Trump’s grip isn’t just in Washington; it’s rooted in 27 states where approval thrives, redistricting looms, and the 2026 midterms may be democracy’s final line of defense.
I would imagine in the part of the country who still favor Trump they are all Fox addicts. Without the truth shinning through the lies and spins of Fox and hate am radio, they don’t have a clue about the reality’s of this administration. Until we can get rid of Fox there’s no hope for the truth to come out. Then we have to worry about the increased algorithms that are holding many hostage from learning the truth
If only it were only Fox. But they hear stuff at their churches, from their neighbors and their relatives, too. And it's really hard to stand apart from all that groupthink. So let's not blindly target the herd, but intelligently watch out for the stragglers and laggards and not to sure folk and plant our seed ideas (and, better, questions) in those minds.
If you believe as we do that MAGA fails without FOX and that destroying honest media like PBS makes it even worse defund the FOX rage and hate machine.
Eviscerate FOX with an indirect strategy that works fast. Deny FOX ad $ by denying the ad buying company CEO and execs bonuses. For example Home Depot. Boycott them for a full fiscal quarter and maybe more while keeping Wall Street analysts apprised. Get all on line influencers to post every day for the entire time ending every post every day with “Don’t forget - boycott Home Depot, they fund the FOX rage and hate machine.” See how fast CEO’s stop buying ads - do only ONE brand - do it implacably for an entire fiscal quarter. See how quickly you become the new sheriff in town and how fast other CEO’s quit buying ads. See how fast FOX changes content. All they care about is $. Oh - and next generation FOX CEO will be a decent human being if you do this.
Execution details matter. Talk to me. See Target, Bud Light and Tesla for examples. Companies are people, not paper. Make it personal.
I “Liked” your post bc it appeared heartfelt. A lifetime has shown me what works, and what does not - over many issues.
Yes, HD and/or other public vendors of stuff may notice a thorough - actively managed and well monitored boycott. But expecting a boycott to be as effective as it would need to be requires a well known, national entity to spearhead it, as well as manage a boycott throughout the U.S.
Individual boycotts may make a person feel better, but unless it is transcontinental - your personal feeling of righteousness is all you’d accomplish.
We MUST HAVE a nationwide sponsor to succeed in knee capping Big Corporate. Both trad political parties been rendered impotent under the dark shadow of Trumpism, so it’s not gonna be “them”.
The developing travesty we’re in was allowed to grow simply because WE - you and me - failed to act out in time. We were facing a broad front lined up against democracy, and were experiencing the same problem Europe faced in 1939. The horribly bloody, global war to beat down Fascism didn’t have to occur. Neither did trumpism.
Yes - we need a national leader with access to all the major on line presences like @Meidas. All of them so we reach millions of people every day. And there is much more than just a boycott involved at well, which means an organization to include content folk, Wall Street analyst interface, press etc. which is why I keep posting about this. We need a leader who can take this task on board.
During a recent rather heated discussion with a fellow South African I was forcefully informed of the brilliance of the people on Fox. Seriously. I was told that unless I follow Fox (I dont) I was ignorant of american realities
The focus should be on the economy. Nobody has the bandwidth to think about democracy if they are struggling to make ends meet. It’s also a sad fact that when people’s beliefs are challenged the tendency is to double down on those beliefs to avoid the pain of cognitive dissonance rather than changing the beliefs. So harping on the Epstein files won’t have anywhere near the effect we would hope it will have. And the economy is getting demonstrably worse. So Democrats? Focus on that.
I think the major aspect is racism! The Redistricting they will bludgeon through key states over the next several months will involve Democratic states with key
Populations of color! They will need to be exposed and thwarted in these efforts. This will be a rerun of the civil rights movement and we all need to be totally informed and ready to assist the civil rights
Movement at Trumps every secret, nasty criminally illegal turn at setting up a maga majority in every area with black or Hispanic or culturally awake voters! That was what the “DC” invasion was all about.
I can’t believe that people in those 27 states are so fucking stupid that they still have a positive view of Dirtbag Donnie. They’re not all billionaires, so Trump’s big bullshit bill will hurt them. They could lose their health insurance and food assistance. The bill destroys environmental protections. The bill does NOTHING for them and yet they still support Trump. Ignorance reins supreme with these maggot morons. Trump is kicking them in the ass and they’re thanking him for it.
IMO, the oligarchs are about done with Trump. His time as useful idiot is about over and the billionaires are ready for president Vance, as originally planned. Peter Thiel invented Vance, promoted him to the senate when he had very little chance, and after less than 2 years there he used his money to influence Trump in picking him for VP. Sometime in the next year Trump will either die or be removed from office, a "national emergency" will ensue, the mid-terms will be canceled because of the "emergency", and Vance will be the new useful idiot.
80% of federal funding comes from Blue states. It seems to me that there is a lever there somewhere. Additionally, if these attacks on Democratic states continue, we might have to consider a national split. An amicable one. After all, there would no longer be any issues for Trump and his band of Trumpistas to complain about.
Yea because they are so happy when then win! {sarcasm} Unfortunately, the Blue States are not all concentrated together and then there are the purple states. So, Blueministan would have 3-5 states on the West Coast and the other 20 or so States mainly on the East Coast with a big fat red hat in the middle - most of whom would have to rely on the Blue States for all imported goods, groceries, etc.
I thought of this same thing -- and it may be the only solution, but I haven't quite wrapped my head around how it would work.
During his first term, there were some folks that proposed splitting the country, so that everyone could get what they want. We discussed how it could be done, and folks had some great ideas. I'm sure it would never happen, but it would be a way for all of us to live what we voted for. Me, I'm old. I fought for rights for over 50 years. I don't want the people I love to go through what is going to happen - but, hopefully, I'll be dead by then.
It would be really obvious if the country was split into red v blue which I would choose. We would be the ones with clean air and water and a strong educational and social system.
And the "happy they won their own country" red hats would want what we have and invade us on a regular basis to steal our money, take our children, massacre our residents. Jealousy and envy are a powerful aphrodisiac for pillage and plunder.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Hilarious!!! I laugh hard rolling on the floor with tears coming out of my face at people who do the wasteful to prevent something that is never going to happen anyway... If the MAGAs were allowed to take over some part of the Country for their very own, why would anyone else go there?
If we were able to split, I'd want a rule that magas could not relocate to the free country of ours for at least 5 years. I'd want them to fully experience the consequences of their vote, before trusting them to come back. :) AND none of the magas in the U.S. Congress and Senate could ever come back to freedom. :)
It seems to me that our elected democrats could do so much more. For example: Jeffries could bring in every Democratic U.S. Representative, assign them into small groups, and have each group do a specific job or a specific person.
There are 212 democrats: assigning groups of 5 would allow for the overwhelming changes to be followed, researched to help slow them down. Some groups could focus on our old old laws, like magas do, and use them to block magas from their goals. Some could focus on getting the media to start to follow and report on them, rather than magas. Surely these folks learned how to work in small groups...public education teaches this skill...
What are they doing now that they are not in session?? And What could they be doing.... I wish Jeffries would do something like this. :(
Not the full on cult members; they are unreachable. Read up from those former cult members and how outsiders reached them. It was mostly by being kind and showing an interest in them, having conversations which were not confrontational, but open enough to create space to drop a few seeds. Best if this goes on over a decent enough length of time for the cultist to start asking questions of their own.
Somebody other than me will have to have these polite conversations with these maggots because the very sight and sound and stink of them enrages me. I CANNOT be an interested polite conversationalist with them. I hate them more than I've ever hated anything or anyone in my life. I console myself by imagining a FINAL SOLUTION FOR ALL OF THEM---MEN, WOMEN, AND KIDDIES, INCLUDING THOSE STILL IN THE WOMB. I cannot refrain from expressing my real attitude toward these ignorant, stupidly lazy scum, so I wish good luck to all those who can. I sincerely wish you well and honor you for your work in this persuasive endeavor.
I feel your pain and your rage. And I refuse to become just like the people whose attitudes and beliefs I reject with every cell in my body. Take good care, my sister in resistance. I have a favorite Tracy Chapman (gay, black, female) song I love and play when I wash dishes or chop veggies. In it, she remembers her mother's admonition, "All that you have is your soul.'
I recognize these feelings! :) Where I live it's dangerous to express the desire for freedom. Always check to see if they are packing a gun where I live before having a conversation. Some people are very impulsive.
I'm also encouraging my loved ones who do not fit the lily white heterosexual, evangelical model, to relocate to another country, if they can. It'll be awful to have them so far away, but at least I know they won't be jailed for loving the wrong adult, or for having different colored skin, or for having a different religion.
Anybody who can get out, should get out now. If I weren't old and disabled, I'd have been gone in 2016. And I am a white, heterosexual woman! But I also post on social media exactly what I think of Trump and his fascist government, so if he lasts long enough, I expect to see his SS gestapo knocking on the doors of people like me and disappearing us.
The republican regime is going for totalitarianism if we let them. Right now they've been playing the long game of gerrymandering for decades. Right now I consider this country a hybrid authoritarian fascist regime. Read this 👇 and pick out the blueprint you see in comparison to what they're doing right now. Which one do you think they're aligned with much more?
Totalitarian regimes: An extreme form of authoritarianism where the government seeks complete control over nearly all aspects of public and private life, including the economy, media, and even the personal beliefs of individuals. Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in the past and North Korea in the present are considered examples.
Hybrid regimes: Exhibit a mixture of both democratic and authoritarian traits, often having formally democratic institutions like elections, but where those institutions may be undermined or manipulated to favor the incumbents. Turkey is cited as an example of a hybrid regime.
Then the United States is a banana 🍌 republic. And the orange pedophile and his project 2025 goons want to control it all making it a totalitarian country IF we do nothing about their complete take over.
# I am a 78 years old white male who grew up in Apartheid South Africa where I still live (Very happily)
# My political inclinations are slightly to the right of center and I did not support Apartheid
# My favourite American President is Obama followed by Biden (despite his faults)
# I follow American politics closely
# Despite my centerist claims I get my news from people like Michael Popok, Brian Cohen, Michael Cohen, Katie Phang, Glenn Kirschner, David Pakman and others of a similar nature
# Most of them are actually closer to the traditional center than they portray themselves (?)
# I utterly loathe Trump and those around him
# When I read articles like this I get a hollow feeling of dread
# I use my Substack to try and join you in the fight against Trump and MAGA
# It might surprise readers to learn that Trump is well thought of by many South Africans
# These are people who simply will not be swayed by all the awful stuff coming out of Trump / MAGA.
# I know quite a few South Africans living in the USA. Some great people. Mostly Trumpers
# It is all profoundly irrational
I am not sure that the fight for US democracy is winable even if the Epstein files reveal something really awful about Trump
You said, "# When I read articles like this I get a hollow feeling of dread" - and that is not what you should feel after reading the "news" from reliable sources. You should feel like there is hope, that we can and will be able to keep our country. Otherwise, we all might as well roll up our carpets and find a cave somewhere and hope we all live through it.
The Electoral College, which is a holdover from the Civil War efforts to mend the lingering hostilities between the former Confederate States and the Northern states.
The Electoral College needs to go. One person one vote is democracy. Determining the presidency by the votes of 538 electors is not democracy. It's ludicrous.
Like a cancerous tumor on our otherwise more democratic process. Without the Electoral College and with the use of ranked choice voting in every state, we might deserve to think of ourselves as a genuine democracy.
They also didn't have the electronics, communications and fast transporation, that are available currently. Currently the people have everything they need to vote, so the Electoral College is way out-dated...but that's the way magas want it.
It’s the gullible uneducated Bible Belt that thinks theft, adultery, cheating, lies 🤥, porn, bullying, violent terrorism, and pediphile-sex trafficking is acceptable if you’re Republican. 🏴☠️🤑🐍🖤🙄
I know people like to think this, but, living in east Texas, I can tell you it's not correct. There are many professional people with doctorates/masters' degrees, that support this regime. I think it's because they believe they are better than everyone else (and white, of course), and believe they are more capable of leading, than people of color. :( AND, I've been told, if you are white you better have at least 4 children, if not more, so that people that are not lily white won't become the majority. :(
As a resident of Tx, the biggest cause for the dissatisfaction of TX voters has been the $11.1 billion dollars we spent on securing the border in the previous administration.
For the hope of turning Tx (in my opinion) will need a loud voice on keeping the border secure. Then really pounding the economy with a CLEAR plan to manage the economy and the deficit!! Tx didn’t expand Medicaid so we have yet to see the full impact on what that will mean. We also need a clear plan on emergency responses as Tx has had plenty of that bite and with the recent floods on everyone’s mind… The one thing that I wouldn’t see carrying as much weight in much of tx is the environment as so many love their big diesel pickups and I don’t see many speaking about that as an issue on my local channels (though, we have solar and wind farms in Central Tx) A great deal needs to be spoken with understanding directly to the rural areas of Tx to resígnate with the highest level of Repubs.
and the protection of our children - the fact that the GOP MAGAmorons are protecting the pedophiles who rape and molest our young teen-age girls. All the states need to hone in on that fact and push it hard.
Not only protecting the child molesters, but hiring them in powerful positions. They say they hate child molesters, but it seems everyday I read the news and there's another elected maga arrested for child sexual abuse. smdh
And, there are children that are molested that are much younger than teen agers... Try a 2 year old who is still learning to talk... The 7 year old down's syndrome girl who just wants to be loved...the 10 year old who mom just discovered was pregnant. The kid didn't know...she was still wondering why she bled sometimes, :( (Oh and the offender - the stepfather. :(
Unfortunately, Congress made it so that they wouldn't really know what hit them for the most part until 2027. However, the whole no tax on tips and no tax on overtime is so fraught with restrictions and a kick in the pants that 2025 taxes are going to show a lot of them that what he sold is not what was in the box that was delivered. That may get a few more awakened.
Hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, grocery stores, businesses, are already shutting down due to tariffs as prices are going up. The point is to get it across that the connection is that drumpf caused all this and for no other reason but to line his own pockets.
tRUMP is trying to make us feel unsafe to live in America. Russia has trained him for this. Do we feel safe to walk in the streets of America with armed military asking people for their identity. Russia must be proud of tRUMP. Ukraine and the E.U. have no voice in the war that Putin and tRUMP have started. This is no longer the land of freedom or Liberty.
I think that's why dumpt met with Putin. More lessons on how to be a better criminal. He's been an asset for Putin decades, now he's getting help. Drumpt doesn't care about Kelensky. Only himself.
I would imagine in the part of the country who still favor Trump they are all Fox addicts. Without the truth shinning through the lies and spins of Fox and hate am radio, they don’t have a clue about the reality’s of this administration. Until we can get rid of Fox there’s no hope for the truth to come out. Then we have to worry about the increased algorithms that are holding many hostage from learning the truth
If only it were only Fox. But they hear stuff at their churches, from their neighbors and their relatives, too. And it's really hard to stand apart from all that groupthink. So let's not blindly target the herd, but intelligently watch out for the stragglers and laggards and not to sure folk and plant our seed ideas (and, better, questions) in those minds.
If you believe as we do that MAGA fails without FOX and that destroying honest media like PBS makes it even worse defund the FOX rage and hate machine.
Eviscerate FOX with an indirect strategy that works fast. Deny FOX ad $ by denying the ad buying company CEO and execs bonuses. For example Home Depot. Boycott them for a full fiscal quarter and maybe more while keeping Wall Street analysts apprised. Get all on line influencers to post every day for the entire time ending every post every day with “Don’t forget - boycott Home Depot, they fund the FOX rage and hate machine.” See how fast CEO’s stop buying ads - do only ONE brand - do it implacably for an entire fiscal quarter. See how quickly you become the new sheriff in town and how fast other CEO’s quit buying ads. See how fast FOX changes content. All they care about is $. Oh - and next generation FOX CEO will be a decent human being if you do this.
Execution details matter. Talk to me. See Target, Bud Light and Tesla for examples. Companies are people, not paper. Make it personal.
I “Liked” your post bc it appeared heartfelt. A lifetime has shown me what works, and what does not - over many issues.
Yes, HD and/or other public vendors of stuff may notice a thorough - actively managed and well monitored boycott. But expecting a boycott to be as effective as it would need to be requires a well known, national entity to spearhead it, as well as manage a boycott throughout the U.S.
Individual boycotts may make a person feel better, but unless it is transcontinental - your personal feeling of righteousness is all you’d accomplish.
We MUST HAVE a nationwide sponsor to succeed in knee capping Big Corporate. Both trad political parties been rendered impotent under the dark shadow of Trumpism, so it’s not gonna be “them”.
The developing travesty we’re in was allowed to grow simply because WE - you and me - failed to act out in time. We were facing a broad front lined up against democracy, and were experiencing the same problem Europe faced in 1939. The horribly bloody, global war to beat down Fascism didn’t have to occur. Neither did trumpism.
Yes - we need a national leader with access to all the major on line presences like @Meidas. All of them so we reach millions of people every day. And there is much more than just a boycott involved at well, which means an organization to include content folk, Wall Street analyst interface, press etc. which is why I keep posting about this. We need a leader who can take this task on board.
Great ideas
I remember when Laura Ingraham went after David Hogg and he fought back that way. It worked.
Love your idea. Can ypu provide a fuller list of companies to boycott, or refer us to an already compiled list?
He’s an addict of Fox. Sad
During a recent rather heated discussion with a fellow South African I was forcefully informed of the brilliance of the people on Fox. Seriously. I was told that unless I follow Fox (I dont) I was ignorant of american realities
Yes - FOX I personally believe is the primary reason MAGA and Trump exist. It’s a hate, retribution and division machine that’s incredibly effective.
You have to remember Trump just bought all the advertising and content on CBS for a song so now it's not just FOX.
The focus should be on the economy. Nobody has the bandwidth to think about democracy if they are struggling to make ends meet. It’s also a sad fact that when people’s beliefs are challenged the tendency is to double down on those beliefs to avoid the pain of cognitive dissonance rather than changing the beliefs. So harping on the Epstein files won’t have anywhere near the effect we would hope it will have. And the economy is getting demonstrably worse. So Democrats? Focus on that.
I think the major aspect is racism! The Redistricting they will bludgeon through key states over the next several months will involve Democratic states with key
Populations of color! They will need to be exposed and thwarted in these efforts. This will be a rerun of the civil rights movement and we all need to be totally informed and ready to assist the civil rights
Movement at Trumps every secret, nasty criminally illegal turn at setting up a maga majority in every area with black or Hispanic or culturally awake voters! That was what the “DC” invasion was all about.
I can’t believe that people in those 27 states are so fucking stupid that they still have a positive view of Dirtbag Donnie. They’re not all billionaires, so Trump’s big bullshit bill will hurt them. They could lose their health insurance and food assistance. The bill destroys environmental protections. The bill does NOTHING for them and yet they still support Trump. Ignorance reins supreme with these maggot morons. Trump is kicking them in the ass and they’re thanking him for it.
IMO, the oligarchs are about done with Trump. His time as useful idiot is about over and the billionaires are ready for president Vance, as originally planned. Peter Thiel invented Vance, promoted him to the senate when he had very little chance, and after less than 2 years there he used his money to influence Trump in picking him for VP. Sometime in the next year Trump will either die or be removed from office, a "national emergency" will ensue, the mid-terms will be canceled because of the "emergency", and Vance will be the new useful idiot.
Sounds about right.
80% of federal funding comes from Blue states. It seems to me that there is a lever there somewhere. Additionally, if these attacks on Democratic states continue, we might have to consider a national split. An amicable one. After all, there would no longer be any issues for Trump and his band of Trumpistas to complain about.
Yea because they are so happy when then win! {sarcasm} Unfortunately, the Blue States are not all concentrated together and then there are the purple states. So, Blueministan would have 3-5 states on the West Coast and the other 20 or so States mainly on the East Coast with a big fat red hat in the middle - most of whom would have to rely on the Blue States for all imported goods, groceries, etc.
I thought of this same thing -- and it may be the only solution, but I haven't quite wrapped my head around how it would work.
During his first term, there were some folks that proposed splitting the country, so that everyone could get what they want. We discussed how it could be done, and folks had some great ideas. I'm sure it would never happen, but it would be a way for all of us to live what we voted for. Me, I'm old. I fought for rights for over 50 years. I don't want the people I love to go through what is going to happen - but, hopefully, I'll be dead by then.
It would be really obvious if the country was split into red v blue which I would choose. We would be the ones with clean air and water and a strong educational and social system.
And the "happy they won their own country" red hats would want what we have and invade us on a regular basis to steal our money, take our children, massacre our residents. Jealousy and envy are a powerful aphrodisiac for pillage and plunder.
LOL Don't worry, the maga regime would build a huge wall to keep us out. lol
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Hilarious!!! I laugh hard rolling on the floor with tears coming out of my face at people who do the wasteful to prevent something that is never going to happen anyway... If the MAGAs were allowed to take over some part of the Country for their very own, why would anyone else go there?
If we were able to split, I'd want a rule that magas could not relocate to the free country of ours for at least 5 years. I'd want them to fully experience the consequences of their vote, before trusting them to come back. :) AND none of the magas in the U.S. Congress and Senate could ever come back to freedom. :)
It seems to me that our elected democrats could do so much more. For example: Jeffries could bring in every Democratic U.S. Representative, assign them into small groups, and have each group do a specific job or a specific person.
There are 212 democrats: assigning groups of 5 would allow for the overwhelming changes to be followed, researched to help slow them down. Some groups could focus on our old old laws, like magas do, and use them to block magas from their goals. Some could focus on getting the media to start to follow and report on them, rather than magas. Surely these folks learned how to work in small groups...public education teaches this skill...
What are they doing now that they are not in session?? And What could they be doing.... I wish Jeffries would do something like this. :(
The establishment dems are so quiet, I’m wondering if they’re part of the whole plan. Jeffries is a classic example. They need to go.
You hit it so spot on. We do have to keep planting those seeds with the people that have been brainwashed by the MAGA cult.
Not the full on cult members; they are unreachable. Read up from those former cult members and how outsiders reached them. It was mostly by being kind and showing an interest in them, having conversations which were not confrontational, but open enough to create space to drop a few seeds. Best if this goes on over a decent enough length of time for the cultist to start asking questions of their own.
Somebody other than me will have to have these polite conversations with these maggots because the very sight and sound and stink of them enrages me. I CANNOT be an interested polite conversationalist with them. I hate them more than I've ever hated anything or anyone in my life. I console myself by imagining a FINAL SOLUTION FOR ALL OF THEM---MEN, WOMEN, AND KIDDIES, INCLUDING THOSE STILL IN THE WOMB. I cannot refrain from expressing my real attitude toward these ignorant, stupidly lazy scum, so I wish good luck to all those who can. I sincerely wish you well and honor you for your work in this persuasive endeavor.
I feel your pain and your rage. And I refuse to become just like the people whose attitudes and beliefs I reject with every cell in my body. Take good care, my sister in resistance. I have a favorite Tracy Chapman (gay, black, female) song I love and play when I wash dishes or chop veggies. In it, she remembers her mother's admonition, "All that you have is your soul.'
I recognize these feelings! :) Where I live it's dangerous to express the desire for freedom. Always check to see if they are packing a gun where I live before having a conversation. Some people are very impulsive.
I'm also encouraging my loved ones who do not fit the lily white heterosexual, evangelical model, to relocate to another country, if they can. It'll be awful to have them so far away, but at least I know they won't be jailed for loving the wrong adult, or for having different colored skin, or for having a different religion.
Anybody who can get out, should get out now. If I weren't old and disabled, I'd have been gone in 2016. And I am a white, heterosexual woman! But I also post on social media exactly what I think of Trump and his fascist government, so if he lasts long enough, I expect to see his SS gestapo knocking on the doors of people like me and disappearing us.
There are more of us than them. The point is that we need to use our voices! Let's do that.
The republican regime is going for totalitarianism if we let them. Right now they've been playing the long game of gerrymandering for decades. Right now I consider this country a hybrid authoritarian fascist regime. Read this 👇 and pick out the blueprint you see in comparison to what they're doing right now. Which one do you think they're aligned with much more?
Totalitarian regimes: An extreme form of authoritarianism where the government seeks complete control over nearly all aspects of public and private life, including the economy, media, and even the personal beliefs of individuals. Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in the past and North Korea in the present are considered examples.
Hybrid regimes: Exhibit a mixture of both democratic and authoritarian traits, often having formally democratic institutions like elections, but where those institutions may be undermined or manipulated to favor the incumbents. Turkey is cited as an example of a hybrid regime.
Didn't we use to call hybrids banana republics?
Then the United States is a banana 🍌 republic. And the orange pedophile and his project 2025 goons want to control it all making it a totalitarian country IF we do nothing about their complete take over.
Some perspective:
# I am a 78 years old white male who grew up in Apartheid South Africa where I still live (Very happily)
# My political inclinations are slightly to the right of center and I did not support Apartheid
# My favourite American President is Obama followed by Biden (despite his faults)
# I follow American politics closely
# Despite my centerist claims I get my news from people like Michael Popok, Brian Cohen, Michael Cohen, Katie Phang, Glenn Kirschner, David Pakman and others of a similar nature
# Most of them are actually closer to the traditional center than they portray themselves (?)
# I utterly loathe Trump and those around him
# When I read articles like this I get a hollow feeling of dread
# I use my Substack to try and join you in the fight against Trump and MAGA
# It might surprise readers to learn that Trump is well thought of by many South Africans
# These are people who simply will not be swayed by all the awful stuff coming out of Trump / MAGA.
# I know quite a few South Africans living in the USA. Some great people. Mostly Trumpers
# It is all profoundly irrational
I am not sure that the fight for US democracy is winable even if the Epstein files reveal something really awful about Trump
You said, "# When I read articles like this I get a hollow feeling of dread" - and that is not what you should feel after reading the "news" from reliable sources. You should feel like there is hope, that we can and will be able to keep our country. Otherwise, we all might as well roll up our carpets and find a cave somewhere and hope we all live through it.
Absolutely right
Blue Smurf. Well said.
Sadly, I agree. I'm also older, and I fought for our rights all my life. It's quite discouraging to see everything I fought for being destroyed.
Why are the results not based in thr national total instead of by state with an electoral vote system? Why not by the popular vote?
The Electoral College, which is a holdover from the Civil War efforts to mend the lingering hostilities between the former Confederate States and the Northern states.
The Electoral College needs to go. One person one vote is democracy. Determining the presidency by the votes of 538 electors is not democracy. It's ludicrous.
Like a cancerous tumor on our otherwise more democratic process. Without the Electoral College and with the use of ranked choice voting in every state, we might deserve to think of ourselves as a genuine democracy.
Wouldn't that be nice? I hope it happens.
They also didn't have the electronics, communications and fast transporation, that are available currently. Currently the people have everything they need to vote, so the Electoral College is way out-dated...but that's the way magas want it.
I think it's on the chopping block and before too long it's only function will be as kindling to feed the fire of fairness for all.
It’s the gullible uneducated Bible Belt that thinks theft, adultery, cheating, lies 🤥, porn, bullying, violent terrorism, and pediphile-sex trafficking is acceptable if you’re Republican. 🏴☠️🤑🐍🖤🙄
I know people like to think this, but, living in east Texas, I can tell you it's not correct. There are many professional people with doctorates/masters' degrees, that support this regime. I think it's because they believe they are better than everyone else (and white, of course), and believe they are more capable of leading, than people of color. :( AND, I've been told, if you are white you better have at least 4 children, if not more, so that people that are not lily white won't become the majority. :(
As a resident of Tx, the biggest cause for the dissatisfaction of TX voters has been the $11.1 billion dollars we spent on securing the border in the previous administration.
For the hope of turning Tx (in my opinion) will need a loud voice on keeping the border secure. Then really pounding the economy with a CLEAR plan to manage the economy and the deficit!! Tx didn’t expand Medicaid so we have yet to see the full impact on what that will mean. We also need a clear plan on emergency responses as Tx has had plenty of that bite and with the recent floods on everyone’s mind… The one thing that I wouldn’t see carrying as much weight in much of tx is the environment as so many love their big diesel pickups and I don’t see many speaking about that as an issue on my local channels (though, we have solar and wind farms in Central Tx) A great deal needs to be spoken with understanding directly to the rural areas of Tx to resígnate with the highest level of Repubs.
and the protection of our children - the fact that the GOP MAGAmorons are protecting the pedophiles who rape and molest our young teen-age girls. All the states need to hone in on that fact and push it hard.
Not only protecting the child molesters, but hiring them in powerful positions. They say they hate child molesters, but it seems everyday I read the news and there's another elected maga arrested for child sexual abuse. smdh
And, there are children that are molested that are much younger than teen agers... Try a 2 year old who is still learning to talk... The 7 year old down's syndrome girl who just wants to be loved...the 10 year old who mom just discovered was pregnant. The kid didn't know...she was still wondering why she bled sometimes, :( (Oh and the offender - the stepfather. :(
One would hope it doesn't go beyond that.
When those red states start feeling the pain from the Republican BBuglyB They may change their minds.
Unfortunately, Congress made it so that they wouldn't really know what hit them for the most part until 2027. However, the whole no tax on tips and no tax on overtime is so fraught with restrictions and a kick in the pants that 2025 taxes are going to show a lot of them that what he sold is not what was in the box that was delivered. That may get a few more awakened.
Hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, grocery stores, businesses, are already shutting down due to tariffs as prices are going up. The point is to get it across that the connection is that drumpf caused all this and for no other reason but to line his own pockets.
tRUMP is trying to make us feel unsafe to live in America. Russia has trained him for this. Do we feel safe to walk in the streets of America with armed military asking people for their identity. Russia must be proud of tRUMP. Ukraine and the E.U. have no voice in the war that Putin and tRUMP have started. This is no longer the land of freedom or Liberty.
I think that's why dumpt met with Putin. More lessons on how to be a better criminal. He's been an asset for Putin decades, now he's getting help. Drumpt doesn't care about Kelensky. Only himself.
Why rig the midterms when they can just claim voting is WOKE and get rid of democracy once and for all
Much easier to be a banana republic and let the people think they have a choice. Less resistance.