I keep asking myself “Self, at what % Presidential approval rating, will GOP politicians jump the USS MAGA?”
I cannot fathom the horror of the two people clinging to a piece of wreckage offshore of Venezuela in the middle of the night. They were survivors until they weren’t. No investigation. No trial. Nothing…..
I cannot help but wonder what the operator on the demolition hoe at the East Wing felt when the foreman gave him his orders…..
I do not know at what point in time so many of us became the monsters….
Good lord Mary! Your ability to keep all the threads straight is astounding. I want to say I feel better but actually I’m just gobsmacked by the sheer gravity of the news. Yet your words also shine a tiny glimmer of light showing a way forward. Hoping for war crimes investigations and accountability. Clear skies in Ashland this morning but stupidly cold. We all just carry on.
I have a slightly different response to the haunting question of why Trump's base is so base. Suppose you're a MAGA guy who can't hold a job or get a date. Your friends and family might think you a loser, but Trump paints a different picture. For one thing, you've got white skin and male genitalia, things that have been devalued over the past few decades, but not anymore. You have American citizenship, something Trump's gold and platinum cards for foreigners have helpfully valued to be worth at least a million. Trump also punishes his enemies and helps his supporters, so as a loyal member of Team Trump, your card isn't just platinum. It's at least diamond.
This, at least, would explain why MAGA supporters continue to back a man who, by conventional economic measures, is making their lives worse. Trump may be raising their grocery prices and taking away their health care, but he's making them feel better about themselves. And that apparently trumps everything.
I thought of the word "permission" within minutes of watching that ride down the golden escalator--permission to be our worst selves. I grew up when racial slurs were common even among Roosevelt Democrats and "woman's place is in the home" was gospel; after the Civil Rights and 2nd wave feminism, such crap became not, well, civil. Expressed in private perhaps but not in mixed company. This actually continued as a social norm even after trickle down economics took hold and gutted so much.
But by now in Trump 2.0 it is another norm gone missing. Before trump, "manly man" was something said as a joke; now it is an aspiration taken to ridiculous heights by trumpian memes of what I've always called the "bulge bulge bulge" idea of what is attractive to women. I'm convinced that part of Kamala's problem was what I call Misogyny Lite: all for women's rights in the abstract but just not QUITE sure they want to take orders from one.
It's expanded beyond race and gender to embrace education and science and expertise in general. It is "my kid could do a Jackson Pollock" writ large. After a career of working with contractors in financial difficulties, I long ago learned that "smart" doesn't need to be educated and educated often doesn't mean smart; by smart I mean what I call "bright"--curious, able to see relationships between ideas, quick to follow an argument and capable of seeing inconsistencies that weaken an argument or pronouncement. I know plenty of lawyers who aren't bright. It is too bad some of these people feel the need to be "superior" when some of them at least are pretty bright and/or skilled at something THIS lawyer could never begin to do. But they ARE scared because they are told that in the face of someone purporting to be an expert or "smarter" they must be inferior. It's just more stereotyping, the great tool of propaganda.
Well, some of them ARE fairly dull. Instead of nurturing something to be proud of, fear is easier. And the people in power for their own ends know how to wield it. And to pound the theme: it's money that matters, über alles.
Am still gobsmacked that he’s still at a 36% approval rating. Find this so mind numbing that have no idea what they are seeing in their worlds so appeasing. It’s a clown show within a clown show from these 36%..
After 88 years of living next to what was thought of as a trustworthy big brother during which we always relied on it to DO THE NEXT RIGHT THING, I now tremble at the daily news coming from
what we always secretly feared..........clowns are scary.
"Adam Kinzinger released a video that lays out the stakes with remarkable clarity. The “kill everybody” directive, if issued, is not a close call. It’s illegal. It’s immoral"
This illegal boat strike on "suspected" narco-terrorists is going to have serious legs. Reports are coming out that the occupants in the boat were simple fishermen whose families were being held hostage and threatened with death. If the first strike wasn't as war crime, shooting the survivors certainly is. They weren't just survivors -- they were witnesses!
The way you have explained why Trump’s base is so base is precisely correct in its assessment of the dynamics. Gobs of people who feel deeply insecure & ignored are, as you say, given “permission” to look down on those who are supposed to be inferior. That dynamic is universal. We live mostly in hierarchical societies with power & resources massed at the top. The solution is to cultivate radical equality from the ground up.
I suspect that as Trump feels more pressure he’s going to up the ante as revenge, which is what we all know is his modus operandi. If somehow he’s impeached we’re still stuck with JD.
The cruel joke was a recurrent dream I woke from for many years , disassociated from reality, scared, confused. I thought over the years it would reveal the conflict I fought . It was premonition. Again.
And here we are.
I thought how do people get so duped to think because their bomb is bigger than others ..they win ?!!!! The answer came when I realized -overhearing a conversation at the annual fall Fest we had- the men folk all standing around the fire were discussing theirs….who had the biggest …….yea bomb ..or was that a gun? oh maybe it was ‘something else’.
It was a moment I understood all things …better than I immediately realized (and never had the dream again btw).
The realities Mary presents in this post demonstrate just how far down the authoritarian oligarchy road Trump and his utterly corrupt administration have taken our country. I keep thinking that surely this will be "the thing" that will wake up the GOP Congress, or the MAGA loyalists, or SCOTUS, or, or, or....
And yet the utter disregard for the Constitution, the scandals, the international outrage, everything continue to sink beneath the surge of tidal waves caused by the next thing. What is it going to take to finally end this catastrophe? Will our country survive long enough to actually see the end?
I keep asking myself “Self, at what % Presidential approval rating, will GOP politicians jump the USS MAGA?”
I cannot fathom the horror of the two people clinging to a piece of wreckage offshore of Venezuela in the middle of the night. They were survivors until they weren’t. No investigation. No trial. Nothing…..
I cannot help but wonder what the operator on the demolition hoe at the East Wing felt when the foreman gave him his orders…..
I do not know at what point in time so many of us became the monsters….
Good lord Mary! Your ability to keep all the threads straight is astounding. I want to say I feel better but actually I’m just gobsmacked by the sheer gravity of the news. Yet your words also shine a tiny glimmer of light showing a way forward. Hoping for war crimes investigations and accountability. Clear skies in Ashland this morning but stupidly cold. We all just carry on.
Your best column yet, I think. Inspirational but scary, too...
Oh how I wish I doubted it's as bad as Mary said.
Another BRAVO moment, Mary🙏🙏🙏
I have a slightly different response to the haunting question of why Trump's base is so base. Suppose you're a MAGA guy who can't hold a job or get a date. Your friends and family might think you a loser, but Trump paints a different picture. For one thing, you've got white skin and male genitalia, things that have been devalued over the past few decades, but not anymore. You have American citizenship, something Trump's gold and platinum cards for foreigners have helpfully valued to be worth at least a million. Trump also punishes his enemies and helps his supporters, so as a loyal member of Team Trump, your card isn't just platinum. It's at least diamond.
This, at least, would explain why MAGA supporters continue to back a man who, by conventional economic measures, is making their lives worse. Trump may be raising their grocery prices and taking away their health care, but he's making them feel better about themselves. And that apparently trumps everything.
Mary, you hit a 20 out of 10 on this column. Terrific well articulated observations. Thank you. I am sharing as widely as I can.
I thought of the word "permission" within minutes of watching that ride down the golden escalator--permission to be our worst selves. I grew up when racial slurs were common even among Roosevelt Democrats and "woman's place is in the home" was gospel; after the Civil Rights and 2nd wave feminism, such crap became not, well, civil. Expressed in private perhaps but not in mixed company. This actually continued as a social norm even after trickle down economics took hold and gutted so much.
But by now in Trump 2.0 it is another norm gone missing. Before trump, "manly man" was something said as a joke; now it is an aspiration taken to ridiculous heights by trumpian memes of what I've always called the "bulge bulge bulge" idea of what is attractive to women. I'm convinced that part of Kamala's problem was what I call Misogyny Lite: all for women's rights in the abstract but just not QUITE sure they want to take orders from one.
It's expanded beyond race and gender to embrace education and science and expertise in general. It is "my kid could do a Jackson Pollock" writ large. After a career of working with contractors in financial difficulties, I long ago learned that "smart" doesn't need to be educated and educated often doesn't mean smart; by smart I mean what I call "bright"--curious, able to see relationships between ideas, quick to follow an argument and capable of seeing inconsistencies that weaken an argument or pronouncement. I know plenty of lawyers who aren't bright. It is too bad some of these people feel the need to be "superior" when some of them at least are pretty bright and/or skilled at something THIS lawyer could never begin to do. But they ARE scared because they are told that in the face of someone purporting to be an expert or "smarter" they must be inferior. It's just more stereotyping, the great tool of propaganda.
Well, some of them ARE fairly dull. Instead of nurturing something to be proud of, fear is easier. And the people in power for their own ends know how to wield it. And to pound the theme: it's money that matters, über alles.
Am still gobsmacked that he’s still at a 36% approval rating. Find this so mind numbing that have no idea what they are seeing in their worlds so appeasing. It’s a clown show within a clown show from these 36%..
After 88 years of living next to what was thought of as a trustworthy big brother during which we always relied on it to DO THE NEXT RIGHT THING, I now tremble at the daily news coming from
what we always secretly feared..........clowns are scary.
"Adam Kinzinger released a video that lays out the stakes with remarkable clarity. The “kill everybody” directive, if issued, is not a close call. It’s illegal. It’s immoral"
This illegal boat strike on "suspected" narco-terrorists is going to have serious legs. Reports are coming out that the occupants in the boat were simple fishermen whose families were being held hostage and threatened with death. If the first strike wasn't as war crime, shooting the survivors certainly is. They weren't just survivors -- they were witnesses!
https://jaywilson1.substack.com/p/kill-them-kill-them-all?r=10sd39
It's also a perfect example for the so-called "Seditious Video" put out by six democrats where Trump threatened them with execution.
https://jaywilson1.substack.com/p/when-ignorance-becomes-a-capital?r=10sd39
The way you have explained why Trump’s base is so base is precisely correct in its assessment of the dynamics. Gobs of people who feel deeply insecure & ignored are, as you say, given “permission” to look down on those who are supposed to be inferior. That dynamic is universal. We live mostly in hierarchical societies with power & resources massed at the top. The solution is to cultivate radical equality from the ground up.
Could not agree more
I suspect that as Trump feels more pressure he’s going to up the ante as revenge, which is what we all know is his modus operandi. If somehow he’s impeached we’re still stuck with JD.
The cruel joke was a recurrent dream I woke from for many years , disassociated from reality, scared, confused. I thought over the years it would reveal the conflict I fought . It was premonition. Again.
And here we are.
I thought how do people get so duped to think because their bomb is bigger than others ..they win ?!!!! The answer came when I realized -overhearing a conversation at the annual fall Fest we had- the men folk all standing around the fire were discussing theirs….who had the biggest …….yea bomb ..or was that a gun? oh maybe it was ‘something else’.
It was a moment I understood all things …better than I immediately realized (and never had the dream again btw).
Why can’t we all just get along?
Because ..”I got the biggest bomb”?
😬
Because the vast majority of global decisions are made by men.
Greedy ruthless men
The realities Mary presents in this post demonstrate just how far down the authoritarian oligarchy road Trump and his utterly corrupt administration have taken our country. I keep thinking that surely this will be "the thing" that will wake up the GOP Congress, or the MAGA loyalists, or SCOTUS, or, or, or....
And yet the utter disregard for the Constitution, the scandals, the international outrage, everything continue to sink beneath the surge of tidal waves caused by the next thing. What is it going to take to finally end this catastrophe? Will our country survive long enough to actually see the end?