While voting is not a spectator sport, the American public has treated it as such. Voting is just about the only "savior" our democracy has in this upcoming election.
Mitch McConnell didn't know which end was up most of his career - but yes, his departure is another win for Trump and so is the Supreme Court of the land postponing Trump's immunity case.
Don't know if you remember the movie named Russia House? In one scene Boozie Barney was holed up in a massive Swiss mountain home on a beautiful lake with men from the CIA and UK intelligence. One CIA man asked Barney why he goes to Russia more than the U.S. His response was something like "Well, the U.S. is just as corrupt as Russia, but there is so much less bullshit in Russia." This movie was seen on the movie screens in 1990's. Things in the U.S. have only gotten worse. Please read From Democracy to Democrazy (by Graham) where it talks about the comparison of life in the U.S. and in Russia, and also describes how Americans vote.
I was living in Russia in the early 1990's and remember encouraging my Russian friends to vote. I was naive - but that changed over the years. Well Putin is openly bragging that Trump will win the 2024 election in the U.S. What does he know that we don't? It was Russian interference that put Trump in the White House in the first place. And while Biden won the 2020 election by over 7 million votes in 2020, half our nation (according to CNN) - at least 70% of the Republicans still believe that Trump won that election. Between our own Supreme Court creating obvious road blocks to an honest 2024 election, and the Russians hacking into election information and perhaps even the polls - we are NOT out of the woods.
We need every single person - Dems and some Republicans - to vote for Biden and pray that the number is high enough to combat the obstacle course created by Russia and Putin and Trump - but also by our own massively corrupt Supreme Court.
Bravo! And don't forget that McConnell also opposed the formation of a bi-partisan investigative committee to expose the January 6 insurrection. Even to look at it!! Really?? As far as the Supreme Court, there is at least one justice who is desperate for Trump to win in 2024. How many of those lavish gifts, which he has admitted receiving, do you suppose show up on Clarence Thomas' tax returns? When a contestant wins a, say $12,000, trip on a game show, the tax implications are all settled before they even receive it. And the GOP wants to throw Hunter Biden in a dungeon for tax transgressions which he has since settled. I just hope Americans will rise to the occasion this November, or we are toast.
Could you perhaps come up with a more fitting word than “victory” which to me carries very positive connotations? I’m think the headline should read “Mob Boss Wreaking Havoc While Fix Is In” for this dreadful news.
Steven, this piece is a clear statement of what is happening, and what is at stake. I believe our Democracy is on a pendulum that historically has swung right and left since its beginning. I also believe that during the last 8 years it has swung radically to the right for all of the reasons you write about this morning. We find ourselves at a point where I believe the pendulum is in danger of never swinging back, which would end our American experiment of Democracy. In my view, the only way to stop that from happening will be the intervention of, "we the people" as we vote on November 5. Congress and our judicial system are incapable of stopping the slide towards the edge.
Your detailed description of the purposeful destructive path that Mitch McConnell has taken is spot on; and I think was highlighted with the election of a mentally unfit and deranged individual as President in 2016. From his first day as President, he was only interested in money, power, and personal adoration. With no regard for the Constitution or rule of law, we all witnessed the wrecking ball he used to destroy the foundational framework of our Democracy. Our high court is no longer Supreme, our Congress is nearly dysfunctional, and the Executive Branch, will never survive another term with Trump as president.
My plan moving forward to Nov. 5 is simple. I will not be distracted from the facts that are in clear view. This election is not about age, immigration, or the economy. It's about the intention of the Trump movement to end our American Democracy, and create a country where money and power are supreme. A country controlled by one person and his appointed court for his lifetime. This of course is after he writes his new constitution on the first day, which I doubt will be more than 3 sentences in length.
It has always been about the election(s). The disaster that is the Supreme(?) Court is the consequence of an election. The choice we have is stark. It isn’t about age of the candidates or nuances within the larger sphere, it is the fundamental choice of democracy we have defended for 250 years or the autocracies we have defeated over and over again. The fact the Donald Trump is the threat is a colossal embarrassment, but there it is. We, the people, need to get this right. If you believe that democracy is the right way forward, focus everything on winning the election. The rest is for the usual political squabbles. Win the election, and by a huge margin!
For sure, we need to have a massive vote for Biden this fall. I'm glad to see him going after Trump more now. Trump's vulnerable in several ways. First, his mental decline is more evident all the time. Some say he's in the middle stage of dementia. He's also out of step with most Americans on several issues, notably abortion, immigration, and border control. He's also openly racist and fascistic. So we can't be complacent, but the battle isn't decided yet.
Thank you Steve. You hit the nail on the head with this one! Finding a silver lining in all of this has been a real challenge, and one I haven’t been very good at lately. This gives me hope, as I too feel like it’s up to all of us to kick tRump to the curb…we certainly can’t count on the courts…bc he rigged them all.
McConnell made one major bad bet: To get more power & the majority he could absorb the Tea Party members into the caucus and control them. He was right about the first part but he’s been losing control as more came into the fold. It led to more public statements than before and goofy ones like corporations shouldn’t act like a “woke alternative government” but their $$$ was welcome. https://www.businessinsider.com/mitch-mcconnell-retracts-demand-that-corporations-stay-out-of-politics-2021-4
Social media fundraising sapped the importance of his PAC campaign purse strings as leader of the GOP in the Senate. A brand of brash politics without respect for the Senate or leadership was pushing him aside. McConnell will retain his spot as second in seniority in the Senate. Seniority has its privileges. Chances are excellent he’ll be working on his Ky replacement.
Steven, not enough is being given talked about Leonard Leo and how he has manipulated the legal system to benefit himself and others. Leo, who helped establish the Federalist Society is directly involved with Project 2025, the GOP manifesto on how to destroy our democracy, Mitch McConnell’s wealth by letting a Russian oligarch open a business in Kentucky, Mike Johnson’s rise to being the architect of the insurrection AND the fact that he does not have any bank accounts in his name. Johnson, as a government employee, does not have assets that can be traced. In the same vein, Leo has set up 40 different shell companies (all in the name of Catholicism and Christianity) where they are listed as 501 3c’s. This means that they are all set up as non-profits and, therefore, are not subject to paying taxes re: their religious status. The companies all feed each other money, in other words, laundering goes on. Guess who has one of those companies? Ginni Thomas! So our anger is justified towards Clarence because he is as dirty as they come but so are Alito, Coney-Barrett, Kavanaugh, and Roberts. All were elected by Leo as he’s been playing this game for decades and getting filthy rich from it. So everyone, please pay close attention to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse because he has been doing a deep dive into Leo and others for about the last 5 years.
It definitely feels like our country is slipping away in an internal coup connected to Putin and friends. I'm thinking Mitch, the Koch brothers, Thomas, and their ilk, didn't want THIS coup when they started messing us up. Revolts seldom end with the ones who start them. We must stop calling this a contest of ideas (conservative vs liberal). THIS coup is pure takeover of the country. Now the supreme court seems part of THIS coup we are in deep dodo.
Thanks, Steven, for this timely article, and for all that you do. Ultimately, as you said, it is up to the American people to vote Trump out, as they did in 2020. It is hard for me to see how anyone could compare the decency of Biden, and what he has accomplished, to the venality of Trump and what he has done, and have any difficulty in making that decision. As to the Supreme Court, I hope that they will deny Trump's petition and that the trial could still proceed in the fall. In that way, it might be worse for Trump. Also, if the Supreme Court does rule that way, it would be a more definitive protection for the future. But even if Trump is convicted, he is not barred from running for President and so, ultimately, it will come down to those 82 million people coming out again in 2024 as they did in 2020.
When these 2 pieces of news hit the other day: Mitch McConnell, who denied Merrick Garland a hearing for Supreme Court Justice and spoke out against 45 nd the insurrection but then wouldn't vote to convict during the Impeachment, and when SCOTUS, that MNcConnell and 45 shaped, decided to take the immunity case, which has no merit as the Appeals Court so eloquently said but by taking the case SCOTUS gives 45 the delay he wanted so that the voters won't see any of the real facts before the election, I was so very very very upset. To be hit by those 2 news stories on the same day, so intertwined in a way that links SCOTUS to politics and goes against all Democratic principles was devastating. @StevenBeschloss, can you find a silver lining in here anywhere? Do you still think we should enthusiastically all get out there and vote and we can still save our Democracy? It's looking really grim to me now. It makes me want to really live it up with fun vacations and concerts and buying clothes and whatever makes me happy for the next few months, because I think that on November 6, my world is going to change in a very negative way, for at least the next 4 years. I usually end my Friday comments with Happy Weekend; but that just doesn't seem to be appropriate this week. At least we have each other. thanks for the political therapy 🙃
While voting is not a spectator sport, the American public has treated it as such. Voting is just about the only "savior" our democracy has in this upcoming election.
Mitch McConnell didn't know which end was up most of his career - but yes, his departure is another win for Trump and so is the Supreme Court of the land postponing Trump's immunity case.
Don't know if you remember the movie named Russia House? In one scene Boozie Barney was holed up in a massive Swiss mountain home on a beautiful lake with men from the CIA and UK intelligence. One CIA man asked Barney why he goes to Russia more than the U.S. His response was something like "Well, the U.S. is just as corrupt as Russia, but there is so much less bullshit in Russia." This movie was seen on the movie screens in 1990's. Things in the U.S. have only gotten worse. Please read From Democracy to Democrazy (by Graham) where it talks about the comparison of life in the U.S. and in Russia, and also describes how Americans vote.
I was living in Russia in the early 1990's and remember encouraging my Russian friends to vote. I was naive - but that changed over the years. Well Putin is openly bragging that Trump will win the 2024 election in the U.S. What does he know that we don't? It was Russian interference that put Trump in the White House in the first place. And while Biden won the 2020 election by over 7 million votes in 2020, half our nation (according to CNN) - at least 70% of the Republicans still believe that Trump won that election. Between our own Supreme Court creating obvious road blocks to an honest 2024 election, and the Russians hacking into election information and perhaps even the polls - we are NOT out of the woods.
We need every single person - Dems and some Republicans - to vote for Biden and pray that the number is high enough to combat the obstacle course created by Russia and Putin and Trump - but also by our own massively corrupt Supreme Court.
Elizabeth www.democrazy2020.org
Thank you Steven!
We are the only ones to save ourselves by voting in November!
The options: Biden or Dictatorship.
It’s up to us alone.
Bravo! And don't forget that McConnell also opposed the formation of a bi-partisan investigative committee to expose the January 6 insurrection. Even to look at it!! Really?? As far as the Supreme Court, there is at least one justice who is desperate for Trump to win in 2024. How many of those lavish gifts, which he has admitted receiving, do you suppose show up on Clarence Thomas' tax returns? When a contestant wins a, say $12,000, trip on a game show, the tax implications are all settled before they even receive it. And the GOP wants to throw Hunter Biden in a dungeon for tax transgressions which he has since settled. I just hope Americans will rise to the occasion this November, or we are toast.
What a great piece!
Could you perhaps come up with a more fitting word than “victory” which to me carries very positive connotations? I’m think the headline should read “Mob Boss Wreaking Havoc While Fix Is In” for this dreadful news.
Steven, this piece is a clear statement of what is happening, and what is at stake. I believe our Democracy is on a pendulum that historically has swung right and left since its beginning. I also believe that during the last 8 years it has swung radically to the right for all of the reasons you write about this morning. We find ourselves at a point where I believe the pendulum is in danger of never swinging back, which would end our American experiment of Democracy. In my view, the only way to stop that from happening will be the intervention of, "we the people" as we vote on November 5. Congress and our judicial system are incapable of stopping the slide towards the edge.
Your detailed description of the purposeful destructive path that Mitch McConnell has taken is spot on; and I think was highlighted with the election of a mentally unfit and deranged individual as President in 2016. From his first day as President, he was only interested in money, power, and personal adoration. With no regard for the Constitution or rule of law, we all witnessed the wrecking ball he used to destroy the foundational framework of our Democracy. Our high court is no longer Supreme, our Congress is nearly dysfunctional, and the Executive Branch, will never survive another term with Trump as president.
My plan moving forward to Nov. 5 is simple. I will not be distracted from the facts that are in clear view. This election is not about age, immigration, or the economy. It's about the intention of the Trump movement to end our American Democracy, and create a country where money and power are supreme. A country controlled by one person and his appointed court for his lifetime. This of course is after he writes his new constitution on the first day, which I doubt will be more than 3 sentences in length.
It has always been about the election(s). The disaster that is the Supreme(?) Court is the consequence of an election. The choice we have is stark. It isn’t about age of the candidates or nuances within the larger sphere, it is the fundamental choice of democracy we have defended for 250 years or the autocracies we have defeated over and over again. The fact the Donald Trump is the threat is a colossal embarrassment, but there it is. We, the people, need to get this right. If you believe that democracy is the right way forward, focus everything on winning the election. The rest is for the usual political squabbles. Win the election, and by a huge margin!
A masterpiece. I have a lump in my throat.
For sure, we need to have a massive vote for Biden this fall. I'm glad to see him going after Trump more now. Trump's vulnerable in several ways. First, his mental decline is more evident all the time. Some say he's in the middle stage of dementia. He's also out of step with most Americans on several issues, notably abortion, immigration, and border control. He's also openly racist and fascistic. So we can't be complacent, but the battle isn't decided yet.
Thank you Steve. You hit the nail on the head with this one! Finding a silver lining in all of this has been a real challenge, and one I haven’t been very good at lately. This gives me hope, as I too feel like it’s up to all of us to kick tRump to the curb…we certainly can’t count on the courts…bc he rigged them all.
McConnell made one major bad bet: To get more power & the majority he could absorb the Tea Party members into the caucus and control them. He was right about the first part but he’s been losing control as more came into the fold. It led to more public statements than before and goofy ones like corporations shouldn’t act like a “woke alternative government” but their $$$ was welcome. https://www.businessinsider.com/mitch-mcconnell-retracts-demand-that-corporations-stay-out-of-politics-2021-4
Social media fundraising sapped the importance of his PAC campaign purse strings as leader of the GOP in the Senate. A brand of brash politics without respect for the Senate or leadership was pushing him aside. McConnell will retain his spot as second in seniority in the Senate. Seniority has its privileges. Chances are excellent he’ll be working on his Ky replacement.
Steven, not enough is being given talked about Leonard Leo and how he has manipulated the legal system to benefit himself and others. Leo, who helped establish the Federalist Society is directly involved with Project 2025, the GOP manifesto on how to destroy our democracy, Mitch McConnell’s wealth by letting a Russian oligarch open a business in Kentucky, Mike Johnson’s rise to being the architect of the insurrection AND the fact that he does not have any bank accounts in his name. Johnson, as a government employee, does not have assets that can be traced. In the same vein, Leo has set up 40 different shell companies (all in the name of Catholicism and Christianity) where they are listed as 501 3c’s. This means that they are all set up as non-profits and, therefore, are not subject to paying taxes re: their religious status. The companies all feed each other money, in other words, laundering goes on. Guess who has one of those companies? Ginni Thomas! So our anger is justified towards Clarence because he is as dirty as they come but so are Alito, Coney-Barrett, Kavanaugh, and Roberts. All were elected by Leo as he’s been playing this game for decades and getting filthy rich from it. So everyone, please pay close attention to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse because he has been doing a deep dive into Leo and others for about the last 5 years.
It definitely feels like our country is slipping away in an internal coup connected to Putin and friends. I'm thinking Mitch, the Koch brothers, Thomas, and their ilk, didn't want THIS coup when they started messing us up. Revolts seldom end with the ones who start them. We must stop calling this a contest of ideas (conservative vs liberal). THIS coup is pure takeover of the country. Now the supreme court seems part of THIS coup we are in deep dodo.
Excellent article, but I believe it is Jane Mayer. You will want to correct that.
Thanks, Steven, for this timely article, and for all that you do. Ultimately, as you said, it is up to the American people to vote Trump out, as they did in 2020. It is hard for me to see how anyone could compare the decency of Biden, and what he has accomplished, to the venality of Trump and what he has done, and have any difficulty in making that decision. As to the Supreme Court, I hope that they will deny Trump's petition and that the trial could still proceed in the fall. In that way, it might be worse for Trump. Also, if the Supreme Court does rule that way, it would be a more definitive protection for the future. But even if Trump is convicted, he is not barred from running for President and so, ultimately, it will come down to those 82 million people coming out again in 2024 as they did in 2020.
When these 2 pieces of news hit the other day: Mitch McConnell, who denied Merrick Garland a hearing for Supreme Court Justice and spoke out against 45 nd the insurrection but then wouldn't vote to convict during the Impeachment, and when SCOTUS, that MNcConnell and 45 shaped, decided to take the immunity case, which has no merit as the Appeals Court so eloquently said but by taking the case SCOTUS gives 45 the delay he wanted so that the voters won't see any of the real facts before the election, I was so very very very upset. To be hit by those 2 news stories on the same day, so intertwined in a way that links SCOTUS to politics and goes against all Democratic principles was devastating. @StevenBeschloss, can you find a silver lining in here anywhere? Do you still think we should enthusiastically all get out there and vote and we can still save our Democracy? It's looking really grim to me now. It makes me want to really live it up with fun vacations and concerts and buying clothes and whatever makes me happy for the next few months, because I think that on November 6, my world is going to change in a very negative way, for at least the next 4 years. I usually end my Friday comments with Happy Weekend; but that just doesn't seem to be appropriate this week. At least we have each other. thanks for the political therapy 🙃