or whether they’ll be replaced by corporate interests that treat basic survival as a business opportunity.
Trump is mulling about shutting down USPS. Public education will be getting its own reaming.
And that... as someone who is in the "outsourcing" business—TRUST ME—this is NOT what Americans want.
True. I've been quite happy with the public services we have. They have been very beneficial to the country.
When I was hired by USPS (40 + years ago), there were just under 1 million employees there. Today the number is a little over 400,000. More than half of those remaining employees deliver the mail to more than 80 million distinct delivery points (addresses) six days a week. The letter carriers. Your mailman. The simple story of the slashing of personnel is a reduction in mail volume. Banks, Insurance companies, advertisers and more began slowly and then rapidly moving to electronic distribution. But the larger issue was the subletting and subcontracting of equipment and personnel to perform the work of getting the mail ready for delivery. Functions performed at hundreds of mail processing and distribution centers were slowly contracted out to be performed more cheaply. Still today, more than 100 thousand humans work nights and weekends processing the mail to get it ready for the letter carrier to deliver the mail to the customer every day.
And the real problem is that delivering mail to every mail box in America - and checking every mailbox in America every day in case that mailbox might have a piece of mail going out- is a losing proposition financially. It always was. It might well be tenable in cities, where people live on top of one another, but in rural areas it is a loss leader every day. Maintaining the largest vehicle fleet in the western hemisphere is expensive. Paying half a million employees is expensive. The constitution (who cares?) provides for the establishment of the postal service. People trust the postal service more than any other government agency. But selling off the profitable sections (read: metropolitan delivery) of the USPS has been on the horizon for decades. And who will be most victimized by such privatization? The same folks who elect Republican leaders who will gladly sell them out in exchange for a campaign contribution from FEDEX, UPS And other entities who will send them an email that tells them to come and get their medication at the nearest center and pay an additional surcharge for their trouble.
When I went to work for the Postal Service, the old timers told me at the time, ‘kid, you’ll never get rich working here, but you’ll never go hungry either’. And they were right. I raised a family, sent kids to school, and paid a mortgage. I took advantage of an opportunity to contribute to a retirement fund and the organization matched (up to 5%) those contributions and allowed me to select options in managing that fund. I retired with a package that paid for continuance of my health insurance and consider myself very fortunate to have done so.
Thanks for this information. A lot of things has changed that the postal service has to deal with and the delivery at every mail box is quite a sticking point. The biggest issue for rural communities is that they can't easily benefit from scale and volume. Their services are expensive to provide, and they keep voting for the party that does not want to pay for their services. Then they get mad at the government. Speaking as someone who lives in the country and does not get made at the government. My rural carrier has gone out of his way to deliver my mail in a few different circumstances. I've had Amazon ignore my delivery instructions, with the end result that my packages have gotten destroyed by my dog. I prefer USPS.
Stamp collecting is the most popular hobby in the US. Shutting down USPS would tick off all of the collectors!
They will be able to buy stamps with Trump, Musk, and Melania on them.
This is not a 2025 plan it’s the same plan the former GOP has had all along, none of these ideas are new! I had an employee that went to dubya war, he told me the repugnants were the one talking big pensions for time put in and I reamed him. I said just watch they will be cutting your benefits and it’s all the time! Again no surprise to me but boy did he get screwed VA give your life and get nothing if you survive or are permanently disabled. I really despise them all.
Why aren't Trump and Vance being impeached and Musk fired.
I am retired, as is my wife, so we are both on Social Security as our primary source of income. What will happen then? Thrown on the streets?
Don't touch our f***ing Social Security, and Medicaid.
No empathy. Three sociopaths ruining our country
Move in with your kids who voted for Trump. Also hand them your medical bills when Medicare is cut.
They don’t go so far as to have an alternative it’s already the best or was. But they have a concept so it’s the street.
Regarding the gutting of Social Security staffing, unfortunately this is the wave of our future. Try getting to a live body when you are dealing with an internet/cable connection with Comcast that does not deal with one of their bullet points on their chat line....happened to my neighborhood (four blocks) back in January into February. Not sure what the answer is going forward. Regarding Trump's oratorio tonight, I'm going to a Mardi Gras party, no TVs, cell phones on allowed 😁
Eventually, AI will probably be better than the cheap human labor at a call center. But we're not there yet. We're all going to serve as Elon's guinea pigs.
What they want with SS is to make the experience so bad that they get away with privatizing it. And then they get access to the stream of taxes.
Privatized SS at best is skimming SS with fees and private plans. The best we can hope for under privatized SS is that some of it actually winds up going to recipients. The worst is that AI manages to divert SS payments and all taxes and somehow just can’t seem to keep straight where should go. And straightening it out requires connections and proof of loyalty to MAGA. And in that wise, everyone up the chain from your local Gaultier to the Big Guy at the top will have his hand out.
I hate to tell everybody but they have already done it to Medicare or Social Security health. I was never consulted and they put me into the privatized advance, such a deceitful name they make sure the really uninformed use their verbiage so I have time to switch it to ACA. Not much talk about Obamacare anymore is there, only problem I have to contact them so there goes another week of my life. Good luck everyone.
I can't watch either but will also enjoy the analysis, I hope Dems walk out over Ukraine
I hope Ukraine is the issue that Democrats want to make noise about. Unfortunately, they're talking about walking out over transwomen in sports, which would play right into Trump's tiny hands.
They should all wear what Zelenskyy wore in the Oval.
My wife mentioned that too
Good one!
It depresses me that Dems are so disorganized and can't organize around the tried-and-true method of mockery against authoritarians - an especially easy task given that Trump is such an incompetent nincompoop wannabe anyway.
Show up in clown suits, don't even pay attention, laugh at everything, interrupt by playing circus organist clips. Dress like caricatures of Republicans and mimic their ass-kissing nonsense. Wear sub BDSM collars with chains if you're dressed as Marco Rubio or Lindsey Graham (the list goes on). Blow kisses and bubbles. Distribute tokens like it's an AA meeting (Here's your 1 month chip, boys. 30 days with no balls). Throw some actually ironic Nazi salutes at certain key phrases, but make sure they're as stupid-looking as Elon's. Distribute Newspeak dictionaries.
But no, they show up all serious and say serious things, which is exactly what these yahoos want. NOBODY CARES about dead children or tragic stories or honor or duty: we LITERALLY JUST HAD AN ELECTION ABOUT THAT. Try something new. Mockery works.
You're absolutely right. Authoritarians thrive on seriousness because it legitimizes them. They want the opposition to show up, act solemn, and play by the old rules. Meanwhile, they get to be outrageous, shameless, and ridiculous without consequences.
Mockery is a powerful weapon, and Trump is uniquely vulnerable to it. He cannot handle being laughed at. He needs to be feared, respected, or at least taken seriously. The absolute worst thing for him is widespread public ridicule that turns him into a joke. The GOP machine follows suit—when their strongman looks weak, their whole identity collapses.
Imagine if Democrats treated every Trump event like a comedy show. Organize flash mobs of people dressed as Trump’s failed businesses. Have someone follow him around playing a sad trombone. Make his rallies a sea of inflatable baby Trump balloons. Treat Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio like the submissive fanboys they are.
The point isn’t just to laugh at them but to strip them of their power by making them objects of mockery. The GOP runs on fear. The antidote? Public humiliation. Turn them into cartoons, and watch their power crumble.
I like the way you think! You and Katie should team up to write a response manual for the Democrats.
At the risk of being spammy and weird: https://twvme.substack.com/p/project-2026-a-progressive-counter
AND this one: https://twvme.substack.com/p/top-25-focus-areas-for-a-progressive
All feedback, and ideas welcome!! Come, let's go raise some Hell!!
The creator of the Trump-Elon foot kissing video should be named a national hero.
“We have a 50-year low in staffing while the baby boomer generation is swelling their ranks,” he explained. “That’s the underlying reality here, and these guys appear hell-bent on breaking it. It seems they really want to break Social Security.”
From O'Malley's lips to God's ears.
Both of my boomer Trump cult parents rely on their Social Security every month. I'd sure hate it (love) if their deliberate and enthusiastic trifecta of votes to take away my rights also included taking their financial security. Yes, I am a terrible person, exactly as advertised.
Spent hours that I won’t get back in February refreshing my banking app, waiting for the SS deposit. Guess I’ll do the same this month.
I retired in 2015 and remember how kind and helpful the staffer at the local SS office was as I figured out the process. Have to settle for memories, I guess.
Man, talk about bear hugging the third rail. I'm more and more convinced that Trump has surrounded himself with people who are using him as a chaos agent to literally smash the US Government beyond repair so they can rebuild it into some futuristic alt-right/tech-bro utopia. (Believe me, it was strange to type that but it seems more and more true)
I want to give an example of what we the people stand to lose if Muskalini and the Doogies get their way with Social Security. A couple of days ago I needed to contact SSA since I had not received my 1099 income tax form and when I went online I was unable to get my identity information accepted. So, somewhat grudgingly I called the help number. It took about 20 minutes on hold, but “Jane” located in Pennsylvania answered my questions and verbally gave me the information I needed for my taxes and said “I’ve already put a duplicate 1099 income tax form in the mail for you.” Jane was very pleasant, very knowledgeable, and very helpful. I fear with all of Muskalini’s DOGE efficiency such help and support will be gone forever. Of course with these Jackasses screwing with the system we might not have any Social Security to worry about. And Jane and her helpful coworkers will be in the unemployment line.
My oldest son is dependent on Section 8 housing (low income renter assistance). Although it is still in place, the cuts to HUD have him terrified of becoming homeless. For people with mental health conditions, the added anxiety is devastating. It is a very scary time for those who are functional but need a little support to be contributing members of society.
This is so hard. I wish your son -- and you -- the best. May there be helpers!
Billionaires profit from economic collapse. That is their goal and agenda--chaos, and serfdom or worse for those not of their supposed ilk. Which means the only cut that will matter is the one that gets all of them. I'm beginning not to care how or by whom. Our politicians lack courage, spine, integrity. Average Americans are numb or support, absurdly, the disaster that is upon us. It will take courageous people willing to sacrifice pretty much everything to stop the dark forces now in control. Not a remotely happy prospect. But the alternative is the end of what most of us love about America--its ideals, its Constitutional form of government, the rights we enjoy. Or used to, at any rate. We are in a tragedy of our own making, and only we can undo it, if we will.
Until the pitchforks come out
I read a book that came out recently by Bill Adair, who was the founder, I think, of Politifact, a fact-checking organization. The book was "Beyond the Big Lie: The Epidemic of Political Lying, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Can Burn Down Our Democracy." And while Adair is quick to point out he's not trying to create false equivalences, and that Republicans are much worse, he does want to stress that Democrats lie, too. Except, his favorite go-to example for Democratic lying is their insistence that Republicans are going to come for people's Social Security. Adair insists there is no evidence for this.
But there is plenty of evidence! Bush literally tried to privatize it in his second term, turning Social Security into a winners and losers affair. Rick Scott's GOP platform for 2024 explicitly included cuts to entitlements, which forced Mitch McConnell to publicly distance himself from his own party's platform. And now we have DOGE.
There simply is no comparison between the two major parties.
Exactly. The "both sides lie" argument is one of the laziest, most corrosive tropes in political journalism. It gives cover to the party actively trying to dismantle democracy while nitpicking the party trying to prevent it.
Republicans have tried to gut Social Security. George W. Bush went full steam ahead on privatization. Paul Ryan spent his entire career dreaming of slashing entitlements. Rick Scott proposed sunsetting Social Security entirely every five years. And now we have Donald Trump openly calling for cuts, while his Super PAC just put out a budget blueprint pushing the same thing.
Bill Adair might have founded PolitiFact, but this take is PolitiFiction. There’s a difference between distorting the truth and stating the obvious based on historical precedent. When one party repeatedly introduces legislation, floats budgets, and openly states their desire to "reform" (read: gut) Social Security, it’s not a lie to say they’ll do it. It’s a warning based on observable reality.
Democrats aren’t perfect. But only one party is actively trying to strip away fundamental rights, dismantle democracy, and serve the ultra-rich at everyone else's expense. Pretending otherwise isn’t “balance.” It’s malpractice.
I'm anxiously awaiting my March SS deposit next Wednesday! Our local electric company is Canadian, in the middle of the Midwest. I've always wondered why people who want to abolish Social Security don't know that the payroll deposits will also stop. 🤔