Mr. Brock, ok what I want to write is more personal, so… Mike, you are the conscience of a lot of people and you are compelled to act on behalf of thousands, really. But, this is your mother writing…(not really I’m not old enough, but whatever). I’m worried about you because you mean well and I worry you are running yourself ragged for a cause, a need to understand, organize the elements of thought and inform and the need is your imperative, and the cause is great and overwhelming, but dude, (maybe the “sister” angle is more appropriate) I am worried about you. When do you rub your eyes and rest? Just saying, you can cover several subjects in a day, well and thoroughly and admirably so, and yes (do not get me wrong) your ability, intelligence, capacity is evident and as I mentioned the time is now. But as a reader (I’m trying all the angles) — just pace yourself, just make certain man, we need you but you know, don’t burn out, breathe, walk the dog… Just take care of yourself and know what you are doing is appreciated, recognized, worthwhile, vital, received, varied and never not well organized and timely. Just pace yourself and keep sight of — there’s you, your people, and then there’s us and there are still a “shipload of fools and one carload of idiots” (as Gary Larsen once wrote). You can’t save ‘em all, but yes, you can damn well try — and your “mom” thanks you for it as do many others. But, just take care of yourself, close your eyes and, ok I know what I wrote is useless but, try to chill just a tad, once in awhile, we need you man, alive and well. Thanks for everything, everyday.
I think the best way out it is to listen to them. Really listen first. Stay in relationship and conversation with each other. Continue to volunteer and work in community together. Find common ground. Then discuss without bashing.
I saw Joe Lonsdale of Palantir at Texas Tribune fest this weekend, interviewed by the Texas Tribune editor. Listening to him was absolutely eye opening. I can understand more of where silicon venture capitalists with major egos are coming from now. It’s also important to recognize the valid and good points he made alongside the self-serving “natural aristocracy” arguments he made. I also went to a panel moderated by the Atlantic editor that had former ambassadors Michael McFaul, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, and Jeff Flake. Eye opening again to see how blinded to Trump and stuck in the 90s some (Kay) are while still having the right attitude towards China. It is easier now for me to see how a good portion of the aging cohort on capital hill thinks. Btw, McFaul was clear-eyed and spoke unequivocally and with purpose, to erupting applause. Every session I went to all weekend had questions that were cogent and intelligent from the audience. And most of the Q&A came from young people. There is hope. Keep speaking truth to power and don’t forget to take walks and touch grass as it were. Anyone reading this, please consider becoming a member of the Texas Tribune news outlet if you want to keep the light alive in Texas. The conference was incredible and seeing Gen Z and Millennials out in full force asking questions, concerned about the capture of their universities, the job market, housing, etc. and ready to tackle issues by finding solutions gave me so much hope. I posted about this in notes. If anyone wants to discuss feel free to ask me there.
At 83-years, I am in that aged cohort. This issue of age is only relevant if you have mental decline, as we saw with Biden and we are seeing age + criminality with Trump. I will tell you that at this point in my life, I cannot put in 8 hours of physical labor that I was able to 8 years ago, but my mental acumen is the highest it has been in my entire life.
It is important that we do not exclude elders based on chronological age, but include anyone on merit. For me, that merit is assessed first in what message a person has to offer. For example, Abigail Spanberger, in her acceptance speech, showed she was not only eloquent in words but also in thought. She shared her concerns and her vision. But most important is what actions will she take-- what will she do?
“The proof of the pudding is in the eating." — Proverb
“Love is as love does. Love is an act of will—namely, both an intention and an action. Will also implies choice." — M. Scott Peck, MD from "A Road Less Traveled"
I am fed up with the non-stop pleas to support this or that campaign. What have you accomplished that shows me your "metal?" This is a huge fault of virtually every Democrat running for office.
This is the roadmap that I feel the people at-large are missing. They are still focused on consumption, (i.e., what they can buy, acquire, accumulate). It is said that Europeans work to live, but Americans work to buy.
I will say that we need to move away from such inane descriptors as "food insecurity." Is a person showing evidence of malnourishment? I have yet to see someone talking about their calamity with food prices who has a remote appearance of malnourishment. In fact, most of the interviews I see involve people who are overweight to obese. The only thing we have found in the medical world that will extend life is caloric restriction. In medical school, despite being on a scholarship, I often had to work odd jobs because I had no money to buy food. I tried cooking cheap stuff like okra, pig's feet and Spam. I was only able to master Spam. I would fulfill the definition of the most extreme food insecurity: Very Low. I was often hungry. I was never malnourished in the sense of loss of muscle mass, only abdominal fat loss-which is beneficial to health. The only malnutrition I have seen in the US is that due to overnutrition and the consumption of excessive calories due to fat and carbohydrate intake, which is characteristic of cheap or fast-food. But there are options at some fast-food places for healthier choices.
I guess I have to consider myself as a classic conservative liberal, best described in the writings of Wendell Berry (e.g., Our Only World, Citizens Dissent, What Are People For?)
Agreed. It is important not to discount our elderly. You have wisdom to give and the experience and advice that you can share is a priceless gift. However, if there is an arrested development with some of our politicians in leadership positions and they cannot seem to understand the current problems, many which have arisen anew in the digital age, and if they are unable to pivot to understand that we are facing issues in housing and healthcare affordability, are up against severe overreach of executive power and violations of the constitution, then they (regardless of their age) are mentally stuck and should not be in pivotal leadership roles. One of the wonderful things I saw from the younger people asking questions is that they were absolutely looking to the older cohort for advice and mentorship. They understood that they their elders had lived through the civil rights era and appreciated their vantage point. They were asking older panelists for guidance. It is the leaders who don’t understand that the status quo is no longer sustainable that are the issue, not necessarily seniors in general. I am sorry if that was not clear about that in my earlier post.
This waking up process is exactly what happened to a friend’s mother. She moved from a Florida retirement community to northern Virginia and started hearing a variety of news sources. She started to connect Trump’s actions to harm to people she knew and cared about. In about a year, she shifted from dedicated MAGA to a well-informed person who voted democrat for the first time in her life this year. She’s actively trying to reach back to friends in Florida to help them to make similar changes. It’s absolutely incredible.
Prior to all of that: they know full well that Trump isn't even eligible to be in office, that the 14th Amendment clearly disqualifies him, that a quo warranto action would see him declared never legally to have been President in the first place, and plenty of them voted for him anyway, or would have done were they eligible to vote.
You don’t even have to believe it. Just watch for the pattern. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it. And that pattern has a name: SECSV. Saturation, Enclosure, Capture, and Selective Violence. It is the playbook of every authoritarian project, including the one wearing a red hat and a persecution complex.
Saturation floods your world with noise until you cannot tell signal from sludge. Outrage bait. Manufactured threats. A content hose shoved straight into your amygdala. Confusion is the point.
Enclosure seals you inside an information corral where every exit is lined with alarms. Your media diet shrinks. Your community narrows. Only the tribe feels safe. Everyone outside is an enemy.
Capture happens quietly. You start repeating lines you did not write. You excuse things you once thought unthinkable. Your judgment migrates from your conscience to your feed. You become predictable.
Selective Violence is the enforcement mechanism. Not always bullets. Often humiliation. Social punishment. Threats. Doxxing. Public shaming. Enough pain to keep you compliant and enough reward to keep you hooked.
SECSV does not require your belief. It only requires your attention. And "legacy and social media" has weaponized all four stages with surgical precision.
If you feel cornered, confused, defensive, or strangely loyal to people who would not urinate on you if you were on fire, that is not an accident.
That is the system working. THIS is Epistemic Warfare.
What you have written is so very insightful. I would believe that John Adams probably has said something about each of the hallmarks of tyranny you have cited- assuming you consider these to be some of the hallmarks.
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other." — John Adams
"When legislature is corrupted, the people are undone." — John Adams
And perhaps the most telling of Adam's prescience:
"Democracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy, such an anarchy that every man will do what is right in his own eyes and no man's life or property or reputation or liberty will be secure, and every one of these will soon mould itself into a system of subordination of all the moral virtues and intellectual abilities, all the powers of wealth, beauty, wit and science, to the wanton pleasures, the capricious will, and the execrable cruelty of one or a very few." — John Adams
I would need to devote much time to fully digest what you have written on your substack. I am still a practicing physician, plus I am deeply involved with writing two books, and submitting manuscripts to peer-reviewed journals. In order to assess what you have prescribed involves serious time in cognitive work, which currently is already spread thin. This latter issue is even more the case insofar as the context of those that I "interact" with, since most pro-MAGA parties do not wish to engage in talk about anything political, no matter how tender I am in such interactions. I just ended a long phone call with my older sister who mentioned in both an earlier text, and twice during our phone call that she would not discuss anything political.
Please realize this. In my 63 years as an MD, when trying to educate patients, many will listen and act more earnestly to a con man than to a physician- a physician that has rendered them not only dedicated care but often changing their prognosis from "get your affairs together" versus outliving the MD (medical deity) that made such an absurd pronouncement. Patients will send me links to "medical advertisements" postulating a treatment that has no documentation in fact or peer-review, but not consider what many decades of experience have taught me, was confirmed in the peer-reviewed literature and that on occasion, I was even the first author of the medical treatment being considered. In other words, like Einstein said:
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." --Einstein
And given the nature of people, usually set in their ways and in their thoughts....
“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink." — John Heywood, 1546
But the nature of the human species is to react only to crises, and not to invest in mind work (cognitive processes) when prevention or early action is possible....
"When your horse is on the brink of a prprecipice,t is too late to pull the reins." —Chinese Proverb
I think we have a population we call MAGA that are steeped deeply in their brain-washing in that they think that they practice Christianity and that Trump is their saint or God. Of course, they are convinced that those who do not think like them must be totally for all that is "Democrat", and all that is "Liberal" or all that we wish to do is give anyone a freebie. I am definitely not of that group of people.
Earn your keep, earn your food, and do not expect others to give the life of sitting on your ass, watching TV, and asking for more. All may be created equal-- but assuming that for a moment-- this doesn't mean that all will aspire equally, work equally, have the same talents, and deserve to have equal purchasing power. There will be those that are rich, some well off, some so-so and some poor. What I would like to see is an appropriate tax code for the ultrarich (the billionaires of Bernie Sanders) and some form of assistance for the very poor. I am 4+ for vetting at the highest level of assessment. I am all for penal institutions that mandate payback to a society that has been injured. I am fine with whoever wants to marry another person, or choose gender, since these are personal, not federal or state issues. Government has intruded way too deeply into our society.
It is clear to me, that Due Diligence, the lack thereof, has gotten America into the mess it is today. We allowed a "fox & friends" into our hen house. Why should any of us be surprised at who is disappearing.
I really appreciate you taking the time to write this, especially with everything already demanding your brain power. You are describing exactly the terrain I mean when I talk about “epistemic warfare,” not individual stupidity but a poisoned information environment.
Where I would gently push is this. I do not think MAGA exists because these folks are uniquely foolish. I think they were uniquely targeted.
For forty years, an entire parallel reality was built specifically for people like your sister and many of your patients: talk radio, Fox, “patriot” Facebook groups, weaponized church networks, miracle cure ads, all repeating the same message:
“Only we tell you the truth. Everyone else – doctors, journalists, professors, government, even your own kids – is lying to you and laughing at you.”
If you are older, overworked, economically squeezed, maybe isolated, maybe proud of being “no nonsense”, that story is very tempting. It flatters your grievance and offers a ready-made tribe. Once you step into that bubble, every corrective looks like an attack, every fact-check looks like elite contempt.
Some of us were just less exposed or had different shields: diverse communities, different religious formations, training that forced us to cross-check sources, or life experiences that made us skeptical of authority in the first place.
So yes, they are responsible for what they endorse. But they are also victims of a deliberate, very profitable, multi-decade con. That is why I keep calling it warfare. The target is not their vote. The target is their capacity to know what is real.
People don’t see Propaganda because what they think it is is some alien authority seducing them to believe something outlandish. The Sit-Com hypnotist saying, “You are a chicken… You are a chicken… 🐔“ Next thing you are bocking and waving imaginary wings.
A REAL propagandist tells you what they think you want to hear. They know you are frustrated with the situation and are looking for answers. They want you to understand they see you, they know what’s going on with you and they have a simple solution.
They don’t start by arguing anything of substance. They only want to build TRUST. Most people can’t dissect complicated issues but they can judge other’s character. A person who listens to you, is sympathetic, and talks in simple English in a way you can understand.
This is true for every used car salesman, preacher, magician, snake oil salesman, politician and Propagandist. The “Con” in Conman is CONFIDENCE. Confidence they seem to have in themselves, confidence you feel in them.
Trump’s number one weapon that people don’t talk about is HUMOR. How he gets the crowd laughing. The more outrageous things he says, the louder the crowd laughs. The more convinced the crowd feels that Trump is a decent person because he makes you feel happy. The more you feel bonded to those around you because you are all laughing together.
Even though he says outrageous, you know it’s really a JOKE. A joke everyone in the crowd gets and everyone not in the crowd is shocked by. THEY just don’t understand. Working on a subliminal layer that has nothing to do with logic, where everything others are upset is an inside joke, offending others becomes a secret power. You know the Secret.
Every Con has one big TELL. “THEY aren’t going to tell you this, but I’m going to let you in on the secret to everything.” It is the promise of SECRET POWER. To be on the INSIDE, while everyone else struggles. Usually, the Secret starts simple. THEY are stupid for not recognizing it.
Suddenly, the frustrated, confused and angry crowd becomes the Confident, Certain and Revelatory Mob. It just feels better. There is no new information you received only that your side is on the Right and THEY are going DOWN.
Ken, I read your comment and have a different opinion.
You say: Even though he says outrageous, you know it’s really a JOKE.
I would say "no," it is not a joke, it is a projection of what he wants to do. Trump declares himself; and he also defends himself (i.e., I don't remember him; I will let you know in two weeks; I'm not sure, maybe yes, but maybe I may change my mind).
You say: Trump’s number one weapon that people don’t talk about is HUMOR. How he gets the crowd laughing. The more outrageous things he says, the louder the crowd laughs. The more convinced the crowd feels that Trump is a decent person because he makes you feel happy.
I would say: What source are you using to conclude that anyone with an upbringing that values civility, decency, truth, kindness would consider Trump to be a decent person?
Would a sincere Christian upbringing be consistent with Trump's "decency?" Well, not in my understanding of Jesus and the Gospels. Know a man by his deeds. Blowing up boats in the Caribbean and Pacific without knowing or documenting what and who are on board? Where's any due process? Having a buddy list of every tyrant dictator on planet Earth? Cutting off support to Ukraine while thousands are murdered by Trump's idol, Putin? Arresting students, harming citizens, creating fear in many cities in the US while causing collateral damage is decent? "What we've got here is failure to communicate" — Strother Martin & Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke (1967)
I can't begin to unravel the thinking of my MAGA family members because their churches are everything to them, which is not unusual. One sister's entire life is structured around her evangelical church and there is no extracting her. Her church will forever tell her that the Democrats are evil baby killers, Charlie Kirk was anointed by god, climate change is nonexistent, caring about the environment is stupid and the more guns in America, the better. She is actually always kind to my gay son and has a black daughter, but she fails to connect the negative consequences of her political support to the lives of those around her. I have no idea what her media diet is, but pretty sure that all her "facts" come from her church community. It's a real pickle!
I am in the midst of reading "Our Only World" by Wendell Berry. Berry has become my favorite author after reading thousands of books over my 83 years here on Earth. He lives in rural Kentucky and is 91. His wisdom about life, nature, politics, religion, etc is for me the epitome of truth. If you were to purchase "Our Only World" and read it, you would be shocked to know that this was written in 2015. Some of Berry's essays that hold their relevancy to today's dystopia were written 55 years ago: A Continuous Harmony.
What you described in some of the "religious right" is what I call pseudo-Christianity. If I am around a few more years, I will write a book titled The Hypocrisy of Christianity." But let me be clear, it is organized religion or more blatantly, bastardized religion, that is appalling. Berry discussed issues such as abortion, homosexuality, marriage, etc in ways that I have never heard before insofar as lucidity. Mike Brock could be the "son" of Wendell Berry regarding what he writes. This Creation is magnificent, and in the Bible, in many verses, what we have done to this planet is criminal.
Genesis 2:15: "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."
Note: The Hebrew words used here (abad and shamar) literally mean to "serve" and "keep/protect." It implies a role of preservation, not just consumption.
Isaiah 24:5 (The Breaking of the Covenant): "The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant."
Jeremiah 2:7 (The Land Defiled): "I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable."
Don't fight fire with fire, instead fight fire with understanding and learning.
Lastly, it is likely that each of us who see Trump for the destructive and divisive being that he is, likely has a family member that feels otherwise. My older sister will not speak to me if "politics" are mentioned. She has forgotten how politics has intruded and scarred the many beautiful gifts given to us.
One more comment on this. I think lecturing MAGA people is a bad approach. Trump appeals to them because he addresses (at least verbally) their concerns. If you want to appeal to this group, you are first going to have to acknowledge their problems; explain why Trumps actions are not addressing them; and offer better solutions. After you successfully do that, you should run for President.
This is excellent. Your invoking of children and grandchildren is spot on. I am reminded of the great line spoken by George C. Scott in the movie Patton: “Thirty years from now, when you’re sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee, and he asks you what you did in the great World War II, you won’t have to say: “Well, I shoveled shit in Louisiana.” (At about the 5 minute mark in this clip: https://youtu.be/PS5yfhPGaWE?si=AFpovuayvlg9Bma7 ) Simply replace World War II with Second Trump Presidency for the relevance of the quote.
"Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it." — John Adams
Thank you for all your essays, they are so appreciated. The most effective and honest thing I say to friends/family about supporting Trump is how could you support a man who mocked a disabled person? Of all the heinous, debased, cruel, illegal, etc things he’s done, nobody has an answer to that but I can see it hits them where it should
I would agree that MAGA supporters are trapped in a social media fishbowl where news exposure is involved. But if you think the national news networks are always truthful, you’re kidding yourself. They are just smoother at their propaganda due to much longer practice.
I’m no Trump supporter, but he has done some productive things, which you are never going to hear about in the national media.
Where I think he fails is that his main tactic is achieving things via disruption, rather than gaining cooperation via leadership. And far as honesty and integrity is concerned, I think he’s a horrible person … but probably no worse than the smooth politicians who are more adept at hiding it.
MAGA folks like the disruption because they’ve been screwed over for years, by capitalists who concentrate their attention elsewhere. Trump is giving them a feeling of revenge.
And if you think Trump is the only President who has attacked countries without Congressional authorization, you obviously got a F in history.
Rick, this is bothsiderism. We’ve never had a president this incompetent, stupid, criminal, depraved, and without empathy in the last 100 years (at least). Harry Truman was perhaps the least qualified besides trump, but he had moral fiber. Bill Clinton might have been the most depraved besides trump, but he was a master of his craft and always the smartest person in the room.
As for “the media,” the GOP propaganda infosphere is completely unmatched by the remaining fragments.
As for starting wars, the trump administration is breaking both the letter and spirit of the law in a way no other modern administration has.
People need to have as clear a moral view as possible about what this administration represents. And that requires being clear about how unprecedentedly tragic and incompetent trump and his administration are. This is not a time for “both sides are bad.”
I read with interest both "Dear Dumb Donnie" and Rick Bolin's replies. In the spirit of discourse/dialogue, I side almost entirely with LM, and for the following reasons.
1. Rick said: I would agree that MAGA supporters are trapped in a social media fishbowl where news exposure is involved. But if you think the national news networks are always truthful, you’re kidding yourself. They are just smoother at their propaganda due to much longer practice.
⇢ Yes, as someone that listens (to tolerance) to Fox News, and as someone that has spent time in the USSR and entered a cordial relationship with KGB (a discussion for another time that needs context), I would say that Fox News is the closest thing to KGB-type propaganda I have heard in a Western country. Yes, other so-called liberal mainstream media like MSNBC & CNN are certainly not Right-wing and they often miss the boat, but in no way do they compare with Fox News as to spouting BS. Fox News gets a 10, versus MSNBC and CNN getting a 3.
2. Agree with Rick about: I’m no Trump supporter, but he has done some productive things, which you are never going to hear about in the national media.
⇢ But the collateral damage of what he has done is mind-boggling.
• Not supporting Ukraine and costing the lives of thousands of Ukrainian civilians.
• Bombing ad lib with no approval by Congress in violation of the Constitution and ignoring any semblance of due process. The bombing in the Caribbean and Pacific are recent examples. Be on the watch for Trump and a land invasion or bombing of mainland Venezuela.
• Arming or supporting arms to Netanyahu and costing the destruction of lives, property and adding to ruination of the environment. By association, we are supporters of a genocide. I am a Jew and what Israel did is a genocide.
• Destroying Democracy with DOGE (Destroy Our Great Experiment), withdrawing Federal funds based on Blue state vs Red state, involve military and DHS to create fear in major cities while causing collateral damage and excluding due process. Where is the legislation to improve the way we accept immigrants to our citizenry?
• Now, costing Americans their hard-earned assets by "balancing" the books by excluding benefits to the populace while gifting more money to the ultra-ultra rich. What incredible balls, along with costing millions to tax-payers to pay for Congress to take a paid vacation lasting as long as 7 weeks, destroying the East wing to build a ballroom (that's balls for sure), wasting money on military parades and fly overs, and all of his now billions in violation of Emolument clauses in the Constitution.
You have to be wearing some very high-powered glasses to justify the tidbits of good Trump did versus the destruction he has caused. And this does not even touch what he has done to education, healthcare, national security with the buffoons he has installed in his Administration. Yep, RFK Jr made a contribution by getting rid of dyes in prescription drugs (I have not seen this yet) but he has allowed his stupidity of medicine to affect children's lives with his ignorance about the measles vaccine. And Trump has helped dismantle the NIH, FDA, CDC.
Rick, you are way off base. If I sat down and spent another hour on this reply I could come up with 15 more things that Trump has done to DOGE (Destroy Our Great Experiment).
And now he tells us, just wait, see how tarifffs will change your life for the better. He will give American's "rebates" to assuage their beefs, but meanwhile he is Putin's best ally in destroying this country.
Maybe it takes being 83 years old to see the elephant (literally and figuratively) in the room. This is what the Democrats, if they had some creativity, would do. Show the Republican Party Elephant as the elephant in the room. Again, John Adams had something to say about this:
"When legislature is corrupted, the people are undone." — John Adams
If paying attention to the concerns of 50% of the US population is bothsiderism, count me in. I'm no Trump supporter but but I refuse to condem people who voted for him without knowing why they did. MAGA could do a lot better with a sensible ethical leader who can make his case to the people and their representatives, rather than disrupting everything to get what he wants.
I’m not talking about Republican voters, at all. I’m talking about trump and his administration. You were too, mostly. I can’t control whether or not my thoughts on trump hurts his voters’ feelings, so I don’t worry about it.
I think significantly less than half the country truly supports him, and polls back me up on that.
All that said, I agree that going forward the democrats have to have a coherent message and plan addressing the average voter’s feelings of economic precarity.
“And far as honesty and integrity is concerned, I think [Trump]’s a horrible person … but probably no worse than the smooth politicians who are more adept at hiding it.”
J. Epstein called Trump “evil beyond belief”; I have a hard time believing there are many as awful as he is. However, I advocate for an international board of inquiry, similar to Nuremberg, that every current federal politician and appointed leader is brought before and confronted with their records. Some will be jailed; some will be barred from office. All will face the consequences of their speech, actions, and votes. In the meantime, new elections with no private financing of any kind.
"You can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think your parents could not be trusted, and you have been set up for others to keep you rattled. But you have the power to take back your life, to rest easy in your gut, to believe in yourself and to see the truth. Don't let them take you for a ride -- they are making hay off of you, and that's not right. We can fix this, by believing in each other, by following the hard path to truth, and building the world we deserve."
This is unfortunately worth a read. The author draws on examples of people disbelieving the evidence of their own eyes when it came to Hitler and Stalin.
First, while I have only read this one Notes From The Circus post, I believe my personal economic/social/political philosophy is much the same as yours. With that in mind, I also want to offer another perspective.
Second, I believe most of the people in the maga crowd (of the many I have spoken to and read about) simply don't care about all the points you made. I believe the How Did You Get Here section misses an important context that goes back to the early 80s. Middle & lower class wages started to stagnate then, impoverishing two full generations of Americans (the metric is Average Wages vs. GDP Per Capita). These people had the American Dream stolen from them so they don't believe in it anymore. They are not in a psychosis; they are in is a state of impoverishment with no way out and they are pissed. They elected Trump to tear down the system for them. He speaks to them. While it is also true that a lot of culture warriors latched onto Trump and brought their agendas to the maga movement, at its core, the maga crowd wants Trump to tear it all down. They fully realize that everything else mentioned in this blog is true but is also irrelevant to them.
The above is my honest perspective on the matter; not an apology for them and not making excuses. I truly believe the most effective approach to eliminating the maga movement is to defuse it by addressing its true cause: economic inequality. We must fix economic inequality and restore the American Dream for all Americans.
Mr. Brock, ok what I want to write is more personal, so… Mike, you are the conscience of a lot of people and you are compelled to act on behalf of thousands, really. But, this is your mother writing…(not really I’m not old enough, but whatever). I’m worried about you because you mean well and I worry you are running yourself ragged for a cause, a need to understand, organize the elements of thought and inform and the need is your imperative, and the cause is great and overwhelming, but dude, (maybe the “sister” angle is more appropriate) I am worried about you. When do you rub your eyes and rest? Just saying, you can cover several subjects in a day, well and thoroughly and admirably so, and yes (do not get me wrong) your ability, intelligence, capacity is evident and as I mentioned the time is now. But as a reader (I’m trying all the angles) — just pace yourself, just make certain man, we need you but you know, don’t burn out, breathe, walk the dog… Just take care of yourself and know what you are doing is appreciated, recognized, worthwhile, vital, received, varied and never not well organized and timely. Just pace yourself and keep sight of — there’s you, your people, and then there’s us and there are still a “shipload of fools and one carload of idiots” (as Gary Larsen once wrote). You can’t save ‘em all, but yes, you can damn well try — and your “mom” thanks you for it as do many others. But, just take care of yourself, close your eyes and, ok I know what I wrote is useless but, try to chill just a tad, once in awhile, we need you man, alive and well. Thanks for everything, everyday.
I get plenty of sleep every night, trust me!
Great to read, now maybe I can. Mom
👍
I fully endorse your comment! We do not want Mike to burn out!
I think the best way out it is to listen to them. Really listen first. Stay in relationship and conversation with each other. Continue to volunteer and work in community together. Find common ground. Then discuss without bashing.
I saw Joe Lonsdale of Palantir at Texas Tribune fest this weekend, interviewed by the Texas Tribune editor. Listening to him was absolutely eye opening. I can understand more of where silicon venture capitalists with major egos are coming from now. It’s also important to recognize the valid and good points he made alongside the self-serving “natural aristocracy” arguments he made. I also went to a panel moderated by the Atlantic editor that had former ambassadors Michael McFaul, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, and Jeff Flake. Eye opening again to see how blinded to Trump and stuck in the 90s some (Kay) are while still having the right attitude towards China. It is easier now for me to see how a good portion of the aging cohort on capital hill thinks. Btw, McFaul was clear-eyed and spoke unequivocally and with purpose, to erupting applause. Every session I went to all weekend had questions that were cogent and intelligent from the audience. And most of the Q&A came from young people. There is hope. Keep speaking truth to power and don’t forget to take walks and touch grass as it were. Anyone reading this, please consider becoming a member of the Texas Tribune news outlet if you want to keep the light alive in Texas. The conference was incredible and seeing Gen Z and Millennials out in full force asking questions, concerned about the capture of their universities, the job market, housing, etc. and ready to tackle issues by finding solutions gave me so much hope. I posted about this in notes. If anyone wants to discuss feel free to ask me there.
At 83-years, I am in that aged cohort. This issue of age is only relevant if you have mental decline, as we saw with Biden and we are seeing age + criminality with Trump. I will tell you that at this point in my life, I cannot put in 8 hours of physical labor that I was able to 8 years ago, but my mental acumen is the highest it has been in my entire life.
It is important that we do not exclude elders based on chronological age, but include anyone on merit. For me, that merit is assessed first in what message a person has to offer. For example, Abigail Spanberger, in her acceptance speech, showed she was not only eloquent in words but also in thought. She shared her concerns and her vision. But most important is what actions will she take-- what will she do?
“The proof of the pudding is in the eating." — Proverb
“Love is as love does. Love is an act of will—namely, both an intention and an action. Will also implies choice." — M. Scott Peck, MD from "A Road Less Traveled"
I am fed up with the non-stop pleas to support this or that campaign. What have you accomplished that shows me your "metal?" This is a huge fault of virtually every Democrat running for office.
This is the roadmap that I feel the people at-large are missing. They are still focused on consumption, (i.e., what they can buy, acquire, accumulate). It is said that Europeans work to live, but Americans work to buy.
I will say that we need to move away from such inane descriptors as "food insecurity." Is a person showing evidence of malnourishment? I have yet to see someone talking about their calamity with food prices who has a remote appearance of malnourishment. In fact, most of the interviews I see involve people who are overweight to obese. The only thing we have found in the medical world that will extend life is caloric restriction. In medical school, despite being on a scholarship, I often had to work odd jobs because I had no money to buy food. I tried cooking cheap stuff like okra, pig's feet and Spam. I was only able to master Spam. I would fulfill the definition of the most extreme food insecurity: Very Low. I was often hungry. I was never malnourished in the sense of loss of muscle mass, only abdominal fat loss-which is beneficial to health. The only malnutrition I have seen in the US is that due to overnutrition and the consumption of excessive calories due to fat and carbohydrate intake, which is characteristic of cheap or fast-food. But there are options at some fast-food places for healthier choices.
I guess I have to consider myself as a classic conservative liberal, best described in the writings of Wendell Berry (e.g., Our Only World, Citizens Dissent, What Are People For?)
Agreed. It is important not to discount our elderly. You have wisdom to give and the experience and advice that you can share is a priceless gift. However, if there is an arrested development with some of our politicians in leadership positions and they cannot seem to understand the current problems, many which have arisen anew in the digital age, and if they are unable to pivot to understand that we are facing issues in housing and healthcare affordability, are up against severe overreach of executive power and violations of the constitution, then they (regardless of their age) are mentally stuck and should not be in pivotal leadership roles. One of the wonderful things I saw from the younger people asking questions is that they were absolutely looking to the older cohort for advice and mentorship. They understood that they their elders had lived through the civil rights era and appreciated their vantage point. They were asking older panelists for guidance. It is the leaders who don’t understand that the status quo is no longer sustainable that are the issue, not necessarily seniors in general. I am sorry if that was not clear about that in my earlier post.
This waking up process is exactly what happened to a friend’s mother. She moved from a Florida retirement community to northern Virginia and started hearing a variety of news sources. She started to connect Trump’s actions to harm to people she knew and cared about. In about a year, she shifted from dedicated MAGA to a well-informed person who voted democrat for the first time in her life this year. She’s actively trying to reach back to friends in Florida to help them to make similar changes. It’s absolutely incredible.
Prior to all of that: they know full well that Trump isn't even eligible to be in office, that the 14th Amendment clearly disqualifies him, that a quo warranto action would see him declared never legally to have been President in the first place, and plenty of them voted for him anyway, or would have done were they eligible to vote.
Also, they needed a new "distract from the substance" catchphrase after "Benghazi!!!!1!!111!1!" ran out of steam.
Intellectual honesty is well worth the price.
You don’t even have to believe it. Just watch for the pattern. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it. And that pattern has a name: SECSV. Saturation, Enclosure, Capture, and Selective Violence. It is the playbook of every authoritarian project, including the one wearing a red hat and a persecution complex.
Saturation floods your world with noise until you cannot tell signal from sludge. Outrage bait. Manufactured threats. A content hose shoved straight into your amygdala. Confusion is the point.
Enclosure seals you inside an information corral where every exit is lined with alarms. Your media diet shrinks. Your community narrows. Only the tribe feels safe. Everyone outside is an enemy.
Capture happens quietly. You start repeating lines you did not write. You excuse things you once thought unthinkable. Your judgment migrates from your conscience to your feed. You become predictable.
Selective Violence is the enforcement mechanism. Not always bullets. Often humiliation. Social punishment. Threats. Doxxing. Public shaming. Enough pain to keep you compliant and enough reward to keep you hooked.
SECSV does not require your belief. It only requires your attention. And "legacy and social media" has weaponized all four stages with surgical precision.
If you feel cornered, confused, defensive, or strangely loyal to people who would not urinate on you if you were on fire, that is not an accident.
That is the system working. THIS is Epistemic Warfare.
What you have written is so very insightful. I would believe that John Adams probably has said something about each of the hallmarks of tyranny you have cited- assuming you consider these to be some of the hallmarks.
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other." — John Adams
"When legislature is corrupted, the people are undone." — John Adams
And perhaps the most telling of Adam's prescience:
"Democracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy, such an anarchy that every man will do what is right in his own eyes and no man's life or property or reputation or liberty will be secure, and every one of these will soon mould itself into a system of subordination of all the moral virtues and intellectual abilities, all the powers of wealth, beauty, wit and science, to the wanton pleasures, the capricious will, and the execrable cruelty of one or a very few." — John Adams
Thank you! I have a very detailed breakdown on Epistemic Warfare: https://twvme.substack.com/p/ewr-part-1-welcome-to-the-battlespace
Everything that John Adams thought about is exponentially amplified by the algorithm.
I would need to devote much time to fully digest what you have written on your substack. I am still a practicing physician, plus I am deeply involved with writing two books, and submitting manuscripts to peer-reviewed journals. In order to assess what you have prescribed involves serious time in cognitive work, which currently is already spread thin. This latter issue is even more the case insofar as the context of those that I "interact" with, since most pro-MAGA parties do not wish to engage in talk about anything political, no matter how tender I am in such interactions. I just ended a long phone call with my older sister who mentioned in both an earlier text, and twice during our phone call that she would not discuss anything political.
Please realize this. In my 63 years as an MD, when trying to educate patients, many will listen and act more earnestly to a con man than to a physician- a physician that has rendered them not only dedicated care but often changing their prognosis from "get your affairs together" versus outliving the MD (medical deity) that made such an absurd pronouncement. Patients will send me links to "medical advertisements" postulating a treatment that has no documentation in fact or peer-review, but not consider what many decades of experience have taught me, was confirmed in the peer-reviewed literature and that on occasion, I was even the first author of the medical treatment being considered. In other words, like Einstein said:
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." --Einstein
And given the nature of people, usually set in their ways and in their thoughts....
“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink." — John Heywood, 1546
But the nature of the human species is to react only to crises, and not to invest in mind work (cognitive processes) when prevention or early action is possible....
"When your horse is on the brink of a prprecipice,t is too late to pull the reins." —Chinese Proverb
I think we have a population we call MAGA that are steeped deeply in their brain-washing in that they think that they practice Christianity and that Trump is their saint or God. Of course, they are convinced that those who do not think like them must be totally for all that is "Democrat", and all that is "Liberal" or all that we wish to do is give anyone a freebie. I am definitely not of that group of people.
Earn your keep, earn your food, and do not expect others to give the life of sitting on your ass, watching TV, and asking for more. All may be created equal-- but assuming that for a moment-- this doesn't mean that all will aspire equally, work equally, have the same talents, and deserve to have equal purchasing power. There will be those that are rich, some well off, some so-so and some poor. What I would like to see is an appropriate tax code for the ultrarich (the billionaires of Bernie Sanders) and some form of assistance for the very poor. I am 4+ for vetting at the highest level of assessment. I am all for penal institutions that mandate payback to a society that has been injured. I am fine with whoever wants to marry another person, or choose gender, since these are personal, not federal or state issues. Government has intruded way too deeply into our society.
It is clear to me, that Due Diligence, the lack thereof, has gotten America into the mess it is today. We allowed a "fox & friends" into our hen house. Why should any of us be surprised at who is disappearing.
I really appreciate you taking the time to write this, especially with everything already demanding your brain power. You are describing exactly the terrain I mean when I talk about “epistemic warfare,” not individual stupidity but a poisoned information environment.
Where I would gently push is this. I do not think MAGA exists because these folks are uniquely foolish. I think they were uniquely targeted.
For forty years, an entire parallel reality was built specifically for people like your sister and many of your patients: talk radio, Fox, “patriot” Facebook groups, weaponized church networks, miracle cure ads, all repeating the same message:
“Only we tell you the truth. Everyone else – doctors, journalists, professors, government, even your own kids – is lying to you and laughing at you.”
If you are older, overworked, economically squeezed, maybe isolated, maybe proud of being “no nonsense”, that story is very tempting. It flatters your grievance and offers a ready-made tribe. Once you step into that bubble, every corrective looks like an attack, every fact-check looks like elite contempt.
Some of us were just less exposed or had different shields: diverse communities, different religious formations, training that forced us to cross-check sources, or life experiences that made us skeptical of authority in the first place.
So yes, they are responsible for what they endorse. But they are also victims of a deliberate, very profitable, multi-decade con. That is why I keep calling it warfare. The target is not their vote. The target is their capacity to know what is real.
People don’t see Propaganda because what they think it is is some alien authority seducing them to believe something outlandish. The Sit-Com hypnotist saying, “You are a chicken… You are a chicken… 🐔“ Next thing you are bocking and waving imaginary wings.
A REAL propagandist tells you what they think you want to hear. They know you are frustrated with the situation and are looking for answers. They want you to understand they see you, they know what’s going on with you and they have a simple solution.
They don’t start by arguing anything of substance. They only want to build TRUST. Most people can’t dissect complicated issues but they can judge other’s character. A person who listens to you, is sympathetic, and talks in simple English in a way you can understand.
This is true for every used car salesman, preacher, magician, snake oil salesman, politician and Propagandist. The “Con” in Conman is CONFIDENCE. Confidence they seem to have in themselves, confidence you feel in them.
Trump’s number one weapon that people don’t talk about is HUMOR. How he gets the crowd laughing. The more outrageous things he says, the louder the crowd laughs. The more convinced the crowd feels that Trump is a decent person because he makes you feel happy. The more you feel bonded to those around you because you are all laughing together.
Even though he says outrageous, you know it’s really a JOKE. A joke everyone in the crowd gets and everyone not in the crowd is shocked by. THEY just don’t understand. Working on a subliminal layer that has nothing to do with logic, where everything others are upset is an inside joke, offending others becomes a secret power. You know the Secret.
Every Con has one big TELL. “THEY aren’t going to tell you this, but I’m going to let you in on the secret to everything.” It is the promise of SECRET POWER. To be on the INSIDE, while everyone else struggles. Usually, the Secret starts simple. THEY are stupid for not recognizing it.
Suddenly, the frustrated, confused and angry crowd becomes the Confident, Certain and Revelatory Mob. It just feels better. There is no new information you received only that your side is on the Right and THEY are going DOWN.
Ken, I read your comment and have a different opinion.
You say: Even though he says outrageous, you know it’s really a JOKE.
I would say "no," it is not a joke, it is a projection of what he wants to do. Trump declares himself; and he also defends himself (i.e., I don't remember him; I will let you know in two weeks; I'm not sure, maybe yes, but maybe I may change my mind).
You say: Trump’s number one weapon that people don’t talk about is HUMOR. How he gets the crowd laughing. The more outrageous things he says, the louder the crowd laughs. The more convinced the crowd feels that Trump is a decent person because he makes you feel happy.
I would say: What source are you using to conclude that anyone with an upbringing that values civility, decency, truth, kindness would consider Trump to be a decent person?
Would a sincere Christian upbringing be consistent with Trump's "decency?" Well, not in my understanding of Jesus and the Gospels. Know a man by his deeds. Blowing up boats in the Caribbean and Pacific without knowing or documenting what and who are on board? Where's any due process? Having a buddy list of every tyrant dictator on planet Earth? Cutting off support to Ukraine while thousands are murdered by Trump's idol, Putin? Arresting students, harming citizens, creating fear in many cities in the US while causing collateral damage is decent? "What we've got here is failure to communicate" — Strother Martin & Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke (1967)
I can't begin to unravel the thinking of my MAGA family members because their churches are everything to them, which is not unusual. One sister's entire life is structured around her evangelical church and there is no extracting her. Her church will forever tell her that the Democrats are evil baby killers, Charlie Kirk was anointed by god, climate change is nonexistent, caring about the environment is stupid and the more guns in America, the better. She is actually always kind to my gay son and has a black daughter, but she fails to connect the negative consequences of her political support to the lives of those around her. I have no idea what her media diet is, but pretty sure that all her "facts" come from her church community. It's a real pickle!
I am in the midst of reading "Our Only World" by Wendell Berry. Berry has become my favorite author after reading thousands of books over my 83 years here on Earth. He lives in rural Kentucky and is 91. His wisdom about life, nature, politics, religion, etc is for me the epitome of truth. If you were to purchase "Our Only World" and read it, you would be shocked to know that this was written in 2015. Some of Berry's essays that hold their relevancy to today's dystopia were written 55 years ago: A Continuous Harmony.
What you described in some of the "religious right" is what I call pseudo-Christianity. If I am around a few more years, I will write a book titled The Hypocrisy of Christianity." But let me be clear, it is organized religion or more blatantly, bastardized religion, that is appalling. Berry discussed issues such as abortion, homosexuality, marriage, etc in ways that I have never heard before insofar as lucidity. Mike Brock could be the "son" of Wendell Berry regarding what he writes. This Creation is magnificent, and in the Bible, in many verses, what we have done to this planet is criminal.
Genesis 2:15: "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."
Note: The Hebrew words used here (abad and shamar) literally mean to "serve" and "keep/protect." It implies a role of preservation, not just consumption.
Isaiah 24:5 (The Breaking of the Covenant): "The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant."
Jeremiah 2:7 (The Land Defiled): "I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable."
Don't fight fire with fire, instead fight fire with understanding and learning.
Lastly, it is likely that each of us who see Trump for the destructive and divisive being that he is, likely has a family member that feels otherwise. My older sister will not speak to me if "politics" are mentioned. She has forgotten how politics has intruded and scarred the many beautiful gifts given to us.
One more comment on this. I think lecturing MAGA people is a bad approach. Trump appeals to them because he addresses (at least verbally) their concerns. If you want to appeal to this group, you are first going to have to acknowledge their problems; explain why Trumps actions are not addressing them; and offer better solutions. After you successfully do that, you should run for President.
This is excellent. Your invoking of children and grandchildren is spot on. I am reminded of the great line spoken by George C. Scott in the movie Patton: “Thirty years from now, when you’re sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee, and he asks you what you did in the great World War II, you won’t have to say: “Well, I shoveled shit in Louisiana.” (At about the 5 minute mark in this clip: https://youtu.be/PS5yfhPGaWE?si=AFpovuayvlg9Bma7 ) Simply replace World War II with Second Trump Presidency for the relevance of the quote.
"Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it." — John Adams
Thank you for all your essays, they are so appreciated. The most effective and honest thing I say to friends/family about supporting Trump is how could you support a man who mocked a disabled person? Of all the heinous, debased, cruel, illegal, etc things he’s done, nobody has an answer to that but I can see it hits them where it should
La, la, la, They can't hear you
I would agree that MAGA supporters are trapped in a social media fishbowl where news exposure is involved. But if you think the national news networks are always truthful, you’re kidding yourself. They are just smoother at their propaganda due to much longer practice.
I’m no Trump supporter, but he has done some productive things, which you are never going to hear about in the national media.
Where I think he fails is that his main tactic is achieving things via disruption, rather than gaining cooperation via leadership. And far as honesty and integrity is concerned, I think he’s a horrible person … but probably no worse than the smooth politicians who are more adept at hiding it.
MAGA folks like the disruption because they’ve been screwed over for years, by capitalists who concentrate their attention elsewhere. Trump is giving them a feeling of revenge.
And if you think Trump is the only President who has attacked countries without Congressional authorization, you obviously got a F in history.
Rick, this is bothsiderism. We’ve never had a president this incompetent, stupid, criminal, depraved, and without empathy in the last 100 years (at least). Harry Truman was perhaps the least qualified besides trump, but he had moral fiber. Bill Clinton might have been the most depraved besides trump, but he was a master of his craft and always the smartest person in the room.
As for “the media,” the GOP propaganda infosphere is completely unmatched by the remaining fragments.
As for starting wars, the trump administration is breaking both the letter and spirit of the law in a way no other modern administration has.
People need to have as clear a moral view as possible about what this administration represents. And that requires being clear about how unprecedentedly tragic and incompetent trump and his administration are. This is not a time for “both sides are bad.”
I read with interest both "Dear Dumb Donnie" and Rick Bolin's replies. In the spirit of discourse/dialogue, I side almost entirely with LM, and for the following reasons.
1. Rick said: I would agree that MAGA supporters are trapped in a social media fishbowl where news exposure is involved. But if you think the national news networks are always truthful, you’re kidding yourself. They are just smoother at their propaganda due to much longer practice.
⇢ Yes, as someone that listens (to tolerance) to Fox News, and as someone that has spent time in the USSR and entered a cordial relationship with KGB (a discussion for another time that needs context), I would say that Fox News is the closest thing to KGB-type propaganda I have heard in a Western country. Yes, other so-called liberal mainstream media like MSNBC & CNN are certainly not Right-wing and they often miss the boat, but in no way do they compare with Fox News as to spouting BS. Fox News gets a 10, versus MSNBC and CNN getting a 3.
2. Agree with Rick about: I’m no Trump supporter, but he has done some productive things, which you are never going to hear about in the national media.
⇢ But the collateral damage of what he has done is mind-boggling.
• Not supporting Ukraine and costing the lives of thousands of Ukrainian civilians.
• Bombing ad lib with no approval by Congress in violation of the Constitution and ignoring any semblance of due process. The bombing in the Caribbean and Pacific are recent examples. Be on the watch for Trump and a land invasion or bombing of mainland Venezuela.
• Arming or supporting arms to Netanyahu and costing the destruction of lives, property and adding to ruination of the environment. By association, we are supporters of a genocide. I am a Jew and what Israel did is a genocide.
• Destroying Democracy with DOGE (Destroy Our Great Experiment), withdrawing Federal funds based on Blue state vs Red state, involve military and DHS to create fear in major cities while causing collateral damage and excluding due process. Where is the legislation to improve the way we accept immigrants to our citizenry?
• Now, costing Americans their hard-earned assets by "balancing" the books by excluding benefits to the populace while gifting more money to the ultra-ultra rich. What incredible balls, along with costing millions to tax-payers to pay for Congress to take a paid vacation lasting as long as 7 weeks, destroying the East wing to build a ballroom (that's balls for sure), wasting money on military parades and fly overs, and all of his now billions in violation of Emolument clauses in the Constitution.
You have to be wearing some very high-powered glasses to justify the tidbits of good Trump did versus the destruction he has caused. And this does not even touch what he has done to education, healthcare, national security with the buffoons he has installed in his Administration. Yep, RFK Jr made a contribution by getting rid of dyes in prescription drugs (I have not seen this yet) but he has allowed his stupidity of medicine to affect children's lives with his ignorance about the measles vaccine. And Trump has helped dismantle the NIH, FDA, CDC.
Rick, you are way off base. If I sat down and spent another hour on this reply I could come up with 15 more things that Trump has done to DOGE (Destroy Our Great Experiment).
And now he tells us, just wait, see how tarifffs will change your life for the better. He will give American's "rebates" to assuage their beefs, but meanwhile he is Putin's best ally in destroying this country.
Maybe it takes being 83 years old to see the elephant (literally and figuratively) in the room. This is what the Democrats, if they had some creativity, would do. Show the Republican Party Elephant as the elephant in the room. Again, John Adams had something to say about this:
"When legislature is corrupted, the people are undone." — John Adams
If paying attention to the concerns of 50% of the US population is bothsiderism, count me in. I'm no Trump supporter but but I refuse to condem people who voted for him without knowing why they did. MAGA could do a lot better with a sensible ethical leader who can make his case to the people and their representatives, rather than disrupting everything to get what he wants.
I’m not talking about Republican voters, at all. I’m talking about trump and his administration. You were too, mostly. I can’t control whether or not my thoughts on trump hurts his voters’ feelings, so I don’t worry about it.
I think significantly less than half the country truly supports him, and polls back me up on that.
All that said, I agree that going forward the democrats have to have a coherent message and plan addressing the average voter’s feelings of economic precarity.
“And far as honesty and integrity is concerned, I think [Trump]’s a horrible person … but probably no worse than the smooth politicians who are more adept at hiding it.”
J. Epstein called Trump “evil beyond belief”; I have a hard time believing there are many as awful as he is. However, I advocate for an international board of inquiry, similar to Nuremberg, that every current federal politician and appointed leader is brought before and confronted with their records. Some will be jailed; some will be barred from office. All will face the consequences of their speech, actions, and votes. In the meantime, new elections with no private financing of any kind.
Getting the money out of politics would probably be the best thing this country could do.
Yes! When billionaires run out of new things to buy, they shop for power😠 Tax the rich!
"You can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think your parents could not be trusted, and you have been set up for others to keep you rattled. But you have the power to take back your life, to rest easy in your gut, to believe in yourself and to see the truth. Don't let them take you for a ride -- they are making hay off of you, and that's not right. We can fix this, by believing in each other, by following the hard path to truth, and building the world we deserve."
This is unfortunately worth a read. The author draws on examples of people disbelieving the evidence of their own eyes when it came to Hitler and Stalin.
https://cmarmitage.substack.com/p/history-says-most-trump-supporters
Two points:
First, while I have only read this one Notes From The Circus post, I believe my personal economic/social/political philosophy is much the same as yours. With that in mind, I also want to offer another perspective.
Second, I believe most of the people in the maga crowd (of the many I have spoken to and read about) simply don't care about all the points you made. I believe the How Did You Get Here section misses an important context that goes back to the early 80s. Middle & lower class wages started to stagnate then, impoverishing two full generations of Americans (the metric is Average Wages vs. GDP Per Capita). These people had the American Dream stolen from them so they don't believe in it anymore. They are not in a psychosis; they are in is a state of impoverishment with no way out and they are pissed. They elected Trump to tear down the system for them. He speaks to them. While it is also true that a lot of culture warriors latched onto Trump and brought their agendas to the maga movement, at its core, the maga crowd wants Trump to tear it all down. They fully realize that everything else mentioned in this blog is true but is also irrelevant to them.
The above is my honest perspective on the matter; not an apology for them and not making excuses. I truly believe the most effective approach to eliminating the maga movement is to defuse it by addressing its true cause: economic inequality. We must fix economic inequality and restore the American Dream for all Americans.