Nothing seems to matter though. He can say anything. And now the Millennials and GenZ are breaking his way. America has become an incorrigible lot of impossible and impossibly ignorant people.
We have had 4 years of lTrump as president & 3+ years of Biden as president. So...... we have information & personal observation to consider. But before running the info thru our mental grinder & reaching a serious, life effecting conclusion it is necessary to clean & sterilize the grinder. If the grinder is contaminated “the result is contaminated & perverted info & conclusions”. Whoever decides to voice an opinion has a responsibility to their fellow persons to be self cleaning so that their opinions are true & valid to the good of society.
Sorry....... haven’t read anything here that rings true.
If, what you claim is true, then you have a good point. So far most of what we see is political jockeying. Since the issue is highly significant, should it be classified with, “ crime against humanity” ? Tried before an international court, with hanging or death by firing squad the penalty. Would you want to be the judge?
However, is your opinion of Trump based on this single issue? So, up to this final act by Trump can it be assumed that you voted for him and never observed anything about his time in office that you thought was wrong? I would not want to sail in your boat.
Thank you for the reply. Not thinking in terms of political parties or characterizing by terms like left or right, radical or soft on, understanding the dynamic of todays world is a challenge and Iv come to believe important. Here’s some of my thoughts; Government, rules, regs, laws, order etc is necessary because man would more quickly destroy himself. So....... somehow, he needs to know the limit of his freedom. His freedom depends on it. This is a tricky situation, only if one voluntarily submits, exercising his free will, can any system of governing have a chance at succeeding.
A system with a goal of promoting freedom requires a balance, encouraging a natural equilibrium in its functioning. This has been the challenge since the beginning of creation.
The dynamic of of todays world is so complex, with chaos increasing in all aspects of life, it is difficult to conceive of any outcome that is a result of renewing the desire for balance. At this point I would want to get spiritual, but I don’t think, for the purpose of this discussion I will.
Bottom line, the institutions whose purpose it is to build & re-enforce the infrastructure of culture & society have become so compromised as to not only become dysfunctional, but have become an adversary of society. We all are, to a degree, responsible & contribute to he situation.
So, referring to Trump/international court comment, I was thinking, if this is the worse thing a political can do, then the worst kind of punishment is appropriate & who should the executioner be? And then, what about the rest of the cast of characters? Stalin, Hitler, the Huns, Moa, and many more historically just cleaned house, total destruction. Very practical, cheaper than alternatives, leave no witnesses.
So, you can see, from my perspective, I can swim, but I don’t want to be out in the ocean in a boat with holes or a captain who drinks. Thanks again, feel free to proof read.
I hope you'll pardon me butting in but it's such a good question. First, this far ahead of the elections, polls are pretty much meaningless, so much can happen in that last year.
Second, I think a lot of it is visibility. Trump is on TV every day, he's out there at rallies, etc. Biden is much more quiet, just does the actual governing thing.
Third, there seems to be a major disconnect about what people believe about the state of the US and reality. Unemployment is tiny, the economy is doing just fine, etc. But a lot of people seem to believe we're living in some sort of hellish landscape. I can't explain that.
But I have to defer to Rick - he's an actual expert in this sort of thing
Experts needed to know the cost of living? Try going shopping for food. Hamburger $8 pound, bread $4.69 loaf, cold cuts $10- 12 a pound, fish $12-20 a pound. Breakfast cereal $6 , Eggs $4dozen, potatoes $4--5 pound bag, Onions $4- 3 pound bag. Cheese $10 pound , etc
Don’t forget Health care, basic....$400 month + co-pays, car insurance $1400 per year, home insurance $ 1400 per year, property taxes (home) 1500sq feet, 1/4 acre $70000 per year. Energy... Electric, fuel, media, clothing etc ? And then before & after there are taxes & fees. When you earn the $ & when you use the $. Etc. also..... if you have school age kids & have to send them to a questionable school but try finding a decent private school, day school no less....try $15000- 20000 a year. And in big cities NY for example, travel long ways by subway or city bus
This is everyday cost, no parties, vacations, gifts, donations, savings , car payments etc.
It would be fair to say, this observation includes those who are born poor, no skills, marginal families, weak social skills, older, on basic Social Security who pay the same cost. No experts needed here, stats? Don’t pay the bills.
Ivo, what’s going to happen with Boflys is that once you give him information that he doesn’t want to hear he will block you, as he did with me when he didn’t want to see the statistics about excess Covid deaths among Republicans. He’s just another trolling coward, so don’t waste your time with him.
You may very well be right, but I wanted to give him the opportunity to engage in real debate. I'm not giving him information, he's doubting the state of the economy so I'm waiting for him to back that up. So far it's cricket sounds...
He’s not going to write back with anything intelligent. He made a comment to me suggesting that I was lying about the excess Covid deaths among Republicans. So, I sent him four links to info on this, and instead of responding to me, he responded to someone else saying that I am a bot who sent him misinformation. I just canceled my paid subscription. I am not going to pay Rick if he’s not going to ban these trolls, and I’m done commenting and engaging with people on these sites unless the writers take an active interest in banning the trolls. If you read through some of the other comments, all he’s doing is insulting Rick. And now there’s another jerk who popped up on here sometime yesterday. This is why so many writers are not giving people an option to comment unless they are paying subscribers. It’s the only way to keep these basement dwellers out of the discourse.
The recent election in Argentina frightens me. I worry that people don’t understand democracy and how it works and why it’s better than the alternative. Plus human beings love to complain and then they knee-jerk and swing the pendulum in the opposite direction, hoping for a quick fix to their problems. That was ok when we had a normal Republican Party, but now it’s terrifying. My worry is that so much of our electorate is checked out for 364 days out of the year and when they walk into that voting booth, they won’t be fully aware of the repercussions of what they might do. And I worry that when they see these other countries electing far right parties to power, they will follow suit here. How do we fight that?
If you are not in Argentina, and you don't have any economic or other emotional interest in Argentina, you should be fine.
Argentinian politics is like American infrastructure: objectively awful but able to persist because of a structural ecosystem that sustains awfulness.
Argentinians turned to a far-right crackpot because the economy is terrible. Like if you think America has problems, the U.S. annual inflation rate is equivalent to Argentina's daily inflation rate or something. At least your American dollars are still able to buy goods and services. The problem in Argentina? Their American dollars are still able to buy goods and services; in other words, Argentinians can't even conduct the most basic transactions in their own currency.
But, taking a broader view, Argentina's economy has been in a state of perma-crisis for close to a century. Juan Peron's spirit looms large over Argentina, and the political consensus is for heavy political intervention in the economy.
Noah Smith's excellent Noahpinion Substack published a guest essay about Argentina's economy, which is a shitshow wrapped in a clusterfuck with a dumpster fire center.
Karl T. Muth is a business professor at the University of Chicago and he also holds a law degree. He wrote his observations in the style of a CIA intel report. If you have 10-15 minutes, it's well worth a read.
I think perhaps I didn’t develop my thoughts well. Luckily, Heather Cox Richardson took my bare bones sentences and expounded on them beautifully in her essay released last night. You can find it on her Facebook page if you don’t subscribe to her letters.
Nah, I think their annual inflation is about 150% which is extremely high but less than 0.5%/day and not even close to hyperinflation (defined as 50%/month).
Rick- Keep up the great work. I'm reading Stuart Stevens' book "The Conspiracy to End America". For your subscribers who haven't read it, there is so much good stuff in there about how hypocritical the Republican party is. And there's one line that jumped out at me. Peter Thiel, a billionaire who contributes huge $ to Trumpian candidates, wrote this: "Freedom and Democracy are incompatible". Here's a weirdo (and he IS weird) who made his fortune in this democracy and now trashes it...wants to put an end to it. Sick!!
The MeidasTouch poster comparing Trump statements with Hitler statements gave me an idea. Is there videotape of Hitler making those statements, or at least audiotape recordings? I would assume these are available for Trump. Construct the comparison using these resources. Include captions of the statements, in Hitler's case obviously translated into English. This would give a visceral punch of disgust that the static poster could never achieve. If it can be made, hold it in reserve until the Presidential election is in full swing so it will be fresh and most potent when it needs to be--perhaps as an "October surprise".
Thank you, Rick. I do wish more of my tribe would listen to you and read you.
I fight because I would like to see a world that, if you take a broad view of 80 years of world history, showed that the liberal democratic ideals didn't give us everything we wanted but it delivered on more of its promises better than any social arrangement before it or since. I'd like to see a world continue to deliver on promises and right historic wrongs for another 80 years, if not 800 years.
I think Trump is lying, as comes naturally to him, about 2024 being a "final battle." If only. If Trump loses or goes to prison, he's not going to end his life in a bunker in Mar-a-Lago or be strung up from a gas station awning like two other famed failed fascists before him. Donald Trump can die or be humiliated but Trumpism is forever.
I have a sinking feeling that we're going to be in a forever war with the forces Trumpism unleashed. And while we can thwart Trumpism now, the Republicans and the myriad rightwing movements are setting the table for a more capable Trump.
Thank you Rick. I think back to Nov 2016 listening to how people were “too busy” to vote and wondering if they had any idea of what they had done by sitting an election out. For those who now see how hard it is to stop the authoritarian onslaught I hope they will step up and vote for democracy.
Had a long talk with a good friend who because of her watching fox with her husband has changed very much. I told her about what has happened with fox, trump, the indictments,. She listened and was interested to read the indictments. She had no clue. She just says she knows someone who knows bidens brother and said he is crooked. Oh for cripes sake. Didn't know about indictments or even about the arrests in Georgia or even watched the committee hearings. ( she thought Ashley babbitt was murdered).I told her she needs to see this info and get off cable. I printed the indictments for her. ( sorry trees). Then I told her I am not getting my info from dems only, but some old ( no offense) die hard Republicans. Hopefully, she will change back to my friend who believes in democracy. Thanks Rick. If I see a glimmer of change in her it will be because of you and Tara and Adam and the rest who stood up and said no. Thank you again. Cathy
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!! Thank you so much for consistently fighting Trump and Trumpism from day one and also giving us so much comic relief in the process. I’m not so much scared as furious so many people who could have stopped this years ago failed us and here we are again. Mitch McConnell, you had two! 2 opportunities to convict on impeachment. My money is on Trump getting convicted or physically failing apart before the election but I’m so thankful you and your colleagues are here, in the fight every day. I’m fighting too!
Seriously though keep up the awesomeness. Since Reaganism allowed Fundementalism into the Oval office it has been a slippery slope to the Trumplicans.
The Nexgen MAGA are eager to distance themselves from DonJohnCon and they are the super scary Theocracy loving anti-science, anti-democracy, anti-gender Equality, and to be blunt "anti-christ". Yep the folk screaming about their Christian Nationalism are the opposite of what they proclaim.
Nothing seems to matter though. He can say anything. And now the Millennials and GenZ are breaking his way. America has become an incorrigible lot of impossible and impossibly ignorant people.
Janet thank you… truly love this writing
Rick Wilson is so knowledgeable, honest and trustworthy what a blessing ..
Give Thanks that I’m a subscriber!
Telling about his Substack to everyone!
Happy Thanksgiving, Marsha 🌹
We have had 4 years of lTrump as president & 3+ years of Biden as president. So...... we have information & personal observation to consider. But before running the info thru our mental grinder & reaching a serious, life effecting conclusion it is necessary to clean & sterilize the grinder. If the grinder is contaminated “the result is contaminated & perverted info & conclusions”. Whoever decides to voice an opinion has a responsibility to their fellow persons to be self cleaning so that their opinions are true & valid to the good of society.
Sorry....... haven’t read anything here that rings true.
If, what you claim is true, then you have a good point. So far most of what we see is political jockeying. Since the issue is highly significant, should it be classified with, “ crime against humanity” ? Tried before an international court, with hanging or death by firing squad the penalty. Would you want to be the judge?
However, is your opinion of Trump based on this single issue? So, up to this final act by Trump can it be assumed that you voted for him and never observed anything about his time in office that you thought was wrong? I would not want to sail in your boat.
Thank you for the reply. Not thinking in terms of political parties or characterizing by terms like left or right, radical or soft on, understanding the dynamic of todays world is a challenge and Iv come to believe important. Here’s some of my thoughts; Government, rules, regs, laws, order etc is necessary because man would more quickly destroy himself. So....... somehow, he needs to know the limit of his freedom. His freedom depends on it. This is a tricky situation, only if one voluntarily submits, exercising his free will, can any system of governing have a chance at succeeding.
A system with a goal of promoting freedom requires a balance, encouraging a natural equilibrium in its functioning. This has been the challenge since the beginning of creation.
The dynamic of of todays world is so complex, with chaos increasing in all aspects of life, it is difficult to conceive of any outcome that is a result of renewing the desire for balance. At this point I would want to get spiritual, but I don’t think, for the purpose of this discussion I will.
Bottom line, the institutions whose purpose it is to build & re-enforce the infrastructure of culture & society have become so compromised as to not only become dysfunctional, but have become an adversary of society. We all are, to a degree, responsible & contribute to he situation.
So, referring to Trump/international court comment, I was thinking, if this is the worse thing a political can do, then the worst kind of punishment is appropriate & who should the executioner be? And then, what about the rest of the cast of characters? Stalin, Hitler, the Huns, Moa, and many more historically just cleaned house, total destruction. Very practical, cheaper than alternatives, leave no witnesses.
So, you can see, from my perspective, I can swim, but I don’t want to be out in the ocean in a boat with holes or a captain who drinks. Thanks again, feel free to proof read.
What are your thoughts on why Trump is polling so high?
I hope you'll pardon me butting in but it's such a good question. First, this far ahead of the elections, polls are pretty much meaningless, so much can happen in that last year.
Second, I think a lot of it is visibility. Trump is on TV every day, he's out there at rallies, etc. Biden is much more quiet, just does the actual governing thing.
Third, there seems to be a major disconnect about what people believe about the state of the US and reality. Unemployment is tiny, the economy is doing just fine, etc. But a lot of people seem to believe we're living in some sort of hellish landscape. I can't explain that.
But I have to defer to Rick - he's an actual expert in this sort of thing
Experts needed to know the cost of living? Try going shopping for food. Hamburger $8 pound, bread $4.69 loaf, cold cuts $10- 12 a pound, fish $12-20 a pound. Breakfast cereal $6 , Eggs $4dozen, potatoes $4--5 pound bag, Onions $4- 3 pound bag. Cheese $10 pound , etc
Don’t forget Health care, basic....$400 month + co-pays, car insurance $1400 per year, home insurance $ 1400 per year, property taxes (home) 1500sq feet, 1/4 acre $70000 per year. Energy... Electric, fuel, media, clothing etc ? And then before & after there are taxes & fees. When you earn the $ & when you use the $. Etc. also..... if you have school age kids & have to send them to a questionable school but try finding a decent private school, day school no less....try $15000- 20000 a year. And in big cities NY for example, travel long ways by subway or city bus
This is everyday cost, no parties, vacations, gifts, donations, savings , car payments etc.
It would be fair to say, this observation includes those who are born poor, no skills, marginal families, weak social skills, older, on basic Social Security who pay the same cost. No experts needed here, stats? Don’t pay the bills.
I defer to Rick on all matters political and polling-related Sorry, I thought that was clear.
Huh?
Political and polling-related, not economics- related, since your reply seemed to be all about economics.
Sure. Are there particular economic statistics that concern you?
Ivo, what’s going to happen with Boflys is that once you give him information that he doesn’t want to hear he will block you, as he did with me when he didn’t want to see the statistics about excess Covid deaths among Republicans. He’s just another trolling coward, so don’t waste your time with him.
You may very well be right, but I wanted to give him the opportunity to engage in real debate. I'm not giving him information, he's doubting the state of the economy so I'm waiting for him to back that up. So far it's cricket sounds...
He’s not going to write back with anything intelligent. He made a comment to me suggesting that I was lying about the excess Covid deaths among Republicans. So, I sent him four links to info on this, and instead of responding to me, he responded to someone else saying that I am a bot who sent him misinformation. I just canceled my paid subscription. I am not going to pay Rick if he’s not going to ban these trolls, and I’m done commenting and engaging with people on these sites unless the writers take an active interest in banning the trolls. If you read through some of the other comments, all he’s doing is insulting Rick. And now there’s another jerk who popped up on here sometime yesterday. This is why so many writers are not giving people an option to comment unless they are paying subscribers. It’s the only way to keep these basement dwellers out of the discourse.
The recent election in Argentina frightens me. I worry that people don’t understand democracy and how it works and why it’s better than the alternative. Plus human beings love to complain and then they knee-jerk and swing the pendulum in the opposite direction, hoping for a quick fix to their problems. That was ok when we had a normal Republican Party, but now it’s terrifying. My worry is that so much of our electorate is checked out for 364 days out of the year and when they walk into that voting booth, they won’t be fully aware of the repercussions of what they might do. And I worry that when they see these other countries electing far right parties to power, they will follow suit here. How do we fight that?
If you are not in Argentina, and you don't have any economic or other emotional interest in Argentina, you should be fine.
Argentinian politics is like American infrastructure: objectively awful but able to persist because of a structural ecosystem that sustains awfulness.
Argentinians turned to a far-right crackpot because the economy is terrible. Like if you think America has problems, the U.S. annual inflation rate is equivalent to Argentina's daily inflation rate or something. At least your American dollars are still able to buy goods and services. The problem in Argentina? Their American dollars are still able to buy goods and services; in other words, Argentinians can't even conduct the most basic transactions in their own currency.
But, taking a broader view, Argentina's economy has been in a state of perma-crisis for close to a century. Juan Peron's spirit looms large over Argentina, and the political consensus is for heavy political intervention in the economy.
Noah Smith's excellent Noahpinion Substack published a guest essay about Argentina's economy, which is a shitshow wrapped in a clusterfuck with a dumpster fire center.
https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/argentinas-macroeconomic-situation
Karl T. Muth is a business professor at the University of Chicago and he also holds a law degree. He wrote his observations in the style of a CIA intel report. If you have 10-15 minutes, it's well worth a read.
I think perhaps I didn’t develop my thoughts well. Luckily, Heather Cox Richardson took my bare bones sentences and expounded on them beautifully in her essay released last night. You can find it on her Facebook page if you don’t subscribe to her letters.
Nah, I think their annual inflation is about 150% which is extremely high but less than 0.5%/day and not even close to hyperinflation (defined as 50%/month).
Rick- Keep up the great work. I'm reading Stuart Stevens' book "The Conspiracy to End America". For your subscribers who haven't read it, there is so much good stuff in there about how hypocritical the Republican party is. And there's one line that jumped out at me. Peter Thiel, a billionaire who contributes huge $ to Trumpian candidates, wrote this: "Freedom and Democracy are incompatible". Here's a weirdo (and he IS weird) who made his fortune in this democracy and now trashes it...wants to put an end to it. Sick!!
Rick,
The MeidasTouch poster comparing Trump statements with Hitler statements gave me an idea. Is there videotape of Hitler making those statements, or at least audiotape recordings? I would assume these are available for Trump. Construct the comparison using these resources. Include captions of the statements, in Hitler's case obviously translated into English. This would give a visceral punch of disgust that the static poster could never achieve. If it can be made, hold it in reserve until the Presidential election is in full swing so it will be fresh and most potent when it needs to be--perhaps as an "October surprise".
Thank you, Rick. I do wish more of my tribe would listen to you and read you.
I fight because I would like to see a world that, if you take a broad view of 80 years of world history, showed that the liberal democratic ideals didn't give us everything we wanted but it delivered on more of its promises better than any social arrangement before it or since. I'd like to see a world continue to deliver on promises and right historic wrongs for another 80 years, if not 800 years.
I think Trump is lying, as comes naturally to him, about 2024 being a "final battle." If only. If Trump loses or goes to prison, he's not going to end his life in a bunker in Mar-a-Lago or be strung up from a gas station awning like two other famed failed fascists before him. Donald Trump can die or be humiliated but Trumpism is forever.
I have a sinking feeling that we're going to be in a forever war with the forces Trumpism unleashed. And while we can thwart Trumpism now, the Republicans and the myriad rightwing movements are setting the table for a more capable Trump.
Thank you for never giving up. We need more of you!!!
Thank you Rick! I am so fearful, but you give me hope!
Thank you Rick. I think back to Nov 2016 listening to how people were “too busy” to vote and wondering if they had any idea of what they had done by sitting an election out. For those who now see how hard it is to stop the authoritarian onslaught I hope they will step up and vote for democracy.
We have so much work ahead. No time to lose.
Thank you Rick for keeping the message on point
Had a long talk with a good friend who because of her watching fox with her husband has changed very much. I told her about what has happened with fox, trump, the indictments,. She listened and was interested to read the indictments. She had no clue. She just says she knows someone who knows bidens brother and said he is crooked. Oh for cripes sake. Didn't know about indictments or even about the arrests in Georgia or even watched the committee hearings. ( she thought Ashley babbitt was murdered).I told her she needs to see this info and get off cable. I printed the indictments for her. ( sorry trees). Then I told her I am not getting my info from dems only, but some old ( no offense) die hard Republicans. Hopefully, she will change back to my friend who believes in democracy. Thanks Rick. If I see a glimmer of change in her it will be because of you and Tara and Adam and the rest who stood up and said no. Thank you again. Cathy
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!! Thank you so much for consistently fighting Trump and Trumpism from day one and also giving us so much comic relief in the process. I’m not so much scared as furious so many people who could have stopped this years ago failed us and here we are again. Mitch McConnell, you had two! 2 opportunities to convict on impeachment. My money is on Trump getting convicted or physically failing apart before the election but I’m so thankful you and your colleagues are here, in the fight every day. I’m fighting too!
Thanks Rick - agree on the blocking trolls action. No reason to give any of those fools any oxygen. We have too much work to do.
#VerminForJoe2024
Typos mean you are human. Long live the Typo!!!
Seriously though keep up the awesomeness. Since Reaganism allowed Fundementalism into the Oval office it has been a slippery slope to the Trumplicans.
The Nexgen MAGA are eager to distance themselves from DonJohnCon and they are the super scary Theocracy loving anti-science, anti-democracy, anti-gender Equality, and to be blunt "anti-christ". Yep the folk screaming about their Christian Nationalism are the opposite of what they proclaim.
Keep up the great substack!
Keep up the fight.