Matt is a nuisance, a nagging source of cognitive dissonance, and his moral integrity and fidelity to the truth is a supreme inconvenience for people who reside in the modern Democratic bubble, which imposes conformism through mutual surveillance. His living example is also a humiliation to mainstream media wordcels, because they're pretty much required to lie at this point.
My views reside somewhere between Libertarianism and Conservatism and while I agree with your assessment that a Democratic bubble exists and demands conformity, I feel strongly that it is actually more of a globalists bubble, as evidenced by the neocon Republicans. Their is a long list of politicians from both sides of the aisle that consistently vote against the sovereign interests of American citizens while diverting the easily swayed with much hand waving and heated rhetoric about the latest social injustices.
I gave up after Kerry refused to push back against the Iraq war. I realized they were never going to care about the lost American wealth and the lost American lives (none of them from the upper class, mind you). They didn't even care that the war was initiated based on a lie. They just wanted that war and they literally "sold" it to the American people.
Our leadership is corrupt as f*ck. I don't think there's anyone in power that cares about the founding ideals of this country anymore. Maybe a few, but not enough. I'm so, so sick of the elites and their neurotic bs and avarice.
I gave up after Barack Obama continued every single one of the Bush Administration's endless wars and then added a couple of his own. He also continued nearly every Bush domestic policy, as well.
Plenty of corruption amongst our peerless leaders.
At the same time this system is working precisely as designed. The class of people that designed it are the same class in power now.
I would encourage you to not give up. Elections are useless for a number of reasons I’d rather avoid discussing as I find it dull. Instead of giving up, spend your no doubt considerable energies engaged in some kind of political, civil society group. You obviously care about the affairs of the country, don’t let that care go to waste.
Wow… I am in agreement with your first comment “They’ve been the party of war for a long time.” However your further statements went off, in my opinion, into a rant mirroring exactly what you apparently are accusing.
This can be a place of discussion and dialogue. However that would require a tone of curiosity rather than judgement.
Why is it that forming questions and encouraging engagement is so lacking in most places?
You must be new to this neighborhood. This is not a space for discussion and engagement.
Any effort to engage in a discussion of someone’s post is always met with ridicule and dismissal based on “tone.”
Why is forming questions and discussion encouraging engagement so lacking?
I don’t find it lacking IRL but it is certainly lacking here.
Sometimes the gap is much too wide to bridge. How do I engage with someone that insists Kamala is a Marxist and Trump is fighting Democratic Party pedophiles? What’s the point?
they actually melded together naturally, two sets of corrupt elitists who use the American ideals we once held as some sort of shield covering their dirty lives and their dirty money, blood money. All our fine moralists who feed on the flesh of other nations sent to die for our greedy purposes.
dont say "our". I take no responsibility. it may be a democracy, and I did vote, but Ive never been represented. this is not my government. it does not have my consent.
They see the ivy league, SJW woke dogma as a superior means of State and Corporate Control. Look at all the shit they're getting away with under a Democrat. So many fool still believe the only means of authoritarianism is through the 3rd reich 30s style, Anglo Fascism. They're smarter than that. They don't give a piss about the ideology itself, only how effective it is as a means of control.
the funny thing with cheyney is it reminds me of the guy who puts up an injured player who is out for the season up for trade in fantasy football. and someone trades for him!!!
no, she thinks she has to make Daddy proud! Cheney is a mean-spirited narrow-minded man who guards his own interests jealously. Trump disrespected the corrupt old Don and he and his crowd of Bushies cling together, things of the past. The party has moved far beyond the Bushes and the Cheneys now. Their loss is immaterial.
Not true...their Evil slime has slicked the path for current and future Calumny and greater Evil....as we now see in Lebanon...Diabolical....now our devices are truly life threatening....iPhone warfare !
this new spawn wreaking havoc are just springing from the seeds we planted in these almost four decades (and more in honesty) of ravaging the world with "democracy" and "air campaigns" and "military aid to Ukraine" and Saving the World from WMD or ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!
He could have easily said he supported his daughter making up her own mind. I support my children making their own choices, even when I come to a different opinion about issues. But he didn't say that and it's no surprise to me since I've always despised Cheney.
09/19/24: Very good, sir. Don't apologize for material worth reading and publicizing. One suggestion. Stop creating "sing-song" with identically long sentences. Say more with less; break it up with short, emphatic statements. You'll be surprised how much more attractive your work will be. Thank you.
That is true for the most obvious people. But there are plenty of them in the Republican ranks across the red districts of the country, including many quietly working against Trump and pushing funding for Ukraine. They are by far the majority. They don't call it the uni-party for nothing.
I agree there are some unsavory republicans, Cheney would have been one I could have feared but he’s gone. The visceral hate among the democratic partners their ability to lie with impunity, their intimidation tactics, it’s really shocking me. The mere fact they blame TRUMPS words for his assassination attempts without any blame themselves. It’s mind boggling. Matt please be careful. You and I don’t always align on the same political spectrum, but I know in my heart there’s earnest in you. And if not said enough, you and the other warriors that are fighting this battle to find truth, we thank you.
This began with Republicans, not just a few a few unsavory Republicans either. The whole Security State thing was their baby. I remember that far back. This a big part of how Obama got elected. He vowed to get us out of the Patriot Act and jail the Bankers and Wall Street hooligans that criminally crashed the economy.
He not only didn't do what he said but empowered these force. But he didn't do it in the open. Much of what went on was found out later. There is always a need for controled op.
As someone who is somewhere between libertarianism and old school, "means of production" leftism I am inclined to agree. The Necons don't like Trump's anti Nato rhetoric. They also see the Ivy League WOKE SJW/"though shalt not question the 'experts"' dogma of the Establishment infiltrated progressive as the religion of the future. Of course this all ties into Globalism and all that good stuff which is far more extensive than a I have time for right now as I get ready for work. Lol.
In short it is crucial that people understand in 2024 and beyond the real political enemy of today isn't necessarily the person you disagree with but the person who wishes to take away your right to disagree.
Good analysis. One thing the right is clearly missing is a cohesive platform and conservative vision. Perhaps Vance, if successful in this election can provide some framework for this, but it’s going to be an uphill battle while he tries to balance tempering Trump’s rhetoric with corrections and contextual elaboration to television news hosts that are perpetually in a state of hysteria (I would argue is cosmetic and performative for most, not to mention the epitome of hypocrisy). When the only unifying (using this term loosely) figure for republicans dies, if there’s not a clear center of power and direction, the splitting factions of the right in a chaotic socio-political environment has as much potential for worsening the general atmosphere. To the degree that the left is off the deep end, a fractured right with factions vying for power and recognition will almost certainly exacerbate the chaos.
No argument there- but I’m not sure if that’s his rhetoric or if he feels compelled or has been subtly instructed to back Trump no matter what. Your point still stands, however. I think if I were Vance, I’d be making the following calculations:
If I don’t at least appear to be in lockstep agreement with Trump, it hurts chances of being elected no matter which way you slice it.
I only have to endure one term and even though Trump is pretty fucking far from a classical republican, it’s still better than losing.
This is my only chance at NOT fading into obscurity and it’s plausible that if he gets defeated in a general election, that hurts his chances at another senate term.
So is it HIS rhetoric? Well, it came from his mouth. But I have a feeling he’s playing a calculated long game.
As Matt has already described, rooting domestic repression in foreign policy agencies is the perfect way to enlist bureaucrats who have no clue about the US Constitution and Bill of Rights (nor are they beholden to, or even familiar with, any inter-agency review process that would normally kick in for domestic regulations of any kind.)
So you don’t want to pay taxes or pass a test to operate a motor vehicle buuuuut you do want to use State coercion to keep women from having abortions.
And of course. Nothing says nonconformist like conservative and libertarian.
Curling iron has two accounts I guess. Wit I see none. Or a fed. But regardless bots can be living humans too it is not restricted to machines. So shut chat gpt and other chat gpt.
It's somewhat redundant to say that though, considering the Republican party has been taken over by populists and the Democrats are now the party of the rich. It was a good point to make 10-15 years ago, but now the battlelines have been drawn up. Sure, there is still work to do to purge the GOP of establishment goons, but it's not like the parties are evenly divided in that sense, the vast majority are either Democrats, or "Republicans" and "Conservatives" who are only called that in the press, have either been exiled or willingly left their party and repudiated all the nasty peasants.
I'm with you on the globalists ... I keep telling people there's this shadowy organization called the United Nations that is behind most of the globalization efforts. And is joined by a sister organization called the World Economic Forum. Together they spout all manner of frightening people herding measures, right out of Soilent Green.
Alas, people don't believe their own eyes anymore.
the Bill of Rights neglected to include a right of self governance which would prohibit cross state (think Kalifornia) and cross country oppression. globalism ignores the natural human rights of self governance.
👍 Matt is a true liberal - gathering all the facts, analyzing them through an unbiased lens and speaking truth to power, regardless of who that power represents. Keep up the good the great work, Matt!
There is no such thing as an unbiased lense. Whenever someone claims to be without bias then I know for certain they speak for the ruling class.
Taibbi is not unbiased. He doesn’t pretend to be unbiased either. And that’s why, though I find his current trajectory somewhere between asinine and abhorrent, he isn’t lying to me.
Maybe he lies to himself - that’s his problem. But he isn’t bullshitting us - even when he sucks.
You Racket commenters really are religious about Taibbi.
How dare anyone utter a discouraging word about Taibbi’s blog!
I like having a front seat to Taibbi’s changes over the past few years. It’s fascinating to observe an otherwise intelligent person become a standard issue American idiot.
The shit he writes about now is breathtaking in its myopia.
Guess that’s what happens when you’re your own editor.
He has succumbed to the contemporary cultural and political anxieties of the moment as he rails against “gender ideology,” “lockdowns,” etc. He is a voice in the current organized right wing politics. He is a voice that helps the organized political groups mainstream far right discourses and synthesize nationalism with a radical form of libertarianism.
The pandemic lockdowns served as the perfect space to accomplish this synthesis. While pandemic restrictions halted immigration the contention over the border pivoted to restricting the movement of nefarious Others to liberating “the people” from their own internal constraints.
Now we have all these far right social media influencers, shit like Racket, all these self-employed small business owners, hucksters of alt medicine and wellness products, anti lockdown protesters.
So here we are. The mainstreaming of fringe lunacy like Malthusian population controls to the “Great Replacement…” these are currently the language of everyday life.
Critiques of pandemic lockdowns have turned to warnings about a dystopian future of climate lockdowns.
Taibbi can not get away from these binaries: truth and lies, nationalists and globalists, freedom fighters and totalitarians (his absolute fave cause he’s the hero!) the suburbs and the city, workaday motorists and climate protestors.
Anyway…sure this is all lost on you idiots because it isn’t rephrasing Taibbi.
You really are deranged. Since you've absolutely nothing useful, intelligent, or amusing to say, why don't you simply talk to yourself in a mirror, and spare the rest of us your useless, senseless drivel. Are you 4?
Your hatred of small business owners would indicate you are very unAmerican. If you are unAmerican, or not American at all, just STFU if you've nothing useful to add to the conversation.
Some people just like to hear themselves talk. Having a point is irrelevant. Actually, I can picture little CI rehearsing this rant in front of a mirror
Me and the other Antifa super soldiers will be executing small business owners on Thanksgiving Day in towns and cities all over this vile country.
BLM Marxist cadre will also go door to door emptying white American households of all turkeys, stuffing and green bean casserole. Cadre will redistribute this to undocumented migrants while we all enjoy a meal and watch Futbol.
Damn, someone must have cracked your skull with a curling iron. You’re spouting the intolerance and hate that has become representative of the left over the past 20-30 years. Get help, buddy.
Religious? No, I don't believe in Matt as my savior, he's just a good journalist. It's pretty basic. He's bucked the system and left the plantation. His independence has freed him from the shackles of corporate media, allowing him to actually report the truth. Something you don't get much of these days.Matt's a trail blazer. He's harnessed the new media, and for this reason I'm informed. Democracy can't flourish without an informed public.
Matt is yanking TPTB's chain and letting them know that there are people out there who see what they are doing. He has always done this. Don't you remember the "vampire squid?" And he's doing it in spite of being harrassed and threatened and villified. He's an old school liberal (like me) who's pissed off at the current antics of the left and who is trying to expose how they are using corrupt practices to control the media narrative in this country.
I don't see anything that you are asserting in his reporting. He is definitely NOT right wing. He may be in alignment with their outrage but any American of no matter what political stripe should be outraged right now. TPTB are out of control and not serving ordinary Americans at all. They are treating this country like their own personal playground. This has been ramping up for a long time as the elites bend power and policy toward their interests and leave the little guy in the dust. It's just reached a head at present. It is a boil waiting to burst.
Criticise if you must, but do so with some measure of skill or accuracy, otherwise it comes off as bluster and scattershot anger about various unrelated things.
You know for certain...dangerous words. For you, that is. You may noticed - or turned a blind eye - that no one has liked any of your pontifications so far.
What should we call them? Democrats have lied about their intentions since I’ve been paying attention. Circa 2001. Lying is the only way they get elected.
Dems are now right-wing warmongers and hard-core enablers of capitalists. Calling them Marxists indicates that you have no idea what is going on. Ludicrous and dumb.
Neo Marxists. They have been busy harnessing a cultural intersectional coalition of the aggrieved ( proletariat ) into a voting block/ protesters/ institutional change makers and cultural enforcers. While also using capitalism to exploit its weaknesses to ultimately destroy the West. The Democratic Party is just the vehicle being used.Corporate media , government bureaucrats, teachers , professors, politicians are just playing follow the leader all in the name of “progress” until the progress comes for them too. This is what the long march through the institutions looks like.
Anyone who calls today's Democrats "Marxists" or "Communists" doesn't know the meaning of these words. One thing about Matt, he does his job with total honesty, always.
It's hard to ascribe meaning to words in a post-truth world; but it's still possible to see the Marxist-like tactics being used by the Establishment, especially in terms of sowing cultural division at the most fundamental levels. It's also quite possible to see that the WEF/UN agenda to replace Western democracy and the nation-state is deeply inspired by the Chinese Communist Party. Global establishment political puppets like Trudeau, Macron and even Mitt Romney have waxed poetic about how good "they" have it in China. It might not be your grandfather's idea of communism but it's what is presently in play. Call it what you will.
I didn't mention a party or parties, but I see the post I responded to did. You're right, of course. The Republican Party is still an establishment party. They pay a lot of lip service to placate the Trump movement and remain relevant, but when push comes to shove they tow the establishment line on the economy, foreign policy, centralization of power. The only things that matter to the elites.
It seems that you have created a figure, “the Marxist,” a figure that is authoritarian, devious, nefarious…Typically this is what one does when one needs to disavow this part of themselves.
At least the nefarious Other (sorry, Marxist) can admit being into butt stuff. I think the fellas in this neighborhood would have trouble admitting it.
Demanding intellectual honesty or even understanding from these folks is a fool’s errand. They clearly have no idea what Marxism is.
Michael Shellenberger summed up this evolving totalitarianism in the West quite well in an article published today on his Substack PUBLIC. Essentially - we're witnessing the desperate attempt of narcissistic and psychopathic people who manage the ruling institutions of government, business, media, etc to hold onto power by whatever means possible.
Not only that, he wrote for Rolling Stone! It's the touchstone for uncannily accurate and witty political reporting since the gonzo days of Doc Thompson. Matt Taibbi has totally confused The Boys On The Bus.
09/18/24: Exactly the same as The New Yorker magazine (suggested title change to "Tranny Teen Vogue"), which now slavishly does the bidding of the soon-to-be deposed Obama Administration (3rd Term, with Biden as a Yeltsin-puppet figurehead). Why isn't their editor, David Remnick, a member of the rabies-saturated cast on ABC's "The View"?
09/18/24: Perfectly stated. Now, really. Did we expect anything else from the likes of Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State [Security & Ideological Coercion], whose father was Robert Maxwell's lawyer?
It’s so amusing. You like most of the idiots on here think you sound so smart, courageous, rebellious, not mainstream…but you sound exactly like eachother, exactly like Taibbi and exactly like most of the other people in this country.
It’s hilarious that none of you get that you all are mainstream.
So this troll (curling iron) subscribes to Racket to scribble dumbass, nonsensical comments that don’t even sound like a person wrote them. It unnerves me in a way. Who pays for these troll armies to write the above nonsense. I’ve seen pix of the troll armies, but who funds them?
I’d suggest that people who protest the genocide in Gaza and against our shockingly bad and stupid government are doing just as much to keep the republic alive. We’re meant to submit ourselves to domination by our corporate/governmental overlords and their despicable exploits abroad, but those of us in the resistance aren’t having it. Kudos to us all!
No, the psy-op controlled public can still right the ship. Just need to end the mass formation psychosis. If resistance was futile the lies and propaganda would be unnecessary.
You do understand that this is specious reasoning. You are drawing your premise from your conclusion. Why do so many on the right do this? Is it part of maintaining the totalitarian vs freedom fighter binary?
Did not start as shit, sorry, but perfection was not on the table at the time, if so we'd never have survived under the Articles of Confederation. In 1787 we had the best government on Earth. 👍. My view is they did not account for the formation of corporate political parties and the extreme influence a union of one interest can exert. Overwhelms the whole of the body politic and true representative government.
Slavery was the norm of the human condition until 19th century Christians fought wars to stamp it out. It was a disease inherited from our colonial masters, bloodily purged at the cost of over 600,000 American lives.
I think the biggest defect in the Constitution is that the population ratio to Congress was never set, just the 35k minimum established, left the actual size of Congress to mere legislative fiat. The House's size has been frozen since the 1920 census, population has nearly trippled and woman got the vote so in effect we have 1/6th the representation today. Bottles up popular will.
Matt, I can’t imagine the strain you and your family are under. Your integrity, dedication to truth, and love of your professional calling shine in every piece. In tough moments, I hope you can draw strength and encouragement from the knowledge that there are thousands of readers like me cheering you on, praying for you, and ever grateful for the sacrifices you make to do your job well. You terrify all the right people.
From your comments it would seem you are not someone with so much as a passing acquaintance with rationality. Certainly not intellect on even a level of mediocrity, either.
There is a lot at stake in this election. Trump, I hope, has learned his lesson. His declining CIA briefings because he knows that they will brief him on some obtuse issue and then leak the info the media has taught him a lot. If he wins a 70-year old system of control could collapse. Desperate people do desperate things. Pray for him to survive the next 48 days.
Trump has already been president for 4 years. The whole world saw that he was powerless for all 4 yrs. No one in the Beltway has the slightest fear of him. The Pentagon ignored him. Yet you "hope" he'll be different. Even more fantastic, though he never laid a glove on the Deep State, and has openly said it takes 5-15 yrs to remove one bureaucrat, you suggest he could overthrow the 70 year post WWII order. Angelo Codevilla must be laughing in his grave to hear that one. Trump was elected in 2016 for 2 reasons: #1 he unconditionally promised a wall on day one. #2, he promised detente w. Russia. He delivered neither, in fact delivered the opposite, putting Jared in charge of "the border." In August 2017 congress removed all Russia matters from Don. Medvedev commented at the time how humiliating this was for Don. The whole world knew his 2016 election had been nullified, that he was powerless. Yet he sat there wasting 4 yrs of our time and became a more vicious neocon than McCain. In July 2017 he went on tv and announced he changed his mind about Mideast wars, now thinks they're necessary. This doesn't even get into his shutting down the country in 2020 and throwing tens of millions out of work. Trump doesn't deserve prayers. He deserves to be in jail. If you're afraid that poor, poor Don can't stand up to the Deep State, then he's not the man for the job.
Sorry, Patrick, stepping in for a moment. Susan, I don't have enough good years left to explain the myriad of things that can be disagreed with in your post. Suffice it to say that your thinking is provincial.
References: One, Beltway has no fear of Trump: 9/23/20, “Revolution 2020,” Angelo Codevilla, American Mind
“Let there be no doubt: the ruling class’s focus on Donald Trump has been incidental. America’s potentates do not fear one pudgy orange-haired septuagenarian. They fear the millions of Americans whom they loathe, who voted for Trump, who gave his party control of House and Senate, and who will surely vote for folks these potentates really should fear….
Our revolution is by the ruling class–a revolution from above. Crushing obstacles to its growing oligarchic rule is the proximate purpose.…
Affirmation of one’s own superiority by punishing inferiors is an addictive pleasure. It requires ever stronger, purer doses of infliction, and is inherently beyond satisfaction.
In short…the ruling class’s intensifying efforts to oppress those they imagine to be their inferiors is not reversible…"
......................................
Two: July 2017, announced changed mind on Mideast wars:
July 6, 2021, “What Is Trump To Us?" Angelo Codevilla, American Greatness: “He let himself be persuaded by his first secretaries of state and defense, and his second national security advisor, to give a nationally televised speech in July 2017 effectively thanking them for showing him that he—and his voters—had been wrong in opposing the ongoing war in the Middle East."
..................................
Three: August 2017-Congress removed Russia matters from Trump, neutered him re: Russia matters: 8/6/2017, “Playing Politics with the World’s Future,” Alastair Crooke, Consortium News
"“Finally…the U.S. Congress has produced a piece of legislation, [“The Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act,” also known as “The Russia Sanctions Review Act of 2017″]. And it passed with quasi-unanimous, bi-partisan support. [98-2 in Senate, 419-3 in the House]." Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev commented: "Any hope of improving our relations with the new U.S. administration is over....The Trump administration demonstrated it is utterly powerless, and in the most humiliating manner, transferred executive powers to Congress.…The American establishment completely outplayed Trump.”…
.............................................
Four: Pentagon ignored Trump for 4 years
8/31/2020, "PATRICK LAWRENCE: Voting in a De-Facto Military State," Consortium News
"Foreign policy took up several important planks in Trump’s platform, readers may recall. He campaigned promising to reduce the military’s presence abroad, end our wars of adventure, ease NATO into the history books, and make a constructive relationship with Russia out of the unnecessary hostilities Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, his secretary of state, left behind. These positions won him votes....Unsurprisingly, we have seen virtually no progress toward Trump’s objectives since he took office in January 2017. The Pentagon and the national security apparatus have ignored, circumvented, or otherwise subverted his orders to withdraw troops from foreign theaters, notably Syria and now Germany. Relations with Russia have dramatically worsened. NATO still pretends it has a function in the post–Soviet era."
...........................................
Five: Trump made himself a pushover:
8/31/2020, "PATRICK LAWRENCE: Voting in a De-Facto Military State," Consortium News
"In spring 2017, when the military contradicted his early efforts to deescalate in Syria, Trump entered his “my generals, my military” phase, saying he granted the Pentagon “total authorization” to act as it saw fit.
With after-the-fact capitulations such as this, Trump has made himself a pushover for the hawks and Deep Staters who surround him."
................................................
Six: 11/26/2019, "Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, has been put in charge of expediting the building of a wall [fence] on the US-Mexico border."...
[No "wall" was allowed. GOP congress forbade wall. If any barrier, only fencing was allowed].
Seven: 2/9/2021, “Tal Bachman: A Quick Post-Mortem,“ The Bachman Beat, via Steynonline
"Trump began by claiming he was only going to hire “the best people”. In the end, it was Trump himself who concluded he only hired the worst people....
It [His administration] should have pushed for the abolition of computerized vote-counting machines altogether, since their vulnerability to error has been amply documented for decades....
Add to all this Trump's...odd passivity underneath all the vituperative language....
Eight: July 6, 2021, “What Is Trump To Us?" Angelo Codevilla, American Greatness
"By the time he [Trump] left office, Washington was laughing at him—and was hurting his voters....
Again and again, Trump signed mammoth spending bills that contained the Democratic Party’s wish lists, having promised not to, vowing never to do it again, and then doing it again.
By creating trillions of dollars in debt, which the Federal Reserve monetizes and channels through financial institutions, Trump was the sine qua non of the financialization that has transferred wealth from Main Street—which voted for Trump—to Wall Street, which is part and parcel of the ruling class. Trump also left untouched the tax code’s “carried interest” provision that is the source of much of the financial sector’s unearned wealth.
As Google, Facebook, and Twitter increasingly squeezed conservative content to the cyberworld’s sidelines, Trump railed against Section 230 of the Communications Act that lets them do it with impunity, but did nothing that would stop them, or subject them to lawsuits....
Trump knew that FBI Director James Comey, his chief subordinates, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had broken the law by surveilling his campaign. Nevertheless, he praised them and their agencies, kept them in office, did not refer them for prosecution, and kept secret the documents associated with their illegalities.
Trump let himself be stampeded into firing General Michael Flynn on wholly specious grounds—the only high profile national security official who had supported him and who stood in the way of the intelligence agencies’ plans against him—and stood by as the ruling class ruined Flynn’s life.
Days after the inauguration, he suffered the CIA’s removal of clearances from one of his appointees because he was a critic of the agency. Any president worthy of his office would have fired the entire chain of officials who had made that decision. Instead, he appointed to these agencies people loyal to those officials and hostile to himself, notably CIA’s Gina Haspel, who likely committed a crime spying on his candidacy.
This is an especially crucial point about the intelligence agencies, the enmity of which there was never any doubt: He criticized officials over whom he had absolute power, but left them in office. Even without considering that the majority of Trump appointees were hostile to him and his constituents, the fact that he filled scarcely more than a quarter of executive positions certifies that
Citation: Trump says it takes 5-15 years to fire a bureaucrat. 3 stages, 5 yrs per stage. He says congress should pass new law making it easier to fire bureaucrats. 2022, CPAC, reported by Breitbart, 8/6/2022, "Donald Trump: Next President Must ‘Remove Rogue Bureaucrats and Root out the Deep State’,"
"Trump complained that the current process to remove a federal bureaucrat from their post is a lengthy process that takes an average of five years:
Quite the revisionist take on history. Hopefully, you will make it to November because that is a long time to keep telling lies. And the nose keeps on going. Probably worn your clan out by now with your nonsense.
Written like a good little fan of everything wrong with this nation. Sounds like you are one of the many who despise everything the US once stood for, and it's pesky recognition of the inherent rights of human beings.
The US has never stood for the inherent rights of human beings. The US institutionalized owning human beings as property.
Perhaps you can make some argument for the US making progress towards some allegedly expressed ideal.
But I imagine such nuance is lost on you.
Love it or leave it, right?
Susan Mullen, in a fool’s errand it seems, laid out very clearly citations for all the assertions they made. And here all you Racket morons ignore it and call Mullen names.
None of you idiots care at all about anything outside of your narrow scope, what with you exclusive access to The Truth.
I’m sorry Mullen took all of you seriously. You are all the worst parts of this country: violent and stupid, bloodthirsty cowards braying for war.
Trump never tried to censor me or anyone else. Nor did he fire those who would not take the jab. That makes him safer than the alternative who are quickly turning in to authoritarians and Facists.
No, not neocon. Trump targeted ISIS, and used detente policies to focus on doing so, the same as we allied with Russia to fight Nazis in WW2. The neocons have loved to use Islamist extremist militants everywhere they can. Under Biden, ISIS has made a comeback, esp thanks to our NATO ally Erdogan of Turkey and his neo-Ottoman regime. Now they're sending their own Islamist militants from Syria all over the place, to Africa, to Nagorno Karabagh, etc. Not the same policy as neocons. It backfired on them in Gaza, bigtime
You say Trump isn't a neocon. In 2016 he was elected by promising to reduce US foreign military aggression and favoring normalization of relations w. Russia. 12 wks after he was inaugurated he bombed Syria for no reason except some fake photos of "children" taken by US-backed jihadists in Idlib. He chose the occasion to "warn" Russia not to help Syria because US has very fast missiles to attack again. WaPo patted Don on the head. Idlib of course is the world's largest Al Qaeda safe haven as Brett McGurk stated in 2017....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahhWjHxOhXo....In 2017 alone Trump dropped 60,000 bombs, avg. of 179 per day, more even than Obama....https://www.afcent.af.mil/Portals/82/November%202021%20Airpower%20Summary_FINAL.pdf...You say Don "targeted" ISIS but you don't say what he did beyond "targeting" it. You say he used "detente" policies to focus on "targeting" ISIS. Since "targeting" ISIS means nothing, I don't understand why "detente" policies would be used. Then you say Don's so-called "targeting" of ISIS was the same as US "allied with Russia to fight Nazis in WWII." First, US was never under Nazi occupation as was the Soviet Union. Leningrad was occupied for 900 days causing immense suffering, starvation, and death. The US, protected by vast oceans, was never under foreign occupation. To this day, US has never endured such suffering. 25 million citizens of the Soviet Union died saving Europe from Nazi takeover. Shortly after Soviets entered Berlin in April 1945, Hitler took his cyanide pill. It was nice that US supplied some weapons--as US says to this day, "their blood, our bullets." I don't consider "blood for bullets" an "alliance" to brag about, though the UK would likely agree it wouldn't have survived WWII had it not received help from US taxpayers. As to "ISIS," you're misinformed. The US and Russia were on opposite sides. US efforts in Syria were to overthrow the government of Pres. Assad, meaning criminal, uninvited, and inhumane. US efforts against ISIS were minimal since ISIS had same goal as US, ie to remove Assad. As jihadist groups surrounded Damascus in 2015, at the last minute Assad called his friend, the Russian Federation, and asked for help. Mr. Putin received approval from his government to provide air power to save Syria which he did within a few months. ISIS represents only a small number of the many jihadists in Syria and elsewhere, it's mainly used as a propaganda tool against US taxpayers. Trump was even a human shield for the Al Qaeda controlled Idlib province in Syria, telling Assad and Russia not to try and rescue citizens trapped there by jihadist groups. https://www.france24.com/en/20180904-trump-warns-assad-syria-russia-iran-against-idlib-attack...Syria is a sovereign nation and has every responsibility and right to rescue its own citizens from terrorist enclaves. It's very lucky to have a humane neighbor like Russia willing to help. It was no business of Don or the US taxpayer. The remainder of your reply deals with other matters which I'd be happy to address at another time since this reply is already quite lengthy.
Trump's public stand on ending the Ukraine war alone is enough to make it clear he's not with the neocons, and nobody should have to explain that to a person who claims to be informed about present day politics/ policy strategy
Obama refused to arm Ukraine so as to not make the US backed 2014 coup into something even worse.
Trump resumed weapons sales to Ukraine well before Russia invading. He did this over the objections of Russia. (Calm down Racket-brained, I never believed the POTUS was a Russian agent or peed in an offensive way on video.)
Trump’s actions are not opposing a war. That is setting one up.
Of course one of the only sensible things anyone said was from Trump when he explained that he didn’t want Ukraine or Russia to win, he wanted the war to stop. And he would speak with both parties and figure out an agreement they could live with.
Again, most sensible thing from anyone so far. And I entirely agree with that approach.
But then he did arm Ukraine over Russian objections so I’m not so sure he cares to stop that conflict.
Under Obama John Brennan spent $1 billion arming IS & AQ fighters to be the Free Syrian Army to overthrow Assad. Trump refused to renew the program. The autonomous northern region became a place of cooperation in order to fight ISIL, involving France, US and others. This was not consistent with neocon policy. In terms of singular bombing raids after the instigations massively played up in the press, these were nothing compared to regime change war. Unfortunately yes active military support was withdrawm but the situation reverted and deteriorated under Biden with Turkey let loose to expand support for various jihadist mercenary groups and its own hostile activities
"Our goons aren’t Russian enough to smash people with hammers". I don't know Matt, after two assassination attempts on Trump, under let's just call them suspicious circumstances, I feel their desperation has moved them into a new territory. They fear losing their traditional control of narratives to new media's increasing popularity. Thank you for your work.
Notice how the media currently draws parallels with Trump and Hitler. Often lately they mention that Hitler survived more than one assassin attempt. “ you see, it’s Trumps reprehensible thoughts and words” that make him a target.
Well matt, either this to shall pass, or it will get worse and they will find a way to silence you. All you can do is whatever you can do until you can’t do it anymore. If you have a family, I would be careful. The really motivated folks out there don’t seem to have a limiting principle in how they shut people up. They have no shame. After seeing a lot of Trump people get dragged through the courts, bankrupted and some even spending time in jail, I’d say keep your lawyer close and don’t ever talk to a fed without him or her. I’m sorry this is happening to you. Not the ruffling of feathers so much, your work was always going to cause that. I’m sorry that that they are attacking you the way they are by trying to destroy your reputation as an honest purveyor of our reality. For someone such as yourself, I’m sure it’s worse than prison. And I’m sorry it’s coming from the left.
Trust me, it hurts me too. Both my parents went to college, my dad was both drafted to go to Vietnam and protested it afterwards. My mom was a flower child in the 70s (they are 8 years apart) and got kicked out of her bougie catholic school for writing an article supporting abortion. Then she went to work for the state of Michigan and my dad went to work at a factory after dropping out of grad school, and they both became union members. All that combined with the Irish-Catholic-Kennedy tradition and we were as blue as they come. I grew up that way. It’s hard to see what the party has become, what the left has become. The days of fighting to protect everyone’s basic civil rights are over. Now they are trying to justify destroying them. I’m not surprised we have come to this, I knew after 9/11 and the Patriot act that their new found powers would be impossible to not abuse eventually, but I just assumed that danger would come from dick Cheney and the republicans. Turns out it’s coming from dick Cheney and the democrats. It’s soul crushing. All you can do is keep on telling the truth, digging and hoping for a better future.
Thank you for this comment. My heart breaks for what our country has become. The only way forward is Trump. He is the bull in the China shop, like him or not. Our government is so corrupted, and the result is that the American people will suffer while our enemies triumph. China, Russia, and Iran are Allied now. The only way out is Pro American Trump.
We struggle with the tactics of the left, not only their positions on current social structure. They think like criminals. They respond to pretty much like anything like criminals. They plan and scheme like criminals. They attack on all fronts : supremes, executive branches, etc. They run plantations. They are hard to counter because we don’t think like them. We don’t think like criminals. I still believe we can hold them at bay while we attempt to right the ship. Can we hold back the criminal enterprise for ever? Not sure.
It's totally intentional. If you rebrand all language that is used in authoritarian contexts as "leftism" then it becomes much easier to shut down any discussion of actual leftism, and much more difficult to challenge capitalism.
The Democratic Party is owned top down by billionaire capitalists. Everything else is kabuki. When's the last time you saw any of these people argue to nationalize anything? THEY'RE NOT LEFTISTS also they get more authoritarian all the time, so they're also not anarchists or any kind of libertarian.
Was a dem in my younger days, till I realized they were bigger assholes than the people I was protesting against. Hang in there. Dems and Repubs alike.
I am a child of FDR Democrats. I loved Bill Clinton but I do not recognize these people anymore. The conservatives are now the cool freedom fighters. My liberal friends have drank the Kool-aid and think censorship and restriction of free speech is a good thing. There are dark forces at play behind such evil. Liberty and Democracy cannot hold when lively and free debate are restricted. Period.
Liberals are not the left. They never really were. Recall Phil Och’s tune ‘Love Me I’m a Liberal.’ I hang out with the left. None of us are liberals or Democrats. There’s a lot of resistance to what I just said on here. People like me are inconvenient to Libertarians who prefer to lump us all into ‘the left’ when referring to Democrats. It’s intellectually lazy. Also notice how many independent reporters who do lean left are being targeted for reporting inconvenient truths.
I think it was more than just politics and just that one election. I think this whole culture of entitlement & Karen/Chad-ness of "I can tell YOU what to do but you daren't raise a peep about MY views" AND the fact that so many of us let them kick us without fighting back. There's also apathy, "it's not my job" mentality etc.
Revolutions are always enacted by the middle class which has the means and opportunities to revolt when their interests are being threatened, be these economic or cultural. As the poor do not have means and opportunities to revolt, they do so only when they are desperate (Bread riots). Even when the people in the middle class recognize that government has become their enemy, only a fraction of its members active resist--people like Matt and his colleagues, for example. Thus, they pay the price for all of us who restrict our actions to following these courageous people and commenting, hoping our heroes don't wear out--or get taken out. It's true that most of us don't have a bully pulpit but I believe there are things we could do to support the movement for government responsibility. Sharing what we learn from Matt and fellow posters, for example. Doing our own fact checking and research to support our positions. Avoiding the "But Trump" trap is another.The rot in our government has NOTHING to do with Trump. And he may not be able to clean it up. But he is the only one who is pointing out the rot. It's a start. And THEY know it!
gortroe, I couldn't have said it any better. I am doing all the things that you mentioned - sharing, fact checking, researching - it's just tough to find those who are willing to listen or read. I feel as tho I am doing what I can in my little corner of the world. And while it might not be enough to channel an election, at least I know that I may be a teeny tiny part of the solution. Guess I'd better qualify the last part of that sentence - I'm part of the solution if you want America to be the great country that she is and always has been by electing Donal Trump as President.
Feel same BobbyD! Was gonna post same to Matt along with “ no more smooth sailing” doesn’t even begin to express the awfulness of your situation Matt & your peers as well.
You really can’t be too paranoid, the uniparty is capable of anything in pursuit of Full Spectrum Dominance.
Carl Jung said that Moby Dick was the quintessential American novel, but I didn’t realize that Ahab would rendezvous with his whale during my lifetime.
Dear Matt. Please be careful. Whoever is running our Government at the moment is undoubtedly willing to do anything to stay in power. Look at what they have done already. Wish I could surround you in a bulletproof bubble! 👍🏻🤞🙏
It's bigger than staying in power, at least for those at the top. It's about transitioning away from Western democracy and the nation-state to a global-centric technocratic/technological authoritarianism.
Matt is a nuisance, a nagging source of cognitive dissonance, and his moral integrity and fidelity to the truth is a supreme inconvenience for people who reside in the modern Democratic bubble, which imposes conformism through mutual surveillance. His living example is also a humiliation to mainstream media wordcels, because they're pretty much required to lie at this point.
My views reside somewhere between Libertarianism and Conservatism and while I agree with your assessment that a Democratic bubble exists and demands conformity, I feel strongly that it is actually more of a globalists bubble, as evidenced by the neocon Republicans. Their is a long list of politicians from both sides of the aisle that consistently vote against the sovereign interests of American citizens while diverting the easily swayed with much hand waving and heated rhetoric about the latest social injustices.
Neocon warmongers have migrated to the Democratic Party, led by Dick Cheney.
And it's apotheosis for the Democrats, now officially the party of war. Oh what joy!
They’ve been the party of war for a long time.
I gave up after Kerry refused to push back against the Iraq war. I realized they were never going to care about the lost American wealth and the lost American lives (none of them from the upper class, mind you). They didn't even care that the war was initiated based on a lie. They just wanted that war and they literally "sold" it to the American people.
Our leadership is corrupt as f*ck. I don't think there's anyone in power that cares about the founding ideals of this country anymore. Maybe a few, but not enough. I'm so, so sick of the elites and their neurotic bs and avarice.
I gave up after Barack Obama continued every single one of the Bush Administration's endless wars and then added a couple of his own. He also continued nearly every Bush domestic policy, as well.
Millions of people here and abroad protested that war. I did as well.
And Bush and Co just did it anyway.
Same with Afghanistan.
Plenty of corruption amongst our peerless leaders.
At the same time this system is working precisely as designed. The class of people that designed it are the same class in power now.
I would encourage you to not give up. Elections are useless for a number of reasons I’d rather avoid discussing as I find it dull. Instead of giving up, spend your no doubt considerable energies engaged in some kind of political, civil society group. You obviously care about the affairs of the country, don’t let that care go to waste.
Wow… I am in agreement with your first comment “They’ve been the party of war for a long time.” However your further statements went off, in my opinion, into a rant mirroring exactly what you apparently are accusing.
This can be a place of discussion and dialogue. However that would require a tone of curiosity rather than judgement.
Why is it that forming questions and encouraging engagement is so lacking in most places?
You must be new to this neighborhood. This is not a space for discussion and engagement.
Any effort to engage in a discussion of someone’s post is always met with ridicule and dismissal based on “tone.”
Why is forming questions and discussion encouraging engagement so lacking?
I don’t find it lacking IRL but it is certainly lacking here.
Sometimes the gap is much too wide to bridge. How do I engage with someone that insists Kamala is a Marxist and Trump is fighting Democratic Party pedophiles? What’s the point?
Who can forget when the Joy Goddess promised, "the most lethal military in the world." Dick Cheney got shivers down his leg at that.
Thanks for that image. Now I need mind bleach.
Where is the 'JOY' in Genocide?
they actually melded together naturally, two sets of corrupt elitists who use the American ideals we once held as some sort of shield covering their dirty lives and their dirty money, blood money. All our fine moralists who feed on the flesh of other nations sent to die for our greedy purposes.
dont say "our". I take no responsibility. it may be a democracy, and I did vote, but Ive never been represented. this is not my government. it does not have my consent.
What do you take responsibility for?
This is so apt.
They see the ivy league, SJW woke dogma as a superior means of State and Corporate Control. Look at all the shit they're getting away with under a Democrat. So many fool still believe the only means of authoritarianism is through the 3rd reich 30s style, Anglo Fascism. They're smarter than that. They don't give a piss about the ideology itself, only how effective it is as a means of control.
the funny thing with cheyney is it reminds me of the guy who puts up an injured player who is out for the season up for trade in fantasy football. and someone trades for him!!!
And don't forget Team Neocon traded two all stars - RFK, Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard - for him.
Meredith — I think Dick Cheney feels he has to support his idiot daughter, come what may.
no, she thinks she has to make Daddy proud! Cheney is a mean-spirited narrow-minded man who guards his own interests jealously. Trump disrespected the corrupt old Don and he and his crowd of Bushies cling together, things of the past. The party has moved far beyond the Bushes and the Cheneys now. Their loss is immaterial.
All the younger neocons also endorse Harris. They are onboard for new democracy-spreading crusades.
🎯
Not true...their Evil slime has slicked the path for current and future Calumny and greater Evil....as we now see in Lebanon...Diabolical....now our devices are truly life threatening....iPhone warfare !
this new spawn wreaking havoc are just springing from the seeds we planted in these almost four decades (and more in honesty) of ravaging the world with "democracy" and "air campaigns" and "military aid to Ukraine" and Saving the World from WMD or ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!
He could have easily said he supported his daughter making up her own mind. I support my children making their own choices, even when I come to a different opinion about issues. But he didn't say that and it's no surprise to me since I've always despised Cheney.
Mention of his name makes me Retch !
He’s probably mentally not all there either
Could not resist, sorry.
https://trygvewighdal.substack.com/p/dick-cheney-kamala-i-am-your-father
09/19/24: Very good, sir. Don't apologize for material worth reading and publicizing. One suggestion. Stop creating "sing-song" with identically long sentences. Say more with less; break it up with short, emphatic statements. You'll be surprised how much more attractive your work will be. Thank you.
His writing style is why I read him.
That is true for the most obvious people. But there are plenty of them in the Republican ranks across the red districts of the country, including many quietly working against Trump and pushing funding for Ukraine. They are by far the majority. They don't call it the uni-party for nothing.
I think they've always been there. go back and look at the roll call votes for Iraq war. you (along with many of us) are just being red-pilled.
Im not an expert but except for Cheyney i think the correct term is "returned."
I agree there are some unsavory republicans, Cheney would have been one I could have feared but he’s gone. The visceral hate among the democratic partners their ability to lie with impunity, their intimidation tactics, it’s really shocking me. The mere fact they blame TRUMPS words for his assassination attempts without any blame themselves. It’s mind boggling. Matt please be careful. You and I don’t always align on the same political spectrum, but I know in my heart there’s earnest in you. And if not said enough, you and the other warriors that are fighting this battle to find truth, we thank you.
This began with Republicans, not just a few a few unsavory Republicans either. The whole Security State thing was their baby. I remember that far back. This a big part of how Obama got elected. He vowed to get us out of the Patriot Act and jail the Bankers and Wall Street hooligans that criminally crashed the economy.
He not only didn't do what he said but empowered these force. But he didn't do it in the open. Much of what went on was found out later. There is always a need for controled op.
YES, thank you Matt. You give steel to my mettle!
As someone who is somewhere between libertarianism and old school, "means of production" leftism I am inclined to agree. The Necons don't like Trump's anti Nato rhetoric. They also see the Ivy League WOKE SJW/"though shalt not question the 'experts"' dogma of the Establishment infiltrated progressive as the religion of the future. Of course this all ties into Globalism and all that good stuff which is far more extensive than a I have time for right now as I get ready for work. Lol.
In short it is crucial that people understand in 2024 and beyond the real political enemy of today isn't necessarily the person you disagree with but the person who wishes to take away your right to disagree.
Good analysis. One thing the right is clearly missing is a cohesive platform and conservative vision. Perhaps Vance, if successful in this election can provide some framework for this, but it’s going to be an uphill battle while he tries to balance tempering Trump’s rhetoric with corrections and contextual elaboration to television news hosts that are perpetually in a state of hysteria (I would argue is cosmetic and performative for most, not to mention the epitome of hypocrisy). When the only unifying (using this term loosely) figure for republicans dies, if there’s not a clear center of power and direction, the splitting factions of the right in a chaotic socio-political environment has as much potential for worsening the general atmosphere. To the degree that the left is off the deep end, a fractured right with factions vying for power and recognition will almost certainly exacerbate the chaos.
Vance should temper his own rhetoric first.
No argument there- but I’m not sure if that’s his rhetoric or if he feels compelled or has been subtly instructed to back Trump no matter what. Your point still stands, however. I think if I were Vance, I’d be making the following calculations:
If I don’t at least appear to be in lockstep agreement with Trump, it hurts chances of being elected no matter which way you slice it.
I only have to endure one term and even though Trump is pretty fucking far from a classical republican, it’s still better than losing.
This is my only chance at NOT fading into obscurity and it’s plausible that if he gets defeated in a general election, that hurts his chances at another senate term.
So is it HIS rhetoric? Well, it came from his mouth. But I have a feeling he’s playing a calculated long game.
well said
As Matt has already described, rooting domestic repression in foreign policy agencies is the perfect way to enlist bureaucrats who have no clue about the US Constitution and Bill of Rights (nor are they beholden to, or even familiar with, any inter-agency review process that would normally kick in for domestic regulations of any kind.)
somewhere between Libertarianism and Conservatism
So you don’t want to pay taxes or pass a test to operate a motor vehicle buuuuut you do want to use State coercion to keep women from having abortions.
And of course. Nothing says nonconformist like conservative and libertarian.
Wow, that is a lot of ssumptions I would not make from this comment.
Oh really? The stifling binary he can’t stop repeating didn’t give it away? Or are you stuck in it as well?
Nothing denotes a "brilliant" commenter better than applying the most inane, cliched descriptors to suit their preconceived narrative.
Watch out, bruh, narrative multiplicity is woke AF.
I am certain that I have described your cliche and inane views accurately.
Are you training for conclusion -leaping? I don't think that's an Olympic event yet , , ,
Witty remarks are not your thing.
Perhaps “musing” is your metier.
Where did you see those inferences? Or did you reply to the wrong comment?
I interpret what I read from my own lens, but I could not reach far enough out of my box to understand your view.
Shut up chat gpt
You honestly thinking chat gbt is capable of this level of wit? I'm with you, Curling Iron!
Curling iron has two accounts I guess. Wit I see none. Or a fed. But regardless bots can be living humans too it is not restricted to machines. So shut chat gpt and other chat gpt.
It's somewhat redundant to say that though, considering the Republican party has been taken over by populists and the Democrats are now the party of the rich. It was a good point to make 10-15 years ago, but now the battlelines have been drawn up. Sure, there is still work to do to purge the GOP of establishment goons, but it's not like the parties are evenly divided in that sense, the vast majority are either Democrats, or "Republicans" and "Conservatives" who are only called that in the press, have either been exiled or willingly left their party and repudiated all the nasty peasants.
I'm with you on the globalists ... I keep telling people there's this shadowy organization called the United Nations that is behind most of the globalization efforts. And is joined by a sister organization called the World Economic Forum. Together they spout all manner of frightening people herding measures, right out of Soilent Green.
Alas, people don't believe their own eyes anymore.
The Blob awaits us all
the Bill of Rights neglected to include a right of self governance which would prohibit cross state (think Kalifornia) and cross country oppression. globalism ignores the natural human rights of self governance.
And here we are “globalists versus nationalists.”
You’re such a free thinking freedom kinda guy.
Lol!!
👍 Matt is a true liberal - gathering all the facts, analyzing them through an unbiased lens and speaking truth to power, regardless of who that power represents. Keep up the good the great work, Matt!
There is no such thing as an unbiased lense. Whenever someone claims to be without bias then I know for certain they speak for the ruling class.
Taibbi is not unbiased. He doesn’t pretend to be unbiased either. And that’s why, though I find his current trajectory somewhere between asinine and abhorrent, he isn’t lying to me.
Maybe he lies to himself - that’s his problem. But he isn’t bullshitting us - even when he sucks.
Then why are you reading? Or bothering to comment?
You Racket commenters really are religious about Taibbi.
How dare anyone utter a discouraging word about Taibbi’s blog!
I like having a front seat to Taibbi’s changes over the past few years. It’s fascinating to observe an otherwise intelligent person become a standard issue American idiot.
The shit he writes about now is breathtaking in its myopia.
Guess that’s what happens when you’re your own editor.
He has succumbed to the contemporary cultural and political anxieties of the moment as he rails against “gender ideology,” “lockdowns,” etc. He is a voice in the current organized right wing politics. He is a voice that helps the organized political groups mainstream far right discourses and synthesize nationalism with a radical form of libertarianism.
The pandemic lockdowns served as the perfect space to accomplish this synthesis. While pandemic restrictions halted immigration the contention over the border pivoted to restricting the movement of nefarious Others to liberating “the people” from their own internal constraints.
Now we have all these far right social media influencers, shit like Racket, all these self-employed small business owners, hucksters of alt medicine and wellness products, anti lockdown protesters.
So here we are. The mainstreaming of fringe lunacy like Malthusian population controls to the “Great Replacement…” these are currently the language of everyday life.
Critiques of pandemic lockdowns have turned to warnings about a dystopian future of climate lockdowns.
Taibbi can not get away from these binaries: truth and lies, nationalists and globalists, freedom fighters and totalitarians (his absolute fave cause he’s the hero!) the suburbs and the city, workaday motorists and climate protestors.
Anyway…sure this is all lost on you idiots because it isn’t rephrasing Taibbi.
You really are deranged. Since you've absolutely nothing useful, intelligent, or amusing to say, why don't you simply talk to yourself in a mirror, and spare the rest of us your useless, senseless drivel. Are you 4?
Your hatred of small business owners would indicate you are very unAmerican. If you are unAmerican, or not American at all, just STFU if you've nothing useful to add to the conversation.
Some people just like to hear themselves talk. Having a point is irrelevant. Actually, I can picture little CI rehearsing this rant in front of a mirror
I believe he is talking into a mirror. Good command of the language, but no specific examples of where Taibbi has gone wrong.
Me and the other Antifa super soldiers will be executing small business owners on Thanksgiving Day in towns and cities all over this vile country.
BLM Marxist cadre will also go door to door emptying white American households of all turkeys, stuffing and green bean casserole. Cadre will redistribute this to undocumented migrants while we all enjoy a meal and watch Futbol.
Damn, someone must have cracked your skull with a curling iron. You’re spouting the intolerance and hate that has become representative of the left over the past 20-30 years. Get help, buddy.
Gee, you don't think too highly of yourself, do you?
Do you really subscribe to John McWhorter’s substack?
I guess somebody has to?
Religious? No, I don't believe in Matt as my savior, he's just a good journalist. It's pretty basic. He's bucked the system and left the plantation. His independence has freed him from the shackles of corporate media, allowing him to actually report the truth. Something you don't get much of these days.Matt's a trail blazer. He's harnessed the new media, and for this reason I'm informed. Democracy can't flourish without an informed public.
Sure. That’s it. We need an informed public.
Depends on the information. Doesn’t help when this so called informed public repeats Exxon talking points about a climate hoax.
Hyperbolic much? I can feel your spittle, sir.
Matt is yanking TPTB's chain and letting them know that there are people out there who see what they are doing. He has always done this. Don't you remember the "vampire squid?" And he's doing it in spite of being harrassed and threatened and villified. He's an old school liberal (like me) who's pissed off at the current antics of the left and who is trying to expose how they are using corrupt practices to control the media narrative in this country.
I don't see anything that you are asserting in his reporting. He is definitely NOT right wing. He may be in alignment with their outrage but any American of no matter what political stripe should be outraged right now. TPTB are out of control and not serving ordinary Americans at all. They are treating this country like their own personal playground. This has been ramping up for a long time as the elites bend power and policy toward their interests and leave the little guy in the dust. It's just reached a head at present. It is a boil waiting to burst.
So, you put gender ideology in parentheses. Sort of makes me want to put “you” in parentheses because you sound as informed as a ChatGPT bot.
Do you know what parentheses are?
What a bunch of esoteric bullshit.
“Esoteric” is how I also describe things I am unwilling to comprehend. Especially if such esoterica challenges my point of view.
Or in case you don’t like reading or learning anything that isn’t Taibbi or some other pod blog idiot:
Taibbi isn’t grifting, he isn’t working for some conglomerate with an interest in selling bombs (NBC.)
I do not like most of what he writes. I also don’t like Longfellow but I like poetry so I read him.
Taibbi is an important voice no matter how boring, insipid and myopic he is.
I care about the matters of the day and the place where I live. And Taibbi, as loathsome as I find him, is part of that.
Criticise if you must, but do so with some measure of skill or accuracy, otherwise it comes off as bluster and scattershot anger about various unrelated things.
Hey, I’m just trying to fit into the neighborhood.
Fed
Actually I'd like to see a critique — "opposition is true friendship" — but I seldom see one. Namecalling doesn't count.
In case anyone was wondering where all that Kamala donation money was going it is to fund shithead disinformation asshole whores like this guy.
She could pay a lot better. The Chinese Communist Party pays way better.
Hamas doesn’t pay at all. But their situation is less stable.
Sucks? How so?
What a worthless dolt. Moving on.
I know. Even the smallest nudge against your precious Taibbi and his “unbiased” writing has you calling me names.
I’m sorry we “idiots” and “morons” have called you names. People who use words like that in comments should be ashamed of themselves.
Jim
I am ashamed.
Jimmy, thank you for helping me.
I’ve been a worthless dolt. I was a fool to disagree with the fearless fighters against woke Dem totalitarianism.
For once I was blind and now I see.
You know for certain...dangerous words. For you, that is. You may noticed - or turned a blind eye - that no one has liked any of your pontifications so far.
I’m pretty bummed a bunch of right wing morons don’t give me likes.
I think your comment is biased.
Apparently feldspar has been replaced.
I am pleasantly surprised to find that some of you Matt Fans still have a sense of humor.
We do indeed; but we are laughing AT you, not WITH you. You’re not as clever and amusing as you think.
I am more clever and amusing than you.
We have a local hair stylist who might grant you more lucidity for your vacuous critiques. Her shop name: Curl Up and Dye. Go girl!
Grant me more lucidity for my vacuous critiques…
When I fail to understand something I also call it dumb and vacuous.
Where do you think his trajectory is headed? What parts are abhorrent or asinine?
Time to stop calling them Democrats.
Demokrats
Like Amerikkka? Careful, buddy, your Racket friends toe a narrow line.
New name: Blue Team
"Blue MAGA" is my preferred term for the base.
For the actual members of the party who hold office, "Authoritarian" will do, or "NeoCon" if in reference to foreign policy.
I've been calling their criminal 'D' organization a Despicable one (not that Repulsive is any better).
Indeed.
What should we call them? Democrats have lied about their intentions since I’ve been paying attention. Circa 2001. Lying is the only way they get elected.
Marxists
Dems are now right-wing warmongers and hard-core enablers of capitalists. Calling them Marxists indicates that you have no idea what is going on. Ludicrous and dumb.
Neo Marxists. They have been busy harnessing a cultural intersectional coalition of the aggrieved ( proletariat ) into a voting block/ protesters/ institutional change makers and cultural enforcers. While also using capitalism to exploit its weaknesses to ultimately destroy the West. The Democratic Party is just the vehicle being used.Corporate media , government bureaucrats, teachers , professors, politicians are just playing follow the leader all in the name of “progress” until the progress comes for them too. This is what the long march through the institutions looks like.
Neo-Marxists. It has a more sinister ring to it
Anyone who calls today's Democrats "Marxists" or "Communists" doesn't know the meaning of these words. One thing about Matt, he does his job with total honesty, always.
It's hard to ascribe meaning to words in a post-truth world; but it's still possible to see the Marxist-like tactics being used by the Establishment, especially in terms of sowing cultural division at the most fundamental levels. It's also quite possible to see that the WEF/UN agenda to replace Western democracy and the nation-state is deeply inspired by the Chinese Communist Party. Global establishment political puppets like Trudeau, Macron and even Mitt Romney have waxed poetic about how good "they" have it in China. It might not be your grandfather's idea of communism but it's what is presently in play. Call it what you will.
>> sowing cultural division at the most fundamental levels
Both parties are equally guilty of this.
I didn't mention a party or parties, but I see the post I responded to did. You're right, of course. The Republican Party is still an establishment party. They pay a lot of lip service to placate the Trump movement and remain relevant, but when push comes to shove they tow the establishment line on the economy, foreign policy, centralization of power. The only things that matter to the elites.
yeah fascism NEVER does this
right?
What exactly is “cultural division?”
Is that like how you don’t like Thai food?
Sorry but the past 16 years it’s been all one party doing the cultural enforcing. For a few years in the 90’s the Republicans had the whip hand
“Marxist like tactics”
Ok. Whatever that means.
It seems that you have created a figure, “the Marxist,” a figure that is authoritarian, devious, nefarious…Typically this is what one does when one needs to disavow this part of themselves.
I wasn't referring to the economic policies of Marx. Some, it seems, might have a more romantic view of the Russian Revolution than others.
How is that MARXIST? no, really
please explain
Neo Marxist.
To quote Matt Walsh, “what is a Marxist?”
You actually said something intelligent!
And your entire reason for saying that is that I mentioned Matt Walsh, self-declared fascist.
you wouldn't know a 'marxist' if they bit you on the ass
At least the nefarious Other (sorry, Marxist) can admit being into butt stuff. I think the fellas in this neighborhood would have trouble admitting it.
Demanding intellectual honesty or even understanding from these folks is a fool’s errand. They clearly have no idea what Marxism is.
yeah Matt's comment sections are a wasteland of Covid brain damage...
which is ongoing~
Statist and authoritarians or even Uniparty. So many choices.
Uniparty has a good ring to it
NeoSoviets would be accurate
Call them Liars then.
Yeah. We get it. So funny. Thanks.
How could you not tell? The acid drip of self-loathing is a tip off
I like this. Gay men are self-loathing.
Yes, I am Gay. Just ask your Dad about it after he finishes swallowing my cum.
Michael Shellenberger summed up this evolving totalitarianism in the West quite well in an article published today on his Substack PUBLIC. Essentially - we're witnessing the desperate attempt of narcissistic and psychopathic people who manage the ruling institutions of government, business, media, etc to hold onto power by whatever means possible.
https://www.public.news/p/these-four-things-are-behind-the?utm_campaign=email-post&r=ry8oy&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Ah, yes. Totalitarians against freedom fighters.
Doesn’t sound at all like the past 100 years of American political discourse: deranged and nefarious Others taking over!
When will you tire of this?
Yes but he's OUR nuisance.
Not only that, he wrote for Rolling Stone! It's the touchstone for uncannily accurate and witty political reporting since the gonzo days of Doc Thompson. Matt Taibbi has totally confused The Boys On The Bus.
Back in the day it was. Trash now.
09/18/24: Exactly the same as The New Yorker magazine (suggested title change to "Tranny Teen Vogue"), which now slavishly does the bidding of the soon-to-be deposed Obama Administration (3rd Term, with Biden as a Yeltsin-puppet figurehead). Why isn't their editor, David Remnick, a member of the rabies-saturated cast on ABC's "The View"?
09/19/24: 34 MILLION views! And well worth your time:
https://x.com/jeremykauffman/status/1835782658091102608
09/18/24: Perfectly stated. Now, really. Did we expect anything else from the likes of Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State [Security & Ideological Coercion], whose father was Robert Maxwell's lawyer?
Ole Blinkey
WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS
It’s so amusing. You like most of the idiots on here think you sound so smart, courageous, rebellious, not mainstream…but you sound exactly like eachother, exactly like Taibbi and exactly like most of the other people in this country.
It’s hilarious that none of you get that you all are mainstream.
How do describe yourself? Indulge 'us'.
I am your worst nightmare. I am everything you hate and fear.
Real journalists like yourself, Matt, are the only people keeping the Republic alive. Keep up the good fight.
Thanks to Matt and to all who contribute here. Gives me the talking points I need when pressing my case.
With whom are you speaking? What case are you pressing?
Why can’t you just have a date with a nice person? Why must you “press your case?”
Are we Americans this anxious and fucked up that we can’t have social
Interactions that don’t devolve into some stupid blather about the totalitarians and blah blah.
Me and my friends we got all kinds of different ideas. Yet we have a good time loving eachother. Nobody is pressing a case.
Me and my co workers, a lot of them are as crazy as you fuckers, but we come together to fight the boss.
Try making friends with people.
Not everything is fight about Trump or whatever.
Ironic post of the year. Congrats!
So this troll (curling iron) subscribes to Racket to scribble dumbass, nonsensical comments that don’t even sound like a person wrote them. It unnerves me in a way. Who pays for these troll armies to write the above nonsense. I’ve seen pix of the troll armies, but who funds them?
Yes. The joint Chinese Communist Party and Supreme Revolutionary Council of Iran Troll Army is coming after Racket commenters.
We can no longer allow these freedom fighters to challenge our world domination of the global child sex trade.
Et tu Hair Dryer?
CHAT-GPS?
Probably hard for you to fathom a social life.
Just stop showing people who care about you all those bizarre videos about 9/11 and trans kids playing sports.
It’s easier to make friends when you aren’t, well, like you.
Projecting much?
Oh my incoherent rambling!
I’d suggest that people who protest the genocide in Gaza and against our shockingly bad and stupid government are doing just as much to keep the republic alive. We’re meant to submit ourselves to domination by our corporate/governmental overlords and their despicable exploits abroad, but those of us in the resistance aren’t having it. Kudos to us all!
But for the brave journalists- an enormous number killed in Gaza- we'd remain blissfully ignorant.
You can't solve a problem you don't even know exists. Thus the State's censorship push across the globe.
Sometimes you crazy right wingers are confusing. Here you are admitting the Zionists kill journalists.
And then later it’s immigrants eating the ducks from the pond or some shit.
pssst, ci
not everyone here is a 'right winger' but you're right, there's a lot here
Long past time to get beyond the fake D/R, Left/Right manufactured divide. It's a tool of the oligarch class to control us.
Yes, the billionaire real estate mogul will fight for us!
He's less likely to fight against us than the neoliberal's hand puppet Kamla.
Amen!
The “republic” is dead. Been dead a long time. Started out shit and it’s even worse now.
No, the psy-op controlled public can still right the ship. Just need to end the mass formation psychosis. If resistance was futile the lies and propaganda would be unnecessary.
You do understand that this is specious reasoning. You are drawing your premise from your conclusion. Why do so many on the right do this? Is it part of maintaining the totalitarian vs freedom fighter binary?
Whatever. Carry on you crazy nut jobs.
Shut up bot
Rue the day right wingers learned the term “psy op.” Now everything is psy-op.
The leftist arrogance is strong with this one!
Using psy-op : Overused maybe. But it’s such a useful word to describe the created matrix & MK ultra brainwashing !
Tell me more
Did not start as shit, sorry, but perfection was not on the table at the time, if so we'd never have survived under the Articles of Confederation. In 1787 we had the best government on Earth. 👍. My view is they did not account for the formation of corporate political parties and the extreme influence a union of one interest can exert. Overwhelms the whole of the body politic and true representative government.
It started with owning human beings is ok. Then as now the most powerful and wealthy elements of society rule.
Slavery was the norm of the human condition until 19th century Christians fought wars to stamp it out. It was a disease inherited from our colonial masters, bloodily purged at the cost of over 600,000 American lives.
I think the biggest defect in the Constitution is that the population ratio to Congress was never set, just the 35k minimum established, left the actual size of Congress to mere legislative fiat. The House's size has been frozen since the 1920 census, population has nearly trippled and woman got the vote so in effect we have 1/6th the representation today. Bottles up popular will.
That’s the biggest flaw? That’s not even the biggest flaw concerning apportionment.
In your opinion.
Compared to what?
Then move out
God Bless Americans. Criticize the country I was born in and my fellow citizen tells me to leave.
I think your time in Russia has uniquely prepared you for this moment. Keep reporting the uncomfortable truths, Matt. The country needs you.
If I could, I would like this comment eleventy billion times.
me too!!!!
Amen!
Uncomfortable truths. Not condemnable lies.
Simple bullshit is always the best.
I can feel the fascist dystopia in my toes.
Matt, I can’t imagine the strain you and your family are under. Your integrity, dedication to truth, and love of your professional calling shine in every piece. In tough moments, I hope you can draw strength and encouragement from the knowledge that there are thousands of readers like me cheering you on, praying for you, and ever grateful for the sacrifices you make to do your job well. You terrify all the right people.
Walking in lockstep with you, Jen.
I think you meant goose-step. Its ok. You can say it, you’re among friends.
❤️
Very well said. I was going to post something similar but you're post was so spot on! Praying for you Matt.
me too!!
Yes!!
The truth? What do you know about the truth?
You’re probably doing something right if they’re trying to smear you, Matt.
That’s very dumb. It lacks all rationality.
Do you mean to say that those who smear are themselves the arbiters?
From your comments it would seem you are not someone with so much as a passing acquaintance with rationality. Certainly not intellect on even a level of mediocrity, either.
Worthless dolt is the term that keeps surfacing when I see it's comments.
It’s. A contraction meaning “it is.”
I believe you were attempting to refer to me using the indefinite pronoun, It. For clarity it’s important to capitalize the “I”
Even though the IED broke your brain, I still think your spear carrying for the Empire was valuable and brave.
It's you who's spear-carrying for the Empire, not Mr. Jajko. You obviously hate those who can think.
If you mean yourself by “those who can think” take heart, I don’t hate you.
Jajko did, according to his bio he was in the military in Iraq 2003-2005.
Lol !
Nah. Just musings. You get it.
No, I do not get it. I am far too intelligent to "get" idiocy at your level.
It’s a troll,
There is a lot at stake in this election. Trump, I hope, has learned his lesson. His declining CIA briefings because he knows that they will brief him on some obtuse issue and then leak the info the media has taught him a lot. If he wins a 70-year old system of control could collapse. Desperate people do desperate things. Pray for him to survive the next 48 days.
It's not just the next 48 days, if he wins the election it's from then until the end of his term as well.
Trump has already been president for 4 years. The whole world saw that he was powerless for all 4 yrs. No one in the Beltway has the slightest fear of him. The Pentagon ignored him. Yet you "hope" he'll be different. Even more fantastic, though he never laid a glove on the Deep State, and has openly said it takes 5-15 yrs to remove one bureaucrat, you suggest he could overthrow the 70 year post WWII order. Angelo Codevilla must be laughing in his grave to hear that one. Trump was elected in 2016 for 2 reasons: #1 he unconditionally promised a wall on day one. #2, he promised detente w. Russia. He delivered neither, in fact delivered the opposite, putting Jared in charge of "the border." In August 2017 congress removed all Russia matters from Don. Medvedev commented at the time how humiliating this was for Don. The whole world knew his 2016 election had been nullified, that he was powerless. Yet he sat there wasting 4 yrs of our time and became a more vicious neocon than McCain. In July 2017 he went on tv and announced he changed his mind about Mideast wars, now thinks they're necessary. This doesn't even get into his shutting down the country in 2020 and throwing tens of millions out of work. Trump doesn't deserve prayers. He deserves to be in jail. If you're afraid that poor, poor Don can't stand up to the Deep State, then he's not the man for the job.
It’s time for your meds, Karen err Susan
Patrick, what in particular do you disagree with?
Sorry, Patrick, stepping in for a moment. Susan, I don't have enough good years left to explain the myriad of things that can be disagreed with in your post. Suffice it to say that your thinking is provincial.
But you’re spending your remaining good years here? You need a friend. Or a lover.
Jul, could you just name the top one or two items in my comment that you disagreed with? I'm very curious. Thanks.
The alternative is unthinkable.
Got to vehemently disagree on about every point you make. Seems like YOU are the one who fears he can’t stand up to the deep state
Glitter, could you please say the top one or two items that you vehemently disagreed with the most? Thanks.
So that's a 'no' for a vote for Trump?
Someone seriously is not well and needs a whole team of psychiatrists to treat that severe, *severe* case of TDS.
What in particular in my comment are you referencing?
Perhaps you might move things along, Susan, if you referenced your claims.
References: One, Beltway has no fear of Trump: 9/23/20, “Revolution 2020,” Angelo Codevilla, American Mind
“Let there be no doubt: the ruling class’s focus on Donald Trump has been incidental. America’s potentates do not fear one pudgy orange-haired septuagenarian. They fear the millions of Americans whom they loathe, who voted for Trump, who gave his party control of House and Senate, and who will surely vote for folks these potentates really should fear….
Our revolution is by the ruling class–a revolution from above. Crushing obstacles to its growing oligarchic rule is the proximate purpose.…
Affirmation of one’s own superiority by punishing inferiors is an addictive pleasure. It requires ever stronger, purer doses of infliction, and is inherently beyond satisfaction.
In short…the ruling class’s intensifying efforts to oppress those they imagine to be their inferiors is not reversible…"
......................................
Two: July 2017, announced changed mind on Mideast wars:
July 6, 2021, “What Is Trump To Us?" Angelo Codevilla, American Greatness: “He let himself be persuaded by his first secretaries of state and defense, and his second national security advisor, to give a nationally televised speech in July 2017 effectively thanking them for showing him that he—and his voters—had been wrong in opposing the ongoing war in the Middle East."
..................................
Three: August 2017-Congress removed Russia matters from Trump, neutered him re: Russia matters: 8/6/2017, “Playing Politics with the World’s Future,” Alastair Crooke, Consortium News
"“Finally…the U.S. Congress has produced a piece of legislation, [“The Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act,” also known as “The Russia Sanctions Review Act of 2017″]. And it passed with quasi-unanimous, bi-partisan support. [98-2 in Senate, 419-3 in the House]." Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev commented: "Any hope of improving our relations with the new U.S. administration is over....The Trump administration demonstrated it is utterly powerless, and in the most humiliating manner, transferred executive powers to Congress.…The American establishment completely outplayed Trump.”…
.............................................
Four: Pentagon ignored Trump for 4 years
8/31/2020, "PATRICK LAWRENCE: Voting in a De-Facto Military State," Consortium News
"Foreign policy took up several important planks in Trump’s platform, readers may recall. He campaigned promising to reduce the military’s presence abroad, end our wars of adventure, ease NATO into the history books, and make a constructive relationship with Russia out of the unnecessary hostilities Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, his secretary of state, left behind. These positions won him votes....Unsurprisingly, we have seen virtually no progress toward Trump’s objectives since he took office in January 2017. The Pentagon and the national security apparatus have ignored, circumvented, or otherwise subverted his orders to withdraw troops from foreign theaters, notably Syria and now Germany. Relations with Russia have dramatically worsened. NATO still pretends it has a function in the post–Soviet era."
...........................................
Five: Trump made himself a pushover:
8/31/2020, "PATRICK LAWRENCE: Voting in a De-Facto Military State," Consortium News
"In spring 2017, when the military contradicted his early efforts to deescalate in Syria, Trump entered his “my generals, my military” phase, saying he granted the Pentagon “total authorization” to act as it saw fit.
With after-the-fact capitulations such as this, Trump has made himself a pushover for the hawks and Deep Staters who surround him."
................................................
Six: 11/26/2019, "Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, has been put in charge of expediting the building of a wall [fence] on the US-Mexico border."...
[No "wall" was allowed. GOP congress forbade wall. If any barrier, only fencing was allowed].
It is another task in Kushner's broad portfolio of White House responsibilities, which already includes securing peace in the Middle East and reforming the criminal-justice system."...https://www.businessinsider.com/jared-kushner-made-responsible-for-border-wall-report-2019-11
..................................................
Seven: 2/9/2021, “Tal Bachman: A Quick Post-Mortem,“ The Bachman Beat, via Steynonline
"Trump began by claiming he was only going to hire “the best people”. In the end, it was Trump himself who concluded he only hired the worst people....
It [His administration] should have pushed for the abolition of computerized vote-counting machines altogether, since their vulnerability to error has been amply documented for decades....
Add to all this Trump's...odd passivity underneath all the vituperative language....
I suggest it is time for conservatives to fully accept the fact that Trump failed at the Power Game."...https://www.steynonline.com/11046/tal-bachman-a-quick-post-mortem
.............................................................
Eight: July 6, 2021, “What Is Trump To Us?" Angelo Codevilla, American Greatness
"By the time he [Trump] left office, Washington was laughing at him—and was hurting his voters....
Again and again, Trump signed mammoth spending bills that contained the Democratic Party’s wish lists, having promised not to, vowing never to do it again, and then doing it again.
By creating trillions of dollars in debt, which the Federal Reserve monetizes and channels through financial institutions, Trump was the sine qua non of the financialization that has transferred wealth from Main Street—which voted for Trump—to Wall Street, which is part and parcel of the ruling class. Trump also left untouched the tax code’s “carried interest” provision that is the source of much of the financial sector’s unearned wealth.
As Google, Facebook, and Twitter increasingly squeezed conservative content to the cyberworld’s sidelines, Trump railed against Section 230 of the Communications Act that lets them do it with impunity, but did nothing that would stop them, or subject them to lawsuits....
Trump knew that FBI Director James Comey, his chief subordinates, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had broken the law by surveilling his campaign. Nevertheless, he praised them and their agencies, kept them in office, did not refer them for prosecution, and kept secret the documents associated with their illegalities.
Trump let himself be stampeded into firing General Michael Flynn on wholly specious grounds—the only high profile national security official who had supported him and who stood in the way of the intelligence agencies’ plans against him—and stood by as the ruling class ruined Flynn’s life.
Days after the inauguration, he suffered the CIA’s removal of clearances from one of his appointees because he was a critic of the agency. Any president worthy of his office would have fired the entire chain of officials who had made that decision. Instead, he appointed to these agencies people loyal to those officials and hostile to himself, notably CIA’s Gina Haspel, who likely committed a crime spying on his candidacy.
This is an especially crucial point about the intelligence agencies, the enmity of which there was never any doubt: He criticized officials over whom he had absolute power, but left them in office. Even without considering that the majority of Trump appointees were hostile to him and his constituents, the fact that he filled scarcely more than a quarter of executive positions certifies that
there hardly ever was a Trump Administration."...
Citation: Trump says it takes 5-15 years to fire a bureaucrat. 3 stages, 5 yrs per stage. He says congress should pass new law making it easier to fire bureaucrats. 2022, CPAC, reported by Breitbart, 8/6/2022, "Donald Trump: Next President Must ‘Remove Rogue Bureaucrats and Root out the Deep State’,"
"Trump complained that the current process to remove a federal bureaucrat from their post is a lengthy process that takes an average of five years:
"Our current appeals process to remove these bureaucrats, people that can really be bad, they can even be thieves. You can catch them stealing large sums of money. You have to go through a three stage appeals process, which takes on average five years per stage. 15 years you’ll be gone; you’ll be out of office by then.""...https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/08/06/donald-trump-next-president-must-remove-rogue-bureaucrats-and-root-out-the-deep-state/
Quite the revisionist take on history. Hopefully, you will make it to November because that is a long time to keep telling lies. And the nose keeps on going. Probably worn your clan out by now with your nonsense.
Oh no, Robin. The grandchildren don’t want to hear you ramble on about the climate hoax?
Just hang out with them and leave your dumb politics aside. They miss you.
Robin, what do you consider "lies?"
Everything you wrote.
"Everything" was lies? Could you just tell me the top one or two things that were the biggest "lies?" Thanks.
None of these morons are familiar with the Epimenides Paradox so don’t worry about it.
Written like a good little fan of everything wrong with this nation. Sounds like you are one of the many who despise everything the US once stood for, and it's pesky recognition of the inherent rights of human beings.
Go and vote against them, as I am sure you will.
Ellen, I don't understand your reply. Could you please give me one or two examples of your objections to my citations? Thanks.
Don’t hold your breath. All Ellen’s got is musings.
The US has never stood for the inherent rights of human beings. The US institutionalized owning human beings as property.
Perhaps you can make some argument for the US making progress towards some allegedly expressed ideal.
But I imagine such nuance is lost on you.
Love it or leave it, right?
Susan Mullen, in a fool’s errand it seems, laid out very clearly citations for all the assertions they made. And here all you Racket morons ignore it and call Mullen names.
None of you idiots care at all about anything outside of your narrow scope, what with you exclusive access to The Truth.
I’m sorry Mullen took all of you seriously. You are all the worst parts of this country: violent and stupid, bloodthirsty cowards braying for war.
Trump never tried to censor me or anyone else. Nor did he fire those who would not take the jab. That makes him safer than the alternative who are quickly turning in to authoritarians and Facists.
#word
What does he belong in jail for? Being an inexperienced asshole isn’t illegal ……yet.
You sound like Matt Mullen who comments at The Free Press. Not a compliment.
No, not neocon. Trump targeted ISIS, and used detente policies to focus on doing so, the same as we allied with Russia to fight Nazis in WW2. The neocons have loved to use Islamist extremist militants everywhere they can. Under Biden, ISIS has made a comeback, esp thanks to our NATO ally Erdogan of Turkey and his neo-Ottoman regime. Now they're sending their own Islamist militants from Syria all over the place, to Africa, to Nagorno Karabagh, etc. Not the same policy as neocons. It backfired on them in Gaza, bigtime
You say Trump isn't a neocon. In 2016 he was elected by promising to reduce US foreign military aggression and favoring normalization of relations w. Russia. 12 wks after he was inaugurated he bombed Syria for no reason except some fake photos of "children" taken by US-backed jihadists in Idlib. He chose the occasion to "warn" Russia not to help Syria because US has very fast missiles to attack again. WaPo patted Don on the head. Idlib of course is the world's largest Al Qaeda safe haven as Brett McGurk stated in 2017....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahhWjHxOhXo....In 2017 alone Trump dropped 60,000 bombs, avg. of 179 per day, more even than Obama....https://www.afcent.af.mil/Portals/82/November%202021%20Airpower%20Summary_FINAL.pdf...You say Don "targeted" ISIS but you don't say what he did beyond "targeting" it. You say he used "detente" policies to focus on "targeting" ISIS. Since "targeting" ISIS means nothing, I don't understand why "detente" policies would be used. Then you say Don's so-called "targeting" of ISIS was the same as US "allied with Russia to fight Nazis in WWII." First, US was never under Nazi occupation as was the Soviet Union. Leningrad was occupied for 900 days causing immense suffering, starvation, and death. The US, protected by vast oceans, was never under foreign occupation. To this day, US has never endured such suffering. 25 million citizens of the Soviet Union died saving Europe from Nazi takeover. Shortly after Soviets entered Berlin in April 1945, Hitler took his cyanide pill. It was nice that US supplied some weapons--as US says to this day, "their blood, our bullets." I don't consider "blood for bullets" an "alliance" to brag about, though the UK would likely agree it wouldn't have survived WWII had it not received help from US taxpayers. As to "ISIS," you're misinformed. The US and Russia were on opposite sides. US efforts in Syria were to overthrow the government of Pres. Assad, meaning criminal, uninvited, and inhumane. US efforts against ISIS were minimal since ISIS had same goal as US, ie to remove Assad. As jihadist groups surrounded Damascus in 2015, at the last minute Assad called his friend, the Russian Federation, and asked for help. Mr. Putin received approval from his government to provide air power to save Syria which he did within a few months. ISIS represents only a small number of the many jihadists in Syria and elsewhere, it's mainly used as a propaganda tool against US taxpayers. Trump was even a human shield for the Al Qaeda controlled Idlib province in Syria, telling Assad and Russia not to try and rescue citizens trapped there by jihadist groups. https://www.france24.com/en/20180904-trump-warns-assad-syria-russia-iran-against-idlib-attack...Syria is a sovereign nation and has every responsibility and right to rescue its own citizens from terrorist enclaves. It's very lucky to have a humane neighbor like Russia willing to help. It was no business of Don or the US taxpayer. The remainder of your reply deals with other matters which I'd be happy to address at another time since this reply is already quite lengthy.
Trump's public stand on ending the Ukraine war alone is enough to make it clear he's not with the neocons, and nobody should have to explain that to a person who claims to be informed about present day politics/ policy strategy
Obama refused to arm Ukraine so as to not make the US backed 2014 coup into something even worse.
Trump resumed weapons sales to Ukraine well before Russia invading. He did this over the objections of Russia. (Calm down Racket-brained, I never believed the POTUS was a Russian agent or peed in an offensive way on video.)
Trump’s actions are not opposing a war. That is setting one up.
Of course one of the only sensible things anyone said was from Trump when he explained that he didn’t want Ukraine or Russia to win, he wanted the war to stop. And he would speak with both parties and figure out an agreement they could live with.
Again, most sensible thing from anyone so far. And I entirely agree with that approach.
But then he did arm Ukraine over Russian objections so I’m not so sure he cares to stop that conflict.
Under Obama John Brennan spent $1 billion arming IS & AQ fighters to be the Free Syrian Army to overthrow Assad. Trump refused to renew the program. The autonomous northern region became a place of cooperation in order to fight ISIL, involving France, US and others. This was not consistent with neocon policy. In terms of singular bombing raids after the instigations massively played up in the press, these were nothing compared to regime change war. Unfortunately yes active military support was withdrawm but the situation reverted and deteriorated under Biden with Turkey let loose to expand support for various jihadist mercenary groups and its own hostile activities
no shit
I doubt Trump has learned anything.
Are you familiar with the term “dick-riding?”
I am.
"Our goons aren’t Russian enough to smash people with hammers". I don't know Matt, after two assassination attempts on Trump, under let's just call them suspicious circumstances, I feel their desperation has moved them into a new territory. They fear losing their traditional control of narratives to new media's increasing popularity. Thank you for your work.
Notice how the media currently draws parallels with Trump and Hitler. Often lately they mention that Hitler survived more than one assassin attempt. “ you see, it’s Trumps reprehensible thoughts and words” that make him a target.
YES
Well matt, either this to shall pass, or it will get worse and they will find a way to silence you. All you can do is whatever you can do until you can’t do it anymore. If you have a family, I would be careful. The really motivated folks out there don’t seem to have a limiting principle in how they shut people up. They have no shame. After seeing a lot of Trump people get dragged through the courts, bankrupted and some even spending time in jail, I’d say keep your lawyer close and don’t ever talk to a fed without him or her. I’m sorry this is happening to you. Not the ruffling of feathers so much, your work was always going to cause that. I’m sorry that that they are attacking you the way they are by trying to destroy your reputation as an honest purveyor of our reality. For someone such as yourself, I’m sure it’s worse than prison. And I’m sorry it’s coming from the left.
Trust me, it hurts me too. Both my parents went to college, my dad was both drafted to go to Vietnam and protested it afterwards. My mom was a flower child in the 70s (they are 8 years apart) and got kicked out of her bougie catholic school for writing an article supporting abortion. Then she went to work for the state of Michigan and my dad went to work at a factory after dropping out of grad school, and they both became union members. All that combined with the Irish-Catholic-Kennedy tradition and we were as blue as they come. I grew up that way. It’s hard to see what the party has become, what the left has become. The days of fighting to protect everyone’s basic civil rights are over. Now they are trying to justify destroying them. I’m not surprised we have come to this, I knew after 9/11 and the Patriot act that their new found powers would be impossible to not abuse eventually, but I just assumed that danger would come from dick Cheney and the republicans. Turns out it’s coming from dick Cheney and the democrats. It’s soul crushing. All you can do is keep on telling the truth, digging and hoping for a better future.
Thank you for this comment. My heart breaks for what our country has become. The only way forward is Trump. He is the bull in the China shop, like him or not. Our government is so corrupted, and the result is that the American people will suffer while our enemies triumph. China, Russia, and Iran are Allied now. The only way out is Pro American Trump.
We struggle with the tactics of the left, not only their positions on current social structure. They think like criminals. They respond to pretty much like anything like criminals. They plan and scheme like criminals. They attack on all fronts : supremes, executive branches, etc. They run plantations. They are hard to counter because we don’t think like them. We don’t think like criminals. I still believe we can hold them at bay while we attempt to right the ship. Can we hold back the criminal enterprise for ever? Not sure.
the Dems are NOT THE LEFT
gah!!! this on purpose muddying of political stances is part of the crazymaking !
Then the proper and true Democrats should separate themselves from the Marxist Left.
It's totally intentional. If you rebrand all language that is used in authoritarian contexts as "leftism" then it becomes much easier to shut down any discussion of actual leftism, and much more difficult to challenge capitalism.
Then when will the Dems distance themselves from The Left? They seem awfully cozy for a long time now.
The Democratic Party is owned top down by billionaire capitalists. Everything else is kabuki. When's the last time you saw any of these people argue to nationalize anything? THEY'RE NOT LEFTISTS also they get more authoritarian all the time, so they're also not anarchists or any kind of libertarian.
Wait. But rule by billionaires makes them Marxist, right?
Help us out. We just heard of Marxism a few months ago.
Then I guess that means I was not addressing you. Can’t a person rant in peace around here?
Was a dem in my younger days, till I realized they were bigger assholes than the people I was protesting against. Hang in there. Dems and Repubs alike.
I am a child of FDR Democrats. I loved Bill Clinton but I do not recognize these people anymore. The conservatives are now the cool freedom fighters. My liberal friends have drank the Kool-aid and think censorship and restriction of free speech is a good thing. There are dark forces at play behind such evil. Liberty and Democracy cannot hold when lively and free debate are restricted. Period.
"Bill CLinton is/was instrumental in the collapse we're seeing now;
see Haiti/ending welfare as we know it/NAFTA etc etc
Plllleeeeeze with the 'bill clinton' ... a grifting, mafia family of scum
"liberty" and "justice" man, where have you been??
Liberals are not the left. They never really were. Recall Phil Och’s tune ‘Love Me I’m a Liberal.’ I hang out with the left. None of us are liberals or Democrats. There’s a lot of resistance to what I just said on here. People like me are inconvenient to Libertarians who prefer to lump us all into ‘the left’ when referring to Democrats. It’s intellectually lazy. Also notice how many independent reporters who do lean left are being targeted for reporting inconvenient truths.
As censorship doesn't seem to be working, I'm worried about the October surprise or even worse the November/December/January "emergency".
You are courageous Matt.
Thank You.
What the actual fuck happened to this country? It was incredible.
the Dems lost the 2016 election. one election!
Can I like this 100 times? The button won't let me hit it that many.
thanks!
so simple, yet so insane ;)
ME TOO
I think it was more than just politics and just that one election. I think this whole culture of entitlement & Karen/Chad-ness of "I can tell YOU what to do but you daren't raise a peep about MY views" AND the fact that so many of us let them kick us without fighting back. There's also apathy, "it's not my job" mentality etc.
Revolutions are always enacted by the middle class which has the means and opportunities to revolt when their interests are being threatened, be these economic or cultural. As the poor do not have means and opportunities to revolt, they do so only when they are desperate (Bread riots). Even when the people in the middle class recognize that government has become their enemy, only a fraction of its members active resist--people like Matt and his colleagues, for example. Thus, they pay the price for all of us who restrict our actions to following these courageous people and commenting, hoping our heroes don't wear out--or get taken out. It's true that most of us don't have a bully pulpit but I believe there are things we could do to support the movement for government responsibility. Sharing what we learn from Matt and fellow posters, for example. Doing our own fact checking and research to support our positions. Avoiding the "But Trump" trap is another.The rot in our government has NOTHING to do with Trump. And he may not be able to clean it up. But he is the only one who is pointing out the rot. It's a start. And THEY know it!
gortroe, I couldn't have said it any better. I am doing all the things that you mentioned - sharing, fact checking, researching - it's just tough to find those who are willing to listen or read. I feel as tho I am doing what I can in my little corner of the world. And while it might not be enough to channel an election, at least I know that I may be a teeny tiny part of the solution. Guess I'd better qualify the last part of that sentence - I'm part of the solution if you want America to be the great country that she is and always has been by electing Donal Trump as President.
The deep-state warmonger Uniparty lost. That was the problem, not which party nominally won.
Elections became billion dollar affairs?
There are trillions at stake.
Enabling Acts.
I grudgingly “liked” the article. There’s nothing likeable about this situation.
Feel same BobbyD! Was gonna post same to Matt along with “ no more smooth sailing” doesn’t even begin to express the awfulness of your situation Matt & your peers as well.
They'll have to pry my Racket News subscription from my cold, dead hands.
lol, like
This was very hard to read. Extremely upsetting. Thinking of you and your family and thank you for your work.
You really can’t be too paranoid, the uniparty is capable of anything in pursuit of Full Spectrum Dominance.
Carl Jung said that Moby Dick was the quintessential American novel, but I didn’t realize that Ahab would rendezvous with his whale during my lifetime.
I sure hope it works out better this time.
Dear Matt. Please be careful. Whoever is running our Government at the moment is undoubtedly willing to do anything to stay in power. Look at what they have done already. Wish I could surround you in a bulletproof bubble! 👍🏻🤞🙏
It's bigger than staying in power, at least for those at the top. It's about transitioning away from Western democracy and the nation-state to a global-centric technocratic/technological authoritarianism.
concur, totally