It's good to see the Dems finally recognizing Trump and the GOP for what they are: bullies. You don't beat a bully by appeasement or reason, but by hitting back and showing that all the cruelty comes from a place of weaknes, not strength. Bullies are beaten when we stand up to them and that's exactly what we're seeing now. Laughing at ceacescu, indeed.
A critical piece is how the media will cover the next ninety nine days. Will they feature Trump’s presumed behavior for what it is, or will they portray it as basically benign?
If Trump and Vance and their minions respond with viscousness and more weirdness , I don’t expect the cultist to pull them through. But I doubt they’ll “ go gently into that good night.
Are there security forces preparing now for such a contingency. The “blood bath “ of which Trump speaks is not idle talk.
Is it too cynical of me to think the media will highlight more of DTs idiocy and inarticulateness as they see the voting public paying more attention to it due to Harris and the Democrats actively pointing it out? Again, per Brian's post, the shift from Biden to Harris brought to the fore someone more willing to be partisan.
This piece gave me a lift! I was already feeling good -- I signed up for the "white dudes for Kamala" zoom rally -- but seeing your prediction of a post-Trump GOP bloodbath was great. Of course, the first step is winning. And now it feels like we have a fighting chance!
This is a good, much needed warning about how ugly this election is probably about to become. As you suggest, Trump will go “crazy” as he comes to believe he could lose this race. And, also as you point out, there are elected and judges, etc., throughout the country who stand to have their dreams of domination crushed. And then there are also the cadre of billionaires and other monied interests who are invested big-time in Trump opening the flood-gates to a return to plutocratic rule, where they are “the deciders.” And we cannot underestimate what Trump’s buddy, Putin, will do to help him join the totalitarian club.
All of these fanatics and interests will not “go gently into the night.” They will push back in a massive campaign of unhinged fear-mongering, election subversion, lawsuits, thuggery and subterfuge. They will double down on the Jan 6th gambit of throwing the election into such chaos that the outcome gets “referred” either to the House of Representatives, or to the SCOTUS, either of which would guarantee that Trump would be anointed President.
We really do have to be prepared for perhaps unprecedented ugliness — for the desperate lashing-out of people and elite interests who are convinced that they have finally found the wherewithal to inherit the earth.
Being energized and joyful in support of a candidate, like Kamala Harris, who seems to epitomize the renewal of optimism and to embody the America motto of “e pluribus unum,” is the perfect place from which to now join together to support not just Harris, but all of the elected, lawyers, election workers, voters and other allies and resources we are going to need to win in November and beyond.
Yes, to all of that. Interestingly, among the potential alternatives to Biden Harris is the one most impervious to DTs mode of political battle: the personal attack. As a person of color *and* a woman the GOP can't slag her personally without further antagonizing constituencies they need. So all they're left with is discussing policies. Whoops...
I should add that this implicitly follows up on Brian's point in his post: had the GOP spent the time and effort to develop a party that was both healthy and not utterly dependent on DT they'd have avoided the conundrum they find themselves in today.
The judges part is scary. I wonder if a president with immunity for his official acts and just 6 more months in office can do anything about that?
BUT, re: the rest of them? When they start trotting out the fear, we should remind people of the existential dread and fear we woke up to every single day between 2016 and 2020. I have been so happy, these past 3.5 years to know that I don’t always have to be looking through the windshield to try and warn of oncoming trucks bc the driver of the bus hasn’t been drunk and disgruntled.
Do you really think this SCOTUS as it is currently constituted would find anything Biden might have to foil Trump “an official presidential act”? The majority seems to act like tailors cutting the law to fit their clients.
Well, I guess the wheels of justice can turn slowly in lots of instances? 🤷♀️ I know less than zero about the law (I have that in common with several federal judges and a few hastily confirmed SC justices) but an executive order than mandates a 60-90 day cooling off period before decisions are rendered could be fun to dream about.
>> Trump is temperamentally incapable of responding to the prospect of defeat by broadening his appeal
I disagree with you on this, Brian.
History indicates Trump would most likely try to run back the "moderate on entitlements" play that "worked" for him in 2016. He's already trying to get away with having it both ways on abortion and Project 2025, but he can always drop or moderate some of his other bad policy ideas.
For instance, I can totally see him trying to negotiate his across-the-board-tariff rate with a rally crowd. "They say that 10% is gonna give us too much inflation. Okay, hey, look, I'm a reasonable guy as you all know. So, what do YOU think? Do I hear 9%? 8%? How about 7%? Yeah, 7%, that'll work." Even if 7% would still be a shitty policy, this is the sort of idiotic spectacle that he COULD use to neutralize the issue and claw back some more ground without conceding his overall stance.
I think that the problem is bigger than Trump. Please watch the newly released documentary ‘God and Country’ on white Christian nationalism. It’s SUPER frightening. Recent research shows that 30% of Americans either strongly or moderately believe that they are ordained by God to destroy our society that ithey see as being depraved. Destroying means doing away with democracy as we know it, a very convenient move for the wealthy who want more access to wealth. The latter are funding the movement. And Trump is masterful at manipulating people’s faux-Christianity. Please watch the movie and read the research done by Katherine Stewart (The Power Worshipper’ and Jemar Tisby (The Sprit of Justice) for a fuller understanding of this phenomenon.
30% are definitely insane or simply too dumb to actually think about the idea, and another 20 % tend to go along with them because they're family members or part of their small town social circle, but that still leaves the other half of the country. May our intelligent citizens save us from our unintelligent ones yet again.
The margin of victory, if there is victory, must be very large to stop their plots and schemes. Right now, and likely for a long time, they've figured out how to jigger things in some states in order to mess up the election and seize power. The more likely they are to lose, the worse it will be. Biden needs to have troops ready, armed, mobile and willing. When the shit hits the fan, he needs to use them.
Agreed, but can even a humongous margin of victory favoring Democrats withstand corrupted and accountable-to-nobody American institutions such as SCOTUS' erroneous and unconstitutional decisions favoring Trump?
SCOTUS has given the president the power to ignore it. But, it seems to me that if it's a real landslide and the bad guys still buck, then it's time for a power play. Biden will have the military. I really hope that isn't needed. But, especially a close election, there's always a possibility. These people have no shame or restraint.
"What wouldn’t they do?" We already know that local elections boards intend to not certify the vote in their district, thereby causing the state to be unable to certify. If enough do this such no one reaches 270, then it's off to the house to vote -- one state, one vote -- and the authoritarian is in. Marc Elias highlighted this himself today. Yet no one is saying what the counter, if any, to this may be. Some postulate that Marc and others are holding their cards close. I hope that that's the case because I'm petrified.
Was thinking about it just now, and remembered that really the final major milestone in the campaign before Biden abruptly dropped out was Trump's speech at the RNC, for which *Catturd's* review was "I watched the first part of Trump's speech again - amazing."
Wonder if that was the true catalyst that got Biden to cave, that Trump is absolutely 100 percent beatable and American democracy salvageable if Dems just put up a candidate with the energy and agility to do it rather than cross their fingers and pray for a (completely realistic) polling error.
Anyway great piece and I too am eagerly hoping for the same kind of preemptive meltdown Trump and the whole MAGA Cinematic Universe fell into during the home stretch in 2020.
It's good to see the Dems finally recognizing Trump and the GOP for what they are: bullies. You don't beat a bully by appeasement or reason, but by hitting back and showing that all the cruelty comes from a place of weaknes, not strength. Bullies are beaten when we stand up to them and that's exactly what we're seeing now. Laughing at ceacescu, indeed.
A critical piece is how the media will cover the next ninety nine days. Will they feature Trump’s presumed behavior for what it is, or will they portray it as basically benign?
If Trump and Vance and their minions respond with viscousness and more weirdness , I don’t expect the cultist to pull them through. But I doubt they’ll “ go gently into that good night.
Are there security forces preparing now for such a contingency. The “blood bath “ of which Trump speaks is not idle talk.
Is it too cynical of me to think the media will highlight more of DTs idiocy and inarticulateness as they see the voting public paying more attention to it due to Harris and the Democrats actively pointing it out? Again, per Brian's post, the shift from Biden to Harris brought to the fore someone more willing to be partisan.
This piece gave me a lift! I was already feeling good -- I signed up for the "white dudes for Kamala" zoom rally -- but seeing your prediction of a post-Trump GOP bloodbath was great. Of course, the first step is winning. And now it feels like we have a fighting chance!
Whether a woman OR a man, also register for "Women for Harris National Organizing Call."
https://events.democrats.org/event/653900/
This is a good, much needed warning about how ugly this election is probably about to become. As you suggest, Trump will go “crazy” as he comes to believe he could lose this race. And, also as you point out, there are elected and judges, etc., throughout the country who stand to have their dreams of domination crushed. And then there are also the cadre of billionaires and other monied interests who are invested big-time in Trump opening the flood-gates to a return to plutocratic rule, where they are “the deciders.” And we cannot underestimate what Trump’s buddy, Putin, will do to help him join the totalitarian club.
All of these fanatics and interests will not “go gently into the night.” They will push back in a massive campaign of unhinged fear-mongering, election subversion, lawsuits, thuggery and subterfuge. They will double down on the Jan 6th gambit of throwing the election into such chaos that the outcome gets “referred” either to the House of Representatives, or to the SCOTUS, either of which would guarantee that Trump would be anointed President.
We really do have to be prepared for perhaps unprecedented ugliness — for the desperate lashing-out of people and elite interests who are convinced that they have finally found the wherewithal to inherit the earth.
Being energized and joyful in support of a candidate, like Kamala Harris, who seems to epitomize the renewal of optimism and to embody the America motto of “e pluribus unum,” is the perfect place from which to now join together to support not just Harris, but all of the elected, lawyers, election workers, voters and other allies and resources we are going to need to win in November and beyond.
Yes, to all of that. Interestingly, among the potential alternatives to Biden Harris is the one most impervious to DTs mode of political battle: the personal attack. As a person of color *and* a woman the GOP can't slag her personally without further antagonizing constituencies they need. So all they're left with is discussing policies. Whoops...
I should add that this implicitly follows up on Brian's point in his post: had the GOP spent the time and effort to develop a party that was both healthy and not utterly dependent on DT they'd have avoided the conundrum they find themselves in today.
The judges part is scary. I wonder if a president with immunity for his official acts and just 6 more months in office can do anything about that?
BUT, re: the rest of them? When they start trotting out the fear, we should remind people of the existential dread and fear we woke up to every single day between 2016 and 2020. I have been so happy, these past 3.5 years to know that I don’t always have to be looking through the windshield to try and warn of oncoming trucks bc the driver of the bus hasn’t been drunk and disgruntled.
Do you really think this SCOTUS as it is currently constituted would find anything Biden might have to foil Trump “an official presidential act”? The majority seems to act like tailors cutting the law to fit their clients.
Well, I guess the wheels of justice can turn slowly in lots of instances? 🤷♀️ I know less than zero about the law (I have that in common with several federal judges and a few hastily confirmed SC justices) but an executive order than mandates a 60-90 day cooling off period before decisions are rendered could be fun to dream about.
After that immunity decision it’s all on the table Now. Literally no one thought it would go this way.
lol what? Biden didn't end drunk driving
>> Trump is temperamentally incapable of responding to the prospect of defeat by broadening his appeal
I disagree with you on this, Brian.
History indicates Trump would most likely try to run back the "moderate on entitlements" play that "worked" for him in 2016. He's already trying to get away with having it both ways on abortion and Project 2025, but he can always drop or moderate some of his other bad policy ideas.
For instance, I can totally see him trying to negotiate his across-the-board-tariff rate with a rally crowd. "They say that 10% is gonna give us too much inflation. Okay, hey, look, I'm a reasonable guy as you all know. So, what do YOU think? Do I hear 9%? 8%? How about 7%? Yeah, 7%, that'll work." Even if 7% would still be a shitty policy, this is the sort of idiotic spectacle that he COULD use to neutralize the issue and claw back some more ground without conceding his overall stance.
The way you deal with a bully is to punch him in the nose, then kick him when he's down, then laugh at him when he starts crying.
I can’t claim credit for this, but word is out that The Donald has become simply DON-OLD
I think that the problem is bigger than Trump. Please watch the newly released documentary ‘God and Country’ on white Christian nationalism. It’s SUPER frightening. Recent research shows that 30% of Americans either strongly or moderately believe that they are ordained by God to destroy our society that ithey see as being depraved. Destroying means doing away with democracy as we know it, a very convenient move for the wealthy who want more access to wealth. The latter are funding the movement. And Trump is masterful at manipulating people’s faux-Christianity. Please watch the movie and read the research done by Katherine Stewart (The Power Worshipper’ and Jemar Tisby (The Sprit of Justice) for a fuller understanding of this phenomenon.
30% are definitely insane or simply too dumb to actually think about the idea, and another 20 % tend to go along with them because they're family members or part of their small town social circle, but that still leaves the other half of the country. May our intelligent citizens save us from our unintelligent ones yet again.
Project 2025.
Leonard Leo.
Harlan Crow.
The Family.
the list goes on, and Musk just catapulted himself onto it.
I can only see one good reason to be divisive — to expose and isolate the delusional and monstrously-cynical powermongers.
The margin of victory, if there is victory, must be very large to stop their plots and schemes. Right now, and likely for a long time, they've figured out how to jigger things in some states in order to mess up the election and seize power. The more likely they are to lose, the worse it will be. Biden needs to have troops ready, armed, mobile and willing. When the shit hits the fan, he needs to use them.
Agreed, but can even a humongous margin of victory favoring Democrats withstand corrupted and accountable-to-nobody American institutions such as SCOTUS' erroneous and unconstitutional decisions favoring Trump?
Doesn't the buck always stop at SCOTUS??
SCOTUS has given the president the power to ignore it. But, it seems to me that if it's a real landslide and the bad guys still buck, then it's time for a power play. Biden will have the military. I really hope that isn't needed. But, especially a close election, there's always a possibility. These people have no shame or restraint.
"What wouldn’t they do?" We already know that local elections boards intend to not certify the vote in their district, thereby causing the state to be unable to certify. If enough do this such no one reaches 270, then it's off to the house to vote -- one state, one vote -- and the authoritarian is in. Marc Elias highlighted this himself today. Yet no one is saying what the counter, if any, to this may be. Some postulate that Marc and others are holding their cards close. I hope that that's the case because I'm petrified.
So appreciative of your voice, Brian.
Was thinking about it just now, and remembered that really the final major milestone in the campaign before Biden abruptly dropped out was Trump's speech at the RNC, for which *Catturd's* review was "I watched the first part of Trump's speech again - amazing."
Wonder if that was the true catalyst that got Biden to cave, that Trump is absolutely 100 percent beatable and American democracy salvageable if Dems just put up a candidate with the energy and agility to do it rather than cross their fingers and pray for a (completely realistic) polling error.
Anyway great piece and I too am eagerly hoping for the same kind of preemptive meltdown Trump and the whole MAGA Cinematic Universe fell into during the home stretch in 2020.
Thoroughly sound arguments and discussions of it! Thanks, so much! R's have squandered ANY credibility, by surrendering to this joke of a leader.
🇺🇸💙❣️🇺🇸💙❣️🇺🇸💙
This is great - inspiring and terrifying, just like our current circumstances.