It’s not just other countries. California and Governor Newsom, whose state economy is actually larger than some countries, are working with Canada and Mexico, apart from the US, to benefit their state. It’s also going to be interesting to see how individual states, especially so many Red states who are dependent upon a lot of government assistance, handle their public and private education systems. Trump is giving his blessing, but also cutting off educational funding and states’ grants. We’re already falling behind other countries in education results. This will only cause more severe negative impact on special needs’ students, children born here, but have immigrant parents, and rural and poverty stricken areas.
So Trump is cutting off all these agencies which BENEFIT us, yet we still have to pay the taxes that PAID for these agencies.
In the meantime, Trump is pocketing the money the billionaires and anyone else are giving him. The American people are NOT benefitting. On the contrary we are getting decimated all the way around.
I respect Governor Newsome! Sadly, I am from CA and due to my husband's job we moved to TN. I have not had a day go by that I haven't regretted the move. I absolutely hate it here. I'm a California girl. I just do not fit into their cubicle here. I never will. I work from home and have not made one friend here. I went to our Hands Off protest and very few showed up.
Sorry to hear your pain and frustration. Hope you get physically healthy soon. Don’t give up on diving into ways to make a difference in your life”now” community. Local Indivisible, 50501, etc. I lived in south when I was 20 -I’m now 76. -it is a different world. They think they won the war-the Civil War. And they
think people from CA are crazy. Hang in there. Be well.
Cindi, totally lived your life in 2007 to 2014. My only advise on surviving this journey is to find a connection or two through the thriving wellness community like Acupunture……Not only did I live in the rural part of TN, I came down with breast cancer and drove into town for treatment about an hour each way. Also, get a gym membership and invest in getting strong. The Y is pretty good where I was. Feel free to connect here!
Molly, I don't use Substack often, my apologies I haven't returned you a comment. I am so sorry you had cancer here!!! Vanderbilt is shit when you have cancer. I am not impressed with the Doctors here. AT ALL! I had a terrible horsey accident in 2021 (It was not the horse's fault, it was mine) that said I landed on my neck. I lost movement on the right side of my body due to nerve damage. I went through stem cell therapy to build back the disks in my neck from C 4 through C 8. Very close to the spinal cord. I was exceptionally lucky! I ended up staying with friends in Los Angeles, so I could get exceptional Doctors at hand. The things they suggested here were so outdated. I called my doctor in Westlake, and he hooked me up with amazing doctors and a great physical therapy facility. After 6 months there, I came back here to finish things off. My doctors in USC and UCLA got in touch with a Neurologist here, and they spoke and told them the treatments I would need going forward. Don't think they liked taking orders, but, I really didn't care. Nor did the physical therapist. Oh, well. I'm walking just fine again and the nerve damage healed for the most part. I hope you are still clean from the cancer. I live rural as well. I have horses so, of course, I live rural. Thompson Station. But, it's not so rural anymore. Subdivisions everywhere now. People sold off their land, and it's making it difficult for me as the woods I used to cool down my horse in is now developed. Lots of people moved in here. I think I will try the gym thing at the Y. The second week here I went to the Democratic Parties Office in Nashville. WOW, that was an experience. All this literature on God and Jesus lying around. I was meeting someone to possibly help with a campaign. When I began talking to the guy, he said he wanted to hire me!!! After seeing all the religious pamphlets, I declined! The two should never mix. I have my beliefs and I don't to want to share them in a political environment. When I got to the parking garage, I ran to my car. I knew then I was in big trouble. Holy cow, I couldn't believe it. The two topics never mix well. So I started working at home and riding my horses on my property. I go to shows in Ocala, KY, and VA. Here they aren't so big on Three Day Eventing. So I travel for it. I'll survive, I visit home a lot. I need to feel free. Here I feel like I can't be me or free. Such suppression. I am not fit for TN. I don't eat the things they do, good lord. They fry everything. I don't want a heart attack. I met one person at the Hands Off protest, and she's much older, but, really progressive. She rides as well. We both do dressage, she doesn't do the eventing like I do. But, it's a move in the right direction. I hope to find more in common with here. Maybe learn something from her. It's been seriously lonely here for me. I worked for the Mouse in Burbank at corporate. I worked in Labor/Employment Law. If Michael was still there as President, they would have NEVER kissed the ring of a con man like Trump. Michael could be brutal, and he wouldn't have put up with his crap for one minute. Michael Eisner was there when I worked there. I was in the Dwarf building with him. It took a lot from me. When we moved here, well, I changed careers. I don't like the music business, it's really sleazy. So I switched careers. I broker International Freight. With Trumps BS, I lost 4 very good customers and only have one left that wants to work with the US now. So it really has hurt me. I have to find domestic customers now until things turn around, and he is under control or gone. I specialize in Chemicals/Hazmat and Non Hazmat. Furthermore, I am NOT a sales person at all. I always got business through contacts. Now, I am up the creek, so to say. I'm not good at making sales calls at all. But, I am trying. I need shippers here now. I have access to over 220,00 trucks in the US. I pray that I can find some shippers. It's put a real hurt on us the past few months. I am really scared. So if you have any friends that have product to move anywhere in the US, let me know. LOL. I'm so glad I got to meet you online. Take care of your health. If you need me for anything, just write me at Cindi.Parsano@gmail.com TN is not where I want to be at ALL! I still can't believe my husband dragged me to this insane state! OH my God, Marsha Blackburn and I had it out about a year after I got here. I went to her office. I was ticked. They don't run plows and it snows here. I slipped walking a horse on ice and I fell and he jumped over me trying not to step on me and clipped the back of my head. I could not get to the Hospital to get stitches. I couldn't get down our road. If you came down our driveway, it was up going both directions. I used the 4wheel in my husband's truck, and it wasn't heavy enough on the ice. I ended up shaving the back of my head and duck taping it to hold it together. NO JOKE! Finally, the next day I was able to get there, and they put 4 staples in it. The mailman didn't come for 4 days due to the ice and snow. I was ticked when I went to her office. I let the crazy women have it. She said it wasn't in her budget. Um huh! That's when I lost control. LOL Anyway, so for the long comment, but, I know you know what I am talking about. :)
Yes, agriculture is dependent on government subsidies to grow and harvest crops that feed other countries. Whoops! BTW, Gavin Newsom rather than Newsome. (autocorrecting me now!) So I live in CA but I lived in a rural part of Memphis TN where they alternate crops of soybeans, corn and cotton. All of those crops cost more to grow than farmers can afford. They have to invest in heavy equipment, figure out the storage and shipping. Much of those crops are shipped literally on the MS River to be transferred overseas. Americans don’t consume most of those crops and products.
We have already fallen far behind where we were in education in the 80's-90's. Hell, we've fallen behind in everything, esp healthcare, quality of life, wages/economic equality & yes, in education of our children. We USED TO BE LEADERS in such things, but now we can't even catch up to communist countries, when all things are factored in!
Our dollar is only worth something cuz' it's been the globally agreed upon currency of business/trade, etc. (I forget the term for that.) But, our own $$ instability(!), Congress/debt limits, economic issues, etc., have Russia & China "chomping at the bit" to be the NEW Int'l trade/big biz currency & it won't take much to push that over the edge! WE LOSE BIG TIME if/when that happens!! The dollar wouldn't be worth the paper it's printed on at that point & it'd happen w/o much notice. The "once great & powerful USA" would fall down "$$$ dead". The rest of the world is pretty fed up with our BS & angry that Trump is back in WH...unlike GOP/MAGA, they've had enuff of his 💩💩💩! Instability cannot be tolerated by a global economy. Our MSM doesn't report on this stuff - rather keep us in the dark, oblivious to what's going on in global arena & do so at OUR peril. When it happens, that's the final nail in our coffin! We will not recover our status & power. Of course, billionaires & mega-corporations won't be crushed to dust like the rest of us. They have it all ($$$) & are grabbing even more as we speak, so they won't suffer much... Just the rest of us!
What America does ~ our elections/political turmoil & instability, especially in the hands of an unstable, unhinged, bully & meglo-maniac affects others beyond our borders...something we don't seem to understand, judging from result of our last election. But the world DOES understand & they will look out for themselves.
Agree! Ignore his tariffs and do not respond to his bullying behaviour. He cannot hurt you in any way except to increase tariff %. Check out what your country sends to the US and find another buyer. Join another trade pact with Canada, UK, EU, pacific.
Trump's negotiating with the leaders of the countries that have leaders who are afraid of their own people! Some countries are not as easily pacified by moronic speeches and hatred towards other people's! Those leaders could/would/should be overthrown after selling out to a few billionaires .
He's incredibly stupid...and astoundingly foolish! He's taking economic advice from a MADE UP entity from Peter Navarro! So, that fruitcake Navarro, is advising the Wannabe "King" on how to destroy our country! Delusion, or incompetence, take your pick.
HE, The Fascist Felon is just a small part of the problem. The bigger problem is he surrounded himself with other fascists in our government. Is something happened to the felon? Then Even worse we get Vance. Is something happens to Vance, even worse, we get Johnson.
I think we have to work on Trump and Vance one at a time. Vance is smarter than Trump. He may well get the message if the Republican Congress actually has the gonads to present and then confirm Articles of Impeachment. I'm not convinced the jellyfish are to that point yet. I'm not sure they will ever gain that much spine. I feel like our best hope is cheeseburgers.
They likely can't be impeached together (except that they worked on the same thing, like the Zelensky takedown), but if you take out Vance first, Frump puts in another moron. If you take out Frump first, Vance gets in. Perhaps separate paperwork, but same consecutive timing.
There is nothing to like about Vance except that he is smarter than Trump. He also does not have a universe-size ego. My hope is that he exhibits that intelligence and finds ways to work with Congress (Republicans and Democrats) after Trump is gone. If not, we will have to remove him also.
The problem is that Vance will simply let Trump run the show, like Trump is letting Musk. It is evident from their comments about a 3rd term. He won't be gone until he's 6 feet under.
People do not like Vance, even Republicans in Congress. So if Trump is out and Vance is in, he does not have the scary strength so to speak that Trump has over them.
He would just let Trump do whatever, like Trump lets Musk, so we have to get rid of both. Besides, it's Peter Thiel backing him, and they are both behind Project2025.
Very much so! And the powerful people that spent 4 decades secretly putting together their detailed plan in P-2025 & putting the pieces in place to make it happen, are salivating like hungry dogs cuz' they're SO close to getting everything they want! They won't be stopped, have too much at at stake & everything to gain. Their greed knows no limits!
Why do people, law firms and corporations, even billionaires fear Trump? He is just an angry old fart who thinks everyone is stealing from him? He cannot think logically, he cannot add , he does not know how tariffs work yet uses them as what he claims is an economic strategy!
He's a loose cannon tho. And insane enuff to do VERY STUPID THINGS without thinking it thru! Now that he's surrounded himself with nothing but "yes men", loyalists no smarter than he is & willing to do whatever he says, ge's a bigger danger than ever before!!! Insatiable greed, a full-blown narcissist with ultimate power are dangerous enuff, but throw "stupidity" into the mix & you have 1 hell of an explosion "ready to blow"!!! There will be nothing left but ashes & tiny bits of "what was" when it's over!
Luckily, try as trump may, he cannot change how states hold their elections. The "save" vote act is designed to steal the vote from millions, mainly married women. They also want to ban Vote by Mail, because it makes it too easy for more people to vote, and it's virtually fraud-free, ironically proven by the Heritage Foundation themselves! The HF did a study and found that Vote by Mail is extremely safe. For example, in 19 years of VBM, Oregon only had 15 cases of voter fraud. That's not even one per year. The other VBM states had the same kind of results. Republicans hate when citizens can freely cast their votes, as per our right!
Oh in the confines of my little living room is where I speak a language the clergy wouldn't know. So yeah- there are plenty of other Fs that would apply so go ahead and add another F!🤣
I am 130,000% positive that it has ALWAYS had the same Autism that it's master, President musk, is so proud of. Daddy just helped it hide it, but now that it has ALZHEIMER'S TOO???
It could be dementia and heart problems due to his horrible eating habits. He is getting older near 80. So who really knows all the health issues he has but we can all see it on his face. It’s incredible how all that power was wasted on evil things! He could have been a better president this time around but we knew his evilness continues! He will suffer in the afterlife for sure!!!👍
The deadliest, most evil ones live the longest. But I hope I live long enuff to wake up 1day & read his obituary!! That will be the best day of my life, I think!
I used to think trump was stupid but let's not underestimate him. He is close to taking over the country, who would have thought that was even possible 10 years ago? And as BTC points out, he has now put himself in a position to receive favors in exchange for lifting tariffs. He has effectively legalized extortion for himself and got the Supreme Court to grant him immunity. That is quite an accomplishment for a stupid guy.
He is crafty but so are other thugs. Ignore him and his bully behaviour disappears. He has not determined the plan for decimation of the country but place the harm on the project 2025 crew. They lined up the massive number of Executive orders trump knew little about, let alone how or in what order they should come into being
I hope the rest of the world doesn't roll over for him the way we did here in the US. I also hope to see everyone out again on the 19th to protest the orange clown.
They won't. We know who the cowering weaklings are. Not Canada. Not Denmark. Not Europe. Not Mexico. Nope. The only people afraid of the bully are his marks.
Brian, you are spot on!!! These tariffs have nothing to do with the economy, in Trump’s mind, they are a means of CONTROL! Trump wants to be king of the world‼️
But they are also illegal, the President doesn’t have the right or authority to impose tariffs, Congress does. Therein lies the problem, Congress has already been defanged, has given up its power checks and balances, advise and consent.
If we are in a state of emergency, why has he been on the golf course for four days? If it were an emergency (the strongest economy in decades is hardly what I consider "an emergency") shouldn't he be in a bunker or a war room?? C'mon MAGA, get your head in the game...finally!!!
I think every one who is enabling him - or at least not distancing themselves from him - should remember what happened in the aftermath of Joe McCarthy.
Once the American public realised that McCarthy's ideas were insane, the turnabout was swift. All those who had supported him and acceded to his insanities were reviled.
Trump IS insane. The entire world knows it - including the majority of Republicans in the Senate. They just won't speak up - yet.
Someone should remind them that the first ones off the Trump Crazy Train are going to be the first (and maybe the only) ones to be forgiven.
HEAR HEAR!!!!!!!!!! You nailed EVERY point with precision and clarity!!!!! Thank you!!!
This is probably a silly spot to say this, but I’ll go ahead. I’m from Southern California, living now near Stanford where I went to school, trained to teach, followed by my career. I’m so sad to be widowed two years ago, but my beautiful support system includes Individuals turning 60 this year, whom I met when they were seven or eight years old in my second or third grade classroom in Palo Alto. I’ve followed you closely on YouTube for quite some time now, bought your book (digital copy, inadvertently, have been negligent to find it in my phone to read it! I apologize for that admission.) Anyway, I think you’ve said you’re from Southern California and I have found myself wondering in which community, and then thinking about what you must’ve been like as a third grader. It makes me smile. I hope it makes you smile. You do a stupendous job and it’s incredibly fantastic. I’m so happy for your successes and for how much good you are doing for “We the people.” Keep it up. Thanks so much for today’s post.
One thing you can say for trump - he's encouraged all the really nice people in the world to speak up! I read so many comments on substack from people thanking people, or talking about good things they have seen or done. It constantly restores my faith in this uncertain world.
Oh yes, this resonates bigtime! The variety of stellar authorship on Substack, and then the communities in the comment sections, often joined by the authors themselves, incredibly healthy, informative and even inspiring! Thank you for your heartfelt, encouraging comment!!!
To answer this, you would need to ask Mark Burnett, the creator of "The Apprentice," a "reality TV show" (unscripted work of fiction) who cast the failed businessman and showman as a powerful and capable CEO. Mark is a Brit who has yet to be held accountable for the fakery he foisted on the American people, and another 100 lashes for not doing so when 1/2 the country fell into the cult of Trump he engineered...back in 2015!
Trump only became a billionaire after grifting his way into the White House. Anything before that is lies and one of the reasons he owes NY $502M.
There are people who are sooooo stupid, they actually believed trump was giving away his own money on the show! Like trump would ever pay for anything, except maybe a Russian H.........
I know that Trumps phantom author for ‘art of the deal’ feels responsible for writing about him in a positive light. But other than being from UK I can’t see how am partly to blame!!!
Oh, sorry about that. My sincere apologies; I got it wrong.
I forget how international Substack is, and I missed that you are from the UK. You are not part of the reason, but you could have been…IF, you believed anything DJT said about his wealth which it appeared you did. If you go bankrupt 6 times; if you lose every fraud case (eventually) brought against you if the plaintiffs had deep enough pockets; if you cheat in marriage, business and golf, the question might note be “how do you become president?” but “how did you become a billionaire?” The answer in both cases: not legitimately.
He was found guilty of defrauding the State of NY by overvaluing his assets for loans, and devaluing them for taxes. That’s one state, one plaintiff. As I mentioned before, Mark Burnett, a UK TV producer decided to create the apprentice and not one Billionaire would do the show…until he met Donald. Donald’s own board room was too trashy and dirty for the show, so he got the show to lease office space from him to create the show’s set. (Not entirely wrong, or unusual, but the reasons certainly are. So the show was able to reach a huge audience with a fictional character named Trump who made the most amazing business decisions ever—all fake. He tapped into people’s rage at their own incompetent management (who, ironically, were not fake CEO’s but real ones).
The very simplest answer is he is a con man. Not even a very good one, but one whose luck allowed Mark to find him and they worked out a deal: Mark gets his CEO, Donald gets the business makeover he desperately needed.
In the end, the American populace—especially those who are low-intellect, have little education, do not have college experience, and who were led to believe it was Democrats (which Trump was when it suited him, until 1987, so for most of MAGA, always) and any other bogeyman Trump could dream up—trans people, nasty women, Haitians, Latino gang members. These threats were no more real than the board room he ruled in Trump Tower bought for him by Mark Burnett. A jr. exec on Mark’s team provided much of this in an apologia he wrote BEFORE the 2024 election.
I’m a gadfly and a nice guy but occasionally get it wrong (another thing DJT would never say which endears him to his cult even more). I’m sorry. I’ll edit.
No need to edit. Lots and lots of missing information here. I always knew that he was a fraud and a corrupt conman. Basic instinct, the old ‘gut feeling’ told me that.
In 2016 I just thought he was an idiot. Along came Covid, I don’t know how you all managed to maintain your sanity. The press meetings were unmissable.
So relieved when Joe Biden beat him. Had started posting that I thought he was like Hitler during the election. (Courtesy of a play I had seen by Bertolt Brecht. )
I also had a very strong feeling that he would not leave the presidency quietly, if at all.
This man is almost 80 years old. Why does he want all this pressure?
As for the Billions of dollars he is supposed to have I have only seen that discussed by news 🗞️ outlets. I just don’t understand how he can be interested in running a country, he should be playing golf.
It is of course money and power that drives him. I do believe that he is mentally unstable.
Oh news flash, he has just threatened 50% tariffs!!!
Like I was saying something is very wrong with him.
I could go on about Bannon and Millar, Thiel, Yarvin and all the other sociopaths including the vice president. I’m off for a cup of ☕️ tea. No need for apologies.
Trump's professor at Penn's prestigious Wharton School, William T. Kelley, stated "Donald Trump was the dumbest goddamn student I ever had."
Trump traded in a formal education and even the development of a vocabulary beyond the 4th grade for the life of a morally dissolute playboy after his father arranged for him to evade the draft to join the family's real estate firm.
Over the years, Trump hungered for more and more publicity and constantly appeared in the tabloids surrounded by fawning women. We now know that along the route, he bragged about grabbing women by their genitals, one of whom successfully sued him for sexual molestation and defamation, cheating on his wives and cooking his company's books to "catch and kill" the revelation of his sexual forays with a porn star.
He also managed to set up a self-glorifying university which turned out to be a fraud on its students, as did his applications to numerous creditors whom he swindled out of hundreds of millions of dollars by vastly overvaluing his assets.
So how did Donald Trump get to go from being a rich dissolute playboy with the morals of an alley cat to being a rich dissolute President with the morals of an alley cat?
The closest explanation I can think of is by means of a riff on a comment made by Samuel Johnson to his biographer James Boswell about an acquaintance: " Sir, he was repugnant in his company, he was repugnant in his style, he was repugnant everywhere. He was repugnant in a new way and that made many people think him great."
Yes. He was repugnant in a new way. Paying a ghostwriter to write "The Art of the Deal" in Trump's name and with his wealth, swagger, ego and bluster, this blowhard and clown came to be the perfect sitcom attraction for prime-time t.v. And the more he growled, grated, gloated, grimaced and glamorized himself on t.v., the greater his audience swelled to be entertained by his bloated ego, bombast and put-downs.
In short. No one had even seen such a pompous, obnoxious and egotistical blowhard before, with the possible exception of Don Rickles's onstage persona. He was novel and refreshing, and offered a new face and style to enter the political arena with the support of right-wing conservatives, along with wealthy and influential friends, domestic and foreign, who learned how to manipulate his insecurities through flattery, money and promises of power.
During his first term in office, the dark side of him palpably emerged, in which he revealed his insecurity and desperation and lust for power and admiration, relying on lies and self-delusions to sustain his mental equilibrium. Over time, even his staff openly admitted that he relied on conjuring "alternate truths " and "alternate facts" to hold his world of illusions together. Even his niece, a psychologist with a Ph. D. in psychology, has openly referred to his serious mental unbalance and delusions of grandeur.
As we all too painfully know, his unwillingness to accept reality and to accept defeat in the 2020 election led to his desperate lies to his gullible cult followers that he actually won the election, though he was unable to convince a single court among the 80+ law suits he filed that his election was stolen. To this day, he is mentally incapable of letting go of his delusion that he won the 2020 election.
And while his victory in 2024 was more a repudiation of Joe Biden than a vote of confidence in him, he still cannot let go of the fact that he was a loser and that most people know he was and may still be.
I believe that it this obsession to crush his perceived enemies and non-believers through promises, threats, manipulations and extortion, and blackmail that drives his every waking hour.
And though Donald Trump now believes that he is on the verge of dominating every facet of life in the United States, it is not enough to satiate his unquenchable ego.
It is the entire world to which he now looks to become the Master of the Universe by turning upside down every country's economy and evoking the fear and admiration of every human being on this planet, all of whose lips will now be talking about the mighty and powerful Donald Trump.
So at what price to all of us does Trump aspire to be top of the world?
It conjures up visions of Jimmy Cagney's movie character's self-immolation shouting:
He wants corporations to come begging for tariff relief so he can strike a deal that favors only him. He doesn’t care if we’re isolated globally. Once large corporations realize the tariffs are a death knell, they’ll cave and go crawling to the WH to pledge loyalty for respite from the tariffs. He hates America, if he extorts us, what difference does it make to him? He doesn’t care if every other country moves on without us. Which they will.
Dems have to win the House & Senate next year, and then Impeach Trump & all of his despicable minions. A new amendment has to be instituted to make sure something like Trump & his Abuse of Power can never be allowed to happen again.
My favorite birthday card to give to friends shows the founding fathers at work, with one of them saying something like: "I still say we should include a clause in case the people elect a moron!"
Resistance is growing in this country but until the current administration is run out of office no other country should give into our bully of a president.
He's bribing anyone he can get his hands on. I've never seen anything like this. And the capitulation is pathetic. No, we won't let this stand. Impeach!
BOOM, Brian!Truer words never spoken. Hope springs eternal. It is sad to see that so many people are going to suffer as a result of this man’s outsized ego and incompetence. But I am so glad to see other nations coming together to rebuff his ploy. But more importantly and satisfying, is seeing Americans waking up to fight back and to show him we are not going to sit idly by, while he hurts us.
With his tariffs proving to be a drain on the economy, decimating the stock market, more than ever, this could portend a chink in his so-called Teflon armor. And with Elon Musk’s popularity swirling in the loo, this offers an opportunity for an unrelenting push back at both men. As it appears, the wind is at our backs with the show of force across the country yesterday, this cannot be a one off. It must be relentless and sustained.
People power is to despots as light is to vampires. They will fold.
I am leery of falling for each piece of trump bait, at the moment it is the tariffs. There is a greater danger that our civil liberties are being erroded by each lawless act. ICE goon gestapo have disappered people, that is grave. trump has his sycophants at the head of the military, justice and the FBI, the levers of power are his.
These third-grade economic forces do not require rocket science to understand. What “is” hard to understand is the millions of Americans along with business leaders - who should have known better - who have had tons of evidence pointing out the incompetence and sociopathic malignant narcissism of Trump in their face for over ten years or more, yet still voted for him even after he was convicted of business fraud.
The stupidity and irresponsibility stagers the mind!
The huge and growing elephant in the room is the stupidity of the American people and their lack and rejection of not only basic “truthful information”, but the astronomically high level of ignorance about how their own government works and how the Republican Party has been robbing them of benefits, job opportunities, transparent government, and truth for years.
Trump, the sophomoric MAGA movement and their childish so-called culture wars will pass and die - the sooner the better - but the ignorance and stupidity of the American mind that caused these self-inflicted injuries remain and if not addressed will bring us back to this stupidity and chaos!
Any road forward needs to fix this “stupidity imbalance” cycle or this will be just one more self-inflicted horror of many more to come!
Yes. Kurt Anderson’s Fantasy Land : How America Went Haywire relates how we have had very serious cultural problems since the beginning. An extremely difficult problem that will never go away but will require fortitude and commitment from everyone in every generation. It is an ancient story of humanity since the dawn of agriculture. Greed and exploitation by a few. Condemn these facists every chance you get no matter who they are.
What if other countries just cut the US out of agreements and do not petition the “king”?
And that is what they are already positioning to do.
It’s not just other countries. California and Governor Newsom, whose state economy is actually larger than some countries, are working with Canada and Mexico, apart from the US, to benefit their state. It’s also going to be interesting to see how individual states, especially so many Red states who are dependent upon a lot of government assistance, handle their public and private education systems. Trump is giving his blessing, but also cutting off educational funding and states’ grants. We’re already falling behind other countries in education results. This will only cause more severe negative impact on special needs’ students, children born here, but have immigrant parents, and rural and poverty stricken areas.
So Trump is cutting off all these agencies which BENEFIT us, yet we still have to pay the taxes that PAID for these agencies.
In the meantime, Trump is pocketing the money the billionaires and anyone else are giving him. The American people are NOT benefitting. On the contrary we are getting decimated all the way around.
Exactly!
I support that idea, that’s a compelling perspective, for sure.
Exactly
Children born here but have an immigrants mother? Isn't that Barron? Think they'd question the directive when the algorithm picks him out of nowhere.
I respect Governor Newsome! Sadly, I am from CA and due to my husband's job we moved to TN. I have not had a day go by that I haven't regretted the move. I absolutely hate it here. I'm a California girl. I just do not fit into their cubicle here. I never will. I work from home and have not made one friend here. I went to our Hands Off protest and very few showed up.
Sorry to hear your pain and frustration. Hope you get physically healthy soon. Don’t give up on diving into ways to make a difference in your life”now” community. Local Indivisible, 50501, etc. I lived in south when I was 20 -I’m now 76. -it is a different world. They think they won the war-the Civil War. And they
think people from CA are crazy. Hang in there. Be well.
Cindi, totally lived your life in 2007 to 2014. My only advise on surviving this journey is to find a connection or two through the thriving wellness community like Acupunture……Not only did I live in the rural part of TN, I came down with breast cancer and drove into town for treatment about an hour each way. Also, get a gym membership and invest in getting strong. The Y is pretty good where I was. Feel free to connect here!
Molly, I don't use Substack often, my apologies I haven't returned you a comment. I am so sorry you had cancer here!!! Vanderbilt is shit when you have cancer. I am not impressed with the Doctors here. AT ALL! I had a terrible horsey accident in 2021 (It was not the horse's fault, it was mine) that said I landed on my neck. I lost movement on the right side of my body due to nerve damage. I went through stem cell therapy to build back the disks in my neck from C 4 through C 8. Very close to the spinal cord. I was exceptionally lucky! I ended up staying with friends in Los Angeles, so I could get exceptional Doctors at hand. The things they suggested here were so outdated. I called my doctor in Westlake, and he hooked me up with amazing doctors and a great physical therapy facility. After 6 months there, I came back here to finish things off. My doctors in USC and UCLA got in touch with a Neurologist here, and they spoke and told them the treatments I would need going forward. Don't think they liked taking orders, but, I really didn't care. Nor did the physical therapist. Oh, well. I'm walking just fine again and the nerve damage healed for the most part. I hope you are still clean from the cancer. I live rural as well. I have horses so, of course, I live rural. Thompson Station. But, it's not so rural anymore. Subdivisions everywhere now. People sold off their land, and it's making it difficult for me as the woods I used to cool down my horse in is now developed. Lots of people moved in here. I think I will try the gym thing at the Y. The second week here I went to the Democratic Parties Office in Nashville. WOW, that was an experience. All this literature on God and Jesus lying around. I was meeting someone to possibly help with a campaign. When I began talking to the guy, he said he wanted to hire me!!! After seeing all the religious pamphlets, I declined! The two should never mix. I have my beliefs and I don't to want to share them in a political environment. When I got to the parking garage, I ran to my car. I knew then I was in big trouble. Holy cow, I couldn't believe it. The two topics never mix well. So I started working at home and riding my horses on my property. I go to shows in Ocala, KY, and VA. Here they aren't so big on Three Day Eventing. So I travel for it. I'll survive, I visit home a lot. I need to feel free. Here I feel like I can't be me or free. Such suppression. I am not fit for TN. I don't eat the things they do, good lord. They fry everything. I don't want a heart attack. I met one person at the Hands Off protest, and she's much older, but, really progressive. She rides as well. We both do dressage, she doesn't do the eventing like I do. But, it's a move in the right direction. I hope to find more in common with here. Maybe learn something from her. It's been seriously lonely here for me. I worked for the Mouse in Burbank at corporate. I worked in Labor/Employment Law. If Michael was still there as President, they would have NEVER kissed the ring of a con man like Trump. Michael could be brutal, and he wouldn't have put up with his crap for one minute. Michael Eisner was there when I worked there. I was in the Dwarf building with him. It took a lot from me. When we moved here, well, I changed careers. I don't like the music business, it's really sleazy. So I switched careers. I broker International Freight. With Trumps BS, I lost 4 very good customers and only have one left that wants to work with the US now. So it really has hurt me. I have to find domestic customers now until things turn around, and he is under control or gone. I specialize in Chemicals/Hazmat and Non Hazmat. Furthermore, I am NOT a sales person at all. I always got business through contacts. Now, I am up the creek, so to say. I'm not good at making sales calls at all. But, I am trying. I need shippers here now. I have access to over 220,00 trucks in the US. I pray that I can find some shippers. It's put a real hurt on us the past few months. I am really scared. So if you have any friends that have product to move anywhere in the US, let me know. LOL. I'm so glad I got to meet you online. Take care of your health. If you need me for anything, just write me at Cindi.Parsano@gmail.com TN is not where I want to be at ALL! I still can't believe my husband dragged me to this insane state! OH my God, Marsha Blackburn and I had it out about a year after I got here. I went to her office. I was ticked. They don't run plows and it snows here. I slipped walking a horse on ice and I fell and he jumped over me trying not to step on me and clipped the back of my head. I could not get to the Hospital to get stitches. I couldn't get down our road. If you came down our driveway, it was up going both directions. I used the 4wheel in my husband's truck, and it wasn't heavy enough on the ice. I ended up shaving the back of my head and duck taping it to hold it together. NO JOKE! Finally, the next day I was able to get there, and they put 4 staples in it. The mailman didn't come for 4 days due to the ice and snow. I was ticked when I went to her office. I let the crazy women have it. She said it wasn't in her budget. Um huh! That's when I lost control. LOL Anyway, so for the long comment, but, I know you know what I am talking about. :)
So happy you got in touch, Cindi! I will contact you on Gmail. I am originally a Mary but have always gone by Molly. Email
Is Maryp….
Sent!
Yes, agriculture is dependent on government subsidies to grow and harvest crops that feed other countries. Whoops! BTW, Gavin Newsom rather than Newsome. (autocorrecting me now!) So I live in CA but I lived in a rural part of Memphis TN where they alternate crops of soybeans, corn and cotton. All of those crops cost more to grow than farmers can afford. They have to invest in heavy equipment, figure out the storage and shipping. Much of those crops are shipped literally on the MS River to be transferred overseas. Americans don’t consume most of those crops and products.
We have already fallen far behind where we were in education in the 80's-90's. Hell, we've fallen behind in everything, esp healthcare, quality of life, wages/economic equality & yes, in education of our children. We USED TO BE LEADERS in such things, but now we can't even catch up to communist countries, when all things are factored in!
Our dollar is only worth something cuz' it's been the globally agreed upon currency of business/trade, etc. (I forget the term for that.) But, our own $$ instability(!), Congress/debt limits, economic issues, etc., have Russia & China "chomping at the bit" to be the NEW Int'l trade/big biz currency & it won't take much to push that over the edge! WE LOSE BIG TIME if/when that happens!! The dollar wouldn't be worth the paper it's printed on at that point & it'd happen w/o much notice. The "once great & powerful USA" would fall down "$$$ dead". The rest of the world is pretty fed up with our BS & angry that Trump is back in WH...unlike GOP/MAGA, they've had enuff of his 💩💩💩! Instability cannot be tolerated by a global economy. Our MSM doesn't report on this stuff - rather keep us in the dark, oblivious to what's going on in global arena & do so at OUR peril. When it happens, that's the final nail in our coffin! We will not recover our status & power. Of course, billionaires & mega-corporations won't be crushed to dust like the rest of us. They have it all ($$$) & are grabbing even more as we speak, so they won't suffer much... Just the rest of us!
What America does ~ our elections/political turmoil & instability, especially in the hands of an unstable, unhinged, bully & meglo-maniac affects others beyond our borders...something we don't seem to understand, judging from result of our last election. But the world DOES understand & they will look out for themselves.
Agree! Ignore his tariffs and do not respond to his bullying behaviour. He cannot hurt you in any way except to increase tariff %. Check out what your country sends to the US and find another buyer. Join another trade pact with Canada, UK, EU, pacific.
That's already happening, Trump has over played his hand this time. Because of his actions the Republican Party will be running scared.
should be...
I support that idea, that’s a compelling perspective, for sure.
Its already happening & he’s trying to negotiate with other countries after realizing the public doesn’t like the tariffs….
Trump's negotiating with the leaders of the countries that have leaders who are afraid of their own people! Some countries are not as easily pacified by moronic speeches and hatred towards other people's! Those leaders could/would/should be overthrown after selling out to a few billionaires .
Good. So he’s calling them? Not the other way around like he claims?
they are
He's incredibly stupid...and astoundingly foolish! He's taking economic advice from a MADE UP entity from Peter Navarro! So, that fruitcake Navarro, is advising the Wannabe "King" on how to destroy our country! Delusion, or incompetence, take your pick.
HE, The Fascist Felon is just a small part of the problem. The bigger problem is he surrounded himself with other fascists in our government. Is something happened to the felon? Then Even worse we get Vance. Is something happens to Vance, even worse, we get Johnson.
They need to convince a few Repubs to look to the future:
1. vote with Dems to select a new speaker
2. impeach both tRump and Vance
I think we have to work on Trump and Vance one at a time. Vance is smarter than Trump. He may well get the message if the Republican Congress actually has the gonads to present and then confirm Articles of Impeachment. I'm not convinced the jellyfish are to that point yet. I'm not sure they will ever gain that much spine. I feel like our best hope is cheeseburgers.
They likely can't be impeached together (except that they worked on the same thing, like the Zelensky takedown), but if you take out Vance first, Frump puts in another moron. If you take out Frump first, Vance gets in. Perhaps separate paperwork, but same consecutive timing.
You are looking at this in the same way I am.
Agreed! Vance is smarter & SNEAKIER than tRumpet - he worries me a lot!
There is nothing to like about Vance except that he is smarter than Trump. He also does not have a universe-size ego. My hope is that he exhibits that intelligence and finds ways to work with Congress (Republicans and Democrats) after Trump is gone. If not, we will have to remove him also.
The problem is that Vance will simply let Trump run the show, like Trump is letting Musk. It is evident from their comments about a 3rd term. He won't be gone until he's 6 feet under.
But then we're stuck with maga mike and I really hate him too
No, that's why #1 is select a new speaker.
As soon as Donald can't get done what he wants, he will dissolve the Constitution and announce his own.
Congressional Republicans should be ashamed of themselves. Their grandchildren will be a disgraced blemish of MAGA Americans throughout the world.
You're forgetting whose third in line. Mike Johnson. We're in quite the spot. It's not going to be easy and it's not going to be a quick fix.
As I said before, "No, that's why #1 is select a new speaker."
People do not like Vance, even Republicans in Congress. So if Trump is out and Vance is in, he does not have the scary strength so to speak that Trump has over them.
He would just let Trump do whatever, like Trump lets Musk, so we have to get rid of both. Besides, it's Peter Thiel backing him, and they are both behind Project2025.
Very much so! And the powerful people that spent 4 decades secretly putting together their detailed plan in P-2025 & putting the pieces in place to make it happen, are salivating like hungry dogs cuz' they're SO close to getting everything they want! They won't be stopped, have too much at at stake & everything to gain. Their greed knows no limits!
I support that idea, that’s a compelling perspective, for sure.
Why do people, law firms and corporations, even billionaires fear Trump? He is just an angry old fart who thinks everyone is stealing from him? He cannot think logically, he cannot add , he does not know how tariffs work yet uses them as what he claims is an economic strategy!
Ignore the man!
But he has big money techno’s like Theil & friends.
He's a loose cannon tho. And insane enuff to do VERY STUPID THINGS without thinking it thru! Now that he's surrounded himself with nothing but "yes men", loyalists no smarter than he is & willing to do whatever he says, ge's a bigger danger than ever before!!! Insatiable greed, a full-blown narcissist with ultimate power are dangerous enuff, but throw "stupidity" into the mix & you have 1 hell of an explosion "ready to blow"!!! There will be nothing left but ashes & tiny bits of "what was" when it's over!
I resonate with that, that’s a thoughtful comment, exactly so.
I know. None of it is a good result. We .ust take back the house and senate in '26. We must. If we have elections
Luckily, try as trump may, he cannot change how states hold their elections. The "save" vote act is designed to steal the vote from millions, mainly married women. They also want to ban Vote by Mail, because it makes it too easy for more people to vote, and it's virtually fraud-free, ironically proven by the Heritage Foundation themselves! The HF did a study and found that Vote by Mail is extremely safe. For example, in 19 years of VBM, Oregon only had 15 cases of voter fraud. That's not even one per year. The other VBM states had the same kind of results. Republicans hate when citizens can freely cast their votes, as per our right!
and don't forget who has the ear of 47 - S. Miller. His family escaped from the Naxi and he has become one.
We have to eliminate the entire cabinet and the ketamine klansman. That’s the only solution I can think of 🤔
Ketamine Klansman Klown
🤣
I like the addition 🤓
"Fascist Felon" - very well put! But I'm tempted to add an extra "F" at the beginning.
Oh in the confines of my little living room is where I speak a language the clergy wouldn't know. So yeah- there are plenty of other Fs that would apply so go ahead and add another F!🤣
I like you! 😉
I support that idea, that’s a compelling perspective, for sure.
"gee, I wonder what that "F" would be....?! 🤔...🖕 LOL
I support that idea, that’s a compelling perspective, for sure.
Youre right that having Vance or Johnson in charge would be terrible. But neither has the charisma of Trump and, I believe, would be impeached.
Don't forget all the talking heads who put together Proj 2025.....
Excuse my terseness, but they can all go to hell. I am sure Satan is salivating at the idea of having them burn in hell.
Satan sent them here
Then I guess he is happily awaiting their return to congratulate them on a job well done :)
I couldn't agree more
Only after they've finished Satan's business here Earth!
I’m with you, that’s an excellent remark, without a doubt.
I am 130,000% positive that it has ALWAYS had the same Autism that it's master, President musk, is so proud of. Daddy just helped it hide it, but now that it has ALZHEIMER'S TOO???
I can't see this lasting too much longer.
I hear it's Dementia.
Trump shows signs of dementia during awful announcement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ztx-VxQW5v0
More like dementia
It could be dementia and heart problems due to his horrible eating habits. He is getting older near 80. So who really knows all the health issues he has but we can all see it on his face. It’s incredible how all that power was wasted on evil things! He could have been a better president this time around but we knew his evilness continues! He will suffer in the afterlife for sure!!!👍
He could have been a better human this time around, but he couldn't even do that. He shall rot.
The deadliest, most evil ones live the longest. But I hope I live long enuff to wake up 1day & read his obituary!! That will be the best day of my life, I think!
I resonate with that, that’s a thoughtful comment, exactly so.
I used to think trump was stupid but let's not underestimate him. He is close to taking over the country, who would have thought that was even possible 10 years ago? And as BTC points out, he has now put himself in a position to receive favors in exchange for lifting tariffs. He has effectively legalized extortion for himself and got the Supreme Court to grant him immunity. That is quite an accomplishment for a stupid guy.
trump got himself a "Russian life coach" to help him achieve his goals.
And the goals of the Russian.
He is crafty but so are other thugs. Ignore him and his bully behaviour disappears. He has not determined the plan for decimation of the country but place the harm on the project 2025 crew. They lined up the massive number of Executive orders trump knew little about, let alone how or in what order they should come into being
Bingo Navarro isnt a very reliable economic advisor. And your right he is the ficticious character in his book. Navarro spelt backwards.
Not backwards. An anagram: same letters, rearranged. The character is Ron Varro = Navarro. Backwards w/b "Or Ravan".
Both!
I concur, that's a valid observation, precisely.
I hope the rest of the world doesn't roll over for him the way we did here in the US. I also hope to see everyone out again on the 19th to protest the orange clown.
They won't. We know who the cowering weaklings are. Not Canada. Not Denmark. Not Europe. Not Mexico. Nope. The only people afraid of the bully are his marks.
Where can I find more info on this protest?
https://www.hercampus.com/culture/50501-april-19-protests-what-they-are-how-to-attend-info/
Brian, you are spot on!!! These tariffs have nothing to do with the economy, in Trump’s mind, they are a means of CONTROL! Trump wants to be king of the world‼️
But they are also illegal, the President doesn’t have the right or authority to impose tariffs, Congress does. Therein lies the problem, Congress has already been defanged, has given up its power checks and balances, advise and consent.
They need to rescind the fake state of emergency Trump declared.
If we are in a state of emergency, why has he been on the golf course for four days? If it were an emergency (the strongest economy in decades is hardly what I consider "an emergency") shouldn't he be in a bunker or a war room?? C'mon MAGA, get your head in the game...finally!!!
He was on the golf course so he could break the Emoluments Clause yet again, by the Saudis paying him, if not directly then through his meme coin.
I think every one who is enabling him - or at least not distancing themselves from him - should remember what happened in the aftermath of Joe McCarthy.
Once the American public realised that McCarthy's ideas were insane, the turnabout was swift. All those who had supported him and acceded to his insanities were reviled.
Trump IS insane. The entire world knows it - including the majority of Republicans in the Senate. They just won't speak up - yet.
Someone should remind them that the first ones off the Trump Crazy Train are going to be the first (and maybe the only) ones to be forgiven.
HEAR HEAR!!!!!!!!!! You nailed EVERY point with precision and clarity!!!!! Thank you!!!
This is probably a silly spot to say this, but I’ll go ahead. I’m from Southern California, living now near Stanford where I went to school, trained to teach, followed by my career. I’m so sad to be widowed two years ago, but my beautiful support system includes Individuals turning 60 this year, whom I met when they were seven or eight years old in my second or third grade classroom in Palo Alto. I’ve followed you closely on YouTube for quite some time now, bought your book (digital copy, inadvertently, have been negligent to find it in my phone to read it! I apologize for that admission.) Anyway, I think you’ve said you’re from Southern California and I have found myself wondering in which community, and then thinking about what you must’ve been like as a third grader. It makes me smile. I hope it makes you smile. You do a stupendous job and it’s incredibly fantastic. I’m so happy for your successes and for how much good you are doing for “We the people.” Keep it up. Thanks so much for today’s post.
One thing you can say for trump - he's encouraged all the really nice people in the world to speak up! I read so many comments on substack from people thanking people, or talking about good things they have seen or done. It constantly restores my faith in this uncertain world.
Oh yes, this resonates bigtime! The variety of stellar authorship on Substack, and then the communities in the comment sections, often joined by the authors themselves, incredibly healthy, informative and even inspiring! Thank you for your heartfelt, encouraging comment!!!
I am really nice, but I mess up now and then.
How on earth has this monstrous 6 times bankrupt managed to get to be a billionaire?
He makes money the way old fashioned robber barons did - he steals it.
Extortion
If that isn’t clear as day by now…
Cheating, stealing, lying, not paying bills.
To answer this, you would need to ask Mark Burnett, the creator of "The Apprentice," a "reality TV show" (unscripted work of fiction) who cast the failed businessman and showman as a powerful and capable CEO. Mark is a Brit who has yet to be held accountable for the fakery he foisted on the American people, and another 100 lashes for not doing so when 1/2 the country fell into the cult of Trump he engineered...back in 2015!
Trump only became a billionaire after grifting his way into the White House. Anything before that is lies and one of the reasons he owes NY $502M.
There are people who are sooooo stupid, they actually believed trump was giving away his own money on the show! Like trump would ever pay for anything, except maybe a Russian H.........
It’s a Russian “W” (assuming you mean “whore.”) Gadfly, remember? ;).
I was going for "hooker", but I'm sure a Thesaurus would list "whore", as well. ;) (And now I want to look it up to see if it's really in there!)
Please tell me why I am ‘part of the reason?’
I know that Trumps phantom author for ‘art of the deal’ feels responsible for writing about him in a positive light. But other than being from UK I can’t see how am partly to blame!!!
Oh, sorry about that. My sincere apologies; I got it wrong.
I forget how international Substack is, and I missed that you are from the UK. You are not part of the reason, but you could have been…IF, you believed anything DJT said about his wealth which it appeared you did. If you go bankrupt 6 times; if you lose every fraud case (eventually) brought against you if the plaintiffs had deep enough pockets; if you cheat in marriage, business and golf, the question might note be “how do you become president?” but “how did you become a billionaire?” The answer in both cases: not legitimately.
He was found guilty of defrauding the State of NY by overvaluing his assets for loans, and devaluing them for taxes. That’s one state, one plaintiff. As I mentioned before, Mark Burnett, a UK TV producer decided to create the apprentice and not one Billionaire would do the show…until he met Donald. Donald’s own board room was too trashy and dirty for the show, so he got the show to lease office space from him to create the show’s set. (Not entirely wrong, or unusual, but the reasons certainly are. So the show was able to reach a huge audience with a fictional character named Trump who made the most amazing business decisions ever—all fake. He tapped into people’s rage at their own incompetent management (who, ironically, were not fake CEO’s but real ones).
The very simplest answer is he is a con man. Not even a very good one, but one whose luck allowed Mark to find him and they worked out a deal: Mark gets his CEO, Donald gets the business makeover he desperately needed.
In the end, the American populace—especially those who are low-intellect, have little education, do not have college experience, and who were led to believe it was Democrats (which Trump was when it suited him, until 1987, so for most of MAGA, always) and any other bogeyman Trump could dream up—trans people, nasty women, Haitians, Latino gang members. These threats were no more real than the board room he ruled in Trump Tower bought for him by Mark Burnett. A jr. exec on Mark’s team provided much of this in an apologia he wrote BEFORE the 2024 election.
I’m a gadfly and a nice guy but occasionally get it wrong (another thing DJT would never say which endears him to his cult even more). I’m sorry. I’ll edit.
No need to edit. Lots and lots of missing information here. I always knew that he was a fraud and a corrupt conman. Basic instinct, the old ‘gut feeling’ told me that.
In 2016 I just thought he was an idiot. Along came Covid, I don’t know how you all managed to maintain your sanity. The press meetings were unmissable.
So relieved when Joe Biden beat him. Had started posting that I thought he was like Hitler during the election. (Courtesy of a play I had seen by Bertolt Brecht. )
I also had a very strong feeling that he would not leave the presidency quietly, if at all.
This man is almost 80 years old. Why does he want all this pressure?
As for the Billions of dollars he is supposed to have I have only seen that discussed by news 🗞️ outlets. I just don’t understand how he can be interested in running a country, he should be playing golf.
It is of course money and power that drives him. I do believe that he is mentally unstable.
Oh news flash, he has just threatened 50% tariffs!!!
Like I was saying something is very wrong with him.
I could go on about Bannon and Millar, Thiel, Yarvin and all the other sociopaths including the vice president. I’m off for a cup of ☕️ tea. No need for apologies.
I feel very much the same way, but I will be more deply affected, already am. Enjoy your cuppa. I'm just waking up and have therapy soon.
There is more chaos today, Trump is organising a Full Military birthday parade. ( so he says)
I say make Washington DC a Ghost Town he wants to provoke people. The man is a lunatic.
Good question.
" MADE IT MA! TOP OF THE WORLD!"
Trump's professor at Penn's prestigious Wharton School, William T. Kelley, stated "Donald Trump was the dumbest goddamn student I ever had."
Trump traded in a formal education and even the development of a vocabulary beyond the 4th grade for the life of a morally dissolute playboy after his father arranged for him to evade the draft to join the family's real estate firm.
Over the years, Trump hungered for more and more publicity and constantly appeared in the tabloids surrounded by fawning women. We now know that along the route, he bragged about grabbing women by their genitals, one of whom successfully sued him for sexual molestation and defamation, cheating on his wives and cooking his company's books to "catch and kill" the revelation of his sexual forays with a porn star.
He also managed to set up a self-glorifying university which turned out to be a fraud on its students, as did his applications to numerous creditors whom he swindled out of hundreds of millions of dollars by vastly overvaluing his assets.
So how did Donald Trump get to go from being a rich dissolute playboy with the morals of an alley cat to being a rich dissolute President with the morals of an alley cat?
The closest explanation I can think of is by means of a riff on a comment made by Samuel Johnson to his biographer James Boswell about an acquaintance: " Sir, he was repugnant in his company, he was repugnant in his style, he was repugnant everywhere. He was repugnant in a new way and that made many people think him great."
Yes. He was repugnant in a new way. Paying a ghostwriter to write "The Art of the Deal" in Trump's name and with his wealth, swagger, ego and bluster, this blowhard and clown came to be the perfect sitcom attraction for prime-time t.v. And the more he growled, grated, gloated, grimaced and glamorized himself on t.v., the greater his audience swelled to be entertained by his bloated ego, bombast and put-downs.
In short. No one had even seen such a pompous, obnoxious and egotistical blowhard before, with the possible exception of Don Rickles's onstage persona. He was novel and refreshing, and offered a new face and style to enter the political arena with the support of right-wing conservatives, along with wealthy and influential friends, domestic and foreign, who learned how to manipulate his insecurities through flattery, money and promises of power.
During his first term in office, the dark side of him palpably emerged, in which he revealed his insecurity and desperation and lust for power and admiration, relying on lies and self-delusions to sustain his mental equilibrium. Over time, even his staff openly admitted that he relied on conjuring "alternate truths " and "alternate facts" to hold his world of illusions together. Even his niece, a psychologist with a Ph. D. in psychology, has openly referred to his serious mental unbalance and delusions of grandeur.
As we all too painfully know, his unwillingness to accept reality and to accept defeat in the 2020 election led to his desperate lies to his gullible cult followers that he actually won the election, though he was unable to convince a single court among the 80+ law suits he filed that his election was stolen. To this day, he is mentally incapable of letting go of his delusion that he won the 2020 election.
And while his victory in 2024 was more a repudiation of Joe Biden than a vote of confidence in him, he still cannot let go of the fact that he was a loser and that most people know he was and may still be.
I believe that it this obsession to crush his perceived enemies and non-believers through promises, threats, manipulations and extortion, and blackmail that drives his every waking hour.
And though Donald Trump now believes that he is on the verge of dominating every facet of life in the United States, it is not enough to satiate his unquenchable ego.
It is the entire world to which he now looks to become the Master of the Universe by turning upside down every country's economy and evoking the fear and admiration of every human being on this planet, all of whose lips will now be talking about the mighty and powerful Donald Trump.
So at what price to all of us does Trump aspire to be top of the world?
It conjures up visions of Jimmy Cagney's movie character's self-immolation shouting:
"Made It Ma !Top of the World!"
He wants corporations to come begging for tariff relief so he can strike a deal that favors only him. He doesn’t care if we’re isolated globally. Once large corporations realize the tariffs are a death knell, they’ll cave and go crawling to the WH to pledge loyalty for respite from the tariffs. He hates America, if he extorts us, what difference does it make to him? He doesn’t care if every other country moves on without us. Which they will.
Dems have to win the House & Senate next year, and then Impeach Trump & all of his despicable minions. A new amendment has to be instituted to make sure something like Trump & his Abuse of Power can never be allowed to happen again.
My favorite birthday card to give to friends shows the founding fathers at work, with one of them saying something like: "I still say we should include a clause in case the people elect a moron!"
The big question in my mind: will we ever have another free and fair election 🧐
We have to make sure we do.
Resistance is growing in this country but until the current administration is run out of office no other country should give into our bully of a president.
We're not. #CanadaStrong
He's bribing anyone he can get his hands on. I've never seen anything like this. And the capitulation is pathetic. No, we won't let this stand. Impeach!
#HandsOff
#50501
#WeAreNotGoingBack
Other than a sedative, there is no medication that will help~ clearly, "delusions of grandure."
BOOM, Brian!Truer words never spoken. Hope springs eternal. It is sad to see that so many people are going to suffer as a result of this man’s outsized ego and incompetence. But I am so glad to see other nations coming together to rebuff his ploy. But more importantly and satisfying, is seeing Americans waking up to fight back and to show him we are not going to sit idly by, while he hurts us.
With his tariffs proving to be a drain on the economy, decimating the stock market, more than ever, this could portend a chink in his so-called Teflon armor. And with Elon Musk’s popularity swirling in the loo, this offers an opportunity for an unrelenting push back at both men. As it appears, the wind is at our backs with the show of force across the country yesterday, this cannot be a one off. It must be relentless and sustained.
People power is to despots as light is to vampires. They will fold.
Let’s Go!
I am leery of falling for each piece of trump bait, at the moment it is the tariffs. There is a greater danger that our civil liberties are being erroded by each lawless act. ICE goon gestapo have disappered people, that is grave. trump has his sycophants at the head of the military, justice and the FBI, the levers of power are his.
These third-grade economic forces do not require rocket science to understand. What “is” hard to understand is the millions of Americans along with business leaders - who should have known better - who have had tons of evidence pointing out the incompetence and sociopathic malignant narcissism of Trump in their face for over ten years or more, yet still voted for him even after he was convicted of business fraud.
The stupidity and irresponsibility stagers the mind!
The huge and growing elephant in the room is the stupidity of the American people and their lack and rejection of not only basic “truthful information”, but the astronomically high level of ignorance about how their own government works and how the Republican Party has been robbing them of benefits, job opportunities, transparent government, and truth for years.
Trump, the sophomoric MAGA movement and their childish so-called culture wars will pass and die - the sooner the better - but the ignorance and stupidity of the American mind that caused these self-inflicted injuries remain and if not addressed will bring us back to this stupidity and chaos!
Any road forward needs to fix this “stupidity imbalance” cycle or this will be just one more self-inflicted horror of many more to come!
Yes. Kurt Anderson’s Fantasy Land : How America Went Haywire relates how we have had very serious cultural problems since the beginning. An extremely difficult problem that will never go away but will require fortitude and commitment from everyone in every generation. It is an ancient story of humanity since the dawn of agriculture. Greed and exploitation by a few. Condemn these facists every chance you get no matter who they are.