The news has been awful this weekend, and I have no patience whatsoever with people who try to put tell me what what is happening is a good thing. Focus on some teeny little piece of things and defend that while ignoring the rest of the shitshow. I just do not have the patience for it.
We have a president who is taking control of the legislative, the executive, and the judicial branches of our government. It is unprecedented and it is wrong in the most fundamentally dangerous way.
I found it hilarious that he is threatening to take Greenland from Denmark, using force if necessary, but then this week he has asked Denmark to increase their egg import to the US. Denmark (to their credit) replied saying that they would continue to do business with their loyal and trusted partners, but they did not expect to have extra eggs to sell to the US. Hurrah for Denmark.
Canada continues to go toe to toe with him. Hurrah for them as well.
Time for a little Robert Reich. He doesn't mince words. He doesn't sugarcoat it. But he finds reasons to remain optimistic.
Friends,
It seems as if the horrendous Trump news doesn’t end — and it doesn’t. We’ve barely endured just over seven weeks of his scourge and every day brings new awfulness.
But the worse it gets, the more Trump, Musk, and the rest of the oligarchy reveal themselves. And the more they reveal themselves — the more they abuse their wealth and power, side with Putin, trample civil liberties, and ride roughshod over the Constitution — the stronger the backlash against them will be. Here’s this week’s summary of 10 reasons for very modest optimism.
1. The Trump slump is worsening.
The first reason for very modest optimism is the current bad economic news. Americans voted for Trump because they thought he’d fix the economy. Many are now suffering buyer’s remorse.
On Monday, in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports, China began imposing tariffs on a range of American farm products, including a 15 percent levy on chicken, wheat, and corn. This is already beginning to hurt the Farm Belt — mostly Republican states and Trump voters.
On Wednesday, after Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on all aluminum and steel imported into the U.S. went into effect, the European Union announced retaliatory tariffs on about $28 billion worth of products, including beef and whiskey — also mostly produced by Republican states (think Kentucky bourbon). Europe is also slapping tariffs on Harley-Davidson motorcycles, made in the Rust Belt.
In response this morning, Trump threatened a 200 percent tariff on all alcoholic products from EU member states. As a result, Trump voters — largely working-class — will be paying more.
Canada also announced new tariffs on about $21 billion worth of U.S. products.
What does this all mean for the economy?
In a Fox News interview that aired Sunday, Trump did not rule out the possibility that his policies would cause a recession. That possibility is growing by the day.
The stock market has continued to plummet. Yesterday, the S&P 500 fell 1.4 percent; the index is now down 10.1 percent from its peak reached less than one month ago and in a “correction” — Wall Street slang for when an index falls 10 percent or more from its peak and when investors worried about a sell-off gathering steam.
Other major indexes, including the Russell 2000 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, were already in correction territory.
The rest of the economy isn’t far behind.
Last Friday’s jobs report showed employers adding 151,000 jobs in February — half as many as in November and December. Leisure and hospitality jobs have declined in the past two months, suggesting that consumers are pulling back on discretionary spending.
The labor force participation rate also fell 0.2 percentage points, to 62.4 percent, mostly due to declining employment among men. The number of workers employed part-time who wanted but couldn’t get full-time work increased by 460,000 to 4.9 million, the most since spring 2021.
CEOs’ assessment of American business conditions is the lowest since the spring of 2020. The New York Times monthly consumer survey finds households feeling gloomy about their year-ahead financial situations.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported Monday that Americans are increasingly worried about the state of their finances. The perceived probability of missing a minimum debt payment over the next three months climbed to its highest level since April 2020, when the economy was in a Covid-19-related freefall.
Egg prices, an emerging symbol of America’s affordability crisis, jumped 10.4 percent last month after a big rise in January.
2. Trump’s support continues to tank.
The consequence of all this for Trump’s political support? It’s tanking. In the latest Emerson national poll, 46 percent of voters say his policies are making the economy worse rather than better, while 28 percent say the opposite (the rest had no opinion).
In a new CNN/SSRS poll, almost three-quarters of Americans view the current economic conditions in the U.S. as poor, 51 percent of the public say they think Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions, and just 28 percent say that his policies have improved things.
In the same poll, the share of Americans saying they expect the economy to be in bad shape a year from now is up 7 points since January, just before Trump took office.
Fifty-five percent of Americans surveyed say they fear Trump’s cuts to federal programs will negatively affect the economy, and just over 50 percent say that they will negatively affect their own families or local communities.
In a new YouGov poll, 48 percent of Americans think the economy is getting worse, up from 37 percent at the start of Trump's second term. Forty-seven percent expect higher inflation in six months — more than twice the share six months ago.
In the latest Quinnipiac poll, 54 percent disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy; only 41 percent approve.
In a new CNN poll, 56 percent of voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy — higher than at any point during his first term. In addition, 61 percent disapprove of tariffs.
I don’t have huge trust in polls but when all major polls show the same thing, there’s reason to believe them.
3. Musk’s claimed savings don’t exist, and his businesses are going down the toilet.
Musk continues to claim big savings from his DOGE effort to take a chainsaw to government. But so far, the actual savings have proven to be tiny.
Soon there will be no way to tell, because Musk and DOGE have just stopped providing identifying details about the cuts — so there’s no way to fact-check them. Not only is this a major step backward from Musk’s promise that he’d be “maximally transparent,” but also it makes his claims of savings nothing but unverifiable propaganda.
DOGE has refused to answer Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from journalists and watchdog groups. On Monday, though, a federal judge ruled that DOGE is likely subject to the FOIA — a win for journalists, watchdogs, and researchers who have demanded greater transparency. On Thursday, another judge ordered Musk and DOGE to turn over records and answer questions in response to a legal complaint filed by Democratic state attorneys general.
Meanwhile, Musk’s growing political power and his shift to the political hard right are damaging his businesses.
Consumers are boycotting Tesla. More than a dozen violent or destructive acts have been directed at Tesla facilities. Tesla’s stock has fallen by more than 35 percent since Trump’s inauguration; it’s down 50 percent since December.
Musk is so alarmed by this that he got Trump to hold a White House promotional event for Tesla this week — where Trump essentially read a Tesla sales pitch and lied that consumer boycotts are “illegal.”
In Germany, sales of Teslas plummeted 76 percent in February compared with a year earlier, according to figures released Wednesday.
Antipathy to Musk is also denting sales of his Starlink satellite internet business.
Musk raised alarms this past weekend when he wrote on X that Ukraine’s front line “would collapse” against Russian forces if Starlink were shut off.
Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, suggested that his country “will be forced to look for other suppliers” if Starlink is “unreliable.” Musk later told Sikorski to “be quiet, small man.”
Andrius Kubilius, the European Union commissioner overseeing defense and space, talked of quickly replacing Starlink if necessary.
Italy is having second thoughts about awarding a $1.6 billion contract to Starlink.
Over the past week, shares in Eutelsat — the French rival to Starlink — have more than tripled.
4. The FBI is moving to criminalize groups like Habitat for Humanity for receiving grants from the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration.
I’m including this as a reason for optimism because it so clearly demonstrates just how absurd and extreme the Trump regime has become.
On Wednesday, Citibank revealed in a court filing that it was told to freeze Habitat for Humanity’s bank accounts, at the FBI’s request. The reason? The FBI alleges that the group is involved in “possible criminal violations,” including “conspiracy to defraud the United States.”
Habitat for Humanity, you may recall, is the group that builds low-income houses in America’s communities. Jimmy Carter worked with them for decades. What did they do to earn the FBI’s ire? They received a climate grant from the Biden administration’s EPA.
Other nonprofits also being targeted by the FBI for receiving climate grants include the Appalachian Community Capital Corporation, the Coalition for Green Capital, and the DC Green Bank.
Yet these groups’ applications for government grants for environmental work were fully reviewed and accepted by the Biden administration’s EPA.
This is not fraud. It’s targeted harassment. And it will be viewed that way by most Americans.
5. Trump’s “beautiful bill” is stranded.
Trump apparently believes that fees from his tariffs when added to savings from Musk’s budget cuts will enable him to finance another large tax cut mainly for big corporations and the wealthy.
Even if he’s correct (which seems extremely doubtful), those tariff fees are financed by American consumers who will be paying higher prices for imports and who’ll also be losing services because of Musk’s cuts. They are are largely working-class Trump voters. Talk about reverse Robin Hood.
Meanwhile, Republicans in control of the House and Senate are divided over the size of spending reductions that should accompany their pending tax cuts, which budgetary yardstick they use, and whether a debt-ceiling increase should be attached.
The Senate still hasn’t agreed to the House strategy to pass one bill that would address the fiscal matters along with border security, after months of debate over whether to split Trump’s priorities into two or even three party-line bills.
Until these questions are resolved with an agreement between House and Senate Republicans, Congress can’t unlock the door to the fast-track “reconciliation” process that circumvents Senate Democrats. And until they unlock that door — which could take weeks or months — Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” is stranded.
6. Bernie is rallying the Democrats
On Friday night, Bernie Sanders drew a crowd of 4,000 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in what he calls his “Stop Oligarchy Tour.” On Saturday morning, another 2,600 in Altoona, Wisconsin, a town of less than 10,000 residents. Then 9,000 in suburban Detroit, where United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain introduced him.
Each stop has been in a swing House district represented by a Republican.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will join Bernie on the road in the coming weeks. She’s also planning solo appearances in Republican-held congressional districts in Pennsylvania and New York and other districts where Republicans have declined to hold in-person town halls because they might face protests.
Elizabeth Warren and Greg Casar headlined a 3,500-person rally in Austin, Texas — the heart of Musk’s business empire.
Tim Walz and many House Democrats will host town halls in GOP districts where their Republican congressmen are avoiding town halls.
Bernie is showing Democratic lawmakers and prospective candidates how hungry Americans are for a strong counteroffensive against Trump and Musk — in contrast to Democratic political operative James Carville’s suggestion that Democrats “roll over and play dead,” and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s willingness to surrender to Republicans on the budget resolution.
7. A coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general has sued Trump, and the federal courts are becoming even more active in stopping him.
On Thursday — two days after the Education Department fired more than 1,300 workers, purging people who administer grants and track student achievement across America — a coalition of Democratic attorneys general sued the Trump regime, saying that the dismissals were “illegal and unconstitutional.”
The coalition is seeking a court order to stop what it calls “policies to dismantle” the department.
Meanwhile, Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia condemned Trump’s executive order punishing law firms that have had Democratic clients, such as special counsel Jack Smith — denying their attorneys access to federal buildings and stripping them of government contracts.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered federal agencies to rehire tens of thousands of probationary employees who have been fired by Trump. Judge Alsup described the mass firings as a “sham” strategy by Trump’s Office of Personnel Management to sidestep legal requirements for reducing the federal workforce.
Alsup ordered that probationary employees across DOD, Treasury, Energy, Interior, Agriculture, and the VA be hired back “immediately.” Alsup also lashed out at the Justice Department over its handling of the case, saying Trump lawyers were hiding the facts about who directed the mass firings.
Another federal judge has blocked the deportation of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, whose green card was voided by the Trump regime and was then imprisoned for his political views.
8. Oligarchs are revealing themselves for who they really are.
This week further revealed how the American oligarchy is using their wealth to curry favor with Trump. Some examples:
Jeff Bezos has decided to stream all seven seasons of Trump’s former reality show, “The Apprentice,” on Amazon Prime. Trump was an executive producer and is likely to receive royalties from the agreement. He even plugged the deal on Truth Social.
Bezos’s Amazon is also paying $40 million for a documentary about the life of Melania Trump. According to The Wall Street Journal, she’s set to make $28 million from the deal.
Bezos has also washed his Washington Post clean of any op-eds critical of Trump (leading to the resignation of some of its top opinion writers, such as Ruth Marcus) and refuses to carry ads critical of Trump.
Meanwhile, Musk, the wealthiest person in the world, who spent more than $250 million to help elect Trump, is donating an additional $100 million to help further Trump’s agenda.
9. Other nations are uniting against Trump, and the global right is losing ground.
It’s also become apparent this week that Trump is, ironically, the great unifier of Europe. Trump’s policies have helped leaders who were struggling with stagnant economies and rightwing opponents. Facing down American tariffs and drawing together to confront an ally that is behaving more like an adversary has proved to be good politics.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s whirlwind of diplomacy — trying to marshal a European peacekeeping force for Ukraine while also working to salvage the alliance with Washington — has won him praise across Britain’s political spectrum. Starmer’s poll numbers have bounced back from what was a dismal first six months in government.
In Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum has won praise and stratospheric poll numbers for her coolheaded handling of Trump’s tariffs. Mark Carney, a former central banker, was catapulted to the leadership of Canada’s Liberal Party with 86 percent of the vote on the belief that he can manage a trade war with the United States.
Carney’s party, which lagged the Conservatives by double digits under the premiership of Justin Trudeau, has recently closed the gap, putting the Liberals within striking distance of a victory in an election that Carney is expected to call soon. The Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, has struggled to regain momentum, and Liberals have been quick to paint him as a Canadian Trump.
10. Americans will soon feel the effects of the Trump-Musk chainsaw.
Most Americans don’t care terribly much that government workers are being axed, but they do care about government services being axed. They’re about to feel those effects very soon. This is also cause for modest optimism because the sooner most people feel those effects, the stronger will be the backlash against the Trump regime. Consider, for example:
— Weather. The National Weather Service produces lifesaving forecasts, but Trump is cutting 20 percent of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — hobbling weather forecasts.
— Food stamps. Millions of poor families, many in red states, rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance — food stamps — to have enough to eat. The Trump regime is making substantial cuts and wants states to make up the difference. Most red states cannot.
— Veterans benefits. Over 9 million veterans depend on benefits from the Veterans Administration. But Trump’s cuts at the VA have disrupted medical treatment, ended studies involving experimental treatments, forced some facilities to fire support staff, and created uncertainty amid the mass cancellation of hundreds of VA contracts. The VA serves a constituency courted heavily by Republicans. Veterans, including Republican-leaning vet groups, are fighting back against Trump’s VA cuts.
— Measles. With lower rates of vaccination against measles and a vaccine skeptic at the helm at HHS, we’re witnessing significant measles outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico that have infected more than 250 people — many of them unvaccinated school-age children — and claimed two lives; a flu season that led to record numbers of hospitalizations; and the potential for a bird flu epidemic.
— Tuberculosis. Americans are vulnerable to communicable diseases that exist in other nations, such as tuberculosis, which kills more people worldwide than any other infectious disease. But since Trump ordered the freeze on USAID, the entire system of finding and treating TB has collapsed in dozens of countries across Africa and Asia.
— Education. On Tuesday, Trump and Musk fired half the Education Department, purging people who administer grants and track student achievement across America. Education cuts will hurt red states in particular: States that voted for Trump last November, on average, use more federal funding in their education apportions than states that voted for former Vice President Harris.
— Social Security. More than 100 million Americans depend on Social Security. But Musk’s DOGE is now combing through Social Security databases to flag suspicious payments. Musk describes Social Security as rife with fraud and repeats the conspiracy theory that Democrats have used it as a “gigantic magnet to attract illegal immigrants and have them stay in the country.” Earlier this month, he referred to Social Security as “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”
This week, DOGE tried to eliminate Social Security’s phone customer service, only to scrap the plan after massive public backlash (although DOGE is still cutting phone options for direct deposit changes).
I offer you these reasons for very modest hope not because I want you to deny the awfulness of what’s occurring, but because I want you to see we are not necessarily doomed. Not all is lost. There are reasons to believe that the vast majority of Americans are catching on. And if that’s the case, the scourge will be over. We may even be stronger for having gone through it.
We had an interesting day here, weather wise. Tornado warnings for most of the afternoon, thunderstorms, Our neighbor (the red house - and yes, it is a two story) has huge pine trees in her back yard, three of them, easily 60 feet tall. The wind made one snap in half.

That 25 foot section crashed down on to another neighbor's trampoline, and really,
it was fortunate. If the tree had fallen the other way, it would have landed on a house.
Anyway, a thunderstorm came through and knocked power out for 3 hours.
It was kind of nice to enjoy the quiet.
We showed the house again today. The couple seemed enthusiastic about it, and said we'd be hearing from them. We'll see. She was excited because they have everything they need to put the kitchen in. They bought their grandmother's kitchen cupboards when she replaced her kitchen.
I meant to show you this:

This is the copper fender for the fireplace that Tim found in the basement just a couple days ago. He was pleased. It is pretty. It will prettier yet when it is shined up.
Another happy thing? My tomatoes are germinating.
Tomorrow, we will got up to Grand Valley to work on the new house. Tim is running to Titusville. I will use the time to start assembling my flower garden at the front of the house. I will be moving stone and bricks, and planting bulbs that will not bloom until next spring. I'm looking forward to it. It seems almost relaxing to be able to work on just one project: the new house.
It is terrifying, just terrifying. And what terrifies me more is the people who are not concerned at all. It is horrific and sad that these people lack all compassion. I'm sickened.
ReplyDeleteI know. I just keep thinking that this simply won't sustain itself in the long run. I believe that as people begin to feel the bite, there will be a mighty backlash. Congressional republicans are refusing to meet with their constituents. One of them, Mike Kelly, has always taken part in the St Patrick's day parade in Erie. He bowed out this year because he was worried about partisan protest. If they are so sure that what they are doing is for the good of our country, they would not be afraid to meet with people. That is why Bernie Sanders, Tim Walz and AOC are holding town halls, and the venues are PACKED. People are outraged and they do want to be heard and if there is a chance to attend one of these meetings, Tim and I will go.
DeleteAnd a little over half of the American voters voted for this chaos. The days of trying to understand their reasoning are long gone. I think the least we can do is push them out of our lives completely.
ReplyDeleteI think that minds and hearts will change here over the course of the next few months, my friend. Those people's eyes will be opened. And then, we have to be prepared to accept them. No sense in prolonging the divisions.
DeleteThis was a childish thing to say on my part, I apologize. I'm just so filled with anger that we had this monster in office before and I thought that most of his supporters learned their lesson and they didn't.
DeleteI do understand it, Doug. I am not above knee jerk and childish tesponses.
DeleteThe good news continues to be that we are fighting back. And, Musk has lost 60 billion this year.
ReplyDeleteOnly 334 billion more to go...
DeleteThank you for all that! It does reinforce my hope that all is not lost down there.
ReplyDeleteAh, Kate. It's a discouraging time. Last week a bill was introduced to ban the use of federal funds to invade Canada, Greenland, or Panama. I just can't believe that we've come to a time like this.
DeleteYou have lots going on. The storms are dangerous and scary. At this point in time Trump is without rationality. The very well written , thought out piece has no effect on Trump because he doesn't have the capacity to understand these things.
ReplyDeleteOh the piece is not written for Donald Trump. You are right. He doesn't care. It is written for us.
DeleteDebby - how can I access the above commentary by Reich so I can post it on my Facebook page with proper acknowledgement of its original source? I am not terribly computer savvy, but with some help from a friend, I would like to spread his message. I am limited to what I can do to protest donnie dump and his henchmen (at 84 can't march, not sure if I want to be arrested) but it has been my goal lately to repost any Facebook entries which would be exposing the truth and could be detrimental to the dump regime. If any one thing I post will change one person's mind and help them see what is really going on, I would feel I was contributing in my own small way.
ReplyDeleteAna, I actually took this from his Facebook. Just go there and share the post to your feed. Come back if you have any questions.
DeleteYou can also sign up for Reich's daily newsletter for free. Just go to his home page using his name. (That's how I am getting them now after seeing them here) He also has paid subscriptions, so just be careful you sign up for the "free newsletter".
DeleteI get the free newsletters as well, but since she was specifically asking for the purpose of putting it on her Facebook page, I thought that sharing directly from his page might be easier for her. He is great at pulling it all together though, isn't he?
DeleteThanks, everyone - I actually found him on Facebook, so shared it on my Facebook page, just what I wanted to do. I really appreciate all your responses.
DeleteEvery time I think the news couldn't get ANY worse, it does! I am alternately terrified, full of range and despairing. It can't be good for my health, either physical or mental.
ReplyDeleteI am upset. Often upset, I'll admit to that. But we cannot simply succumb. When I find myself teetering on the edge of despair, I disengage. I marvel at my little tomato plants. I try to focus on doing some small good for this world. I finished a good book yesterday.
DeleteThat was a long read and quite disturbing, especially when it seems so many people just don't care what is going on.
ReplyDeleteIt bothers me most that the people who are supposed to be representing us aren't. They are refusing, en masse, to do townhalls. That's why people are protesting. Because if their representatives will not meet with them and carry their concerns to Washington, we have to carry them there ourselves.
DeleteWhat I don't understand is that your constitution 'allows' it to happen so quickly. And yes I am reading Robert Reich, he is doing a terrific job sorting out all the terrible things happening at the moment.
ReplyDeleteI agree Thelma, but I think the problem here is that the American constitution was written by rational men of the enlightenment, rather like Robert Reich. Those men could not have conceived of a future president being both irrational and unenlightened, so the checks and balances needed to counter that just weren't written into it. Perhaps, post Trump, they will be.
DeleteBut that is just it, Thelma. Our constitution does NOT allow this. There are three branches of the government. The judicial, the legislative and the executive. The president is part of the executive branch, along with his cabinet and his advisors. The legislative branch concerns itself with making laws and decisions for the good of the people. That is the congress. The judicial branch is the enforcement part. These three branches are meant to work together. One branch is not meant to control the others. That is the constitution. However, what is happening is that the executive branch is controlled by a madman who wields great power. He has filled his cabinet with members who consider their highest duty to be loyal to him, not their country. The legislative branch is full of people who are supposed to be representing the people, but are, instead, currying favor with this man. The judicial branch...well...you need only to look at the supreme court to know why it is not going to work. We've got a man who is ignoring judges' decisions and to remove them from their seats if they disagree with him. We've got a man who is making and over riding decisions made by the congress. The constitution is being totally ignored at this point. We have an autocracy.
DeleteThe world is in a terrible state. I look forward to seeing your new garden and pots Debby.
ReplyDeleteIt will happen. It will happen a lot faster now that we can simply work on one project.
DeleteThank you for posting that article, we don't always hear the details here in UK, it's clear they have no respect for the little people who got him into power, he is a first class bully, and I'm glad the world is standing up to him. Sadly it's going to get messy everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI know. We've put the world in a bad place. We will pay for that. We should too.
DeleteI just want to ask my Trump friends, "Are you happy now? Are you proud of this IDIOT you elected? Has he actually done ONE thing to improve anything for the U.S.?" Let's hope the Simpsons are right.
ReplyDeleteHe has made everything infinitely worse.
DeleteEnjoy planting bulbs and setting up your garden. We still have some snow on the ground. The thunder storm came through here too but we rarely lose power. I was hoping we would cut off power to the States only long enough to get their attention. The uneducated Americans have no idea of our power to get past the orange creeps tariffs. We should cut off essentials until the rump begs like he did for the eggs.anyway keep on keeping on and elbows up Debby. Gigi
ReplyDeleteOur snow is pretty much gone, and I'm not sorry to see it go.
DeleteIt is just unbelievable..and when you think that they can't possibly do more they do...
ReplyDeleteThat's the part that makes me the most frightened. Greeneville Tennessee police department has announced a Hispanic community meeting. It is widely believed to be an trap for ICE. It is frightening that local police departments are working in conjunction with this.
DeleteI get Robert Reich's letters in my email and I think he explains things so well. Protests are happening, courts are ruling against the current president but the news is slow to spread in the media. A local town hall meeting this week got so many requests to attend that it will also be streamed now as all of the people can't fit into the venue.
ReplyDeleteIt is not spreading slowly in the media. It is actively being suppressed by some news agencies. We can only press on. Can I ask a question? Is your town hall meeting being moderated by a republican or a democratic speaker? Because here, in red dot land, our representatives refuse to come to town halls because of the 'partisan backlash'.
DeleteThe rich get richer and further separated from the poor. They simply cannot understand the privations of the poorest people. America is waking up gradually.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is Jabblog, they never came to power trying to understand the privations. However, the vast majority of Americans are NOT wealthy and they feel the pinch. They believed the promises. Simple as that. Now, if they thought they would were 'pinched' before, they are about to learn what it feels like to get punched. And then hearts and minds will change. We are preparing for that, Tim and I, doing what we can do to take care of our families during these times, but we both understand that change will not happen until people are hurting, and so we do not waste a lot of despairing over that part. Better to prepare for it.
DeleteI know it's true that when people start to realize that their own government funds such as social security are cut, they will be far more apt to rise up in protest but how horrendous that this is what it's going to take.
ReplyDeleteI know. As the saying goes, 'some learn by watching. Some learn by reading. Some just have to piss on the electric fence themselves.' We can't stop it.
DeleteI feell like a need a shower after reading that post by Robert Reich. He's a good man to wade through all of the shitshow, to bring facts to the people.
ReplyDeletetrump and musk have staged a coup, people just haven't figured it out yet.
He is an important voice right now, and I am encouraged that other voices are being raised right now. The louder it gets, the more it sounds like 'hope' to me.
DeleteScary about the tree! I'm glad it fell the "right" way.
ReplyDeleteI must confess I skipped the Reich column. I might come back and read it but I just can't face it now. Perhaps he addresses this, but for me, the fact that Congress has utterly rolled over and allowed Trump to run rampant is on them. Checks and balances mean nothing when those with oversight aren't doing their job. If Trump starts ignoring court orders it will be up to Congress to act. Let's see if they have the fortitude.
(He's already ignoring court orders, so not really an "if.")
DeleteAnd congress is already indicating their reluctance to stand up to it. AND they are refusing to meet with the people they were elected to represent.
DeleteI have days when I can face what is happening and days I can't. This is a day I can't but I will come back and read this later. Thank you for posting information. It is extremely important but a balancing act for me in terms of sanity and knowledge. I sound like a broken record repeating "I cannot believe this is my country".......
ReplyDeleteCompletely understand it, Jackie. That is exactly why I highlighted it with a different color print so that people can skip it if they need to. Boud had a nice reminder today: there are many kinds of strength. You do you, jackie...and not one person will think less of you for doing so.
DeleteI was away for the weekend so just catching up. I actually read your Robert Reich and Heather Cox Richardson regularly - they give me heart that there is spine in the US and the wrongs are being seen and documented. I think that a lot of your countrymen are like my Dad (as well as the old and cantankerous) - sold a pup and trying hard to keep believing the hype when all the hyperbole is pointing to a far different monster. Don't get me wrong - the pup was a monster too!
ReplyDeletePig in a poke springs to mind...
DeleteThe deportation of men to Ecuador despite a judge telling him not to do it is bad. He's defying the courts. There's no one to arrest him if he's found in contempt. Vance already said that if they get rulings they don't like, they'll ignore them.
ReplyDeleteThis guy writes a good article.
https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-evil-at-your-door?triedRedirect=true
We are paying Ecuador $6M to hold 3000 men for 1 year. WTH is DOGE when you need them?
ReplyDeleteEl Salvador. I was wrong. But that was a good article. Thanks for the link. It is chilling to watch labels slapped on people. No one even questions who they are or whether they have actually done anything at all.
Delete