Trump is obviously sick and grossly impaired, as everything he touches turns into a disaster and he flails about while incapable of fixing his own catastrophes. I wake up every day hoping that this is the day he finally drops dead or is so brain damaged that he has to be institutionalized, but I don’t know what happens next…President JD Vance? Republicans panicking and getting more extreme in locking in their power? Screaming mobs of MAGA fanatics? Maybe we should hope he lives a few more years in declining effectiveness and then we have a clean transition to an elected, and hopefully Democratic, majority.
There may also be some real advantages to imprisoning the Trump administration in a lame duck presidency for a few more years.
We might have a vision of what comes after in New York: the Democratic Socialists swept the primaries, led by Mamdani’s endorsements.
The mayor-turned-kingmaker had said it was a question of electing “better Democrats” who would “put working people back at the heart of politics”. All three victors are expected to win their safely blue districts, which would send three Mamdani allies into Congress next January.
The outcome was also a recognition of some wider trends in US politics: socialism is no longer a dirty word, criticism of Israel is no longer taboo and dissatisfaction with Democratic leaders in the Donald Trump era runs deep. Voters are thirsty for energy, fight and fresh ideas.
They ask: if Republicans can draw up a Project 2025 and pursue it ruthlessly, why can’t Democrats come up with a Project 2029 that promises universal healthcare, supreme court reform, massive climate investments, a war on the oligarchs and a clear-eyed approach to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu?
That’s a vision I could support. Much better than prayer.
Did you know you can join the DSA right now? I predict there is going to be an enrollment surge.
I used to have that same dream. I wanted Trump to die after he had served at least 5years in prison. Now I simply want him gone.
That may be better for you, but would Trump just dropping dead be better for the larger world? For Greenland? For Cuba? Maybe.
We’ve got too many people with Mamdani Derangement Syndrome out there, using the same scare mongering tropes (eg antisemitism) they have with The Squad. People who call themselves of the Left and yet faithfully read The Free Press and follow conservative (but NOT progressive) columnists…except now Andrew Sullivan because he was too critical of sacred Israel. Bad Andrew.
And whenever Democrats attain power again they will go all milquetoast neoliberal trying to relive the halcyon years of Clinton and Obama. Maybe we will get 8 more solid years with a centrist Democrat POTUS who squanders a Democratic enough Congress in the first term and faces a retooled and rebranded paranoid delusional GOP even more toxic than it is now. The eternal pendulum.
Well, duh. I’ve been saying since the beginning that Trump isn’t the problem. He’s never been the problem. Those of us who oppose him have always known what kind of person he is. We have known since the 80’s that he is a pathetic excuse of a human being, a con-man, a grifter, a sex offender and an all-around fraud and loser.
We knew that.
That was explained to America. Granted, it could have been explained better, and the mainstream media failed miserably on this, but it should have been clear as day to anyone who wasn’t in a coma.
But yet….4 out of every 10 people thought this was okay, and 3 out of every 10 people got a hard-on from this vile person.
That is the problem. It says a whole a lot more about our “friends”, family and neighbors than it does about him.
He could go way tomorrow, and the magats will still be with us.
I can see why people keep up their eternal vigil of The Hand, feeling it signals something soon with its shadows and blemishes obscured by makeup, but this guy is the Energizer Bunny fueled on McDonalds burgers. Even in that scenario his charismatic Svengali hold on 33 percent of the electorate (the facultative authoritarians) would hopefully disappear, but we have eyeliner Vance in the remainder and his ever faithful couch. Plus toxic handlers like Nosferatu Miller will linger.
Trump seems one of a kind though. Hopefully there will be nobody like him in decades to come. It will take that long for the US to recover from him, given the proclivities of the deplorable 33% find nothing else to latch upon.
Trump got away with J6. He won’t be held accountable. If he were put on trial, expect the “but I’m an old man” demand for mercy. The best we can do, legally, is hope his time is short to minimize the damage and be vigilant in the future.
As a meta aside, I’ve noticed some site hiccups over the past several days, occasional lagging and sometimes the pesky Cloudflare gateway timeout message. Happened with my @5. I always copy my message before hitting send. But hopefully this doesn’t signal more site problems to come.
Jamelle Bouie:
“Keir Starmer is a Cautionary Tale (For Democrats)”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=LNFic3cTD4E
He’d instantly be categorised as mentally unfit to stand trial. And they’d have all the medical evidence needed to back that up 100%.
I happen to be going to check out the next meeting of the Tucson Democratic Socialists of America tomorrow.
“more snakes than grass” is so good
I am so glad that DSA and Mamdani are having some serious success in turning this nation from the Death Spiral it is in. I support them and hope their success will continue and grow as more people wake up to the reality of how they are being raped and pillages by the ‘powers that be’.
However, given the reality of things, I am concerned that the ‘big money’ all in the hands of the plutocratic monsters that run this nation will see the slight decrease in their stranglehold on this society and they will pour billions into destroying any vestige of decency and honesty.
shermanj @12
I fully expect that the success of Mamdani’s cohorts will turn the character assassination attempts up to 11. I mean Mamdani is an Islamist antisemite in some eyes, which is pretty much the same as disputing Obama’s citizenship and highlighting his middle name. It’s just that the toxic anti-woke DINOs are doing it now, inheriting the trope from the proto-MAGAt Tea Partiers. It doesn’t help that Islamophobia was so rampant in New Atheist circles and Mamdani’s success stokes deep fear amongst those types. The perceived threat of Islam is exploitable red meat.
Meanwhile what appears to be Israel’s attempts to scuttle Trump trying to extricate himself from an ill-conceived war on Iran that is doing economic harm to US citizens is given a free pass if not outright apologia. Affording groceries or fuel is secondary or tertiary to Israel if that. No big deal.
Also if I were someone who admirably touted being a conscientious objector during Vietnam on my blog, I might give more thought to whether the US should become more aggressive in trying to topple the Iranian regime, which would potentially require the deaths of US troops committed to such action. Cui bono? Not them.
I was initially a cheerleader for the second US war on Iraq (sadly). Unlike Hitchens I changed my mind.
Of course I would have long ago reconsidered being a devoted foodie with pics of my own perceived great Texas BBQ places and other gluttony given the starvation in Gaza and now how many will struggle in the US thanks in part due to the war on Iran. Obliviosity.
I don’t know if Trump being out of the picture would be good for the US but I’m pretty sure it would be a good thing for everyone outside the US (Canadian here). The economic war and the actual wars/invasions would likely mostly stop. We’d likely not get back to having a reliable ally and, in any case, the trust will take a while to come back regardless of who’s in charge even when/if the Dems take control.
As for internally, I don’t see anyone who can get support from the swamp, the oligarchs and the base and no one likes Vance. So there would likely be some chaos and backstabbing to get the most control and grift. What I wonder is if that helps the Democrats or if the Republicans could actually convince “real” republicans and independents that this creates an opportunity to go back to their roots.
Anyway, I don’t believe there will be a significant turn to the left in the US elected people regardless of what happens. I hope I’m wrong but I’ll believe it when I see it. The past has shown that money spent on propaganda is quite effective and a significant part of the population will believe any lie instead of seeing the obvious and the facts.
-it should make people stop and listen and think what is it about Mamdani that has caught the eyes and ears of the public. He is not soft selling what he believes in he is being forthright and speaking out.
Is ‘”He” the one we are waiting for is the wrong question. Looking for “A leader” leads to trump or someone like him who is out to be something. It has always been “We The People” from the very beginning that was the big scary idea. Under neath We The People is the hardest idea of all roughly stated in the Declaration of Independence “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The cold war was not about communism, it was sold as about capitalism vs socialism but it was who held the power who made the rules and it was never “We The People”
Can there really be a country run by We The People with things decided by We The People? With out great leaders “holding our hands”
it is what haunts my thinking.
“so brain damaged that he has to be institutionalized”? There is apparently no level of brain damage that would be enough to get him out of the Oval Office.
Trump will be gone in late Jan. Just in time for Vance to have a shot at 10 years in power.
Original comic: https://thedevilspanties.com/archives/17068