I joined the group Braver Angels because I want to go back to hating Republican policies instead of hating Republicans. Braver Angels is a group that is working to help those of us standing on the brink of divides trying to reach across the divide and find some kind of common cause.
I suspect that anytime we can find an atom of agreement anywhere, we should go with it. A pearl starts with an irritating grain of sand.
These people have shown us very clearly that they don't stop at "hating policies." Their hate is deep and personal. You want to accept these Nazis back into the fold as though everything they have done to immigrants and women and minorities was just a matter of "policy difference" and not a character flaw? You're okay with the camps and shooting people in the streets and starving millions of people to death in African nations as maybe "they were mistaken policy points?"
NOPE. None of these people should be trusted, ever again, until they go through a rehab for hate. You know, like those gay conversion camps they love. Then make them take the American citizenship test on the fly. If they pass it, they can run for dogcatcher.
You have to ask yourself what is going to cost them to actually change and care about a human about the damage that they have done. They have to be brought to their knees like when a person loses a spouse and they find them. That brings you to your knees and makes you think about everything. Well, they need to think about everything to try and understand the err of their ways, and if they don’t, they are not gonna be part of the healing of the United States.
I have similar feelings and this saddens me. Where do we draw the line? Obviously, any government officials, elected or appointed, who broke the law should be prosecuted. What about Joe down the block who voted for him 3x and has been a complete trumpian ass for the past decade but broke no laws? Personally, I see a lot of social consequences for Joe, but that is it. Hope we have smart people thinking about how in the world we are going to bring people back together again once he is gone. I don’t have a good answer to that question.
Agreed. We need to follow Germany's example with massive Constitutional re-education for all the Joes down the block, required civics education from elementary school onwards, and seriously, consider requiring the citizenship test for ALL voters when they register. I have no problem socially shunning the NNDs [Nazis Next Door]. i cannot find any justification for befriending anyone who thinks violating everyone's civil rights is okay just because they're a little different from yourself.
Scholars who doubt that Braver Angels can actually reduce polarization include psychologist Peter Coleman. Coleman argues that animosity between groups is stronger than a single workshop can change: "Just meeting with other people, particularly once for a short period of time, is insufficient to changing people's attitudes, habits, the media they watch, the internet that they serve."[22]
Alex Zamalin, author of Against Civility, The Hidden Racism in Our Obsession with Civility, argues that Braver Angels deals only with civic politeness and thus does not address the power dynamics needed for political change.[22] This is from Wikipedia
People's attitudes get changed for a day, but then their social media reconditions them back into the old attitudes. I have a friend who has tried to do the same through church groups, and it doesn't work.
I agree, Jude. I am going to be honest, I'm quite disgusted the MTN is giving her a platform after all she has done to bring down our country values, contributing factor to division, spewed out lies and hate and her being the #1 enabler to Trump and the MAGA movement. I will never forget or forgive her after the way she treated Biden during his SOTU address, the heckling, wearing a MAGA hat etc. and the racist comments towards Jasmine Crockett and other minorities within Congress. She can't be trusted. There's a reason for her sudden change of heart. She has an ulterior motive.
I'm a paid subscriber here and I subscribe to their YouTube channel as well and to see them live streaming her appearances and highlighting her on multiple videos made me want to puke. I mean, the MTN can say she is "useful" without giving her exposure and forcing us to watch her. If I wanted to watch her, I'd go to a far-right podcast.
This! I, like others, don't want to help someone further a hateful career, but we can only come together through points of agreement. We need to use them. And, yes. Braver Angels is the place to go to learn to do that.
Human relationships are not one-size-fits-all. Nuance is required. Paying attention to the specific person is required. Just to take MTG as an example, she is very "my way or the highway." She was very supportive of Kevin McCarthy b/c he gave her a place at the table. When McCarthy was booted, MTG started attacking her fellow Rs. She was booted from the Freedom Caucus. She had a cat fight on the House floor w/ Lauren Boebert. She seems to be trying to be ahead of the shifts in political power. She was all in Trump until he did not support her bid to be a senator. Now she is some third way person.
That's fine. But what does that reach across the aisles look like? It used to play out as back-room cooperation on budgets and policies. It does not seem to happen now.
Yesterday at Braver Angels I was talking to a guy who was on “the other side”. Yet we talked and listened and ended up realizing we were not as far apart as we thought.
Others have commented on the limits of interpersonal dialogue. I would add to the references they provided that all human behavior is mediated by institutions. If we do no demand reform on the institutions then they will remain vulnerable to populism. Trump and Mamdani are both populists; and as such are always bad for democracy. OF COURSE it is best to suppress our own worst instincts (and I've said some inflammatory things on Facebook, which is not helpful.) But this is, alas, not a matter of changing hearts and minds one at a time.
WHY should the people who didn't cause the breach in American politics bear the responsibility for fixing it? Why doesn't repairing the breach start with the people who caused it? Why aren't they required to accept personal responsibility for their actions? Until that happens, we have NO reason to trust them again.
Thoughts from an average woman over 70… there used to be something called compromise. There was a day when Democrats and Republicans would look at the issue and think about their constituents and then make their votes. They didn't do it to please some dictator in the White House like today, where We the people were considered. Now it's what do I want who can I please and what will I get for it- that's the way Congress Acts. I personally believe that if there is an issue that needs supporting it shouldn't matter whether you're Democrat or Republican you should do what's right for the people of the United States. Compromise doesn't always get it right, but it's certainly better than bashing the other side over the head regardless of what side you're sitting on. I'm appalled at what this country has become and quite frankly I'm glad I'm on my way out and not in my early twenties trying to navigate the shit that this administration has done to the country. It's going to take years to fix. And people will continue to have these cult-like views without trying to think for themselves. I'm just totally disgusted.
Agree 100%, Rare Old Bird. I note, both houses of the U.S. Congress are governed by power structures that are very hard to crack from within or from the outside looking in. That is, unless we elect politicians by very large majorities so their is no doubt who won, who get it and will enact laws and regulations that deliver what voters in their districts agree they want. This, instead of enactng laws and regulations that deliver what their major donors want.
"But you should never have taken the very best"! The Nazis HAVE taken the very best, and they need to pay a VERY dear price for that. Let them drown in their own shit!!
That has been a favorite catch-all saying of mine, for over 50 years. But, my saying is just a tad different: "Take what you like, and throw the rest away."
100%. She stuck a finger up in the air, felt the wind begin to change, and jumped ship when she thought it would benefit her future in politics.
But, I will also say, if her calculated position helps to weaken Trump, I'm all for it. She doesn't have the charisma or likability to make it far in a general election.
Deborah, I LUV the shape your words take on the page!
However, as we all know, much of the coming "success" will be in the form of deadly childhood diseases, and as reported today on MJ, increased cases of black lung among adult miners...all unnecessary pain essentially CHOSEN by MAGA, just as they "chose" Covid-death for their elderly. (Even after seeing photos of mass Covid graves.)
"Winning" within the political spectrum has frequently involved a collateral body count, but has it even been quite so self-inflicted by the losers?
"Black Lung Surges in Coal Country as Trump Slow-Walks Protections
The administration says it’s pro-coal, but miners are increasingly stricken with this brutal disease."
And how do we ordinary, caring American citizens deal with such a terrible reality of what may constitute "winning", when it involves so much innocent (but often ignorant) suffering and death?
(Sorry, Deborah. It's my first "momless Mothers Day", so I'm a bit inappropriately emotional. If you have your mother, or ARE a mother, I salute you today!!!)
Mothers Day is so fraught; whatever you are feeling, know that there are people out there who appreciate your journey. Many of us, as you say, despairing about the needless suffering deliberately inflicted by sociopathic leadership. The truth is that EVEN if MAGA were to disappear and the previous order of the two-party system were restored, the trajectory is forever changed. I'm an economist, and I see the effects that having a debt larger than GDP for the first time will prevent us from undertaking structural change to right the ship. I'm also the grandchild of the Holocaust generation. They came out of camps, having lost everything and everybody and started from where they were and marched forward. MAGA has been so destructive to civil society and economies and lives. It is not the Holocaust. It is, I believe, worse than the Great Depression. We have to someone get up every day and move through each day purposefully.
Thank you for your kindness. However, I'm less inclined to be "grateful" for the hard reality you include. (Truth matters above all else.)
The word that seems to possibly be the most commonly used to explain Trump's part in all this is, "accelerant".
When I put this together, and typed it out, it shook me end-to-end to see it all laid out, knowing what it really means:
60 years….
Toward the end of World War 2, America’s richest citizens were paying a tax rate of up to 94% with historically little pushback or complaint, because that’s what America required to defeat evil, and maintain Democracy.
During the start of a new century under President “W”, people paying even as little as 1/4th of that WW2 tax rate demanded even lower tax rates…twice. During wartime.
60 years…..
From the end of America’s Civil War, and for the next 100 years, there were essentially ONLY Democrats in elected federal offices from the south due to southern hate for Republican President Lincoln.
Beginning around 1960, the GOP began to implement their Southern Strategy, using racial hatred among Christians to gain political advantage. Following that period, in 2025 (white) American “Christians” overwhelmingly voted to replace their worship of Jesus with their worship of a man who wasn’t even able to name the Golden Rule: Donald Trump.
The new MAGA savior told them he could save their souls by altering the past, if they were willing to abandon all sense of personal responsibility. And abandon Jesus, of course. And the 100% Democratic south became overwhelmingly GOP, and is to this day.
60 years…..
In the early 1960s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became one of the most effective, most respected freedom fighters on Earth.
In 2025, virtually everything Dr. King accomplished was either driven from the American memory or weaponized in an attempt to prevent anything like Dr. King’s legacy from EVER being influential in America again.
The GOP eliminated patriotism as a positive American trait and replaced it with GREED….
The GOP removed the loving words of Jesus from the hearts of white Americans, and replaced them with HATE…
The GOP eliminated Dr. King’s legacy as they removed his principles of brotherhood and personal sacrifice from the American psyche, and replaced them with FEAR…
Seemingly, this “Trifecta of mind control: greed, hate and fear” is an indication that the GOP can accomplish anything they want towards gaining control, and the DNC won’t even know until it’s just too late.
The only real miscalculation by the GOP that I can identify was when they basically "encouraged" the BLM protests after George Floyd's murder. They made SURE not to let that happen during NO KINGS!
Apparently Trump's "True Believer" problem isn't just with Iran. It's also with Black parents expressing their parental love by fighting to protect their beloved children. And Trump has ZERO defense, beyond "low IQ".
It's also important to remember how personal this is for AOC, Jasmine Crockett, other women Dem MOC. MTG held up nude pictures of Hunter Biden. Relentlessly attacked her colleagues, male and female. Fooled me once, shame on you; fooled me twice, shame on me.
Yep! I’m old enough to remember when MTG stalked and harassed AOC outside her office and David Hogg down a sidewalk, she disrespected Biden at his SOTU. She’s a bully and a fake Christian CON at her core.
If MTG wanted to truly make an impact with her “enlightenment” she would have finished her term. She would have read the names of the Epstein perpetrators on the floor of the House like she promised she would.
Has MTG said the 2020 election was won fair and square by Biden? Has she chastised the Jan 6 insurrectionists? Has she criticized SCOTUS for repealing the Voting Rights Act? Why empower / give attention to MTG? All attention - negative or positive - helps a politician. See e.g., Trump.
@Jessica Ray there’s no evidence she has become enlightened, is there? Trump scorned her, now she’s enacting a petty revenge is all. Let them get on with it because neither is looking good as a result of this spat. Sure she stood up for survivors, but in hindsight all of that is looking like a publicity stunt - she didn’t actually DO anything to further their cause, did she?
I agree with AOC they are just trying to convince people they changed. Its important to highlight what they said but does this give them any credibility. Absolutely not!
Because I'm old and retired, I can avoid being in close quarters with magas. I have no desire to harm them, which is not true of them; and I simply do not want to be around them. I'll never trust a maga ever again. They have demonstrated horrible decision making skills that have helped take away the rights and freedoms I fought for, most of my life. They have helped to kill thousands during COVID, refusing to wear masks; are okay separating children from their parents; have supported elected people who are protecting all sexual abusers of children (and rapists of adults). They appear to have no problems murdering those in boats, and keeping innocents locked up in concentration camps with no due process. In addition, I know several people who killed themselves, primarily due to magas' cruelty. I believe all magas are guilty of being a traitor to our democratic republic.
So, I agree with AOC. I believe accountability must happen before forgiveness, before we can heal and be united. However, magas don't think they need to be accountable. So, again, I simply do not want to be around their negative energy. And narcissists with dementia are the worst. :( And, one has to earn trust...after accountability, imo.
I'm okay with aligning with people who sincerely -- and I mean sincerely -- believe in a constitutional republic under the rule of law and that the rule of law applies to everyone equally. If they're unable to state that unequivocally, then they're just part of the problem.
I will never trust a MAGA at their word because they deep down they still would vote for the orange useless POS if given a chance,will never admit he lost the 2020 election, because they all belong to the DonOLD's red hat cult.
Something, something broken clock...twice a day....
On certain, very specific issues [like full release of the Epstein files], we can find agreement with some in the MAGA cult. But just this week MTG was back to pushing horse paste and other woo to treat hantavirus - showing that leopard hasn't changed her spots. Credibility, like respect and forgiveness, has to be EARNED. Being on the right side of one issue isn't earning it, and it doesn't repair all the damage MAGAs have done to this country.
Trust has to be earned, as well. And rebuilding trust is even harder and takes longer.
I'm tired of hearing how it's up to the people who didn't cause the damage in American politics to fix it. That burden lies entirely on the shoulders of those who did. And I don't them forming groups or writing articles about how MAGA can 'reach across the aisle' and repair the breach they caused. FFS!
They blame us. For everything! They cry and whine when they got everything they voted for. This animal POS ans his party ARE YOU MAGGATS. I suppose it is our fault as well that THEY CANT DO THE JOB of running the country. Except into the ground
If Democrats and Republicans could focus on the things they do have in common, I believe they could get much more accomplished. Always sleep with one eye open, however. The way forward is to work together for the common good. The Republicans will always have their agenda, but that's the richness of a two party system. The overt cheating, lying, grifting, and bribery has to be dealt with before this can happen. Crimes need to be prosecuted, and the criminals punished. The scope of Presidential pardons needs to be reviewed and adjusted. There's much work to do, but we can get there.
Yes, especially the Constitution and the rule of law. These were supposed to be the forces that would unite us despite our differences. But how do we deal with a gap this wide on fundamental principles?
Democrats need to support Democrats. AOC makes valid points!!!! People tell us who they are when they speak. MTG gave us plenty of insight and visual cues as to her beliefs. She wants the job as President. She can’t be trusted.
I joined the group Braver Angels because I want to go back to hating Republican policies instead of hating Republicans. Braver Angels is a group that is working to help those of us standing on the brink of divides trying to reach across the divide and find some kind of common cause.
I suspect that anytime we can find an atom of agreement anywhere, we should go with it. A pearl starts with an irritating grain of sand.
"When they show you who they are, believe them."
These people have shown us very clearly that they don't stop at "hating policies." Their hate is deep and personal. You want to accept these Nazis back into the fold as though everything they have done to immigrants and women and minorities was just a matter of "policy difference" and not a character flaw? You're okay with the camps and shooting people in the streets and starving millions of people to death in African nations as maybe "they were mistaken policy points?"
NOPE. None of these people should be trusted, ever again, until they go through a rehab for hate. You know, like those gay conversion camps they love. Then make them take the American citizenship test on the fly. If they pass it, they can run for dogcatcher.
They should be made to wander for forty years in the desert before they are ever again considered worthy of public acknowledgement.
Will that help heal the United States?
You have to ask yourself what is going to cost them to actually change and care about a human about the damage that they have done. They have to be brought to their knees like when a person loses a spouse and they find them. That brings you to your knees and makes you think about everything. Well, they need to think about everything to try and understand the err of their ways, and if they don’t, they are not gonna be part of the healing of the United States.
I have similar feelings and this saddens me. Where do we draw the line? Obviously, any government officials, elected or appointed, who broke the law should be prosecuted. What about Joe down the block who voted for him 3x and has been a complete trumpian ass for the past decade but broke no laws? Personally, I see a lot of social consequences for Joe, but that is it. Hope we have smart people thinking about how in the world we are going to bring people back together again once he is gone. I don’t have a good answer to that question.
Agreed. We need to follow Germany's example with massive Constitutional re-education for all the Joes down the block, required civics education from elementary school onwards, and seriously, consider requiring the citizenship test for ALL voters when they register. I have no problem socially shunning the NNDs [Nazis Next Door]. i cannot find any justification for befriending anyone who thinks violating everyone's civil rights is okay just because they're a little different from yourself.
Well put. This can never be allowed to happen again and education is the key. We need to get back to one reality.
History shows you restore truth. We must return to a world in which we can what is fact.
Agree except let’s not let them loose on canines either.
Agree
Not even dogcatcher...don't forget Kristi Noem!
Yeah, I should have used a different elected office...lol Cricket's Revenge!
Scholars who doubt that Braver Angels can actually reduce polarization include psychologist Peter Coleman. Coleman argues that animosity between groups is stronger than a single workshop can change: "Just meeting with other people, particularly once for a short period of time, is insufficient to changing people's attitudes, habits, the media they watch, the internet that they serve."[22]
Alex Zamalin, author of Against Civility, The Hidden Racism in Our Obsession with Civility, argues that Braver Angels deals only with civic politeness and thus does not address the power dynamics needed for political change.[22] This is from Wikipedia
People's attitudes get changed for a day, but then their social media reconditions them back into the old attitudes. I have a friend who has tried to do the same through church groups, and it doesn't work.
I agree, Jude. I am going to be honest, I'm quite disgusted the MTN is giving her a platform after all she has done to bring down our country values, contributing factor to division, spewed out lies and hate and her being the #1 enabler to Trump and the MAGA movement. I will never forget or forgive her after the way she treated Biden during his SOTU address, the heckling, wearing a MAGA hat etc. and the racist comments towards Jasmine Crockett and other minorities within Congress. She can't be trusted. There's a reason for her sudden change of heart. She has an ulterior motive.
I'm a paid subscriber here and I subscribe to their YouTube channel as well and to see them live streaming her appearances and highlighting her on multiple videos made me want to puke. I mean, the MTN can say she is "useful" without giving her exposure and forcing us to watch her. If I wanted to watch her, I'd go to a far-right podcast.
Or they can go be with rump, afterall,he's their hero! Fat ol rich-cat FART! THEY ALL LIARS AND COWARDS!
Exactly!!!
This! I, like others, don't want to help someone further a hateful career, but we can only come together through points of agreement. We need to use them. And, yes. Braver Angels is the place to go to learn to do that.
Human relationships are not one-size-fits-all. Nuance is required. Paying attention to the specific person is required. Just to take MTG as an example, she is very "my way or the highway." She was very supportive of Kevin McCarthy b/c he gave her a place at the table. When McCarthy was booted, MTG started attacking her fellow Rs. She was booted from the Freedom Caucus. She had a cat fight on the House floor w/ Lauren Boebert. She seems to be trying to be ahead of the shifts in political power. She was all in Trump until he did not support her bid to be a senator. Now she is some third way person.
Nice thought, but rather Pollyannaish IMO.
How does being hateful help?
Who's talking about being hateful? I'm talking about being realistic.
That's fine. But what does that reach across the aisles look like? It used to play out as back-room cooperation on budgets and policies. It does not seem to happen now.
So why can’t it start with us?
Yesterday at Braver Angels I was talking to a guy who was on “the other side”. Yet we talked and listened and ended up realizing we were not as far apart as we thought.
Others have commented on the limits of interpersonal dialogue. I would add to the references they provided that all human behavior is mediated by institutions. If we do no demand reform on the institutions then they will remain vulnerable to populism. Trump and Mamdani are both populists; and as such are always bad for democracy. OF COURSE it is best to suppress our own worst instincts (and I've said some inflammatory things on Facebook, which is not helpful.) But this is, alas, not a matter of changing hearts and minds one at a time.
And then what happened after he was exposed to his social media accounts for the next week and you weren't there?
WHY should the people who didn't cause the breach in American politics bear the responsibility for fixing it? Why doesn't repairing the breach start with the people who caused it? Why aren't they required to accept personal responsibility for their actions? Until that happens, we have NO reason to trust them again.
Thoughts from an average woman over 70… there used to be something called compromise. There was a day when Democrats and Republicans would look at the issue and think about their constituents and then make their votes. They didn't do it to please some dictator in the White House like today, where We the people were considered. Now it's what do I want who can I please and what will I get for it- that's the way Congress Acts. I personally believe that if there is an issue that needs supporting it shouldn't matter whether you're Democrat or Republican you should do what's right for the people of the United States. Compromise doesn't always get it right, but it's certainly better than bashing the other side over the head regardless of what side you're sitting on. I'm appalled at what this country has become and quite frankly I'm glad I'm on my way out and not in my early twenties trying to navigate the shit that this administration has done to the country. It's going to take years to fix. And people will continue to have these cult-like views without trying to think for themselves. I'm just totally disgusted.
Thanks for picking this problem apart & putting it back together in a very useful & usable way. Totally agree. Take what we need & leave the rest.
Agree 100%, Rare Old Bird. I note, both houses of the U.S. Congress are governed by power structures that are very hard to crack from within or from the outside looking in. That is, unless we elect politicians by very large majorities so their is no doubt who won, who get it and will enact laws and regulations that deliver what voters in their districts agree they want. This, instead of enactng laws and regulations that deliver what their major donors want.
"But you should never have taken the very best"! The Nazis HAVE taken the very best, and they need to pay a VERY dear price for that. Let them drown in their own shit!!
That has been a favorite catch-all saying of mine, for over 50 years. But, my saying is just a tad different: "Take what you like, and throw the rest away."
Same implication. With just a twist.
My thoughts exactly.
Does anyone NOT think Empty-G (MTG) isn't simply leveraging for a GOP future that the proverbial "blind person" could FINALLY see?
100%. She stuck a finger up in the air, felt the wind begin to change, and jumped ship when she thought it would benefit her future in politics.
But, I will also say, if her calculated position helps to weaken Trump, I'm all for it. She doesn't have the charisma or likability to make it far in a general election.
I agree -- she is looking to step back in when there is a post-Trump free-for-all.
"...post-Trump free-for-all."
Deborah, I LUV the shape your words take on the page!
However, as we all know, much of the coming "success" will be in the form of deadly childhood diseases, and as reported today on MJ, increased cases of black lung among adult miners...all unnecessary pain essentially CHOSEN by MAGA, just as they "chose" Covid-death for their elderly. (Even after seeing photos of mass Covid graves.)
"Winning" within the political spectrum has frequently involved a collateral body count, but has it even been quite so self-inflicted by the losers?
"Black Lung Surges in Coal Country as Trump Slow-Walks Protections
The administration says it’s pro-coal, but miners are increasingly stricken with this brutal disease."
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/05/black-lung-resurgence-appalachia-coal-country-silica-trump-administration-delayed-regulations-miners-worker-protections/
And how do we ordinary, caring American citizens deal with such a terrible reality of what may constitute "winning", when it involves so much innocent (but often ignorant) suffering and death?
(Sorry, Deborah. It's my first "momless Mothers Day", so I'm a bit inappropriately emotional. If you have your mother, or ARE a mother, I salute you today!!!)
Mothers Day is so fraught; whatever you are feeling, know that there are people out there who appreciate your journey. Many of us, as you say, despairing about the needless suffering deliberately inflicted by sociopathic leadership. The truth is that EVEN if MAGA were to disappear and the previous order of the two-party system were restored, the trajectory is forever changed. I'm an economist, and I see the effects that having a debt larger than GDP for the first time will prevent us from undertaking structural change to right the ship. I'm also the grandchild of the Holocaust generation. They came out of camps, having lost everything and everybody and started from where they were and marched forward. MAGA has been so destructive to civil society and economies and lives. It is not the Holocaust. It is, I believe, worse than the Great Depression. We have to someone get up every day and move through each day purposefully.
Deborah,
Thank you for your kindness. However, I'm less inclined to be "grateful" for the hard reality you include. (Truth matters above all else.)
The word that seems to possibly be the most commonly used to explain Trump's part in all this is, "accelerant".
When I put this together, and typed it out, it shook me end-to-end to see it all laid out, knowing what it really means:
60 years….
Toward the end of World War 2, America’s richest citizens were paying a tax rate of up to 94% with historically little pushback or complaint, because that’s what America required to defeat evil, and maintain Democracy.
During the start of a new century under President “W”, people paying even as little as 1/4th of that WW2 tax rate demanded even lower tax rates…twice. During wartime.
60 years…..
From the end of America’s Civil War, and for the next 100 years, there were essentially ONLY Democrats in elected federal offices from the south due to southern hate for Republican President Lincoln.
Beginning around 1960, the GOP began to implement their Southern Strategy, using racial hatred among Christians to gain political advantage. Following that period, in 2025 (white) American “Christians” overwhelmingly voted to replace their worship of Jesus with their worship of a man who wasn’t even able to name the Golden Rule: Donald Trump.
The new MAGA savior told them he could save their souls by altering the past, if they were willing to abandon all sense of personal responsibility. And abandon Jesus, of course. And the 100% Democratic south became overwhelmingly GOP, and is to this day.
60 years…..
In the early 1960s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became one of the most effective, most respected freedom fighters on Earth.
In 2025, virtually everything Dr. King accomplished was either driven from the American memory or weaponized in an attempt to prevent anything like Dr. King’s legacy from EVER being influential in America again.
The GOP eliminated patriotism as a positive American trait and replaced it with GREED….
The GOP removed the loving words of Jesus from the hearts of white Americans, and replaced them with HATE…
The GOP eliminated Dr. King’s legacy as they removed his principles of brotherhood and personal sacrifice from the American psyche, and replaced them with FEAR…
Seemingly, this “Trifecta of mind control: greed, hate and fear” is an indication that the GOP can accomplish anything they want towards gaining control, and the DNC won’t even know until it’s just too late.
They just need 60 years….
-------------------------------------------------------------
The only real miscalculation by the GOP that I can identify was when they basically "encouraged" the BLM protests after George Floyd's murder. They made SURE not to let that happen during NO KINGS!
Apparently Trump's "True Believer" problem isn't just with Iran. It's also with Black parents expressing their parental love by fighting to protect their beloved children. And Trump has ZERO defense, beyond "low IQ".
Absolutely important point. She may or may not have given up her career - time will tell.
I imagine she sees herself as, "a Lynn Chaney with better timing."
She may be right...
I agree with AOC. Those who disagree IMO have learned nothing from this nightmare shitshow. A leopard can’t change its spots.
It's also important to remember how personal this is for AOC, Jasmine Crockett, other women Dem MOC. MTG held up nude pictures of Hunter Biden. Relentlessly attacked her colleagues, male and female. Fooled me once, shame on you; fooled me twice, shame on me.
Yep! I’m old enough to remember when MTG stalked and harassed AOC outside her office and David Hogg down a sidewalk, she disrespected Biden at his SOTU. She’s a bully and a fake Christian CON at her core.
When they get attention - any attention - they are winning. They then run for higher office. See e.g., Nancy Mace.
If MTG wanted to truly make an impact with her “enlightenment” she would have finished her term. She would have read the names of the Epstein perpetrators on the floor of the House like she promised she would.
Has MTG said the 2020 election was won fair and square by Biden? Has she chastised the Jan 6 insurrectionists? Has she criticized SCOTUS for repealing the Voting Rights Act? Why empower / give attention to MTG? All attention - negative or positive - helps a politician. See e.g., Trump.
@Jessica Ray there’s no evidence she has become enlightened, is there? Trump scorned her, now she’s enacting a petty revenge is all. Let them get on with it because neither is looking good as a result of this spat. Sure she stood up for survivors, but in hindsight all of that is looking like a publicity stunt - she didn’t actually DO anything to further their cause, did she?
Yep she’s all bluster…
I agree. I do wish that she would have finished out her term.
I agree with AOC they are just trying to convince people they changed. Its important to highlight what they said but does this give them any credibility. Absolutely not!
Because I'm old and retired, I can avoid being in close quarters with magas. I have no desire to harm them, which is not true of them; and I simply do not want to be around them. I'll never trust a maga ever again. They have demonstrated horrible decision making skills that have helped take away the rights and freedoms I fought for, most of my life. They have helped to kill thousands during COVID, refusing to wear masks; are okay separating children from their parents; have supported elected people who are protecting all sexual abusers of children (and rapists of adults). They appear to have no problems murdering those in boats, and keeping innocents locked up in concentration camps with no due process. In addition, I know several people who killed themselves, primarily due to magas' cruelty. I believe all magas are guilty of being a traitor to our democratic republic.
So, I agree with AOC. I believe accountability must happen before forgiveness, before we can heal and be united. However, magas don't think they need to be accountable. So, again, I simply do not want to be around their negative energy. And narcissists with dementia are the worst. :( And, one has to earn trust...after accountability, imo.
She made her millions off making us miserable for 8 fucking years, I can't stand the sight of her (mtg)
I'm okay with aligning with people who sincerely -- and I mean sincerely -- believe in a constitutional republic under the rule of law and that the rule of law applies to everyone equally. If they're unable to state that unequivocally, then they're just part of the problem.
I will never trust a MAGA at their word because they deep down they still would vote for the orange useless POS if given a chance,will never admit he lost the 2020 election, because they all belong to the DonOLD's red hat cult.
I agree. Join with them when necessary to accomplish OUR goals. The rest of the time, grab the popcorn and watch the show.
I totally agree with you. I think MTG has a bigger future planned for herself
Something, something broken clock...twice a day....
On certain, very specific issues [like full release of the Epstein files], we can find agreement with some in the MAGA cult. But just this week MTG was back to pushing horse paste and other woo to treat hantavirus - showing that leopard hasn't changed her spots. Credibility, like respect and forgiveness, has to be EARNED. Being on the right side of one issue isn't earning it, and it doesn't repair all the damage MAGAs have done to this country.
Yes. But we cant trust them. Without trust. You have nothing.
Trust has to be earned, as well. And rebuilding trust is even harder and takes longer.
I'm tired of hearing how it's up to the people who didn't cause the damage in American politics to fix it. That burden lies entirely on the shoulders of those who did. And I don't them forming groups or writing articles about how MAGA can 'reach across the aisle' and repair the breach they caused. FFS!
They blame us. For everything! They cry and whine when they got everything they voted for. This animal POS ans his party ARE YOU MAGGATS. I suppose it is our fault as well that THEY CANT DO THE JOB of running the country. Except into the ground
But that is their job: to destroy our democratic republic. :(
If Democrats and Republicans could focus on the things they do have in common, I believe they could get much more accomplished. Always sleep with one eye open, however. The way forward is to work together for the common good. The Republicans will always have their agenda, but that's the richness of a two party system. The overt cheating, lying, grifting, and bribery has to be dealt with before this can happen. Crimes need to be prosecuted, and the criminals punished. The scope of Presidential pardons needs to be reviewed and adjusted. There's much work to do, but we can get there.
We have less and less in common. Everyday that passes.
Yes, especially the Constitution and the rule of law. These were supposed to be the forces that would unite us despite our differences. But how do we deal with a gap this wide on fundamental principles?
Right on!
I believe you’re absolutely right
On point, Ron, as always.
Democrats need to support Democrats. AOC makes valid points!!!! People tell us who they are when they speak. MTG gave us plenty of insight and visual cues as to her beliefs. She wants the job as President. She can’t be trusted.
Or did I miss an apology……..