202 Comments
User's avatar
Caroline's avatar

The decline into fascism is slow and then all at once.

Expand full comment
Jeff Tiedrich's avatar

Hemingway would approve of this comment

Expand full comment
Caroline's avatar

I guess I deserve an absinthe cocktail.

Expand full comment
Jeff Tiedrich's avatar

it's a great comment, it's up there in the "wish I'd thought of it" stratosphere

Expand full comment
Caroline's avatar

far too much of my schooling was spent focused on the topic

Expand full comment
Helen House's avatar

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder.

Expand full comment
Karen Livolsi's avatar

Ahhh...the Green Fairy

Expand full comment
Cassandra Here's avatar

I’ll join you.

Expand full comment
Sköll's avatar

It is what many Americans underestimate. They don't think a fascist government can exist in America that can grab people off the streets for noncompliance and keep them in prison camps. Then when it happens to their family members, they can't speak up or they will join them in prison.

Expand full comment
Caroline's avatar

Bingo! The vast majority of democracies die.

Expand full comment
Leesa J Chenoweth's avatar

Kind of like the melting of Antarctic ice.

Expand full comment
Caroline's avatar

Painfully true...

Expand full comment
lulie donli's avatar

... like birthing a baby ... as in prophecy...announcing armageddon

Expand full comment
Neal Stiffelman's avatar

I’m still waiting for that moment when he shits his Depends in the courtroom and the stink reaches his attorneys. Then I’m waiting for the press gaggle on the steps. Then I’m waiting for the NYT headline: “Trump Takes Bathroom Breaks in a New Direction”.

Expand full comment
Kimberly Montgomery (CA)'s avatar

👏👏👏👏 Bravo!

I cancelled my NYT account after being so exhausted by their obvious ignoring of the dangers posed by Trump and his Christofascist Nationalist Movement KKKrowd agenda. We have been comparing him to Hitler and his financiers and loyalists the Nazi Party since his first term in office, and now since their loss in 2020, it's so out there.

Corporate Media should absolutely be calling him and Republicans and the money behind the Christofascist Nationalist Movement agenda out at every turn.

Expand full comment
un poco loco's avatar

I cancelled mine during the W admin -- then in 2020, I don't know why, maybe because I was so desperately bored or just wanted a crossword or something, but I ended up with the NYTimes puzzle app on my phone, did one Sunday crossword & forgot about it... then, when I realized I was still paying a monthly fee, I spent a couple of months trying to cancel it. By the time I got a response (in chat, no less), I was so cranky I told them I WILL NEVER SEND ANOTHER DIME TO THE NY TIMES BECAUSE IT'S DESTROYING DEMOCRACY. (Usually I don't use all caps talking to businesses because they tend to think you're, oh, maybe a deranged nutjob.) The poor person on the other end of the chat was very nice about it and took care of the cancellation right away. It's funny -- I constantly get decent subscription offers from them now, but it's not like they even deliver an actual paper I could line a cat box with...

Expand full comment
RV maxima's avatar

They want to be around after the fall. If they get too truth, it will be out the 4th floor window- metaphorically or actual. As usual, playing both sides against the middle.

Expand full comment
Morgan OCailleigh's avatar

Oh dear gods..... fuck the NYT.

Expand full comment
Rick Calegari's avatar

It was a reported a few years back on Twitter that he blew a load in a packed press conference room. As fast as he's losing his shit these days, it may be only a matter of time before a courtroom has to experience a similar blow out.

Expand full comment
Charlie Austin's avatar

I want full Mr. Creosote.

Expand full comment
RV maxima's avatar

The Apprentice producers seem to know of this too.

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment deleted
Nov 13, 2023
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
Rick Calegari's avatar

According to the reporter who said he was there, it's true. Wish I remembered the reporter's name.

Expand full comment
Patris's avatar

Hahaaaaha (direct quote of me now)

Expand full comment
SusanA's avatar

big, beautiful gigantic LOL!

Expand full comment
Kay-El's avatar

Btw, I took up the challenge of composing a little ditty about the Trump crime family a la the Addams family. Please enjoy:

They’re stupid and they’re fools

They’ll con rubes from their jewels

They really are such ghouls

The Trump Fraud Family!

Their manse is fake gold plated

It’s gated cuz they’re hated

To hell I hope they’re fated

The Trump Fraud Family!

Here’s a clue to all those brain dead

No more will they be spoon fed

To prison they will soon head

The Trump Fraud Family!

Expand full comment
Wendy's avatar

That was absolutely enjoyable and fun! Thanks.

Expand full comment
247kath's avatar

😂🤣❤️Just great!!

Expand full comment
Karen Livolsi's avatar

The Addams Family theme music played in my head when I read this

Expand full comment
Morgan's avatar

Brilliant my friend, absolutely brilliant!!

Expand full comment
Diana-Sedona's avatar

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Excellent. Should be played at all the 🍊💩’s rallies!!

Expand full comment
TS's avatar

Hilarious and I love it! 😂🤣

Expand full comment
Robyn Ruder's avatar

Bravo👏👏

Expand full comment
SeekingReason's avatar

Excellent! 😄

Expand full comment
APS's avatar

"pity our poor beleaguered national press. they’ve been trying like hell to treat the shitcanning of democracy and the rise of authoritarianism in the United States as if this were just another plain old horse-race election season"

I don't pity them I am furious at them.

Expand full comment
Kay-El's avatar

Agreed. I canceled my subscription to the NYT because I got so fucking sick of the both sides bullshit. “Different Direction”???? That’s a pretty crappy euphemism for “full blown fascist”

Expand full comment
L P Inness's avatar

I, too, canceled the NYT and WaPo - I couldn't stomach their catering to the extremists and covering up the obvious authoritarian bent of the MAGAts.

Expand full comment
Kay-El's avatar

I’m seriously considering canceling WaPo too. I think I’ll just not renew when it’s up. Used to be a great news source, but Bezos just has destroyed it, like he did Amazon (which I refuse to shop at because they became like Walmart)

Expand full comment
SusanA's avatar

cancelled my WaPo subscription several years ago when an ad popped up hawking a book for kids that was written by Mike Huckabee. I am not a woman prone to snap decisions but I couldn't cancel that subscription fast enough.

Expand full comment
L P Inness's avatar

WaPo's new CEO is a Murdoch conglomerate veteran. Administrations are core principles and philosophical ideals

Expand full comment
Sharon C Storm's avatar

That’s exactly what I did, I was supposed to renew last month, and I let it lapse. Since I got a new credit card, they didn’t have the number to auto renew.

Expand full comment
SeekingReason's avatar

Bravo 👏🏻👏🏻

Expand full comment
Sharon C Storm's avatar

You are not alone, a majority of those of us who are paying attention are right with you!

Expand full comment
SeekingReason's avatar

kay-El I’m happy to hear about the cancellations. I hope it is very noticeable. 👍🏼

Expand full comment
Judy Luchsinger's avatar

I cancelled mine, too. Now I subscribe to Jeff T and Mueller She Wrote among others.

Expand full comment
Linda McCaughey's avatar

They aren't hapless victims of circumstance. They are fueling the fire for profit.

Expand full comment
Wendy's avatar

trump believes in his addled, syphilitic mind that Obama is the President, and I love that for him! He has been eating his own brain since Obama made fun of him at the dinner that was recorded for all of us to enjoy repeatedly. tffg's comprehension has collapsed and he feeds on delusions and fantasies. While it isn't normally enjoyable to watch someone's collapse, this is an exception I am taking great comfort in because we need justice and karma working together to bring back a new balance and equilibrium.

I want trump to go to his grave believing Obama bested him at everything. I mean, Obama did best him at every turn, but I want trump's belief of it to crush him.

Expand full comment
Sarah's avatar

Orange fuckface isn’t declining rapidly enough to convince his lemmings that anything is ‘off’. Even the media is still propping him up, treating him as if he’s a sane person and not the completely sadistic sociopathic paranoid creep being fed evil by the mini monsters that surround him with their horrific plans.

Expand full comment
James Starr's avatar

it's really bothersom....if Biden had said ANY of these things tRump has said the media would have blown stories up to no end about it non stop....It's disgusting

Expand full comment
Wendy's avatar

Yes, the chef's kiss of the whole thing is that his disciples keep him locked in the prison of his own making. They stop any possibility of him getting help because they feed his delusions and make it so he goes deeper into them. Reasonable people would be trying to help him, not entice him to go deeper into delusion for their entertainment. When the audience is so lost that they encourage what is happening, it's sad. But it's where we are.

Expand full comment
SeekingReason's avatar

Sarah, I agree. They act like trump is controlling the GQP! He’s practically brain dead! He makes the perfect puppet.

Expand full comment
Diana-Sedona's avatar

I can see his lemmings still idolizing the orange fuckface when he’s brought on stage a la “Weekend at Bernie’s”.

Expand full comment
Morgan OCailleigh's avatar

Schadenfreude.

Why aren't more people laughing at this? Because it's not really but at the same time..

Expand full comment
Wendy's avatar

Precisely. I learned to spell the word and recognize its aroma specifically for this era; it's the perfect antidote.

Expand full comment
Sköll's avatar

It would be funny if Obama dialed him at 230 a.m. and hung up.

Expand full comment
Susan Niemann's avatar

I’m scared to fucking death. 😳

Expand full comment
Patris's avatar

Just decide to fight.

Expand full comment
Susan Niemann's avatar

We have to fight

Expand full comment
Charlie Austin's avatar

We have no other choice.

Expand full comment
Ann Anderson's avatar

I had coffee with a friend the other day. We usually discuss politics. To my great relief, she did not bring up the Israel/Hamas war. I'm nervous about self-identifying as Jewish in a public place, and that's already too far down the road to fascism as far as I'm concerned. Folks, there's one solution to the MAGA problem, and that's beating them like a drum come next November.

Expand full comment
SeekingReason's avatar

Ann, That is disgraceful that you have to feel that way. Fascism is ugly and we will beat this. This affects people of color, LGBTQIA, Women’s rights, vulnerable groups who are targeted by terrorist trump & his trumpanzees! THERE ARE FAR MORE OF US. We’ve given them the preview with elections in Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky and all the school boards that kicked the Hitler wannabes, mom of “liberty” right in the collective asses!

Expand full comment
Kay-El's avatar

I did Nazi this coming, oh wait, yes I did, because I read a large chunk of Project 2025, which reads like a dystopian novel, but is even scarier because it’s real. TDS belongs to the GOP klan because they’re the crazies who believe Trump’s shit

Expand full comment
Openly Fae's avatar

I hope you all are prepared to fight. Either Rethuglicans win and there will be violence against everyone who isn't them or they lose and try another violent insurrection because they're in deep shit if anyone holds them accountable for open treason.

Why that site is even legal is solely so they have an excuse to shut down free speech later if anyone ELSE tries to have a website like that under their governance. "Look we did a site like that and it led to a violent takeover. We can't let anyone else do that!"

I really hate these fuckers. Good job for them I'm not a violent person.

Expand full comment
Wendy's avatar

I've never been a violent person either. And then along came tffg who encouraged the loons to join a cult of worshipers and revel in cognitive dissonance like mushrooms in shit. I was surprised to find that I possessed a homicidal rage I had been unaware of before 'dipshits unite' was a goal unleashed on the world.

Expand full comment
un poco loco's avatar

I've been pissed off for half of the last 40+ years, since Reagan manipulated the Iran hostage crisis to get elected, but Trump cranked it up to 11. We keep the two guns we have locked up for a reason.

Expand full comment
Openly Fae's avatar

Like mushrooms in shit or as mushrooms in shit? :p

Expand full comment
Sharon Buchbinder, PhD's avatar

His 86 year old sister died today. The parents' ages at death and the sister's age at death tell us we MUST to have a blue wave to keep this crazy MF out of the White House.

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment deleted
Nov 13, 2023
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
Cassandra Here's avatar

First thing I check in my news alerts: Is he dead, at last. I think I am not alone in that.

Expand full comment
William Burke's avatar

I’m expecting him to blow a gasket anytime given the 90+ indictments he faces and trying to fake like he’s up to running an election. We’ll know it’s blown when his makeup starts running down his face like Rudy’s did.

Expand full comment
Susan Niemann's avatar

🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

Expand full comment
Sharon Buchbinder, PhD's avatar

From your lips...

Expand full comment
Lorraine Parish's avatar

and the fucking stress except I've been told sociopaths don't experience stress

like we normal people do.

Expand full comment
Abbi's avatar

Being exposed as a fraud is every narcissists worst nightmare. I suspect that’s what’s causing his increasing disorganization and not dementia. A local neuropsychiatrist gave a talk about how people with narcissistic and anti-social personality disorders live longer than one would predict given the stress. I suspect it’s because their psychopathology leaves them unable to feel empathy or fear — both get turned to rage.

Expand full comment
Linda McCaughey's avatar

"I am the great and powerful OZ!"---from behind the curtain, smoke and mirrors....

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment deleted
Nov 13, 2023
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
Lorraine Parish's avatar

agree. and it's going to happen. the judge see straight thru these liars and their bullshit.

Expand full comment
Charlie Austin's avatar

You know it.

Expand full comment
Linda Weide's avatar

Agreed. Also, senility, which I don't know if she was showing, can lead to not taking care of oneself. Trump is certainly showing signs of that.

Expand full comment
Abbi's avatar

The wife whose ashes are buried in a very large and heavy casket at his “shitty golf motel and cemetery” said in 2015 that he kept a copy of Mein Kampf on his nightstand. And of course the press ignored her (hey, Hilary reads history, too. plus her emails). It’s more blatant now because his anxiety and narcissistic disorganization are getting worse.

Expand full comment
Sharon C Storm's avatar

It was actually a book of Hitler’s speeches. Mein Kampf would be too difficult for him to read.

Expand full comment
Abbi's avatar

🤣🤣🤣 Whoops! I misremembered it. Thanks for the correction.

Expand full comment
Sharon C Storm's avatar

I don’t know how any of us can keep these things straight. There’s so much information out there about his criminal record. As it happens, I just saw that information last week, so it was fresh in my memory.

Expand full comment
George A. Polisner's avatar

Thank you Jeff. The Heritage Foundation has a hand in Project 2025. Trump is just a manifestation of the fascist disease. Most of the GOP have been infected. One doesn't need to look beyond Orban speaking at CPAC to know that the GOP is done with democracy.

The media should be flashing warning signs in headlines daily. However they do not embrace a one-party race. They thrive on conflict and want the election to be decided by razor-thin margins. Who cares if Trump, or another MAGA candidate refers to the press as "Enemies of the People? (same as Hitler once did).

Aside from the press, a democracy requires a well-educated, well-informed, and engaged society. Perhaps we'll get the government we deserve while Putin and Xi Jinping divide up the rest of the world.

Expand full comment
Charlie Austin's avatar

It's all about $$$$$$!!

Expand full comment
Lorraine Parish's avatar

I'm glad I live in Mexico, nobody cares about it.

Expand full comment
George A. Polisner's avatar

I’m in Portugal.

Expand full comment
Lorraine Parish's avatar

Nice. I could wind up there, who knows. Where in Portugal? What are the expats like there?

Expand full comment
George A. Polisner's avatar

After a year in Lisbon, now just outside of Aveiro. Some expat friends but grateful for the sense of community among the Portuguese. Great culture, architecture , infrastructure, healthcare, and proximity to the rest of Europe.

Expand full comment
Lorraine Parish's avatar

Same thing here but lots of crazy, mean expats, not all of course, but it is a phenomenon. Well I'm not close to Europe either but I want to explore Argentia and Patagonia someday. I adore the Mexican people really good, joyful hard-working people. I retired and came to San Miguel de Allende two years ago to focus on my writing and last week I published my book!

Expand full comment
George A. Polisner's avatar

Congratulations on book publishing! Sorry to hear of some negative expats -they tend to ruin it for those who want to immerse in language, culture, and have a genuine gratitude for being a guest in another country.

Expand full comment
Lorraine Parish's avatar

They were mean assholes where they came from, this amazing town and country did not make them that way. It is mostly the older single American women who are such awful people, go figure.

Expand full comment
Susan Niemann's avatar

I've been told it would be super hard for me to move...but I'm in a great position to do so. I still own my family farm in Missouri, I'm single, daughter is raised and on her own. I've been in Philadelphia for not quite 5 years...but I dont even know where I would start re: relocating.

Expand full comment
Lorraine Parish's avatar

You have to not only have the desire to live in another country, you have to have a plan, especially if you're single like me and you. Nice to have a family farm though.

Expand full comment
Susan Niemann's avatar

Right… I’m free to make any decision. And there’s no one here holding me back. I want to find out more then visit. I had friends who were expats in Costa Rica and they loved it for 6 years or so. Not sure why they came back recently-possibly health reasons. 🤷‍♀️

Expand full comment
Judy Luchsinger's avatar

They should care, because Trump already said he would invade Mexico.

Expand full comment
Karen Leeds's avatar

If you polled his followers I wonder how many had parents or grandparents who fought fascism in WWII? Probably 95% of them. And now they want a fascist president and country. I have absolutely no idea what his followers actually hear when he spews his constant stream of venom, lies, and demented ramblings, but they are obviously ok with it. Is it lack of education? Do they think it’s amusing? Do they feel the federal government has let them down and Trump will somehow fix it? I heard someone, when asked why they like Trump, say “because I like the way he tells it like it is”. Dear god...

Expand full comment
Charlie Austin's avatar

The extent of their historical knowledge comes from Bill O'Reilly.

Expand full comment
Janine's avatar

You just described my whole family dynamic at the present time. My sister and mother are sick over it

Expand full comment
Janine's avatar

As well as I*

Expand full comment
Deborah Lang's avatar

The Guardian ain't perfect but it's a whole lot better than NYT or WAPO combined, plus really good world news as well as USA. Excellent opinion pieces from John Crace & Marina Hyde (they can say fuck all they want!! in the regular paper!! so advanced!! lol) and a great climate cartoon called First Dog on the Moon---AND you can choose what to pay --- love it.

Expand full comment
Neal Stiffelman's avatar

Did you watch any of their joint appearances? Delightful. No one writes captures the moments better than Marina Hyde.

Expand full comment
Deborah Lang's avatar

Yes, I always try to catch them, usually I watch a few days after bc time difference but that's fine! Brilliant! as they say, :)

Expand full comment
Lorraine Parish's avatar

will take you suggestion.

Expand full comment
Steve B's avatar

Thanks for this suggestion! My NYT subscription went years ago, and WaPo is hanging by a Murdoch-endorsed-new-CEO thread, so I have to look into SOMETHING else.

Expand full comment
Kay-El's avatar

Just signed up for their daily newsletter. I get AP’s as well. That should cover me when my WaPo runs out.

Expand full comment
Susan Niemann's avatar

Thanks for this...I'm done with the NYT and WaPo. 🙄 I just remembered I also like Reuters and the AP.

Expand full comment
Edie's avatar

This started with the onset of the name MAGA..Hitler used it in his speeches to become Chancellor: Make Germany Great Again... It’s been here all along .

Expand full comment
Tess's avatar

Damn! Great reporting from you!!!

Expand full comment