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And speculative history is one of mine. You can’t fix the present without understanding how the past got us here. Recognizing the impact of the Reagan revolution on today’s Trump party, and by extension the country, is not equivalent to throwing up our hands and giving up. And I’m pretty sure that Trump is conclusively demonstrating that whatever economic message the Democrats could come up with that might appeal to the private sector middle class doesn’t matter all that much, because a distressingly high percentage of people did not vote for him because of economics—despite what they might politely tell mainstream media interviewers.

I agree that Democrats need to win back the white working class to win broad-based elections, but that’s not going to happen with even moderate policies that nevertheless get successfully, if unfairly, associated with Marxism or radical anarchism. Because remember: the heyday of D really dominating R among the white working class was during Jim Crow days, when the party simultaneously tolerated a progressive multiracial faction in the northeast and a fascist authoritarian wing dominating everyday life in the south. And once D leadership starting working in the 1960s to truly defang the latter’s power to influence national platforms, that’s when the white working class started to abandon the party in numbers. The unfortunate reality appears to be that at this moment, there’s only one effective way to get them back into the fold at this moment, and I promise you, you wouldn’t like that platform even one bit.

Reagan may not have been the architect of the 30 years succeeding his tenure, and he may have even been horrified by what transpired. But the right wing government-is-evil revolution he ushered in did give the more radical reactionary forces in his party permission and cover to take over the party and ultimately the country, and what any of us speculate Reagan would have done differently had he realized the long-term impact of the movement he championed is not enough to exonerate him.

Given the social history of America, two big reasons Kamala got six million fewer votes than Biden immediately leaps to mind.

Roughly one in 178 voters went for Jill Stein, which is 0.56%, and Kamala lapped Stein at the polls by 87x. And that doesn’t even take into account any votes Stein got that would otherwise have gone to Trump, an equally radical candidate, rather than Kamala, the relatively establishment choice. The far left fringe simply did not cost Kamala the election, nor are they the potent political force dragging down the entire Democratic Party that you and Bill Maher make them out to be.

I don’t necessarily agree with this, but I did see what you did there and I do appreciate the slyness.

Next up: EO allowing Trump and only Trump to serve more than two terms as president.

Trump’s intellect was never his strength.

Is it?

The big takeaway here is that empathy is becoming a dirty word.

Not in the first part, which is the part they like the best and quote the most.

I do like that Trump is experiencing buyer's remorse with ACB.

Not to worry. Farmers—by which I mean multinational agricultural corporations—are going to get their money, which is actually our money, because what else are they gonna do with all the savings from cutting all the so-called “entitlements”? They’re going to give it to their billionaire benefactors and buddies.

I’m pretty sure red hat voters were told they’d have both.

We’ve moved way way up the field away from socialist revolution. We should probably be thrilled just to get back to 2024.

They planning to shove so much bad **** up our asses that we’re not even going to remember there was even such a thing as town halls.

I like how she got the last word on this with facts.

Honestly, I’m wondering how much longer the Democrats are for this world.

So he could time it with the speech tonight.

Also no mention of an apology by Zelenskyy for the meeting going upside down, and that will be noted, if it hasn’t been already.

I started working out at gyms in 1987. In 2002 we bought a home and got our own equipment so I canceled the gym memberships, but long story short, I stopped doing legs and I ended up with knee surgeries as a result. I've started going back to gyms in the past year specifically to do legs, and I have noticed two changes: People had always hogged machines by laying on them in between sets to prevent anyone else using them, but now they have something to keep them on the machine even longer: looking at the phone. They will sit there for five or even ten minutes in between sets. There is a series of five machines I rotate around when I go, and more than once ,when I first get there I have seen someone on a machine I eventually want, I do complete series of three sets on all four of the other machines, and the fifth machine still has the same person staring at the same phone. At no time do I glance over and see them actually using the machine. Every time, on the phone, in between sets. Maddening on a few levels. But, also, I have found that when I do approach someone I have seen on a machine I have worked around and I need that last machine before I go home, and I ask them this exact question: "Do you think you'll be much longer?", I have never once gotten anything less than a cordial reply and an offer either to wait just one more set OK?, or even allow me to work in. People seem much cooler about sharing machines with others now, and they're normally very good about wiping down. Back when I went the gyms before, people would get super agitated if you approached them and bark at you that they'll be off the machine when they're goddamn good and ready.

That's exactly it. "Illegal" is whatever he says it is. He appears to be the law now.

That’s a relatively nice, innocuous thing to say about him.

As it turns out, Trump’s birthday is also Flag Day, so that creates cover with the less gullible, less cultish right wingers.