I have read in a number of places, including the Bulwark this morning, that all of the "speeches"/comments were vetted by the Trump campaign and put on the teleprompter. Why is anyone surprised about this? This is who MAGA is and has been for years. It is obvious. Everyone focuses on Trump and somehow excuses him. It is everyone around him and who will be in his second administration that is scaring the hell out of me. Trump may pretend he doesn't know anything about Project 2025 but who do people think Trump will surround himself with? BTW, Trump is now wearing a black-and-gold MAGA hat, the colors of the Oath Keepers. You should read Heather Cox Richardson this morning, who describes the NAZI rally at MSG in the 1930s. It is eerily chilling.
As soon as I heard about this MSG rally, the connection jumped out at me. One of the reasons that we were so slow to get involved in fighting the Nazis in WWII was the widespread Nazi movement right here. It has never gone away, and Trump and his cadre of fascists know exactly what they are doing. It's disgusting.
So the Trump campaign disavowed the comment about Puerto Rico, but I noticed that they didn't disavow the "bad Jew" or "pimp handlers" comments. Which means that they are perfectly fine with some of the racist language. When somebody shows you who they are, believe them.
They only disavowed the Puerto Rico comments, when Republican politicians in Florida, attacked the “comedian”, and made it clear this could affect Trump in the election negatively, trust me they were all in the back cheering and laughing
This is why my anxiety about next week is growing. We are so screwed if he wins, but his losing could be equally horrible if he rallies his follows to violence. Trump doesn't care who gets hurt and looks like violence is his only choice. His "musings" are going get more vitriolic. Holding on to my seat!
I share your trepidation. Either Trump wins, in which case, kiss democracy goodbye (or whatever's left of it, anyway, and no, I don't think that it's hyperbole to say this), or he loses but will still say that he won and that he was cheated out of the election, in which case we will see violence the likes of which will make January 6th look like a garden party. And again, I don't think that this is hypebole.
Sunday morning ( yesterday) I woke up just fine and was chilling before I started breakfast. I stay at my bf on the weekends and go home after Sunday breakfast ( Eggs Benedict everyone's fav!! ). So he comes in the living room and turns on CNN and I think it was the Chris Wallace or Jake Tapper show and they are playing clips of Trump and Vance and I slowly feel my anxiety start rising. I head out to the kitchen to start cooking and I can still hear it but I'm trying really hard to ignore it. With the food done and plated I bring it out for us to eat and he still has it on........my anxiety went into over drive and I about lost it. I couldn't eat my food, became nauseas , felt my blood pressure rising in not a good way and I begged him to turn it off and I mean begged. I can't hear their voices ( or the a-holes that are voting for him ) without having a panic attack. Thank god CNN online went to pay subscription because I no longer go on there and get spooked. ( btw....I liked CNN - that's how I found Chris Cilliza but they are now almost as bad as FOX ). This isn't healthy for us or our country. God speed if he wins
Harris will get 95% of Democrats votes. 12% of Republicans. 60% of independents which will be 53-54% of the total vote. The VICTORY is for freedom and democracy Dutcharoo! Not the racism and misogyny displayed by your hero at Madison Square Garden last evening. Harris fills every arena and your hero had to pay and bus in his racist MAGAts last night because New York City is Harris country! Crawl back into your hole Dutcharoo!
After all of these many months I still don't know if you're a real person or simply a paid troll, but either way you're still a troll.
And as much as I disagree with you about Dementia Donnie and the fascist authoritarian dictatorship he'll unleash as he and his many minions destroy 250 years of American democracy for their own personal gains, I actually have a great deal of sympathy for you.
I'm at an age where there are far fewer days ahead of me than behind me. So when you and the rest of the Trumpty Dumpty Gestapo come to take me away to one of their "resettlement" camps (the new politically correct term for the Concentration Camps in Nazi Germany), so be it.
But your entire movement is based on hatred and manufactured fear. It's all sleight-of-hand, and all of you are too ignorant and too cult-programmed to recognize it. While Dementia Donnie keeps distracting you by drawing your focus to the latest group-of-the-week to hate and marginalize, they're dismantling and reorganizing the American economy to line their own pockets. But the flaw in any system based on hatred is that you eventually run out of people and groups that you can hate, before you find out that you're a member of the latest group they've created. You all think that you're safe from the cult mentality - until you're not, and by then it's too late for you, and you realize that everything you thought was great really wasn't.
Let's start with the low-hanging fruit on the tree - the dreaded illegals. Let's say you do manage to round up and deport the 12 to 20 million people that are in the country illegally. Done. For arguments sake, we'll ignore the impact this will have on the American economy. Next we'll go after the next easy target, members of the LGBT community. Strip them of every basic human right, as well as overturning every legal decision codifying their rights. Done. What's next? Democrats? People that don't support a Christian Nationalist America (Jews, Protestants, Mormons, atheists, etc.)? Done. Next, let's go after any legal citizen (especially those from the south of the border "shithole" countries) that doesn't have at least three generations of American citizenship. Done. Are we closing in on you yet, Dutch? Because if we haven't reached your "protected" category yet, it's just a matter of time until the Gestapo targets whatever group you're a part of.
Be careful of what you wish for, because you may end up getting it, and will be unprepared for the resulting consequences.
I think you’re being generous to him as there is ample evidence of Trump’s fascist or at least authoritarian orientation. But it was clearly a gaffe to insult Puerto Ricans.
I judge Trump by what he says and what he’s done. There is no need for guilt by association
Trump has surrounded himself with these negative people espousing hatred since 2015. He knows full well what they stand for, consistently encourages and embraces all of it.
There is a picture of attendees at the rally and front and center is Speaker of the House Mike Johnson gazing up at Trump with a beatific smile on his face. It will one day grace history books as emblematic of this dark time. Horrifying.
Indeed. A man who has said he receives all his guidance from the Bible. Guess he missed the parts about worshiping false idols and being taken in by the devil. What a disgrace.
Chris I know you and the MAGA crowd don't believe Trump is a racist, Fascist, and a misogynist. You also don't believe that Trump is suffering from age related cognitive blunting and has nothing to do with project 2025. You also tried to absolve him from blame after he intiintimidated Bexos to kill Wapo's plan to endorse President Harris ( sorry vice president Harris). Trump is a Racist and a fascist. The evidence is every where for people who want to see to see it.
President Harris( sorry vice president) Harris) will continue to preach joy and unity until she's sworn in in 2025!!
Chris won't discuss those items because they do not "interest" him. As he's stated in the past, he only writes on topics that he finds interesting. These usually involve nit-picking every minute detail about every possible item that can post Harris in a negative light while remaining completely blind to anything that might be critical of the Dictator-in-Chief. Dollars to donuts that Chris ends up in the Press Office or Communications Office of the Dementia Donnie administration.
There was a time when I thought the best thing to do with Trump was to let him speak and show who he really is. The scary thing is he’s doing it and his poll numbers are rising. What does that say about our country? What does that say about the people who live in this country? It says a lot of them are OK with putting someone like Donald Trump back in the White House. I’m not sure there is much more Kamala could have done to slow the wave of hate and racism that Trump is hoping to ride to power. I hope so much that there are enough level-headed people on Election Day who can reverse course before it’s too late.
I would only say that the polls are snapshots in time at their best, and rubbish at worst. Remember the predicted red wave two years ago and the Obama-Romney dead heat in 2012? The latter election was called for Obama before 10:00 PM? Take heart.
This wasn’t an accident. It was the point. It’s what MAGA was built on—a message to the white, the bitter, and the fearful that their ginned up anger is a rallying cry, a political stance, and a weapon. It's a promise that America belongs to them and no one else. It’s why Trump’s rallies don’t even try to reach beyond his hardcore base. The sad part is that, for as many reasonably-minded people as he'll lose because of this abomination, he'll gain just as many who want nothing more than a fourth Reich.
An Open Letter to Your Friend or Relative Planning to Vote for Trump: Your Vote for Trump Is an Endorsement of Bigotry, Cruelty, and the Erosion of Rights—No Matter the Reason You Give.
Simply put, a fascist is someone who and/or a party which in lieu of developing and presenting policies, finds groups to scapegoat and degrade in order to achieve power. Come on, Chris, no need to go into the heart of darkness to call this one.
Really liked the post ... but it got me thinking about the following: You said that you don't know whether Trump is a fascist or not. While that is literally true in the sense that nobody can see the inner life of another human, I think (following up on your posto) that it is reasonable to infer a person's beliefs from the company they keep ... AND ... from their (repeated) words and actions. On this basis, I feel comfortable calling Trump authoritarian and antidemocratic. His emphasis on demonizing outsiders and his emotional, visceral appeals to the most base form of nationalism is also consistent with being a fascist. At the end of the day, I don't even know how much it matters if you use the term or not ... focus on his actions and statements.
Most people aren't really paying attention. And the ones who are just waive it off as "Trump being Trump." Or they note that politicians on all sides refer to the other party as fascists and Nazis, to the point where they're just mindless insults rather than dire warnings.
Democracy requires an educated electorate. The GOP has been chipping away at education for decades. Add to that the gift of social media as a misinformation / rage engine and you've got all the tinder you need to torch this country's democracy.
Truth was seen, and in unmistakable fashion. Indicates to me, that there is no longer an aim to win the election, but to lose, and thereby loose the dogs of insurrection. Nobody could have been of changed mind due to that animosity display, but hatred can have been fed fuel.
I have read in a number of places, including the Bulwark this morning, that all of the "speeches"/comments were vetted by the Trump campaign and put on the teleprompter. Why is anyone surprised about this? This is who MAGA is and has been for years. It is obvious. Everyone focuses on Trump and somehow excuses him. It is everyone around him and who will be in his second administration that is scaring the hell out of me. Trump may pretend he doesn't know anything about Project 2025 but who do people think Trump will surround himself with? BTW, Trump is now wearing a black-and-gold MAGA hat, the colors of the Oath Keepers. You should read Heather Cox Richardson this morning, who describes the NAZI rally at MSG in the 1930s. It is eerily chilling.
As soon as I heard about this MSG rally, the connection jumped out at me. One of the reasons that we were so slow to get involved in fighting the Nazis in WWII was the widespread Nazi movement right here. It has never gone away, and Trump and his cadre of fascists know exactly what they are doing. It's disgusting.
And reportedly, using the "c" word to describe the VP was cut from the "comedian's" script. First class all the way!
Ahh -- So it seems that they DID know what he was going to say. Undermines their fake and late disavowal.
So the Trump campaign disavowed the comment about Puerto Rico, but I noticed that they didn't disavow the "bad Jew" or "pimp handlers" comments. Which means that they are perfectly fine with some of the racist language. When somebody shows you who they are, believe them.
They only disavowed the Puerto Rico comments, when Republican politicians in Florida, attacked the “comedian”, and made it clear this could affect Trump in the election negatively, trust me they were all in the back cheering and laughing
Of course!
Donnie Dementia will demonstrate his love of Puerto Rico by flying there and handing out more rolls of paper towels.
This is why my anxiety about next week is growing. We are so screwed if he wins, but his losing could be equally horrible if he rallies his follows to violence. Trump doesn't care who gets hurt and looks like violence is his only choice. His "musings" are going get more vitriolic. Holding on to my seat!
I share your trepidation. Either Trump wins, in which case, kiss democracy goodbye (or whatever's left of it, anyway, and no, I don't think that it's hyperbole to say this), or he loses but will still say that he won and that he was cheated out of the election, in which case we will see violence the likes of which will make January 6th look like a garden party. And again, I don't think that this is hypebole.
I agree, it’s very likely, and not hyperbole.
I woke up this morning with anticipatory grief and fear
Sunday morning ( yesterday) I woke up just fine and was chilling before I started breakfast. I stay at my bf on the weekends and go home after Sunday breakfast ( Eggs Benedict everyone's fav!! ). So he comes in the living room and turns on CNN and I think it was the Chris Wallace or Jake Tapper show and they are playing clips of Trump and Vance and I slowly feel my anxiety start rising. I head out to the kitchen to start cooking and I can still hear it but I'm trying really hard to ignore it. With the food done and plated I bring it out for us to eat and he still has it on........my anxiety went into over drive and I about lost it. I couldn't eat my food, became nauseas , felt my blood pressure rising in not a good way and I begged him to turn it off and I mean begged. I can't hear their voices ( or the a-holes that are voting for him ) without having a panic attack. Thank god CNN online went to pay subscription because I no longer go on there and get spooked. ( btw....I liked CNN - that's how I found Chris Cilliza but they are now almost as bad as FOX ). This isn't healthy for us or our country. God speed if he wins
Hey Dutch:
Here is my math Dutcharoo:
Harris will get 95% of Democrats votes. 12% of Republicans. 60% of independents which will be 53-54% of the total vote. The VICTORY is for freedom and democracy Dutcharoo! Not the racism and misogyny displayed by your hero at Madison Square Garden last evening. Harris fills every arena and your hero had to pay and bus in his racist MAGAts last night because New York City is Harris country! Crawl back into your hole Dutcharoo!
Best of luck with all those calculations!
Dutch,
After all of these many months I still don't know if you're a real person or simply a paid troll, but either way you're still a troll.
And as much as I disagree with you about Dementia Donnie and the fascist authoritarian dictatorship he'll unleash as he and his many minions destroy 250 years of American democracy for their own personal gains, I actually have a great deal of sympathy for you.
I'm at an age where there are far fewer days ahead of me than behind me. So when you and the rest of the Trumpty Dumpty Gestapo come to take me away to one of their "resettlement" camps (the new politically correct term for the Concentration Camps in Nazi Germany), so be it.
But your entire movement is based on hatred and manufactured fear. It's all sleight-of-hand, and all of you are too ignorant and too cult-programmed to recognize it. While Dementia Donnie keeps distracting you by drawing your focus to the latest group-of-the-week to hate and marginalize, they're dismantling and reorganizing the American economy to line their own pockets. But the flaw in any system based on hatred is that you eventually run out of people and groups that you can hate, before you find out that you're a member of the latest group they've created. You all think that you're safe from the cult mentality - until you're not, and by then it's too late for you, and you realize that everything you thought was great really wasn't.
Let's start with the low-hanging fruit on the tree - the dreaded illegals. Let's say you do manage to round up and deport the 12 to 20 million people that are in the country illegally. Done. For arguments sake, we'll ignore the impact this will have on the American economy. Next we'll go after the next easy target, members of the LGBT community. Strip them of every basic human right, as well as overturning every legal decision codifying their rights. Done. What's next? Democrats? People that don't support a Christian Nationalist America (Jews, Protestants, Mormons, atheists, etc.)? Done. Next, let's go after any legal citizen (especially those from the south of the border "shithole" countries) that doesn't have at least three generations of American citizenship. Done. Are we closing in on you yet, Dutch? Because if we haven't reached your "protected" category yet, it's just a matter of time until the Gestapo targets whatever group you're a part of.
Be careful of what you wish for, because you may end up getting it, and will be unprepared for the resulting consequences.
Best of luck to you when you wake up from your fevered dream of a Trump victory.
Hope you recognize the irony in your sarcasm next week!
I think you’re being generous to him as there is ample evidence of Trump’s fascist or at least authoritarian orientation. But it was clearly a gaffe to insult Puerto Ricans.
I judge Trump by what he says and what he’s done. There is no need for guilt by association
November 5th you will be able to add over 270 for President Trump
Dutch, this begs the question. Why would you support a person who supports such other hateful people?
Don't hold your breath waiting for an answer, unless you have a strange fondness for the color blue your face will become.
Amen
Not going to happen Dutch! Crawl back into your hole only to emerge in 2028 to President Harris elected to a second term!!
Ok, best of luck to you!
Behold! Tucker Carlson also said that Trump gave them all the liberty to tell the truth. And there it is, for them.
Trump has surrounded himself with these negative people espousing hatred since 2015. He knows full well what they stand for, consistently encourages and embraces all of it.
There is a picture of attendees at the rally and front and center is Speaker of the House Mike Johnson gazing up at Trump with a beatific smile on his face. It will one day grace history books as emblematic of this dark time. Horrifying.
Indeed. A man who has said he receives all his guidance from the Bible. Guess he missed the parts about worshiping false idols and being taken in by the devil. What a disgrace.
Amen!🙏
Birds of the same feather flock together.
Chris I know you and the MAGA crowd don't believe Trump is a racist, Fascist, and a misogynist. You also don't believe that Trump is suffering from age related cognitive blunting and has nothing to do with project 2025. You also tried to absolve him from blame after he intiintimidated Bexos to kill Wapo's plan to endorse President Harris ( sorry vice president Harris). Trump is a Racist and a fascist. The evidence is every where for people who want to see to see it.
President Harris( sorry vice president) Harris) will continue to preach joy and unity until she's sworn in in 2025!!
Chris won't discuss those items because they do not "interest" him. As he's stated in the past, he only writes on topics that he finds interesting. These usually involve nit-picking every minute detail about every possible item that can post Harris in a negative light while remaining completely blind to anything that might be critical of the Dictator-in-Chief. Dollars to donuts that Chris ends up in the Press Office or Communications Office of the Dementia Donnie administration.
PS - that's why I cancelled my paid subscription.
There was a time when I thought the best thing to do with Trump was to let him speak and show who he really is. The scary thing is he’s doing it and his poll numbers are rising. What does that say about our country? What does that say about the people who live in this country? It says a lot of them are OK with putting someone like Donald Trump back in the White House. I’m not sure there is much more Kamala could have done to slow the wave of hate and racism that Trump is hoping to ride to power. I hope so much that there are enough level-headed people on Election Day who can reverse course before it’s too late.
I would only say that the polls are snapshots in time at their best, and rubbish at worst. Remember the predicted red wave two years ago and the Obama-Romney dead heat in 2012? The latter election was called for Obama before 10:00 PM? Take heart.
Agree!
This wasn’t an accident. It was the point. It’s what MAGA was built on—a message to the white, the bitter, and the fearful that their ginned up anger is a rallying cry, a political stance, and a weapon. It's a promise that America belongs to them and no one else. It’s why Trump’s rallies don’t even try to reach beyond his hardcore base. The sad part is that, for as many reasonably-minded people as he'll lose because of this abomination, he'll gain just as many who want nothing more than a fourth Reich.
An Open Letter to Your Friend or Relative Planning to Vote for Trump: Your Vote for Trump Is an Endorsement of Bigotry, Cruelty, and the Erosion of Rights—No Matter the Reason You Give.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-150725410?r=4d7sow&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Simply put, a fascist is someone who and/or a party which in lieu of developing and presenting policies, finds groups to scapegoat and degrade in order to achieve power. Come on, Chris, no need to go into the heart of darkness to call this one.
Really liked the post ... but it got me thinking about the following: You said that you don't know whether Trump is a fascist or not. While that is literally true in the sense that nobody can see the inner life of another human, I think (following up on your posto) that it is reasonable to infer a person's beliefs from the company they keep ... AND ... from their (repeated) words and actions. On this basis, I feel comfortable calling Trump authoritarian and antidemocratic. His emphasis on demonizing outsiders and his emotional, visceral appeals to the most base form of nationalism is also consistent with being a fascist. At the end of the day, I don't even know how much it matters if you use the term or not ... focus on his actions and statements.
No matter how his campaign people attempt to manipulate it, "The buck stops...." with DJT!
Most people aren't really paying attention. And the ones who are just waive it off as "Trump being Trump." Or they note that politicians on all sides refer to the other party as fascists and Nazis, to the point where they're just mindless insults rather than dire warnings.
Democracy requires an educated electorate. The GOP has been chipping away at education for decades. Add to that the gift of social media as a misinformation / rage engine and you've got all the tinder you need to torch this country's democracy.
Truth was seen, and in unmistakable fashion. Indicates to me, that there is no longer an aim to win the election, but to lose, and thereby loose the dogs of insurrection. Nobody could have been of changed mind due to that animosity display, but hatred can have been fed fuel.
Imagine being so racist, even the Trump campaign distances himself from you
😆