"It was possible to use a certain frame of reference that worked pretty well in the American political system for the past 40 years or so. But now that frame is out of date. It is worse than useless." That's a perfect description of the past-his-expiration-date Schumer; if tRump praises you, you've been played. I called my Democratic senators and told them not a penny from me until they get rid of him.
Call the other Democrats too. I've been calling even my state party on this. The fact is that Schumer is the leader they *chose*. He is the one they put out there. And we cannot wait till 2028 (his next election) for the party to change course. Nor can we let the party continue as it is. The only option is to make sure *all* elected officials at all levels pay for what happens.
Seems to me that behind the scenes the GOP has become very effective at long term strategies that are not apparent until fully executed. For example following the Bush #1 defeat the Roger Ailes era GOP realized their path to electoral victory was to skew the odds at the state level by winning all the conservative rural districts and getting majorities in state legislatures. This allowed them to gerrymander electoral maps and minimize Urban population centers so they could win elections even with a minority of popular votes. Roll that up to the electoral college and you end up with Trump 1.0 etc. Poster child examples of this are Florida and North Carolina.
In my view this is what DOGE is really all about currently where the long game is not so much about eliminating government departments and agencies (though they are on their way) but more about changing those agencies from within. By firing (or encouraging voluntary resignation) of as many staff as possible before the courts can intervene (a slow process) the MAGA / DOGE nexus then has control of any re-hiring process. Then with every cabinet level department controlled by Trump sycophants you can be absolutely sure that re-hired management will be mostly MAGA true believers completely changing the entire Washington civil service culture to be political. To be fair it may have been somewhat leftish before DOGE but nowhere near the extent that a Trump loyalty test as job qualification #1 will entail.
“Chuck Schumer continues to pull up in front of that empty house each morning, blinking vacantly, knocking on the door with a bottle of wine in his hand, wondering what is taking so long.”
Beautifully thought out and presented. It's dangerous to drive a vehicle while looking in the rear view mirror, but that's what the dems have done since Bubba. Incredibly the citizenry have stayed on the bus without noticing till recently, now that the vehicle careens thru the guardrail and sails over the cliff. Those that shouted warnings were silenced. It's gonna be a very bad wreck.
Yes. And every time they lose we see the same tired "centrists" show up and scold us for doing anything different whether it is Carville or Yglesias. It is like, to switch metaphors, a football team that runs the old play and loses, then sits in the locker room postgame while the coach screams "don't you dare question the playbook" in their faces over and over and over.
In the end the only winner is the same tired coaches who keep getting re-hired despite losing again, and again, and again.
It’s funny: so many people have bemoaned finding meaning in life. Here it is on a silver platter: be part of the most righteous fight in world history, literally, as these maniacs are destroying the physical basis for decent organized human existence (ie, via carbon). Win or lose, you can’t find a better cause.
If you lose or get killed? Take it from a near-quasi-anarchist: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. Or “species” for “patria”—but ‘tis true that reality changes, and so should your attitudes and actions.
I spoke with someone I greatly respect in the labor movement yesterday and this individual said that they believed that Schumer had a terrible choice and that his calculation may have been that allowing a government shutdown could open the door to craziness we’ve not yet seen—for example, it could give the administration excuses to prevent more people from coming back to work, or an opening to install more crazy personnel and push others out. I have no idea if this is true or not but it did make a kind of sense to me. I’d love any thoughts on this perspective.
This was definitely part of his calculation, but the assumption that the alternative is worse I think is false and also doesn't take into account the value of "having an opposition."
That and it seems like the only piece of legislative leverage the Democrats had. Could have championed the stopgap alternative and put all the focus on the the Medicare / Medicaid cuts as reason to vote No and likely neutralized their political fallout
What will be the trigger for mass protests and a general strike? That is what we need to be thinking about. We the people are the rescuers. Not the courts or the Pols or the military. It has to be us. It might take a killing of innocents such as Kent State to trigger the masses. We have to be willing to take action and fight and get beaten and even killed if we want even a semblance of what are country used to be. We’ve already lost a lot and it is only going to get worse faster from here on out. We don’t need everyone. We can get a regime change with less than 5% of our population becoming activists.
The lesson they learned from last time was to destroy the remnants of the existing elite through direct punishment and demoralization. The goal is to destroy all existing institutions that can oppose executive power, which is to be concentrated entirely in the person of the dictator. This doesn’t inspire as much mass protest because it is centered on elites and institutions. That’s why we haven’t seen the same sort of mass protests. Also the opposition is defeated from having tried everything they could think of and all of it failing.
My fear is that with the administration in chaos, the Congress paralyzed, and the judiciary toothless, the only remaining stable (and legal) power base will be the military, and they will choose to "do something about it"....and we all know how that ends. The other possible power base is organized crime... while the Mafia ain't what it used to be, the cartels have lots of money and influence and ability to "project power" and can provide "protection" where the courts can't, so marginalized communities (and maybe the rest of us) will look to them for stability and safety.
The "gold card" is all about opening a path for that true criminal element to immigrate to America. No need to create jobs anymore, you can just buy your way in. That signals that the administration has already been bought. Musk and Putin are the more obvious influencers, cartels and mobs from overseas are also all to happy to exert their monetary influence over our nation, which at the moment looks like a bank vault with the door left wide open.
It's important to remember that when Trump's speech about his opponents is most fervent and frothy, it is always directly speaking to what he and his cronies are doing in real time. If he says Democrats let in criminals, it's because he's reframing who criminals are (poor people and refugees who are not white, only a few of which had violent pasts) while distracting from the real point that he is going to let in actual criminals who lead the worst organizations imaginable.
There's a power base that will eventually react - Democrat-aligned Oligarchs, the non-libertarian faction. When the stock market loses 20% of its pre-inauguration value, they will take action. They will never let losses touch principal.
continuing to play with the old rules of the self-important US Senate "Greatest deliberative body of the world" facade acts like that fabled word "compromise" has some coherence & meaning. In this vindictive political order, compromise is the road to another destructive defeat.
What do you recommend we do? We, the average person. I would be grateful for your recommendations. My friends and I are boycotting and protesting but any other thoughts/suggestions? Thank you!!
You just told us how Democrats don't know the way ahead and left without telling us what that the way ahead should be. Please tell me where you have written that down.
Especially the line about Schumer showing up to a party that’s already over. That’s the image that sticks—a generation of leaders still operating inside a political operating system that no longer boots up.
The scariest part isn’t just the shift in norms. It’s that the tools we were told would protect us—law, precedent, “decency”—were never built for this level of concentrated, malicious power. And now, with the billionaire class playing kingmaker (or king), we’re watching democracy become ornamental.
Thanks for saying the quiet part out loud. No illusions here. Just clarity—and the brutal reminder that power never leaves unless it’s forced out.
There is only one answer to the flood of lying bilge Trump puts out like that speech: a movement with open, explicit goals they cannot twist or lie about, that doesn't waste time dignifying his lies + pleasing his cultists with our useless, angry reactions; instead pursuing those goals with dogged, bitter resolve.
The Democratic Party has evidently not chosen that path, so it's time to leave them behind.
It needs to go without saying that we're against the crap Musk, Thiel, + Trump's other billionaire masters are trying to do; but what we're FOR should be stated clearly as an alternative vision for a real future- something neither Trump's cult nor the feckless Democrats can offer.
Excellent article. Fully agree there will only be the Executive Branch soon. I'm wondering what the event that triggers martial will be. Maybe Berny and other others on Chumps list for political prosecution Ex Prez Biden also. Probably E .JEAN CARROLL . The Chump regime will have massive problems also soon. Their incompetence may save us
"It was possible to use a certain frame of reference that worked pretty well in the American political system for the past 40 years or so. But now that frame is out of date. It is worse than useless." That's a perfect description of the past-his-expiration-date Schumer; if tRump praises you, you've been played. I called my Democratic senators and told them not a penny from me until they get rid of him.
Call the other Democrats too. I've been calling even my state party on this. The fact is that Schumer is the leader they *chose*. He is the one they put out there. And we cannot wait till 2028 (his next election) for the party to change course. Nor can we let the party continue as it is. The only option is to make sure *all* elected officials at all levels pay for what happens.
Seems to me that behind the scenes the GOP has become very effective at long term strategies that are not apparent until fully executed. For example following the Bush #1 defeat the Roger Ailes era GOP realized their path to electoral victory was to skew the odds at the state level by winning all the conservative rural districts and getting majorities in state legislatures. This allowed them to gerrymander electoral maps and minimize Urban population centers so they could win elections even with a minority of popular votes. Roll that up to the electoral college and you end up with Trump 1.0 etc. Poster child examples of this are Florida and North Carolina.
In my view this is what DOGE is really all about currently where the long game is not so much about eliminating government departments and agencies (though they are on their way) but more about changing those agencies from within. By firing (or encouraging voluntary resignation) of as many staff as possible before the courts can intervene (a slow process) the MAGA / DOGE nexus then has control of any re-hiring process. Then with every cabinet level department controlled by Trump sycophants you can be absolutely sure that re-hired management will be mostly MAGA true believers completely changing the entire Washington civil service culture to be political. To be fair it may have been somewhat leftish before DOGE but nowhere near the extent that a Trump loyalty test as job qualification #1 will entail.
Yes. that is literally what the Project 2025 plan spells out.
“Chuck Schumer continues to pull up in front of that empty house each morning, blinking vacantly, knocking on the door with a bottle of wine in his hand, wondering what is taking so long.”
Also, the house is on fire.
Beautifully thought out and presented. It's dangerous to drive a vehicle while looking in the rear view mirror, but that's what the dems have done since Bubba. Incredibly the citizenry have stayed on the bus without noticing till recently, now that the vehicle careens thru the guardrail and sails over the cliff. Those that shouted warnings were silenced. It's gonna be a very bad wreck.
Yes. And every time they lose we see the same tired "centrists" show up and scold us for doing anything different whether it is Carville or Yglesias. It is like, to switch metaphors, a football team that runs the old play and loses, then sits in the locker room postgame while the coach screams "don't you dare question the playbook" in their faces over and over and over.
In the end the only winner is the same tired coaches who keep getting re-hired despite losing again, and again, and again.
It’s funny: so many people have bemoaned finding meaning in life. Here it is on a silver platter: be part of the most righteous fight in world history, literally, as these maniacs are destroying the physical basis for decent organized human existence (ie, via carbon). Win or lose, you can’t find a better cause.
If you lose or get killed? Take it from a near-quasi-anarchist: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. Or “species” for “patria”—but ‘tis true that reality changes, and so should your attitudes and actions.
Yes. If suffering creates meaning, we’re about to exit our meaning crisis real soon.
I spoke with someone I greatly respect in the labor movement yesterday and this individual said that they believed that Schumer had a terrible choice and that his calculation may have been that allowing a government shutdown could open the door to craziness we’ve not yet seen—for example, it could give the administration excuses to prevent more people from coming back to work, or an opening to install more crazy personnel and push others out. I have no idea if this is true or not but it did make a kind of sense to me. I’d love any thoughts on this perspective.
This was definitely part of his calculation, but the assumption that the alternative is worse I think is false and also doesn't take into account the value of "having an opposition."
That and it seems like the only piece of legislative leverage the Democrats had. Could have championed the stopgap alternative and put all the focus on the the Medicare / Medicaid cuts as reason to vote No and likely neutralized their political fallout
Thank you!
What will be the trigger for mass protests and a general strike? That is what we need to be thinking about. We the people are the rescuers. Not the courts or the Pols or the military. It has to be us. It might take a killing of innocents such as Kent State to trigger the masses. We have to be willing to take action and fight and get beaten and even killed if we want even a semblance of what are country used to be. We’ve already lost a lot and it is only going to get worse faster from here on out. We don’t need everyone. We can get a regime change with less than 5% of our population becoming activists.
There are already mass protests. Go to one in your town or organize one. I'm sure they will only get bigger as options are cut off.
I’ve been protesting at least weekly. We haven’t reached mass yet.
Lol where do you get that 5 percent figure? 3.5 percent is what people usually bandy about btw
I said less than 5%. I know the study says 3.5%.
well good luck with all that anyway
Insurrection sounds like a great plan for you.
The lesson they learned from last time was to destroy the remnants of the existing elite through direct punishment and demoralization. The goal is to destroy all existing institutions that can oppose executive power, which is to be concentrated entirely in the person of the dictator. This doesn’t inspire as much mass protest because it is centered on elites and institutions. That’s why we haven’t seen the same sort of mass protests. Also the opposition is defeated from having tried everything they could think of and all of it failing.
My fear is that with the administration in chaos, the Congress paralyzed, and the judiciary toothless, the only remaining stable (and legal) power base will be the military, and they will choose to "do something about it"....and we all know how that ends. The other possible power base is organized crime... while the Mafia ain't what it used to be, the cartels have lots of money and influence and ability to "project power" and can provide "protection" where the courts can't, so marginalized communities (and maybe the rest of us) will look to them for stability and safety.
The "gold card" is all about opening a path for that true criminal element to immigrate to America. No need to create jobs anymore, you can just buy your way in. That signals that the administration has already been bought. Musk and Putin are the more obvious influencers, cartels and mobs from overseas are also all to happy to exert their monetary influence over our nation, which at the moment looks like a bank vault with the door left wide open.
It's important to remember that when Trump's speech about his opponents is most fervent and frothy, it is always directly speaking to what he and his cronies are doing in real time. If he says Democrats let in criminals, it's because he's reframing who criminals are (poor people and refugees who are not white, only a few of which had violent pasts) while distracting from the real point that he is going to let in actual criminals who lead the worst organizations imaginable.
There's a power base that will eventually react - Democrat-aligned Oligarchs, the non-libertarian faction. When the stock market loses 20% of its pre-inauguration value, they will take action. They will never let losses touch principal.
continuing to play with the old rules of the self-important US Senate "Greatest deliberative body of the world" facade acts like that fabled word "compromise" has some coherence & meaning. In this vindictive political order, compromise is the road to another destructive defeat.
What do you recommend we do? We, the average person. I would be grateful for your recommendations. My friends and I are boycotting and protesting but any other thoughts/suggestions? Thank you!!
You just told us how Democrats don't know the way ahead and left without telling us what that the way ahead should be. Please tell me where you have written that down.
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/hamilton-nolan/the-hammer/9780306830921/
Thank God somebody gets it. Schumer might yet take to sitting on the step of that empty house every morning and drinking the wine.
This hit hard.
Especially the line about Schumer showing up to a party that’s already over. That’s the image that sticks—a generation of leaders still operating inside a political operating system that no longer boots up.
The scariest part isn’t just the shift in norms. It’s that the tools we were told would protect us—law, precedent, “decency”—were never built for this level of concentrated, malicious power. And now, with the billionaire class playing kingmaker (or king), we’re watching democracy become ornamental.
Thanks for saying the quiet part out loud. No illusions here. Just clarity—and the brutal reminder that power never leaves unless it’s forced out.
There is only one answer to the flood of lying bilge Trump puts out like that speech: a movement with open, explicit goals they cannot twist or lie about, that doesn't waste time dignifying his lies + pleasing his cultists with our useless, angry reactions; instead pursuing those goals with dogged, bitter resolve.
The Democratic Party has evidently not chosen that path, so it's time to leave them behind.
It needs to go without saying that we're against the crap Musk, Thiel, + Trump's other billionaire masters are trying to do; but what we're FOR should be stated clearly as an alternative vision for a real future- something neither Trump's cult nor the feckless Democrats can offer.
Excellent article. Fully agree there will only be the Executive Branch soon. I'm wondering what the event that triggers martial will be. Maybe Berny and other others on Chumps list for political prosecution Ex Prez Biden also. Probably E .JEAN CARROLL . The Chump regime will have massive problems also soon. Their incompetence may save us
https://open.substack.com/pub/wolvesandsheep/p/chuck-schumer-did-the-right-thing?r=1w1ur&utm_medium=ios