Wish we could do that with the Republicans and SCOTUS. However we cannot. Prof. Heather Cox Richardson said that SCOTUS had a judicial coup. I think we should be treating it as such. That being said, I welcome each sign that democracy is able to reappear after fascist takeover. I like that quick turn around in England. Something the US should perhaps adopt given the fascists howling at the door.
Like the right in France, like AfD in Germany, Wilders in the Netherlands it starts small, is laughed at, but over times grows and metastisizes. And then it's not fringe anymore.
I am living in Germany right now, and go back and forth between here and the US. I just got a petition to sign this morning to sign which is being sent to all political parties in our state that say that they will not do business with AfD. This is being sent to all states(Bundisländer) in Germany. No compromises or coalitions between democratic groups and fascists. It is important because in Germany others need to create coalitions that don't have anything to do with the AfD which is being investigated for violating the German constitution. Wish that could happen with the US Supreme Court, and just sent money to AOC for being the one to call for impeachment of members of SCOTUS. Also wrote Dick Durbin asking him to join her and stand on the right side of history. I have been regularly writing him to start proceedings to impeach Alito and Thomas, so this email from me was nothing new. I have asked him repeatedly to stand on the right side of history. Be Bold!
Also super important is to vote all the way down the ballot. There is a phenomenon call ballot roll off where a voter fails to vote in every race to the very end of the ballot. These down ballot candidates are for school boards, judges, county officials, etc. One tactic republicans use is to encourage down ballot voting. This is how they take over local governance.
So our mantra needs to be to vote blue all the way down the ballot. To know exactly who and what is on the ballot in your area check out BlueVoterGuide.org.
The largest correlation of lost Conservative votes was to the areas that had the highest support for Brexit. And most of that went to Farage's Reform party (actually a Farage owned corporation ).
So, it would seem those deluded by Brexit are punishing the Conservatives, but still trying to wish hard enough that the magical "sunlit uplands" will come into view.
I don't think most Brits have learned the correct lessons of 14 years of fake populism.
Ruth's piece on Labour's landslide victory in the UK's elections should be read as a warning. Brexit was their rubicon they should not have crossed. Now that people have lived with bankruptcies, crumbling infrastructure, empty grocery store shelves and rotting food in fields, defections, and more for almost a decade, British people finally suffered enough consequences to reject what amounted to fascist populism in Britain.
If we could read the same article about the United States in ten years, I doubt Americans will even get to vote to change our government. Christo-fascist Republicans have created Project 2025 as our rubicon we should not cross. And just like the UK before Brexit, Americans are entrenched in their silos instead of educating themselves about what these policies and this government will do to them. So in addition to a decimated economy, crumbling infrastructure, flooded cities, food shortages and more, I expect to see a spike in incarcerations and executions as the "if you resist, we will kill you" Republican Party torches our lives.
Or Americans could come together and vote against this in November.
A destructive charismatic leader like tRump will polarize his people so thoroughly into a tribal camp that they lose their ability to think in an agile manner. They lose their ability to sort fact from fiction, as their world is now based on anger. Anyone outside their camp is the enemy and even truth from these outsiders is ignored. They can't see the apocalypse on the horizon or that they are the ones creating it. Fascism is as much psychological as it is political.
I understand your sentiments, Mike, but from my point of view we need to do both. We need to infuse some youthful energy into this campaign, celebrate Joe's amazing accomplishments and ride that like a wave all the way through to November. Young people need to be inspired to participate and they need to feel immediate confidence in the person at the podium. I don't feel confident right now when I see and hear Joe...and in his perverse way, Trump's arrogance is interpreted as confidence by many low- information voters. In their guts they find that attractive. We need to give them an invigorating , vitalizing alternative, IMO.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat: Today's bargain basement subscription is all my beautiful wife, Nancy, would allow me to spend!
Now, I can subscribe to a learned professor I have followed for some time.
First, Thank you, thank you for the important work -- including the books -- you have created over the years against the neo-Fascists, whom you have long identified as such.
Nigel Farage is one of the worst, exceeded only by our own Fascist.
The Democrats must quickly and decisively decide the re-run or succession issue and fight with might and main against the scourge of American fascism that sees immigrants as "poisoning our blood".
The only "poisoning" is the poisoned racist rhetoric that raises the horrific specter of Anti-Semitism aflame in the land.
Thank you, Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Stay strong for us; we need your voice!
Susan Stone: You are right in adding these good persons, these dear people, all of them, whom we increasingly have to protect from the fever of hatred and violence.
Native Americans, First Peoples, and Indigenous people all over the world are like "endangered species." Each are precious, wise beyond the West, deserving to live and in need of our protection. The real "savages" were the Europeans who slaughtered them, stole their land, and were arrogant enough to think they were superior.
I love your work, Professor, and I always look forward to your analysis in writing, on TV, and during the live weekly forums. But we are in big trouble as a nation and (I hate to say it), the Democratic party is also to blame for putting the country in the situation we are in ... along with the NY Times, Fox News, CNN, the Washington Post, the so called "liberal intellectual" pundits like Thomas Friedman, the Supreme Court and the corporate interests...
The mistake that the Democratic Party made was embracing neoliberalism many years ago, instead of rejecting it. It gave the "green light" to corporate America that they will not be challenged in their quest for a corporatocracy. The failure of neoliberalism was one of the inputs to our rise of fascism.
Steve, during the '80's under Reagan and the 90's under Clinton, I remember family farms being bought up by Big Ag and small, family farms couldn't compete. I remember computers beginning to enable companies to close factories in the U.S. and move jobs to Mexico, Myanmar, Korea, etc. leaving whole towns bereft of jobs, health care, retirement, pride, a feeling of purpose, and even identity. CEO's did no job retraining and families were suddenly without income and self-respect. There were banking failures and mortgage fraud, the denigration of government support, as if only failures and incompetents would ever need that...Am I remembering correctly? I've never understood why that was called, Neo-liberalism...it just sounds like straight up predatory capitalism to me. Failures of empathy as a business model...no crying in baseball, so to speak. What's "liberal" about that?
Britain's process of changing regimes quickly, makes me think that doing so might be a good reform for us to adopt. Even though I've been reading parts of Project 2025, I have no way of comparing it to what Britain has been through. It might be worse because it is such a huge power grab, that, from what I heard this morning, most republicans don't like… That would definitely turn our country into a place that is welcoming to just a few very obscenely rich people. The rest of us would have to survive the best we can. We, as a country, really need to wake up.
Unfortunately ordinary Brits are paying the price of Brexit. I’m no expert but leaving a huge market such as the EU and going it alone can only have economic downside. BoJo may have lost his lustre, but Trump’s buddy Farage is waiting hungrily in the wings for Labour’s 1st screwup. All the Brit’s have to know is Farage and Trump are like minded. BEWARE!!!
I think moves like Brexit are outward manifestations of arrogance and grandiosity. Decisions driven by a need to inflate fragile self-esteem are bound to fail...they don't take into account the larger, social context within which an individual or group is embedded. We need leaders who are self-confident without needing to dominate and strut around like the Emperor without clothes. We need leaders who look at decision-making as a win-win opportunity, not another test of their testosterone.
Ruth, I wonder how many times Trump has DENIED knowing a woman who accused him of sexual assault, or DENIED doing what the woman accused him of, or DENIED saying something that was verifiably caught on audiotape, etc, etc. It was verified that he made 30,000 false statements during his presidency, so when Trump says that he has "no idea" what Project 2025 is all about, or what the head of the Heritage Foundation meant by his comment that "there won't be any violence unless the Left objects" to their plans, why would anybody struggle to believe him?
It seems logical to point out the pattern of denial that's been repeated thousand of times, and simply dismiss his denial as yet another lie, misdirection, and con-job. To do anything else confirms Einstein's definition of insanity. I say this because I still hear TV anchors repeating Trump's denials as if they could possibly be sincere, and struggling to understand what he could have meant by this or why he could have said that, instead of simply pointing out the fact that Trump chronically denies many things that are verifiably true.
Most of our media just refuses to believe that tRump is a sociopath, a sadist and is Machiavellian. I believe that most of this is motivated reasoning, where they don't WANT to believe it. They deny that someone that was in a presidential position could be so flawed.
I agree, Steve… There's a huge element of denial, as well as just plain ignorance of the fact that some people's minds work so differently from their own. By the way I just heard the governor of Hawaii flat out call Trump a sociopath with narcissistic personality disorder. I was thrilled to hear that on television! MSNBC, Reverend Al Sharpton's show, Saturday, July 6.
Yes, it's so difficult for normal people to imagine someone with no conscience, no empathy, no ethics and no morals. tRump followers are in total denial that their hero is deeply flawed. It's mind bending.
I agree, Steve...these last 8 years have been a master-class in sociopathy, grandiosity, and anti-social behavior, and how that manifests at the political level. I wish everyone would read books like The Sociopath Next Door, and Disordered Minds, etc. We need to help other people recognize the signs of dangerous personalities and how they appear on the world stage so we can, hopefully, avoid handing them the power that eventually harms us.
Indeed! Those who know nothing of abnormal psychology can easily be fooled by psychopaths/socioapths................ as we've seen. A talented sociopath can turn the mind of a somewhat normal person into something almost as basic as that of a chimpanzee.
Yes...tragically, that's what's happened in many countries, many times. It's been one major focus of my attention for 8 years to raise awareness regarding the signs and symptoms of the personality disorders, especially charismatic sociopaths. Thankfully, others are doing this also but I think we need to do it in a more organized way. I wish I owned a media conglomeration!
I have to admit I had not really seen the parallel from Republicans to Tories, but there it is, even down to BoJo's hair. I think this needs to be talked about more publicly so people can see what happens when conservatives are in control. I grew up in St. Louis, big Blue dot in a Red state, moved away after college and moved back after retirement. Most of my family is here and I've missed living in close proximity to a good-sized city. But, now I have to pay more attention to the fact that Republicans have been in charge for about 20 years. MO is the classic, urban vs rural state. The rural areas have healthcare desserts; a shocking lack of doctors; many school districts have 4-day school weeks due to lack of funding; public school teachers' pay is among the lowest in the US; Republicans use education money for private vouchers but the private schools are mostly inadequate with little oversight; districts are gerrymandered - think Ohio. MO defeated right-to-work and got medical and recreational marijuana through ballot initiatives. Raising minimum wage and abortion rights are on ballot initiatives for November. Republicans have tried to raise the threshold and rules for these initiatives but since they can't govern, they can't get their act together. Schmitt and Hawley used their position as Attorney General to get into the Senate while using and wasting taxpayer money. Our current AG, Bailey is the doofus who sued NYC for indicting Trump. Taxpayers have to pay for that as well. We have to keep resisting and yes, it takes time.
Yeah, but how is Labour gonna keep Nigel on a leash?
Farage and his fellow fascist liars only have 4 seats. Labour will ignore them.
Of course but Nigel has the civil instincts of a dead flashlight battery
Wish we could do that with the Republicans and SCOTUS. However we cannot. Prof. Heather Cox Richardson said that SCOTUS had a judicial coup. I think we should be treating it as such. That being said, I welcome each sign that democracy is able to reappear after fascist takeover. I like that quick turn around in England. Something the US should perhaps adopt given the fascists howling at the door.
Like the right in France, like AfD in Germany, Wilders in the Netherlands it starts small, is laughed at, but over times grows and metastisizes. And then it's not fringe anymore.
Oh did I mention the USA?
I am living in Germany right now, and go back and forth between here and the US. I just got a petition to sign this morning to sign which is being sent to all political parties in our state that say that they will not do business with AfD. This is being sent to all states(Bundisländer) in Germany. No compromises or coalitions between democratic groups and fascists. It is important because in Germany others need to create coalitions that don't have anything to do with the AfD which is being investigated for violating the German constitution. Wish that could happen with the US Supreme Court, and just sent money to AOC for being the one to call for impeachment of members of SCOTUS. Also wrote Dick Durbin asking him to join her and stand on the right side of history. I have been regularly writing him to start proceedings to impeach Alito and Thomas, so this email from me was nothing new. I have asked him repeatedly to stand on the right side of history. Be Bold!
Please clarify- Which one is known as BOJO?
Boris Johnson
BOris JOhnson
BOJO is not that far off from BOZO. Maybe they should change his name since he's such a clown.
👍👍
Johnathan Pie has the best summary of the Tory Reign of Error. Follow this link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/05/opinion/uk-election-keir-starmer-boring.html?unlocked_article_code=1.400.yTRK.N_dVYl4faElw&smid=url-share
This is great
Thank you Ruth!
WE need to do the same with TFG/MAGA in November. Vote Blue in November; vote like lives depend on it (they do!)!
👍👍
Also super important is to vote all the way down the ballot. There is a phenomenon call ballot roll off where a voter fails to vote in every race to the very end of the ballot. These down ballot candidates are for school boards, judges, county officials, etc. One tactic republicans use is to encourage down ballot voting. This is how they take over local governance.
So our mantra needs to be to vote blue all the way down the ballot. To know exactly who and what is on the ballot in your area check out BlueVoterGuide.org.
Agreed!
This is great news! Screaming and hollering the continuous lies get old! Vote for democracy and truth!
Fake populists are like fake electors - they prowl on gullible people‼️
The largest correlation of lost Conservative votes was to the areas that had the highest support for Brexit. And most of that went to Farage's Reform party (actually a Farage owned corporation ).
So, it would seem those deluded by Brexit are punishing the Conservatives, but still trying to wish hard enough that the magical "sunlit uplands" will come into view.
I don't think most Brits have learned the correct lessons of 14 years of fake populism.
Ruth's piece on Labour's landslide victory in the UK's elections should be read as a warning. Brexit was their rubicon they should not have crossed. Now that people have lived with bankruptcies, crumbling infrastructure, empty grocery store shelves and rotting food in fields, defections, and more for almost a decade, British people finally suffered enough consequences to reject what amounted to fascist populism in Britain.
If we could read the same article about the United States in ten years, I doubt Americans will even get to vote to change our government. Christo-fascist Republicans have created Project 2025 as our rubicon we should not cross. And just like the UK before Brexit, Americans are entrenched in their silos instead of educating themselves about what these policies and this government will do to them. So in addition to a decimated economy, crumbling infrastructure, flooded cities, food shortages and more, I expect to see a spike in incarcerations and executions as the "if you resist, we will kill you" Republican Party torches our lives.
Or Americans could come together and vote against this in November.
My thoughts exactly.
Exactly Andra I wrote it in that spirit
A destructive charismatic leader like tRump will polarize his people so thoroughly into a tribal camp that they lose their ability to think in an agile manner. They lose their ability to sort fact from fiction, as their world is now based on anger. Anyone outside their camp is the enemy and even truth from these outsiders is ignored. They can't see the apocalypse on the horizon or that they are the ones creating it. Fascism is as much psychological as it is political.
We need to educate folks about the dangers of another Trump term and quit handwringing about who our candidate will be.
I understand your sentiments, Mike, but from my point of view we need to do both. We need to infuse some youthful energy into this campaign, celebrate Joe's amazing accomplishments and ride that like a wave all the way through to November. Young people need to be inspired to participate and they need to feel immediate confidence in the person at the podium. I don't feel confident right now when I see and hear Joe...and in his perverse way, Trump's arrogance is interpreted as confidence by many low- information voters. In their guts they find that attractive. We need to give them an invigorating , vitalizing alternative, IMO.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat: Today's bargain basement subscription is all my beautiful wife, Nancy, would allow me to spend!
Now, I can subscribe to a learned professor I have followed for some time.
First, Thank you, thank you for the important work -- including the books -- you have created over the years against the neo-Fascists, whom you have long identified as such.
Nigel Farage is one of the worst, exceeded only by our own Fascist.
The Democrats must quickly and decisively decide the re-run or succession issue and fight with might and main against the scourge of American fascism that sees immigrants as "poisoning our blood".
The only "poisoning" is the poisoned racist rhetoric that raises the horrific specter of Anti-Semitism aflame in the land.
Thank you, Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Stay strong for us; we need your voice!
Armand, I would add the Mexicans, Muslims, Asians, LGBTQs and Blacks to that specter. They are all living with being hated.
Susan Stone: You are right in adding these good persons, these dear people, all of them, whom we increasingly have to protect from the fever of hatred and violence.
I totally concur.
Absolutely!
Native Americans, First Peoples, and Indigenous people all over the world are like "endangered species." Each are precious, wise beyond the West, deserving to live and in need of our protection. The real "savages" were the Europeans who slaughtered them, stole their land, and were arrogant enough to think they were superior.
Madeline Taylor: Exactly.
My goodness, the diaries of General Custer's troops killing villages of women and children are horrific.
You state it exactly.
Thanks Armand for joining Lucid
I love your work, Professor, and I always look forward to your analysis in writing, on TV, and during the live weekly forums. But we are in big trouble as a nation and (I hate to say it), the Democratic party is also to blame for putting the country in the situation we are in ... along with the NY Times, Fox News, CNN, the Washington Post, the so called "liberal intellectual" pundits like Thomas Friedman, the Supreme Court and the corporate interests...
Yes it is a systemic problem
The mistake that the Democratic Party made was embracing neoliberalism many years ago, instead of rejecting it. It gave the "green light" to corporate America that they will not be challenged in their quest for a corporatocracy. The failure of neoliberalism was one of the inputs to our rise of fascism.
Steve, during the '80's under Reagan and the 90's under Clinton, I remember family farms being bought up by Big Ag and small, family farms couldn't compete. I remember computers beginning to enable companies to close factories in the U.S. and move jobs to Mexico, Myanmar, Korea, etc. leaving whole towns bereft of jobs, health care, retirement, pride, a feeling of purpose, and even identity. CEO's did no job retraining and families were suddenly without income and self-respect. There were banking failures and mortgage fraud, the denigration of government support, as if only failures and incompetents would ever need that...Am I remembering correctly? I've never understood why that was called, Neo-liberalism...it just sounds like straight up predatory capitalism to me. Failures of empathy as a business model...no crying in baseball, so to speak. What's "liberal" about that?
Britain's process of changing regimes quickly, makes me think that doing so might be a good reform for us to adopt. Even though I've been reading parts of Project 2025, I have no way of comparing it to what Britain has been through. It might be worse because it is such a huge power grab, that, from what I heard this morning, most republicans don't like… That would definitely turn our country into a place that is welcoming to just a few very obscenely rich people. The rest of us would have to survive the best we can. We, as a country, really need to wake up.
Rishi Sunak. I know a public school wanker when I see one.
😂😂
Unfortunately ordinary Brits are paying the price of Brexit. I’m no expert but leaving a huge market such as the EU and going it alone can only have economic downside. BoJo may have lost his lustre, but Trump’s buddy Farage is waiting hungrily in the wings for Labour’s 1st screwup. All the Brit’s have to know is Farage and Trump are like minded. BEWARE!!!
I think moves like Brexit are outward manifestations of arrogance and grandiosity. Decisions driven by a need to inflate fragile self-esteem are bound to fail...they don't take into account the larger, social context within which an individual or group is embedded. We need leaders who are self-confident without needing to dominate and strut around like the Emperor without clothes. We need leaders who look at decision-making as a win-win opportunity, not another test of their testosterone.
Ruth, I wonder how many times Trump has DENIED knowing a woman who accused him of sexual assault, or DENIED doing what the woman accused him of, or DENIED saying something that was verifiably caught on audiotape, etc, etc. It was verified that he made 30,000 false statements during his presidency, so when Trump says that he has "no idea" what Project 2025 is all about, or what the head of the Heritage Foundation meant by his comment that "there won't be any violence unless the Left objects" to their plans, why would anybody struggle to believe him?
It seems logical to point out the pattern of denial that's been repeated thousand of times, and simply dismiss his denial as yet another lie, misdirection, and con-job. To do anything else confirms Einstein's definition of insanity. I say this because I still hear TV anchors repeating Trump's denials as if they could possibly be sincere, and struggling to understand what he could have meant by this or why he could have said that, instead of simply pointing out the fact that Trump chronically denies many things that are verifiably true.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-project-2025-biden-9d372469033d23e1e3aef5cf0470a2e6
Most of our media just refuses to believe that tRump is a sociopath, a sadist and is Machiavellian. I believe that most of this is motivated reasoning, where they don't WANT to believe it. They deny that someone that was in a presidential position could be so flawed.
I agree, Steve… There's a huge element of denial, as well as just plain ignorance of the fact that some people's minds work so differently from their own. By the way I just heard the governor of Hawaii flat out call Trump a sociopath with narcissistic personality disorder. I was thrilled to hear that on television! MSNBC, Reverend Al Sharpton's show, Saturday, July 6.
Yes, it's so difficult for normal people to imagine someone with no conscience, no empathy, no ethics and no morals. tRump followers are in total denial that their hero is deeply flawed. It's mind bending.
I agree, Steve...these last 8 years have been a master-class in sociopathy, grandiosity, and anti-social behavior, and how that manifests at the political level. I wish everyone would read books like The Sociopath Next Door, and Disordered Minds, etc. We need to help other people recognize the signs of dangerous personalities and how they appear on the world stage so we can, hopefully, avoid handing them the power that eventually harms us.
Indeed! Those who know nothing of abnormal psychology can easily be fooled by psychopaths/socioapths................ as we've seen. A talented sociopath can turn the mind of a somewhat normal person into something almost as basic as that of a chimpanzee.
Yes...tragically, that's what's happened in many countries, many times. It's been one major focus of my attention for 8 years to raise awareness regarding the signs and symptoms of the personality disorders, especially charismatic sociopaths. Thankfully, others are doing this also but I think we need to do it in a more organized way. I wish I owned a media conglomeration!
I have to admit I had not really seen the parallel from Republicans to Tories, but there it is, even down to BoJo's hair. I think this needs to be talked about more publicly so people can see what happens when conservatives are in control. I grew up in St. Louis, big Blue dot in a Red state, moved away after college and moved back after retirement. Most of my family is here and I've missed living in close proximity to a good-sized city. But, now I have to pay more attention to the fact that Republicans have been in charge for about 20 years. MO is the classic, urban vs rural state. The rural areas have healthcare desserts; a shocking lack of doctors; many school districts have 4-day school weeks due to lack of funding; public school teachers' pay is among the lowest in the US; Republicans use education money for private vouchers but the private schools are mostly inadequate with little oversight; districts are gerrymandered - think Ohio. MO defeated right-to-work and got medical and recreational marijuana through ballot initiatives. Raising minimum wage and abortion rights are on ballot initiatives for November. Republicans have tried to raise the threshold and rules for these initiatives but since they can't govern, they can't get their act together. Schmitt and Hawley used their position as Attorney General to get into the Senate while using and wasting taxpayer money. Our current AG, Bailey is the doofus who sued NYC for indicting Trump. Taxpayers have to pay for that as well. We have to keep resisting and yes, it takes time.