The constant gloom here isn't healthy. To that end, I've resolved to find reasons to be hopeful. It sure looks like the GOP is determined to let their freak flag fly. "Normies" will start to notice and be horrified. The election isn't over yet!
The constant gloom here isn't healthy. To that end, I've resolved to find reasons to be hopeful. It sure looks like the GOP is determined to let their freak flag fly. "Normies" will start to notice and be horrified. The election isn't over yet!
It's funny; I was listening to 1A this morning while running errands. The first hour included an interview with Alexandra Pelosi, whose latest documentary covers people who participated in the January 6 insurrection; and Vidhya Ramalingam of Moonshot, an organization that aims to "to build solutions for one of the most pressing challenges facing communities around the world: violent extremism." (https://the1a.org/segments/aspen-ideas-festival-insurrectionists-among-us/). It was a really good show that offered glimmers of hope for our country.
It also underscored for me how important it is to find community close to home. It can be an antidote to loneliness, a way to build connections with your neighbors outside the framework of partisan politics and do something positive and useful for the place you live. As I put it yesterday in a Bulwark comment, "Go out and do something nice for someone else, pick up trash in your neighborhood, do whatever it takes to remind you of your connection to others in a positive way."
I learned to live this after the 2016 election. It has saved me from despair
You speak of the GOP letting itтАЩs freak flag fly. IтАЩm rereading Norman MailerтАЩs тАЬMiami and the Siege of ChicagoтАЭ, about the 1968 conventions, and he wrote this of the GOP convention:
тАЬOn & on they came, the well-bred, the extraordinarily prosperous,and, for the most astonishing part, the entirely proper. Yes, in San Francisco in тАШ64, they had been able to be insane for a little while, but now they were subdued, now they were modest, now they were looking for a leader to bring America back to them, their lost AmericaтАж.the Wasp had come to take power.тАЭ.
I wish Mailer were around to chronicle this year. This time itтАЩs not flashy Miami but workman Milwaukee where they get to be a lot insane, no longer modest or subdued, having found a leader to bring America back to them, its rightful owner. There will be no normies telling them to тАЬvote their consciencesтАЭ. The Wasp has come to flash its stinger.
And to think that people felt like the country was spinning off its axis in тАШ68.
It didn't help George Wallace. Trump's true fans already saw him as a martyr. Honestly, he was barely injured. I just don't see this moving the needle. He may have gotten sympathy if he was hospitalsized like Reagan. For the record: violence like this IS WRONG.
I hate to be that guy in the crowd, but if the "normies" haven't snapped to attention already and distanced themselves from MAGA, much less taken a principled stand against the movement, what would make them do so now? It all has been in front of them, in plain sight, for years. They are not horrified or, worse, simply do not care. I don't see a last-minute reprieve coming. We will have to win this battle on our own. Short of that, always have a Plan B.
I've been working on my Plan B since 2014. Acquired Canadian citizenship in 2021, ditto for my partner, and an investment property on Vancouver Island.
Yep I keep telling people this. We long ago passed the point where the тАЬnormieтАЭ Republicans ran the party. No one believes that Trump or maga is normal. They just like it.
We have to try, and I think the anti-Trump case is much stronger than the Bulwark community wants to admit. Doom gives you a dopamine hit, too. I'm consciouslying deciding to act out of hope, not doom. In the end, it probably won't change the world, but for the first time in weeks, I didn't have a cloud over me.
IтАЩm with you, Mike. All the selection of JD Vance did for me is to demonstrate how confident Trump feels. I want to wipe that smirk off his face, and IтАЩm willing to do the work. I am recovering from an injury, but IтАЩm motivated to get well quickly to get out there. First stop is reading Trump 47, which I guess is what theyтАЩre calling Project 2025 now.
That's the thing to me. It feels less like MAGA will gain a bunch of new converts at this point and more like a significant number of customary Democratic voters will sit out the election either as protest (e.g. Gaza) or out of political fatigue, indifference, or thinking that their vote doesn't matter. Conversely those Rs (fewer in number) disinclined to turn up at the polls may seem more energized to do so if they smell blood in the water and increasingly feel like they are on the winning team. There still is time to rally the Democratic base, but each day it is getting both later and harder to break out of the cycle that the Democrats are seen as weak and vulnerable and the GOP as the party of power and change. Media coverage isn't helping us with that now either.
Dude, all I saw last night was a political party circling the drain. The stage looked culty AF, and apparently Johnson's telepropter went off for 40 minutes while the Doobie Brothers jam band played? They are doing this convention on the cheap because they have no money, and the audience was filled with crazy looking old white people cult members. Oh and don't forget that JD Vance is an obvious 39 year old toady/phony who makes Kamala look like she's been POTUS already.
People have got to stop being led by their fear of Trump and MAGA. I understand being afraid, but this fight is far from over.
There is a lot of these weirdos, and when you gather them all under one roof it looks like a shit-ton. And they're inordinately loud when making their veiled threats. But there are a lot of Democrats also. And millions of Angry Women. Add in that their policies are nonsensical and the project 2025 wet dream...
American people are THINKING, and maybe they aren't going to buy what they're selling no matter how much MSM seems to hype it.
They have no money? Musk just committed $45 million a *MONTH*. We need to give it a good try, and cannot give up, but we canтАЩt be delusional. They have money, they have cultish unity, they have common enemies, they have a Christ like figure, they have the lead.
It's Musk. He was also committed to self driving/autonomous cars by, I think it was 2019? Until the "ink dries on the check" that promised money is like much of what Musk promises, vaporware.
Musk is better at slinging money around than building things. In fact, slinging money around is what is actually does when he says he's building things. I think it's a threat.
Normies better wake the hell up! What worries me about "Normie" GOPers is that they were brainwashed since children that Democrats are evil and enemies to our country. They've been trained like good little soldiers to vote for whoever has an "R" after their name, even if Satan himself ran on the GOP ticket. Not voting at all isn't a choice.
If I believed in Satan and the book of Revelation and all that stuff, I would say that Trump is actually Satan. Or the Anti-Christ. (Same thing? I'm a little foggy on the theology). And per what I know about Revelation, the A-C will fool lots of people into thinking he's not that. Sounds plausible, if you're into that sort of thing.
I now think of him as Trump the Undead -- because it is the only explanation I can find (zombies and witchcraft notwithstanding) for how he has managed to skate past every crime and corruption he has committed for 70 years. No consequences ever. I don't see how you do that without the backing of some very dark forces. Assuming you believe in dark forces. I thought during the debate it couldn't have been worse if Trump had hypnotized Biden. Biden is such a good person, a person who brings light rather than darkness, a man of faith, a man who cares about others -- and that is key. And that is completely missing in the GOP now--regard for others. But he seems so worn down by all the darkness around, weight of world stuff.
I think you are on to something. The dark energy need not be considered Satan, etc, but rather is his destructive intent. Inside a full blown narcissist like Trump is essentially his own religious cult around the godlike self he invented as who he supposedly is. The energy of this self construction and its deification, and all the ways he has drawn others into serve it, swirl around him in a field of charismatic power, radiating outwards in shameless pretense, bowling over a man of weaker vitality and cohesion of faculties, like Biden, who was probably shocked to his core too, by the sinful nature and performance of Trump. As a lifelong practicing Catholic, and essentially honest person, Biden, I believe, was deeply thrown by the sinfulnessтАФI mean sinning before GodтАФthat the blatant, unashamed lying and hostile intent of Trump broadcast all around him. This stunned and overcame the physically and mentally weaker Biden, stopping and confusing his mind and freezing and dismaying his visible reactions too.
We need to run a more vital and capable candidate, Democrats, because he or she will be up against some Devilish shit!
WasnтАЩt Haley a normie? She got insulted, her husbandтАЩs service was insulted, her main cause and lone held conviction around Ukraine was laughed at, and then in the end she released the delegates and sucked up until she got a speaking slot.
I don't think assuaging feelings is the goal here. The actual events that continue to unfurl speak for themselves. I often don't feel like looking at things that are objectively true and I.hear.what.you.are.saying.
The Bulwark is good people. If there's a way, they'll see it.
You're right! (I do FEEL the doom coming, but it isn't healthy or helpful to focus on it.)
Well, we could all go over to Charlie's substack and annoy him instead of Bulwark. Or Heather Cox Richardson. Or Joyce Vance (there's a great discussion group there but it really is pretty much all legal all the time). But I would miss JVL and Sarah.
JVL was my anchor here. Now, post-debate, he's just latching onto despair, too. The "always right" guy was 90% certain than Biden with withdraw by June 22. We'll see.
That's where I'm at. My subscription runs out at the end of the month. I used to feel informed by the writers here and I loved the give-and-take in the comments. Ever since the debate, it's been non-stop gloom and attacking Biden. It's not healthy for my outlook, and it is not helping to defeat Trump. Wallowing in despair does get the neurons firing, but it doesn't help. I'm now at 50/50 if I want to renew.
Next Monday is when I decide. If JVL is right that Biden would withdraw in 2 weeks, I renew. If the prediction was just doom-casting, I'm out. Today's Triad really clarified things for me.
Renew, Mike. There WILL be a final Democratic candidate, and the sniping will then stop..When a decision is made, and people gradually get over the fact that their dream ticket didn't get the final nomination, those with any awareness of the issues at stake will coalesce, just as the disappointed Bernie Bros did in 2020 and got behind the official ticket. There are ONLY 2 choices in American elections, and sitting them out is a choice to support the candidate you're actually completely oppposed to. Most of the 81 million will come to their senses, even if the final ticket doesn't suit their concept of a 'central casting' agent's pick.
This. I donтАЩt think Biden will drop out but if he does IтАЩll vote for Kamala (thatтАЩs the only person it could be). I have no control over what he does so why worry.
Trump is going to gain slightly in the polls for the next week or 2 which is normal given the convention. People need to calm down and get ready for the stretch run, imo.
Warning-bit of a rant: Sometimes I watch while my daughter Poppy gives a horseback riding lesson to her 8 yo daughter. I've noticed that the most oft-repeated instruction is to Put Your Eyes Where You Want Your Horse to Go. More than shorten your reins, nudge the horse with slight kicks, or any other instruction. Now my g-girl probably weighs 70-80 lbs; the horse 1200-1300 lbs. Somehow, some way, the direction of the small rider's gaze affects the actions of the very large horse. Sumpun to think about - maybe even in wider application.
Further, I recently watched the movie Molly Bloom. The overbearing father told his competitive sking daughter pretty much the same thing -look where you want to go. If you look down that's where you'll go.
So. I think we should look where we want to go. Not where we don't want to go. Let's start having different convos. Let's fix our eyes on what can happen, not what we fear will happen. Can't hurt, and the gloom and doom around here sure isn't doing any good at all. Thank you all.
I agree. And I donтАЩt understand all the doom and gloom. The replace Biden movement failed because voters outside the Washington bubble were far more resistant to the idea than was understood. I genuinely donтАЩt believe the Trump shooting is going to change anything. I live in Texas, and people donтАЩt seem be talking about it.
Exactly! Until he withdraws, Biden is the guy to defeat Trump. I get that the Bulwark's role isn't to be a cheerleader for Biden, but the "he must go" drumbeat doesn't help. Biden's down at the polls? Fine, let's figure out how to help him.
The constant gloom here isn't healthy. To that end, I've resolved to find reasons to be hopeful. It sure looks like the GOP is determined to let their freak flag fly. "Normies" will start to notice and be horrified. The election isn't over yet!
It's funny; I was listening to 1A this morning while running errands. The first hour included an interview with Alexandra Pelosi, whose latest documentary covers people who participated in the January 6 insurrection; and Vidhya Ramalingam of Moonshot, an organization that aims to "to build solutions for one of the most pressing challenges facing communities around the world: violent extremism." (https://the1a.org/segments/aspen-ideas-festival-insurrectionists-among-us/). It was a really good show that offered glimmers of hope for our country.
It also underscored for me how important it is to find community close to home. It can be an antidote to loneliness, a way to build connections with your neighbors outside the framework of partisan politics and do something positive and useful for the place you live. As I put it yesterday in a Bulwark comment, "Go out and do something nice for someone else, pick up trash in your neighborhood, do whatever it takes to remind you of your connection to others in a positive way."
I learned to live this after the 2016 election. It has saved me from despair
Thanks, Mike. We needed your upbeat voice.
This is a result of conscious effort. It didn't come easily to me. :)
Good. Reality is sometimes gloomy and itтАЩs best to deal with it before moving on.
You speak of the GOP letting itтАЩs freak flag fly. IтАЩm rereading Norman MailerтАЩs тАЬMiami and the Siege of ChicagoтАЭ, about the 1968 conventions, and he wrote this of the GOP convention:
тАЬOn & on they came, the well-bred, the extraordinarily prosperous,and, for the most astonishing part, the entirely proper. Yes, in San Francisco in тАШ64, they had been able to be insane for a little while, but now they were subdued, now they were modest, now they were looking for a leader to bring America back to them, their lost AmericaтАж.the Wasp had come to take power.тАЭ.
I wish Mailer were around to chronicle this year. This time itтАЩs not flashy Miami but workman Milwaukee where they get to be a lot insane, no longer modest or subdued, having found a leader to bring America back to them, its rightful owner. There will be no normies telling them to тАЬvote their consciencesтАЭ. The Wasp has come to flash its stinger.
And to think that people felt like the country was spinning off its axis in тАШ68.
Or Hunter Thompson. Or Tom Wolfe. There'll be someone, some day.
I also miss PJ O'Rourke.
On the theme of the freak flag:
Media needs to run more interviews of Trump supporters claiming he was save by God.
Mike. If you or I do the math, how many normie Rs are still sitting on the fence? Are there enough?
The pic of bloodied Trump, in fisted rage, is red meat. That pic will live in infamy.
It didn't help George Wallace. Trump's true fans already saw him as a martyr. Honestly, he was barely injured. I just don't see this moving the needle. He may have gotten sympathy if he was hospitalsized like Reagan. For the record: violence like this IS WRONG.
Yes, exactly!
I hate to be that guy in the crowd, but if the "normies" haven't snapped to attention already and distanced themselves from MAGA, much less taken a principled stand against the movement, what would make them do so now? It all has been in front of them, in plain sight, for years. They are not horrified or, worse, simply do not care. I don't see a last-minute reprieve coming. We will have to win this battle on our own. Short of that, always have a Plan B.
I've been working on my Plan B since 2014. Acquired Canadian citizenship in 2021, ditto for my partner, and an investment property on Vancouver Island.
AgreedтАж:)
Yep I keep telling people this. We long ago passed the point where the тАЬnormieтАЭ Republicans ran the party. No one believes that Trump or maga is normal. They just like it.
We have to try, and I think the anti-Trump case is much stronger than the Bulwark community wants to admit. Doom gives you a dopamine hit, too. I'm consciouslying deciding to act out of hope, not doom. In the end, it probably won't change the world, but for the first time in weeks, I didn't have a cloud over me.
IтАЩm with you, Mike. All the selection of JD Vance did for me is to demonstrate how confident Trump feels. I want to wipe that smirk off his face, and IтАЩm willing to do the work. I am recovering from an injury, but IтАЩm motivated to get well quickly to get out there. First stop is reading Trump 47, which I guess is what theyтАЩre calling Project 2025 now.
Plan B: flee! Most of us can't afford that.
Maybe then not so much normie Rs as swing voters.
MAYBE just young voters and disaffected Democrats
That's the thing to me. It feels less like MAGA will gain a bunch of new converts at this point and more like a significant number of customary Democratic voters will sit out the election either as protest (e.g. Gaza) or out of political fatigue, indifference, or thinking that their vote doesn't matter. Conversely those Rs (fewer in number) disinclined to turn up at the polls may seem more energized to do so if they smell blood in the water and increasingly feel like they are on the winning team. There still is time to rally the Democratic base, but each day it is getting both later and harder to break out of the cycle that the Democrats are seen as weak and vulnerable and the GOP as the party of power and change. Media coverage isn't helping us with that now either.
Dude, all I saw last night was a political party circling the drain. The stage looked culty AF, and apparently Johnson's telepropter went off for 40 minutes while the Doobie Brothers jam band played? They are doing this convention on the cheap because they have no money, and the audience was filled with crazy looking old white people cult members. Oh and don't forget that JD Vance is an obvious 39 year old toady/phony who makes Kamala look like she's been POTUS already.
People have got to stop being led by their fear of Trump and MAGA. I understand being afraid, but this fight is far from over.
I second this and a million likes.
There is a lot of these weirdos, and when you gather them all under one roof it looks like a shit-ton. And they're inordinately loud when making their veiled threats. But there are a lot of Democrats also. And millions of Angry Women. Add in that their policies are nonsensical and the project 2025 wet dream...
American people are THINKING, and maybe they aren't going to buy what they're selling no matter how much MSM seems to hype it.
They have no money? Musk just committed $45 million a *MONTH*. We need to give it a good try, and cannot give up, but we canтАЩt be delusional. They have money, they have cultish unity, they have common enemies, they have a Christ like figure, they have the lead.
It's Musk. He was also committed to self driving/autonomous cars by, I think it was 2019? Until the "ink dries on the check" that promised money is like much of what Musk promises, vaporware.
Musk is better at slinging money around than building things. In fact, slinging money around is what is actually does when he says he's building things. I think it's a threat.
I like your 'tude, dude.
Exactly!
Normies better wake the hell up! What worries me about "Normie" GOPers is that they were brainwashed since children that Democrats are evil and enemies to our country. They've been trained like good little soldiers to vote for whoever has an "R" after their name, even if Satan himself ran on the GOP ticket. Not voting at all isn't a choice.
If I believed in Satan and the book of Revelation and all that stuff, I would say that Trump is actually Satan. Or the Anti-Christ. (Same thing? I'm a little foggy on the theology). And per what I know about Revelation, the A-C will fool lots of people into thinking he's not that. Sounds plausible, if you're into that sort of thing.
I now think of him as Trump the Undead -- because it is the only explanation I can find (zombies and witchcraft notwithstanding) for how he has managed to skate past every crime and corruption he has committed for 70 years. No consequences ever. I don't see how you do that without the backing of some very dark forces. Assuming you believe in dark forces. I thought during the debate it couldn't have been worse if Trump had hypnotized Biden. Biden is such a good person, a person who brings light rather than darkness, a man of faith, a man who cares about others -- and that is key. And that is completely missing in the GOP now--regard for others. But he seems so worn down by all the darkness around, weight of world stuff.
I think you are on to something. The dark energy need not be considered Satan, etc, but rather is his destructive intent. Inside a full blown narcissist like Trump is essentially his own religious cult around the godlike self he invented as who he supposedly is. The energy of this self construction and its deification, and all the ways he has drawn others into serve it, swirl around him in a field of charismatic power, radiating outwards in shameless pretense, bowling over a man of weaker vitality and cohesion of faculties, like Biden, who was probably shocked to his core too, by the sinful nature and performance of Trump. As a lifelong practicing Catholic, and essentially honest person, Biden, I believe, was deeply thrown by the sinfulnessтАФI mean sinning before GodтАФthat the blatant, unashamed lying and hostile intent of Trump broadcast all around him. This stunned and overcame the physically and mentally weaker Biden, stopping and confusing his mind and freezing and dismaying his visible reactions too.
We need to run a more vital and capable candidate, Democrats, because he or she will be up against some Devilish shit!
WasnтАЩt Haley a normie? She got insulted, her husbandтАЩs service was insulted, her main cause and lone held conviction around Ukraine was laughed at, and then in the end she released the delegates and sucked up until she got a speaking slot.
Exactly!
I'm on the verge of unsubscribing, I can't stand the constant doom and gloom. This newsletter just makes me feel worse every day.
I don't think assuaging feelings is the goal here. The actual events that continue to unfurl speak for themselves. I often don't feel like looking at things that are objectively true and I.hear.what.you.are.saying.
The Bulwark is good people. If there's a way, they'll see it.
You're right! (I do FEEL the doom coming, but it isn't healthy or helpful to focus on it.)
Well, we could all go over to Charlie's substack and annoy him instead of Bulwark. Or Heather Cox Richardson. Or Joyce Vance (there's a great discussion group there but it really is pretty much all legal all the time). But I would miss JVL and Sarah.
JVL was my anchor here. Now, post-debate, he's just latching onto despair, too. The "always right" guy was 90% certain than Biden with withdraw by June 22. We'll see.
That's where I'm at. My subscription runs out at the end of the month. I used to feel informed by the writers here and I loved the give-and-take in the comments. Ever since the debate, it's been non-stop gloom and attacking Biden. It's not healthy for my outlook, and it is not helping to defeat Trump. Wallowing in despair does get the neurons firing, but it doesn't help. I'm now at 50/50 if I want to renew.
You better not!
Next Monday is when I decide. If JVL is right that Biden would withdraw in 2 weeks, I renew. If the prediction was just doom-casting, I'm out. Today's Triad really clarified things for me.
I appreciate that. Thank you.
Mike!!! Don't desert the ship, my friend.
You are very kind to say so!
Mike, hang in. Your comments are worth reding ;)
You are very kind. That means a lot. Thank you.
Renew, Mike. There WILL be a final Democratic candidate, and the sniping will then stop..When a decision is made, and people gradually get over the fact that their dream ticket didn't get the final nomination, those with any awareness of the issues at stake will coalesce, just as the disappointed Bernie Bros did in 2020 and got behind the official ticket. There are ONLY 2 choices in American elections, and sitting them out is a choice to support the candidate you're actually completely oppposed to. Most of the 81 million will come to their senses, even if the final ticket doesn't suit their concept of a 'central casting' agent's pick.
This. I donтАЩt think Biden will drop out but if he does IтАЩll vote for Kamala (thatтАЩs the only person it could be). I have no control over what he does so why worry.
Trump is going to gain slightly in the polls for the next week or 2 which is normal given the convention. People need to calm down and get ready for the stretch run, imo.
I will really miss the commentariat if I go. Maybe we should start an offsite discussion group ЁЯШВ
To me, the commentariat alone is absolutely worth the subscription.
I'd happily be in a splinter group with you.
There's already a Bulwark sub-reddit. But please don't go.
Thank you. I appreciate the sentiment.
Please don't go.
My allergies just started acting up. Seriously, thank you.
Warning-bit of a rant: Sometimes I watch while my daughter Poppy gives a horseback riding lesson to her 8 yo daughter. I've noticed that the most oft-repeated instruction is to Put Your Eyes Where You Want Your Horse to Go. More than shorten your reins, nudge the horse with slight kicks, or any other instruction. Now my g-girl probably weighs 70-80 lbs; the horse 1200-1300 lbs. Somehow, some way, the direction of the small rider's gaze affects the actions of the very large horse. Sumpun to think about - maybe even in wider application.
Further, I recently watched the movie Molly Bloom. The overbearing father told his competitive sking daughter pretty much the same thing -look where you want to go. If you look down that's where you'll go.
So. I think we should look where we want to go. Not where we don't want to go. Let's start having different convos. Let's fix our eyes on what can happen, not what we fear will happen. Can't hurt, and the gloom and doom around here sure isn't doing any good at all. Thank you all.
Martial arts too... you move (or strike, or block) where you're looking.
I agree. And I donтАЩt understand all the doom and gloom. The replace Biden movement failed because voters outside the Washington bubble were far more resistant to the idea than was understood. I genuinely donтАЩt believe the Trump shooting is going to change anything. I live in Texas, and people donтАЩt seem be talking about it.
Exactly! Until he withdraws, Biden is the guy to defeat Trump. I get that the Bulwark's role isn't to be a cheerleader for Biden, but the "he must go" drumbeat doesn't help. Biden's down at the polls? Fine, let's figure out how to help him.
Spot on Mike!
I want to be more like you and this comment, but my little remaining hope is drying up real fast.
Hope is a choice. Look at that Star Wars movie, Hope matters.
I couldnтАЩt agree more. Well said.