Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Everybody saw this coming.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

In after Baud. Damn.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

You cannot shame the shameless.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

T R E 4 5 O N

This fight is for everything.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

You are here: Home / Politics / Proud to Be A Democrat / Monday Evening Open Thread: Perspective

Monday Evening Open Thread: Perspective

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— Florida Chris (@chrislongview.bsky.social) May 19, 2025 at 11:03 AM

Yes, it’s a terrible thing that Joe Biden is facing yet another undeseved challenge. But if he can respond with dignity and grace, shame on us fellow Democrats who respond with doomerism… or worse, half-baked accusations and conspiracy theories. Public self-pity is even lower than “savvy” cynicism, because it’s as contagious as measles.

If 200,000 people spread across four states had voted differently, we'd be talking about the policies of the first black female president. Instead, Trump wins a razor-thin race, is still able to be defeated, but Bluesky is full of people who want to imagine they're Jews in 1936 Berlin. /1

— Tom Nichols (@radiofreetom.bsky.social) May 18, 2025 at 10:42 PM

I wrote about this in Our Own Worst Enemy, this thirst for drama. (Or as George Will calls it, a “hunger for apocalypse.”) Defending democracy is often dull and repetitive and involves simple things like showing up and voting in *every* election. But that’s not enough for White Rose wannabes. /2

Just as MAGA wants to believe they’re smashing Deep State pedophile conspiracies because it gives meaning to their lives, Blue MAGA wants to believe they’re American Solzhenitsyns who must go into exile. That’s not only stupid, it’s counterproductive. /3

This is a liberal version of learned helplessness, where everything is pointless and every battle is already lost. And people whom the government doesn’t even know *exist* are talking as if they’re one door knock away from a camp. It’s inane and breeds paralysis. /4x

I accept this amendment

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— Tom Nichols (@radiofreetom.bsky.social) May 19, 2025 at 2:09 PM

Trump wants to be Hitler. But we still have many chances to forestall ‘Berlin 1939’… if we don’t surrender in advance.

Reader Interactions

134Comments

  1. 1.

    columbusqueen

    Have been really struggling with this news. Had a good cry yesterday. Life, & God, is so damn unfair.

  3. 3.

    Suzanne

    This is a liberal version of learned helplessness, where everything is pointless and every battle is already lost.

    Maybe I’m deluded, but I honestly think that not everything is terrible, that some people’s minds are still changeable. Maybe they’re vibes-y, maybe they’re dumb….. but they’re still persuadable. Not all is lost.

  4. 4.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Best part of that photo is Willow giving everybody a “Don’t Fuck With Us Fellas” look.

  6. 6.

    JoyceH

    I was watching various news shows yesterday, and it’s so irksome when the panel just makes mouth noises so they can be ‘covering the issue’ when nobody knows very much. I swear EVERY show, the anchor asked some version of ‘what do you suppose the family is saying right now?’ Geez, how can anyone know?! Yes, I’m sure they’ve rallied around, I’m sure they’re being supportive yada-yada. Idle speculation is Not News!

  7. 7.

    Baud

    Via reddit, The Onion does it again.

    Biden Faces Mounting Pressure To Let Younger Democrat Battle Cancer

    Perfection.

  9. 9.

    Princess

    Ohhhh Jill looks so sad. 😞 very never seen that face on her.

    I hope they never learn about all the ghouls out there, especially the ones nominally on our team.

  11. 11.

    zhena gogolia

    If I’m Jill, I’m not only sad but PISSED AS HELL.

    And I think she is.

  15. 15.

    Bupalos

    I think it’s got to be killing Tom Nichols to have been pushed into the dirty leftist corner that he now has to live in. Give him a chance to punch a hippie and he’ll take it.

    I’m not going to say he’s wrong about the “flee the country now” stuff for the vast majority of people who are slinging it. I think it’s maybe stupid and definitely counterproductive and does breed paralysis. And yes, we’re not even close to 1930’s America level destabilization and destruction let alone 1930’s Germany. Americans just don’t really do history, or pay attention to other countries, or appreciate the great position we’ve enjoyed which has spoiled us, and constantly think things happening here are unprecedentedly bad.

    But I think maybe talking about the deep reasons why it doesn’t make sense to flee, offering a little deeper understanding of the global forces behind Trump, and showing a little more sympathy for the urgency of people who are at a sharper end of the stick than Tom Nichols… I think that would be less…. how to put it…. stupid and counterproductive?

  16. 16.

    Suzanne

    @Bupalos:

    I think it’s got to be killing Tom Nichols to have been pushed into the dirty leftist corner that he now has to live in. 

    Right?!?! He has to hang out with us now, and we’re uncouth and trashy.

  17. 17.

    JPL

    Gotta say that I thought trump would wait 29 hours before attacking Biden.   i’m not sure he made 24 hours.

    I really hate that Joe has to take this journey but will be thinking of him every step of the way.

  18. 18.

    David_C

    @Suzanne: Nichols can be uncouth and trashy. Fits right in.

    I love this post. Just like climate change, doomerism doesn’t help us. Every call, every protest, every vote, every engagement – they count.

  19. 19.

    Tim C.

    Schnorkles reskeeted this from me last week.  I’ve condensed it.

    I mean, there are similar features and some of the same evils here , but some real differences thatneed to be pointed out. Example: The SA (Brownshirts) had a membership of 4 Million people in a population of 65 Million.

    Another point, Hitler rose to power *AFTER* an economic collapse. After 2 Million German soldiers died in WWI, after a brief communist takeover of Munich that required the army to put down.

    Finally, keep in mind, the vast majority of Trumpers are deluded morons who will be hurt hard by their own policy decisions, and Trump is assigning people like Rubio to 20 different jobs because the GOP establishment is obedient but they know how dumb he is as well.

    Yes, people are going to die. From lack of health care, from police violence, from delayed action on climate change, and from lack of research into medicines and other fields. But anyone thinking this is even a 6 year reich is functionally a collaborator.

  20. 20.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Nichols is simply another Never-Trumper who, unlike Rubin, really hasn’t changed his spots, he’s simply tossed on a light jacket of a neutral color so as to appeal to a certain type of self-professed progressive.

    Conservatives like him (and others that get mentioned here in a positive way) are not good faith commenters on what’s good for *Democrats* given we’ve been fighting for “small ‘d'” democracy a helluva lot longer than his sorry ass claims to have been fighting.

    Plus, he’s ignoring the undercurrent of protest around the country that simply ain’t going away.  Yeah, he can cherry pick some doomerist sentiment but the actual reality is far different.

  22. 22.

    Geminid

    @Bupalos: Nichols hasn’t been pushed into some dirty Leftist corner, and he has nothing to be ashamed of on that score. That is projection on your part.

    Tom Nichol is a Centrist and would likely self-describe as such. Standing up for the Democratic Party is not a “Leftist” position, it’s a pragmatic one.

  23. 23.

    twbrandt

    I was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year. I am fortunate that it is the least malignant form (Gleeson 3+3) and I will most likely make my final exit with it rather than from it.

    All this to say that I am both deeply grieved for President Biden, and incandescently furious at the people making political hay over this, and the amount of misinformation about this disease floating around out there.

    My prayers are with President Biden, and those who love him.

  24. 24.

    Lily

    Funny how current talk about him staying in the race never seems (that I’ve seen) to bring up all that went on as GOP campaigns shielded the issues Reagan and T clearly had.  And the contrast of never made to withdraw, followed by massive coverups continuing in office despite  risks that are/were traitorous.
    Funny how nothing (that I’ve seen yet) has made a big deal about the timing of when Tapper’s book was brought out, which happens to be at the height so far of T’s unpopularity,  just as trust in the economy and markets is shaking like maybe something bad needs to stop.​

  26. 26.

    Tim C.

    @Melancholy Jaques: An Inlaw I can deal with though.  Tom is the kind of guy I would be okay losing an election to without needing to worry about the destruction of everything.  He’s an ACTUAL conservative and not a fascist.

  27. 27.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Hegseth: “There’s a reason why our nation’s most closely held secrets are contained in certain places with only access from certain people. Nobody takes that more seriously than me.”

    Grammar po-leeese, arrest this man.

  29. 29.

    suzanne

    @Geminid: I’ve heard Nichols on a few podcasts, and I get the sense that he is mildly squicked out by the realization that he now votes the same way as your proverbial annoying niece with blue hair who goes to Oberlin. Like, having to vote the same way as dirty low-class Democrats makes him feel a bit gross.

    “The Republican Party left ME!”. You know the type. But he’s a keen observer of MAGA.

  30. 30.

    azlib

    @Suzanne:

    I agree Suzanne. We are not helpless. I keep telling my liberal friends to avoid doomscrolling. Trump and his minions are weaker now than they were 100 days ago. Their policies are not popular and autocrats need the support of the populous. Even the Nazis knew that. I know it will be a slog and a lot of damage will be done, but I believe we will prevail.

  31. 31.

    Steve LaBonne

    @suzanne: Conservatives are people who have a really strong “ick” factor about people not like them and cultural signifiers not like their own. The ones who haven’t gone full Nazi can be useful allies of convenience while the emergency lasts, but only that.

  32. 32.

    suzanne

    @Steve LaBonne: Agree. But we can be allies for a little while, as needed.

    ETA: I think gatekeeping is ultimately unhelpful. And Tom Nichols doesn’t have to come hang out with me — in fact, please do not. We can take his vote and begrudging support.

  33. 33.

    Steve LaBonne

    I am kind of a broken record about this, but upping my activity level in Unitarian Universalism (in July I will be attending my first Summer Institute, in Oberlin, and also beginning my term on the board of my congregation) really helps keep me focused on moving forward rather than succumbing to despair.

  35. 35.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Another question we should always be asking Republicans like Nichols is how they vote down ticket.  If he’s voting straight Dem, then people like me will stop carping and looking at him as anything but a good-faith actor in all of this.

    In the meantime, great, take whatever (D) votes we get from those clowns (and others like him that now occupy that “third way”-ish place that our Media Betters and tons of the Totebagger crowd love) but listening to them advise Democrats on shit and taking it seriously isn’t a sign of serious thinking.

  37. 37.

    Sure Lurkalot

    When is a good time to cancel your FTFNYT subscription? Any and every day ending in “y”.

    Joe Biden’s announcement that he has aggressive prostate cancer has derailed Democrats who are wrestling with a complicated mix of sympathy and unsettling new questions about his health.

    This is the front page news while the budget bill that explodes the debt, takes health care away from millions, creates a 10 year ban on state AI regulation, slashes funding for scientific research,  universities, NOAA and FEMA, sells off public lands (among other horrors)…all to deliver trillions in tax cuts to the morbidly, obscenely wealthy…is comfortably summarized in a paragraph and ensconced on page A14.

  39. 39.

    Steve LaBonne

    @Glory b: “Democratic strategists, operatives and donors” are precisely the problem with the party and should just FOAD.

  40. 40.

    suzanne

    @Steve LaBonne: He strikes me as a dude who didn’t meet anyone who attended public schools until he was well into his teens, and still seems mildly surprised that we brush our teeth regularly.

  45. 45.

    Ohio Mom

    Off topic, has anyone seen WaterGirl? I haven’t seen her byline since Saturday, and I mailed her photos from the Ohio meet-up and havnt heard anything back.

  48. 48.

    Steve LaBonne

    @Baud: She did say she was up to her neck in the aftermath of home renovations. I know what that’s like.

  53. 53.

    Steve LaBonne

    @narya: Should really get over there more often anyway. Lunch and an couple of hours at the Allen Art Museum is a great way to spend a day, plus in the fall I should be more assiduous at checking the calendar for classical concerts.

  54. 54.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Blue MAGA wants to believe they’re American Solzhenitsyns who must go into exile.

    I realize he’s talking about a particular extremely online demographic, but ya know, it’s easy to not feel in danger when you’re a rich, well-connected, straight white Christian* guy. For some of us others who aren’t, not so much…

    *Albeit he’s Greek Orthodox, but the point holds.

  56. 56.

    Dan B

    @Steve LaBonne: My mother, my father’s sisters, and a couple cousins graduated from Oberlin so it’s very familiar.  It achieved many firsts in higher education.

  57. 57.

    frosty

    @Ohio Mom: We traded emails about an OTR post and the last message back was 2:10PM on 5/17. I sent one more that evening that she didn’t answer.

    ETA She’s probably wiped out from moving furniture around.

  58. 58.

    WTFGhost

    This is a liberal version of learned helplessness, where everything is pointless and every battle is already lost. And people whom the government doesn’t even know *exist* are talking as if they’re one door knock away from a camp. It’s inane and breeds paralysis.

    Many people are in shock and depressed, both at the outcome, and what the outcome has allowed, and at the morbid talk. It’s important to realize that people don’t become revolutionaries just because things are bad – they become such because when it appears things could be better.

    That is one thing that MAGA excels at. By having so many enemies, by “loving liberal tears,” by being able to present the monstrous as virtuous, they make it seem like things “could be better”  in a lot of ways, so adding work requirements to SNAP and Medicaid are exciting, “things could be better!” goals.

    Also, learned helplessness is also a real condition. Just yelling about it doesn’t really help, though it might get some folks out of a rut

  59. 59.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Baud:
     

    No one listens to me.

    That’s too bad. You should get a wife and children so that…yeah, never mind.

  60. 60.

    Seanly

    Yes, Trump wants to be a Hitler, Putin, Pol Pot, Emporer Palpatine. However, the manifesto by Karis Nemik in Andor S1 has some good lines (yes, it’s just a TV show but good writing can hit on a wider truth):

    “And then remember this. The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire’s authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this. Try.”

    Given that tryanny is hard and Trump is at the end of the day one of the laziest MF’ers on the planet, he has to work hard to maintain all this. Yes, he has toadys and Quislings and little Smithers working for him, but I don’t think he has the fire or drive to sustain his tyranny

    EDIT: this applies also to the previous post about the need for pushback on the biomedical cuts. It applies to all the things – f’king with Social Security, the FAA, FEMA, etc. Every bit of pushback is pressure.

  62. 62.

    Matt McIrvin

    I feel like Nichols is a bit downplaying what is actually happening to immigrants, which is quite analogous to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany. The extermination camps with gas chambers aren’t there yet, but the Nazis had to work up to that too.

    I don’t see myself as one of the Jews, I see myself as one of the solid German citizens who had the luxury of being able to keep their heads down, go along to get along and be just fine while they carted the Jews away. I don’t want to be that guy.

  63. 63.

    Geminid

    From Madoc Cairns:*

       Watching the Pope hug his brother after the Mass: Beautiful. Enough ceremony…what matters is LOVE.

    Watching Vance greet the Pope: Daring to Grasp the Pontifical Elbow, this Yokel Princeling hails the Vicar of Christ with the familiarity of a Hog Farmer or Tavern Keep.

    “Yokel Princeling.” I like it.

    * Madoc Cairns is Editor of Plough Quarterly, “a Magazine of Stories and Culture” published from Walden, New York.

  64. 64.

    Geminid

    @suzanne: I have found that many of the Republican defectors have a more clear-eyed view of their former party than do most Democrats.

  65. 65.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    @Bupalos:  Agree, unless you are an immigrant, or the child of an immigrant.   These gop putzes hate the rule of law.

    This presidency has been awful for federal workers, too.  How can we blame a scientist for leaving in order to keep on science-ing?

  66. 66.

    Betty

    @Princess: They have. His granddaughter Naomi posted a pushback  piece on Threads calling them out, especially the authors of The Book.

  69. 69.

    Jay

    Excerpts from the F’N NYT,

    Voters who have not heard much about some of the many major news events from the first 100 days of Mr. Trump’s second term have a higher opinion of the job he is doing, according to the latest New York Times/Siena College poll. A little under half of the 42 percent of voters who approved of the job Mr. Trump is doing as president said they had not heard much about at least some of the ups and downs of his administration’s decisions. . .

    Voters were more likely to approve of how Mr. Trump is handling immigration if they had not heard much about the case of Mr. Abrego Garcia, who the administration acknowledges was mistakenly deported. Officials have insisted he is a member of the MS-13 gang, and have made little effort to help him return to the United States.

    Voters who had not heard about this and other immigration-related cases were also more likely to say Mr. Trump’s handling of immigration had been about right or had not gone far enough.

    snip

    The start of Mr. Trump’s term included the worst drop in the S&P 500 for a new president since 1974, when Gerald R. Ford took over from Richard M. Nixon after the Watergate scandal.

    And while most Americans have heard about the stock market fluctuations, 20 percent have heard little about them or nothing at all.

    Those voters were much more likely to approve of Mr. Trump’s handling of the economy. Overall, 55 percent who had not heard much about stock market fluctuations approved, compared with 41 percent of voters who had heard more about the fluctuations.

  70. 70.

    Miss Bianca

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: I feel that way about all the Never-Trumpers at The Bulwark. The enemy of my enemy is…not my friend. An ally of some limited convenience at best.

    @Baud: I will say this for Never-Trumpers, they certainly seem to grasp the stakes and the reality of our current political situation – and just how venal and vicious their former GOP comrades are – better than a lot of people on the left.

  71. 71.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Sister Golden Bear: Also, a lot of other people (particularly scientists and other academics) are fleeing the country simply because they know they won’t be able to get jobs here any more. The brain drain from Thatcher’s UK was similar.

  73. 73.

    JWR

    Couchfucker has seeded the ground for Trump to go back to being president Ass Wipe again:

    (Yahoo News) – “Look, I mean, first of all, of course, we wish the best for the former president’s health. It sounds pretty serious, but hopefully he makes the right recovery. Look, I-I-I will say,” he stutters. “Whether the right time to have this conversation is now or some point in the future, we really need to be honest about whether the former president was capable of doing the job. And that’s no, you can separate the desire for him to have the right health outcome with the recognition that whether it was doctors or whether it was staffers around the former president, I don’t think he was able to do a good job for the American people. That’s not politics, that’s not because I disagreed with him on policy. That’s because I don’t think he was in good enough health.”

    I wonder when Tapper will appear on the late night shows. I wonder how far Colbert will go in extending his usual praise for Tapper’s alleged political wisdom.

  75. 75.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    @Tim C.: Is fear collaboration?  Maybe.  Must ponder that.  There are many people stoking folks’ fear for fun, profit and a desire to see a horror show.

    Otherwise, I do so agree.  This president’s rallies are sparsely attended already and we are entering a long, hot summer with high prices hitting hard.

  77. 77.

    Matt McIrvin

    @JWR: Biden WAS MANIFESTLY doing the job far better than Trump–even a potted plant could do that. So I’m not sure Vance wants that comparison.

  82. 82.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    @Sure Lurkalot:  that is our sticky problem, is it not?

    Many in our press appear incapable of discerning what is critically important to this country.

  83. 83.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Tim C.:

    I mean an in-law in the sense that he doesn’t really get us. Nichols thinks he knows all about us from his years of telling everyone awful we are. He thinks he knows why Democrats lose by referring to things that he & his Republican friends don’t like about Democrats.

  85. 85.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Tim C.:

    Another point, Hitler rose to power *AFTER* an economic collapse. After 2 Million German soldiers died in WWI, after a brief communist takeover of Munich that required the army to put down.

    That just indicates that we’re worse people than the Nazis. I can believe that.

  86. 86.

    Geminid

    @suzanne: According to Tom Nichols’ Wikipedia biography:

       Nichols was born in Chicopee, Massachusetts and grew,up in Chicopee, Massachusetts where he attended public public schools.

    Tom Nichols has said he did not grow up in an educated family and that his parents were Depression-era dropouts (I assume he meant high school dropouts). His paternal grandparents were Greek immigrants and his mother was of Irish descent. He identifies as Greek Orthodox Christian.

    Fun Tom Nichols fact: in 1994, he was a five-time Jeapordy winner.

  87. 87.

    Miss Bianca

    @JWR: You know what really frosts my melon about all this shit? I mean, NOT just the fact that once again, we’re fixated on Biden’s alleged sins and wickednesses and weaknesses while refusing to acknowledge that even in extremis he would be a thousand times better a POTUS than Trump.

    I mean that a cancer diagnosis can come out of the fucking blue and take everyone by surprise. My older sister told me on Labor Day, 2021 that she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer; she was dead a mere THREE WEEKS later.

    So all of these people daring to fucking opine on the subject can choke to death on a bag of salted dicks. And I’ll immediately think better of any Democratic official that says as much.

  88. 88.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    Perfection.

    Indeed! They fucking nailed it.

    I laughed loud enough that they probably heard me two doors down.

  89. 89.

    WTFGhost

    @Steve in the ATL: With Baud, it might be safest to specify “of your own,” so that no wives or children end up kidnapped, and, amazingly, listening very intently to this stranger….

    @Omnes Omnibus: Cats are very good listeners. They’re not very likely to offer useful suggestions, or even edible snacks, so, there’s that….

    @Steve LaBonne: Metastisized cancer is *never* good, and bone cancer can be especially bad for quality of life, especially assuming it’s hips/femur that are affected. He is one of the few people for whom I hope the Catholic view is correct, 100%, because I just know, he’s going to be a bit confused meeting Jesus, and St. Pete, and asking “so… how can I help?” before they roll out the proverbial red carpet for him.

    (I’ve always felt the best Christians would realize “OMG, I’m seeing Jesus!” and forget that they’re dead, and instead of asking for blessings, ask “so, what were you hoping I could do?” just before feeling the love of all who came before, who also wanted to help make the burden of creating paradise easier.)

    I wish for the best possible outcome. I’m a wuss that way, but I’ve always felt weird hoping “he survives for a few quality years,” because… hang it, my wishes probably do nothing, but if they *did*, I wouldn’t want it to be *my* desire, but the desire for what’s best, and that’s a question begging desire if ever there was one.
    (Yes, this really is “question begging” – it assumes the question “what is the best outcome?” is answered – or, even answer-able! – and that’s what it means, “to beg the question.”

    Most people use “begs the question,” to mean “raises the question,” probably having mislearned the concept by context, which allows both possibilities.)

  90. 90.

    JWR

    @Matt McIrvin: Damn straight!

    BTW, NBC cut into their regular news coverage to show Trump signing this anti cyber bullying act, (99-0 in the senate), and really wondered who the f*ck are the ones doing his laugh track, meaning after every one of his inane “jokes”.

  91. 91.

    Eyeroller

    @JWR: I know that couchfucker has his own motives, but this line of attack on Joe Biden makes me incandescently angry for personal reasons.  My late husband had the recommended screenings and developed an aggressive cancer (not prostate, type not relevant here) cancer.  One of the hallmarks of “aggressive” cancers is that *they grow quickly* and often seemingly appear from nowhere.  They also have a proclivity to metastasize early, so the primary may still be relatively small when they have already spread.

    There is no reason, none. to believe that anybody knew about this diagnosis even 6 months ago and covered it up.

    Prostate cancer in general tends to metastasize to bone. Even relatively well-behaved prostate cancers will get there eventually.  So that’s not too shocking by itself.  If Joe’s cancer is hormone-dependent it may be manageable for a few years yet.

  92. 92.

    BellyCat

    @Miss Bianca: I will say this for Never-Trumpers, they certainly seem to grasp the stakes and the reality of our current political situation – and just how venal and vicious their former GOP comrades are – better than a lot of people on the left.

    Yup. It takes one to know one. The left quite literally cannot conceive that anyone can be entirely self-serving and devoid of basic humanity. The right are well aware of the members of their country club.

  95. 95.

    singfoom

    @Miss Bianca: An addled Biden would be an improvement by a factor of 10 or more than Trump.  For one, Biden didn’t try and kill our fucking leadership in science across many fields / the teaching programs built up over decades that the world flocks here for giving us even better researchers.

    Or piss away every single advantage/alliance fought and won for in the post WWII world order.  It’s all so tragically and unnecessarily dumb.

  96. 96.

    Jay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Kinda, kinda not.

    after a brief communist takeover of Munich that required the army to put down.

    The attempt at taking over Munich was by the Communists, communists, Socialists and the Workers Unions, including the sailors of the Kreigsmarine.

    The revolts in Munich and the Rhur were brutally put down by the Freikorps, private armies let loose by the Social Democrats, which later went on to destabilize the Baltics and tried to set up their own little mini-States.

    Weimar Germany pretty much collapsed as a fairly stable state because of that, and the Great Depression. The Communists, communists, Socialists and the Unions would not form a coalition with the Social Democrats in subsequent elections.

  98. 98.

    suzanne

    @Geminid:

    I have found that many of the Republican defectors have a more clear-eyed view of their former party than do most Democrats. 

    Oh, this is 100% true. It’s why I listen to them, or read them. They definitely help me understand the dynamics. As I said…. Nichols is a keen observer.

  100. 100.

    mrmoshpotato

    @singfoom:

    An addled Biden would be an improvement by a factor of 10 or more than Trump. For one, Biden didn’t try and kill our fucking leadership in science across many fields / the teaching programs built up over decades that the world flocks here for giving us even better researchers.

    Or piss away every single advantage/alliance fought and won for in the post WWII world order. It’s all so tragically and unnecessarily dumb.

    Biden also stood up to dictators instead of being their bitch.

  104. 104.

    Jackie

    @Geminid:

    I have found that many of the Republican defectors have a more clear-eyed view of their former party than do most Democrats.

    I agree.  And they don’t wear blue or rose colored glasses.

  105. 105.

    JWR

    @Miss Bianca:

    “My older sister told me on Labor Day, 2021 that she had been diagnosed …”

    I’m so sorry. For me, it was my youngest brother, and it only took 4 months. Damn!

  106. 106.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Miss Bianca: Yup. My father was a physician, and the time from his cancer diagnosis to his death was eight weeks. Shit can hit you fast.

  107. 107.

    Tim C

    @HopefullyNotcassandra: I get what you are saying,  and I think the word “functional” might need some… adjustment.   But it’s the same.  Giving up and running away isn’t the right move.  Giving in to fear does help them and not us.

  108. 108.

    dnfree

    @twbrandt:

     I hope your biopsy score is correct. My husband’s was 6 at the biopsy and 7 when they actually removed the prostate. Biopsies aren’t completely accurate because they’re a sample. It depends on your age also. Every individual has to decide what they’re comfortable with.

  109. 109.

    Citizen Alan

    @suzanne: i suspect if someone did the research, it would show that there have been more derogatory comments made about oberlin college over the last 20 years as a way to mock liberals than there have been actual people to have attended oberlin college in its entire history.

  110. 110.

    different-church-lady

    I’m pretty unabashed in my Nazi comparisons, but even I don’t pretend they’re gonna roust me out of my house onto a train at the point of a gun.

  111. 111.

    BellyCat

    @Jay: Excellent article by K-Thug. Both charts are particularly insightful. The bottom 20% are going to lose  net income by more than 10%. That’s gonna hit MAGA demographic HARD!

    And, only 3% on Medicaid able to work but are not — which the GOP paints as the vast majority— are likely to have extenuating circumstances (such as caregiving, hello!?!?).

  114. 114.

    trollhattan

    Pretty sure Melanie declares her husband’s second term illegal here.

    First Lady Melania Trump has joined her husband President Donald Trump as he signed a bill into law that makes posting so-called “revenge porn” and deepfake explicit content illegal.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74qnyz89y3o

  115. 115.

    suzanne

    @Citizen Alan: Yes. Lots of things live in their head rent-free, and Oberlin is one.

    The amazing musician Josh Ritter went to Oberlin. Y’all should give him a listen, if you’re not familiar.

  116. 116.

    Citizen Alan

    @BellyCat:The left quite literally cannot conceive that anyone can be entirely self-serving and devoid of basic humanity.

    Guess I’m not really on the left then.

  118. 118.

    Lyrebird

    @Miss Bianca:So all of these people daring to fucking opine on the subject can choke to death on a bag of salted dicks. And I’ll immediately think better of any Democratic official that says as much.

    Ditto to everything you said, but especially this.  And ouch re: your sister.

    I try to break the habit of criticizing people on my own side more harshly than the other side, but man, when I saw on an earlier thread that Amanda Marcotte was suggesting the Bidens had hid something, UGGGGGGGGGGGG

  119. 119.

    Lyrebird

    @Another Scott: Thanks. There’s a bit of good news further down, as well,

    JUST IN: Judge Howell rules that the Trump/DOGE takeover of the U.S. Institute of Peace was illegal and should be treated as null and void.

    Bluesky link here

    Obviously this doesn’t make the damage go away, but I will celebrate EVERY victory against the pillager in chief and his enablers.

  121. 121.

    Baud

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Glory B linked to that in the prior thread, but I didn’t know the creeps he was talking to. Is PodBro their actual name or is that something you call them?

  131. 131.

    different-church-lady

    @Miss Bianca: 

    So all of these people daring to fucking opine on the subject can choke to death on a bag of salted dicks.

    Nominated.

  132. 132.

    PatrickG

    @Ohio Mom: I got an email from her today do can confirm life. Haven’t read rest of thread so proof of life may be old news.

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