And legacy media is not here for it ‘cause normalcy isn’t as profitable for their corporate owners. Rs privatized news, health care, prisons, etc etc and this is what the rest of us get. We boomers were too complacent after Vietnam, and we raised a generation of complacent gen x’ers. “Luckily,” environmental catastrophe and out-of-control gun violence turned Gen Z into a “woke mob”! But what a price to pay for how we let them down and a perfect example of how remaining silent contributes to a nation’s downfall. Well, that was dark. Let’s keep working for normalcy to keep winning.
Ummmm, whoa, this genX-er and all my genX friends are actually completely worried about even keeping democracy in spite of our crazy MAGA uncles in Florida (i literallyhave 2). I've been beating the drum and getting in verbal fights ever since 2015 (well, long before that really/more like bush and the false weapons of mass destruction war) and am constantly saying "to all those who thought i was overeacting in 2016, go *ff yourself"... I'm even trying to convince the non voters to go vote blue this round because it truly matters at this point, if for nothing else, to preserve the option of being able to vote and havingit count... my experience is it's the problematic boomer MAGA uncles and their complacent wives in fla, tx, az, etc... my hateful uncle in az was going to join some other nursing home dudes to try and shoot border crossers, i kid you not-there was a major family rift with him at this point, which was like the moronic tea party hate-fest timeframe(i pictured them rolling out on their beds and with their oxygen tanks and walkers, and ARs, oh the hate he had, what a vision). Anyhooo, just saying, I'm unsure we can blame this on GenX... though i do have peers who i can't be around anymore who are huge disappointments, so i guess it's not totally wrong-its just depressing-MAGA brainwashed dolts really depress and bother me no matter what generation.
Catherine, I’m sorry. My intention was to put the blame squarely on the shoulders of us boomers. What I intended to communicate is that my friends and I who became complacent progressives often failed to show our Gen X children how to be engaged. So while our adult children share our values (we did manage that), I think it’s the existential threats of the past few years that have re-engaged some of us, engaged our Gen X adult children, and have galvanized Gen Z. But you know, this is my experience and the conclusions I’ve drawn from it. I might be over-generalizing from it.
Perfect... Jeff knows when and where... and TRUTH. Love it, w/a smile on my face today. Keep up the good work EVERYONE. Enough doom and fucking gloom from all of “them”.
I remember President Obama saying, "We took a shellacking." I think he would have said, "got our asses handed to us", but he had to face Michele later so...
I stand corrected! lol I guess I'm thinking about my grandma, who was quite proper. I'm grandma-aged myself now, though I don't have any kids. My former husband, a Republican, hated swearing. Now that I'm free of him, I sound like a sailor with Tourette's!
Did he also say, "and your menstrual records will still belong to ME!" The genius is with the VA Senate to pull him into the greatest losing argument of a lifetime.
I’m going to write and tell him that I deposited my tax rebate check (that he sent out last week with a GIANT trump like signature) and then walked across the street and voted D down ballot.
I live in the Shenandoah Valley. The few liberals here ensure Youngkin and his clone, gun-worshiper Ben Cline, don't drop off the public shit list per the Winchester Star. I've got a post-election LTTE begging to get out on paper. Several lib letters were published just before this election. Winning here is difficult post-"turkey carve." I haven't seen our results yet...working on BOS and school boards. One former supervisor just won't move to WV as promised.
We had a very satisfying election yesterday, and we celebrate today. But remember, it wasn't a slam-dunk. We're back to work tomorrow, calling bullshit on bullshit, looking for good candidates to run down ballot, and taking back local, state, and federal governments from cave dwelling Republicans.
Yes. We can never stop smacking down the threat Republicans bring to our democracy and personal freedom. And urging the Dems to sharpen their messaging-I feel it’s people like Jeff who are doing the heavy lifting for them. They need to get to be more direct IMO. Today I will savor, though.
Women will NEVER give up on abortion rights. I fought for them 50 years ago, I find it hard to believe that my granddaughters have fewer rights to bodily autonomy than their mothers.
Probably what the GQP/MAGA is doing now is trying to figure out how to lie better in the future and keep people who could vote against them from voting. That's their usual MO. Of course it wouldn't work without a gullible and money-hungry so-called 'free press'.
So, yes...we have to be ready for every onslaught. But it's wonderful to know that there are more like-minded people out there than is apparent if you just watch the talking heads or read the polls!
I, too, was thinking that as reading and feeling just a (little) bit good🤣. Don’t stop now. We have a lot of work to do... they are used to thinking critically do not trust them r’s. 🇺🇸💙
Today I feel a bit like the spell is breaking...that a lot of people are realizing Republicans are never going to give us the country we want, regardless of how ruddy cheeked and PTA they are. Well done, voters!!
Jeff these results are also due to you and those journalists who daily refute, repute and flat out contradict with facts these far right wing fucks anti-democratic rhetoric and BS. Well done!! You gather up a community and encourage us daily to fight the good fight. And how many within your growing community then talk to others in our individual communities to spread the encouragement? What you are doing matters greatly my friend who I’ve never met. Thank you for turning your very considerable influence into the efforts to save our Democracy! Enjoy this moment!
Voting works. Tell all those fucking pollsters to pound sand. They don't have a clue. Keep the pedal to the metal and do whatever you can to help the Democrats in 2024.
polls rely on people to answer their phone to an unknown number. I haven't done that since 1981 when the phone company introduced caller id, and I suspect the same is true with most people.
Or it depends on picking up a "Pennsylvania call," or a "Maryland call." I live in Illinois and don't know anyone in those states! The few rare times they've gotten through, I've hung up after telling them I never want to be part of a poll.
It is ironic. I think on many issues the country is a bit conservative and personal sovereignty—choice—is at the heart of our Country (Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness). So, the GOP has staked out a morality not shared by the majority. They have given us goblins not governance. I agree, we are fed up with the GOP bull shit.
Every time the scumbuckets get a small majority lately, they completely overplay their hand.
You cannot gerrymander the shit out of representation to end up with a couple of seats over 50% and hope to be able to completely suppress the over 50% of the country that you've just disenfranchised. Even when you think g*d is on your side.
I thought Philly had some damn good commercials on TV. I saw 2-3 that actually spelled out to vote Republicans out. I saw these often in the last month.
I live in NJ, across the Delaware from Philly. I get all the attack ads from both states. I was so glad this election is over, and I hope we have a week or two before they ramp up again.
Except in Shithead county (Washington). All Republicans won.
I now just refer to the perverts that want their faces up in women’s uterus’s and little girl’s terrified by a rapist they know or possibly must live with as...well, perverts.
Liz Cheney had the courage to stand up to Trump, but still a pervert. Same with Adam Kinzinger. Until they recognize they’re standing where no one but a woman and/or child’s Dr belong, they will remain in what is obviously now a perverted minority. They have no right, they never did and never will.
Election days like this prove that we have more control over our destiny than Republicans would lead us to believe. So we should stop being afraid of them and help them destroy themselves. Here’s a great audience participation video from Patti Smith, reminding us that “the people have the power!” Y’all will love this.
Also, in a couple of majority black districts in Mississippi, they mysteriously ran out of ballots and had to run to get more, leaving hundreds of people standing in line for hours. There’s still some confusion over whether any or all of those people actually got to vote. So, I think the DOJ needs to investigate this bullshit. Tate Reeves is one of the most corrupt governors in the south, if not in the whole country. This whole debacle is extremely suspicious.
She’s awesome. She has been an inspiration to me since her first album. She’s also an extremely kind and gracious person. She has a Substack, if you’re interested.
Wow... Just watched the Patti Smith performance - so powerful! Maybe Democrats could ask her if she would lend her voice (and this song) to the Biden campaign?
You know Ema, I did not think of this, but I might mention it to someone like Simon Rosenberg, who works closely with Democrats. While I was reading about results coming back last night, this song came into my head and it’s perfect for Democrats at this moment. The song from her original album is great as well, but this public performance of it is phenomenal. And the lyrics are perfect.
Or maybe Jeff who has many contacts with high level Democrats would be willing to mention it to them? But it is phenomenal and I so appreciate your sharing it. I had not seen it before. Brought me to tears but also - brought me hope after last night. Thank you!
Tate Reeves is just a corrupt piece of shit. There are a bunch of people from Mississippi talking about this on another site. I mentioned that Bennie Thompson should bring this to the attention of the DOJ to investigate this “oh, we ran out of ballots“ nonsense.
I went to bed last night convinced that the House of Delegates and State Senate would both turn red. Yeah, they turned red all right. With shame, with anger, with confusion, as in "What about the polls?" Jeff, you said it. Never underestimate how fucking pissed off women are. Glenn Youngkin just got told where to shove his red vest. Start packing, you asshole. You aren't wanted in VA.
He has the same fetish as Ron DeSantis of advertising his name on his clothes, as if we don’t know who the hell he is. They look like catholic school boys.
This issue just earned you an annual subscription. It's exactly the mood I'm in and exactly what I needed as we turn the corner to full-on 2024 "go time." Thank you for all the f-bombs and colorful language--nobody decorates a post about our hard-won victories for democracy against a backdrop of batshit crazy Christo-fascist Constitution-hating gun-toting blood-thirsty extremists who have nothing but hate in their hearts and billionaires in their off-shore bank accounts. So happy my $50 is going toward high-quality truth serum!
Same here! I have been an unpaid subscriber until now, but this post made me realize how much I low Jeff’s newsletters. They truly make me happy. Very happy to buy an annual subscription!
Bonus: I downloaded the substack app and found this amazing community here 😍
Locally, in Eastern PA, Dems did very well with county commissioner and controller seats, as well as school board seats, and the state Supreme Court opening was won by a Democrat as well.
I have not read the book, but I have some familiarity with the history to which you are referring. The reference is both sad and hilarious at the same time, because Republicans are their own worst enemy. Even as they keep losing, they will double down on the same rhetoric. That works for me, as long as they keep burying themselves.
WWI is extremely pertinent to our present reality. It's the modern root of the Middle East. It would serve everyone well to read the Tuchman books as well as "The 12 Pillars of Wisdom" by T.E. Lawrence aka. Lawrence of Arabia.
any similarities to my headline and Jay Kuo's is pure coincidence, I swear. I was almost finished writing mine when Jay's hit my inbox https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/forget-the-polls-look-at-these-election
I declare Wonkette winner of today's best headline contest. "Joe Biden Refuses To Resign After Democrats’ Humiliating Night Of Wins" https://www.wonkette.com/p/joe-biden-refuses-to-resign-after
The forces of normalcy scored big yesterday!
And legacy media is not here for it ‘cause normalcy isn’t as profitable for their corporate owners. Rs privatized news, health care, prisons, etc etc and this is what the rest of us get. We boomers were too complacent after Vietnam, and we raised a generation of complacent gen x’ers. “Luckily,” environmental catastrophe and out-of-control gun violence turned Gen Z into a “woke mob”! But what a price to pay for how we let them down and a perfect example of how remaining silent contributes to a nation’s downfall. Well, that was dark. Let’s keep working for normalcy to keep winning.
Ummmm, whoa, this genX-er and all my genX friends are actually completely worried about even keeping democracy in spite of our crazy MAGA uncles in Florida (i literallyhave 2). I've been beating the drum and getting in verbal fights ever since 2015 (well, long before that really/more like bush and the false weapons of mass destruction war) and am constantly saying "to all those who thought i was overeacting in 2016, go *ff yourself"... I'm even trying to convince the non voters to go vote blue this round because it truly matters at this point, if for nothing else, to preserve the option of being able to vote and havingit count... my experience is it's the problematic boomer MAGA uncles and their complacent wives in fla, tx, az, etc... my hateful uncle in az was going to join some other nursing home dudes to try and shoot border crossers, i kid you not-there was a major family rift with him at this point, which was like the moronic tea party hate-fest timeframe(i pictured them rolling out on their beds and with their oxygen tanks and walkers, and ARs, oh the hate he had, what a vision). Anyhooo, just saying, I'm unsure we can blame this on GenX... though i do have peers who i can't be around anymore who are huge disappointments, so i guess it's not totally wrong-its just depressing-MAGA brainwashed dolts really depress and bother me no matter what generation.
Catherine, I’m sorry. My intention was to put the blame squarely on the shoulders of us boomers. What I intended to communicate is that my friends and I who became complacent progressives often failed to show our Gen X children how to be engaged. So while our adult children share our values (we did manage that), I think it’s the existential threats of the past few years that have re-engaged some of us, engaged our Gen X adult children, and have galvanized Gen Z. But you know, this is my experience and the conclusions I’ve drawn from it. I might be over-generalizing from it.
Very well stated!
Make them cry, Dark Brandon!
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/C4sAAOSwkJllA-Ri/s-l1600.png
https://twitter.com/Victorshi2020/status/1722298105620828283
https://twitter.com/Retrievals1/status/1722140681483718987
https://twitter.com/tonyserrata/status/1722144589807558860
I did not know the source of the laser eyes until I started on The Boys series. That's me, always 2 or 3 years behind the memes lol
Homelander is a Trumper. But I'd prefer Soldier Boy anyhow :D
I bet Trump is hearing this today.
Doom.
Doom.
Doom.
Boom.
Doom.
Thanks for the link! I'm having so much fun sharing all the news today (including both you and Jay Kuo) and Wonkette is just the right cherry on top!
😄👏🏻👏🏻
Excellent!
Niiiiiice!
It should be the headline in all reports across the country!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
universal headline!
And the Academy Award for best use of the word Fuck goes to Jeff!
Perfect... Jeff knows when and where... and TRUTH. Love it, w/a smile on my face today. Keep up the good work EVERYONE. Enough doom and fucking gloom from all of “them”.
I remember President Obama saying, "We took a shellacking." I think he would have said, "got our asses handed to us", but he had to face Michele later so...
When in doubt, think of what your grandma would've said. That's usually a safe phrase, and pretty sure that's what Obama did there. :-P
I’m a grandma and I approve of well played profanity. 😉
I’m a grandma and my reaction to the Republican shellacking goes something like “fuck the fucking fuckers.”
I’m a great grandma, and the f-bomb flies from my lips often these days. It’s mostly in response to seeing the orange shitgibbon on TV.
I stand corrected! lol I guess I'm thinking about my grandma, who was quite proper. I'm grandma-aged myself now, though I don't have any kids. My former husband, a Republican, hated swearing. Now that I'm free of him, I sound like a sailor with Tourette's!
They said, "Forget," which clearly doesn't count.
Such great news!!!!
Incredible work by Youngkin who went on air 30 minutes before polls closed and promised to restrict abortion access. A real man of genius.
no notes!
And he can’t run again in the next election, so bye-bye Glenn. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Love this group!
We are just freaking awesome, aren’t we? 😊
You betcha!
I found sanity here!
Huzzah!
Well, that’s good news.
Did he also say, "and your menstrual records will still belong to ME!" The genius is with the VA Senate to pull him into the greatest losing argument of a lifetime.
I’m going to write and tell him that I deposited my tax rebate check (that he sent out last week with a GIANT trump like signature) and then walked across the street and voted D down ballot.
I live in the Shenandoah Valley. The few liberals here ensure Youngkin and his clone, gun-worshiper Ben Cline, don't drop off the public shit list per the Winchester Star. I've got a post-election LTTE begging to get out on paper. Several lib letters were published just before this election. Winning here is difficult post-"turkey carve." I haven't seen our results yet...working on BOS and school boards. One former supervisor just won't move to WV as promised.
I like your style! 👏👏👏👏
😄👍🏼
I picture Yongkin in the Upper-Class Twit of the Year from Monty Python. Shooting himself in the foot again and again and again...
Haha!!!
We had a very satisfying election yesterday, and we celebrate today. But remember, it wasn't a slam-dunk. We're back to work tomorrow, calling bullshit on bullshit, looking for good candidates to run down ballot, and taking back local, state, and federal governments from cave dwelling Republicans.
absolutely
Yes. We can never stop smacking down the threat Republicans bring to our democracy and personal freedom. And urging the Dems to sharpen their messaging-I feel it’s people like Jeff who are doing the heavy lifting for them. They need to get to be more direct IMO. Today I will savor, though.
They spent FIFTY YEARS on destroying Roe, they will never quit, that’s why we also cannot quit.
You got that right!!!
Women will NEVER give up on abortion rights. I fought for them 50 years ago, I find it hard to believe that my granddaughters have fewer rights to bodily autonomy than their mothers.
Me also! Burned my bra, marched on Capitol Hill against the Vietnam War, fought for ERA...
Probably what the GQP/MAGA is doing now is trying to figure out how to lie better in the future and keep people who could vote against them from voting. That's their usual MO. Of course it wouldn't work without a gullible and money-hungry so-called 'free press'.
So, yes...we have to be ready for every onslaught. But it's wonderful to know that there are more like-minded people out there than is apparent if you just watch the talking heads or read the polls!
Yes! The roadblocks in Mississippi, yesterday - unacceptable!!
Y’know, I read your comment and thought, “Holy fuck, did they erect roadblocks TOO?”
Because it wouldn’t surprise us, would it?
I, too, was thinking that as reading and feeling just a (little) bit good🤣. Don’t stop now. We have a lot of work to do... they are used to thinking critically do not trust them r’s. 🇺🇸💙
I meant to say “criminally”.
Good, because only blue voters are critical thinkers.
Today I feel a bit like the spell is breaking...that a lot of people are realizing Republicans are never going to give us the country we want, regardless of how ruddy cheeked and PTA they are. Well done, voters!!
Especially those ruddy cheeks and PTA bullshit are all a smoke screen.
I’m going to print todays post, have it framed and put a candle by it that will be kept alight through the 2024 elections.
Brava, Dancing Fox!
I think i might too, i like the sound of that.
Jeff these results are also due to you and those journalists who daily refute, repute and flat out contradict with facts these far right wing fucks anti-democratic rhetoric and BS. Well done!! You gather up a community and encourage us daily to fight the good fight. And how many within your growing community then talk to others in our individual communities to spread the encouragement? What you are doing matters greatly my friend who I’ve never met. Thank you for turning your very considerable influence into the efforts to save our Democracy! Enjoy this moment!
So well said! I echo that!
I concur!
Voting works. Tell all those fucking pollsters to pound sand. They don't have a clue. Keep the pedal to the metal and do whatever you can to help the Democrats in 2024.
polls rely on people to answer their phone to an unknown number. I haven't done that since 1981 when the phone company introduced caller id, and I suspect the same is true with most people.
Or it depends on picking up a "Pennsylvania call," or a "Maryland call." I live in Illinois and don't know anyone in those states! The few rare times they've gotten through, I've hung up after telling them I never want to be part of a poll.
Exactly my response to unknown numbers from far-away states and even those nearby. Our landline just rings and rings ‘cause we don’t use it.
It is ironic. I think on many issues the country is a bit conservative and personal sovereignty—choice—is at the heart of our Country (Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness). So, the GOP has staked out a morality not shared by the majority. They have given us goblins not governance. I agree, we are fed up with the GOP bull shit.
Every time the scumbuckets get a small majority lately, they completely overplay their hand.
You cannot gerrymander the shit out of representation to end up with a couple of seats over 50% and hope to be able to completely suppress the over 50% of the country that you've just disenfranchised. Even when you think g*d is on your side.
God’s to busy checking out what’s happening on ‘Covenant Eyes’.
“They’ve given us Goblins not governance” Has the makings of a great ad!
You could reverse that to Dem slogan: “Governance Not Goblins”
Never so happy to see these election results! I live in PA and was a bit worried the MAGA agenda would prevail - but thank God common sense took over!
Nope! Thank voters!
Well, obviously...
I live near Philly-I never take anything for granted!
I thought Philly had some damn good commercials on TV. I saw 2-3 that actually spelled out to vote Republicans out. I saw these often in the last month.
I live in NJ, across the Delaware from Philly. I get all the attack ads from both states. I was so glad this election is over, and I hope we have a week or two before they ramp up again.
Except in Shithead county (Washington). All Republicans won.
I now just refer to the perverts that want their faces up in women’s uterus’s and little girl’s terrified by a rapist they know or possibly must live with as...well, perverts.
Liz Cheney had the courage to stand up to Trump, but still a pervert. Same with Adam Kinzinger. Until they recognize they’re standing where no one but a woman and/or child’s Dr belong, they will remain in what is obviously now a perverted minority. They have no right, they never did and never will.
Election days like this prove that we have more control over our destiny than Republicans would lead us to believe. So we should stop being afraid of them and help them destroy themselves. Here’s a great audience participation video from Patti Smith, reminding us that “the people have the power!” Y’all will love this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Wz3i_BYUc
Also, in a couple of majority black districts in Mississippi, they mysteriously ran out of ballots and had to run to get more, leaving hundreds of people standing in line for hours. There’s still some confusion over whether any or all of those people actually got to vote. So, I think the DOJ needs to investigate this bullshit. Tate Reeves is one of the most corrupt governors in the south, if not in the whole country. This whole debacle is extremely suspicious.
Agree that DOJ should investigate but also in 2024, do NOT allow it to happen again.
Love the Patti Smith performance! How prescient she was!!!
She’s awesome. She has been an inspiration to me since her first album. She’s also an extremely kind and gracious person. She has a Substack, if you’re interested.
Wow... Just watched the Patti Smith performance - so powerful! Maybe Democrats could ask her if she would lend her voice (and this song) to the Biden campaign?
You know Ema, I did not think of this, but I might mention it to someone like Simon Rosenberg, who works closely with Democrats. While I was reading about results coming back last night, this song came into my head and it’s perfect for Democrats at this moment. The song from her original album is great as well, but this public performance of it is phenomenal. And the lyrics are perfect.
Or maybe Jeff who has many contacts with high level Democrats would be willing to mention it to them? But it is phenomenal and I so appreciate your sharing it. I had not seen it before. Brought me to tears but also - brought me hope after last night. Thank you!
The same. I get really emotional when I watch this video.
From now on, he's Gov. Pigman.
Tate Reeves is just a corrupt piece of shit. There are a bunch of people from Mississippi talking about this on another site. I mentioned that Bennie Thompson should bring this to the attention of the DOJ to investigate this “oh, we ran out of ballots“ nonsense.
That smells very shitty.
GQP will double down on their ridiculous stances now, totally unable to read the room. They fucked around, and I hope they continue to find out.
The GOP is totally unable to read the room. They are now going to triple down.
I went to bed last night convinced that the House of Delegates and State Senate would both turn red. Yeah, they turned red all right. With shame, with anger, with confusion, as in "What about the polls?" Jeff, you said it. Never underestimate how fucking pissed off women are. Glenn Youngkin just got told where to shove his red vest. Start packing, you asshole. You aren't wanted in VA.
The monogrammed vests won’t save him!
He has the same fetish as Ron DeSantis of advertising his name on his clothes, as if we don’t know who the hell he is. They look like catholic school boys.
This issue just earned you an annual subscription. It's exactly the mood I'm in and exactly what I needed as we turn the corner to full-on 2024 "go time." Thank you for all the f-bombs and colorful language--nobody decorates a post about our hard-won victories for democracy against a backdrop of batshit crazy Christo-fascist Constitution-hating gun-toting blood-thirsty extremists who have nothing but hate in their hearts and billionaires in their off-shore bank accounts. So happy my $50 is going toward high-quality truth serum!
Same here! I have been an unpaid subscriber until now, but this post made me realize how much I low Jeff’s newsletters. They truly make me happy. Very happy to buy an annual subscription!
Bonus: I downloaded the substack app and found this amazing community here 😍
Yay! Yes, with the both sides-ism of MSM, I've taken to supporting individual journalists/opinion leaders instead of MSM. Congrats!
Welcome aboard.
So worth it! I subscribed after reading Jeff’s EETMO for the first time.
Excellent post, Jeff. But excuse me while I watch Hillary Clinton on The View telling everyone “I told you so.”
you see this meme'd everywhere but here's your reminder that I did it first: https://twitter.com/jefftiedrich/status/946106015820472321
Love it! Yes, I still follow you on non-twitter on the rare occasion when I’m there.
Locally, in Eastern PA, Dems did very well with county commissioner and controller seats, as well as school board seats, and the state Supreme Court opening was won by a Democrat as well.
I also heard that Philadelphia now has its first female mayor, also a Democrat.
I'm re-reading The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman's history of the opening rounds of WW1. The spiky-helmeted Prussians in that book were all like,
"Ve vill keep burning Belgian villages and shooting zee civilians until zey learn to love us."
They remind me of some people today.
I ❤️ this comment at least 20 times. Spot on.
Thanks. I had a moment thinking, "is citing Barbara Tuchman too obscure and wonky for this crowd?"
But then I realized there is literally NOTHING too obscure and wonky for this crowd.
I have not read the book, but I have some familiarity with the history to which you are referring. The reference is both sad and hilarious at the same time, because Republicans are their own worst enemy. Even as they keep losing, they will double down on the same rhetoric. That works for me, as long as they keep burying themselves.
Mo' history, mo' better
Great book. So is the prequel"The Proud Tower".
WWI is extremely pertinent to our present reality. It's the modern root of the Middle East. It would serve everyone well to read the Tuchman books as well as "The 12 Pillars of Wisdom" by T.E. Lawrence aka. Lawrence of Arabia.