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SW's avatar

Excellent article and an accurate -- and chilling -- description of tyranny.

What Nietzsche said : “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”

And from C.S. Lewis: “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.”

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John Hohn's avatar

Actually an FBI plant named Ray Epps kicked off all the shit that day. It’s extremely well documented on Revolver News (I know… but they’re right this time and the video evidence seems irrefutable).

The FBI has wormholed Epps even though, if anyone is guilty of “insurrection”, it’s him. Another FBI Psyop but this time the video has caught them out.

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Laura's avatar

Just imagine what we'd see if they'd release the 14000 hours of video. The fact that they haven't released it to the public shows that this entire thing is a psyop designed to destroy the opposition. If we had a proper "4th estate" instead of a propaganda estate this coverup would be screamed to high heavens. I am sickened by what our country has turned into.

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Mrs. McFarland's avatar

RIP Seth Rich. Segue I know, but I am so furious.

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Madjack's avatar

Never forget. He was murdered and Trump was investigated to cover up Clinton’s malfeasance

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Mrs. McFarland's avatar

Yup, the final eye opener for me. Clinton’s malfeasance and the utter incompetence of the DNC, John “Password “ Podesta, Poodle Wasserman Schultz,etc and yet, all the complicit walk free. Machiavellian at its worst.

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

Who murdered Seth Rich?

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Madjack's avatar

Good question. Never solved. There are investigators who feel that this was an “inside job”. There are questions about Seth Riches connection to wiki leaks.

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jussmartenuf's avatar

Who murdered Jeffrey Epstein?

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Jan 8, 2022
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William Taylor's avatar

CNN business website---oh, okay. Thanks for clearing that up.

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engaging's avatar

so far as i can tell the cnn article is only about a lawsuit related to smears against aaron rich. i know little about the seth rich murder, am just not sure how much the article or lawsuit clarifies that picture.

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Ronnie Kelly's avatar

I agree. Typical in that he/she/it offers zero evidence of anything stated.

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bot_483's avatar

AWFL AWFL AWFL

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Jan 8, 2022
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Pacificus's avatar

Yes, Seth Rich, say his name....they cannot be allowed to get away with his murder.

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Rather Curmudgeonly's avatar

Damn shame that Ambrose Bierce never had a whack at "national security" - probably something long the lines of making treason look like patriotism.

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Mrs. McFarland's avatar

On the FBI list one day and then poof! Now not to be found!! Peculiar, no?.

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NROL34 Odin's avatar

The pipe bomber had a cell telephone. The FBI could check cell phone location data and catch him if they wanted.

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Not Me$'s avatar

Pipe bomber has been identified, that I have no doubt of. There is no governmental mechanism that can force the FBI or DOJ to reveal what he was up to and who he was working for. He is NOW most likely an informant working against whoever tasked him with placing those pipe bombs.

This is all wheels within wheels and a funhouse hall of mirrors. That is exactly how the Security State wants to keep it. So stop asking lest you receive a visit. You know these posts are NOT anonymous and a database is maintained utilizing "key words" to identify those getting too close to the truth.

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….'s avatar

why this nonsense? the reality is bad enough, you don't have to make up a bunch of idiotic bullshit...

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Brian's avatar

I would have thought it was made up or at least exaggerated; but then I watched the videos and read the article.

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John Hohn's avatar

I didn’t make anything up. It’s all on video.

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Madjack's avatar

And, like roaches, when there is one there is many

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Patrick's avatar

Out of one, many, sadly. E unum pluribus. 🤪

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

Or that the FBI identified Epps and the others immediately from video and photos, were apprehended immediately, and that they were part of some smaller hyper-organized pro-trump cabal, and were then offered a deal or immunity for cooperating with the Feds. Or that they were anti-Trump provocateurs out to...provoke the Trump crowd, and since they didn't break any laws, were asked to share whatever, if any, intel they might have. Or on and on and on....

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Not Me$'s avatar

The FBI has informants salted throughout American society not just within subversive groups or criminal enterprises. Congress MUST force them to reveal ALL the individuals whom they pay on a regular basis as well as the people who actually provide "information" for money.

Even individuals arrested for white collar crimes are recruited and paid by them to spy on their employers and anyone else they might encounter. East Germany had nothing on the FBI when it comes to domestic spy networks. Even with Mafia cases they compromise relatives who are not criminals to "keep an eye" on their family members who might be involved in organized criminal activity. Makes for great Thanksgiving dinners and conversations being recorded for intelligence purposes.

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Anti-Hip's avatar

Epps has completely disappeared from view. Not exactly what one would expect the media, or the FBI, to do with (someone identified from) a "hyper-organized pro-trump cabal".

"they didn't break any laws" - On more than one occasion Epps is caught on camera inciting a break-in to the Capitol.

Oh, I suppose now with the kerfuffle, they'll come up with *some* story ... but it will smell like a week-old raw fish stuffed with dogshit. And 40-50% of the public will just gobble it right up.

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Not Me$'s avatar

Epps is at his ranch and has been photographed there. He has refused to speak to any reporters and is living free at this time.

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Anti-Hip's avatar

Good to know, thanks

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bot_483's avatar

Boring AWFL

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

"Affluent White Female Liberal." You're batting .250.

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Jan 9, 2022
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Anti-Hip's avatar

Dear e.pierce,

IMHO, you really need to use your intelligence and knowledge to *only* lay out your arguments more clearly, and *tersely*. If you need to repeat something because it gets lost several levels down, do it again in a good location in the tree.

Your emotions, while often fully justified, are most likely backfiring to our wider audience, damaging your reputation, and using up your time and talents. A good witty, short comment now and then sure, but please turn off the tap afterward.

I know you can do it, because you and I have had a good conversation or two. But note that often your replies -- for me, at least -- are like drinking from a firehose, and I simply don't have time in my life to spend on them, no matter how good they may be, and even though I appreciate the pointers contained in them.

BTW, I know I'm guilty of similar sins now and then, and pledge to watch for it.

Thank you in advance.

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Phisto Sobanii's avatar

Lol

You just want to cultivate your own echo chamber.

Classic.

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Ronnie Kelly's avatar

Yikes! This guy is one sick asshole!

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Anti-Hip's avatar

That's a reasonable idea (the second line). But I, for one, probably wouldn't use it, as I'd rather hear everyone, no matter how difficult it is sometimes to do so. After all, it defeats the purpose of sharing ideas. "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." We don't want to be like our opponents.

So, it's quite easy to just skip the comment of someone you don't want to read. The only good exception I see is when someone's texts so completely fill up the thread that you can't follow it. Something you come dangerously close to doing sometimes. :)

Anyway, your response above has little to do with what I had said before it: The most important thing we have power over is ourselves.

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Jan 8, 2022
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John M.'s avatar

Are you OK?

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Jan 9, 2022
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mrpatapon's avatar

7 29 43 56 57 6

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Paul's avatar

Damn...that C.S Lewis quote is priceless.

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Cyber Unknown's avatar

We have met the enemy - and he is us. Let's refuse that "us" at every turn.

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Stxbuck's avatar

CS Lewis was well acquainted with left-Labor/union busybodies during his lifetime.

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Karl Humungus's avatar

He should have written, "Don't use monsters to fight clowns."

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Brent Nyitray's avatar

The left's take on 1/6 follows their normal pattern.

They take something that has a kernel of truth to it, and then exaggerate it beyond all recognition. They then conflate that kernel of truth with the exaggeration and demand you accept the exaggerated narrative as truth. If you disagree with their interpretation or their policy solutions they'll accuse you of denying the kernel of truth.

They pull the same shit with global warming, privilege, externalities and systemic racism.

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rtj's avatar

I think you might have nailed it.

I do wish people would stop calling them "the left" though. They're Democrats. Which isn't synonomous with the left. If nothing else, the Cheney ring kissing should convince people of that.

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Casey Preston's avatar

I think it would be helpful if the terms left, right, democrat, republican, progressive, conservative, and liberal were all decoupled. Specifically, “liberal” is a value system that might have been associated with the left and progressives in the past, but may very well be considered conservative in the future.

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rtj's avatar

And before that, it was Libertarian-ish, like Classical Liberalism.

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Oregoncharles's avatar

now known as "Neo-Liberalism" - or Free Trade, or Corporate Globalization.

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rtj's avatar

Almost, except the neo-liberals aren't so big on civil liberties.

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Patrick's avatar

Only their own civil liberties.

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Stxbuck's avatar

That’s putting it mildly.

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CC's avatar

No need to decouple Republican & Democrat - they are not descriptors but rather viewpoints. They represent two different ways of seeing the world and the role of government.

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S Black's avatar

Not any more they don't. There is barely a lick of difference between them.

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madaboutmd's avatar

My 19 yo son recently told me he doesn't like to discuss "politics" and I quickly clarified my intention in any conversation is to discuss my/our values. Politics is seemingly all culture now and decoupling politics from values is nearly impossible.....therefore stating our values is a way of figuring out which party one aligns with more. That's really important since he's a new voter.

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Chris's avatar

encourage him to vote for the person not the party. Use your same values rubric on deciding.

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Basil Rathbone's avatar

That future you reference already here.

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BradK (Afuera!)'s avatar

Indeed. Power-hungry authoritarians, blinded by their insatiable quest for complete and total control, and gleefully cheered on by a corrupt State Media.

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Brian Fleury's avatar

Come on. If the Democrats were interested in power, they wouldn't flail about helplessly. It's all about the Benjamins.

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

This is the age of job precarity for everyone (nearly), including politicians. And donors, if massaged in the manner expected---much like chumming with the union boss in the old days---provide job security for politicians.

Constituents, on the other hand, have now come to be seen by politicians as so many demanding step-children.

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Brent Nyitray's avatar

idk, i think Democrats is too narrow. Culture is not officially intertwined with the Party, but it might as well be. I think "the left" captures the group, including all the single-issue voters, socialists, academia, the mainstream news media, social media moderators, and the search engines.

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

The "left," does not, would not, accept Dick Cheney as anything other than what he is---an authoritarian war criminal.

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Rather Curmudgeonly's avatar

Well, there may well be a "left" that disavows Pelosi, Schiff, Schumer et al - but that is a group as numerous and consequential as the purest of the Libertarian Party.

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

With that I will agree.

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Jan 8, 2022
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Donald's avatar

That’s not helpful. I haven’t figured out aunt martha yet, but your repeated wall of text is annoying even if it turns out to be true.

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

I would become accustomed to e. pierce's disturbing "projection trolling"---that is, if you intend to stick around long enough in an attempt to figure out aunt martha. It appears to be a permanent feature here.

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Jan 8, 2022Edited
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Randall's avatar

I've come to think of them as the Twitter Left. That's where the pressure not to buck today's groupthink is applied.

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Jan 7, 2022
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rtj's avatar

Yeah, i mean, i kind of think i'm on the left. Independent, Bernie girl, 3rd party voter, unwoke. I can't stand the Dems as a party.

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Patrick's avatar

Thank you for your independent thought. Takes courage these days.

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rtj's avatar

Nothing courageous about it. To be courageous, i'd have to give at least a modicum of a shit about what Democrats (or Republicans) think.

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Jan 8, 2022
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Barry Fay's avatar

Lenin is laughing his ass off at this comment! Read some history, for godsakes!

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Jan 7, 2022Edited
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L.A. Sanchez's avatar

They ARE engaging in human trafficking. By opening borders and transporting people who are essentially owned by coyotes, gangs and narco-traffickers the Biden regime is guilty of acting as a link in the trafficking chain.

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Stxbuck's avatar

I’m a libertarian, and have always said prostitution should be legal, but pimping/trafficking should not be. Unfortunately the two are rather intertwined, even in places with legal brothels such as Germany-they are run legally by criminal gangs and the girls are trafficked in from Eastern Europe.

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Alex's avatar

looking at hollywood and the Epstein affair it would seem that many on the "left" indulge in sex trafficking themselves. as far as mental illness is concerned there believe is there's no such thing as mental illness its all just self expression previously condemned by a "judgemental" society.

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

"...I have no idea what Left or Right means anymore..."

In case anyone had any doubts, you aptly reinforced the "no idea" plea.

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CC's avatar

Republican!

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John Holmes's avatar

Is it woke silo-ing? Dems know the woke will not speak against prostitution as a right. Another cheap slogan to lock in voters. I walk by a pro-sex work sign every day on my block and wonder how this issue warrants focus...anyway, thanks for comment.

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Brent Nyitray's avatar

I look at culture, which is run 100% by liberals. It follows strict protocols, has an enforcement arm via Twitter, and is ruthless with heretics.

It is the perfect microcosm of how the left governs without guardrails.

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

You just transitioned from "democrats" to "liberals." Both altogether different entities than leftists.

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Brent Nyitray's avatar

That is why i say democrats is too narrow. the economic left has no say in the D party, they are just along for the ride.

i understand the resistance to having a name for the Borg, but the Borg needs a name.

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minitiger's avatar

“Culture, which is run 100% by liberals”? What does that even mean? And BTW, Twitter isn’t real life, just so you know.

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Brent Nyitray's avatar

The economic left is to the Democratic Party what Libertarians are to Republicans. Lumped in, but no one gives a shit what they say.

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Oregoncharles's avatar

True about student debt, wrong about M4All; Biden actually said he would veto it if it reached his desk (maybe it's a good thing he's so unreliable), but the Dems nominated him anyway.

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Wazoomann's avatar

You only say that stuff to get elected. Kind of like JFK rattling the saber during his election run and then signing peace deals with the Soviets.

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Yo mismo soy el regalo's avatar

What's soft about it? Pfizer and the CDC (a public/private partnership) are demanding Americans participate in a medical trial with a drug that has killed thousands of people. The drug is so failed that we have almost reached one million new cases of COVID per DAY. Children are now forced to accept the drug, and many innocents are already dying. What will they demand of us next?

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Mike's avatar

You’re making claims here that most ordinary people can’t square with what their eyes and ears are telling them. When they make a decision you disapprove of, you react by calling them “sheeple” willing to participate in a “mass experiment”. This is no better than what the left is doing.

I’m a PCP with 3000 patients on my panel, who lost five of them to Covid last year before the vaccines came along. Since then all but a small minority of my patients have been vaccinated and I haven’t lost a single one of them to the disease (or to a vaccine reaction), but I’ve had several out of the small unvaccinated minority hospitalized. The only deaths I’ve heard of recently have been unvaccinated individuals, including a 50-year-old father of three and a 20-something-year-old.

I don’t believe in the vaccine mandates but I think people who don’t want to get vaccinated should shut up about those who act differently - or otherwise not complain when negative judgments are aired about their choices.

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Yo mismo soy el regalo's avatar

I’m sorry but I don’t understand what you are saying. The vaccine is working? People should be fired from their jobs for not taking it? They should lose their houses and their children should suffer? It’s really a vaccine even though it doesn’t immunize? It’s not experimental? People are not injured and killed by it? Maybe you haven’t seen the data. I have. Read eugyppius. Read Matthew Crawford. Read Steve Kirsh. Read Jessica Rose. You will learn a lot. Read Paracelsus essay on corporate medicine. I assume you are a corporate doctor. You assume I know nothing. I was badly injured by the vaccine. No more for me. Read Kennedy’s book on Fauci. The mRNA treatment has a half life of about two months so for full protection you have to vaccinate the planet monthly. It’s not working. Everyone will get Covid.

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Yo mismo soy el regalo's avatar

There is one other point that forgot to mention and that is that people who imagine they are experts tend to focus on metrics that apply to their daily job. You think people are healthy because they are vaccinated but that isn’t borne out in the overall statistics. All cause mortality is increased 40% in the 18-64 age group, a 12 sigma event. Some are temporarily helped, many more are dead. Read Metatron for more on that, el gato malo or eugyppius. You have to see the whole picture to make a clear choice. I’m assuming in all this that you are who you say you are and not a hospital administrator or a Pfizer troll. But you may be. The big money is in denying early treatment and getting death to occur in hospitals where each corpse is worth more than $100k.

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

1 million new cases per day. Sure you wanna stick with this figure, sport?

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Patrick's avatar

Among other things.

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Deb Hill's avatar

You're right. But look what happened to them. You can't go against the machine. All the people you mentioned had pretty big followers, what about the ordinary person. I guess they're shit out of luck.

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Deb Hill's avatar

They tried to silence them, but their voices are to loud. I try to seek out voices that are contrary to my views, but if all they're interested in is throwing bombs I'm out. I don't know how I found Matt, but I'm glad I did. Everyone needs differing opinions and Matt, gives me that.

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George's avatar

Indeed! They're Democrats, or liberals--as Phil Ochs put it, "ten degrees to the left of center in good times, ten degrees to the right if it affects them personally."

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Patrick's avatar

Outside a small circle of friends…

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The Other Jackie's avatar

Honestly, as long as large numbers of Americans genuinely think the center right Democrats are "the left" or "Communists" we will never move forward. Pelosi, a Communist, what a joke. We need independents or "an" independent party, not that is ideologically center but that is just not stupid.

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Basil Rathbone's avatar

I see it all over. It's a lack of education, specifically about what "the left" even means. Because corporate media persists in calling Democrats the left, and most people see not much else besides corporate media, they're trained to believe Democrats are socialists, communists, etc. Or Obama was a far left progressive. The exact opposite of the actual case.

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

Lack of education. Willful ignorance. Sheer intellectual laziness. Corralled ideologically. Call it what you will, it all amounts to the same thing and furnishes fuel for all the common social media dumpster fires. It's one of the more interesting phenomenon that defines social media.

That people who take the time and make the effort to read and post on current events are so demonstrably ill-informed about basic knowledge. The kind of general knowledge that any reasonably educated "citizen" ought to know, and which makes no requirement for "holding" a position on the political spectrum to at least "know" it.

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Patrick's avatar

It’s 12 o clock somewhere …..

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Patrick's avatar

So Obama is a far right conservative? Not exactly an exact opposite. Either way, for Democrats, left, moderate, progressive, and the gender cornucopia to complain about media coverage is hilarious.

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Mike Roy's avatar

You're not wrong, but the MUCH bigger problem are those that use "Democrats good. GOP bad. Orange man VERY bad." and other shallow, outdated formulae as a default compass.

I don't blame them for wanting a simple filter for all of this chaos, but it's been exploited on a massive scale for 6-10 years and the damage is nearing irreversible.

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Brent Nyitray's avatar

The hardcore left may not think the democrats are pure enough, but it doesn't matter. The group, which includes Democratic politicians, the mainstream media, socialists, Hollywood, K-12 education, social media moderators, the search engines, etc. needs a name.

I understand the left's reticence to having a name for itself - that is what 1984 is all about - but the Borg needs a name.

And the Borg can name itself whatever it wants, but the outsiders have named it "the left." And so it shall be.

The name is "the left."

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Patrick's avatar

They do suck. As do many Republicans. Only the center can save us. But they’re too busy being the center. Working at their JOBS . Knowing things are fucked up but just trying to deal with it nonetheless.

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Donald's avatar

The center went along with the Iraq War. None of these political terms that we use are very useful. I am “ far left” on some things, but not on others and sometimes find myself in- between what the self described left and right say, but would not want to be called a centrist, because I have seen too many examples where self described centrists or moderates simply went along with whatever idiocy seemed mainstream at the moment. Like support for the Iraq War.

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

In other words, people not like you or me who seemingly gravitate toward "actual insane lunatic kooks on the "far left" or "far right".

Is that right?

-----

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Tucker Parsons's avatar

Thank you

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Basil Rathbone's avatar

So correct. The Democrats are the polar opposite of the left, though no one constantly tuned in to corporate media will ever realize that simple fact. We have two wings of one big rightwing party here. It's been glaringly obvious for 40 years.

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CC's avatar

Huh!? The Democrats are ‘The Left’ and today they consist of an increasingly powerful Progressive group and then the more ‘traditionally’ liberal.

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Peacelady's avatar

The sole reason for the existence of the Democratic Party is to block the left. They are pro Wall St criminality, pro Corporate control and pro regime change wars to prop it all up. How anyone could misconstrue these policies as the left is a mystery.

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Basil Rathbone's avatar

Concise and exactly right.

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Basil Rathbone's avatar

Sorry, CC, but the Democrats have nothing to do with the left, unless you are trapped in a strictly binary thought system that says Democrats=the Left, Republicans=the Right. Anyone who knows anything about what the Left has always stood for and promoted isn't seeing the slightest hint of it in the Democratic Party. They are capitalist to the core, as they eagerly admit.

Liberals are capitalists, as much as so-called "conservatives." The handful of "progressives" (the Squad) in the Dem party have a few socialist-y things to say on occasion, but they invariably cave to Mama Bear Pelosi on every issue. The left is socialist, even if there are some disagreements about what that means, but it is anti-capitalist in principle or it is nothing. And there's nothing anti-capitalist about the Democrats, which shouldn't need to even be said. It's obvious as anything that can be said about that corrupt party, just as corrupt as their capitalist brethren across the aisle.

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CC's avatar

The Progressive Caucus (90) makes up just about HALF the Democrats in Congress.....which is why they can 'dick' Nancy Pelosi around, or else it's just fun theatre. You be the judge. I don't disagree that Democrats today are the Party of Wall Street....it's tough pandering to so many groups of folks : )

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Basil Rathbone's avatar

Pelosi and her loyal centrists always prevail on every issue. All the "Progressive" caucus does is bleat and posture feebly for a while only to invariably cave in to Pelosi's Wall Street, big donor objectives. Ilan Omar is the best of them, but she can't achieve anything going alone, so she almost always goes along with the crowd.

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Basil Rathbone's avatar

This isn't 1789, professor. You sound like the late not-so-great asshole Charles Krauthammer.

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

"See Charles Dickens." Ever thought of getting your own paper route?

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….'s avatar

exactly my first thought

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minitiger's avatar

Yeah, sure, it’s only “the left” that exaggerates shit beyond all recognition. Right-wingers never do that..

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Laura's avatar

Sadly it is currently. The left has control of almost the entirety of the mainstream media as well as tech companies. Since the normal controls of a "4th estate" no longer function the left has gone completely insane with power and lies.

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minitiger's avatar

Fox News is the most-watched cable news network in the US. That’s pretty much the definition of “MSM.” I don’t care either way, I don’t pay attention to any of it, but to pretend that it’s only “the left” that engages in hyperbole is fucking asinine.

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Laura's avatar

That is 1 count them 1 station out of the entire MSM. I never said that people on the right don't engage in hyperbole, I said they aren't exaggerating beyond recognition. You sort of proved my point by admitting only one right-leaning station is around ("almost the entirety") while the rest of them cover up and spew outright lies over and over (Russia collusion, COVID origins, Hunter Biden's laptop etc.). This doesn't even begin to address the Google, Twitter, Facebook and "fact checkers" employed to run cover for the Democrats as well.

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Michael Framson's avatar

This is a great article, one of Matt's best. The comments are excellent. How do we fix what is so broken? It is so broken, I don't know how to fix it and my specialty is carpentry and house building. There's only one Matt, one Laura and one me and all the one ofs on Matt's substack.

Where are we headed if we don't derail what is happening to this country?

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Laura's avatar

I have wondered that myself and have a teeny tiny one person plan. I started supporting independent journalists and am trying (we just moved) to join the local Republican committee to see if I can help discern who is genuine and who is not. I stopped donating to any politicians until I figure out who they are and what they truly represent.

That's all I have so far but would love to hear other people's thoughts. I want us to draw back to the middle.

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Citizen of Banana Republic's avatar

1/6 but seriously this time.

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Mike's avatar

What?!? For the past three years the right have taken to calling anyone who advocates for something like Obamacare or acknowledges the reality of climate change “socialists” whose ultimate goal is allegedly to move the country to communism. This claim is trumpeted everywhere, 24/7, on every conservative site that I’ve ever visited, which is why I don’t visit them anymore. And yes, it pretty clearly represents a form of systemically “exaggerating beyond recognition”.

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Pacificus's avatar

"NPR good - NPR for smart people. This paradigm is VERY hard to shift with the Blue State Progressives."

So true. The lack of self-awareness of the NPR crowd (of which I was a member for decades) is breathtaking.

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

What do you make of Trump's new turn as a vaccine tout? Coupled with the predictable pushback from the mob he helped shape? Where is this going to take us?

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Brent Nyitray's avatar

they remind of me tipper gore playing a twisted sister record backwards looking for satanic lyrics.

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Patrick's avatar

Big question is, did Tipper Gore play Twister? I always felt bad for her considering what a pompous ass she was married to

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Pacificus's avatar

Yes...Fox News today is much the same ideologically as it was when it began 25 years ago, albeit with a few more Leftist perspectives than was the case heretofore...but the Left media establishment (MSNBC, NYT, WAPO, NPR, etc) has gone full woke/corporate globalist since Trump's emergence.

"Fox pales in comparison at propagandizing at this point." Yes.

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Tedder130's avatar

Uh, what do you mean by 'the left'? Your notion seems to describe liberals, whose politics is very different from the Left's.

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Mike's avatar

Let’s just say as a PCP I see the effect the right’s propaganda has had when it comes to Covid vaccines on a daily basis in my exam rooms. Occasionally I get reports from local ICU’s as well.

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Laura's avatar

Can you specify the right's propoganda with respect to the vaccines? I am curious to see your perspective.

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Mike's avatar

Someone has already responded on my behalf.

As he said, it’s not really a secret. Trump himself is being excoriated on the right for promoting the vaccines. But there are reasons why such a huge and disproportionate percentage of Republicans aren’t vaccinated, and we all know what they are.

It’s the right that’s telling people vaccines are “experimental”. It’s the right telling people vaccines don’t immunize. It’s the right telling people that the vaccines have killed hundreds of thousands of Americans, although for some reason this huge body count is difficult for most of us ordinary middle-of-the-road folks to perceive in our actual communities. It’s the right telling people that the vaccines “alter our DNA”, contrary to what ordinary high school molecular biology informs us is actually possible.

I’m against mandates, but I don’t appreciate how the right distorts the truth about vaccines.

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Pacificus's avatar

Mike, I appreciate you thoughtful and informed comments on the vax, but I do think your assertion laying all skepticism regarding it on the Right is a bit simplistic. My memory is that it was Biden and Harris who, during the presidential campaign, first questioned the potential efficacy of the vaccine(s) when they thought it was politically expedient to do so. Also, Republicans aren't the only group within which a "huge and disproportionate percentage" remain unvaccinated--also true for African Americans who, it is fair to say, are mostly not Republicans. My understanding is that they, as a group, are still less than half-vaxxed, not surprising given the African American community's ambiguous historical relationship to the medical establishment (the Tuskegee experiment, etc.). Finally, many high-profile people who have expressed varying degrees of skepticism about the jab (Joe Rogan, Aaron Rodgers, Kyrie Irving, etc) are clearly not on the "right," at least as we have traditionally understood the term.

So I would urge you to see the issue of vaccine skepticism, in its various forms, as more than a mere Democrat-Republican, Left-Right issue. It's much more complicated than that.

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Stxbuck's avatar

I agree with this. Unfortunately, a dumber segment of the “right”-low info voters in places like SW Ohio or Arkansas, prefer to self flagellate with conspiracy theories. It’s a cultural as much as an ideological mindset.

The idiocy of the Ds/elitist/deep state mindset is on full reveal WITHOUT Q-anon level idiocy or radical vaxx paranoia.

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Mike's avatar

Do you think I got here because I think the left’s some model of good conduct?

But I guess I think that the left is going to lose in the end, largely because of the way it’s currently behaving, so it’s perhaps more on point to envision how the right is going to use its own power in the future.

And I think it’s going to misuse it just as extensively if not more.

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Patrick's avatar

They do. The left sucks more though.

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Rather Curmudgeonly's avatar

The trouble is that progressive tactics aren't something that right-wingers are unable to adopt. When progressives succeed, the right copies the tactics (to obviously different ends). It may be doubly unbecoming, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work.

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CC's avatar

It's call 'hysteria' - the Democrat liberal elite has been afflicted for quite some time now : )

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Gogs's avatar

You mean "liberals", not the left. Liberals hate the left. The left certainly wouldn't venerate Dick Cheney.

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JD Free's avatar

It's called a Motte and Bailey argument.

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Coco McShevitz's avatar

Excellent observation

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Wayne Janis's avatar

You forgot the giant elephant in that room - the pandemic.

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Mrs. McFarland's avatar

Textbook Alinsky.

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Running Burning Man's avatar

CRT, too.

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Mike's avatar

I think your point is well taken but how do the GOP’s current policy proposals acknowledge the “kernel of truth” when it comes to global warming?

The impression I get is that today’s GOP defines a lot of its positions by mindlessly adopting whatever the opposite is of what the Big Bad Left proposes. This isn’t quite the same thing as what you just pointed out Democrats do, but it strikes me as just as stupid.

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Brent Nyitray's avatar

On a scale of 1-10 how much of an existential threat is global warming? Republicans think it probably is a 1 or 2. Democrats think it is a 9 or 10.

Republicans think we have probably done enough already to combat it. Democrats think we need to do more. So there is no point in giving that inch any more, especially if you think the Democrats are using environmentalism as a trojan horse to implement a bunch of unrelated stuff.

It makes sense. And, FWIW, the hair on fire scenarios regarding the environment assume global population doubles or triples from here. The US has stopped growing, China is terrified of its slowing birthrates, and India is seeing the same thing. If global population tops out at 10 billion, we probably have a small and manageable issue.

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Mike's avatar

Sorry, but the policy proposals put forward by the GOP - or rather, absence of such proposals - suggests to me that they view the threat of global warming as precisely 0 on that scale of yours. Possibly less than 0 since they actually propose doing many things that would actually accelerate warming as opposed to reversing or even stabilizing it.

I’m holding out for someone who’s a “5” but that doesn’t seem like it’s ever going to be an option.

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Brent Nyitray's avatar

If they think we have done enough already, then why put forth further proposals? Or go along with what the left wants? There is no reason.

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Mike's avatar

If they think we’ve done enough already, you should be able to show me something significant that they’ve actually done. And not something that the left has actually done, which the right is currently advocating should be undone.

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Brent Nyitray's avatar

Nixon created the EPA

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Tedder130's avatar

For one I have heard that "the climate is always changing" and facts about long-ago periods of warming, ignoring the speed of current change; some also recognize carbon as the problem then advocate 'carbon capture'.

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Mike's avatar

Individual Republicans may do that, but the party as a whole doesn’t seem to have any sort of rational, middle-of-the-road position on this issue.

It’s fair to criticize the Democratic Party here for being unmeasured and authoritarian in its behavior recently, but it seems there are plenty of individuals on the left, probably including Matt and maybe even comprising a majority of ordinary voters, who’re uncomfortable with what the Democrats are doing and calling the party out for it. I see no reason why we shouldn’t criticize the institutional GOP in a similar manner and look to thoughtful Republicans to call out their party for its asininity as well.

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Tedder130's avatar

You clearly define propaganda of all types.

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John Holmes's avatar

Well-known leftist, Adam Schiff?

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Alex's avatar

You should expect nothing less from ideologues.

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ResistWeMuch's avatar

there is no way to live peaceably with such people that lie and argue in such bad faith. they are evil. time to face evil head on.

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Bob Newell's avatar

Matt Taibbi,

You are doing something rare and precious--seeking the truth and following where it leads. Thank you. You stand out profoundly in our era of Orwellian propaganda that is still called news. May your tribe increase. With respect and gratitude--Bob Newell

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Sasha Stone's avatar

Thanks again for a great piece. If you tell Americans that a violent riot in the wake of a protest is the worst terrorist attack on our nation - right up there with our foreign enemies attacking us - that led to WAR - most Americans look at that and think: well what the hell was the Summer of 2020 when protests and riots were urgent, violent, necessary and rewarded by our government not just with policy but completely institutional overhaul, from Hollywood to Coca-cola, to every university, and even in the medical industries and research labs. Billions have been poured into the cause, and going along with that was the urgent message of 2020: that this country is a white supremacist hell hole that has to be rebuilt from the ground up.

Why wouldn't people think a violent protest was the way to go after the summer of 2020?

Autonomous zones, people dying, people defending their stores and themselves all the while the democrats were saying it was "mostly peaceful" and a "racial reckoning." Maybe at the NY Times and on cable news they simply forget what we all saw. But most people with common sense haven't forgotten. So they see Biden and Harris as blatant unapologetic hypocrites. Suddenly they care about the police. Now they are arguing against political violence. I don't think the majority is going to buy it and I think it worked against them -- except in the way you point out here.

It was more than just an embarrassing thing to watch - which it was. They are about to get much more authoritarian. All because a political outsider, sloppy though he may be, challenged the established order.

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CTE's avatar

His disapproval ratings just got worse than Trumps, that says something. While many are duped by this spectacle the majority are still not. I hope to see a red wave. I don't really trust the right (honestly I've not voted right) but the right is the only place that seems to have any widespread distrust of our power centers so at least it provide a small check. The younger generation (lol, I'm on the older end of millennials so not elderly or anything) of elites seem to be had so easily through identity politics that even the military is doing the "woke" thing, which greatly concerns me in their willingness to embrace authoritarian ideas as long as it's marketed correctly. It's all so disorienting.

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Anti-Hip's avatar

"Conservative" now has a more fundamental meaning: "conserving a government of, for, and by the people."

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Learning's avatar

The Republican Party ought to thank Trump for cleaning out the party of many of its most despicable NeoCons. Wish a few more wackos would leave, but I do believe most of the ones left are for individual freedoms and anti-war.

I still would love to see Tulsi and Ron Paul. He's sort of whiny, but they both seem honest.

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CTE's avatar

I think there is truth to this, Trump made a lot of bad people show their hand. The bad side of Trump is he also emboldened and helped consolidate the power of those bad people.

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Stxbuck's avatar

Amen. Populist idiots like Marjorie Green will always be around, but low info voters come from all sides of the purported ideological spectrum.

Trump is obviously narcissistic and with attention span of a gnat, but he has done a service in chasing out the RINOs. No sane person who supports individual liberty will side with the corporate Ds now.

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Jay Thomas's avatar

One of the other things that happened during Trump was the move of the Republican party more toward being the party of the working class. I think this gives them a major pedestal to stand on....if they keep that stance going forward and do not revert back to the establishment country club republicans of old.

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Cowgirlcontrarian's avatar

Yes, I grew up with Rockefeller Republicans. They began to take over the Democrat Party slowly in the '70s as they were socially liberal. They came to power with Clinton/Gore aka The Hamilton Party. So basically Clinton and Obama were Republicans. Obama even mentions how much he admired Reagan and the orderliness of Republicans. Reminded him of the tidy lawns on the army bases in Hawaii! and the crisp salutes of the soldiers in those parades. If the Republicans who are left in the party want to run things, they will embrace the working class. If they want more of the same kind of power they have now, they will continue the Kayfabe.

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Stxbuck's avatar

Supporting free markets and resisting regulatory capture are the best things the GOP can do for the real working class and small business owners, imo.

The business and legal establishments-except for energy-are firmly in the D/corporatist camp.

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Patrick's avatar

As long as you acknowledge narcissist twats like AOC, Schiff swallowwell etc

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Indecisive decider's avatar

Wrong. Most Democrats have been gaslit by their chosen media - CNN, MSNBC, nyt, etc. - to believe all sorts of nonsense. Republicans are no better. Change will only come from the outside. JFK could not get elected in either of today's party structures.

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Stxbuck's avatar

Neither would Barry Goldwater-he would go off on the Trumpers.

Trump is a unique politician and a one time phenomenon as a candidate. He revitalized the GOP, but saying the party will continue to succceed by having candidates be like Trump is like saying a college football team will win NCs by having their QB play like Cam Newton at Auburn. The model is unique to the personage and not replicable on a constant scale.

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L.A. Sanchez's avatar

Haha wait are you saying GenXrs are elderly? That hurt. And so do my knees, back and hips lol.

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Patrick's avatar

Something vaguely hot about that. But it’s late

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L.A. Sanchez's avatar

Ive heard the scent of biofreeze is intoxicating. Then again, my hearing aid might have been off.

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Patrick's avatar

What? Lol

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L.A. Sanchez's avatar

BioFreeze? You know. A fancy ointment for old people pains. Forget it. This is depressing. I’m going to drink some warm milk, watch Murder She Wrote and reminisce about the good old days when American politics weren’t corrupt. In the 18th Century. LOL

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Joe's avatar

"most Americans look at that and think: well what the hell was the Summer of 2020"

Yep. And don't forget the protests right across from the White House when Trump was taken to the bunker and the general reaction from the Democrats and the MSM was derision.

Which was probably the correct reaction, but the point is that they never would have even thought to characterize it as anything but a protest. Certainly not an insurrection, etc.

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Oregoncharles's avatar

To be fair, those protests across from the White House never captured the seat of government - not even in Portland. That was a pretty impressive riot; though I think the Capitol police LET them in.

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Jonathan's avatar

Yep, I know a person who was there. She naively thought the capitol building was just open to visitors that day, because the doors were wide open and the police were chatting it up with some of the protestors. And--she was in the capitol building when they brought out the guns.

In retrospective, it's quite obvious the whole thing was clearly orchestrated, including obviously the FBI agents leading the charge. My only question is: was Trump part of the setup? Did he make a deal to ensure nothing would come of all the post-presidency legal harassment?

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ACEuk/uk/usa's avatar

I don’t think so. For all his many faults, I think Trump learned his lesson about being a tool for the uni partisans.

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Minsky's avatar

It’s a shame Biden didn’t lose the election, refuse to accept that he lost, and incite a crowd of BLM activists to carry out a riot inside the Capitol. Then the Dems would be on the right side of this issue!

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CA's avatar

Nice

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Sasha Stone's avatar

I can't tell if this is meant to be sarcastic but no one really knows what was going on throughout the Summer in various states or why it went on so long, why Portland's mayor had to beg for law enforcement eventually. All I know is that if you are selling the idea that you care about political violence but you say nothing about that summer - you are not going to be credible.

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Sevender's avatar

Cultist or paid troll? And does it matter?

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Jan 8, 2022
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Sevender's avatar

😜 Say a prayer to DOJesus for us.

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Sasha Stone's avatar

Right agreed - not about the cops necessarily. Maybe at first but they were told to stand down and they did and the violence raged on. But yes, I don't lay that at the feet of BLM. No one ever figure out who they were.

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BadAnthem's avatar

The longer it went on in Portland, the more it was just unemployed anarchists.

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Jan 7, 2022
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Laura's avatar

only a few months ago, I would say you were crazy to say it was the police, but after seeing the shenanigans from the FBI (kidnapping of the governor, Jan 6 etc), I now assume you are at a minimum partially correct.

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Patrick's avatar

WhissskeyTangoePhoxtrott

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Covid the Cow's avatar

Great article. It is a stunning irony that Warmonger Junior and her father, Satan, are dragged out to be embraced as heroes of the Democrats. This is why I became a GREEN in the mid 90's. After watching Clinton "reform" welfare, criminal sentencing, credit card debt and wall street rules, I had seen enough of neoliberal madness to read the writing on the wall. The recent sprint toward authoritarianism by the Dems is not particularly a surprise, but it is the low point of our national quest for a free society.

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Anti-Hip's avatar

Agreed how sickening this has all become! The true opposition to the U.S. people keeps coming more clearly into focus. How can a sane American, that is -- one with the switch on upstairs, left or right -- not feel our world has gone mad?

"All those things Trump is rumored to be, Dick Cheney actually is." Glenn Greenwald also expounded on this well at the beginning of the Biden administration: https://greenwald.substack.com/p/no-matter-the-liberal-metric-chosen

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Robert Hunter's avatar

Trump is a money sick amoral narcissist bloviating short fingered vulgarian! Cheney is an evil P O S and the "democratic?" party is celebrating him. That means democrats are amoral and very sick and will sleep with the devil for power!

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Running Burning Man's avatar

True. However ... All parties "will sleep with the devil for power". It just is more apparent who your bedmates are when you are in power.

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Rather Curmudgeonly's avatar

Those bedmates are beautiful while they help you attain power - they only become regretful choices in the morning light.

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L.A. Sanchez's avatar

Except…instead of a walk of shame they strut out into the light of day w bed head, club clothes and smeared lipstick. When they get home they swear that “nothing happened.”

Or something like that. I wouldn’t know.

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LJN's avatar

See “David Duke.”

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Robert Hunter's avatar

Certainly, power corrupts and, you're right, you never really know what a person is like until they have the power to show you.

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BradK (Afuera!)'s avatar

Proving yet again that the person doing is far more important in determining position along the good-evil spectrum than the actual deed done.

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DC Lovell's avatar

I became an independent because of Iraq, and the purple finger campaign showing how the Iraqi's adored democracy. Watched the movie "W" again recently, and while I thought it was a bit harsh when it first came out, I think it was spot on now.

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Cowgirlcontrarian's avatar

And the "left" hates Oliver Stone now. He got booed on the Colbert Show for his very good "Interviews with Putin". Strange times!

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

"Mostly?" Who are the "left" unattached to this brain-washed swarm? You're becoming charitable in your estimation of the "left." Unless, say, the remaining numbers of the left can be equally dismissed, perhaps as an insignificant school of wrong-thinking poltroons, hindered by bad hygiene, prone to histrionics, notoriously bad tippers, and the type of people one first pares from the guest list when the guest list requires paring.

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Gnome Chonky's avatar

Likewise, though I hope you know that if you voted for Nader in 2000 like I did, then WE are actually responsible for the Iraq War. Or at least so I've been told.

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Donald's avatar

I saw a liberal at a blog comment section a few years ago blaming Nader for the Iraq War, then in the next paragraph praise Hillary Clinton, who strongly supported going into Iraq. Partisan thinking is a disease.

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Covid the Cow's avatar

Considering I live in California, that's highly unlikely. But I can tell you without any equivacation that any person who voted GREEN in a competitive state in a close election like Bush v. Gore, WOULD NEVER HAVE VOTED FOR THE DEMS and is not sorry they didn't win. If you are that committed to not voting for GORE, you REALLY HATE THE DEMS.

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Oregoncharles's avatar

Funny how the Dems never take responsibility for throwing away elections - somehow it's the fault of a smallish 3rd party. I had no idea we were so powerful.

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Rather Curmudgeonly's avatar

Read some conservative rags and you'd be amazed by the size and influence of the libertarian wing.

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rtj's avatar

Libertarians have their own mag, Reason.

https://reason.com/

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Indecisive decider's avatar

Depends on how you define libertarian. Both parties have long abandoned any pretense of liberalism or conservative leadership. It's now just whoever writes the biggest checks. That's the only loyalty test.

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Rather Curmudgeonly's avatar

You will find a number of conservatives who are of the opinion it is Republican devotion to libertarian ideas that is costing them elections. If you aren't laughing already, you should be.

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Sevender's avatar

🤣 Greens are now fucking pandemofascists ffs. Hope it makes you feel better to have a trendier excuse for ending democracy.

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Covid the Cow's avatar

People don’t join the Green Party in the USA because they align with every stance of the Greens. They join because they are defying the corporatist centrist warmongering Wall Street pandering criminal elitists who have had the majority in congress forever and are responsible for every draconian attack on working people.

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nedweenie's avatar

They are Gender Identity ideologues too. There were big dust ups over trans rights vs women's rights in the Greens, (both in the US & UK) and trans rights won.

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DC Lovell's avatar

Greens: the softer version of tyranny.

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Cameron McNabb's avatar

Matt, as a Trump supporter and Republican since I was old enough to vote, I've been meaning to write for some time to say thank-you. I doubt we agree on many things policy wise, but I bet we would have a fun debate without hating each other at the end of it! I specifically pay for your insights because you are but a handful of reporters I actually trust these days. And yes, I find it ironic that I was a defender of Dick Cheney 'back in the day." I feel, like Adina Haun (commenter below me) angry that I was so blind for so long to the uniparty who had little interest in the betterment of the country, rather the betterment of their bank accounts and power. This is the part the progressive left do not seem to understand nor want to understand. We didn't vote for Trump because we liked him, we voted for Trump because he wasn't them. And we have been proven correct in our distrust now over and over and over again. I didn't watch any of the 1/6 madness because I knew what it would be like. That said, the fact that Cheney was there is, indeed, terrifying.

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CTE's avatar

The right was duped. Some very bad people were able to market some bad authoritarian ideas to the right and the voter base, propagandized with fear, ate it up. They sold it to the right by exploiting what they cared about: love of nation, love of God, wounded pride, American exceptionalism, etc. Now that they've used up the right, leaving many angry and betrayed, they are now doing the same to the left. This time by using ideas and themes that the left most cares about: equality, diversity being our strength, LGBQ and identity in general, racism, etc. It's worth noting they are also being propagandized with fear (the left has very unrealistic expectations of outcomes from Covid, 1/6, etc). I don't blame people on the right that were duped, and hopefully for people on the right that were duped this will allow them to have some grace and understanding for those on the left that are currently being duped.

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Cameron McNabb's avatar

CTE - I want you to know that you just gave me some empathy I did not have. I have a sister who has not spoken to me in over a year because of this insanity (keep in mind, I did not quit talking to her when I thought she was wrong). But I do need to remain charitable regarding the fact that they are being used currently, just as I was post 9/11. I remember having a heated discussion with my very best friend. Gay, democrat dude who has since tragically passed. He was railing about all the over-reach and Cheney/government spying. I was defending it because "I am boring. They have nothing to look for and will be bored if they did, yadda, yadda." He said, "it's not the point Cameron. They will come for you later if we let them come at all now." His words haunt me daily of the last 3 years. I am out in the world now. Blogging my thougts. I am no longer "boring" to them perhaps. He was Sooooo right.

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Sevender's avatar

Try to convince people to see themselves in the Other, and you just get crucified.

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Anti-Hip's avatar

Well-stated. The uniparty bait-and-switch.

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collealle's avatar

I totally agree with you. This is the most impressive response that I have read today.

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Heime Israel's avatar

We need to face it -- Dick Cheney is flat out evil. He was in-charge of George W. Bush's VP search committee and to no one's shock or amazement he determined that "HE" was, in fact, the best choice to be VP. Need I say more?

Dick Cheney has every bit the huge ego of Donald Trump, but he has in spades what Trump lacked: the Deep State knowledge and credibility to bend it in any way he wants...

For Trump, everything was (and remains) about Trump. In many ways, his presidency typifies the dog that caught the car. There was no grand plan - that's not Trump. He concocted his plan as he went along, which explains why he got 'shot-up' so often by the Deep State.

As for Dick Cheney, he is all about the 'ends justify the means' and he knows exactly how to leverage the Deep State to get there. Clearly Cheney had a vision of the "New World Order," and critically, the massive ego to believe that only HE was capable of bringing it forth while destroying anyone (real or perceived) that might be standing in his way -- that is the quintessential definition of a dictator...

Obama inherited Cheney's tools and further weaponized the intelligence state.

As we sit here today, can anyone honestly say that they have MORE trust in any of the 'intelligence' entities (CIA, NSA, FBI, DOJ, etc.)?

This is why people like Matt Taibbi, Glenn Greenwald and others have challenged the way the MSM propaganda narrative is characterizing events. As Matt points out, those MSM characterizations are being used as the rationale for further "technological elimination" of democracy... Thus, no surprise that Cheney is right there, front and center in full support.

Let's hope more people start questioning things by THINKING for themselves before it's too late.

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JakeD's avatar

One point worth mentioning is that as warmongering as the Bush presidency was, and as overaggressive as the intelligence state was, there were very few references to referring to Americans as "Domestic Terrorists" nor were the levers of power used against American citizens.

Cheney as "evil" as he was, did not direct the power of the State at her people (surveillance, perhaps, but not interrogation, imprisonment, etc.) . That's a more Leftist tendency. See: The Russiagate Hoax on Trump, the IRS harassment of Conservatives under Obama, the harassment of leakers under Obama, the spying on journalists under Obama, the jailing of journalists under Obama, the 1/6 rioters imprisonment, AG Garland calling upset parents "terrorists."

The benefit, if it could be called that, of the MSM going crazy over the last five years, is that the Right has come to realize the dangers of that much power in the hands of the State. We have in, effect, started to recite the "First they came ... poem." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came_... )

The Right has been "red-pilled" - and the likelihood of this continuing under Republicans in power has at least lessened. With any justice/luck, with the next Republican presidency and Congress, some of this deep state and intelligence state (put in place by the Bush Presidency and enhanced and expanded under Obama) can get rolled back.

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Delia Binder's avatar

::Cheney as "evil" as he was, did not direct the power of the State at her people (surveillance, perhaps, but not interrogation, imprisonment, etc.) . ::

Remember the War Criminal Bush Regime calling anybody who dared to speak out against their excesses "Traitors" and "Anti-Americans"?

Because, as somebody on that "Left" you hate so much, I sure do!

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Heime Israel's avatar

To your point, I think everyone on the "right" was wrong, me included. I now see how wrong I was and I like to believe that I'm big enough to admit it.

And all that is what makes the current situation so paradoxical. People on the 'left' uniting with people on the 'right' because as free thinkers it is quite clear that neither the "Right" nor the "Left" really exist.

There is only the Deep State (and those who benefit from it) and the unwashed masses whose thoughts and opinions the Deep State Elites plan to tightly control or "curate" (the new buzz word) using greater and greater technological means.

Any free-thinking person (regardless of political bent) will be regarded as a member of the "Other Party" and dealt with accordingly and by increasingly severe means...

For the greater good, social harmony must be maintained....AT ALL COSTS!!

The real 'rub' is that we have the unmitigated gall to look down our noses at China and Russia! We are the ones who perfected this techno-police state....

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Delia Binder's avatar

Yeah, I still haven't gotten an apology for being called a "Traitor" by the Bush Right...so, pardon me if I look at your "reaching across the aisle" with skepticism.

Also, I don't recollect Antifa attacking Congress when TRUMP won - though maybe we should have.

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Heime Israel's avatar

I hear you. I'm certainly not suggesting that there's an impending 'lovefest' anywhere on the horizon. My point was people need to be skeptical. No one (on the right or left) has any further excuse for being played.... Never said policy differences don't matter...

You may not have been near DC when Trump was inaugurated, but I was. DC was on TOTAL LOCKDOWN - blocked streets and armed military everywhere - I mean everywhere. Even with that presence, rioters caused significant damage just blocks from the parade route. The media said it was people in black masks. I don't believe shit from what they say, so was it Antifa? I don't know. But, several hundred of them were arrested and even given that the local Attorney General (Karl Racine) didn't prosecute a single person. Some poor smuck had his limousine torched. Lots of local banks and businesses were destroyed. The protestors seem to hate Starbucks for some reason. Any Trump supporters dumb enough to get near there got the crap beat out of them. No one cared. That's America, I guess. No, but you're exactly right, there weren't any Antifa at the Capital building.

The party of the Police State had bigger fish to fry. They were busy, shall we say. The 2016 presidential election should have been Trump v Bernie, but the "Police State" party had other ideas. And after they finished off Bernie (which was absolutely despicable and I'm not a Bernie Bro), this same group turned their attention to the "Orange Man" (which everyone seemed just peachy keen with). Run his fat ass around for a while - he could use the exercise.

Anyone see a pattern here? Call me crazy, but I do. Peace....

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Delia Binder's avatar

Fair enough, I guess.

I don't mean to suggest I have any love whatsoever for Biden - sure, his company manners are better than Trump's, but my ex-Partner has neurotic cat who pees on everything, and SHE has better company manners than Trump! He's clearly, deeply a tool of the Deep State, which is what the Military-Industrial Complex merged into at the end of the Cold War, seeking out new enemies so we could toss money down a bottomless pit in new endless War. (You have to know how delighted they are that Putin's being so cooperative by behaving like "The Soviet Union" is still a viable entity rather than a rusted-out hulk.)

I couldn't help but notice that, for all the arm-waving about Bush and the erosion of civil liberties, neither Obama nor Trump did a thing to roll them back, and in fact took full advantage of the erosion for their own ends. I don't see either Julian Assange or Edward Snowden walking free on American soil, or in Assange's case ANY soil - like Teh Donald and Qween Hillary both, we as a nation have become thin-skinned and quick to retaliate against any perceived slight....

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Heime Israel's avatar

JakeD

Appreciate the comments. I agree with a lot of what you stated, but I'm pretty sure the Bush administration used 9/11/2001 to direct the "Surveillance State" at all American citizens via various programs, including the PRISM program? I know for sure that GW defended doing so in 2013 when Snowden threw open the intel kimono.

Lots of Republicans drank the Kool-Aid - me included - but we have all now witnessed how far and how fast "incrementalism" can creep when it comes to losing rights.

I have zero faith that the current uni-party republicans and democrats will roll back anything... power is not easily surrendered...

Trump certainly has the balls, but he completely lacks the required focus. If he could have accomplished such a change via TWEETS, Trump would have changed the power dynamic immensely, but I'm not seeing someone out there who is a true change agent.

It's all various shades of the same...

But, there's always hope..........

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publius_x's avatar

Dick Cheney types don't turn the Govt against Her People unless "Her People" are Muslim, or poor, or hippies...

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Delia Binder's avatar

...or Leftists of ANY stripe! To him, Hillary Rodham Clinton is about as "far Left" as he likes to get, and she's a Republican in all but Name.

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Mrs. McFarland's avatar

Exactly!! 👏👏👏👏 since the press does the total opposite of what they should be doing… we need an on screen Lie Detector so when these imperialistic politicians start spewing their obvious and condescending lies, we could register our level of belief.

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Brad's avatar

At this point, the people who actually believe that the canting pieties about 1/6 are genuine are the same people who have votive candles with Anthony Fauci's face on them.

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rtj's avatar

Yeah, wonder what happened to the Mueller candles.

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Koshmarov's avatar

Remember all those Atari "E.T." cartridges buried in the New Mexico desert?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_video_game_burial

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Thom Foolery's avatar

The 21st century feels like the experience of playing that game brand new, after having opened it as a Christmas present.

A confusing letdown.

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Koshmarov's avatar

I burned hours on it waiting for it not to suck. I was like, "This has to get better sometime." To your point,

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rick laney's avatar

Well Beetle - this 'confession' certainly explains a lot - Dr. Feelgood prescribes reading more Beat Poetry - and - laying off the gaming stuff - who knows - it just might get U through the coming Zombie (Biden DOTARD) APCOPYLYSO....

Although there still is Bruce Cockburn to listen to....praise God et al...

Hope U had a great New Year by the way....

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Kathleen McCook's avatar

No, but thanks for this.

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rtj's avatar

Happy New Year, Grisha.

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David Burse's avatar

Don't know about candles, but you can still get the Mueller action figure brand new in the original packaging for just $19.99 (and free shipping) on Ebay

https://www.ebay.com/p/19033668906

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Lillia Gajewski's avatar

It's all the same illness.

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rtj's avatar

Wonderful, you're in fine form. All i could think of when i heard the likes of that flaming douchebag Schiff kissing the Cheney ring was "You're doing amazing, sweetie."

You danced around it here, but the extension of Cheney's kill list was Obama's Terror Tuesdays. We're already there, we've already been there.

Also, for me, creepier than "door to door" was the government pairing with SMS providers to spy on our texts.

Serious, if probably rhetorical, question - do Pelosi et al really think that this pathetic bit of kabuki is going to pile up the votes the next two elections? What could possibly go wrong. Greenwald did a fine job of trolling them yesterday.

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sasinsea's avatar

Your last paragraph is spot on---who the fuck is this FOR? Look: I'm troubled by what happened on Jan 6th last year as there are just too many dumb fucks in our country who take Trump seriously and we saw what happened when some of the dumbest of them mobilized for whatever it is they thought they were doing there.

The problem is, the Dems have now just a single litmus test: do you hate Trump? If so, it doesn't matter if you codified torture as national policy, killed millions of Iraqis, embarked on some of the most craven war profiteering imagineable, and erected a permanent surveillance state in America. If you hate Trump, all is forgiven.

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publius_x's avatar

It's more than that. They know that the pro-Donald mob is really more of an anti-uniparty movement. If allowed to metastasize, ALL of these people with (D) and (R) after their name will be held to account. Remember, Trump fucked with Low Energy Jeb! and Liddle Marco and all of the traditional elephants in the room long before he counterpunched Mrs. Billy C into Bolivian. The smart ones are keeping silent (on both sides of the aisle) and their heads down.

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sasinsea's avatar

While I agree there's a serious pox-on-both-their-houses contingent in America (I'm one on the left and always tend to get on better with conservatives who hate the GOP than partisan Dems), I don't agree that mob was indicative of a movement.

Those people really did seem to believe the election was "stolen." As someone who still believes the Bush II cabal stole the election in 2000, I was open to reading their arguments. What I have read was innumerate and straight up dumb.

I rejoiced when Trump dunked on yet another fucking Bush, Ted Cruz, and all the other next-in-line Republicans who pretend they love the troops and stand for anything other than suckling at donor teets. I thought he was a shitty president but I'd take two more terms of Trump before another year of these neocon fucks.

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Laura's avatar

I must say that I believe the election was stolen, and it was stolen in plain sight. The Times article that detailed many ways that they "fortified" the election and the fact that anyone can say with a straight face that Joe Biden got more votes than Obama really confuses me. I will also point to a well known tweet that gives a rational explanation for why (without a court case to prove it) many still believe it including me. https://twitter.com/martyrmade/status/1413165168956088321

I wouldn't look down your nose at those who still think it was stolen. We've gotten 90% of things right recently so I believe history will prove that we were right about this too.

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sasinsea's avatar

The turnout question has a pretty easy answer: enthusiasm on both sides. Rank-and-file Dems *hated* the guy as much as his more supporters liked him. If he's not running in 2024 (and I'd doubt he is), numbers will likely be a lot lower.

As for that thread---it's not compelling, takes wild leaps of logic, and imagines a vast conspiracy I simply don't believe is remotely possible to keep quiet. Trump filed copious lawsuits alleging fraud. Many were ruled on by GOP judges. No substantive rulings occurred.

It's a fairy tale that people tell themselves to feel oppressed. The people flogging it are using it as a way to increase their profiles and grift of incredulous Trump fans. I find it really sad.

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Laura's avatar

Fair enough, we'll just disagree.

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rtj's avatar

I don't believe that it was stolen. I believe that both sides cheat, but it evens out. And that Trump won in '16 and Biden won in '20.

However. If i was an observer of the Democratic primaries, i would think it not impossible that that it could have been stolen. This isn't the party i would put in sole charge of "protecting our democracy."

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Learning's avatar

I don't want Trump again. I'm appreciative of his role in cleaning house and I like that he stirred the filth to the top, BUT I want someone else.

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publius_x's avatar

A legitimate point of view. He is a narcissist who was right some times, wrong at others. He's not particularly great at leadership and building teams. His selfishness is not a net asset for the general public.

The problem is that polished politicians are always serving some master. Trump's greatest moral standing is that he was independently wealthy and couldn't be bought.... but that was in conflict with his desire to use whatever means to enrich himself and his family.

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rtj's avatar

"..independently wealthy and couldn't be bought...."

That's an argument that i'll never buy. They used it for Bloomberg too, remember? Oh, he doesn't have to answer to anybody, his policy will be just between him and his conscience. Ok, that settles it then, i'll trust his conscience.

Elon Musk 2024?

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Rather Curmudgeonly's avatar

Trump didn't clean anything up. He may have stirred some dust, but it's all settled back, if not quite in its original place - close enough.

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publius_x's avatar

Most of those people were stupid tourists. They believe virtually nothing. They are pawns in all of this. More of them could identify Kim Kardashian by sight than Nancy Pelosi.

There are 350 million Americans. Only 165 million voted in the 2020 election. What does that say?

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Laura's avatar

That there are quite a few under the age of 18 so they are ineligible to vote.

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publius_x's avatar

like that stopped people in 2020?

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Oregoncharles's avatar

They aren't half the country.

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sasinsea's avatar

That's why I was pushing back on the idea that lot was some sort of coherent "movement."

(And honestly: 2020 was the best turnout we've had as a country. If you factor in the 70 some-odd million kids who can't vote, it's not that bad. Dems are gonna get washed in 2022 and 2024 is...man. It's really shaping up to be the worst choices imaginable. Just weak ass retreads and Trump cosplayers with none of his weird charisma. If nothing changes, we might set all time lows in turnout then)

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publius_x's avatar

well that and all the dead people and those who didn't even know they were registered who returned ballots...

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rtj's avatar

Anyone want to take bets on 2022 turnout? (Too early to say for 2024 yet). I'm betting low.

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Sevender's avatar

Results will be fact-checked first.

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publius_x's avatar

There are elections in 2022? For what? Dogcatcher?

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

Trump spent some quiet time in the sauna with the Hugenots up Quebec way not too long ago.

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

What makes you think that mob was not indicative of a movement? When everything about them and the actions taken by the republican party and the right afterward strongly suggest otherwise?

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sasinsea's avatar

What actions has this movement taken over the past year? Bitching on social media? Sending their hard earned money to a series of conscience-free grifters? Pretending to be oppressed because their candidate lost?

The whole thing was a tantrum based on a delusion. It's grim and it's depressing and I hope those people take their anger at our broken political establishment and focus it on something that matters instead of pining for a deeply lazy president who lost and frankly doesn't give two shits about them in the first place.

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sasinsea's avatar

You ok buddy? Sobered up yet?

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Cameron McNabb's avatar

Publius. You are spot on. The Pro-Donald IS the anti-uniparty. The reason they hate Trumpers is because we are not the new "anti-establishment" party. We welcome moderate Democrats (since The Donald is/was one as well as all conservative stripes) which is what the RINO/Left Gaurd hate so very much.

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Christopher B's avatar

I've voted Republican since I turned old enough to vote but I've grown more and more disgusted with RINOs like W and Cheney since 2016. They tried to use Trump against their opponents inside the GOP the same way the DNC corporate media tried to use him to screw with the GOP nomination process to ensure a Hillary win. I guarantee you that the whole Tea Party/GOPe conflict has roots going back long before 2000 (look up 'Rockefeller Republican"). I'm glad Trump had the last laugh.

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LJN's avatar

I don’t think Donnie Darko is laughing at the moment. I think he’s sobbing petulantly, then screaming for a do-over that would match his combover.

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rtj's avatar

Third party now. Or better yet, no party candidates.

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publius_x's avatar

Tax the parties. Especially for all closed primaries. Bill them for every voting machine, poll worker, facility rental, furniture rental, electric bills, heating bills, supplies, "I voted" stickers.... everything.

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rtj's avatar

That's actually a pretty good idea. After the '16 election, this Brookings Institute lady wrote a NYT op-ed about how the Democratic party was a private club and should have the last word about their primaries (an anti-Bernie piece, and in support of closed primaries.) I said fine, first of all pay for your own fucking primaries. Secondly, stfu and no crying allowed when voters decline to vote for the garbage candidates they've so thoughtfully selected for us.

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Ruth's avatar

I long for a No Party system…political parties are now just collusion…what if every person running for office had to declare and defend and debate his or her own policies?

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Oregoncharles's avatar

Let's hope so. My concern is that the Anti-Party is also so divided.

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rtj's avatar

tl;dr.

I think Trump is too old and fat and lazy to bother to run again. But while the Dems can't let go of him, and are planning on pitting their current corpse against him for a rematch, some younger and slicker and smarter Republican is laughing somewhere.

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rtj's avatar

Tim Scott would probably crush. Or a non-Rubio or Cruz Hispanic.

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

Yes, you cited the evidence alright. Just remember that when the boys with the white sheets show up. Ok?

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publius_x's avatar

The inclusion of Lin-Manuel Miranda was the "coup" de grace.

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rtj's avatar

Yeah, what the actual fuck with that one.

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Noelle's avatar

Reminded me of James Taylor singing You've Got a Friend alongside John Kerry in Paris. Ludicrous.

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rtj's avatar

Say it isn't so. I love JT.

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Patrick's avatar

Great music. But not to be confused with ideological fuckery

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Patrick's avatar

She gets a long letter

Sends back

A post card

Times are hard

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rtj's avatar

So what's your problem with that. I'm a nearly geriatric old hippy with worrying signs of dementia.

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rtj's avatar

I'm a hippie and probably an asshole and pathetic, but at least i'm not a Dem.

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kh's avatar

you've been saying it, but alas, dear e.pierce, nobody listens to you, up there in your cabin, do they? see? we don't need a per user mute, after all.

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MDM 2.0's avatar

I kinda lost respect for him for agreeing to that performance

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CTE's avatar

It was really strange. Very much like how they wore that traditional African garb during the BLM stuff, which fell quite flat. It all just feels so staged and inauthentic.

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rtj's avatar

I loved when someone said they looked like a Wakenda chess set.

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publius_x's avatar

Politicians inauthentic? Next thing you'll tell me is that wrestling is fake.

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Kathleen McCook's avatar

what? Killer Kowalski wasn't on the up & up? My day is ruined.

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Stxbuck's avatar

I remember as a kid when Geraldo Rivera-or someone of his ilk, lie-detectored Captain Lou Albano on “Is pro wrestling fake?!?!” All my illusions were shattered!

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CTE's avatar

Agreed but it seems so much more obvious now. I feel quite confident that they used to be better at faking it in the past. I think they are more out of touch than ever. The bubble has never been thicker.

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sasinsea's avatar

"We hear you. We see you. We understand. Now, since your movement is explicitly about police accountability and defunding law enforcement, we'll nominate a guy who wants to increase police funding nationally. Black lives matter."

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MDM 2.0's avatar

Who knew Congress was working on a Broadway play? The Pelosi stunt yesterday convinced me they were ready to take it on the road

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rtj's avatar

It's a musical, not a play.

(As per Alex Thompson in Politico)

"AND ABOUT THAT HAMILTON CHALLENGE: We asked you to send your best anti-Hamilton hot take because this town’s reverence for it is out of control.

The winner? EDDIE VALE, who wrote: “It's a play. I'm sure it's fine. Or even good. But sweet sassy molassy I can't take it of everyone running around like it changed their life or is the greatest thing to ever happen in the world!?!?!”

Eddie, it’s a musical, not a play."

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/west-wing-playbook

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Mitch Barrie's avatar

Maybe they no longer have to worry about getting votes. Maybe that's what this is about.

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

"Willingness to toxify american politics." Pretty much the republican strategy across the board for the last 60 years. Amplified to a high pitch recently by leather bodysuit-wearing (with detachable hood) gimps like Chris Rufo. Right? Right. Or have the republicans been too busy kissing babies, handing out lollipops in the elementary schools, and holding bake sales at the public parks and senior centers?

Democrats are just getting wised-up to the real tenor of the game---this is the way you win in America. Especially if you're rumbling with the fellas with the cheap Armani knockoffs and the slicked-back hair. It's not a game for sniffling floaters anymore. I thought you knew this?

"Hating" Trump and his republican enablers certainly isn't a requirement for voters to view him accurately as the simple two-bit charlatan, on the make and clearly eyeballing both your vote and your wallet, that he so clearly is. Some voters just needed a little more help bringing that vision into "sharper" focus.

If you're gonna shill for the republican bagmen and girls in the downtown office, at least be a little more creative with your press releases: "all-costs attitude," "hate rhetoric," "strongly suggests," "corrupt and immoral."

An intern at the Daily Caller would get hollered back to the typewriter for a re-write of some of this stuff.

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bot_483's avatar

OMFG, did you read the article? I swear, women and social media addiction are a gift that keeps on giving to the grifters.

READ THE FUCKING ARTICLE, MARTHA. WHO WELCOMED THE DEVIL WITH OPEN ARMS? WHO WAS PRAISING MCCAIN AFTER HIS FUNERAL?

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

"Anti-racism trainer." This might help me stop chanting "great white hope" when I'm working out on the speed bag.

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Gnomon Pillar's avatar

Actually that sounds fun! But you know what sounds funner? Square dancing with Tom Cotton and Dan Crenshaw while reciting passages from Ulysses, with Molly Hatchett blasting in the background!

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Rather Curmudgeonly's avatar

I swear, if given half an opportunity I would bludgeon the skull of anyone saying that Assange violated the Espionage Act. The man was never on U.S. soil - a rather essential element in committing an offense under U.S. law. Our criminal justice system does not legitimately exceed our territorial control. Team America indeed - fuck yeah!

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DC Lovell's avatar

FREE ASSANGE

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Stxbuck's avatar

And let Edward Snowden back in the USA w/out fear.

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Tereza Coraggio's avatar

Totally agree with your logic, if not your tactics ...

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LJN's avatar

Tell that to bin Laden.

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Rather Curmudgeonly's avatar

Who wasn't tried under U.S. law, but was dealt with as an enemy combatant.

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LJN's avatar

Fair point. If Assange reveals the names of CIA agents in the field, can we deal with him as an enemy combatant?

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DC Lovell's avatar

Assange released internal documents about massive immoral and illegal acts by the military, their own records.

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Jim Trageser's avatar

Jan. 6 was a re-run of the Oct. 6, 2018 "occupation" of the Senate by anti-Kavanaugh protesters. The mistake of the Trump supporters was in thinking the government would treat them as leniantly as it did the nice white-collar types who temporarily blocked the Senate from carrying out its duties in voting on a Supreme Court nominee.

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LJN's avatar

“Nan-cy? Where are you Nan-cy…”

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Jay Thomas's avatar

Articles like this are the reason a man of meager means, like myself, pays to subscribe to your substack, Matt. Like John said, “just give me some truth…”. Not to be corny, but these days it is hard to find real journalism. I appreciate your work and many thanks to the creator of Substack.

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Sue's avatar

Agree!

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Rather Curmudgeonly's avatar

I loved the headline where it proclaimed he was deeply disappointed with Republican leadership. Gosh Dick, when you were part of Republican leadership - lots of us were deeply disappointed with it too.

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Sue's avatar

It took me far too long to realize the reality of the term “deep state”. Cheney is a personification of deep state. He came up with the “yellow cake uranium” lie to force an unprovoked war that pissed the whole world off. But Dick’s company, Halliburton, came out of that war 39 billion dollars richer. Dick and Liz and the rest of the deep staters hate Trump because he is not easily controlled. They would rather have puppets like Biden and George W Bush who will just stand up and say what they are told. Deep staters are from both parties and most of them are very wealthy………..Pelosi, McConnell, Romney, the Clintons, and Adam Schiff-for-brains. Wars make big money for people and corporations who have the right connections. The deep state now includes corporations, the Pentagon, and now the mainstream media. Democracy is almost completely crushed under the weight of those behemouths.

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Dollars4Dummies's avatar

Where the Gov't used to invent wars against foreigners to enrich Big Oil, it now invents wars against Americans to enrich Big Pharma.

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Frank Lee's avatar

Democrats as a species seem to need a constant flow of validation that they are righteous and good. They are needy that way. Possibly because they know that they are neither, but more likely because they just own those baked-in personality flaws. They would be easy to manipulate because of this malady if only their wrongness did not risk the end of the free world. It does. However, all someone has to do is tell them that their politics are pretty and the love will flow. But slip up and tell them the truth... that those jeans make their butt look fat... and the evil claws come out and they will not rest until they scratch out your eyes and leave you bloody and dead on the ground. The Cheneys use to tell the Democrats that their butts looked fat, but now they tell them that their politics are pretty. So the love flows.

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miles.mcstylez's avatar

I hate that I agree with this

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Frank Lee's avatar

Me too. Especially because I have lost a number of friends on the left simply because I will not tell them they are pretty.

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