As evidenced by yesterday's kabuki show, Republican cowardice will result in the confirmation of all of Trump's nominees. And the consequences will be swift and severe. Patel and Bondi exacting revenge on Trump's enemies. Hegseth purging the military of anyone not sufficiently Christo-fascist and loyal to the Dear Leader. RFK Jr. making the country safe for polio and measles. Gabbard ensuring that no other country, and likely no US intelligence agency, shares anything with her. Etc. Etc. Etc. The question before us - what will we do to hold teflon Republicans accountable for the damage that is going to happen.
As for Greenland, Trump thinks that he will conquer it without a fight, then he will sell the mineral and oil rights to his billionaire buddies for a cut of the profits. He is just that stupid.
I agree with you. I keep thinking about that scene from the Godfather when Michael Corleone is in church witnessing a baptism, all while his enemies are being whacked.
I think of that scene as orange turd takes the oath of office. I fear for so many, E. Jean Carroll, Jack Smith, etc. American carnage served on a platter to Putin.
We are in 1984. Lies are truths, and thus the word has lost its meaning. We are switching our allies and the memory of what was before should be erased. I am watching movies and series set in the DDR and the Nazi times to get a feel for what life is like so I don't trivialize it. Lessons for survival are in that too. South Koreans showed that they don't want to go back to an illiberal state. Americans are careening forward with most seemly not worried.
I was in the US over the December holidays, and none of my family or friends there seemed to feel an urgency about what was happening. I could tell that they did not imagine there would be much different in their well off lives. I returned to Europe and everyone here is waiting for catastrophe at the worst, and there are preparations for the war from Russia expanding in Europe. I already started my plans, which included planning where my daughter and I would be meeting up and spending our time during a war. We are going to our relatives in the countryside because both her city and my city are more likely bombing targets. I don't know how it is working with drones, but I am reading more up on it. Also, looking at what sort of supplies one needs to have. Pushing my city on bomb shelter updating that sort of thing.
I am worried that even though there was time to prepare, like 2 months after the election, no one seems to be doing so.
I appreciate your urgency. Unfortunately for the entire world, America is yet not a mature nation. We have not been attacked in a sustained way, or ruled over by a self- declared tyrant- until now. Please encourage anyone you can, to help the majority in America overcome this. This is Minority rule, which is never good.
What drives me nuts about this ridiculous Greenland stuff is that parts of the commentariat like Politicôand like The Economist pretend to take it seriously and do sober analyses of advantages or disadvantages. This is crazy land accelerated by our own f***ing media. Why isn’t the current and immediate answer ‘no’,
That is the only answer that we can have. However, we should take heart in Syria and South Korea. Saying a hard No, can mean people will rise up. I am watching shows set in Nazi and DDR times in Germany to be more in touch with the kinds of daily life stresses repressive regimes have. I imagine a lot of the Trump followers will be wanting to get rid of him at some point.
We will be ready to get rid of this political plague when our most important interest becomes getting enough to eat. We're not there yet. With the DOGE outfit at work on their inflation scheme we should reach that point in time for the 2026 elections.
And about their other plans for governance? I forsee a population explosion in black swans.
With deporting our agricultural workers, and raising the prices of foods through tariffs, since we import a lot of food and produce from Mexico, the combination is going to place hardships on people, and already between the disasters that have happened this year, which the Trump administration is not going to fund any help for, people will be suffering a lot already.
Trump is an avaricious megalomaniac, and so is Musk. The only real "logic" to their never-ending list of malicious whims is malignant narcissism. And five days from now, sadly, America will be in their hands.
Thank you. Hard to imagine that Trump would be floating these territorial schemes if Putin and Xi had not already endorsed the discussion. For Xi it is about Taiwan. For Putin, Ukraine. Africa is also in play. Trump has always been motivated by the deal. He aspires to transactional solutions to everything and anything that makes the oligarchs wealthier, more powerful and safer. Transactional nationalism.
These are unserious people who are drunk on their power. America has a woefully uninformed population, since participation in self governing has not been required, as it must. Many Americans did not know when or where to vote, or who their leaders are. A systemic defunding of schools for generations has paid off for the R party. We all need to speak up and speak out, so the actual majority can take power from this dangerous group. Live in reality, speak truth, rebuke the liars. And please send a small donation to LA.
Dear Dr. Snyder. Interesting thoughts. My vote is for #3, based upon Trump has never impressed me with the foresight to evaluate anything beyond the immediate transactional occurrences.
Daily I am reminded of the Chinese blessing "May you live in interesting times." Long ago I realized this thought is not a blessing but a curse.
With the Trump/Musk/GOP actions both currently planned and already underway now clearly evident, why is the word TREASON not being bandied about? Why are all decent Americans NOT reacting? A grotesque bomb of hell is about to be foisted upon the world,
Trump would love us to bandy about the word “treason”. That would further normalize what Trump has LONG been doing in so many ways (beyond HIS promiscuous accusations of treason) which is to instill FEAR that anybody could be declared “an enemy of the people” or “an enemy of the leader” or “an enemy of the state” to then be imprisoned, deported, executed, mobbed, or lynched. We need to TRY to avoid contributing to all this chaos and FEAR (which can become terror). Easy to SAY all this, I know… but we have to try.
Totalitarian regimes and Fascist terror regimes can persist for GENERATIONS because they manage to keep everyone in dire fear of being denounced by ANYONE else and then mobbed, scapegoated, or arrested. It works best as an impalpable anxiety with an occasional terrifying spectacle. But it can even work in utter chaos and devastation. Look at the last 50 or so years of Syrian history.
Mao, Pol Pot come to mind. When I visited Cambodia 15 years ago, my Cambodian guide told me people were still afraid of their own children, recalling the children’s denunciations of fifty years ago.
This is part of the legacy of humanity. Part of how we build identity and affiliation is by EXCLUDING. But the wrong kinds (or processes of) exclusion can lead to (or exacerbate) the conflicts that will inevitably emerge from all kinds of causes that may then lead to reciprocal violence. We all have to face up to the “dark sides” in ourselves without succumbing to the horrifying and false notion that this fear based aggression is ALL of us or is TOTALLY determinative. Yes, even reason and our urges toward compassionate nurturance have their dark sides too. But they (along with fear and aggression etc.) also possess potentials for building habits of mind and institutions to support more inclusive human flourishing.
So please, let me get this straight, you are saying that we should NOT call Trump out for embracing Russia, China, or N Korea and his requests that Putin interfere in our elections as treasonous because that would "normalize what Trump has long been doing ......"? Sure, let's continue to bend over and allow "norms" of Trump to continue?! What a delusional raft of baloney.
Trump needs to be confronted and resisted. Whatever his intentions, he is attacking the fabric of social trust along with the institutions of rule-of-law here at home and, of course, with regard to international relations We just need to take care that we don’t get sucked into his preferred cycle of hysterical chaos which could lead to escalating cycles of reciprocal violence — either between nations, abroad, or even here at home. We have to remember that there are SOOO many reasons why SOOO many voting US citizens identify closely with Trump (sometimes even as some kind of “savior” figure”) and therefore take our attacks on him very personally.
Our goal is to uphold the rule-of-law and all the humane values they can protect and foster. We do that by communicating clearly about the facts as we see them and about the values we want to uphold. That means we must be able to think clearly about those facts AND our values. We’re not thinking clearly if we believe ANY of us (including ourselves) does not have a “dark side” too. The one constant that we can observe in the chaos Trump engenders everywhere and all of the time, is his ability to incite fear, hatred, distrust, acrimony, fury, and anticipatory retaliation. That’s his real superpower. We must not feed into it.
People like Trump and Musk are broken in ways we can all understand. SOME important differences between those guys and MOST of the rest of us is that we lack the resources to indulge our desire for irresponsible impunity and we don’t have a history of being allowed to express our dark sides so profligately.
Of course, we’ve probably all experienced hysterical or seething bullies in smaller scale situations. But, obviously history is full of these kinds of maniacal tyrants on a macro scale - and on a macro scale (whether its the Assad regime in Syria, or the Third Reich in Germany) different rules apply. Our deep problem is that Trump could never have won a majority of votes cast if vast numbers of our fellow citizens were not alienated from a very dysfunctional leadership situation. Expressing condemnation, anger, contempt, or condescension against them is only counter productive. BUT! The way things are, there are still huge numbers of people who genuinely identify with Trump and take our attacks on him personally. So we have to tread carefully, keeping close to facts and to values that promote the flourishing or all humans.
THE DEVIL and DANIEL WEBSTER was published in 1941 as the US braced to fight the Nazism and Fascism that had been gaining strength since the end of World War I. (And we had barely avoided falling into that pit several times during that period, just as we are teetering on the edge of it now.)
**********************************
“Dan'l Webster had faced some hard juries and hanging judges in his time, but this was the hardest he'd ever faced, and he knew it. They sat there with a kind of glitter in their eyes, and the stranger's smooth voice went on and on. Every time he'd raise an objection, it'd be "Objection sustained," but whenever Dan'l objected, it'd be "Objection denied." Well, you couldn't expect fair play from a fellow like this Mr. Scratch.
“It got to Dan'l in the end, and he began to heat, like iron in the forge. When he got up to speak he was going to flay that stranger with every trick known to the law, and the judge and jury too. He didn't care if it was contempt of court or what would happen to him for it. He didn't care any more what happened to Jabez Stone. He just got madder and madder, thinking of what he'd say. And yet, curiously enough, the more he thought about it, the less he was able to arrange his speech in his mind. Till, finally, it was time for him to get up on his feet, and he did so, all ready to bust out with lightnings and denunciations. But before he started he looked over the judge and jury for a moment, such being his custom. And he noticed the glitter in their eyes was twice as strong as before, and they all leaned forward. Like hounds just before they get the fox, they looked, and the blue mist of evil in the room thickened as he watched them. Then he saw what he'd been about to do, and he wiped his forehead, as a man might who's just escaped falling into a pit in the dark.”
Of course, there’s a problem if we think too literally about Trump or his most fervent supporters as “devils” or “demons”. Any of those are in all of us— and I think that was Benet’s point.
Trump needs to be confronted and resisted. Whatever his intentions, he is attacking the fabric of social trust along with the institutions of rule-of-law here at home and, of course, with regard to international relations We just need to take care that we don’t get sucked into his preferred cycle of hysterical chaos which could lead to escalating cycles of reciprocal violence — either between nations, abroad, or even here at home. We have to remember that there are SOOO many reasons why SOOO many voting US citizens identify closely with Trump (sometimes even as some kind of “savior” figure”) and therefore take our attacks on him very personally.
Our goal is to uphold the rule-of-law and all the humane values they can protect and foster. We do that by communicating clearly about the facts as we see them and about the values we want to uphold. That means we must be able to think clearly about those facts AND our values. We’re not thinking clearly if we believe ANY of us (including ourselves) does not have a “dark side” too. The one constant that we can observe in the chaos Trump engenders everywhere and all of the time, is his ability to incite fear, hatred, distrust, acrimony, fury, and anticipatory retaliation. That’s his real superpower. We must not feed into it.
People like Trump and Musk are broken in ways we can all understand. SOME important differences between those guys and MOST of the rest of us is that we lack the resources to indulge our desire for irresponsible impunity and we don’t have a history of being allowed to express our dark sides so profligately.
Of course, we’ve probably all experienced hysterical or seething bullies in smaller scale situations. But, obviously history is full of these kinds of maniacal tyrants on a macro scale - and on a macro scale (whether its the Assad regime in Syria, or the Third Reich in Germany) different rules apply. Our deep problem is that Trump could never have won a majority of votes cast if vast numbers of our fellow citizens were not alienated from a very dysfunctional leadership situation. Expressing condemnation, anger, contempt, or condescension against them is only counter productive. BUT! The way things are, there are still huge numbers of people who genuinely identify with Trump and take our attacks on him personally. So we have to tread carefully, keeping close to facts and to values that promote the flourishing or all humans.
THE DEVIL and DANIEL WEBSTER was published in 1941 as the US braced to fight the Nazism and Fascism that had been gaining strength since the end of World War I.
**********************************
“Dan'l Webster had faced some hard juries and hanging judges in his time, but this was the hardest he'd ever faced, and he knew it. They sat there with a kind of glitter in their eyes, and the stranger's smooth voice went on and on. Every time he'd raise an objection, it'd be "Objection sustained," but whenever Dan'l objected, it'd be "Objection denied." Well, you couldn't expect fair play from a fellow like this Mr. Scratch.
“It got to Dan'l in the end, and he began to heat, like iron in the forge. When he got up to speak he was going to flay that stranger with every trick known to the law, and the judge and jury too. He didn't care if it was contempt of court or what would happen to him for it. He didn't care any more what happened to Jabez Stone. He just got madder and madder, thinking of what he'd say. And yet, curiously enough, the more he thought about it, the less he was able to arrange his speech in his mind. Till, finally, it was time for him to get up on his feet, and he did so, all ready to bust out with lightnings and denunciations. But before he started he looked over the judge and jury for a moment, such being his custom. And he noticed the glitter in their eyes was twice as strong as before, and they all leaned forward. Like hounds just before they get the fox, they looked, and the blue mist of evil in the room thickened as he watched them. Then he saw what he'd been about to do, and he wiped his forehead, as a man might who's just escaped falling into a pit in the dark.”
Of course, there’s a problem if we think too literally about Trump or his most fervent supporters as “devils” or “demons”. Any of those are in all of us— and I think that was Benet’s point.
So far since the election, oligarchs and Imperialists have ponied up ~$500 million or so, all directly into T-rmp’s own coffers (or M-elania’s), and that’s before he’s even “in office.” He will turn on ANYbody (lookin’ at you Ban-non!), who can’t keep pace. The words of the year will be: money, cruelty, nihilism and greed. (Oh, and did I mention “Money”?) It’s not even transactional; it’s pure protection racket.
Ships of State turn slowly, but we’re at the full 180 now. The struggle to even reach the bridge, much less regain a finger hold on the wheel, is another “Kondratiev Wave” away, even in today’s Internet tsunami. So, Buckle Up! And teach your children well — their forefathers’ Hell will slowly go by.
Jean, the protection racketeering is central at the moment: want an exemption to tariffs? Want an exception to government regulation? Want to avoid an IRS audit? Got your checkbook?
“Nice little/large corporation you’ve got there; it would be a shame if something were to happen to it….”
Thank you for this Timothy. For me, an East European, It has always been quite clear and terrifying that D. Trump's rhetoric is very convenient for the likes of Putin, for it gives him the very confirmation of his instincts - the borders do not matter, sovereignty of the weaker ones is contingent on the good will of the strong ones, the international world order is an arbitrary construct, the so called liberal democracies are a facade with no meaningful content, etc. etc. It is as if the likes of Trump and Musk have taken upon themselves to prove Putin right. I fear for the future.
All this reminds me of old monarchies and the reality of Trump as king, envious of Putin‘s wealth and power. A few weeks ago I bemoaned, to myself, that we seem to have lost any common moral or ethical ground from which to move forward. But as Dr. Snyder reminded us recently — the Constitution. It’s all in the first three words. We the people. We the people recognized our right to establish a more democratic social order, to form a government, to make laws, to protect the rights of individuals, and protect ourselves as a nation. If we the people made this country, we are all responsible for defending it. We have failed, and we must do better.
A possible #6, beyond minerals, even more consequential - food and water.
As someone who is focused on addressing food and nutrition insecurity, my perspective is influenced by the political realities / power dynamics of the food system, land grab increasingly key in the last decade. If you haven't already seen The Grab documentary, I highly recommend it.
All the power hungry actors on the world stage, and their strategies for control, tend to be revealed clearly if you follow the money and violence they're using to lockup food and water rights for themselves.
Besides land in Africa, Ukraine and more for food as addressed in The Grab, bodies of water are key to future political control:
"Greenland holds 10% of the world's freshwater reserves. Each day, huge quantities of clean, fresh meltwater run into the seas around Greenland."
Canada: "one of the countries with the highest freshwater resources and being home to the most lakes in the world, Canada has a special standing when it comes to water action-oriented research and education."
Domination by right is the mindset of Trump and his white supremacist supporters, best achieved with control of our most critical resources, food and water key among these.
I was forced to watch the films of the Nazi death camps in the early 1960’s when I was 13-14. I studied the rise and the fall of the Third Reich and Nazism. Albert Speers book of that name was an enlightening inside view particularly void of the genocide. I watch the steps being taken again. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/dictatorship-is-choreographed?r=3m1bs
The only times Trump is transparent is when he is using the absurd to distract the public. In this case, the shiny objects he's waiving are Greenland, Panama, Mexico and Canada. He and his minions really believe no one will notice his unraveling of the Department of Justice, the Pentagon, the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service, Department of Education, etc. etc. etc. because they will be so enraged and slack-jawed at his ridiculous statements. One might think he is quite short-sighted as the fallout of his rhetoric disparaging out allies, is OUTRAGE from those leaders as well as most Americans. But, it is precisely the reaction he was counting on.
Trump has no conscience. However he can manipulate a situation to his advantage, bedamn the fallout, he fires first and aims later. We all continue to be stunned by his stupidity, callousness, arrogance, vindictiveness but...he is mentally a greedy 3-year old, devoid of concern for others, only focused on himself. Criminals never care about their victims and now that he will be President again, WE THE PEOPLE are [again] his victims.
Dick, as trump’s cognitive faculties decline even more, we will have to start thinking of him as the puppet and look toward the puppetmaster(s) for any strategy or rationale. Right now I think there are multiple puppetmasters pulling his strings. Whoever grabs the strings (even temporarily) will create the public and private reality.
Thank you, Tim - this is a very thought-provoking article in which I think all of the possibilities that you have mentioned may be true - and I hope that this article gets as much attention as it deserves worldwide
This comment is about naming the shadow cabinet from the last post. The name "Catbird Seat" hit me from out of nowhere this morning. If it's not familiar, read the wiki. First, it sounds like "cabinet." Other uses include "In the Catbird Seat" and "The View from the Catbird Seat." The members could be known as the Catbirds who "mock" the actual cabinet (think mocking bird). I kind of like it.
As evidenced by yesterday's kabuki show, Republican cowardice will result in the confirmation of all of Trump's nominees. And the consequences will be swift and severe. Patel and Bondi exacting revenge on Trump's enemies. Hegseth purging the military of anyone not sufficiently Christo-fascist and loyal to the Dear Leader. RFK Jr. making the country safe for polio and measles. Gabbard ensuring that no other country, and likely no US intelligence agency, shares anything with her. Etc. Etc. Etc. The question before us - what will we do to hold teflon Republicans accountable for the damage that is going to happen.
As for Greenland, Trump thinks that he will conquer it without a fight, then he will sell the mineral and oil rights to his billionaire buddies for a cut of the profits. He is just that stupid.
I agree with you. I keep thinking about that scene from the Godfather when Michael Corleone is in church witnessing a baptism, all while his enemies are being whacked.
I think of that scene as orange turd takes the oath of office. I fear for so many, E. Jean Carroll, Jack Smith, etc. American carnage served on a platter to Putin.
We are in 1984. Lies are truths, and thus the word has lost its meaning. We are switching our allies and the memory of what was before should be erased. I am watching movies and series set in the DDR and the Nazi times to get a feel for what life is like so I don't trivialize it. Lessons for survival are in that too. South Koreans showed that they don't want to go back to an illiberal state. Americans are careening forward with most seemly not worried.
I was in the US over the December holidays, and none of my family or friends there seemed to feel an urgency about what was happening. I could tell that they did not imagine there would be much different in their well off lives. I returned to Europe and everyone here is waiting for catastrophe at the worst, and there are preparations for the war from Russia expanding in Europe. I already started my plans, which included planning where my daughter and I would be meeting up and spending our time during a war. We are going to our relatives in the countryside because both her city and my city are more likely bombing targets. I don't know how it is working with drones, but I am reading more up on it. Also, looking at what sort of supplies one needs to have. Pushing my city on bomb shelter updating that sort of thing.
I am worried that even though there was time to prepare, like 2 months after the election, no one seems to be doing so.
I appreciate your urgency. Unfortunately for the entire world, America is yet not a mature nation. We have not been attacked in a sustained way, or ruled over by a self- declared tyrant- until now. Please encourage anyone you can, to help the majority in America overcome this. This is Minority rule, which is never good.
What drives me nuts about this ridiculous Greenland stuff is that parts of the commentariat like Politicôand like The Economist pretend to take it seriously and do sober analyses of advantages or disadvantages. This is crazy land accelerated by our own f***ing media. Why isn’t the current and immediate answer ‘no’,
That is the only answer that we can have. However, we should take heart in Syria and South Korea. Saying a hard No, can mean people will rise up. I am watching shows set in Nazi and DDR times in Germany to be more in touch with the kinds of daily life stresses repressive regimes have. I imagine a lot of the Trump followers will be wanting to get rid of him at some point.
We will be ready to get rid of this political plague when our most important interest becomes getting enough to eat. We're not there yet. With the DOGE outfit at work on their inflation scheme we should reach that point in time for the 2026 elections.
And about their other plans for governance? I forsee a population explosion in black swans.
With deporting our agricultural workers, and raising the prices of foods through tariffs, since we import a lot of food and produce from Mexico, the combination is going to place hardships on people, and already between the disasters that have happened this year, which the Trump administration is not going to fund any help for, people will be suffering a lot already.
I agree on the black swans front.
Trump is an avaricious megalomaniac, and so is Musk. The only real "logic" to their never-ending list of malicious whims is malignant narcissism. And five days from now, sadly, America will be in their hands.
sadly, America will be in their hands.
And the oligarchs--Zuck, Bezos, and so many others-- are keenly jumping up to "...obey in advance...", as was the case in Germany.
" We learn from history that we do not learn from history"
- Hegel
Thank you. Hard to imagine that Trump would be floating these territorial schemes if Putin and Xi had not already endorsed the discussion. For Xi it is about Taiwan. For Putin, Ukraine. Africa is also in play. Trump has always been motivated by the deal. He aspires to transactional solutions to everything and anything that makes the oligarchs wealthier, more powerful and safer. Transactional nationalism.
These are unserious people who are drunk on their power. America has a woefully uninformed population, since participation in self governing has not been required, as it must. Many Americans did not know when or where to vote, or who their leaders are. A systemic defunding of schools for generations has paid off for the R party. We all need to speak up and speak out, so the actual majority can take power from this dangerous group. Live in reality, speak truth, rebuke the liars. And please send a small donation to LA.
Dear Dr. Snyder. Interesting thoughts. My vote is for #3, based upon Trump has never impressed me with the foresight to evaluate anything beyond the immediate transactional occurrences.
Daily I am reminded of the Chinese blessing "May you live in interesting times." Long ago I realized this thought is not a blessing but a curse.
With the Trump/Musk/GOP actions both currently planned and already underway now clearly evident, why is the word TREASON not being bandied about? Why are all decent Americans NOT reacting? A grotesque bomb of hell is about to be foisted upon the world,
yet We. Do. Nothing.
Trump would love us to bandy about the word “treason”. That would further normalize what Trump has LONG been doing in so many ways (beyond HIS promiscuous accusations of treason) which is to instill FEAR that anybody could be declared “an enemy of the people” or “an enemy of the leader” or “an enemy of the state” to then be imprisoned, deported, executed, mobbed, or lynched. We need to TRY to avoid contributing to all this chaos and FEAR (which can become terror). Easy to SAY all this, I know… but we have to try.
Totalitarian regimes and Fascist terror regimes can persist for GENERATIONS because they manage to keep everyone in dire fear of being denounced by ANYONE else and then mobbed, scapegoated, or arrested. It works best as an impalpable anxiety with an occasional terrifying spectacle. But it can even work in utter chaos and devastation. Look at the last 50 or so years of Syrian history.
Mao, Pol Pot come to mind. When I visited Cambodia 15 years ago, my Cambodian guide told me people were still afraid of their own children, recalling the children’s denunciations of fifty years ago.
This is part of the legacy of humanity. Part of how we build identity and affiliation is by EXCLUDING. But the wrong kinds (or processes of) exclusion can lead to (or exacerbate) the conflicts that will inevitably emerge from all kinds of causes that may then lead to reciprocal violence. We all have to face up to the “dark sides” in ourselves without succumbing to the horrifying and false notion that this fear based aggression is ALL of us or is TOTALLY determinative. Yes, even reason and our urges toward compassionate nurturance have their dark sides too. But they (along with fear and aggression etc.) also possess potentials for building habits of mind and institutions to support more inclusive human flourishing.
Bullshit.
So please, let me get this straight, you are saying that we should NOT call Trump out for embracing Russia, China, or N Korea and his requests that Putin interfere in our elections as treasonous because that would "normalize what Trump has long been doing ......"? Sure, let's continue to bend over and allow "norms" of Trump to continue?! What a delusional raft of baloney.
Trump needs to be confronted and resisted. Whatever his intentions, he is attacking the fabric of social trust along with the institutions of rule-of-law here at home and, of course, with regard to international relations We just need to take care that we don’t get sucked into his preferred cycle of hysterical chaos which could lead to escalating cycles of reciprocal violence — either between nations, abroad, or even here at home. We have to remember that there are SOOO many reasons why SOOO many voting US citizens identify closely with Trump (sometimes even as some kind of “savior” figure”) and therefore take our attacks on him very personally.
Our goal is to uphold the rule-of-law and all the humane values they can protect and foster. We do that by communicating clearly about the facts as we see them and about the values we want to uphold. That means we must be able to think clearly about those facts AND our values. We’re not thinking clearly if we believe ANY of us (including ourselves) does not have a “dark side” too. The one constant that we can observe in the chaos Trump engenders everywhere and all of the time, is his ability to incite fear, hatred, distrust, acrimony, fury, and anticipatory retaliation. That’s his real superpower. We must not feed into it.
People like Trump and Musk are broken in ways we can all understand. SOME important differences between those guys and MOST of the rest of us is that we lack the resources to indulge our desire for irresponsible impunity and we don’t have a history of being allowed to express our dark sides so profligately.
Of course, we’ve probably all experienced hysterical or seething bullies in smaller scale situations. But, obviously history is full of these kinds of maniacal tyrants on a macro scale - and on a macro scale (whether its the Assad regime in Syria, or the Third Reich in Germany) different rules apply. Our deep problem is that Trump could never have won a majority of votes cast if vast numbers of our fellow citizens were not alienated from a very dysfunctional leadership situation. Expressing condemnation, anger, contempt, or condescension against them is only counter productive. BUT! The way things are, there are still huge numbers of people who genuinely identify with Trump and take our attacks on him personally. So we have to tread carefully, keeping close to facts and to values that promote the flourishing or all humans.
THE DEVIL and DANIEL WEBSTER was published in 1941 as the US braced to fight the Nazism and Fascism that had been gaining strength since the end of World War I. (And we had barely avoided falling into that pit several times during that period, just as we are teetering on the edge of it now.)
**********************************
“Dan'l Webster had faced some hard juries and hanging judges in his time, but this was the hardest he'd ever faced, and he knew it. They sat there with a kind of glitter in their eyes, and the stranger's smooth voice went on and on. Every time he'd raise an objection, it'd be "Objection sustained," but whenever Dan'l objected, it'd be "Objection denied." Well, you couldn't expect fair play from a fellow like this Mr. Scratch.
“It got to Dan'l in the end, and he began to heat, like iron in the forge. When he got up to speak he was going to flay that stranger with every trick known to the law, and the judge and jury too. He didn't care if it was contempt of court or what would happen to him for it. He didn't care any more what happened to Jabez Stone. He just got madder and madder, thinking of what he'd say. And yet, curiously enough, the more he thought about it, the less he was able to arrange his speech in his mind. Till, finally, it was time for him to get up on his feet, and he did so, all ready to bust out with lightnings and denunciations. But before he started he looked over the judge and jury for a moment, such being his custom. And he noticed the glitter in their eyes was twice as strong as before, and they all leaned forward. Like hounds just before they get the fox, they looked, and the blue mist of evil in the room thickened as he watched them. Then he saw what he'd been about to do, and he wiped his forehead, as a man might who's just escaped falling into a pit in the dark.”
https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0602901h.html
Of course, there’s a problem if we think too literally about Trump or his most fervent supporters as “devils” or “demons”. Any of those are in all of us— and I think that was Benet’s point.
Trump needs to be confronted and resisted. Whatever his intentions, he is attacking the fabric of social trust along with the institutions of rule-of-law here at home and, of course, with regard to international relations We just need to take care that we don’t get sucked into his preferred cycle of hysterical chaos which could lead to escalating cycles of reciprocal violence — either between nations, abroad, or even here at home. We have to remember that there are SOOO many reasons why SOOO many voting US citizens identify closely with Trump (sometimes even as some kind of “savior” figure”) and therefore take our attacks on him very personally.
Our goal is to uphold the rule-of-law and all the humane values they can protect and foster. We do that by communicating clearly about the facts as we see them and about the values we want to uphold. That means we must be able to think clearly about those facts AND our values. We’re not thinking clearly if we believe ANY of us (including ourselves) does not have a “dark side” too. The one constant that we can observe in the chaos Trump engenders everywhere and all of the time, is his ability to incite fear, hatred, distrust, acrimony, fury, and anticipatory retaliation. That’s his real superpower. We must not feed into it.
People like Trump and Musk are broken in ways we can all understand. SOME important differences between those guys and MOST of the rest of us is that we lack the resources to indulge our desire for irresponsible impunity and we don’t have a history of being allowed to express our dark sides so profligately.
Of course, we’ve probably all experienced hysterical or seething bullies in smaller scale situations. But, obviously history is full of these kinds of maniacal tyrants on a macro scale - and on a macro scale (whether its the Assad regime in Syria, or the Third Reich in Germany) different rules apply. Our deep problem is that Trump could never have won a majority of votes cast if vast numbers of our fellow citizens were not alienated from a very dysfunctional leadership situation. Expressing condemnation, anger, contempt, or condescension against them is only counter productive. BUT! The way things are, there are still huge numbers of people who genuinely identify with Trump and take our attacks on him personally. So we have to tread carefully, keeping close to facts and to values that promote the flourishing or all humans.
THE DEVIL and DANIEL WEBSTER was published in 1941 as the US braced to fight the Nazism and Fascism that had been gaining strength since the end of World War I.
**********************************
“Dan'l Webster had faced some hard juries and hanging judges in his time, but this was the hardest he'd ever faced, and he knew it. They sat there with a kind of glitter in their eyes, and the stranger's smooth voice went on and on. Every time he'd raise an objection, it'd be "Objection sustained," but whenever Dan'l objected, it'd be "Objection denied." Well, you couldn't expect fair play from a fellow like this Mr. Scratch.
“It got to Dan'l in the end, and he began to heat, like iron in the forge. When he got up to speak he was going to flay that stranger with every trick known to the law, and the judge and jury too. He didn't care if it was contempt of court or what would happen to him for it. He didn't care any more what happened to Jabez Stone. He just got madder and madder, thinking of what he'd say. And yet, curiously enough, the more he thought about it, the less he was able to arrange his speech in his mind. Till, finally, it was time for him to get up on his feet, and he did so, all ready to bust out with lightnings and denunciations. But before he started he looked over the judge and jury for a moment, such being his custom. And he noticed the glitter in their eyes was twice as strong as before, and they all leaned forward. Like hounds just before they get the fox, they looked, and the blue mist of evil in the room thickened as he watched them. Then he saw what he'd been about to do, and he wiped his forehead, as a man might who's just escaped falling into a pit in the dark.”
https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0602901h.html
Of course, there’s a problem if we think too literally about Trump or his most fervent supporters as “devils” or “demons”. Any of those are in all of us— and I think that was Benet’s point.
So far since the election, oligarchs and Imperialists have ponied up ~$500 million or so, all directly into T-rmp’s own coffers (or M-elania’s), and that’s before he’s even “in office.” He will turn on ANYbody (lookin’ at you Ban-non!), who can’t keep pace. The words of the year will be: money, cruelty, nihilism and greed. (Oh, and did I mention “Money”?) It’s not even transactional; it’s pure protection racket.
Ships of State turn slowly, but we’re at the full 180 now. The struggle to even reach the bridge, much less regain a finger hold on the wheel, is another “Kondratiev Wave” away, even in today’s Internet tsunami. So, Buckle Up! And teach your children well — their forefathers’ Hell will slowly go by.
Jean, the protection racketeering is central at the moment: want an exemption to tariffs? Want an exception to government regulation? Want to avoid an IRS audit? Got your checkbook?
“Nice little/large corporation you’ve got there; it would be a shame if something were to happen to it….”
Thank you for this Timothy. For me, an East European, It has always been quite clear and terrifying that D. Trump's rhetoric is very convenient for the likes of Putin, for it gives him the very confirmation of his instincts - the borders do not matter, sovereignty of the weaker ones is contingent on the good will of the strong ones, the international world order is an arbitrary construct, the so called liberal democracies are a facade with no meaningful content, etc. etc. It is as if the likes of Trump and Musk have taken upon themselves to prove Putin right. I fear for the future.
All this reminds me of old monarchies and the reality of Trump as king, envious of Putin‘s wealth and power. A few weeks ago I bemoaned, to myself, that we seem to have lost any common moral or ethical ground from which to move forward. But as Dr. Snyder reminded us recently — the Constitution. It’s all in the first three words. We the people. We the people recognized our right to establish a more democratic social order, to form a government, to make laws, to protect the rights of individuals, and protect ourselves as a nation. If we the people made this country, we are all responsible for defending it. We have failed, and we must do better.
Don’t worry. The Constitution will be redacted soon.
Bullseye article in every sense. It deserves the broadest possible dissemination to counter the claptrap emanating from the dying corporate media.
Better yet, there isn’t a single typo in it.
Thank you, Timothy, on both counts.
A possible #6, beyond minerals, even more consequential - food and water.
As someone who is focused on addressing food and nutrition insecurity, my perspective is influenced by the political realities / power dynamics of the food system, land grab increasingly key in the last decade. If you haven't already seen The Grab documentary, I highly recommend it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grab
All the power hungry actors on the world stage, and their strategies for control, tend to be revealed clearly if you follow the money and violence they're using to lockup food and water rights for themselves.
Besides land in Africa, Ukraine and more for food as addressed in The Grab, bodies of water are key to future political control:
"Greenland holds 10% of the world's freshwater reserves. Each day, huge quantities of clean, fresh meltwater run into the seas around Greenland."
https://govwater.gl/emner/groenlandsk-vand?sc_lang=en
Canada: "one of the countries with the highest freshwater resources and being home to the most lakes in the world, Canada has a special standing when it comes to water action-oriented research and education."
https://unu.edu/inweh/article/canada-water-agency-dawn-new-era-cooperative-water-management
Domination by right is the mindset of Trump and his white supremacist supporters, best achieved with control of our most critical resources, food and water key among these.
I was forced to watch the films of the Nazi death camps in the early 1960’s when I was 13-14. I studied the rise and the fall of the Third Reich and Nazism. Albert Speers book of that name was an enlightening inside view particularly void of the genocide. I watch the steps being taken again. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/dictatorship-is-choreographed?r=3m1bs
Thank you again as always!
The only times Trump is transparent is when he is using the absurd to distract the public. In this case, the shiny objects he's waiving are Greenland, Panama, Mexico and Canada. He and his minions really believe no one will notice his unraveling of the Department of Justice, the Pentagon, the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service, Department of Education, etc. etc. etc. because they will be so enraged and slack-jawed at his ridiculous statements. One might think he is quite short-sighted as the fallout of his rhetoric disparaging out allies, is OUTRAGE from those leaders as well as most Americans. But, it is precisely the reaction he was counting on.
Trump has no conscience. However he can manipulate a situation to his advantage, bedamn the fallout, he fires first and aims later. We all continue to be stunned by his stupidity, callousness, arrogance, vindictiveness but...he is mentally a greedy 3-year old, devoid of concern for others, only focused on himself. Criminals never care about their victims and now that he will be President again, WE THE PEOPLE are [again] his victims.
Dick, as trump’s cognitive faculties decline even more, we will have to start thinking of him as the puppet and look toward the puppetmaster(s) for any strategy or rationale. Right now I think there are multiple puppetmasters pulling his strings. Whoever grabs the strings (even temporarily) will create the public and private reality.
Thank you, Tim - this is a very thought-provoking article in which I think all of the possibilities that you have mentioned may be true - and I hope that this article gets as much attention as it deserves worldwide
This comment is about naming the shadow cabinet from the last post. The name "Catbird Seat" hit me from out of nowhere this morning. If it's not familiar, read the wiki. First, it sounds like "cabinet." Other uses include "In the Catbird Seat" and "The View from the Catbird Seat." The members could be known as the Catbirds who "mock" the actual cabinet (think mocking bird). I kind of like it.