Once the judge in the classified documents case, provided him with immunity on those in the name presidential power and SCOTUS co-signed this, every psychopathological greedy impulse combined with being a malignant narcissist, unleashed him to display open corruption and criminality.
If you are open to look at it another way, there's a hero story surrounding Trump. An outsider who was mocked, bullied, and never given a chance won the Presidency of the United States of America. The establishment (who had become so popular by sending the poor plebs to wars all around the world) didn't like this very much, so they unleashed everything they had on him to boot him out. By 2020, they scraped together a contested, but generally accepted, victory. While out of office the old Republican guard tried everything they could to get their base to vote for DeSantis, but Trump had already shown that he would fight for the little guy, and their loyalty wouldn't stray. When he won the nomination, the state of New York began their lawfare campaign and convicted him of 34 felonies, but this didn't stop him either. Then they tried to assassinate him, but failed. He rose up with his fist in the air, directly after being shot in the face, and shouted "Fight! Fight! Fight!". This confirmed to every man watching that Trump was, indeed, a leader of men. That's why you see the UFC warriors making declarations to him after winning fights (Jon Jones over Stipe Miocic, for example). That's why he's got the pro athletes supporting MAGA. That's why you saw the soldiers in the military barracks going bananas after the announcement that Trump won the presidency (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Lr5VUuWN2P0).
Just think, after 40 years of time and effort, the architects of the New World Order, the autistic economists, the financial geniuses and their equations, after creating a world that barely any man (yes, "man") wants to live in, are being outdone by a simple underdog narrative. For it is not incomprehensible equations that move hearts, but courage. Still, after all these years...
Saying that, it still seems impossible that Trump will succeed. There is so much power all around the world that wants him pushing up daisies. But, man, are those wooden clogs trying their damnedest to run up the stairs and come down in silk souliers!
He was given 3 Million dollars by his father. Became one if the biggest slum lords for Black people. Constantly under paid his subcontractors and therefore there works. Had 2 casinos to go bust. Had 6 bankruptcy. Trump University was nothing but an uncredited SCAM.
He ended bring charged with fraud because he gave banks inflated value to his assets in order to get loans.
He's a psychopathological greedy malignant narcissist.
In what universe is he a HERO. He's moving the country toward Authoritarianism and fascism. And recently perpetrated insider trading.
He's the Vilian in this story, where Oligarchs and Plutarchs are using America as their personal ATM machine.
Yes, he's a rough operator. I think that's what partly makes him so compelling, and so popular among the working class and immigrants (who voted strongly in his favor). Everyone at the top of politics grew up privileged (except perhaps J. D. Vance, who's a brilliant man). The real question for voters is: what are their POLICIES? Release alleged sex offenders directly onto the street... or deport them? Continue to spend at an unsustainable rate in order to bankroll politicians and nonprofits and universities and insurance companies... or reduce bureaucracy to prevent total financial collapse? Re-establish a working border... or dissolve the boundaries and identity of our country, which is the best country on Earth? These are difficult questions. Everyone has his or her own opinion.
You do realize that the tax cuts for the rich and corporations added 4 trillion dollars to the deficit. Instead of adding jobs with the money, there were stock buy backs and huge amounts of money given to shareholders.
This doesn't include the 8 trillion dollars of offshore money they came back into the country, because Trump gave them a tax amnesty. That's another 2.4 trillion dollars to the deficit.
The PPP money was transferred through a list of bankers. They called their clients to apply for the money.
Total amount Trump added to the deficit was almost 10 trillion dollars.
It had nothing to provide services to the citizens of the country. Nothing to do with Social security-related payments or Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP or school lunches or USAID.
Instead of listening to the Conservative and MAGA echo chambers, learn about economic theory, banking and finance, stocks market systems and the bond markets <-- which triggered the 90 day pause.
And I’m not in any echo chamber. I’m a registered Democrat who’s voted for the party nearly all my life, and nearly everyone I regularly read is a liberal of some kind. That’s the funny thing about echo chambers: they come in all varieties.
How do you feel about the identities of alleged rapists and recidivist sex offenders, who are here illegally, being concealed from the federal government by the city governments of Boston, Chicago, Denver, etc. so these men can be released onto the street 1-2 days after being arrested? It’s pretty shocking, isn’t it?
This is ALL propaganda and disinformation. We already have a robust Rape Culture by American citizens, with the vast majority being White men and White teenage boys. The blood of White men Numenor has grown weak over the last 50 years. Technology has only given them greater access to prey upon women and girls. Your community has an avid of adult incels. And these corrosive misogynistic and sexual predatory Ideologies are trickling down to teenagers. They suckle the metaphorical phallus of the Tate Brothers and men who act as priests for this Ideology.
I would advise you to clean your own house, before you think there are a boatload of Hispanic rapist illegal immigrants. There have been maybe 15 to 20 at the most that have been in the news.
I actually majored in economics. Some of your numbers are a little off (or a lot!) but I agree with the gist. Trump’s tax cuts contributed mightily to the deficit IN HIS FIRST TERM. That was 8 years ago (and they’re part of the reason I voted for Biden!). The past is the past. If we can agree that the deficit is a serious problem then we can agree that brutal cuts will HAVE to be made. Will Trump do this? I doubt it, but at least his supporters are raising the issue. Politics is all about trade offs and priorities and I consider cuts to federal spending (along with promotion of economic growth through deregulation and cutting parasitic entities) to be a high priority. Is Trump doing it perfectly, or even well? No. Is he doing it AT ALL (and being resisted at every step by the Democrats)? Yes. Progress.
That’s to say nothing of the hundreds of billions we’ll cumulatively save in spending on jailing/housing/feeding/supporting illegal migrants. Another high priority-not just for Republicans but for immigrants and Latinos and working class voters of all kind. Trump is a terrible policymaker. It’s truly an indictment of the Democrats that they’re now far worse.
You do realize that the farmers, meat processing plants and construction companies are the main employers of illegal immigrants.
Once again the farmers are going to get bailouts.
The problem is Corporations that aren't paying their fair share. Nor are they contributing funds to the Social Security system. Same thing with Billionaires and Millionaire once they get past the 50 Millionaire.
They hidden their money in IRA account to shield their money from taxes.
When your CEOs relatively pay less taxes than their administrative assistants there is something wrong with the tax system.
Reagan borrowed from the SS. The H. Bush/Cheney borrowed from the SS. I think Carter was the last president to do so. But those funds were never replenished.
I have a MS in Accounting with an emphasis on Tax Accounting. Never practice because I realized I would be in the business of shielding individuals making $107,000 from taxes.
I didn't think it through. I just loved doing math problems.
The tax system needs to be restructure so it's progressive and not regressive.
The lower 80% of the population shouldn't be subsidizing the top 15%.
Walmart is one of the biggest employers in the US. They pay their employees just enough to be able to qualify for SNAP.
Taxpayers are subsidizing services industry businesses. The most government Welfare is going to Corporations, Oil corporations, gas corporations, coal mine owners, Farmers, Doctors who own tobacco farms that don't plant tobacco,
Well Valerie, how terrible for you that Trump is the president and you're not. He's winning and you're grinding you're teeth to powder.
Everybody with an ounce of common sense voted for him, and now they're all laughing at you and people like you as you shrivel up with demented, impotent rage, like the witch in the Wizard of Oz.
You lost Valerie, and you're gonna continue losing through the remainder of Trumps term and two terms of Vance.
By 2026 America will be in the midst of a financial forest fire. The Impeachment process will happen, and the third time's the charm. The Administration will be under investigation various forms of corruption.
Republicans will never impeach him. Honestly, Biden should have been impeached for being a vegetable behind the desk and letting others sign papers for him.
Whilst this is intelligent and accurate it is I'm afraid still 'boo Trump'. What Trump's opponents are mostly yet to do is to take seriously the genuine frustrations of those who feel left behind by globalisation and believe that the American Dream no longer holds any promise for them. And hence they propose no better remedies. Merely shouting at his supporters that they are stupid and racist will not change their minds. The Democrats and moderate Republicans (remember them?) left a vaccuum. Trump filled it. Until the Democrats develop policies that speak to the left behind he has the field to himself.
I am a 1 percenter. Here is a message to all of my peers that are in the 1 percenter income and wealth bracket like is Yascha Mounk... and also most of those in the top 10 percent.
YOU SUCK!
You suck because you demonstrate a massive amount of selfish greed and own a complete lack of understanding, caring, empathy for the bottom 80% of income and wealth in this country, and what your demand for exporting working class economic prosperity to other countries, and importing other country's poverty... all for the cheaper labor that helps to load up your Wall Street accounts.
The top 10% own 70% of stocks and bonds. The top 1% get 70% of their income from investments taxed at capital gains rates. The bottom 60% own 7% of stocks and bonds. The average 401k balance for the bottom 80% is about $100k. And cheap Chinese crap at Walmart is NOT their American dream.
The majority of American don't care that much about the investment markets. The freaking out about the correction Trump is causing just provides more evidence to the bottom 80% that the upper class is out of touch with the economic situation for regular Americans.
So, if you want to see MAGA Republicans continue to dominate American politics, I urge you to keep screaming and wailing about market corrections and demanding we end tariffs on other countries and continue on with the globalist, corporatist status quo.
I may not be in the 1%, but I’m sure I am in the top 2 or 3% and I agree wholeheartedly with the “You suck” sentiment regarding those who have abandoned the bottom 80%.
Brother, it's like that everywhere. There's an urban elite in every capital that zips around from major city to major city making deals, and they are hated by and hate their citizens who live in smaller towns and have less power and wealth. I live in Peru and the inequality is insane! The government has implemented neoliberalism to a T, and therefore allows multinationals to come in and take their raw materials, and it has a 2% approval rating. 2% (!!!) You'll see the educated elite on Twitter with their pronouns in their bio talking about universal human rights. Then you'll go to the countryside and see normal, poor, amazing people just chilling, living life. The last time I took a serious hike I passed through a village and a young boy came up from the river bank with a cain pole just smiling ear to ear. To think that these people are just waiting to be liberated from their backward ways by our NGOs so they can become gender queer is so fucking funny. Seriously. It kills me. The sooner this order dies, the better, in my book.
I wish there was a way to like this a thousand times. I came out of a poor factory town, moved into the so-called “coastal elite” through careers in media and later finance. I am embarrassed to admit that I bought into their crap for a time until I remembered my roots. There are a lot of good people who are being manipulated and treated as disposable by those in power and I find it disgusting.
Oh, yeah. I came of age during the peak TED-talk era and was inspired deeply by them. It's a big reason of how I ended up in Peru. You could call me a disillusioned non-profit-er.
In a recent post about the present "Humpty-Dumpty" situation of global governance, you asked:
"What might a future look like that addresses these shortcomings in a more responsible way—one that doesn’t insist on returning to a past that is likely gone forever but can credibly promise that we will more fully live up to the most deeply held values and the most oft-repeated promises of our political order?"
I'm afraid it is too late for such serene, scientific-minded thinking. Trump's "literal and serious" words and actions, whether trolling or seen-to-be trolling but actually REAL -- are a direct response to decades of governmental negligence. Negligence to their duty of care. Care of the People, by the People, and for the People. Short of civil war, this executive action is the closest we can come to balancing the scales. We see Wall Street quail and think, "huh. Maybe a glimmer of what we feel every day." A counter-revolution that seems like the revolution itself because the first one happened right under our noses, slow-like, demure and aristocratic..
This is a fair analysis on Trump rhetoric. I would add that there have been several knock on effects of this tariff trade war. All countries are reminded that they are net exporters and their economies depend on their abilities to import into the US. They are reminded not to take the US security blanket for granted and are encouraged to pursue active maintenance. Case in point is that of Panama and its canal. Panamanians are unlikely to forget what happens to dictators who cross the US (Manuel Noriega). When searching for strong military allies who can resist the US (China), they realize no one can project meaningful military might across the globe like the US who only needs to reach across the hemisphere. Panama, being en pointe, helps to broker a deal and cancel its BRI. Everyone sits up and takes notice. Except for China, blinded by the beauty of its guns, who has yet to master wonders of its own growth.
For certain the context regarding trade is true. But again trade and tariff are merely a pretense to engage in the national security dialogue. Negotiating tariff is merely a tacit acknowledgement of who your allies really are. Maintaining alliances is an active process from all parties. There is no trust in the true sense in any of the international orders.
Were you under the impression that all countries are net exporters to the US? Or that we didn't tariff any net importers? You'd be wrong on both counts.
I don’t like everything Trump does. I certainly don’t like everything he says. The anger and worry over the tariffs makes sense when viewed through a short term lens, but viewed through a long term lens the anger and worry logic doesn’t sustain. Americans can endure the pinch in exchange for the long lasting rewards this will bring and we’re already beginning to see rewards.
It’s a 90 day pause to support active negotiations with many countries. “Blink” is media spin. If you expect this tariff campaign to recede, you are fooling yourself.
Please. He's already lost his nerve with the Canada & Mexico tariffs ... multiple times. The sort-term lens is the only way to view it - because that's as far ahead as anyone in charge has thought.
Rebuilding US manufacturing capability will take YEARS. In other words, it requires a plan and political coalition that firms can trust will outlast Trump's time in office, let alone the time until his next mood swing.
Is the fact that a task will take YEARS an excuse for not doing it? If the re-industrialisation of America proves a popular idea, and it seems likely that it will, then it will be a factor in the next few elections at least. In other words, there is a window in which it can happen.
The loss of the industrial base is often discussed in terms of well paying blue collar jobs which have disappeared, but just as relevant is the deskilling that goes with that. The risk of not changing course is both economic and geopolitical, and I believe the Trump administration understands this.
Tariffs need to be viewed here mainly in terms of politics, not economics. My guess is that there will be a continuing confrontation with China, viewed as the main threat, and deals of some sort will be reached elsewhere (though the EU is arguably stupid and arrogant enough to get drawn into a tariff war).
Yeah, sure. That's what you said 20 years ago. Just like the border couldn't be closed line that Democrats uttered continually. How is it possible Trump managed to do it a second time in less than ten years? It was closed this year in less than a month. If we had started rebuilding our industrial base as little as ten years ago while the Democrats were busy impeaching Trump three times, we'd practically be there by now. These swipes at what Trump is trying to do only reveals how little the Democrats care about the future of our country.
For goodness sake, you permit your anger at Trump to reject everything he's doing when almost everything he's doing (eliminating the obvious waste and corruption in our government, trying to alert us to the absence of truly free trade the absence of which benefit only the billionaires and greedy corporate business men who get off on the term globalist, and revealing to all that the universities harbor mostly the anti-Americanism and outright anti-western civilization sentiment characteristic of the lunatic far left)is something the Democrats should be doing. The fact that they stand off to the side smearing, swearing at, and jeering a man, imperfect as he is, who is fighting the good fight on behalf of all americans, not only those left behind by the hollowing of our industrial base. Sheesh!!!
The people around him can make all sorts of 4-D chess claims, but the second Trump himself got in front of a camera he said the pause is because the markets were getting yippy, and that he watched Jamie Dimon on TV talking about a possible recession.
What you're calling "blinking", not a term I would use; rather try acknowledging that 75 nations called to negotiate, which was something many of the pundits (translate anti orange man obsessed pundits) don't mention for good reason. Doing so would undercut their favored term for the pause but the fact is his ultimatum worked, even if China doubled down. When that many nations bent their will to Trump's demand for fairness, why not accept the fact that he was right to challenge those nations using tariffs in a way that undermines free markets, thus taking huge sums of money from the U.S. But the bottom line is that the Democrats never bothered to point to the absence of a level playing field. Not ever. Whose interests were being served by ignoring obvious violations of Nafta, of any sense of the drain on the american economy.
If we printed all of the opinion pieces about the perception versus the reality of Trump’s behavior the paper would stretch from here to the moon and back again. The question remains what it has always been and that is what are we especially the Democrats going to do about it.
Get better at persuading people who do not think like we do. The only way I know to do that is to listen to them (by "them" I mean the people who are not committed Trump fanatics; I mean the many people who hold their nose and vote for him) and figure out the good things about them and lean into that. And if we can't see the good in them, then we have no business in persuasion and should carefully consider if airing our feelings are likely to help or to hurt our cause.
Or did you mean what to do now that what I outlined above has already massively failed? If that, well, then it's time to point out all the specific ways in which what Trump *does* (not what he *says*) moves us further from America's founding principles and closer to tyranny. There's no shortage of examples.
Despite its seeming fragility, evidently the US system is more stable than we had feared. Unfortunately, each apparent catastrophe Trump (barely) avoids only makes the next one more likely. At some point we will have indeed reached the elastic limit.
The architecture. Of Trumps actions and statements, literal or serious, is pretty consistent. He sees the hollowing out of the country’s economy and the diminished prospects of non-PMC Americans, which goes beyond factory jobs. He also sees a relationship between this and China’s deliberate hostile actions, the nullification of the immigration laws and the strength that cartels have gained from human trafficking and drug importation through a porous border. Geopolitically, he sees that the world is changing and the United States needs to focus on finding a new place in it. These are all very real issues. Tariffs are his answer to all of these issues is tariffs. Maybe not a good answer but at least he’s trying. If you don’t like that answer, come up with a better one that is responsive to these issues.The Democrats, who neglected these issues for years, don’t even know they are issues. And their progressive wing, in my mind, is actively disloyal.
No matter how fast the Republicans sink the Democrats manage to plummet farther and faster.
The historic Democratic icons FDR, and JFK would laugh at what passes for policy in their own beloved party. Although they were upper class they understood that victory for their party depended on appealing to working class voters. Current party leaders distain the “deplorable” and “racist” members of the working class.
A laundry list of things for Democrats to keep and to dump if they ever want to win again nationwide.
Keep a woman’s right to choose for the first trimester.
Dump abortion until birth unless the mother’s health is at risk or the fetus is not viable.
Keep a concern for climate change and the environment and grow nuclear power.
Dump intermittent, unreliable renewable energy that requires backup continuous generating capacity which is then used intermittently. A ridiculously expensive approach. Even more important, realize that the stifling maze of environmental procedures that now must be followed to build anything has raised the price of necessities like mass transit and housing that the working class needs to survive. Figure out how to build stuff quickly.
Keep and develop new effective vaccines.
Dump vaccine mandates.
Keep equality of opportunity for all. Dump equity of results based on discriminating against men, whites and Asians in a futile attempt to compensate for past discrimination against women and blacks. Recognize that D.E.I. Is unconstitutional.
Keep the protection of gay and lesbian rights.
Dump men in women’s sports, private spaces and prisons. Oh, and mutilating children who might grow up to be gay.
Keep an opportunity for selective high value immigration.
Dump sanctuary cities and open borders.
Keep helping the homeless find jobs and a place to live.
Dump camping in cities, shitting in the streets and allowing open drug use.
Keep a concern for due process in criminal justice.
Dump letting shoplifters and other petty thieves off the hook and releasing predators back on the streets without bail to kill and maim again.
Keep support for unions and fair wages
Dump “free trade” policies that have devastated our manufacturing sector.
Do all of the above and start governing like you know what the fuck you’re doing and you might just find your way back to power.
They have to do much, much better than this. The world has rapidly become a much more dangerous place for the US, the Democrats have neglected these factors for many years, and they are clueless about them even now. They need a plan for these factors as table stakes for responsible governance.
dj: It is because as you well know the Republicans support a woman’s right to choose and are very concerned about climate change. They also strongly support the use of vaccines. Right.
I'm saying it SHOULD be the platform. Not all Republicans should be lumped together, just as not all Dems should be lumped together
ie: not all Dems believe abortion should be a free-for-all up to the 9th month...am I right?
I've always thought of myself as 'normal'. I think of myself as a 'normal' Republican. I am not at all a MAGA Trump normal.
I'm an R, I believe it should be a woman's choice; actually I don't think it should be a law at all - I believe it should ONLY be up to the woman 1st, then the man IF he's willing to take full responsibility, then a Dr... --- IF it's a law, then have it worded in such a way, as stated above: Keep a woman’s right to choose for the first trimester... Dump abortion until birth unless the mother’s health is at risk or the fetus is not viable. Add here, I certainly don't believe abortion should be a form of birth control. Need much more education, etc. The over-the-counter day-after pills should certainly be available.
climate change: again, let's just focus on what can be done for the best energy, housing, etc... your paragraph covered it - R's support that - don't need all the graphs & BS like Gore, etc...Biden's mandates...
vaccines. Come on, quit w/ more BS. You're now going w/ Kennedy. He's had all his kids vaccinated. He's now suggesting everyone get the measles vaccine. There's now proof that COVID 'facts' were not proven, & that was during the end of Trump 1 & strong during Biden. Many R's are NOT liking what's going on now w/ defunding research, etc.
all of this to say, what you said, should be a very strong R platform when hopefully 2028 can have a SANE nominee.
eta: look at what else you wrote: MUCH of it IS the R platform already
"predictions predicated on Zito’s advice are now more likely to prove wrong than right". I don't know that more than 50% of what Trump says should be taken literally, but it is certainly true that that we now have to account for a much higher likelihood that he will do something close to what he says even if it is widely believed to be destructive. The range of possible Trump actions has increased significantly.
I would say "as likely to prove wrong as right" meaning that Zito's observation wasn't really essentially correct. It described Trump in a particular context, and that context no longer obtains.
Once the judge in the classified documents case, provided him with immunity on those in the name presidential power and SCOTUS co-signed this, every psychopathological greedy impulse combined with being a malignant narcissist, unleashed him to display open corruption and criminality.
If you are open to look at it another way, there's a hero story surrounding Trump. An outsider who was mocked, bullied, and never given a chance won the Presidency of the United States of America. The establishment (who had become so popular by sending the poor plebs to wars all around the world) didn't like this very much, so they unleashed everything they had on him to boot him out. By 2020, they scraped together a contested, but generally accepted, victory. While out of office the old Republican guard tried everything they could to get their base to vote for DeSantis, but Trump had already shown that he would fight for the little guy, and their loyalty wouldn't stray. When he won the nomination, the state of New York began their lawfare campaign and convicted him of 34 felonies, but this didn't stop him either. Then they tried to assassinate him, but failed. He rose up with his fist in the air, directly after being shot in the face, and shouted "Fight! Fight! Fight!". This confirmed to every man watching that Trump was, indeed, a leader of men. That's why you see the UFC warriors making declarations to him after winning fights (Jon Jones over Stipe Miocic, for example). That's why he's got the pro athletes supporting MAGA. That's why you saw the soldiers in the military barracks going bananas after the announcement that Trump won the presidency (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Lr5VUuWN2P0).
Just think, after 40 years of time and effort, the architects of the New World Order, the autistic economists, the financial geniuses and their equations, after creating a world that barely any man (yes, "man") wants to live in, are being outdone by a simple underdog narrative. For it is not incomprehensible equations that move hearts, but courage. Still, after all these years...
Saying that, it still seems impossible that Trump will succeed. There is so much power all around the world that wants him pushing up daisies. But, man, are those wooden clogs trying their damnedest to run up the stairs and come down in silk souliers!
He was given 3 Million dollars by his father. Became one if the biggest slum lords for Black people. Constantly under paid his subcontractors and therefore there works. Had 2 casinos to go bust. Had 6 bankruptcy. Trump University was nothing but an uncredited SCAM.
He ended bring charged with fraud because he gave banks inflated value to his assets in order to get loans.
He's a psychopathological greedy malignant narcissist.
In what universe is he a HERO. He's moving the country toward Authoritarianism and fascism. And recently perpetrated insider trading.
He's the Vilian in this story, where Oligarchs and Plutarchs are using America as their personal ATM machine.
Yes, he's a rough operator. I think that's what partly makes him so compelling, and so popular among the working class and immigrants (who voted strongly in his favor). Everyone at the top of politics grew up privileged (except perhaps J. D. Vance, who's a brilliant man). The real question for voters is: what are their POLICIES? Release alleged sex offenders directly onto the street... or deport them? Continue to spend at an unsustainable rate in order to bankroll politicians and nonprofits and universities and insurance companies... or reduce bureaucracy to prevent total financial collapse? Re-establish a working border... or dissolve the boundaries and identity of our country, which is the best country on Earth? These are difficult questions. Everyone has his or her own opinion.
You do realize that the tax cuts for the rich and corporations added 4 trillion dollars to the deficit. Instead of adding jobs with the money, there were stock buy backs and huge amounts of money given to shareholders.
This doesn't include the 8 trillion dollars of offshore money they came back into the country, because Trump gave them a tax amnesty. That's another 2.4 trillion dollars to the deficit.
The PPP money was transferred through a list of bankers. They called their clients to apply for the money.
Total amount Trump added to the deficit was almost 10 trillion dollars.
It had nothing to provide services to the citizens of the country. Nothing to do with Social security-related payments or Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP or school lunches or USAID.
Instead of listening to the Conservative and MAGA echo chambers, learn about economic theory, banking and finance, stocks market systems and the bond markets <-- which triggered the 90 day pause.
And I’m not in any echo chamber. I’m a registered Democrat who’s voted for the party nearly all my life, and nearly everyone I regularly read is a liberal of some kind. That’s the funny thing about echo chambers: they come in all varieties.
How do you feel about the identities of alleged rapists and recidivist sex offenders, who are here illegally, being concealed from the federal government by the city governments of Boston, Chicago, Denver, etc. so these men can be released onto the street 1-2 days after being arrested? It’s pretty shocking, isn’t it?
This is ALL propaganda and disinformation. We already have a robust Rape Culture by American citizens, with the vast majority being White men and White teenage boys. The blood of White men Numenor has grown weak over the last 50 years. Technology has only given them greater access to prey upon women and girls. Your community has an avid of adult incels. And these corrosive misogynistic and sexual predatory Ideologies are trickling down to teenagers. They suckle the metaphorical phallus of the Tate Brothers and men who act as priests for this Ideology.
I would advise you to clean your own house, before you think there are a boatload of Hispanic rapist illegal immigrants. There have been maybe 15 to 20 at the most that have been in the news.
I actually majored in economics. Some of your numbers are a little off (or a lot!) but I agree with the gist. Trump’s tax cuts contributed mightily to the deficit IN HIS FIRST TERM. That was 8 years ago (and they’re part of the reason I voted for Biden!). The past is the past. If we can agree that the deficit is a serious problem then we can agree that brutal cuts will HAVE to be made. Will Trump do this? I doubt it, but at least his supporters are raising the issue. Politics is all about trade offs and priorities and I consider cuts to federal spending (along with promotion of economic growth through deregulation and cutting parasitic entities) to be a high priority. Is Trump doing it perfectly, or even well? No. Is he doing it AT ALL (and being resisted at every step by the Democrats)? Yes. Progress.
That’s to say nothing of the hundreds of billions we’ll cumulatively save in spending on jailing/housing/feeding/supporting illegal migrants. Another high priority-not just for Republicans but for immigrants and Latinos and working class voters of all kind. Trump is a terrible policymaker. It’s truly an indictment of the Democrats that they’re now far worse.
https://jmpolemic.substack.com/p/silence-as-a-political-strategy
You do realize that the farmers, meat processing plants and construction companies are the main employers of illegal immigrants.
Once again the farmers are going to get bailouts.
The problem is Corporations that aren't paying their fair share. Nor are they contributing funds to the Social Security system. Same thing with Billionaires and Millionaire once they get past the 50 Millionaire.
They hidden their money in IRA account to shield their money from taxes.
When your CEOs relatively pay less taxes than their administrative assistants there is something wrong with the tax system.
Reagan borrowed from the SS. The H. Bush/Cheney borrowed from the SS. I think Carter was the last president to do so. But those funds were never replenished.
I have a MS in Accounting with an emphasis on Tax Accounting. Never practice because I realized I would be in the business of shielding individuals making $107,000 from taxes.
I didn't think it through. I just loved doing math problems.
The tax system needs to be restructure so it's progressive and not regressive.
The lower 80% of the population shouldn't be subsidizing the top 15%.
Walmart is one of the biggest employers in the US. They pay their employees just enough to be able to qualify for SNAP.
Taxpayers are subsidizing services industry businesses. The most government Welfare is going to Corporations, Oil corporations, gas corporations, coal mine owners, Farmers, Doctors who own tobacco farms that don't plant tobacco,
You know what they say: "Success is falling down nine times and getting up ten."
Well Valerie, how terrible for you that Trump is the president and you're not. He's winning and you're grinding you're teeth to powder.
Everybody with an ounce of common sense voted for him, and now they're all laughing at you and people like you as you shrivel up with demented, impotent rage, like the witch in the Wizard of Oz.
You lost Valerie, and you're gonna continue losing through the remainder of Trumps term and two terms of Vance.
It's a thing of joy.
By 2026 America will be in the midst of a financial forest fire. The Impeachment process will happen, and the third time's the charm. The Administration will be under investigation various forms of corruption.
Republicans will never impeach him. Honestly, Biden should have been impeached for being a vegetable behind the desk and letting others sign papers for him.
Whilst this is intelligent and accurate it is I'm afraid still 'boo Trump'. What Trump's opponents are mostly yet to do is to take seriously the genuine frustrations of those who feel left behind by globalisation and believe that the American Dream no longer holds any promise for them. And hence they propose no better remedies. Merely shouting at his supporters that they are stupid and racist will not change their minds. The Democrats and moderate Republicans (remember them?) left a vaccuum. Trump filled it. Until the Democrats develop policies that speak to the left behind he has the field to himself.
🎯
Trump reminds me more than anything else of a bored, overgrown self-indulgent teenager with a new computer game, the US Government.
🤣
I am a 1 percenter. Here is a message to all of my peers that are in the 1 percenter income and wealth bracket like is Yascha Mounk... and also most of those in the top 10 percent.
YOU SUCK!
You suck because you demonstrate a massive amount of selfish greed and own a complete lack of understanding, caring, empathy for the bottom 80% of income and wealth in this country, and what your demand for exporting working class economic prosperity to other countries, and importing other country's poverty... all for the cheaper labor that helps to load up your Wall Street accounts.
The top 10% own 70% of stocks and bonds. The top 1% get 70% of their income from investments taxed at capital gains rates. The bottom 60% own 7% of stocks and bonds. The average 401k balance for the bottom 80% is about $100k. And cheap Chinese crap at Walmart is NOT their American dream.
The majority of American don't care that much about the investment markets. The freaking out about the correction Trump is causing just provides more evidence to the bottom 80% that the upper class is out of touch with the economic situation for regular Americans.
So, if you want to see MAGA Republicans continue to dominate American politics, I urge you to keep screaming and wailing about market corrections and demanding we end tariffs on other countries and continue on with the globalist, corporatist status quo.
I may not be in the 1%, but I’m sure I am in the top 2 or 3% and I agree wholeheartedly with the “You suck” sentiment regarding those who have abandoned the bottom 80%.
Brother, it's like that everywhere. There's an urban elite in every capital that zips around from major city to major city making deals, and they are hated by and hate their citizens who live in smaller towns and have less power and wealth. I live in Peru and the inequality is insane! The government has implemented neoliberalism to a T, and therefore allows multinationals to come in and take their raw materials, and it has a 2% approval rating. 2% (!!!) You'll see the educated elite on Twitter with their pronouns in their bio talking about universal human rights. Then you'll go to the countryside and see normal, poor, amazing people just chilling, living life. The last time I took a serious hike I passed through a village and a young boy came up from the river bank with a cain pole just smiling ear to ear. To think that these people are just waiting to be liberated from their backward ways by our NGOs so they can become gender queer is so fucking funny. Seriously. It kills me. The sooner this order dies, the better, in my book.
I wish there was a way to like this a thousand times. I came out of a poor factory town, moved into the so-called “coastal elite” through careers in media and later finance. I am embarrassed to admit that I bought into their crap for a time until I remembered my roots. There are a lot of good people who are being manipulated and treated as disposable by those in power and I find it disgusting.
Oh, yeah. I came of age during the peak TED-talk era and was inspired deeply by them. It's a big reason of how I ended up in Peru. You could call me a disillusioned non-profit-er.
Get Kamala to run again. Please!
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/us/politics/kamala-harris-president-california-governor.html
Of course, just what we need, an airhead who can be manipulated by the DC power brokers. No thanks.
Every Trump voter is hoping with all their might that the Democrats give Kamala another run.
It would truly be a thing of beauty.
The cluelessness is incredible
In a recent post about the present "Humpty-Dumpty" situation of global governance, you asked:
"What might a future look like that addresses these shortcomings in a more responsible way—one that doesn’t insist on returning to a past that is likely gone forever but can credibly promise that we will more fully live up to the most deeply held values and the most oft-repeated promises of our political order?"
I'm afraid it is too late for such serene, scientific-minded thinking. Trump's "literal and serious" words and actions, whether trolling or seen-to-be trolling but actually REAL -- are a direct response to decades of governmental negligence. Negligence to their duty of care. Care of the People, by the People, and for the People. Short of civil war, this executive action is the closest we can come to balancing the scales. We see Wall Street quail and think, "huh. Maybe a glimmer of what we feel every day." A counter-revolution that seems like the revolution itself because the first one happened right under our noses, slow-like, demure and aristocratic..
This is a fair analysis on Trump rhetoric. I would add that there have been several knock on effects of this tariff trade war. All countries are reminded that they are net exporters and their economies depend on their abilities to import into the US. They are reminded not to take the US security blanket for granted and are encouraged to pursue active maintenance. Case in point is that of Panama and its canal. Panamanians are unlikely to forget what happens to dictators who cross the US (Manuel Noriega). When searching for strong military allies who can resist the US (China), they realize no one can project meaningful military might across the globe like the US who only needs to reach across the hemisphere. Panama, being en pointe, helps to broker a deal and cancel its BRI. Everyone sits up and takes notice. Except for China, blinded by the beauty of its guns, who has yet to master wonders of its own growth.
For certain the context regarding trade is true. But again trade and tariff are merely a pretense to engage in the national security dialogue. Negotiating tariff is merely a tacit acknowledgement of who your allies really are. Maintaining alliances is an active process from all parties. There is no trust in the true sense in any of the international orders.
Were you under the impression that all countries are net exporters to the US? Or that we didn't tariff any net importers? You'd be wrong on both counts.
I don’t like everything Trump does. I certainly don’t like everything he says. The anger and worry over the tariffs makes sense when viewed through a short term lens, but viewed through a long term lens the anger and worry logic doesn’t sustain. Americans can endure the pinch in exchange for the long lasting rewards this will bring and we’re already beginning to see rewards.
The blinking?
Then why the blinking?
It’s a 90 day pause to support active negotiations with many countries. “Blink” is media spin. If you expect this tariff campaign to recede, you are fooling yourself.
Please. He's already lost his nerve with the Canada & Mexico tariffs ... multiple times. The sort-term lens is the only way to view it - because that's as far ahead as anyone in charge has thought.
Rebuilding US manufacturing capability will take YEARS. In other words, it requires a plan and political coalition that firms can trust will outlast Trump's time in office, let alone the time until his next mood swing.
Is the fact that a task will take YEARS an excuse for not doing it? If the re-industrialisation of America proves a popular idea, and it seems likely that it will, then it will be a factor in the next few elections at least. In other words, there is a window in which it can happen.
The loss of the industrial base is often discussed in terms of well paying blue collar jobs which have disappeared, but just as relevant is the deskilling that goes with that. The risk of not changing course is both economic and geopolitical, and I believe the Trump administration understands this.
Tariffs need to be viewed here mainly in terms of politics, not economics. My guess is that there will be a continuing confrontation with China, viewed as the main threat, and deals of some sort will be reached elsewhere (though the EU is arguably stupid and arrogant enough to get drawn into a tariff war).
Yeah, sure. That's what you said 20 years ago. Just like the border couldn't be closed line that Democrats uttered continually. How is it possible Trump managed to do it a second time in less than ten years? It was closed this year in less than a month. If we had started rebuilding our industrial base as little as ten years ago while the Democrats were busy impeaching Trump three times, we'd practically be there by now. These swipes at what Trump is trying to do only reveals how little the Democrats care about the future of our country.
For goodness sake, you permit your anger at Trump to reject everything he's doing when almost everything he's doing (eliminating the obvious waste and corruption in our government, trying to alert us to the absence of truly free trade the absence of which benefit only the billionaires and greedy corporate business men who get off on the term globalist, and revealing to all that the universities harbor mostly the anti-Americanism and outright anti-western civilization sentiment characteristic of the lunatic far left)is something the Democrats should be doing. The fact that they stand off to the side smearing, swearing at, and jeering a man, imperfect as he is, who is fighting the good fight on behalf of all americans, not only those left behind by the hollowing of our industrial base. Sheesh!!!
The people around him can make all sorts of 4-D chess claims, but the second Trump himself got in front of a camera he said the pause is because the markets were getting yippy, and that he watched Jamie Dimon on TV talking about a possible recession.
If that's not blinking, I don't know what is.
What you're calling "blinking", not a term I would use; rather try acknowledging that 75 nations called to negotiate, which was something many of the pundits (translate anti orange man obsessed pundits) don't mention for good reason. Doing so would undercut their favored term for the pause but the fact is his ultimatum worked, even if China doubled down. When that many nations bent their will to Trump's demand for fairness, why not accept the fact that he was right to challenge those nations using tariffs in a way that undermines free markets, thus taking huge sums of money from the U.S. But the bottom line is that the Democrats never bothered to point to the absence of a level playing field. Not ever. Whose interests were being served by ignoring obvious violations of Nafta, of any sense of the drain on the american economy.
If we printed all of the opinion pieces about the perception versus the reality of Trump’s behavior the paper would stretch from here to the moon and back again. The question remains what it has always been and that is what are we especially the Democrats going to do about it.
Get better at persuading people who do not think like we do. The only way I know to do that is to listen to them (by "them" I mean the people who are not committed Trump fanatics; I mean the many people who hold their nose and vote for him) and figure out the good things about them and lean into that. And if we can't see the good in them, then we have no business in persuasion and should carefully consider if airing our feelings are likely to help or to hurt our cause.
Or did you mean what to do now that what I outlined above has already massively failed? If that, well, then it's time to point out all the specific ways in which what Trump *does* (not what he *says*) moves us further from America's founding principles and closer to tyranny. There's no shortage of examples.
The verb is "tread" not "trod" (trod is past tense).
Pedant alert! My apologies but it's right in the first sentence.
Despite its seeming fragility, evidently the US system is more stable than we had feared. Unfortunately, each apparent catastrophe Trump (barely) avoids only makes the next one more likely. At some point we will have indeed reached the elastic limit.
Appreciated the piece, Yascha. I've been grappling with some of this lately and commiserating helps a bit
The architecture. Of Trumps actions and statements, literal or serious, is pretty consistent. He sees the hollowing out of the country’s economy and the diminished prospects of non-PMC Americans, which goes beyond factory jobs. He also sees a relationship between this and China’s deliberate hostile actions, the nullification of the immigration laws and the strength that cartels have gained from human trafficking and drug importation through a porous border. Geopolitically, he sees that the world is changing and the United States needs to focus on finding a new place in it. These are all very real issues. Tariffs are his answer to all of these issues is tariffs. Maybe not a good answer but at least he’s trying. If you don’t like that answer, come up with a better one that is responsive to these issues.The Democrats, who neglected these issues for years, don’t even know they are issues. And their progressive wing, in my mind, is actively disloyal.
No matter how fast the Republicans sink the Democrats manage to plummet farther and faster.
The historic Democratic icons FDR, and JFK would laugh at what passes for policy in their own beloved party. Although they were upper class they understood that victory for their party depended on appealing to working class voters. Current party leaders distain the “deplorable” and “racist” members of the working class.
A laundry list of things for Democrats to keep and to dump if they ever want to win again nationwide.
Keep a woman’s right to choose for the first trimester.
Dump abortion until birth unless the mother’s health is at risk or the fetus is not viable.
Keep a concern for climate change and the environment and grow nuclear power.
Dump intermittent, unreliable renewable energy that requires backup continuous generating capacity which is then used intermittently. A ridiculously expensive approach. Even more important, realize that the stifling maze of environmental procedures that now must be followed to build anything has raised the price of necessities like mass transit and housing that the working class needs to survive. Figure out how to build stuff quickly.
Keep and develop new effective vaccines.
Dump vaccine mandates.
Keep equality of opportunity for all. Dump equity of results based on discriminating against men, whites and Asians in a futile attempt to compensate for past discrimination against women and blacks. Recognize that D.E.I. Is unconstitutional.
Keep the protection of gay and lesbian rights.
Dump men in women’s sports, private spaces and prisons. Oh, and mutilating children who might grow up to be gay.
Keep an opportunity for selective high value immigration.
Dump sanctuary cities and open borders.
Keep helping the homeless find jobs and a place to live.
Dump camping in cities, shitting in the streets and allowing open drug use.
Keep a concern for due process in criminal justice.
Dump letting shoplifters and other petty thieves off the hook and releasing predators back on the streets without bail to kill and maim again.
Keep support for unions and fair wages
Dump “free trade” policies that have devastated our manufacturing sector.
Do all of the above and start governing like you know what the fuck you’re doing and you might just find your way back to power.
They have to do much, much better than this. The world has rapidly become a much more dangerous place for the US, the Democrats have neglected these factors for many years, and they are clueless about them even now. They need a plan for these factors as table stakes for responsible governance.
sounds like a good Republican platform
dj: It is because as you well know the Republicans support a woman’s right to choose and are very concerned about climate change. They also strongly support the use of vaccines. Right.
I'm saying it SHOULD be the platform. Not all Republicans should be lumped together, just as not all Dems should be lumped together
ie: not all Dems believe abortion should be a free-for-all up to the 9th month...am I right?
I've always thought of myself as 'normal'. I think of myself as a 'normal' Republican. I am not at all a MAGA Trump normal.
I'm an R, I believe it should be a woman's choice; actually I don't think it should be a law at all - I believe it should ONLY be up to the woman 1st, then the man IF he's willing to take full responsibility, then a Dr... --- IF it's a law, then have it worded in such a way, as stated above: Keep a woman’s right to choose for the first trimester... Dump abortion until birth unless the mother’s health is at risk or the fetus is not viable. Add here, I certainly don't believe abortion should be a form of birth control. Need much more education, etc. The over-the-counter day-after pills should certainly be available.
climate change: again, let's just focus on what can be done for the best energy, housing, etc... your paragraph covered it - R's support that - don't need all the graphs & BS like Gore, etc...Biden's mandates...
vaccines. Come on, quit w/ more BS. You're now going w/ Kennedy. He's had all his kids vaccinated. He's now suggesting everyone get the measles vaccine. There's now proof that COVID 'facts' were not proven, & that was during the end of Trump 1 & strong during Biden. Many R's are NOT liking what's going on now w/ defunding research, etc.
all of this to say, what you said, should be a very strong R platform when hopefully 2028 can have a SANE nominee.
eta: look at what else you wrote: MUCH of it IS the R platform already
Thanks for the explanation.
Agreed. I wrote a short piece that complements your observations.
https://open.substack.com/pub/theunwrittenhour/p/letat-cest-trump-america-is-dead?r=4nt7r5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
"predictions predicated on Zito’s advice are now more likely to prove wrong than right". I don't know that more than 50% of what Trump says should be taken literally, but it is certainly true that that we now have to account for a much higher likelihood that he will do something close to what he says even if it is widely believed to be destructive. The range of possible Trump actions has increased significantly.
I would say "as likely to prove wrong as right" meaning that Zito's observation wasn't really essentially correct. It described Trump in a particular context, and that context no longer obtains.
I agree with your conclusion. The phrase used in the piece was "more likely to prove wrong than right" but that is probably splitting hairs.
I DO NOT CARE. THE PARTY IS OVER ! THE PARTY IS OVER! TRUMP, CLEAN HOUSE NOW NOW !!
Cleaning house and risking burning down the house are very different things.
Trump will leave a field of rubble made up of unreformable institutions. This can be cleared and new, better institutions built on the site.
Tell that to Karen Bass.