What they say, "small government", is not their goal. That phrase is a marketing slogan. What they want is "government owned by the 1%", and they have hired salesmen as well as recruited volunteers.
In case you suffered a concussion Mr Twigg, the 1% support Trump, not Biden. You also need to stop showing TDS because the proper reference is the Democratic Party, not Democrat party like the newly elected convicted criminal, adulterer, sexual predator and rapist says.
I thing you might have tipped your hand here Twigg. Only Repubs refer to the Dems as the Democrat Party. And Idont know where you got the idea that 70% of big business supports Democrats. Labor supports Dems. Labor and big business aren’t exactly on the same page. Trump has Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, the guy that owns Google. Those are the 4 richest men on the planet. They can’t wait to hand him checks. Musk spent $246M to get Trump elected. That doesn’t include the $460B to buy Twitter to use as a platform to spread Trump lies. This administration is going to make history in the worst possible way. There’s no joy in saying we told you so. But those words will sit like an elephant in the corner of a room, and everyone will wonder what went wrong?
Yes, attribution please. I agree that the Democrats are far too corporate (which is exemplified by Kamala Harris) but are just pulling the numbers out of thin air?
Let’s not single out Kamala Harris. ALL politicians except maybe 5-6 take corporate money…ALL OF THEM, to varying degrees. The largest political donor is pharma. Just found out today that James Clyburn received the largest amount from pharma. We must get campaign finance back to taxpayer funded to level the playing field & keep our elected officials from being so beholden to corporations
Hey Stanley, did you enjoy the replies to your post? Just when you think you’ve plumbed the depths of leftist idiocy, they surprise you with even more! The responses actually seem too intense to be driven by just intellect. I think their responses may be representative of being potty trained too forcefully or something.
Have you looked at the net wealth of Trumps administration and those that are the hangers on? DOGE! Musk=$400B. Vivek = $1B. Eliminating waste from govt? Musk has billions in govt contracts. You don’t see a conflict of interest there? How will you know if he isn’t seeing to it that none of his deals with the govt are wasteful? You just take his word??
EXACTLY!! And isn't it fascinating how ALL of Muskrats "problems" have just disappeared? He eliminated the heads of departments (or in some cases, the entire departments!), who had issues with many of his companies.
Speaking of Musk and his government contracts, this country should think about what a post- convicted felon government looks like and we need to think of how we can we can cut him and his businesses out our lives . I don’t know if it’s feasibly possible but we survived before Musk became incredibly wealthy. No more contracts, nothing, zip, nada, NO MORE. We need to think about it NOW.
You certainly can decrease the opportunity for corruption. We had some guardrails in the not too distant past, but the conservative majority on the scotus just decided to throw most of them out & throw the doors wide open to blatant bribery
Frank Herbert put it best when he paraphrased the “power corrupts” maxim: “Power attracts the corruptible, absolute power attracts the absolutely corruptible.”
I would agree with you completely Oliver, but for a few thoughts that trouble me a lot: if they do just half of what they told us they would do, we have a catastrophic depression on the way. Great suffering for many people. The country is swinging right because of the right’s media blanket. Many, many people will never hear any accuracy about why they are suffering, and will keep blaming the scapegoats they are supplied with. Us and ours, no doubt. And then as others here mentioned, the goal is to acquire power and direct the wealth of the economy into the hands of those with the power through privatization and plain grift. Autocratic kleptocracy isn’t going to let elections get in its way if it gets any distance down the road. I hope you’re right and I worry too much.
💯 We really DO need to come up a solution to the rights "media blanket" because that's EXACTLY where failure to move to solve all this will come from. The depression-to-come will hurt us all, but it will be much worse if voters believe lies about it.
My greatest fear is that they will shut down dissent, by force, and widen that blanket. There is a reason he is trying to gut military leadership and make them loyal to him and not the constitution.
Yeah. Hegseth will fire the Generals that don’t swear loyalty to Trump. He wants Generals like Hitler had. ( Hitler did a few good things too, you know). 😳 Any General that disagrees with Trump will be deemed “woke”, and that’s grounds for being removed.
That’s well thought out. Your right. I can see that as a logical consequence of project 2025. He plans to follow it through. I’m afraid that if Patel gets through we’re all in deep trouble. He’ll turn the FBI into a secret police (Gestapo). Trump will pull out all the stops now. He can’t legally run again, but at the same time, the laws don’t apply to him. He can be as outrageous and tyrannical as he wants without repercussions thanks to the fucking SCOTUS. He has no intentions on leaving the White House. Our ability to protect us from foreign threats will fall apart, our allies won’t t trust us with vital intel, and Trump will spend his time using the power of the US govt to go after those that refuse to bend a knee. I don’t have an answer to this. This MAGA virus has spread worse than COVID.
I think this is possible yes. But you are assuming that on the world stage you the US, are still the “good guy”. What I see is no, you will be the head of the former axis of evil. Vance is furthering the unity between Russia and China. They have said they are against Europe. And we know how he feels about Canada and Greenland, Denmark, Panama. The foreign threat is already in your bed as you cozy up to Russia. This is why the rest of world was like- do not even play like this w that latest election- the whole world is at stake!!!!!
Agree with what you said and as far as not running again, the convicted felon already has a Republican representative (from Texas if I’m not mistaken who wants to introduce an amendment that would make it possible to run for a third term.
My worry as well, Colin. Trump is already taking credit for the Biden-Harris work with Mexico to reduce migrants. Whatever works will be because of him, and whatever doesn’t will be the fault of the libs. And the Fox/X/right-wing media entity will confirm.
...and like clockwork, the gullible rubes who are desperate to pretend they have a good excuse to BE supporters, will actually believe it. GODDAMN it's galling, bring on the worst effects, even though I gotta pay for it too, I really can't take the gloating for however long this is gonna be.
Also, just knowing what's coming, while watching it happen in slow motion, as current leadershop simply throws up its hands with a collective, "oh well", is also pretty damn galling. Watching this once proud nation die with a wimper is hard to take.
We need to stop paying so much attention to the national elections & return to local politics. Our state legislators, judges, & Gov have a much more profound effect on our daily lives.
There is a lot of truth in this. School boards for crying out loud decide what kids learn. City councilmen and county commissioners dictate policy in your communities.
We can’t just stand by! Find a group alien yourself with others who feel the same! This Hitler Two is already showing signs of dementia, Musk can never be president at least if they don’t change the Constitution! What is the matter with the right wing that they want to destroy what we’ve had? We need to vote out all these idiots who would destroy our country. We need you!
What a vile creature he is, just like a skunk. He takes credit for all sorts of successes that he’s had absolutely nothing to do with. What people see in him is so far beyond me it’s just unfathomable ! I am beginning to think that millions of Americans have been brain washed and have no opinions of their own anymore.
He’s a con artist and he’s probably the GOAT of Grift. He managed to con his way into the White House not once but twice. What shocks me is how many Americans are so easily conned by a person they would never want as a relative or friend. He’s too into himself. Nothing authentic about him. He’s a walking, talking caricature of the worst person in the world.
How can he have the right to take credit for anything wahren he isn’t even in office yet! That’s just so typical of this NARCISSISTIC so called human! It’s sickening how people worship this guy who has absolutely nothing himself to deserve any credit. He just usurps credit from others and takes it for himself and how stupid is the public to accept it? He was the worst president in history and idiots gave him another chance to RUIN our country! He has done nothing noteworthy unless you consider ignoring a deadly virus and a million Americans dying from it and then turning on the man who helped, Dr Fuchi and making him a scapegoat. Trump is evil. Those who voted for him are evil too because they know what he’s done to those children and their parents but they do not care and do not even consider them HUMAN. They are no better than the Germans that knew what the Nazis were doing to the Jews and Slavs. I am so broken hearted that I live in a country that could re-elect such a person. I dread what’s ahead. I will blame Trump voters when he destroys our country.
This guy destroyed a relationship I was in. It was impossible to maintain when everything including Haitians eating your pets was being dismissed as nothing. Everything about him shouts Germany 1930’s. How people can’t see the parallels is something I can’t comprehend.
I can’t understand it either but maybe it’s how they are or aren’t teaching History anymore? I remember history class never actually reaching into the 1930’s much let alone WWII! Are we failing to teach about History and Government? It seems that for a lot of these far right Nazi types that National Socialism is very attractive and masculine looking. It’s appealing to a certain segment of our population including Trump and Republicans as well because it gives the leader ultimate authority and power and a person like Trump who is a total Narcissist it’s perfect! If the schools aren’t warning us about the dangers of zNational Socialism and its history we are only going to see more of this horrible behavior! Trump is a Nazi there is no doubt, he’s also unhinged and dangerous. He has to be stopped, this craziness cannot prevail, this person cannot be allowed to ruin our Good Country!
Have you noticed how Trump never comes up with an original thought. He’s a salesman and he understands that to connect with the rubes you look for the “hot button “. So you listen to what they complain about and then you agree with them and embellish their complaints and amplify them as if they’re your own. So he usurps the complaint to make it his own. He doesn’t give two shits about the subject, but the rube does and so the rube thinks this billionaire “gets him”. It could be the border, abortion, inflation, vaccines, it doesn’t matter. He just makes their grievances his own and they believe him because they think he’s one of them. And he talks tough despite being the weakest leader we could have. He’s a puppet to Putin and ever leader in the world knows his narcissistic ego is his weakness. Just flatter him and he’s yours and so is America. And we’re stuck with this bag of bile as the face of America.
I’ve been writing about these people on Substack since, I guess 2021. I’ve been curious as to whether he’ll come after any of us here. Fucking Kash is going after reporters, journalists, liberals and outlets like Substack.
So I'm in my mid 50's and got my fair share of aches and pains. I can't do a lot but I can not be afraid. If they come for me I can do my best to not bow down. I can stand in front of the tank like the kid did in Tieneman Square years ago. So yeah.
Ever since the election, I’ve had this nagging thought that liberalism, in a cultural sense, is in trouble. It feels like this country is taking a hard right turn culturally, and it feels pretty hopeless thinking of how popular conservative culture is at the moment.
But looking at it through the lens of how government works, as you said, big government addresses the big problems of a big country, it gives me hope that there’s a chance to overcome this conservative ideology that’s become so pervasive. I’ve always felt that the true meaning of being a Democrat is believing that the government exists to help the people. I’m not sure many people think that anymore, but Democrats will have all the fuel to make this case in coming years.
I can only hope that Dems have the courage to do so, because their inability to say the hard things and make the bold moves is what’s gotten us here. They need to take on corruption head on if they have any hope of accomplishing that.
The thing is, only a third of eligible voters voted and Trump received less than 50 percent of the votes, so more people voted against him than voted for him. The far right conservativism might seem pretty popular, but I don't think it's as prevalent as you think.
But, I do think the dems need to quit going high when they go low. We are way past that now.
Hopefully, this will be the kick in the ass that the apathetic, "I never vote because my vote doesn't matter" crowd needs to get up off the couch, and participate, since "democracy" as a whole cannot survive without it.
I think the midterms in 12 and 14 is what sealed the deal here,which is when Republicans took over so many state houses and legislatures.
One of my fears is the "emergency declaration" Txxxx is yammering about, to kick off his deportations, I'm afraid they will make it indefinite, and suspend elections. With the way these guys have been talking, it's well within the realm of possibility.
Conservative has nothing to do with it. True conservatives want nothing to do with big government and certainly wouldn't want to govern what's going on in your bedroom and doctors office would they??? Sarcasm
I think that Democrats believe in government helping people but that's only because in the 10 years I spent working for Republican philanthropists I helped support ideas but not people. In the 10 years I spent working with a Democratic philanthropist and Democratic electeds I did nothing but directly help people.
When I, as a trans woman, hear you say: "Let them do it.", I must confess a certain thrown-under-the-bus feeling...one likely to end with me and others like me, not to put too fine a point on it...dead.
We are the little old lady in the crosswalk, all 0.5% of us, to your careening bus of disaster.
Trump and his cronies, one big pussy grabbing party, guzzling beer and burgers, yelling and laughing at thier cleverness and license...never noticing the slight bump as they run us down, and you and your fellows, signs and flags a-waving...jeering and calling: "Golly, did you see that? Horrible!" as you capture our demise on your smartphones from the sidewalk for a later social media post.
I'll spend my last strength and blood crawling towards the curb of Democracy, knowing my death served the highest ideal of...comeuppance.
Thank you for your response, perspective, and experience.
I feel so many of these pieces and this sentiment of “f—- around find out” are forgetting that real people will be hurt, and will quite literally die, in the meantime. I know this is why so many did all we could during the election to prevent this, but now that we’re here, we need a strategy that fights to protect marginalized members of our community, even if our efforts are so successful that we never fully get to the “find out” stage. Maybe we can highlight the crash-and-burn nature of Trump, Elon, & the Heritage Foundation’s plans (especially with regards to “small government”, as this piece highlights) while STILL preventing the worst of the damage. I can’t stand MAGA, but I think we have an obligation to mitigate as much of the risk as we can. I don’t want to sit on the sidelines gleefully watching them fail, while witnessing the most vulnerable among us bear the brunt of the fallout.
Trans aren't the only ones in deep trouble. Think nursing home residents on the street because no medicaid. Babies in dumpsters because no abortion. Disabled children left to fend for themselves because no education equality. The list goes on and on and on. The worst part of it is I don't think there is a damn thing we can do about any of it. We talk about the difference in letting them fafo, and mitigating the disaster. Dems in congress and right leaning judges gonna help with any of that? Probable not to be honest...so here we are. What's next?
Sadly if they know who the trans folks are, and they know plenty, they’ll put them in the same concentration camps as the undocumented immigrants. This won’t happen. MAGA sounds so much like MAGGOT!
What’s with the hate in the first place? I don’t hate anyone for any of those reasons, gay, sex change etc and I don’t understand why so many Americans are so judgmental. I don’t hate people for racial or religious reasons either. What I do hate are religious fanatics, judgmental people about others who they consider less for various reasons. People like Trump, a criminal who wants to get rid of people of color because he thinks he’s better, how can he be better after all his felonies? Why are Americans voting for such a hateful man? Why have Americans become so hateful and even basically Nazis? I am afraid most Younger Americans don’t know a thing about losing their basic freedoms, yet, but that’s what they just voted for. They think they voted against those they hate, well maybe they’re in for a shock when they find out the HORROR that they really voted in.
I fully agree! Let them test their neoliberal, destructive agenda. Folks will learn, just as they did with Brexit in the UK. CONservative economic policies are consistently destructive wherever they are employed.
I am actually NOT sure it will fail as quickly as the author postulates, because I think that there are a few things the MAGA brain trust might "accidentally get right". But the pseudo-religious dogma of the “Holy Self-Regulating Market” – which has, unfortunately, become an axiomatic pillar of modern economics – needs to be tested, flunked, and discarded.
And hey, if we’re wrong, and it turns out that “The Market” really does solve all our problems, I’ll gladly join the ranks of true believers! 😊
This makes perfect sense to me, except for one thing. I'm afraid that they'll take a two-pronged approach. They'll cut government in all the areas where they don't approve of what it does--and the costs there will be real but most will take a while to show up in ways that they or their voters would ever acknowledge. But in other areas they'll instead "privatize," and often this will take the form of contracting services out to private companies. It will probably cost more and be less effective--but for them it will have the benefit of providing resources for themselves and to reward their friends and supporters.
I want to believe we can make them "own it", but that never seems to happen. Thousands of preventable deaths during the pandemic. The tanking of the economy. A violent attack on the U.S. Capitol. Their propaganda machine wins every time.
This is the problem. Republicans will only ‘own it’ if the impacts on everyday citizens are severe and widespread. The 2008 crisis was enough to sway votes in that year, but not enough to make voters take their responsibility as citizens seriously. Virtually no one took any useful lessons away from that experience, or from Republicans’ efforts to mess up the recovery after 2010.
I don’t put it down so much to propaganda, though. The bigger problem is a general public that can’t conceive of a real crisis. They don’t know or care how the country works, or what could threaten their lifestyle, because they’ve never faced real hardship and they don’t think anything really bad could happen to them.
Some are starting to wake up to the fact that most of those hardship stories were rubbish:
Well let’s not forget the lobbyists. Does anyone think that big pharma will allow RFK jr to dictate what vaccines will be produced? How many calls to their representatives will be made? How many will reject funding cuts? My guess? All. Not when their re-election funding is imperiled.
Once TFG’s minions policies affect their bottom line, ears will be bent.
Wait till Musk tries to cut the defense funding. That industry will want a word. The big 3 automakers? Put tariffs on THEIR products? Think they’ll go along with that? Hello Senator.
Corporations may want more tax cuts but will not tolerate any policy that affect their sales.
Let’s give them just enough rope to hang themselves. They deserve it.
Agree 100% with Oliver. One way to start is to make this point over and over starting now. For example: with bird flu, Trump has a chance to somewhat redeem himself after the disastrous Covid response. Dems should say - Don’t Blow It Again. Warn people that his public health nominees are the D-team that will lead to a repeat debaucle. Similarly, in W. North Carolina and Florida, ask how reducing FEMA in half will help the recovery efforts, or for that matter, putting a lightweight MAGA flunky in charge of FEMA.
Thanks for this civics lesson! This is what I learned in school and what I have believed a government is for. FDR & LBJ gave Americans protections and liberty. If the gov’t “is the problem” why are repubs passing so many laws that put the gov’t smack dab in the centre of our lives? It has never made sense to me, their hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance are mind-blowing ⚫️
Amen! “Get the government off my back” and by the way, when do you ovulate? What books do you read? Have you ever said anything critical of His (dis)Excellency Donald(ff) the first? What about that phone call to your brother last Wednesday? Hmmmm???
I certainly agree this is a chance to show, AGAIN, that conservative small government policies don't work. It's worth noting that these stupid ideas, that have been proven time and time again to be wrong, don't go away because the core belief of white supremacy is "no free shit for black people" and promoting so called conservative values of small government is just a dog whistle for bigotry.
Smartest post ever. You are absolutely correct on all points. Tie them to the predictably horrifying consequences of their naive policies. Stop fighting a losers battle of slow rolling this and let the inevitable disaster proceed and tie it around their necks. Then offer a real choice in future elections. It will be horrible but the alternative of genteel complicity will just prolong things.
Hopefully neither you or I are part of the collateral damage. Who wants to be that person who dies or loses their life savings while this imbecile runs roughshod over this country?
Exactly, he is an imbecile and barely graduated from college, probably wouldn’t have if he didn’t pay someone to take his finals. Apparently some of his fans think this shows how smart he is? Frankly I think that shows how basically low he is. Has he really accomplished anything in his life on his own without it falling apart? COVID etc. He’s been propped up his entire life by others of his ilk and now Musk! If I had any admiration for Musk before, I can’t recall any, I certainly don’t now. Using his money to buy the election of a badly damaged candidate and trying to insert his will on the government. This is not going to be pretty. My father was a staunch Republican but I am glad he can’t see how far that party has fallen. All the wise, good members are long gone now, it’s full of really awful people who don’t care about their constituents, would happily take away their Social Security and Medicare without a thought. They only care about their wealthy donators now.
Trump et al are not the least bit interested in the size of government, large or small. Rather, they are executing the world’s largest bank heist ever. Period. Full stop.
"Small government is the catastrophic response to Hurricane Katrina, COVID, and the Great Depression and the Great Recession."
GOP "Governments" ain't small, on the contrary... But those catastrophes happened not due to the size of government but to the government's lack of response. The GOP is a "ignore everyone else" Government, the "States' Rights" Government. The "big business do it" Government.
Katrina and COVID was a GOP failure to act. The Depression was a failure of Business and Banking and poor Agriculture management more than anything else. The GR was Big Finance ripping everyone off. Is that what you mean by "Small Government"?
What they say, "small government", is not their goal. That phrase is a marketing slogan. What they want is "government owned by the 1%", and they have hired salesmen as well as recruited volunteers.
BINGO. They want their government to be JUST small enough to fit inside a woman's uterus, while still serving the 1%.
🤣
Democrat party is now the party of the corporations: 70% of big business support Democrats. The 1% owned Biden's administration.
In case you suffered a concussion Mr Twigg, the 1% support Trump, not Biden. You also need to stop showing TDS because the proper reference is the Democratic Party, not Democrat party like the newly elected convicted criminal, adulterer, sexual predator and rapist says.
Such absurd bullshit. You’ve snapped your twig, Twigg!
He’s obviously been lost in the fantasy world of the Dark Web with monsters like Steve Bannon who lies like others breath.
BOTH parties are 0.01%-ers.
We have lived in an oligarchy for decades.
The fig leaf is just wearing thin, is all.
you can't have both billionaires and a democracy.
And yet, https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/26/trump-administration-loyalists-donors
Interesting, where did you find that information? Thanks
I thing you might have tipped your hand here Twigg. Only Repubs refer to the Dems as the Democrat Party. And Idont know where you got the idea that 70% of big business supports Democrats. Labor supports Dems. Labor and big business aren’t exactly on the same page. Trump has Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, the guy that owns Google. Those are the 4 richest men on the planet. They can’t wait to hand him checks. Musk spent $246M to get Trump elected. That doesn’t include the $460B to buy Twitter to use as a platform to spread Trump lies. This administration is going to make history in the worst possible way. There’s no joy in saying we told you so. But those words will sit like an elephant in the corner of a room, and everyone will wonder what went wrong?
Nah-not true. You’re probably a closet republican.
Yes, attribution please. I agree that the Democrats are far too corporate (which is exemplified by Kamala Harris) but are just pulling the numbers out of thin air?
Let’s not single out Kamala Harris. ALL politicians except maybe 5-6 take corporate money…ALL OF THEM, to varying degrees. The largest political donor is pharma. Just found out today that James Clyburn received the largest amount from pharma. We must get campaign finance back to taxpayer funded to level the playing field & keep our elected officials from being so beholden to corporations
Not possible for ‘we the people’ to get money out of politics until we get enough money out of oligarchs so that we actually have a democracy.
Billionaires and democracies can’t coexist. 🧐😬
We have the former, not the latter.
What country are you living in?
Buhahahahaha that must be some good Koolaid you’re drinking!
Hey Stanley, did you enjoy the replies to your post? Just when you think you’ve plumbed the depths of leftist idiocy, they surprise you with even more! The responses actually seem too intense to be driven by just intellect. I think their responses may be representative of being potty trained too forcefully or something.
now THIS is on target
Have you looked at the net wealth of Trumps administration and those that are the hangers on? DOGE! Musk=$400B. Vivek = $1B. Eliminating waste from govt? Musk has billions in govt contracts. You don’t see a conflict of interest there? How will you know if he isn’t seeing to it that none of his deals with the govt are wasteful? You just take his word??
All those in positions for oversight of fraud have been fired!
EXACTLY!! And isn't it fascinating how ALL of Muskrats "problems" have just disappeared? He eliminated the heads of departments (or in some cases, the entire departments!), who had issues with many of his companies.
Speaking of Musk and his government contracts, this country should think about what a post- convicted felon government looks like and we need to think of how we can we can cut him and his businesses out our lives . I don’t know if it’s feasibly possible but we survived before Musk became incredibly wealthy. No more contracts, nothing, zip, nada, NO MORE. We need to think about it NOW.
It’s both parties Nicolas, both parties. The 2 party system is not good & encourages corruption
https://kaiserbasileus.substack.com/p/the-mandate-of-libertarian-fascist
Have you looked at the net worth of the people trump is appointing to his cabinet & other plum jobs like ambassadors??
Yes! It’s true on both sides. That’s why the author is calling for a change
You certainly can decrease the opportunity for corruption. We had some guardrails in the not too distant past, but the conservative majority on the scotus just decided to throw most of them out & throw the doors wide open to blatant bribery
BTW my middle name is Martin 🙂.
Frank Herbert put it best when he paraphrased the “power corrupts” maxim: “Power attracts the corruptible, absolute power attracts the absolutely corruptible.”
I would agree with you completely Oliver, but for a few thoughts that trouble me a lot: if they do just half of what they told us they would do, we have a catastrophic depression on the way. Great suffering for many people. The country is swinging right because of the right’s media blanket. Many, many people will never hear any accuracy about why they are suffering, and will keep blaming the scapegoats they are supplied with. Us and ours, no doubt. And then as others here mentioned, the goal is to acquire power and direct the wealth of the economy into the hands of those with the power through privatization and plain grift. Autocratic kleptocracy isn’t going to let elections get in its way if it gets any distance down the road. I hope you’re right and I worry too much.
💯 We really DO need to come up a solution to the rights "media blanket" because that's EXACTLY where failure to move to solve all this will come from. The depression-to-come will hurt us all, but it will be much worse if voters believe lies about it.
My greatest fear is that they will shut down dissent, by force, and widen that blanket. There is a reason he is trying to gut military leadership and make them loyal to him and not the constitution.
Yeah. Hegseth will fire the Generals that don’t swear loyalty to Trump. He wants Generals like Hitler had. ( Hitler did a few good things too, you know). 😳 Any General that disagrees with Trump will be deemed “woke”, and that’s grounds for being removed.
That’s well thought out. Your right. I can see that as a logical consequence of project 2025. He plans to follow it through. I’m afraid that if Patel gets through we’re all in deep trouble. He’ll turn the FBI into a secret police (Gestapo). Trump will pull out all the stops now. He can’t legally run again, but at the same time, the laws don’t apply to him. He can be as outrageous and tyrannical as he wants without repercussions thanks to the fucking SCOTUS. He has no intentions on leaving the White House. Our ability to protect us from foreign threats will fall apart, our allies won’t t trust us with vital intel, and Trump will spend his time using the power of the US govt to go after those that refuse to bend a knee. I don’t have an answer to this. This MAGA virus has spread worse than COVID.
💯🎯😢💙✌🏻
I think this is possible yes. But you are assuming that on the world stage you the US, are still the “good guy”. What I see is no, you will be the head of the former axis of evil. Vance is furthering the unity between Russia and China. They have said they are against Europe. And we know how he feels about Canada and Greenland, Denmark, Panama. The foreign threat is already in your bed as you cozy up to Russia. This is why the rest of world was like- do not even play like this w that latest election- the whole world is at stake!!!!!
Agree with what you said and as far as not running again, the convicted felon already has a Republican representative (from Texas if I’m not mistaken who wants to introduce an amendment that would make it possible to run for a third term.
We need a to sell the truth like the right sells propaganda.
The right is not interested in truth. Maybe parables need to be used. They only respond emotionally. Their neurons are stripped.
Find the podcast MeidasTouch! It’s our answer to getting our “talking points” out there.
My worry as well, Colin. Trump is already taking credit for the Biden-Harris work with Mexico to reduce migrants. Whatever works will be because of him, and whatever doesn’t will be the fault of the libs. And the Fox/X/right-wing media entity will confirm.
...and like clockwork, the gullible rubes who are desperate to pretend they have a good excuse to BE supporters, will actually believe it. GODDAMN it's galling, bring on the worst effects, even though I gotta pay for it too, I really can't take the gloating for however long this is gonna be.
Also, just knowing what's coming, while watching it happen in slow motion, as current leadershop simply throws up its hands with a collective, "oh well", is also pretty damn galling. Watching this once proud nation die with a wimper is hard to take.
We need to stop paying so much attention to the national elections & return to local politics. Our state legislators, judges, & Gov have a much more profound effect on our daily lives.
There is a lot of truth in this. School boards for crying out loud decide what kids learn. City councilmen and county commissioners dictate policy in your communities.
Yep. You said it.
With Trump, it could die with a vey loud bang.
Or a very loud fart, if we're lucky.
We can’t just stand by! Find a group alien yourself with others who feel the same! This Hitler Two is already showing signs of dementia, Musk can never be president at least if they don’t change the Constitution! What is the matter with the right wing that they want to destroy what we’ve had? We need to vote out all these idiots who would destroy our country. We need you!
Muskrat put drumpf back in the White House because he thinks Trump will destroy the Constitution 💙✌🏻🤨
What a vile creature he is, just like a skunk. He takes credit for all sorts of successes that he’s had absolutely nothing to do with. What people see in him is so far beyond me it’s just unfathomable ! I am beginning to think that millions of Americans have been brain washed and have no opinions of their own anymore.
He’s a con artist and he’s probably the GOAT of Grift. He managed to con his way into the White House not once but twice. What shocks me is how many Americans are so easily conned by a person they would never want as a relative or friend. He’s too into himself. Nothing authentic about him. He’s a walking, talking caricature of the worst person in the world.
How can he have the right to take credit for anything wahren he isn’t even in office yet! That’s just so typical of this NARCISSISTIC so called human! It’s sickening how people worship this guy who has absolutely nothing himself to deserve any credit. He just usurps credit from others and takes it for himself and how stupid is the public to accept it? He was the worst president in history and idiots gave him another chance to RUIN our country! He has done nothing noteworthy unless you consider ignoring a deadly virus and a million Americans dying from it and then turning on the man who helped, Dr Fuchi and making him a scapegoat. Trump is evil. Those who voted for him are evil too because they know what he’s done to those children and their parents but they do not care and do not even consider them HUMAN. They are no better than the Germans that knew what the Nazis were doing to the Jews and Slavs. I am so broken hearted that I live in a country that could re-elect such a person. I dread what’s ahead. I will blame Trump voters when he destroys our country.
This guy destroyed a relationship I was in. It was impossible to maintain when everything including Haitians eating your pets was being dismissed as nothing. Everything about him shouts Germany 1930’s. How people can’t see the parallels is something I can’t comprehend.
I can’t understand it either but maybe it’s how they are or aren’t teaching History anymore? I remember history class never actually reaching into the 1930’s much let alone WWII! Are we failing to teach about History and Government? It seems that for a lot of these far right Nazi types that National Socialism is very attractive and masculine looking. It’s appealing to a certain segment of our population including Trump and Republicans as well because it gives the leader ultimate authority and power and a person like Trump who is a total Narcissist it’s perfect! If the schools aren’t warning us about the dangers of zNational Socialism and its history we are only going to see more of this horrible behavior! Trump is a Nazi there is no doubt, he’s also unhinged and dangerous. He has to be stopped, this craziness cannot prevail, this person cannot be allowed to ruin our Good Country!
I don’t think we can worry enough, we have to be diligent 24/7 ! These are very sly and greedy as hell people.
I’m financially supporting a couple of Substack fighters.
Have you noticed how Trump never comes up with an original thought. He’s a salesman and he understands that to connect with the rubes you look for the “hot button “. So you listen to what they complain about and then you agree with them and embellish their complaints and amplify them as if they’re your own. So he usurps the complaint to make it his own. He doesn’t give two shits about the subject, but the rube does and so the rube thinks this billionaire “gets him”. It could be the border, abortion, inflation, vaccines, it doesn’t matter. He just makes their grievances his own and they believe him because they think he’s one of them. And he talks tough despite being the weakest leader we could have. He’s a puppet to Putin and ever leader in the world knows his narcissistic ego is his weakness. Just flatter him and he’s yours and so is America. And we’re stuck with this bag of bile as the face of America.
I’ve been writing about these people on Substack since, I guess 2021. I’ve been curious as to whether he’ll come after any of us here. Fucking Kash is going after reporters, journalists, liberals and outlets like Substack.
So I'm in my mid 50's and got my fair share of aches and pains. I can't do a lot but I can not be afraid. If they come for me I can do my best to not bow down. I can stand in front of the tank like the kid did in Tieneman Square years ago. So yeah.
Check out MeidasTouch! I think they can help us media blanket the states (like the maga haters do with their propaganda programs).
Check out MeidasTouch. It’s our version of their right wing bs programming.
Ever since the election, I’ve had this nagging thought that liberalism, in a cultural sense, is in trouble. It feels like this country is taking a hard right turn culturally, and it feels pretty hopeless thinking of how popular conservative culture is at the moment.
But looking at it through the lens of how government works, as you said, big government addresses the big problems of a big country, it gives me hope that there’s a chance to overcome this conservative ideology that’s become so pervasive. I’ve always felt that the true meaning of being a Democrat is believing that the government exists to help the people. I’m not sure many people think that anymore, but Democrats will have all the fuel to make this case in coming years.
I can only hope that Dems have the courage to do so, because their inability to say the hard things and make the bold moves is what’s gotten us here. They need to take on corruption head on if they have any hope of accomplishing that.
The thing is, only a third of eligible voters voted and Trump received less than 50 percent of the votes, so more people voted against him than voted for him. The far right conservativism might seem pretty popular, but I don't think it's as prevalent as you think.
But, I do think the dems need to quit going high when they go low. We are way past that now.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Hopefully, this will be the kick in the ass that the apathetic, "I never vote because my vote doesn't matter" crowd needs to get up off the couch, and participate, since "democracy" as a whole cannot survive without it.
I think the midterms in 12 and 14 is what sealed the deal here,which is when Republicans took over so many state houses and legislatures.
One of my fears is the "emergency declaration" Txxxx is yammering about, to kick off his deportations, I'm afraid they will make it indefinite, and suspend elections. With the way these guys have been talking, it's well within the realm of possibility.
Ain't that the truth! You know he will, unless someone actively blocks him from doing so.
Oh, ha, whoops, I think I meant *10* and 14 there, but can't edit...
"Conservative" is putting it mildly. Indeed, the entire zeitgeist now has been trending regressive, reactionary, and increasingly restrictive.
Conservative has nothing to do with it. True conservatives want nothing to do with big government and certainly wouldn't want to govern what's going on in your bedroom and doctors office would they??? Sarcasm
I think that Democrats believe in government helping people but that's only because in the 10 years I spent working for Republican philanthropists I helped support ideas but not people. In the 10 years I spent working with a Democratic philanthropist and Democratic electeds I did nothing but directly help people.
My friend,
When I, as a trans woman, hear you say: "Let them do it.", I must confess a certain thrown-under-the-bus feeling...one likely to end with me and others like me, not to put too fine a point on it...dead.
We are the little old lady in the crosswalk, all 0.5% of us, to your careening bus of disaster.
Trump and his cronies, one big pussy grabbing party, guzzling beer and burgers, yelling and laughing at thier cleverness and license...never noticing the slight bump as they run us down, and you and your fellows, signs and flags a-waving...jeering and calling: "Golly, did you see that? Horrible!" as you capture our demise on your smartphones from the sidewalk for a later social media post.
I'll spend my last strength and blood crawling towards the curb of Democracy, knowing my death served the highest ideal of...comeuppance.
They also served, who only *crunch!*
From the bleak black corners of humor...Woohoo.
Thank you for your response, perspective, and experience.
I feel so many of these pieces and this sentiment of “f—- around find out” are forgetting that real people will be hurt, and will quite literally die, in the meantime. I know this is why so many did all we could during the election to prevent this, but now that we’re here, we need a strategy that fights to protect marginalized members of our community, even if our efforts are so successful that we never fully get to the “find out” stage. Maybe we can highlight the crash-and-burn nature of Trump, Elon, & the Heritage Foundation’s plans (especially with regards to “small government”, as this piece highlights) while STILL preventing the worst of the damage. I can’t stand MAGA, but I think we have an obligation to mitigate as much of the risk as we can. I don’t want to sit on the sidelines gleefully watching them fail, while witnessing the most vulnerable among us bear the brunt of the fallout.
Trans aren't the only ones in deep trouble. Think nursing home residents on the street because no medicaid. Babies in dumpsters because no abortion. Disabled children left to fend for themselves because no education equality. The list goes on and on and on. The worst part of it is I don't think there is a damn thing we can do about any of it. We talk about the difference in letting them fafo, and mitigating the disaster. Dems in congress and right leaning judges gonna help with any of that? Probable not to be honest...so here we are. What's next?
Sadly if they know who the trans folks are, and they know plenty, they’ll put them in the same concentration camps as the undocumented immigrants. This won’t happen. MAGA sounds so much like MAGGOT!
What’s with the hate in the first place? I don’t hate anyone for any of those reasons, gay, sex change etc and I don’t understand why so many Americans are so judgmental. I don’t hate people for racial or religious reasons either. What I do hate are religious fanatics, judgmental people about others who they consider less for various reasons. People like Trump, a criminal who wants to get rid of people of color because he thinks he’s better, how can he be better after all his felonies? Why are Americans voting for such a hateful man? Why have Americans become so hateful and even basically Nazis? I am afraid most Younger Americans don’t know a thing about losing their basic freedoms, yet, but that’s what they just voted for. They think they voted against those they hate, well maybe they’re in for a shock when they find out the HORROR that they really voted in.
You’re a male. You’re not oppressed.
Every one is depressed
Opressed
I fully agree! Let them test their neoliberal, destructive agenda. Folks will learn, just as they did with Brexit in the UK. CONservative economic policies are consistently destructive wherever they are employed.
I’m all for this as well.
I am actually NOT sure it will fail as quickly as the author postulates, because I think that there are a few things the MAGA brain trust might "accidentally get right". But the pseudo-religious dogma of the “Holy Self-Regulating Market” – which has, unfortunately, become an axiomatic pillar of modern economics – needs to be tested, flunked, and discarded.
And hey, if we’re wrong, and it turns out that “The Market” really does solve all our problems, I’ll gladly join the ranks of true believers! 😊
Bring on the dancing horses!
This makes perfect sense to me, except for one thing. I'm afraid that they'll take a two-pronged approach. They'll cut government in all the areas where they don't approve of what it does--and the costs there will be real but most will take a while to show up in ways that they or their voters would ever acknowledge. But in other areas they'll instead "privatize," and often this will take the form of contracting services out to private companies. It will probably cost more and be less effective--but for them it will have the benefit of providing resources for themselves and to reward their friends and supporters.
I want to believe we can make them "own it", but that never seems to happen. Thousands of preventable deaths during the pandemic. The tanking of the economy. A violent attack on the U.S. Capitol. Their propaganda machine wins every time.
Yuk. But I have to agree.
And so does their essential and indefatigable confirmation bias.
This is the problem. Republicans will only ‘own it’ if the impacts on everyday citizens are severe and widespread. The 2008 crisis was enough to sway votes in that year, but not enough to make voters take their responsibility as citizens seriously. Virtually no one took any useful lessons away from that experience, or from Republicans’ efforts to mess up the recovery after 2010.
I don’t put it down so much to propaganda, though. The bigger problem is a general public that can’t conceive of a real crisis. They don’t know or care how the country works, or what could threaten their lifestyle, because they’ve never faced real hardship and they don’t think anything really bad could happen to them.
Some are starting to wake up to the fact that most of those hardship stories were rubbish:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/01/biden-economic-populism-failure/681289/
Never interrupt your enemy when he’s making a mistake.
You know the democrats will do just that, though.
Well let’s not forget the lobbyists. Does anyone think that big pharma will allow RFK jr to dictate what vaccines will be produced? How many calls to their representatives will be made? How many will reject funding cuts? My guess? All. Not when their re-election funding is imperiled.
Once TFG’s minions policies affect their bottom line, ears will be bent.
Wait till Musk tries to cut the defense funding. That industry will want a word. The big 3 automakers? Put tariffs on THEIR products? Think they’ll go along with that? Hello Senator.
Corporations may want more tax cuts but will not tolerate any policy that affect their sales.
Let’s give them just enough rope to hang themselves. They deserve it.
Big Pharm is ALWAYS happy to sit across from total incompetence.
They KNOW they will have their way with him in so so many ways, and can throw him a bone and he'll never know better. He's way out of his league.
Junior's entire family is cringing with good reason and the best information.
Agree 100% with Oliver. One way to start is to make this point over and over starting now. For example: with bird flu, Trump has a chance to somewhat redeem himself after the disastrous Covid response. Dems should say - Don’t Blow It Again. Warn people that his public health nominees are the D-team that will lead to a repeat debaucle. Similarly, in W. North Carolina and Florida, ask how reducing FEMA in half will help the recovery efforts, or for that matter, putting a lightweight MAGA flunky in charge of FEMA.
Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.
And get Pete Buttigieg on Fox news whenever possible.
Brilliant! There’s a roadmap easily followed and it seems to me to have some sound chance of success.
They aren’t doing anything. We have no defense now
Thanks for this civics lesson! This is what I learned in school and what I have believed a government is for. FDR & LBJ gave Americans protections and liberty. If the gov’t “is the problem” why are repubs passing so many laws that put the gov’t smack dab in the centre of our lives? It has never made sense to me, their hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance are mind-blowing ⚫️
Amen! “Get the government off my back” and by the way, when do you ovulate? What books do you read? Have you ever said anything critical of His (dis)Excellency Donald(ff) the first? What about that phone call to your brother last Wednesday? Hmmmm???
I certainly agree this is a chance to show, AGAIN, that conservative small government policies don't work. It's worth noting that these stupid ideas, that have been proven time and time again to be wrong, don't go away because the core belief of white supremacy is "no free shit for black people" and promoting so called conservative values of small government is just a dog whistle for bigotry.
This is such an important point
BINGO
Biden admin just showed again that big government policies are an economic disaster for the working-class and middle-class.
Smartest post ever. You are absolutely correct on all points. Tie them to the predictably horrifying consequences of their naive policies. Stop fighting a losers battle of slow rolling this and let the inevitable disaster proceed and tie it around their necks. Then offer a real choice in future elections. It will be horrible but the alternative of genteel complicity will just prolong things.
Hopefully neither you or I are part of the collateral damage. Who wants to be that person who dies or loses their life savings while this imbecile runs roughshod over this country?
Right. I lost a sister to covid because of HIM. That’s real.
Exactly, he is an imbecile and barely graduated from college, probably wouldn’t have if he didn’t pay someone to take his finals. Apparently some of his fans think this shows how smart he is? Frankly I think that shows how basically low he is. Has he really accomplished anything in his life on his own without it falling apart? COVID etc. He’s been propped up his entire life by others of his ilk and now Musk! If I had any admiration for Musk before, I can’t recall any, I certainly don’t now. Using his money to buy the election of a badly damaged candidate and trying to insert his will on the government. This is not going to be pretty. My father was a staunch Republican but I am glad he can’t see how far that party has fallen. All the wise, good members are long gone now, it’s full of really awful people who don’t care about their constituents, would happily take away their Social Security and Medicare without a thought. They only care about their wealthy donators now.
Trump et al are not the least bit interested in the size of government, large or small. Rather, they are executing the world’s largest bank heist ever. Period. Full stop.
"Small government is the catastrophic response to Hurricane Katrina, COVID, and the Great Depression and the Great Recession."
GOP "Governments" ain't small, on the contrary... But those catastrophes happened not due to the size of government but to the government's lack of response. The GOP is a "ignore everyone else" Government, the "States' Rights" Government. The "big business do it" Government.
Katrina and COVID was a GOP failure to act. The Depression was a failure of Business and Banking and poor Agriculture management more than anything else. The GR was Big Finance ripping everyone off. Is that what you mean by "Small Government"?