70 Comments

Grateful for all your audio tapes and substack posts. Helpful and inspiring. Thank you Professor

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Yeah, ok, so how was this helpful info? Do tell. I'm not definitely against you all like it may seem by all of my responses so far, but I've yet to see an intellectual argument as to why Trump should not be voted for, from within this discussion. Somebody tell me how Orange Man bad, why Trump is not to be voted as our next President.

Seriously, I'm not just trying to make waves. Do any of you have a reasonable argument why Trump should not be our next repeat president?

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I found the breakdown of what to expect somewhat helpful, because Tim looked at what Trump did previously and he gave an opinion as to how TFG would act this time around.

Robert if you want reasons not to vote for Trump there are many ways to look at it “Orange man bad” is humorous but it is a factual statement that works on multiple levels. His business dealings are along and well documented series of racial discrimination, broken contracts and ventures which ended in bankruptcy or adverse judgments.

Most egregious was the action he took after losing the election in 2020. Trump is “bad”, and while he might support a policy that you favor, having a convicted felon running the government is never a great idea. It’s a bad look, if you catch my drift.

So maybe you like the guys he hangs with? Bannon, Miller, Flynn, Giuliani, the My Pillow guy, the Krazy Klown Krew behind the Heritage Foundation Project 2025?

It’s all this and more that did it for me, the “more” being Trump’s horrible behavior at the Helsinki summit when he publicly stated he trusted the word of the Russian dictator over American intelligence regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election. I could not have been more disgusted if he had gone on his knees and kissed Putin skinny white ass.

Enough reasons yet?

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founding

You obviously come here without having read a single post since Prof Snyder startet his substack. The poison of to not read and than claim you have not been told and therefor arguments do not exist is one of the key ingredients in the malaise that Prof Snyder has so crystal clear analyzed and exposed for years now.

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founding

“The man that doesn’t read, has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” -Mark Twain

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He says he's a follower. That's all you need to know. No research necessary.

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Cheater, lier, thief, racist, rapist, felon, dementia, OLD.

How's that

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You seem to be one of those “uneducated” voters that Repubs love. If you don’t know why many of us are against thump you have purposely put your head in the sand.

Here’s Ruth Ben-Ghiat talking about thump (& why he & his kind) are not good for any country:

https://www.youtube.com/live/O1GJMJT29M4?si=l9kFEtAowrM7k2FI

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This dude has been grousing around on other posts for a while. Saying he's a seeker of truth means he's looking for someon to hand it to him. It doesn't work that way Like back in 1994 when the krystyuns took over Congress and saying "their book" says nothing about science, proptly eliminated almost all federal science funding that drives our economy and keeps us safe.

Don't waste your time. These folks are unreachable.

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Interesting comment, Robert. I think another way of addressing your issue is can you or anyone present an intellectual argument explaining why Trump should be entrusted to be the holder of the office? A failed businessman with six bankruptcies, 91 criminal indictments, 34 types found guilty of fraud, convicted sexual abuser, twice impeached, refusing to release tax records, inciter of an insurrection to disrupt the peace transfer or power, questionable, at best, relationship with Putin....the list can go on. When his former cabinet members and members of his inner circle denounce Trump for being unfit on many levels for the presidency, I have a tendency to believe them. An intellectual argument can be subjective. Truth backed by facts is difficult to refute.

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Marion Kornicki posted the following further below (thanks Marion 🙂):

Good list from Robert Reich. Thank you Timothy Snyder! https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/the-101-worst-things-about-trumps?r=g9s4&utm_medium=ios

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Make a list of the kinds of things fascists from history said--their rhetoric--then make a list of the things Trump is now saying. if you can't see a strong, point-by-point resemblance, you should have your prescription checked. And: of 44 cabinet-level veterans of the Trump administration--secretaries plus others who attended cabinet meetings, like the vice-president, only FOUR have endorsed Trump this time. Moreover, about half of those have stated publicly that Trump is unfit for office in various ways: not bright, not educated, incurious, self-obsessed, at core fascist, etc. They are warning us regarding a second Trump term, the people who know him from working for him. How's that?

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Hi Timothy,

Don't Repeat 1980

We need to make sure West Coast voters don't decide to not go vote Tuesday evening because they hear Trump claiming he won.

Trump will claim he won early Tuesday night, likely before West Coast polls close.

How can we get out the word to not repeat 1980?

Trump will claim he won early Tuesday night, likely before West Coast polls close.

1980: Jimmy Carter conceded at about 5 pm PST.

Too many Democrats who had planned to vote after 5 PM decided to not bother and stayed home.

Republicans did go to the polls excited to vote for the winner.

Democratic House members lost tight races because of knowing Carter had lost: including Al Ullman Ways & Means Chair from Oregon.

We need to protect West Coast races in congress and the Senate by making sure that voters ignore Trumps claims of winning and go vote. And not lose winning the House.

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Wouldn't it be nice if the media all agreed to not begin coverage until all the polls closed? Oh wait, that would require discipline and a sense of public service. Never mind.

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They’re already doing their best to help Repubs over their finish lines, in particular by sanewashing thump & Project 2025

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Exactly.

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California may be the most solidly anti-Trump state in the union. Worry, but not about California.

The Senate is in the bag. There are some important house races, but I trust folks on the ground in those districts to be doing their job regardless of what Trump does or says.

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As the campaign has gone on, Harris has become more confident, eloquent and, yes, presidential; Trump has become more crass, unhinged, angry and scattered.

2024 Pre-Election Cold Open - SNL 💃🏻💃🏻 https://youtu.be/e6Funs6yyEw

May the best woman win 🗽

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I figure the West Coast knows Trump's playbook by now and will be steadfast. They must know their votes do matter.

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Thank you for reminding us how Trump will behave. Yes, we know he will claim victory. Mark Elias will be busy. Hope Trump’s supporters will want to stay out of jail and will not engage in violence.

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Earlier today, he stated he "should never of left (the White House)." The man is delusional, truly mad (in more ways than one).

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And we have 14 meager likes to this stupid statement. I say nay. Argue like a man, Kent!

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This is your second ignorant post(so far in my reading today.). I’m thinking you’re a troll.

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Comrade! You are not making sense. Reach around back, unplug yourself, wait 30 seconds, then plug yourself back in... .

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founding

In Oregon we older people who remember 1980 are urging friends and family, especially younger people, to vote and get their ballots in before election day. We need to change the electoral college system to make our votes matter in the presidential election.

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If he incites violence he should be arrested. Just like any other law breaker.

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I hope you are right, Professor, that he will indeed lose.

I suspect he (and his team) have known he will lose all along - his ideas are unpopular, except with his base, and he knows Project 2025 is widely disliked, even among his crowd. His personal agenda, priority #1, is avoiding accountability for his past crimes. It's the others of this extremist group and their plans to delay or change certification, overthrow the will of the voters, cheat where necessary that I worry about.

Some of the wildcards being the Russians and their brazen election interference- some of this in deep fake video has been caught, but then you have Musk, being able to use his X platform any way he wishes, amplifying these Russian fakes to go viral while suppressing the truth tellers. I am sure Putin (and certainly others) have more mayhem in store. Putin has too much to gain by a Trump win, and that makes me very anxious. Also- and maybe I'm overly cynical here - all these "conversations" between Trump and Putin, Trump and Orban as Putin proxy, Elon and Putin and other Kremlin officials - and probably much more that we know, considering the treasure

trove of classified docs that Trump brags about at Maralago...

I think that all this deserves a very serious investigation, as Trump and Co act like a criminal cabal - of course we have no time for this right now, on the eve of an election.

I can only hope that there are those in our intelligence services know what's going on, and can at least be ready. As to how transparent they will be is up to them to decide, what is the best way to deal with it.

It wasn't long ago Trump was saying during interviews and appearances that he "didn't need votes" because the election officials are, many of them election deniers, and won't certify or delay certifying. And that secret with Mike Johnson... there's too much corruption and greed within the GOP. And MAGAs don't seem to care about the lies. Their heads are already living in some fantasy alternate reality.

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founding

You mention probably one of the worst of the Mephistos and Sophistos in the GOP: Mike Johnson. Never has someone so morally dubious and anti-American been so misread and viewed by many as upstanding, moral. and American.

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Cynthia, I agree with you. Putin is the Puppet Master pulling the strings with the help of his stooges Musk, Peter Thiel, Orban, the MAGAS in Congress and Senate and the rest of the Cabal. How can we fight such dark forces of evil. I know Professor Snyder tells us through our vote. Other than that on the eve of elections, what else can we do or even after. Look what happened in Venezuela! It was all engineered by Putin. Before signing off to try and get some sleep, I’d like to thank Professor Snyder from the bottom of my heart. Have read 2 of his most informative books, On Tyranny and On Freedom. I tried in vain to get others to read them. They accused me of exaggerating as it “couldn’t happen here.”

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Maybe Ruth Ben-Ghiat talking about thump (& why he & his kind) are not good for any country will “do the trick”?

https://www.youtube.com/live/O1GJMJT29M4?si=l9kFEtAowrM7k2FI

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How can you lose so much perspective as Americans? Where were you educated? Oh that's right, you were brainwashed to not think for yourself, yet rather to research based on what you were taught to view by your universities like CU Boulder. Yeah, been there and woke up to the WOKE!

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Go to sleep MAGA BOT

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Nope! Aint no MAGA bot here. I'm an TRUE American with TRUE SAVING OUR COUNTRY viewpoints UNLIKE your ninnyhammer's stance! I will DEFEND OUR FREEDOM!

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Troll

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Troll

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(Psst. Educated people do not regard ad hominem attacks as being sound argument.)

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founding
23 hrs ago·edited 15 hrs ago

"Allies of Trump have already filed dozens of lawsuits."

It seems too easy to put a spoke in our wheels of justice by filing frivolous lawsuits without standing, that will be dismissed, but keep courts busy. How many hundreds were filed in 2020 without merit? At some point we need to have a sober look at our justice system and if it can be improved, made sane again.

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Thank you. Your insights have been so helpful through all this nonsense.

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Violence, yes, I've been waiting for it to start though in reality it already has with the damaging of the drop boxes in Portland Oregon & Vancouver Washington.

I know that it is an error to assume but I think I will. My thought is that the violence will start, more like threats at polling places, especially in states with lax gun laws, where armed militias will harass voters while in line. They may even start pushing people around or attacking people if the voters resist. When the polls close the attacks & threats will increase at the precincts, especially where the votes are tabulated.

I wonder, will law enforcement protect the citizens or will violence take place in locations where police & sheriffs have shown a willingness to support trump, thereby allowing the militias to do what they want?

As the vote tabulating continues trump will push his lies that the election is being stolen & will whip his henchmen into a frenzy. They've been primed to attack. My guess is that many can't wait. And I can see that dishevelled, nihilist, Bannon calling on the "faithful" to come out to protect the vote.

It's going to be very interesting & very tense. I hope our elected leaders & the folks working the elections are protected. I have 2 friends, both in their 70s working the election & I worry about them. Both are gentle, women of small stature, you know the kind of people tough guys with guns would chose to intimidate.

I have to wonder, Halloween has become a kind of unofficial start to the holiday season. Will this holiday season be one of "peace on earth" here in our corner of the world or will we be fighting or mourning people lost in a fight or worrying about friends & family injured during the election?

Only time will tell & I hope that I am incredibly wrong in my assumptions! I will happily sit here with egg on my face if I can be wrong.

Good luck, USA! I fear we will need it.

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I love this place. Everyone all agrees with each other and nobody has a differing opinion = WHAT A JOKE!!! You're ALL the epitome of *CLONED* SNOWFLAKES! Do you even know about Antifa? Hello? ARE YOU WOKE to American viewpoints. No, guess not. Let's get WOKE to your WOKIE WOKIE viewpoints. Too bad you won't win this time!

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Ruth Windle

Don’t assume that because people agree they are unthinking clones and have not considered other points of view. Your contempt only hurts you - it’s corrosive of your soul.

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Go back to Russia. You’re needed there.

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Duh! Each snowflake has a unique geometric design! Cloning does Not exist since the half life of this natural wonder is miniscule!

You deploy several hackneyed maga words! Why leave out Benghazi and Hilary’s emails!?

Namaste!

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17 hrs ago·edited 10 hrs ago

If you have a coherent differing opinion, then now would be a time to tell us what that is. Pro tip: 'antifa!!!" is not an argument.

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Thank you, Dr Snyder!!

‘We will know Harris/Waltz won when Trump declares victory before all votes are counted.’

I so appreciate your predictions. And that each of us is responsible for acknowledging the truth of what is about to happen, what we are likely to witness and to recognize how we may feel so as not to be the bystander. As witnesses to history in the making, you have helped each of us to go forward in truth and thus empowerment to make choices toward freedom, justice.

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Thank you Timothy.

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Just came across an essay (https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/11/03/male-pollsters-shocked-shocked-when-a-woman-pollster-discovers-women-voters/) that provides a link to a 7/30/2023 NBC article that cites a study by Yale researchers published in "JAMA Internal Medicine" on 7/24/23 (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2807617). Remember that in 2020 we were wondering why Trump was killing his own supporters by lying to them about COVID?

"In the piece, researchers from Yale wrote that they examined 538,000 deaths of people 25 and older in Florida and Ohio between March 2020 and December 2021, and they found larger increases in excess deaths in that period among Republicans, particularly after the Covid vaccine was introduced. Overall, researchers found registered Republicans saw a 15% higher increase in excess deaths (that is, deaths beyond what would normally be expected) than Democrats over the period studied. Much of that was driven by the time period after April 1, 2021, when the Covid vaccine was readily available. In the period between April 2021 and December 31, 2021, registered Republicans saw a 43% higher increase in excess deaths than Democrats did in Ohio and Florida. Much of the difference seems to have been driven by Ohio. The combination of national county-level election results with county-level Covid death data from the data research group USAFacts shows the post-vaccine period in the study was harder on counties that voted for Donald Trump than on those that voted for Joe Biden in 2020 [. . .] President Joe Biden won Arizona by a little more 10,000 votes. He captured Georgia by about 11,800. Wisconsin was Biden’s biggest win of the three states, he carried it by 20,600 votes. In each case, the margin of victory was less than half of 1 point.

In other words, it doesn’t take much to shift a close presidential race."

The study showed that the difference in counties in those three states that Biden won in 2020 were enough to tip those states to Biden.

Read the entire article for the methods used by the Yale researchers. https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/data-download/uneven-toll-coronavirus-pandemic-rcna97107

We know from Bob Woodward's Feb. 2020 interview that Trump was very much aware of the dangers of COVID. His choice to lie to his supporters not only cost many of them their lives, but may have ruined his own chances of winning the 2024 election and staying out of prison.

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