Thank you, Professor. I want the House Democrats to start a Discharge Petition to vote for the bill that supports Ukraine. I understand it is painful and time-consuming but to me time is already being wasted on having faith that Johnson will bring it to the floor.
Democrats have been working on a dispatch petition to bring the Senate bipartisan supplemental bill to the House floor. The swearing in of NY3 Democrat Tom Suozzi (replacing Republican George Santos) helps the count.
The petition requires a sufficient number of Republicans to sign on. Sanders and Merkley voting No to the Senate bill may influence some House Progressives already inclined to vote against any aid to the criminal Netanyahu regime (although Biden's recent National Security Memorandum would prevent aid appropriated to Israel from being delivered because Israel is not in compliance with international law, including humanitarian law.) The waters have been muddied by No Labels aligned House Republican Fitzgerald and Democrat Golden presenting their own watered down bill and asking it be brought for a vote by discharge petition.
My understanding is that there are actually 2 discharge bills. One is Democratic, but has Republican support, and the other might be a Republican led bill that includes border funding, but nothing for Taiwan, Israel or Gaza.
The link you provide refers to a discharge petition for the watered down supplemental bill proposed by Fitzpatrick and Golden.
"The newly unveiled legislation includes military-only assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan — a departure from the $95.3 billion bill championed by senators that also has money designated for humanitarian and economic support.
The House bill excludes the Senate bill’s $10 billion designation for humanitarian aid while lopping off some $13 billion in nondefense funding for Ukraine in its ongoing efforts to repel Russian forces. Israel aid, which was set at more than $14 billion in the Senate plan, also saw a reduction under the House proposal."
Yes. I know that it is watered down. The bills being crafted during the recess so that there can be something that might pass. The problem is that the more bills there are the less likely each one is to get enough votes in the House to pass.
Thank you, Professor Snyder. After reading the article about Johnson, sadly I am not surprised though my gut feels twisted that the pupetier Putin has like a rhizome infiltrated our representatives so insidiously. As I opened your article Michael Beshloss was discussing Victor Orbans planned visit to Mara Lardo. I have been thinking this week that our fight for Democracy, for Aid for Ukraine is even harder than these two things are to fathom. I have several flags on my property now endorsing my support for Ukraine. I was posting a letter this week and met a woman I usually see when I walk around the neighborhood. When your course, "The Making of Modern Ukraine," was first made available I would listen initially walking and later sit still and watch and listen again. I had shared this with this a year and a half ago with this woman, Our conversation this week came to my flags and she asked why I had them posted? American Flags with Ukraines, this week a Nato Flag above
the Flag of Ukraine. It is at that point I realized how uninformed, uniterested, unaware, undeniably stupid even the more affluent people are right now. I consider myself a small voice trying to be heard. The other end of my road front has a Bans Off Our Bodies sign and a Vote for Democracy Flag. Unlike when my Biden-Harris signs go up, no one tries to drive over and hit these. But maybe it is because the hundreds of cars which pass by every day don't even know what these flags are supporting. Thank you again. How do we reach these people to make them understand the danger the former president and his crew present to our country and the world?
KKK Grand Wizard and GOP gadfly David Duke sold Republicans on Putin as The Great White Hope of Christian Nationalism - before Putin fanboy Trump or New Apostolic Reformation acolyte Mike Johnson came on the scene.
“The KGB playbook” recruit extremists in the land you seek to destabilize. You can add the gun lobby/NRA and Evangelicals. Putin has hosted leadership from all three of these American camps. He has succeeded beyond what he thought was ever possible.
Germany is just starting to be aware of the fact that Putin is manipulating their population, whereas it was obvious to me through covid that this is the case, with the rise of the Left and Right together to be anti-vaccine and anti-immigrant, and pro-Russian gas. Now, with the leaking of important damaging intel to Russia, which might be AI created, I have no way of knowing, there is suddenly this awareness. I see them turning the agenda and increasing the roles who vote AfD. The people who support The treacherous-treasonous-traitor-Trump like MAGA Mike Johnson are like sheep following him over the dementia or brain aphasic cliff. I am not sure where this is going, but I am hoping that someone manages to get money for Ukraine. What Prof. Snyder is saying is crystal clear. Ukraine is saving all of NATO from the outcomes that Putin is trying to obtain for his personal power and glory at the expense of everyone else on the planet. Trump is deteriorating and we shall see what lasts longer, his money or his brain, but Putin is very health conscious, and is already a dictator, so he looks to be causing global destruction for a long time with his allies who are sending him weapons and stealing our technology for him.
My late father (1910-2000) was born and raised in Stonewall, LA, West of Shreveport, now in Johnson’s district. Life is still a hard scrabble there for many rural folks and politics are about guns and religion. I don’t think he risks losing any votes over Ukraine. It’s about his speakership and whatever notion he might have about a place in
Sara, you asked: "How do we reach these people to make them understand the danger the former president and his crew present to our country and the world?"
As others on this thread have correctly pointed out, it is important to get information to the persuadables, not just the already converted. Many groups in swing states and districts (where incremental votes for pro-democracy and pro-truth candidates matter most) have developed methods for building long term relationships with these voters by responding to their kitchen table concerns, building trust and then making it clear, at the optimum moment, which candidates deserve their support. Sometimes the threat of Trump per se is not the issue that will first draw them in, but the goal of engagement is to get them listening and voting correctly.
In addition to your financial support for Ukraine, you can support groups like these who have tested methods of getting votes at a fraction of the cost of traditional campaign efforts. Obviously, if you live in or near a swing area, you can canvass when the time comes. Making calls and letter writing to likely pro-democracy voters can be done from anywhere closer to November. I mention the financial giving because money now is exponentially more valuable than the same amount given later.
Yes, Ted, and also no. Friends and I spent nine months loving and listening to QAnon and Trump people. Trying to teach a pig to sing. It didn't annoy them, they loved it, and went back to mainlining lies. Zero impact.
We have to be strategic about the time we spend, making and supporting efforts to get good information to people who are not already psychologically compromised by cult propaganda. I continue to love the people around me, but don't waste as much time talking politics with them as I did years ago. Therapy is labor intensive. Think: return on investment.
Drop the Q people at the curb. They and the hard corp Maga’s are too far radicalized, even for a professional counselor! I mean the few sane ones. The ones voting for Nikki Haley, the Eisenhower R’s. Those labeled by TFG as “rhinos”. We can work on those, but gently. It’s probably more productive to convince non voters of the unfitness of TFG.
This is incredibly condescending... and especially the part about teaching people to vote "correctly." People vote because their electeds and govt bodies are or are not responding to their concerns.
There are many self-styled "progressive liberals" who are aghast at some Democrats voting "incorrectly" by selecting uncommitted or Marianne Williamson for the primary.
Many of those voters have lost family members and friends, because of our direct provision of weapons to Israel. Or they take a stand that no issue is more important than saying NO to genocide. That is their prerogative. They don't tell you how to vote. They are letting Joe Biden know they will not be blackmailed or fear mongered by Blue MAGA into rewarding Biden for committing genocide in their names, with their taxes, against the will of a majority of Americans. See ispu.org & dataforprogress.org for figures.
I am sure Dr. Snyder would agree with & respect voters who use their vote to communicate that genocide is the most unforgiveable act their government can commit.
As far as what happens next, responsibility falls on Biden as to how he wants to use the next 8 months to correct course. I suspect he will choose not to do so, he will lose in November, but that outcome will be his fault, not the fault of voters he ignored.
Johnson takes orders from Trump. Trump has two reasons for wanting Ukraine to lose-- his admiration for Putin and his animus for Zelensky for not playing ball during the Biden blackmail incident. It's revenge.
Trump apparently also believes that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election, not Russia, because of something called Crowdstrike. Many MAGA supporters also believe that Ukraine is the bad guy, not Russia, especially since Russia upholds the “traditional values” they believe in, ie, anti-woke and anti-LGBT.
Sadly, this outcome is exactly what Mike Johnson and his ilk want. They are part of a world wide death cult that believes that mankind is corrupt and must be destroyed in a final apocalypse. The Christian nationalists world wide view Trump and Putin as the leaders of this white Christian oligarchy and nothing can stop them if we sit by idly.
michael, thank you for that stark statement: it is, in fact, a "world wide death cult" and that with the destruction of the apocalypse, all of his "cult" will "ascend to heaven". I do not now, and have never understood how one's belief in an imaginary sky pilot that will destroy all that "he" has "created" has any traction at all, while the "love thy neighbor" faction gets no traction.
Michael, Alley, Dr Bandy Lee discusses this in detail from the framework of her field of psychiatry. She’s writes about how western psychiatrists are following a path that Soviet psychiatrists went down in the 60s -70s. I’ll find the link. The Public Health threat of demagogic manipulation is a real threat to our collective mental health. I believe Dr Snyder and Dr Lee ( formerly Yale Med School) are colleagues and collaborate with each other to formulate and present ideas.
Here’s the Bill Moyers interview with Dr Bandy Lee. This is the most important link I can think of today given Dr Snyder’s theme of defeating Russia by supporting Ukraine’s defense. Mike Johnson is just a symptom of what Dr Lee describes as an infection that is spreading at great consequence to all of humanity.
Arguably it is both. Even if the religious and the political don't completely coincide, I would argue there is overlap in the Venn diagram, and that is where Christian Nationalism is. To Carol's point, I am genuinely undecided whether or how it matters that Christian Nationalism doesn't live up to its own billing. I could be wrong, but I doubt many of its adherents care or would listen to the doctrinal objections of ostensible co-religionists, despite the earnest arguments of same. Ted describes the situation accurately, IMO. The word that encompasses all the points in his description is delusion. Of course, some view all religion as delusion, but I don't think this delusion will be solved by going down a theological rabbit hole.
It isn't possible to make the stakes any clearer than in this post. Even if confronted with the consequences in such a direct way, I don't think Johnson is capable of feeling shame.
This is a link to the best article I have read about Russia's use of nuclear blackmail. Professor O'Brien covers Ukraine in minute and accurate detail.
Just recently started a subscription to Prof. O'Brien's Substack. I found both his and Prof. Snyder's posts this morning in my email. Was just getting ready to head over to Prof. O'Brien's post. Yes, he is very good.
I’d wager that probably half of anything requiring technology doesn’t work at all, and another quarter have some issue or another. The last 25% requires real expertise to operate and Russia just doesn’t have the well trained minds to operate technologically advanced systems. To quote Angela
Merkel, “Russia doesn’t produce anything the world needs. Russia is nothing.” More than 1/2 the men are alcoholics. The fraction of educated talent with a moral compass knows who Putin really is. I expect more than half of that number would sabotage Putin’s nuclear efforts.Russia is vulnerable in this way. If only we would step up and do what needs to be done, we can easily defeat them. Ridding the world of Putin and Trump would be the accomplishment of the century.
I disagree in part. Almost all education in Russia is STEM related. In Soviet times, they had terrific technology in the areas in which they chose to invest. Yet, a lot of that brainpower fled to the West at the beginning of the Ukraine War. We don't know how much of it is left and we don't know where it is concentrated.
However, I doubt that all of their nuclear arsenal is operable, because another great trend in Russian society is graft—diversion of funds. You wonder how many rubles allocated for nuclear upkeep ended up building dachas and funding vacations.
I agree with you. Russia doesn’t have much tech that even works. The nuclear powered Submarine, the Kursk, and failure to be able to rescue its crew in time is another tell.
I am so sorry that your fight seems so lonely. It is unimaginable, or was, that we would let Putin just invade a country. But we ignored his annexation of Crimea and basically gave him the go ahead. We have failed Ukraine on so many levels. I keep donating and hope that the Democrats can force the issue or at least find funding. But voters need to elect the Democrats in congress and the presidency. If not, I fear for the USA and the world.
Don’t forget that it was Obama who did nothing when Russia invaded Crimea. It was also Obama who did nothing when Assad used chemical weapons on his own people. Twice Obama said “if you cross this red line, we will hurt you”, and twice the red line was crossed and Obama did nothing. He is as much to blame as anyone. For that matter, Biden is to blame for slow-walking the military aid to Ukraine from the beginning. Too little, too late. Had Biden given Ukraine what they asked for when they asked for it, this war would be over by now, and Ukraine would have won. Ukraine needed the F-16’s a year ago so they could a have used them as cover for the tanks during the summer ground offensive, but no. And a year later, Ukraine still doesn’t have the F-16’s. That military miscalculation fiasco is all on Biden and his administration being cowed by Putin’s nuclear blackmail. Trump and the MAGA wing of the GOP are not the only ones at fault here.
Yes I agree. The more time goes by the more disappointed I am in Obama’s foreign policy, and I agree re that hesitancy at the beginning of this war has fueled Putin.
This article clearly lays out the stakes in this war. It helps me not to despair of our country where polls show a majority still want a multiply indicted narcissist whose claim to fame is running a fraudulent business enterprise and working to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. There has been a serious degradation of our civil society that I was first alarmed about when polls showed a majority of the public supported torturing detainees in the "Global War on Terror." Without a people who share a common decency, we cannot expect responsible governance.
The main thing driving the support of Trump is a backlash against CRT/DEI/trans-activism. It’s the Democrats own fault that Trump/MAGA is on the move. Progressives cause the problem and Ukraine pays the price.
Respectfully, this is a load of old cobblers! Blaming people working for equality & human rights when it is the people who continue to demonise & discriminate based on their ill-informed prejudices that create the NEED for such movements. And it has NOTHING to do with Ukraine... Prof Snyder lays out in his many articles (including this one) WHY Ukraine is paying the price of Republican fealty to Trump & Putin, so...?
I totally agree with you that Snyder makes the case for Ukraine, but it remains that Putin appeals to MAGA voters because he doesn’t allow in Russia things like CRT, DEI and trans-activism. When you add that to the fact that Trump himself is convinced that Ukraine is the corrupt bad guy, and therefore his followers agree with that, it makes a toxic stew that hurts the cause for Ukraine. FWIW, I am a big supporter of Ukraine, but I’m also a fierce opponent of CRT, DEI, and I’m opposed to medical transition of minors. I’m able to separate these things, but the average MAGA voter is not, and I am surrounded by them where I live. Progressives never understand what the people in fly over country think or why they think that way. I’m not going to argue with you here about CRT/DEI/transitioning teens, but suffice it to say that CRT is based on Marxism, DEI is the opposite of colorblind meritocracy (notice that the elite universities are now reinstating the SAT/ACT as entrance requirements, and the countries in Europe that pioneered transition for children are now abolishing it). When you shove this stuff down people’s throats there’s a backlash, and in this case that includes no weapons for Ukraine.
Once again, I think Professor Snyder’s analysis is exactly right. But what is missing is a view of how to get from here to where he wants us to be. This involves more than Ukraine, it also has to include that democracy in America is not just under some vague threat - it is under attack and it is losing. Right now you would have to assume a Trump win.
There are two big voids. First, the utter absence of any broad national response to Trump and Americas own brand of facism . Second, how Joe Biden - whom I like and support - has conducted his politics. On the first, I am appalled that there is no broad national response. Other than Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney (and him not enough) there has been no broad opposition from Republicans. The Bulwark has been wonderful but Rs have not mobilized. Business has been completely mute - even praising Trump. Trumps cabinet has mostly spoken out and then bowed out. The media treats this just like another horse race and is consumed by ‘bothsiderism” . Every political reporter in America is killing him or her self to compare Biden to Trump, implying they are the same. If there is not a broad movement, we will lose.
On the second point, I hate to say it but this has been a feckless, un strategic, un agressive, passive political campaign. I remember thinking in 2000 that with Jim Baker the Rs brought a street brawler with a machine gun to the fight while with Warren Christopher (a good man - also a polite and gentle man) we brought someone who was very good at leading meetings of the Council on Foreign Relations. I feel the same way now. Joe Biden has said this is the fight of his like, an existential struggle - I agree with him, it’s time he acted like it.
Adam Kinsinger is good too:) Fellow Bulwark fan here! Rarely miss an article or podcast. They are like family members to us. And Ben Wittes, of course, there and on Lawfare. Ben is also a fearless voice for Ukraine. Bowman, do you read his Dog Shirt Daily on Substack?
No, on the issue of national response has been muted. The experts voices are silenced and muted by our media, that is more concerned with their own survival in a hyper competitive news/media market. The internet has destroyed the morality of our news rooms. Their corporate clients who keep them afloat with advertising, have subjugated profit over truth. I’m catching up in reading Dr Bandy Lee. Her story exemplifies the process of how expert voices on critical issues are diluted, intimidated, threatened, and ultimately discarded. Her story needs amplification.
Before corporate con man Donald Trump laid down at Vladimir Putin's feet, Evangelical George W. Bush looked into Putin's heart and saw that it was good. And before all that, KKK Grand Wizard, GOP gadfly, and bigotry entrepreneur David Duke had already sold the Republican base on Putin as The Great White Hope of Christian Nationalism. Caesar was not to be rendered his due. The Gospel of Love was for sissies. What was wanted were brutal strongmen to take hold government power and repurpose democracies as clerical fascist states. Putin as tragedy, Trump as farce. Cataclysm made business as usual. The New Apostolic Reformation Seven Mountain Mandate and court capture operative Leonard Leo's Teneo Network ("a Federalist Society for everything that's messed up in America") coming together as GOP Project 2025 to anoint an imperial presidency. A la Putin. Duke's fellow Louisianan and Leo's legislative MiniMe Mike Johnson is just doing his job. The human wreckage is incidental. Anyone who did not vote for Clinton and anyone who does not vote for Biden is complicit.
lin, I tend to agree with you on the complicancy of those who failed to vote for the Democratic candidate. My mantra in 2016 was "it's not about the presidency, it is about the Supreme Court". Gods, how I wish I was wrong.
The power and pull of ego combined with misdirected 'guided by Jesus' religiosity will be our downfall. And it will have Johnson and Trump's names all over it.
This is a frighteningly-accurate summary of the damage the corrupt GOP is inflicting on America.
After reading it, I wrote the following to the Editor in Chief at the NY Times:
Dear Mr. Kahn:
I'm forward Timothy Snyder's excellent but sobering column on the urgency of supporting Ukraine and the dire implications of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson's failure to do so - a failure clearly tied to the corruption of Trump and the GOP's ties to Putin, and their support of Russian aggression in Ukraine and against the US by means of election interference.
I cannot understand why the NYT does not frame their coverage of national and international news with these issues in mind, which Snyder has laid out so concisely and clearly here. We are facing perhaps the most extreme crisis in our nation's history; the GOP candidate and a majority of the party, along with a significant number of Members of Congress, are acting with treasonous intent, in a manner that risks real and serious harm to our government, our country and our planet.
Don't you have an obligation, as one of the major news sources in the country, to address this clear and present danger, not as a normal political contest but as a uniquely and profoundly different moment in history?
Please read Professor Snyder's column and consider whether the NY Times can do a better job of framing what may be the greatest challenge to our continuing existence in 248 years? All of our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor hang in the balance; I hope the paper will rise to the occasion.
I do not use emoji's normally, but your initiative is very much appreciated. The NYT and WaPo are increasingly infuriating how they cannot help themselves but to embolden the lies and obfuscations of the trump GOP with their both-side-ism and their horse-race calling rather than commenting on political programs. Maybe they are too used to it and a column like Timothy Snyders would be above their pay-grade or abilities.
We have to find a way to connect the general public with thoughtful articles like Tim Snyder's - I'm not on social media (other than e-mail) but I can write letters, and hold MSM's feet to the fire, and I do it often. According to Robert Hubbell, it makes a difference if enough of us do it. Thanks, Sue & Tobias! -Tom
Professor Tim, you are the best. Thank you. Now, the common denominator of the Putin/Trump/Moscow Mitch/ Speaker what’s his name, Josh Hawley whacks, the US Fascist Party within the US Republican Party - is a prehistoric prejudice, pure biblical racism, Tower of Babel stuff, and ignorance and fear are the components of this wicked syndrome, and our American whites have the most to fear - the most to lose - and the least of what Ukrainians have - as you have described them, Tim: the classic Greek arete or class, courage, decency, integrity, and the will to excel against it all.
Tim, why not RUN for President? You are the Socratic leader that can pose the questions that matter.
You are the equivalent of America’s Navalny! We need him, we need you.
'Volodymyr Zelens'kyi and other Ukrainian leaders, by taking personal risks in time of danger, have reminded us that there is a real world.'
___Timothy Snyder
Until close to the end of 'The apocalypse we choose' I was thinking of Trump and of the American people. So much of what was written in the piece tells of what has been happening in the US for over forty-five years and then greatly accelerated by Trump and Putin. Timothy Snyder's warning to the United States seems to be addressing a bygone US, for we are now falling, while many advocates of democracy work to keep the country upright.
Will we be able to support the US and Ukraine? The will to do so is strong, the solutions have not been formed to take action.
Thank you, Professor. I want the House Democrats to start a Discharge Petition to vote for the bill that supports Ukraine. I understand it is painful and time-consuming but to me time is already being wasted on having faith that Johnson will bring it to the floor.
Democrats have been working on a dispatch petition to bring the Senate bipartisan supplemental bill to the House floor. The swearing in of NY3 Democrat Tom Suozzi (replacing Republican George Santos) helps the count.
The petition requires a sufficient number of Republicans to sign on. Sanders and Merkley voting No to the Senate bill may influence some House Progressives already inclined to vote against any aid to the criminal Netanyahu regime (although Biden's recent National Security Memorandum would prevent aid appropriated to Israel from being delivered because Israel is not in compliance with international law, including humanitarian law.) The waters have been muddied by No Labels aligned House Republican Fitzgerald and Democrat Golden presenting their own watered down bill and asking it be brought for a vote by discharge petition.
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/02/08/congress/dems-open-to-discharge-petition-00140539
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/02/15/congress/house-dems-foreign-aid-vote-force-discharge-petition-00141803
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ukraine-supporters-lay-path-try-force-us-house-vote-aid-bill-2024-02-23/
Thanks for your comments and links, Lin. I hope it or something succeeds soon.
My understanding is that there are actually 2 discharge bills. One is Democratic, but has Republican support, and the other might be a Republican led bill that includes border funding, but nothing for Taiwan, Israel or Gaza.
https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-discharge-petition-mike-johnson-1874155
The link you provide refers to a discharge petition for the watered down supplemental bill proposed by Fitzpatrick and Golden.
"The newly unveiled legislation includes military-only assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan — a departure from the $95.3 billion bill championed by senators that also has money designated for humanitarian and economic support.
The House bill excludes the Senate bill’s $10 billion designation for humanitarian aid while lopping off some $13 billion in nondefense funding for Ukraine in its ongoing efforts to repel Russian forces. Israel aid, which was set at more than $14 billion in the Senate plan, also saw a reduction under the House proposal."
https://rollcall.com/2024/02/16/house-lawmakers-unveil-66b-foreign-aid-border-supplemental/
Yes. I know that it is watered down. The bills being crafted during the recess so that there can be something that might pass. The problem is that the more bills there are the less likely each one is to get enough votes in the House to pass.
Thank you, Timothy Snyder, for your brilliance and commitment. May Ukraine receive renewed support from the United States, quickly. Quickly.
I have written my senators again, and my representative saying do whatever it takes to get money to Ukraine.
Thank you, Professor Snyder. After reading the article about Johnson, sadly I am not surprised though my gut feels twisted that the pupetier Putin has like a rhizome infiltrated our representatives so insidiously. As I opened your article Michael Beshloss was discussing Victor Orbans planned visit to Mara Lardo. I have been thinking this week that our fight for Democracy, for Aid for Ukraine is even harder than these two things are to fathom. I have several flags on my property now endorsing my support for Ukraine. I was posting a letter this week and met a woman I usually see when I walk around the neighborhood. When your course, "The Making of Modern Ukraine," was first made available I would listen initially walking and later sit still and watch and listen again. I had shared this with this a year and a half ago with this woman, Our conversation this week came to my flags and she asked why I had them posted? American Flags with Ukraines, this week a Nato Flag above
the Flag of Ukraine. It is at that point I realized how uninformed, uniterested, unaware, undeniably stupid even the more affluent people are right now. I consider myself a small voice trying to be heard. The other end of my road front has a Bans Off Our Bodies sign and a Vote for Democracy Flag. Unlike when my Biden-Harris signs go up, no one tries to drive over and hit these. But maybe it is because the hundreds of cars which pass by every day don't even know what these flags are supporting. Thank you again. How do we reach these people to make them understand the danger the former president and his crew present to our country and the world?
Putin did not do this himself.
KKK Grand Wizard and GOP gadfly David Duke sold Republicans on Putin as The Great White Hope of Christian Nationalism - before Putin fanboy Trump or New Apostolic Reformation acolyte Mike Johnson came on the scene.
“The KGB playbook” recruit extremists in the land you seek to destabilize. You can add the gun lobby/NRA and Evangelicals. Putin has hosted leadership from all three of these American camps. He has succeeded beyond what he thought was ever possible.
NRA, NAR, and don't leave out Jill Stein. Like Trump, she's used campaign donations to pay legal fees.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/guess-who-came-dinner-flynn-putin-n742696
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/russians-launched-pro-jill-stein-social-media-blitz-help-trump-n951166
https://www.thedailybeast.com/jill-steins-recount-cash-pays-for-her-russia-legal-defense
Germany is just starting to be aware of the fact that Putin is manipulating their population, whereas it was obvious to me through covid that this is the case, with the rise of the Left and Right together to be anti-vaccine and anti-immigrant, and pro-Russian gas. Now, with the leaking of important damaging intel to Russia, which might be AI created, I have no way of knowing, there is suddenly this awareness. I see them turning the agenda and increasing the roles who vote AfD. The people who support The treacherous-treasonous-traitor-Trump like MAGA Mike Johnson are like sheep following him over the dementia or brain aphasic cliff. I am not sure where this is going, but I am hoping that someone manages to get money for Ukraine. What Prof. Snyder is saying is crystal clear. Ukraine is saving all of NATO from the outcomes that Putin is trying to obtain for his personal power and glory at the expense of everyone else on the planet. Trump is deteriorating and we shall see what lasts longer, his money or his brain, but Putin is very health conscious, and is already a dictator, so he looks to be causing global destruction for a long time with his allies who are sending him weapons and stealing our technology for him.
My late father (1910-2000) was born and raised in Stonewall, LA, West of Shreveport, now in Johnson’s district. Life is still a hard scrabble there for many rural folks and politics are about guns and religion. I don’t think he risks losing any votes over Ukraine. It’s about his speakership and whatever notion he might have about a place in
history.
Sara, you asked: "How do we reach these people to make them understand the danger the former president and his crew present to our country and the world?"
As others on this thread have correctly pointed out, it is important to get information to the persuadables, not just the already converted. Many groups in swing states and districts (where incremental votes for pro-democracy and pro-truth candidates matter most) have developed methods for building long term relationships with these voters by responding to their kitchen table concerns, building trust and then making it clear, at the optimum moment, which candidates deserve their support. Sometimes the threat of Trump per se is not the issue that will first draw them in, but the goal of engagement is to get them listening and voting correctly.
In addition to your financial support for Ukraine, you can support groups like these who have tested methods of getting votes at a fraction of the cost of traditional campaign efforts. Obviously, if you live in or near a swing area, you can canvass when the time comes. Making calls and letter writing to likely pro-democracy voters can be done from anywhere closer to November. I mention the financial giving because money now is exponentially more valuable than the same amount given later.
We reach people with patience, love, and dialogue. It is as if we have to become their therapists before we become their teachers.
Yes, Ted, and also no. Friends and I spent nine months loving and listening to QAnon and Trump people. Trying to teach a pig to sing. It didn't annoy them, they loved it, and went back to mainlining lies. Zero impact.
We have to be strategic about the time we spend, making and supporting efforts to get good information to people who are not already psychologically compromised by cult propaganda. I continue to love the people around me, but don't waste as much time talking politics with them as I did years ago. Therapy is labor intensive. Think: return on investment.
Drop the Q people at the curb. They and the hard corp Maga’s are too far radicalized, even for a professional counselor! I mean the few sane ones. The ones voting for Nikki Haley, the Eisenhower R’s. Those labeled by TFG as “rhinos”. We can work on those, but gently. It’s probably more productive to convince non voters of the unfitness of TFG.
Could not agree more. Choose your battles (and conversion attempts) wisely.
This is incredibly condescending... and especially the part about teaching people to vote "correctly." People vote because their electeds and govt bodies are or are not responding to their concerns.
There are many self-styled "progressive liberals" who are aghast at some Democrats voting "incorrectly" by selecting uncommitted or Marianne Williamson for the primary.
Many of those voters have lost family members and friends, because of our direct provision of weapons to Israel. Or they take a stand that no issue is more important than saying NO to genocide. That is their prerogative. They don't tell you how to vote. They are letting Joe Biden know they will not be blackmailed or fear mongered by Blue MAGA into rewarding Biden for committing genocide in their names, with their taxes, against the will of a majority of Americans. See ispu.org & dataforprogress.org for figures.
I am sure Dr. Snyder would agree with & respect voters who use their vote to communicate that genocide is the most unforgiveable act their government can commit.
As far as what happens next, responsibility falls on Biden as to how he wants to use the next 8 months to correct course. I suspect he will choose not to do so, he will lose in November, but that outcome will be his fault, not the fault of voters he ignored.
Johnson takes orders from Trump. Trump has two reasons for wanting Ukraine to lose-- his admiration for Putin and his animus for Zelensky for not playing ball during the Biden blackmail incident. It's revenge.
And the compromat known informally as the p tapes. (maybe)
I'm sure that is not the only kompromat Putin has over the wanna-be dictator for life.
Not to mention other Republicans. Surely it would not be hard to get such on Gaetz, Green, Jordan, Gomerts, et al... .
Don’t forget laundered donations to his PACS. As well as future financial gain opportunities from other authoritarian dictators.
Trump apparently also believes that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election, not Russia, because of something called Crowdstrike. Many MAGA supporters also believe that Ukraine is the bad guy, not Russia, especially since Russia upholds the “traditional values” they believe in, ie, anti-woke and anti-LGBT.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/08/opinion/why-maga-loves-russia-and-hates-ukraine.html
these people are lost... better to work on those who are complaining about Biden wishing for someone else on the ticket
Let’s not forget it was a perfectly beautiful phone call!
Sadly, this outcome is exactly what Mike Johnson and his ilk want. They are part of a world wide death cult that believes that mankind is corrupt and must be destroyed in a final apocalypse. The Christian nationalists world wide view Trump and Putin as the leaders of this white Christian oligarchy and nothing can stop them if we sit by idly.
michael, thank you for that stark statement: it is, in fact, a "world wide death cult" and that with the destruction of the apocalypse, all of his "cult" will "ascend to heaven". I do not now, and have never understood how one's belief in an imaginary sky pilot that will destroy all that "he" has "created" has any traction at all, while the "love thy neighbor" faction gets no traction.
Michael, Alley, Dr Bandy Lee discusses this in detail from the framework of her field of psychiatry. She’s writes about how western psychiatrists are following a path that Soviet psychiatrists went down in the 60s -70s. I’ll find the link. The Public Health threat of demagogic manipulation is a real threat to our collective mental health. I believe Dr Snyder and Dr Lee ( formerly Yale Med School) are colleagues and collaborate with each other to formulate and present ideas.
Here’s the Bill Moyers interview with Dr Bandy Lee. This is the most important link I can think of today given Dr Snyder’s theme of defeating Russia by supporting Ukraine’s defense. Mike Johnson is just a symptom of what Dr Lee describes as an infection that is spreading at great consequence to all of humanity.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moyers-on-democracy/id1505897009?i=1000576513841
Thanks for the link. I'll give it a listen after I finish up my "post lecture coffee" with my fellow grad students at LFAA U
❤️❤️❤️
Thank you for this link, Ted. We were discussing Dr. Lee this evening on Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s weekly zoom meeting.
It sounds like an exaggeration but is not. These people are terrifying.
I don’t believe Christian Nationalism is a religion. It’s a political movement.
It’s a cult. It’s an affliction. It is a mental health crisis that is growing.
And it has no foundation in the teachings of Jesus described in the four gospels.
Arguably it is both. Even if the religious and the political don't completely coincide, I would argue there is overlap in the Venn diagram, and that is where Christian Nationalism is. To Carol's point, I am genuinely undecided whether or how it matters that Christian Nationalism doesn't live up to its own billing. I could be wrong, but I doubt many of its adherents care or would listen to the doctrinal objections of ostensible co-religionists, despite the earnest arguments of same. Ted describes the situation accurately, IMO. The word that encompasses all the points in his description is delusion. Of course, some view all religion as delusion, but I don't think this delusion will be solved by going down a theological rabbit hole.
It isn't possible to make the stakes any clearer than in this post. Even if confronted with the consequences in such a direct way, I don't think Johnson is capable of feeling shame.
This is a link to the best article I have read about Russia's use of nuclear blackmail. Professor O'Brien covers Ukraine in minute and accurate detail.
https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/weekend-70-reflexive-control-and
O’Brien’s mention of “reflexive control” made me immediately think of how Trump succeeds in his repetitive conditioning of his followers.
This is a great article, Kathleen. Thanks for sharing it.
Just recently started a subscription to Prof. O'Brien's Substack. I found both his and Prof. Snyder's posts this morning in my email. Was just getting ready to head over to Prof. O'Brien's post. Yes, he is very good.
I’d wager that probably half of anything requiring technology doesn’t work at all, and another quarter have some issue or another. The last 25% requires real expertise to operate and Russia just doesn’t have the well trained minds to operate technologically advanced systems. To quote Angela
Merkel, “Russia doesn’t produce anything the world needs. Russia is nothing.” More than 1/2 the men are alcoholics. The fraction of educated talent with a moral compass knows who Putin really is. I expect more than half of that number would sabotage Putin’s nuclear efforts.Russia is vulnerable in this way. If only we would step up and do what needs to be done, we can easily defeat them. Ridding the world of Putin and Trump would be the accomplishment of the century.
I disagree in part. Almost all education in Russia is STEM related. In Soviet times, they had terrific technology in the areas in which they chose to invest. Yet, a lot of that brainpower fled to the West at the beginning of the Ukraine War. We don't know how much of it is left and we don't know where it is concentrated.
However, I doubt that all of their nuclear arsenal is operable, because another great trend in Russian society is graft—diversion of funds. You wonder how many rubles allocated for nuclear upkeep ended up building dachas and funding vacations.
I agree with you. Russia doesn’t have much tech that even works. The nuclear powered Submarine, the Kursk, and failure to be able to rescue its crew in time is another tell.
I am so sorry that your fight seems so lonely. It is unimaginable, or was, that we would let Putin just invade a country. But we ignored his annexation of Crimea and basically gave him the go ahead. We have failed Ukraine on so many levels. I keep donating and hope that the Democrats can force the issue or at least find funding. But voters need to elect the Democrats in congress and the presidency. If not, I fear for the USA and the world.
Don’t forget that it was Obama who did nothing when Russia invaded Crimea. It was also Obama who did nothing when Assad used chemical weapons on his own people. Twice Obama said “if you cross this red line, we will hurt you”, and twice the red line was crossed and Obama did nothing. He is as much to blame as anyone. For that matter, Biden is to blame for slow-walking the military aid to Ukraine from the beginning. Too little, too late. Had Biden given Ukraine what they asked for when they asked for it, this war would be over by now, and Ukraine would have won. Ukraine needed the F-16’s a year ago so they could a have used them as cover for the tanks during the summer ground offensive, but no. And a year later, Ukraine still doesn’t have the F-16’s. That military miscalculation fiasco is all on Biden and his administration being cowed by Putin’s nuclear blackmail. Trump and the MAGA wing of the GOP are not the only ones at fault here.
Yes I agree. The more time goes by the more disappointed I am in Obama’s foreign policy, and I agree re that hesitancy at the beginning of this war has fueled Putin.
Biden was on the ticket exactly because of his foreign policy experience.
This article clearly lays out the stakes in this war. It helps me not to despair of our country where polls show a majority still want a multiply indicted narcissist whose claim to fame is running a fraudulent business enterprise and working to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. There has been a serious degradation of our civil society that I was first alarmed about when polls showed a majority of the public supported torturing detainees in the "Global War on Terror." Without a people who share a common decency, we cannot expect responsible governance.
The main thing driving the support of Trump is a backlash against CRT/DEI/trans-activism. It’s the Democrats own fault that Trump/MAGA is on the move. Progressives cause the problem and Ukraine pays the price.
Respectfully, this is a load of old cobblers! Blaming people working for equality & human rights when it is the people who continue to demonise & discriminate based on their ill-informed prejudices that create the NEED for such movements. And it has NOTHING to do with Ukraine... Prof Snyder lays out in his many articles (including this one) WHY Ukraine is paying the price of Republican fealty to Trump & Putin, so...?
I totally agree with you that Snyder makes the case for Ukraine, but it remains that Putin appeals to MAGA voters because he doesn’t allow in Russia things like CRT, DEI and trans-activism. When you add that to the fact that Trump himself is convinced that Ukraine is the corrupt bad guy, and therefore his followers agree with that, it makes a toxic stew that hurts the cause for Ukraine. FWIW, I am a big supporter of Ukraine, but I’m also a fierce opponent of CRT, DEI, and I’m opposed to medical transition of minors. I’m able to separate these things, but the average MAGA voter is not, and I am surrounded by them where I live. Progressives never understand what the people in fly over country think or why they think that way. I’m not going to argue with you here about CRT/DEI/transitioning teens, but suffice it to say that CRT is based on Marxism, DEI is the opposite of colorblind meritocracy (notice that the elite universities are now reinstating the SAT/ACT as entrance requirements, and the countries in Europe that pioneered transition for children are now abolishing it). When you shove this stuff down people’s throats there’s a backlash, and in this case that includes no weapons for Ukraine.
See: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/08/opinion/why-maga-loves-russia-and-hates-ukraine.html
Once again, I think Professor Snyder’s analysis is exactly right. But what is missing is a view of how to get from here to where he wants us to be. This involves more than Ukraine, it also has to include that democracy in America is not just under some vague threat - it is under attack and it is losing. Right now you would have to assume a Trump win.
There are two big voids. First, the utter absence of any broad national response to Trump and Americas own brand of facism . Second, how Joe Biden - whom I like and support - has conducted his politics. On the first, I am appalled that there is no broad national response. Other than Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney (and him not enough) there has been no broad opposition from Republicans. The Bulwark has been wonderful but Rs have not mobilized. Business has been completely mute - even praising Trump. Trumps cabinet has mostly spoken out and then bowed out. The media treats this just like another horse race and is consumed by ‘bothsiderism” . Every political reporter in America is killing him or her self to compare Biden to Trump, implying they are the same. If there is not a broad movement, we will lose.
On the second point, I hate to say it but this has been a feckless, un strategic, un agressive, passive political campaign. I remember thinking in 2000 that with Jim Baker the Rs brought a street brawler with a machine gun to the fight while with Warren Christopher (a good man - also a polite and gentle man) we brought someone who was very good at leading meetings of the Council on Foreign Relations. I feel the same way now. Joe Biden has said this is the fight of his like, an existential struggle - I agree with him, it’s time he acted like it.
Adam Kinsinger is good too:) Fellow Bulwark fan here! Rarely miss an article or podcast. They are like family members to us. And Ben Wittes, of course, there and on Lawfare. Ben is also a fearless voice for Ukraine. Bowman, do you read his Dog Shirt Daily on Substack?
Indeed.
No, on the issue of national response has been muted. The experts voices are silenced and muted by our media, that is more concerned with their own survival in a hyper competitive news/media market. The internet has destroyed the morality of our news rooms. Their corporate clients who keep them afloat with advertising, have subjugated profit over truth. I’m catching up in reading Dr Bandy Lee. Her story exemplifies the process of how expert voices on critical issues are diluted, intimidated, threatened, and ultimately discarded. Her story needs amplification.
Before corporate con man Donald Trump laid down at Vladimir Putin's feet, Evangelical George W. Bush looked into Putin's heart and saw that it was good. And before all that, KKK Grand Wizard, GOP gadfly, and bigotry entrepreneur David Duke had already sold the Republican base on Putin as The Great White Hope of Christian Nationalism. Caesar was not to be rendered his due. The Gospel of Love was for sissies. What was wanted were brutal strongmen to take hold government power and repurpose democracies as clerical fascist states. Putin as tragedy, Trump as farce. Cataclysm made business as usual. The New Apostolic Reformation Seven Mountain Mandate and court capture operative Leonard Leo's Teneo Network ("a Federalist Society for everything that's messed up in America") coming together as GOP Project 2025 to anoint an imperial presidency. A la Putin. Duke's fellow Louisianan and Leo's legislative MiniMe Mike Johnson is just doing his job. The human wreckage is incidental. Anyone who did not vote for Clinton and anyone who does not vote for Biden is complicit.
lin, I tend to agree with you on the complicancy of those who failed to vote for the Democratic candidate. My mantra in 2016 was "it's not about the presidency, it is about the Supreme Court". Gods, how I wish I was wrong.
Worse! Fascist.
Excellent article, as always. One misprint: "Putin's idiotic nation" should read "Putin's idiotic notion". Or - wait - maybe it's intentional?
Maybe it is "both".
The power and pull of ego combined with misdirected 'guided by Jesus' religiosity will be our downfall. And it will have Johnson and Trump's names all over it.
They are not the first to prostitute Christianity for financial or political gain.
And Putin’s.
This is a frighteningly-accurate summary of the damage the corrupt GOP is inflicting on America.
After reading it, I wrote the following to the Editor in Chief at the NY Times:
Dear Mr. Kahn:
I'm forward Timothy Snyder's excellent but sobering column on the urgency of supporting Ukraine and the dire implications of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson's failure to do so - a failure clearly tied to the corruption of Trump and the GOP's ties to Putin, and their support of Russian aggression in Ukraine and against the US by means of election interference.
I cannot understand why the NYT does not frame their coverage of national and international news with these issues in mind, which Snyder has laid out so concisely and clearly here. We are facing perhaps the most extreme crisis in our nation's history; the GOP candidate and a majority of the party, along with a significant number of Members of Congress, are acting with treasonous intent, in a manner that risks real and serious harm to our government, our country and our planet.
Don't you have an obligation, as one of the major news sources in the country, to address this clear and present danger, not as a normal political contest but as a uniquely and profoundly different moment in history?
Please read Professor Snyder's column and consider whether the NY Times can do a better job of framing what may be the greatest challenge to our continuing existence in 248 years? All of our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor hang in the balance; I hope the paper will rise to the occasion.
Sincerely yours-
Thomas F. Keefe
W. Cornwall, VT
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Timothy Snyder from "Thinking about..." <snyder@substack.com>
👏👏👏👏👏👏
I do not use emoji's normally, but your initiative is very much appreciated. The NYT and WaPo are increasingly infuriating how they cannot help themselves but to embolden the lies and obfuscations of the trump GOP with their both-side-ism and their horse-race calling rather than commenting on political programs. Maybe they are too used to it and a column like Timothy Snyders would be above their pay-grade or abilities.
Your use of emojis here is very apropos, Tobias!!
BRAVO, Thomas F. Keefe!! This is a great start to getting Professor Timothy Snyders column into mainstream media news.
We have to find a way to connect the general public with thoughtful articles like Tim Snyder's - I'm not on social media (other than e-mail) but I can write letters, and hold MSM's feet to the fire, and I do it often. According to Robert Hubbell, it makes a difference if enough of us do it. Thanks, Sue & Tobias! -Tom
Professor Tim, you are the best. Thank you. Now, the common denominator of the Putin/Trump/Moscow Mitch/ Speaker what’s his name, Josh Hawley whacks, the US Fascist Party within the US Republican Party - is a prehistoric prejudice, pure biblical racism, Tower of Babel stuff, and ignorance and fear are the components of this wicked syndrome, and our American whites have the most to fear - the most to lose - and the least of what Ukrainians have - as you have described them, Tim: the classic Greek arete or class, courage, decency, integrity, and the will to excel against it all.
Tim, why not RUN for President? You are the Socratic leader that can pose the questions that matter.
You are the equivalent of America’s Navalny! We need him, we need you.
'Volodymyr Zelens'kyi and other Ukrainian leaders, by taking personal risks in time of danger, have reminded us that there is a real world.'
___Timothy Snyder
Until close to the end of 'The apocalypse we choose' I was thinking of Trump and of the American people. So much of what was written in the piece tells of what has been happening in the US for over forty-five years and then greatly accelerated by Trump and Putin. Timothy Snyder's warning to the United States seems to be addressing a bygone US, for we are now falling, while many advocates of democracy work to keep the country upright.
Will we be able to support the US and Ukraine? The will to do so is strong, the solutions have not been formed to take action.