Sure, I watched the president speak on Thursday night.
How could you not?
How could you not?
"This is the historic moment," I told my wife.
And I wasn't wrong.
Still, I haven't commented on it yet.
And frankly, am not sure why I'm commenting on it now.
What's there to say?
And frankly, am not sure why I'm commenting on it now.
What's there to say?
It's painfully obvious.
There's nothing new.
The same lies — he won the 2020 election, the Chinese, Joe Biden, blah blah blah. What a crybaby.
And argument so flimsy, so transparently fictional, that an ounce of thought puffs the whole thing away.
But even to take the framework of fact — and I can't take credit for noticing this, but read it on social media and am happy to pass it along — Donald Trump is saying that the election of 2016, the one that took place when Barack Hussein Obama was president, was fair and fine.
There's nothing new.
The same lies — he won the 2020 election, the Chinese, Joe Biden, blah blah blah. What a crybaby.
And argument so flimsy, so transparently fictional, that an ounce of thought puffs the whole thing away.
But even to take the framework of fact — and I can't take credit for noticing this, but read it on social media and am happy to pass it along — Donald Trump is saying that the election of 2016, the one that took place when Barack Hussein Obama was president, was fair and fine.
And the 2024 election, the one that occurred when Joe Biden was in the White House, went off without a hitch.
But that 2020 election, the one taking place when he, Donald Trump, was president, was utterly corrupt, influenced by Venezuela and China and Russia and the Club of Rome, that was thoroughly rigged. Right under his nose. Yet he, the guy who sat back and did nothing, apparently, in the dark while it occurred, oblivious, clueless, now wants to take full control of the process, ram through all sorts of unprecedented, extensive, illegal action in the four months between now and November to make sure it doesn't happen again.
But that 2020 election, the one taking place when he, Donald Trump, was president, was utterly corrupt, influenced by Venezuela and China and Russia and the Club of Rome, that was thoroughly rigged. Right under his nose. Yet he, the guy who sat back and did nothing, apparently, in the dark while it occurred, oblivious, clueless, now wants to take full control of the process, ram through all sorts of unprecedented, extensive, illegal action in the four months between now and November to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Which, for the record, it can't — happen again — because it never happened in the first place.
His solution? Throttling Americans' right to vote. Demanding proof of citizenship. Which, in case you don't know, is not on your driver's license. It's on your passport. If you have a passport. And 50 percent of Americans don't. It's on your birth certificate. If you can lay your hands on it.
Tens of millions of Americans would be disenfranchisted.
This is the line in the sand. The excess that cannot be ignored, cannot be tolerated, cannot be normalized. All the tariffs and executive orders and Qatari jets were child's play in comparison. This is where it ends. It's him or us. Trump or America. Trump will either be thwarted in his attempt to corrupt the 2026 election — either the states will resist — or democracy will die. Because if you can't vote because ICE thugs are roughing you up, or because you don't have documentation that you never needed before, then voting becomes merely symbolic, a gesture toward the country we once were and now only pretend to be. The traitor has shown his hand, completely. Which, as I said, is no big revelation, because he's been building up to this for years. For a chronic liar, he can be very candid.
This is the line in the sand. The excess that cannot be ignored, cannot be tolerated, cannot be normalized. All the tariffs and executive orders and Qatari jets were child's play in comparison. This is where it ends. It's him or us. Trump or America. Trump will either be thwarted in his attempt to corrupt the 2026 election — either the states will resist — or democracy will die. Because if you can't vote because ICE thugs are roughing you up, or because you don't have documentation that you never needed before, then voting becomes merely symbolic, a gesture toward the country we once were and now only pretend to be. The traitor has shown his hand, completely. Which, as I said, is no big revelation, because he's been building up to this for years. For a chronic liar, he can be very candid.
Enough about him. It's up to us now to accept or reject what he plans to do to this country. But who will rally us? Where is Paul Revere when we need him? Maybe it'll have to be all of us, inspiring ourselves. The stakes couldn't be higher.
I never thought it would come to this but it has. How many though still won't open their eyes?
ReplyDeleteHis dementia is appalling.
ReplyDeleteHis insanity is out of control & no Re Thug Licon will do anything about it!
Little Mikey Johnson, the alleged Speaker of the House is so terrified of this lunatic, he won't even try to impeach him for his stupid beyond belief war, caused by his dementia & his bizarre belief he can get Iran to stop building a nuclear weapon, something Obama managed to do with an agreement with all of the European allies, allies he's also managed to piss off at us, because his worshiping of his insane buddy Putin, won't let him help Ukraine kick the Russian Army out of Ukraine! Russia is bogged down in a war it can never win, the Ukrainians hate them far too much to give up & have gotten so good at drone warfare, the entire world, except the USA is going to there to learn from them.
The US is now bogged down in an appallingly stupid war with Iran we can't win, because the mullahs & their pet Revolutionary Guard will never, ever give up power to their own people. They are actually crazier than he is!
The sole thing in his entire rotten to the core, over privileged life he's ever succeeded in is being a con man, which is how he got elected, twice, by morons he conned into thinking he's a great businessman, when in fact, all he's ever done is fail upward after each bankruptcy & then con the dimbulbs at NBC into giving him a totally bullshit TV show where he plays at the great brilliant business executive & then chooses an apprentice to help him get even greater. Then that show conned the truly even dumber dimbulbs among the voters who fell for his con!
And now our government is filled with incompetents running everything, from a Fascist News Channel clown wrecking the military, to a failed shyster ruining the entire US healthcare industry, with his ridiculously wrong ideas that vaccines are more dangerous than the diseases they prevent, to wasting more billions trying to prove Tylenol & vaccines cause autism, which multiple studies from all over the world haven they don't cause autism!
Then he wants his name on everything, has demolished parts of the White House illegally, wrecked the Reflecting Pool, killed millions of children in poor countries by shutting down USAID, fired tens of thousands of necessary government employees so the government doesn't work anymore & given himself & his billionaire buddies, massive tax cuts that make the rest of us pay more in taxes.
Not merely the worst president ever, but the worst person to ever be president!
When he finally croaks, the entire planet will erupt in joy!
Great summation of him and his presidential appointees.
DeleteBravo! You nailed it.
DeleteExcept for seeing a few snippets of when he proclaimed "You're FIRED!"...I never saw even a second of his stupid TV show. I already hated him too much to watch it, so I ignored it. For fifteen seasons.
How the hell did it manage to survive for so long? I guess there were tens of millions of sheeple, with glazed eyeballs, who kept it alive. And then they voted for him. Three times. American stupidity is beyond appalling.
I've read that a copy of your birth certificate won't do, it has to be one that's embossed. As for rallying, indeed, it's up to each of us, as it's always been. Voting isn't someone else's responsibility. It's ours. I wish it were compulsory in America. It should be. You want to be a citizen in this democracy? You have to participate in it.
ReplyDeleteOn the upside, who is more likely to have a passport - rural red state voters, or educated people in every state? I've read that "conservatives" are trying to get Trump to understand this, but, of course, he's so delusional it doesn't register with him.
DeleteMany states do not have embossed birth certificates prior to the 1970s and 1980s. Some states require you to travel to them and present "proof" in person before giving you a (costly) legal copy.
DeleteAnonymous 10:04AM- Who's more likely to have a passport- rural red state voters ? Or metropolitan red state voters who share and advance "MAGA values" of sanctified exceptionalism and avarice, lining their pockets while solidifying their power by all available means?
DeleteThank you, Neil.
ReplyDeleteMass psychogenic illness. If we're not already there, Trump is trying to induce it. He's a sick motherfucker.
ReplyDeleteI’m so sad and furious at the same time.
ReplyDeletebut not sure what to do to get out of this mess we’re headed towards. Pester my US representative and senator to make sure this bull$&@! plan is throttled? Write letters to the editors? What can we do? Keep protesting?
Maybe someone can explain WHY the real ID isn't a valid form of identification? One of the things I had to produce to get one was my birth certificate or my passport.
ReplyDeleteNot hard enough to get. Too many already have them. The plan is to make it impossible for those who vote the “wrong” way to register
DeleteMy theory is...they're trying to make it harder to produce a "valid" ID...and easier to disqualify potential blue voters. More hoops to jump through. Deep red states, such as my own benighted state of Ohio (AKA North Missitucky), will be especially tough...even though Felonious has won here THREE times. Including by an 11-point stomping in '24..
DeleteWhen I presented my birth certificate from Illinois, in order to get one, they claimed that the first letter of my middle name was "smudged"...and not only rejected the document, but accused me of forgery.
They issued me a "non-flying" driver's license Had to obtain another copy of my birth certificate from Chicago before I could get the starred one. And of course, I was charged again in the process. Ohio (and other red states) will hinder the voting process by any means necessary, in order to kiss the Orange One's ass.
Makes no difference if he dies, either before or after the midterms. When Vladimir Futon (AKA Jethro V. Dance) becomes #48, we're in uncharted territory. All bets are off. No telling what he would do before the elections. Or after them. Many pundits and prognosticators have speculated that he would prove to be even worse. A clown driving the circus train. A wreck seems likely.
Every way you look at it, we're screwed. Unless there's a Blue Tsunami in November. And people seem so resigned and so apathetic about what is happening, that I'm not exactly holding my breath. Our democracy appears to be toast. I'm glad I'm not young anymore.
If they can rally for their rights in Hungary and Albania, we can do it here. Throw the bums out!
ReplyDeleteI am just sitting here with tears rolling down my face because I still run into people who praise him and come down on all democrats. I only pray that his followers will wise up before any elections. Pray!!!
ReplyDeleteTruer words were never spoken. Thanks for the clearheaded analysis, today and in past columns too.
ReplyDeleteAmen!
ReplyDeleteGreat job Neil! We can’t become immune or numb to this Facist regime. Love you and others who keep sounding the call to protest and to VOTE!
ReplyDeleteMail in voting is also in his crosshairs. It’s likely that many MAGA voters will object to that. Mail in voting is great for many elderly people who may struggle to get to polling places. Also preferable for people who live many miles from polling places and find it much easier to vote by mail. Lots of those areas could also encounter snow in early November.
ReplyDeleteWe’re deceiving ourselves though to think this will all go away with Trump. This has been in the works for decades, from Roger Ailes outlining a plan in 1972 for a conservative takeover of the media, to the Federalist Society developing a feeder system of right wing judges, to the Heritage Foundation scheming to “shrink and drown government in a bathtub”. Trump was merely the tool they used to accelerate their plans. They won’t even need him soon
ReplyDeleteTrump was giving us a warning with that speech. He started talking about tearing down the East Wing last June. No one paid any attention until the bulldozers moved in.
ReplyDeleteHe fears the midterms. If the Democrats take the House and Senate, they will impeach him when they are sure they have the votes this time to convict and remove him. Then he will lose his immunity.
That’s one reason he is pushing the SAVE act so hard. If that doesn’t work, he can declare some kind of national emergency and order martial law. If we actually get to vote, he will tie the election results up in court. Remember the last time an election went to the Supreme Court? There is a precedent for that now.
I am afraid that Americans are still too comfortable—or lazy— and when they are not it will be too late. Could Americans just hand the country over to Trump or will mobs come out with pitchforks which is maybe what will be necessary.
https://www.rawamerica.com/p/trump-just-accidentally-revealed
Republicans don’t believe in democracy, they believe that the wealthy should control everything
ReplyDelete