I still think many Americans have no idea how bad this is going to get. I saw President Obama reposting a tepid, mealy-mouthed analysis by Ezra Klein—who's never seen a phenomenon he couldn't be 5 years late in incompetently circumscribing—and I felt like we don't have what it takes to survive this.
In just the first few sentences, Klein misstates a fact critical to his analysis. Trump got reelected by promising to deport violent illegal immigrants using our immigration system. That was a lie. It turned out he had no particular interest in violent illegal immigrants *or* our existing system.
and they cheated
Anyone writing an essay today whose conceit is that if you squint you can see how Trump is doing no more than what he was elected to do is a jerkoff. I would've used a kinder term months ago—now I don't care. You have to be a jerkoff to be a political analyst who cannot describe what just happened.
Ezra Klein is a big fat phony.
You go boy
Why is President Obama amplifying an Ezra Klein essay in which Klein eliminates from history the fact that hundreds and hundreds of journalists asked Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign if his agenda was Project 2025 and *he lied to every single one of them, and every single American voter*?
Obama amplifies it because he’s a member of the elite political class and Ezra writes that way in order to maintain his own class, status and access to political elites.
You can't speak coherently about what has to happen in America now if you even allow for the possibility that Trump did not run the most deceitful campaign about what he planned to do as president that contemporary American politics has ever seen. Any attempt to legitimize his actions is grotesque.
I was plainly obvious during the campaign he was saying whatever he needed to in order to keep himself out of jail and to get into office to get revenge on the country that held him accountable. And I'm just a social media user, but was painfully obvious to me.
It truly is. But I ve pointed out that Obama sold us up the river every chance he could get as president.
Well don't forget our media, who absolutely would not discuss Project 2025, who did horse race coverage despite one candidate being a convicted felon and rapist who attempted a coup and every single time brushed off parallels between MAGA and white supremacy.
He lied about winning in 2020. He lied about the 2024 election being a landslide. He lied about voter fraud and election fraud. He pretended to have been vindicated in cases that merely ran out of time to imprison him. He ran as an open fascist who *still* wasn't honest with voters about his plans.
📎💥8/28/25 🚨 #HeatherHoney --> in charge of oversee our election💥❗ youtube.com/shorts/onfOb...
📎 #HeatherHoney who believes the 2020 election was stolen is now in charge of election integrity'💥 youtube.com/shorts/-gwQP...
I will just say these click whores who just learned a name this week are really not useful when all they do is read an article from national sources that also just learned her name this week
bsky.app/profile/r5-t...
Project 2025 was right there for anyone to read. But the media got those sweet ratings in 2016 and because the news has become for profit the truth never stood a chance.
Trump can't help but telegraph every single move. And every accusation is a confession. If he's talking hypothetically then the plan is already in motion.
Did he promise to raise prices on everything? No. But that's what he did. Did he promise to militarize all major cities? No—but that's what he's now doing. Did he promise to conduct insane raids arresting nonviolent immigrants? No—but he is. Did he say he'd denaturalize america? No. But he plans to.
Klein says—and Obama amplifies him in this—that it's at least possible that Trump is giving America what they said they wanted. But the data shows that voters pre-November had no idea what either candidate stood for or would do but clearly *didn't* support the policies we now see Trump was planning.
A clear majority didn't want the policies Trump was secretly harboring in 2024 and still don't want them. His agenda is wildly unpopular—and it's only a part of his base, which is a tiny fraction of Americans, who use the mantra "I voted for this." And most of *them* don't even know what he's doing.
I’d say around 38% of America is extremely happy with what is going on right now and because the GOP performed mass voter suppression efforts and mass propaganda with the help of Elmo, the MAGA minority is now fully in control and living their wildest dreams of destruction.
Much of the blame lies at the feet of the media. Not indie media—which has been getting Trump right for about 10 years now—but exactly the sort of mealy-mouthed lukewarm respectability-politics jerkoffs like Klein who've been years behind all of their peers but know how to play major media's games.
We're still 5 or 6 years from Klein mentioning even 5% of the info on Trump's criminal activities that shows up with full sourcing in the 7 books of the Proof Series. Which means we're 5 or 6 years from Obama amplifying those truths. But *we're not going to have a fucking country* in 5 or 6 years.
The mealy-mouthed media!! Perfect
Mealy mouthed is the perfect description. People, including the mainstream media, don’t understand the gravity of what is happening. They assume (wrongly as we know from accounts of revolutions),that their lives would be in turmoil, if Trump were actually carrying out a fascist revolution.
#MSMservesBillionaires
He's rebranding ThirdWay and selling it on all the dem platforms with a jazzy sounding name. I mean who could possibly be against abundance, right? >>
Just ask the Cubans in South Miami how they feel about how he campaigned on immigration vs how he is executing is immigration policy now. Now I will say most Latinos knew he was lying his ass off.
@ezraklein.bsky.social's whole thing, which drives me nuts, is to blame Dems for the rise of Trump because of some "messaging" thing. The perfect Message™ is not gonna fix it. It's a bandwidth problem to fight back against the RW propaganda machinery, not a message content problem. That's what he /1
The current president is a pedo #pedopotus
About the size of it. i stopped paying much attention to the Times, Klein and his ilk, and the MSM in general almost a decade ago because of this. They are all complicit.
The media knew he was best friends with Epstein. The stockpile of photos. This is what happens when billionaires send their lobbyists to purchase politicians .
The media did not report on voter suppression. @gregpalast.bsky.social Harris was cheated out of 3,650,000 votes by these Jim Crow tricks. 4.7 million voters purged. 3.2 million registrations rejected. 2.1 million mail-in ballots tossed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Xd...
The media did report on voter suppression, though it was widely known about. Harris was cheated out of 3,650,000 votes by these Jim Crow tricks. 4.7 million voters purged. 3.2 million registrations rejected. 2.1 million mail-in ballots tossed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Xd...
stop blaming the media. They gave more than ample coverage to Project 2025 -- but it was Harris' job to convince voters that Trump would implement it. and she failed to do so, largely because she and Biden had spent the prior 3 and a half years downplaying Trump's perfidy.
Bingo
What percentage of American voters do you think consume “media” or read ANYTHING?
You may be right about their ignorance, but I doubt it. I think they know exactly what is happening and they love it.
I've been saying this for years: most have no clue what is coming. And unfortunately, it's a hard lesson that many countries have had to learn, and it's time for Americans to be knocked off their high horses, I'm afraid. BUt the suffering they will endure will be heartbreaking 😔
It’s possible you wear a blindfold purposefully and with malintent. You remind me of those fascism-deniers I ruthlessly argued with in 2017. Keep talking.
He fucking told the stupidest among us that he didn't to know anything about Project 2025 and he didn't want to know anything about Project 2025.
Everything he’s doing now, is announced in Project 2025. Even the immigration. People were just to blind, selfish or stupid to read it. Or they blindly followed him when he said he didn’t know the document. Or they picked what interested them and ignored the rest. And even now, people are still in
the denial stage and they think it’s business as usual or they think they will all be over after the elections.
I guess we should stop expecting establishment Democrats to understand and be able to take on the authoritarian regime and the fascism they’ve unleashed on us.
The sad part is that most of those don't even care what he does. They just chalk all this up to some tribal victory they get to participate in over those their TV tells them to be scared of.
Secretly? As soon as the Republican party deleted their platform to elect trump you should have assumed the worst case scenario was coming. Hillary Clinton herself called him out for being a Russian puppet and people laughed at her. This country sucks.
This is a crucial distinction. Among voters who were aware of Project 2025, the overwhelming majority (nearly 80%) disapproved of it. Source navigatorresearch.org/americans-in...
I saw it as a dis to American voters. Like ok people this is what you wanted so.. it was nonsensical to have Obama elevate that bs. Infuriating.
I just listened to Klein with Radley Balko. I think you’re somewhat off here. Alarm bells are sounding.
I agree with everything above this post. But on this one I diverge. Trump is giving then what his gut wanted. Racism. Mostly subconscious, in their gut there is an itch that is being satisfied.
It was spelled out in Project 2025, but no one believed it.
It's my contention that the electorate is ignorant or uncaring. Anyone with half a brain could have seen the Trump train wreck coming and people still voted for the train wreck.
I will never trust any politician.
Thank you for pointing this out. My sense of EK these past few years is that what he cares about most is his own popularity, and if he believes half of the BS he writes, I feel sorry for him. He doesn't care who or what he takes down in his effort to be seen as the smart guy in the room.
Sure, they didn't want these policies. But what did they expect, when they voted for a convicted criminal who lies his way out every single time? 🤷♂️ I mean, if Ted Bundy promises you a happy life with him and you're stupid enough to trust him despite his murders, who is to blame when you get killed?
If voters didn't know the policies of either candidate then maybe they shouldn't have voted! As it stands, far more red voters went team red than blue went team blue. Generally blue voters are at least somewhat aware of policy. Red team voters weren't expecting to get hurt. FAFO in full effect.
I noticed the SAME thing when reading the text of the conversation. How can any self declared "analyst" ascribe ANY semblance of "good faith" to the greatest manipulative conman in the world? Looks like analysts have been conned as well - to a certain extent. And STILL don't get it.
You lost me with your Obama dissing. If he was still potus we wouldn't be where we are today.
If he was still POTUS we’d be in a different sort of constitutional crisis; Obama respects the rule of law. He’s always been a centrist who thought he could negotiate with racists though.
@barackobama.bsky.social @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social Please read this analysis of your flimsy analysis …
He absolutely promised to militarize major cities and I’m not sure why you insist on rewriting history aside from benefiting from this blatant display of political operative behavior.
How many more days before the first denaturalization ceremony? The WH is planning it right now.
And when we, or his opponents said that his economic policies would absolutely raise prices on everything, that his large-scale deportations would HAVE to involve insane raids of nonviolent immigrant communities, and many other policies would ignore law and precedent, we were dismissed as alarmists.
Alarmist... or projecting/confessing that's the ish they actually want?
Alarmist Conspiracy theorists Drama queens because they hadn't heard what I was telling them in any news program.
Did he promise all these things he's doing now? No. But actually, all he has to do now is deny he's doing those things, and he will get away with murder, just as he always has. It looks like it was the will of the people that this felon gets away with murder.
Seth, you’re right, I remember the night that Trump was elected crying to my husband, you don’t know what he will do. My husband told me to calm down. Now, he tells me many times that he is sorry for not believing me.
I can't think of anything he's said in the last several years that *wasn't* a lie... Well, except for that thing about being able to shoot someone on 5th Ave without losing any votes. That was definitely true.
Correction: the core cases against DJT1 were willingly & knowingly *forced* to run out of time by Garland, as proxy of Biden. There is no passive or innocence/benevolence in all this, it was all active, malevolent, aiding & abetting. See @sarahkendzior.bsky.social's 'They knew'....
And he got elected….your problem is your fellow Americans who did that despite all of the above.
Hope they wake up soon. People that comment about Dems getting 2028 landslide, do not get it, they will cheat in 26, they are trying to now. Though Texas fucked that up, like they do everything else.
I think he cheated and I don't know why that isn't talked about more.
Respectability prevents the villagers from seeing what is barreling right down on top of them, and their collective pride shields them from describing it after the fact. How many of those parroting the menace of WMDs lost their platforms? How many who go it 100% right got gigs at MSNBC?
I agree with you. Obama and some others high up don't have skin in the game like you and I and most of us. It is easy to feel more detached and safer when you are a multimillionaire with secret service, connections, and many safe places to go.
Why don't you put your energy into attacking the actual enemy?
Centrist vanilla corporate Democrats are almost as bad as Trump & MAGA
because sanitizing it is collaborating with it, girly bop also, “the actual enemy” likely isn’t using bsky
😂
🤭
The WHY is because @barackobama.bsky.social & Ezra Klein have been good friends for a decade. Someone needs to tell Obama to WAKE the hell up & actually do something other than a few social media posts now & again. He was supposed to help train the next generation of Dem politicians. He's failed.
and none of those journalists pushed back because corporations had already taken over the free press
Donald has very seldom said anything truthful
How could they expect anything else but a lie? I knew, thousands of us knew, he’d follow through with 2025 if he got elected. Didn’t know it was a fait accompli before November. So leave or stay. What will you do, Seth?
I stopped listening to Obama years ago when the words "clean coal" came out his mouth.
Obama is part of the old “genteel” Democrats, who honestly, erroneously, believe that reason will prevail. It won’t. It’s war, and unless something massive moves in to stop the Trump regime, it’s literally going to get bloody.
How does President Obama not see that? Why don’t more of them see that and act?
I wish I knew.
I often get similar reactions when I debate w ppl. Usually we wnd on them saying that the way ahead is new, fraught, very dangerous, scary. To which I agree and point out that THIS IS WHY YOU DON'T LET FASCISTS IN THE HOUSE. Once they are in, all bets are off.
It’s going to require brazen and, often disgusting, behavior on our part. But moving forward is more important than a tea party.
And it'll be different than the often-cited German example, for many reasons (economy, political system, geography,....)
STOP PROJECT 2025!! Why is this not shouted from the rooftops! REMOVE THE POLYP!!
He lied during his whole 1st term, during his whole life, so I suppose people voted for this 🤷♂️ They want a president who says what they want to hear, not what is real.
And they let him get away with it
Serious question: if someone is gullible enough to believe a lie this obvious, is there anything that better journalism could do to fix that?
Yup.
It's masturbatory nonsense - jerkoff is absolutely correct.
Right, there's a big difference between what Trump said he was going to do and what those of us who are capable of observing the obvious knew he was going to do. Not sure why this is so tough to sort out for some people.
Klein makes BANK whether Dems win or Lose. In fact his Bank probably goes up when they lose (worried Dems consume more 'liberal' media). He's been Money/Equity class for years, now. His interests are *not* our interests.
Many pundits still don't get a brilliant criminal mastermind - when he brainwashed his followers about tariffs, he KNEW he was going to use that for grift, blackmail, and power. When he talked about mass deportation, he KNEW he was going to use that to create his own paramilitary/police state. 1/1
When he talked about being "dictator on day 1" he KNEW it wasn't gonna be just day 1. Most people have no criminal imagination, and no power of keen observation. Jackie Speier mentioned how similar Jim Jones was to Trump. That was overlooked by people who don't understand what led to Jonestown. 1/2
Brilliant cult leaders always usher in utter destruction. Maga is the biggest cult ever, with a leader that has more power and reach than ANY other cult leader before him. I don't know what it's going to take for people to get this. 1/3 end
I shouted at the video "he didn't get lawfully elected !!"
Do you have a selective memory on purpose? Or is it a glitch in your mealy Swiss cheese brain?
How about this? Trump got “elected” because Musk and Putin helped him cheat. He does not have a mandate from the American people at all, and he’s now committing crimes and treason every day in broad daylight.
He’s revoking status of legal immigrants so he can deport them. I don’t know why more people aren’t enraged by this.
How is that wrong? He did get elected by SAYING that. It felt wildly clear to Dems that he had other plans. But I think Klein is right about his words. So, what are you saying?
No matter how bad one imagines things can be under the Trump regime, things will be 10x worse than one can imagine. Its like a law of nature akin to gravity or conservation of matter.
Even here in Australia, the political 'wisdom' seems to be to wait it out; 'it will pass'. By then the damage will be irreparable, both to the US & the global order. #auspol #Trump
The position of those Germans in the 1930s, who didn't want Hitler but also didn't want the chaos of the 1920s ... "Wait it out. It will pass." Worked out well, didn't it?
yes. but frankly, what else can be done??
It is the key question of course. Wish I had a solution. In Australia at least, we need to strengthen regional security & trade relationships, to buffer against any US policy shifts.
Yes. More diversity. But also, more Independents.
THEY don't realize what kind of fight is coming their way. We will never comply with a Fascist government!
We could.....if we had not been raised to believe "Not on our shores." We are well past believing in that fairy tale. Time to get hands dirty after deciding whether a nation of our own is worthy of fighting for. And make no mistake, there WILL be casualties, Hell, there already have been. The goal
would be to make "them" feel the pain they thought they were only here to deliver.
Agreed.
Obama's just a more eloquent, socially palatable fascist. Not a peep out of his dirty mouth about Israel's US funded genocide on Palestine nearing its final solution. He could care less.
We don’t…in 5 l-10 years the Republic of California will be a sovereign nation. As will others I suspect.
What was this, REALLY? Tensions are flaring. www.khou.com/article/news...
Donald Trump is a pathological liar. If you watch his face when he's speaking "off the cuff" you can actually see him creating embellishments to his lies. That's why his sentence structure is basically non-existent. He starts to say something & immediately wanders into new embellishments.
I love Obama, but he did a whole lot of go along to get along. Seems like he's still doing it
And you havent figured out why yet?
Well, I'm not stupid.
Is trump busy designing and building the gas chambers ?
I could not possibly agree with you more.
I agree. And, tragically, I think we're past the point of no return.
I saw someone share that repost on their Facebook feed. The sharer was of the belief that if Obama was weighing in on the building up of a paramilitary force, we were REALLY in for it. I thought, "In other news, water is wet." Personally, I've been watching documentaries on Hitler & the Nazi 1/
party's rise to power. (I'm midway through a series called "How the Nazis Lost the War.) I'm trying to learn, get inspired, and gain some solace by watching them - figure it's better than some bratty dude bro meh and dreck takes.
I watched that last week, good series. Other good ones to watch for insight are The Hitler Chronicles and The SS: A Barbaric State. The parallels are frequent WTF moments.
I'm reading Anne Applebaum's book Gulag. It's almost like Project 2025 was tailored to match grotesque Russian society.
We could match P25 to any number of dictatorial regimes from across all political stripes. I think the common denominator we're looking at is authoritarianism.
Fate and/or The Illuminati sure seem to have dealt us a bad hand. I did not have time to read the whole P25 thing, but excerpts I saw completely meshed with what the Republicans have been trying to do since Ronald Reagan. Some people now have a soft spot in their heart for George W. Bush, not me!
As others have pointed out, this has been in the works for a long, long time. Cheating at elections has been in their wheelhouse for a long time. The Fake News phenomenon has convinced people that anything they hear is suspect. Rigged elections, Russia style, are a definitely a thing now.
Accusations are projections.
What is with the Dubya thing? Or for that matter, the McCain thing? Don't people remember what truly awful things these two did? Yes, a lot of P25 is a republican wish list. And a lot is a dictator's wish list.
We haven't survived America 1.0 because it's already gone. If the madness stopped today, it'd take decades to undo the damage, get back to even ground, & prepare for a future of never having this happen again. America 2.0 will need to be rebuilt without the weaknesses & pitfalls of the 1.0 version.
I have been telling y'all this since 2015. It will get far worse, unimaginably worse...
I agree. I’ve lived in countries that have military dictatorships. Americans have no idea how bad it can get.
If it's anything like Erik Prince's concentration camps in China for the past 10 years, or the Holocaust, I am guessing we "know." Thank you for warning Americans, BTW.
And on that cheery note …
That is specifically what I face daily when I attempt to get across that this is going to get unimaginably worse: “Ok, enough. Let’s have a beer.” “That’s great but did you see Gail’s photos from Hawaii?” “Got it. How about that Micah Parsons trade?” Etc.
Exactly
We all need advice on how to relay to 'normal' people what the hell is going on. They don't want to hear it. It doesn't help that we sound like conspiracy theorists as we try to share the latest 'real' news.
Who is “normal” these days?
“The country has fallen to fascism!” “Well sheesh, what do you expect me to do about it? Pass the croissants, please.”
Protest? Get physically involved? I may have misunderstood your post.
Look around at what most people are presently doing about this problem. That is the message of my post. And remember that I said “most people,” not you.
But we were alarmists, alright.
They've all been mealy-mouthed, about it all. Everything.
How do we get our governors to see the urgency and begin the secession process?
bsky.app/profile/iwil...
This is good but protests in small groups will do nothing. We either all need to flood DC or start seceding.
We all can go,
I know that. But this specific call to action is only for Vets. We would have to organize for an all hands protest in DC, which is almost impossible. So we need to soft secede.
The world seems to go through these upheavals pretty regularly. Something about us seems to require it. The Napoleonic Wars were World War 0.5(?), and we’re now near the end of the opening rounds of World War IV (III being the “Cold War”). And there are always little snacks between the big ones.
Political power is too concentrated among the comfortable. They can either spread it around, or circumstances can make them less comfortable. It will likely be the latter.
Afraid youre right, as usual. I knew Americans as a whole are unintelligent, uneducated, corrupt, selfish, ill mannered, arrogant liars but I didn't think they were as bad as not understanding the difference between facism and democracy + incapable of protecting themselves
One of these decades Democrats will actually play hardball with Republicans, assuming that they aren't all thrown in jail by Trump before November 2026 for the "crime" of being registered as a Democrat.
We think about this 24/7. No illusions that the horror is just beginning.
I think you may be right. The people with money and influence will just fade in the corner and ride it out. The poor and middle class will be pummeled. The old adage "as long as it doesn't happen to me" is and will be in full play.
Not a fucking clue. But they will...
IM NOT SO SURE EITHER EVERYDAY GETS WORSE THE N THE DAY BEFORE
Obama is a half-stepping letdown
youtu.be/e9LJh81n_zA if our country survives it’s going to take art like this
We will together if we unite! Will mistakes be made, hell yes. We are human. The point is: we all want to be free of this totalitarian gov.; so perhaps we'd best be served by accepting each others and our own mistakes and moving on! We need to FIGHT!!!!
Folks don't know the truth, that is the problem. Harris was cheated out of 3,650,000 votes by these Jim Crow tricks. 4.7 million voters purged. 3.2 million registrations rejected. 2.1 million mail-in ballots tossed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Xd...
That'll be little comfort when we're all dead.
I WILL die for my Country.I am 62 with 2 daughter 21 n 18.I have barely shot anything but a shotgun and just 5 yrs ago I shot a pistol for the first time ever with good buddies.I told them all I would bring the targets.I bought 2 cardboard cutouts.trump hugging the flag and the Pillow Guy.Good times
Yep......trump lost in 20 and we barely got him out of office by the skin of our teeth. Explain to me now even if he suffers the worst loss in presidential history how we are going to remove him. His numbers are horrid and he just keep doubling down. He is not planning on going anywhere.
Obama should be doing similar to Gavin Newsom.
Agreed... Ugh.
Hang in there evil always loses in the end
I wish I could afford to move to another country! This is so overwhelming!
It was too late in Nov 24 when Democrats rolled over and didn't demand recounts in all swing states.
Milquetoast Obama, Klein is unreadable.
I think you’re correct
I agree. We need MORE.
😢😢
We wonder. The betting window is open.
Same here. Folks are waking up ... 9 months too late.
Nine months? Try 45 years at least. Probably more like 80, going back to Goldwater. It's *terrifying* how many Americans seem to believe this is about one guy and one election and not a long campaign of wearing down the resistance to fascism in the media and in government across decades.
Almost 10 years too late
More. Decades. This has been in the works for 50 or 60 years.
True but I was referring to the convicted one
The United States is a fucking idiot and will not survive Hitler 2.0
It’s beyond scary
I’m sorry to agree with you I’ve been screaming since before day one. Reading Project 2025 laid it out just like Mein Kampf John Roberts’ treasonous declaration of a 👑 and gradual bizarre reconstruction of Constitutional law This is a carefully planned coup Traitorous strategists & morons
Hate to think that is totally true, but I get it..
We know
I fear we may not survive this. I hope I'm wrong and I will go down fighting with everything I have to be sure, but the signs are certainly ominous.
We will. There are still many, many local governments. Some even non - partisan. They do a lot of the work that influences many of our day to day functions. The feds may take a lot of cash but we can still control where state and local funds and policies go. For now.
I don't think that US will make it through this, unless Krasnov kicks the bucket very very soon because of cholesterol/arteries. The only way to salvage a civilized society in some parts of the US might be that some states secede from MAGA ruled US. I give a 70 % probability that this will happen.
Okay, so the felon dies. THEN WHAT? Vance. Vance is what's next and he's even more in thrall to the Christo-fascist P25 tech bro cabal who are already running the govt. People focus w-a-y too much on who the president is.
People are deluded that the cabal will disintegrate with Trump’s passing. The line of succession is stuffed full of Project 2025 authors and acolytes. JV Dunce wrote the forward to the book, fer Chrissakes!
With Trump out of the way and Vance in the White House, the P25 cabal will be able to install people they deem to be competent to establish their Christo-fascist dream of domination. My hope is that the Dem Govs Assoc has a plan for after the midterms, if voting "fails."
What is P25. Jargon is not helpful.
Apologies. I'm not a fan of all the abbreviations either -- I look up at least one thing almost every day -- but I did think this one was firmly established. P25 = Project 2025. Thank you for the reminder.
Project 2025
Trump is the one who has the audacity to push the limits. He is the one who is adored by the cult. Vance doesn’t have the charisma to continue magat. (He also has a brown wife) When trump dies, hopefully soon, the magat sh!tshow will end. Then we put back the pieces of democracy.
I agree that a cult rarely survives the loss of its leader, but the Heritage Foundation, Federalist Society, and others have been working on this for at least 40 years. The destruction they have wreaked at home, and esp abroad, will take a long time to amend, if there's an opportunity 1/2
to do that. The Constitution put most of the power for governing in the Congress and the states, not the presidency. I think we'll have a better idea of what the future might be after the midterms. 2/end
That’ll never happen. They need us more than we need them but we don’t leave them behind.
Perhaps. But things are still getting worse and no light at the end of the tunnel yet. After a certain point, things can escalate and people radicalize surprisingly quickly. That has happened all over the world before and then unthinkable things happen.
Some of us live in states contiguous to the Red doom. Some of us live surrounded by it. There’s really no choice. No one really has the ability, resources, structure to pick up stakes and call it quits. Some of us should be re-patriated to Europe. Only 100 yrs from migration from there. Unlikely
bsky.app/profile/iwil...
2025 the Normalization of Fascism in America We're living in Perilous times AllHandsOnDeck
If Ezra had been on the Titanic after the collision he'd have been running back and forth telling passengers, "Don't worry about it. The bulkheads will hold."
bsky.app/profile/judy...
BUT NEIL YOUNG WROTE A NEW PROTEST SONG Y’ALL 😅😭😬
What are people who care about democracy- and their own personal safety, supposed to do?? I keep reading about how dire everything is. But besides protesting or leaving the country, I’m not sure what to do!
I gotta agree. How are we NOT already in a Dictatorship? Some courts are still functioning as they should BUT the “DOJ” doesn’t seem to care…the lawlessness of DHS & DOGE enabled by Congress & the “Supreme traitors” seems dire.
I'm so sick of the in-fighting. Like Ezra Klein or don't. He's one of the few actually mobilizing people to get out in the street.
Yup, it's bad. When Hitler tried to rule the world, the world said, "No!" and blood was shed by the barrel. Who will say "No!" today? Not corporations, law firms, the Supreme Court or the GOP. If corporations, law firms, the Supreme Court, and the GOP said "No!" would pigs fly? Hoping for an obit.
The USA stopped the original Hitler. Who will stop the USA’s current Hitler?
Exactly, no one is going to help us.
The USA also inspired Hitler very early on. bsky.app/profile/wilh...
I always thought it was the other way around. I was sad to learn the Ford used to distribute anti-Jewish literature with his car sales. This man who was smart enough to automate industry in ways we still use today, but dumb enough to think some people are less than others.
Lest (to avoid) your sadness got/gets increased thinking this egregious omission/distortion in history/holocaust education is an USA-only thing/complot: it is *not*. You won't find this awareness outside of USA either. Not saying any of this on Ford is new information either, just no dots connected?
Like I did knew Adolf had (only!) a picture of Ford hanging in his office, but never saw that being explained as admiration beyond automation/industralisation, neither first & foremost, nor at all.
This one, in hindsight, from/injected-in another thread, becomes even more haunting & blood-curling in the above context then it already is/was all by itself, even on its own, outside that thread: bsky.app/profile/wilh...
Our government is selling out its citizens for profit and power. The elites in this world do not own this planet. This is Satan's world now. God help us all. 🙏
I agree with you 100%. There's no hope. It's gone way too far. Putin, Musk, Thiel, etc. and the cretins behind Project 2025 got exactly what they paid for. They could not have carried out their agenda without their useful idiot in the White House and the 77 million accomplices to this tragedy.
The only one close is Pritzker. No one else of stature is alarmed enough.
Our former political heroes are now officially Part of the Problem Schumer, Jeffries, Pres. Obama…they’ll never have to worry about the rising cost of food or unaffordable housing, and they don’t risk bankruptcy over medical debt, like we do Feeling inspired by Catelin Drey & Graham Platner rn
In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.
Because Obama is third way. DLC is as DLC does.
🫤 open.substack.com/pub/noelkeit...
Caught with pants down. Takes a special kind of hubris to miss the signs since even before 2008.
Seth, I cannot agree more. As an Australian I find it incredible that the opposition to democracy’s impending crash is taken so casually. I can’t even see your country making it to the next round of congressional elections.
We are now no different than Russia.
That’s pretty much my feeling. BTW: Abundance - hows that holding up?
I wish you were wrong! But I have to agree.
Maybe he's got a few concerns about.. oh, I don't know, having the jack boots land on his doorstep.
Agreed. It’s all too timid and late to stop the massive ball rolling downhill into our democracy and freedoms.
bsky.app/profile/iwil...
Agreed - we don’t have the leaders to survive this. WTAF are the Dems waiting for??
And Trump and the Republican Nazis are well aware of that. Everything they do is designed to test the boundaries of what they can get away with. It has nothing to do with “distractions” or “framing”. It’s a direct assault upon democracy, human civilization and morality and they won’t stop.
Exactly.
We’ll survive. As a decaying shadow.
We do not.
Liz Cheney had a great post of what needs to be done by Democrats to fight back. Wish she, Obama & the Clinton’s would TEAM up. Save our Country 💙💙
It's the end of the United States as we know it.
It seems likely a real collapse of our economy is coming in the next few months. That the troops in cities will spark violence. That the extreme polarization we’re experiencing will trigger more violence, American against American, and it scares the hell out of me.
bsky.app/profile/iwil...
Trump became President a second time because 77.3 million Americans are mouth-breathing rubes. We’re too dumb to survive.
The Red voters do not care if he lies. Lying is now a required qualification to implement 2025 Racism wins. Sure people will be angry and blame color gender education trans people All the usual suspects.
In a world where it’s kinda hard to tell who is sincere and who is a grifter, Klein is high on my list of grifters.
Seth, nothing like a gut punch! There is no superman! It’s going to have to be us.
bsky.app/profile/iwil...
I fear you are correct. The subject of the interview was good though.
Millions will die in the strife that is inevitably coming to the US in the coming decade. Civil war Starvation Extreme heat Natural disasters Government extermination Crime and lawlessness Terrorism Increased mortality from illness Hate crimes Suicide At no point, will America be great.
Republicans are so upset with their congress that they're campaigning. They can see the lies. Ezra might be satisfied going down in a beautiful Titanic of eloquent essays, but the rest of us will be remembered as a pile of bloodied bodies bulldozed into the deep pit of American history.
Plan B should be in everyone’s emergency preparedness kit & practice your drills! Seed in fertile ground… stay healthy…walk & form genuine relationships beyond the borders. Good night & good luck.
💯
We are F***ed
Some of us will survive. Some already haven't The sooner we remove and prosecute the fascists, the more of us get to live We will beat them, fascists will damage eachother while we will stand together, but the Democrats pretending everything is fine delays our victory and the cost is paid in lives
It’s a form of fecklessness to act like this is normal. For all the times I’ve heard cons say the media was too liberal and I said no, it’s too conservative, but basically true. Now I am like a con, I have ZERO respect or faith in mainstream media since asset II.
No they do not. The years it will take to untangle the mess
Obama is like a once trusty, razor-sharp sword wielded successfully in old battles, but which is now a rusty, dulled version of its former self. Obama can cite Ezra Klein nonsense but it won’t do. We need sharp swords, intrepid word warriors, and enough mettle to beat the pseudo-Christian fascists.
Think about all the terrible shit they're doing that we don't even know about if they're willing to do this amount of terrible shit right out in the open.
They’re irrelevant, but there are many others stepping up. We’ve got a big fight ahead, I think our best bet are democratic governors.
And weapons
Well. Said. Maybe a public challenge to Klein's poor form, is in order.. Shameful and shameful.. Perpetuating inaccuracy = complicit
You are correct. We do not have what it takes to beat this. The American experiment is over. Nobody is doing anything. I am not doing anything. Sure, I go to the demonstrations. Sure, I talk to people. But the people with power are perfectly happy with things being the way they are.
I've never seen Ezra give any thing positive about Biden or Obama.
Great thread. The quality of the mainstream media - both ethically & intellectually - has been in freefall across most Western democracies over the past decade or so, but the USA is the most extreme case. A media establishment which does not inform or challenge or guide.
We do it's just more difficult when the scared little bitches in the military side with the dictator and media is to scared to call anything a lie. But explain to people no more watching Hamilton (banned by dictator) and no more lattes ( rationed water only). Let the rebellion begin.
Some of us do and despair every day because those we elected have failed us.
Wait, it gets worse? Shit.
We don't... Making decisions based on fear, greed, and hatred often leads to poor, irrational, and harmful outcomes. These powerful negative emotions override logical thought and a person's core values, resulting in consequences that are detrimental to both the individual and those around them.
I see it differently.
Democrats are either in on it or scared. Either way they seem to have no interest in stopping it.
Wow. You're special.
The only way we don't have what it takes, is if we are all cowards. I don't want to get hurt,but I'm not afraid to put my body on the line for freedom and justice. I swore an oath to The Constitution of The United States of America. I left the Army,but not my oath. www.politico.com/story/2018/0...
I'm sure every single one of those people marching to demand and protect their right to vote were scared. Many were injured. Some died. They were murdered. Because, it was war. www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/re...
www.nationalww2museum.org/war/topics/n...
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. edition.cnn.com/interactive/...
I agree with you that most people don't know how bad it is/could get. But, I disagree with you about the part where we don't have what it takes to survive this. Most people are waiting to see what happens in The Midterms. I believe that Project2025 is going to rig the midterms one way or another.
Here's the thing, they have all our data. They can track everyone, everywhere. If we allow them to get established, we are fucked. Period. It's over But, people need to be ready for go-time. In my mind, go-time is when The Midterm election is called into question If there is any uncertainty, bam!
Because, that's what it will be. It will be uncertainty. They'll make it confusing, they'll prevent people from voting, they'll lose votes, they'll have evidence of tampering, and say there was cheating, someone stole something. And that's it. Because, we've been running elections fine for ages.
The elections are up to the states, not The Federal Government. So the minute The Federal Government tries to tell The States how to manage its elections, or tells a state their election is invalid, or tells a group of citizens they can't vote, it is go-time. People die in war, for real.
Actually, you can go to the site you don't need the ap.
Not just that. Look up the app "next door" You can point at any home anywhere in the usa on a map and see who lives there the cell numbers home number and emails of everyone who lives ther.
Maybe not…🤷♀️empires fall
look, they are already on the level mass beating in Florida's cage prison. So that's Dachau 1933. So yes, Trump is on track. With shipping people with no nothing to Uganda, he reached already 1939/40. With his cabinet's elogies he's Moskva 1938. So US will be a Nazi-Stalin mix. Congrats for that.
I think a large part of why the public is not reacting to this as much as they should is that modern corporate culture is draining them emotionally. Corpos push their employees to constantly be engaged and switching tasks. They can wind up going home exhausted and incapable of engaging in anything.
I know people like this. 😢
Husband & I agree. 80 yrs have made the will of our people soft, entitled and disconnected with reality. As a science teacher I asked my students what they thought about atom bombs that ended the war, and people having to make terrible choices. The people here are so out of practice with this.
...& it just so happens that my Dad was in the Philippines and was in that intended "first wave" of soldiers to be sent to take the Japanese islands, so most likely would have perished...which meant I would never have been born and be standing there in front of my students. That got them thinking.
People will need to go door to door with info-the only way IMO to get through to people.
Locally, I wanted a recount and was told it cost $$$ which I didn’t have. I assume a presidential campaign has the money for a recount, but my campaign funds were drained.
Either our Democrat politicians know something we don't know, or they truly have their head in the sand.
Just checked Obama's posts here on Bluesky. He has made several about the threat of paramilitarism. I am not hearing many other pols be as vocal.
Have you noticed how so many of the marchers/protesters today are my fellow gray haired boomer people, those whom eveyone presumes is 'the silent GOP majority"? L'chaim to them.
It's really weird how in issues of governance/politics people adopt the sports fan ideology of trashing their own team bc they'd rather be negative and right than support something positive and risk being wrong It's all for the "See, I told you"
Why do you feel as though you need to do a rhetorical analysis of an article another of the white hats wrote? Stop looking at the scenery and remember the objective.
Well, tRump doesn't have what it takes to survive this...
A lot of us were screaming it from the rooftops, but ignored. I'm disgusted by weak Democrats who kept trying to work across aisle - R's NEVER negotiate in good faith. Dem leaders were convinced norms & guardrails would hold. Some of us knew they wouldn't, told leaders and here we are.
I liked Obama, but I heard his response. No fire or heart.
Well yes because it hasn’t quite affected white Americans in tangible ways yet. The truth of the matter is that we’re ‘here’ by design. Centuries of design in fact and until we ppl start choosing truth over comfort in meaningful ways, the democrat will continue to crumble
we really need a good guy with a gun right about now
Going to travel throughout Europe before moving to Portugal early ‘26. My client/friend in Switzerland told me to purchase a pin or something from Canada so people don’t automatically think I’m American. This + our president rolling out the red carpet for a war criminal kinda says it all. 💔💔
Aren't there any strategists, even logicians, who can propose a plan to circumvent this fascist progression? I can't understand what the leaders of the Democratic Party are thinking. Maybe even ask a retired 4 Star to come up with a defense? Anything.
They still believe checks & balances will save us.
Especially the fools who say we’re winning in the courts until the SCOTUS sh!ts all over it.
And sternly written letters 🙄
Very unlikely that the USA survives the MAGA fascist regime 2.0. The day after the election I stated the USA was over, toast. The condescending drivel hurled at me was intellectually bankrupt BS. Critical guardrails are broken, too many cowards in DC across the board.Their oaths are now meaningless.
How can they believe that, when all 3 branches are unwaveringly loyal to Trump?? 🙄
Someone is going to stand up and stop this. Anytime now.
Trump has been abusing the holes in those his entire life.
Exactly!!
They’ve eaten the checks. They’ve eaten the balances. They’ve eaten the Constitution of the people who live here.
I see what you did there... 😏
With any luck, the checks & balances will give them severe constipation…the kind a doctor has to become a proctologist.
Now I have the Kiffness song running 24/7 in my head again… youtu.be/3BrCvZmSnKA
Me too! 🤣
I’ve got what it takes to survive this
Ta-Nehisi Coates: “Politicians respond to only one thing—power. This is not the flaw of democracy, it’s the entire point. It’s the job of activists to generate and apply enough pressure on the system to affect change.” Trump is lashing out frequently, but is fundamentally weak in popular terms. 1/
So it is upon us, upon a popular movement to convince Democrats that this is the fight we need to be having, and we need to have it now! RFK Jr is wildly unpopular. His wrecking the CDC is freaking many people out. USE THAT!
i wish he would go rogue. i feel he's "holding back" due to all the old norms/traditions/stupid fucking old dems gatekeeping shit. i was disappointed when i read it too. i feel he has to know. michelle certainly ain't keeping her mouth shut around the kitchen table.
Not me, i have to stuff. I'm not sure if enough of us exist.
Sadly - you may be 100% correct
Every word of this nails it.
We have to go the Gavin route. He’s famous for his trolling, which is effective, but less well reported is his fighting fire with fire and getting dirty mentality. We’re going to have to get dirty to fight off and end this administration. Polite requests aren’t going to get it done.
Kleins one of the more reasonable and well-read pod guys out there. This just jealousy?
Every neoliberal Democrat is responsible for this, including that fucking shitbag who legalized propaganda
Well we're going to have to find what it takes to survive this. But I agree, people don't realize how bad this is going to get, even though he's creating the gastly framework for it right now.
"It's beginning to seem like Trumps intentions might not be for the best."
We have what it takes, but are we collectively willing to use it!
Agreed. Friends think I’m too doom and gloom and think many of them are too head in the sand. I’m correct.
💯 💯... George Orwell is sitting up in his grave!
I have not seen the article you mentioned but really identified with the feeling you described. I keep hoping I'm wrong. I so want to be wrong.
Yep
Obama seems sadly out of touch. He's, oddly, still very establishment Democrat, and seems to be missing how it's very unlikely there is an "orderly" way out of this situation. Authoritarianism has arrived and it seems likely civil war will come.
Obama has become part of the problem, by supporting Cuomo. Same for Clinton(s) IIRC. Neither saw the looming coverups/corruption/fascism back then, and they certainly don't truely see it expanding right now, by all the same rotten mechanisms.
... basically Nixonian Republicans
Well, minus the crime.
Tell us what you really think about Klein. I’m confused. 🙄
You never know what you can survive until survival is the only option. When that day comes, both we and our oppressors will know what we're capable of and why they were right to fear us.
There will always be a place on the map called the USA although the country I grew up in is long since gone.
"We" had two chances to stop this 1992, and 2016... IDK if we get a third chance.
Spoiler alert: We don’t
I mean, you do, but it's going to be a lot more dangerous this time.
bush sr would have been a better choice than Clinton.
Nah, both are the same.. they both love them some "voodoo economics"
Add 2000….
Nope, those were the only two IMO, 2000 we had a "choice" of two schools of neoliberalism. One DLC member, One old school member.
Are the GOP acting like they care about anyone voting for them? They have everything in place to remain in power like every dictatorship in history.
If only we made those correct choices in 1992/2016 would we not be here. But, we went with the DLC, which is GOP lite.. so here we are. we = American public, as some of us weren't old enough to vote I get it!
Haha! We feel concerned… FFS total wanks.
Perfect depiction.
We don’t. Not yet anyways. America is toast.
Far too many Americans seem to think that their constitution will protect them. The problem is, it was meant to work as long as any political party that could ever exist in the US worked for the betterment of America's population. That is no longer the case. Republicans exist for their own profit.
Maybe more accurate to say career Feds, who are wealthy & SM scholars, begging for every donation for every word they say "think their constitution will protect them." Majority of Americans don't have the authority, if their "vote" isn't counted, & if their elected official does not listen to them.
bsky.app/profile/iwil...
History repeats itself. Our children and grand children, with help hopefully from Nato nations, will have to retake American and try again.
America is dead because the Democratic Party refuses to really fight back. They are showing their true colour, yellow.
It's all part of the same rot - the illusion is choice
They're not afraid. They're complicit. Their purpose is to get in between the government and anyone who might want to fight the government. To diffuse real opposition and ensure that it all gets channelled into useless activities. They're very good at this. They've had a lot of practice.
I deleted my previous response after remembering who President Obama is as a person. Now I understand after initially being disappointed. There's a reason why we love no drama Obama so much and that hasn't changed.
THEN…it’s time for #GOODTROUBLE by US the citizens! If what you are saying is true then it’s really up to us…because the people we trusted are MAJORLY FAILING US!!!😢 #Cowards #HaloStarMusicProductions 💫
Here’s a new song I wrote called “GoodTrouble”. These times are a wake up call from New York to California & every state & city in between. Let our voices be heard! John Lewis wake up call! Peace.😎🎶 #goodtrouble #dueprocess #tariffs #johnlewis #newmusic #peacefulprotest youtube.com/shorts/KCr4m...
Dude, I.Will.Survive... I've got skills and?? May as well get it over with now. Snuff his dream and those of his sycophants... Maybe Speaker Mike will entrance us w more words of wonder like: "tRump was sent by god." Oh, I 4got, they are hiding, so their latest proclamation can't be rejected.
Let us be clear, Ezra is the epitome of neoliberalism. 🤔 I may agree with him at times but let us be real, Ezra Klein is a hack job.
Our so-called Dem leaders and their pundits are ill equipped or they’re protecting their own arses. What I do know is they don’t give a damn what happens to us. They’re banking on “Blue No Matter Who” and the more suffering inflicted on us the better chance they have of winning their elections.
Right now I'm listening to Anne Applebaum and my hair is on fire! She talked about how European leaders cannot comprehend why the protests are so minimal.
OK, but what specifically should we be doing NOW?
By contrast listening to Ultra by Rachel Maddow helped me remember that Americans have always hated their democracy.
We've got those traitor types in Canada, too. Reminds me that I haven't looked into what Stephen Harper, Ezra Levant & Gerald Chipeur have been up to lately. There is so much happening all the time. 😢 😭
We’re waiting for these rich people to lead and they just can’t be bothered because they can leave the country after they screwed everyone over. They don’t care, they’re not saying anything while the entire government has vanished.
I'm waiting for more sub sandwich slamming, jamming, & damming energy. I'm not into violence, but the Newsom mocking, Crocket rants, AOC common sense stuff seems much more straightforward. I'm tired of the tepid stuff. The guy in NYC & young dude in Texas are more inspiring than Jeffries & Schumer.
Read @sarahkendzior.bsky.social on Schumer. He is part of the problem. Active, not even passive.
WTF are YOU doing, Seth, other than performative sabre rattling on social media?
Your description of Klein: “tepid, mealy-mouthed analysis by Ezra Klein—who's never seen a phenomenon he couldn't be 5 years late in incompetently circumscribing” is 💯 accurate.
The Fourth Estate is going through the same death throes as Estates 1-3.
Nope. Guillotines or perish
The Democrats should have gone to court over the 2024 election results. There's no way trump won all the swing states yet dems won down ballot, why was this not challenged?
THIS⬆️ 100%. NO WAY he won all the swing states.
From what I understand, there is a court challenge with a trail date of 9-22-2025. We should be seeing the results very soon. I hope.
same shit as Gore accepting counting-stop in Florida 2000. Dems were too stupid to realize that it was their last shot.
But the Trumpers had just had a huge election fraud carnival. If *we* were to claim election fraud it would just look so low-class.
Who cares. It's either low class or a dictatorship
The people who told us 2020 was stolen pre-loaded the language and concepts to the point that the left is loathe to repeat any of it. This is fully by design and we have all fallen for it. Don't want to sound like those election deniers of '20. 😡
She didn’t even put up a fight. I will never understand that.
💯👍 I constantly wonder about that...then I get paranoid and think everyone is in on this "coup"
i’m going to lean more toward incompetence bc i think that even if they suspect fraud, they have so little control over the process that they wouldn’t be able to pinpoint the evidence, so what’s the point in complaining. being an election judge you see how much Dems trust that no volunteers are ops
I think it's because they care about optics more than actual democracy.
Well now I bet they're wishing they didn't. We need more people to speak out
Agree! Also when Congress met to count the Electoral College votes of the 2024 presidential election. There should have been at least one member of Congress objecting to Trump being declared the winner because a majority of both Houses of the previous Congress voted that he incited an insurrection.
Well, probably not. We had a good run though.
Been saying since 2016, better study up on Putin’s rise to power because it is coming here. Also been saying our days as a democracy were numbered on September 12, 2001.
and I felt like we don't have what it takes to survive this. Fact is, America doesnt have what it takes to change course peacefully. At this point, the only way we avoid millions of dead people (if its possible at all at the point we are) is Trump having a brain aneurysm within the next few weeks
Americans suck ass at history. Americans are gonna experience whats its like to be a jew in Nazi Germany and a russian in soviet russia at the same time.
Maybe we shouldnt survive this.
With Chuck and Hakeem leading the democrats, there isn’t a hope in hell.
I agree with you And there are many millions of people who will be saying Wait What? We Told You So
I've been saying this for years. People are more concerned with their own personal lives. They won't see the light until it's too late.
bsky.app/profile/iwil...
But he states it in a very soothing tone so there’s that.
I’m getting the same vibe.
That's the scary part, Democrats for the most part are feckless and are going to get steamrolled.
Disappointment is what I feel about every single former leader of our country. Zelensky, macron and the EU have shown way more guts.
Obama fought for the military to detain indefinitely anyone who appears to support terrorism in times of war and it’s now law. Trump will use this law, sending citizens to camps and Guantanamo for criticizing Israel or any other reason.
Most people are living in cognitive dissonance. What we see and what we know is happening are the completely opposite. I drive to work in my suburban town and it looks absolutely normal. But I know it's happening from videos, news, social media etc.
Excuse me if cognitive dissonance isn't the right term.
We do.
That was a pretty bold statement by Obama’s standards though. He was weak and ineffective against GOP subversion in office, and has been largely silent as everything he failed to even try prevent started bearing fruit.
Obama has become part of the problem, by supporting Cuomo. Same for Clinton(s) IIRC. Neither saw the looming coverups/corruption/fascism back then, and they certainly don't truelysee it expanding right now, by all the same rotten mechanisms.
I thought the same thing. There is zero urgency by our elected officials and those with influence like Obama just watching it happen.
We should all be calling our representatives, telling them that Trump lied about most of what he is doing now, and tell them that it is their duty as our representative to stand up to him. D or R.
