The people who voted to end democracy don't even have a clue what they are voting for or against. The American people look at things in the simplest terms, like how much money they are paying for groceries or rent. They can't even fathom the bigger picture. It is clear, the American education system has failed in teaching civics and history. And the men who voted for Trump, have over-active ego's that related to his crude messaging. Even worse, American women voted against their own interests. It is appalling that so many people in a country that is 'supposedly' one of the most educated overall, can be so incredibly ignorant.
Mary Kay, I tend to agree with you. I sometimes wonder whether the American lifestyle has resulted in the average person taking a lot for granted. When millions are able to live peacefully for a few generations do they stop exercising their intelligence? If you don’t use it, you lose it? Is that where we are as a people? Because worshipping
Donald Trump requires near-mindlessness and a lack of the self-preservation instinct. It also requires
Yes. People take for granted what they have until it is gone. Many Americans have been coddled and enriched by their parents. Trump and Musk are prime examples. Anyone who has truly struggled through oppression and hardship understands the opportunity of a healthy democracy. Yes sometimes life is a struggle to pay the bills and keep ones head above water. But with innovation hard work, ingenuity, and perseverance one can get thru it.
Putting down voters as simplistic when many are struggling to keep their homes or teetering on the edge of financial ruin does not seem to be fair. I concluded thirty years ago that poverty is struxural violence. It is easy to see many voters' concerns as simplistic; it lacks compassion. So, I can only disagree heartily with you on that point.
Yet I agree 111% with you that too many American schools have forfeited their role in the socialization of children into the republican mind-set. Baron Montesquieu was right in saying (or my inferring): citizens have to live and breathe the democratic spirit for a democracy to last. Tragically, the last two generations have failed to do that throughout the society.
Ned, I know what it's like to struggle - been there, done that. But, these people are voting against their own interests. Harris was going to provide those struggling with a way forward - with their vote, that has disappeared. It is very simple when you come down to it. You either vote for a candidate that would uphold their promises, or choose one that has proven they won't. Unfortunately, many Americans voted against their own best interests. That is the crux of the issue whether we like it or not.
Democracy is merely a process. It is not a substantive end in itself. It exists only for the sake of producing a substantive result: an egalitarian society in which people can prosper materially and, on the basis of their material prosperity, prosper as individuals and social beings.
When democracy fails in the twenty-first century, in contrast to the twentieth, the letter of democracy continues while its spirit fails. It becomes form without substance. Thus Russia holds elections, but in reality is a kleptocratic dictatorship sharing many features with twentieth century fascism. Orban calls Hungary “an illiberal democracy,” meaning it is a twenty-first century-style fascist state. Similarly in America, the letter of democracy has mostly survived while its spirit has been dying for a long time. Its has been dying under the twin evils of practicing neoliberal economics and being an extremely aggressive and militaristic empire. You cannot have both an empire and a democracy.
Because of these twin evils, Americans who live on the bottom seventy or eighty percent of the economic ladder either lack the material basis for living a daily existence consistent with civilized standards in a wealthy modern nation, or they live in precarity. Half of Americans could not come up with four hundred dollars in an emergency without borrowing it or selling something. Most Americans fear being only a couple of paychecks or a serious illness away from becoming homeless. In modern American society, everyone has become well aware of the ruthless, predatory, insatiable, and sadistic nature of the economic elite. Americans hate the billionaires they learned to love under Reagan.
The present conditions in America have been deliberately created during the last half-century by the oligarchs of both the Democratic and Republican parties, acting not as democratic officials but as well-paid executives of the plutocracy. The ever-worsening conditions that American politicians of both parties have created have split the democratic process from the substantive results which that process solely exists to produce. Therefore in the minds of dispossessed Americans, “democracy” has become a hollow word, used cynically or ignorantly to justify a political and economic order run for the benefit of the few—form split off from substance. In America the few who benefit from this hollow democracy are the plutocracy and the upper twenty percent, the latter being the upper-middle (i.e., administrative-professional) class.
The lower-middle class, the working class, and the underclass have long since been abandoned by the Democratic Party, whose real constituency has become the upper-middle class. The “messaging problem” the Democratic Party has with the bottom two-thirds of American society is that these Americans have gotten the message all too well that the Democratic Party has abandoned them, except at election time. These Americans understood this when the Democratic Party passed NAFTA in the 1990s, destroying thirty million jobs and creating the Rust Belt, in order to enrich the plutocrats they work for. They understood this after 2008, when Obama gave thirty-trillion dollars to the criminals on Wall Street to save the world economy that the criminals themselves had nearly destroyed, thereby enabling them to become even richer and more powerful, while at the same time he abandoned the six or seven million Americans whose lives had been ruined by the criminals on Wall Street. The members of the American underclass understand that they have become the human commodities that fuel the wealthy prison-industrial complex. Americans of the lower-middle class, the working class, and underclass are well aware of the superior, smug complacency of the upper-middle class of the coasts and the urban centers, which the plutocracy allows to remain prosperous enough to execute for them the devastation of the Americans beneath them on the economic ladder.
Both parties have cooperated for decades in creating creeping fascism in America, through the inverted totalitarianism of the economic order and the militaristic tyranny of the imperial state.
Kamala Harris, political hack that she is, arrogantly and stupidly ran on maintaining the status quo in a country in which nothing is more obvious than the fact that large portions of the entire population, right and left, loathe the status quo. When asked, Harris couldn’t think of a thing she would have done differently in the last four years; she might as well have campaigned on the slogan, “Welcome to my nightmare.” She campaigned like a corporate executive in an interview for a promotion, in which an empty suit robotically but enthusiastically parrots leadership dogma. Trump voters, like Democratic voters, were enthusiastic about the social-democrat Bernie Sanders in 2016, before the Democratic establishment ruthlessly and underhandedly sabotaged him and in desperation substituted the political hack Biden as their nominee. If Harris had run on a platform of undertaking a twenty-first century New Deal (a structural New Deal, as FDR’s was, not another version of Biden’s one-shot response to the pandemic), she would have won in a landslide, Trump or no Trump.
Critics of Trump voters seem oblivious of the fact that before Trump voters repudiated the Democratic Party, they first repudiated the establishment Republican Party. Trump voters recognize that the American political establishment in both parties serves the plutocracy. The election was a choiceless choice between the genocidal Democratic Party and the fascist Republican Party. The statement, Trump voters “don’t even have a clue what they are voting for or against,” exemplifies the arrogant blindness of Democrats. Trump voters understood far better than their critics what they were voting against, whether they were able to articulate their knowledge or not. What they didn’t have a clue about was what they were voting for. Exactly the same is true of Democratic voters. They thought they were voting for democracy, but they were not, because the Democratic Party is not democratic. It is the paid servant of the plutocracy and the national-security-military-industrial complex. What Democratic voters were actually voting for was a hollow simulacrum of democracy, one that has increasingly failed to produce meaningful substantive results for the majority of Americans. They were also voting, knowingly, for genocide. The only real thing Democratic voters were voting for, though they didn’t know it, was to keep the opportunity open for driving a dagger through the black heart of the Democratic Party, and replacing it with a party that is actually democratic. The Democratic Party and the Republican Party for half a century have both been parties of creeping fascism, working together to create the conditions for fascism’s triumph with the election of Trump, who is the natural outcome of the historical processes the two parties have produced.
Why have Trump voters tried to solve their problems pathologically, by turning to a fascist? For the same reason that children of dysfunctional families, in their immature desperation and despair at obtaining caring and effective help from adults, often seek out companions or mentors who suffer from psychopathologies complementary (in lock-and-key fashion) to the psychological issues these children must deal with. Don’t blame the children. Blame the adults.
Blame the blindness of those who for half a century have enabled the Democratic Party to become the venal tool of a nihilistic, plutocratic empire.
We know that Democracy is rotting, the politicians are decadent, there is no ideal choice among leaders who has best interest of society in his heart & mind. But your bitterness for Kamala Harris is misplaced even though much of the things you say have merit.
Voting in democracy is NOT like a full time marriage where you give your undying vows to your candidate. Voting is a strategic decision to opt for a BETTER candidate. Not the best candidate but the better one. The best one, the one who will align with all your principles and ideas may not exist. You can keep waiting for that bus to come and it may never will. In the meantime, you have to make a rational decision among alternatives that's in front of you. It may not be best to your linking but you have to see how much of their ideas are overlapping with YOUR interests.
There is a wise intellectual in my country who said that one must not get agitated by status quo so much that he decides to plunge into the unknown. One should not jump from frying pan to burning fire for sake of change.
Kamala Harris was a status quo politician and despite all the shortcomings of status quo, it is very much worth preserving when the alternative is Fascism. Dem party stands (at least partially) for labor rights, women rights, right to education, social security, healthcare etc. Even if the commitment of Dem party is weak, that doesn't mean one should vote for Trump to express their displeasure.
I agree, Alexander. Revenge can be rational when based upon and motivated by factually demonstrable, unjust harm. What Trump and his cult have done is to manufacture and project a skein of delusional fantasies and lies that recapitulate infantile temper tantrums among putative adults who have failed to evolve into mature, well-nurtured, objective reality-assimilating individuals.
Harris was offering an olive branch to those who felt left behind. With childcare, tax credits, small business loans, and homebuyers initiatives. She was polite and respectful of her boss, and didn't try to upstage him or diss his policies but clarified her standing when she could. Even though she didn't speak to the paycheck to paycheck people directly, surely no one can believe that Trump will make anyone's life better. With his concepts of plans and project 2025 in his pocket, his sidekick Musk telling everyone they are going to have rough times ahead - that clearly is not offering anything of value to the paycheck to paycheck folks. In fact, he will dissemble their unions, cut their overtime pay and get rid of their healthcare. So if they liked his rhetoric, instead of someone who said she would listen and make their lives better - then unfortunately or not, they got what they wanted. Best case scenario under Trump, their lives will stay status quo - but more likely will get even worse. With tariffs and an economy that will quickly falter as economists predict - everyone in the nation but the billionaires will be worse off. That's what four years of a dictator like Trump will bring. Just look at the countries that Trump wants to emulate who have dictators - none of them are better off!
My heart goes out to you for what you’ve gone through: the rejection of your and your colleagues’ warning by your profession’s so-called leadership body as well as by mainstream American journalism. It’s as if Paul Revere road in screaming “The red coats are coming!” and everyone just rolled over and went back to sleep … saying to Paul “Shut up. You’re bothering us.”
In my work, I failed to convince people in the socially responsible business movement (launched in the early 1990s and elevated in importance by the UN in 2000) that they needed to educate the public about their mission (to transform global capitalism into a system that makes people and the planet as important as profit). I knew this was critically important to fight the forces seeking to maintain the “profit no matter who gets hurt” system of today. After all, the public can’t demand what it doesn’t know it can have.
I failed in my efforts and the CSR movement today still exists but is literally irrelevant now that the Putin-aligned oligarchs have won. Here are two links for those who want to learn more.
And I’ll write with my own, new suggestions later…
That's very kind of you to say, Ned. I know human sociological evolution can best be seen by taking the long view of historians (I'm a huge fan of what British historian James Burke did in the 1980s to teach this perspective with his "The Day the Universe Changed" TV series). But I'm concerned that modern technology has advanced to a point where we might literally lose The Enlightenment. The forces of darkness are very well organized and very powerful! But I haven't given up hope. Heather Cox Richardson is one of the people encouraging all of us to do whatever we can do based on our interests, skills, and connections.
Pandemics produce political consequences; incumbent govts rarely survive them, no matter how virtuously or mightily they strive!
I think it's that simple.
My only hope is that Trump can force the Ukraine situation by being impatient, bc Biden's approach was always took tentative for me; if Putin disses Trump & he unleashes dune American muscle as a result that may be better than the current dragging situation.
Can't bear to dwell on the consequences of his other policies: it's too disturbing to contemplate. The scope of their desires to remake the system, including international trade, spending cuts etc, bodes nothing but chaos to me.
And perhaps that's their strategy, The Mad Englishman approach - promise high hell & dudgeon to deter & intimidate, then deliver less disastrous & more palatable reforms.
Crazy like a fox? Nope. Convenient; yes, I have gone that way many times with respect to President Trump. Why? Because that idea creates an illusion of reason amidst its absence.
President Trump is shrewd in playing loop-holes and harming contractors; one of the expert's featured in the two 'Dangerousness' volumes made this point.
But that is where any depth -- of character or of conscience -- end.
Madmen or bomb-thrower accumulate what President Trump wants most: attention.
Disorder is a tool for authoritarians.
There is no virtue about Mr Trump, his lackeys, or his behavior.
Dr Lee, we need to broaden our thinking. Social Democracy is not possible in a society with massive inequality. Inequality in terms of wealth & income, inequality in terms of intellect and education, inequality in terms of security & social status. We have large section of population which has lost objective rational thinking. No Democracy can function in such environment. Democracy was on life support since last 2-3 decades. Now we can say that its dead.
What we have is a plutocracy. Ultra rich billionaires who own the government. And make no mistake, they are the ones who put Trump in power. They NORMALIZED him, gave him media & social media platform & publicity. They gave him big $$$ for his campaign, gave him immunity through corrupt SCOTUS, propelled him to office. What about the public, the voters? They are just pawns - creatures without reason & rationality who are conditioned into voting for any choice which plutocrats prefer.
Yes. We live in a time of 'malignant normality'. I think that is the term I saw in the two volumes on the dangerousness of President Trump. I am not sure that democracy is quite yet dead. Too many people are aggrieved and ready to resist this oligarchy. What will be pivotal is if the members of the Trump base realize they voted against their interests and admit it to themselves.
"What will be pivotal is if the members of the Trump base realize they voted against their interests and admit it to themselves."
ONLY when Nazis were removed from power, the German people were able to realize and admit to themselves that Hitler destroyed German society. The Nazis were inducers of malignant normality and until the inducers are removed by FORCE, the people could never reconcile with objective reality.
MAGA followers will never ever realize that their Boss & father Trump is destroying the country. That's why Dr Lee always maintained that it was crucial that the 'inducer-in-chief' has to be completely detached from his followers for society to recover. Unfortunately, this was not done. He was given absolute immunity to do whatever he wants.
As Dr Lee has said that the things may become worse & worse but people will still stick with Trump as their leader. That's what a death spiral is.
It's probable we're experiencing the end of Democracy, including civilization as we conceive it; it's also possible we're facing the end of the species,. That said, I work for those who might follow and need information, knowledge, and inspiration. A bad-object lesson is as valuable as a good-object lesson. Not all experiments have positive results and I see our democracy, civilization, and species as experiments.
It's the job of those with the vision to keep working; not expecting a result, but because it must be done.
The immediate concerns and those leading up to the election didn't even include the issues of climate, the rapid pace of extinction of animals and plants and the oceans.
We're watching out-of-control, untamed Ego unleashed on the world. Ego sees the world in terms of itself and only itself--not other people, life, nature, or earth itself. Ego is a small part of our psyche, but unbelievably powerful when unleashed; it's what psychologists often call the unconscious.
Ego can be tamed and we can even participate in its annihilation, but to do so we have to be aware of what's outside Self. Ego won't allow the insight unless we choose to direct a tamed Ego toward its own end. There's nothing simple about the process.
I'm so angry...and so sad. I checked out of the news. My husband came in and told me about the new threats. This is a vengeance tour the likes of which Americans have never experienced (unless they were from communities that disproportionately have been on the receiving end of vengeance that was ignored historically).
Trump psychotic contagion is infantile temper tantrum performing in the guise of the delusion of genuine, morally justifiable vengeance, which is arguably a form of legitimate justice.
it's a tragedy that, unlike meerkats and many other animals, most of us don't listen to the warning calls of the (specialized) guardians of our species. You are not the only one whose warning calls were buried by pride and hypocracy. I can't even tell you how sorry I am to be a witness.
Thank you Bandy for all you have done and continue to do. Your guidance grounds me in this horrible moment in history...history of the world, since this will reverberate around the world. The coming years will be like an episode in the series 'Black Mirror'.There are so many things that are upsetting. I, like so many, have been on the receiving end of a "predator". The voice is nauseating. When they lean in and demean, manipulate and take away one's power, it's frightening. A couple of days before the election, Hannibal Lecter (he told us repeatedly who he was) turned his ire on Michelle Obama. The chilling impact of him suggesting, "I liked her", but now "she's asking for it" and repeating it several times, made me feel weak in the knees and sick to my stomach. Then the grotesque appointments of Gaetz, Musk, RFK jr (predators themselves), Noem (heartless towards Native Americans in her state and animals), Alaynna Babba, (sexualized and lies and spews hate), the homophobic and xenophobic FOX host, Stephen Miller and guy appointed to deport people. Immigrants/migrants built and continue to support American society. They come from terroristic regimes in their country of origin. The flee horrible circumstances. What's so unbelievable is all of the aggrieved Trumpers who will be appointed to these positions, had ancestors whose origin story is exactly the same as immigrants today. Stephen Miller's family spoke out, again yesterday.
Almost immediately the shift of 'sane washing' began across the media sphere. The only person I can watch for now is Lawrence O'Donnell and a couple of other MSNBC hosts. I am thankfully not on FB or Twitter, having left both years ago. One of my biggest concerns is the focus of blame on groups of people, starting with black women and men who are the largest cohort of voters, canvassers and phone bankers for Harris. In my mind, people voted for Trump because of Fox, Musk and the firehose of disinformation that was sent to their homes. I talked to people who used those talking points.
Well put. The politics of vengeance -- ¿for what wrong done? I do not know -- combined with a cult of personality is a very ugly business. If violence is to come, I am steeling myself in hopes that I will have the courage to fight for my country.
What to watch for in the first few weeks after 1/20=
Pretend “terrorist” attacks ( won’t really matter who but we know they won’t have white skin! ).
Or- use the “ I’m alpha male” ( although real men never have to say they ARE alpha men) Proud Boys to set off explosions in places like Detroit or Baltimore, start riots, they’ll add a couple of rolling blackouts, display inflamed images over the soon-to-be 100% Tox News platforms (80% of our airwaves are owned by the Trump supported Murdoch family)…and the zombie cult will soak it all up, just like they’ve so stupidly done thus far.
This will foster the gutting of everything publicly funded, from progressive media, OPB/NPR, The Nat’l Weather Station, the list goes on and on. They will use their
“ mass deportation” to perpetuate fear, hatred…produce will become unavailable since there won’t be anyone left to work the farms..everything gutted will be turned around onto “ the enemy within”. Time will tell who the real enemy is. The private prison operation companies had the highest profits in last weeks stock market jump…says it all right there.
Dr Lee, honestly speaking, I remember that, when I first heard about your efforts in 2018, I was skeptical of what y'all were doing. And, unfortunately, I imputed arrogance to the actions of you and your fellow experts. An M.D., also from your undergraduate alma mater, pleaded with me and a friend to keep an open mind. Unfortunately, he did not open my mind; my bad, my loss. 😢
Years later, I happenned upon your interview with Thom Hartmann. Within a minute of the start of that podcast, I was a convert. It shames and pains me that only an accident enlightened me. Now that I have joined the fold, I applaud your courage. 🙏
As I tell my few friends and relatives about you, I point out that you have paid a severe price and I note your courage. It is an example to the rest of us (i.e., me). 😇
Jeremiah would lament these days that so many Americans failed to heed your brave warning. 💔
I had an experience similar to your own. I listened to the APA instead of one of my professional contacts. It was only this year when I listened to Dr Bandy Lee on YouTube. The scales fell from my eyes. I purchased 3 of her books and was floored by her sensible explanation of the behavior of Donald Trump.
Thankyou for your courage. Capitulation is the word is it not? I know the Military and the US Senate will capitulate now. We may be at a point of no return. There will be no rescuers now. President Biden and President Obama both were warned of Russian interference and trolls and Bots and neither went directly before Congress and before the Nation to inform us and enlist us all as a nation to make sure will all are aware and think and question and vote. Obviously only one side benefitted from Russia but we literally needed the warning from the highest level.
I was initially wondering if perhaps Trump suffers from Pick’s disease? But then, after reading about how when Hitler “campaigned”, they made him look foolish, almost clownish, and had him saying “ wild things “…I think they knew what they were doing during the campaign, and really since 2016. All those crazy things we heard, all part of the plan I’m afraid.
Hopium Chronicles - What's Next? How to Cut the Head Off the Snake Worldwide
FITNESS FOR DUTY EVALUATIONS that are mandatory, like the military for high responsibility positions, would have stopped Trump before he got within a mile of the White House. True for every dictator, authoritarian, and oligarch worldwide.
Bandy X Lee, Steven Hassan, and 100 other psychiatrists agree Trump has five dangerous mental illnesses as listed in the books "The More Dangerous Case of Donald Trump" and "The Psychology Of Trump Contagion - An Existential Threat to American Democracy and All Humankind".
In one fell swoop, Fitness for Duty Evaluations worldwide, stops every dictator, authoritarian, and oligarch.
"Containing Trump Contagion and Healing from Mental Pathology in Politics"
Fitness for Duty Evaluations start with everyone who interacts with the individual in question, and when red flags start to appear, 'say something.'
The US Military has procedures to follow that require individuals in question to have a Fitness for Duty Evaluation. Voters must demand the House and Senate do the same.
"Stephen Xenakis- Fitness for Duty Exams: Preventing Autocratic Abuse"
Outside the military are professionals like Dr. Bandy X. Lee who has several dozen colleagues all of whom are highly qualified to do Fitness for Duty Evaluations.
The U.S. House and Senate have several mechanisms to enforce their rules, including:
* Leadership
* Committees
* Floor Procedures
* Party Discipline
It's important to note that these mechanisms are not always used consistently or effectively. The more voters demand mentally fit leaders the more the House and Senate will comply.
Thank you, Dr. Lee, for keeping on the ball in the aftermath of the election, which is a feat of no mean proportions. The Jordan River or Ted Sea - some say Sea of Reeds - that one may need to figuratively cross can best be crossed on level ground with unwavering attention to the salient issues of the day.
The Trump regime & cabinet is now the textbook definition of Pathocracy. People with all kinds of malignant and regressive traits. All of them are fanatics, criminals, delusional, sociopathic, sexual predators, narcissists, addicted to absolute power, thoroughly corrupted and incompetent. Such kind of regime has never existed in any modern nation in last century since world war 2, an unimaginable horror.
From how events are unfolding over the last 10 days, we now know more about the secret networks and relationships which are leading us in this terrible direction. Trump and his pathologies are the instrument to get enough votes to win the election, but it does not originate with him. It is the Republican religious extremists behind Project 2025, who want to create a white supremacist Christian Nationalist theocracy, and who are aligned with adversary countries like Russia and Hungary. In fact they have an alliance deceptively called the International Democratic Union (IDU) which seeks to turn the main democratic countries (US, Australia, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Japan) into autocracies or ''illiberal democracies'' like Hungary. Members of Trumpworld like Mike Roman who derailed the Fani Willis trial are leaders in the IDU. The Republican extremist religious groups such as Opus Dei and others more obscure are the motivator behind the actions of the GOP Supreme Court justices, Speaker Mike Johnson, JD Vance and all of the organizers of what is now the Trump agenda, Project 2025. Ex-evangelical Frank Schaeffer has some videos on these key players, and he says that after supporting Trump in 2016 in exchange for getting their justices on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, these religious extremists made a second deal with Trump in 2024 to get him reelected and stay of prison, in exchange for Trump implementing Project 2025. Dr. Lee, do you have any familiarity with the obscure Christian and Catholic sects Frank Schaeffer mentions? He goes through their history in some detail, showing that the roots of Project 2025 are in religious philosophies from Franco's Spain in the 1930s, the original fascists.
We also have confirmation of Russia's involvement, we knew Trump has had a longstanding compromised/submissive position with Putin from his business dealings which were funded by Russia, we have the Mueller and Senate Intelligence Committee reports, we witnessed that at the Helsinki press conference years ago and then he proved it again by personally sending Putin the scarce Covid testing machines that were reported recently. This past week there is incredible further confirmation, in the form of a public statement from a Russian official that Trump has obligations to them as a result of favors they did for him in the election, and the unbelievable broadcasting in prime time on Russian TV of Melania Trump's nude photos from her work as a model in the pornography industry when she first arrived in the US. This is blackmail of the incoming US President being broadcast to the world. We can only speculate as to what the Putin objective is that requires this pressure being applied to force compliance from Trump, since he usually agrees willingly.
So, we find ourselves at the confluence not only of Trump's destructive pathological drive, but that being harnessed in order to achieve the ''destruction of the administrative state'' goal of Project 2025 in order to impose an archaic form of Christian autocracy, with the help of one of our greatest adversaries Russia who would like to see us destroyed from within without firing a single shot.
Our main obstacle to overcoming these ridiculous plans is that most of our society is operating under misinformation which makes them believe the opposite of the truth, and another large segment is apathetic and unaware.
But, I feel it helps to be able to perceive that there is a rational yet crazy plan in Project 2025 being implemented, using Trump contagion as a way to mobilize support from a large segment of the population. That can help us find ways to put a stop to it. Trump won the swing states by a combined total of only around 220,000 votes, not that different from 2020 (78,000) and 2016 (47,000).
Trump supporters will soon be confronted with the reality that he lied to them on every topic, and he will be implementing radical policies that greatly harm them. That will be an opportunity for Democrats to bring them onside, and realize they should have voted for Harris. It would be even better if we could use this knowledge to convince President Biden to use his new immunity powers to stop these crazy Republicans from coming into power at all. As Coach Walz said, no one is asking for Project 2025, and both Democrats and MAGA are likely to revolt against it as it gets rolled out and the implications become more evident. Modernity will win out, and the GOP so clearly revealing itself as being a bunch of corrupt religious extremists will be an opportunity to stamp them out and adopt better policies inspired by successful democracies instead of those from the former Communist bloc. Informing the people will be the main challenge, although we do have Youtube, and the right-wing infosphere will soon not have any answers for them as the consequences of Projcect 2025 start to be seen and felt.
Susan, check out the Meidas Touch Network (not a mis-spelling of Midas) there are many people within this neNetwork who are doing good things to get the gavtd straight and fight all of the disinformation being spewed. No sanewashing.
The people who voted to end democracy don't even have a clue what they are voting for or against. The American people look at things in the simplest terms, like how much money they are paying for groceries or rent. They can't even fathom the bigger picture. It is clear, the American education system has failed in teaching civics and history. And the men who voted for Trump, have over-active ego's that related to his crude messaging. Even worse, American women voted against their own interests. It is appalling that so many people in a country that is 'supposedly' one of the most educated overall, can be so incredibly ignorant.
Mary Kay, I tend to agree with you. I sometimes wonder whether the American lifestyle has resulted in the average person taking a lot for granted. When millions are able to live peacefully for a few generations do they stop exercising their intelligence? If you don’t use it, you lose it? Is that where we are as a people? Because worshipping
Donald Trump requires near-mindlessness and a lack of the self-preservation instinct. It also requires
an overriding superficiality toward all things.
Yes. People take for granted what they have until it is gone. Many Americans have been coddled and enriched by their parents. Trump and Musk are prime examples. Anyone who has truly struggled through oppression and hardship understands the opportunity of a healthy democracy. Yes sometimes life is a struggle to pay the bills and keep ones head above water. But with innovation hard work, ingenuity, and perseverance one can get thru it.
I have been parroting this for a long time!!! A+
Putting down voters as simplistic when many are struggling to keep their homes or teetering on the edge of financial ruin does not seem to be fair. I concluded thirty years ago that poverty is struxural violence. It is easy to see many voters' concerns as simplistic; it lacks compassion. So, I can only disagree heartily with you on that point.
Yet I agree 111% with you that too many American schools have forfeited their role in the socialization of children into the republican mind-set. Baron Montesquieu was right in saying (or my inferring): citizens have to live and breathe the democratic spirit for a democracy to last. Tragically, the last two generations have failed to do that throughout the society.
Ned, I know what it's like to struggle - been there, done that. But, these people are voting against their own interests. Harris was going to provide those struggling with a way forward - with their vote, that has disappeared. It is very simple when you come down to it. You either vote for a candidate that would uphold their promises, or choose one that has proven they won't. Unfortunately, many Americans voted against their own best interests. That is the crux of the issue whether we like it or not.
PART ONE
Democracy is merely a process. It is not a substantive end in itself. It exists only for the sake of producing a substantive result: an egalitarian society in which people can prosper materially and, on the basis of their material prosperity, prosper as individuals and social beings.
When democracy fails in the twenty-first century, in contrast to the twentieth, the letter of democracy continues while its spirit fails. It becomes form without substance. Thus Russia holds elections, but in reality is a kleptocratic dictatorship sharing many features with twentieth century fascism. Orban calls Hungary “an illiberal democracy,” meaning it is a twenty-first century-style fascist state. Similarly in America, the letter of democracy has mostly survived while its spirit has been dying for a long time. Its has been dying under the twin evils of practicing neoliberal economics and being an extremely aggressive and militaristic empire. You cannot have both an empire and a democracy.
Because of these twin evils, Americans who live on the bottom seventy or eighty percent of the economic ladder either lack the material basis for living a daily existence consistent with civilized standards in a wealthy modern nation, or they live in precarity. Half of Americans could not come up with four hundred dollars in an emergency without borrowing it or selling something. Most Americans fear being only a couple of paychecks or a serious illness away from becoming homeless. In modern American society, everyone has become well aware of the ruthless, predatory, insatiable, and sadistic nature of the economic elite. Americans hate the billionaires they learned to love under Reagan.
The present conditions in America have been deliberately created during the last half-century by the oligarchs of both the Democratic and Republican parties, acting not as democratic officials but as well-paid executives of the plutocracy. The ever-worsening conditions that American politicians of both parties have created have split the democratic process from the substantive results which that process solely exists to produce. Therefore in the minds of dispossessed Americans, “democracy” has become a hollow word, used cynically or ignorantly to justify a political and economic order run for the benefit of the few—form split off from substance. In America the few who benefit from this hollow democracy are the plutocracy and the upper twenty percent, the latter being the upper-middle (i.e., administrative-professional) class.
The lower-middle class, the working class, and the underclass have long since been abandoned by the Democratic Party, whose real constituency has become the upper-middle class. The “messaging problem” the Democratic Party has with the bottom two-thirds of American society is that these Americans have gotten the message all too well that the Democratic Party has abandoned them, except at election time. These Americans understood this when the Democratic Party passed NAFTA in the 1990s, destroying thirty million jobs and creating the Rust Belt, in order to enrich the plutocrats they work for. They understood this after 2008, when Obama gave thirty-trillion dollars to the criminals on Wall Street to save the world economy that the criminals themselves had nearly destroyed, thereby enabling them to become even richer and more powerful, while at the same time he abandoned the six or seven million Americans whose lives had been ruined by the criminals on Wall Street. The members of the American underclass understand that they have become the human commodities that fuel the wealthy prison-industrial complex. Americans of the lower-middle class, the working class, and underclass are well aware of the superior, smug complacency of the upper-middle class of the coasts and the urban centers, which the plutocracy allows to remain prosperous enough to execute for them the devastation of the Americans beneath them on the economic ladder.
Both parties have cooperated for decades in creating creeping fascism in America, through the inverted totalitarianism of the economic order and the militaristic tyranny of the imperial state.
PART TWO
Kamala Harris, political hack that she is, arrogantly and stupidly ran on maintaining the status quo in a country in which nothing is more obvious than the fact that large portions of the entire population, right and left, loathe the status quo. When asked, Harris couldn’t think of a thing she would have done differently in the last four years; she might as well have campaigned on the slogan, “Welcome to my nightmare.” She campaigned like a corporate executive in an interview for a promotion, in which an empty suit robotically but enthusiastically parrots leadership dogma. Trump voters, like Democratic voters, were enthusiastic about the social-democrat Bernie Sanders in 2016, before the Democratic establishment ruthlessly and underhandedly sabotaged him and in desperation substituted the political hack Biden as their nominee. If Harris had run on a platform of undertaking a twenty-first century New Deal (a structural New Deal, as FDR’s was, not another version of Biden’s one-shot response to the pandemic), she would have won in a landslide, Trump or no Trump.
Critics of Trump voters seem oblivious of the fact that before Trump voters repudiated the Democratic Party, they first repudiated the establishment Republican Party. Trump voters recognize that the American political establishment in both parties serves the plutocracy. The election was a choiceless choice between the genocidal Democratic Party and the fascist Republican Party. The statement, Trump voters “don’t even have a clue what they are voting for or against,” exemplifies the arrogant blindness of Democrats. Trump voters understood far better than their critics what they were voting against, whether they were able to articulate their knowledge or not. What they didn’t have a clue about was what they were voting for. Exactly the same is true of Democratic voters. They thought they were voting for democracy, but they were not, because the Democratic Party is not democratic. It is the paid servant of the plutocracy and the national-security-military-industrial complex. What Democratic voters were actually voting for was a hollow simulacrum of democracy, one that has increasingly failed to produce meaningful substantive results for the majority of Americans. They were also voting, knowingly, for genocide. The only real thing Democratic voters were voting for, though they didn’t know it, was to keep the opportunity open for driving a dagger through the black heart of the Democratic Party, and replacing it with a party that is actually democratic. The Democratic Party and the Republican Party for half a century have both been parties of creeping fascism, working together to create the conditions for fascism’s triumph with the election of Trump, who is the natural outcome of the historical processes the two parties have produced.
Why have Trump voters tried to solve their problems pathologically, by turning to a fascist? For the same reason that children of dysfunctional families, in their immature desperation and despair at obtaining caring and effective help from adults, often seek out companions or mentors who suffer from psychopathologies complementary (in lock-and-key fashion) to the psychological issues these children must deal with. Don’t blame the children. Blame the adults.
Blame the blindness of those who for half a century have enabled the Democratic Party to become the venal tool of a nihilistic, plutocratic empire.
@Alex Chimes
We know that Democracy is rotting, the politicians are decadent, there is no ideal choice among leaders who has best interest of society in his heart & mind. But your bitterness for Kamala Harris is misplaced even though much of the things you say have merit.
Voting in democracy is NOT like a full time marriage where you give your undying vows to your candidate. Voting is a strategic decision to opt for a BETTER candidate. Not the best candidate but the better one. The best one, the one who will align with all your principles and ideas may not exist. You can keep waiting for that bus to come and it may never will. In the meantime, you have to make a rational decision among alternatives that's in front of you. It may not be best to your linking but you have to see how much of their ideas are overlapping with YOUR interests.
There is a wise intellectual in my country who said that one must not get agitated by status quo so much that he decides to plunge into the unknown. One should not jump from frying pan to burning fire for sake of change.
Kamala Harris was a status quo politician and despite all the shortcomings of status quo, it is very much worth preserving when the alternative is Fascism. Dem party stands (at least partially) for labor rights, women rights, right to education, social security, healthcare etc. Even if the commitment of Dem party is weak, that doesn't mean one should vote for Trump to express their displeasure.
I agree, Alexander. Revenge can be rational when based upon and motivated by factually demonstrable, unjust harm. What Trump and his cult have done is to manufacture and project a skein of delusional fantasies and lies that recapitulate infantile temper tantrums among putative adults who have failed to evolve into mature, well-nurtured, objective reality-assimilating individuals.
Harris was offering an olive branch to those who felt left behind. With childcare, tax credits, small business loans, and homebuyers initiatives. She was polite and respectful of her boss, and didn't try to upstage him or diss his policies but clarified her standing when she could. Even though she didn't speak to the paycheck to paycheck people directly, surely no one can believe that Trump will make anyone's life better. With his concepts of plans and project 2025 in his pocket, his sidekick Musk telling everyone they are going to have rough times ahead - that clearly is not offering anything of value to the paycheck to paycheck folks. In fact, he will dissemble their unions, cut their overtime pay and get rid of their healthcare. So if they liked his rhetoric, instead of someone who said she would listen and make their lives better - then unfortunately or not, they got what they wanted. Best case scenario under Trump, their lives will stay status quo - but more likely will get even worse. With tariffs and an economy that will quickly falter as economists predict - everyone in the nation but the billionaires will be worse off. That's what four years of a dictator like Trump will bring. Just look at the countries that Trump wants to emulate who have dictators - none of them are better off!
Dr Lee,
My heart goes out to you for what you’ve gone through: the rejection of your and your colleagues’ warning by your profession’s so-called leadership body as well as by mainstream American journalism. It’s as if Paul Revere road in screaming “The red coats are coming!” and everyone just rolled over and went back to sleep … saying to Paul “Shut up. You’re bothering us.”
In my work, I failed to convince people in the socially responsible business movement (launched in the early 1990s and elevated in importance by the UN in 2000) that they needed to educate the public about their mission (to transform global capitalism into a system that makes people and the planet as important as profit). I knew this was critically important to fight the forces seeking to maintain the “profit no matter who gets hurt” system of today. After all, the public can’t demand what it doesn’t know it can have.
I failed in my efforts and the CSR movement today still exists but is literally irrelevant now that the Putin-aligned oligarchs have won. Here are two links for those who want to learn more.
And I’ll write with my own, new suggestions later…
https://unglobalcompact.org
https://www.bsr.org
I salute your courage, Steve. Hopefully, the rest of us will catch up in time.
That's very kind of you to say, Ned. I know human sociological evolution can best be seen by taking the long view of historians (I'm a huge fan of what British historian James Burke did in the 1980s to teach this perspective with his "The Day the Universe Changed" TV series). But I'm concerned that modern technology has advanced to a point where we might literally lose The Enlightenment. The forces of darkness are very well organized and very powerful! But I haven't given up hope. Heather Cox Richardson is one of the people encouraging all of us to do whatever we can do based on our interests, skills, and connections.
Well, Steve, I defer to the authority ringing through your remarks. 🤝
Nevertheless, I really hope you are wrong. 🤞
Sadly, I think your insight hits the bull's eye. 😢
Speaking of the Enlightenment, Montesquieu stated: "The deterioration of a government begins almost always by the decay of its principles." 💔
Why ideology breeds idiocy per Voltaire: "Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one.” 🤭
Pandemics produce political consequences; incumbent govts rarely survive them, no matter how virtuously or mightily they strive!
I think it's that simple.
My only hope is that Trump can force the Ukraine situation by being impatient, bc Biden's approach was always took tentative for me; if Putin disses Trump & he unleashes dune American muscle as a result that may be better than the current dragging situation.
Can't bear to dwell on the consequences of his other policies: it's too disturbing to contemplate. The scope of their desires to remake the system, including international trade, spending cuts etc, bodes nothing but chaos to me.
And perhaps that's their strategy, The Mad Englishman approach - promise high hell & dudgeon to deter & intimidate, then deliver less disastrous & more palatable reforms.
Crazy like a fox? Nope. Convenient; yes, I have gone that way many times with respect to President Trump. Why? Because that idea creates an illusion of reason amidst its absence.
President Trump is shrewd in playing loop-holes and harming contractors; one of the expert's featured in the two 'Dangerousness' volumes made this point.
But that is where any depth -- of character or of conscience -- end.
Madmen or bomb-thrower accumulate what President Trump wants most: attention.
Disorder is a tool for authoritarians.
There is no virtue about Mr Trump, his lackeys, or his behavior.
Dr Timothy Snyder's essay complements the writings of Dr Lee neatly in this essay. https://snyder.substack.com/p/decapitation-strike
Dr Lee, we need to broaden our thinking. Social Democracy is not possible in a society with massive inequality. Inequality in terms of wealth & income, inequality in terms of intellect and education, inequality in terms of security & social status. We have large section of population which has lost objective rational thinking. No Democracy can function in such environment. Democracy was on life support since last 2-3 decades. Now we can say that its dead.
What we have is a plutocracy. Ultra rich billionaires who own the government. And make no mistake, they are the ones who put Trump in power. They NORMALIZED him, gave him media & social media platform & publicity. They gave him big $$$ for his campaign, gave him immunity through corrupt SCOTUS, propelled him to office. What about the public, the voters? They are just pawns - creatures without reason & rationality who are conditioned into voting for any choice which plutocrats prefer.
Democracy is over Dr Lee.
Yes. We live in a time of 'malignant normality'. I think that is the term I saw in the two volumes on the dangerousness of President Trump. I am not sure that democracy is quite yet dead. Too many people are aggrieved and ready to resist this oligarchy. What will be pivotal is if the members of the Trump base realize they voted against their interests and admit it to themselves.
"What will be pivotal is if the members of the Trump base realize they voted against their interests and admit it to themselves."
ONLY when Nazis were removed from power, the German people were able to realize and admit to themselves that Hitler destroyed German society. The Nazis were inducers of malignant normality and until the inducers are removed by FORCE, the people could never reconcile with objective reality.
MAGA followers will never ever realize that their Boss & father Trump is destroying the country. That's why Dr Lee always maintained that it was crucial that the 'inducer-in-chief' has to be completely detached from his followers for society to recover. Unfortunately, this was not done. He was given absolute immunity to do whatever he wants.
As Dr Lee has said that the things may become worse & worse but people will still stick with Trump as their leader. That's what a death spiral is.
It's probable we're experiencing the end of Democracy, including civilization as we conceive it; it's also possible we're facing the end of the species,. That said, I work for those who might follow and need information, knowledge, and inspiration. A bad-object lesson is as valuable as a good-object lesson. Not all experiments have positive results and I see our democracy, civilization, and species as experiments.
It's the job of those with the vision to keep working; not expecting a result, but because it must be done.
The immediate concerns and those leading up to the election didn't even include the issues of climate, the rapid pace of extinction of animals and plants and the oceans.
We're watching out-of-control, untamed Ego unleashed on the world. Ego sees the world in terms of itself and only itself--not other people, life, nature, or earth itself. Ego is a small part of our psyche, but unbelievably powerful when unleashed; it's what psychologists often call the unconscious.
Ego can be tamed and we can even participate in its annihilation, but to do so we have to be aware of what's outside Self. Ego won't allow the insight unless we choose to direct a tamed Ego toward its own end. There's nothing simple about the process.
I'm so angry...and so sad. I checked out of the news. My husband came in and told me about the new threats. This is a vengeance tour the likes of which Americans have never experienced (unless they were from communities that disproportionately have been on the receiving end of vengeance that was ignored historically).
Trump psychotic contagion is infantile temper tantrum performing in the guise of the delusion of genuine, morally justifiable vengeance, which is arguably a form of legitimate justice.
What? No way you can derive legitimate justice from that little word circle.
Tantrum. Delusion. Sure. Justice - imagined, sure, real, no, thence illegitimate.
it's a tragedy that, unlike meerkats and many other animals, most of us don't listen to the warning calls of the (specialized) guardians of our species. You are not the only one whose warning calls were buried by pride and hypocracy. I can't even tell you how sorry I am to be a witness.
Thank you Bandy for all you have done and continue to do. Your guidance grounds me in this horrible moment in history...history of the world, since this will reverberate around the world. The coming years will be like an episode in the series 'Black Mirror'.There are so many things that are upsetting. I, like so many, have been on the receiving end of a "predator". The voice is nauseating. When they lean in and demean, manipulate and take away one's power, it's frightening. A couple of days before the election, Hannibal Lecter (he told us repeatedly who he was) turned his ire on Michelle Obama. The chilling impact of him suggesting, "I liked her", but now "she's asking for it" and repeating it several times, made me feel weak in the knees and sick to my stomach. Then the grotesque appointments of Gaetz, Musk, RFK jr (predators themselves), Noem (heartless towards Native Americans in her state and animals), Alaynna Babba, (sexualized and lies and spews hate), the homophobic and xenophobic FOX host, Stephen Miller and guy appointed to deport people. Immigrants/migrants built and continue to support American society. They come from terroristic regimes in their country of origin. The flee horrible circumstances. What's so unbelievable is all of the aggrieved Trumpers who will be appointed to these positions, had ancestors whose origin story is exactly the same as immigrants today. Stephen Miller's family spoke out, again yesterday.
Almost immediately the shift of 'sane washing' began across the media sphere. The only person I can watch for now is Lawrence O'Donnell and a couple of other MSNBC hosts. I am thankfully not on FB or Twitter, having left both years ago. One of my biggest concerns is the focus of blame on groups of people, starting with black women and men who are the largest cohort of voters, canvassers and phone bankers for Harris. In my mind, people voted for Trump because of Fox, Musk and the firehose of disinformation that was sent to their homes. I talked to people who used those talking points.
I will see you on Friday....peace to all.
Well put. The politics of vengeance -- ¿for what wrong done? I do not know -- combined with a cult of personality is a very ugly business. If violence is to come, I am steeling myself in hopes that I will have the courage to fight for my country.
They create imaginary evils, that only the strongman can solve, then claim victory when no evidence of those evils is to be found.
Wait & see how long it takes for them to claim credit for the booming economy, you know, the one they've been trashing for the last 2 years.
What to watch for in the first few weeks after 1/20=
Pretend “terrorist” attacks ( won’t really matter who but we know they won’t have white skin! ).
Or- use the “ I’m alpha male” ( although real men never have to say they ARE alpha men) Proud Boys to set off explosions in places like Detroit or Baltimore, start riots, they’ll add a couple of rolling blackouts, display inflamed images over the soon-to-be 100% Tox News platforms (80% of our airwaves are owned by the Trump supported Murdoch family)…and the zombie cult will soak it all up, just like they’ve so stupidly done thus far.
This will foster the gutting of everything publicly funded, from progressive media, OPB/NPR, The Nat’l Weather Station, the list goes on and on. They will use their
“ mass deportation” to perpetuate fear, hatred…produce will become unavailable since there won’t be anyone left to work the farms..everything gutted will be turned around onto “ the enemy within”. Time will tell who the real enemy is. The private prison operation companies had the highest profits in last weeks stock market jump…says it all right there.
Well, I hope you are wrong. I had better prepare in case you are right.
Dr Lee, honestly speaking, I remember that, when I first heard about your efforts in 2018, I was skeptical of what y'all were doing. And, unfortunately, I imputed arrogance to the actions of you and your fellow experts. An M.D., also from your undergraduate alma mater, pleaded with me and a friend to keep an open mind. Unfortunately, he did not open my mind; my bad, my loss. 😢
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCSiEDA7sZA (Thom Hartmann interview from March 2024)
Years later, I happenned upon your interview with Thom Hartmann. Within a minute of the start of that podcast, I was a convert. It shames and pains me that only an accident enlightened me. Now that I have joined the fold, I applaud your courage. 🙏
As I tell my few friends and relatives about you, I point out that you have paid a severe price and I note your courage. It is an example to the rest of us (i.e., me). 😇
Jeremiah would lament these days that so many Americans failed to heed your brave warning. 💔
I had an experience similar to your own. I listened to the APA instead of one of my professional contacts. It was only this year when I listened to Dr Bandy Lee on YouTube. The scales fell from my eyes. I purchased 3 of her books and was floored by her sensible explanation of the behavior of Donald Trump.
Copy that, Emily. 🤝
Sensible minds shall prevail. 🤞
They have to. ✌🏽
So it looks like that ship has sailed.
Can not click on the heart-button. I share your bereavement.
Thank you, Dr. Lee. Could you please confirm you’ll post the video afterward for those who can’t attend the live session?
Thankyou for your courage. Capitulation is the word is it not? I know the Military and the US Senate will capitulate now. We may be at a point of no return. There will be no rescuers now. President Biden and President Obama both were warned of Russian interference and trolls and Bots and neither went directly before Congress and before the Nation to inform us and enlist us all as a nation to make sure will all are aware and think and question and vote. Obviously only one side benefitted from Russia but we literally needed the warning from the highest level.
I was initially wondering if perhaps Trump suffers from Pick’s disease? But then, after reading about how when Hitler “campaigned”, they made him look foolish, almost clownish, and had him saying “ wild things “…I think they knew what they were doing during the campaign, and really since 2016. All those crazy things we heard, all part of the plan I’m afraid.
I sent this to
Hopium Chronicles - What's Next? How to Cut the Head Off the Snake Worldwide
FITNESS FOR DUTY EVALUATIONS that are mandatory, like the military for high responsibility positions, would have stopped Trump before he got within a mile of the White House. True for every dictator, authoritarian, and oligarch worldwide.
Bandy X Lee, Steven Hassan, and 100 other psychiatrists agree Trump has five dangerous mental illnesses as listed in the books "The More Dangerous Case of Donald Trump" and "The Psychology Of Trump Contagion - An Existential Threat to American Democracy and All Humankind".
In one fell swoop, Fitness for Duty Evaluations worldwide, stops every dictator, authoritarian, and oligarch.
"Containing Trump Contagion and Healing from Mental Pathology in Politics"
https://youtu.be/HTkCqU5LM-k?si=f6g0PolglC21w1nR
Fitness for Duty Evaluations start with everyone who interacts with the individual in question, and when red flags start to appear, 'say something.'
The US Military has procedures to follow that require individuals in question to have a Fitness for Duty Evaluation. Voters must demand the House and Senate do the same.
"Stephen Xenakis- Fitness for Duty Exams: Preventing Autocratic Abuse"
https://youtu.be/vdtChF07ryU?si=VJ5dauWFoUQg10uH
Outside the military are professionals like Dr. Bandy X. Lee who has several dozen colleagues all of whom are highly qualified to do Fitness for Duty Evaluations.
The U.S. House and Senate have several mechanisms to enforce their rules, including:
* Leadership
* Committees
* Floor Procedures
* Party Discipline
It's important to note that these mechanisms are not always used consistently or effectively. The more voters demand mentally fit leaders the more the House and Senate will comply.
Thank you, Dr. Lee, for keeping on the ball in the aftermath of the election, which is a feat of no mean proportions. The Jordan River or Ted Sea - some say Sea of Reeds - that one may need to figuratively cross can best be crossed on level ground with unwavering attention to the salient issues of the day.
Correction - Red Sea. .
The Trump regime & cabinet is now the textbook definition of Pathocracy. People with all kinds of malignant and regressive traits. All of them are fanatics, criminals, delusional, sociopathic, sexual predators, narcissists, addicted to absolute power, thoroughly corrupted and incompetent. Such kind of regime has never existed in any modern nation in last century since world war 2, an unimaginable horror.
From how events are unfolding over the last 10 days, we now know more about the secret networks and relationships which are leading us in this terrible direction. Trump and his pathologies are the instrument to get enough votes to win the election, but it does not originate with him. It is the Republican religious extremists behind Project 2025, who want to create a white supremacist Christian Nationalist theocracy, and who are aligned with adversary countries like Russia and Hungary. In fact they have an alliance deceptively called the International Democratic Union (IDU) which seeks to turn the main democratic countries (US, Australia, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Japan) into autocracies or ''illiberal democracies'' like Hungary. Members of Trumpworld like Mike Roman who derailed the Fani Willis trial are leaders in the IDU. The Republican extremist religious groups such as Opus Dei and others more obscure are the motivator behind the actions of the GOP Supreme Court justices, Speaker Mike Johnson, JD Vance and all of the organizers of what is now the Trump agenda, Project 2025. Ex-evangelical Frank Schaeffer has some videos on these key players, and he says that after supporting Trump in 2016 in exchange for getting their justices on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, these religious extremists made a second deal with Trump in 2024 to get him reelected and stay of prison, in exchange for Trump implementing Project 2025. Dr. Lee, do you have any familiarity with the obscure Christian and Catholic sects Frank Schaeffer mentions? He goes through their history in some detail, showing that the roots of Project 2025 are in religious philosophies from Franco's Spain in the 1930s, the original fascists.
We also have confirmation of Russia's involvement, we knew Trump has had a longstanding compromised/submissive position with Putin from his business dealings which were funded by Russia, we have the Mueller and Senate Intelligence Committee reports, we witnessed that at the Helsinki press conference years ago and then he proved it again by personally sending Putin the scarce Covid testing machines that were reported recently. This past week there is incredible further confirmation, in the form of a public statement from a Russian official that Trump has obligations to them as a result of favors they did for him in the election, and the unbelievable broadcasting in prime time on Russian TV of Melania Trump's nude photos from her work as a model in the pornography industry when she first arrived in the US. This is blackmail of the incoming US President being broadcast to the world. We can only speculate as to what the Putin objective is that requires this pressure being applied to force compliance from Trump, since he usually agrees willingly.
So, we find ourselves at the confluence not only of Trump's destructive pathological drive, but that being harnessed in order to achieve the ''destruction of the administrative state'' goal of Project 2025 in order to impose an archaic form of Christian autocracy, with the help of one of our greatest adversaries Russia who would like to see us destroyed from within without firing a single shot.
Our main obstacle to overcoming these ridiculous plans is that most of our society is operating under misinformation which makes them believe the opposite of the truth, and another large segment is apathetic and unaware.
But, I feel it helps to be able to perceive that there is a rational yet crazy plan in Project 2025 being implemented, using Trump contagion as a way to mobilize support from a large segment of the population. That can help us find ways to put a stop to it. Trump won the swing states by a combined total of only around 220,000 votes, not that different from 2020 (78,000) and 2016 (47,000).
Trump supporters will soon be confronted with the reality that he lied to them on every topic, and he will be implementing radical policies that greatly harm them. That will be an opportunity for Democrats to bring them onside, and realize they should have voted for Harris. It would be even better if we could use this knowledge to convince President Biden to use his new immunity powers to stop these crazy Republicans from coming into power at all. As Coach Walz said, no one is asking for Project 2025, and both Democrats and MAGA are likely to revolt against it as it gets rolled out and the implications become more evident. Modernity will win out, and the GOP so clearly revealing itself as being a bunch of corrupt religious extremists will be an opportunity to stamp them out and adopt better policies inspired by successful democracies instead of those from the former Communist bloc. Informing the people will be the main challenge, although we do have Youtube, and the right-wing infosphere will soon not have any answers for them as the consequences of Projcect 2025 start to be seen and felt.
Susan, check out the Meidas Touch Network (not a mis-spelling of Midas) there are many people within this neNetwork who are doing good things to get the gavtd straight and fight all of the disinformation being spewed. No sanewashing.