We begin tonight with Trump’s scum-spray of executive orders, because they are not only in the news but indicative of everything he and his followers get so wrong about this country.
As always Lucian, you bring a fresh perspective to things that give me hope for surviving the next 4 years. And I read a wide range of opinions on Substack, but yours are always a bright spot because of your life experiences.
God. Bless. You. Not to be confused with the sometimes useful southern dismissal, “Bless your heart.”
Your precision of language, analysis, and history give me hope in this dark chapter of our history, and in our collective ability to survive it and soldier on to that intangible and just out of reach but always expanding notion of the “more perfect union.”
May it be as you say. That sanity prevails. That the law prevails. That the least we can do is be determined as a society and as individuals to be upright, moral beings.
Clearly, you are feeling better. You’re back. Pace yourself still… How is Tracy? Be well. Grateful for all you do. Your clarity. Your depth of experience, research, context and history. Lots of reasons for hope woven through the message you wrote here. Thank you.
“I see no reason not to conclude that “democracy“ and the “rule of law“ in the US will now assume the same level of application in reality as they did in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and countless other autocracies throughout history.
That is to say, each is now a sham, observed only performatively, but with no actual basis in fact.
The MAGATs have already established that they can:
* Invade the capital with a mob, defecate on the desks of members of Congress, engineer and engage in a riot that leads to numerous deaths of law-enforcement officers, erect a (mock?) gallows to hang the vice president, and then make heroes out of the perpetrators and celebrate their release from prison;
*Use the overwhelming power of their right-wing propaganda machine to manipulate public opinion so that the perpetrator of the attack on the capital is transformed from a discredited outgoing President with no political future into a heroic figure who then wins a national election with the approval 77 million voters.
Just as the Nazis celebrated the Alte Kämpfer — “old strugglers” — and the Blutfahne — blood flag — of the November 1923 beer Hall Putsch once they took power, the MAGATs are glorifying and celebrating their own set of “martyrs“.
If there isn’t already a ballad of Ashli Babbitt, paralleling the Horst Wessel Lied, there will be one soon.
These are people who will obey the law and be respectful of it only when it suits their purposes, and when it can be used to persecute their opponents. If it inhibits them in any way, they will simply ignore it, and laugh contemptuously when courts issue rulings that they have no intention of respecting.
The cornerstones of this dictatorship have already been laid. With figures like Stuart Rhodes and Enrique Tarrio now released from prison, having been made martyrs with global name recognition by their imprisonment, they are now free to organize all of the violent, heavily armed, militia-oriented Trump supporters nationwide into a Sturmabteilung Brownshirt brigade that will go after anyone they perceive as disloyal to their leader.
The “industrialists“ — whose modern equivalents are the tech titans we saw sitting behind the cult leader yesterday — are in the bag.
Any sort of critical media institutions have either been hollowed out or dismantled, and what is left of them have already demonstrated their eagerness to bend the knee.
The highest court in the land has already openly ruled that if the president decides to sic Seal Team Six on his political rivals, he is absolved from any criminal liability if he chooses to do so.
The entire federal law-enforcement apparatus has been demonstrated to be impotent to bring him to justice, even after four years, and a mountain of evidence produced in court, and in congressional proceedings, demonstrating his criminality and clear responsibility for the attempted insurrection and theft of top-secret documents.
The judges who were willing to hold him to account, Merchan and Engoron, whose rulings have now been neutered, face harassment and persecution by the cult leader’s thugs.
A key acolyte, Rudy Giuliani, who faced bankruptcy and poverty due to his grotesque defamation of two perfectly innocent, civic minded, black polling-station workers, just got off the hook by having some anonymous donor pay off his court ordered damages to the workers he defamed.
And to put the cherry on the top of the sundae, the cult leader‘s biggest backer who chipped in nearly a quarter of a billion to get him elected, can’t quite help himself from giving the “Roman salute“ in his inaugural speech to the faithful. The attempts of his supporters to “walk that one back“ are reminiscent of Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove trying to restrain his arm from reflexively snapping the Nazi salute as he salivates over the post-apocalyptic future in which he will reign supreme along with the chosen few.
And so the question remains, which institutional force in the country has the ability to stand up to the cunning High Chair King, “saved by God to make America great again” and roll back his dictatorship that is taking shape by the hour ?
The American people will prevail! This is just a pimple on a hemorrhoid and the pus will run out and a scar will form to hold it at bay …until the next time we forget to wipe our assholes more aggressively!
I just read that Cheeto ordered the CDC, FDA and NIH to suspend external communications. Given the last 4 years of Pandemic this scares me most of all.,
That was actually not a Nazi salute but from the Roman Empire.
On a different subject, I think there is a good chance the House will vote to impeach Trump within the next 2 years. The Republican representatives are loyal to Trump mainly out of fear. And once Trump's threats become toothless their fear will be gone.
As long as he is popular. If his popularity wanes and threatens their chances of reelection they will toss Trump by the side of the road like an old shoe.
You are correct about that, my error, but the Nazis didn't pound their hearts before extending their arm. I'm assuming that was popularized in Hollywood.
Don't make the mistake of thinking a majority of House Republicans support Trump in their hearts. Trump uses them for his benefit and then betrays them. They will do the same thing to him if he becomes more of a liability than an asset.
I never said he would be convicted upon impeachment. This isn't about patriotism to them. As long as Trump helps them they will support him. But Trump is off go a bad start and it's going to get a lot worse. Most of the people who voted for him wished they had a better choice. It is possible he could be impeached and convicted. I'm not predicting it but it still could happen.
The human analogy is right on - and explains away many stupid things like Constitutional “originalism”. How can the entire flow of history be stopped in a moment when everything is always changing and evolving? Let’s stay up in their gears and make certain everyone sees the idiocy.
Where originalism fits in this narrative was my first thought. It sure would be nifty to see it consumed in a firey furnace along with the robes of its Extreme Court proponents.
Thanks for some sanity and common sense as a way to take the long view of this freaking nightmare. Be well and stay well! We need your analysis and your voice.
It's going to be a rocky, time-wasted four years for sure. We'll spend so much time fighting Drumpf and zero time improving the lives of Americans. All the positive things Joe Biden accomplished will fall by the wayside. I, for one, will continue to look to you for the light. Thanks for your positivity.
I was just thinking how counterproductive the past eight years have been to the U.S. Imagine if the time the thinking population has had to waste on this parasitic bore had been put to useful purpose! Maybe some future forensic economist will be able to measure trump's toll on GDP. … And the next four years?
As always Lucian, you bring a fresh perspective to things that give me hope for surviving the next 4 years. And I read a wide range of opinions on Substack, but yours are always a bright spot because of your life experiences.
God. Bless. You. Not to be confused with the sometimes useful southern dismissal, “Bless your heart.”
Your precision of language, analysis, and history give me hope in this dark chapter of our history, and in our collective ability to survive it and soldier on to that intangible and just out of reach but always expanding notion of the “more perfect union.”
I will not give up.
May it be as you say. That sanity prevails. That the law prevails. That the least we can do is be determined as a society and as individuals to be upright, moral beings.
This is the kind of writing I subscribe for. Thank you!
Indeed !
Clearly, you are feeling better. You’re back. Pace yourself still… How is Tracy? Be well. Grateful for all you do. Your clarity. Your depth of experience, research, context and history. Lots of reasons for hope woven through the message you wrote here. Thank you.
“I see no reason not to conclude that “democracy“ and the “rule of law“ in the US will now assume the same level of application in reality as they did in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and countless other autocracies throughout history.
That is to say, each is now a sham, observed only performatively, but with no actual basis in fact.
The MAGATs have already established that they can:
* Invade the capital with a mob, defecate on the desks of members of Congress, engineer and engage in a riot that leads to numerous deaths of law-enforcement officers, erect a (mock?) gallows to hang the vice president, and then make heroes out of the perpetrators and celebrate their release from prison;
*Use the overwhelming power of their right-wing propaganda machine to manipulate public opinion so that the perpetrator of the attack on the capital is transformed from a discredited outgoing President with no political future into a heroic figure who then wins a national election with the approval 77 million voters.
Just as the Nazis celebrated the Alte Kämpfer — “old strugglers” — and the Blutfahne — blood flag — of the November 1923 beer Hall Putsch once they took power, the MAGATs are glorifying and celebrating their own set of “martyrs“.
If there isn’t already a ballad of Ashli Babbitt, paralleling the Horst Wessel Lied, there will be one soon.
These are people who will obey the law and be respectful of it only when it suits their purposes, and when it can be used to persecute their opponents. If it inhibits them in any way, they will simply ignore it, and laugh contemptuously when courts issue rulings that they have no intention of respecting.
The cornerstones of this dictatorship have already been laid. With figures like Stuart Rhodes and Enrique Tarrio now released from prison, having been made martyrs with global name recognition by their imprisonment, they are now free to organize all of the violent, heavily armed, militia-oriented Trump supporters nationwide into a Sturmabteilung Brownshirt brigade that will go after anyone they perceive as disloyal to their leader.
The “industrialists“ — whose modern equivalents are the tech titans we saw sitting behind the cult leader yesterday — are in the bag.
Any sort of critical media institutions have either been hollowed out or dismantled, and what is left of them have already demonstrated their eagerness to bend the knee.
The highest court in the land has already openly ruled that if the president decides to sic Seal Team Six on his political rivals, he is absolved from any criminal liability if he chooses to do so.
The entire federal law-enforcement apparatus has been demonstrated to be impotent to bring him to justice, even after four years, and a mountain of evidence produced in court, and in congressional proceedings, demonstrating his criminality and clear responsibility for the attempted insurrection and theft of top-secret documents.
The judges who were willing to hold him to account, Merchan and Engoron, whose rulings have now been neutered, face harassment and persecution by the cult leader’s thugs.
A key acolyte, Rudy Giuliani, who faced bankruptcy and poverty due to his grotesque defamation of two perfectly innocent, civic minded, black polling-station workers, just got off the hook by having some anonymous donor pay off his court ordered damages to the workers he defamed.
And to put the cherry on the top of the sundae, the cult leader‘s biggest backer who chipped in nearly a quarter of a billion to get him elected, can’t quite help himself from giving the “Roman salute“ in his inaugural speech to the faithful. The attempts of his supporters to “walk that one back“ are reminiscent of Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove trying to restrain his arm from reflexively snapping the Nazi salute as he salivates over the post-apocalyptic future in which he will reign supreme along with the chosen few.
And so the question remains, which institutional force in the country has the ability to stand up to the cunning High Chair King, “saved by God to make America great again” and roll back his dictatorship that is taking shape by the hour ?
I wish I could be as optimistic as Lucian, but my outlook for the future is absolutely bleak.
There is something really wrong with the American electorate when more of them vote for an absolute beast than a decent person.
And the Supreme Court is packed with six corrupt judges.
And had that idiot, RFK jr., been in charge of Health, would we have gotten the Covid vaccines? No.
I could go on, but I've had it.
You just given highly articulate voice to all my fears and then some. I wish these were not truths, by alas. My fear and loathing grow by the hour.
But (not by) alas.
The salute comes from the Roman Empire to Mussolini to Hitler, I believe.
The Supreme Court addressed official duties. Violating the Constitution isn't yet an official duty--I hope
There goes the positive spin right out the window. But what you say is like it is!
The American people will prevail! This is just a pimple on a hemorrhoid and the pus will run out and a scar will form to hold it at bay …until the next time we forget to wipe our assholes more aggressively!
You are a gift. Thank you. (And I'm glad you are feeling better!)
I just read that Cheeto ordered the CDC, FDA and NIH to suspend external communications. Given the last 4 years of Pandemic this scares me most of all.,
Good gravy
That was actually not a Nazi salute but from the Roman Empire.
On a different subject, I think there is a good chance the House will vote to impeach Trump within the next 2 years. The Republican representatives are loyal to Trump mainly out of fear. And once Trump's threats become toothless their fear will be gone.
Hitler took it and made it his. A raised right arm is a Nazi salute. Fuck the hand on the heart thing. It's quibbling.
👍
I understand the Roman salute was employed by Mussolini and then Hitler adopted it.
There is a difference though. The hand covering the heart first identifies it as Roman.
Good luck on that.
Cowardice GOP and other politicans shit their pants if Trump mentions their name in a negative way.
As long as he is popular. If his popularity wanes and threatens their chances of reelection they will toss Trump by the side of the road like an old shoe.
Eric Hope you're right.
Guess you think theres no chance for third term?
There is no such thing as a "Roman salute" from the Roman empire. Mussolini used a fascist salute which the Nazi's then adopted.
You are correct about that, my error, but the Nazis didn't pound their hearts before extending their arm. I'm assuming that was popularized in Hollywood.
He’ll only be impeached if the house goes democratic in two years but the Senate won’t convict.
Don't make the mistake of thinking a majority of House Republicans support Trump in their hearts. Trump uses them for his benefit and then betrays them. They will do the same thing to him if he becomes more of a liability than an asset.
I'm not sure Elon's education included Roman History.
He was too involved in Reading Science Fiction and living somewhere else in the
Galaltic Empire.
He is even now deeper into Trump getting him to Mars.
Meanwhile (the Mule)
Donald Trump continues his life time goal,
"The Great Sack."
Will the Dudes on Terminus save the Empire.
Your pal
Hari Seldon
He was impeached twice, as I recall. Nothing, but nothing happened.
I never said he would be convicted upon impeachment. This isn't about patriotism to them. As long as Trump helps them they will support him. But Trump is off go a bad start and it's going to get a lot worse. Most of the people who voted for him wished they had a better choice. It is possible he could be impeached and convicted. I'm not predicting it but it still could happen.
As usual, you have given me more hope that I thought possible. Bless you! I hope you and your wife are continuing to feel much better. ❤️
The human analogy is right on - and explains away many stupid things like Constitutional “originalism”. How can the entire flow of history be stopped in a moment when everything is always changing and evolving? Let’s stay up in their gears and make certain everyone sees the idiocy.
Where originalism fits in this narrative was my first thought. It sure would be nifty to see it consumed in a firey furnace along with the robes of its Extreme Court proponents.
Thanks for some sanity and common sense as a way to take the long view of this freaking nightmare. Be well and stay well! We need your analysis and your voice.
Muskrat is addicted to ketamine.
You're back! Cheers, and merci.
It's going to be a rocky, time-wasted four years for sure. We'll spend so much time fighting Drumpf and zero time improving the lives of Americans. All the positive things Joe Biden accomplished will fall by the wayside. I, for one, will continue to look to you for the light. Thanks for your positivity.
We'll be lucky if it's only four years. Plenty of time to fix that, thinks the Drumpf.
I was just thinking how counterproductive the past eight years have been to the U.S. Imagine if the time the thinking population has had to waste on this parasitic bore had been put to useful purpose! Maybe some future forensic economist will be able to measure trump's toll on GDP. … And the next four years?
My own constitution is becoming weaker by each executive action. Please, please that the truth which you speak of happens…and quickly.