FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 2025
What do we Blues do now? "I alone can fix it," today's sitting president said. Five years later, the gentleman's statement became the title of one of those well-received books:
I Alone Can Fix It (book)
I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year is a nonfiction book written by Washington Post reporters Carol D. Leonnig and Philip Rucker. It was published by Penguin Press in 2021 and was a New York Times bestseller.
I Alone Can Fix It is a follow-up to the two authors' 2020 book A Very Stable Genius and covers Donald Trump's last year in office during his first term as president of the United States. As David Smith of The Guardian newspaper pointed out, "both titles are direct Trump quotations loaded with irony."
The authors interviewed 140 people for their material, including a two-and-a-half-hour interview with Trump himself. The book has generally received positive reviews by book critics.
As suggested in that passage, the gentleman has also described himself as "a very stable genius." He seems to believe that he has "aced" several challenging cognitive tests—cognitive tests few other people could possibly hope to pass.
He seems to believe that he astounded the medical experts who oversaw his performance on these tests. We don't mean this as an insult, but we're going to guess that nothing even dimly like that ever actually happened.
Today, he flew north to Alaska to end a vicious war. During Campaign 2024, he oddly said, on numerous occasions, that he was going to stop that war before he even took office.
Even now, seven months later, will he be able to end that war? We'll be surprised if the answer is yes, but predicting the future is hard.
That said, when did the president say, "I alone can fix it?' He made the statement in July 2016, as he accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president.
Just before he made the statement, he was speaking about Hillary Clinton's "terrible, terrible crimes"—specifically, that handful of emails. Click here all who dare:
In fact, her single greatest accomplishment may be committing such an egregious crime and getting away with it—especially when others who have done far less, have paid so dearly. When that same Secretary of State rakes in millions and millions of dollars trading access and favors to special interests and foreign powers, I know the time for action has come.
I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people that cannot defend themselves. Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it. I have seen firsthand how the system is rigged against our citizens, just like it was rigged against Bernie Sanders—he never had a chance.
But his supporters will join our movement, because we will fix his biggest single issue: trade deals that strip us of our jobs and strip us of our wealth as a country. Millions of Democrats will join our movement because we are going to fix the system so it works justly for each and every American. In this cause, I am proud to have at my side the next Vice President of the United States: Governor Mike Pence of Indiana. And a great guy.
Today, he no longer speaks to Vice President Pence. Also, he hasn't yet "fixed the system," at least not in the way he presumably meant.
That said, he did get elected again last year, in large part thanks to astonishing Blue American bungling.
In our view, revolution is now in the air surrounding his current undertakings. As with any revolution, opinions about the current revolution differ.
Over here in Blue America, where do we go with this matter from here? Millions of people want the changes he is producing. Aside from producing another well-received book, what do we do about that?
How should we Blues respond to this challenge? With apologies for having lost the bulk of the day, we'll leave it right there, just for now.
"in large part thanks to astonishing Blue American bungling. "
ReplyDeletehuh?
Care to offer any evidence for this ridiculous claim, Somerby?
No?
Yeah I thought so.
"we'll leave it right there, just for now."
What?
That is how you leave it every day, you make silly claims and offer zero evidence to back up your nonsense claims.
You seem dumb.
Delete4:24 seems to get it spot on. Sorry if he/she triggered you.
Deleteanon 4:24, there is tons of evidence. The claim that there a several genders, that people are 'assigned" a gender at birth. Claiming that the country is based on "white supremacy" - not a good vote getter. all the identity politics - that racism is rampant and is a huge issue. As TDH has observed, Biden failed to address the swarms crossing the border, and his decision to run again when he wasn't up to it.
DeleteClaiming that the country is based on "white supremacy" - not a good vote getter.
DeleteCorrect, AC/MA - the way to fix this is to elect an omnipotent King to review all exhibits in our historical museum and let that fat lying ignoramus censor any historical record that offends him.
Some people think more about saying what is true than what will be a "vote getter." Are you perhaps suggesting Dems should avoid telling the truth, like the right does?
DeleteAC/MA presents an example of people who think Democrats invented the idea of gender when that comes from social science, gender science, and culture, not politicians. Is AC/MA denying the existence of white supremacists in our country? Is he saying the Proud Boys are not real? Or is he saying we should all close our eyes and pretend we don't see white supremacism when they march and drive their cars over protesters, killing them on the sidewalk? How many red voters cheered when that happened, and is that a good look for our country?
DeleteHitler's German populace sat back and let the Nazis take over their country, to their shame. AC/MA seems to be saying that Dems should roll over more, because opposing our own Nazis is not a political winner for Dems. Some of us have this foible called integrity. We want our leaders to oppose evil, not just win elections. I can't believe AC/MA is saying this stuff! It reeks.
AC, I don’t recall Somerby saying anything about “multiple genders” or people being “assigned genders.” Do you feel he criticized that, or is that your personal complaint, because you have frequently complained about this. Those things don’t seem like “bungling”, because there is a school of thought that embraces this, and liberals generally support these ideas. Maybe you think Democrats should do a sister Souljah thing and denounce transgender people. I hope you don’t think that. The only other alternative is to simply remain silent, despite feeling strongly about the issue. That seems like a betrayal to me. The prevalence of white supremacy and racism is undeniable-look how the trump administration is busy removing references to blacks in government websites and museums, and the placing of white supremacists in government positions. Perhaps you think it isn’t true, but it is, sadly.
DeleteI also don’t know if you worry about misogyny, but hegseth’s pastor believes women should not vote nor hold positions in government or business. Should liberals shut up about this too?
Trump made good progress on changing inequitable trade agreements. That’s what he meant by fixing the system.
ReplyDelete“ How should we Blues respond to this challenge?” Blues should be more selective on which Trump policies they oppose. In particular, they should work with Trump on reducing government waste and fighting crime.
ReplyDeleteOur Host's frequent refrain about Blue America's bungling never fails to draw offended responses. Today is apparently no exception.
ReplyDeleteWhat "bungling" could he possibly be talking about? Consider today's presentation: A pair of Washington Post reporters who have followed Trump's political career closely have published two books, each titled with one of Trump's controversial (and widely mocked) direct quotes. Their work quotes Trump accusing Hillary Clinton of the very crimes he would go on to commit himself, all while boasting about his own greatness.
Blue America has built a profitable industry producing a daily feed of evidence that Trump is aging, corrupt, incompetent, duplicitous, self-serving, and hypocritical.
Yet, in spite of the bountiful evidence of the man's flaws, he sits in the White House today because Blue America couldn't find a way to beat him.
Is there another explanation besides bungling? You could propose one, or you could criticize the person whose opinion upsets you.
To follow up on your point, Quaker, ample evidence that Trump is a grifter, a conman, and an otherwise a degenerate is all out there. Dems and just about anyone with their head screwed on right have pointed it out. All of that evidence hits the law of diminishing returns very quickly.
DeleteWhat Dems have not done so well is present a good narrative for themselves. One major failure, I believe -- and it has been pointed out by many -- they do not do a good job acknowledging people's dissatisfactions, be they real or imagined. Every conversation should begin with, as an example: yes, inflation is a problem; or, yes, we do need to do address our borders. Then the conversation needs to be presented in the sensible framework.
It was also a huge bungle for Biden to run for the second term only to be forced out. I am not even sure that it would've been possible to recover from that. Harris, who would've never made it out of the primaries, by the virtue of being part of the administration was forced to defend their record without acknowledging any failures.
The biggest failure, however, still belongs for GOP for not ridding themselves of Trump.
The oddness of the attacks on Biden, coming from the right and from Russian trolls, not just lefties such as Nancy Pelosi, George Clooney, and Obama's old team Jon Favreau and others at Pod Save America, Axios and Taegan Goddard at Political Wire, makes me think there was more election manipulation and Russian money involved. The idea that the left had to save the Democrats from Biden is ridiculous but that is what was being pushed by a combined left and right campaign against Biden and later Harris. I will wait for Historians to tell me where that came from, but I do not believe that Harris or other candidates failed to respond to voter concerns.
DeleteNothing has been up front about the 2024 campaign. Now that Gavin Newsom is very obviously putting himself out there for 2028, I will be interested to see how they attack him. He has none of the liabilities of Harris or Biden and he has manifestly challenged the right to keep on lying because he will bring the fight to them. It is game on with no holds barred, says Newsom.
Meanwhile, it remains to be seen how much of America Trump sells out to Putin today and in coming months.
As near as I can see, the only thing that will bring politics back to normal is the Dems taking the midterms and gaining a majority in both houses, followed by impeach efforts based on the Epstein files and all of the illegal violations of the constitution Trump has engaged in. The Supreme Court will not be able to protect Trump from such an effort, presuming it includes removal by the Senate, not just indictment by the House. Then we will be rid of Trump for good, unless Russia invades on his behalf.
Meanwhile, Somerby sounds happy that there is a so-called revolution taking place. I think Somerby is premature about that, but I have no doubt he and his bros are celebrating that eventuality on their other websites. They think they've won, simply because Trump has been doing and saying whatever he wants. That cannot go on forever, if only because Trump is mortal, but I expect that some of the real powers on the left will tire of Trump's shitshow and take back the reins of govt. Failing that, we will descend into a third world depression, those who can will leave, and our nation will be plundered by Putin and his buddies, elbowing Trump out of the way after his usefulness as a pawn is over. That will be a dismal future for our kids and grandkids, but I am planning to follow Rosie O'Donnell's lead and go elsewhere. I have the money and skills to be welcome in other countries. Most red voters do not. They can take that up with Trump.
Somerby is not fooling anyone. More and more he is reveal his true colors and they are not red/white/blue, they are whatever white supremacists wave in their fever dreams. You trolls and fanboys are welcome to him.
Yes, the GOP failed. We failed to keep the Southern border open. We failed to let illegal immigrants live here undisturbed. We failed to allow antisemitism to flourish on campuses. We failed to allow and require reverse discrimination. We failed to need reduced standards in order to achieve military recruitment goals. We failed to keep allowing men to compete in women's sports events. Depending of today's talks, we may fail to continue the slaughter of thousands of of young men and women in Ukraine. We failed to keep waste in government. We're likely to fail at keeping the DC crime rate high.
DeleteI don’t know, Quaker. Was it “bungling” when Gore lost to Bush? Or Kerry? For that matter, did McCain or Romney bungle when they lost to Obama? Did Trump bungle when he lost to sleepy Joe? You can’t win every election, particularly in a country so polarized and with only two viable parties. It’s perfectly fine to admit mistakes, but Somerby hasn’t identified them correctly. The GOP’s open embrace of blatant lying, coupled with the amplification of the lies by right wing media, the unabashed abuses of power, and the influx of hundreds of millions from Musk present a challenge to any political party and the electorate.
Delete@Ilya: No notes from me. I think you're correct all the way through. The only remaining question: Is it fair to characterize those failures as "bungling"?
DeleteOur Host makes the case for yes.
Except he makes no case.
Delete