TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2026
When she said it, nobody heard: Let the word go forth to the nations! We aren't afraid to offer this assessment:
Anne Applebaum is the real deal.
Her background exceeds that of the mere cable talker, as valuable as some such player may be. You'll have to read the whole profile yourself, but here are a few of the basics:
Anne Applebaum
Anne Elizabeth Applebaum (born July 25, 1964) is an American journalist and historian. She has written about the history of Communism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe...
...She won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 2004 for Gulag: A History. She is a staff writer for The Atlantic magazine.
[...]
In July 2020, her book Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism was published. Partly a memoir and partly political analysis, it was on the bestseller lists of Der Spiegel magazine and The New York Times. Also in July 2020, Applebaum was one of 153 signers of the "Harper's Letter" (also known as "A Letter on Justice and Open Debate"); this expressed concern that "the free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted."
In November 2022, Applebaum was one of 200 US citizens sanctioned by Russia for "promotion of the Russophobic campaign and support for the regime in Kiev."
You can read the whole profile yourself. Today, Applebaum is a high-profile writer at the high-profile Atlantic. That doesn't mean she's always right, but she seemed to be floating a certain type of suggestion with yesterday's essay for the Atlantic.
She seemed to be saying, and yet not saying, a certain forbidden thing: Headline included, this the way she started:
Trump’s Letter to Norway Should Be the Last Straw
Let me begin by quoting, in full, a letter that the president of the United States of America sent yesterday to the prime minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre. The text was forwarded by the White House National Security Council to ambassadors in Washington, and was clearly intended to be widely shared. Here it it:
At that point, Applebaum published the text of the deeply strange letter President Trump sent to Norway's PM. In the letter, the president seemed to say that he was pursuing ownership of Greenland, possibly by military means, in part or largely because the Norwegian government had failed to award him that coveted Nobel Peace Prize!
For the record, the Norwegian government doesn't make such selections. Also, it wasn't clear what Norway has to do with Denmark's refusal to hand Greenland over to the United States—or perhaps to President Trump as some sort of tribute or prize.
In her Atlantic essay, Applebaum posted the text of that missive, as we did in yesterday's report. After that, she seemed to be saying, but not quite saying, something our Blue American elites are not permitted to say:
One could observe many things about this document. One is the childish grammar, including the strange capitalizations (“Complete and Total Control”). Another is the loose grasp of history...
Yet what matters isn’t the specific phrases, but the overall message: Donald Trump now genuinely lives in a different reality, one in which neither grammar nor history nor the normal rules of human interaction now affect him. Also, he really is maniacally, unhealthily obsessive about the Nobel Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee, not the Norwegian government and certainly not the Danish government, determines the winner of that prize. Yet Trump now not only blames Norway for failing to give it to him, but is using it as a justification for an invasion of Greenland.
[...]
For the past year, American allies around the world have tried very hard to find a theory that explains Trump’s behavior. Isolationism, neo-imperialism, and patrimonialism are all words that have been thrown around. But in the end, the president himself defeats all attempts to describe a “Trump doctrine.” He is locked into a world of his own...
Was Applebaum hinting at a type of assessment she wasn't willing to state? That's the way it seemed to us—and this morning, at the start of the 6 o'clock hour, there she was on Morning Joe, where—or so it seemed to us—her quixotic mission accelerated.
At 6:08 this very morning, Mika Brzezinski read excerpts from Applebaum's short essay. As she did, she omitted the claim that President Trump "now genuinely lives in a different reality" and is "locked in a world of his own."
She skipped the passage in which Applebaum said that President Trump is "maniacally obsessive" about the Nobel Prize. Applebaum had flirted with a medical term in that statement. Brzezinski didn't read that part of what Applebaum had written.
For the record, we aren't saying that Brzezinski was wrong in those omissions; we're just noting what she did. Then she threw to Applebaum, who made such statements as these:
As she started, Applebaum said that President Trump is exhibiting "a degree of separation from reality that I think is new."
President Trump "really seems to be living in an alternate reality," she quickly added
She said the president is on "a strange and increasingly weird ego trip—I don't know how to describe it—a narcissistic fantasy." Strikingly, she finisher her brief presentation with this:
"This makes the United States appear crazy, their president off his rocker."
Please note! Applebaum didn't say that President Trump actually is "off his rocker." She merely said that his "degree of separation from reality"—his "narcissistic fantasy"—is making it look that way.
Was Applebaum trying to tell us something without explicitly doing so? The following phrases had been included in her brief presentation to the Morning Joe group:
"A degree of separation from reality that I think is new"
"He really seems to be living in an alternate reality"
"A strange and increasingly weird ego trip"
"A narcissistic fantasy"
"Crazy"
"Off his rocker"
To our ear, Applebaum, like Lassie of old, was trying to tell us something! Joe and Mika proceeded from there, along with Lemire and two other guests, as if they hadn't heard.
We've told you several things about the possible topic at hand. We've told you such things as these:
We've told you that our journalists are forbidden, by long-established rules of the guild, from saying or suggesting that a serious problem of mental health may be affecting or afflicting a major political leader.
We've also said that our journalists probably wouldn't know how to present and discuss such a forbidden idea even if they chose to go there. That inability to know how to speak about these possible medical situations seemed to afflict an exchange on CNN last evening, as reported by Mediaite:
Senator Thinks Trump Is Literally ‘Insane’: ‘He Is a Madman’
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) told CNN host Anderson Cooper on Monday that he believed President Donald Trump is literally “insane.”
Asked on Anderson Cooper 360 whether there was any hope for European leaders to “de-escalate” and “reason with the president” over his repeated threats to annex Greenland, Gallego said, “No, and I’ve been very clear. He is a madman. He is insane. He’s only thinking about himself.”
“You really think he’s insane?” pressed Cooper [interrupting Gallego].
“Yes! I’m sorry, where are we at this moment where we don’t understand what’s happening in this country?” Gallego responded...
For the (sometimes inaccurate) CNN transcript, you can just click here.
For the record, Gallego didn't explicitly say that the president is literally insane, whatever that statement might have meant. ("Insane" is not a technical / medical / diagnostic term.)
Gallego didn't make that explicit statement. What was he trying to say?
What was Gallego trying to say? Inevitably, Cooper didn't ask and Gallego didn't tell. Instead, Cooper quickly interrupted and challenged Gallego's statement in the manner described above.
Cooper then ended the segment. Gallego's statement remained unexplained and undiscussed.
As most adults understand, serious cognitive decline is a well-known, tragic phenomenon in American life. It's also true that many adult Americans are diagnosable with such medical conditions—with such "mental disorders" (technical term)—as "antisocial personality disorder," the clinical term which is generally taken to correspond to the colloquial term "sociopath."
According to widely accepted studies, something like five percent of American men are diagnosable with antisocial personality disorder. (We presume there are stronger and weaker cases, but we don't really know.)
Based on what we've read, narcissistic personality disorder is diagnosable with less frequency. For the record, you're hearing about this from us because our journalists and cable talkers refuse to interview the medical specialists who could presumably offer extensive information about such deeply significant matters.
Even at a time like this, our journalists are unwilling to discuss this part of our human world—this part of our medical science. Also, they probably wouldn't know how to conduct such discussions if they wanted to give it a try.
The president seems to be "off his rocker," a major scholar said. She said the president "really seems to be living in a alternate reality," that he's "exhibiting a degree of separation from reality that I think is new"
To our ear, she seemed to be trying to tell us something, or at least to float a suggestion. Joe and Mika and their guests all chose to let it go.
First, Joe stated his own view on the Greenland matter. Then he threw to David French, then on to Katty Kay in Davos.
No one asked Applebaum to speak with clarity about her rather striking remarks. Like the fictional people of Camus' Oran who couldn't believe that a plague was upon them, these stars of Blue American discourse aren't willing to discuss the things they may secretly think or believe.
Despite the praise we humans heap on ourselves, our human cognition is extremely limited. This would seem to be an example—one example of many.
On this morning's Morning Joe, Applebaum's apparent suggestion was kicked to the curb. Full disclosure:
Within the silos of Red America, the denial and avoidance in this dangerous area are just massively worse.
Tomorrow: Whatever happens next
ReplyDelete"Anne Applebaum is the real deal."
Anne Applebaum is a deranged, foam-at-the-mouth, Russophobic neocon scum.
What's the matter with you, Bob? And what's the matter with your Democrat cult? In the past, Democrats hated those kinds of assholes; what's changed? You got new instructions from your Democrat-cult bosses, and Applebaum suddenly becomes "the real deal"? Is that it, is it that simple?
Somerby doesn't have Democrat bosses. He gets his instructions from Russia as part of their coordinated campaign to support Trump's destruction of America.
DeleteIf Somerby were a real-deal Democrat himself, he would be calling for Trump's removal, like the rest of us blues. He would have written something about abolishing ICE and he wouldn't have ignored MLK Day in favor of a three-day football weekend (as he called it).
If Somerby is serious about Trump's decline, he might ask whether someone around Trump should be monitoring his Truth Social communications. It was outrageous that Trump reprinted confidential communications from world leaders on Truth Social last night. Crickets from Somerby, who seems only concerned with who has called Trump crazy, not with the actual crazy things Trump is doing and what anyone should do about them, besides talking.
Thanks for letting us know you work for Putin 10:55, an anti-American cuck troll.
DeleteSomerby tells us Applebaum's views, but he doesn't tell us how Morning Joe "kicked to the curb" those views, nor does he tells us what Morning Joe believes. Since today's essay was to laud Applebaum and attack Joe, why are we not told what Joe said wrong? Where are both sides of this dichotomy Somerby is preaching?
ReplyDeleteThen Somerby equates whatever Morning Joe said with the entirety of Blue America rejecting Applebaum's claim that Trump "looks" crazy, even though he has just quoted Gallego as calling Trump insane, contradicting his own thesis about Blue America.
Earth to Somerby -- Morning Joe does not represent Blue America. Applebaum doesn't represent anyone beyond herself in The Atlantic, which specializes in controversial arguments, frequently undermining so-called blue ideas in its quest to attract attention.
At least Somerby doesn't call her "youngish" while describing her undergrad college training and pretending she doesn't know how to do journalism, as he usually does. Perhaps that is because she is saying something he agrees with.
Notably, the Joe of Morning Joe is a Republican, a former Republican representative in Congress, no less, that then bent his knee to Trump after the election.
DeleteSomerby does not make much more sense than Trump does.
Tiedrich reminds us that it isn't just that Trump is crazy, but that he is also stupid:
ReplyDelete"Donny Convict is a bottomless well of mind-numbing stupidity.
he thinks magnets stop working if they get wet. he thinks exercise is bad for you. he thinks windmills give you noise cancer. he thinks there’s a ginormous fucking faucet in Canada that controls all of California’s water.
he doesn’t understand how tariffs work. he doesn’t understand how elections work, or how science works, or how pandemics work, or how honesty works, or how not cheating on your wife works.
he doesn’t understand how umbrellas work.
given all that, should we really be surprised that Preznit Fathead fails to understand how Nobel Prizes work?"
Unlike Somerby, Tiedrich draws the obvious conclusion and what needs to happen next, quoting Danish Parliament Deputy Speaker Lars-Christian Brask:
“if I could come up with some advice, it would be for the Senate and the House to start to take control of political power in America — because with this mad and erratic behavior, you have to ask the question, is the president capable of running the United States?”
Why hasn't Somerby said this, or anything like it?
Speaking of people calling for something to be DONE about Trump, Tiedrich also quotes Jonathan Reiner (who Somerby quoted about Trump's craziness, but not his follow up suggestions):
Delete"Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who was Dick Cheney’s cardiologist, is also calling for a congressional investigation into President Pudding Cup’s fitness for office. [Reiner says:]
“This letter, and the fact that the president directed that it be distributed to other European countries, should trigger a bipartisan congressional inquiry into presidential fitness.”
but let’s be real. what we really need goes beyond any congressional investigation. Donny needs to be removed from office, pronto. he can no longer be trusted not to drop a nuke on someone because his precious fee-fees got hurt.
seriously, it’s 25th Amendment time — and an increasing number of Democratic lawmakers agree with me."
The flaw with this, beyond not having the numbers in Congress to do such things, is that Vance would become president and gain a foothold and likely become entrenched and make things even worse than Trump is, particularly since Trump has an expiration date. Vance has no charisma, so on his own after a Trump term, he will likely fade away.
DeleteIt is better for Trump to finish his term, while Dems do everything they can to call out his corruption and gum up the works.
The idea that Vance would stand up to an invigorated congress is wrong. He would have the example of Trump's removal in front of him, restraining his own actions. He would kowtow to the power, whoever that is (perhaps a stronger Republican party) just as he bows and scrapes to Trump. Or he might quit and go back to working for Thiel. Having Vance as a caretaker under the thumb of leaders divorced from Trump, wouldn't be nearly as bad as allowing Trump to continue in office a single day longer than necessary.
Delete11:34,
DeleteKill the fascists, and let the Centrists cry about it.
No one is advocating that anyone be killed (except the folks at DHS/ICE, who think they can kill whoever they want).
DeleteI am not sure what Republican Party you are talking about, but they are on board with Trump, they are not going to remove him from office. Half of Republicans say they would support Trump even if he is implicated in the Epstein files, these are people who have no ability to be reasonable when it comes to politics.
DeleteEven the supposed moderates wind up voting the way Trump wants them too.
So, no, removing Trump and making Vance president is not a good idea, it would be a disaster. This undoubtedly played a role in why Trump chose Vance.
Having said that, a strategy that drives a wedge between internal warring camps among Republicans is a good idea, although, not likely to have as much of an impact as what is needed, it is a start.
We need to bring forward the impeachment bills and see what Republicans do. If we don't, history will think we all supported Trump, not that Dems were impotent because of the House majority or whatever. There is a historical record being created every day.
DeleteAgree absolutely. We need to impeach Trump and others in his admin, not because it will work, but because it will send a message and it will motivate voters.
DeleteWe should also be filing hundreds of lawsuits against these loons.
We have a surplus of lawyers, chasing ambulances or driving Ubers, when they should be using their skills to help society.
anon 1:06, good ideas, I'll do my part and join you in impeaching Trump. I'll also bring tons of lawsuits against him. Great ideas.
DeleteWe are filing a lot of lawsuits. Unfortunately it takes a lot of time for them to be decided, appealed, decided again. But the lawsuits have been about 95% effective. It remains to be seen whether Trump's cronies on the Supreme Court will support his insanity.
DeleteAC/MA is being facetious but he could be funding the organizations that are bringing the suits, like the rest of us. He could be writing to his elected representatives so they know he supports their actions against Trump in Congress.
DeleteLawsuits are about 90% ineffective when they get to Trump's packed USSC Nazi goon squad - if you are brown, we can take you away, per the fascist scumbag shadow docket mother fuckers.
DeleteLawsuits are about 90% ineffective when they get to Trump's packed USSC Nazi goon squad - if you are brown, we can take you away, per the fascist scumbag shadow docket mother fuckers.
DeleteLawsuits get people released. They publicize wrongful deaths and inadequate detention conditions, lack of health care. They ultimately got Trump to remove National Guard troops from CA, OR, & IL. They have ruled Trump's impoundment of state funds based on politics ruled illegal, so funds have been restored. They've gotten people their jobs back (with back pay). They got Abrego Garcia released and his punitive charges dropped. It just takes a lot of work and time. But this is necessary work to constrain Trump's illegal acts, as are the Supreme Court cases pending concerning the legality of Trump's tariffs, demolition of the East Wing, etc.
DeleteThey fucked up 200 more things for every one temporarily won in court. So much fucking winning.
DeleteApplebaum? Pulitzer Prize? Pffft.
ReplyDeleteHow many pity-Nobels has she extorted? That's the mark of a man's worth.
She lifted the prize from a Venezuelan woman as she couldn't get one on her own.
DeleteSomerby says Blue America is ignoring Trump's insanity. Here is Simon Rosenberg quoting Gavin Newsom (hint to Somerby: these guys are both part of Blue America):
ReplyDelete"Next up is a clip of Governor Gavin Newsom in Davos, Switzerland in what’s become an important, even historic moment, in the Trans-Atlantic Alliance. Our friend Gavin just lays it out there, powerfully. Watch it above, and let’s read a rough transcript, together:
The Europeans should decide for themselves what to do.
But one thing they can’t do is what they’ve been doing.
And they’ve been playing. This guy is playing folks for fools.
And it’s embarrassing.
Europeans think this is diplomacy and this will ultimately work.
Oh, this is diplomacy with Donald Trump?
He’s a T-Rex.
You mate with him or he devours you.
One or the other.
No, Europeans could be if they continue to look down this path, the process.
They need to stand tall, stand firm, stand united.
A year ago we should have been having this conversation and they didn’t.
And now you’re paying the price.
Exactly what anyone, object observer, would have anticipated we’d be where we are, didn’t it?
Question - What do you think, sir?
Well, I don’t want to be hyperbolic about it, but this guy’s a wrecking ball.
I hope people are waking up to what we’re dealing with.
This is code red. I mean, you guys are still playing by an old set of rules.
Everybody in the globe is with this guy.
He’s unmoored.
It’s the law of the jungle.
It’s the rule of Don.
And I hope it’s dawning on the world, what we’re up against.
I mean, this is serious.
This guy, he’s not mad.
He’s very intentional.
But he’s unmoored.
And he’s unhinged.
The goal is whatever he wants it to be.
The goal is the world in his image.
He’s a narcissist.
I mean, it’s just, it’s no advice.
Common sense.
Why don’t folks do what they say publicly, what they’re saying in private?
Why don’t they just simply do what they know is right?
I mean, everybody’s talking behind his back. They’re laughing.
And meanwhile, they’re sucking up to him.
It’s embarrassing.
I mean, this is your modeling behavior for our kids, generations of folks.
This is not diplomacy.
This is stupidity."
It is embarrassing that we are looking to Europe to save us from the Dictator-wannabe we let crawl back into office, but that is essentially what happened when the USA joined forces with the Allies in WWII to stop Hitler from devouring Europe. Denmark remembers those days when it was occupied by Germany.
DeleteNewsom could waltz into the presidency if he changed a few of his positions, if he recognized the genocide in Gaza, if he supported medicare for all, a tax on billionaires, he would win in a landslide.
DeleteNewsom is a complete dickhead on labor. Fairly decent at trolling Nazis fuck Republicans. Married that monstrous women. Overall, fuck him, we can do way better. (Nice hair though.)
DeleteHe raised the minimum wage as gov, especially for fast food and home health care workers. He also legalized gay marriage in SF, which motivated a ballot initiative in the State of CA that passed gay marriage in the state, before the Supreme Court decision. He wants to run for pres now, which is causing him to distort some of his opinions, which I dislike but can put up with because he would be so much better than Trump and may have the charisma to get elected.
DeleteMen who marry women for their looks wind up with women who marry men for their money or fame. I am hoping he learned something from the experience.
DeleteApplebaum (among others) can't figure out why Trump is so fixated on the Nobel?
ReplyDeleteSimple. Obama got one
More generally, he imagines that he will be known as the greatest president of all times. So, yeah, he needs all the accoutrements that go along with greatness, e.g., a giant ballroom, Nobel Peace Prize, Greenland.
DeleteDon't forget his favorite pastime, raping little girls. #At least it's not little boys...
DeleteTrump's post sounds nuts. It worries me. But, as long as his actions are reasonable and effective, I'll keep supporting him.
ReplyDeleteHis words are actions. The things he is doing are no more reasonable than what he says. You are making a big mistake, David.
DeleteFuc U pissant troll. Get the fuck out of here you gross fucking pig.
DeleteAbove was meant for pissant troll DiChead, of course.
DeleteOther 11:36 - don't feed the idiot troll.
DeleteWords ARE actions you nitwit. Why are European troops going to Greenland? In response to Trump's words.
DeleteThere is nothing Trump is capable of that would shed any of the dead ender bigots that continue to support him, not threatening NATO, not continuously grifting off his position, not pardoning over 1500 of the worst drug traffickers and swindlers, not promoting an economy with miserable job numbers and tariff induced inflation, not the escalating price of groceries, not continuing to promote a corrupt government in Venezuela despite "taking over" the country, not adding 1.9 trillion dollars to the national debt with tax breaks for the 0.1%, not overseeing and doing nothing about armed masked thugs breaking into homes and detaining American citizens, etc. etc. etc.. At some point their love affair with fascism can be accurately labeled unAmerican, and that point has passed.
DeleteThe point that is being made seems to be that even neo-cons at the Atlantic are now owning up to the Emperor's lack of clothing. When you've lost the Atlantic, the most staid, status-quo, centerist rag out there, you've lost the whole middle ground of the domestic and foriegn policy consenus.
ReplyDeleteHere is Somerby's actual point today:
Delete"No one asked Applebaum to speak with clarity about her rather striking remarks. Like the fictional people of Camus' Oran who couldn't believe that a plague was upon them, these stars of Blue American discourse aren't willing to discuss the things they may secretly think or believe."
Somerby says this despite the fact that Blue America has been quite vocal about Trump's insanity. Just not the folks Somerby wants to hear from (presumably Mika and Joe, but why?). Somerby doesn't like Newsom -- he has said so before. But Newsom is saying exactly what Somerby should want to be hearing. Somerby never quotes him, because Somerby never seems to support Democratic leaders -- in this case a guy who is quote obviously running for the presidential nomination in 2028. And look at Gallego, another Democratic star who is saying exactly what Somerby should quote. But Somerby is fixated on Mika and Morning Joe, just as Trump is obsessed with that Nobel Prize. That is yet another way in which Somerby and Trump are alike.
From where I am, the Atlantic is nowhere near centerist [sic]; it's a far-right war-mongering publication. Led, incidentally, by an Zionist former prison guard.
DeleteI don't know what point is being made, other than Bob manifesting his TDS, but yes, you're making a decent double-point:
1. The Democrat cult's foreign policy is now a far-right one. And
2. The far-right are NeverTrumpers. But, then, we already knew it: John Bolton, Dick Cheney, etc, etc, etc.
Like totally man, you know man?, Somerby and Trump are alike, man, don't you get it man?
DeleteIt is a waste of time to argue whether The Atlantic is blue or red, but that IS Somerby's focus, on the mainstream media, which has already been supplanted by Independent media. I also find it silly to try to tar Democrats with the fact that so many formerly powerful Republicans are siding with Democrats against Trump. Democrats are the only game in town if you can't stand Trump, but that doesn't mean we Dems have shifted right. They joined us, not vice versa.
DeleteThe far-right foreign policy is to support Trump's militarization and land-grabs, his use of tariffs to bully other nations into paying Trump bribes. We on the left do not support that foreign policy.
But good try at muddying the waters and gaslighting confused readers into thinking the right and left are the same. That is propaganda and garbage. There are clear differences and we know who we are on the left.
Agree with 12:00.
DeleteThe Atlantic is garbage and so is Jeffery Goldberg, but so is Somerby, and so is 11:50, who is trying to muddy the waters.
Muddy Waters was the man. Get with the plan.
DeleteSomerby blames Mika for not quoting all of Applebaum's statement, but he himself left off the part where Applebaum quotes the Prime Minister of Belgium saying that appeasement of Trump will not work. Europe is talking about standing together to oppose Trump.
ReplyDeleteRosenberg goes on to discuss what we Americans can do to oppose Trump in our own country. He says:
"So what do we do? It’s time now for Democrats to offer a unified national front - Govs, Congress, Big City Mayors, whatever Rs want to join along - to fight for these two things we’ve been talking about:
Rule of law must be re-established in America, ICE must be reined in, and Trump’s outrageous plunder and corruption must end
That he must back off his illegal and destructive territorial ambitions, end all these ridiculous tariffs, and re-commit to the Trans-Atlantic Alliance
There can be no question in the minds of Americans, or the free people of the world, where we stand on these matters. The world is watching, and we must follow the counsel of the Gavin Newsom above and these words from EU President von der Leyen:
"But the truth is also that we will only be able to capitalise on this opportunity if we recognise that this change is permanent. Of course, nostalgia is part of our human story. But nostalgia will not bring back the old order. And playing for time – and hoping for things to revert soon – will not fix the structural dependencies we have. So my point is: If this change is permanent, then Europe must change permanently too. It is time to seize this opportunity and build a new independent Europe."
It is time to seize this opportunity, fellow Democrats, and build a far more powerful and effective opposition, one that works tirelessly to counter Trump and bring about a new birth of freedom in the years ahead, here and everywhere."
----------------
I agree with Rosenberg. This is the time to stand together as Democrats, not to keep criticizing Blue America as Somerby does every day over manufactured complaints that are far from true. Somerby is spreading misinformation, urging us to sink into gloom and doom, sapping our will to resist Trump by claiming all is lost. That is unhelpful. We should follow our Democratic leadership and resist what is happening on the right. And it seems pretty obvious to me that Somerby is right-wing and has no clue what to do about Trump. Name-calling Trump as a crazy person doesn't solve a single thing. Nor does confusing people about what constitutes blue media, now that the NY Times is bought and paid for and CBS has installed conservative Bari Weiss, who does whatever Trump wants as head of the News Division (crickets from Somerby about her, by the way).
Breathless Bob: Stop the presses, Trump is nuts!
ReplyDeleteYo Bob, welcome to 2015.
This is fucking normal, libtards, suck on this! "By 1 a.m., Trump was busily posting AI-generated images to illustrate his designs on Greenland — one showing him planting a U.S. flag on the island, a second of him showing a modified map of the Americas to European leaders in which the U.S. owns Greenland, Canada and Venezuela. Are we about to see the first empire built entirely by meme?" You fucking fake ass trolls, pretending this was a thing before the assholes full blown dementia can go get the fuck away from here.
ReplyDeleteWhen you read some of what Trump's former cabinet members have said, they describe the same ideas that Trump is expressing now. The difference is that he didn't know he could ignore them back in 2015. But he was talking about shooting protesters back then, wanted his military parade, wanted to impose tariffs. Now Trump is angry that he was talked out of such stuff during his first term. Yes, the lack of restraint now is a sign of dementia, but the ignorant and crazy ideas are long-standing.
DeleteTherein may lie the solution: just give Trump fake maps that show Greenland, Canada, Venezuela as part of the United States. Trump won't know the difference.
DeleteAnon@11:48 -- It is true that the difference between his first term and this go-around are the people around him -- as well as his accelerating dementia.
Trump is exactly what one would expect to happen if we were to try acquiescing to Republicans.
ReplyDeleteAcquiescing to Republicans is the strategy Bob has been pushing for years, and it was tried by Clinton, and by Obama to a slightly lesser degree; predictably that played a significant role in empowering people like Trump.
Bob's analyses of and thinking on electoral politics and the role media plays in that, has always been piss poor.
Somerby is only pointing out that Democrats should have addressed Biden's open borders policy, that Cecelia and the Right are saying is exactly like Trump's.
DeletePlease quote something from Somerby supporting your view of what he is saying.
DeleteSomerby's xenophobia is notorious.
DeleteHe goes on and on about Biden ignoring the issue, even though the spike in immigration was due to Trump not Biden, even though Biden addressed it early on, even though via Biden's policies - some of which were no different than Trump's - immigration dropped to low levels, even though Republicans use immigration to motivate their base every election cycle, even though polling shows that in 2024 immigration was not a top priority for voters and was an even lower priority than normal, even though it was Trump that stopped a Republican immigration bill that Dems/Biden compromised on and agreed to pass.
11:46 is spot on, Somerby's notions are dumb, and they harmful for "blues" and for the country.
Fuck the cuck troll Cecelia.
DeleteImmigration flow follows jerbs openings. R's kill jobs, D's create them. Capeesh?
DeleteSaying there is a Republican voter who isn't a bigot is a sign of bullshitting, not a sign of cognitive decline.
ReplyDeleteWhile Anne Applebaum's book did a good job of detailing the rise of authoritarianism is Eastern European countries she completely fails to see any rise of authoritarianism here by the Republican Party. All she sees here is Trump. Somethings she doesn't see:
ReplyDeleteList of authoritarian actions by Republicans.
Investigation of Clintons that began with Whitewater but became an investigation to find some crime, any crime with which to impeach Bill Clinton. Ken Starr also investigated Hillary Clinton. Even though she was first lady, she was also a private citizen. We don’t normally give private citizens a dedicated team of FBI agents to dig up crimes.
In election 2000 the Republican dominated Florida legislature said they didn’t care about the results of the popular vote; they were going to elect a slate of electors for George W. Bush.
Bush politized the AG. Appointing AG who would specifically target Democrats for investigation.
Election 2004 when Ohio’s election, led by a Bush campaign worker took actions to suppress the vote in Democratic area. We’ll never know if this cost John Kerry the election as some claim, but without a doubt the intention was to help elect George W. Bush.
Outing Valarie Plame as an undercover CIA agent as punishment for her husband’s criticism of the Iraq war.
The attempt to mire Obama in a phony IRS investigation. And to a lesser extent the “fast and furious” probe.
The repeated congressional investigations into Hillary Clinton and Benghazi designed to damage her electoral prospects.
And of course, the impeachment votes for President Biden.
The authoritarianism of the conservative Republicans in not new. That many conservative Republicans don't see it is not all that new.
The Republican party sold out to fascism during the Reagan Presidency.
DeleteVery true about Reagan.
DeleteIt should be noted that they also helped fascists and Nazis when they were first starting too.
Now the fucktard VP goes to Germany to campaign for their current iteration of the fucking Nazi party with the world's richest fucking man. How dare you call Republican fucking Nazis fucking Nazis.
DeletePutin's emissaries are at Mar a Lago meeting with Witkoff and Trump's other lackeys. That may be why he took four days off this weekend. All of his secret diplomacy takes place at a golf course where the press is barred and cannot even see who he is meeting with.
DeleteMara-leg-irons is a dump without a fucking golf course.
DeleteSome bad news for Cecelia (from NY Times):
ReplyDelete"President Trump threatened on Monday to impose 200 percent tariffs on French wine, including Champagne, if President Emmanuel Macron of France declined to join his proposed ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza."
Bad news for me. Copious drinking is what allows me to maintain a facade of sanity in these turbulent times.
DeleteTry edibles, alcohol often promotes aggressive behavior and is harmful to our bodies.
DeleteI take edibles for my insomnia. They work quite well.
DeleteFuck that asshole troll shithead.
DeleteCecelia’s Old Man, oh, darling.. We’ll get thru this together.
DeleteForget about the mental illness BS. There is a legal concept called MORAL TURPITUDE that covers the behavior we all observe and would be a reason to invoke the 25th amendment. Check it out.
ReplyDeleteA precise diagnosis is only important to decide on a course of treatment. What exactly wrong with Trump is not so important. Colloquially speaking, he is off his rocker. That's good enough as a diagnosis. Gallego is right to mention that.
ReplyDeleteA more germane question is whether it's possible to break up his cult. Probably not. If you watch Wild, Wild Country, a documentary about the Rajnish cult here in Oregon, you will notice a couple of things: (a) there are opportunists who will try to leverage the cult for their purposes; their attempt at gaining power (b) cultists will stick with their leaders way past their expiration date.
As far as (a), there's Miller, Vance, and others.
One of the interesting things about Trump not finishing his term is the reported friction between Vance and Miller. That's why Miller has gone into full fascist, dictatorial, imperial good mode; he wants to position himself as Trump's natural heir. As Trump becomes more unhinged -- due to old age decrepitude and dementia -- so does Miller. Vance is trying to keep up as well.
Let’s say that the entire world declares Trump to be insane. It is reported by every journalist and media outlet on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteSo what? Nothing changes because of it.
What does Bob think will happen?
Who cares if every single person in the world signs an affidavit declaring Trump is mentally deranged if the only people who could actually do something about it, refuse to act?