I was a member of my county Democratic Executive Committee. At one meeting Carl Levin showed up. He said wherever he went he attended local dem meetings if he could. He was eloquent, collegial and approachable. Thanks for reminding us of those days.
Yep . . . a while back I was "Boom"er-Scrolling Bruce Springsteen youtube videos. One where he sang Woodie Guthrie's This Land is Your Land.
It was sometime in the 80s, when Wall Street was closing factories all over the USA. He said he wasn't sure the song was true anymore but that "It ought to be", then he said "Sometimes with countries, just like it is with people, you let the best part of yourself slip away."
Indeed. I think Mr. Springsteen was one of the high-profile celebrity TDS victims in recent years too. I still think he's one of the greats -- nothing political takes away from his genius --but it's sad.
«It was sometime in the 80s, when Wall Street was closing factories all over the USA. He said he wasn't sure the song was true anymore but that "It ought to be", then he said "Sometimes with countries, just like it is with people, you let the best part of yourself slip away."»
I keep reading people writing that the USA and the UK etc. have been devastated/"slipped away" by reaganism/neoliberalism but that to me seems quite wrong:
* I keep seeing affluent middle class and rich upper class people enjoying ever better lifestyles as their incomes and wealth (based on property and stocks mainly but in part on managerial and professional salaries) have been booming for decades (despite a couple of dips super-generously fixed by the Fed and Treasury), and these are 20-40% of the population.
* The lower classes, the rest of the population in the Rust Belt and other pushed-behind areas simply do not matter, just like the lower classes and the populations of Brazil or Nigeria do not matter, just as the standard of living of the livestock in a dairy farm does not matter, because the farm is run for the benefit of the farmers.
The USA of the top 20-40% is doing very well, there has been no austerity or decay for them and their well kept neighborhoods and gated communities or private parks and mansions.
Largely true. The failure of the union movement is one explanation. If it hadn't been for unions I doubt 20th century America would have been as prosperous as it was post WW2. Unions circulated money around the 'body politic' and lifted everyone up -- the resulting prosperity also enabled many entrepreneurs to prosper. To be sure, unions over-reached by the 1970s as all human institutions do. We may have to fall all the way down to a pitiously horrid oligarchy where peasants die in the streets and only a "let them eat cake" moment crystallizes some revolution.
We think all our problems and all our conceits are unique. They are not unique. History shows this happens over and over. Even Plato spoke of it in the Republic.
We're not there yet, but we can get there. That's for sure.
I grew up in Allentown, PA, right next to Bethlehem of renowned Bethlehem Steel Corporation fame from 1972 (as a nine year old kid) until I started my regular first job in Chicago in 1988. I watched, in real time, the joint failure of the management and the steelworkers union to deal with Japanese steel dumping. Because neither party would budge, the company posted a 1.5 billion dollar loss in 1982, the year I left for college. That was the beginning of the end. 13 years later, the management and board of directors filed for bankruptcy and 2 years after that it was all over, with pension liabilities exceeding the liquidation values from the final sell-off of assets, with an implied payout potential of about 46 cents on the dollar to pensioners, such that the PBGC had to take over the pension plan. The PBGC claims to have doubled the overall payout to 92 cents on the dollar, but I don't know if that is really true. One anecdote sticks in my mind, when my father bought a fairly nice used Buick Regal from a Bethlehem Steel union worker who had been laid off in the early '80s. The guy had a wife but his children had left the nest. It was the dude's third car, which he hadn't really needed in the first place.
«The failure of the union movement is one explanation.»
Ironically I think that the *success* of the labor unions is a big explanation:
* A lot of union workers, the "aristocracy of the working class", got good wages and good pensions and could buy property and stocks when they were much cheaper, and became "petty bourgeoisie" rentiers, especially in their later years and of course after retirement, and started voting for higher property and stocks prices and lower wages and welfare according to their new social position.
* Most politicians, party officials, government bureaucrats, labor unions officials also got portfolios of property and stocks and became "petty bourgeoisie", and they are are not going to make themselves poorer by pushing for policies for higher wages and welfare and lower property and stocks prices (a spoof of the "Red Flag" song begins "The working class can kiss my ass / I’ve got the foreman’s job at last").
In Europe this process is called "PASOKification", from the fate of the greek socialist party that became a redundant right-wing rentier party. An example from the currently misnamed "Labour Party" of England, a commenter on a blog reporting about a proposal to lower or defer rents during COVID-19:
“I raised the problematic policy on my CLP Facebook group. I was stunned by the support for the policy from the countless landlords who were Party members! "I can't afford to give my tenants a rent holiday" "This is my pension, I'll go bust" etc etc. Absolutely stunning. I had no idea how many private landlords there were in the Party. Kinda explains a lot...”
Yep. Same idea "failure" in the sense of over-reach, bloating, power, corruption and then multi-decade decline to marginalization from which it's never recovered. "Success" certainly for several decades before that.
I think those people are just mistaken, overall. It always comes home to roost. It is in fact NOT good for the top 10% if their societies decline into Brazil-like ghettos on a large scale. Eventually they have to live in the same society. Sure, they can run away to another country... but that country will experience the same decay from their global-level policies.
And it does hit some of these families. There was a case of a high-level diplomat's daughter being murdered by an illegal migrant, and they came out in the media virtue-signalling about how much they were still on board with The Program. I think these people are trapped not only by their seeming self-interest, but also by the ideology. The ideology may be fed by the self-interest, but it can also be stronger than their own individual self-interest. Those who suffer directly from the results of said ideology still comply and bend the knee to the ideology, because they're more afraid of being rejected by their peer-group than, apparently, losing their daughter's life.
I think that it is important to note that the percent of people who reckon that the systems works for them is at least 20% and likely around 40%, that is many if not most home-owners/middle class people. The current political era is one of *mass* (if not majority) rentierism.
«if their societies decline into Brazil-like ghettos on a large scale.»
There is a a very good example not in Brazil but in the USA (and UK) itself: during most of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century a large part if not a small majority of the USA (or UK) population lived in slums, especially in the south-east, but also in major cities; with groups of homeless children sleeping on top of warm vents next to skyscrapers during winters. In the same period the USA economy was growing fast and the top 20-40% were doing quite well, also unburdened by New Deal "socialist" taxes.
For the grifting rentiers of the USA middle and upper classes those were the good old days and they want them back.
«For the grifting rentiers of the USA middle and upper classes those were the good old days and they want them back.»
As to the UK two illustrative quotes:
Harold McMillan, "The Macmillan Diaries, Vol II", 1960s:
“As a kind of tranquiliser I am taking a course of Henry James! What a world – how quiet and peaceful and happy it was for the “upper and upper-middle classes”. Now it’s a nightmare. Happily, it’s a much better world for the masses, as has been brought home to me most forcibly in writing the history of the inter-war years.”
“The son of a doctor and a nurse, Nicholas Parsons was raised in a ‘well-to-do, professional, middle-class family’. His parents weren’t rich, but before the war a GP’s wage went a lot further than it does today. His father could afford a butler, a cook, a maid and a nanny.”
It's hard to say because he was never tested back then right? Like if he'd been forced to choose between his left-wing identity and his espoused principles back then, maybe you would have seen that he was the same then as now. It's hard to say--but I tend to lean in the direction of they were always that way, because they are being asked to choose between principles and sides now, and they keep picking their partisan side, so I have to assume they never had said principles. Those of us who DID have been forced to tactically pick sides temporarily on any given issue based on which side is servicing that issue. If you care about principles, that's how you operate. Always.
I agree. And I'll disagree with Matt on Ted Lieu - he is a foolish man, but with some good and a lot of human thrown in for sure. Schiff, Goldman, and Swalwell are all like Matt's description, though: no basic humanity in there. I presume that to also be true of Raskin from my observations but I have not met him.
Agree. And you can see where the two black holes of thought are in the US. Schiff, Swalwell (California), and Goldman (New York). Both black holes are authoritarian one-party cesspools, and are killing the country. Maybe, just maybe the FOOLS in these states will wake up and begin to vote for humans. But I highly doubt it.
Goldman runs Schiff's BS Russiagate operation and gets to fail upward to become a Congressman. Schiff leads his Russiagate silliness and gets to fail upward to become a Senator. Terrible. I think the fools wake up when it hits them in the pocketbook (inflation) or face (crime, homelessness, immigration). They have stirred, and we will see on the long term.
Correct. The fools (democrats) who run CA are beyond any redemption. And the voters are just as dumb. I've said this before and will say it again. NOTHING in Ca will change until the state is bankrupt. And they're on their way to achieve that.
lol...why does he even do this congressional crap? These people must look even uglier in person and has anyone ever seen how they all travel with security? I am convinced that most of these "representatives" are compromised individuals with horrible person lives and barely hidden psychological issues. of significant magnitude.
Had a Congressman from Michigan, new him personally. Was an absolute standup guy and great family man. Became leader of the house ways, and means committee, one of the most powerful positions in Washington. He quit at the height of his power. Used to wonder why. But these days I think I know why he quit.
I can't imagine what it's like going there as a normal person. Like going to work in an office building, only to find out once you're inside that it's a brothel and everyone is having orgies in the hallway. And you're forced to pretend in public that everything is fine.
I believe this is something very different. The first was politics and the usual game playing that goes along with that. This is a complete breakdown in the perception of objective reality along party lines.
Well, I like seeing Matt provide his testimony since we need more journalists sticking up for the integrity of the profession. I hear you though, I don't think I would be able to stay professional with some of these sick politicians. I might lose my temper :)
Jim Jordan is at least someone who appears to have integrity and is taking his role in government seriously. Raskin? Detestable. I seriously can't stomach the electorate who puts these people (people like Raskin) into office.
Agreed. I'm glad Matt has the stomach for it. I am a crabby old lady who would never let these degenerates speak to me with such rudeness. It would set a bad example for my beloved Grandbabies.
Raskin’s district, (MD-8) is the beating heart of The Swamp. His constituents are all lawyers, doctors, academics, lobbyists, consultants, and media people who’ve decided they didn’t want to live in DC. Oh, and a bunch of Hispanics to do the manual labor. Those lawns don’t cut themselves, you know.
C.S. Lewis addressed the Democrats' sanctimonious mind-set.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."
Few Democrats have the self-awareness to know it, but not only do their tactics mirror what Hitler did after 1933, but so does their Gleichschaltung mindset and behavior. It would be funny to hear them accuse people of being a Nazi or Fascist If it weren't so dangerous.
Lord, yes! I have been quoting that same bit from Lewis' Mere Christianity for years to my lefty friends and relations. Some of them are deeply religious, but each of them pooh-poohs Lewis and me. The gummint, to them, IS the way, the truth, and the light. Blasphemous, but there's a leftist Christian for ya.
Thank God some people - and this includes Matt Taibbi and me, have recoiled from the party we once supported.
As did I. I recently had a long time friend tell me that my father, who was a true democrat, must be rolling over in his grave! And I responded “ because I have questions?” Then he continued to blast at me because I no longer support the devise, racism party that I grew up with!
I’m actually ashamed by them screaming in the streets!
The Democrats are authoritarian narcissists. I don't know how they all became that way at once, unless it is a generational transformation. What a detestable bunch of people.
But the hive mind is a recent development. There used to be Dems who were quite conservative, particularly in the South. That started changing during the Sixties, when Robert Kennedy, LBJ and others supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Even as late as the Clinton admin there were Dem factions at odds with each other. Bill Clinton expressed public opposition to gay marriage in 1996, then privately reversed his position when the Defense of Marriage Act that he supported was about to be signed into law. Obama courted progressive voters prior to his election but subsequently showed a lot more interest in winning over Republicans, causing many progressives to feel betrayed and angry. He publicly proclaimed that he was "not an ideologue" and was solely interested in practical solutions to problems. Rahm Emanuel said that Obama didn't need to do what progressives wanted because they would vote for him anyway, so he could focus on recruiting support from other people, including Republicans. Obama deported a lot of illegal immigrants. Like Clinton, Obama started having conversion experiences regarding his previous beliefs about gay rights and other progressive causes, and is now venerated as a progressive leader, which he wasn't.
The hive mind also did not exist among Dems I knew personally up until very recently. It appeared in academia much sooner, based on what I have read, then became more possible with the development of online social media. I have lived in Portland since 1979, and the hive mind wasn't a thing even here until recent years. Now the city is one of the central nodes of the hive mind. People who dissent from the radical leftist ideology are in the minority here, and there basically is no free speech anymore.
"""When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles."""
Democrats "changed" because they finally acquired enough power to impose their principles on the rest of us.
I agree! Finally got a T-shirt of it too. Would live a premium quality poster or pressing.
BTW, and speaking of overcoming oppression, somewhere on one of the sites discussing the Dead's lyrics, Hunter actuslly walks through Franklin's Tower in response to a crabbed interpretation. I'll try to find it again and give you the link.
It is. Studying Nazi propaganda, they got a huge amount of the effect from that concept. People were imbued with a fanatical self-righteousness. Same with woke Democrats, cancel culture, advertising boycotts, censorship. Same frigging mindset. The funny part is watching them call other people Nazis.
Thank you for your powerful testimony, Matt. The DNC is the party of PMC NPC: Professional Managerial Class Non Player-Character. All they do is regurgitate the same copy pasta word salad into each other's orifices, like a human centipede.
I was thinking something similar regarding Ezra Klein at the NYT. Toobin (yes, that clown) will actually make the NYT better which says a great deal imho about the lamentable standards there. My own view is that the NYT, New Yorker suffer from two problems: few have much of value to say, and fewer still possess the rhetorical skills to compose an illuminating and entertaining long form piece. Some possess one skill, very, very few both.
Matt's work these days is among the best for hitting high marks on both counts- stylistically brilliant (and entertaining) and ordinarily packed with useful information. The NYT, Wapo, and the New Yorker would be a big step down. TNR, Vox, Nation, etc are shocking - shadows of what was produced at a score of quality magazines in the latter half of the 20th century.
The committee doesn't really deserve Matt. Eugene Robinson? Brooks? please.
Keep it up Matt. You are one of the only reporters who is doing justice to the very most interesting story of our time--mainly the fact that a VERY large number of liberals and previously loyal democrats feel that however crazy Trumps issues are, we may be better off having dismissed whoever the hell it was that was running the country these last four years.
As someone who worked in the administrations of Republican Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger in California, I can tell you that I witnessed this Democrat soul disappearance in real time as the precursor of the Woke ideology spread like the plague on the left side of the aisle. I remember having the exact same cognitive dissonance that you were voicing from your bewildering experience today. "Do these people really believe the nonsense they are spouting?" Of course, the answer is Yes.
This soul rot is actually not partisan but goes all the way back to Nietzsche's warning about what happens when we kill off God. The good news is that we actually don't have the power to kill God, but the bad news is that God has the power to let us fantasize that we can.
After censoring her and tracking her and treating her like a subversive, they aren't going to enjoy what she exposes.
Same with DOGE: I am sensing a little anxiety, probably about how many tax dollars got diverted from their intended purpose and sent instead to illegal aliens. Think the Democrats can kiss North Carolina goodbye, for starters.
Yes, it's really that bad. The only solution is for this administration to do such a good job the Democrats begin to lose voters out of embarrassment that they could have affiliated themselves with such a bunch.
"The only solution is for this administration to do such a good job the Democrats [continue] to lose voters out of embarrassment that they could have affiliated themselves with such a bunch."
The black and Latino working class bloc switched up in pretty good numbers going into the election. The insane flailing, the barrage of transparent lies, slurs about "Nazis" and "Fascists," woke up millions to how they've been gaslighted by the DP for generations.
Biden's 2022 speech in Philadelphia, in which he accused the MAGA movement of being "semi-fascist," delivered ironically in front of a stage decorated like a Nazi rally, stands out to me as the major image symbolizing the establishment's project to rid itself of Trump.
I now think the desperation to keep Trump out of office was not so much the product of Trump Derangement Syndrome as it was an effort to keep the status quo immune to reform, including the funding of social engineering projects via the network of CIA cutout corporations covered under the umbrella of USAID. By their complaints against destroying USAID ye shall know them.
The Democratic party are in disarray, having been routed in the election despite their years-long campaign of lies and despite their efforts to create a state-managed news media via "non governmental agencies" organized to defend themselves from the newly emerging independents.
We owe Mr. Taibbi here and Mr. Shellenberger a great debt for their dedicated and tireless work exposing the machinations of those arrogant paternalistic creeps desperate to control what we see hear and think because, in their hubris, they believe they have the right to protect us ignorant masses, mere citizens, from our wrong ways of thinking about why our republic exists and who it is designed to serve.
When you observed the spread of the woke plague among the left, did it seem like the formerly liberal people turned into authoritarian bullies, or did it seem more like the authoritarians were new to the legislature? I ask because I want to understand how the Dems turned into pod people so rapidly and completely.
Many Dems have always had it to a significant degree. Obama mobilized the propaganda with a media he basically owned and used tribal politics and the sanctimonious nature of wokesters to push them over the edge. White supremacy, said the newly elected black President, is a big problem . . . . Oh, I hate white supremacy and racism the wokesters replied . . .
I think it's a bit of both. The Squad showed their hypocrisy almost immediately. Real democrats, (Dennis Kucinich, Paul Wellstone), were pushed out or killed. Before Obama became president, I said I'd vote for my Rep, Barbara Lee for life. Then she got on board with all of Obama's wars and banker bailouts and bullshit and she was lost to me. Rot with the Dems started in earnest with Bill Clinton, accelerated with Hillary Clinton & went into warp speed with Obama. Their only constituent is Satan.
But remember what was going on at the time. California was experiencing a wave of base closures and then the shut-down of related military industrial production, dramatically changing our economy. Illegal immigration was soaring with the Republicans promoting a drastic response (approved by voters, blocked by courts [sound familiar?]). Then we had the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots. The Dems took advantage of these things by demonizing the GOP which tended to respond in its traditional feckless way. And then term limits kicked in which set off a scramble for office that favored the extremes on both sides. This in a media environment controlled, as always, by the left.
And these items merely skim the surface of all the political economic change that was the result of the rise of Silicon Valley and the emerging Information Age. There's a whole lot more to be considered here.
Bottom line: California Dems got addicted to power, and our citizenry found this congenial for some reason. Thus you see terrible people like Adam Schiff and Kamala Harris holding high office here. The GOP--like today's Washington Dems--were clueless (and still are!!!) about how to push back effectively. So now we are a monopoly state with only occasional rebellions. That these are becoming more frequent is a hopeful sign, but the opposition remains unorganized so far.
Thanks for the interesting details about recent California politics. I am in Oregon, where the one party rule tightened up even more in the last election. Even the relatively moderate Dems who won at the midterms were kicked out by the majority of voters in November.
"The good news is that we actually don't have the power to kill God, but the bad news is that God has the power to let us fantasize that we can."
Absolutely brilliant description of the key paradox of life that I may write on my gravestone. I now realize the depth of the inchoate fear I had of Democratic victory where the Dems, in concert with the WEF and other globalist institutions would set about trying to stamp out God in the minds of man forever. 440Hz, water flouridation & MSNBC sought to grind the common man's heartmind to dust. Doesn't it feel like we have a chance now? Go Tulsi!
The Democrats no longer believe in the constitution. It is an outdated relic to them that they only have use for when it helps them in the moment. I don't think most of them truly understand it. Kids don't learn about it. We are headed down a bad path if things don't change. This is the time if it is going to. It won't likely come again if we miss it. Thanks for doing your part.
Robin Williams wasn’t often political, but at the outbreak of the Iraq invasion he got off a gem: “It’s great to be able to help Iraq! Hey! Need a Constitution? Take ours, we’re not using it!”
Not being that familiar with Raskin, I was stunned by the revelation here that he is a "constitutional lawyer." Like Obama, it appears he uses that knowledge to look for ways to circumvent the Constitution.....
Half the judges and 80-90% of lawyers are on that spectrum. When I was in law school in the early 90s, we were taught old school text analysis and looking at legislative history and precedent. And we were also taught "the living Constitution" which is basically "figure out a way to twist things to fit what you want to happen." But I went to one of the few schools that would host Justice Scalia, Justice Thomas and Judge Posner (in addition to RBG and liberals). Even then a good strict construction argument would get you a B+ while a good living constitution argument would be A material. But that school was more of an aberration even then. Think about how even language has become demented (or "living")- however one feels about Trans issues, "Gender affirming care" should mean "affirming the gender one is and making the subject feel confident in their own body" not "affirming one's delusion (misunderstanding? I am trying to find a more kind way of saying this) of their own gender and help them pursue that delusion." "Undocumented Americans" is another good one. But it all flows from the effort to twist what the law means to fit one's goal.
Amazing. The Constitution is a simple, easily understood document, by design. It seems abuse of the "commerce clause" and "Chevron deference" have contributed to widespread defiance, aided by the Supreme Court, up to now. "Clawing back" takes on added significance when you have to go back to the 19th century. The Swamp is vast and deep, and has been for a long time.
I'm involved on a gaming Discord filled with young folks. I hear the term "outdated" often as a pejorative regarding any mod older than a year or two for the old video game in question. I have come to understand that kids these days have been taught everything older than say 3 years is "outdated" and to be summarily dismissed. All those ideas from before this current moment of Woke Enlightenment are inherently suspect and probably fascist.
That's the trebuchet over the wall. It does not matter how robust the edifice erected by Socrates or Descartes or Milton or Jefferson, it is gleefully hopped over by the "outdated" trick. Only the current "science" is to be trusted.
Anything from before the Temple of Woke was founded is Wrong.
Pol Pot in Cambodia declared "Zero Year" when he seized power on a tsunami of blood and human skulls. Anything before his reign is foul and evil. Hence, people who wore eyeglasses were rounded up and executed because they may be educated.
Sound familiar? When the Clintons Or Klaus Schwab say "New World Order", think about Pol Pot, machete in hand, ankle deep in blood.
Civics hasn't been taught in public high schools for decades.. likely by intent given the left wing shifts that are so obvious now in our Universities where only a small percentage of professors are conservative or Republican. Young people have no idea of the structure of our government: Who does what and why it was set up that way...Executive, Judiciary, legislative; federal, state local. Maybe if Trump is unable to dismantle the Dept of Education (and since RFK is not allowed to question the vaccine schedule), Trump could at least reinstate civics as a graduation requirement and require high school students study the constitutiom and pass the test that immigrants must pass to become naturalized citizens. These aren't my ideas but they make very good sense. If we don't do something liek that we will end up like Canada, the UK or Australia. Apparently this weeks lefty show up north is that Canadians are hanging their flags not to show pride of country but to show hatred of Trump (Pairodocs substack).
The most worrisome part in what Matt said is Rupa's 55% statistic. With the EU, Oceania, and perhaps half of our country already lost, that 5% that seems to be tipping the wrong way is terrifying.
If a majority of Americans simply can't or won't accept the paramount importance of unfettered free speech and unending opposition to government, or government-sponsored, censorship and information control, where does it end?
Memory holes? Children ratting on parents? Pravda-on-the-Potomac? Scary times.
I thought the same. But these Dems (and GOPers) in the Senate who are still shitting on Matt, Shellengerger, and Rupa are representing someone. Some interests.
We have a pretty nasty GOP contingency still in power too. As to corrupt interests, I'm waiting for someone to investigate contributions to congress from the dark web that forms the MIC. Just wait til that rock gets turned over. Big pharma tentacles will look like child's play.
Washington DC is like a black hole...but only for the principles of the ambitious. Look at how quickly it stripped The Squad of any integrity they may have arrived with. AOC came in a wide-eyed ingenue with dreams of social justice, now she's a wide-eyed Deep State Apparatchik who's lust for power makes Tony Montana look like a Quaker.
I know people that have been totally brainwashed. It has been pounded into their heads since at least 2009. I had lunch with a former co-work right after Trump was elected the first time. She was truly upset about all the hate speech that nobody was doing anything about. For her that speech was coming from the right. I said there is no such thing as hate speech. She was aghast that I would think that.
To this day she thinks Fauci is Science and the jabs saved millions.
Judy, my sister the exact same. She’s brainwashed. But she thinks it’s me & my other normal sister who are brainwashed. This is the reason I hate both Hillary and Obama so much. They did this to the country. They ripped it apart for their own benefit. And now millions are ideologically CRAZY & don’t even know it. And the government paid all MSM all along to be the echo chamber. I’m delighted to have Matt & Michael, Sasha, Jenny, TFP & McCullough to say the truth and blow up their world.
DarkSkyBest, we must be wise & not relax now that we are on the offensive. I am so encouraged by Substack, X, Rumble, etc where so many ppl are becoming active participants in this battle. I have learned so much from all of you Commenters - from your opinions & your suggestions for reading companion pieces to the issue being discussed.
Yup. The Rockefellers and Rothschilds are still going to be obscenely rich at the end of Trump's term. They will bid their time, fund their wars and thinktanks until HIllary 2028. (God help us no!)
We have been on this slippery slope for quit some time. My first notice of it was the passage of "Hate" crimes. Suddenly one murder was "worse" than another because of an alleged intent. It never made any sense to me, that by governmental decree, if I was murdered, my race sexual orientation would be a factor in determination of guilty's punishment. It SOUNDED GOOD though! That's, after all, what matters in politics.
The insidious creeping of Marxist socialism has definitively taken its toll on our country. There is no avenue they won't take to heist the brains right out of society and inject silly putting in its place. Too many of us said for the last forty years, no one really believes any of the wacko stuff. Well, many, too many do.
When people openly seek authoritarian rule it generally means that they don't want to think for themselves, and they don't want any of the rest of us thinking for ourselves. This is what they call Our Democracy.
Socialism lulls some into what they think is a promise of a safe cocoon where no one is mean anymore, someone will always take care of them, every thing is fair and even, and corruption is not a possibility. Ah, the myth of the equitable Peaceable Kingdom (probably best explained by Gary Larson). Except that the peoples savior Bernie Sanders seems to have accepted $1.9 million in Big Pharma money and equally indignant Elizabeth Warren seems to have accepted $1.2 million despite her denials. Golly gee, might that have been related to their vindictive, self-righteous, onesie waiving attacks of RFK?
"Socialism lulls some into what they think is a promise of a safe cocoon where no one is mean anymore, someone will always take care of them, every thing is fair and even, and corruption is not a possibility."
This certainly fits with what woke people frequently say. But when the dictators are finally in place, the violence is massive, and is always directed against the citizens themselves. It's hard for me to understand how the lulled believers can continue to believe all the way up to the horrible end, but I am not usually a conformist.
I have a friend who until well into Trump's first term was a (left-leaning) Libertarian. Always reasonable, always rational.
But he's got pretty bad TDS and it hasn't improved. I remember back in ~2022-23, talking about the "vaccines" and he was spouting all the usual bullshit . . . while trying to call bullshit on me.
He acknowledged -- proudly -- that he gets nearly all of his news from NPR, which he INSISTED was neutral and fair, unlike MSNBC/CNN/NYT which are biased to the left, and FOX, which was the same to the right.
I couldn't get him to see the effective conflict of interest with a government-sponsored news source covering government policy. He told me I was buying into conspiracies, poo-poo'd Taibbi and similar journalists as "unserious," and told me I'd become "radicalized."
At least he got the last part right.
We're still friends. I refuse to let politics impact my real relationships. But still disappointing.
I told my friend that she was only getting the government-approved narrative on any given topic, & she looked at me as if I had sprouted horns.
I am hoping that Bobby Kennedy will publicize the truth about the Covid era, & maybe that will wake a few more people up to the extent of the lies, and the number of institutions engaged in it.
Because of Matt+, these jokers are getting revealed. We Americans don't like them. The trick was, making sure enough of us saw them. And because of 1A warriors like Matt, we did.
The gig is up. Too many revelations to hide anymore. It is going to be very easy to get the word out that the American taxpayer has been harvested for a long time.
Agreed, DarkSkyBest. Now that the cat is out of the bag we must continue on the offensive to turn over every stone & expose them for who & what they are. This is truly a legacy for our next generations that I can get behind.
There's something that has been badly going up my ass lately. Which is that so many stories presented as "fact" in the last administration are being debunked as "disinfo" or derivations, or lies and bullshit as i prefer to call it.
From Biden is sharp as a tack to Hunter's laptop is Russky disinfo, to the pee tape and the bogus dossier and Russiagate and Covid stuff, and my favorite the other day was "Voters Were Right About the Economy. The Data Was Wrong." ("Here’s why unemployment is higher, wages are lower and growth less robust than government statistics suggest."). Well no fucking shit. All you had to do was listen to and believe some genuine working class people.
The Mayor of Chicago has about a 15% approval rating and Trump (nationally) is running at 53%. Working class people in big cities know when they're being conned and they may not have voted for DJT last go round but they just sat this one out. The working and middle class are Blue State Refugees and voting with their feet. Bernie couldn't vote for Tulsi and possibly Bobby tomorrow and that shows me how intolerant the Ds have become. Free speech, where the Hell is the ACLU, they sold out too.
Well will have to "Keep on Trumpin" "And the politicians throwing stones."
My state is blue as they come, but we're over 60% registered Independent and like to elect Republican governors with some frewuency. Our D governor apparently expected to have a nice spot in Harris's DOJ, but now she says she's running for reelection in '26. The local paper says they think we'd be open to an R governor again. I'm waiting to see if our last R governor runs for Senate against Markey. I'd rate his chances as pretty good.
Well, (long story short) i thought i had not much time, I was heading for a David Lynch ending. Then a long holiday vacation in the ER and hospital and it seems that i ended up with a new lease on life. I'm feeling like i might make it to 70. Now what?
I don't know. I'm 67 and don't have much desire or chance to see 77. I'm just gonna make these last few count. I haven't seen the ER yet. I hope I don't.
You're actually surprised that government, and other authorities, are lying to you? How old are you?
Personally, I've been following public affairs for over 60 years. Out of all that, one lesson stands out as certain: They're lying to us, because powerful people almost always have something to hide.
The saddest feature today is that the practice seems to have spread even to crucial fields like public health. I think that's why so many liberals, and even some Greens, fell for the Covid lies: they support almost anything "public," and disease control is especially vital. I hope some of the culprits go to jail; Fauci will merely have to carry that pardon like a dead bird around his neck.But he had confederates.
No, i'm not surprised that they were lying to us, i knew it and I didn't vote for them.. What i'm surprised about is that they've been printing the corrections now. What i'm not surprised about is that nobody seems to care or hold it against them. And there seems to be no humility whatsoever involved.
I just laugh at them and troll them mercilessly when they start whining about high prices, or , in the case of that Politico article, actually noticing high prices.
We tried to tell them, but they refused to listen.
A good friend of mine, Ivy undergrad, Ivy law, staunch super liberal, is furious that the fact checkers are gone from X and facebook.
He basically believes Trump and his allies must not be heard, to preserve democracy. Pointing out that all that silencing is the opposite of democracy simply makes him suspicious of my motives.
We are defending the Republic and those utterly unique amendments , the Bill of Rights that clearly and succinctly delineate the rights of the citizens. "Preserving democracy" isn't in play here. Maybe that oft-repeated phrase really means "preserving the democratic party".
You would think the left be capable of putting two and two together and pondering the consequences of someone like Trump being in charge of fact-checking.
One of the diagnostic criteria for narcissistic personality disorder is lack of empathy, but many narcissists want more than anything to be viewed as good people. They want to be perceived as anything that will get them points and prevent people from recognizing how horrible the narcissists really are.
Kudos, you, Michael, Free Press, PjMedia, Townhall and a growing band of truth tellers are our heroes - full stop. The tide is beginning to turn thanks to your tireless efforts.
I watched the whole thing thanks to Sasha Stone posting a link...you, Shellenberger, and Subramanya were awesome...you even had that hard-boiled reporter look with the open collar, loose tie, and rumpled shirt! Kolchak without the straw fedora!😂
Got home from a long day and work and your testimony made me smile. As someone who had a subscription to Rolling Stone from the mid 80s til the late 90’s always enjoyed your honesty
I was a member of my county Democratic Executive Committee. At one meeting Carl Levin showed up. He said wherever he went he attended local dem meetings if he could. He was eloquent, collegial and approachable. Thanks for reminding us of those days.
Those were definitely the good old days when integrity & principle were more than just words in the dictionary.
Yep . . . a while back I was "Boom"er-Scrolling Bruce Springsteen youtube videos. One where he sang Woodie Guthrie's This Land is Your Land.
It was sometime in the 80s, when Wall Street was closing factories all over the USA. He said he wasn't sure the song was true anymore but that "It ought to be", then he said "Sometimes with countries, just like it is with people, you let the best part of yourself slip away."
Indeed. I think Mr. Springsteen was one of the high-profile celebrity TDS victims in recent years too. I still think he's one of the greats -- nothing political takes away from his genius --but it's sad.
He is a poster child for letting the best part of him slip away.
Agreed.
Yeah, but sometimes you can find that in yourself again. I think I was all over wrong side of Covid. Now I’ve changed.
«It was sometime in the 80s, when Wall Street was closing factories all over the USA. He said he wasn't sure the song was true anymore but that "It ought to be", then he said "Sometimes with countries, just like it is with people, you let the best part of yourself slip away."»
I keep reading people writing that the USA and the UK etc. have been devastated/"slipped away" by reaganism/neoliberalism but that to me seems quite wrong:
* I keep seeing affluent middle class and rich upper class people enjoying ever better lifestyles as their incomes and wealth (based on property and stocks mainly but in part on managerial and professional salaries) have been booming for decades (despite a couple of dips super-generously fixed by the Fed and Treasury), and these are 20-40% of the population.
* The lower classes, the rest of the population in the Rust Belt and other pushed-behind areas simply do not matter, just like the lower classes and the populations of Brazil or Nigeria do not matter, just as the standard of living of the livestock in a dairy farm does not matter, because the farm is run for the benefit of the farmers.
The USA of the top 20-40% is doing very well, there has been no austerity or decay for them and their well kept neighborhoods and gated communities or private parks and mansions.
Largely true. The failure of the union movement is one explanation. If it hadn't been for unions I doubt 20th century America would have been as prosperous as it was post WW2. Unions circulated money around the 'body politic' and lifted everyone up -- the resulting prosperity also enabled many entrepreneurs to prosper. To be sure, unions over-reached by the 1970s as all human institutions do. We may have to fall all the way down to a pitiously horrid oligarchy where peasants die in the streets and only a "let them eat cake" moment crystallizes some revolution.
We think all our problems and all our conceits are unique. They are not unique. History shows this happens over and over. Even Plato spoke of it in the Republic.
We're not there yet, but we can get there. That's for sure.
I grew up in Allentown, PA, right next to Bethlehem of renowned Bethlehem Steel Corporation fame from 1972 (as a nine year old kid) until I started my regular first job in Chicago in 1988. I watched, in real time, the joint failure of the management and the steelworkers union to deal with Japanese steel dumping. Because neither party would budge, the company posted a 1.5 billion dollar loss in 1982, the year I left for college. That was the beginning of the end. 13 years later, the management and board of directors filed for bankruptcy and 2 years after that it was all over, with pension liabilities exceeding the liquidation values from the final sell-off of assets, with an implied payout potential of about 46 cents on the dollar to pensioners, such that the PBGC had to take over the pension plan. The PBGC claims to have doubled the overall payout to 92 cents on the dollar, but I don't know if that is really true. One anecdote sticks in my mind, when my father bought a fairly nice used Buick Regal from a Bethlehem Steel union worker who had been laid off in the early '80s. The guy had a wife but his children had left the nest. It was the dude's third car, which he hadn't really needed in the first place.
«The failure of the union movement is one explanation.»
Ironically I think that the *success* of the labor unions is a big explanation:
* A lot of union workers, the "aristocracy of the working class", got good wages and good pensions and could buy property and stocks when they were much cheaper, and became "petty bourgeoisie" rentiers, especially in their later years and of course after retirement, and started voting for higher property and stocks prices and lower wages and welfare according to their new social position.
* Most politicians, party officials, government bureaucrats, labor unions officials also got portfolios of property and stocks and became "petty bourgeoisie", and they are are not going to make themselves poorer by pushing for policies for higher wages and welfare and lower property and stocks prices (a spoof of the "Red Flag" song begins "The working class can kiss my ass / I’ve got the foreman’s job at last").
In Europe this process is called "PASOKification", from the fate of the greek socialist party that became a redundant right-wing rentier party. An example from the currently misnamed "Labour Party" of England, a commenter on a blog reporting about a proposal to lower or defer rents during COVID-19:
“I raised the problematic policy on my CLP Facebook group. I was stunned by the support for the policy from the countless landlords who were Party members! "I can't afford to give my tenants a rent holiday" "This is my pension, I'll go bust" etc etc. Absolutely stunning. I had no idea how many private landlords there were in the Party. Kinda explains a lot...”
Yep. Same idea "failure" in the sense of over-reach, bloating, power, corruption and then multi-decade decline to marginalization from which it's never recovered. "Success" certainly for several decades before that.
It's like rise and fall of empires.
Work harder
I think those people are just mistaken, overall. It always comes home to roost. It is in fact NOT good for the top 10% if their societies decline into Brazil-like ghettos on a large scale. Eventually they have to live in the same society. Sure, they can run away to another country... but that country will experience the same decay from their global-level policies.
And it does hit some of these families. There was a case of a high-level diplomat's daughter being murdered by an illegal migrant, and they came out in the media virtue-signalling about how much they were still on board with The Program. I think these people are trapped not only by their seeming self-interest, but also by the ideology. The ideology may be fed by the self-interest, but it can also be stronger than their own individual self-interest. Those who suffer directly from the results of said ideology still comply and bend the knee to the ideology, because they're more afraid of being rejected by their peer-group than, apparently, losing their daughter's life.
«It is in fact NOT good for the top 10%»
I think that it is important to note that the percent of people who reckon that the systems works for them is at least 20% and likely around 40%, that is many if not most home-owners/middle class people. The current political era is one of *mass* (if not majority) rentierism.
«if their societies decline into Brazil-like ghettos on a large scale.»
There is a a very good example not in Brazil but in the USA (and UK) itself: during most of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century a large part if not a small majority of the USA (or UK) population lived in slums, especially in the south-east, but also in major cities; with groups of homeless children sleeping on top of warm vents next to skyscrapers during winters. In the same period the USA economy was growing fast and the top 20-40% were doing quite well, also unburdened by New Deal "socialist" taxes.
For the grifting rentiers of the USA middle and upper classes those were the good old days and they want them back.
«For the grifting rentiers of the USA middle and upper classes those were the good old days and they want them back.»
As to the UK two illustrative quotes:
Harold McMillan, "The Macmillan Diaries, Vol II", 1960s:
“As a kind of tranquiliser I am taking a course of Henry James! What a world – how quiet and peaceful and happy it was for the “upper and upper-middle classes”. Now it’s a nightmare. Happily, it’s a much better world for the masses, as has been brought home to me most forcibly in writing the history of the inter-war years.”
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2020/01/nicholas-parsons-1923-2020/
“The son of a doctor and a nurse, Nicholas Parsons was raised in a ‘well-to-do, professional, middle-class family’. His parents weren’t rich, but before the war a GP’s wage went a lot further than it does today. His father could afford a butler, a cook, a maid and a nanny.”
"Genius"?! Really?!
It's hard to say because he was never tested back then right? Like if he'd been forced to choose between his left-wing identity and his espoused principles back then, maybe you would have seen that he was the same then as now. It's hard to say--but I tend to lean in the direction of they were always that way, because they are being asked to choose between principles and sides now, and they keep picking their partisan side, so I have to assume they never had said principles. Those of us who DID have been forced to tactically pick sides temporarily on any given issue based on which side is servicing that issue. If you care about principles, that's how you operate. Always.
I agree. And I'll disagree with Matt on Ted Lieu - he is a foolish man, but with some good and a lot of human thrown in for sure. Schiff, Goldman, and Swalwell are all like Matt's description, though: no basic humanity in there. I presume that to also be true of Raskin from my observations but I have not met him.
Agree. And you can see where the two black holes of thought are in the US. Schiff, Swalwell (California), and Goldman (New York). Both black holes are authoritarian one-party cesspools, and are killing the country. Maybe, just maybe the FOOLS in these states will wake up and begin to vote for humans. But I highly doubt it.
The fools in
Ca will not change. I deal with a group of then once a week. They won't even address Trump by using his name. Never seen such tantrums in 4 year olds.
I live here. You are absolutely correct.
Goldman runs Schiff's BS Russiagate operation and gets to fail upward to become a Congressman. Schiff leads his Russiagate silliness and gets to fail upward to become a Senator. Terrible. I think the fools wake up when it hits them in the pocketbook (inflation) or face (crime, homelessness, immigration). They have stirred, and we will see on the long term.
Correct. The fools (democrats) who run CA are beyond any redemption. And the voters are just as dumb. I've said this before and will say it again. NOTHING in Ca will change until the state is bankrupt. And they're on their way to achieve that.
Nice job at the office today Matt. Keep showing up with your lunch pail.
That was sentiment also - yeoman’s work in the trenches, but much appreciated, and very necessary.
lol...why does he even do this congressional crap? These people must look even uglier in person and has anyone ever seen how they all travel with security? I am convinced that most of these "representatives" are compromised individuals with horrible person lives and barely hidden psychological issues. of significant magnitude.
Had a Congressman from Michigan, new him personally. Was an absolute standup guy and great family man. Became leader of the house ways, and means committee, one of the most powerful positions in Washington. He quit at the height of his power. Used to wonder why. But these days I think I know why he quit.
"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," huh?
Yeah. Way too nice of guy for that den of thieves.
I can't imagine what it's like going there as a normal person. Like going to work in an office building, only to find out once you're inside that it's a brothel and everyone is having orgies in the hallway. And you're forced to pretend in public that everything is fine.
I believe this is something very different. The first was politics and the usual game playing that goes along with that. This is a complete breakdown in the perception of objective reality along party lines.
Well, I like seeing Matt provide his testimony since we need more journalists sticking up for the integrity of the profession. I hear you though, I don't think I would be able to stay professional with some of these sick politicians. I might lose my temper :)
Jim Jordan is at least someone who appears to have integrity and is taking his role in government seriously. Raskin? Detestable. I seriously can't stomach the electorate who puts these people (people like Raskin) into office.
Agreed. I'm glad Matt has the stomach for it. I am a crabby old lady who would never let these degenerates speak to me with such rudeness. It would set a bad example for my beloved Grandbabies.
I’m right there with you Gram!
Raskin’s district, (MD-8) is the beating heart of The Swamp. His constituents are all lawyers, doctors, academics, lobbyists, consultants, and media people who’ve decided they didn’t want to live in DC. Oh, and a bunch of Hispanics to do the manual labor. Those lawns don’t cut themselves, you know.
Bingo!!
C.S. Lewis addressed the Democrats' sanctimonious mind-set.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."
Few Democrats have the self-awareness to know it, but not only do their tactics mirror what Hitler did after 1933, but so does their Gleichschaltung mindset and behavior. It would be funny to hear them accuse people of being a Nazi or Fascist If it weren't so dangerous.
Lord, yes! I have been quoting that same bit from Lewis' Mere Christianity for years to my lefty friends and relations. Some of them are deeply religious, but each of them pooh-poohs Lewis and me. The gummint, to them, IS the way, the truth, and the light. Blasphemous, but there's a leftist Christian for ya.
Thank God some people - and this includes Matt Taibbi and me, have recoiled from the party we once supported.
As did I. I recently had a long time friend tell me that my father, who was a true democrat, must be rolling over in his grave! And I responded “ because I have questions?” Then he continued to blast at me because I no longer support the devise, racism party that I grew up with!
I’m actually ashamed by them screaming in the streets!
Authoritarianism + Utopianism = Every dystopia ever known to man
The Democrats are authoritarian narcissists. I don't know how they all became that way at once, unless it is a generational transformation. What a detestable bunch of people.
The fact that Democrats share a hive mind made it possible for a handful of activists to pull the rest of the party along with them.
But the hive mind is a recent development. There used to be Dems who were quite conservative, particularly in the South. That started changing during the Sixties, when Robert Kennedy, LBJ and others supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Even as late as the Clinton admin there were Dem factions at odds with each other. Bill Clinton expressed public opposition to gay marriage in 1996, then privately reversed his position when the Defense of Marriage Act that he supported was about to be signed into law. Obama courted progressive voters prior to his election but subsequently showed a lot more interest in winning over Republicans, causing many progressives to feel betrayed and angry. He publicly proclaimed that he was "not an ideologue" and was solely interested in practical solutions to problems. Rahm Emanuel said that Obama didn't need to do what progressives wanted because they would vote for him anyway, so he could focus on recruiting support from other people, including Republicans. Obama deported a lot of illegal immigrants. Like Clinton, Obama started having conversion experiences regarding his previous beliefs about gay rights and other progressive causes, and is now venerated as a progressive leader, which he wasn't.
The hive mind also did not exist among Dems I knew personally up until very recently. It appeared in academia much sooner, based on what I have read, then became more possible with the development of online social media. I have lived in Portland since 1979, and the hive mind wasn't a thing even here until recent years. Now the city is one of the central nodes of the hive mind. People who dissent from the radical leftist ideology are in the minority here, and there basically is no free speech anymore.
Oh, I realize it is a new phenomenon. I’m old, so I can remember when Democrats were normal.
"""When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles."""
Democrats "changed" because they finally acquired enough power to impose their principles on the rest of us.
I love this quote so much! It perfectly describes the last four years.
Agree. Also.. read Lewis's "That Hideous Strength" to get the long version.
Thanks
CSL totally nailed it, especially the last line.
Your avatar is One of greatest album covers ever, btw.
I agree! Finally got a T-shirt of it too. Would live a premium quality poster or pressing.
BTW, and speaking of overcoming oppression, somewhere on one of the sites discussing the Dead's lyrics, Hunter actuslly walks through Franklin's Tower in response to a crabbed interpretation. I'll try to find it again and give you the link.
"If you plant ice, you're gonna harvest wind" seems especially appropriate in context of today's piece.
Well said. C.S.Lewis brilliant writer and thinker
I didn't know the term "Gleichschaltung." Your link took me to German Wikipedia. Very descriptive term that covers a big subject. Thanks.
It is. Studying Nazi propaganda, they got a huge amount of the effect from that concept. People were imbued with a fanatical self-righteousness. Same with woke Democrats, cancel culture, advertising boycotts, censorship. Same frigging mindset. The funny part is watching them call other people Nazis.
Well said!! C.S. Lewis, yet again, bringin' the funk, and the truth bombs. Thanks TOT! You are DIRECTLY over the target, so expect some flak.
Whoa I did not know CS Lewis wrote that!?
Thank you for your powerful testimony, Matt. The DNC is the party of PMC NPC: Professional Managerial Class Non Player-Character. All they do is regurgitate the same copy pasta word salad into each other's orifices, like a human centipede.
You deserve a Pulitzer, but the committee is commissars all the way down - they would make Pravda blush: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/pulitzer-prize-committee-propaganda-commissars
I was thinking something similar regarding Ezra Klein at the NYT. Toobin (yes, that clown) will actually make the NYT better which says a great deal imho about the lamentable standards there. My own view is that the NYT, New Yorker suffer from two problems: few have much of value to say, and fewer still possess the rhetorical skills to compose an illuminating and entertaining long form piece. Some possess one skill, very, very few both.
Matt's work these days is among the best for hitting high marks on both counts- stylistically brilliant (and entertaining) and ordinarily packed with useful information. The NYT, Wapo, and the New Yorker would be a big step down. TNR, Vox, Nation, etc are shocking - shadows of what was produced at a score of quality magazines in the latter half of the 20th century.
The committee doesn't really deserve Matt. Eugene Robinson? Brooks? please.
You mean Jack off Jeffrey😂😂😂
I believe the correct term is "Lube-in' Toobin."
Great point! When Obama and Einstein get peace prizes, the Nobel Prize is not worth the toilet war mongering Nobel shit in.
Great article, Yuri.
Keep it up Matt. You are one of the only reporters who is doing justice to the very most interesting story of our time--mainly the fact that a VERY large number of liberals and previously loyal democrats feel that however crazy Trumps issues are, we may be better off having dismissed whoever the hell it was that was running the country these last four years.
I like that MT's remarks get into the record, forever.
Yes we forget.
This is very important.
I'm from the Left. I would never vote for a Democrat again, after what Biden and Newsom have done. Authoritarians and censors!
As someone who worked in the administrations of Republican Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger in California, I can tell you that I witnessed this Democrat soul disappearance in real time as the precursor of the Woke ideology spread like the plague on the left side of the aisle. I remember having the exact same cognitive dissonance that you were voicing from your bewildering experience today. "Do these people really believe the nonsense they are spouting?" Of course, the answer is Yes.
This soul rot is actually not partisan but goes all the way back to Nietzsche's warning about what happens when we kill off God. The good news is that we actually don't have the power to kill God, but the bad news is that God has the power to let us fantasize that we can.
In a semi related topic. I can't believe that not one democrat voted for Tulsi Gabbard today. For gods sake, she was a democrat 2 years ago.
They're not going to vote for RFK Jr. either.
For God's sake, what part of "But now she's a traitor" don't you understand? ;-)
After censoring her and tracking her and treating her like a subversive, they aren't going to enjoy what she exposes.
Same with DOGE: I am sensing a little anxiety, probably about how many tax dollars got diverted from their intended purpose and sent instead to illegal aliens. Think the Democrats can kiss North Carolina goodbye, for starters.
Yes, it's really that bad. The only solution is for this administration to do such a good job the Democrats begin to lose voters out of embarrassment that they could have affiliated themselves with such a bunch.
Forgive my presumption to edit for accuracy:
"The only solution is for this administration to do such a good job the Democrats [continue] to lose voters out of embarrassment that they could have affiliated themselves with such a bunch."
The black and Latino working class bloc switched up in pretty good numbers going into the election. The insane flailing, the barrage of transparent lies, slurs about "Nazis" and "Fascists," woke up millions to how they've been gaslighted by the DP for generations.
Biden's 2022 speech in Philadelphia, in which he accused the MAGA movement of being "semi-fascist," delivered ironically in front of a stage decorated like a Nazi rally, stands out to me as the major image symbolizing the establishment's project to rid itself of Trump.
I now think the desperation to keep Trump out of office was not so much the product of Trump Derangement Syndrome as it was an effort to keep the status quo immune to reform, including the funding of social engineering projects via the network of CIA cutout corporations covered under the umbrella of USAID. By their complaints against destroying USAID ye shall know them.
The Democratic party are in disarray, having been routed in the election despite their years-long campaign of lies and despite their efforts to create a state-managed news media via "non governmental agencies" organized to defend themselves from the newly emerging independents.
We owe Mr. Taibbi here and Mr. Shellenberger a great debt for their dedicated and tireless work exposing the machinations of those arrogant paternalistic creeps desperate to control what we see hear and think because, in their hubris, they believe they have the right to protect us ignorant masses, mere citizens, from our wrong ways of thinking about why our republic exists and who it is designed to serve.
Excellently stated!
I’m hoping that’s how the dems feel after experiencing a brand new government
I'm not a religious person in the usual sense, but I like this joke:
Nietszche: God is dead.
God: Nietszche is dead.
I saw that on a college bathroom stall--the old-fashioned message board. Here's another of my favorites:
Kant: To be is to do
Nietzsche: To do is to be
Sinatra: Do be do be do
I love that.
When you observed the spread of the woke plague among the left, did it seem like the formerly liberal people turned into authoritarian bullies, or did it seem more like the authoritarians were new to the legislature? I ask because I want to understand how the Dems turned into pod people so rapidly and completely.
Few are those who see with their own eyes, and feel with their own hearts. - Albert Einstein
Thank you for this reminder. Einstein was a wise philosopher as well as a great technical genius.
Many Dems have always had it to a significant degree. Obama mobilized the propaganda with a media he basically owned and used tribal politics and the sanctimonious nature of wokesters to push them over the edge. White supremacy, said the newly elected black President, is a big problem . . . . Oh, I hate white supremacy and racism the wokesters replied . . .
.
I think it's a bit of both. The Squad showed their hypocrisy almost immediately. Real democrats, (Dennis Kucinich, Paul Wellstone), were pushed out or killed. Before Obama became president, I said I'd vote for my Rep, Barbara Lee for life. Then she got on board with all of Obama's wars and banker bailouts and bullshit and she was lost to me. Rot with the Dems started in earnest with Bill Clinton, accelerated with Hillary Clinton & went into warp speed with Obama. Their only constituent is Satan.
I certainly wish that they had only one constituent, but such is definitely not true. Nearly half the country voted for the Dems in the last election.
Well, it's a little bit of both.
But remember what was going on at the time. California was experiencing a wave of base closures and then the shut-down of related military industrial production, dramatically changing our economy. Illegal immigration was soaring with the Republicans promoting a drastic response (approved by voters, blocked by courts [sound familiar?]). Then we had the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots. The Dems took advantage of these things by demonizing the GOP which tended to respond in its traditional feckless way. And then term limits kicked in which set off a scramble for office that favored the extremes on both sides. This in a media environment controlled, as always, by the left.
And these items merely skim the surface of all the political economic change that was the result of the rise of Silicon Valley and the emerging Information Age. There's a whole lot more to be considered here.
Bottom line: California Dems got addicted to power, and our citizenry found this congenial for some reason. Thus you see terrible people like Adam Schiff and Kamala Harris holding high office here. The GOP--like today's Washington Dems--were clueless (and still are!!!) about how to push back effectively. So now we are a monopoly state with only occasional rebellions. That these are becoming more frequent is a hopeful sign, but the opposition remains unorganized so far.
Thanks for the interesting details about recent California politics. I am in Oregon, where the one party rule tightened up even more in the last election. Even the relatively moderate Dems who won at the midterms were kicked out by the majority of voters in November.
"The good news is that we actually don't have the power to kill God, but the bad news is that God has the power to let us fantasize that we can."
Absolutely brilliant description of the key paradox of life that I may write on my gravestone. I now realize the depth of the inchoate fear I had of Democratic victory where the Dems, in concert with the WEF and other globalist institutions would set about trying to stamp out God in the minds of man forever. 440Hz, water flouridation & MSNBC sought to grind the common man's heartmind to dust. Doesn't it feel like we have a chance now? Go Tulsi!
The Democrats no longer believe in the constitution. It is an outdated relic to them that they only have use for when it helps them in the moment. I don't think most of them truly understand it. Kids don't learn about it. We are headed down a bad path if things don't change. This is the time if it is going to. It won't likely come again if we miss it. Thanks for doing your part.
Robin Williams wasn’t often political, but at the outbreak of the Iraq invasion he got off a gem: “It’s great to be able to help Iraq! Hey! Need a Constitution? Take ours, we’re not using it!”
Not being that familiar with Raskin, I was stunned by the revelation here that he is a "constitutional lawyer." Like Obama, it appears he uses that knowledge to look for ways to circumvent the Constitution.....
Half the judges and 80-90% of lawyers are on that spectrum. When I was in law school in the early 90s, we were taught old school text analysis and looking at legislative history and precedent. And we were also taught "the living Constitution" which is basically "figure out a way to twist things to fit what you want to happen." But I went to one of the few schools that would host Justice Scalia, Justice Thomas and Judge Posner (in addition to RBG and liberals). Even then a good strict construction argument would get you a B+ while a good living constitution argument would be A material. But that school was more of an aberration even then. Think about how even language has become demented (or "living")- however one feels about Trans issues, "Gender affirming care" should mean "affirming the gender one is and making the subject feel confident in their own body" not "affirming one's delusion (misunderstanding? I am trying to find a more kind way of saying this) of their own gender and help them pursue that delusion." "Undocumented Americans" is another good one. But it all flows from the effort to twist what the law means to fit one's goal.
Amazing. The Constitution is a simple, easily understood document, by design. It seems abuse of the "commerce clause" and "Chevron deference" have contributed to widespread defiance, aided by the Supreme Court, up to now. "Clawing back" takes on added significance when you have to go back to the 19th century. The Swamp is vast and deep, and has been for a long time.
Want a tangent? You do? Well here ya go!
I'm involved on a gaming Discord filled with young folks. I hear the term "outdated" often as a pejorative regarding any mod older than a year or two for the old video game in question. I have come to understand that kids these days have been taught everything older than say 3 years is "outdated" and to be summarily dismissed. All those ideas from before this current moment of Woke Enlightenment are inherently suspect and probably fascist.
That's the trebuchet over the wall. It does not matter how robust the edifice erected by Socrates or Descartes or Milton or Jefferson, it is gleefully hopped over by the "outdated" trick. Only the current "science" is to be trusted.
Anything from before the Temple of Woke was founded is Wrong.
That's my impression anyway.
Pol Pot in Cambodia declared "Zero Year" when he seized power on a tsunami of blood and human skulls. Anything before his reign is foul and evil. Hence, people who wore eyeglasses were rounded up and executed because they may be educated.
Sound familiar? When the Clintons Or Klaus Schwab say "New World Order", think about Pol Pot, machete in hand, ankle deep in blood.
I remember seeing photos of what seemed like hundreds of skulls in a cave in Cambodia back then.
Truly terrifying.
That sounds vaguely Maoist.
Civics hasn't been taught in public high schools for decades.. likely by intent given the left wing shifts that are so obvious now in our Universities where only a small percentage of professors are conservative or Republican. Young people have no idea of the structure of our government: Who does what and why it was set up that way...Executive, Judiciary, legislative; federal, state local. Maybe if Trump is unable to dismantle the Dept of Education (and since RFK is not allowed to question the vaccine schedule), Trump could at least reinstate civics as a graduation requirement and require high school students study the constitutiom and pass the test that immigrants must pass to become naturalized citizens. These aren't my ideas but they make very good sense. If we don't do something liek that we will end up like Canada, the UK or Australia. Apparently this weeks lefty show up north is that Canadians are hanging their flags not to show pride of country but to show hatred of Trump (Pairodocs substack).
Ronald Reagan killed civics in 1980, when I was in high school. My history teacher joked about it. It's not so funny 45 years later.
Exactly.
The most worrisome part in what Matt said is Rupa's 55% statistic. With the EU, Oceania, and perhaps half of our country already lost, that 5% that seems to be tipping the wrong way is terrifying.
If a majority of Americans simply can't or won't accept the paramount importance of unfettered free speech and unending opposition to government, or government-sponsored, censorship and information control, where does it end?
Memory holes? Children ratting on parents? Pravda-on-the-Potomac? Scary times.
But I actually think the fever has been broken. Whatever it means, Trump won, decisively. And They, did not.
People want to be happy and free, and not admonished to march and be pissed off all the time and worry about made-up crapola.
I thought the same. But these Dems (and GOPers) in the Senate who are still shitting on Matt, Shellengerger, and Rupa are representing someone. Some interests.
I thought they would give up, but apparently not.
We have a pretty nasty GOP contingency still in power too. As to corrupt interests, I'm waiting for someone to investigate contributions to congress from the dark web that forms the MIC. Just wait til that rock gets turned over. Big pharma tentacles will look like child's play.
Washington DC is like a black hole...but only for the principles of the ambitious. Look at how quickly it stripped The Squad of any integrity they may have arrived with. AOC came in a wide-eyed ingenue with dreams of social justice, now she's a wide-eyed Deep State Apparatchik who's lust for power makes Tony Montana look like a Quaker.
Mike, one thing the Dems have going for them is their unwavering uniformity. Their strength in numbers approach puts the Rs to shame.
Agreed. But, can we all agree there are no pure thoughts anywhere when there is so much power being leveraged? Let's start there.
I know people that have been totally brainwashed. It has been pounded into their heads since at least 2009. I had lunch with a former co-work right after Trump was elected the first time. She was truly upset about all the hate speech that nobody was doing anything about. For her that speech was coming from the right. I said there is no such thing as hate speech. She was aghast that I would think that.
To this day she thinks Fauci is Science and the jabs saved millions.
My brother is pro censorship. He only wants the “truth” published. And of course I don’t agree with his truth. I don’t think he is unusual though.
Judy, my sister the exact same. She’s brainwashed. But she thinks it’s me & my other normal sister who are brainwashed. This is the reason I hate both Hillary and Obama so much. They did this to the country. They ripped it apart for their own benefit. And now millions are ideologically CRAZY & don’t even know it. And the government paid all MSM all along to be the echo chamber. I’m delighted to have Matt & Michael, Sasha, Jenny, TFP & McCullough to say the truth and blow up their world.
I have a friend who lives in Portland who believes that the violence there in 2020 was due to the Proud Boys not Antifa. Who knew?
Wow.
Same here. Brainwashed? Mass Formation Psychosis? White Guilt? I'm tired trying to figure them out. I'm out.
DarkSkyBest, we must be wise & not relax now that we are on the offensive. I am so encouraged by Substack, X, Rumble, etc where so many ppl are becoming active participants in this battle. I have learned so much from all of you Commenters - from your opinions & your suggestions for reading companion pieces to the issue being discussed.
Excellent comment! You articulated beautifully what I was thinking! Thank you
Very well said! That is exactly what is necessary. That we all engage actively for justice.
I completely agree. I was getting so demoralized, but these articles and the comments have given me hope.
Me too!!!
Their fever is not broken. It is like herpes. I will lie dormant for a long time. Then, it will reappear when you least want it to.
Yup. The Rockefellers and Rothschilds are still going to be obscenely rich at the end of Trump's term. They will bid their time, fund their wars and thinktanks until HIllary 2028. (God help us no!)
The fever has broken. Ahhhhh
We have been on this slippery slope for quit some time. My first notice of it was the passage of "Hate" crimes. Suddenly one murder was "worse" than another because of an alleged intent. It never made any sense to me, that by governmental decree, if I was murdered, my race sexual orientation would be a factor in determination of guilty's punishment. It SOUNDED GOOD though! That's, after all, what matters in politics.
The insidious creeping of Marxist socialism has definitively taken its toll on our country. There is no avenue they won't take to heist the brains right out of society and inject silly putting in its place. Too many of us said for the last forty years, no one really believes any of the wacko stuff. Well, many, too many do.
Yes..I have always thought, that if someone murdered me, they liked me. LOL
I was so frustrated when this became normalized.
This was the "Alex Jones moment" for overall censorship.
When people openly seek authoritarian rule it generally means that they don't want to think for themselves, and they don't want any of the rest of us thinking for ourselves. This is what they call Our Democracy.
Socialism lulls some into what they think is a promise of a safe cocoon where no one is mean anymore, someone will always take care of them, every thing is fair and even, and corruption is not a possibility. Ah, the myth of the equitable Peaceable Kingdom (probably best explained by Gary Larson). Except that the peoples savior Bernie Sanders seems to have accepted $1.9 million in Big Pharma money and equally indignant Elizabeth Warren seems to have accepted $1.2 million despite her denials. Golly gee, might that have been related to their vindictive, self-righteous, onesie waiving attacks of RFK?
"Socialism lulls some into what they think is a promise of a safe cocoon where no one is mean anymore, someone will always take care of them, every thing is fair and even, and corruption is not a possibility."
This certainly fits with what woke people frequently say. But when the dictators are finally in place, the violence is massive, and is always directed against the citizens themselves. It's hard for me to understand how the lulled believers can continue to believe all the way up to the horrible end, but I am not usually a conformist.
They didn't. Look it up. It was from nurses and other individuals.
It can be be creepy speaking with people who have these views.
I was amazed when a friend of mine (a former nurse) defended censorship during the Covid era, because it was "a public health issue."
She went on to tell me that she limited her news sources to NPR, NYT, and WSJ.
Then it all made sense.
I have a friend who until well into Trump's first term was a (left-leaning) Libertarian. Always reasonable, always rational.
But he's got pretty bad TDS and it hasn't improved. I remember back in ~2022-23, talking about the "vaccines" and he was spouting all the usual bullshit . . . while trying to call bullshit on me.
He acknowledged -- proudly -- that he gets nearly all of his news from NPR, which he INSISTED was neutral and fair, unlike MSNBC/CNN/NYT which are biased to the left, and FOX, which was the same to the right.
I couldn't get him to see the effective conflict of interest with a government-sponsored news source covering government policy. He told me I was buying into conspiracies, poo-poo'd Taibbi and similar journalists as "unserious," and told me I'd become "radicalized."
At least he got the last part right.
We're still friends. I refuse to let politics impact my real relationships. But still disappointing.
I can relate to that.
I told my friend that she was only getting the government-approved narrative on any given topic, & she looked at me as if I had sprouted horns.
I am hoping that Bobby Kennedy will publicize the truth about the Covid era, & maybe that will wake a few more people up to the extent of the lies, and the number of institutions engaged in it.
Mike, you need to simmer down now. We've ALWAYS been at war with East Asia. 2 + 2 = 5, remember?
Thanks Matt! I cannot fathom your frustration as mine is off the charts!!
We are all lucky to have you Matt … I was cheering you on as you spoke . I’m sure lots of us were.
While reading this post from Matt his sadness creeped through at the possibility of the demise of our country.
Respectfully, I think not.
Because of Matt+, these jokers are getting revealed. We Americans don't like them. The trick was, making sure enough of us saw them. And because of 1A warriors like Matt, we did.
The gig is up. Too many revelations to hide anymore. It is going to be very easy to get the word out that the American taxpayer has been harvested for a long time.
Agreed, DarkSkyBest. Now that the cat is out of the bag we must continue on the offensive to turn over every stone & expose them for who & what they are. This is truly a legacy for our next generations that I can get behind.
“facts”
There's something that has been badly going up my ass lately. Which is that so many stories presented as "fact" in the last administration are being debunked as "disinfo" or derivations, or lies and bullshit as i prefer to call it.
From Biden is sharp as a tack to Hunter's laptop is Russky disinfo, to the pee tape and the bogus dossier and Russiagate and Covid stuff, and my favorite the other day was "Voters Were Right About the Economy. The Data Was Wrong." ("Here’s why unemployment is higher, wages are lower and growth less robust than government statistics suggest."). Well no fucking shit. All you had to do was listen to and believe some genuine working class people.
Buckle up i guess.
The Mayor of Chicago has about a 15% approval rating and Trump (nationally) is running at 53%. Working class people in big cities know when they're being conned and they may not have voted for DJT last go round but they just sat this one out. The working and middle class are Blue State Refugees and voting with their feet. Bernie couldn't vote for Tulsi and possibly Bobby tomorrow and that shows me how intolerant the Ds have become. Free speech, where the Hell is the ACLU, they sold out too.
Well will have to "Keep on Trumpin" "And the politicians throwing stones."
My state is blue as they come, but we're over 60% registered Independent and like to elect Republican governors with some frewuency. Our D governor apparently expected to have a nice spot in Harris's DOJ, but now she says she's running for reelection in '26. The local paper says they think we'd be open to an R governor again. I'm waiting to see if our last R governor runs for Senate against Markey. I'd rate his chances as pretty good.
Keep the reloading bench clean and a supply of garden seed. These fuckers are going to crash it all.
It's a good time to be old.
There's not a bad time for that. It just happens. When I die, I don't want people to say that I didn't plant shade trees for my grandchildren.
Well, (long story short) i thought i had not much time, I was heading for a David Lynch ending. Then a long holiday vacation in the ER and hospital and it seems that i ended up with a new lease on life. I'm feeling like i might make it to 70. Now what?
I don't know. I'm 67 and don't have much desire or chance to see 77. I'm just gonna make these last few count. I haven't seen the ER yet. I hope I don't.
Enjoy the ride! Congrats.
That's great news!
Best wishes!
And childless (regrettably)
I'm childfree. Contentedly. But it might be nice to get a pair of cats soon.
Having the same thoughts. Time to inventory my ammo
Don't worry about inventory. You can never have too much. Metal investment is a long term strategy. It will always be worth something.
We went through the gold standard and the silver standard. We're now under the lead standard. Heavy metals never seem to go out of style.
don't forget the brass!
You're actually surprised that government, and other authorities, are lying to you? How old are you?
Personally, I've been following public affairs for over 60 years. Out of all that, one lesson stands out as certain: They're lying to us, because powerful people almost always have something to hide.
The saddest feature today is that the practice seems to have spread even to crucial fields like public health. I think that's why so many liberals, and even some Greens, fell for the Covid lies: they support almost anything "public," and disease control is especially vital. I hope some of the culprits go to jail; Fauci will merely have to carry that pardon like a dead bird around his neck.But he had confederates.
No, i'm not surprised that they were lying to us, i knew it and I didn't vote for them.. What i'm surprised about is that they've been printing the corrections now. What i'm not surprised about is that nobody seems to care or hold it against them. And there seems to be no humility whatsoever involved.
Because so many people (especially fake journalists) pretend not to remember things that happened four years ago, or even 4 months ago.
If you don't remember the stupid stuff ya said last year, there's no need to ever apologize.
Put your seatbacks in the upright position and STAY buckled up.
I just laugh at them and troll them mercilessly when they start whining about high prices, or , in the case of that Politico article, actually noticing high prices.
We tried to tell them, but they refused to listen.
A good friend of mine, Ivy undergrad, Ivy law, staunch super liberal, is furious that the fact checkers are gone from X and facebook.
He basically believes Trump and his allies must not be heard, to preserve democracy. Pointing out that all that silencing is the opposite of democracy simply makes him suspicious of my motives.
We are defending the Republic and those utterly unique amendments , the Bill of Rights that clearly and succinctly delineate the rights of the citizens. "Preserving democracy" isn't in play here. Maybe that oft-repeated phrase really means "preserving the democratic party".
You would think the left be capable of putting two and two together and pondering the consequences of someone like Trump being in charge of fact-checking.
But it simply does. not. register.
It's the Kerry syndrome. Only we should be allowed to "fact-check" and censor.
For a bunch of people who claim to have super empathy the modern left has to be the most solipsistic group of people I have ever seen.
One of the diagnostic criteria for narcissistic personality disorder is lack of empathy, but many narcissists want more than anything to be viewed as good people. They want to be perceived as anything that will get them points and prevent people from recognizing how horrible the narcissists really are.
One of my favorite examples of similar behavior is when they demand the government tax the churches without imagining Trump taxing the mosques.
your "good friend" is not so smart.
if twitter and FB fact checkers were the gold standard, has he/she not seen all their "facts" debunked.
its a challenge but you need a new or more friends.
My cousin truly thinks Trump is the anti-christ. I commented that could be construed as quite the promotion over his current title.
And 10 years ago, had we even heard of a "fact checker"?
Now the absence of fact checkers is regarded as a threat to democracy.
Kudos, you, Michael, Free Press, PjMedia, Townhall and a growing band of truth tellers are our heroes - full stop. The tide is beginning to turn thanks to your tireless efforts.
Thank you for your hard work! I wouldn't be able to sit there and take their crap. You're a better man than I.
I watched the whole thing thanks to Sasha Stone posting a link...you, Shellenberger, and Subramanya were awesome...you even had that hard-boiled reporter look with the open collar, loose tie, and rumpled shirt! Kolchak without the straw fedora!😂
Keep up the good work!
Yes! The only things missing were a five O'clock shadow and the coffee-stained fedora with a PRESS card sticking out of the hat band.
... and a cigarette dangling from the mouth
Got home from a long day and work and your testimony made me smile. As someone who had a subscription to Rolling Stone from the mid 80s til the late 90’s always enjoyed your honesty