Thanks as always for doing this important work. I spent much of the past few years demoralized about why the profession I spent my career in and loved was failing to take these threats to our democracy seriously. To see someone with your stature and credibility giving voice to all I felt alone in expressing has been uplifting for me.
I won’t watch the debate. I feel the fact that someone who is a convicted felon and who orchestrated the horror of Jan. 6 (along with so many other assaults on our democracy and Constitution) is allowed to stand on a presidential debate stage is a tragedy for our nation and proof of how far so many Americans have descended in losing their grip on truth and respect for what are supposed to be our shared national values. The fact that the media will give it more weight and credibility than it deserves and use it as another excuse for horse race political coverage instead of focusing on what’s truly at stake just adds salt to the wound.
I don’t intend to watch because a) I know who I’m voting for; and b) spending one nanosecond of my time having to listen to one of the most vile excuses for a human being ever to befoul the planet is one precious nanosecond of my time wasted. Which isn’t to say the debate won’t be a useful exercise. For those who, incredibly, have not made up their minds, it could serve the purpose of driving home the stakes you speak of: democracy vs. fascism, decency vs. depravity, rule of law vs. anarchy.
While many of us would like to have an opportunity to impress upon the press our concerns about the upcoming election (the stakes not the horse race), your voice is closer to those who are writing the stories. Thank you for your efforts.
Thinking about the debate this week, it seems the single objective the MAGA GOP is focused on is demonstrating Joe Biden is too mentally and physically feeble for a second term. Especially compared to their Super Zombie, Donald Trump, who has no recognizable human brain.
What’s really so wonderful about MAGA’s no-issue strategy is the proof they have nothing of substance on which to attack Biden. The MAGA are admitting, by omission, that Joe’s Biden’s 1st term has been a phenomenal success. In desperation, they’re asking the county to believe his age will prevent a repeat of his 1st term success. That leaves MAGA with the really bad bet on Trump and leaves us with really good bet on Biden. Go Joe
I don't know why I never realized this before, but democracy is an inherently centrist form of government. As we move toward the extremes, left and right, we move toward authoritarianism. The view from the center takes both sides into consideration and hopefully decides with wisdom. When you're on the extreme, everything is an "other" that must be marginalized or eliminated. Democracy is complex and hard, but at least people aren't killing each other to get what they want. That's what's at stake to me.
I’ve been thinking of the “mainstream media” label, questioning if it still exists. The once foundational principles of The Fourth Estate seem quaint since Watergate faded into the past, having been replaced by “gotcha”.
We need a new paradigm for understanding the news media at the micro rather than the macro level. Walter Cronkite has been replaced by balkanization and profiteering and it’s unlikely we’ll ever have a collective national news narrative again.
I suggest you and others inside and with influence in journalism schools have your work cut out for you to produce a new generation of journalists who will embrace in practice the incredible importance of journalism as the strongest protector of democracy.
I so agree with you that sometimes comics do a better job than journalists do. Lately I have found little to laugh about. Project 2025 was publish in April 2023 by The Heritage Foundation, apparently written by hundreds of conservations but most prominently Donald Trump' administration officials. It was not written by Trump - who can barely sign his own name - but by a coalition of Trumpers, MAGAs, and other conservative organizations. This document says "the Trump administration relied heavily on Heritage's 'Mandate' for policy guidance, and embracing nearly two-thirds of Heritage's proposals . . "
In 1925, nearly 100 years ago, Mein Kampf was published. It was an autobiographical manifesto that "describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany." (Wikipedia)
Published in 1997, The Foundations of Geopolitics primarily written by Aleksandr Dugin (Putin was presumed to be the ghost writer) includes Vladimir Putin's presidential goals and the post-communist future for Russia. These Russian goals - much like Hitler's book - discuss the annihilation of other countries (Ukraine), the destruction of the United States democracy, a take-over of France and Germany, return Russia to it's pre-NATO borders, and re-establish Russia to the glory days of the Soviet Union.
To restore Russia to the USSR timeframe, Putin intends to replicate the USSR model and place a leader in each country that is loyal to Russia. In the United States, this leader is Donald Trump and in France this leader is Marie LePen. Both Eric and Don Jr. confirmed that the Trump Organization Trump(www.businessinsider.com) and (www.vanityfair.com) has received $100 million from Russian banks. According to The Washington Post, "Marine Le Pen received $9.4 million-euro loan ($9.8 million dollars) from Russia's shadowy finance world."
Under Putin's dictatorship, Russian banks are managed by the KGB/FSB. They give loans - per Putin's instructions - to foreigners for two reasons - laundry black cash or bribe a foreigner to work for Russia.
I lived and worked in six dictator-led countries over a period of 20 years. I wrote From Democracy to Democrazy by Graham as a warning to all Americans about the Trump - Russia relationship. It is a bestseller on Amazon, and provides Americans the Russian blueprint for transforming American democracy into a dictator form of government.
Project 2025 (in the United States) is not dissimilar from Mein Kampf published in 1925 (Germany), or from The Foundations of Geopolitics published in 1997 (in Russia). It's truly very simple - each book imposes the will of one man on the millions of others in a society. It develops a "cult" of individuals - all susceptible to and vulnerable to the leader's repetitive wording. The cult of Charles Manson was brainwashed into committing nine murders. The cult of Jim Jones (900 people) drank poisonous Kool Aid and they all died - just because their worshiped leader said "drink." Mass mind manipulation was perfected in Germany by Hitler who converted an entire peaceful nation into mass murderers who slaughtered and murdered over six million humans.
Putin spent his KGB spy years in East Germany where people were still loyal to Hitler's philosophical thought. He absorbed this thinking, returned to Russia, and became the second President of Russia and the current ruthless worldwide tyrannical leader. He almost instantly turned Russia into a dictatorship by gathering his loyal KGB buddies. Eighty-plus independent reporters were killed in contract-style murders as he assumed control of all media and information. One such woman was shot down right outside of my Moscow apartment. Her dark red blood stained the cold, dirty Moscow snow covered sidewalk. Less than an hour later her body just disappeared.
Catherine Belton, a writer for Financial Times, wrote Putin's People in 2020 (quoted in From Democracy to Democrazy, p.85)). She said "My book began as an effort to trace the takeover of the Russian economy by Putin's former KGB associates. But it became an investigation into something more pernicious than that. First research - then events - showed that the kleptocracy of the Putin era was aimed at something more than just filling the pockets of the president's friends. What emerged as a result of the KGB takeover of the economy and the country's political and legal system - was a regime in which the billions of dollars at Putin's cronies' disposal were to be actively used to undermine and corrupt the institutions and democracies of the West."
So here we are in 2024 in the United States given a choice for our President a man who is loyal to Vladimir Putin. In 2023, Cassidy Hutchinson mentioned that Trump said he is terrified of being poisoned. Russian KGB contract killers have been known to poison a long list of Russia foes. This is almost an admission of Trump's guilt of his relationship with Russia.
U.S. Law 2385 is titled "Advocating Overthrow of Government." A person "shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his/her conviction." Due to the the "slow motion" of American justice, the long list of judges appointed by Trump, and Trump's continuous manipulation of the American legal system - he has not been tried for instigating the January 6th insurrection. In fact, justice may never be served if Trump is re-elected - a first step in loosing our democracy.
Donald Trump is an incredibly ignorant man, who went to Russia once too often. He was caught in a typical Russian spy trap without understanding the consequences. Once he was presumably shown the bribery evidence in 2018 at the Helsinki Summit, he began to realize that his life or that of his family could be at stake. It was only a few months after he lost the last election that Ivana Trump died - supposedly an accident, but then that is exactly how Russian contract killers work.
Project 2025 is a guideline to convert our democracy to a one-man show. It will divert money to Trump's friends and his own pockets. It will disparage and even incarcerate his enemies or those who speak out against him. And it will change the lives of every single American within a short period of time.
I did not watch. The only reason there was a debate is because corporate media wants Trump to win. The rich white guys running corporate media think their piles of money will shield them when Trump ends our democracy. It won't, but they will be able to jet out of here to some island somewhere when the country goes south.
From what I've read of the debate, I'm a bit behind in my reading from the week, Biden didn't do well and Trump lied like a rug with no pushback. The debate went exactly as planned for corporate media. Supposedly, some Democrats are thinking about trying to find another candidate. It's frightening to me that the Democrats might screw this up when it should be a slam dunk given the other candidate.
Thanks as always for doing this important work. I spent much of the past few years demoralized about why the profession I spent my career in and loved was failing to take these threats to our democracy seriously. To see someone with your stature and credibility giving voice to all I felt alone in expressing has been uplifting for me.
I won’t watch the debate. I feel the fact that someone who is a convicted felon and who orchestrated the horror of Jan. 6 (along with so many other assaults on our democracy and Constitution) is allowed to stand on a presidential debate stage is a tragedy for our nation and proof of how far so many Americans have descended in losing their grip on truth and respect for what are supposed to be our shared national values. The fact that the media will give it more weight and credibility than it deserves and use it as another excuse for horse race political coverage instead of focusing on what’s truly at stake just adds salt to the wound.
Thanks, Craig.
I don’t intend to watch because a) I know who I’m voting for; and b) spending one nanosecond of my time having to listen to one of the most vile excuses for a human being ever to befoul the planet is one precious nanosecond of my time wasted. Which isn’t to say the debate won’t be a useful exercise. For those who, incredibly, have not made up their minds, it could serve the purpose of driving home the stakes you speak of: democracy vs. fascism, decency vs. depravity, rule of law vs. anarchy.
I understand completely!
Hi Margaret. I am planning to watch because I want to see how awful Trump will be, because then I can l
leverage my perspective on who still loves him.
While many of us would like to have an opportunity to impress upon the press our concerns about the upcoming election (the stakes not the horse race), your voice is closer to those who are writing the stories. Thank you for your efforts.
I plan to watch the debate and take notes.
You’re a good citizen.
Thinking about the debate this week, it seems the single objective the MAGA GOP is focused on is demonstrating Joe Biden is too mentally and physically feeble for a second term. Especially compared to their Super Zombie, Donald Trump, who has no recognizable human brain.
What’s really so wonderful about MAGA’s no-issue strategy is the proof they have nothing of substance on which to attack Biden. The MAGA are admitting, by omission, that Joe’s Biden’s 1st term has been a phenomenal success. In desperation, they’re asking the county to believe his age will prevent a repeat of his 1st term success. That leaves MAGA with the really bad bet on Trump and leaves us with really good bet on Biden. Go Joe
I do wonder if Trump will back out at the last minute.
I don't know why I never realized this before, but democracy is an inherently centrist form of government. As we move toward the extremes, left and right, we move toward authoritarianism. The view from the center takes both sides into consideration and hopefully decides with wisdom. When you're on the extreme, everything is an "other" that must be marginalized or eliminated. Democracy is complex and hard, but at least people aren't killing each other to get what they want. That's what's at stake to me.
Time Magazine. Not the NYT.
I’ve been thinking of the “mainstream media” label, questioning if it still exists. The once foundational principles of The Fourth Estate seem quaint since Watergate faded into the past, having been replaced by “gotcha”.
We need a new paradigm for understanding the news media at the micro rather than the macro level. Walter Cronkite has been replaced by balkanization and profiteering and it’s unlikely we’ll ever have a collective national news narrative again.
I suggest you and others inside and with influence in journalism schools have your work cut out for you to produce a new generation of journalists who will embrace in practice the incredible importance of journalism as the strongest protector of democracy.
I so agree with you that sometimes comics do a better job than journalists do. Lately I have found little to laugh about. Project 2025 was publish in April 2023 by The Heritage Foundation, apparently written by hundreds of conservations but most prominently Donald Trump' administration officials. It was not written by Trump - who can barely sign his own name - but by a coalition of Trumpers, MAGAs, and other conservative organizations. This document says "the Trump administration relied heavily on Heritage's 'Mandate' for policy guidance, and embracing nearly two-thirds of Heritage's proposals . . "
In 1925, nearly 100 years ago, Mein Kampf was published. It was an autobiographical manifesto that "describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany." (Wikipedia)
Published in 1997, The Foundations of Geopolitics primarily written by Aleksandr Dugin (Putin was presumed to be the ghost writer) includes Vladimir Putin's presidential goals and the post-communist future for Russia. These Russian goals - much like Hitler's book - discuss the annihilation of other countries (Ukraine), the destruction of the United States democracy, a take-over of France and Germany, return Russia to it's pre-NATO borders, and re-establish Russia to the glory days of the Soviet Union.
To restore Russia to the USSR timeframe, Putin intends to replicate the USSR model and place a leader in each country that is loyal to Russia. In the United States, this leader is Donald Trump and in France this leader is Marie LePen. Both Eric and Don Jr. confirmed that the Trump Organization Trump(www.businessinsider.com) and (www.vanityfair.com) has received $100 million from Russian banks. According to The Washington Post, "Marine Le Pen received $9.4 million-euro loan ($9.8 million dollars) from Russia's shadowy finance world."
Under Putin's dictatorship, Russian banks are managed by the KGB/FSB. They give loans - per Putin's instructions - to foreigners for two reasons - laundry black cash or bribe a foreigner to work for Russia.
I lived and worked in six dictator-led countries over a period of 20 years. I wrote From Democracy to Democrazy by Graham as a warning to all Americans about the Trump - Russia relationship. It is a bestseller on Amazon, and provides Americans the Russian blueprint for transforming American democracy into a dictator form of government.
Project 2025 (in the United States) is not dissimilar from Mein Kampf published in 1925 (Germany), or from The Foundations of Geopolitics published in 1997 (in Russia). It's truly very simple - each book imposes the will of one man on the millions of others in a society. It develops a "cult" of individuals - all susceptible to and vulnerable to the leader's repetitive wording. The cult of Charles Manson was brainwashed into committing nine murders. The cult of Jim Jones (900 people) drank poisonous Kool Aid and they all died - just because their worshiped leader said "drink." Mass mind manipulation was perfected in Germany by Hitler who converted an entire peaceful nation into mass murderers who slaughtered and murdered over six million humans.
Putin spent his KGB spy years in East Germany where people were still loyal to Hitler's philosophical thought. He absorbed this thinking, returned to Russia, and became the second President of Russia and the current ruthless worldwide tyrannical leader. He almost instantly turned Russia into a dictatorship by gathering his loyal KGB buddies. Eighty-plus independent reporters were killed in contract-style murders as he assumed control of all media and information. One such woman was shot down right outside of my Moscow apartment. Her dark red blood stained the cold, dirty Moscow snow covered sidewalk. Less than an hour later her body just disappeared.
Catherine Belton, a writer for Financial Times, wrote Putin's People in 2020 (quoted in From Democracy to Democrazy, p.85)). She said "My book began as an effort to trace the takeover of the Russian economy by Putin's former KGB associates. But it became an investigation into something more pernicious than that. First research - then events - showed that the kleptocracy of the Putin era was aimed at something more than just filling the pockets of the president's friends. What emerged as a result of the KGB takeover of the economy and the country's political and legal system - was a regime in which the billions of dollars at Putin's cronies' disposal were to be actively used to undermine and corrupt the institutions and democracies of the West."
So here we are in 2024 in the United States given a choice for our President a man who is loyal to Vladimir Putin. In 2023, Cassidy Hutchinson mentioned that Trump said he is terrified of being poisoned. Russian KGB contract killers have been known to poison a long list of Russia foes. This is almost an admission of Trump's guilt of his relationship with Russia.
U.S. Law 2385 is titled "Advocating Overthrow of Government." A person "shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his/her conviction." Due to the the "slow motion" of American justice, the long list of judges appointed by Trump, and Trump's continuous manipulation of the American legal system - he has not been tried for instigating the January 6th insurrection. In fact, justice may never be served if Trump is re-elected - a first step in loosing our democracy.
Donald Trump is an incredibly ignorant man, who went to Russia once too often. He was caught in a typical Russian spy trap without understanding the consequences. Once he was presumably shown the bribery evidence in 2018 at the Helsinki Summit, he began to realize that his life or that of his family could be at stake. It was only a few months after he lost the last election that Ivana Trump died - supposedly an accident, but then that is exactly how Russian contract killers work.
Project 2025 is a guideline to convert our democracy to a one-man show. It will divert money to Trump's friends and his own pockets. It will disparage and even incarcerate his enemies or those who speak out against him. And it will change the lives of every single American within a short period of time.
Elizabeth
www.democrazy2020.org
I did not watch. The only reason there was a debate is because corporate media wants Trump to win. The rich white guys running corporate media think their piles of money will shield them when Trump ends our democracy. It won't, but they will be able to jet out of here to some island somewhere when the country goes south.
From what I've read of the debate, I'm a bit behind in my reading from the week, Biden didn't do well and Trump lied like a rug with no pushback. The debate went exactly as planned for corporate media. Supposedly, some Democrats are thinking about trying to find another candidate. It's frightening to me that the Democrats might screw this up when it should be a slam dunk given the other candidate.
I, too, am trying to write “stakes not odds” posts regularly.
FYI, Joyce Vance is encouraging a read-a-thon of sorts - pick your chapter/adventure.
John Oliver brought devastating wit to Project 2025 on Sunday. Why must we rely on comedians to highlight the stakes in November?
June 19
https://themoderatevoice.com/john-oliver-brought-devastating-wit-to-project-2025-on-sunday-why-must-we-rely-on-comedians-to-highlight-the-stakes-in-november/