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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Thank you, Timothy Snyder, for your brilliance and commitment. May Ukraine receive renewed support from the United States, quickly. Quickly.
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?
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Excellent article, as always. One misprint: "Putin's idiotic nation" should read "Putin's idiotic notion". Or - wait - maybe it's intentional?
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.
Sincerely yours-
Thomas F. Keefe
W. Cornwall, VT
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Timothy Snyder from "Thinking about..." <snyder@substack.com>
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.