Thanks for writing about this, Jim. I daresay I disagree about the gravity of RFK Jr's decision. I would have been absolutely horrified if he put his support behind Kamala. Also note I can't address everything I'd like to here- like the "communist" talk. On that last point, I'll just say that many governments that exercise control over their national economies are nominally capitalist, yet function nothing like the US system. If Trumpers think communism is wokism, let 'em. Many of the people who are chosen to represent socialism and communism are woke grifters who can't even explain the most basic things about economic systems. It's just words.
So, to give you some background, I am an idiot who had Trump Derangement Syndrome. I stupidly voted for Biden in 2020. Somehow those Dems dragged me back in, after I wised up to their bs in the mid 2000s. I almost feel like I got "activated" or something, lol. I never voted for Obama, I knew he was a fake, but when Trump came in I fell for the media hype.
But Jim. I'm 44 years old, and I have never experienced a three-year period like what we've lived through under Biden. I've never in my life seen Democrats so blatantly crush labor, then enlist the media to portray it as victory. (Perhaps I wasn't paying close attention in the past, but it comes home to roost when my own Democrat senator or Georgia, Warnock, did not even show up to vote for the rail workers.)
I have never, until Biden, seen a massive act of terrorism (Nordstream) be deemed so unimportant. I had never before seen smart friends repeat media talking points that Seymour Hersh is a washed up "blogger".
I have never, until Biden, and Democrat control of the legislative branch, seen my food costs double in the span of 2 years. Once upon a time, eggs for dinner was a cheap option. Or fixing food myself would save me money. But butter costs twice as much as it did when Trump was in office. What pisses me off is Democrats spent the last three years telling me that my eyes lie, and that I didn't just pay $5 for something that cost $2 in 2020.
I understand that this calculus is not what I'm supposed to do. I understand there are myriad factors for high prices. I understand that Biden and Kamala and Trump are mere puppets, and in the past I absolutely would agree that it does not matter who holds the puppet presidency.
But, Jim. The deep state just tried to murder Trump! I'm not a religious person at all, used to call myself an atheist. But I see that incident as a miracle. Maybe not in the God sense, but in the, "holy shit, in 99.999% of alternative worlds, Trump is dead right now." It's easy to discount that event if you hang out in exclusively leftist spaces. Come to think of it, that event initiated a major change in my media consumption. I do not llisten to "exclusive leftists" anymore. I just made that term up, but I mean the leftists (and unfortunately the majority of leftists are like this), who say Trump voters are fascists. They might say Biden has fascist policies but precede it by expounding on Trump's badness for twice as long.
I just can't with that shit anymore. When Trump was in office, how many billions of dollars were spent on wars, in addition to the yearly grotesque military budget? I wasn't paying close attention, so I could be very wrong. But boy, something is REALLY wrong when hundreds of billions of dollars are laundered in the name of Ukraine, and a chicken wing costs $7 at the grocery store (previously $3.75.) I feel like the war machine has gotten unbelievably fat under Biden.
I could go on and on but reckon I better finish up here. I think the main reason why I clash with leftists now is that most of them have a very lazy view of the ruling class. People like Caitlin Johnstone, whose commentary lately has really disappointed me. It's an incessant drone of "rich people bad, so much bad, bad, bad, bad, little hope, no hope, bad bad bad."
And I'm asking myself, how did these people miss the significance of the US deep state trying to murder Trump? How in the WORLD do the leftists who rail against the intelligence agencies not see how they just coordinated to kill Trump?
So maybe there's nothing to my opinion. But it kinda reminds me of how Peter Dale Scott talks about a "negative template".
Sure, in years past, I would have been horrified and disappointed that RFK Jr ended up endorsing Trump. But in today's time, with the deep state completely off the rails, raiding Ritter, arresting the Telegram founder, removing books from Amazon, blowing up train cars creating the most hazardous chemical disaster possibly in US history, all while telling us to believe lies and ignore truth, I think it makes perfect sense that RFK Jr endorsed Trump.
And I am actually considering voting for Trump here in Georgia, because I so fear Kamala.
Trump has something that Kamala lacks. His supporters would call it dignity, his detractors call it narcissim. Call it whatever you want. The fact remains that there is something in Trump that the deep state thinks it cannot control.
Thanks, Rachel, for your articulate and impassioned comment. I think you speak for a lot of former Democrats who, as I said, will find Trump the lesser evil in the present context. I have no desire to argue about that. As I said, I am NOT arguing that RFK should have endorsed Kamala. I hope that was clear. I agree with what you say about Biden/Kamala and the Dems. Including the anger. (Though I’m older than you and have long since given up on the Dems as a positive force.) I do think Trump is not the iconoclast who is going to upend things and be as dangerous to the established order in the way that either the Dems or RFK Jr. and perhaps you think/hope he will. My well-honed cynicism, if you will. But the Dems have certainly helped to create that impression, with all the TDS hysteria, from Russiagate to the multiple legal attacks. They seem to be afraid of him, and have communicated that obsessively. What you said is the key: “there is something in Trump that the deep state thinks it cannot control. there is something in Trump that the deep state thinks it cannot control.” This is precisely the source of his popularity, and the Dems cannot seem to realize they are only confirming it. It is what their faction of the deep state is afraid of, and not entirely without reason—he’s not formed in the “normal” political channels that produce reliable minions, and does have a tendency to go off track. I just think he is really rooted in the US establishment himself, and they can, and have, and will again, keep him under firm enough control.
One interesting thing RFK Jr.’s move makes clear: US “party” politics are undergoing an unexpected, tumultuous re-configuration that nobody has a handle on.. That’s a loss of control they definitely fear.
Anyway, thanks for subscribing, reading and commenting. I’m happy to know I have , and am engaging, readers like you.
Hi. Just affirming that you clearly did not endorse or encourage any voting for Harris. Very thoughtful and intelligent piece. I'm probably closer to you than I am to Rachel, and gave up on Democrats more than a decade ago.
Howard, I don't know what the heck happened to me. Lol. I KNEW Obama was a fraud, but somehow I forgot all of that when Trump ran in 2016. As someone who used to be in social psychology, I am very curious about what the hell happened to my brain in 2016. I don’t miss my previous life in that field, but I wish I still had easy access to the literature, to better understand Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Thanks for writing about this, Jim. I daresay I disagree about the gravity of RFK Jr's decision. I would have been absolutely horrified if he put his support behind Kamala. Also note I can't address everything I'd like to here- like the "communist" talk. On that last point, I'll just say that many governments that exercise control over their national economies are nominally capitalist, yet function nothing like the US system. If Trumpers think communism is wokism, let 'em. Many of the people who are chosen to represent socialism and communism are woke grifters who can't even explain the most basic things about economic systems. It's just words.
So, to give you some background, I am an idiot who had Trump Derangement Syndrome. I stupidly voted for Biden in 2020. Somehow those Dems dragged me back in, after I wised up to their bs in the mid 2000s. I almost feel like I got "activated" or something, lol. I never voted for Obama, I knew he was a fake, but when Trump came in I fell for the media hype.
But Jim. I'm 44 years old, and I have never experienced a three-year period like what we've lived through under Biden. I've never in my life seen Democrats so blatantly crush labor, then enlist the media to portray it as victory. (Perhaps I wasn't paying close attention in the past, but it comes home to roost when my own Democrat senator or Georgia, Warnock, did not even show up to vote for the rail workers.)
I have never, until Biden, seen a massive act of terrorism (Nordstream) be deemed so unimportant. I had never before seen smart friends repeat media talking points that Seymour Hersh is a washed up "blogger".
I have never, until Biden, and Democrat control of the legislative branch, seen my food costs double in the span of 2 years. Once upon a time, eggs for dinner was a cheap option. Or fixing food myself would save me money. But butter costs twice as much as it did when Trump was in office. What pisses me off is Democrats spent the last three years telling me that my eyes lie, and that I didn't just pay $5 for something that cost $2 in 2020.
I understand that this calculus is not what I'm supposed to do. I understand there are myriad factors for high prices. I understand that Biden and Kamala and Trump are mere puppets, and in the past I absolutely would agree that it does not matter who holds the puppet presidency.
But, Jim. The deep state just tried to murder Trump! I'm not a religious person at all, used to call myself an atheist. But I see that incident as a miracle. Maybe not in the God sense, but in the, "holy shit, in 99.999% of alternative worlds, Trump is dead right now." It's easy to discount that event if you hang out in exclusively leftist spaces. Come to think of it, that event initiated a major change in my media consumption. I do not llisten to "exclusive leftists" anymore. I just made that term up, but I mean the leftists (and unfortunately the majority of leftists are like this), who say Trump voters are fascists. They might say Biden has fascist policies but precede it by expounding on Trump's badness for twice as long.
I just can't with that shit anymore. When Trump was in office, how many billions of dollars were spent on wars, in addition to the yearly grotesque military budget? I wasn't paying close attention, so I could be very wrong. But boy, something is REALLY wrong when hundreds of billions of dollars are laundered in the name of Ukraine, and a chicken wing costs $7 at the grocery store (previously $3.75.) I feel like the war machine has gotten unbelievably fat under Biden.
I could go on and on but reckon I better finish up here. I think the main reason why I clash with leftists now is that most of them have a very lazy view of the ruling class. People like Caitlin Johnstone, whose commentary lately has really disappointed me. It's an incessant drone of "rich people bad, so much bad, bad, bad, bad, little hope, no hope, bad bad bad."
And I'm asking myself, how did these people miss the significance of the US deep state trying to murder Trump? How in the WORLD do the leftists who rail against the intelligence agencies not see how they just coordinated to kill Trump?
So maybe there's nothing to my opinion. But it kinda reminds me of how Peter Dale Scott talks about a "negative template".
Sure, in years past, I would have been horrified and disappointed that RFK Jr ended up endorsing Trump. But in today's time, with the deep state completely off the rails, raiding Ritter, arresting the Telegram founder, removing books from Amazon, blowing up train cars creating the most hazardous chemical disaster possibly in US history, all while telling us to believe lies and ignore truth, I think it makes perfect sense that RFK Jr endorsed Trump.
And I am actually considering voting for Trump here in Georgia, because I so fear Kamala.
Trump has something that Kamala lacks. His supporters would call it dignity, his detractors call it narcissim. Call it whatever you want. The fact remains that there is something in Trump that the deep state thinks it cannot control.
Thanks, Rachel, for your articulate and impassioned comment. I think you speak for a lot of former Democrats who, as I said, will find Trump the lesser evil in the present context. I have no desire to argue about that. As I said, I am NOT arguing that RFK should have endorsed Kamala. I hope that was clear. I agree with what you say about Biden/Kamala and the Dems. Including the anger. (Though I’m older than you and have long since given up on the Dems as a positive force.) I do think Trump is not the iconoclast who is going to upend things and be as dangerous to the established order in the way that either the Dems or RFK Jr. and perhaps you think/hope he will. My well-honed cynicism, if you will. But the Dems have certainly helped to create that impression, with all the TDS hysteria, from Russiagate to the multiple legal attacks. They seem to be afraid of him, and have communicated that obsessively. What you said is the key: “there is something in Trump that the deep state thinks it cannot control. there is something in Trump that the deep state thinks it cannot control.” This is precisely the source of his popularity, and the Dems cannot seem to realize they are only confirming it. It is what their faction of the deep state is afraid of, and not entirely without reason—he’s not formed in the “normal” political channels that produce reliable minions, and does have a tendency to go off track. I just think he is really rooted in the US establishment himself, and they can, and have, and will again, keep him under firm enough control.
One interesting thing RFK Jr.’s move makes clear: US “party” politics are undergoing an unexpected, tumultuous re-configuration that nobody has a handle on.. That’s a loss of control they definitely fear.
Anyway, thanks for subscribing, reading and commenting. I’m happy to know I have , and am engaging, readers like you.
Thanks, Jim. It's definitely a nuanced conversation. Appreciate your reply!
Hi. Just affirming that you clearly did not endorse or encourage any voting for Harris. Very thoughtful and intelligent piece. I'm probably closer to you than I am to Rachel, and gave up on Democrats more than a decade ago.
Howard, I don't know what the heck happened to me. Lol. I KNEW Obama was a fraud, but somehow I forgot all of that when Trump ran in 2016. As someone who used to be in social psychology, I am very curious about what the hell happened to my brain in 2016. I don’t miss my previous life in that field, but I wish I still had easy access to the literature, to better understand Trump Derangement Syndrome.