I don’t really know who this person is in the video below, but I pretty much agree with every word he said.
We have 4 living presidents who are still alive.
This is not the time to be polite and adhere to the convention of former presidents not speaking out about the current president.
The current president is burning it all down. Why are they not speaking out?
Do the responsibilities of being president totally end once they leave office?
Twainian
They are all hiding behind the sacred norms.
chemiclord
Absolutely none of them have any desire re-litigating their presidencies, especially under MAGA scrutiny.
And as far as Obama is concerned, the dude gave 8 years of his life for this country, and was rewarded by the American people electing the dude who accused him of being Kenyan. The only thing America deserves from Obama is a “fuck all y’all” and two extended middle fingers.
Professor Bigfoot
I think Dubya’s already signaled that he’s OK with Mango Mussolini, so this would definitely turn into totally “partisan divide” kind of thing.
Professor Bigfoot
@chemiclord:
Stands.
Applauds.
ETA: Likewise Vice President Harris, likewise Secretary Clinton. Like “we tried to tell you stupid fucks, now don’t come crying to me.”
MobiusKlein
I wondered the same weeks back.
Where the fuck is Obama? Say something, or be a potted fern. Your choice.
hoytwillrise
@chemiclord: He wasn’t drafted, he chose to do those 8 years; he banked considerable social & political capital and needs to spend it in order to help his country. Or he can say fuck you which is what he is doing.
Another Scott
Clinton and Obama are working in other ways through their foundations and other charity works. Biden is probably still setting things up, in addition to working on his son’s charity.
W is painting and such. :-/
The better question, IMHO, is where are the Republicans?? 47 is in their party. 47 has no kingly power except that given – willingly, and sometimes joyfully – by the Republican majority.
This is a Republican party problem. They have agency. They have guidance in the Constitution and the US Code and the rules of the House and the Senate and all the rest. They have the power, they have the responsibility.
We, in the minority, only have limited ability to affect the path forward until the next elections. Former presidents have even less.
My $0.02.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
GWB was the beta test version of Felonious Thunk. He tried all the same things, just on a much smaller scale and with at least a smidgen of modesty and propriety.
Biden is exhausted. We should allow him the grace to rest before we expect him to lean in.
The other two, though, should be making noise. After all, Rethugnicans kept breaking things they fixed.
kindness
Messaging coverage is key for normies to hear us. The media we all adhere to covers things like this (crisis). The MSM though? Nope. It mostly won’t and when it does, it runs events through a Republican framing filter. I don’t know how we are going to reach those normies out there we absolutely need to win elections. Seems as if Democrats are doomed to fighting with one hand tied behind their back. Often times they do it to themselves. The MSM thing though, it isn’t one of those. This is heaped upon us by those (the media) that love themselves some Republican Daddies.
Betty Cracker
I wish they’d speak up too. Everyone who cares about what’s happening should be speaking up, but especially them because they had that job, and their words would reverberate.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: I’m not saying they aren’t doing good things.
But when the country is on fire, I’d say the former presidents should speak up in defense of democracy and rule of law.
Matt McIrvin
Harris is apparently emailing me for donations to Democratic Party organizations. I have to admit, right now I’m more inclined to give my political money to issue NGOs outside the party.
AnnaN
In a normal past, those presidents had security details. Their and their families lives are under a real threat. They criticize Trump, they enrage the base, Trump pulls security coverage.
Matt McIrvin
@Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq): GWB did in post-invasion Iraq what Trump is doing in the United States.
Raoul Paste
And the next day Trump would strip them of secret service protection. Hell, he might do that tonight in his SOTU speech
matt
I’m giving my money to Ukraine, not Democrats. The US might not be salvageable but Europe is still free.
Raoul Paste
@Another Scott: Agree .
French Onion Soup
GW Bush was disavowed by his party the moment he lost. A lot of younger Democrats aren’t happy in retrospect with Clinton and Obama. We also gloss over the fact that the policies of Clinton, Bush, and Obama are major reasons we got Trump. Biden was pushed out of the last election.
Nobody in leadership from either party really has the ability to rally people anymore. They all drive off just as many people as they attract. If you got the all to make a collective statement it wouldn’t move the needle and we’d spend months going over their own complicity in the situation. The NYT would love it and publish it and the MSM would fawn over them. Trump would jujitsu it into a win and go after all their issues and probably gain from it.
It’s on us to fix this. The powers from the past can’t.
MobiusKlein
My more charitable take is that the ex presidents and such are deferring to the actually elected representatives. That crew should be at the forefront of opposition.
chemiclord
And while I’m on the topic, isn’t Biden too old and his brains are leaking out of his ears? Doesn’t he have Foot Parkinson’s or some shit? Isn’t that why his own party kicked him out the door unceremoniously?
So, 1) why would Biden even want to speak up? And 2) by our own goddamn narratives, why would we even listen to anything he has to say?
Christ, we’ve spent 40 years gleefully eating our own, and we’re somehow shocked and appalled that they are rushing to our aid like the goddamn Riders of Rohan.
Jeffg166
The felon badmouth Biden for four years.
Dubya didn’t criticize Obama but Cheney never shut up.
Matt McIrvin
The Dems who *are* screaming bloody murder are generally on the progressive-left wing of the party: Elizabeth Warren, AOC, Bernie. For all we harsh on them here they’re the ones stepping up.
(I know, Sanders isn’t technically a Democrat, kind of makes my point even more)
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: To try to be clearer: I’m fine with them speaking up. Maybe the conversation would shift for 15 minutes or so.
But I don’t think it would make one bit of difference, given the media and political environment we have now.
Remember the letters signed by all the former SOSes and all the former military brass and all the Nobel laureates warning of the dangers of 47 and his policies during the campaign. A day or so of coverage, then back to OMG DONNIES IS SUCH AN INTERESTING SCAMP HERE’S WHAT YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT WHAT HE DID TODAY!!
:-/
Were they to speak up, Republican leaners would hear “sour grapes, not supporting USA USA USA”. Democratic leaners would hear “of course, of course”. True Independents would hear some sound bite from FTFNYT or NPR and it would go in one ear and out the other.
It wouldn’t change anything, IMHO.
My cynical side is out this AM.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Matt McIrvin
And then we have James Carville going “they should just shut up and let Trump dig his own grave,” which is typically dumb Carville stuff. Why do you expect disaster to help you as the opposition if you weren’t visibly opposed?
CindyH
@matt: same
Omnes Omnibus
Well, didn’t we, collectively, decide that Biden was too old and had dementia? That Clinton’s personal life was messy and he was GOP lite anyway? And that Obama, in the end, really didn’t accomplish much?
I vaguely recall hearing those things.
Janus Daniels
Agreed. OP guy is Richard Murphy, possibly the leading proponent of MMT in the UK. I’ll link his blog.
For decades, Republicans have given us increasingly selfish spiteful presidents; Democrats delivered increasingly decorous do less presidents. Imagine LBJ consulting the Senate Parliamentarian. So here we are.
https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/
TONYG
@MobiusKlein: With rare exceptions (AOC being a noteworthy exception) ALL of the Democrats (currently in power or retired) are ducking down and covering their asses. Not exactly profiles in courage.
WaterGirl
@AnnaN: it’s not right, but trump would do that. Every single one of them can afford their own security if it came to that.
WaterGirl
@chemiclord: Biden would want to speak up because he’s a patriot, in the real sense not in the bullshit sense the Republicans use that word. Obama and Clinton are Patriots too. I’m not sure about Bush cause he kind of just checked out but he still should respect the constitution and speak up the four of them together would be very powerful..
SiubhanDuinne
@Professor Bigfoot:
“I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers. Thank you. Now watch this drive.”
Matt McIrvin
@TONYG: My other Congressional reps, Lori Trahan and Ed Markey, have been speaking out against Trump quite a bit but I haven’t seen them say anything about the Ukraine disaster–Liz Warren definitely did.
It does seem like the Democrats have achieved some voting solidarity against legislative attempts to support Trump’s agenda. The trans sports ban went down in the Senate.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one!
Another Scott
@TONYG:
https://xcancel.com/gerryconnolly
https://bsky.app/profile/beyer.house.gov
There are many, many others.
Best wishes,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: from some people, yes, but not from most of us, and certainly not from me!
Ohio Mom
This is just a variation of the question, Why aren’t the Democrats doing more? (fill in the blank with what you think they should be doing).
Because three of the four retired presidents are Democrats. GW has made it clear that he is checked OUT. Anyway, he’s a Republican, do you expect anything good from anyone in that party?
I was surprised to see in tne comments the other day that Lech Walesa is still alive. I can see why we pine for someone like that.
WaterGirl
@Janus Daniels: Do less democratic presidents? I think you’re dead wrong about that.
suzanne
I’m not sure I want to hear from any of the former presidents ATM. Not because I don’t value their thoughts and efforts, but more because I want to see who emerges in the party as the best leaders. There’s a tonal, emotional component to leadership, I’d like to see who’s best at it.
chemiclord
@WaterGirl: I guess that would be nice… but again, we’ve already told Biden to go away and stop talking. As far as I’m concerned, he’s giving us what we told him we wanted.
When the answer to “why should [x] care about us at this point” is effectively, “out of the goodness of their hearts,” that’s not exactly a particularly glowing statement about the people.
kindness
I don’t think Trump has the power to pull security details from past Presidents. Trump has already pulled security clearances for Biden & Hillary. Probably did it for Obama and Clinton as well. But the detail isn’t Trump’s call. He can stick them with Trumper Secret Service and most likely has.
Omnes Omnibus
@suzanne: I tend to agree with this.
Mai Naem mobil
@WaterGirl: any of the four could live in a western country and pay for their own security and probably even be offered some security by the country they’re living in if things really got that bad. And none of those countries have the crazy gun laws like us.
suzanne
@Matt McIrvin:
Wait, you mean progressives are a valuable part of the coalition?!
BuT tHeY’rE aNnOyInG.
Theflippsyd
@TONYG: I agree with you most of the Democrats hunkering down.
That list of people who are speaking up needs to include Jasmine Crockett. I hate that she gets missed from that list. She is the role model for standing up — she represents a red state Texas. I love Ms. Crockett and see her as one of the shining examples of standing up for your principles. She definitely represented me with her F off statement
Mai Naem mobil
@French Onion Soup: GWBush was involved in fundraiser got GOP Senate candidates this last cycle. I don’t want to hear about how he’s not involved in politics. He’s all involved for his precious tax cuts and deregulation.
zhena gogolia
@Another Scott: Very good comment.
suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: Happy to see you back, BTW.
I adore Obama and I don’t want to hear from him right now. I know his opinion.
Matt McIrvin
@kindness: It may be illegal, but in practical terms, he has the power to pull their security detail if he gives the order and it happens. Everything he does is illegal.
JML
@Ohio Mom: I think that’s right. And frankly, Biden speaking out probably does as much harm as good because it won’t be treated as “elder statesman makes serious point that should be treated with respect” it’ll be “Corrupt member of Biden Crime Family still trying to ruin America!” from the right-wing echo chamber and the bought off and corrupted national media. I mean, the Times and the Post would shit all over him for daring to say anything.
Clinton is boxed in a little too since Hillary lost to the Current Occupant the first time.
Obama has more room here, i think; he’s still popular with a wider range of people and the media hate is less baked in (except for the racist right wing echo chamber)
W is the one that would have the most impact, but he’s retreated. He’s pretty spineless, and it’s not like he didn’t want to privatize Social Security himself. the only thing he really objects to here is selling out to Russia, probably.
zhena gogolia
@matt: The US isn’t salvageable if everyone has this attitude.
Tim C.
With respect to everyone, because we are all on the same side, REALLY!!!.
I don’t see any former presidents having any impact at this point. Biden, Obama, and Clinton are all on team D and will not penetrate to anyone who is on the fence. Yes, I agree that it would feel better to get them off the bench, but they will just focus attention on themselves, they don’t have the pull. Bush is maybe a half-ounce more influential, but the fact is Republican voters despise him. He’s the one (along with Romney) that crashed the old GOP and gave a path for its new, far darker, version to rise.
suzanne
@Tim C.: Yeah, I don’t know why anyone thinks Shrub would be helpful. The GOP hates Shrub. A rare point of alignment!
eclare
@Matt McIrvin:
He already pulled it for John Bolton and Mike Pompeo.
Marie de Gournay
Delurking to say, Barack Obama and Joe Biden don’t owe us fucking thing.
Melancholy Jaques
@Another Scott:
Murc’s Law.
schrodingers_cat
@chemiclord: Exactly. I haven’t heard a single word of regret from the Democrats who pushed him out. Biden owes us nothing.
brendancalling
@Matt McIrvin: I too am receiving lots of emails, especially from John “One Term or Bust” Fetterman. On the rare occasion that I respond, it’s with a phone call to tell them no, and to ask what Fetterman has done lately, and to ask when he’s going to have a town hall.
So yeah. Lots of time to beg for spare change, not so much time to, ya know, do anything that would inspire me to give them some spare change.
karen gail
I have no idea if the former Democratic Presidents could do anything, but it bothers me that they aren’t doing anything. Personally, I believe it is like ignoring a bad police officer; you are complicit when you do nothing.
I remember a debate; if the people who were and ran for President did only to feed their egos. One of the debaters said that they didn’t think that Carter ran to feed his ego; but wasn’t sure and by looking at what he did after was even less sure since that person wondered if Carter was trying to make amends for damage he may have caused as President.
sentient ai from the future
@Tim C.: anyone who would listen to the words of a former president in this context, in either direction, is already in the game, so to speak. it doesnt get anyone off the sidelines or convince anyone to belatedly oppose fascism.
it might be useful for whipping/supporting existing opposition efforts, basically for morale, but that seems like a pretty minor gain for some meaningful risks to both their legacies and whatever charitable work they are doing now.
Barbara
@Matt McIrvin: Umm, Chris Murphy and Patty Murray anyone? And what, exactly, does it mean to “step up”?
It seems like everyone has their own version of tunnel vision.
sentient ai from the future
@karen gail: so basically: “DO SOMETHING!” ?
because these leaders and institutions will not save us. we must save ourselves.
matt
I liked this video, titled Perfidious USA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WSbAUS2XwA
matt
@zhena gogolia: I really don’t think campaign donations to Harris or whoever are going to stop the fascists. Sorry.
I’m mostly not donating to anyone, saving my resources for myself and the coming tough times. It’s the only responsible thing to do.
If in two years there’s a real contested election I will reconsider. Outlook not good IMO.
brendancalling
@TONYG: And many in power have already tied themselves to the admin by voting in favor of his cabinet. Looking at ALL OF YOU DEMOCRATS since ALL OF YOU INCLUDING BERNIE voted for Rubio.
Profiles in CYA, indeed.
sentient ai from the future
@schrodingers_cat: i did see a thing on yahoo finance the other day, “maybe the biden economy was actually pretty good? can we say that?” i paraphrase but that was the gist.
and the media is far more responsible for pushing him out than prominent dems, i think. theres blame enough to go around, but i blame media first, for creating the conditions and pressure that some dems felt the need to respond to.
Melancholy Jaques
@Another Scott:
Completely agree. That asshole incited a violent attack on the congress & it barely affected his popularity. This country, at this time, is more fucked up than any of us ever thought possible
We – or at least many of us – want this person or that to speak out. Many of them have & it’s made no difference at all. Remember when we thought Taylor Swift would have impact? It didn’t matter at all
Look at all the Republican writers who are former Republicans or anti-Trump. Right wing voters have completely ignored them. Dick Cheney – a right-winger’s right winger – no impact.
If I had any idea what might work, I’d mention it.
Steve Crickmore
Didn’t John Cole say the other day, at this time of crisis, “we need all hands on deck”? Shouldn’t that include past Presidents, especially as we do not have a Leader of Opposition asking questions. If as some here say, anti-Trump, the insidious Dictator or King speeches might be counter-productive, there are still other public ways past Presidents could show their moral support, such as tweets or appearances at demos or some gestures, rather than remain totally silent?
schrodingers_cat
@sentient ai from the future: Are you a new commenter or an old commenter with a new nym?
Your writing style seems familiar.
Prominent Ds should have had his back against the perfidious Republican bootlicking press.
Ruckus
@Professor Bigfoot:
Couldn’t have said it better.
All of this is because this person, who got elected twice is a whinny 6 yr old in a decaying almost 80 yr old body who inherited a lot of money (and screwed his siblings doing it), who thinks that money is the end all be all of humanity. And proves on a daily basis that he has zero idea how to be an actual, rational, intelligent human being.
VFX Lurker
In the past month, I have received only ONE email from Kamala Harris, regarding my ongoing donation to her 2024 campaign.
Her statement asked me to transfer my monthly donation from her campaign to the DNC. I did so, because she asked, and because anti-Hillary people demonized the DNC in 2016.
Plus, Harris will no longer accept my recurring contributions to her 2024 campaign. If I had ignored Harris’s email, my ongoing donations would have just stopped.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
Terms which are stale and which most frequently spew from the mouths of the superannuated Bernie and Elizabeth Warren:
People hate hearing scolds, even well-intentioned scolds. This is why AOC is actually effective.
tam1MI
Shoving approximately 30 knives into th dude’s back before metaphorically shoving him out the nearest window than demanding he ride to their rescue from the disaster they helped cause is certainly a look.
The Crimson Pimpernel
Agree with the post. The conventions should not hinder reactions to a five-alarm fire. Everyone who cares about this country should be speaking out as much as possible. Former presidents can command attention and possibly respect. They are not the answer by themselves but they should use their prestige to speak for the country.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Melancholy Jaques:
“Tomorrow belongs to me.”
schrodingers_cat
OT Any BJ watercolorists or multimedia artists here? What sketchbook do you use? Thanks.
I would like to use both watercolors and watersoluble media (watercolor pencils, watercolor crayons, watercolor brush markers) in this sketch book.
sentient ai from the future
@schrodingers_cat: newer to commenting here, though i’ve lurked for years.
hrprogressive
It’s A Big Club, and We Ain’t In It
Every ex POTUS is wealthy and powerful.
They participate in the elite society, not the rest of ours.
You’re never going to hear a peep from any of them.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
Oh, and while I’m thinking about it, for fucks’ sake, can we muzzle the “but the plight of the homeless” whining crowd for about the next decade? It isn’t a winner, particularly for people who have had to deal with the annoyance and harassment in urban spaces.
Matt McIrvin
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
I like scolds.
sentient ai from the future
@Melancholy Jaques: “no impact” is probably incorrect. all you can meaningfully say is that it was not, taken in conjunction with everything else, enough to turn the tide.
if the tide had been turned, thered be no way to know whether it was That Particular Thing That Did It, either.
sentient ai from the future
@Matt McIrvin: no you dont, and you should be ashamed to lie so brazenly in public about such a thing.
Jeffro
a million times THIS
I hope every elected Dem at every level starts every single speech with, “It would take just 3 Republicans with character, principles, morals, ethics…just 3 Republicans who put their country first…to end this chaos.”
every single day
Old Man Shadow
Well… America kinda did tell Joe Biden to fuck off, so off he is fucking.
Sort of the same for Obama. He gave us eight relatively good years of governance and his reward was to see most of it undone by That man.
schrodingers_cat
@Another Scott: People need to hound the Republicans who hold all the keys at the Federal level right now. Instead of the DO SOMETHING DEMS rallying cry.
cmorenc
@Omnes Omnibus:
Biden picked a bad time to have the worst night of his entire political career last June, when the tactical purpose was to demonstrate the contrast between Biden at the articulately sharp SOTU 2024 top of his game , vs the anticipated sort of belligerent incoherence Trump did show up with at his debate with Harris. And Biden at the top of his game would have exposed and eviscerated Trump’s performance that night, but alas Biden simply wasn’t up to the moment that night in the eyes of the viewing public.
Gore’s prissiness about letting Clinton help, particularly with black turnout in Florida, cost him the election. DNC’s always-wrong consultants helped steer Gore in the wrong direction re Clinton, not recognizing that any negative voter preference/turnout effect from Clinton’s indiscretions was already factored in.
dnfree
EXCELLENT point!
GW apparently took up painting and hasn’t looked back. Maybe the Democrats are afraid it would only increase partisan divisions if GW wouldn’t participate?
tobie
@chemiclord:
You nailed it. It hurts like hell. We did this to ourselves because we loved the idea of being too cool for school and knowing best. Okay, Gen-Zers, show us you can do anything besides spouting vacuous talking points. We’re waiting.
Other MJS
My take is that MAGAts are conditioned to defend Trump, although we should point out the damage he’s doing while avoiding attacking him or his supporters personally. However, President Musk (I always call him that) is deeply unpopular, and could be a rationale for any wobbly Trump supporters to defect. Unfortunately, Trump’s laziness and indebtedness to President Musk has so far prevented the hoped-for reaction against President Musk holding the spotlight.
Ruckus
@hoytwillrise:
He served his country as a decent, good president and is seeing this far worse than useless jackoff get elected a second time after showing us exactly who and what he is on center stage for 4 years. Except he is now 4 yrs older after he left in what should have been a disgraced 4 yrs in office and is back screwing over what 340+ million citizens, including the crazy ones who voted for him. Many of whom are seeing what we are seeing, he is an old fart that is unworthy of any acclaim for his first term and far less for this one. And this is from an old fart who is not all that much younger than he is so I have a concept of being an old fart. Who also has at least a concept that there is a time and a place for doing some things and there is a time to retire and do the things that are within the capacity of an old fart. And him being the leader of this country wasn’t something he was good or decent at last time. And with the wealthiest man in the world with his hand on the controls (up SFB’s exit port) who is 1000% unfit to do the job rationally because he only thinks about how this helps him become the silent leader and richer.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
Shit, DeepSeek can do up one hell of a dark story if you set decent parameters:
Title: The Bunker
The air inside the bunker was thick with tension, a suffocating mix of fear, anger, and the acrid smell of sweat. Deep beneath the earth, in a fortified complex designed to withstand the end of the world, President Donald Trump sat at the head of a long table, his face flushed and his trademark comb-over disheveled. Around him, a group of military aides and advisors stood in stunned silence, their uniforms crisp but their expressions hollow. The world above was burning, and they knew it was his fault.
It had started with tariffs—haphazard, impulsive tariffs that destabilized global markets. Then came the decrees, erratic and unilateral, that alienated allies and emboldened adversaries. Finally, there were the territorial demands, reckless and inflammatory, that pushed the world to the brink. When the first missiles flew, it was not a calculated strike but a cascade of miscalculations, a global thermonuclear war ignited by aggressive ineptitude.
Now, the bunker’s screens displayed a grim tally of destruction. New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Beijing, Tokyo, Sydney—cities that had once been the beating hearts of civilization were now smoldering craters. Millions were dead, and the death toll was rising by the minute. The aides, their voices trembling, relayed the reports to the president, their words laced with barely concealed fury.
“Mr. President,” began General Mark Harris, his voice low and seething, “we’ve lost contact with the West Coast. San Francisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles are gone. The same goes for Chicago and most of the Northeast. Europe is in ruins. Asia is a wasteland. Oceania… it’s gone. Entire continents are uninhabitable. This is… this is genocide on a scale we’ve never seen.”
Trump shifted uncomfortably in his chair, his eyes darting between the screens and the faces of his advisors. “It’s not my fault,” he protested, his voice rising in that familiar, defensive tone. “They started it. They all started it. They were weak, and I was strong. I had to show them who’s boss. They didn’t respect me. They never respected me.”
“Respect?” snapped Admiral Lisa Nguyen, her voice cracking with emotion. “You’ve murdered billions of people! This isn’t about respect—this is about survival, and you’ve destroyed everything!”
Trump waved a hand dismissively, as if swatting away a fly. “Fake news,” he muttered. “It’s all fake news. The cities will be fine. They’ll rebuild. They always rebuild. And when they do, they’ll thank me. They’ll see I was right.”
The room erupted in disbelief. “Thank you?” shouted Colonel James Carter, his face red with rage. “You think they’ll thank you? You’ve turned the planet into a graveyard! You’ve killed more people than Hitler, Stalin, and Mao combined! You’re not a leader—you’re a monster!”
Trump’s face contorted into a scowl. “I’m the president,” he snapped. “I’m the most powerful man in the world. You can’t talk to me like that. I could have you all fired. I could—”
“You’re not the president anymore,” interrupted General Harris, his voice cold and final. “You’re a war criminal. And the world is coming for you.”
As if on cue, the bunker’s alarms blared, a shrill, piercing sound that sent a jolt of panic through the room. The screens flickered, showing live footage of the surface. American military units, flanked by multinational forces from Europe, Japan, and Asia, were converging on the bunker’s entrance. Tanks, armored vehicles, and troops in full combat gear surrounded the complex, their weapons trained on the fortified doors.
“They’re here,” whispered Admiral Nguyen, her voice barely audible over the alarms. “They’re here for you.”
Trump’s bravado faltered. His face, once so confident and bombastic, now looked pale and drawn. “They can’t do this,” he stammered. “I’m the president. They can’t—”
“They can,” said General Harris, stepping forward. “And they will.”
The bunker’s doors were breached within minutes. The sound of boots echoed through the corridors as soldiers stormed the complex, their movements precise and deliberate. Trump was dragged from the situation room, his protests growing increasingly desperate and incoherent. “This is a coup!” he screamed. “A witch hunt! I’m innocent! I’m the greatest president in history!”
But no one was listening.
Outside, under the cold, gray sky, a makeshift tribunal had been assembled. Representatives from the surviving nations stood in solemn silence as Trump was brought before them. The charges were read: crimes against humanity, gross negligence, and the unlawful initiation of a global thermonuclear war. The evidence was irrefutable, the verdict a foregone conclusion.
Trump’s defense was as inelegant as his presidency. He rambled, he ranted, he blamed everyone but himself. “It was the deep state!” he shouted. “The fake media! The weak leaders! They made me do it! I was trying to make America great again!”
But his words fell on deaf ears. The tribunal deliberated for less than an hour before delivering the sentence: death.
The execution was carried out swiftly, a single shot to the head. As Trump’s body crumpled to the ground, a collective sigh of relief swept through the assembled crowd. The man who had brought the world to the brink of annihilation was gone, but the scars he left behind would endure for generations.
In the days that followed, the survivors began the long, arduous task of rebuilding. The world would never be the same, but for the first time in years, there was hope. The nightmare was over, and the dawn of a new era had begun.
The End
Tim C.
@Barbara: One of the things I think is going on, that is hard to quantify, is a split between two different things.
Old School
Harper Lee has a new book coming out in October.
sentient ai from the future
@chemiclord:
a prominent democratic leader once said:
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Matt McIrvin:
I’ve been using that lens to view things more and more although I do it thru the main 4 House Democratic Caucuses. The Progressive Caucus is in effect the one making the noise. The others, namely the Blue Dogs and closely aligned “New Democrats” (aka Blue Dogs 2.0, aka the Yglesias Dems)? Mostly crickets chirping.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
“We must take the high road in all instances; the norms will reassert themselves, I’m sure…..”
Sasha
It’s not like the Democratic presidents didn’t do their damndest to warn everyone that exactly is happening would happen. Any attempt to address the crisis now is going to be correctly interpreted and received as a big ole “I told you so.”
And I’m honestly not sure if people are at the point where they’re willing to swallow that bitter medicine.
Matt McIrvin
I think that some form of the crisis we’re seeing was probably inevitable–it wouldn’t necessarily have involved Trump, but at some point the Republicans were going to retake the White House with someone who had the realization that the Congressional power vacuum and an increasingly sympathetic Supreme Court meant that they could simply rule as dictator through executive orders. And that they could just go down the wishlist, ignoring the law and the Constitution, enacting a hard-right cultural agenda while slashing government services into oblivion, because nobody would stop them.
There’s going to be a backlash from the practical horrors that are caused by this. (Consider what happens during this fall’s hurricane season without NOAA’s hurricane-prediction center or a National Weather Service. Katrina didn’t do George W. Bush any favors.) We’re already seeing the beginnings of it, at the grassroots. But it’s only had small effects on Trump’s popularity so far because it’s early days, and the question is just what we can do if the democratic apparatus has been sabotaged.
schrodingers_cat
The one ex-President who should speak up is W. He should have endorsed KH. But he didn’t.
Berner Brigade would have rushed to their fainting couches, they were whining incessantly about the Liz Cheney endorsement. Does W have any pull left among Rs anymore IDK.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@MobiusKlein:
Criticizing him is always swimming against a hard tide in here. I agree but also know that such an action would be waaaaaay outside not only his tepid political nature (and we see that there is no bar low enough for him to change that) but as others have mentioned, the typical policy of ex-presidents to not get involved in that way we’re discussing.
Of course the Orange Fart Cloud didn’t do that given he basically went into campaigning for another term the day the insurrection failed.
I really do wonder if every ex-President started messaging along the lines we describe if it would have any meaningful impact, I have no idea given we don’t expect anything from ex-Presidents, good or bad.
schrodingers_cat
@Matt McIrvin: Agreed from Nixon onwards the Rs have been on this trajectory. But voters have never benched Rs for a significantly long time for them to have had to recalibrate their RW path.
White people love Rs, they call the shots in this country.
sentient ai from the future
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: if i had my druthers, i’d:
Tim C.
@Matt McIrvin: I agree with this. 100% Trump may, in the end, be the best case scenario for this as he’s utterly incompetent and the people around him are morons. If this had all been done by say a Romney or even a Destantis or Haley, they would avoid the trade war, keep funneling money to Ukraine and then just do all the destruction at home. Trump is…. a moron so he’s doing so much at once it’s going to be a nightmare for everyone, especially Rural GOPers.
karen gail
I have wondered if the President takes the oath to protect and defend, is that oath only for while he is President? or is it something that ends only with death?
TBone
@Janus Daniels: more info on the Murphy guy from the posted video
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Murphy_(tax_campaigner)
No Nym
Just watched a Dem press conference in advance of the SOTU show tonight. Very low-T. I don’t need them to be screaming Mimis, but for the love of God, can any of them speak with passion and clarity? Do they have any experience with the American press?
TBone
Womens History Month – Pennsylvania Chapter. Represent!
This session, Governor Shapiro can sign even more and better legislation! New Legislative Bills deets at link
https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2025/03/maternal-health-breastfeeding-pumping-momnibus-pennsylvania/
Exhibit A
TBone
Stonks are sucking again today
https://www.cnn.com/markets/fear-and-greed
Weird meter getting further toward stuck pegged in the red.
TBone
@TBone: P.S. “Make Sure Your Nanny Won’t Land You In Jail”
Another Scott
@hrprogressive:
Hello Pittsburgh! (45:01)
Best wishes,
Scott.
TBone
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
Um … whut? Haven’t you ever been one $ emergency away from pushing your belongings in a shopping cart outside?
Matt McIrvin
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?
TBone
@Matt McIrvin: did I miss a snark tag again? In the o.p.?
Maybe I need a tune-up
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal
Matt McIrvin
@TBone: (sorry, it’s Ebeneezer Scrooge)
cmorenc
@Tim C.: As potential GOP presidents go, Romney actually would have not been all that bad, albeit some of his social and big-corporate-friendly approaches would not have been appetizing to progressive tastes, and his background as venture capitalist would have been troubling. Nevertheless, unlike Trump Romney actually is a successful businessman with top-notch organizational skills, demonstrated by how he successfully took over the troubled prep for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and made it a spectacular success, leaving SLC with a top-notch light rail and public transport system the public actually uses. And Obama’s ACA was modeled on what Romney implemented in Massachusetts. He certainly would not be gratuitously alienating out longtime allies and trading partners to cozy up with authoritarian thugs.
Steve Crickmore
@schrodingers_cat: Where are the Republicans? We can ask all we like but we are not going to hear a response. They are too far up Trump’s ass. Myself, I think you have to go after the moderates, the legendary undecided…or ‘low information’ or swing voters as they are called. They aren’t completely hopeless as the die hards to the right of them are.
Ruckus
@Another Scott:
Cynicism is normal at this point in our history.
And yes we as a nation have been at this point before, any country that is this big and has this much differences in the political sides and the structure we have that has humans as the main citizens is often going to have cynicism as a part of it’s makeup. Because some humans always want to tell everyone else how to live and to give them all the money for nothing.
schrodingers_cat
@Steve Crickmore: I am not talking about Republican voters, but Republican electeds and hold them to account for their dereliction of duty.
jowriter
@Omnes Omnibus: Seems I heard that, too. Let them hold their fire. Great politicians know how to seize a moment. They are biding their time. Things look very bad right now but I believe things will get worse. So, if they hang back now, I get it. One needs to know when a shot has the best odds to find its mark. Maybe I’m naive. We’ll see.
Matt McIrvin
@Steve Crickmore: I think there were a substantial number of people who really were just voting for cheaper groceries, or, more generally, to get back some version of the economy and the world of 2019, just before the COVID pandemic. Not the MAGA core.
Of course, 2019 world was the product of a relatively restrained Trump being kept in check by the remaining semi-normie Republicans he’d appointed, and just not doing anything in particular to ruin Obama’s strong economy. And his surrogate son/right-hand man in those days was Jared Kushner, who was just venal and clubbish, not the thoroughly deranged zillionaire Elon Musk
We can’t get the MAGA true believers, for the most part. But the “cheaper eggs” voters? Yeah, some of them will peel off. But all that is assuming that voting still matters, which it might not.
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
Hey, if you can’t be cynical and can’t believe what your eyes are telling you, AND you want everything to be perfect at all times, you must be, what is it, I can’t think of the term – oh yeah it’s – not be human…… or is it must be human?
I can never keep those two straight.
cmorenc
@Matt McIrvin: The chronic homelessness problem has a huge component of the chronically mentally ill population who were displaced by de-institutionalizing all but a relative handful of the most severe, dangerous ones (many of whom eventually wound up criminalized in prisons). Many of the rest are chronically unemployable due to severe personal deficits or alcohol/drug addicts eg the notorious denizens of Kensington street in Philly.
Matt McIrvin
@cmorenc: “Housing first” approaches seem to work better than an analysis in terms of something inherently wrong with the homeless people would imply. I think a lot of what’s going on is simply that housing is too damn expensive. That said, the ones who do have some other chronic issue are more likely to be very visible.
Ohio Mom
@cmorenc:Another upside down, inside out, through the mirror moment, rueing that we didn’t have President Romney.
Gvg
@MobiusKlein: his organization keeps sending texts about doing things and such. I happen to hate texts, but other people like them. He does seem to be trying, but it’s not getting through.
Steve Crickmore
@schrodingers_cat: I understand but in order to get to them, the Republican politicians, you have get to some of the squishier parts of their base. For now the Republican pols are pretty useless, prostrating themsleves further and further on their abject fealty to the Orange demogogue. Moynihan would have called it defining indecency down or something like that.
MobiusKlein
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
I’m usually not the voice criticizing him, but the general silence is getting to me.
Gvg
@Mai Naem mobil: that would look bad and undermine any credibility if they are still trying to do things here. That’s what they will do if they have to, but not yet, it would make them look less connected to ordinary Americans. Just like Bushes idea to pick some exile to be the leader of Iraq went over like a lead balloon with actual Iraqis. Trump would call them puppets and it would stick then.
pajaro
Of course, the Clintons and Obamas did warn the American people when they spoke at the Democratic Convention. I have no idea if they persuaded anyone, but it surely wasn’t enough, and that was in a setting where they had a national platform and their speeches were covered by the national media. I have no idea why anyone thinks that a joint appearance would be more than a two day story, at most. An appearance with Bush, which won’t happen, would at least have interest because it was bipartisan, but there’s not a bit of evidence that Bush would do it. As for Biden, if people had valued and were grateful for his achievements, we would be in the first few months of his second term now.
Steve Crickmore
@Matt McIrvin: Yes, that is my worst fear, that any self-respecting aspiring dictator will not allow elections, even mid-terms to go forward, and ironically the economy may tank so badly he may justify that as his reason to suspend elections.
Aziz, light!
@karen gail: The presidency is a job. If one retires or gets laid off from their job, do they owe their time and effort to their employer for the rest of their life? I think they owe us nothing.
Nobody who isn’t a Democrat cares what Democratic leaders have to say, unless it’s phrased to get media attention, like Crockett’s “fuck off” to Musk. Well-versed formal statements by former presidents won’t be heard at all. They will be drowned out by the wurlitzer.
I don’t think Trump voters will ever change their minds about Democrats. Very few will transform themselves like John Cole did. They can’t be taught to think, but many can be demoralized enough not to vote in the next two elections by the effects that Trump will have on their pocketbooks, or his failure to sufficiently hurt the people they hate. That’s my only hope for turning around the ship of state.
pajaro
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
I can’t imagine that there’s a current member of Congress who would describe themself as a blue dog or Ylglesias democrat, in the unlikely event they knew what in the world you were talking about. There was a problem solvers caucus in the House that picked of a single-digit number of a caucus of around 200 members, but I’m not sure it exists any more. Democrats in the House do range in outlook, but they have been able to vote together, to a remarkable degree, for close to a decade. As they just did in the budget vote.
Geminid
@Matt McIrvin: I wonder if you noticed Seth Moulton’s comments on the Trump/Zelensky meeting. They were posted here, and were as or more forceful as any I saw from a Democratic Rep or Senator.
Moulton represents a Massachusetts district not far from from yours, and is considered a “Moderate.”
LAC
@Professor Bigfoot: Third this. The lack of accountability by voters and the whining about “stand for us” is a bit much. You let this mango mussolini swing in here, TWICE, and you now you want someone to speak for you?
And we all owe an obligation to uphold the constitution.
Tim C.
@cmorenc: Oh, I agree with you 100% What I meant was that Romney lost to Obama in 2012, that made him very much an unperson to a lot of the GOP faithful. he also voted guilty on removal from office, twice. His not-as-awfulness is real, I agree, but he would have no pull. I think his loss led to a lot of righty types deciding to go full fascist.
hoytwillrise
@schrodingers_cat: I use Grumbacher watercolor paper, works good for me although not a pro.
TBone
@Matt McIrvin: no, you’re fine; your snark was obvious! I thought maybe I was missing snark on the original comment.
I’m a little slow on the uptake today – every time I clean something, a cat throws up on it and I have start over (fresh laundry included) so am frustrated and exhausted by housework.
schrodingers_cat
@hoytwillrise: Thanks! I have Grumbacher. I also have Fabriano’s 25% cotton paper. I was looking for suggestions for a watercolor/mixed media sketch book that was 100% cotton paper.
Arches is too pricey for practice.
brantl
@Raoul Paste: Then we do a Go Fund Me and round up military vets to be their protection details, funded by the american people!
TBone
What if, and please consider hearing me out, right now the retired Presidents trust their security teams about as much as Mike Pence trusted his in the J6 “getaway” car? It’s a new world of infiltration and nothing is sacred anymore.
brantl
@French Onion Soup: Shrub never lost. Left the White House having won twice, the legal limit?Did they disown him? Sure, but not because he lost; he didn’t.
Ruckus
@chemiclord:
Joe Biden is 82 yrs old. I know/have known people older than that were 100% cognizant.
I’m an old my own self although younger than Joe Biden. And I live in a federal program seniors apartment complex and the oldest person I know of is 98 yrs old. And she is slowing down but not that much. I also know people 20 yrs younger than Joe Biden that are showing strong signs of old age. We are all human, we don’t all believe the same things nor are we all rational – no matter what our age is. We are humans, we run the range of possible concepts of being human. From good/decent to horrible bullshit. And every possibility in between. We age out, a cousin made 6 months, some make over 100 yrs and still cognizant. It’s humanity in all it’s glory, all it’s median go along/get along and in all it’s bullshit. We barely control who and what we each are and do, some better, some far worse. It’s humanity. We have wars, especially when it was basically impossible to see all the damage and aftermath. Today we see all of it. And how it can be far worse than normal day to day life. And yet, some humans are still greedy beyond all belief, and some can’t manage to do more than breathe and exist.
brantl
@chemiclord: Biden would want to speak up because he’s a patriot, FFS.
brantl
@WaterGirl: It’d lose 50 IQ points on the average if Shrub joined the message.
BarcaChicago
SENATOR PATTY MURRAY:
The state of the union is that the President is spitting in the face of the law.
He is letting an unelected billionaire fire cancer researchers and wreck federal agencies like the Social Security Administration at will.
I won’t be attending tomorrow’s Joint Address.
SENATOR CHRIS MURPHY: Donald Trump is aligning with dictators to transition American into an oligarchy. If the United States’ closest partner is Russia, then it makes it easier for Trump, Musk, and their billionaire pals to steal from the American people.
When people refer to AOC, who is fucking amazing, as the single Democrat talking about what’s going on they are telling me that they are refusing to follow any other Democrats, like Patti Murray or Chris Murphy, just to name two. I have started following a large amount of senators and representatives, and I have been surprised at how many of them are speaking clearly to the illegal takeover of the United States. The vast majority wouldn’t get any time on corporate media, of course, but I’m begging you to actually follow many electeds in whatever form you choose because you will be heartened by what you see. And please stop saying that no Democrats are stepping up: it’s not true and it helps to demoralize people at a time when we cannot afford that.
brantl
@Janus Daniels: If you think Biden did less, you need your sight and hearing checked.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Link to the info I reference above:
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/types-democrats-republicans-house-2024/
It shows official caucuses and “quiet” caucuses and yes, Blue Dogs still exist. The “New Democrats” are essentially younger Blue Dogs with more “socially liberal” views but just as neoliberal, Reaganomic, trickle down like the Blue Dogs, aka Yglesias Democrats, aka “economically conservative” (the combo should sound familiar to tons of people here as it’s deja vu all over again, just different semantics).
Again, they’re not saying much although if one or two are, it would be nice to know about it and precisely what they’re saying.
Trollhattan
This is why I became a platinum member.
Matt McIrvin
@Steve Crickmore: Elections are run by the states, and it’s relatively difficult for a President to mess with them directly–but he can cut off any federal funding to help them with it, and do things like shuttering the agencies that try to prevent hackers from messing with them, which he’s already done.
And he could try to shut down the Postal Service to kill vote by mail, and then sow violence and chaos on Election Day to prevent voting in person.
But he may not have to do any of that–he could just use his “dictatorship by executive order” to render Congress utterly irrelevant, so those elections don’t matter, and then disrupt or corrupt the Electoral Vote proceedings so that Presidential votes are also effectively null and void.
Of course, even his getting elected again would be a violation of the 22nd Amendment. But a lot of things he does are unconstitutional. A distinct possibility is that if he doesn’t run for a third term, he could be personally uninterested in helping out a Republican successor.
brantl
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: You must have something better to fo than be picayune about vocabulary, don’t you? Isn’t there a dog somewhere you could be washing?
brantl
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Screw you, Scrooge.
pajaro
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
There are 7 members of the blue dog caucus in a group of 210. they are outliers, and there aren’t many of them. The New Democrats, who you describe as member of a caucus named after a blogger, whom many of them wouldn’t even recognize, and label as Reaganites or neoliberals, labels they would reject, include 10 members of the Progressive Caucus. I don’t think the article, which has problems of its own, supports your reading of the Democratic Party.
Harrison Wesley
@TBone: I feel a good horror story growing in your second paragraph. The hook being that the cat doesn’t actually exist……
dnfree
@pajaro: Why don’t we not do the “Biden would be in his second term now” thing one more time? It just derails the discussion. That’s your opinion, and others including me don’t agree. There’s no way to know what would have happened. The Biden we saw at the debate did not look to have another four years in him, sadly. The younger voters in my family were glad when he stepped aside.
dnfree
@Omnes Omnibus: I think we’re far from a “collective” decision on most of that here.
stacib
@AnnaN: Oh, puleeze – every single one of them have more than enough personal dollars to secure their families safety. As former presidents, they have an obligation to speak out.
WTFGhost
@WaterGirl: This is all my humble opinion, but, you were responding to someone reminding us of goose-steppers.
So I’ll say, consider the possibility that W insists that if any other President speaks out, he’ll scream that it’s all partisan attack politics. That is the usual method Republicans use to shut down any speaking out against Republican priorities, like “Russia helping Trump,” McConnell said he’d broadcast far and wide it was a partisan attack on Trump
One way to think would be, the best time to speak out would be when they have enough “power” in their collective voice to apply to a wedge or lever to do real, meaningful, help, rather than add to the background noise. And yet, Trump is going to look for ways to neutralize them, more likely than not.
TBone
@Harrison Wesley: oooh! Write it, that’s a fantastic idea! It could grow tendrils…
Vet recommended sneaking canned pumpkin into cat food as a fiber supplement. Never met my vengeful cats when they disapprove! Everything looked great on the surface…until it didn’t!
artem1s
I think there is a pretty good chance the dry drunk has fallen off the wagon and maybe suffering from early onset dementia. He’s retreated the same way Raygun retreated and dropped out of public view. And anyway, he never had any gravitas. Anything he said would sound like a joke, especially because of the inevitable smirk that always comes at the end of all his sentences.
Geminid
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: This portrayal of the New Democrat caucus is so exaggerated as to be misleading.
The biggest difference between the New Democrat caucus and the Progfeszive Caucus is that the members of the first mostly represent purple and light blue districts, while Progressive Caucus members by and large represent the bluer– and thus safer– districts.
The differences on policy are not very great. If you graphed the 215 House Democrats on a “Left:” to “Right” scale, you’d get a fat Bell Curve, with the “Rightward” half of the Progressive Caucus and the “Leftward” half of New Democrats overlapping in the middle. I think in their cases this is basically a matter of branding.
Try this with your own state’s delegation. I think Colorado has two Progressive Caucus members and two New Democrats. Find the practical differences between Reps. Neguse, DeGette, Crow and Pettersen.
Then I’d suggest trying the same with New Mexico’s three Representatives; then do Oregon’s and keep going. If you’re going to make generalizations about broad groups of Democratic House members, you ought to learn who they actually are individually. That’s not that hard if you’re willing to look beyond the national sites that only cover a relative handful of them.
It’s really very easy. I just google their names, read the Wikipedia article under “All,” then hit “News” and read some articles. They’re all well-covered by state and local news sites. To the extent you are curious about politics you might find this enjoyable,not to mention encouraging.
Gloria DryGarden
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: oops
Gloria DryGarden
@Geminid: you’ve done a lot of deep research. Do you have a summary, a chart, a 215 paragraph write up, state by state, w easy to read bullet points? Not everyone has time to reinvent the wheel and duplicate your research. For real do you have a linkable write up? I’d Like to access it.
anyway, cool. For a good time, check out last night’s Ukraine thread, really. In the comments YY gave us a deep poem about the Ukraine Russian war, composed& translated by ai, surprisingly moving. Later in the thread, super late at night, some brazen sensitive chick threw down a haiku, and a sweet fun discussion of poetry and American education ensued. All chats w YY give fruitful yields.
Then again, might not be your thing. You have a comment on another thread I think could be front pages. I’ll go find it.
I should go outside, and do yard work tasks, but the wind is fierce, and it’s under 40º
rebelsdad
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: иди на хуй
AnnaN
@stacib: I don’t think you can speak to what someone else can and cannot afford. Liquidity doesn’t equate to worth. I disagree on their “duty” to speak up as well as the effect of what their speaking up will accomplish.
not that
@Trollhattan:
The real question is, “How many living Presidents are not alive?”.
Geminid
@Gloria DryGarden: I suggest starting with your own state. Research Colorado’s four Democratic Representatives. That’s a way to familiarize yourself with issues and dynamics common to most other Democratic Representatives, such as district Demographics and their Partisan Voting Indexes– R+2, D+7 etc.
You’ll find those in the Wikipedia articles on the individusal Congressional districts, along with primary and general election results. That’s valuable reading, I think.
Then maybe pick a similar state; Washington has a lot in common with Colorado, both demographically and politically. Democrats there represent a mix of blue and purple districts. Same with Oregon.
I first got into this general topic during the 2018 midterms. I paid special attention to the Democrats who flipped red districts and helped win a badly needed House majority. There were were 40 of those and I thought they were an especially talented bunch. Two of them– Andy Kim and Elissa Slotkin- were just elected Senator. Two others– Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger– are running for Governor this year, of New Jersey and Virginia respectively.
Rep. Sharice Davids, who is Kansas’s lone Democratic Representative, also flipped her seat in 2018. Davids’ district is not that different than Jason Crow’s; he flipped a Colorado district the same year. Davids is someone I rarely hear about in “national” news stories, but she’s a hard working politician who gets plenty of coverage in state and local media. She and her district are well worth studying.
Now I’m reminded of my own project, which is to write up profiles of our 2024 House intake. I think there are about 25 freshmen this time. I intend to write them up in pairs, starting with the Pacific coast states and working east.
But I was talking about this last December, so I think it’s time put my skates on and get it done. I will keep you posted.
Timill
@TBone: Ours are surprisingly accepting of it…
We also sometimes get pre-mixed pumpkin and chicken cat pate, which they also eat happily.
Pennsylvanian
Sorry, but this is bullshit. It is not the job of former presidents to try to fix the revolting people that have been put into power. It’s just not their fucking responsibility. They did their jobs and handed over an increasingly dysfunctional country, but it was legit.
Americans bought what the fascists were selling. No fucking way anybody is coming to bail us out.
Anybody still looking for hopium coming on a white steed to save us is delusional, especially if it is imagined in the form of a normie former President appealing to the better angels of Nazis.
WaterGirl
@not that: Ha!
Caught me in a sentence re-write that went wrong.