Friends,
I’ve opposed gerrymandering in the past. And I’d continue to oppose it during normal times. But these are not normal times. If Republicans are changing the rules of the game by gerrymandering to protect an unpopular Trump, why should Democrats keep playing by the old rules? Blue states must match red states seat for seat. No more. No less.
Please watch and share:
Friends,
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani succeeded today in his attempt to build a socialist power base in the Big Apple. His endorsed congressional candidates — Brad Lander, the former city comptroller, and two democratic socialists, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez.— all won their races
Mamdani said the results showed that his victory in the mayor’s race last year marked a turning point in progressive politics. “It was not the end of a political movement, it was the beginning.”
But I think it’s more than that. Democrats across the nation now face the biggest opportunity they’ve had since World War II to change the face of American politics.
The last time Americans faced such overwhelming evidence that the monied interests were screwing them over was the Great Crash of 1929 and ensuing Great Depression, resulting in the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, starting in 1933.
The one silver lining of the current Trump-Musk-Bezos-Ellison-Murdoch-Koch horror show is that most Americans now know beyond any reasonable doubt that they’re on the losing side of a class war, and are justifiably pissed. A Harris poll last year found that 53 percent of Americans believe “billionaires threaten our democracy.” That was up from 46 percent in 2024. An Economist/YouGov poll this year found that 80 percent of Americans see the gap between rich and poor as a problem.
Small wonder. America’s first trillionaire is a vicious white supremacist who’s stirring up hate around the world and backing Republican candidates with big bucks. American billionaires are openly sucking up to America’s first dictator, spending lavishly on whatever he wants, and gobbling up media outlets so most Americans won’t know what’s going on.
Meanwhile, workers’ share of the nation’s income has now dropped to the lowest it’s been since records began in 1947, while profits’ share is the highest since 1950.
This is morally wrong. “Income from capital risks replacing income from labor,” Pope Leo wrote in Magnifica Humanitas, his recent encyclical letter.
It’s also undermining our democracy. “America has a choice,” the jurist Louis Brandeis is reputed to have said. “We can have great wealth in a few hands or we can have a democracy, but we cannot have both.”
It’s time for Democrats to take on the class war that’s being waged by the nation’s oligarchy against most Americans by becoming class warriors themselves.
By class warrior I don’t mean resorting to violence or name-calling. I mean recognizing that a billionaire class is bad for America and calling for bold changes to reverse it: taxing great wealth, busting up monopolies, strengthening labor unions, raising the minimum wage, demanding profit-sharing and capital-sharing, ensuring Medicare for all and a universal basic income, and getting big money out of politics.
FDR wasn’t afraid to be a class warrior: “Never before in all our history have [the monied interests] been so unified against one candidate as they stand today,” he thundered in 1936. “They are unanimous in their hate for me — and I welcome their hatred.”
But these days, most Democratic politicians are reluctant to take on the oligarchs. Other than Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Zohran Mamdani, who else is loudly doing it?
Instead of being class warriors, many Democratic politicians are class worriers. They openly worry that inequalities of income, wealth, and opportunity are out of control — but they won’t fight for what must be done. I’m talking about Third-way “moderate” Democrats who focus on “suburban swing” voters. and Washington-based consultants who urge Democratic candidates to move to the “center.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has been trying to stave off the rising tide of Democratic insurgents, but Schumer’s future as the putative leader of the Democratic Party seems in doubt.
Some Democrats are simply class wimps, so afraid of offending the monied interests that fund their campaigns they won’t even support modest reforms.
Even here in California, the putative home of progressive politics in America, too many Democratic politicians are wimping out. California Governor Gavin Newsom publicly opposes the wealth tax initiative now on California’s November ballot, for fear billionaires will leave the state (they won’t). San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie led the opposition to a city ballot measure to expand the city’s higher corporate tax rate on companies whose CEOs make at least 100 times more than their median employees. The measure was narrowly defeated.
This has to change. Unless Democrats stand up to the oligarchs now running this nation, there won’t be any alternative to Trump Republicanism in the future, or any reason for a Democratic Party.
This should be the Democrats’ hour. With inequality at levels never before seen, with a racist trillionaire and scores of billionaires poisoning our politics, with corporate profits at record heights while most American workers struggle harder than ever just to stay afloat, with a Republican majority in Congress slashing Medicaid and food stamps to finance a tax cut for the super-rich, with the looming threat of AI destroying jobs, and with one of the most brazenly corrupt politicians in American history now occupying the Oval Office — with all of this, Democrats should be at least as loud as they were under FDR.
The Democratic Party must seek to return to the American people the wealth and power that the obscenely rich have taken from them. This should be the core Democratic message. It explains the affordability crisis. It reveals the epidemic of corruption. It clarifies corporate welfare and crony capitalism. It shows what must be done.
Friends,
Alan Greenspan has died at the age of 100.
My students don’t recognize his name, but you probably do. When he was chairman of the Federal Reserve — for more than 18 years, from August 11, 1987 to January 31, 2006 — he not only ran the U.S. economy (and most of the world’s) but was also in many ways the most powerful person in America.
He maintained an iron grip over the Fed and almost single-handedly decided on interest rates. But that was just the start of his power. He essentially fired George H. W. Bush by raising interest rates so high (ostensibly to ward off the inflation then threatening the economy) that the economy took a dive, and voters blamed Bush.
This was enough to convince my boss, Bill Clinton, to do exactly what Greenspan wanted — which was to reduce the federal budget deficit and thereby destroy much of the agenda Clinton ran on (and I helped create). As I wrote in my memoir of those years, Locked in the Cabinet, “Greenspan has the most important grip in town: Bill’s balls, in the palm of his hand."
I don’t want to speak ill of anyone who has passed. Greenspan was an extremely charming, intelligent, and thoughtful man.
But the truth must be told: If any single person was responsible for the financial crisis of 2008, it was Greenspan. That crisis — the worst collapse since 1929, which led to the worst recession in decades, in which millions of Americans lost their jobs, their savings, and even their homes — resulted from the deregulation of Wall Street that Greenspan advocated.
Greenspan pushed Clinton and Congress to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act, which since the Depression decade of the 1930s had separated investment banking from commercial banking, thereby preventing banks from gambling with personal savings. He also argued vigorously against regulating derivatives — essentially, financial bets on financial bets — that proved to be weapons of mass financial destruction.
Greenspan finally acknowledged that the crisis caused him to rethink his free market ideology. “I have found a flaw,” he told a congressional committee. “I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interest of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms …. I was shocked.”
Shocked? Shocked that the free market would succumb to greed, self-dealing, betting, and fraud? Shocked that decades of deregulation of Wall Street would plunge the nation and the world into crisis? Please.
Near the start of the Clinton presidency, I realized Greenspan was the Darth Vader of the American economy — and that I needed to try to convince him that the federal deficit and inflation weren’t as important as public investments in education, infrastructure, public-supported research, and social safety nets.
I had the opportunity when Greenspan invited me to breakfast. He did so probably because he wanted to be sure Clinton would reappoint him and assumed I had Clinton’s ear on economic policy. Given that he was a deficit hawk and I was the opposite, he figured it couldn’t hurt his chances to try to charm me.
We’d never met before, but as soon as he greeted me, I instinctively knew him. I knew where he grew up (New York) and where he got his drive and his sense of humor (he was Jewish). I felt like we’d been together at countless weddings, bar mitzvahs, and funerals.
Our breakfast was pleasant, our conversation easy. He deftly avoided talking about the deficit, inflation, or public investment. In fact, he avoided talking about anything that mattered. I left feeling pampered and charmed. Greenspan got out of that breakfast exactly what he wanted. Yet I never asked him the questions I intended to ask and never got the answers I imagined he’d give.
Here’s a version of the conversation I had anticipated:
Me: Mr. Chairman, how did a shy little Jewish guy like you get to be the most powerful man in the American economy?
He: I’m cunning and ambitious and very, very smart.
Me: You’re a Republican and follower of Ayn Rand?
He: And proud of it. Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Bush all appointed me to powerful positions.
Me: What’s your purpose in life?
He: To stamp out inflation.
Me: Even if that means high unemployment?
He: You bet.
Me: Even if it requires slow growth and stagnant wages?
He: Right you are.
Me: Even if it means drastic cuts in federal programs that help working people and the poor?
He: Absolutely, if that’s what it takes to balance the budget and remove all temptation to inflate away the government’s debt.
Me: But why? A little inflation never hurt anybody.
He: You’re wrong. It hurts bond traders and lenders.
Me: But why place their interests over everybody else’s interest in good jobs?
He: Because I’m a capitalist, and capitalism is driven by the filthy rich. They make their money off bonds. Your constituents are just plain filthy. They have to work for a living.
Me: You’re the nation’s central banker. You should be accountable to all Americans.
He: But I’m not, and neither is the Fed.
Me: That’s not fair; it’s not right.
He: Nah-na-na-nah-na. You can’t stop me.
Me: Can too.
He: Can not.
Me: Can too. The president’s my friend.
He: So what?
Me: He won’t reappoint you.
He: Oh, no?
Me: No.
He: Well, we’ll see about that.
Me: You think he’ll reappoint you?
He: No doubt about it.
Me: Why are you so sure?
He: Because he needs me.
Me: Oh, yeah?
He: Yeah.
Me: What does he need you for?
He: He needs me because he needs to have the confidence of Wall Street, and only I can deliver that to him.
Me: Oh, yeah?
He: Yeah. That’s why Bush reappointed me in 1992, even though he hated me for keeping interest rates high as the economy slipped into recession in 1990. That’s why he lost the presidency to your man. I could do it to your man too. I could do worse. He’ll reappoint me. He’ll do whatever I want him to do.
Me: Well, you can take your crummy lunch and cram it, you robber-baron pimp.
He: Go suck on a pickle, you Bolshevik dwarf.
Friends,
Referring to the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall, Minnesota governor Tim Walz commented on X: “Found an imaginary problem, said only they could fix it, didn’t listen to experts, hired buddies who grifted millions, failed miserably, bragged how great it went. The entire Trump presidency in a nutshell.” (Walz could have added: “blamed others for his failure, conjured up a conspiracy, then prosecuted them.”)
One remarkable aspect of Trump’s horrendous reign is how many crises and problems he’s brought on himself — created them out of thin air. Then he brags about how well he’s handled them. And when they go wrong — as they inevitably do — he casts blame on others or on his political opponents.
Four examples from the last few days:
I. The Return of Operation Metro Surge
U.S. prosecutors in Minnesota on Tuesday announced charges against 15 people they say conspired to “violently oppose immigration law enforcement.”
But when repeatedly questioned by the press, U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen failed to describe a single example of injuries to federal agents.
Rosen has a dubious track record with this kind of prosecution. In the months after “Operation Metro Surge,” launched by the Trump regime last December, federal prosecutors charged three dozen Minnesotans in a first wave of cases allegedly involving assaulting or impeding federal immigration agents. Most were dismissed or downgraded.
So why is Minnesota’s U.S. attorney announcing new charges? Rosen’s predecessor as U.S. attorney, Joseph Thompson, said he doesn’t understand it. “I think most people, on both of the sides of the political aisle, viewed [Metro Surge] as a disaster for the administration,” Thompson told The Wall Street Journal. “Why you would want to go back and re-litigate this is beyond me.”
One clue lies in the timing of the new charges — coming just two weeks after the John F. Kennedy Library awarded its 2026 Profiles in Courage Award to the people of the Twin Cities for their resistance to Operation Metro Surge.
A bipartisan committee praised the community for defending constitutional rights and demonstrating civic courage:
“Tens of thousands took to the streets to peacefully protest federal overreach and threats to immigrant families and constitutional protections, while others documented enforcement activity and alerted neighbors to federal agents’ presence. Faith leaders organized demonstrations, community groups built rapid-response networks, labor leaders and small business defended workers, and volunteers provided critical support and resources. Across religious, racial, and political lines, a broad coalition of residents of the Twin Cities and surrounding suburbs united in peaceful resistance despite violent confrontation and real personal risk, defending their neighbors’ rights and strengthening the national movement to protect American democracy.”
Trump is presumed to have a grudge against the John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award because last year’s award went to his former vice president, Mike Pence, for explicitly resisting Trump's demands to overturn the 2020 election results on January 6, 2021.
II. Trump’s Unedning War in Iran
On Sunday, negotiators for Iran and the United States met in Switzerland for a little over an hour. No progress was made. Iranian negotiators insisted on an end to the war between Israel (a U.S. ally) and Hezbollah (an Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon) as a condition for further talks, according to Iranian state media.
The talks were also strained by Trump’s renewed threats against Iran. Fox News reports that Trump, in an interview, said he had spoken with Iranian officials Saturday night and warned them not to close the Strait of Hormuz. “You close it, and you won’t have a country,” Fox said, quoting Trump. “You won’t even make it back to your f—ing country.”
The Iranian delegation in Switzerland decided to suspend the talks due to Trump’s threats, according to Nour News, which is affiliated with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. IRIB, Iran’s state broadcaster, said it was unclear if the talks will resume.
Iran’s lead negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on social media that the United States should be careful about issuing threats, adding that Iranian armed forces were prepared to respond. “No matter how much they talk, it is we who act,” he wrote.
Iran says the strait is once again closed. World oil prices are again rising.
One Republican senator described the war in Iran and the sputtering peace talks as “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.”
Trump continues to look for a way out, at least for himself. “If it works out, I’m going to take the credit,” Trump said of the peace agreement, only half in jest. “If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD.”
III. Prices Continue to Rise
On Sunday, Trump celebrated Father’s Day with a social media post touting that the U.S. has the “BEST ECONOMY EVER.”
“Happy Father’s Day!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Our Country is doing GREAT. Record Jobs Numbers and Stock Market, BEST ECONOMY EVER! Greatest Military in the World, by far. We are WINNING on all fronts, WINNING LIKE NEVER BEFORE. GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!”
Inflation in May increased to 4.2 percent, its highest point in three years, with the food index seeing a 3.1 percent increase over the past year and a nearly 4 percent bump in energy prices. Wages are not rising as fast, which means most Americans are becoming poorer.
The latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll released last week shows that only 33 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, his lowest point in both of his terms and 3 points lower than former president Biden at his all-time low.
Trump has long dismissed “affordability” as an issue Americans are concerned about, saying last week that affordability is a “fake word, made up by the Democrats.”
IV. The Reflecting Pool Worsens
All of which brings us back to the Reflecting Pool. Two weeks ago, Trump declared that his decision to repaint the Pool “American Flag blue” was not simply a “paint job” but “highly sophisticated material, industrial strength, that could last for 100 years.” The dark blue paint that Trump insisted on is now peeling, and green algae are returning.
But the blue paint is now peeling and the algae are back.
On Friday night, Trump blamed “Radical Left Lunatics, most likely Dumocats [sic], who have spent their lives trying to ruin our Country” for “some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool” and linked it to the etching of “8647” into the grass on the National Mall days earlier, adding that law enforcement is investigating.
Then on Saturday, Trump doubled down, claiming that “multiple individuals” had taken “some form of knife or blade, and put a 250 foot long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build and complete. These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments. Years in jail! Work will begin immediately on its repair.”
So far, five people have been arrested for vandalizing the Reflecting Pool, according to Trump officials. But the evidence against them is weak at best. For example, former Olympic canoe racer David Hearn, 67, was arrested after he touched a flap of blue material partially detached from the bottom of the pool. Hearn, who says he has a background in material science, told CNN he checked out the pool after reading reports of algae in the water and paint or sealant peeling off the bottom. “I didn’t vandalize anything,” Hearn told The Washington Post. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”
Yet the Reflecting Pool’s new blue surface isn’t plastic like a typical pool lining, which can be cut. It’s a coarse coat of dark blue paint. It’s peeling because the paint job — done by a Trump donor who had been given the no-bid contract — was obviously done badly, as well as being way over budget. And the algae have returned not because of vandalism but because the dark blue paint has trapped more heat, rapidly creating a friendly habitat for the algae.
As Tim Walz says, it’s the entire Trump presidency in a nutshell.
Friends,
Please submit your caption in the Comments section and, as before, please use the Comments section only for captions.
Winners will be announced next Sunday. For consideration, please post your caption by Monday at 9 pm PT, 12 midnight ET.
Last week’s winner:
“Did the recipe call for that much fat?”
(Congratulations, Dianne Fogarty.)
Runners-up:
“Birthday or not, the emperor still has no clothes.”
(Congratulations, Rachel Cornelius.)
“His 80th BD? He doesn’t look a day older than 250!”
(Congratulations, Laurence Hoffmann.)
“How many children didn’t get lunch at school to pay for this cake?”
(Congratulations, Janet Borst.)
“Would you look at that! A cake filled with 💩”
(Congratulations, Cindy Johnson.)
“Talk about wanting to have your cake and eat it too! I’ll bet it’s Devil’s Food!”
(Congratulations, Lisa Calomeni.)
“I’ve heard he’ll be winning his just desserts soon.”
(Congratulations, Sue L.)
“Is it just me, or is this cake a bit full of itself?”
(Congratulations, Mary Dahl.)
“A party of one.”
(Congratulations, Judy Robinson.)
Friends,
To you fathers, and to those of you who have or have had fathers, Happy Father’s Day.
For the next 135 days, our first and most important goal is to end Republican control of Congress, thereby limiting Trump’s reign of criminality, corruption, cruelty, and treachery.
This is a moral imperative for every one of us who believes in a decent society.
I know, I know — you’re exhausted. You’ve been doing everything you can to fight this regime — to protect the vulnerable, stop the bigotry, end the violence at home and abroad — and you feel worn out. I often feel the same.
But we have no choice. Trump is getting crazier and more dangerous by the day.
A few congressional Republicans are showing a bit of backbone, especially those who aren’t running again because Trump has supported their opponents in a Republican primary (Texas Senator John Cornyn, Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie).
But most of the GOP in Congress are as cowardly and shameful as any group of politicians has ever been in American history. They should all be swept out of office.
This means we must keep fighting even harder over the next 135 days — ensuring that Democratic candidates have our support (money, time, and energy),** that every qualified voter is registered, that Trump and his neofascist goons don’t interfere in our voting system, and that November 3rd’s blue wave is so large as to overwhelm any attempt by Trump to meddle.
More than 6,000 of you answered my Office Hours question this past week about your most important criterion for supporting congressional candidates in the midterms (I used Maine’s Graham Platner as an illustration).
Over half of you (53 percent) listed taking back control of Congress as most important, 34 percent said it was a candidate’s personal opposition to Trump and the monied interests, and 8 percent of you said a candidate’s history and character were most important. (Five percent cited other criteria.)
Among comments that elicited the most positive responses from you were these:
Chris Lemon: “There’s no second place prize in an election. Furthermore, the moral high ground is a cold windswept place with bad cell phone reception. Getting rid of the GOP is the only goal at this point, or should be. A few years back, I was talking to some folks who were going to vote for Jill Stein instead of H.Clinton. I asked if they were familiar with Ralph Nader’s presidential campaign. None of them knew the name. Sometimes you just want to cry.”
Mike Hammer: “I live in Maine and there is some questioning, some soul-searching about Platner’s character. The big picture is how we begin, at this time to take our country back and understand the damage that Susan Collins has brought by voting MAGA or with Trump was 95% of the time. There’s no law stating that we have to love Platner but that doesn’t mean we can’t vote for him. Time will tell.”
Mary Jean Holt: “I am an old, white Maine woman, faithful democrat from my youth (Republican), and 85 today. WHAT is WRONG with people? Platner is an excellent candidate, IMHO. I live with (and through the Vietnam War) a Vietnam Vet, married 61 years and know the harm that stupid, deadly wars do to all of us. I give Graham Platner a lot of credit, his wife, too. Just wish he’d trim up that beard a bit. Besides Bernie says he’s OK and I have Never disagreed much with Bernie, nor AOC.”
Diana Seidel: “I’m also an old white woman (78) living in Maine and will happily, enthusiastically vote for Platner. He speaks to all the issues I care about.”
Stephen: “I’m a native Mainer, so the Platner question is more than theoretical. Àfter hearing the accusations, the stories, the rumors, and Graham’s own story of personal growth, recovery, and redemption, I have no difficulty giving him a chance. I think the negative image surrounding him is at least as much a product of the media jackals eager to create a scandalous story as it is to the actual facts. I also think there’s an element of social snobbery at work. News pundits and others, look at Platner from their corporate offices and see a guy who’s rough around the edges who they can’t imagine being capable of being a Senator.”
Susan Borden: “There is the possibility that some see in Platner’s story qualities of character one would like more of - the ability to modify one’s behavior in favor of creating a kinder, fairer, more sustainable world/country/community.”
** I’ve listed below the candidates for Senate and House that in my humble opinion both need and deserve your support (for more information, click on their names).
That support isn’t limited to money (although the links below are for funding). It can be volunteering: to write postcards to constituents in the state or congressional district, to phone them, even to go to the state or district (if you don’t already live there) and ensure that voters are registered and have all the information they need about how to vote and whom to vote for.
IMHO, these candidates for the U.S. Senate most need and deserve your support:
In Georgia: Jon Ossoff
Ohio: Sherrod Brown
Maine: Graham Platner
Texas: James Talarico
North Carolina: Roy Cooper
Iowa: Josh Turek
Michigan: Depending on the result of the August Democratic primary, either Abdul El-Sayed (a Bernie Sanders-endorsed doctor who supports Medicare for All and getting Big Money out of politics), or Rep. Haley Stevens (a so-called “moderate” Democrat who is receiving major financial support from AIPAC). I favor El-Sayed, but if Stevens is selected, I’m 100 percent for her.
For the House, your support can mean most to these candidates:
AZ-1: Depending on the outcome of the July 21 primary, I’m for either Amish Shah or Marlene Galán-Woods.
CA-45: Derek Tran
FL-14: Kathy Castor
ME-2: Matt Dunlap
MI-10: My favorite is Christina Hines, but I’d take Tim Greimel or Eric Chung over any Republican (the primary there is August 4).
NJ-09: Nellie Pou
NY-19: Josh Riley
OH-9: Marcy Kaptur
Friends,
On today’s episode of the Coffee Klatch, Heather and I discuss Trump’s outright surrender to Iran, his algae-infested Reflecting Pool, Democrats’ plan to tackle his staggering corruption, and much more. Please join us.
Friends,
In December 2025, Trump axed today’s holiday — Juneteenth, the official celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation — from the free admission days at the more than 100 national parks across America. He also axed Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a free admission day.
Instead, he substituted his own birthday, June 14, as a free admission day.
There you have it: the venal combination of Trump’s white supremacy and his malignant narcissism.
It’s much the same with Trump’s celebration of America’s 250th birthday. He has erased any mention of the slavery that scarred most of America’s first century and of Jim Crow, during most of the next — and has instead merged the nation’s anniversary with his own 80th birthday.
In 2020, Trump scheduled a campaign rally for himself on Juneteenth in Tulsa, Oklahoma — the site of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. (After a wave of criticism, he rescheduled it for the next day.)
America can probably survive Trump’s malignant narcissism. It’s unclear how well we can endure his white supremacy.
On May 21, Trump eased the regime’s cap on the number of refugees who can enter the United States by 10,000 slots — from 7,500 to 17,500 — all reserved for white South Africans. The ostensible reason: an “emergency … due to recent increases in the incitement of racially motivated violence on the part of the Government of South Africa.”
Rubbish. According to investigative reporters in South Africa, such as Nechama Brodie, who has written extensively about farm murders there, white South Africans are not being persecuted. “Studies consistently show that white South Africans have the highest employment levels, highest education levels and highest income levels of all groups in South Africa, despite being a minority,” Brodie said.
Trump’s advocacy for white Afrikaners is in sharp contrast to his dismantling of America’s refugee program for people of color (between 2004 and 2019, refugee allocations were divided among Africa, East Asia, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America/Caribbean, and Near East/South Asia).
Trump has a long history of white supremacist activities, beginning with the 1973 lawsuit brought against Trump management for allegedly discriminating against Black renters. He took out full-page ads in 1989 calling for the death penalty for the five Black and Latino teenagers eventually exonerated in the Central Park jogger case.
Trump played a major role in spreading the debunked, racially charged conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was not born in the United States. He infamously said there were “fine people on both sides” of the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.
He has hosted prominent white nationalist Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago residence. He has sought to erase Black history from America’s classrooms. He’s eliminated all government diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and is trying to stop them in the private sector.
On this Juneteenth, it is important to acknowledge — both in sadness and in outrage — that the person occupying the position of president of the United States is a white supremacist.
Friends,
To remind you, here’s what Trump said on “Meet the Press” that aired on June 7:
“The [2020] election was rigged. It was a dirty election … And it’s happening again right now in California…. they’re cheating on the election. … they’re crooked…. You know that these elections are rigged. … Your elections in this country … are like a third world country. Your elections are crooked.”
When Trump lies with this kind of vehemence, does he sincerely believe what he’s saying — in which case he’s seriously demented?
OR does he know full well it’s a lie, and part of his strategy for the 2026 midterm elections is to undermine public trust in our electoral system, especially in predominantly Democratic states and cities — in which case he’s traitorous?
I think it’s both — he’s a traitor to America and he’s seriously demented — both a knave and a fool.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel know full well that the incidence of voter fraud in America is near zero. They’re playing along with Trump because, well, they’re just traitors.
***
Blanche’s Justice Department is now ramping up its investigations of supposed voter fraud across the country.
Blanche has instructed federal prosecutors to prioritize alleged voter fraud cases.
Over the last year, the Justice Department has sought voter roll data from most states; sued those that have declined to comply; opened a criminal investigation into 2020 election results in Fulton County, Georgia (Trump narrowly lost Georgia that year); subpoenaed records tied to the Arizona Senate’s review of Maricopa County voting; and demanded ballots from the 2024 race from Wayne County, Michigan.
A March 2026 order directed the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to compile state-by-state citizenship lists before federal elections; instructed the Department of Justice to prioritize investigations and prosecutions of officials and private actors involved in issuing or distributing ballots to ineligible voters; and ordered new Postal Service rules for tracking mail and absentee ballots.
Yet despite the Trump regime’s demands for voter roll data, at least eight federal district judges have rejected those demands. Half of those judges were appointed by Trump. The regime is appealing the decisions.
I used to work at the Justice Department, and, to the best of my knowledge, it has never had a 0-for-8 losing streak.
And let me remind you once again: There’s close to zero evidence of any voter fraud in America.
**
California appears to be an early testing ground for Trump’s voting fraud witch hunt.
Speaking to conservative radio host Glenn Beck recently, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, Bill Essayli, promised “[w]e will be charging some people.” The promise would have been a violation of Justice Department policy under past procedures that barred the department from involving itself in state or local elections, but Essayli has no qualms. “It will be election fraud charges in the next … one or two months, I believe. We need some of these results to be certified so we can prove some of the allegations.”
Essayli dispatched prosecutors to offices where ballots were being counted and has appealed for anyone with evidence of voter fraud to come forward, saying that “what we need right now are witnesses.”
Hello? The way justice is supposed to be served in America begins with investigations followed by allegations and then proof.
On social media, Essayli charges that California “has stonewalled every effort to verify that only eligible U.S. citizens are registered to vote.” He warns that his office will “not look the other way. We will investigate and prosecute,” adding that “every legal vote deserves to be counted. Every illegal vote cancels one out.”
Since taking over as the top prosecutor in Los Angeles, Essayli — a former Republican state assemblyman — has proven that his loyalty to Trump exceeds his fealty to the law. He has dropped cases against the president’s allies; aggressively pursued charges against protesters rallying against the administration’s immigration crackdown, only to face a string of losses; and investigated California over its policies toward transgender athletes.
**
Kash Patel’s FBI is participating in this dangerous charade.
Last Thursday, the FBI executed a search warrant at the office of an Ohio-based community grassroots group — the Ohio Organizing Collaborative — that works to register voters. Over 125 federal agents reportedly showed up at the homes of its employees and volunteers to interview them. The agents knocked on doors and demanded to come into their houses to get phones, without warrants. They followed people in their cars, even followed kids to school.
Last fall, Frank LaRose, a Republican serving as Ohio’s top election official, referred 1,084 noncitizens who appeared to have registered in the state to the Justice Department. Federal investigators have also collected voter records in at least six Ohio counties, Reuters reported in April.
Why Ohio? It’s one of the few states where a Democrat — in this case, Sherrod Brown — has a chance to flip a formerly Republican seat in the U.S. Senate.
The FBI is also probing Wisconsin. It recently attempted to interview the director of elections in Milwaukee County. Earlier this year, Minnesota’s secretary of state received grand jury subpoenas seeking some voter records as part of a federal investigation into whether noncitizens are registered to vote or have unlawfully cast ballots.
**
Trump, his suck-ups Blanche and Patel, and their army of prosecutorial lackeys such as California’s Essayli and Minnesota’s LaRose are not out to win cases against voter fraud.
Their real purpose is to create so much doubt in the minds of the American public about whether voter fraud has occurred that it becomes easier for Trump to claim — after Democrats have prevailed in the 2026 midterm elections — that they did so because they cheated. And then for Trump, Blanche, and Patel to contest those wins.
According to this scenario, Trump would declare that the election results were rigged, as he has in the past. He would assert that the results in specific jurisdictions—counties, cities, or states— should not be recognized. He would allege fraud and irregularities, illegal ballots, or foreign interference, including cyber activity.
In response, compliant federal authorities would require investigation of those results before they were finalized. The authorities would move to secure ballots, voting records, or related materials in contested jurisdictions, building on the actions the Trump regime has already taken.
While these investigations are taking place, Trump would then call on congressional leadership to proceed as if the announced results are invalid, urging the Speaker of the House to organize the chamber on the basis of a Republican majority, and encouraging similar action in the Senate, urging them to ignore any jurisdictions in which the federal government was still undertaking its review.
It’s the only real strategy Trump has left — given that his war in Iran has failed, the prices of gas and food are likely to remain elevated through the midterm elections, and most working Americans are struggling far harder than they did before Trump occupied the Oval Office.
But it’s a dangerous, cynical strategy that will further undermine public trust in our system of government.
**
What can stop them?
Governors and mayors need to get in front of this and warn voters about this treachery.
They should give voters the facts about the infinitesimal incidence of voter fraud in their states and cities, show the resources they’re using to stop voter fraud, and explain any anomalies (such as the length of time it took in California to determine the outcome of the primary elections).
Governors also should communicate clearly and early to their constituents that election results will be honored, that certification will proceed under state law, and that the rights of voters will be protected regardless of federal claims to the contrary. That kind of clarity can shape public expectations before a crisis, not after it.
Governors should decide now that they will certify results under state law and will not alter or withhold certification in response to federal claims. They can secure custody of ballots and direct state law enforcement to protect election materials. They should prepare for the possibility that federal agents will attempt to seize ballots or voting infrastructure and define in advance how state authorities will respond.
Secretaries of state should secure chain-of-custody procedures as well as physical and digital records, and prepare detailed audit documentation for immediate release. They should prepare public reporting systems that make results, audits, and underlying data rapidly accessible. Speed matters. Claims of fraud and irregularities take hold quickly; rebuttal must be quick.
State attorneys general should draft complaints now, identify jurisdictions for filing, and coordinate multi-state litigation strategies. They should prepare to challenge ballot seizures, interference with certification, emergency detentions, and federal control of election processes. They should also coordinate with local prosecutors and law enforcement to define how state criminal law applies to interference with election administration.
All this still may not be enough. Trump is a master conman. But he’s also off his rocker — and part of the response to him and his bonkers claims must also be to emphasize that he’s out of his mind as well as responsible for the havoc America now finds itself in — the failed foreign adventures and the affordability crisis — and therefore must not be trusted.
Friends,
From what has been reported today about the deal between the Trump regime and Iran, only one conclusion can be drawn: Compared to where America and the Middle East were when Trump began this war on February 28, it’s a terrible defeat.
See:
Friends,
I keep having conversations with Democrats and progressives who disagree with each other about a fundamental issue. I’ll call it the “Platner Paradox” because the current controversy surrounding the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Maine exemplifies the disagreement, although it goes well beyond Graham Platner.
The underlying question is how important are attributes such as personal history and character relative to a candidate’s political party or their willingness to oppose Trump and fight for economic justice?
I’m going to try to present each viewpoint as best I can.
Friends,
The USA has a BIG birthday to celebrate! So, of course, Trump is trying to cash in and make it ALL ABOUT HIMSELF.
This year’s 250th anniversary events, commemorating our Founding Fathers saying NO KINGS, were supposed to be planned by a nonpartisan organization created by Congress called “America250.”
But, in king-like fashion, Trump and his MAGA allies went around Congress and created their own party planning committee, confusingly named “Freedom 250.” This new group, which claims to be nonpartisan, is planning competing events all year that do little more than glorify Donald Trump.
Who is paying for these Freedom 250 festivities? You — at least in part.
That’s because Freedom 250 has gained access to taxpayer funds allotted by Congress last year for the 250th anniversary celebrations.
To recap: President Trump and his allies are using taxpayer dollars to spread his political agenda and granting private donors presidential access — all under the guise of celebrating America’s 250th birthday.
This pay-to-play, MAGA cronyism might be Donald Trump’s definition of a birthday bash — but it certainly isn’t mine.
Please: Share this video to help spread the word.
Friends,
Once a year — around our mutual birthdays — I have a long and prized phone call with a dear old (and getting older) friend. This year’s came yesterday.
One thing about dear old friends is they’ll tell you things about yourself no one else will tell you — stuff you probably already know but don’t want to admit.
My old friend didn’t disappoint yesterday.
“You’re getting up there,” he laughed.
“So are you, you old fart,” I laughed back.
We traded barbs and stories for awhile, and then his voice turned serious.
“You’re working too hard,” he said.
“What are you talking about?”
“I see your Substacks, your videos, podcast, interviews. It’s too much.”
“That’s utter bullsh*t,” I said. Then he went silent — which always puts me on the defensive. “What d’you want me to do — smell the roses? Take up the banjo? Run a marathon?”
“Bob, I’ve known you … how long?”
“Sixty-five years.” (Whenever he pulls this “How long have I known you” maneuver, he’s really getting serious.)
“Have I ever given you bad advice?”
“Yes, when you urged me to date Cindy Hawthorne.”
He laughed. “That was 63 years ago, beyond the statute of limitations.”
“I forgive you.”
Then he resumed his serious tone. “You’ve got to slow down. Stop being so f*cking productive.” And then, more gently: “You don’t have that many years left.”
At which point — I hate to admit it — I lost it.
“That’s exactly why I’m not slowing down! We’re in a national emergency! We’re —”
He interrupted. “I know, I know. Don’t insult my intelligence. Trump is a monster.”
“So all of us have to do whatever we can. For as long as we can.”
After a long pause, he said: “I think you’ll last longer if you slow down.”
That was when our conversation ended. I’m still smarting a bit from it.
The fact is, I’m doing what I do because — and as long as — I’m still able to.
And I work as hard as I do because you make it all worthwhile.
You read my daily missives and share them. You add your comments to them — creating some of the most thoughtful discussions anywhere on the internet. Some of you have been urging others to subscribe and lending your financial support to this effort.
You’ve been making use of the facts, arguments, and analyses I’ve offered. You’ve been writing your members of Congress. You’ve been actively supporting good candidates for public office who oppose the Trump regime. You’ve been marching, demonstrating, making good trouble. You’re boycotting firms and products that support the tyrant. You’re helping and protecting vulnerable people in your community.
You are part of the pro-democracy movement that gives my work meaning and purpose.
For this, I thank you with all my heart.
Friends,
Elon Musk has just become the world’s first trillionaire. Donald Trump is America’s first dictator. But they have more in common than their economic and political dominance.
To describe both as selfish narcissists would be a wild understatement. Both are maniacally obsessed with increasing their own personal wealth, power, and control.
Both have been willing to break laws, norms, and other social constraints in pursuit of these goals. Both have manipulated, bribed, conned, robbed, and bullied their ways to dominance.
Trump tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election, was impeached twice, and was found criminally liable for cooking his corporate books and civilly liable for sexual abuse.
Musk paid a quarter of a billion dollars to get Trump elected president, then ran Trump’s illegal and hugely destructive DOGE. Musk’s SpaceX has all the hallmarks of a gigantic Ponzi scheme in which insiders pocket the winnings and leave latecomers holding the bag.
Both pride themselves on paying little or no taxes. Trump famously said that paying not paying federal income taxes “makes me smart.” Musk paid zero taxes in 2018.
Both are notoriously lacking in empathy; they view all relationships as transactions. Trump refuses to be a “consoler-in-chief” in national tragedies and openly withholds sympathy for families of political opponents who die. (When Rob Reiner and his wife were murdered, Trump asserted they were killed “due to the anger [Reiner] caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”)
Musk has stated that “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy” — arguing that a society can only afford to practice broad empathy if it operates from a position of systemic strength.
Both regard themselves as omnipotent and invincible. Both lash out verbally or physically at anyone who crosses them, often getting into raging disputes and fights.
To the extent they have any belief beyond their own omnipotence, it’s white male nationalism. “Whites are a rapidly dying minority,” Musk wrote his 240 million followers in a January post on X. In a February post, he declared that “there has been unrelenting hate and poisonous propaganda in the West against anyone White, straight or male over the past decade or more,” adding, “No more guilt trips. ENOUGH.”
Musk has suggested that race plays a detrimental role in hiring. He’s touted the role of white people in eliminating slavery. He’s accused public figures of racism against white and Asian people.
In recent months, Musk has increased his online posts about perceived threats to whiteness, or what he views as calls for a “genocide” against white people. Over the past seven months, he has posted 850 times about race, nearly daily and triple the rate for the previous two years.
Trump also has a well-documented history of white supremacist actions and rhetoric, including the 1973 lawsuit brought against Trump management for allegedly discriminating against Black renters; his full-page ads in 1989 calling for the death penalty for the five Black and Latino teenagers eventually exonerated in the Central Park jogger case; his leading role in the debunked, racially charged conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was not born in the United States; his 2016 accusation that Mexican immigrants were criminals and “rapists”; his 2017 “Muslim ban”; his “fine people on both sides” of the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville; his view of Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations as “shithole” countries; his determination to erase Black history from America’s classrooms; and his campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Both Musk and Trump have pushed the conspiracy theory that Democrats are seeking to import undocumented immigrants so they can take over the U.S. government forever.
Both have fomented white nationalism abroad. Trump was an enthusiastic ally of Viktor Orbán, who saw Western civilization as threatened by Muslim immigration into Europe. Many people in Trump’s circle continue to support and encourage leaders of the European far-right.
Musk, too, encourages white nationalism abroad. During the recent anti-immigrant protests and riots in the United Kingdom — particularly in Belfast and London — Musk posted that “civil war is inevitable” and urged British protesters to “fight back or die” (prompting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to condemn Musk’s comments as “dangerous”). In response to the recent killing in Belfast, Musk blamed “murderous migrants beheading innocent people in their home town.” He shared an image of the stabbing suspect, who is Black, alongside the caption declaring “millions must go.” And he reposted messages claiming that Starmer “hates white people.”
Researchers from the nonprofit watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate report that “Musk’s amplification” of anti-migrant narratives to his hundreds of millions of followers was “instrumental” in provoking the violence in Belfast: “No individual played a bigger role in spreading [hateful] content on X than Musk himself.”
Both Trump and Musk also have long histories of misogyny.
Throughout his business and political careers, Trump has frequently disparaged women, describing female opponents and journalists as “disgusting,” “slobs,” and “piggy.” He has a well-documented history of sexual aggression. A federal jury found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation against writer E. Jean Carroll, awarding her millions in damages. And he has appointed conservative judges instrumental in rulings that overturned long-standing reproductive rights.
Musk, too, has faced frequent claims of misogyny and sexism. Eight former SpaceX engineers filed a lawsuit detailing a pervasive “’Animal House’” culture — accusing Musk of creating a hostile environment, treating female employees as sexual objects, and retaliating when employees challenged his sexism. Separate reports have also emerged alleging that Musk engaged in inappropriate relationships and persistent advances toward employees, including asking them to bear his children.
Musk has 14 kids with different mothers and talks about them as a “legion,” as in a Roman military unit. “To reach legion-level before the apocalypse,” he told one of his partners, “we will need to use surrogates.” He has frequently drawn ire for promoting a “bro culture” and mocking femininity. He sparked a major online debate by stating that “Instagram is for girls” and has repeatedly shared or amplified sexist theories and extremist content regarding traditional gender roles.
**
The question, then, is why have two such loathsome men come to dominate America and much of the rest of the world at this point in history? Is there something about American capitalism or culture in the 21st century that has given both such extraordinary power?
Part of the answer, it seems to me, is a loss of our sense of common good — a decline of the role of public honor and public shame and a disintegration of public morality — that has allowed, even encouraged, these two dangerous men to acquire such untrammeled wealth and power.
The idea of “the common good” was once widely understood and accepted in America. After all, the U.S. Constitution was designed for “We the people” seeking to “promote the general welfare”— not for “me the selfish jerk seeking as much wealth and power as possible.”
To be sure, the Gilded Age, which ran from the late 1880s to the 1910s, was dominated by a few extraordinarily wealthy men who violated social norms and monopolized the economy. “The public be damned,” said William Henry Vanderbilt, head of the New York Central Railroad.
But the reign of these “robber barons” ended when the American public — outraged by their abuses of wealth and power — rose up to demand reform and a return to the common good.
Subsequently, during the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II, Americans faced common perils that required that we work together for the common good. Many of us — including both white and black Americans — were motivated to fight for civil rights and voting rights in the 1960s. And a sense of common good moved many of us to act against the injustice of the Vietnam War, and others of us to serve bravely in that besotted conflict.
Yet the common good is no longer a fashionable idea. The phrase is rarely uttered today. It feels slightly corny and antiquated if not irrelevant. There is no longer any restraint on aggressive men (almost all of them men) using whatever means possible to accumulate vast wealth and power on a scale that exceeds even the Gilded Age.
This moral breakdown is not one of personal, private, religious morality. It’s a breakdown in public morality — in a broad understanding of what we owe one another as members of the same society. Trump and Musk exemplify that breakdown. The wealth and power accumulated by these two deeply flawed men is evidence of how far we’ve fallen, and the scale of the challenge we face to rectify it.
Friends,
Trump again claims victory in Iran. He’s claimed victory before, but now he has a so-called “agreement” with Iran.
That agreement, which appears to be no more than a memo of understanding — that is, a set of principles to which Iran and the United States have agreed — stops the fighting and reopens the Strait of Hormuz, but it does not deal with the issue that caused Trump to initiate the conflict: Iran’s nuclear program.
Keep that in mind as you hear various renditions of what’s been decided. Recall that the Strait of Hormuz was open before Trump began bombing Iran. At best, the agreement Trump is touting restores the status quo to where it was when he commenced hostilities. Remember also that Iran had agreed to limit its development of nuclear-grade materials in its treaty with the Obama administration, which Trump revoked in 2018.
So what has been accomplished? Iran now is under the control of a more extremist regime than when Trump started this war. Oil prices are far higher and will take some time to return to where they were before it began (if they ever do). Meanwhile, Trump has caused the United States to be more dependent on fossil fuels than we were prior to his inauguration for a second time, and the high oil prices brought on by his war have enriched Vladimir Putin’s regime.
The war with Iran has cost the United States an estimated $90 billion, and that’s a conservative estimate. It has caused widespread suffering throughout the Middle East. It has put Israel in a more precarious situation than it was before — and much of that is due to Benjamin Netanyahu, who is not a party to, and has not approved, the agreement.
This doesn’t look like a victory. Compared to where the United States and the Middle East were on February 28, when Trump began this war, it’s a terrible failure.
Friends,
Sorry this is a bit late today. Please submit your caption in the Comments section and, as before, please use the Comments section only for captions.
Winners will be announced next Sunday. For consideration, please post your caption by Monday at 9 pm PT, 12 midnight ET.
Last week’s winner:
“There’s a reason why women were trusted to represent liberty and justice.”
(Congratulations, Sue Schneider).
Runners up:
“I may be blind but something smells disgusting.”
(Congratulations, Adam Laurie).
“Together girl, we can take that fool down. That’s what we were created for.”
(Congratulations, Beverly Clark).
“Justice may be blind, but I can smell a rat!”
(Congratulations, Diane Fogarty).
“I so envy you, Lady Liberty. I wish I could be standing on an island away from these clowns!”
(Congratulations, Whereabouts Unknown).
“They hate it when women get together.”
(Congratulations, Wyrd Folk).
“I’m not so blind that I can’t see what they’re doing!”
(Congratulations, Edwin Darling).
“OMG It’s supposed to be Justice is Blind NOT Blind to Justice!”
(Congratulations, Renais Winter).
“I’m blind, but I’m not deaf and dumb.”
(Congratulations, Brooks Keogh).
“I can see that Todd has no understanding of justice, and neither does the guy who nominated him.”
(Congratulations, Laurence Hoffmann).
“Just found out you can legally remove the Statue of Liberty... Or you could change the slogan on it, to: ‘Give me your wealthy, your corrupt, your bribers, yearning to avoid taxes.’”
(Congratulations, Lynn E Levine).
“If I drop these scales right now, I can make the world a better place.”
(Congratulations, James Coyle).
Delayed today because I’m out doing errands. Will draw and post as soon as I’m back! (Thanks for your patience.)
Friends,
Tonight, Trump is throwing an 80th birthday bash for himself (he says it’s in honor of the 250th birthday of the United States) with a “Freedom250” Ultimate Fighting Championship cage match on the South Lawn of the White House at 8 p.m. ET.
It will be a bloody gladiator fight taking place inside a 600-ton, 154-feet-tall skeletal structure called “the Claw,” painted red, white and blue. Opponents will punch, kick, wrestle, choke, and use jiu-jitsu on each other until one of them is unconscious or verbally concedes, or a referee stops the fight because one is judged too damaged to absorb any more violence.
This is a money-making operation for the UFC (which is offering special-access VIP packages for $1.5 million), for Trump buddy David Ellison’s Paramount (which will livestream it to you if you buy a subscription for $8.99 a month — see here), for Crypto.com and Ram (which are sponsoring it), and for Trump (who’s deciding which of his billionaire friends and CEO buddies will be invited ringside. Last night, Trump held a $1 million-a-person dinner at the Trump National Golf Club at Potomac, Virginia, to benefit his Super PAC, Maga Inc.).
Beyond the usual Trumpian issues of self-dealing and pay-to-play corruption, today’s fight also raises the question: What does a cage match on the White House lawn have to do with America’s 250th anniversary?
Just this: Trump and his regime are seeking to project an America that’s like the winner of a cage match.
Trump sees everything and everyone in terms of dominance or submission, and he’s hellbent on dominance. “You’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong,” he told his supporters on January 6, 2021, before urging them to go the Capitol.
He views America as locked in a zero-sum match with the rest of the world, and there’s no limit to our violence. Unless Iran opened the Strait of Hormuz, he memorably said, “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
Trump’s entire “manosphere” is obsessed with force and violence. His secretary of “war,” Pete Hegseth, threatens “no quarter, no mercy for our enemies” and “maximum violence to the enemy.” When told some fishermen survived the American bombing of their boat, Hegseth reportedly ordered his commander to “kill them all.”
Trump’s secretary of health and human services frequently posts shirtless workout videos in which he’s lifting weights alongside figures like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kid Rock. He claims Trump has “the highest testosterone level” ever seen in an individual over 70 years old.
Trump’s whole circle — including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and JD Vance — glorify male prowess and power. (In a Twitter exchange a few years ago, Musk said he was “up for a cage fight” with Zuckerberg, who replied: “Send me location,” eliciting from Musk: “Vegas Octagon,” and the suggestion that podcaster Joe Rogan referee.) Musk and Vance champion pronatalism — the belief that the single greatest threat to Western civilization is collapsing birth rates — and argue that Western women must have more children.
Much of the Republican Party is likewise focusing on male virility. Texas Republican senatorial candidate Ken Paxton calls the Democratic candidate “low-T Talarico.”
Part of this comes directly from the fascist playbook, organized around a “strongman” touting male dominance. In that playbook, war and violence are thought means of strengthening society by culling the weak and extolling heroic warriors.
I suspect many Americans find Trump’s neofascist “strongman” attractive because they feel powerless in a society that’s left them behind. The cage match and similar public displays of aggression enable them to feel vicariously powerful.
Young men in particular — who make up a disproportionate share of Trump’s base — have been economically emasculated. Most lack college degrees at a time when such a degree is necessary (although hardly sufficient) for a decent job, and when some 60 percent of university undergraduates and 67 percent of graduate students are female.
In this way, cage matches darkly echo “The Full Monty,” the 1997 British comedy about unemployed steelworkers in Sheffield, England, who form a male striptease act to make quick cash.
But the cage match today on the White House lawn is no laughing matter. It’s deadly serious and deeply troubling.
When so many Americans are struggling to make ends meet, Trump’s gladiator fight suggests that the essence of the nation on its 250th birthday isn’t the democratic ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, nor is it the pull-yourself-up-from-the-bootstraps ambition that’s driven our economy, but zero-sum violence and male aggression.
What do you think?
Friends,
State attorneys general are our last best hope for stopping Trump cronies Larry and David Ellison from buying Warner Bros. — and with it, CNN. They’ve already neutered and nearly destroyed CBS News. We cannot allow them to eliminate CNN’s ability to tell the American people the truth about Trump.
PLEASE sign the petition here to help block the merger, and share this video.
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