Conservative David Brooks wrote this in an Op-Ed in the NY Times in April of this year:
"Trumpism… is primarily about the acquisition of power — power for its own sake. It is a multifront assault to make the earth a playground for ruthless men, so of course any institutions that might restrain power must be weakened or destroyed. Trumpism is about ego, appetite and acquisitiveness and is driven by a primal aversion to the higher elements of the human spirit — learning, compassion, scientific wonder, the pursuit of justice. …
What is happening now is not normal politics. We’re seeing an assault on the fundamental institutions of our civic life, things we should all swear loyalty to — Democrat, independent or Republican.
It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power. …
I’m really not a movement guy. I don’t naturally march in demonstrations or attend rallies that I’m not covering as a journalist. But this is what America needs right now."
39 comments:
As long as the majority of humankind continues its dualistic I, me, and mine ego centered delusions there will always be monsters like tRump lurking to amass as much power and wealth for themselves as they possibly can.
The primal survival instincts, once required in a dangerous world, remain as their primary driving force. tRump is only slightly higher on the chain of evolution than an ape or an orangutan.
Brooks says... "He lies, cheats, steals, betrays, and behaves cruelly and corruptly..."
But there's more Shaw. He's all of that for sure, but there's something else going on. He's not committed to serious people in the jobs he oversees. At least in the first admin he gave lip service to this concept and appointed some people of import.
People like Jeff Sessions, George Mattis, Elaine Chow, Rex Tillerson and yes, even William Barr, knew how to make an organization work and government function. Many of us disagreed with their decisions, but that was politics.
We now have unserious people in jobs wholly above their pay grade and abilities, appointed solely for loyalty to a man, as opposed to the Constitution, and Trump and his enablers don't care. Because loyalty is more valued that competence and ability.
Look, most everyone reading here has a few bucks laying around or has Netflix. Go watch "House of Dynamite", come back and tell me you are not scared, not nervous.
Because there's no way Pete Hegseth, Kristi Noem and our latest Ukraine negotiators Kash Patel and Dan Bongino are serious, have the skills and should be running large organizations.
Now, back a little, to Brooks. And let me connect it to Skud.
Skud has tried to make Trump's election all about Harris, Biden and the Dems. God bless him, but he's wrong. Because half the voters in our country took a look at Trump, regardless of the competition, and said "Yep, that's my guy, the guy who will save America".
This is a crowd who thinks Pence is a RINO. The crowd that revels in the cruelty Brooks cited. This is a crowd that calls judges trying to decide cases with Constitutional law, activist and threats to democracy if they don't just rubber stamp the Trump agenda. This is a crowd that would not have voted for Reagan, and darn sure not for ANY Dem.
So it's not about who the Dems did not put up for election. Not. At. All.
This is all about Trump and an electorate so bent on their world view, so sure of their evidence free "alternative facts", so binary in their thinking, that the only choice they were going to make was Trump, or no one.
So here we are. In the world Brooks, a conservative, has identified.
Thanks President Trump.
David Brooks is what Republicans were. George Will is another.
It's not normal, but it IS what's happening here.
It all comes down to Republicans winning by massive media psyops, and coordinated propaganda through disinformation, fear mongering, and scapegoating. It has been a constant stew of lies, hate, and fear since Murdoch and Limbaugh flooded TV and radio. They finally got their way.
And just like that, fascism rises in the deliberately deceived and disunited States of America.
Actually, Les, our great ape cousins are smarter in some ways than we are. They would never choose the least qualified or intelligent to lead their troop. Trump is NOT an "alpha male," as his cultists like to think he is. Anyone who needs constant obeisance and flattery to function as a human being is weak and deeply flawed.
IMO, today's Republican Party has been hijacked by fanatics, racists, and cultists. I don't know that the party will ever recover from what it has done to itself.
The tRumpublican party has unleashed the very worst of deluded human instincts. That genie is completely out the bottle and juiced to the hilt. America as we've heretofore known and loved is likely gone forever.
Thanks Tangerine Tyrant.
Presidential Christmas reflections...
From President Hoover... "This is the season and this is the occasion when the whole Nation unites in good cheer and good wishes. We dedicate it particularly to our children, and we give devotion to the faith from which it is inspired.
It gives me great pleasure to join in this ceremony of the lighting of this tree, which is indeed symbolic of that in every household in our country. I ardently wish to every home a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year."
President Kennedy... "We mark the festival of Christmas which is the most sacred and hopeful day in our civilization. For nearly 2,000 years the message of Christmas, the message of peace and good will towards all men, has been the guiding star of our endeavors. This morning I had a meeting at the White House which included some of our representatives from far off countries in Africa and Asia. They were returning to their posts for the Christmas holidays. Talking with them afterwards, I was struck by the fact that in the far off continents Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, as well as Christians, pause from their labors on the 25th day of December to celebrate the birthday of the Prince of Peace. There could be no more striking proof that Christmas is truly the universal holiday of all men. It is the day when all of us dedicate our thoughts to others; when all are reminded that mercy and compassion are the enduring virtues; when all show, by small deeds and large and by acts, that it is more blessed to give than to receive."
President GW Bush... "Good morning, and Merry Christmas. During this time of conflict and challenge, Christmas is a day on which we celebrate hope and joy, when our thoughts turn to justice and compassion and to a Prince of Peace born long ago. This is a day on which we give thanks for the wonder of God's love, for the blessings we have received, and for the families we love. And this year all of these things seem particularly important."
President Trump... "Merry Christmas to the Radical Left Lunatics, who are constantly trying to obstruct our Court System and our Elections, and are always going after the Great Citizens and Patriots of the United States but, in particular, their Political Opponent, ME. They know that their only chance of survival is getting pardons from a man who has absolutely no idea what he is doing... Also, to the 37 most violent criminals, who killed, raped, and plundered like virtually no one before them, but were just given, incredibly, a pardon by Sleepy Joe Biden. I refuse to wish a Merry Christmas to those lucky "souls" but, instead, will say, GO TO HELL!"
Anyone see the difference?
Generalization abound. All republicans are bad and all democrats are good.
The fallacy of that stance is it ignores the fact that the majority of either party do not live and breathe politics but just want to live their lives. There are many who exist for politics and the rabid vocal side is identified as the majority of that side and the rest are lumped in to that opinion.
Ms. Shaw's statement is that it is only the republican party that has been hijacked when in fact both parties are guilty of the same thing. The democrat party was the party of the working man and now they are the party of the limousine liberal. The republicans were once the party of conservatives and now they are the party of no and fake religious beliefs.
The problem for both parties is people will vote for what concerns them and most people are smart enough to tune out the political garbage spewed by the crooked political system and the elected elite. Then there are the enlighted souls who preach peace while spewing hate.
At this point in our political culture, the “Republican Party” under Trump IS all bad. It has lost its way. True Conservatives have left it. The GOP has given its allegiance to a corrupt and dangerous man, Trump, not to the Constitution and the rule of law.
We know the faults and problems with the Democratic Party, but they’re not in power, they have no power.
Everything that is chaotic, lawless, corrupt, racist, and BAD is owned by Trump and what’s left of the GOP.
I’ve noted this here and elsewhere: Two people very close to me suffered from dementia, and I witnessed up close their behavioral and personality changes.
Trump’s outrageous comments about Somalis and specifically Rep. Omar, plus his now harebrained order to make tourists to the US produce 5 years worth of social media content for US customs’ review show me that he’s reached another stage of dementia.
Thank you Shaw. The truth shall not be denied. Regardless the wishes of tRump and his cabal of lying authoritarians.
Back in 2020 David Reminik wrote in the New Yorker
snip "The election of Donald Trump to the Presidency is nothing less than a tragedy for the American republic, a tragedy for the Constitution, and a triumph for the forces, at home and abroad, of nativism, authoritarianism, misogyny, and racism. Trump’s shocking victory, his ascension to the Presidency, is a sickening event in the history of the United States and liberal democracy."
"All along, Trump seemed like a twisted caricature of every rotten reflex of the radical right. That he has prevailed, that he has won this election, is a crushing blow to the spirit; it is an event that will likely cast the country into a period of economic, political, and social uncertainty that we cannot yet imagine."
" That the electorate has, in its plurality, decided to live in Trump’s world of vanity, hate, arrogance, untruth, and recklessness, his disdain for democratic norms, is a fact that will lead, inevitably, to all manner of national decline and suffering" But we knew all that. I cannot end well..
Good point Shaw. Thanks for reminding me of that truth. I should have merely referred to tRump as a human cockroach.
Oops, Remnik wrote that in 2017. Scud would no doubt have caught it.
I refer skud to the top comment of the post. Not that I expect he will ever understand.
We need note that Trump took dexamethasone during Covid. It can delusions of power and greatness and is 5 times stronger than prednisone. Hmmm
Eventually Trump's hate will consume him. And he'll be no more.
Unfortunately it will take much longer for the hate fueled by Trump to burn itself out in the nation he has worked so hard to destroy.
Ms. Shaw, You are correct the democrats, by their own choice, are no longer in power and when they were it was a four year disaster with huge price increases, inflation, real wage decreases, being responsible for two wars and billions wasted on special interests ignoring the middle class.
Was trump ever a good choice, no because he is an ego obsessed narcissist and the democrats response to regaining power was to run two candidates who no one liked. How did he win was people were fed up with corrupt politicians who did nothing and they saw him as a non professional politician, guess the choice didn't work out.
This will end in a year after the democrats take the house and senate and trump is a lame duck with zero influence.
Les, All of us should be enlightened and the world would be a better place.
David Brooks, and most of you at this website, are bobo's... members of the surplus salaried bourgeois elite. That's 20% of the US population. 1% of Americans, like Donald Trump, are true capitalist "owner" elites. The rest of us are workers or lumpenproletariat. We have different "values". You live in Charles Murray's "Belmont" and we live in "Fishtown". You legislate as if all America can afford to live in Belmont. We can't afford to Live in Belmont. The Professional Managerial Class (PMC) college educated elites see themselves as the "Middle Class" In reality, all they do is act as a palliative for to smooth the waters while the 1% suck the rest of the wealth out of the 79% of the working/lumpen classes. The Bobos betrayed the working class. And as Nikita Kruschev once famously said, "We will bury you""
Your tripe is just that, so much tripe.
Am I hurting terribly? No. Am I wealthy? Absolutely not! And yes, the inflation caused by tRump's idiotic tariffs, a tax on all Americans because that is what it really amounts to in reality, is hurting me and every none wealthy American . And I suspect that is true for the community here as well.
In short I suspect you're going to continue to support Trump and his MAGA scam.
Also, Trump is the guy facilitating ole Nikita's prophecy.
Wow -FJ... I'm part of the "surplus salaried bourgeois elite".
That explains it. I'm in year 43 of my 30 year mortgage cause I had to borrow against my house numerous times to keep the lights on and food on the table. I've never made more than 65K a year in my entire life, never finished college cause I had to support my family and lived for years with no health insurance aside from prayers, until the ACA came along.
I wish I knew what surplus was. I've always had enough, in my mind, thanks to God. And I spend my life trying to serve ppl both here and in Mexico, who exist on the margins.
But thanks for letting me know I'm part of bougie crowd. I've been called lots of stuff, but bougie has never been one of them.
Until now.
At least I'll know what I am as you bury me... so much for "and malice towards none..."
It's not surprising that -FJ would blame everyone but the "owner elites".
"Bobos" don't donate millions in bribe money to get favorable legislation intended to dismantle unions and privatize public education and healthcare.
Has anyone even counted the number of "bobos" who were fired by Trump and his fellow oligarch Elon Musk? Blaming victims has been their MO forever.
It's not the "college educated" elites. It's the oligarchic and connected elites who have the wealth and power to call the shots, because of their corrupted political system that rewards bribery through corporate/billionaire cash as "free speech".
Look at how the Federalist Supreme Court "Justices" are eager facilitators for the economic elites. "Citizens United" was just the beginning. No wonder they shielded their Criminal President to help their fellow elites suck up wealth from the rest of us.
Follow the money.
Follow the money is the right thing to do. How many million's have the elected elite taken to not do their job. How does a politician making $175,000 a year afford two houses with one in a high cost city and still have millions to build his net worth to millions. How does a immigrant from a third world country or a bartender end up with 10 to 30 million in a short period of time. It is not like they produced anything that made them wealthy. As we paddle along trying to survive they are voting according to their pocketbooks and it is working very well for them.
BTW Les, it was the previous administration who you can blame for runaway inflation. Yes you can blame trump for the ridiculous tariffs. I am all for other countries taking advantage of us by dumping goods into the country, has worked for years so why change it. Unions in china are not real prominent and worker rights are scarce. Good to hear you support that.
Whatever skud. If believing fallacies makes you content and happy please continue believing as you do. Trump is definitely the moron for you.
Skud asked... "How does a immigrant from a third world country or a bartender end up with 10 to 30 million in a short period of time."
Before answering your question Skud, it would be necessary to...
1. Know of whom you speak
2. Show evidence of their net worth. As I assume they are public politicians, their finances are of public record.
So there's no reason you can't find, provide and help us all have an intelligent conversation. Unless of course that's not your goal.
You failed to understand my comment, Dave. The Bobos have abandoned the working class and have sold-out to the 1%. Woke DIVIDED the working class and served the interests of the 1%.
I'm going with human bedbug as cockroaches have exhibited a wee bit of intelligence in my years of hunting them. Bedbugs? Yeah, not so much. They only exist to suck the life out of anyone unfortunate enough to fall asleep in their vicinity. For me that describes Trump and his cabinet to a T.
Oh my goodness. There are certainly some opinions here meaning our resident trolls do not disappoint.
I do not appreciate David Brooks "words o' wisdom" as it was his stellar observation skills that consistently hammered Hillary when she was running against Trump the first time. David's bon mot's praising Trumps' "Everyman" appeal gagged me then and his attempts to clean up his mess leave me saying no thank you. Remorse is a part of amends and David seems more upset his way didn't work than sorry for making excuses for a monster.
And then there is skud who never allows an opportunity to slam Democrats for the crimes of Republicans go to waste. Their sincerely held beliefs melt in the face of facts, but don't anyone tell them that the person they repeat verbatim isn't wearing any clothes.
What we are living through here/now is the exact results predicted back when Citizens United was a silly little bill. This is the chaos requested by the Nat-C's and Russians late last century (aka the 1990's). So I'm not understanding why there is so much confusion as to how our country got to where we are. By not voting, by allowing Nat-C's to practice politics in the pulpit... step by step those who wish to rule without sharing have carefully brought us to here/now.
More in the this is not normal theme...
3 Americans shot and killed in Syria by lone gunman.
2 killed and 9 others injured.
So far, 15 dead and 40 injured in Australia shooting aimed at Jews attending a Hanukkah celebration.
4 ppl injured in a shooting in Greenville, NC.
6 ppl injured in a shooting in Brooklyn, NY.
1 killed and 3 injured in a shooting in Cleveland, OH.
More "Not Normal"
Here's President Trump's statement on the death and murder of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele...
"A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood. Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS. He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace!"
What kind of person attacks a person in a post marking his passing? Whatever happened to our grandmothers teaching that in times like this, "if you don't have something nice to say, it's better not to say anything at all."
Is our president fundamentally unable to be decent, or is choosing to not to be simply to piss off America and us "Bobos"?
In one year der Leader has gone from 48% approval to 36%.
He should probably avoid every day TV and constant lying.
Trump is fundamentally an indecent human being. His tirade against Rob Reiner on the reporting of his killing is just another example of a psychologically damaged man who hasn't a molecule of goodness in his deteriorating body.
Grey... let's remember how many Popes, in the face of empirical evidence that the earth revolved around the sun, sincerely held a belief that that the sun revolved around the earth.
That's where we are today.
Yes, lots of people have sincerely held beliefs. Doesn't mean they are not wrong. And it doesn't mean we should respect and give that wrongness equal weight in the public square.
It also doesn't mean of your sincerely held wrong belief is hurtful to people, you should be allowed to spew it at a level that will cause more hurt.
For years conservatives lambasted liberals for words and lyrics in music. Those words they said were causing people to do harmful things to police and others. Those words, from people like Dr Dre and Luther Campbell drove people to violence.
Now when it is mostly conservatives calling people scum, enemies of America, trash, saying we need "second amendment remedies", "take them out and beat them" or "hang Mike Pence", etc., etc., they no longer believe words can lead to violence.
Gotta wonder what changed.
-FJ... maybe you could clarify this comment then...
"David Brooks, and most of you at this website, are bobo's... members of the surplus salaried bourgeois elite.
Care to elaborate who your comment includes, or better yet, exactly what I misunderstood?
Explain it to me like the first grader I am. Remember, I never finished college.
“Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered,” Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, wrote on social media. “I guess my elected GOP colleagues, the VP, and White House staff will just ignore it because they’re afraid? I challenge anyone to defend it.”
More like this, please. Or are the MAGAs all a bunch of cowards?
He has another 3 years to hit rock bottom, and he's well on his way.
In a 2017 email, Jeffrey Epstein wrote: "I have met some very bad people. None as bad as Trump. Not one decent cell in his body."
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