The pustule of Trump has been growing since 2016, and the authoritarian impulses underlying this infection have been allowed to fester for decades.
Folks, it is finally time to lance this boil. It is time to decisively rescue democracy and the rule of law. It is time to defeat Trump and his enablers, who are determined to defy the core values of America.
Let the battle begin.
Source: Trump vs. Democracy: Let the Final Battle Begin | The Smirking Chimp
Trump allies have threatened that if he regains the presidency, he will invoke the “unitary executive” theory as the basis for using the Justice Department to persecute his political enemies, take over the FBI, usurp the authority of independent agencies like the FTC and even the Federal Reserve, and substitute loyalists for independent civil servants.
Post Covid and Trump America is on the up again economically. Yet the feeling of well-being isn’t. Australia is also on the way up with the ALP in charge. However, we have a feeling of well-being generated by the fact the LNP is no longer the government. While the ALP seems a united team nationally the political fringes Greens, Independents, and One Nation still hold a measure of sway.
However, in America, there’s a serious division between the States which is reflected in the Democratic Party nationally. Biden seems to have to struggle to get things done. Meanwhile, SCOTUS makes America seem a Fascist Dictatorship rather than the great Democratic experiment with its recent rulings.
In other words, the economy is getting better overall – but overall has become a less useful gauge of wellbeing as the rich get richer, the poor grow poorer, and the working middle is under worsening siege.
Source: Why aren’t Americans happier about the economy? | Robert Reich | The Guardian
Peter Dutton’s “We know what to do for Indigenous Australians just because they don’t, isn’t our fault” is very Trumpist
America’s problem is not as described by Trump and his White Christian Nationalism — that the nation is losing its whiteness or dominant religion, that too many foreigners are crossing its borders, that men are competing in women’s sports or teachers are not celebrating the nation’s history.
America’s problem is that too many Americans — including its lawmakers — are failing to understand what patriotism requires.
Source: True Patriotism Is the Opposite of Trump’s White Christian Nationalism | The Smirking Chimp
Now that the court has obliterated the guardrail on what it can consider, there are no limits to what this least democratic branch of government — and its extremist majority — might do.
Source: The Supreme Court’s Worst New Ruling You Never Heard Of | The Smirking Chimp
Throughout history, tyrannical rulers have created their own private operations outside normal chains of command, run by people like Prigozhin, who are personally loyal. This give tyrants flexibility to do what they want without bureaucratic opposition. It protects them against revolt by their subordinates in the chain of command. And it gives them deniability when operations go badly.
Source: Putin, Trump, and the Privatization of Tyranny | The Smirking Chimp
Bottom line: Officially, America will continue to fulminate over China’s human-rights abuses and aggressive moves, threatening more “decoupling” of the two economies.
Unofficially — unless China is foolish enough to mount a full-scale invasion of Taiwan — the decoupling won’t happen, because American corporations want access to China’s huge market and its cheap and compliant manufacturing workers.
Foreign policy is for the cameras. When it comes to the real connections between China and the United States, profits speak louder than policy.
Source: Winkin’, Blinken, and Musk: America, China, and the “Decoupling” Myth | The Smirking Chimp
America is heading into a presidential election in which Donald Trump is basing his candidacy on two Big Lies — that President Biden stole the 2020 election from him, and that Biden is orchestrating a prosecutorial witch hunt against him.
Source: The Warping of the American Mind: Trump’s Two Big Lies Are Getting Magnified | The Smirking Chimp
Last week, Trump said that if reelected, he’d appoint a “real special prosecutor” to “go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family.”
Source: Trump’s plan to turn the Justice Department into his personal vendetta machine
Borrowing from the cultural theorist Umberto Eco, the historians Emilio Gentile and Ian Kershaw, the political scientist Roger Griffin, and the former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright, I offer five elements that distinguish fascism from authoritarianism.
It is the first time in American history that a former president has been indicted on federal charges.
, Democratic lawmakers and the Biden administration should seek legislation that puts more of the onus of fighting inflation on big corporations. Such legislation would:
— Allow the Justice Department to bust up monopolies (and prevent further consolidation through mergers and acquisitions) when three or fewer corporations have more than half the sales of a particular market.
— Direct the Federal Trade Commission to find that any such corporation has engaged in unlawful price gouging whenever it has raised prices higher than the rate of inflation, and impose a fine that would claw back those unlawful gains.
— Permit the Treasury Department to impose a windfall profits tax on large corporations, above a specific reasonable rate of return or profit margin.
If Republicans won’t go along, Biden and the Democrats should make this a major campaign issue for 2024.
They should ask the public: Do you want more jobs and higher wages, or do you want large corporations making fatter profits by raising prices?
How many of these strategies has Australia’s LNP adopted?
In short, the LNP is American GOP in disguise and even Trumpster MAGA without a charismatic head
Republican leaders have mastered the art of manufacturing crises to divert the public’s attention from the real crisis of our era — the siphoning off of income, wealth, and power by a small group at the top. Consider the fake fears they’ve been whipping up:
“Partisan standoff” is the way most of the media is now characterizing the fight.
Hello?
Enough with the “both sides” reporting on the debt ceiling.
Friends, we do not have the luxury of waiting 18 months until the 2024 election. The danger is now.
Source: The Danger Is Now. We Must Stop Trumpian Fascism. | The Smirking Chimp
All these trends point to a new progressive America — in about 20 years.
Twenty years is a long time, of course. These trends have already ignited an anti-democracy backlash — especially from Americans who are older, whiter, straighter, without college degrees, and mostly male — that is, from people susceptible to authoritarian strongmen peddling conspiracy theories and stoking hatred.
The Republican Party knows it’s doomed unless it radically restricts voting, or goes full throttle and wholly adopts Trumpian fascism.
So, my friends, the stakes ahead could not be higher.
Source: Why a New Progressive Era in America Is Likely — In About 20 Years | The Smirking Chimp
The most obvious question in American politics today should be: Why is the guy who committed treason just over two years ago being allowed to run for president?
Answer: He shouldn’t be.
Even though their traitorous behavior has brought America to the cusp of civil war — including an attack on the U.S. Capitol — they’ll continue to do whatever is necessary (short of defaming a deep-pocketed voting machine company) to keep the money flowing in their direction.
Source: The Settlement: “Accountability” Is Just Another Cost of Doing Business | The Smirking Chimp
The case that starts today raises a fundamental question: Will there be a penalty for profiting from the spread of dangerous misinformation?
Think of the poison Fox has knowingly been pumping into America as analogous to the poison cigarette manufacturers pumped into Americans’ lungs. Part of the remedy for the cigarette poison has been warning disclosures on every pack. Why not an analogous remedy for Fox News’s poison?
Source: What’s the Perfect Punishment for Fox News? | The Smirking Chimp
I don’t believe Trump alone is responsible for the birth of modern Republican fascism, but he has legitimized and encouraged the vicious rancor that has led much of the GOP into election-denying fascism.
Source: Is the GOP Becoming the American Fascist Party? | The Smirking Chimp
Progressives win a majority in the Supreme Court.
What’s happening today in Manhattan’s criminal court is important. Holding a former president accountable to the rule of law is essential.
But what’s happening today in Wisconsin may prove as, if not more, important to the future of American democracy. It will either strengthen or weaken the levers of self-government in a state where those levers could make all the difference.
Indeed, since the basic issue here is one of accountability, this case could actually open the the way for the other, more serious ones. Prosecutors in Georgia and Washington won’t have to bear the burden of justifying an action that had never been taken before. Their more serious charges would come to a public that had already adjusted to the phenomenon of a Trump indictment.
What do you think?
Trump wants and expects a civil war over himself, a final clash between Americans who love him and Americans who loathe him — between his egomaniacal views of good and evil.
Source: Opinion | Trump Is Running to Lead a Fascist Nation—Not This One | Common Dreams
So far this year, there have been 129 mass shootings in the United States.
Source: The Lives of Our Children or the Greed of Gun Manufacturers? | The Smirking Chimp
America’s biggest threat isn’t China
I don’t want to make light of the challenge China represents to the United States, but the greatest danger America faces today is not coming from China. It is our drift toward proto-fascism. We must take care not to demonize China so much that we generate paranoia that further distorts our priorities, fuels American nativism and xenophobia, and encourages authoritarianism at home.
Source: Distinguishing Between a Chinese Challenge and a Chinese Enemy | The Smirking Chimp
It seems a radical message from the Left of Socialism however demanding to be an EMPEROR and the Oligarch King. Even though he only has around $2.5 B, Rather than a servant of Democracy he wants a TRUMP DEMOCRACY installed. . Trump is PUTIN and KIM JONG-UN in a LATIN DICTATOR in America
On Saturday morning, the former guy posted in all caps on his Truth Social platform that he expected to be “ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK” and called for his supporters to “PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!” He also described the United States as a “DYING” and “THIRD-WORLD” nation, where “THE AMERICAN DREAM IS DEAD!” He added that the 2020 election was “STOLEN,” our borders are “OPEN,” and “PATRIOTS” are being “HELD IN CAPTIVITY LIKE ANIMALS.”
Wealth creates power; power creates more wealth. Unattended, this can become a vicious cycle.
Source: Opinion | Bailing Out the Undeserving Rich—Again | Common Dreams
November’s revelation that the bitcoin giant FTX was nothing but a Ponzi scheme has contributed to the fears. Where were the regulators? Last Friday’s revelation that Silicon Valley Bank didn’t have enough capital to pay its depositors has added to the anxieties. Where were the regulators?
But as was demonstrated again this past week, American capitalism needs strict guardrails. Otherwise, it is subject to periodic crises that summon bailouts. The result is socialism for the rich while everyone else is subject to harsh penalties: Bankers get bailed out and the biggest banks and bankers do even better. Yet average people who cannot pay their mortgages lose their homes. Meanwhile, almost 30 million Americans still lack health insurance, most workers who lose their job aren’t eligible for unemployment insurance, most have no paid sick leave, child labor is on the rise, and nearly 51 million households can’t afford basic monthly expenses such as housing, food, child care, and transportation.
Is it any wonder that so many Americans see the system as rigged against them? Is it surprising that some of them become susceptible to dangerous snake-oil peddled by demagogues?
Source: Who’s Raking In the Most From the Banking Mess? | The Smirking Chimp
On Friday, bank regulators closed Silicon Valley Bank, based in Santa Clara, California. Its failure was the second largest in U.S. history and the largest since the financial crisis of 2008.
On Sunday, regulators closed New York-based Signature Bank.
Source: The Real Story Behind the Silicon Valley Bank Debacle | The Smirking Chimp
I backed Bernie in 2016 when he ran for the Democratic nomination for president against Hillary Clinton and backed him again in 2020. I took some crap for doing this from Clinton people, but I’m glad I did it. The system needed shaking up. It needed Bernie’s candidacy even if he wasn’t going to get the nomination.
I love Bernie because he has more guts than any politician I know. Hell, he has more guts than just about anyone I know.
But I’m still not going to be labor secretary again.
Or to put the matter more baldly, who will be able to afford any of the wondrous goods and services powered by AI if we no longer have incomes?
The McCarthy-Trump-Fox complex is internally consistent — connecting authoritarianism, right-wing Republican hackery, GOP political fundraising, Trump-boosting ratings outrage, and greed. It’s a vicious cycle designed to sow anger and distrust while advancing the power and wealth of McCarthy, Greene, Trump, Carlson, and Fox News.
This is the same combination that fueled Trump’s presidency and led to his first attempted coup. Will it lead to a second?
Source: A Second Attempted Coup? The McCarthy-Trump-Fox-Complex | The Smirking Chimp
Informed Comment
Biden’s speech reminded me of how good a president he has been, especially given what he inherited from the former guy, who made a fetish out of dividing and angering Americans while accomplishing nothing except giving a giant tax cut to big corporations and the rich.
Harvard Law
What else do DeSantis and Cruz have in common? Both graduated from Harvard Law School (DeSantis, class of 2005; Cruz, class of 1995).
So, the two likeliest Republican candidates for president as Trump fades, who have both attacked the legal foundations of American democracy, are the products of the most prestigious law school in the nation.
Source: Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz: The Shame of Harvard Law School | The Smirking Chimp
Chalmer’s Value-Based Capitalism seems to be in the footsteps of Biden’s America. Will we ever truley be able to walk and talk for ourselves. Or do both nations really reflect whats best for their peoples
Biden’s larger achievement has been to change the economic paradigm that has reigned since Reagan. He is teaching America a lesson we once knew but have since forgotten: that the “free market” does not exist. It is designed. It either advances public purposes or it serves the monied interests. Biden’s democratic capitalism is neither socialism nor “big government.” It is, rather, a return to an era when government organized the market for the greater good.
Source: The State of Joe Biden’s Union: The Return to Democratic Capitalism | The Smirking Chimp
Not only is the story false, but it leaves out the bigger and more important story behind today’s federal debt: the switch by America’s wealthy over the last half century from paying taxes to the government to lending the government money.
This back story needs to be told if Americans are to understand what’s really happened and what needs to be done about it. Republicans won’t tell it, so Democrats (starting with Joe Biden) must.
Source: The Biggest Story You’ve Never Heard About Today’s Federal Debt | The Smirking Chimp
Antitrust laws were enacted more than a century ago to protect our democracy from being undermined by giant corporations. Yet this what Twitter and Meta are now doing. In my view, we should reduce the size and reach of these huge corporate megaphones by using antitrust laws to break them up.
Source: Should Trump Get Back His Giant Megaphones? | The Smirking Chimp
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