The fact that 77 million people voted for him & many still support him, just shows the power of: disinformation, playing on people's fears, as well as the extent to which other people are willing into inflict cruelty on "those people"
But many of those who voted for him in November no longer do. I met several at a May Day rally this past Thursday. A day late and a dollar short, as they say, but it gives me hope for what we will be able to do to stop him going forward if we keep building the momentum.
I believe that this is the root of it … disinformation and an aging population… look at the increase of scams of the elderly… the world is passing us by .. and rightfully so …. But the vast amount of power and money we still control allows for this level of deception… we have to get misinformation and lies out of “news” … not just by alternative news … if we don’t all have the access to the same information we will never get out of this madness!
So sad, John. Daily loss after loss as our country devolves.
Human nature....we don't feel it until it hurts us. So when we say, "it doesn't affect me....include, YET, in that statement.
Likely we can live without the free press, without NPR, without PBS (and some of the most non-biased news coverage on the planet), we may not be at the age of social security, so DOGE accessing security data, we might muse, doesn't affect us. EPA, our water seems fine right now, FEMA, we haven't had disastrous fires in our area, or for a few months. No one in my neighborhood has had the knock at the door. The National Foundation for the Arts, the Kennedy Center, we will find other things to do with our time. As our allies unite to form a stronger union, the isolation it causes to the US when what truly is needed is intelligent globalism won't be felt until inevitable crisis occurs. The erosion of arts, education, environment and much of what gives beauty and life to our lives is happening, and it's happening now. This is where adaptiveness and resilience works against us, when little by little, we are openly, blatantly, callously being robbed of our freedoms and the things that bring diversity, beauty, culture, learning, protections and humanity erode. These losses are real, and are multiple, and happening in plain site, everywhere all at once, every day.
John, I am so happy to be reading your work again after a too-long hiatus while I adjusted to semi-retirement. You touched a nerve today. I will be visiting Toronto next month for professional society meetings. I'm concerned I might be harassed on my return - and if not for family in the U.S. I would prefer not to return. I'm a scientist - over 40 years in materials failure analysis. U.S. government and society in general no longer respects education or expertise. What happens to a country when knowledge becomes the enemy of the State?
Time for empathy my American friends. DT is hurting us all. However, Canadian Mohammed reminds us that if you are not white, gainfully employed, Christian and adjusting to life in a new country, DT can literally be deadly!
Mohammed speaks the heartfelt truth. I do believe more and more Americans are seeing this. Let’s hope that our eyes are all opened before it is too late.
We are the laughing stock of the world John. And when we didn’t think he could go lower…he says this and then posts on Truth Social a picture of himself dressed as a Pope… "I’d like to be pope. That’d be my number one choice," Trump said, before clarifying that he was joking and naming a possible option — Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan. You know he was serious.
And what’s most troubling….some of the MAGAs laughed…and explained that he was just dressed in a costume. Seriously. The disrespect all Catholics worldwide must feel…especially after his antics at Pope Francis’ funeral….it’s stunning.
Keep it up DT…alienate EVERY citizen…step by step until you crash and burn. So today…smile everyone and remember we know who he is….the sociopath…narcissist and a liar at the core of his being.
We are seeing in that 77 million the character flaws of selfish shortsightedness and misplaced resentment. These are people who want more than they have (no matter how much they have) and blame others for anything they feel they lack.
Mohammed hit the proverbial nail on the head. It boggles the mind to think that the most inept person on the planet,along with his trollish sociopathic mini-me musk, could be allowed to totally obliterate a once admired nation. It's not as though historically his life of inefficiency and corruption have not been chronicled in news footage, captured recordings, first-hand accounts of eyewitnesses, court hearings, etc.., which if committed by anyone else would have landed them in prison for LIFE! Allies have been abandoned like the crucified along the ancient Roman Apian Way. The recognition of how many mentally disturbed people there are nationally becomes very apparent when you see the hegseths, marjorie taylor-greens, and a host of others. Even those of us who readily admit that we, too, need some psychiatric help from time-to-time, the nuts and bolts of the magas have become totally detached from reality. They are in an abyss of hatred, bigotry, racism, and all the terminology that detracts from what makes us HUMANE human beings. This is a shameful period in America from which we may not recover, but I pray that as long as John and all the other Americans opposed to this criminal hijacking of our country continue to speak out against this that we will one day upright our sinking ship of democracy.
I don't think US is the greatest country in the world. We have all seen that great speech by Jeff Daniels' character from Newsroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTjMqda19wk
And he is absolutely right - and that was filmed 12 years ago or thereabouts, even before Trump 1.0
The fact that we have 77 million people voted for Trump, and 90 million people - more than voted for Trump or Harris - did not vote at all indicates VERY clearly this is not the greatest country in the world and hasn't been for a long time. Maybe people need to re-listen to that speech and consider what steps are needed to make the US the greatest country in the world. The bar is actually quite low - observe the golden rule and let your political decisions be guided by it.
To be honest, after this is over (if it ever is in my lifetime as a senior) we need to be like Australia and make voting compulsory for all citizens capable of doing so. Civics needs to be a requirement for high school nationwide.
The truth has been there for all to see, and the Right took advantage of it, distorted it, manipulated the voters, promised a solution. The sad fact is, the voters had no understanding of the consequences. But they heard that same 12-year old monologue I just listened to. The Right’s plan to fix it was to overturn it all. We just warned everyone how bad it would be if they won, but we had no cogent message. (Still don’t as a party) Our plan didn’t and doesn’t matter because nobody even knows our version, only their interpretation of our plan. I feel like Jeff Daniels’ character. I’m disgusted with everyone. We have ourselves to blame. Ourselves. We have to look to ourselves to fix it. No politician will. They are bought.
I thought the Biden and Harris campaign messages were all very clear - and I liked what they had to offer. I think people chose to listen to the noise in the main stream media, which was hell-bent on sane-washing the felon. Many of us made a VERY concerted effort to warn the MAGAs and the fence-straddlers what was coming - they chose not to listen. I don't think we have ourselves to blame - that would not be fair to everyone who worked very hard since 2016 to be rid of this monstrosity. The only BIG mistake we made was underestimating how many jerks and cowards we had in this country.
When I say no cogent message, I mean that Republicans seem to stick together even when it seems ridiculous to the rest of us that they try to justify or even outright deny the corruption we see with our own eyes. We are still fighting about why Biden didn’t drop out sooner and why Harris didn’t do better with young men. We have bigger fish to fry. Biden and Harris were right about one thing: we are losing our democracy. I’m glad you heard them. The man in the White House currently proves that too few others did. And I do blame myself. I have tried to be tolerant while racists and misogynists and Christian Nationalists lived around me. I should have picked a fight twenty years ago. Thirty! We should never have tolerated it. I regret that I did. I repent it.
John, I had many a similar conversation with people in the UK and France when I was there recently--and I was also a little trepidatious about re-entering the USA, although I have the necessary documentation to help me go through the process quickly and, as an old white woman, I am largely invisible (including being pushed around on busy city streets, which led me to whack people with my handbag, although not à la Ruth Buzzi, may she rest in peace). People were unfailingly kind., even when I asked a hotel bartender if he would change the channel on the TV because I couldn't bear to see the Felon's visage in my peripheral vision. He laughed and changed it to snooker. They know that most of the folks who travel frequently are not the kinds of people who support the Felon. But that doesn't make our situation any less dire.
It is exactly that; disgusting. Disgustingly ignorant, foolish individual who cares nothing for any ‘ good’ thing . He’s a great proponent of destruction , the uglier , the better.
He’s a hater of ‘ people’, human beings that were put on this earth to help each other. All he wants to do is smash and divide.
He lacks any insight into anyone else’s life and has no interest in finding anything good about them . His , are the only thoughts that matter .
He alone deserves power , the power to ruin life for the masses.
He respects nothing but “ moneymakers”.
Hence he and the Musk alliance.
As for him describing his beliefs as ‘Christian ‘ , no one could be further from that description than Trump.
He’s a groveling( think Putin) money grubbing , greedy person who has become president with the assistance of his wretched ‘ friend’ Putin and his benefactor Elon Musk .
If we ever needed to give our children a lesson in corruption.
Mohammed spoke like a modern-day prophet—no burning bush, just a burning cab ride.
What a twist: a man from a war-torn nation, PhD in hand, has a clearer moral compass than 77 million Bible-waving patriots who think cruelty is leadership and a golden toilet means divine favor.
They scream “America First!” but forgot that moral authority isn’t won by flags or nukes—it’s earned by how you treat the vulnerable.
Trump didn’t make America great. He made America obvious.
To the world.
To Mohammed.
To anyone not drunk on grievance and Fox News.
And yet here we are, still pretending we’re the light on a hill while setting fire to the village.
I saw that while watching the BBC Saturday. The commentators were not positive in their analysis. The former Italian PM literally called him a clown. A world leader called our president a clown because of a photograph he himself posted. Let that sink in.
The fact that 77 million people voted for him & many still support him, just shows the power of: disinformation, playing on people's fears, as well as the extent to which other people are willing into inflict cruelty on "those people"
It makes me heart & soul sick to realize this 💔
But many of those who voted for him in November no longer do. I met several at a May Day rally this past Thursday. A day late and a dollar short, as they say, but it gives me hope for what we will be able to do to stop him going forward if we keep building the momentum.
Thank you for this bit of encouragement!
I believe that this is the root of it … disinformation and an aging population… look at the increase of scams of the elderly… the world is passing us by .. and rightfully so …. But the vast amount of power and money we still control allows for this level of deception… we have to get misinformation and lies out of “news” … not just by alternative news … if we don’t all have the access to the same information we will never get out of this madness!
I very much agree with Mohammed.
So sad, John. Daily loss after loss as our country devolves.
Human nature....we don't feel it until it hurts us. So when we say, "it doesn't affect me....include, YET, in that statement.
Likely we can live without the free press, without NPR, without PBS (and some of the most non-biased news coverage on the planet), we may not be at the age of social security, so DOGE accessing security data, we might muse, doesn't affect us. EPA, our water seems fine right now, FEMA, we haven't had disastrous fires in our area, or for a few months. No one in my neighborhood has had the knock at the door. The National Foundation for the Arts, the Kennedy Center, we will find other things to do with our time. As our allies unite to form a stronger union, the isolation it causes to the US when what truly is needed is intelligent globalism won't be felt until inevitable crisis occurs. The erosion of arts, education, environment and much of what gives beauty and life to our lives is happening, and it's happening now. This is where adaptiveness and resilience works against us, when little by little, we are openly, blatantly, callously being robbed of our freedoms and the things that bring diversity, beauty, culture, learning, protections and humanity erode. These losses are real, and are multiple, and happening in plain site, everywhere all at once, every day.
John, I am so happy to be reading your work again after a too-long hiatus while I adjusted to semi-retirement. You touched a nerve today. I will be visiting Toronto next month for professional society meetings. I'm concerned I might be harassed on my return - and if not for family in the U.S. I would prefer not to return. I'm a scientist - over 40 years in materials failure analysis. U.S. government and society in general no longer respects education or expertise. What happens to a country when knowledge becomes the enemy of the State?
Time for empathy my American friends. DT is hurting us all. However, Canadian Mohammed reminds us that if you are not white, gainfully employed, Christian and adjusting to life in a new country, DT can literally be deadly!
Mohammed speaks the heartfelt truth. I do believe more and more Americans are seeing this. Let’s hope that our eyes are all opened before it is too late.
We are the laughing stock of the world John. And when we didn’t think he could go lower…he says this and then posts on Truth Social a picture of himself dressed as a Pope… "I’d like to be pope. That’d be my number one choice," Trump said, before clarifying that he was joking and naming a possible option — Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan. You know he was serious.
And what’s most troubling….some of the MAGAs laughed…and explained that he was just dressed in a costume. Seriously. The disrespect all Catholics worldwide must feel…especially after his antics at Pope Francis’ funeral….it’s stunning.
Keep it up DT…alienate EVERY citizen…step by step until you crash and burn. So today…smile everyone and remember we know who he is….the sociopath…narcissist and a liar at the core of his being.
We are seeing in that 77 million the character flaws of selfish shortsightedness and misplaced resentment. These are people who want more than they have (no matter how much they have) and blame others for anything they feel they lack.
A great deal of fear and ignorance among Trump supporters
Mohammed hit the proverbial nail on the head. It boggles the mind to think that the most inept person on the planet,along with his trollish sociopathic mini-me musk, could be allowed to totally obliterate a once admired nation. It's not as though historically his life of inefficiency and corruption have not been chronicled in news footage, captured recordings, first-hand accounts of eyewitnesses, court hearings, etc.., which if committed by anyone else would have landed them in prison for LIFE! Allies have been abandoned like the crucified along the ancient Roman Apian Way. The recognition of how many mentally disturbed people there are nationally becomes very apparent when you see the hegseths, marjorie taylor-greens, and a host of others. Even those of us who readily admit that we, too, need some psychiatric help from time-to-time, the nuts and bolts of the magas have become totally detached from reality. They are in an abyss of hatred, bigotry, racism, and all the terminology that detracts from what makes us HUMANE human beings. This is a shameful period in America from which we may not recover, but I pray that as long as John and all the other Americans opposed to this criminal hijacking of our country continue to speak out against this that we will one day upright our sinking ship of democracy.
🇺🇸😢
I don't think US is the greatest country in the world. We have all seen that great speech by Jeff Daniels' character from Newsroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTjMqda19wk
And he is absolutely right - and that was filmed 12 years ago or thereabouts, even before Trump 1.0
The fact that we have 77 million people voted for Trump, and 90 million people - more than voted for Trump or Harris - did not vote at all indicates VERY clearly this is not the greatest country in the world and hasn't been for a long time. Maybe people need to re-listen to that speech and consider what steps are needed to make the US the greatest country in the world. The bar is actually quite low - observe the golden rule and let your political decisions be guided by it.
That Jeff Daniel’s moment was stunning and still gives me goosebumps today, over a decade later.
Right? That LANDS hard. It did then and it does even more now.
To be honest, after this is over (if it ever is in my lifetime as a senior) we need to be like Australia and make voting compulsory for all citizens capable of doing so. Civics needs to be a requirement for high school nationwide.
Ooh, I LIKE that. I love this idea. I don't know how we implement it (all things considered), but I think that would be great.
The truth has been there for all to see, and the Right took advantage of it, distorted it, manipulated the voters, promised a solution. The sad fact is, the voters had no understanding of the consequences. But they heard that same 12-year old monologue I just listened to. The Right’s plan to fix it was to overturn it all. We just warned everyone how bad it would be if they won, but we had no cogent message. (Still don’t as a party) Our plan didn’t and doesn’t matter because nobody even knows our version, only their interpretation of our plan. I feel like Jeff Daniels’ character. I’m disgusted with everyone. We have ourselves to blame. Ourselves. We have to look to ourselves to fix it. No politician will. They are bought.
I thought the Biden and Harris campaign messages were all very clear - and I liked what they had to offer. I think people chose to listen to the noise in the main stream media, which was hell-bent on sane-washing the felon. Many of us made a VERY concerted effort to warn the MAGAs and the fence-straddlers what was coming - they chose not to listen. I don't think we have ourselves to blame - that would not be fair to everyone who worked very hard since 2016 to be rid of this monstrosity. The only BIG mistake we made was underestimating how many jerks and cowards we had in this country.
When I say no cogent message, I mean that Republicans seem to stick together even when it seems ridiculous to the rest of us that they try to justify or even outright deny the corruption we see with our own eyes. We are still fighting about why Biden didn’t drop out sooner and why Harris didn’t do better with young men. We have bigger fish to fry. Biden and Harris were right about one thing: we are losing our democracy. I’m glad you heard them. The man in the White House currently proves that too few others did. And I do blame myself. I have tried to be tolerant while racists and misogynists and Christian Nationalists lived around me. I should have picked a fight twenty years ago. Thirty! We should never have tolerated it. I regret that I did. I repent it.
On point!
John, I had many a similar conversation with people in the UK and France when I was there recently--and I was also a little trepidatious about re-entering the USA, although I have the necessary documentation to help me go through the process quickly and, as an old white woman, I am largely invisible (including being pushed around on busy city streets, which led me to whack people with my handbag, although not à la Ruth Buzzi, may she rest in peace). People were unfailingly kind., even when I asked a hotel bartender if he would change the channel on the TV because I couldn't bear to see the Felon's visage in my peripheral vision. He laughed and changed it to snooker. They know that most of the folks who travel frequently are not the kinds of people who support the Felon. But that doesn't make our situation any less dire.
LOL re: your Ruth Buzzi comment.....I loved it when she smacked people with that. There are so many that I would like to smack right now.
It is exactly that; disgusting. Disgustingly ignorant, foolish individual who cares nothing for any ‘ good’ thing . He’s a great proponent of destruction , the uglier , the better.
He’s a hater of ‘ people’, human beings that were put on this earth to help each other. All he wants to do is smash and divide.
He lacks any insight into anyone else’s life and has no interest in finding anything good about them . His , are the only thoughts that matter .
He alone deserves power , the power to ruin life for the masses.
He respects nothing but “ moneymakers”.
Hence he and the Musk alliance.
As for him describing his beliefs as ‘Christian ‘ , no one could be further from that description than Trump.
He’s a groveling( think Putin) money grubbing , greedy person who has become president with the assistance of his wretched ‘ friend’ Putin and his benefactor Elon Musk .
If we ever needed to give our children a lesson in corruption.
Trumps domain is exactly fitting for that agenda.
Mohammed spoke like a modern-day prophet—no burning bush, just a burning cab ride.
What a twist: a man from a war-torn nation, PhD in hand, has a clearer moral compass than 77 million Bible-waving patriots who think cruelty is leadership and a golden toilet means divine favor.
They scream “America First!” but forgot that moral authority isn’t won by flags or nukes—it’s earned by how you treat the vulnerable.
Trump didn’t make America great. He made America obvious.
To the world.
To Mohammed.
To anyone not drunk on grievance and Fox News.
And yet here we are, still pretending we’re the light on a hill while setting fire to the village.
Mohammed saw through it.
The question is, will we?
—Virgin Monk Boy
And he just posted a picture of himself as the pope
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/03/trump-pope-ai-image.html
I saw that while watching the BBC Saturday. The commentators were not positive in their analysis. The former Italian PM literally called him a clown. A world leader called our president a clown because of a photograph he himself posted. Let that sink in.