Speechless and what I'm reading today...
Only 1,451 days to go...
I’ll admit it - I love Charlie Sykes (@sykescharlie). I knew nothing about the man until I discovered him at The Bulwark in 2019. He was one of the original, MAGA-ousted RINOs: brave, proud, principled and a bone fide conservative. He spoke my language: #CharacterMatters. #TruthMatters. #RuleOfLawMatters. #NeverTrump.
While I think his political views are more conservative than mine, I think he’s great. I’m also in sync with him on one level: we’re both politically homeless right now. I believe in ideas, policies, visions for the future and the character of the candidates — not whether they have an R or D after their name. So you could say, I lean purple rather than red or blue.
I read and study the candidate’s priorities — not their performative tweets. I favor politicians, who want to govern in a bipartisan manner — not the ones, who see Congress as a never ending game of dodgeball.
In the last election, the fundamental and essential question I wanted answered was this: “Who won the 2020 election?” If the candidate had the slightest hesitation or offered some nuanced non-answer, then I knew they were squishy about the Rule of Law. That was a deal breaker for me… Yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever: I am #NeverTrump.
I know there are some, who have dismissed Charlie Sykes as a wanna be Rush Limbaugh. I think they have it wrong. He is well-read, writes thoughtful books, and clearly studies and often refers to historical references. His father was actively involved with Eugene McCarthy’s presidential campaign in 1968, so at the time, Charlie was a member of the Young Democrats of America. While his views moved to the right as he got older, he became alarmed with the nomination of Trump in 2016. After the election that year, he wrote an op-ed for the New York Times: Where the Right Went Wrong.
I was under the impression that conservatives actually believed things about free trade, balanced budgets, character and respect for constitutional rights. Then along came this campaign…When I wrote in August 2015 that Mr. Trump was a cartoon version of every left-wing media stereotype of the reactionary, nativist, misogynist right, I thought that I was well within the mainstream of conservative thought — only to find conservative Trump critics denounced for apostasy by a right that decided that it was comfortable with embracing Trumpism…As our politics have become more polarized, the essential loyalties shift from ideas, to parties, to tribes, to individuals. Nothing else ultimately matters.
Just last Friday, when our Felon-In-Chief was in Asheville, he promised his partisan fans that he was going to be sending more aid to Western North Carolina. Ha!
Surprise!
Trump's federal funding freeze prompts mass confusion across North Carolina as Federal grants can be found everywhere from city budgets and university research to aid for nonprofits and Hurricane Helene relief in Western North Carolina.
So rather than commenting on the utter chaos the Depraved Grifter unleashed this week, I’ll just point you to Charlie’s newsletter — he says it all for me. Personally, I’m speechless.
Thought for the day in honor of his birthday…
"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself."
~Franklin Roosevelt
What I read every day…
I read Letters from an American and The Bulwark every day. I very much encourage you to subscribe to both. The links to their sites are below.
Quote of the day:
“Here is a thumbnail description of our system as it exists on January 29, 2025:
The president is a convicted felon, who is using the power of his office to place certain of his enemies in physical danger.
His administration has intentionally sparked a constitutional crisis.
The only institution which can check him is the Supreme Court and there are at least two votes on the Court in support of anything Trump might do.
The Court has already granted Trump blanket criminal immunity from any action he takes as president.
Any meaningful check of Trump will require the participation of a large number of elected or appointed Republicans, who have not taken sides against Trump en masse for nearly a decade.
Look at this system and tell me why it won’t produce the kind of outcomes you’d see in Belarus?”
~ Jonathan V. Last
What I’m reading today….
The impoundment threat, explained
Trump and his advisers incorrectly argue that Article II gives the president an overriding power to ignore the appropriations laws Congress has passed and impound federal funds... The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel in both the Nixon and Reagan administrations explicitly rejected this argument.
Trump White House rescinds memo freezing federal grants after widespread confusion
“This is an important victory for the American people whose voices were heard after massive pressure from every corner of this country—real people made a difference by speaking out. Still, the Trump administration—through a combination of sheer incompetence, cruel intentions, and a willful disregard of the law—caused real harm and chaos for millions over the span of the last 48 hours which is still ongoing.”
The mainstay of today’s authoritarianism is strengthening your power while simultaneously weakening government institutions, such as parliaments and judiciaries, that provide checks and balances. The key is to use legal means that ultimately give democratic legitimacy to the power grab.
… many good people served in the Biden administration. And the administration did a number of admirable things. But on a fundamental level, Biden defined his entire post-2016 political comeback in terms of averting the Trumpian threat to American political institutions. And he failed, catastrophically! It’s not just that Trump won, it’s that he has returned more powerful than before. It’s that we are genuinely much worse off than we would have been if Trump were narrowly reelected in 2020.
Is There a Solution for Immigration?
After decades of doing nothing, it’s clear there’s motivation for a change, but the idea of deporting 10 million people or more sounds incredibly disruptive and there are whole industries - agriculture, restaurants, retirement communities and home health care - that could be decimated. So, what do we do?
‘Aliens’ and ‘animals’ – language of hate used by Trump and others can be part of a violent design
There is nothing new about the hateful political rhetoric that has become common today. In the lead-up to and during World War II, fascist leaders in Europe targeted Jews, Roma, gay people and other groups as sources of “social pollution,” as beyond being human, while describing themselves as noble and decent, embodying a pure, uncorrupted nation.
“These are career people. They are not political. They are people who have been in these positions often many, many years or even decades. They have developed a real expertise, and that’s a great resource for the government.” A resource that is now lost…Trump’s orders included a plethora of small-bore, petty-minded actions designed to implement his personal prejudices and desire for revenge.
Listen to the Bond Market, Because It’s Flashing a Warning
The bond market is telling us something about the dawn of the second Trump presidency, and it’s not pretty.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination signals a new era of anti-intellectualism in American politics
Anti-intellectual attacks on the scientific community have been increasing, and have become more partisan, in recent years. For instance, Trump denigrated scientific experts on the campaign trail and in his first term in office. He called climate science a “hoax” and public health officials in his administration “idiots.”
Watching RFK Jr. in the Senate Was Personally Painful
None of this is to paint the late Robert F. Kennedy as a saint. He was fully capable of playing hardball politics… But as I watched the younger Kennedy’s performance, I could not help but have one unhappy conclusion: Sometimes the apple does fall very, very far from the tree.
Caroline Kennedy’s Letter Is “Too Late”
But her speaking out is nonetheless momentous within the family. Stephen Kennedy Smith, who has spoken to Caroline about RFK Jr. and shares her point of view, says that “Caroline represents everything that our family should stand for. She has had a spotless record of public service.”
Worth Watching:
After the storm - my neighborhood - September 27, 2024
"We will not hire a blacksmith who never lifted a sledge. We will not hire a schoolteacher who does not know the alphabet … but when you come to our civil service, we serenely fill great numbers of our minor public offices with ignoramuses." ~ Mark Twain
Things I read everyday….
I read Letters from An American everyday, so I am no longer going to reference it in my Substack posts. Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletters are fabulous, so I encourage you to subscribe on your own.
I’m also a big fan of The Bulwark. I started subscribing to it shortly after I discovered it in 2019. The Bulwark was founded to provide analysis and reporting in defense of America’s liberal democracy. That’s it. That’s the mission. I find their podcasts and articles thoughtful and helpful in making sense of what is going on with the US.
