I think many of our political problems are due to what economists call time-inconsistency--bad stuff is done, but we don't immediately see the bad consequences. When the bad consequences arrive, people don't connect it to the bad actions that caused it. The obvious example is tariffs. Economists immediately said this would lead to higher prices and unemployment, and no positive effects on manufacturing. Nothing happened for several months and WH lies convinced many short-sighted people that the economists were wrong.

Feudalism grew directly out of the fall of Rome. We are reliving that event as science, the rule of law, logic, reason and civilization itself slowly die. Tucker knows this and wants his stupid followers to think it's a good thing rather than a tragedy that lasted 1,000 years.

https://twitter.com/micah_erfan/status/1959608945477095595

I should add that for many ultra-religious Christians, the Middle Ages, during which feudalism was the dominant economic/social system, was the best system ever because the Catholic Church was at the pinnacle of its earthly power, crushing free thought and inquiry.

I'm glad that the resistance is making a little bit of headway against Trumpian tyranny. But it is moving so slowly that the drift of policy remains in a fascist direction. Even if Democrats win Congress and the WH in 2026 & 28,... they will not be able to undo all the damage Trump has done to vital institutions, especially with a fascist court for longer than I have to live. Republicans will be happy to live with half, more likely three quarters, of their ultimate agenda...

I think there is a misunderstanding about Trump's lawlessness that is important and unappreciated. I don't think it is outright fascism so much as an extension of the legal philosophy under which he operated his businesses and used to evade the consequences of his crimes. It has always been to play for time, let the clock run out, delay delay delay. Trump has infinite patience when it comes to courts, the law, and lawyers. He knows that if he can simply postpone justice long enough, he will either go scot-free or settle on his terms.

I've always thought that Trump's constant misstatements were mainly because he is stupid; really, really stupid. But now I think they may result more from his total inability to tell the truth. The "truth" is simply whatever suits his purpose. nytimes.com/2025/02/23/us/… This is of course classic sociopathic behavior. The curious question then becomes how and why do so many non-sociopaths follow him, repeat his lies, and rationalize Trump's obvious misstatements of truth.

Back when I was a Republican and got my first job in the House of Representatives, the party had like 140 seats and zero power. But every single day I tried to think of something we could do that day to fight. I wrote speeches for the Congressional Record,... wrote studies that we released to the press, commissioned reports by the Congressional Research Service and General Accounting Office, sent out "Dear Colleague" letters. My boss testified before congressional committees, recorded commentaries distributed to radio stations et al.

There is commonality between Republican attacks on trans people and foreign aid. Trans people are a very, very small percentage of the population, and foreign aid is a very, very small percentage of the budget. Hence, both are vulnerable and essentially defenseless. Also, the average American, being an ignoramus, thinks there are many, many more trans people than there actually are, and that the foreign aid budget is much, much larger than it actually is.

The fundamental division between the two parties isn't right and left, it's between a party that is fundamentally evil and will use any means to win, even if it's immoral or illegal, and a party that is thoroughly inept, thinks voters will reward good intentions and doesn't seem to understand Politics 101. As I have said many times over the years, Democrats are the class nerds while Republicans are the schoolyard bullies. Once upon a time there were tough Democrats. Where did they go?

I'm not worried about Harris winning an honest election, but I am worried about Republicans stealing it. Unfortunately, I fear Democrats are just not tough enough to stand up to them--especially our utterly worthless Attorney General. I hope I am wrong. So I am forced to think about life under fascism. I think it will be a soft form of fascism, like Nazi Germany in the early days before Hitler fully consolidated his power. Ironically, I think those who will suffer most are those on the right that Trump can't trust.

Some people wonder how I went from being a libertarian to being a social democrat. A lot of it has to do with luck. Not my luck, but the concept of luck in society.
Everyone knows what luck is--it hits randomly, both the good and the bad.... However, those blessed with good luck will invariably ascribe it to their own intelligence, hard work etc. because it flatters their ego and justifies their good fortune. From this logic it automatically follows that those suffering bad fortune somehow brought it on themselves,

Serious question: Is it possible to have any respect whatsoever for a Trump supporter or a member of the party of Trump? The answer for me is no, I can't respect anyone who supports Trump or his party. The harder problem is whether I can still engage them, civilly, or do I need to cut off all contact? Luckily no close family members are Trumpsters, but a few old friends are that I am dismayed by.

Brief history of Republican disdain for the Black vote. (1) In 1876, the GOP cut a deal with southern Democrats to withdraw federal troops from the South, where they had protected Black voting rights. Afterwards, Republicans did virtually nothing to protect Black voting rights--although filibusters by southern Democrats were an important obstacle, such as to the force bill in 1890.

I don't think many people realize that the right-wing Heritage Foundation has been doing a version of Project 2025 intermittently since 1980, when it was called Mandate for Leadership. One reason Project 2025 is dangerous is that Heritage has learned a lot since 1980.

https://twitter.com/newrepublic/status/1838914208282427704

I worked on the 1980 report. At that time there weren't many movement conservatives with government experience--the Eisenhower, Nixon, and Ford administrations were not very hospitable for them. Now there are many conservatives with experience in government.

Trump's obvious mental impairment is the biggest unreported story in America. Every time he speaks, nothing but gibberish comes out. But in stories about his speeches, the quotes are always cleaned up to make them sound half-sane. This is one way the media puts its collective thumb on the scale in Trump's favor. Personally, I think he has dementia; I say this having seen it close-up. But I am willing to be persuaded that he is just incredibly stupid. What other option is there?

The extreme bias of the New York Times in 2016 toward Hillary Clinton clearly cost her the election and many Democrats are wary that it will do the same to Kamala Harris. But they need to understand why the Times has such outsized influence on American politics. It's not because ordinary people read the Times; they don't. But every person in the country who belongs to the elite, by any definition of the term, does read it. This is especially so for the media. All reporters and editors everywhere read it and take their cues from it.

I think a key reason why Democrats have a hard time reaching out to Trump supporters is because they simply can't conceive of why anyone would support an obviously corrupt, incompetent moron. I freely admit that I don't understand it either. I wish I did. I honestly try to put myself in their shoes. After all, I was a Republican for 30+ years. There are many people I used to be friends with who are still Republicans. Aside from those who make their livings as professional Republicans, I don't understand any of them. But I do try.

The idea that the New York Times is now a conservative paper isn't quite right. I think there was a time, not so long ago, when it clearly tilted left. But at some point it moved rightward to the center, which is where it is. But the Overton Window has also moved to the right. The rightward movement of the Overton Window has affected all media. It was brought about by a huge investment by right-wing billionaires in explicitly right-wing media. The "reporters" for such media are right-wing activists first, journalists second.

I think one of Biden's problems is that he has never had a story to tell that links his policies together. Every GOP initiative is tied to all the others in that big government is always the enemy, especially of the little guy, and Republicans want to lift it off his back. It would be easy enough to turn this story around, show that big business and corrupt rich people are the real enemies of the little guy, and only government has the power to help. But Democrats haven't made this argument since LBJ.

Yesterday I asserted that the New York Times has moved to the right over the last 25 years. Some people took issue with this claim, others attribute it simply to corporate greed. The true reason is more complex and I will try to explain part of the reason. Back in the 1970s, I was a conservative and the bulk of the media was liberal, both editorially and in its news coverage. It was very hard to get a reporter to cover conservative initiatives, but in those days it was essential if you wanted your proposals to get publicity.

Once you accept one crazy conspiracy theory, it is much easier to accept the next one and the next after that. And the more conspiracies you accept, the more alienated you become from those who don't share your beliefs. Eventually, everything is a conspiracy. I think some people react to the widespread acceptance of ridiculous conspiracy theories by Trump supporters and a few on the left (RFK Jr) by denying that there are ever any true conspiracies. But there are! Sometimes in plain sight. I will post a few below. Post others.

I think that there is a lot less difference in the quality of education among most universities at the undergraduate level than people imagine. For the typical student majoring in English, history, mathematics and most other fields they will learn the same thing everywhere. Of course in some specialized fields such as fine arts it may make a difference and certainly at the graduate level it makes a huge difference. The main difference between graduates of elite schools and other good schools is the student body and the piece of paper.