WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 2025
"Where's the alarm about Trump?" This very morning, in its print editions, the New York Times features a letter from one of Maine's many islands.
The letter comes from a resident of Arrowsic, Maine. As the miraculous Abraham Lincoln once emerged from geographic obscurity, today's letter comes from this little-known place:
Arrowsic, Maine
Arrowsic is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States. The population is 477 as of the 2020 United States census. It is part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area. During the French and Indian Wars, Arrowsic was site of a succession of important and embattled colonial settlements. It is a favorite with artists and birdwatchers.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 10.79 square miles...Arrowsic is on an island of the same name situated between the Kennebec River, Sasanoa River and Back River.
Technically, Arrowsic is an island, though it's connected to the mainland by a bridge. It's part of Portland's metropolitan area, so no—it isn't the boondocks.
This very morning, the town of Arrowsic has offered the nation this letter. As presented by the Times, it's the last in a group of three:
Trump Is Crossing So Many Lines
To the Editor:
Re “Trump Gives Commencement Address at West Point” (news article, May 25):
President Joe Biden was excoriated for his embarrassing and revealing performance at the campaign debate last year. Where is the press reaction to President Trump’s embarrassing, inappropriate and at times unhinged performance at West Point on Saturday, complete with his disrespectful red cap?
It was a public moment that should raise alarms about his mental health and judgment, just as Mr. Biden’s debate disaster did.
J— K—
Arrowsic, Maine
So asks a woman from an island in Maine. We largely agree with her presentation. Let's examine the shape of her ask.
Was President Biden "excoriated" for his performance at that fateful debate? We wouldn't use that word ourselves, but the writer notes a highly significant fact:
In real time, President Biden's performance at that June 2024 debate produced a great deal of reaction within the American press corps. His performance that night was "revealing," the letter writer says.
Today, the publication of the Tapper/Thompson book, Original Sin, has led to renewed discussion of President Biden's performance that night. It has generated a discussion about his cognitive state even when he was sitting president.
In our view, "it's altogether fitting and proper" (Abraham Lincoln) that the discussion exists. That said, the letter writer asks a perfectly reasonable question:
Where is the press reaction to President Trump's ongoing behavior? Where is the corresponding press reaction to the constant, highly unusual behavior fashioned by President Trump?
The writer refers to the sitting president's "mental health," much as we've done in the past. That said, it isn't necessary to point in that direction as a person calls attention to this, the most obvious fact in the world:
President Trump routinely engages in public behavior which is extremely unusual.
In theory, journalists consider it to be news when the airplane fails to land. In theory, journalists report and analyze events and behaviors which take us outside the norm.
The letter writer cites President Trump's recent address at West Point. Much as others have done, she describes as "embarrassing, inappropriate and at times unhinged."
Was something wrong with President Trump's address? Presumably, stated opinions will differ. But whatever a person may think of that particular address, there is no doubt about one fact:
The current president routinely engages in public behavior which takes us well beyond any recognizable norm.
Some will approve of those constant behaviors. That said, they just keep coming on.
For current purposes, let's forget that West Point address. In recent days, the sitting president has also done these things:
He has suggested that former president Baack Obama should be subjected to a public military tribunal. He has revived a thirty-year old nutcase tale in which Bill and Hillary Clinton are said to have murdered a wide array of people.
Full disclosure! With respect to Hillary Clinton, that inflammatory theme is constantly pushed on the Fox News Channel "cable news" program, Gutfeld! The host of that primetime program plays this card night after night.
As he does that, night after night, the press corps averts its gaze.
No one wants to tangle with Fox! As a general matter, it's this agreement to look away to which the letter writer refers. Writing from an island in Maine, she wonders why the American press corps isn't exploring the current president's highly unusual behaviors.
As noted by friend and foe alike, this unusual conduct never stops. As we noted yesterday, it resulted in this remarkable holiday message just this past Monday morning:
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY THROUGH WARPED RADICAL LEFT MINDS, WHO ALLOWED 21,000,000 MILLION PEOPLE TO ILLEGALLY ENTER OUR COUNTRY, MANY OF THE BEING CRIMINALS AND THE MENTAO INSANE,THROUGH AN OPEN BORDER THAT ONLY AN INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT WOULD APPROVE, AND THROUGH JUDGES WHO ARE ON A MISSION TO KEEP MURDERERS, DRUG DEALERS, RAPISTS, GANG MEMBERS, AND RELEASED PRISONERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, IN OUR COUNTRY SO THEY CAN ROB, MURDERERS, AND RAPE AGAIN, PROTECTED BY THESE USA HATING JUDGES WHO SUFFER FROM AN IDEOLOGY THAT IS SICK, AND VERY DANGEROUS FOR OUR COUNTRY. HOPEFULLY THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, AND OTHER GOOD AND COMPASSIONATE JUDGES THROUGHOUT THE LAND, WILL SAVE US FROM THE DECISIONS OF THE MONSTERS WHO WANT OUR COUNTRY TO GO TO HELL.
Outburst of that highly unusual kind are the norm with the current president. Presumably for different reasons, journalists of the right and the left tend to ignore these highly unusual outbursts.
Searching on the word "scum," we find one (1) reference to that peculiar holiday message in the New York Times. It's mentioned in a single paragraph—paragraph 13!—of this otherwise anodyne news report.
(Upbeat headline: "Trump Praises Military, and His Return to Office, in Memorial Day Remarks." In one glancing aside, the newspaper briefly mentions the sitting president's extremely peculiar remarks.)
As has now become fairly clear, it seems that something was wrong with President Biden even as he sat in the White House. In our view, the letter writer is asking a fairly obvious question:
Why aren't the boys and girls of the mainstream press exploring a similar possibility with respect to President Trump?
Something was (tragically) wrong with President Biden. Is it possible that something is (tragically) wrong with the furiously angry man who currently sits in the White House? With the furious person who constantly sabotages the American discourse with an endless stream of public claims which are cosmically inaccurate?
With the steady stream of inflammatory public claims which are clownishly bogus?
The press corps is exploring the apparent fact that something was wrong with President Biden when he was in the White House. Why aren't they exploring the steady stream of highly unusual behaviors which emanate from President Biden's successor?
This very morning, the New York Times has published a letter from an island dweller which asks that fairly obvious question. In order to place her question in a fairly obvious type of context, we ask you to consider something which appeared in print editions of yesterday's New York times.
In the wake of last year's election, the Democratic Party seems to be thrashing and flailing. Given that apparent reality, here's what the Times had decided to do:
Six Months Later, Democrats Are Still Searching for the Path Forward
[...]
Six months after President Trump swept the battleground states, the Democratic Party is still sifting through the wreckage. Its standing has plunged to startling new lows—27 percent approval in a recent NBC News poll, the weakest in surveys dating to 1990—after a defeat that felt like both a political and cultural rejection.
[...]
And so The New York Times is beginning an occasional series of articles about the Democrats and their predicament: how it got so dire, what comes next and who could lead the way.
And so one from there.
In our view, it's "altogether fitting and proper" that the Times should undertake some such series of articles. But where is the series of front-page reports about the bizarre behaviors which constantly flow from the current sitting president—about his endless stream of ludicrous factual claims, about his endless acts of raw fury?
Where is the "series of articles" about such matters as that?
Across a causeway, on an island in Maine, an inquiring mind wants to know! Last night, MSNBC's Chris Hayes tried to ask a version of that question.
We didn't think it went very well. How did we Blues ever get to this place? Tomorrow, we'll try to show you.
Where's the alarm about President Trump, the letter writer asks. Even now, at this very late date, we think it's an obvious question.
We close today from that island in Maine—but also from Presque Isle, Maine, a small city which isn't an island, or even as isle, a small city found way up north.
As we noted on March 28, a teenage girl voiced a sensible type of complaint from that northern locale. This morning, a different Mainer asks a fairly obvious question from one of the state's island towns.
The teenage girl was hailed on the Fox News Channel. This morning, the islander's letter tilts Blue.
Each presentation was seminal—made an obvious type of sense. From various points in the vast state of Maine, intelligent people might be building the kind of causeway which can take us away from our unfolding disaster, a bridge which might help us find our way "back out of all this now too much for us."
Tomorrow: Running on (something like) empty
The NY Times has no sway with the electorate. Don't take my word, ask them yourself.
ReplyDeleteIs Somerby part of the electorate? Does it seem to sway him? What was your point? That Trump is a dangerous mentally ill jaggoff? Agreed.
DeleteWhat if Trump is not mentally ill and not a jaggoff but a massively corrupt criminal who went from laundering money for the Russian mob to using their help to become president, where he could enrich himself while subverting foreign policy to help Putin?
DeleteHe may be playing at being president while sniggering up his sleeve at how dumb the American public is, while he steals with both tiny hands. Do we really know whether he is afraid of sharks or not?
Clearly he is more terrified of the fucking batteries.
DeleteTwo paths diverged in a wood and America chose the psychopath. -- meme found on Hullabaloo.
ReplyDeleteA fascinating comparison of Mao's great famine and Donald Trump's cultish administration. What will be the consequences for our nation? Somerby never asks. Is he too busy averting his own eyes?
https://digbysblog.net/2025/05/28/waiters-and-gardeners/
"As has now become fairly clear, it seems that something was wrong with President Biden even as he sat in the White House."
ReplyDeleteThis is not fairly clear at all. Just because Somerby repeats a talking point over and over ad nauseum, doesn't make it true.
I hate to break it to you, but this is a debate that's over.
DeleteYou lost.
Actually no, our nation lost. Do you think you aren't going to suffer because of what Trump is doing?
DeleteWell, it's a tragedy that Biden lost his mental edge but held on too long, leaving the country in the dire predicament we are now mired in.
DeleteI hate to break it to you, but this is not a debate, it is a con that the neoliberal corporate media has been pushing, along with old school out of touch establishment Dems.
DeleteAnd no, 11:30 did not lose.
Dream on.
You're a dead-ender who can't see reality.
DeleteYou should watch the debate again.
DeleteDogface can’t help but blame Biden. Nice to know republicans bear no responsibility, the assumption being any other dem candidate would have clearly beaten Trump (of course, that’s any dem candidate but Harris, since she was Trump’s actual opponent).
DeleteBiden may have had a bad debate, but it isn’t a foregone conclusion that Biden would have lost had he stayed in the race. Biden was not a stellar debater in general. Remember the 2020 primaries? Also, a bad debate is not evidence that “something was wrong” with Biden, in the sense of something wrong meaning cognitively impaired or mentally unfit. We simply don’t know that at this point.
DeleteWell, it's true that Dems would have had a better shot if Biden had said earlier that he wouldn't run for reelection, so that the top Dems could compete for the nomination.
DeleteMaybe, maybe not. You think Harris being VP wouldn’t have ended up with the nomination in that case anyway?
Delete1:35. It wasn't a "bad debate." Remember: There were worries pre-debate that Biden had lost it, so the campaign moved the debate up extremely early in the election cycle for the singular purpose of combatting those worries. This strategy backfired spectacularly not because of a "bad debate," but because it exposed the fact that Biden just wasn't up to the job of vigorously prosecuting a winning election campaign.
DeletePro tip for DG:
DeleteUse the word "obviously", as in "Not all Republican voters are bigots, obviously."
It turns an opinion into a fact.
Harris polled better than any Democratic alternative at the time Biden said he would step aside.
DeleteThere was a whole rat-fucking operation about Biden losing it pre-debate.
DeleteFixed for accuracy.
1:43. Thanks. Obviously, you're right.
Delete1:45. If it gives you some emotional solace to believe this conspiracy theory, then God bless.
DeleteWe have elections to decide the guilt or innocence of the candidates. Not to decide if candidates have the cognitive ability needed for the position. If it were the latter, the people choosing Biden to be their candidate would have sufficed.
DeleteThere have been a slew of straight shooting journalists, as well as public intellectual Heather Cox Richardson, that interviewed Biden in his last days of being president, and they all said there was no sign of cognitive decline.
DeleteHarris losing had nothing to do with Biden.
Dogface, you seem quite emotional in your discourse, it seems to drive your biases and irrationality.
I blame the Right for Democratic voters nominating Biden to be the President.
DeleteSomerby taught me that's how politics works.
1:45,
DeleteYou know i always am, obviously.
There was an orchestrated campaign to portray Biden as having lost it that preceded the debate. If the Biden campaign decided to move up the debate because of that, that doesn't mean THEY thought Biden had lost it. In that case, they would have cancelled the debate altogether, as the Trump team cancelled so many rallies during his campaign.
DeletePro tip for DG: Stop using passive sentence constructions that allow you to avoid saying who was worried about Biden losing it.
You keep ignoring the evidence of many speeches and interviews after that one debate in which Biden did perform well and was "up to" prosecuting a winning campaign. Trump is no more vigorous than Biden (they are the same age but Trump was in worse health) and that was managed for Trump by limiting the number of his appearances, whisking him off stage when he stopped performing well, and so on.
With Biden's cancer diagnosis, this is all moot. Given Biden's excellent performance as president, I strongly object to guys like you who want to undo all of his accomplishments because he now has a serious illness.
Even men with stage 4 prostate cancer can live many years with treatment. There are new medications that make this no longer an immediate death sentence, although every person responds individually and we do not know what will be the case for Biden.
Biden is an honorable man, unlike Trump. If he had known his diagnosis while still president, he would have not attempted to run again, and he would have made the info public, as he did immediately upon hearing it now. Biden's orientation to the presidency is as a public servant with a sacred trust, unlike Trump who is in it for himself. Biden is not a power-seeker. He would have done what was best for the country and his party, and his family. Trump is the kind of guy who would hide something like this in order to milk the last drop of power out of his office. That's why so many people thought he wouldn't leave the white house at the end of his first term. I suspect Putin promised he would put him back in office, to get him to move out. Biden isn't like that.
1:52. Emotional? I really could care less if you want to believe that some evil bunch of conspirators ran a vigorous and intellectually potent president out of his nomination, thereby condemning our nation to the morass of a lawless authoritarian. It's a big country, believe what you want.
DeleteAgree w 1:52, George, you do seem emotional, and it does seem to have gotten the best of you. Hey, times are tough right now.
DeleteHopefully you will find some peace of mind and regain some composure, to resist Trump we need all hands on deck and in fighting form.
1:55 - I rarely read comments over 10 lines.
Delete2:06. I would describe my state of mind as "amused," rather than "emotional." I really couldn't care less what these conspiracy theorists want to believe.
DeleteBTW, I've been on record on multiple occasions as saying that Biden was a surprisingly good president. The major crisis of his presidency was the shock to the economy caused by the Covid pandemic. His stimulus brought on a rapid recovery, which stood in stark contrast to the anemic recovery after the 2008-2009 economic collapse. True, the recovery brought a spate of inflation, but that was a known risk that Biden knowingly accepted. Economically, it was the right choice, because the Fed could manage a spike in inflation, and the result was a near-perfect economy -- strong growth, full employment, stable prices.
DeleteThe problem was political: A spike in inflation was politically more damaging than Dems expected.
Inflation was down to 2.3% at the end of Biden's term, which is very close to the 2.0 target set by the Fed. Calling that a spike is misleading since it had been reversed by the election date.
DeleteThat's what I said -- after the spike (8.9%), the Fed stepped in and brought the inflation rate down to near-target ("stable prices").
Delete
Delete"as saying that Biden was a surprisingly good president"
So, you think "Biden" was a good president. Okay. But who was that?
The Fed didn't do that all by itself. It was the result of Biden's efforts too.
Delete3:10. I don't understand your point. In my view, Biden was a good president, but unfortunately he lost his competitive edge and was unable to make the case for his own reelection. A tragedy for the country.
DeleteThe Fed was reactive not proactive.
DeleteDogface, it sounds like you think Biden actually ran for reelection. He didn't get the chance. He was pushed off the ticket before he could campaign. Harris was the candidate.
Delete3:14. Exactly. Biden pushed through fiscal stimulus knowing that inflation might spike, but also knowing that the Fed could readily control inflation. So the economic risks were asymetrical -- Too little fiscal stimulus, an anemic recovery; too much fiscal stimulus, inflation that can be controlled by the Fed. The right choice economically is to err on the side of too much stimulus; the right choice politically is to err on the side of too little stimulus.
Delete3:16 -- Actually, Biden did run for reelection, and he even got the votes for nomination. He then withdrew because donors and party activists were convinced -- and convinced him -- that he could not win.
DeleteIt wasn't just the Biden stimulus. Covid even forced asshole repukes to use an effective Keynesian stimulus that impacted inflation just before Trump lost bigly, instead of their usual on a napkin trickle down stimulus bullshit that gifts the rich even more money to hoard.
DeleteAnd let me toot Biden's horn some more. It took political courage for him to do the economically right thing (substantial fiscal stimulus) that came with political risk (a spike in inflation). Just as it took political courage for him to do the right strategic thing (withdraw troops from Afghanistan) rather than keep them mired in a quagmire for 20 more years. Unfortunately, I suspect that the next Dem administration will not be so courageous after seeing what happened to Biden.
DeleteWhen donors pull their money, the reelection prospects of a candidate become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Biden was forced off the ticket. My theory at the time was that Harris was promising the wealthy a far lower tax rate than Biden wanted to enact, so they ditched him.
Delete3:24. You're right. Just like there are no atheists in foxholes, even Repubs are Keynesians in recessions.
Delete3:30 -- Donors pulled their money because they thought it would be money down a drain. And, as you say, if a candidate can't convince donors to donate, the candidate is not viable. So it seems to me we're saying the same thing -- Biden couldn't mount a winning campaign.
DeleteI think it remains to be seen why Pelosi was able to convince donors to dump Biden. There is more to this story that has yet to come out. It makes no sense to me that donors would have more faith a black woman would beat Trump after Hillary’s loss. I think donors went for Trump because money..
DeleteI give two skips about Biden, he's in the history books now. The current demented old man is not being covered and is a danger to the world.
DeleteREPORTER: When could the administration resume interviews for foreign students visa?
TRUMP: On what?
REPORTER: Foreign student visas
TRUMP: For the French?
REPORTER: All the foreign students
TRUMP: What are you referring-- foreign visas for what?
Come on sheeple, pay attention.
Dogface, I think you should get a better nym, one that implies you can read more than 10 lines and understand more of the discussion here than what you have revealed so far. Have some self-respect!
Delete7:42 - I guess that’s your way of disagreeing without adding anything substantive or meaningful.
DeleteIn my youth conservatives were the conformists. Liberals represented open-mindedness. Today it's 180 degrees reversed. Trump is excoriated for "behavior which is extremely unusual."
ReplyDeleteTwo minutes ago, conservatives were screaming bloody murder about deficit. Now it's 180 degrees reversed. They're crowing over Trump tripling the deficit with tax cuts for elites.
DeleteAnonymouses are excoriated for noting Republican voters only care about keeping minorities in their place.
I agree that Reps are not doing enough to cut the deficit. But, Dems are doing nothing at all. The Dem narrative is that it's OK for Dems to be totally irresponsible on the deficit because they haven't promised to be responsible.
DeleteTrump's own eccentricities don't mean Trump is tolerating "open-mindedness" or deviance among his own followers or anyone else.
DeleteSomerby doesn't say, but the behaviors that worry liberals are Trump's crimes, his acceptance of bribes, his violation of the emoluments clause of the constitution, his violation of other rights enumerated in the constitution in order to persecute his enemies, his scapegoating and violation of immigrant rights, his use of his office to enrich himself via grifts like meme coins, theft of gifts to the American people by foreign government, use of public resources for his own profit, and so on. This unusual behavior might better be called crimes and misdemeanors. Trump needs to be impeached, not chided.
Liberals in the past tolerated long hair and tie-died clothing and a tendency to want to enter delis barefoot while chanting mantras. Liberals have never been in favor of presidential crime, as evidenced by our dislike of Tricky Dick Nixon.
Sadly using the Presidency to enrich oneself and one's family is not unusual. Obama is now worth $70 million and Biden is worth $10 million. And, then there's Hunter Biden...
DeleteThe fact that DOGE has not identified or charged a single person for fraud after examining govt programs is a sign that the Dems were doing quite a bit to eliminate fraud in government. Trump's hammer-fisted approach to eliminating waste was to cut programs he didn't like (or understand). Dems have been much better at keeping the govt trim while providing important services (such as air traffic control, regulation of pollution, maintenance of infrastructure, research into cures and treatments for diseases such as cancer, tornado prediction, disaster aid and coordination of relief after hurricanes and tornados, measurement of educational progress and help to disabled children, and so on). The lack of those effective services is already hurting people in our own country.
DeleteTrump let Musk plunder our govt for his own benefit. His own ventures have been public failures, including today's disintegration upon reentry of a spacecraft that couldn't even perform the tests it was sent up to do. Dems would never have done any of that because we tend to respect the constitution and our laws. Trump only respects power and force. Dems respect the people who elect them.
The people had a choice last November and they made the wrong one. The question is how long it will take them to realize that and get rid of the bum they put into office?
When was Hunter Biden elected president? Inquiring minds want to know.
DeleteBiden was in public office for nearly 50 years, earning a good salary and benefits. He apparently managed his personal finances as well as he managed the US economy while president. $10 million is a modest amount, partially account for by appreciation of the value of homes he purchased. He would be much richer if he had engaged in grifting, so this suggests he hasn't done what David accuses, not that he has.
DeleteI don't know much about Obama's finances, but both he and Michelle were partners in law firms. Former presidents get to give speeches for half a million dollars at a pop, so how long would it take them to get rich in legitimate ways? Not long, based on other examples, such as every Republican politician. I do know that Dems do not grift in office, the way Trump does.
DeleteDavid -- This is a comically shallow conflation of offering bold ideas to hurling bizarre, unhinged insults.
DeletePardons for egregious crimes are openly for sale by Trump. Ex presidents have every right to charge whatever the going rate for public appearances. It’s called capitalism. As ex presidents, there is no chance for an exchange of gifts for policy. Comparing Trump grift with any other president is an interesting exercise. Good luck winning that argument.
DeleteYes, Dickhead in Cal tends to become a bitchy little cunt when he's got nothing else.
Delete"Dems to be totally irresponsible on the deficit because they haven't promised to be responsible." What the uck is wrong with you? Without high interest Biden would have slightly lowered the deficit. If Harris won the disastrous Trump tax cuts would have expired easing the deficit. Last time the budget was balanced by Clinton shrub deliberately blew it up. Cutting taxes for rich people at a ucking time of war. The only time in history. That is some policy of the R's you two faced lying POS.
DeleteWhen David was young, it wasn't conservatives who were conformists. It was those who went to work for corporate America and lived in manicured suburbs, the folks Frank Zappa called the plastic people. Conformity was not linked to either political party but to being middle class or blue collar and following rules to get ahead.
DeleteThe Organization Man started the criticism of conformity:
""The Organization Man," a book published in 1956 by William Whyte, Jr., is significant for its critical analysis of post-World War II American corporate culture and the rise of a "social ethic" that valued belonging and conformity over individual initiative. It highlighted how the embrace of large corporations and suburban life led to a shift away from the traditional Protestant work ethic and towards a system where individuals were encouraged to subordinate themselves to the needs of the organization. "
All of this preceded the counter-culture of the 60s, which was comprised of disaffected youth embracing drugs, their own music scene, and anti-war protest. Maybe David wasn't there.
"Without high interest Biden would have slightly lowered the deficit."
DeleteI do not agree that failure with an excuse is as good as success.
How is reducing interest a failure? Biden gave Trump a thriving economy and Trump is ruining it.
DeleteA tale as old as time: Republicans trash the economy; Dems fix it.
DeleteDavid hasn't a clue what he is talking about, he is just a troll, trying to trigger people into responding to him.
DeleteJust label him a troll, and move on, engaging with him helps no one.
David in Cal,
DeleteI agree that Reps are not doing enough to cut the deficit. But, Dems are doing nothing at all.
Also David in Cal,
Raising taxes on the rich isn't going to eliminate the deficit.
Raising taxes on the rich is not making minorities suffer enough to win DiC's support.
David, you show all-or-nothing thinking. You reason that if a measure doesn't totally solve the whole problem, then it isn't worth doing at all. A bunch of small measures with limited impact can add up to a big change.
DeleteBut the worst impact on our deficit is the tax cuts given by Trump to rich people. Those absolutely need to be rolled back because we cannot afford them.
The Fed essentially did not raise rates from Shrub's economic devastation until Biden salvaged Trump's economic devastation. So no deficit had to deal with it for a long time you lying DiC.
DeleteRemember when Nuisance Gingrich said the President loaning his son $7,200 for a truck was the crime of the century? Fck off Dichead.
Delete3:15. Good point. The Fed cut interest rates in an attempt to get us out of the 2008-2009 downturn, but it could do no more when overnight interest rates approached zero. We needed fiscal stimulus as well, but the stimulus we got was too small (blame Congressional Republicans). As a result we got a long, slow, recovery that lasted more than a decade.
DeleteBiden -- and, to a lesser extent, Trump -- gave us the fiscal stimulus we needed for a quick recovery from the Covid recession. (This stimulus also gave us a spike in inflation and a jobs boom that pulled in millions of illegal immigrants.)
You can’t blame a jobs boom for immigrants when there are other factors.
DeleteOf course there are other factors. But I think the US jobs boom was the predominant factor. Illegal immigration surged as the demand for workers in the US surged.
DeleteLook, if there are unfilled jobs in Austin, some people from Fresno will move to Austin, and some people from Guanajuato will move there, too.
DeleteIf there were so many people from other countries coming to the US during covid, why couldn't restaurants and fast food place and hotels find staff? Why were people from Venezuela granted refugee visas to come here? Because of events in Venezuela, not jobs in the US. Same with Haiti. The way Biden/Harris got the immigrant flow to reduce was not by lowering the unemployment rate and cutting US jobs, but by working with the donor countries to reduce pressures causing people to leave their homes. That was what Harris did, and it worked. This was the stuff Somerby has consistently ignored while he complains that Harris didn't visit the border.
DeleteYou saw something that said immigration is correlated with job (I believe at Drum's website), but did you look at figures showing whether immigration changes with conditions in Mexico, such as jobs there or drug violence or hurricanes or inflation there? Of course not. You just spout what you read somewhere else.
And as you stated, you don't read anything longer than 10 lines, which is no doubt a pattern throughout your life, which makes you an undereducated asshole without a clue. Go ahead and vote for Trump again. You fit right into his base of morons who can't read and don't care about anyone but themselves and their gold-plated sneakers. You deserve what you get from Dear Leader (which will be mostly contempt).
DG, repeat after me, "correlation is not causation." If you don't know what that means, look it up on wikipedia:
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation
Before and after Covid we never went out. Not even carryout. We were not alone. That is why retail business nosedived. That is why the service industry cratered. There went your jerbs. I seriously worry about people who can't remember three years ago and try to tell people off.
Delete“You fit right in with his base of morons who can’t read”
DeleteIt must be a puzzle for a genius like you that you can’t seem to persuade these “morons” to vote for Dems.
7:39 - Repeat after me—correlation is consistent with causation.
DeleteOh, and any time you want to present evidence of factors (e.g., hurricanes) correlated with migration from foreign lands, feel free to do so.
And frankly, why is it so hard to believe that people tend to go where the jobs are? Isn’t that common sense?
DeleteSomerby doesn't tell his readers that the other Maine teen was complaining about a transgirl in her school. How is that a "sensible complaint" as Somerby calls it? He would rather be coy and obscure and hint about it. How does that aid coming together over divisive issues?
ReplyDeleteAnd Somerby quotes this Times article: "Six Months Later, Democrats Are Still Searching for the Path Forward". He says it is a good idea to print such a series. But this strikes me as just another "Democrats in disarray" article of the type the NY Times runs nearly every day, disparaging the Dems and blaming us for whatever happens. This type of series is exactly why the NY Times cannot be called a Blue publication. It exists to promote Trump and criticize all Democrats. Today there were several articles about how scary it would be if Jasmine Crockett were given a leadership position in Congress.
Somerby is very late to the party when he scolds the NY Times for not calling out Trump's derangement, but all of the mainstream press are now busy kowtowing to Trump because they are afraid of his power, given his lack of restraint and vengeful nature.
Somerby seems to be unaware of the existence of the Independent media, which has more readers and more ability to resist Trump than corporate press does. Is he averting his eyes from what the wide variety of authors are saying there, or is he ignorant or following right wing talking points about how to keep distracting us with Biden crap while Trump does his dirty work outside the public eye.
We don't need the NY Times to tell us that Trump is crazy. We need them to report on people with passports being abducted by ICE and held in detention on the pretext that their passports are fake. If ICE can do that, they can imprison any of us with impunity. Is the NY Times telling readers about that, or must we find it out via other sources? Somerby doesn't say. Historically, he has been happy when bad things happen to immigrants. MAGAs don't care if Trump is crazy. They like his agenda of racism and will tolerate any amount of bribery and grifting to see DEI go away. Why doesn't Somerby talk about that?
David lauds Republican "tolerance," but that doesn't extend to highly visible MAGA workers like Elon Musk. Musk has a daughter who he has disinherited because she became a transgirl in her early teens. The richest man in the world has cutoff his own child in a fit of intolerance for her differences.
ReplyDeleteMusk says he is autistic and that is certainly consistent with his behavior. Autism is generally considered to be inherited (with 70-90% heritability in twin studies, which is much higher than IQ at 60%). The incidence of trangender people in the general population is about 1%. The incidence of transgender people among those with autism is around 20%, and gender dysphoria is four times as common among autistic people.
Elon Musk's daughter most likely got her autism from her father. The greater tendency to be transgender has also been linked to autism. Yet Musk, with all the money in the world, won't support his own child, rejects her, and shows no tolerance for something that may arise from his genetic contribution.
How's that for Republican tolerance, David! Somerby is just as intolerant, which yanks that high road out from under his feet today. A man who is intolerant of transgender kids and also lacks sympathy for immigrants has no basis for chiding others.
Fair points, but considering how effective Musk is at lying and running cons, his claims of being autistic are very suspect.
DeleteTo my knowledge, he has no official diagnosis, but that is true for a lot of autistic people. The autistic community would like to disown him and it does appear he has other problems, such as narcissistic personality disorder. My main point was lack of tolerance.
DeleteTrump has tended to shun his daughter Tiffany over the years because he considered her not pretty enough, overweight. More intolerance aimed at the man's own child.
Agree, your main point stands.
DeleteThese "leaders" are horrible parents, ensuring their terrible traits live on via cyclical, generational wealth and abuse.
Musk's daughter can be commended for having the strength to break this cycle (no doubt in part because Musk had nothing to do with raising her).
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DeleteAnonymouse 12:29pm, I can’t find anything about Musk disinheriting his daughter. Where did you see that? There’s plenty of reporting that she slammed the door on him.
Delete"The press corps is exploring the apparent fact that something was wrong with President Biden when he was in the White House. Why aren't they exploring the steady stream of highly unusual behaviors which emanate from President Biden's successor?"
ReplyDeleteWhy not refer to Trump as President Biden's predecessor? That is just as true and wouldn't imply that something about Biden made Trump the way he is, as this odd construction does. And I agree with others who are saying that "highly unusual behaviors" doesn't capture the full meaning of Trump's blatant crimes.
Trump likes to compare himself to Al Capone. I assume Trump doesn't know what a truly awful person Capone was, giving Trump the benefit of the doubt. Calling Capone's acts "unusual behavior" would be ludicrous given that he killed people and ran roughshod over Chicago as a mob boss. Trump also talks admiringly about Hannibal Lecter. That kind of thing is a symptom not an eccentricity.
The minimizing language Somerby uses is no better than calling Trump a mischievous bad boy, not a full-fledged crook who is destroying both our government and our economy, colluding with foreign enemies, and stealing from the American people with both fists. I personally would expect no less from a rapist and sexual abuser of children, but Somerby urges us to be tolerant of differences of opinion about such things. Trump needs to be removed from the presidency, ASAP. Somerby won't say anything definitive, and in fact uses subterfuges like the quote above to avoid even mentioning his name, much less his crimes.
The irony is that Somerby calls for the press to name the crimes, but he won't do so himself. What a mensch -- NOT!
The press corps is not exploring the facts of Biden's presidency but merely reporting the uproar about it raised in a book which the press is treating as a current event. I think this is appropriate given that no convincing evidence of Biden's so-called cognitive decline has been presented, just examples of normal aging.
DeleteThere have been many elderly men who have served our government since our nation's creation. Many had physical limitations and showed signs of aging, just as Biden did. No one attempted to hound them out of office. It is odd that during a period of history when health care means that active, well-functioning longevity has increased, these claims about being too old are now being used to run someone off his party's ticket.
When historians catch up with documenting this time period, I suspect that this whole "Biden is too old" campaign will be found to have originated with Russian operatives assisting the reelection of Donald Trump. They have been proven to have made the fake videos that were circulated, so why not payoffs and other propaganda to support the accusation. It started with Hur, who attacked Biden and violated the rules of his agency to aid the right, suggesting that the coordination of such a campaign started much earlier than the subsequent press campaign against Biden and way before the debate itself. It may be that Biden was drugged, although that verges on conspiracy theory. We know that Trump deliberately attended his previous debate with Biden without a mask and while having covid, which he and his family tried to spread to the opposing Biden campaign by refusing testing and masking.
Republicans will stop at nothing and stoop as low as necessary to get what they want.
Somerby is right, in a sense, there was something wrong with Biden, and why corporate media is focused more on that than on Trump's issues, because what was wrong with Biden was that he was bucking the neoliberal trend that has been ongoing since Reagan, whereas Trump is returning us to that trend.
DeleteNeoliberalism now, neoliberalism tomorrow, neoliberalism forever - the Republican/right wing mantra.
We live longer. On the other hand, aging still takes its toll, both physically and mentally.
DeleteIt has taken its toll on Biden. I don't think that there were any legitimate concerns about his performing as president. Nonetheless, he should've bowed out on another term, as he had said he would, and let the primary process run its course.
The primary process did run its course. Americans could have voted for someone else, if they considered Biden too old. Someone else could have run in the primaries had they considered Biden incapable based on insider knowledge. We have a system for replacing a sick or incapacitated president with the VP. That wasn't necessary during Biden's term. On what basis then should anyone say he wasn't up to running again? One debate?
DeleteAging took its toll on JFK at age 50, with Adkinson's disease and a bad back. Aging didn't take its toll on Jimmy Carter until he was in his 90s. He was doing diplomatic missions in his mid-80s. Oliver Wendell Holmes and justice Stevens served on the Supreme Court until age 90.
It is up to Biden and his family to decide what he was capable of doing, and the voters to choose. Biden was the nominee until he was pushed off the ticket by a Democratic faction in collusion with Republicans. If anyone was worried, the Republicans were obviously afraid he might win, or they wouldn't have worked to hard to derail him.
Biden was a fine president. He earned the right to continue in his job based on his performance in his first term. That is the tradition for presidents who do well. We have no upper age limit because it makes no sense given that aging effects vary by individual.
Presidents who died in office: FDR (cerebral hemorrhage during 4th term in office), Warren G. Harding (heart attack), Zachary Taylor (acute gastroenteritis), William Henry Harrison (pneumonia/quack medicine).
We do not know the hour of our death unless we commit suicide. In the face of that, we have procedures for succession of a president who dies. We should let people run and the voters decide who can do the job, without interference like Biden encountered (instigated by the opposition party and Russia). That is trusting our system, not second-guessing it the way George Clooney (who should not have a voice) and Nancy Pelosi did, abetted by a list of assholes ranging from Bill Maher to Alex Johnson at Axios, who is now hawking a book.
There are children born who do not live past their first year of life. Should their parents neglect them on the theory that they will not live? Shall we skip college education for our kids on the theory they might overdose and die? Do we second-guess the lifespan of our adult kids and leave our money to worthy charities because they might not survive past 60? Assuming that Biden won't be able to do the job, in the complete absence of info, as occurred during the 2024 election, was a miscarriage of election due process and a slap in the face to Biden himself, who worked hard, did an excellent job, assured the public he could do another term, and was set aside due to ageism combined with political maneuvering by Russia/Republicans/a Democratic coup.
How dare you sully the good name of Al Capone by conflating him with the Felon. My mom's dad fed the family during the great depression by running Capone's whiskey in southern Indiana. I wouldn't be here today without the late great Al Capone.
Delete"I suspect that this whole "Biden is too old" campaign will be found to have originated with Russian operatives assisting the reelection of Donald Trump."
DeleteThanks for your suspicions Sherlock, but the 'Biden is too old' campaign began the night of the debate before it had even ended, when multiple Dem pundits, on air, stated they were getting numerous frantic calls about how incompetent Biden appeared.
I have a friend, a Dem, who watched most of the debate with her head in her hands, unable to look at Biden's awfulness. I guess the Republican propaganda got to her, too, in real time no less.
No one has argued he had a good debate.
DeleteHave you forgotten Trump refused another debate? He knew Biden would do better. Why didn’t more Dems defend Biden?
Anon@2:43: No one was running against Biden -- well, maybe Dean Phillips whoever the fuck that is. It's a very linear, naive way to look at the primary system, especially when dealing with a current president.
DeleteAs anon@4:03 says: that debate performance was horrifying. My son asked me to turn off the radio. I am sure that it looked even worse on TV.
I am not talking about dying in office. I am talking about appearing to be non-functional. Biden was a fine president. However, at his age the decline is rapid. It certainly isn't linear. He needed to stick to his promise to not run again.
PS: RFK had Addison's disease.
Where is the evidence of decline? He was a fine president.
DeleteHow ironic will it be, if the proof that Biden was in cognitive decline is being held by the Republican voter who isn't a bigot?
Delete""Joe Exotic" known as the "Tiger King" complained about being left out in President Donald Trump's latest rounds of pardons in a post on X Tuesday."
ReplyDeleteI guess he doesn't have the money to pay for a pardon. He is not innocent, by the way, despite his claims.
Heather Cox Richardson describes the work of Trump to undermine our legal system in order to function as a dictator unfettered by adherence to our constitution and laws:
ReplyDelete"Political scientist Bonica notes that there is a script for rising authoritarians. When the courts rule against the leader, the leader and his loyalists attack judges as biased and dangerous, just as Trump and his cronies have been doing.
The leader also works to delegitimize the judicial system, and that, too, we are seeing as Trump reverses the concepts of not guilty and guilty. On the one hand, the administration is fighting to get rid of the constitutional right of all persons to due process, rendering people who have not been charged with crimes to prisons in third countries. On the other, Trump and his loyalists at the Department of Justice are pardoning individuals who have been convicted of crimes."
Bonica says that the only thing that prevents a dictator from overturning the rule of law is timely public demonstrations. June 14 will be another day of protest. Even dictators can be resisted by a united public expressing its opposition in the street.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-27-2025
Trump is pro increasing the deficit/debt, pro war, pro crime, pro recession, all things he and his supporters claimed he was against. Trump is also pro racism, sexism, and xenophobia, so he gets treated with kid gloves by Somerby.
ReplyDeleteTypical of Republicans, lacking integrity is a feature, not a bug.
Who knew?
ReplyDelete"Where is the press reaction to President Trump's ongoing behavior?"
Yes, idiot-Democrats are not squealing loudly enough. Sadly. It's a shame, really.
You're the puppet!
DeleteSir, I just bought a thousand more Trump meme coins! Can't wait to tell you about it at the next crypto dinner!
Delete
ReplyDeleteTesla Insider Sales Increase Ahead Of Robotaxi Launch: Kimbal Musk, Ira Ehrenpreis Sell $190M
BENZINGA 9:59 AM ET 5/28/2025
TwoTesla Inc(TSLA) board of directors members have sold nearly $200 million in stock ahead of the company's highly anticipated robotaxi launch in Texas.
These sales add to a history of board members cashing out and could be a red flag ahead of the key potential stock catalyst.
What Happened: Tesla insiders are no strangers to cashing out their compensation of options and stock, with Chairwoman Robyn Denholm recently filing to sell 112,390 shares for $32 million.
Denholm has been one of the largest sellers of Tesla stock in recent years, with sales filings coming in February, March and April this year, along with multiple sales in 2024.
The most recent sales come from Ira Ehrenpreis and Kimbal Musk.
Ehrenpreis, who is the founder of venture capital firm DBL Partners, filed Form 144 for the sale of 477,572 Tesla shares worth around $162.1 million. The sale comes from the exercise of options.
Musk, who is the brother of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and a long-time board member, filed Form 144 for the sale of 91,588 Tesla shares worth around $31.1 million.
Rats escaping a sinking ship, Tesla is following the pattern of Enron to a tee.
190 million represents 2 hundredths of 1% of their market cap. That's like a teaspoon of water out of the an Olympic size swimming pool.
DeleteThat's like a teaspoon of water out of the an Olympic size swimming pool. Umm..no.
DeleteSecondly, Tesla's market cap is inflated by about a factor of 5. Who's propping up the stock? That's an interesting question. Perhaps, the oil countries; or maybe the Russian mafia, i.e. Putin's people.
The point is the lack of faith in the success of the launch.
DeleteThe explicit point was that these sales represent rats escaping a sinking ship and exactly follow a pattern that Enron set. Which is pure ignorance. If someone wanted to make a point that the sales represent a lack of faith in the success of the launch, they would have to tie the insider sales to a market response only if data supports it and they would have to avoid post hoc fallacies. Please do if you can.
DeleteIlya, your response is too stupid to address. (Feel free to prove your point by showing the metrics.)
You want fucking metrics you fuckwit? Look up Tesla's PE ratio. I'll do it for you: between 170-200. Ford's is 8-something. So, it's overvalued by at least an order of magnitude.
DeleteThat you for using a nym so I can avoid your idiot posts in the future.
DeleteAn Olympic size swimming pool generally has about 506,880,000 teaspoons of water. A teaspoon is a bit more than a thousandth of a gallon. Do the maths sheeple!!! The solution is Pussk and the felon are immoral assholes.
DeleteThat helps refine the analogy and shows it is accurate. $190 million worth of insider sales from a $1.12 trillion company is like 85,000 teaspoons of water out of an Olympic-sized pool (which holds out of 506 million teaspoons of water). It's an insignificant number against the value of the company.
DeleteI guess the idiot Ilya doesn't understand the difference between Tesla and Ford's business models. To this cretin, "they both sell cars!" so they are the same!!!
DeleteCretin? Ilya is no dummy, you big dummy. But you are right about one thing, Ford sells care, Tusk sells promises.
DeleteAnon@10:12 -- And you think that one teaspoon is 1% of Olympic-sized swimming pool. Enough said.
DeleteFUCK YOU is not an argument.
DeleteThe Russian mafia is a bunch of losers.
DeleteAnyone could have blackmailed Donald Trump.
It's like thinking Trump is smart, just because everyone in the world knows Republican voters will crawl through a football field of broken glass to vote for a bigot.
Somerby seems to like "really good questions" but I think answers are important too and he never presents those.
ReplyDeleteThom Hartmann compares billionaires to hoarders of other stuff, calling it an obsession that replaces other values, a mental illness. He says their hoarding of money has undone the large middle class we used to have in the US, replacing it with greatly increased poverty and a lack of social services that are commonplace in all other developed nations worldwide.
ReplyDeleteTo bring America back on track, we need to oppose these billionaires by reinstating taxes on their excess wealth. Taxes were 90% in FDR's time, but Reagan changed that and introduced the destruction of the Middle Class (which used to be 60% of us) and the concentration of obscene wealth in the hands of people who constantly seek to enrich themselves at the expenses of everyone else.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-27-2025
Now Trump, who exemplifies this compulsive greed, is ignoring the needs and rights of everyone who isn't rich. That isn't how our country is supposed to work. We need to take back our government before it is no longer possible to do so. Join the marchers on June 14, a day set aside to celebrate Trump's birthday with a $45 million military parade. Join others who do not believe that this is how our nation should function.
Sorry, wrong link. It should be:
Deletehttps://hartmannreport.com/p/the-billionaire-hoarding-plague-how-8aa
To be fair, RFK started the trickle down on the middle class and poor going from 90+% to the seventies. But Ronnie going to the low thirties was insane. And watch the rich bitches scream when Obama goes up to upper 30's. Also the Ronnie laws changing for investors to hold onto funds when their schemes go bankrupt really opened the funnel for idiot "investors" like Frump.
DeleteTrump has posted an equally unhinged Christmas message. His pope congratulations message was almost as bizarre. The problem is that most of the electorate -- and certainly his hardcore voters -- have become inured this behavior.
ReplyDeleteSomewhere along the way we got sold on the idea that it's just Trump's plain way of speaking. That's how he speaks the truth. Worse yet, even the people who are recoil from his shit-talking, still say that they "like his policies". The mirage created by The Apprentice still persists. Sane-washing of this senile grifter continues.
Taylor Swift is being picked on by righties for being “middle aged”. Hey, if it worked against Biden, why not against other Trump targets?
ReplyDelete