I find focus on good polling for us and the belief that it will lead to a win in the midterms misses the point. Will enough Americans have the courage to go to the polls in November?
Luke, this is not a very Hopium sentiment, and it is also wrong.
Trump's decline is deeply important. Any first step in us getting to the other side of this catastrophe starts with the country rejecting him and his agenda. That has happened, and it is very, very important for it is also as we literally write and discuss here every day, weakening his grip on Congress. Something that is also very, very important.
Why won't Americans vote? We've been voting in huge numbers in elections all across the country? No Kings has become one of the largest protest movements in American history even in these early days. The people of Minnesota are bravely staring down armed govt militia every day. From Strength In Numbers today - Among registered voters, Democrats lead the House generic ballot 51% to 43% for Republicans, with 6% undecided. Among those who say they would “definitely” or “very likely” vote, the margin widens to 55% Democratic vs. 42% Republican.
I understand the numbers. And I am in the street every week. But I still worry people, when faced with troops in the streets in November will not vote. We need to be in the streets now everywhere in the country if we want a free election in November. And we need the leading democrats in the streets with us.
Troops in the street are not a given, but they are a threat. Elections are 9 months off. Nine months ago Trump was just about to unleash "liberation day." Think how much has happened since then. Even more will happen by November because we are in the part of an ever accelerating curve.
Like Patrick mentions below, projecting the future is next to impossible now. The only certainty is, as Simon has stated many times, if we give in to despair, Trump wins.
Troops in the streets are certainly possible since anything is possible under Trump. However, I think troops would more likely strengthen our side's determination to vote and weaken the right-wing's turnout. Troops are just too in-your-face.
The bigger problem is that 40 percent of American voters support Trump even though he is one-thousand times worse than any other worst president in history. These Americans are living in a different reality, getting their information from little more than propaganda. The right-wing controls far, far, far more communications than the reality-based media and that could persuade enough voters to keep Republican majorities. How do we reach that small slice of Americans who swung for Trump and MAGA in 2024 because the right-wing was the only source of information that got through to them?
Simon, what do you think of one of Robert Reich's options? From his post today:
"1. Target a few Republican senators and House members to switch parties and thereby give Democrats a congressional majority in at least one chamber.
Several of the people I contacted said the single most important thing we can do now is target a few Republican senators and representatives to switch sides or become independents who caucus with the Democrats — giving Democrats a majority in at least one chamber. That will be stop or at least slow Trump."
Simon, I'd like to see much more interaction between Blue States and those Trump threatens. Now it's Greenland. Why not invite some Greenlanders and their dogs to
my state California for a fun time and some serious talk of the next steps. And please
make it clear we already have full legal right to military bases there setup in 1951 as defense against the USSR.
Holy fucking hell the president’s Davos speech. It’s like the worst of what I hear from people who think America won everything and that the world was passive in the comments section of any good YouTube WWII history video.
The only damn positive from this is that I don’t have to think of how I’m going to not follow an illegal order to take Greenland by force for now.
Calling my senators and rep today. All three are Dems though so this should be easy
Simon, I am so glad you are highlighting Prime Minister Mark Carney’s amazing speech at Davos! It’s drawing global attention – and it is being described as "The best speech by a world leader in a very long time".
GOOD NEWS FOR GREENLAND: From today’s edition of "The Barron’s Daily", a newsletter for investors: (Apologies for the long post, but this is worth quoting at length.)
. "Trump Got a Warning From Treasuries Selloff.
. How It Could Curb Greenland Tariff Threats."
===================================
Bond vigilantes are prowling the markets. There’s a question over whether the activist fixed-income investors have Japan or U.S. government debt in their sights but ultimately it might not matter if the market action forces the Trump administration to retreat.
Markets got an unwelcome triple whammy as equities, Treasuries, and the dollar all sold off Tuesday. The most consequential was the drop in prices of U.S. government debt, suggesting President Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs against fellow NATO members has reawakened the “sell America” trade. The yield on the 30-year Treasury hit its highest level since September and hovered near the psychologically important 5% level.
The bond market action suggests Europe has some cards to play when it comes to pushing back against Trump’s desire to acquire Greenland. A Denmark-based pension fund enjoyed a rare moment in the spotlight when it said it was going to sell its holdings of U.S. Treasuries, while Deutsche Bank analysts noted European countries own $8 trillion of U.S. bonds and equities that could be weaponized in a trade war.
Soaring yields have reined in the Trump administration before. The president noted the bond market reaction had been “very tricky” when he said he would scale back some tariffs in April last year. But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent insisted Wednesday that the Treasuries selloff had more to do with moves in the Japanese bond market, where investors are fretting about increased government spending and tax-cut pledges.
Bessent might be right about the immediate trigger, but that doesn’t mean the White House can ignore market signals about U.S. government debt falling out of favor as a haven asset amid worries about overreach. James Carville, advisor to President Bill Clinton, notably once said he wants to be reincarnated as the bond market, because it can intimidate everyone. That’s true even for American presidents.
I was listening yesterday to the "Strategy Session" on Lincoln Square, and I asked them, to paraphrase, whether we are close to a point where some corporate leaders might use their money to push Congress towards 25th Amendment or Impeachment. Rick Wilson, without pause, answered my question as just a definitive "no". At some point the video will be posted. He said they have learned to deal with him, they just need to throw him money, and they get what they want. Maybe.
But I really wonder if that is right. If Trump keeps pushing on Greenland, Europe looks ready to levy some real economic consequences on us. This has got to impact our economy and our stock market. Trump's policies are leading to a situation where the entire GOP is at risk. If one concludes large corporations prefer Republican deregulation and tax policies, wouldn't they try to stop Trump from destroying their party?
At least some of the tech bros clearly want to transition to Vance. Why not use their money to push it along? I can't believe it is because they really want Greenland for the network state nonsense.
So I wonder. I think things are potentially going to get so bad, and everything is so far outside of any normal range, that making sweeping predictions is just very fraught. When things get into such uncharted territory, and the response is highly nonlinear, and Trump looks increasingly insane, accurate punditry, which is always hard, starts to look impossible. Any prediction would have to be hedged on what an increasingly demented, sick brain decides to do.
I've begun to think there might be a path to Trump being removed from office.
I have long felt that way. The crazier he gets the more dangerous he is, the more self sabotaging he becomes, the more fragile his hold on power.
This is the path we are on. Something is going to break first. Being an optimist, I strongly suspect it will be Trump and MAGA, but the story is unwritten, the only way out is through, so we must keep working to push our electeds and our fellow citizens to step up.
This bond market business certainly seems to be pushing toward this.
Simon noted in a recent post fossil fuel companies would be calling republican Congressional leaders about something the regime was doing - sorry, I don't recall any details, there's so much coming at us.
But the point: fossil fuels are big donors, and they were *already* complaining to Thune and Johnson, and now we are here...Someone's on the phone complaining today, too.
What I think will do it, and maybe only this, is if the big corporate donors threaten to turn off the cash spigot unless they make Vance president. Until that happens, I don't think he will be removed.
He will only step down to avoid being removed. The outcome of a removal action has to be 100% clear to him, and even then he'd fight it until he figures out he can't win.
Yeah, like the 'stimmies' he seized credit for after opposing them (for optical reasons) right up until the moment he realized there was a bipartisan veto-proof majority in favor of them--and he thought of how he could prep them so people would actually think the money came from his own pockets--as if...
That's my point. And he can claim that we're "winning" so much, and we're so "hot" that in order to maintain that course he and only he has set us on, he now feels it's the right time to hand over the presidency.
He can embrace himself as a saint, Saint Trump of the US, because he put the good of the country before his own gratification.
So, he dumps us before we dump him and his legacy; however, the Repubs view that remains intact, and he goes on with the rest of his rancid life, holding court down in Palm Beach, crashing weddings, cheating on the golf course, getting invited by heads of state, now his friends, to their compounds/palaces, and releasing pressers when he's feeling up to it.
I imagine, as many others do, that there is a strategy behind raising the impeachment issue.
Working toward getting "the numbers" and having that simmer out there, so that he is slowly "persuaded" that the face-saving, legacy-preserving thing to do is resign (citing that he's done SO MUCH and that keeping up with this level of SO MUCH WINNING is not possible for him, so he's doing the saintly thing by handing it to Vance).
As in many corporate situations, this is a Hobson's choice and we know it, but in his state of mind, he wins because he dumped us before we dumped him.
I have heard legal pundits say these charges will never see the light of day. He'll never face legal consequences when he gets out of office as an 80-something-year-old man. Everyone has been pretty clear about those expectations.
isnt anyone concerned about the venezuelan slush fund he has in off shore banks? and now creating the despot peace club with billion dollar donations which will replace the UN and become some sort of global authoritarian counterweight to democracy? or he is just too incompetent? how can a US pres create an off short slush fund in foreign banks that will quickly be worth billions? he wont care if he is president if he is running the new axis group. he will think he is king of the world. way beyond DC. he is looking toward global domination now.
Yes, many of us are concerned about these brazen abuses of power.
But again, it's likely only the DEMs would confront this criminality, so we're back to the "must take back the house" in November again.
This, of course, is different from what Marmie4 asked, which is primarily about his exposure to his crimes prior to re-election.
Totally agree with you regarding his out-of-office opportunities, which is why I'm raising the distinct possibility that, while POTUS is the ultimate limelight, he can get his narcissistic supply OUTSIDE of POTUS, without unflattering attention as he declines. He can control it more.
All of which is to say, he's dying. And, you know, there's that.
He's in denial, but humans have layers of consciousness. In order to deny something, you have to know, on a certain level, that which the other level cannot accept.
The corporate sector is the problem. Trump is their tool. They are his donors. Of course if he stops being useful, they have no personal loyalty to him. They'll put in Vance.
What I'm trying to say is what they won't do is support actual democracy - that is rule by the people, because it is their goal to: as founder John Jay said: the ones that own the country ought to run it.
Despite the rhetoric of "free markets" and competition, the goal of the corporate sector is consolidation and monopoly.
This problem is not new, there has been a battle since the country was founded. We are trying to stop them from running it, but we'll never be truly free until we stop them from owning it. This is not an original idea. The anti-trust laws were (an inadequate) part of the push back against this. When a few large corporations control everything we need just to live it is difficult to fight back. A way to punish a corporation is to patronize their competition. You can't do that if there is no competition, or the "competition" is in league with them.
The government, depending on who is in control, has not been hostile to monopolies and near monopolies. During the Nixon admin the official Dept of Ag policy was officially "get big or get out." Their idea was the way to keep food prices low was "economies of scale" and applying the mass production concept to agriculture. Fast forward to the present and the price of eggs.
Here's the food chain. Your corporate chain store and corporate chain restaurant buys eggs from food distribution corporations. The eggs are produced in large warehouses crammed with tens of thousands of chickens, as many as can be packed in - unsanitary and inhumane and efficient - except when an outbreak of bird flu occurs and spreads rapidly in these chicken slums, causing millions of birds to have to be destroyed, leading to an egg shortage.
Meanwhile, here in a part of the country where we actually have small family farms, the price of eggs did not go up for me because I buy my eggs at a roadside stand direct from the farmer. The farmer isn't running an egg factory - they also sell vegetables, jams, pickles, maple syrup etc.
There aren't enough family farms to meet the egg demand of course. Before the bird flu situation, buying eggs from Walmart was cheaper than my farm stand. I paid slightly more and got much better eggs. Most people who've never had a fresh egg from a free range chicken have no idea. Saving a dollar on a dozen low quality eggs is not really a big savings if you buy a dozen eggs a week. You can save a lot more by not getting the "snack foods" which are grossly overpriced. A bag of Doritos party size ==$5.52 lb versus a bag of chicken leg quarters 84 cents per pound for a ten lb bag (prices per Walmart)
It occurred to me that while FOX is certainly just one of the awful parts of the MAGA media world, it’s still a crucial one. They once tried to distance themselves from Trump by pushing De Santis and were burned, quickly returning to the Trump fold. But if the Murdochs start to be wary of losing Europe and the UK ( and Australia and Canada), and thus becomes more real with each passing day, they could turn on Trump again and it might make a difference with the spineless Republicans finding a voice. Just a thought.
I wonder about what Murdoch's true intentions are. He allows (or encourages?) the Wall Street Journal to do some actual reporting about the abuses of the regime, but keeps everything MAGA for Fox, where I assume he wants to keep up ad revenue. But what is his actual position? And how might that play a role in how events unfold? It's an interesting question.
"The North Carolina Democratic Party is withholding a key resource from four state legislative candidates who have sided with Republicans in voting to override vetoes from Democratic governors.
"At Chair Anderson Clayton’s urging, the state party’s Executive Council enacted new rules during a closed meeting sometime last year to deny access to VoteBuilder—a voter contact software the state party typically distributes at no cost to candidates—to one former and three current state lawmakers."
Thanks! I knew Carla Cunningham would be on that list, but hadn't heard about the other three. Normally I oppose "purity tests", but at this moment, we absolutely must take control of the legislature and do not need Democrats working against that on any issue.
Anderson Clayton has really reinvigorated the dem party in NC, very thankful to her. So glad to hear that they’ve met their goal of recruiting a candidate to run in ever eligible campaign position for this year. Can’t win if you don’t run!
Contact made with Senators Durbin and Duckworth this morning. I stressed that we can't let one narcissistic psycho crash the world order that we've worked hard to protect for over 80 years just because he's having a temper tantrum. That world order has prevented World Wars, buoyed up democracies, promoted public health globally, and cemented important allies and friends throughout the world. Are we going to let one crazy person knock that all down? He must be reined in or removed immediately. We can block the budget talks and appropriation bills. We must. See you all tonight.
Hi Lauren - I call them first, but if I can't speak to someone or leave a message, I go immediately to their contact info on their official websites. I know these inboxes are monitored because I get emails back from their offices.
the problem is that we don't really have any party that will bring the change we need. There are some wonderful democrats, but the democratic leadership is just as guilty of feeding the corporate elite and capitalistic greed instead of working for the values of a better, more diverse, healthy, caring, collaborative world. yes, right now, we need to get rid of this crazy fascist regime, but we need to change our culture entirely from this greedy, growth obsessive, excavating, destructive mindset of more and more and more.
The 10% is keeping it on the table as you have done here. I include asking my Srnators for new leadership sometimes when I call... i.e keeping it on the table.
We absolutely MUST rid ourselves of the contagion commonly known as twump. We also need address the issue of his enablers and sycophants. Plenty of work to do this year!
I would like to encourage folks to join me and jump on the national Indivisible phone bank at 1 pm today to call Dems in 21 states & connect them to their senators to demand they cut off $ for ICE until it is reined in. They are trying for 90K calls in 2 hours. This is a BFD, as is their new call for Friday's Solidarity w Minnesota Day of Action.
The pressure on them needs to be intense. They are just not getting it. Leader Jeffries just keeps pivoting when asked about all this, and does not seem to grasp just how pissed off we are. Let's light up the MF phones!
Use whatever power you have to block or fight against all the damage that this administration is doing to its citizenry, its current standing in the world and its current and future security. Specifically:
1. Stand with Ukraine and our European allies, and forcefully challenge Trump’s traitorous efforts to seize Greenland and his new, dangerous European tariffs;
2. Stand forcefully for rule of Constitutionally-based law in US cities as well as in the Caribbean and the Pacific
3. Roll back Trump’s terrible, illegal tariffs that are in fact “taxation without representation,” and are hurting citizens and alienating governments and people throughout the world.
4. Defend our democracy, rule of law, and our liberties by blocking the expansion of ICE; restoring due process for immigrants across the country; vigorously defending the 1st Amendment
5. Fight Trump’s war on science, higher education and our public health; reverse cuts to the ACA, Medicaid and our clean energy investments; support and co-sponsor Rep. Haley Stevens effort to remove Robert Kennedy from HHS.
Simon, thank you for breaking down the polling information. Great speeches by Sherrill and Spanberger!
Trump's discussion yesterday of his first year was insane. He's sundowning at 2:00 pm and rambling on & on & on -- the way really demented people do. He has to go, but I doubt Rs will do anything until at least after the primaries this Spring.
Interesting to see Lindsay Halligan step down yesterday, just one in a very long line of people who've sacrificed their careers and reputations on the charnel altar of Trump. She could have continued her life as a partner in an insurance firm but now she'll always be known as a hack who bungled an indictment and had to resign in disgrace to avoid disciplinary action. I've always thought the line in Trump's screed to Bondi, "Lindsay really likes you" has an interesting history. Oh, well, screen door and all.
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen about Greenland and ICE. I'm continuing to work on my postcards to NC. Just got a new batch of addresses.
I posted this on the Kirschner thread but it goes very well with your post today. So reposting.
I'm posting the link to this conversation between Jessica Tarlov and Heather Cox Richardson here. The central unifying theme is our democracy, illustrated by historic and current events. I hope everyone can find the time to listen, because you won't be disappointed. Someone on this list called Mark I hope will listen to it. It is not a series of topics but a conversation that connects the topics that are treated as disparate as what they are: aspects of a larger situation.
The points I want to highlight that the Democrats need to pay attention to, HRC says: democracy and the price of eggs are not two separate issues. She makes the case the lack of democracy is what leads to the lack of affordability also.
HRC also strongly makes the point that the view that the midterms will fix things is not understanding the current moment correctly - Trump must go now. She points to the damage already caused in one year, and that another year allowing this to remain is disastrous. There has been a serious failure in the media and elsewhere to take Trump seriously, the "Oh, he really wouldn't do that." This must stop.
My interpretation: this is part of the slowly boiling the frog phenom. I keep thinking back to when Howard Dean yelled during his campaign and that was considered disqualifying for the presidency. Trump sits in the White House displaying a map of conquest desires including our allies, telling a foreign leader that because he didn't receive the Nobel prize he will now invade an ally and steal their territory etc and it's treated as "a joke" instead of as the grounds for immediate removal from office.
And it's not just Trump. HRC notes: the GOP is the problem
I think your final point is the key. At least, I think that's where 'we the people' have the most leverage. Frustrating, though: our Democratic leaders (mostly) agree with us while the GOP seems to ignore us. Just gotta keep on pushing.
Yesterday was J20, Trump's 1st anniversary of inaguration 2.0. There was planned for a nationwide walkout at 2pm local time, then walk in to your government reps. But the congressional sargeant-at-arms decreed that all House Reps offices be closed to avoid left-wing violence.
We went anyway. The sheriffs office had deployed 3 officers outside Panetta's office building which is at the County courthouse. We could go through security to leave personal postcards in a cardboard box outside his locked office.
It was pretty ridiculous because there was a bunch of mostly senior citizens and absolutely nobody was threatening in any way. It would have been funny except for that pesky Bill of Rights and seeking redress.
The officers were friendly, relaxed, and just sort of shrugged at the whole thing.
Today I'm writing a letter to the editor of the local paper about it... and calling my MoCs of course
My calls this morning about ICE and Greenland: Sen. Todd Young (MAGA- complicit) and Rep. Victoria Spartz (MAGA). Young’s staff is always appropriate, while Spartz’s is civil and uninterested. We have a great IN State Senator J.D.Ford who will challenge Spartz in November. Our IN Dem Party could use Ken Martin’s help. With the exception of my city of Carmel and Fishers, both of which went Blue last November, the gerrymandered rest of CD5 consistently votes Republican. Amazing that the Republicans in our State Senate (who are a supermajority) voted against redistricting and showed spine while our federal government electeds are sycophants.
That's been proposed. Also the Danes and other Scandinavian countries have started claiming North America in the name of the Vikings. It's funny to hear Trump crabbing about how the Danes claimed Greenland--that's the modern philosophical undepinning of private property libertarian capitalism (per High Priest Nozick). You go somewhere, "mix your labor with it," and you own it. Have a picnic on the beach, wash your utensils in the water, and the Atlantic is all yours (complete with naming rights!). Look at Saturn through your telescope anf you own it too!
I find focus on good polling for us and the belief that it will lead to a win in the midterms misses the point. Will enough Americans have the courage to go to the polls in November?
Luke, this is not a very Hopium sentiment, and it is also wrong.
Trump's decline is deeply important. Any first step in us getting to the other side of this catastrophe starts with the country rejecting him and his agenda. That has happened, and it is very, very important for it is also as we literally write and discuss here every day, weakening his grip on Congress. Something that is also very, very important.
Why won't Americans vote? We've been voting in huge numbers in elections all across the country? No Kings has become one of the largest protest movements in American history even in these early days. The people of Minnesota are bravely staring down armed govt militia every day. From Strength In Numbers today - Among registered voters, Democrats lead the House generic ballot 51% to 43% for Republicans, with 6% undecided. Among those who say they would “definitely” or “very likely” vote, the margin widens to 55% Democratic vs. 42% Republican.
I understand the numbers. And I am in the street every week. But I still worry people, when faced with troops in the streets in November will not vote. We need to be in the streets now everywhere in the country if we want a free election in November. And we need the leading democrats in the streets with us.
Troops in the street are not a given, but they are a threat. Elections are 9 months off. Nine months ago Trump was just about to unleash "liberation day." Think how much has happened since then. Even more will happen by November because we are in the part of an ever accelerating curve.
Like Patrick mentions below, projecting the future is next to impossible now. The only certainty is, as Simon has stated many times, if we give in to despair, Trump wins.
Keep going!
Troops in the streets are certainly possible since anything is possible under Trump. However, I think troops would more likely strengthen our side's determination to vote and weaken the right-wing's turnout. Troops are just too in-your-face.
The bigger problem is that 40 percent of American voters support Trump even though he is one-thousand times worse than any other worst president in history. These Americans are living in a different reality, getting their information from little more than propaganda. The right-wing controls far, far, far more communications than the reality-based media and that could persuade enough voters to keep Republican majorities. How do we reach that small slice of Americans who swung for Trump and MAGA in 2024 because the right-wing was the only source of information that got through to them?
Simon, what do you think of one of Robert Reich's options? From his post today:
"1. Target a few Republican senators and House members to switch parties and thereby give Democrats a congressional majority in at least one chamber.
Several of the people I contacted said the single most important thing we can do now is target a few Republican senators and representatives to switch sides or become independents who caucus with the Democrats — giving Democrats a majority in at least one chamber. That will be stop or at least slow Trump."
My 2 cents on this is that if it were remotely possible, some GOP politicians would have done it by now. Yet they remain totally cowed.
I agree. I was surprised Reich posted it. I would love to know Simon’s thoughts
1000%
Simon, I'd like to see much more interaction between Blue States and those Trump threatens. Now it's Greenland. Why not invite some Greenlanders and their dogs to
my state California for a fun time and some serious talk of the next steps. And please
make it clear we already have full legal right to military bases there setup in 1951 as defense against the USSR.
Holy fucking hell the president’s Davos speech. It’s like the worst of what I hear from people who think America won everything and that the world was passive in the comments section of any good YouTube WWII history video.
The only damn positive from this is that I don’t have to think of how I’m going to not follow an illegal order to take Greenland by force for now.
Calling my senators and rep today. All three are Dems though so this should be easy
Depends on the Democrat. Not all of them have expanded action beyond affordability and the kitchen table...
Simon, I am so glad you are highlighting Prime Minister Mark Carney’s amazing speech at Davos! It’s drawing global attention – and it is being described as "The best speech by a world leader in a very long time".
Yep. Why it's taken these world leaders this long to come to this point is beyond my comprehension, but better late than never.
GOOD NEWS FOR GREENLAND: From today’s edition of "The Barron’s Daily", a newsletter for investors: (Apologies for the long post, but this is worth quoting at length.)
. "Trump Got a Warning From Treasuries Selloff.
. How It Could Curb Greenland Tariff Threats."
===================================
Bond vigilantes are prowling the markets. There’s a question over whether the activist fixed-income investors have Japan or U.S. government debt in their sights but ultimately it might not matter if the market action forces the Trump administration to retreat.
Markets got an unwelcome triple whammy as equities, Treasuries, and the dollar all sold off Tuesday. The most consequential was the drop in prices of U.S. government debt, suggesting President Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs against fellow NATO members has reawakened the “sell America” trade. The yield on the 30-year Treasury hit its highest level since September and hovered near the psychologically important 5% level.
The bond market action suggests Europe has some cards to play when it comes to pushing back against Trump’s desire to acquire Greenland. A Denmark-based pension fund enjoyed a rare moment in the spotlight when it said it was going to sell its holdings of U.S. Treasuries, while Deutsche Bank analysts noted European countries own $8 trillion of U.S. bonds and equities that could be weaponized in a trade war.
Soaring yields have reined in the Trump administration before. The president noted the bond market reaction had been “very tricky” when he said he would scale back some tariffs in April last year. But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent insisted Wednesday that the Treasuries selloff had more to do with moves in the Japanese bond market, where investors are fretting about increased government spending and tax-cut pledges.
Bessent might be right about the immediate trigger, but that doesn’t mean the White House can ignore market signals about U.S. government debt falling out of favor as a haven asset amid worries about overreach. James Carville, advisor to President Bill Clinton, notably once said he wants to be reincarnated as the bond market, because it can intimidate everyone. That’s true even for American presidents.
— Adam Clark
I was listening yesterday to the "Strategy Session" on Lincoln Square, and I asked them, to paraphrase, whether we are close to a point where some corporate leaders might use their money to push Congress towards 25th Amendment or Impeachment. Rick Wilson, without pause, answered my question as just a definitive "no". At some point the video will be posted. He said they have learned to deal with him, they just need to throw him money, and they get what they want. Maybe.
But I really wonder if that is right. If Trump keeps pushing on Greenland, Europe looks ready to levy some real economic consequences on us. This has got to impact our economy and our stock market. Trump's policies are leading to a situation where the entire GOP is at risk. If one concludes large corporations prefer Republican deregulation and tax policies, wouldn't they try to stop Trump from destroying their party?
At least some of the tech bros clearly want to transition to Vance. Why not use their money to push it along? I can't believe it is because they really want Greenland for the network state nonsense.
So I wonder. I think things are potentially going to get so bad, and everything is so far outside of any normal range, that making sweeping predictions is just very fraught. When things get into such uncharted territory, and the response is highly nonlinear, and Trump looks increasingly insane, accurate punditry, which is always hard, starts to look impossible. Any prediction would have to be hedged on what an increasingly demented, sick brain decides to do.
I've begun to think there might be a path to Trump being removed from office.
I have long felt that way. The crazier he gets the more dangerous he is, the more self sabotaging he becomes, the more fragile his hold on power.
This is the path we are on. Something is going to break first. Being an optimist, I strongly suspect it will be Trump and MAGA, but the story is unwritten, the only way out is through, so we must keep working to push our electeds and our fellow citizens to step up.
This bond market business certainly seems to be pushing toward this.
Simon noted in a recent post fossil fuel companies would be calling republican Congressional leaders about something the regime was doing - sorry, I don't recall any details, there's so much coming at us.
But the point: fossil fuels are big donors, and they were *already* complaining to Thune and Johnson, and now we are here...Someone's on the phone complaining today, too.
Everything else he's done has been unprecedented. Physics says what's done to him should be unprecedented too.
Kharma too.
"Instant kharma's gonna get you,
slap you across the face,
better get it together donny,
and join the human race."
~john lennon
Jen Rubin was just saying the same thing on the Contrarian. I think the consensus is building.
What I think will do it, and maybe only this, is if the big corporate donors threaten to turn off the cash spigot unless they make Vance president. Until that happens, I don't think he will be removed.
🙏🏻
I doubt he will be removed but maybe he will claim some sort of victory and step down????
He will only step down to avoid being removed. The outcome of a removal action has to be 100% clear to him, and even then he'd fight it until he figures out he can't win.
Maybe his cholesterol will get him. 😬. Too mean?
Maybe. He's 80. More likely he falls and his daily 325mg aspirin on top of anticoagulants and then ...
Nope. Arguably too nice.
Yeah, like the 'stimmies' he seized credit for after opposing them (for optical reasons) right up until the moment he realized there was a bipartisan veto-proof majority in favor of them--and he thought of how he could prep them so people would actually think the money came from his own pockets--as if...
That's my point. And he can claim that we're "winning" so much, and we're so "hot" that in order to maintain that course he and only he has set us on, he now feels it's the right time to hand over the presidency.
He can embrace himself as a saint, Saint Trump of the US, because he put the good of the country before his own gratification.
So, he dumps us before we dump him and his legacy; however, the Repubs view that remains intact, and he goes on with the rest of his rancid life, holding court down in Palm Beach, crashing weddings, cheating on the golf course, getting invited by heads of state, now his friends, to their compounds/palaces, and releasing pressers when he's feeling up to it.
I imagine, as many others do, that there is a strategy behind raising the impeachment issue.
Working toward getting "the numbers" and having that simmer out there, so that he is slowly "persuaded" that the face-saving, legacy-preserving thing to do is resign (citing that he's done SO MUCH and that keeping up with this level of SO MUCH WINNING is not possible for him, so he's doing the saintly thing by handing it to Vance).
As in many corporate situations, this is a Hobson's choice and we know it, but in his state of mind, he wins because he dumped us before we dumped him.
If he resigns, doesn’t he get charged with the J6insurrection? And all the other crimes?
I have heard legal pundits say these charges will never see the light of day. He'll never face legal consequences when he gets out of office as an 80-something-year-old man. Everyone has been pretty clear about those expectations.
isnt anyone concerned about the venezuelan slush fund he has in off shore banks? and now creating the despot peace club with billion dollar donations which will replace the UN and become some sort of global authoritarian counterweight to democracy? or he is just too incompetent? how can a US pres create an off short slush fund in foreign banks that will quickly be worth billions? he wont care if he is president if he is running the new axis group. he will think he is king of the world. way beyond DC. he is looking toward global domination now.
Yes, many of us are concerned about these brazen abuses of power.
But again, it's likely only the DEMs would confront this criminality, so we're back to the "must take back the house" in November again.
This, of course, is different from what Marmie4 asked, which is primarily about his exposure to his crimes prior to re-election.
Totally agree with you regarding his out-of-office opportunities, which is why I'm raising the distinct possibility that, while POTUS is the ultimate limelight, he can get his narcissistic supply OUTSIDE of POTUS, without unflattering attention as he declines. He can control it more.
All of which is to say, he's dying. And, you know, there's that.
He's in denial, but humans have layers of consciousness. In order to deny something, you have to know, on a certain level, that which the other level cannot accept.
The corporate sector is the problem. Trump is their tool. They are his donors. Of course if he stops being useful, they have no personal loyalty to him. They'll put in Vance.
What I'm trying to say is what they won't do is support actual democracy - that is rule by the people, because it is their goal to: as founder John Jay said: the ones that own the country ought to run it.
Despite the rhetoric of "free markets" and competition, the goal of the corporate sector is consolidation and monopoly.
This problem is not new, there has been a battle since the country was founded. We are trying to stop them from running it, but we'll never be truly free until we stop them from owning it. This is not an original idea. The anti-trust laws were (an inadequate) part of the push back against this. When a few large corporations control everything we need just to live it is difficult to fight back. A way to punish a corporation is to patronize their competition. You can't do that if there is no competition, or the "competition" is in league with them.
The government, depending on who is in control, has not been hostile to monopolies and near monopolies. During the Nixon admin the official Dept of Ag policy was officially "get big or get out." Their idea was the way to keep food prices low was "economies of scale" and applying the mass production concept to agriculture. Fast forward to the present and the price of eggs.
Here's the food chain. Your corporate chain store and corporate chain restaurant buys eggs from food distribution corporations. The eggs are produced in large warehouses crammed with tens of thousands of chickens, as many as can be packed in - unsanitary and inhumane and efficient - except when an outbreak of bird flu occurs and spreads rapidly in these chicken slums, causing millions of birds to have to be destroyed, leading to an egg shortage.
Meanwhile, here in a part of the country where we actually have small family farms, the price of eggs did not go up for me because I buy my eggs at a roadside stand direct from the farmer. The farmer isn't running an egg factory - they also sell vegetables, jams, pickles, maple syrup etc.
There aren't enough family farms to meet the egg demand of course. Before the bird flu situation, buying eggs from Walmart was cheaper than my farm stand. I paid slightly more and got much better eggs. Most people who've never had a fresh egg from a free range chicken have no idea. Saving a dollar on a dozen low quality eggs is not really a big savings if you buy a dozen eggs a week. You can save a lot more by not getting the "snack foods" which are grossly overpriced. A bag of Doritos party size ==$5.52 lb versus a bag of chicken leg quarters 84 cents per pound for a ten lb bag (prices per Walmart)
Or the big corporate egg producers decide to collude with Trump to create an egg shortage to help him win the election (which is why he started flooding the zone about egg prices before many of us even knew there waa a problem: https://slate.com/business/2025/04/egg-prices-justice-department-investigation.html
It occurred to me that while FOX is certainly just one of the awful parts of the MAGA media world, it’s still a crucial one. They once tried to distance themselves from Trump by pushing De Santis and were burned, quickly returning to the Trump fold. But if the Murdochs start to be wary of losing Europe and the UK ( and Australia and Canada), and thus becomes more real with each passing day, they could turn on Trump again and it might make a difference with the spineless Republicans finding a voice. Just a thought.
I wonder about what Murdoch's true intentions are. He allows (or encourages?) the Wall Street Journal to do some actual reporting about the abuses of the regime, but keeps everything MAGA for Fox, where I assume he wants to keep up ad revenue. But what is his actual position? And how might that play a role in how events unfold? It's an interesting question.
He doesn't give a fuck about anyone but himself and his bank account. IMO, he's probably in the epstein files and is trying to hide it.
WSJ has its doubts about Trump. While I abhor the Murdochs, I do think it’s a good newspaper.
Even FOX has started to turn on the orange terrorist with a few stories. *World ends*
Of interest to North Carolinians:
"The North Carolina Democratic Party is withholding a key resource from four state legislative candidates who have sided with Republicans in voting to override vetoes from Democratic governors.
"At Chair Anderson Clayton’s urging, the state party’s Executive Council enacted new rules during a closed meeting sometime last year to deny access to VoteBuilder—a voter contact software the state party typically distributes at no cost to candidates—to one former and three current state lawmakers."
https://www.theassemblync.com/news/politics/a-purity-test-for-north-carolina-democrats/?utm_source=The+Assembly&utm_campaign=2945ad540d-TA_Flagship_2026_01_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-2945ad540d-483172934&mc_cid=2945ad540d&mc_eid=bf6c9d8e70
Thanks! I knew Carla Cunningham would be on that list, but hadn't heard about the other three. Normally I oppose "purity tests", but at this moment, we absolutely must take control of the legislature and do not need Democrats working against that on any issue.
NC Dems have endorsed a primary opponent to Cunnigham, Rodney Sadler. I've donated to his campaign. https://rodneysadler.com/
Anderson Clayton has really reinvigorated the dem party in NC, very thankful to her. So glad to hear that they’ve met their goal of recruiting a candidate to run in ever eligible campaign position for this year. Can’t win if you don’t run!
Contact made with Senators Durbin and Duckworth this morning. I stressed that we can't let one narcissistic psycho crash the world order that we've worked hard to protect for over 80 years just because he's having a temper tantrum. That world order has prevented World Wars, buoyed up democracies, promoted public health globally, and cemented important allies and friends throughout the world. Are we going to let one crazy person knock that all down? He must be reined in or removed immediately. We can block the budget talks and appropriation bills. We must. See you all tonight.
Kent, how were you able to contact them? All too often, voicemails are full. Thanks.
Hi Lauren - I call them first, but if I can't speak to someone or leave a message, I go immediately to their contact info on their official websites. I know these inboxes are monitored because I get emails back from their offices.
Durbin is https://www.durbin.senate.gov/contact/email
Duckworth is https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/help/email-tammy
Thanks.
the problem is that we don't really have any party that will bring the change we need. There are some wonderful democrats, but the democratic leadership is just as guilty of feeding the corporate elite and capitalistic greed instead of working for the values of a better, more diverse, healthy, caring, collaborative world. yes, right now, we need to get rid of this crazy fascist regime, but we need to change our culture entirely from this greedy, growth obsessive, excavating, destructive mindset of more and more and more.
90% fighting the fascists, 10% reforming the Blue team...
i would say 100% fighting the fascists then once they're gone, 100% building a new party
The 10% is keeping it on the table as you have done here. I include asking my Srnators for new leadership sometimes when I call... i.e keeping it on the table.
We absolutely MUST rid ourselves of the contagion commonly known as twump. We also need address the issue of his enablers and sycophants. Plenty of work to do this year!
I would like to encourage folks to join me and jump on the national Indivisible phone bank at 1 pm today to call Dems in 21 states & connect them to their senators to demand they cut off $ for ICE until it is reined in. They are trying for 90K calls in 2 hours. This is a BFD, as is their new call for Friday's Solidarity w Minnesota Day of Action.
https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/887615/ - phone bank
https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/c/mn-solidarity-day-of-action/event/create/ - Minnesota
The pressure on them needs to be intense. They are just not getting it. Leader Jeffries just keeps pivoting when asked about all this, and does not seem to grasp just how pissed off we are. Let's light up the MF phones!
Keep going!
Contacted MI rep and senators:
Use whatever power you have to block or fight against all the damage that this administration is doing to its citizenry, its current standing in the world and its current and future security. Specifically:
1. Stand with Ukraine and our European allies, and forcefully challenge Trump’s traitorous efforts to seize Greenland and his new, dangerous European tariffs;
2. Stand forcefully for rule of Constitutionally-based law in US cities as well as in the Caribbean and the Pacific
3. Roll back Trump’s terrible, illegal tariffs that are in fact “taxation without representation,” and are hurting citizens and alienating governments and people throughout the world.
4. Defend our democracy, rule of law, and our liberties by blocking the expansion of ICE; restoring due process for immigrants across the country; vigorously defending the 1st Amendment
5. Fight Trump’s war on science, higher education and our public health; reverse cuts to the ACA, Medicaid and our clean energy investments; support and co-sponsor Rep. Haley Stevens effort to remove Robert Kennedy from HHS.
Please act!
Simon, thank you for breaking down the polling information. Great speeches by Sherrill and Spanberger!
Trump's discussion yesterday of his first year was insane. He's sundowning at 2:00 pm and rambling on & on & on -- the way really demented people do. He has to go, but I doubt Rs will do anything until at least after the primaries this Spring.
Interesting to see Lindsay Halligan step down yesterday, just one in a very long line of people who've sacrificed their careers and reputations on the charnel altar of Trump. She could have continued her life as a partner in an insurance firm but now she'll always be known as a hack who bungled an indictment and had to resign in disgrace to avoid disciplinary action. I've always thought the line in Trump's screed to Bondi, "Lindsay really likes you" has an interesting history. Oh, well, screen door and all.
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen about Greenland and ICE. I'm continuing to work on my postcards to NC. Just got a new batch of addresses.
I posted this on the Kirschner thread but it goes very well with your post today. So reposting.
I'm posting the link to this conversation between Jessica Tarlov and Heather Cox Richardson here. The central unifying theme is our democracy, illustrated by historic and current events. I hope everyone can find the time to listen, because you won't be disappointed. Someone on this list called Mark I hope will listen to it. It is not a series of topics but a conversation that connects the topics that are treated as disparate as what they are: aspects of a larger situation.
The points I want to highlight that the Democrats need to pay attention to, HRC says: democracy and the price of eggs are not two separate issues. She makes the case the lack of democracy is what leads to the lack of affordability also.
HRC also strongly makes the point that the view that the midterms will fix things is not understanding the current moment correctly - Trump must go now. She points to the damage already caused in one year, and that another year allowing this to remain is disastrous. There has been a serious failure in the media and elsewhere to take Trump seriously, the "Oh, he really wouldn't do that." This must stop.
My interpretation: this is part of the slowly boiling the frog phenom. I keep thinking back to when Howard Dean yelled during his campaign and that was considered disqualifying for the presidency. Trump sits in the White House displaying a map of conquest desires including our allies, telling a foreign leader that because he didn't receive the Nobel prize he will now invade an ally and steal their territory etc and it's treated as "a joke" instead of as the grounds for immediate removal from office.
And it's not just Trump. HRC notes: the GOP is the problem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiJ8qLWwsVw
I think your final point is the key. At least, I think that's where 'we the people' have the most leverage. Frustrating, though: our Democratic leaders (mostly) agree with us while the GOP seems to ignore us. Just gotta keep on pushing.
Wrong link
Yesterday was J20, Trump's 1st anniversary of inaguration 2.0. There was planned for a nationwide walkout at 2pm local time, then walk in to your government reps. But the congressional sargeant-at-arms decreed that all House Reps offices be closed to avoid left-wing violence.
We went anyway. The sheriffs office had deployed 3 officers outside Panetta's office building which is at the County courthouse. We could go through security to leave personal postcards in a cardboard box outside his locked office.
It was pretty ridiculous because there was a bunch of mostly senior citizens and absolutely nobody was threatening in any way. It would have been funny except for that pesky Bill of Rights and seeking redress.
The officers were friendly, relaxed, and just sort of shrugged at the whole thing.
Today I'm writing a letter to the editor of the local paper about it... and calling my MoCs of course
thank you!
My calls this morning about ICE and Greenland: Sen. Todd Young (MAGA- complicit) and Rep. Victoria Spartz (MAGA). Young’s staff is always appropriate, while Spartz’s is civil and uninterested. We have a great IN State Senator J.D.Ford who will challenge Spartz in November. Our IN Dem Party could use Ken Martin’s help. With the exception of my city of Carmel and Fishers, both of which went Blue last November, the gerrymandered rest of CD5 consistently votes Republican. Amazing that the Republicans in our State Senate (who are a supermajority) voted against redistricting and showed spine while our federal government electeds are sycophants.
Can we swap Trump for Carney?
Maybe we could become the 11th province.
That's been proposed. Also the Danes and other Scandinavian countries have started claiming North America in the name of the Vikings. It's funny to hear Trump crabbing about how the Danes claimed Greenland--that's the modern philosophical undepinning of private property libertarian capitalism (per High Priest Nozick). You go somewhere, "mix your labor with it," and you own it. Have a picnic on the beach, wash your utensils in the water, and the Atlantic is all yours (complete with naming rights!). Look at Saturn through your telescope anf you own it too!
I think that Carney's speech will probably go down as one of the greatest speeches ever made by a Canadian Prime Minister.