Elon Musk had a lunch with Republican Senators yesterday followed by a meeting with House Republicans in the evening to discuss concerns the lawmakers had with complaints they've been getting from constituents about some of Musk’s cuts to government programs they hadn’t seen coming.
I hope I live long enough to see the day when the name Trump is as reviled as the name Hitler. In the meantime, what Trump and Musk are doing will lead to a massive mob with flaming torches and pitchforks screaming that they didn’t get what they thought they voted for. And in the eyes of the world, America in six weeks has become a pariah and a laughingstock and may never get back the primacy it has enjoyed since the end of World War II.
Really? Why, exactly. Be specific. The ugliness of their celebratory actions I agree is unnecessary. Truth: these NGO's are a massive scam. USAID to starving kids is already back en route to destinations. What justifies a $2,000,000 NGO that studies transgender mice? There's several thousand of these 'legal' scams. Are you okay with them or is it the Trump's orange face and narcissistic demeanor that rub you wrong (like it does with most people) or Musk's insensitive 'cringy' celebrations? The country's in severe trouble and the Biden administration owns a large part of the responsibility. I get why you hate these MAGA people but I ask you, did you feel the same way about Bush, Obama,Biden or Harris? They were just as evil or incompetent, but with a different haircut, face color tanning cream, and intellectual capacity.
Mr. Marvin...you do know that "transgender mice" do not exist in reality, right? The word that Trump should have used was TRANSGENIC mice, mice with specific human cell replacements, so doctors and scientists can study the effect of medicines or therapies to cure diseases such as Alzheimers or diabetes or cancers. SMH
The country was in trouble because of the way Trump left the economy with his totally incompetent, reckless and irresponsible way the Covid pandemic was(n't) handled.
FYI, BIDEN did a very fine job, shepherding the economic recovery of this country after the shambles that Trump left. The United States had the most robust recovery post-pandemic of any other country. You can look it up--in honest news summaries. BTW, even Bush wasn't as incompetent or lawless as Trump--and none of the others mentioned are evil or incompetent as you seem to think. They may not be perfect--no human is perfect, but for crying out loud, Trump is vindictive, malicious and extremely unintelligent and is actively destroying the government for an agenda of his own, which has NOTHING to do with helping the citizens of this country--and he's using our taxpayer money to do it.
"The country's in severe trouble and the Biden administration owns a large part of the responsibility." Are you referring to us having the best economy in the world up to a few weeks ago, or the lowest unemployment rate in decades, or the softest landing on record in recovering from a global disaster, or the fact that nearly all our roadway infrastructure is under repair, or what?
You should lay out why these four former presidents were evil or incompetent instead of making a blanket statement, it doesn't do this forum any good with accusations and no facts to your thoughts. I call that debate and it is what congress does when they pass these appropriations in the first place.
I hope people realize that Russian influencers and other bad actors are allowed to express their, um, opinions-cum-talking points here, and respond to those posters who are accordingly.
No $2M to study "transgender mice" as TL Mills points out below. No several thousand "legal scams." Look at how many of Musk's "stats" he has had to walk back, how many numbers he got wrong by miles. Frankly, I don't give a fig about Trump's looks, or Musk's hats, but I do care about the country, the constitution, and the people -- of all stripes -- who are going to be harmed by the indecency and capricious callousness of the curent administration. And as a bit of extra cruelty, have a look at this news: Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke of Reuters reported that the Trump administration is preparing to deport the 240,000 Ukrainians who fled Russia’s attacks on Ukraine and have temporary legal status in the United States. Foreign affairs journalist Olga Nesterova reminded Americans that “these people had to be completely financially independent, pay tax, pay all fees (around $2K) and have an affidavit from an American person to even come here.”
“This has nothing to do with strategic necessity or geopolitics,” Russia specialist Tom Nichols posted. “This is just cruelty to show [Russian president Vladimir] Putin he has a new American ally.” None of Trump's predecessors have acted as stooges of Russia.
I don't hate the magas, I feel sorry for them because they were abandoned by the democrats when the democrats started going after corporate money and reagan passed tax cuts that transferred 50 trillion dollars from us to the wealthiest people on earth, crushed the unions ( who were teaching the future workforce), and tripled the national debt which bush and trump continued. I don't even hate trump or musk, I pity them, they are mentally and physically ill and need help. The people I despise the most are the congressional and senatorial spineless capons who are allowing this to go on with absolutely no honor or integrity and a complete disregard for the oath they took when they were sworn in. Yes Obama, Biden and Harris may have skeleton's in their closets ( don't we all?) but these guys have BARNS full. I miss the days when when reagan and o'neil , who were diametrically opposed politically , could sit down and talk rationally and were even friends. Hopefully we will get back to that. These are my opinions , based on what I have experienced so far, we are all entitled to our own, we just have to respect that others have opinion also .Have a great weekend.
A couple of things: I don't like it that the Dems went after "corporate money," especially Silicon Valley money, but after Reagan gutted the unions (long a reliable source of Democratic funding) the options were fewer, and after the Citizens United decision (2010) things got a lot worse.
The other thing -- and it's one that white people (of whom I'm one) often miss -- is that over the decades the Dems have been fairly lukewarm about supporting civil rights, but Black people, especially Black women, haven't deserted the Dems. This isn't because the Dems were all that wonderful; it's because the Republicans, especially from the "southern strategy" onward, were far, far worse.
So why didn't the MAGAs, who are overwhelmingly white, see it that way? I'm sure you can figure it out for yourself.
That day is today, for the majority of Americans and a great deal of the world. I don't know where the democrats are but at least Al Green stood up for something.
Why don't the democrats challenge Citizens United? Why don't they enact legislation to reintroduce the fairness in reporting doctrine ( which allowed fox "entertainment" to get where it is), why don't they say :Want to save 4.5 trillion dollars?, forget about the tax cuts", want to balance the budget?, go back to pre reagan tax rate ( until it is paid off, the people who benefitted from them for forty years should be happy and patriotic enough to do that,right? )Cut out corporate welfare,which is 150% of regular welfare but goes to corporations that make hundreds of billions a year in profits and pay little or no taxes. Stop this lying down and get up and get in their faces,all day,every day, just like the little jim jordan, mtg and mini mike johnston do, only we won't be lying.
Push back. Make yourself heard and seen. Write your representatives across the board, go to a town meeting. Let your anger represent your love of country and act accordingly, Linda. It's either that, or we really are lost.
They are racing to do as much damage as possible as quickly as possible. They know that their bullshit won't withstand scrutiny and they need to operate behind close doors and let Musk take the heat. They know that they are going to be wiped out in 2026 and are looking for ways to either rig or cancel the midterms. Watch for rumblings of "emergencies" and martial law.
They will have done so much damage it will take huge effort, time and money to fix even if it can be fixed. We can’t wait until the midterms Mark DeBofsky is right
I fear you're right. They have almost total power now and they won't give it up. I'm waiting for the first physical attacks on judges and on Dem members of Congress. There will be bloodshed if these monsters have anything to say about it.
I understand many Republicans in Congress are worried about violence against themselves and their families. It looks like the reason they didn’t oppose some of the cabinet nominees, or Musk. I wonder if the threats are coming from the Proud Boys and such people, or even Putin’s hirelings?
They have a better chance of getting police protection if they stay put.
After Trump’s “perfect phone call” with Georgia’s Secretary of State, he, the Lt. Governor and the Governor *and their families* were all under police protection from the magats in our state (along with others who made the trip here, I’m sure).
Where are the patriots who stood up against a mad king and signed their name not only to a Declaration of Independence, but those great documents of Democracy, our Constitution and Bill of Rights? Seems to me that, ironically, it's the marginalized members of Congress--the women and people of color-- who are the patriots now. Even though. Makes me sick.
Putin’s mentor is Alexsandr Dugin, who’s written of his desires to destroy America, not militarily, from within. It appears his two puppets are doing his bidding rather well Linda!!
Unfortunately a pacifist remnant of hippie days is still muddling around. I was surprised to read Thomas Rid's book on Active Measures and learn how the USSR never stopped their information war and had infiltrated the anti nuclear movement.
Without Congress taking their Constitutional role, we are done for. The quotation by the French senator below summarizes things perfectly. tRump is decimating this country. I figured out today that, yes,tRump is a businessman, but he is in business only for himself. Everything he is doing is for himself. His objective is to conquer this country and then the world through annihilation and destruction. Pure evil. And musk is his henchman and master. Quotation: “Washington has become the court of Nero, an incendiary emperor, submissive courtiers, and a jester high on ketamine in charge of purging the civil service. This is a tragedy for the free world, but it is first and foremost a tragedy for the United States." — Claude Malhuret, Senator of the French Republic, March 4, 2025
Trumps a narcissist all right, after all he's also worth several billion dollars. We have several mutual friends (transactional acquaintances) and privately Trump is only concerned with being on Mt. Rushmore. In other words, his desire is to be great--right up there with Lincoln, Washington, Truman and maybe Teddy R. He has four years to go down in history as the greatest. If this despicable narcissist turns out to be great for the country, then who is wrong? My inside people were/are worried that the collateral damage of his actions are what'll be most enraging. Here's one for you: What if Trump on Day Two was informed by the top economists in the country told him we'd be fully and catastrophically bankrupt by November? If it were you, what would you do?
If you had a clue, you'd know that it's impossible for a country that prints it's own money to go bankrupt. The fact that in a month Trump has done immeasurable damage to the US that will take generations to undo yet you still think he has a chance of being a great President confirms your lack of a clue.
Too horrific to respond to. I'm dumbfounded by the shock and awe. Count on me to keep my 75 yo head down and carry water. I'll throw this old body and soul on the barricades
I'm also 75 and have been fighting for social justice since I was 15. Since I'm too old and too poor to emigrate, I'll just have to stay and fight. Been reading a couple of books about the liberation of Paris in 1944 - they're giving me inspiration and hope.
Linda: The French underground was a myth, generally. It's been romanticized in movies and TV. The long and short of it a great sleeping nation emerged after the Nazis and Japs laid waste to everyone they faced. But then the Americans stepped up after Pearl Harbor and eventually crushed Nazi Germany and Militaristic Japan. That was my dad's generation.--- all gone now. There was enough blood on Omaha Beach to paint the Louvre over three times. That American generation WAS great. What would be so wrong if a new young generation had to step up. Maybe nothing but maybe something.
My father was a navigator with the RCAF during the war. He was shot down in Alsace Lorraine shortly after DDay. He was rescued by a French couple and sheltered in their attic, even though they were in occupied territory. They were members of the underground. The underground supplied my father with a fake passport, clothes and identity and he survived the war. He remained friends with the couple, Alfrieda and Marcel, until theypassed. My daughter has the woman’s name and I have the passport. The underground was not a myth.
This is sending my BP sky high. I'm just livid and furious! Musk has zero authority to be doing the things he's *doing.* You're so right, Lucian. This is a coup, no mistake about it, and it's already happened. The Dems should be outraged, shouting in the streets and Congress and their town halls about the utter illegality of this whole snake-filled operation! Why are they being so polite and rolling over?? Get some Dems with spine and spunk and smarts and guts!! Time for the geriatrics to get the hell out of their once-powerful little fiefdoms.
just exactly when are the Dems going to get off their asses and do something about this?? the only groups I read about filing suits and opposing this are grass roots groups, the ACLU, attorneys general, and various other citizen groups. so, it is actually up to us to defend and protect our democracy while our elected officials remain prostrate and useless corporate sleazebags. they should be on YT, sm, tv news, street corners - wherever they can use their voices and experience to fight for us, you know, the voters who elected them. They should be in their districts talking to rural citizens and explaining what is going on, how they have been hoodwinked and are being robbed, what is happening to our government and democracy. but they are apparently satisfied politely attending faux SOTU addresses with pink suits and auction paddles....pathetic!
Jeffries seems to have been thoroughly indoctrinated in the quaint notion that it voters know your position is correct that's enough to get you elected. Even after 2024!
Their coup succeeded in less time than it took Hitler to gain dictatorial powers. The GOP House and Senate have been as compliant as the Nazis in the Reichstag. Most Democrats have shown less courage than the German Socialist Party in 1933 despite holding more power as an opposition Party. They German Socialists stood up as one in the Reichstag to vote against the Enabling Act of 23 March 1933 which gave him those powers.
Now, no matter what happens in Congress the rest of us need to build an effective resistance movement to take back our country when Trump’s “Reich” implodes from within or is destroyed by our enemies who Trump embraced.
However long it lasts, Trump’s reign will be incredibly destructive and disastrous.
If we do not resist how will we ever be able to show our faces as Americans before anyone in the world ever again.
Intriguing that the Washington Post is publishing this news, since its owner, Jeff Bezos, has been publicly capitulating to Trump while diminishing the credibility of the Post. Or wait a minute, silly me, he's publishing this info to show how powerful Trump & Musk are.... to show how clever he was to cave so early.
I think he is now. He's unelected however. But then see 99% of all people outside Congress and the executive branch are appointees---most of the FED is appointed. Only Congress and the executive branch are elected,
Does he though? How do we know? He’s wealthy enough to afford his own damn security! Why doesn’t he just put his 14 children on his chest as his shield?
We were warned about this coup plot since the "Project 2025 manifesto" was published in the summer of 2023. Everything we've experienced so far was in there: the immediate mass firings; the intent to demoralize Federal workers & make them "self-deport" (i.e., resign); the vilification of CDC, NIH, FDA, EPA, DoEd, among other Federal agencies; the threats to dis-establish entire departments; the intent to ban contraception and any remaining forms of abortion; the anti-DEI, misogynistic, racist, rhetoric; the anti-immigrant mass-deportation-now movement; the decoupling from Europe & NATO and appeasement of Russia; the assault on the professional Federal civil service embodied by Schedule F; the concentration of all executive-branch power in the hands of the president; the insertion of pre-vetted, Trump-loyalist sycophants into the Cabinet & especially into agency legal counsel offices; the elevation of a particular strain of religion as a fount of policy-making. It was ALL in there.
Journalists and op-ed writers and policy analysts were warning about this from the moment they put their pens down after reading & annotating the 900-page tome. Scientists such as myself brought it up at policy forums at our research conferences, only to see so-called "science policy experts" completely oblivious that the Heritage Foundation had made these plans public, and dismissed it with "It can't happen here" talk.
Biden, Harris, Walz, and other prominent Democrats tried to make it into campaign positions. Yet somehow the argument that "democracy is under attack" wasn't taken seriously by enough people.
Reality differs from the manifesto only by the accelerationist activity of Elon Musk.
We were shocked and awed, to a greater degree that Russ Vought & the rest of the Heritage team had expected.
I'm guilty. I just didn't think the republicans would completely ignore the consequences of laying off Veterans Administration employees, etc. You know, little things like making sure X-ray machines were not over exposing patients to X-rays. What is wrong this outlook on life? Everyone pays to drive on roads and streets, to go to the store. Do you really want to have to pay for every single service yourself? And you pay taxes too. They're cutting services, and increasing income to the government at the same time. Why did t appoint a Secretary of Education when he's going abolish the department? Why should she be paid for a "job" that doesn't have any responsibilities? I could cut expenses too, but I would never do it to cost me more money. That's what "waste not, want not" means.
When my initial reaction to your story is to break into hysterical laughter ... that's a sign I need to go to bed, right? I'm reading Snyder's "On Tyranny," and our country is speeding through the adoption of fascism faster than I can finish the chapters.
I read it during Trump’s last debacle. He violated oaths then, but this time…he owes no allegiance. He NEVER put his hand on the bible. Burn in hell SOON.
I hope I live long enough to see the day when the name Trump is as reviled as the name Hitler. In the meantime, what Trump and Musk are doing will lead to a massive mob with flaming torches and pitchforks screaming that they didn’t get what they thought they voted for. And in the eyes of the world, America in six weeks has become a pariah and a laughingstock and may never get back the primacy it has enjoyed since the end of World War II.
Truer words Mark!!
I hope I live long enough to see Trump, Musk and Vance frog marched down Pennsylvania Avrnue, naked and in chains.
Really? Why, exactly. Be specific. The ugliness of their celebratory actions I agree is unnecessary. Truth: these NGO's are a massive scam. USAID to starving kids is already back en route to destinations. What justifies a $2,000,000 NGO that studies transgender mice? There's several thousand of these 'legal' scams. Are you okay with them or is it the Trump's orange face and narcissistic demeanor that rub you wrong (like it does with most people) or Musk's insensitive 'cringy' celebrations? The country's in severe trouble and the Biden administration owns a large part of the responsibility. I get why you hate these MAGA people but I ask you, did you feel the same way about Bush, Obama,Biden or Harris? They were just as evil or incompetent, but with a different haircut, face color tanning cream, and intellectual capacity.
Mr. Marvin...you do know that "transgender mice" do not exist in reality, right? The word that Trump should have used was TRANSGENIC mice, mice with specific human cell replacements, so doctors and scientists can study the effect of medicines or therapies to cure diseases such as Alzheimers or diabetes or cancers. SMH
The country was in trouble because of the way Trump left the economy with his totally incompetent, reckless and irresponsible way the Covid pandemic was(n't) handled.
FYI, BIDEN did a very fine job, shepherding the economic recovery of this country after the shambles that Trump left. The United States had the most robust recovery post-pandemic of any other country. You can look it up--in honest news summaries. BTW, even Bush wasn't as incompetent or lawless as Trump--and none of the others mentioned are evil or incompetent as you seem to think. They may not be perfect--no human is perfect, but for crying out loud, Trump is vindictive, malicious and extremely unintelligent and is actively destroying the government for an agenda of his own, which has NOTHING to do with helping the citizens of this country--and he's using our taxpayer money to do it.
"The country's in severe trouble and the Biden administration owns a large part of the responsibility." Are you referring to us having the best economy in the world up to a few weeks ago, or the lowest unemployment rate in decades, or the softest landing on record in recovering from a global disaster, or the fact that nearly all our roadway infrastructure is under repair, or what?
Hey Mike, Cat got your tongue?
I guess it's cool that Mr. Marvin subscribes to LKTIV's Substack, but it seems that not much of it has sunk in yet.
You should lay out why these four former presidents were evil or incompetent instead of making a blanket statement, it doesn't do this forum any good with accusations and no facts to your thoughts. I call that debate and it is what congress does when they pass these appropriations in the first place.
I suspect his source didn't go into any detail, so he isn't able to explain why he wrote what he wrote. <g>
Wow, Mike Marvin, you truly live in an alternate reality.
I hope people realize that Russian influencers and other bad actors are allowed to express their, um, opinions-cum-talking points here, and respond to those posters who are accordingly.
What planet did you drop in from?
No $2M to study "transgender mice" as TL Mills points out below. No several thousand "legal scams." Look at how many of Musk's "stats" he has had to walk back, how many numbers he got wrong by miles. Frankly, I don't give a fig about Trump's looks, or Musk's hats, but I do care about the country, the constitution, and the people -- of all stripes -- who are going to be harmed by the indecency and capricious callousness of the curent administration. And as a bit of extra cruelty, have a look at this news: Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke of Reuters reported that the Trump administration is preparing to deport the 240,000 Ukrainians who fled Russia’s attacks on Ukraine and have temporary legal status in the United States. Foreign affairs journalist Olga Nesterova reminded Americans that “these people had to be completely financially independent, pay tax, pay all fees (around $2K) and have an affidavit from an American person to even come here.”
“This has nothing to do with strategic necessity or geopolitics,” Russia specialist Tom Nichols posted. “This is just cruelty to show [Russian president Vladimir] Putin he has a new American ally.” None of Trump's predecessors have acted as stooges of Russia.
I don't hate the magas, I feel sorry for them because they were abandoned by the democrats when the democrats started going after corporate money and reagan passed tax cuts that transferred 50 trillion dollars from us to the wealthiest people on earth, crushed the unions ( who were teaching the future workforce), and tripled the national debt which bush and trump continued. I don't even hate trump or musk, I pity them, they are mentally and physically ill and need help. The people I despise the most are the congressional and senatorial spineless capons who are allowing this to go on with absolutely no honor or integrity and a complete disregard for the oath they took when they were sworn in. Yes Obama, Biden and Harris may have skeleton's in their closets ( don't we all?) but these guys have BARNS full. I miss the days when when reagan and o'neil , who were diametrically opposed politically , could sit down and talk rationally and were even friends. Hopefully we will get back to that. These are my opinions , based on what I have experienced so far, we are all entitled to our own, we just have to respect that others have opinion also .Have a great weekend.
A couple of things: I don't like it that the Dems went after "corporate money," especially Silicon Valley money, but after Reagan gutted the unions (long a reliable source of Democratic funding) the options were fewer, and after the Citizens United decision (2010) things got a lot worse.
The other thing -- and it's one that white people (of whom I'm one) often miss -- is that over the decades the Dems have been fairly lukewarm about supporting civil rights, but Black people, especially Black women, haven't deserted the Dems. This isn't because the Dems were all that wonderful; it's because the Republicans, especially from the "southern strategy" onward, were far, far worse.
So why didn't the MAGAs, who are overwhelmingly white, see it that way? I'm sure you can figure it out for yourself.
I guess it's cool that Mr. Marvin subscribes to LKTIV's Substack, but it seems that not much of it has sunk in yet.
Bravo!
That day is today, for the majority of Americans and a great deal of the world. I don't know where the democrats are but at least Al Green stood up for something.
Why don't the democrats challenge Citizens United? Why don't they enact legislation to reintroduce the fairness in reporting doctrine ( which allowed fox "entertainment" to get where it is), why don't they say :Want to save 4.5 trillion dollars?, forget about the tax cuts", want to balance the budget?, go back to pre reagan tax rate ( until it is paid off, the people who benefitted from them for forty years should be happy and patriotic enough to do that,right? )Cut out corporate welfare,which is 150% of regular welfare but goes to corporations that make hundreds of billions a year in profits and pay little or no taxes. Stop this lying down and get up and get in their faces,all day,every day, just like the little jim jordan, mtg and mini mike johnston do, only we won't be lying.
That’s all a great plan - s as soon as we get a majority and throw Mike Johnson out on his ass.
Cowards led by a madman leading a greedy imbecile.
Trump is addicted to Adderall and Musk is a ketamine junkie. Two speed freaks with near-total power. Damn, we are so screwed.
Push back. Make yourself heard and seen. Write your representatives across the board, go to a town meeting. Let your anger represent your love of country and act accordingly, Linda. It's either that, or we really are lost.
I've been doing all those things. Don't know what else I can do.
Musk’s psychotropic mixture with cocaine can cause hallucinations as well, great knowing one of them has the nuclear launch codes Linda!!
And Trump can launch nukes on his own. No one has the power to stop him.
Knowing that, should make for a more enjoyable day and restful slumber!!
Agreed Patris! Execrable wastrels and ignoble poltroons are destroying democracy for our Russian overlords!
How dare they?!!
Your reply Patris definitely brought a smile!!
Fun deep dive into Victoriana.
They are racing to do as much damage as possible as quickly as possible. They know that their bullshit won't withstand scrutiny and they need to operate behind close doors and let Musk take the heat. They know that they are going to be wiped out in 2026 and are looking for ways to either rig or cancel the midterms. Watch for rumblings of "emergencies" and martial law.
They will have done so much damage it will take huge effort, time and money to fix even if it can be fixed. We can’t wait until the midterms Mark DeBofsky is right
There will be no midterms!
I fear you're right. They have almost total power now and they won't give it up. I'm waiting for the first physical attacks on judges and on Dem members of Congress. There will be bloodshed if these monsters have anything to say about it.
I understand many Republicans in Congress are worried about violence against themselves and their families. It looks like the reason they didn’t oppose some of the cabinet nominees, or Musk. I wonder if the threats are coming from the Proud Boys and such people, or even Putin’s hirelings?
If they are too afraid to uphold their constitutional oath, they should just resign.
They have a better chance of getting police protection if they stay put.
After Trump’s “perfect phone call” with Georgia’s Secretary of State, he, the Lt. Governor and the Governor *and their families* were all under police protection from the magats in our state (along with others who made the trip here, I’m sure).
Maybe both.
Where are the patriots who stood up against a mad king and signed their name not only to a Declaration of Independence, but those great documents of Democracy, our Constitution and Bill of Rights? Seems to me that, ironically, it's the marginalized members of Congress--the women and people of color-- who are the patriots now. Even though. Makes me sick.
Elections are not run by the federal government, not even elections for federal offices. That should be some protection, at least.
Except in red states.
Putin’s mentor is Alexsandr Dugin, who’s written of his desires to destroy America, not militarily, from within. It appears his two puppets are doing his bidding rather well Linda!!
Dugin is a raving lunatic, a perfect mentor for our raving lunatics.
Unfortunately a pacifist remnant of hippie days is still muddling around. I was surprised to read Thomas Rid's book on Active Measures and learn how the USSR never stopped their information war and had infiltrated the anti nuclear movement.
EXACTLY!
Without Congress taking their Constitutional role, we are done for. The quotation by the French senator below summarizes things perfectly. tRump is decimating this country. I figured out today that, yes,tRump is a businessman, but he is in business only for himself. Everything he is doing is for himself. His objective is to conquer this country and then the world through annihilation and destruction. Pure evil. And musk is his henchman and master. Quotation: “Washington has become the court of Nero, an incendiary emperor, submissive courtiers, and a jester high on ketamine in charge of purging the civil service. This is a tragedy for the free world, but it is first and foremost a tragedy for the United States." — Claude Malhuret, Senator of the French Republic, March 4, 2025
Trumps a narcissist all right, after all he's also worth several billion dollars. We have several mutual friends (transactional acquaintances) and privately Trump is only concerned with being on Mt. Rushmore. In other words, his desire is to be great--right up there with Lincoln, Washington, Truman and maybe Teddy R. He has four years to go down in history as the greatest. If this despicable narcissist turns out to be great for the country, then who is wrong? My inside people were/are worried that the collateral damage of his actions are what'll be most enraging. Here's one for you: What if Trump on Day Two was informed by the top economists in the country told him we'd be fully and catastrophically bankrupt by November? If it were you, what would you do?
If you had a clue, you'd know that it's impossible for a country that prints it's own money to go bankrupt. The fact that in a month Trump has done immeasurable damage to the US that will take generations to undo yet you still think he has a chance of being a great President confirms your lack of a clue.
Too horrific to respond to. I'm dumbfounded by the shock and awe. Count on me to keep my 75 yo head down and carry water. I'll throw this old body and soul on the barricades
I'm also 75 and have been fighting for social justice since I was 15. Since I'm too old and too poor to emigrate, I'll just have to stay and fight. Been reading a couple of books about the liberation of Paris in 1944 - they're giving me inspiration and hope.
Linda: The French underground was a myth, generally. It's been romanticized in movies and TV. The long and short of it a great sleeping nation emerged after the Nazis and Japs laid waste to everyone they faced. But then the Americans stepped up after Pearl Harbor and eventually crushed Nazi Germany and Militaristic Japan. That was my dad's generation.--- all gone now. There was enough blood on Omaha Beach to paint the Louvre over three times. That American generation WAS great. What would be so wrong if a new young generation had to step up. Maybe nothing but maybe something.
My father was a navigator with the RCAF during the war. He was shot down in Alsace Lorraine shortly after DDay. He was rescued by a French couple and sheltered in their attic, even though they were in occupied territory. They were members of the underground. The underground supplied my father with a fake passport, clothes and identity and he survived the war. He remained friends with the couple, Alfrieda and Marcel, until theypassed. My daughter has the woman’s name and I have the passport. The underground was not a myth.
And Musk is making efforts against the judges. Egging on Congressional republicans to investigate and as we see in Wisconsin, trying to buy a judge.
This is sending my BP sky high. I'm just livid and furious! Musk has zero authority to be doing the things he's *doing.* You're so right, Lucian. This is a coup, no mistake about it, and it's already happened. The Dems should be outraged, shouting in the streets and Congress and their town halls about the utter illegality of this whole snake-filled operation! Why are they being so polite and rolling over?? Get some Dems with spine and spunk and smarts and guts!! Time for the geriatrics to get the hell out of their once-powerful little fiefdoms.
Complicity, considering there’s billionaires on both sides of the aisle ?
Amen Linda!! I mean like W.T.F.?!! Seems like Chris Murphy, Bernie and AOC are the only ones speaking out!!!
Either step up or get out of the f***king way!
This is killing me
Don’t let that happen.
I have had to turn if the iPhone at night so avoid terrible nightmares. It’s so important to keep your health and strength now more than ever!
You are so right. It is difficult however, to not want to crawl under the covers and pretend it isn’t happening.
Thank you.
just exactly when are the Dems going to get off their asses and do something about this?? the only groups I read about filing suits and opposing this are grass roots groups, the ACLU, attorneys general, and various other citizen groups. so, it is actually up to us to defend and protect our democracy while our elected officials remain prostrate and useless corporate sleazebags. they should be on YT, sm, tv news, street corners - wherever they can use their voices and experience to fight for us, you know, the voters who elected them. They should be in their districts talking to rural citizens and explaining what is going on, how they have been hoodwinked and are being robbed, what is happening to our government and democracy. but they are apparently satisfied politely attending faux SOTU addresses with pink suits and auction paddles....pathetic!
Dems? I think we're on our own.
Jeffries doesn’t appear to have any fight in him, did anyone else notice, “when we fight we win” were such empty words?
Jeffries seems to have been thoroughly indoctrinated in the quaint notion that it voters know your position is correct that's enough to get you elected. Even after 2024!
Lucian,
Their coup succeeded in less time than it took Hitler to gain dictatorial powers. The GOP House and Senate have been as compliant as the Nazis in the Reichstag. Most Democrats have shown less courage than the German Socialist Party in 1933 despite holding more power as an opposition Party. They German Socialists stood up as one in the Reichstag to vote against the Enabling Act of 23 March 1933 which gave him those powers.
Now, no matter what happens in Congress the rest of us need to build an effective resistance movement to take back our country when Trump’s “Reich” implodes from within or is destroyed by our enemies who Trump embraced.
However long it lasts, Trump’s reign will be incredibly destructive and disastrous.
If we do not resist how will we ever be able to show our faces as Americans before anyone in the world ever again.
As always, thank you ant watch your six.
Steve Dundas
They were prepared with Project 2025 way before inauguation!
You're exactly right Janice. Way before. They started planning in 2021.
Actually the first publication was in 1981. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandate_for_Leadership
Oh my.
Yes, but as usual for republicans, they didn't think of all the consequences.
Let's all thank Lucian for this essay.
Yes indeed. 👏
Intriguing that the Washington Post is publishing this news, since its owner, Jeff Bezos, has been publicly capitulating to Trump while diminishing the credibility of the Post. Or wait a minute, silly me, he's publishing this info to show how powerful Trump & Musk are.... to show how clever he was to cave so early.
Does Elon Skum have Secret Service protection? Asking for a friend.
Yes, along with his own!
Hmm, that's another expense I think we could do without.
Especially since he’s not a federal employee.
I think he is now. He's unelected however. But then see 99% of all people outside Congress and the executive branch are appointees---most of the FED is appointed. Only Congress and the executive branch are elected,
Please provide proof Leno is being guarded by tax-funded Pinkerton employees.
Does he though? How do we know? He’s wealthy enough to afford his own damn security! Why doesn’t he just put his 14 children on his chest as his shield?
Even his teenage minions have their own security force = witness them invading by force the DOE today! And nobody seems to know who they are!
Elon Musk is not a pioneer in this. He is doing what Grover Norquist (another Harvard jerk) of Americans for Tax Reform has wanted done for 25 years.
In 2001 Norquist said this on NPR:
"I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub."
And that drowning has now begun.
We were warned about this coup plot since the "Project 2025 manifesto" was published in the summer of 2023. Everything we've experienced so far was in there: the immediate mass firings; the intent to demoralize Federal workers & make them "self-deport" (i.e., resign); the vilification of CDC, NIH, FDA, EPA, DoEd, among other Federal agencies; the threats to dis-establish entire departments; the intent to ban contraception and any remaining forms of abortion; the anti-DEI, misogynistic, racist, rhetoric; the anti-immigrant mass-deportation-now movement; the decoupling from Europe & NATO and appeasement of Russia; the assault on the professional Federal civil service embodied by Schedule F; the concentration of all executive-branch power in the hands of the president; the insertion of pre-vetted, Trump-loyalist sycophants into the Cabinet & especially into agency legal counsel offices; the elevation of a particular strain of religion as a fount of policy-making. It was ALL in there.
Journalists and op-ed writers and policy analysts were warning about this from the moment they put their pens down after reading & annotating the 900-page tome. Scientists such as myself brought it up at policy forums at our research conferences, only to see so-called "science policy experts" completely oblivious that the Heritage Foundation had made these plans public, and dismissed it with "It can't happen here" talk.
Biden, Harris, Walz, and other prominent Democrats tried to make it into campaign positions. Yet somehow the argument that "democracy is under attack" wasn't taken seriously by enough people.
Reality differs from the manifesto only by the accelerationist activity of Elon Musk.
We were shocked and awed, to a greater degree that Russ Vought & the rest of the Heritage team had expected.
I'm guilty. I just didn't think the republicans would completely ignore the consequences of laying off Veterans Administration employees, etc. You know, little things like making sure X-ray machines were not over exposing patients to X-rays. What is wrong this outlook on life? Everyone pays to drive on roads and streets, to go to the store. Do you really want to have to pay for every single service yourself? And you pay taxes too. They're cutting services, and increasing income to the government at the same time. Why did t appoint a Secretary of Education when he's going abolish the department? Why should she be paid for a "job" that doesn't have any responsibilities? I could cut expenses too, but I would never do it to cost me more money. That's what "waste not, want not" means.
Exactly! They were locked and loaded way before the inauguration!! Even though Drumpf said he didn't know anything about Projectile 2025!
When my initial reaction to your story is to break into hysterical laughter ... that's a sign I need to go to bed, right? I'm reading Snyder's "On Tyranny," and our country is speeding through the adoption of fascism faster than I can finish the chapters.
I read it during Trump’s last debacle. He violated oaths then, but this time…he owes no allegiance. He NEVER put his hand on the bible. Burn in hell SOON.
Now we know why he didn’t swear on the Bible.
Nicely put.
Does it give you any insight into what we should be doing?