SATURDAY, JULY 4, 2026
...right at the base of Mount Rushmore: In the last two weeks, we've alerted you to the rise of the sudden new messaging.
Last night, the messaging continued.
The sitting president was standing there, right at the base of Mount Rushmore. Sixteen minutes into the tapioca, he made an adjustment.
All of a sudden, out of nowhere, at 9:21 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time, the messaging began:
PRESIDENT TRUMP (7/3/26): You must love our country. There has never been anything like us anywhere on Earth, and we are not going to let anyone take that away.
Yet as we approach this magnificent anniversary, we see our American identity under a renewed attack. A generation after we fought and won the Cold War against the menace of Communism, there is now a resurgence of the Communist menace in our land.
With that, the messaging started. The president moved away from one childish theme—we're the best people who ever lived—directly to another.
Shawn McCreesh was on the scene for the New York Times. In this morning's news report, he describes the sudden pivot:
At Mount Rushmore, Trump Veers From Patriotism to ‘Communism’
Four months before tough midterm elections, President Trump used the backdrop of Mount Rushmore one night before the nation’s 250th birthday to characterize his political opponents as “godless,” “evil” communists.
“We can only lose the midterms if we allow ourselves to lose the midterms, if we are foolish stupid and unwise,” he said...
The larger purpose of the speech wasn’t hard to miss. He was sharpening a line of attack that the White House has started to use to head off a newly insurgent progressive wing of the Democratic Party that appears to be resonating with liberal voters.
Mr. Trump read from an apocalyptic script as the stony faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln looked on. He said the word “communism” so many times, you might’ve thought the Cold War was still on.
With respect to those stony faces, observers swore they saw a tear emerge from Mr. Lincoln's eye even as the current president executed two flyovers in his new Qatari jet.
(Will he use the plane for personal travel if he actually leaves the White House? No one seems to have nailed down the answer, and our news orgs don't much seem to care.)
Back to the president's address:
Just exactly how many times did he say the word "Communism?" Moving one step beyond McCreesh, we offer a provisional word count:
Word count, Mount Rushmore address
"Communist:" 6
"Communism:" 8
By our preliminary count, that's 14 usages in the six minutes devoted to this part of speech, with one additional "Marxist" thrown in.
(As best we can tell at this time, he didn't say the word "Commie.")
For the record, who are the Communists creating the current Communist menace? On what basis was he assessing them to be Communists?
The president didn't say. But as the messaging spreads during the summer and into the fall, you aren't likely to see any serious discussion of that second question. Our national discourse simply doesn't function that way.
We were struck by one part of the president's description of the Communist menace. No one believes that he's religious, but he stressed this set of claims:
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Communism is the exact opposite of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." It's death, tyranny and the pursuit of evil.
The godless Communist morality states that anything is justified to bring about inhuman visions and to really propose [sic] what's good. They don't love God and they don't want God. They don't love religion and they don't want religion, and they won't have it. But we won't let them win.
The unnamed foes aren't simply Communists—they're actually godless Communists.
They don't love God and they don't want God. By prevailing rules of the messaging game, observers are supposed to believe that the sitting president does.
Presumably, this will be the messaging as we move toward the mid-term elections. It wouldn't hurt for us Blues to recall the various ways, down through the years, that we helped create this mess.
From Joyce Vance:
ReplyDelete"I saw a great post on social media last week. It said something like, “Republicans don’t own July 4. They own January 6.” Ouch, but it’s true.
Democrats are the party of patriotism and country, the party of democracy and No Kings, and it’s time to claim that space and be proud of who we are and what we’ve accomplished—we don’t do that often enough. It’s a big tent full of people who, even though they may not see eye to eye on everything, believe in putting country over party and saving democracy now, while we still can. It’s not always easy, but today we celebrate that we are still here with no thought of bending the knee. I hope that wherever you are, you can be a part of that too!"
Somerby, this isn't messaging. It is name-calling. We Dems have already been called pedos and demons in human skin, what is there left to call us? Red America believes every stupid thing they are told by their leaders. There is no way to fight this stuff other than focusing on the issues and showing what a bad job Trump has done for everyday people. If they still respond to the commie name-calling, that is on them and they deserve what they will get. The rest of us can always move to Scandinavia, where people are reasonable and there is good govt.
ReplyDeleteI refuse to get hysterical, as Somerby is doing now, because Republicans are calling us something different this week. Personally, I don't find commie as bad as pedo, and the Epstein files WILL come out eventually.
How can there be a "resurgence of the communist menace" when Trump is already giving Putin everything he wants?
ReplyDelete"(Will he use the plane for personal travel if he actually leaves the White House? No one seems to have nailed down the answer, and our news orgs don't much seem to care.)"
ReplyDeleteMaybe the news orgs don't seem to care because this is the most irrelevant question on the face of the earth? He can buy his own jets, lease one whenever it is convenient, anywhere, and he doesn't mind breaking any laws. This will get worse after he leaves office. He is a multi-billionaire with no scruples. He can and will do whatever he wants, now and after he leaves office.
Has Somerby lost his fucking mind? Hinting that this is a question the press should be pursuing is idiotic. What is wrong with Somerby? Everyone knows that the only important press activity needs to be rooting out who was with Trump raping 13 year old girls. Because whoever it was shouldn't be allowed to seep into office after Trump dies.
Seems Trump's 250 Anniversary celebration was created with the same forethought as the war we lost to Iran on Day One.
ReplyDeleteSomerby's attempts to have his readers pity a guy who raped children is pathetic.
ReplyDeleteIt is almost as if Somerby thinks keeping that jet is a worse crime than raping children.
DeleteSomerby wants us to pity Trump despite his raping children because Somerby identifies with Trump and seeks the same sympathy for his own pitiful life.
DeleteQuck contest: Which of the above three comments is the dumbest and ugliest? (My vote goes to 12:49, but it's too close to call, really.)
DeleteSad that DG has more sympathy for Somerby than he does for raped children.
DeleteThat's it: The winner -- 2:46!
DeleteSomerby's unwillingness to condemn Trump's activities with Epstein is not funny or a game. Beyond that, how can someone like Somerby care more about jet flyovers than he does about preserving bison or funding the national parks (which he is using as a TV backdrop) or any of the other crimes Trump has committed. There is so much Somerby could have complained that the press isn't covering that today's essay is a farce, a parody of concern. And you defend him. What does that say about you, DG?
DeleteI guess, to hear you tell it, it says that I love baby-rapers!
DeleteBisons are ill-tempered beasts..
Deleteaye, that they be. as ill-tempered as the day be long. which isn't to say the beasts can't be settled with the proper approach. but it takes a delicate touch, that I promise ye! they make for a right tasty burger, as well. godspeed, me matey.
Delete" it says that I love baby-rapers!"
DeleteNone ofd the above commenters used the words "DG is a Republican", but nice try.
"A clip of President Donald Trump slipping a pair of gold ceremonial scissors into his suit pocket at a ribbon-cutting is raising alarm bells with at least one medical expert, who said the moment may point to something more serious than a souvenir grab...
ReplyDeleteHilary Shae, a pathologist whose practice focuses on neurological rehabilitation, pushed back on the kleptomania jokes in a video posted Thursday night...
The stealing is usually a symptom of changes in the brain affecting memory, judgment, impulse control, or the ability to recognize ownership," she said, pointing to "executive dysfunction" tied to damage in the frontal lobes.
She tied the behavior most closely to behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia, a condition she said causes loss of inhibition, impulsivity, and poor judgment. Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia, she added, could produce similar signs depending on accompanying symptoms.
"I do not think that Donald Trump is actually, psychiatrically speaking, suffering from kleptomania," Shae concluded. "I do believe it is just one more sign and symptom of dementia."
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-dementia-2677156922/
This is illustrated in the plot of Ted Danson show, Man on the Inside, where one of the residents in memory care was found to have stolen missing objects Danson's PI character was hired to find. The disappearances were hard to solve because they were unmotivated, arising from the same kleptomania Trump is showing. As noted in Haberman & Swan's new book, Trump steals items within the White House too, taking them to his bedroom.
Trump's lack of impulse control extends to his fits of anger, throwing food against the wall, shouting at senators in meetings, and also his sexual remarks aimed at both men and women, when he makes remarks about admiring bodies, his inappropriate remarks to children, and a variety of bizarre behaviors lately. This stuff isn't normal.
DeleteExcusing Trump's current abnormal behavior on the grounds that Trump has never been normal is probably a mistake.
DeleteWe abnormals want to be respected.
Delete“We’re all normal and we want our freedom!”
DeleteNo one on the left cares how many times Trump says communist. It is not a real issue and there is nothing we can do to stop him saying any damned thing he wants, including about Democrats. It is no worse than "Biden is too old" certainly.
ReplyDeleteMore important is for Democrats to continue to block the SAVE Act. That is the means by which Trump is promising to steal future elections.
For the record, to clear up any confusion left by Somerby, Democratic Socialists are not communists. Democrats are not communists. Bernie and Elizabeth Warren are not communists. PUTIN IS A COMMUNIST, when he isn't busy being an oligarch, a billionaire, a murderer and an asshole warmonger. Russia is our enemy.
There are currently five recognized communist states in the world: China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. Trump love North Korea and its leader. He also loves Xi. This strongly suggests that Trump has ulterior motives when he refers to any Democrats as communists. It is Trump himself who loves communists in other places.
If Americans took the time to think about Trump's ridiculous statements, these claims would backfire on Trump. But he seems to be doubling down on the stupidity of his base. They should be insulted, but they won't be.
"No one on the left cares how many times Trump says communist. It is not a real issue and there is nothing we can do to stop him saying any damned thing"
DeleteDumb ass:
1) you don't speak for the entire "left"
2) obviously it matters what our opponents' political messaging strategy is
3) it doesn't matter that it's not a real issue; it only matters whether it's effective; Republican messaging frequently involves non-issues (like voter fraud, critical race theory, ad infinitum) and yet can still be politically effective
4) no one is proposing that we somehow "stop" him from saying "Communist" -- only that we might want to come up with effective counter-messaging
@1:02 I speak for the left more than you do, troll. Experience shows that it doesn't matter what our opponent's political messaging strategy is when it is full of lies. How do you combat a strategy of calling Dems "demons in human skin"? Peel back our skin and show them what's underneath?
DeleteSteve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog points out that there is a double standard for red vs blue candidates. Red voters will tolerate behavior in their own people that they won't tolerate in blues, so there is no way blues can gain favor because they are blue and that is the inexcapable sin:
https://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2026/07/we-want-candidates-who-arent-woke-no.html
What is effective counter-messaging when a blue candidate is called communist? The problem is that the word communist simply means lefty in red voter's minds, and there is no way to turn blues into reds for red voters. Not to mention that we wouldn't want to be them.
Are you saying we should get our own wealthy clowns to break rules and spit hostility over the right so that we can attract angry bros to our side, with a handful of racism thrown in? Shall we hire bots and trolls to saturate social media with the message that reds are imbeciles who fuck their sisters and suck their thumbs?
What is your idea of effective counter-messaging? It doesn't work to simply counter their accusations in our candidate speeches. Harris tried that and Somerby still thinks she had no border policy. If it didn't work among putative blues who should know better, how do you reach swing voters?
Speaking of strategies, the right tried to divide the left over Israel by claiming that pro-Israel students were receiving anti-semitic attacks on campuses that didn't protect students from pro-Palestinian demonstrators. They investigated campuses in hearings and caused the resignation of several presidents of top schools due to threats by Republican donors to stop their donations. This was ginned up by the right in order to split the left.
DeleteToday, the strategy is to divide the left over the issue of communism, by labeling the Democratic Socialists as too extreme, to pro-communist, to be electable. Instead of supposed anti-semitic remarks in tweets, the right is digging up what they consider to be too extreme changes that supposedly make progressives unelectable, in the hope that Dems will panic and disavow the very candidates receiving enthusiastic support in the primaries. The point is that the same divide-and-conquer strategy is being used when Trump calls Dems communists, to split along existing fault lines between progressive and moderate Democrats. The way to counter that is by seeking unity on the left, not trying to pretend to be moderate.
This is more swiftboating. Republicans take a Democratic strength and portray it as a weakness. John Kerry was a war hero so they painted him as a coward who didn't value his medals, which we awarded as a fraud. Our strength as Democrats right now is that we can fix the economy and stop Trump's war. So the right is claiming we want to change too much, are too radical in our goals for the economy, and we'd give freebies to people who don't work hard. Plus we would sell out Israel to its enemies, undermine free enterprise (AI, crypto, billionaires) and make everyone wear Mao suits. Those are fears that red voters will respond to, but there is a large blue base that can be mobilized with different arguments that do not involve backing off of our strengths, but emphasizing them. That means blues cannot keep hating Biden and need to run on his successes, cannot abandon civil rights and women's issues (as Somerby prefers), need to reaffirm the importance of science, research and universities (characterized by Somerby as too woke) and support immigrant rights and oppose over-policing by ICE/DHS/CBP. We need to stick up for democracy and freedom, now more than ever.
DeleteI see Somerby's suggestions as weakening the chances for Democrats in 2028. Voters on the left want someone to stand up to Trump and they don't care whether they are Democratic Socialists or oddballs like Platner, if they will oppose Trump effectively. That's why there is a swing toward candidates who speak out, not because there is a swing toward left-wing progressivism, but because we want to support those who will fight.
1:17 -- "I speak for the left more than you do, troll."
DeleteIf so, but you're too scared even to use a nym, that's really bad news for the "left."
Why would anyone want to help you stalk them?
DeleteBoo!
DeleteNow go and hide, brave speaker for the Left!
DeleteFuck off.
DeleteThere it is -- the one who speaks for the Left is such an eloquent defender of our values! How can we possibly lose?
DeleteWe get it that you don’t give a shit about 4th of July or winning midterms, just attacking others.
DeleteRepublicans call anything they don't like "communism".
DeleteNotably, Republicans never call child rape "communism".
"Presumably, this will be the messaging as we move toward the mid-term elections. It wouldn't hurt for us Blues to recall the various ways, down through the years, that we helped create this mess."
ReplyDeleteSomerby spends a lot of space in this essay showing that Trump is calling us communists, but where is his evidence that we did anything to "create this mess"? Is Somerby perhaps referring to the way he and the Bernie bros and the mainstream media (NY Times for example) undermined Hillary's campaign, putting Trump into office? If so, he should say so directly, and apologize to the rest of us Dems who voted for her in 2016. Or perhaps Somerby is referring to his own failure to support Harris, his repetition of lies about her border policy and his criticism of her interview skills (echoing right wing talking points). If so, he needs to apologize for that too. Democrats do need to learn to support our own candidates during elections, which means getting behind the Democratic Socialists who won their primaries, getting behind Talarico and Ossoff and the others with the potential to flip red states blue. I haven't heard Somerby say a single thing about Democrats pulling together. It is almost as if Somerby is rooting for the other side, the way he has taken so much care to point out how many times the president has called us communists. If the president says it, can it be false? Somerby should address THAT question, but he won't.
Somerby might ask where the fact-checking is in the NY Times when Trump calls the Democrats communists. He doesn't. Why not?
Deletewhy not? I'll tell you why not: because he's obviously a trump-loving pedo commie who's on putin's payroll. that's why, dumb ass
DeleteAnd what does that make you? Go away. You are adding nothing to any discussion here, wasting people's time and being an ass yourself.
Deletemy bad. that was NOT my intention. so I apologize, dumb ass
DeleteDon't ask the question, if you don't want it answered.
Delete"It wouldn't hurt for us Blues to recall the various ways, down through the years, that we helped create this mess."
ReplyDeleteI think it will hurt for us Blues to obsess over our past actions. This navel gazing never seems to help us run better campaigns.
In a trivial way, everything that happens first causes what happens next. That is how timelines work, but how much did we help create the current mess? That's the part I just don't see. And Somerby has not made a case on that. There are proximal causes that have more impact than anything we blues did (or are doing currently). The main cause of the current mess is that red voters thought it would be a hoot to put Trump in office, and then they did it again. We blues didn't vote for Trump (by definition). Anything else we did by being our blue selves is trivial because we also did everything we could to keep Trump from becoming president again.
I would blame Somerby and those Democrats who pushed Biden off the ticket after his highly effective term in office. That was stupid, but that didn't put Trump in office. Their lack of enthusiasm for Harris did that. And yes, those Democratic Socialists who refused to support Biden didn't help matters, just as Bernie's opposition to Hillary hurt her at the polls.
The lesson is that we Democrats need to pull together to win. Somerby doesn't say that. I suspect he has some other message of his own. I wish he would state it directly instead of hinting. But old goats don't learn new tricks.
Part of Bob's question is, "Why are mainstream Dems being defeated by some far-left candidates and what should they do about it?" One possible response would be for mainstream Dems to move farther left
DeleteGo take a flying fuck, you fascist freak
DeleteI don't see this question anywhere in Somerby's essay today. In a primary, two Democrats run against each other. No one is saying the Democratic Socialists are not Democrats, especially not other Democrats.
DeleteExtreme problems require extreme solutions. We have a big job ahead of us, cleaning up TRUMP's mess. Moderates need to let go of half-measures and do what needs to be done. That is what Democratic voters will respond to -- no more appeasement.
As a democrat voter, I ask myself, “What would David do?”
DeleteI ask myself “what SHOULD David do?”
DeleteDavid should make aliyah.
DeletePart of Bob's question is why does DiC support a guy who surrendered to the Taliban and is desperately working on surrendering to the Ayatollah before midterms?
DeletePart of Bob's question is why does DiC support a greasy piece of shit like the felon and his lackeys: "Nearly 1 million people who bought President Trump’s memecoin have lost money through the end of June, according to a report by the cryptocurrency analytics firm Nansen. Their losses total $3.81 billion.
DeleteThe analytics firm’s assessment was calculated this week after Mr. Trump signed an annual financial disclosure showing that he walked away with a $636 million payout on the same crypto bet, part of a haul of at least $2.2 billion from all of his business ventures in 2025.
The odds were always in his favor. Mr. Trump profited whether the price of his memecoin went up or down. He collected returns whenever anyone traded the tokens, as he repeatedly pushed his followers to do, using his Truth Social account to promote the coin."
So fucking greasy.
Right-wingers are happy to lose their families retirement money in exchange for Trump putting minorities in their places, for some reason.
DeleteWhy has Somerby not said anything about this being the 4th of July?
ReplyDeletewho gives a shit? it's a blog about media criticism, dumb ass
DeleteWhen did the media become more important than our nation, dumb ass?
Deletewho said it was, dumb ass?
DeleteSomerby shows his priorities when he makes choices about what to write each day. His priority today is that Trump did a flyover in a jet and said "communist" 14 times, but the press didn't talk about how awful that was. Others in blue America have a priority as Americans to celebrate our country's anniversary by analyzing where we need to go from here. Somerby's is to chastise blues once again, because this is a day that ends in y.
DeleteDumb ass? Is that the only insult they taught you in troll school?
They also suggested smart ass, but that doesn’t apply to you.
DeleteA 12 year old could have found that comeback.
DeleteI’m thirteen.
DeleteIn your dreams...
DeleteSince Bob Somerby founded The Daily Howler, America’s problems have become ever more severe. Coincidence? I think not.
ReplyDeletesince you've been posting comments, america's problems have become more severe. coincidence? I think not, dumb ass
DeleteHow dumb is this kind of comment? Somerby founded the Daily Howler to monitor press coverage during Al Gore's presidential campaign. Gore lost and the press got worse, and now isn't even the same media that Somerby is doggedly nagging. Meanwhile it is obvious that America's problems are worse.
DeleteBut this troll thinks calling everyone "dumb ass" is the height of wit and has nothing to add to any discussion here. Somerby could improve this blog by moderating his comment section, but he doesn't care about his blog any more than he cares about America's other problems. His focus is always and only on the press, except for the last paragraph of each essay, where he blames blue America for all of America's problems.
I wonder if Somerby did moderate his comment section he would allow anons on here to call him a racist, sexist, treasonous, Nazi pedophile?
DeleteYou think Bob would censor us?
Deletewait, you mean it's NOT the height of wit? my bad, dumb ass
Delete4:10 - Obviously, Somerby turns the other cheek to all you Slappers.
DeleteIt's inspiring, actually. He's a better man than I am.
DeleteThe so-called slappers are the only ones taking Somerby seriously.
DeleteI’m a better man than you are, and I’m only thirteen years old.
Delete4:30 - I'm sure you are. You're the smart ass, right? As opposed to all the dumb asses?
DeleteYour comment at 1:02 above is the best of the day.
Deleteyeah, that was a pretty good one. almost a little too substantive though, given the dumbness of the dumb ass I was responding to. but at least it showed just how dumb that dumb ass was being with their dumb-ass comments.
DeleteDG @ 3:57 - If the shoe fits...
DeleteSomerby stopped asking us to listen to Right-wingers, after we did so, and reported back to him that Right-wingers are racist as fuck.
DeleteDG,
DeleteIn your opinion, should Somerby get a job as an editor in the media, so he can tell the media to report things the way he wants? Or is Somerby having a blog where he repeats right-wing grievances on the daily, good enough for you?
It seems like Somerby is a Right-winger, because he repeats Right-wing grievances here almost every day.
DeleteBut if you are looking for proof that Somerby believes in anything (as DG often asks for), you're shit out of luck, because Somerby doesn't express his opinions on TDH.
by this "logic," any fact-checking or news organization that repeats right-wing talking points in order to fact-check them must be right-wing. what a dumb ass
DeleteNot a valid analogy, 11:04.
Deleteit's not an analogy, dumb ass. it's a direct application of your dumb-ass "logic"
DeleteFact checking sites actually determine the truth or falsity of the statements they are repeating.
Delete"It seems like Somerby is a Right-winger, because he repeats Right-wing grievances here almost every day." there's no mention here of fact-checking or any other function that might be served by quoting right-wing talking points, dumb ass
DeleteYes, you’re right, I’ve never seen Somerby assess the truth of the statement that Joy Behar is a cow. Dumb ass.
DeleteUm, you’re catching on now, DG.
Delete(I was responding to 11:43.)
DeleteSmart Ass - Your point is more pertinent. The “fact-checking” dodge is an after-the-fact rationalization. My point is that Somerby doesn’t fact check because he’s mocking the obvious bullshit spouting from Fox.
Deletetrue dat. and dumb ass understands both points, which means they're not only a dumb ass but a lyin' sack of shit. my guess is the shit that is in that sack came directly out their dumb ass. but that's just a guess, don't quote me
DeleteDG, the problem with your explanation for Somerby's lack of fact-checking is that he also repeats verbatim the lies and propaganda spouted by Gutfeld and others.
DeleteGutfeld doesn't only tell lies, advancing right wing talking points, but he spreads hate against liberals. The calling Behar a cow is hate speech, not lying. Yes, we can all differentiate hate speech from lying and the need to contradict propaganda lies told by Gutfeld is about defending accuracy and truth, not about hate speech. (There is no reason why Somerby should be repeating hate speech in order to show that it exists on Gutfeld's show. It just compounds the hate.) But contradicting something like "Harris wanted open borders" instead of repeating it, or Harris slept her way to the top, instead of repeating it, is important because that concerns facts. Instead Somerby just repeated that stuff while calling Gutfeld sexist. It is more important to defend truth by contradicting the lies with facts. Somerby doesn't do that. So he winds up advancing the lies and repeating them. The more misinformation is repeated, the more likely it will be remembered and believed. That means Somerby is helping Gutfeld under the pretense of complaining about him.
1:47 -- You seem sincere, so let me give you a sincere response. I don't take your representations of what Somerby says as fact, because in my experience Slappers are simply incapable of accurately paraphrasing what he says. If you want to persuade me, use a quote from the current day's post, or cite the date of Somerby's statement, so I can check the accuracy of your representation of what he says.
DeleteBut in a more general sense, most of what Somerby says is like the post above. Trump claims the country is besieged by godless Commies. Somerby mocks this ludicrous claim. The Slappers' theory -- that his mockery promotes the claim -- is itself ludicrous.
This is simple:
Delete1. Don't repeat the lies told by Gutfeld and Watters.
2. Provide the truth to contradict the lies and to show that these are indeed lies.
3. Point out that hate speech is hate speech, without repeating the crude and ugly jokes told by Gutfeld.
When there are lengthy transcripts of Gutfeld, Watters and other Republicans, Somerby is advancing their messages by exposing them to a wider audience. Links are sufficient for anyone who wants to check what was said by visiting the show. Even links advance the right wing talking points though.
Mockery does not come across well in print because (1) many people are literal, (2) tone of voice and inflection are not present in print, (3) facial expressions do not exist in print. These are the secondary communication channels that signal sarcasm or humor to listeners, but they are missing in text. Surface meaning is all that exists and when Somerby's surface meaning is congruent with right wing speech, it is fair and reasonable to conclude that Somerby intends what he just said. Attributing sarcasm or humorous intent is not justified. This is especially true when Somerby goes to such trouble to transcribe the whole right wing talking points. There is no mockery except what DG attributes to Somerby. It is in the ear of the listener and DG's mind, not in the words Somerby has written.
For God's sake, Somerby said Lincoln was crying about this bullshit. That's not subtle.
Deletesomerby makes it abundantly clear that he is alarmed and disapproves of trump's hateful language. don't play dumber than you already are, dumb ass
DeleteAnd simple? How would you contradict a lie without repeating the lie? "Gutfeld said something hateful that's false, but the truth is that Joy Behar is not a cow."
DeleteIs that it?
As I pointed out, he should have said Roosevelt was crying, not Lincoln, because Trump's words contradict Roosevelt at Roosevelt's historical ranch and the National Park commemorating it. Lincoln is not relevant, so it makes no sense that he would have a tear (except due to the rain).
DeleteYou contradict a lie without repeating the lie by telling the truth on that subject.
As I said, no one thinks of the comment about Behar as a lie. She is obviously not a cow, literally, to anyone. That is hate speech, like calling blacks lazy. But if you wanted to contradict that, you say, Behar's appearance is irrelevant to her ideas and Gutfeld was obviously trying to denigrate her with his comments about her appearance. See how easy that is?
lol! somerby was wrong to say lincoln was weeping for the country. he should have used roosevelt for this imagery instead. you can't make this shit up. the dumb ass has become a parody of their dumb-ass self
DeleteTrump is the most ignorant man on the face of the earth, but you come close @3:13.
DeleteWhite Nationalists marching on the mall today
ReplyDeleteHappy fucking Birthday , Amelrika
Amerika
Delete"With respect to those stony faces, observers swore they saw a tear emerge from Mr. Lincoln's eye even as the current president executed two flyovers in his new Qatari jet."
ReplyDeleteThose observers are Somerby's rhetorical device, just like his analysis/interns, famous experts, and his future anthropologists living in caves. But Somerby has no idea what Lincoln's reactions to jet flyovers or Trump's remarks about communists might be.
Quite a few sources have noted that Teddy Roosevelt would not have agreed with Trump, and it doesn't bother Trump that Roosevelt's statements and beliefs are so different from his own. He seems to have fashioned Roosevelt into a fictional figure to meet his own needs for a hero president that he can equate to himself. Roosevelt would shed tears over that. Somerby should have seen those tears, not Lincoln's, given that Lincoln really has nothing to do with our current mess, but Roosevelt does.
There is Trump eulogizing Roosevelt, after removing the American Bison herds from federal lands. Roosevelt would be smoking mad over that hypocrisy. Those bison herds are one of the main attractions at Teddy Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, one of the places Trump visited and spoke. That is just wrong!
How many Americans understand that Trump has been making war on the national parks? He has been destroying the heritage of the people, and he has the nerve to visit and gloat today. Does Somerby even care about any of this? It doesn't seem like it.
Theodore Roosevelt would speak softly to Donald Trump, then beat him with a big stick.
DeleteHe wouldn't need a stick.
DeleteThe stick is for his own protection. He doesn’t Trump’s cooties.
Delete*gasp* Somerby used a rhetorical device?!
DeleteI’m never coming back here, ever.
Leroy
It isn’t that he attempted to use a device, but how he did it. Don’t play stupid.
Deleteyeah, Leroy, don't play stupid. play dumb instead, like the dumb ass @4:51
DeleteWhen I use a device, I know what I’m doing.
Delete4:512,
DeleteWhat makes you think a taint-licking loser, like Leroy, is playing?
oo-oo-oo damn. is this true, Leroy? lickin them taints? so kinky. grrrrrrrr
DeleteToo bad Trump didn't fly his jet in the hail storm. He might learn that there are limits to his power if the hail were big enough (baseball size maybe).
ReplyDeleteSomerby is trying to shame blue America over flyovers and communism, but here is the spirit of blue America, expressed by Svante Myrick, People For the American Way:
ReplyDelete"It is a tragedy that President Donald Trump has hijacked the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence while he and his allies are working so hard to whitewash our history in favor of empty glorification of our “greatness.” It is even worse that he and his MAGA movement are so aggressively working to reverse progress on voting rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ equality, and equal opportunity.
Under better leadership, our 250th anniversary could have become a rare moment for Americans to reflect together on our founding promises, the ways we have failed to fulfill them, and also the ways that we have come together time and again to move the nation toward them.
We could have made this anniversary a celebration of the abolitionists, suffragists, and freedom riders, the advocates and average citizens who put their lives on the line, the millions and millions of Americans who have fought for freedom and justice at home and abroad.
I’ll be celebrating that American spirit on this Fourth of July. I’ll be celebrating the spirit of the people in Minneapolis who rallied to protect their neighbors from the violence of our current authoritarian regime. I’ll be celebrating all of the people and civic organizations who work – under great threat to themselves – to protect the people’s right to vote. I’ll be celebrating the spirit of the millions of people in every state who have turned out for joyful “No Kings” rallies in defiance of the corrupt would-be king and his court.
Those rallies directly invoke the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, whose authors declared, “A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”
Today, we are being led by unfit rulers who are corruptly abusing their power to make us less free.
There is no greater act of genuine patriotism than to resist them.
We are four months from elections that can help us reclaim our country.
Let us pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
We, too, can make history!"
I stand with blue America, not with craven sell-outs like Somerby, nor with the misguided fools in red America. We will win the midterms because Trump's failures are obvious, and then we will choose a new president who can begin repairing and healing our nation.
blue America doesn't want you, dumb ass
DeleteBlue America doesn’t want YOUR dumb ass.
Deletelame comeback, dumb ass
DeleteI know you're lame but so am I. Jeezzz Beavis, have you seen Butthead?
Delete"Bill Maher Bitterly Whines To Trump’s VP That Dems Won’t Come On His Show" -- headline on Mediaite
ReplyDeleteHe should more appropriately complain that Dems won't watch his show...
It's been so long since I stopped having any interest in him I can't remember.
DeleteHow does Somerby like this for messaging?
ReplyDelete"Footage of hundreds of masked men storming Washington, D.C., with Confederate flags spurred an outcry online Saturday.
An estimated 400 masked men, whom Reuters reported were with the right-wing extremist group Patriot Front, marching into D.C. on July 4 with Confederate flags, online video shows."
Heather Cox Richardson finds a different inspiration today:
Delete"The Confederate rebellion failed. The United States endured, and Americans began to expand the idea that all men are created equal to include Black men, men of color, and eventually women.
But just as in the 1850s, we are now, once again, facing a rebellion against our founding principle as a few people seek to reshape America into a nation in which certain people are better than others.
The men who endorsed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, pledged their “Lives, [their] Fortunes and [their] sacred Honor” to defend the idea of human equality. Ever since then, Americans have sacrificed their own fortunes, honor, and even their lives, for that principle.
Lincoln reminded Civil War Americans of those sacrifices when he urged the people of his era to “take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Words to live by in 2026."
Republicans are going full fascist per Project 2025 but Somerby thinks Dems have lost their political minds co-opting Bernie Sanders popular Democratic Socialist agenda he co-opted from Western European Democracies. Sweet Jesus ancient Democrat men are a bunch of pussies. Looking at you too James Carville. Adapt or die. (Well almost certain you die first...)
DeleteIf Bernie Sanders' agenda is so popular, why can't he, or his acolytes, win in anything but deep blue regions?
DeleteBecause we have a very stupid country
DeleteOn the one hand, Bernie's agenda is popular. On the other, Bernie's agenda isn't popular because we have a stupid county. I can see where some highly intelligent thinking went on here.
DeleteTwo different hands on different bodies
DeleteI'm voting straight Republican this cycle.
DeleteAre there any straight republicans?
DeleteQatari jet has Trump once again rubbing Americans’ faces in his corruption
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ms.now/all-in/trump-family-corruption-qatari-jet-air-force-one-crypto-income-contracts
(It’s by Chris Hayes).
Also, from the NYT:
Trump’s Huge Windfall Has Few Known Global Precedents
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/02/world/europe/trump-world-leaders-corruption-wealth.html
So, yeah. It’s being covered.
But thanks for not noticing, Bob.
Bob ain’t cognitive no more.
Delete"Will he use the plane for personal travel if he actually leaves the White House?" Why ask? Everyone knows that the pants shitting Don will be flying in that Qatari plane. A greasy mother fucker like him got no sense of shame.
DeleteThe fucking NYTimes went on a jihad against Hillary’s involvement with a global charity yet this fucking guy just took a $400 million bribe in broad daylight and they’re trying to explain it innocently
Delete"Balance" is key. Trump does so many corrupt, disastrous, stupid things the media never run out of things to talk about. Hillary, they had to manufacture stuff and endlessly pound it to even the scales and keep the drama going.
DeleteThey didn’t “have to”, go back to when TDH was talking about what the media did to Gore
DeleteThey did the same thing to Gore. The two elections are basically carbon copies, except Trump is far more incompetent and vile.
DeleteSomerby himself pointed this out -- perhaps without realizing it -- when he quoted some Beltway hack who actually said on the teevee "We're not going to let him [Gore] run away with it." They know what they're doing, and they've been doing it so long they have it down to a science. The goal is to sell the news, selling the news requires drama, and drama requires some kind of "balance," where you have two sides in conflict, and neither side has a clear advantage, both sides are equally flawed.
DeleteWasn’t it Margaret Carson who admitted they did it to Gore because it was “so much fun “?
DeleteCarlson.
DeleteBut remember that Margaret is not related to Tucker.
DeleteSomerby has no sense of outrage. He also has no sense of proportion, equating trivial with important events. For example, Thom Hartmann describes this today:
ReplyDelete"Meanwhile, the agency Trump just funded to the eyeballs handcuffed a 56-year-old nun on her way to Mass. Sister Leticia “Letty” Ugboaja — a Nigerian-born Catholic sister who has spent a decade working as a registered nurse in South Texas — was walking the single block from her home to Our Lady of Sorrows in McAllen for Sunday Mass, in her habit, when ICE agents stopped her, took her rosary, cuffed her, and hauled her to a detention center an hour away, where she reportedly was held without the medication she needed. She was released the same day only after a frantic bipartisan scramble including Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, who allowed that “a Catholic nun on her way to church is not a threat.” You don’t say! This is the same MAGA/GOP movement whose IRS just blessed partisan politicking from the pulpit and whose DHS quietly struck houses of worship from its “sensitive locations” list back in January: the self-styled defenders of Christendom who clutch their crosses at the prayer breakfast and then zip-tie a nurse holding a rosary. As one local official warned, if they’ll grab her, “even the best of us are not safe.” Somewhere, Jesus is flipping over a table."
Meanwhile Somerby is worried that Trump may keep a jet gifted by Qatar and the NY Times isn't talking about it.
Only godless communists would do something like that!
DeleteFrom Andy Borowitz:
ReplyDelete“ Imagine a hypothetical job applicant. He can’t spell the simplest words, such as “heal” and “tap.” Confused by geography, he thinks there’s an African country called “Nambia.” As for American history,he’s under the impression that Andrew Jackson, who died in 1845,was angry about the Civil War, and that Frederick Douglass, whodied in 1895, is still alive.
Given the alarming state of his knowledge, you might wonder what job he could get. Unfortunately, he’s not hypothetical, and the job he got, in 2016, was president of the United States.
People sometimes call our nation “the American experiment.” Recently, though, we’ve been lab rats in another, perverse American experiment, seemingly designed to answer this question: Who’s the most ignorant person the United States is willing to elect?”
This is how we got into our country’s current mess. Blue America did nothing to create much less elect such an ignorant person as president.
Communist.
ReplyDeleteCommunism.
DeleteCommunion.
DeleteCommunity.
Deletecomma, comma, comma, comma chameleon
DeleteWe should have listened to the Right and got rid of politics (the National Anthem and military flyovers) at sporting events, decades ago.
ReplyDeleteNumber of times Somerby and Trump used the name Epstein?
ReplyDeleteNone, of course.
Epstein couldn’t explain relativity.
Delete8:20 - In case accurate information matters to you, in a quick search I counted about 75 posts in which Somerby used the name “Epstein.”.
DeleteOur country is on fire, and this is how you spend your time, DG? SMH.
Deletewell if that ain't the n*gga callin the n*gga "n*gga." what a dumb ass
DeleteOnly DG spent any time perusing the archives and counting the numbers up about the burning question of Epstein mentions at TDH.
Deletethat search wasted one one hundredth of the time you've wasted posting your dumb-ass comments while the country burns, dumb ass
DeleteIt is interesting that DG notes the total number of mentions, not the total number of essays about Epstein. So we get a bunch of mentions per essay but no idea how often Somerby talked about Epstein's crimes and his relationship to Trump. There are not 75 essays or anything close to it.
DeleteI used Somerby's archive and then read through the first several posts. They are about Epstein's death and conspiracy theories concerned whether he was murdered or committed suicide. Nothing about his crimes with young girls and nothing about his sex trafficking ring and who was involved, nothing about his relationship with Trump.
DG surely understands that when commenters here talk about Epstein, we are concerned about his sex crimes and his relationship with Trump, about the DOJ's suppression of the info and their non-compliance with the law requiring them to release the files. We are concern about what Epstein DID, not about theories about his death.
DG's evasiveness in his supposed search for evidence stinks. It exemplifies the kind of evasion displayed by those on the right when confronted with demands to address Epstein's crimes and Trump's involvement with Epstein.
DG is not a friend of this blog.
Deleteomg. an even bigger waste of time than dg's cursory search. you must be the dumbest ass of all
DeleteI am a dumb ass but far from the dumbest.
DeleteI'm sorry, but there were 75 essays mentioning Epstein, not just 75 mentions.
DeleteWhat I was responding to, however, was your statement that the number of times Somerby used the name Epstein was "Zero." As you now admit, that statement that you made was a complete and total falsehood.
And, by the way: Your accusation that I'm being "evasive" is itself an evasion, a way to deflect from acknowledging that your original statement was false.
@2:44 don't sell yourself short
DeleteI don't think I said that, but maybe someone else did.
DeleteSomerby does not talk about Epstein's mistreatment of girls, his sex trafficking ring, or the refusal of the DOJ to release the files. Epstein is important to those of us who care about sexual abuse. Somerby is more concerned with defending men who are accused of sexual misbehavior. He never mentioned what Trump did to E. Jean Carroll. He believed Trump's defense and called Stormy Daniels a con artist and extortionist.
We know how Somerby feels about men's misbehavior -- it is bred in the bone, arising from too much chemicals of a certain type, he has said. That's why he doesn't talk about Epstein, just as he doesn't talk about Louis C.K. either. He knows he will get piled on for expressing sympathy for those poor men who are accused by women of hurting them. He was the same way about Harvey Weinstein.
There is no defense of Somerby on this topic. This silliness about counting essays with Epstein's name in them evades the point, which is that Somerby sympathizes with accused men, not aggrieved women.
Bob's calls for the Left to use their 2nd Amendment rights to fight the fascism of the Right continues to fall on deaf ears.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to King Donald I, the first 4th of July to have masked white nationalists march on the capital. Maybe next year we’ll have the full Nazi torch parade
ReplyDeleteHere is the Timothy Snyder counter-programming to Trump's 4th of July speech, on how to resist tyranny:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39MWHHhtalk
Ideas for how to defend freedom and what to do next about Trump.
What is his core idea for defending freedom?
DeleteBasically, he's saying look at the donut not the hole. Some wars are better than others and propaganda is something that other people fall for.
DeleteWatch the video and see for yourself. It is short.
DeleteSeveral of his suggestions explain why there are people here contesting Somerby's propaganda, but that is in contradiction of Snyder's suggestion to do less on the internet and spend more time in real life with people. I try to do both.
DeleteSnyder says defend truth because when "anything is possible," all becomes spectacle. That is exactly the problem with how Trump celebrated our important 250th anniversary yesterday. Snyder says read books and use words properly. He says watch out for words like terrorism and extremism (and communism?). He says to watch for hate symbols and get rid of them. He says to defend institutions (such as the press?) and follow professional ethics. (Bandy Lee's labeling of Trump as insane is a violation of professional ethics. The problem is that it creates a situation where Trump can hospitalize people for mental illness for things like being trans or being activists.) Snyder says to financially support organizations working toward freedom and get out and march with people. He says be as courageous as you can.
I think the mean-spiritied attacks by trolls on those trying to resist are a form of suppression that has its equivalent in real-world efforts to intimidate people for trivial acts, such as putting a hand in the reflecting pond or going to mass wearing a nun's habit while having brown skin in TX.
I try to avoid the real world as much as I can.
DeleteIt shows.
DeleteYes, it shows, and I turn away from it.
DeleteStick to and advocate for the principles of liberalism, even when it seems hard, because the alternative is worse.
ReplyDeleteWhat principles exactly?
DeleteGeneral Relativity and the Standard Model.
DeleteYou could go the French route, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." You could go the Declaration of Independence route, "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Or you could go the Locke route, which is where the DoI came from: Life, liberty, and the pursuit of property." I'm sure there are a few others, but any of those would do. I prefer the French version, myself.
DeleteJust watch the video. Snyder is a historian who has studied the rise and fall of totalitarian, authoritarian regimes worldwide and over time, dictatorships. He has abstracted the things that people to combat those regimes and compiled them into a list for those who see danger in Trump's administration and actions. That means the suggestions have an empirical foundation in what has worked previously to defeat tyranny.
DeleteThis is not about liberalism but about the acts we can perform to help defend our society.
"This is not about liberalism but about the acts we can perform to help defend our society."
DeleteWhat the hell do you think our society is? It's a LIBERAL society, built on a foundation of freedom and equality. Snyder's entire output is a ferocious defense of liberalism.
Just watch the video please. He isn't talking about liberalism. He is talking about how to defend a society from authoritarianism.
DeleteHe is talking about how to defend a liberal society from its eternal enemy, authoritarianism.
DeleteBut I do agree people should watch the video.
DeleteHe is also talking about our current situation in the USA confronted by Trump's threats to our specific society.
DeleteOur current situation in the USA is Trump undermining liberalism in favor of authoritarianism. That is our current situation in the USA. It's rather difficult to watch the Snyder video and ) not understand that; and B) be able to coherently discuss it, when you don't have a proper understanding of the conflicting underpinnings of what's going on, or the history Snyder drew his points from.
DeleteYes, it would be a good idea to read his book, but that isn't the way to reach the largest audience with the main points, which are concrete things people can do in their lives to combat Trump's authoritarianism.
DeleteDeath to trolls.
ReplyDeleteif it weren't for trolls, you'd have no one, lonely pathetic dumb ass
DeleteFor a troll, you’re quite triggered, 11:47.
Deletehmm, no denial of being a lonely pathetic dumb ass. I guess we finally agree on something
DeleteYou’re projecting, 12:07, because you’re a hurt troll.
Deletedumb ass
Delete
ReplyDeleteI am a Communist, but a godly one. I rob the rich and I pray.
I am godless, but I am not a Communist.
Deleteto be godly, you must demand that everyone worship you, engage in collective judgment, and dish out wildly disproportionate punishment (namely, relentless, never-ending torture) to everyone who doesn't bend the knee, whether they are Hitler or Gandhi. and it wouldn't hurt if you made yourself undetectable through normal means, to keep everyone guessing as to whether you existed or not
DeleteI do not exist.
Deletethat's so godly of you
Delete
ReplyDeleteWhen you, or people your chose to represent you and their subservient media, routinely call your political opponents "fascists", then don't be surprised when you're called "communists".
Take it like a man. Because if you act insulted and outraged, then you look like a thin-skinned bully. Are you a thin-skinned bully?
I’m thin-skinned but not a bully.
Deletei'm a bully but my skin is in between thin and thick
DeleteFascist is an accurate descriptor for Trump and his govt, but communist is not accurate in describing the left. The left is not monolithic whereas Trump requires discipline, so one word cannot apply to everyone opposing Trump. The left remains democratic. The right confuses socialism with communism when they are different. The left has yet to elect these new progressives to any office yet, so how do we know how much support they have?
DeleteSo, the right is name-calling whereas the left is describing an administration that has had ample time to demonstrate that it is indeed fascist.
"I know you are, but what am I?"
Delete"A U.S. Senator faced accusations Sunday that he'd lost his grip on reality after he repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that Democrats were responsible for a white supremacist march in Washington D.C. on Independence Day.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) took to X to share numerous posts of the Patriot Front members, who wore white masks and carried Confederate flags, as they moved through the nation's capital Saturday.
"Democrats need to stop reminding America of their racist history," Lee wrote in one post. He added in another, "Patriot Front: Brought to you by leftists who don’t know that patriots don’t wear masks." [Rawstory]
We know that Somerby can be direct when he wants to be, because he said, a week back, that he agreed with Jessica Tarlov's statement. Unfortunately, he didn't identified which statement he agreed with, or which candidate was being discussed, leaving that for readers to infer from a mess of verbiage. If Somerby were to say things such as: "I find Gutfeld's jokes about Behar repellent but I agree with his position on Trump's conduct of the Iran war, then we would know where Somerby stands, at least on a few things. But Somerby doesn't want to be pinned down, so he hints and dissembles and qualifies and weasels out of anything definite.
ReplyDeleteSomerby pretends to be analyzing the media, but he is just as indefinite about the press and anything else. For example, what is blue America and what is the blue media? He doesn't say. He does target individual people at specific places such as CNN or on Fox, generalizing way beyond them, but neither of these is blue, nor is the NY Times.
Some of this vagueness may be humor, or his way of pranking readers, a personal joke. For example, yesterday he wrote:
"The messaging continued along...
SATURDAY, JULY 4, 2026
...right at the base of Mount Rushmore: In the last two weeks, we've alerted you to the rise of the sudden new messaging.
Last night, the messaging continued.
The sitting president was standing there, right at the base of Mount Rushmore. Sixteen minutes into the tapioca, he made an adjustment.
All of a sudden, out of nowhere, at 9:21 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time, the messaging began: "
First, in the phrase "continuing along" the word "along" is unnecessary, redundant. Then he mentions a physical place, Mt. Rushmore, which has nothing to do with the content of the messaging initially referred to. But we think of the message going along to that place, because of the juxtaposition of the words "along" and "right at the base...". Then he switches to discussing time, mentioning that the messaging "suddenly started" but referring to "last week" in a contradiction with "sudden" and "new". Then Somerby returns to the physical, saying that "The sitting president was standing there, right at the base of Mount Rushmore." Repetition and another contradiction between "sitting" and "standing there." Then another shift in time with "16 minutes" combined with another location "into the tapioca" where doesn't mean literally in the tapioca, which is pudding. We are left to assume that others were eating at the event where he spoke.
This is a chaotic mess of words that jerk the reader around, dislocating place and time, with no info about the message itself. We must anticipate that he will clarify the content of the message itself later on, with patience.
This kind of writing is self-indulgent, personal. It might be word play but it also might be the way a person with a thought disorder writes, someone schizophrenic or incapable of staying oriented to space and time, cognitively. Someone who takes Somerby's ideas seriously might find it annoying to be jerked around like this. In that sense, it is disrespectful of the reader because it doesn't take two-way communication into account and deliberately frustrates attempts to elicit meaning. If you are trying to form a picture of Trump saying something in a particular location and time, with a specific meaning, Somerby doesn't provide that info in a straightforward way. This isn't cute or witty or wise or even poetic. It is odd and evasive and frustrating.
No wonder people here argue about what Somerby means. He doesn't say in a coherent way. And that is in contradiction to the reason why most people write blogs, which is to share ideas with others. There is no sharing here. It is like the guy who pulls a chair out from under someone trying to sit, again and again. Only one person finds that funny -- the guy holding the chair.
no one's wasting their time reading all of that, dumb ass
Deleteso fuck off then
Deleteoh oh. who's triggered now, dumb ass?
Delete