Thank you so much for this wonderful piece. And for all the work you have put into this year. Your writing is one of the greatest sources of clarity for me, in all this swirling muck and miasma. Here's to the power of moonbeams, and the emerging cracks beginning to let all kinds of light through.
Happy birthday! In a sense, living through the past 75 years means living through one of the most fascinating periods in human history. In another sense, the Chinese curse of living in interesting times is not comforting. Linda, we will prevail!
I hate it when you re-read a comment and realize you didn't check your own writing. I meant "accelerate" not "acceleration". Oh well, I can claim age problems-right?
This essay will become a foundational source document for the DECLINE AND FALL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, once we get a Gibbon to write it. The slow-motion collapse of the international carry trade is a self-inflicted mortal wound.
Until and if the magats understand their lives are controlled by their media bubbles and what they "know" is not really real, we will continue to be under the threat of collapse. The quickest way to get to magats is through their human fears, to control them through their desperation, to occasionally pet them once they are docile. Twump and Co know this only too well. They have all been briefed on the Fascist Takeover Playbook a/k/a Project 2025. Such good students! Twump will not be known to history as a "bloodless Stalin" or a "weak Hitler" because he is neither bloodless nor weak. He has already killed, through bombing, hundreds of people in Venezuela and Nigeria. Also, he has caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands (and it will reach into the millions) of Africans who relied on our good will to keep babies and mothers alive and the rest of the population secure against collective diseases while promoting democracy. In America, he has targeted a single group: Spanish speaking, Spanish looking, brown skinned people for round up and imprisonment. He has constructed concentration camps to concentrate those people who are not white. This will progress to mean American citizens of color if left unchecked. Yes, he has wandered into the territory where comparisons to the worst of humanity are not far fetched but provable. (Oh, that's just Twump 2.0, I need to mention the deaths he caused with his idiotic response to Covid.)
I've always loved riding the subway, dark , filled with strangers going to many different destinations yet trusting the subway driver to get them there. Then, climbing up the stairs to the light and knowing you have arrived. What a great essay, Mary, and thanks to Mamdani for being sworn in to serve in this hub representative of service that can be depended upon. My heart is filled with hope on this 1st day of 2026 and your words throughout the year, even in the darkest of times , have kept it alive. Happy New Year, Mary! We're off to save the world again.
Another excellent summary. We must never forget that, but for the Supreme Court's unnecessary delay, there could have been a trial in March of 2024, at which time much of this evidence could have been presented. Even if the last minute July 1, 2024 immunity decision (also wrong) had been rendered on, say, February 1, 2024 (and it could have been) I don't think all the stuff Trump did could have been successfully argued as "official acts".
So, we now have a much stronger (as if it needed to be stronger) case for impeachment. It is unfathomable that there isn't (yet, anyway) a majority in the House. And it is unfathomable that there could not be two-thirds in the Senate to convict after all the evidence is aired before all the world. I'm sure some will say that he didn't do all these criminal acts in the present term, but common sense says it doesn't matter -- he did them when he was president. And of course he has engaged in a lot of other impeachable conduct this term. And I don't think the Supreme Court's manufactured immunity from "official acts" would apply to impeachment and Senate trial. I don't think the Supreme Court should even have a say as to that question, under the "sole power" language in Article I of the Constitution.
The economic analysis should scare us all. It's well to remember that Trump has filled the cabinet with incompetents who only got there by being lapdogs to Trump. We the People have a lot of work to do to avert fiscal disaster.
Great comments about Mamdani. Indeed a ray of hope!
The ethical work and testimony of Jack Smith behind closed doors and your own moon beam at night between the “surf and stars” are similar, are they not? Both take place away from fanfare and noise. Both are directed upward, into the clear, where truth still hovers and matters. Thank you so much.
Thank you for all your hard work, reading and listening so we don't have to. I look forward to your posts each day. May we all have a better year and somehow get through this.
As others have said, I read your posts first (then HCR, then Hartmann) because they are real, cleverly written and, well, just make me feel better. Here's to you this New Year's Day, Mary!
Extraordinary piece of first rate journalism. Sober, factual and realistic. Main stream media deserves to be maligned, now and in the perspective of history.
Thank you Mary for your tireless work. Was going to wait until Friday to read Jack Smith’s deposition and watch the 8 hours of testimony. Yet the New Year brought an unexpected wind with snow overnight. Since up decided to scratch the itch of reading Smith’s words, a steadfast prosecutor whose integrity, decency and admiration of the law is unquestionable.
Jack Smith deposition. testimony on December 17, 2025 behind closed doors, his words that should resonate with pure clarity —
“The evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy. These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him. The other co-conspirators were doing this for his benefit..”
While reading his testimony thoughts…. We will see how the second case of classified documents against him will unfold, as per Jack Smith’s investigation. The Trump-appointed judge in Florida, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon emphasized that her timeline for release could give way to legal claims that the report shouldn’t be released at all.
The Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon who has blocked for nearly a year the release of Smith’s classified documents report.
The release date is on Feb. 24 per Cannon. But she’s given him an out.
Cannon also invited a possible legal challenge by Trump or his former alleged co-conspirators, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, that could further delay the report’s release. The Trump-appointed judge emphasized that her timeline for release of the report could give way to legal claims that Smith’s report shouldn’t be released at all.
It’s nothing like we all didn’t see the mass of photos of the classified material he stashed at Mar-a-Lago in 2021. All of the material written and testimony given to journalists from security hired to move around the masses of boxes from bathrooms to other rooms within that Mar-a-Lago compound. Even members of that exclusive club were aware of the classified documents being shuffled around.
Even according to the original and superseding indictments, Trump displayed classified information on at least two specific occasions in 2021:
1. A writer, a publisher, and two staff members: In July 2021 at Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump was audio-recorded showing a "plan of attack" (later identified as a Pentagon plan regarding Iran). On the tape, he acknowledged the document was "highly confidential" and "secret," noting he could have declassified it as president but "now I can't".
2. A representative of his political action committee (PAC): In late 2021, Trump allegedly showed a classified military map related to a military operation that was "not going well," warning the representative not to get too close. This individual was later identified in reports as Susie Wiles.
Seems Susie Wiles was prepared in advance of being complicit well before being appointed as White House Chief of Staff..
Judge Cannon clears way for release of classified docs report — but gives Trump an out
A very encouraging start to the new year, Mary. We all have the opportunity, and duty, to see it through in our own little corners of the world. Happy New Year!
I don't typically need to read Mary more than once to understand. I did today. Not because she wasn't clear, but because the complexities of finance aren't as easily absorbed by me as they used to be. Wonderful information about Jack Smith. I predict the next funeral for a current or former president of USA will happen during a severe and highly contagious flu epidemic. Melania might not even be there.
Thank you Mary for diving into the Jack Smith testimony and extracting the critical essences of the man and the moment. He must have shaken loose a deeply buried sense of conscience and truth conveniently anesthetized by the lure of worshiping false idols and acquiescing to power and greed in the GOP inquisitioners.
In truth, Jack Smith's exposures had been clearly visible to us as the events unfolded. Trump's toxic, psychopathic gaslighting and confident sincerity insisting that his lies were truth, captured the grievances and hopes of many while leaving those of us who saw through his malevolence unable to break the trance or protect our common good.
Former Supreme Court Justice David Souter repeatedly warned that a lack of civic education and an uninformed electorate are grave threats to American democracy. The civic malaise that enveloped our culture was paradoxically a result of our prosperity and security.
Donald Trump's grift was ripe to seize our slumberous disattention and our wishful allurement for quick fixes and easy answers.
Trump's blitzkrieg of our institutions, lawless incompetence in violating our core beliefs and shared values, and rampaging through our treasure and safety has gotten the public's attention. We are now in a crash course of civil rules of engagement, the rule of law, and excavating for the truth.
Your sober analysis of our current financial mess and executive dysfunction is spot on. Jack Smith, Zophran Mondami and other voices are providing counterpoints. The chorus will grow exponentially as the putrification of Trump's power orgy forces resolutions and accountability. Hope is beginning to emerge.
Thank you so much for this wonderful piece. And for all the work you have put into this year. Your writing is one of the greatest sources of clarity for me, in all this swirling muck and miasma. Here's to the power of moonbeams, and the emerging cracks beginning to let all kinds of light through.
I turned 75 today, so I would appreciate it if we can acceleration the freeing the White House and Congress of the darkness within.
Happy birthday! In a sense, living through the past 75 years means living through one of the most fascinating periods in human history. In another sense, the Chinese curse of living in interesting times is not comforting. Linda, we will prevail!
I hate it when you re-read a comment and realize you didn't check your own writing. I meant "accelerate" not "acceleration". Oh well, I can claim age problems-right?
Your newsletter is one of the first material substance I grab hungrily each morning!!! Thank you, Mary Geddry! 💖💯
This essay will become a foundational source document for the DECLINE AND FALL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, once we get a Gibbon to write it. The slow-motion collapse of the international carry trade is a self-inflicted mortal wound.
Until and if the magats understand their lives are controlled by their media bubbles and what they "know" is not really real, we will continue to be under the threat of collapse. The quickest way to get to magats is through their human fears, to control them through their desperation, to occasionally pet them once they are docile. Twump and Co know this only too well. They have all been briefed on the Fascist Takeover Playbook a/k/a Project 2025. Such good students! Twump will not be known to history as a "bloodless Stalin" or a "weak Hitler" because he is neither bloodless nor weak. He has already killed, through bombing, hundreds of people in Venezuela and Nigeria. Also, he has caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands (and it will reach into the millions) of Africans who relied on our good will to keep babies and mothers alive and the rest of the population secure against collective diseases while promoting democracy. In America, he has targeted a single group: Spanish speaking, Spanish looking, brown skinned people for round up and imprisonment. He has constructed concentration camps to concentrate those people who are not white. This will progress to mean American citizens of color if left unchecked. Yes, he has wandered into the territory where comparisons to the worst of humanity are not far fetched but provable. (Oh, that's just Twump 2.0, I need to mention the deaths he caused with his idiotic response to Covid.)
I've always loved riding the subway, dark , filled with strangers going to many different destinations yet trusting the subway driver to get them there. Then, climbing up the stairs to the light and knowing you have arrived. What a great essay, Mary, and thanks to Mamdani for being sworn in to serve in this hub representative of service that can be depended upon. My heart is filled with hope on this 1st day of 2026 and your words throughout the year, even in the darkest of times , have kept it alive. Happy New Year, Mary! We're off to save the world again.
Another excellent summary. We must never forget that, but for the Supreme Court's unnecessary delay, there could have been a trial in March of 2024, at which time much of this evidence could have been presented. Even if the last minute July 1, 2024 immunity decision (also wrong) had been rendered on, say, February 1, 2024 (and it could have been) I don't think all the stuff Trump did could have been successfully argued as "official acts".
So, we now have a much stronger (as if it needed to be stronger) case for impeachment. It is unfathomable that there isn't (yet, anyway) a majority in the House. And it is unfathomable that there could not be two-thirds in the Senate to convict after all the evidence is aired before all the world. I'm sure some will say that he didn't do all these criminal acts in the present term, but common sense says it doesn't matter -- he did them when he was president. And of course he has engaged in a lot of other impeachable conduct this term. And I don't think the Supreme Court's manufactured immunity from "official acts" would apply to impeachment and Senate trial. I don't think the Supreme Court should even have a say as to that question, under the "sole power" language in Article I of the Constitution.
The economic analysis should scare us all. It's well to remember that Trump has filled the cabinet with incompetents who only got there by being lapdogs to Trump. We the People have a lot of work to do to avert fiscal disaster.
Great comments about Mamdani. Indeed a ray of hope!
The ethical work and testimony of Jack Smith behind closed doors and your own moon beam at night between the “surf and stars” are similar, are they not? Both take place away from fanfare and noise. Both are directed upward, into the clear, where truth still hovers and matters. Thank you so much.
Thank you for all your hard work, reading and listening so we don't have to. I look forward to your posts each day. May we all have a better year and somehow get through this.
As others have said, I read your posts first (then HCR, then Hartmann) because they are real, cleverly written and, well, just make me feel better. Here's to you this New Year's Day, Mary!
Extraordinary piece of first rate journalism. Sober, factual and realistic. Main stream media deserves to be maligned, now and in the perspective of history.
Thank you Mary for your tireless work. Was going to wait until Friday to read Jack Smith’s deposition and watch the 8 hours of testimony. Yet the New Year brought an unexpected wind with snow overnight. Since up decided to scratch the itch of reading Smith’s words, a steadfast prosecutor whose integrity, decency and admiration of the law is unquestionable.
Jack Smith deposition. testimony on December 17, 2025 behind closed doors, his words that should resonate with pure clarity —
“The evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy. These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him. The other co-conspirators were doing this for his benefit..”
While reading his testimony thoughts…. We will see how the second case of classified documents against him will unfold, as per Jack Smith’s investigation. The Trump-appointed judge in Florida, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon emphasized that her timeline for release could give way to legal claims that the report shouldn’t be released at all.
The Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon who has blocked for nearly a year the release of Smith’s classified documents report.
The release date is on Feb. 24 per Cannon. But she’s given him an out.
Cannon also invited a possible legal challenge by Trump or his former alleged co-conspirators, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, that could further delay the report’s release. The Trump-appointed judge emphasized that her timeline for release of the report could give way to legal claims that Smith’s report shouldn’t be released at all.
It’s nothing like we all didn’t see the mass of photos of the classified material he stashed at Mar-a-Lago in 2021. All of the material written and testimony given to journalists from security hired to move around the masses of boxes from bathrooms to other rooms within that Mar-a-Lago compound. Even members of that exclusive club were aware of the classified documents being shuffled around.
Even according to the original and superseding indictments, Trump displayed classified information on at least two specific occasions in 2021:
1. A writer, a publisher, and two staff members: In July 2021 at Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump was audio-recorded showing a "plan of attack" (later identified as a Pentagon plan regarding Iran). On the tape, he acknowledged the document was "highly confidential" and "secret," noting he could have declassified it as president but "now I can't".
2. A representative of his political action committee (PAC): In late 2021, Trump allegedly showed a classified military map related to a military operation that was "not going well," warning the representative not to get too close. This individual was later identified in reports as Susie Wiles.
Seems Susie Wiles was prepared in advance of being complicit well before being appointed as White House Chief of Staff..
Judge Cannon clears way for release of classified docs report — but gives Trump an out
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/22/classified-documents-case-aileen-cannon-00704266
A very encouraging start to the new year, Mary. We all have the opportunity, and duty, to see it through in our own little corners of the world. Happy New Year!
I don't typically need to read Mary more than once to understand. I did today. Not because she wasn't clear, but because the complexities of finance aren't as easily absorbed by me as they used to be. Wonderful information about Jack Smith. I predict the next funeral for a current or former president of USA will happen during a severe and highly contagious flu epidemic. Melania might not even be there.
Thank you Mary for diving into the Jack Smith testimony and extracting the critical essences of the man and the moment. He must have shaken loose a deeply buried sense of conscience and truth conveniently anesthetized by the lure of worshiping false idols and acquiescing to power and greed in the GOP inquisitioners.
In truth, Jack Smith's exposures had been clearly visible to us as the events unfolded. Trump's toxic, psychopathic gaslighting and confident sincerity insisting that his lies were truth, captured the grievances and hopes of many while leaving those of us who saw through his malevolence unable to break the trance or protect our common good.
Former Supreme Court Justice David Souter repeatedly warned that a lack of civic education and an uninformed electorate are grave threats to American democracy. The civic malaise that enveloped our culture was paradoxically a result of our prosperity and security.
Donald Trump's grift was ripe to seize our slumberous disattention and our wishful allurement for quick fixes and easy answers.
Trump's blitzkrieg of our institutions, lawless incompetence in violating our core beliefs and shared values, and rampaging through our treasure and safety has gotten the public's attention. We are now in a crash course of civil rules of engagement, the rule of law, and excavating for the truth.
Your sober analysis of our current financial mess and executive dysfunction is spot on. Jack Smith, Zophran Mondami and other voices are providing counterpoints. The chorus will grow exponentially as the putrification of Trump's power orgy forces resolutions and accountability. Hope is beginning to emerge.