This is excellent, Matt. I weep for the state of mainstream journalism - they'll never have to guts to write anything like this. I was one of those who joined the so-called "resistance." I thought everything ended the day he won. I literally laid on the couch for a year drinking a bottle of wine. It wasn't until 2020 that I realized what a bubble I was in. That bubble was like hiding in a bunker as time passes you by outside of it and whipping up fear and hysteria about everything you can't see "out there." Watching Jamie Raskin in particular talk about Steve Bannon exposed just how little he actually knows about Bannon himself, but also how little he knows of that world.
For six long years the Democrats had a chance to do the one thing they needed to do to stop Trump: offer something better. Instead, they've served up a meal they're forcing down Americans' throats that they do not want. They believe that all they have to do is get rid of Trump and everyone will suddenly like that meal. In chasing Trump, they've destroyed themselves. There is very little left of them.
What disturbs me more about these hearings, though, is that they seem to be doing a government version of cancel culture: no due process, using the court of public opinion, hoping to change minds and ruin lives but having no actual THERE there. The way they seem to be suggesting it's okay to police speech and opinion is nervous making. The journalists though? Man, zero backbone. What a mess.
Trump's appeal comes from his ability to punch the left square in the mouth and get away with it. The preening, obnoxious, and judgmental Borg consisting of the Professional Left, media and politicians are a pretty off-putting bunch. Especially when they consider you un-American or illogical for disliking them.
Just because Trump is not cut out to be a world leader doesn't mean it isn't delicious if he makes fun of Brian Stelter or Elizabeth Warren.
Thucydides the Ancient Greek historian warned that it is dangerous in a democracy—having defeated an opponent politically—to follow that up by prosecuting him in the courts. Taking revenge like that creates intense polarization among the citizens, increases sympathy for the “victim” among his own partisans, creates mutual bitterness, and can spiral into outright violence. That is: political defeat is enough punishment of an opponent. Thucydides’ example is a detailed discussion of the outbreak of civil war on the island-state of Corcyra (modern Corfu): The Peloponnesian War, Book 3, chapters 69-85.
That is advice from 2,400 year ago. It’s old, but it comes from a practical politician in democratic Athens.
There's nothing they love so much as an opportunity to revel in righteous indignation, and the media knows they can turn people against anything and make them spaz out simply by appending the Bad Orange Man w/Mean Tweets to it.
I've cycled through so many analogies, metaphors and historical parallels in trying to make sense of the apocalpytic never-ending nervous breakdown that Trump engendered in his political opponents.
I still think Ahab v Dick works pretty well, or the Left v Nixon or the Northern blueblood reaction to Andrew Jackson, but right now this is starting to look more like Mia Farrow after Woody ran off with Soon-Yi (I guess in this analogy, the Left is Mia, Donald is Woody, and Soon-Yi is the American govt.)
This has become a full-time scorched-earth Fatal Attraction level assault aimed at the total personal and professional destruction of one man. No cost is too high, no accusation too minor, all prior principles are irrelevant, there will be no mercy, no truce, as long as the heart still beats and burns with hatred it will devote every last cent and every last ounce of energy to getting revenge.
The Democrats woke up on November 8, 2016, absolutely certain that the country and the world were in their pocket, that the first female president would follow the first black president, that the Arc of History™ was bending their way, that their neoliberal/United Colors of Benetton utopia was about to be locked in for at least another generation or two—and when all that was stolen away by the literal incarnation of all they hate, a crass lewd greedy carnival barker, it was a shock so painful, a repudation so violent, it created some sort of psychotic break that they will never recover from.
What happens when an entire political party/movement has a complete mental breakdown? We're living thru it now...Maybe their fever will break a few years after he's dead, but definitely no sooner.
Every time I get ready to quit substack and cancel my subscription to the writers I support, someone writes an article reminding me why I need to not do that yet. The article Matt wrote is rarely seen in our media; something objectively honest calling balls and strikes. Trump out of office has done more to destroy the democrats than he did in office. As long as they continue to support tech billionaires and transgender story time and ignore working class Americans trying to survive the economy and raise their kids , they will continue to lose. Bernie doesn’t give a shit about us, Elizabeth warren is a buffoon and AOC a co-opted disappointment. I dislike Trump and at the same time trust him more than any of the democrat flavor of the moment to do the right thing for working class Americans, Democrat elite and media( but I repeat myself) opinion be damned. Trump 2024. That man not worried about a reelection and not giving a crap about impeachment would be a marvel to watch.
The Democrats have lied so continuously, censored people and pushed such flagrant propaganda that anything Trump has really done on the laundry list just pales. 1/6 was a reaction to the whole squirrely build up to that election and all the shenanigans propagated by the left that were so obvious to the people there.
Was 1/6 going too far, yes. But gaslighting it as though it was unprovoked is just more dishonesty when the root causes were so clear to so many. I really don't care about 1/6 when weighed against the broader, insidious agenda that this radical left administration is pushing.
Where was the coverage on 5/29 when the Presidential chapel was set on fire? When 100 officers were actually injured by the actually violent mob that day? That double-think is now obvious to masses of people and they aren't going to stop the momentum for the cause that the Democrats have created with their ongoing deceptions.
On any equitable scale, 1/6 was FAR more peaceful than the summer of riots driven by HFA, the DNC and BLM. 1/6 was far more peaceful than the 5/29 assault on the Whitehouse. People are not dumb enough to ignore these distortions.
No one in American history (and perhaps all history) has been examined more closely - legally, politically, socially, personally - than Donald J Trump. That examination has been by sworn Trump enemies in both major political parties, the major media, social media - everyone, everywhere it seems.. It amazes me that one with the high intelligence and political savvy of Matt Taibbi would write, "For the moment I’d prefer to bypass entirely the question of which of all those offenses Trump was actually guilty (my guess would be some, including some of the serious ones, .....". Really, Matt! With that 6+- year anal examination, what have they truly found? NOTHING. Trump may well be the most honest, non-corrupt person ever to even aspire to the Oval Office. As our somewhat demented POTUS says, "C'mon man!"
The DNC is going to rue the day they spent so much time attacking Trump only to be running against DeSantis instead. Sure, some people will fall for the "HE'S TRUMP 2.0" hyperbole, but not nearly as many as will ALREADY reflexively vote against Trump.
Donald Trump was the worst person ever elected President, I never voted for him, and it would be a disaster if he ever got a second term, but I also think the January 6th committee is no better than an orchestrated Kangaroo court. Too many people believe it is okay to throw reason out the window because Trump is such a bad and dangerous person. I don’t and won’t.
The January 6th hearing shouldn’t be called a hearing at all, it is a presentation of facts where the facts and their presentation are carefully edited to make the Democrats’ case. Snippets of taped testimony taken out of context, a complete lack of cross examination, and heavy use of hearsay make me think that the committee really only has a weak circumstantial case. They are relying on the media to blow things out of proportion and force the Justice department to prosecute Trump. This is politics and the media is cooperating with them when it should be skeptical of their motives. The truth is the committee hasn’t presented very much that hasn’t already been reported and not much of substance except for outlandish behavior by Trump. We already knew he was a boorish cretin.
I am old enough to have watched the Watergate hearings. The surprises during those hearings were genuine ones that no one on the committee saw coming because the witnesses were testifying to those things for the first time publicly. The January 6th committee is staged. They have gathered the evidence and are only presenting evidence that tells the story they want to tell.
You don’t have to like Trump to realize it could be hyperbole, you just have to be reasonable.
January 6th was a riot. Not an insurrection. Covid was not the biggest threat most people faced on a daily basis. Neither is global warming. Nor Ukraine. Nor trans rights. Not even abortion rights for biological men. Believe it or not!
Most Americans rightly despise the elite expert class. They despise you guys because you are completely ineffective at solving any of the problems of working people.
The stupidity coming from experts with ivy league degrees has become more and more obvious as we masked outside, sprayed our groceries, wore rubber gloves, watched vaccines fail to stop spread, saw only children at near zero risk being forced to mask, and are now just one election away from another round of restrictions, closures, new vaccine mandates, and increased masking.
So, yeah, average people know the elites hate Trump. That’s why they support him. He’s a giant raised middle finger at you preachy narcissistic credentialed imbeciles.
One thing that I think the left has a blind spot to with regards to January 6:
Many on the right (or center-right or center) did not like what happened on Jan6. But many of these same people have been MUCH more disgusted by the what they perceive, I think rightly, as the holding of political prisoners with regards to Jan 6. They see people being held for months without Due Process and they become furious. All the Jan6 show trials do for those people is push them more into Trump’s corner. They feel the system is rigged against them. And they can point out examples of a system that is so corrupt at its core that they are seen as second class citizens. And it’s not just by Democrats, but by members of their own party. This is why Trump resonated with them. He spoke to a segment of society that felt as though the system was against them... and everyday it appears that the system tries harder and harder to prove his point.
Ain’t it funny how when it’s Russia, we get that jailing your political opponent is the first step to authoritarianism, but when it’s ourselves, it’s either “LOCK HER UP” or “Mueller, all I want for Christmas is you!”
This is excellent, Matt. I weep for the state of mainstream journalism - they'll never have to guts to write anything like this. I was one of those who joined the so-called "resistance." I thought everything ended the day he won. I literally laid on the couch for a year drinking a bottle of wine. It wasn't until 2020 that I realized what a bubble I was in. That bubble was like hiding in a bunker as time passes you by outside of it and whipping up fear and hysteria about everything you can't see "out there." Watching Jamie Raskin in particular talk about Steve Bannon exposed just how little he actually knows about Bannon himself, but also how little he knows of that world.
For six long years the Democrats had a chance to do the one thing they needed to do to stop Trump: offer something better. Instead, they've served up a meal they're forcing down Americans' throats that they do not want. They believe that all they have to do is get rid of Trump and everyone will suddenly like that meal. In chasing Trump, they've destroyed themselves. There is very little left of them.
What disturbs me more about these hearings, though, is that they seem to be doing a government version of cancel culture: no due process, using the court of public opinion, hoping to change minds and ruin lives but having no actual THERE there. The way they seem to be suggesting it's okay to police speech and opinion is nervous making. The journalists though? Man, zero backbone. What a mess.
Trump's appeal comes from his ability to punch the left square in the mouth and get away with it. The preening, obnoxious, and judgmental Borg consisting of the Professional Left, media and politicians are a pretty off-putting bunch. Especially when they consider you un-American or illogical for disliking them.
Just because Trump is not cut out to be a world leader doesn't mean it isn't delicious if he makes fun of Brian Stelter or Elizabeth Warren.
DeSantis has this figured out.
Thucydides the Ancient Greek historian warned that it is dangerous in a democracy—having defeated an opponent politically—to follow that up by prosecuting him in the courts. Taking revenge like that creates intense polarization among the citizens, increases sympathy for the “victim” among his own partisans, creates mutual bitterness, and can spiral into outright violence. That is: political defeat is enough punishment of an opponent. Thucydides’ example is a detailed discussion of the outbreak of civil war on the island-state of Corcyra (modern Corfu): The Peloponnesian War, Book 3, chapters 69-85.
That is advice from 2,400 year ago. It’s old, but it comes from a practical politician in democratic Athens.
Voted dem my whole life until 2016, think Trump’s a scumbag and would vote for him over anyone associated with the blue party.
All their focus is on jailing their political enemies and none on actually running the country. It’s utterly bizarre.
Trump is like catnip for the Left.
There's nothing they love so much as an opportunity to revel in righteous indignation, and the media knows they can turn people against anything and make them spaz out simply by appending the Bad Orange Man w/Mean Tweets to it.
I've cycled through so many analogies, metaphors and historical parallels in trying to make sense of the apocalpytic never-ending nervous breakdown that Trump engendered in his political opponents.
I still think Ahab v Dick works pretty well, or the Left v Nixon or the Northern blueblood reaction to Andrew Jackson, but right now this is starting to look more like Mia Farrow after Woody ran off with Soon-Yi (I guess in this analogy, the Left is Mia, Donald is Woody, and Soon-Yi is the American govt.)
This has become a full-time scorched-earth Fatal Attraction level assault aimed at the total personal and professional destruction of one man. No cost is too high, no accusation too minor, all prior principles are irrelevant, there will be no mercy, no truce, as long as the heart still beats and burns with hatred it will devote every last cent and every last ounce of energy to getting revenge.
The Democrats woke up on November 8, 2016, absolutely certain that the country and the world were in their pocket, that the first female president would follow the first black president, that the Arc of History™ was bending their way, that their neoliberal/United Colors of Benetton utopia was about to be locked in for at least another generation or two—and when all that was stolen away by the literal incarnation of all they hate, a crass lewd greedy carnival barker, it was a shock so painful, a repudation so violent, it created some sort of psychotic break that they will never recover from.
What happens when an entire political party/movement has a complete mental breakdown? We're living thru it now...Maybe their fever will break a few years after he's dead, but definitely no sooner.
Every time I get ready to quit substack and cancel my subscription to the writers I support, someone writes an article reminding me why I need to not do that yet. The article Matt wrote is rarely seen in our media; something objectively honest calling balls and strikes. Trump out of office has done more to destroy the democrats than he did in office. As long as they continue to support tech billionaires and transgender story time and ignore working class Americans trying to survive the economy and raise their kids , they will continue to lose. Bernie doesn’t give a shit about us, Elizabeth warren is a buffoon and AOC a co-opted disappointment. I dislike Trump and at the same time trust him more than any of the democrat flavor of the moment to do the right thing for working class Americans, Democrat elite and media( but I repeat myself) opinion be damned. Trump 2024. That man not worried about a reelection and not giving a crap about impeachment would be a marvel to watch.
The Democrats have lied so continuously, censored people and pushed such flagrant propaganda that anything Trump has really done on the laundry list just pales. 1/6 was a reaction to the whole squirrely build up to that election and all the shenanigans propagated by the left that were so obvious to the people there.
Was 1/6 going too far, yes. But gaslighting it as though it was unprovoked is just more dishonesty when the root causes were so clear to so many. I really don't care about 1/6 when weighed against the broader, insidious agenda that this radical left administration is pushing.
Where was the coverage on 5/29 when the Presidential chapel was set on fire? When 100 officers were actually injured by the actually violent mob that day? That double-think is now obvious to masses of people and they aren't going to stop the momentum for the cause that the Democrats have created with their ongoing deceptions.
On any equitable scale, 1/6 was FAR more peaceful than the summer of riots driven by HFA, the DNC and BLM. 1/6 was far more peaceful than the 5/29 assault on the Whitehouse. People are not dumb enough to ignore these distortions.
No one in American history (and perhaps all history) has been examined more closely - legally, politically, socially, personally - than Donald J Trump. That examination has been by sworn Trump enemies in both major political parties, the major media, social media - everyone, everywhere it seems.. It amazes me that one with the high intelligence and political savvy of Matt Taibbi would write, "For the moment I’d prefer to bypass entirely the question of which of all those offenses Trump was actually guilty (my guess would be some, including some of the serious ones, .....". Really, Matt! With that 6+- year anal examination, what have they truly found? NOTHING. Trump may well be the most honest, non-corrupt person ever to even aspire to the Oval Office. As our somewhat demented POTUS says, "C'mon man!"
I honestly believe no one gives a shit about 1/6 outside of the kind of people who comment on WAPO articles and troll Matt on Twitter.
The DNC is going to rue the day they spent so much time attacking Trump only to be running against DeSantis instead. Sure, some people will fall for the "HE'S TRUMP 2.0" hyperbole, but not nearly as many as will ALREADY reflexively vote against Trump.
TL:DR: the wrong guy won and we are going to make sure it never is allowed to happen ever again.
And I am far from a Trump fan.
Donald Trump was the worst person ever elected President, I never voted for him, and it would be a disaster if he ever got a second term, but I also think the January 6th committee is no better than an orchestrated Kangaroo court. Too many people believe it is okay to throw reason out the window because Trump is such a bad and dangerous person. I don’t and won’t.
The January 6th hearing shouldn’t be called a hearing at all, it is a presentation of facts where the facts and their presentation are carefully edited to make the Democrats’ case. Snippets of taped testimony taken out of context, a complete lack of cross examination, and heavy use of hearsay make me think that the committee really only has a weak circumstantial case. They are relying on the media to blow things out of proportion and force the Justice department to prosecute Trump. This is politics and the media is cooperating with them when it should be skeptical of their motives. The truth is the committee hasn’t presented very much that hasn’t already been reported and not much of substance except for outlandish behavior by Trump. We already knew he was a boorish cretin.
I am old enough to have watched the Watergate hearings. The surprises during those hearings were genuine ones that no one on the committee saw coming because the witnesses were testifying to those things for the first time publicly. The January 6th committee is staged. They have gathered the evidence and are only presenting evidence that tells the story they want to tell.
You don’t have to like Trump to realize it could be hyperbole, you just have to be reasonable.
January 6th was a riot. Not an insurrection. Covid was not the biggest threat most people faced on a daily basis. Neither is global warming. Nor Ukraine. Nor trans rights. Not even abortion rights for biological men. Believe it or not!
Most Americans rightly despise the elite expert class. They despise you guys because you are completely ineffective at solving any of the problems of working people.
The stupidity coming from experts with ivy league degrees has become more and more obvious as we masked outside, sprayed our groceries, wore rubber gloves, watched vaccines fail to stop spread, saw only children at near zero risk being forced to mask, and are now just one election away from another round of restrictions, closures, new vaccine mandates, and increased masking.
So, yeah, average people know the elites hate Trump. That’s why they support him. He’s a giant raised middle finger at you preachy narcissistic credentialed imbeciles.
One thing that I think the left has a blind spot to with regards to January 6:
Many on the right (or center-right or center) did not like what happened on Jan6. But many of these same people have been MUCH more disgusted by the what they perceive, I think rightly, as the holding of political prisoners with regards to Jan 6. They see people being held for months without Due Process and they become furious. All the Jan6 show trials do for those people is push them more into Trump’s corner. They feel the system is rigged against them. And they can point out examples of a system that is so corrupt at its core that they are seen as second class citizens. And it’s not just by Democrats, but by members of their own party. This is why Trump resonated with them. He spoke to a segment of society that felt as though the system was against them... and everyday it appears that the system tries harder and harder to prove his point.
Ain’t it funny how when it’s Russia, we get that jailing your political opponent is the first step to authoritarianism, but when it’s ourselves, it’s either “LOCK HER UP” or “Mueller, all I want for Christmas is you!”