36 thoughts on “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves.”

  1.  Ms. Sullivan’s piece in The Guardian:

    Whatever doubts you may have about public-opinion polls, one recent example should not be dismissed.
    Yes, that poll – the one from Siena College and the New York Times that sent chills down many a spine. It showed Donald Trump winning the presidential election by significant margins over Joe Biden in several swing states, the places most likely to decide the presidential election next year.
    The poll, of course, is only one snapshot and it has been criticized, but it still tells a cautionary tale – especially when paired with the certainty that Trump, if elected, will quickly move toward making the United States an authoritarian regime.
    Add in Biden’s low approval ratings, despite his accomplishments, and you come to an unavoidable conclusion: the news media needs to do its job better.
    The press must get across to American citizens the crucial importance of this election and the dangers of a Trump win. They don’t need to surrender their journalistic independence to do so or be “in the tank” for Biden or anyone else.
    It’s now clearer than ever that Trump, if elected, will use the federal government to go after his political rivals and critics, even deploying the military toward that end. His allies are hatching plans to invoke the Insurrection Act on day one.
    The US then “would resemble a banana republic”, a University of Virginia law professor told the Washington Post when it revealed these schemes. Almost as troubling, two New York Times stories outlined Trump’s autocratic plans to put loyal lawyers in key posts and limit the independence of federal agencies.
    The press generally is not doing an adequate job of communicating those realities.
    Instead, journalists have emphasized Joe Biden’s age and Trump’s “freewheeling” style. They blame the public’s attitudes on “polarization”, as if they themselves have no role. And, of course, they make the election about the horse race – rather than what would happen a few lengths after the finish line.
    Here’s what must be hammered home: Trump cannot be re-elected if you want the United States to be a place where elections decide outcomes, where voting rights matter, and where politicians don’t baselessly prosecute their adversaries.
    When Americans do understand how politics affects their lives, they vote accordingly. We have seen that play out with respect to abortion rights in Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin and beyond. On that issue, voters clearly get that well-established rights have been ripped away, and they have reacted with force.
    “Women don’t want to die for Mike Johnson’s religious beliefs,” as Vanity Fair’s Molly Jong-Fast said on MSNBC, referring to the theocratic House speaker.
    Abortion rights is a visceral issue. It’s personal and immediate.
    Trump’s threats to democracy? That’s a harder story to tell. Harder than “Joe Biden is old”. Harder than: “Gosh, America is so polarized.”
    Journalists need to figure out a way to communicate it – clearly and memorably.
    It was great to see the digging that went into that Washington Post story about Trump and his allies plotting a post-election power grab. But it was all too telling to see this wording in its subhead: “Critics have called the ideas under consideration dangerous and unconstitutional.”
    So others think it’s fine, right? That suggests that both sides have a valid point of view on whether democracy matters.
    Deploying the military to crush protests is radical. So is putting your cronies and yes men in charge of justice. These moves would sound a death knell for American democracy. They are not just another illustration of Trump’s “brash” personality.
    >We need a lot more stories like the ones the Post and the Times did – not just in these elite, paywalled outlets but on the nightly news, on cable TV, in local newspapers and on radio broadcasts. We need a lot less pussyfooting in the wording.
    Every news organization should be reporting on this with far more vigor – and repetition – than they do about Biden being 80 years old.
    [continues]

  2. [continuing and concluding the sullivan op ed]

    It’s the media’s responsibility to grab American voters by the lapels, not just to nod to the topic politely from time to time.
    Polls can be wrong, and it’s foolish to overstate their importance, especially a year away from the election, but if more citizens truly understood the stakes, there would be no real contest between these candidates.
    The Guardian’s David Smith laid out the contrast: “Since Biden took office the US economy has added a record 14m jobs while his list of legislative accomplishments has earned comparisons with those of Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson … Trump, meanwhile, is facing 91 criminal indictments in Atlanta, Miami, New York and Washington DC, some of which relate to an attempt to overthrow the US government.”
    So what can the press do differently? Here are a few suggestions.
    Report more – much more – about what Trump would do, post-election. Ask voters directly whether they are comfortable with those plans, and report on that. Display these stories prominently, and then do it again soon.
    Use direct language, not couched in scaredy-cat false equivalence, about the dangers of a second Trump presidency.
    Pin down Republicans about whether they support Trump’s lies and autocratic plans, as ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos did in grilling the House majority leader Steve Scalise about whether the 2020 election was stolen. He pushed relentlessly, finally saying: “I just want an answer to the question, yes or no?” When Scalise kept sidestepping, Stephanopoulos soon cut off the interview.
    Those ideas are just a start. Newsroom leaders should be getting their staffs together to brainstorm how to do it. Right now.
    With the election less than a year away, there’s no time to waste in getting the truth across.

  4. univision and wapo seem to be trying, margaret, not RED ALERT RED ALERT fire alarm reports but it’s something:

    Trump says he could use FBI, DOJ against his enemies in Univision interview – The Washington Post

    […]

    During the interview on the Spanish-language TV network, journalist Enrique Acevedo asked Trump if he would weaponize the FBI and Justice Department on his opponents in the same way he claims federal law enforcement agencies have been weaponized against him.

     

    Trump faces 91 combined federal and state charges over alleged election interference, the mishandling of classified documents and falsifying business records. He has denied wrongdoing in each case. Despite his legal issues, the former president’s polling lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination has grown larger in recent months — and the general election is widely expected to be a rematch of the 2020 contest between Trump and President Biden.

    “Yeah. If they do this, and they’ve already done it, but if they follow through on this, yeah, it could certainly happen in reverse,” Trump told Acevedo, according to excerpts of the interview.

    “What they’ve done is they’ve released the genie out of the box,” the former president continued, adding, “You know, when you’re president and you’ve done a good job and you’re popular, you don’t go after them so you can win an election.”

    “They have done something that allows the next party … if I happen to be president and I see somebody who’s doing well and beating me very badly, I say, ‘Go down and indict them.’ They’d be out of business. They’d be out of the election,” Trump continued.

     

    […]

    In private, the former president has told advisers and friends in recent months that he wants the Justice Department to investigate former Trump officials and allies who have become critical of his time in office, according to people who have talked to him and spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Trump has also talked of prosecuting officials at the FBI and Justice Department, a person familiar with the matter said.

    In public, Trump has vowed to appoint a special prosecutor to “go after” Biden and his family. The former president has frequently made corruption accusations against them that are not supported by available evidence.

    [continues]

  6. How many people had to have wised up between 2016 and 2020 for the chump to lose in 2020?   I wonder how many people have wised up since then.  Probably a lot.  
    And looks like that number is growing steadily, no matter how much the media and the gop try to make it appear to be close. 

    I’m Abidin’ with Biden.

    He beat the orange stuffing out of him once and is dead on track to do it again. That is not overconfidence, it’s just plain old confidence—In Biden, in his team, and (in no particular order) in Women, in Minorities, , in LGBTQ, in Unions and in regular old average American voters who believe in “truth, justice, and the American Way.”
    Joe’s beat him already like the neighbor’s mule, and he’ll do it again in ‘24. So hammer them Joe, and they’ll fold up like a cardboard suitcase.

    The Bide abides.

  7. is there any possible way that Chump voters are growing in number?   
    The answer would seem to be a resounding NO.  Perhaps they could look into how many Biden voters and how many Chump voters have changed their minds since 2020.

    New campaign slogan:
    “Too old my achin’ ass.
    Have you seen the OTHER guy?”

  8. PATD, love this from The Guardian piece you quoted, my nominee for best line of the week: “Women don’t want to die for Mike Johnson’s religious beliefs” — Vanity Fair’s Molly Jong-Fast said on MSNBC

  9. pogo, for your enjoyment:

    Only Manchin’s Ego Is Calling For A Presidential Run (lincolnproject.us)

    November 9, 2023 – The Lincoln Project releases the following statement on Senator Manchin’s retirement announcement:
    “It seems impossible, but Senator Manchin’s egotistical kamikaze run for President on the No Labels’ ticket would surpass his Senate legacy for self-serving political aggrandizement.
    “No third party has ever won the Presidency out of the gate; it would require No Labels to upend all historical precedence and inspire tens of millions of people from all walks of life to change their party. Has anyone who’s seen Joe Manchin sitting on his yacht in Navy Yard ever thought this guy was going to set the world on fire?
    “No Labels pushes the lie that Joe Biden and Donald Trump are both extremists, a ludicrous equivalency with no basis in reality. No Labels is filled with Republican swamp creatures desperate to upend the 2024 election to reclaim lost relevance.
    “Despite claims they want to preserve democracy, all that the corrupt Manchin/No Labels ticket will do is re-elect Trump to a disastrous second term. Joe Manchin is an opposition researcher’s dream. If No Labels think they have a candidate who represents their supposed do-gooder image then they should think again.
    If he truly cares about democracy and wants to leave the nation better off than he left it, then Senator Manchin needs to reject No Labels’ absurd offers and support President Biden in his re-election.”

  11. Democracy On The Ballot 2024

    Trump to Univision: “if I happen to be president and I see somebody who’s doing well and beating me very badly, I say ‘Go down and indict them.’ They’d be out of business, they’d be out of the election.”

  12. Dylan had some great put-down songs but that one’s pretty good too.   Dylan’s were mostly blunt; Leonard’s is more like slice and dice.

    “So many people you just had to meet without your clothes.”

    As opposed to:

    Ahh you’ve gone to the finest schools, alright Miss Lonely
    But you know you only used to get juiced in it

  13. From the first New York Times article about Hitler (November 21, 1922):
    — “several reliable, well-informed sources confirmed the idea that Hitler’s anti-Semitism was not so genuine or violent as it sounded, and that he was merely using anti-Semitic propaganda as a bait to catch masses of followers”
    — A sophisticated politician credited Hitler with peculiar political cleverness for laying emphasis and over-emphasis on anti-Semitism, saying: “You can’t expect the masses to understand or appreciate your finer real aims. You must feed the masses with cruder morsels and ideas like anti-Semitism. It would be politically all wrong to tell them the truth about where you really are leading them.”
    — https://www.vox.com/2015/2/11/8016017/ny-times-hitler

  14. Romney and Manchin?
    You gotta be shittin’ me.  They ‘bout as useless as Rudi Giuliani. Or a mesh condom. Or “thoughts and prayers”. Or rubber fish sticks.

    A dog for every car top.
    Enough coal dust for EVERYBODY!

  15. In a pendulumical view of history that old pendulum has been swinging rightward for quite a while now.  If you watch closely you will begin to see here and there sprinkled about:  this not-quite-so-stupid Republican, or that guy up there on the fringes of the Republican back bench, or those a bit more rat-like republicans as they slouch inevitably toward the exits.  The future of MagaDom is embarrassing disillusionment.
    You can own a pick-up truck without being a magat.

  16. i’ll pat myself on the back for predicting a Manchin POTUS bid two years, ago, although one didn’t need to be a seer to understand what his houseboat receptions were really about

    i’ll make another prediction: he won’t say a single negative thing about dipshit with the hope of a seat in a dipshit dictatorial regime should his bid fail but spoil Biden’s

    Print it!

  17. I think everybody’s got Manchin’s number and he’s soon going to be politically neutered. He’s kind of like Pence. 

  18. In the 90’s Hillary had tried with the “vast right wing conspiracy” but the message was diluted by the Great Blowjob.     She tried again in 2016 with the “basket of deplorables” but everybody shied away from that one. Then came 2017 to 2021 and all of a sudden I think the message has had time to sink in.

  19. F’rinstance….Do the gops think they can play dally in the valley with the Russian just indefinitely and people don’t see them?  They’re not invisible.  They took a damn plane to Moscow on the FOURTH OF JULY. I mean, like, Duuude…….

  23. “

    A lifeline for Gaza

    The Fifth Floor

     

    Presented by Andrea Kennedy
    BBC Arabic has begun an emergency radio service for Gaza in response to the conflict in the region. Adel Soliman tells us about providing news and information, and also key lifeline advice on access to medical care, food and water.”

  24. sturge, the GOPers can’t quite figure out the “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s” deal.   who’s this guy Caesar they ask and how can we get a cut of the loot. 

  27. looks like loser is losing a cash cow as well as a now and then spokesman.  wonder if the rest of the herd will follow.

    the guardian

    Peter Thiel, the tech billionaire who supported Donald Trumpin 2016 and sunk millions more into underperforming Maga candidates in subsequent election cycles, has confirmed rumors that he is stepping away from 2024 political funding.
    In an interview with the Atlantic, Thiel said voting for Trump “was like a not very articulate scream for help” and that things had not turned out the way he had hoped when he donated $1.25m to Trump and Trump-affiliated political funds eight years ago.
    “There are a lot of things I got wrong,” he said. “It was crazier than I thought. It was more dangerous than I thought. They couldn’t get the most basic pieces of the government to work. So that was – I think that part was maybe worse than even my low expectations.”
    Thiel told the magazine that Trump had called him earlier this year to solicit $10m – the same amount that he had donated to Blake Masters, a former protege who campaigned and lost a Senate bid in Arizona last year, and JD Vance, the author of Hillbilly Elegy who won an Ohio Senate seat.
    When Thiel turned down Trump’s request, he said the former president told him that “he was very sad, very sad to hear that”. He later heard that Trump had insulted him to Masters, calling him a “fucking scumbag”.
    [continues]

  28. any talk about UN peace keepers (NOT Netanyahu’s “security forces”) watch over Gaza until Palestinians form a viable government in the post conflict afterward when Hamas bites the dust.  that is if and when the IDF actually wipes them out.

  30. The Maga party has replaced the old greedy old perverts grand old party.  M wants the shut down as much as they like floating stupid amendments to the bill to reduce salaries to one dollar. 
     
    I am happy to not have to deal with preparing for a shutdown, being furloughed, hanging around my boat for a week or more, trying to find out if we are going back to work, getting back on the ol’ computer and trying to catch up on a backlog of stuff.  Shut down makes for more work because you are already understaffed and now have to do all the work that was not done, but the daily stuff that also has to be done.
     
    Will the M party ever learn?  History says “nope”. 

     

  31. Y’all  focused on the porn and missed the part where a 3rd-party tech company is monitoring MAGAt Mike’s electronic devices. 

  32. https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/10/texas-house-vote-committee-school-vouchers/
     
     
    “The committee action means school voucher legislation is poised to get its first House floor vote in recent history. Gov. Greg Abbott said if the Legislature fails to pass it this time, he will continue to call them back into session until they do.”
     
    “He warned that if the House removed the voucher component on the floor — something Democrats are already preparing to fight to do — the Senate would likely balk and he would veto it if it reached his desk anyway. Then, he said, he’d just keep calling them back into session until it passed.”
    “We’d be spending December here, maybe January here, maybe February here,” Abbott said. “And I know one thing about both the House and Senate: They want to get out of here.”
     
     
    This helps folks who already have the money to send their kids to private school.  A school voucher is an evangelical, discount coupon.   Unless, of course, private schools raise their tuition.  Either way, it starves public schools.  
     

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