I think it’s really important to acknowledge the inherent anti-intellectualism at the root of American identity and the way it is intertwined with religious-especially evangelical-awakenings. The infosphere tends to do poorly at nuance-moral or otherwise-and the combination of rejecting experts and ecstatic knowledge acquisition combined with the toxicity of a Horatio Alger story makes us profoundly susceptible to, well, flim-flam.
All of what you wrote is accurate. But with the level of unserious people in charge and a complete lack of will by Congress to prevent the destruction of our system of government, there will be no end in sight for this buffoonery. We haven’t even begun to see the negative impacts of it all. And now that they plan on preventing fair elections in the future and possibly succeed in eliminating judges if not entire courts they disagree with, the country will descend into a banana republic.
I don’t see enough people arming themselves to prevent it. They’re counting on that. If we can’t get 37% of the eligible voters to give enough of a shit to show up to vote, what makes you think enough people will rise up to prevent what’s happening from happening? I keep reading about the 3.5% rule that can successfully prevent it without violence. 3.5% is over 10M people. I think we’re far short of that.
Universities extorted. Citizens disappearing. Leaders blatantly avoiding the truth or outright lying about the exigency of the circumstances in which America NOW finds itself, courts being disrespected and ignored, and the Constitution being destroyed…I see other countries posting messages to United States citizens asking, “Why, why are you allowing this to happen?” I read something recently that we may have forgotten: Our society can only be destroyed IF we imagine or accept the travesty before our eyes as possible. The purposeful decimation of the things for which our country has always stood for in this society is NOT possible on our watch. This can NOT be accepted as possible in OUR country. We can not allow our youth to suffer in a nation that accepts the active destruction of our democracy. The things happening today are NOT possible unless we view them as such- possible. WE have to be the gatekeepers. This can’t happen when we refuse to tolerate it. We need to remember that this shouldn’t, can’t, and will not happen. Liars evade and hide with smoke and mirrors. We must clear the smoke and remove the mirrors with OUR strength and commitment to the most essential values of a civilized society. We have to step forward and come together in MASS, NOT for any political body or group, but for our children and grand children who deserve to grow up free and proud of OUR protecting what is right. We simply must NOT be spectators who allow the charade and travesty of lies and deceit to materialize as that is tantamount to our being part of the betrayal taking place at the hands of the greedy, narcissistic, unempathetic, and corrupt deeds of a very select selfish and nefarious few.
Nothing IS that WE do NOT MAKE it so. Americans, NO CHOICE EXISTS. We have a duty to join together in a unified mission to perform our duty to protect posterity. We must stop the attempts to rob all of us of what our ancestors sacrificed their lives to protect. This simply can NOT happen in OUR country. We can NOT allow it. Nope. Not today. We, the people, will protect OUR union together. We have NO choice!!! If not NOW, when?
It seems a lot of the energy about this event has gone into incredulity that it happened. Unfortunately, the fact that this happened is NOT surprising. It is what we should expect from this excuse for a government. And yes we should be outraged. Less focus has gone into the fact that this is how administrative discussions are taking place (with or without a journalist's inclusion). None of this discussion would have gone into the Presidential record as I understand it. And this is how the administration does its dirty work - under the cover of darkness, so to speak, never to reach the light of day? Except in this one case it did.
Does anyone else find it disturbing—or at least frustrating—that intelligent news outlets and government officials (including U.S. senators, state legislators, House representatives, and governors) still act puzzled over Trump’s illegal executive orders, disruptions, and the recent Signal fiasco? They ask whether Trump will be held accountable or if he’ll hold his cabinet accountable. The answer is obvious: of course not!
Many have called Trump a Russian asset. If he isn’t, then explain his pattern of unconstitutional, unlawful actions with zero restraint. Why does he go out of his way to elevate leaders in Russia, China, and other authoritarian regimes? It should be clear by now—he is deliberately sowing chaos, disrupting government functions, imposing tariffs to weaken the U.S. economy, and slashing aid programs that support the most vulnerable. The list of damaging actions is long and nauseating. This isn’t a conspiracy; it’s reality.
Some are even asking if Trump will hold someone accountable for a middle-school-level conversation on an unsecured messaging app. Again, the answer is no—because he doesn’t care. Trump’s cabinet members were hand-picked not for their competence, but for their loyalty and willingness to echo his views. Many of them overestimate their abilities, yet the world sees through their bluster. Their mistakes have real consequences, and it’s the public that pays the price. Notice their reaction to any criticism—an almost reflexive disdain for those who challenge them, as if to say, ‘Don’t they know who we are? His goal is to manufacture failure so he can present himself as the “solution,” pushing America toward authoritarian, oligarchic rule.
Brilliant journalists and analysts have exposed how tech billionaires, libertarian elites, and figures like Musk are involved in this scheme. Trump isn’t smart enough to have devised it himself, but he’s the perfect frontman. So why do the media and government officials still act surprised? They need to stop tiptoeing around the truth and start exposing what’s happening—how it benefits Trump, his cabinet, and complicit Republican lawmakers.
The warning signs are flashing in neon. This is a rogue takeover. It’s a coup. For goodness’ sake, talk about it before it’s fully realized!
“The crisis of our time isn't that our discourse has become too coarse. It's that we've lost the ability to distinguish between what offends our sensibilities and what endangers our constitutional order.”
Bingo. And when you (try to) talk to people on the other side, it is lost on them
The Republicans would literally prefer disabled people to die rather than pay to help them, but please do go on about how a Democrat called a fascist a name 🙄
This might be old fashioned, but I think a lot of what we’re dealing with is a lack of shame, empathy, and integrity. If we’re not regretful and sorry for errors, if we can’t see how our actions impact others, if we have no sense of how far is too far, we become characterless automatons motivated by random thoughts and priorities or are at the mercy of those manipulating our thoughts and setting our priorities. That’s no way to live and it’s no way to run a country. Trump is the master manipulator but to be successful he needs rudderless “trousered apes” (as CS Lewis called them) who desire to be manipulated.
The bar is very low now. Nothing surprises people. They have become desensitized. I don’t think Crockett was mean enough. I think what the democrats don’t realize is that at least when it comes to social media, they have zero game.
Republicans are the MASTERS of DISINGENUOUSNESS. Get over it, libs. If your teenage kid comes home drunk, having banged up your car and gives a lame ass excuse: you say, you’re GROUNDED. You don’t even engage with the argument. It’s BS and you move onto the next phase: punishment. If you don’t grant power, power cannot be taken….
Another excellent article. What is it about writers that when we are angry, our insights become rapier sharp? Nice job. I'm gong to throw this around my social media if you don't mind.
I have held a Secret security clearance. With the revelation today in the Atlantic of the full Signal conversation/thread (since all the principals are claiming it contained no classified information) it’s a golden opportunity for everyone on both sides of the aisle to pick their jaws up off the floor and call their representatives and senators and demand that everyone on that thread be investigated and pursued for brazen, reckless and impeachable violations of national security and therefore their oaths of office. 1. Using Signal for anything more serious than scheduling a meeting; 2. Using Signal sloppily (not noting who is participating or even when they leave the chat; 3. Using Signal while in Russia, of all places; 4. Using Signal to get around complying with federal records preservation laws and potential FOIA requests; 5. Lying to Congress about the security level of the conversation in question, which includeded sensitive details of military action. This is not an exhaustive list of their reckless conduct. The fact that the president sees nothing wrong at all with this careless group of people on his supposedly “merit-based” cabinet reflects on him. Let your federal electeds and your friends and family and neighbors know it is 100% unacceptable of his national security team and his own standards that he doesn’t even recognize it or seem to care. I predict that 47 will be launching more upsetting, puzzling distractions to shake public scrutiny away from this national security fiasco as soon as possible.
Basic moral and ethical principles should be the standard for having a consistent approach to governance but it seems we are now at the endpoint where critical thinking has been discarded and Bread and “Circuses“ is the norm. GOD HELP US ALL
So how do you think that American individuals should be acting?
As an aside, I've heard a lot about the Signal fiasco over the last 24 hours and hadn't heard anything about "Governor Hot Wheels" before reading this.
I think it’s really important to acknowledge the inherent anti-intellectualism at the root of American identity and the way it is intertwined with religious-especially evangelical-awakenings. The infosphere tends to do poorly at nuance-moral or otherwise-and the combination of rejecting experts and ecstatic knowledge acquisition combined with the toxicity of a Horatio Alger story makes us profoundly susceptible to, well, flim-flam.
All of what you wrote is accurate. But with the level of unserious people in charge and a complete lack of will by Congress to prevent the destruction of our system of government, there will be no end in sight for this buffoonery. We haven’t even begun to see the negative impacts of it all. And now that they plan on preventing fair elections in the future and possibly succeed in eliminating judges if not entire courts they disagree with, the country will descend into a banana republic.
I don’t see enough people arming themselves to prevent it. They’re counting on that. If we can’t get 37% of the eligible voters to give enough of a shit to show up to vote, what makes you think enough people will rise up to prevent what’s happening from happening? I keep reading about the 3.5% rule that can successfully prevent it without violence. 3.5% is over 10M people. I think we’re far short of that.
Universities extorted. Citizens disappearing. Leaders blatantly avoiding the truth or outright lying about the exigency of the circumstances in which America NOW finds itself, courts being disrespected and ignored, and the Constitution being destroyed…I see other countries posting messages to United States citizens asking, “Why, why are you allowing this to happen?” I read something recently that we may have forgotten: Our society can only be destroyed IF we imagine or accept the travesty before our eyes as possible. The purposeful decimation of the things for which our country has always stood for in this society is NOT possible on our watch. This can NOT be accepted as possible in OUR country. We can not allow our youth to suffer in a nation that accepts the active destruction of our democracy. The things happening today are NOT possible unless we view them as such- possible. WE have to be the gatekeepers. This can’t happen when we refuse to tolerate it. We need to remember that this shouldn’t, can’t, and will not happen. Liars evade and hide with smoke and mirrors. We must clear the smoke and remove the mirrors with OUR strength and commitment to the most essential values of a civilized society. We have to step forward and come together in MASS, NOT for any political body or group, but for our children and grand children who deserve to grow up free and proud of OUR protecting what is right. We simply must NOT be spectators who allow the charade and travesty of lies and deceit to materialize as that is tantamount to our being part of the betrayal taking place at the hands of the greedy, narcissistic, unempathetic, and corrupt deeds of a very select selfish and nefarious few.
Nothing IS that WE do NOT MAKE it so. Americans, NO CHOICE EXISTS. We have a duty to join together in a unified mission to perform our duty to protect posterity. We must stop the attempts to rob all of us of what our ancestors sacrificed their lives to protect. This simply can NOT happen in OUR country. We can NOT allow it. Nope. Not today. We, the people, will protect OUR union together. We have NO choice!!! If not NOW, when?
It seems a lot of the energy about this event has gone into incredulity that it happened. Unfortunately, the fact that this happened is NOT surprising. It is what we should expect from this excuse for a government. And yes we should be outraged. Less focus has gone into the fact that this is how administrative discussions are taking place (with or without a journalist's inclusion). None of this discussion would have gone into the Presidential record as I understand it. And this is how the administration does its dirty work - under the cover of darkness, so to speak, never to reach the light of day? Except in this one case it did.
Does anyone else find it disturbing—or at least frustrating—that intelligent news outlets and government officials (including U.S. senators, state legislators, House representatives, and governors) still act puzzled over Trump’s illegal executive orders, disruptions, and the recent Signal fiasco? They ask whether Trump will be held accountable or if he’ll hold his cabinet accountable. The answer is obvious: of course not!
Many have called Trump a Russian asset. If he isn’t, then explain his pattern of unconstitutional, unlawful actions with zero restraint. Why does he go out of his way to elevate leaders in Russia, China, and other authoritarian regimes? It should be clear by now—he is deliberately sowing chaos, disrupting government functions, imposing tariffs to weaken the U.S. economy, and slashing aid programs that support the most vulnerable. The list of damaging actions is long and nauseating. This isn’t a conspiracy; it’s reality.
Some are even asking if Trump will hold someone accountable for a middle-school-level conversation on an unsecured messaging app. Again, the answer is no—because he doesn’t care. Trump’s cabinet members were hand-picked not for their competence, but for their loyalty and willingness to echo his views. Many of them overestimate their abilities, yet the world sees through their bluster. Their mistakes have real consequences, and it’s the public that pays the price. Notice their reaction to any criticism—an almost reflexive disdain for those who challenge them, as if to say, ‘Don’t they know who we are? His goal is to manufacture failure so he can present himself as the “solution,” pushing America toward authoritarian, oligarchic rule.
Brilliant journalists and analysts have exposed how tech billionaires, libertarian elites, and figures like Musk are involved in this scheme. Trump isn’t smart enough to have devised it himself, but he’s the perfect frontman. So why do the media and government officials still act surprised? They need to stop tiptoeing around the truth and start exposing what’s happening—how it benefits Trump, his cabinet, and complicit Republican lawmakers.
The warning signs are flashing in neon. This is a rogue takeover. It’s a coup. For goodness’ sake, talk about it before it’s fully realized!
What are we doing? Destroying it. Burning it all down.
Well said. Thank you for seeing thru the bs.
Jasmin Crockett for President!
And where are all the President's men who have been preaching anti DEI for months? You don't get to have it both ways.
She has the mettle! JASMINE 2028!!
“The crisis of our time isn't that our discourse has become too coarse. It's that we've lost the ability to distinguish between what offends our sensibilities and what endangers our constitutional order.”
Bingo. And when you (try to) talk to people on the other side, it is lost on them
The Republicans would literally prefer disabled people to die rather than pay to help them, but please do go on about how a Democrat called a fascist a name 🙄
Well argued and presented. Thank you for posting.
This might be old fashioned, but I think a lot of what we’re dealing with is a lack of shame, empathy, and integrity. If we’re not regretful and sorry for errors, if we can’t see how our actions impact others, if we have no sense of how far is too far, we become characterless automatons motivated by random thoughts and priorities or are at the mercy of those manipulating our thoughts and setting our priorities. That’s no way to live and it’s no way to run a country. Trump is the master manipulator but to be successful he needs rudderless “trousered apes” (as CS Lewis called them) who desire to be manipulated.
The bar is very low now. Nothing surprises people. They have become desensitized. I don’t think Crockett was mean enough. I think what the democrats don’t realize is that at least when it comes to social media, they have zero game.
Republicans are the MASTERS of DISINGENUOUSNESS. Get over it, libs. If your teenage kid comes home drunk, having banged up your car and gives a lame ass excuse: you say, you’re GROUNDED. You don’t even engage with the argument. It’s BS and you move onto the next phase: punishment. If you don’t grant power, power cannot be taken….
Another excellent article. What is it about writers that when we are angry, our insights become rapier sharp? Nice job. I'm gong to throw this around my social media if you don't mind.
I have held a Secret security clearance. With the revelation today in the Atlantic of the full Signal conversation/thread (since all the principals are claiming it contained no classified information) it’s a golden opportunity for everyone on both sides of the aisle to pick their jaws up off the floor and call their representatives and senators and demand that everyone on that thread be investigated and pursued for brazen, reckless and impeachable violations of national security and therefore their oaths of office. 1. Using Signal for anything more serious than scheduling a meeting; 2. Using Signal sloppily (not noting who is participating or even when they leave the chat; 3. Using Signal while in Russia, of all places; 4. Using Signal to get around complying with federal records preservation laws and potential FOIA requests; 5. Lying to Congress about the security level of the conversation in question, which includeded sensitive details of military action. This is not an exhaustive list of their reckless conduct. The fact that the president sees nothing wrong at all with this careless group of people on his supposedly “merit-based” cabinet reflects on him. Let your federal electeds and your friends and family and neighbors know it is 100% unacceptable of his national security team and his own standards that he doesn’t even recognize it or seem to care. I predict that 47 will be launching more upsetting, puzzling distractions to shake public scrutiny away from this national security fiasco as soon as possible.
Basic moral and ethical principles should be the standard for having a consistent approach to governance but it seems we are now at the endpoint where critical thinking has been discarded and Bread and “Circuses“ is the norm. GOD HELP US ALL
So how do you think that American individuals should be acting?
As an aside, I've heard a lot about the Signal fiasco over the last 24 hours and hadn't heard anything about "Governor Hot Wheels" before reading this.