I wonder how many ethical press people will follow Jim Acosta and begin their own social media news coverage? I’d love to see some of these folks create a “journal” of some sort where we could pay for a subscription and get several articles in one. Having said that, I would still continue to support individuals regardless.
The only institutions beyond trump's reach are the states, and that's where we have to pin our hopes now. Whether that starts as a go-slow obedience or outright disobedience, there will come a time when we have to face up to the fact that the federal government is irretrievably broken. Either we just ignore it or declare our independence and get the fuck out while the getting is good.
Why are not more people with a public voice willing to accuse Trump and his cronies of extorting Volodimir Zelenski with the same method gangsters used to exact money from the vulnerable small businesses found in their territory? (In Ukraine’s case, «Rare Minerals»).
Trump is using with Ukraine the same method used by Hitler to make Richard Chamberlain and Édouard Daladier surrender to his whims to the horror of Winston Churchill.
Look at how media corporations, for example, MSNBC, are reshaping their policies by stopping Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow, who have been willing to take risks yelling the truth to Trump and Republicans─ hoping to attract, by whatever means, Trump’s attention from the Australian Baron’s owned FOX. So much for the U. S. Constitutional «Freedom of the Press.»
The indecent surrendering of U. S. Federal legislators to George W Bush’s ill plans to invade Iraq, which was not only an unnecessary war but served to favor corporations politically connected to the administration, v.gr. Halliburton (Cf. Halliburton’s no-bid contracts, https://www.mcclatchydc.com/latest-news/article24442288.html); sending Secretary Collin Powell to make false claims justifying at the Unit Nations’ Security Council the invasion and in the process, destroying his political career (perhaps seizing the opportunity to launch some racially motivated «pre-empting» strategy).
Discrediting Democrats is the wrong approach, especially if the critics are former Republicans. It only strengthens the latter, who are equally corrupt. The Democrats are already discredited enough by their own doing. The old military method of challenging and motivating competition is no longer effective in politics. The Media manipulates to confuse. It is better to be straight.
A constructive way of helping fight despotic Trump may be for political experts like the journalists of Bulwark and Substack to objectively analyze the situation and propose effective political solutions without prejudices or predispositions.
From reading the report on Hungary's descent into authoritarianism, from the former US ambassador to Hungary, it sounds like Trump & his minions have the same scenario pretty much down pat.: Destroy the free press, promote the oligarchs, fire all the loyal & experienced federal workers, intimidate members of of your own party in Congress, & make Americans fearful to speak out.
Trump or his minions have studied Orban's techniques for dismantling Hungary's democracy very carefully. Orban has been more subtle than Putin--no killing--but his goal was the same: one-man rule. Orban destroyed the free press by putting financial pressure on independent newspapers and TV stations and forcing them to sell out to his cronies. He has cultivated a group of oligarchs by handing out properties and EC subsidies to them. Orban politicized the bureaucracy, the army and the judiciary, through intimidation rather than jailing people. Sound familiar?
In MAGA-thought, the "administrative state" is antidemocratic - whereas an elected monarch who bulldozes all restraints on his power and then rigs the electoral system in his favor is the Voice of the People.
Request to Eugene Daniels: Please make public the names of each day's press poolers. That is the only way the public will know if the pool reports are complete, accurate, and reliable. Maximum transparency from the Correspondents Association is imperative now.
Autocracy has never been tried in a society founded in liberal democracy and is as heavily armed as ours. Rural America is completely dependent on the federal government and its workforce. From Medicaid to national parks that bolster tourism, to farm subsidies… gun owners are going to start to feel the pain. And then the shooting starts. I predict a R town hall will be shot up within the month. Look: America is an apple, Hungary is a… I don’t know… a tarantula. You can’t point to Hungary and say, “Oh see how they did it? We can do that too!” Which is what Trumusk is doing. It’s wrong and dumb and they’re going to be on the losing side of a violent conflict.
There should be a boycott from all legitimate news outlets in covering President Caligula's news conferences and anything emanating from the mouth of the loathsome Karoline Leavitt. Why give any oxygen to the propaganda? Why sit there and be berated from the man-child in the oval office?
We have American's version of Orban Authoritarianism. Lackies in every agency. Our private institutions are cowering in the corner waiting for a knight in shining armor to end this nightmare. There is none. Hungary is the example of how it happens and why it cannot be stopped.
There is simply no mechanism to stop what is happening because those who could are not. People in the streets won't make a difference. The courts can't make a difference if the executive branch defies court orders.
There is no mechanism to stop people with this mindset, people without companion, people consumed with greed and power. There never has been. History has shown that to be the case over and over.
Let's not give up yet. We have many blue state governors and private organizations, like the ACLU and the Brennan Center at NYU, who are fighting the administration through litigation. Some Democratic leaders--Chris Murphy, Jim McGovern--are punching back on how the job cuts and Republican budget cuts will hurt voters...and public opinion is against Musk.
Real America's Voice is showing long stretches of live video every time Trump speaks in front of a group. We still get to hear the idiotic things he says via that annoying route.
The only way out of this will be national strikes and labor movements. They want to shut down the government. We need to shut down the economy. Full stop. Turn it off. Lights out. March 15th is a trial balloon. #Shutdown315
I wonder how many ethical press people will follow Jim Acosta and begin their own social media news coverage? I’d love to see some of these folks create a “journal” of some sort where we could pay for a subscription and get several articles in one. Having said that, I would still continue to support individuals regardless.
Jen Rubin and others have done that with The Contrarian
Yes, following them too.
The only institutions beyond trump's reach are the states, and that's where we have to pin our hopes now. Whether that starts as a go-slow obedience or outright disobedience, there will come a time when we have to face up to the fact that the federal government is irretrievably broken. Either we just ignore it or declare our independence and get the fuck out while the getting is good.
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/26/nx-s1-5309695/trump-gaza-video
And when he's done here, he's going to Gaza...maybe that'll be trump's retirement plan: have his own country for real???
Why are not more people with a public voice willing to accuse Trump and his cronies of extorting Volodimir Zelenski with the same method gangsters used to exact money from the vulnerable small businesses found in their territory? (In Ukraine’s case, «Rare Minerals»).
Trump is using with Ukraine the same method used by Hitler to make Richard Chamberlain and Édouard Daladier surrender to his whims to the horror of Winston Churchill.
Look at how media corporations, for example, MSNBC, are reshaping their policies by stopping Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow, who have been willing to take risks yelling the truth to Trump and Republicans─ hoping to attract, by whatever means, Trump’s attention from the Australian Baron’s owned FOX. So much for the U. S. Constitutional «Freedom of the Press.»
The indecent surrendering of U. S. Federal legislators to George W Bush’s ill plans to invade Iraq, which was not only an unnecessary war but served to favor corporations politically connected to the administration, v.gr. Halliburton (Cf. Halliburton’s no-bid contracts, https://www.mcclatchydc.com/latest-news/article24442288.html); sending Secretary Collin Powell to make false claims justifying at the Unit Nations’ Security Council the invasion and in the process, destroying his political career (perhaps seizing the opportunity to launch some racially motivated «pre-empting» strategy).
Look for The Economist (Europe edition of 26 March 2024) and look for the so illuminating photo of the irresponsible George W Bush searching for Iraq’s WMDs underneath a sofa in the Oval Office to the amusement of Condoleezza Rice. (Cf. https://www.democracynow.org/2004/3/26/headlines/bush_jokes_about_not_finding_wmds_in_iraq).
Discrediting Democrats is the wrong approach, especially if the critics are former Republicans. It only strengthens the latter, who are equally corrupt. The Democrats are already discredited enough by their own doing. The old military method of challenging and motivating competition is no longer effective in politics. The Media manipulates to confuse. It is better to be straight.
A constructive way of helping fight despotic Trump may be for political experts like the journalists of Bulwark and Substack to objectively analyze the situation and propose effective political solutions without prejudices or predispositions.
That would be Neville Chamberlain. A politician, not an actor.
From reading the report on Hungary's descent into authoritarianism, from the former US ambassador to Hungary, it sounds like Trump & his minions have the same scenario pretty much down pat.: Destroy the free press, promote the oligarchs, fire all the loyal & experienced federal workers, intimidate members of of your own party in Congress, & make Americans fearful to speak out.
Trump or his minions have studied Orban's techniques for dismantling Hungary's democracy very carefully. Orban has been more subtle than Putin--no killing--but his goal was the same: one-man rule. Orban destroyed the free press by putting financial pressure on independent newspapers and TV stations and forcing them to sell out to his cronies. He has cultivated a group of oligarchs by handing out properties and EC subsidies to them. Orban politicized the bureaucracy, the army and the judiciary, through intimidation rather than jailing people. Sound familiar?
In MAGA-thought, the "administrative state" is antidemocratic - whereas an elected monarch who bulldozes all restraints on his power and then rigs the electoral system in his favor is the Voice of the People.
Request to Eugene Daniels: Please make public the names of each day's press poolers. That is the only way the public will know if the pool reports are complete, accurate, and reliable. Maximum transparency from the Correspondents Association is imperative now.
Autocracy has never been tried in a society founded in liberal democracy and is as heavily armed as ours. Rural America is completely dependent on the federal government and its workforce. From Medicaid to national parks that bolster tourism, to farm subsidies… gun owners are going to start to feel the pain. And then the shooting starts. I predict a R town hall will be shot up within the month. Look: America is an apple, Hungary is a… I don’t know… a tarantula. You can’t point to Hungary and say, “Oh see how they did it? We can do that too!” Which is what Trumusk is doing. It’s wrong and dumb and they’re going to be on the losing side of a violent conflict.
There should be a boycott from all legitimate news outlets in covering President Caligula's news conferences and anything emanating from the mouth of the loathsome Karoline Leavitt. Why give any oxygen to the propaganda? Why sit there and be berated from the man-child in the oval office?
It wasn't just any trump aide who blacklisted Peter Baker. It was Katie Miller, wife of Stephen Miller. The chill was more like an icy blast.
I am not in a good place today.
It's over. It's already over.
We have American's version of Orban Authoritarianism. Lackies in every agency. Our private institutions are cowering in the corner waiting for a knight in shining armor to end this nightmare. There is none. Hungary is the example of how it happens and why it cannot be stopped.
There is simply no mechanism to stop what is happening because those who could are not. People in the streets won't make a difference. The courts can't make a difference if the executive branch defies court orders.
There is no mechanism to stop people with this mindset, people without companion, people consumed with greed and power. There never has been. History has shown that to be the case over and over.
Let's not give up yet. We have many blue state governors and private organizations, like the ACLU and the Brennan Center at NYU, who are fighting the administration through litigation. Some Democratic leaders--Chris Murphy, Jim McGovern--are punching back on how the job cuts and Republican budget cuts will hurt voters...and public opinion is against Musk.
Real America's Voice is showing long stretches of live video every time Trump speaks in front of a group. We still get to hear the idiotic things he says via that annoying route.
The flickering light's gone out at the Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2025/02/26/washington-post-bezos-opinions-section/
and democracy dies in darkness...how prophetic of the Post.
🇩🇪 NIE WIEDER (never again)
🇺🇸 IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE IS HERE
This is an excellent description of how this all works to destroy democracy. The are at least 2/3 of the way there.
The only way out of this will be national strikes and labor movements. They want to shut down the government. We need to shut down the economy. Full stop. Turn it off. Lights out. March 15th is a trial balloon. #Shutdown315
I thought it was this Friday, February 28?
February 28 is a no spending day. I think Doug is talking about a general strike.