I am always hesitant to "like" such comments because there can be no liking for the Nazi-wannabe threat. But it is a reality. We are closer to authoritarianism today. 71 million dRumpists threaten democracy and the rule of law. There are so few of us like-minded Substacker compared to the corporate biased msm... How do weprevail?
That is my question--I do think there is more of us--but how do we reach the others who simply don't have a clue about how evil Trump is. Or don't seem to care at least.
One foot in front of the other. Do not be afraid to speak up. Most won’t listen. Speak anyway. Keep your cool. Stick to facts. Write voter cards. Call your Senator and legislators. Learn what is happening in your local politics. Plan for November. If Trump loses, they won’t take it
His base is shrinking and will continue to do so until he has enough loyalists, well armed and willing to overthrow the government. It’s his only play and he’s going to use it.
Good article .. we must never give up .. I’m with you 100% .. haven’t been surprised yet .. and I think there’s much more to come. For those of us who don’t hold a media spotlight it’s our responsibility to keep lighting fires under those who do .. as best as we can we must speak truth to power.
Gene, you are 100 percent correct. The only reason he even has some folks support is that they genuinely are being kept in the dark. We need to light the way.
I beg to differ a little: Yes, they get their “news” only from Fox and other right-wing media. I would add that he hates the same people they hate. And he encourages them to hate. What they don’t realize is he hates them, too.
Agree that there are hardcore cultists who would do a Jonestown, but others might be uncomfortable enough to just not vote if he’s shown to be the demented clown that he truly is.
Hey Patris, think it was you who had some interest in Mom being college roommate and lifelong besties with Flannery O'Conner. Ethan Hawke found and wrote me on LinkedIn maybe 2 years ago because in his research, he found some of their letters and had a few questions. Anyway, his new movie features his daughter as Flannery and it sure looks good, but not seen as yet!
Yes! I’ve seen clips and two interviews with Ethan Hawke. I plan to see it.
Without a doubt O’Conner is one of the most interesting American writers to me. The impact of her work alone defies the purely Catholic interpretation of her work.
I was too young (actually not born) to know who Flannery was at the time, but she came real close to flying out to SoCal to see us but was just too sick. So Mom went to see her at the "Bird Farm" less than a year before she died. Lupus got her, Myasthenia Gravis got Mom about 9 years later when I was still in high school. I'm now rereading 'Wise Blood' (Springsteens favorite book).
~~~~~~~
In the initial interstices of uncertainty, O’Connor turns to her best friend from college, Betty Boyd Love, announcing in a letter from “Baldwin Memorial Horspital as usuel” on 23 December 1950 that she will be grounded in the “bird sanctuary for a few months.” At this point, she believes herself to be in “the horspital” for “AWTHRITUS” (22). Her usual good humor prevails, yet she concludes with “Write me a letter of sympathy (23).
Fast forward a year to Christmas 1951 when Flannery describes preparations on the dairy farm for the anticipated arrival of “a refugee family” before turning to her personal status. She expresses hope that she will yet return to Connecticut: “If the Lord is with me this next year I aim to visit you” (30). Both the material for her short stories and the hope for health coexist this Advent and Christmastide. On 2 May 1952, she writes Robert Lowell a fascinating sequence of statements: “I’ve been in Georgia . . . but I am going to Conn. . . . , I’m living with my mother in the country” (35). On 23 May, she again writes Betty Boyd Love.
Reading retrospectively, I know that Love will become more distant as her friend’s prominence as a writer increases. I admire Flannery for announcing and confronting her own demons when she writes earlier of the shock of marriage and now of the presence of a “stalking” child (36). I am in awe of her ability to deflect cultural assumptions that marriage represented success and literary fiction writing had no vocational equivalence to child bearing. I envy her ability to live in the bird sanctuary without reverting to childhood herself.
What amazing insight into her life, Rob, irreplaceable first person connection where her affection and theories intersect. I cannot imagine your mothers reaction to pregnancy described as a stalking child. But I can imagine O’Conner thinking that. She appeared (and appears yet) an author who did not parse her words or think to. Of course she would joke about your coming birth. Your mother had to have been extraordinary - both intellectually and compassionately to win o’Conners affection and confidence. Wow.
Please write your impressions of Wise Blood. I’d be very interested.
Trump's cult members would drink the Jim Jones kool-aid for their Messiah leader. That's how cults work. Jim Jones didn't give a shit about his cult members. And Trump doesn't give a shit about the dumbass a mega members. He said that Saturday, " I don't care about you I just want your vote!"
Trump has the cognitive abilities of an adolescent, 8 years old. And that is a fact, not to mention his mental declining dementia. He's a fucking moron.
So, apparently there is a not insignificant cohort of men (X-Y chromosomed individuals) that are so terrified of being teh Gay, that they really don't clean themselves after they go #2, because if they touched their "button" they might like it, and they are terrified that may mean they like men. So they dab at it with a wad of TP, pull up their shorts and pretty much walk around with shit on their ass and skid marks in their tidy whiteys that their poor wives have to deal with (because, manly men do not do laundry, duh).
Trump is almost certainly one of these men, and it is clear that all those Republicans who surround him like flies on shit (literally) not only are aware of this, but Do. Not. Care.
A conviction is just more of the same stench.
--
(I used to work with a VP of sales that was like this. He tried to cloak it with a lot of aftershave, but lordy, that failed epically)
Since 2015 and the first rally, any alert person could see who he is and who 'they' are. The SPLC annual "Year in Hate" has mapped all the militias for years. But me reading that is preaching to the choir and pointing people to the Cliffs Notes for 'Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' has not prodded any fan of his to read it. Willful ignorance is a powerful enemy. It's either money or race or both. His Freudian 'slip' (I think not) was a dog whistle to his dogs. See Netflix' current production, 'Hitler and the Nazis.' Easy to guess who will be part of the Reich. The rest have forgotten what four years of chaos brought us....same phenomenon as the 'Christian' Nationalists who think life in mid-century USA was paradise. I was there. It was not. But their eyes are focused resolutely backward.
Just got home. Unfortunately, you're right. Most of them are down the rabbit hole and aren't coming out. I hear a lot of people say that we need to be kind and understanding to them. Sorry. I'm fresh out. You can't reason with rabid animals. No retreat, no surrender!!💪💪
Alicia Norman: I am glad you brought in the racist, Richard Spencer.
When he was a student at UConn, the school newspaper, in printing the racist letters to the editor of Richard Spencer, the newspaper accidentally spelled his name, "Richard Sphincter."
Great question. The ones in power create the situations to which the less powerful (financial, political) are forced to adapt. I believe that the spiritual strength increases, painfully, in the ‘underdog’ position, ultimately producing exactly the result that the powerful don’t want. Think “And Still I Rise.”
I am always hesitant to "like" such comments because there can be no liking for the Nazi-wannabe threat. But it is a reality. We are closer to authoritarianism today. 71 million dRumpists threaten democracy and the rule of law. There are so few of us like-minded Substacker compared to the corporate biased msm... How do weprevail?
That is my question--I do think there is more of us--but how do we reach the others who simply don't have a clue about how evil Trump is. Or don't seem to care at least.
One foot in front of the other. Do not be afraid to speak up. Most won’t listen. Speak anyway. Keep your cool. Stick to facts. Write voter cards. Call your Senator and legislators. Learn what is happening in your local politics. Plan for November. If Trump loses, they won’t take it
Lying down. If he wins? Honestly, I don’t know.
Same--I don't have any game plan for the worst case scenario.
🙏🏼
I do love it when folks use his real name. Herr Drumpf. Sig Heil. Thank you, Ms Deb.
all this
TYSM, :-)
His base is shrinking and will continue to do so until he has enough loyalists, well armed and willing to overthrow the government. It’s his only play and he’s going to use it.
🤬I am too old for "life in prison " to be a deterrent. Just saying...
Hey--i am sick and ailing so, throw me front lines, lol.
I pray to "what ever G-sa may be" that you find healing, piece and happiness amid this struggle.
Same to you my friend--we gotta do this thing!!! (((Hugs)))
Blue….straight ticket. Then, just because i don’t trust them, I always mark “blue” on every choice on the ballot. I’m in Alabama.
Good article .. we must never give up .. I’m with you 100% .. haven’t been surprised yet .. and I think there’s much more to come. For those of us who don’t hold a media spotlight it’s our responsibility to keep lighting fires under those who do .. as best as we can we must speak truth to power.
Gene, you are 100 percent correct. The only reason he even has some folks support is that they genuinely are being kept in the dark. We need to light the way.
I beg to differ a little: Yes, they get their “news” only from Fox and other right-wing media. I would add that he hates the same people they hate. And he encourages them to hate. What they don’t realize is he hates them, too.
He literally just said, “I don’t care about you, I just want your vote” and the idiots cheered!!
Yes indeed! He has said it out loud. "I like uneducated people." I think that's exact.
Thank you .. I like your comment .. “We need to light the way” .. well said!
Agree that there are hardcore cultists who would do a Jonestown, but others might be uncomfortable enough to just not vote if he’s shown to be the demented clown that he truly is.
The voting booth matters, more than we know.
Hey Patris, think it was you who had some interest in Mom being college roommate and lifelong besties with Flannery O'Conner. Ethan Hawke found and wrote me on LinkedIn maybe 2 years ago because in his research, he found some of their letters and had a few questions. Anyway, his new movie features his daughter as Flannery and it sure looks good, but not seen as yet!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvYkEpDlqlQ
Yes! I’ve seen clips and two interviews with Ethan Hawke. I plan to see it.
Without a doubt O’Conner is one of the most interesting American writers to me. The impact of her work alone defies the purely Catholic interpretation of her work.
I was too young (actually not born) to know who Flannery was at the time, but she came real close to flying out to SoCal to see us but was just too sick. So Mom went to see her at the "Bird Farm" less than a year before she died. Lupus got her, Myasthenia Gravis got Mom about 9 years later when I was still in high school. I'm now rereading 'Wise Blood' (Springsteens favorite book).
~~~~~~~
In the initial interstices of uncertainty, O’Connor turns to her best friend from college, Betty Boyd Love, announcing in a letter from “Baldwin Memorial Horspital as usuel” on 23 December 1950 that she will be grounded in the “bird sanctuary for a few months.” At this point, she believes herself to be in “the horspital” for “AWTHRITUS” (22). Her usual good humor prevails, yet she concludes with “Write me a letter of sympathy (23).
Fast forward a year to Christmas 1951 when Flannery describes preparations on the dairy farm for the anticipated arrival of “a refugee family” before turning to her personal status. She expresses hope that she will yet return to Connecticut: “If the Lord is with me this next year I aim to visit you” (30). Both the material for her short stories and the hope for health coexist this Advent and Christmastide. On 2 May 1952, she writes Robert Lowell a fascinating sequence of statements: “I’ve been in Georgia . . . but I am going to Conn. . . . , I’m living with my mother in the country” (35). On 23 May, she again writes Betty Boyd Love.
Reading retrospectively, I know that Love will become more distant as her friend’s prominence as a writer increases. I admire Flannery for announcing and confronting her own demons when she writes earlier of the shock of marriage and now of the presence of a “stalking” child (36). I am in awe of her ability to deflect cultural assumptions that marriage represented success and literary fiction writing had no vocational equivalence to child bearing. I envy her ability to live in the bird sanctuary without reverting to childhood herself.
What amazing insight into her life, Rob, irreplaceable first person connection where her affection and theories intersect. I cannot imagine your mothers reaction to pregnancy described as a stalking child. But I can imagine O’Conner thinking that. She appeared (and appears yet) an author who did not parse her words or think to. Of course she would joke about your coming birth. Your mother had to have been extraordinary - both intellectually and compassionately to win o’Conners affection and confidence. Wow.
Please write your impressions of Wise Blood. I’d be very interested.
ILY - YES I shall!
xxx
Trump's cult members would drink the Jim Jones kool-aid for their Messiah leader. That's how cults work. Jim Jones didn't give a shit about his cult members. And Trump doesn't give a shit about the dumbass a mega members. He said that Saturday, " I don't care about you I just want your vote!"
Did you happen to see his awesome meander about the sinking electric boat and the shark? :~D
https://x.com/atrupar/status/1799894705288761412
Trump has the cognitive abilities of an adolescent, 8 years old. And that is a fact, not to mention his mental declining dementia. He's a fucking moron.
This is NOT fake news ^ Little wonder the poorly educated love the guy, and he of course loves them back!
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-fire-and-fury-smart-genius-obama-774169
So, apparently there is a not insignificant cohort of men (X-Y chromosomed individuals) that are so terrified of being teh Gay, that they really don't clean themselves after they go #2, because if they touched their "button" they might like it, and they are terrified that may mean they like men. So they dab at it with a wad of TP, pull up their shorts and pretty much walk around with shit on their ass and skid marks in their tidy whiteys that their poor wives have to deal with (because, manly men do not do laundry, duh).
Trump is almost certainly one of these men, and it is clear that all those Republicans who surround him like flies on shit (literally) not only are aware of this, but Do. Not. Care.
A conviction is just more of the same stench.
--
(I used to work with a VP of sales that was like this. He tried to cloak it with a lot of aftershave, but lordy, that failed epically)
Oh wow--that is by far the most disturbing thing I have learned all week by far... but it certainly explains Trump's popularity a bit more.
Sorry for being so graphic, but it does explain a lot.
Since 2015 and the first rally, any alert person could see who he is and who 'they' are. The SPLC annual "Year in Hate" has mapped all the militias for years. But me reading that is preaching to the choir and pointing people to the Cliffs Notes for 'Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' has not prodded any fan of his to read it. Willful ignorance is a powerful enemy. It's either money or race or both. His Freudian 'slip' (I think not) was a dog whistle to his dogs. See Netflix' current production, 'Hitler and the Nazis.' Easy to guess who will be part of the Reich. The rest have forgotten what four years of chaos brought us....same phenomenon as the 'Christian' Nationalists who think life in mid-century USA was paradise. I was there. It was not. But their eyes are focused resolutely backward.
An excellent essay Alicia. The true idjits will never abandon this asshole.
Thank you--and one has to wonder why s many pundits allow themselves to be Lucy Footballed over and over again by this!
Because they need something to blather about.😡
You got that right.
They always look so frenzied and angry
Yup, because they are--scary stuff.
They are.
Idiots back in the day didn’t realize that Archie Bunker was being mocked, not revered. Some things never change.
Exactly!
Just got home. Unfortunately, you're right. Most of them are down the rabbit hole and aren't coming out. I hear a lot of people say that we need to be kind and understanding to them. Sorry. I'm fresh out. You can't reason with rabid animals. No retreat, no surrender!!💪💪
Alicia Norman: I am glad you brought in the racist, Richard Spencer.
When he was a student at UConn, the school newspaper, in printing the racist letters to the editor of Richard Spencer, the newspaper accidentally spelled his name, "Richard Sphincter."
I still enjoy the time Dick Sphincter got clocked :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFh08JEKDYk
Rob: Whew! LOL!
Thanks for sharing!
😂😂
🤣
UGH!!!!
I feel ya'. The best revenge is still "to live well." Who's more adaptable - them or us?
Great question. The ones in power create the situations to which the less powerful (financial, political) are forced to adapt. I believe that the spiritual strength increases, painfully, in the ‘underdog’ position, ultimately producing exactly the result that the powerful don’t want. Think “And Still I Rise.”