From a historian’s perspective, she seems to think that Trump’s sudden reversal after fighting tooth and nail to avoid this release is because he realizes he’s lost control of the House republicans on this issue as their voters are also frothing at the mouth to get these files released. And, that if he’s so afraid of what’s in the FBI’s complete set after the horror of what has already been released, what the hell is actually in there? She also seems to think that if the bill gets to his desk, he’ll all but have to release them, but personally I don’t see him ever caving to that. He could release them by executive order today if he actually wanted the files released.
Here’s my take: I find it pretty incredible that people don’t seem to understand the depths of Trumps depravity when he extorted our allies, sicked a hillbilly mob on the capital, used The Office of the President to hawk merch, and openly mocked American democracy, but grooming underage girls is where we all collectively draw the line. The mountains of evidence of his extreme criminality, his appointment of white and Christian nationalists, and his alliances with America’s sworn enemies melting down our government? Water off a duck’s back apparently.
I’m all for whatever it takes to dismantle the Trump regime, but I seriously doubt undoctored evidence ever sees the light of day. And if it does, he will be dead long before he ever sees justice for it. But, if it FINALLY sours voters enough to not vote for him in the next election, I’ll take it.
To power the magnetic coils that provide plasma containment for an experimental fusion reactor, in order to research how to create a self-sustaining fusion reaction.
Such an achievement would be a watershed moment in human history, and most likely would usher in a new technological age of energy production.
He’s too narcissistic to even realize the irony that it is his policies, his incompetent appointees, and his apoplectic abuse that is crashing the GOP. It is insane that the meltdown has been this glacially paced.
He’ll be back; we’re in the devaluation phase of the narcissistic abuse cycle. Next, he’ll try to discard the whole party to start his own. When his finds that unworkable, he’ll come slithering back.
Let’s just hope this time most republicans will be too exhausted to continue propagandizing themselves with Trump’s inane double-think.
For anyone wondering why we keep top secret documentation in printed form, some of this stuff is so secret they don’t trust electronic devices to house it. To dump it in a bathroom in Mar-a-Lago is a sin that defies comprehension.
In a transcript of a July 2021 meeting obtained for his indictment, this is a direct quote from Trump, speaking to a White House staffer:
“Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this.”
It would be hilarious if only it were a Monty Python sketch.
Only a senile malignant narcissist could lack the self-awareness to say such a thing. When I say Trump is clinically insane, this is what I mean. The fact that this man is president instills a dread approaching cosmic horror. My highest hope at this point is to survive the next three years without a nuclear holocaust.
There are some legal scenariosunder which this could technically happen, but it would be monumental and shocking if the Trump regime could actually manage to wield the coordination and leverage the trust needed to pull it off:
Peabody, email to FactCheck.org, Nov. 15: There are actually five fairly clear scenarios through which a twice-elected president could again become or act as president:
Such a person could[:]
(1) serve as Vice President and then become President in the case of removal, death or resignation of the President
(2) serve as Vice President and then act as President during a period in which the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the Office, as authorized by (a) a written declaration from the President him or herself, or (b) through the VP and a “majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments” or some other authorized body indicating that the President is disabled/unable to discharge the duties of the office (25th Amendment)
(3) become Vice President-elect and then President if “at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President-elect shall have died” (20th Amendment)
(4) become Vice President-elect and then act as President if “a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of [the] term, or if the President-elect shall have failed to qualify” (20th Amendment)
(5) act as President under circumstances provided for by the Succession Act of 1947 which kicks in [when] both the President and the VP are unable to discharge their duties
Despite Vance having the electability of a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, it would be pretty delicious to see him become President with Trump as his VP, only for Vance to refuse to resign. Watching the administration eat itself to get him out would be the height of irony.
This is a small piece of the slow and steady march to fascism and genocide we have been warned about for generations.
Trump is a borderline vegetable and is now essentially a populist figurehead for the de facto Christian and white nationalist leaders that he delegated power to: JD Vance, Russel Vought, Pete Hegseth, Steven Miller, and so on. These people are openly racist and gleefully fascist and the idea that they can’t put brown and queer people in real, Nazi-style concentration camps is dangerously shortsighted. They absoloutely despise us, and have dedicated their lives to figuring out ways to subvert our democratic system to get back us for daring to reject their authoritarian way of life.
The surveillance state is built. Our devices are being turned against us. All the data they need to find and imprison enemies of the fascist state is there for the taking.
When you see these capabilities being sold as features, ask yourself why can’t these “features” be turned off?
The electronic machine you’re operating, and the electrons flowing through it that illuminate the screen constitute a highly ordered abstraction that your human brain interprets to have meaning. The software implementing that abstraction has been structured with paradigms developed over decades with functionality specifically created for you to manage the information displayed to you. Such is the power of these technologies that they are widely regarded to have culminated in a digital information age of revolution. One of the defining moments of that age is the point at which the software, which previously was designed to implement the will and preferences of the user, began changing to instead serve the developer. It could be said that the fundamental philosophy of social media software has become to optimize it such that the user continues to use it while still freely feeding it information and being subject to manipulation.
The abstraction has become hostile, and the tools to manage the information displayed are quickly disappearing as the implementation is abstracted away. The ability to block mimetically harmful information is being designed out of software - exposure to advertising, propaganda, violent or disturbing content, and even the addictive abstractions themselves, have become requirements for use. The filtering and management of information through the hardware and software that you OWN is not just a feature, it is a RIGHT that must be intrinsic to its design.
In my view, the use of blocking technology should not be considered a human social action with emotional weight, but rather a mechanical one like switching off a light or moving an object out of the way. They are information management tools built to serve YOU, the user. If the technology you are using does not serve you, then who are you serving?
I’m using the invocation of the Insurrection Act and declaration of Martial Law as the demarcation point. When the military is literally waging war upon its own citizens in their own cities, it may finally become undeniable to the average person.
I highly recommend Heather Cox Richardson’s near-daily coverage of current politics, and The Files.
From a historian’s perspective, she seems to think that Trump’s sudden reversal after fighting tooth and nail to avoid this release is because he realizes he’s lost control of the House republicans on this issue as their voters are also frothing at the mouth to get these files released. And, that if he’s so afraid of what’s in the FBI’s complete set after the horror of what has already been released, what the hell is actually in there? She also seems to think that if the bill gets to his desk, he’ll all but have to release them, but personally I don’t see him ever caving to that. He could release them by executive order today if he actually wanted the files released.
Here’s my take: I find it pretty incredible that people don’t seem to understand the depths of Trumps depravity when he extorted our allies, sicked a hillbilly mob on the capital, used The Office of the President to hawk merch, and openly mocked American democracy, but grooming underage girls is where we all collectively draw the line. The mountains of evidence of his extreme criminality, his appointment of white and Christian nationalists, and his alliances with America’s sworn enemies melting down our government? Water off a duck’s back apparently.
I’m all for whatever it takes to dismantle the Trump regime, but I seriously doubt undoctored evidence ever sees the light of day. And if it does, he will be dead long before he ever sees justice for it. But, if it FINALLY sours voters enough to not vote for him in the next election, I’ll take it.