Given the fragility of the world’s balance of power, anything’s possible for the U.S. and global economy.
One thing that’s highly unlikely, however, is that Tucker Carlson knows anything more about it than you or I.
When we come across ads like this, we are compelled to feel sorry for the level of intelligence of the common American.
Ultra-right-wing Hillsdale “College” asks the question at left, and writes:
Fortunately, only a small percentage of Americans believe this crap, and it’s fewer every day.
By the time Trump’s criminal trials are concluded, especially the one focusing on Trump’s attempt to overthrow the U.S. government, these numbers will be microscopic.
Of course, there will be people who can’t bring themselves to vote for a Democrat, but almost everyone here (and around the world) will come to understand that the election was not rigged, and that Trump lied about this, just like he did 30,000+ other things.
At left we find an interesting perspective.
There seems to be no doubt that the world is increasingly a) divided, and b) more and more willing to inflict great harm on people on the other side.
As has been throughout history, most of this is driven by religion, i.e., the inane notion that my God is better than your God, but there is a secular side to this as well. By this I mean tribalism in all its forms: racism, xenophobia, the demonization of wokeism.
I’m anything but an expert on the Israel/Palestine issue, but it strikes me that there are cultural and historical differences that are at least as powerful a driving force as theology per se.
From the perspective of a progressive American who is reading about this from the safety of his home on the other side of the globe, this seems like childish bull****. If you saw your kids bully each other like this, you’d simply tell them to knock it off.
The stupidity of this whole mess is amplified by the fact that it’s happening in the midst of things like climate change and the other existential threats to human civilization.
On top of that, I quote American poet and novelist Charles Bukowski: “We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities; we are eaten up by nothing.”
There’s a valuable message here.
Yes, I have to admit that I’m not happy that about one-third of American voters are not very bright, and prone to all manner of racist and xenophobic viewpoints–plus, I have to live among them.
But, all in all, it’s important to maintain an upbeat viewpoint, and some of the people are so far gone that it’s actually funny.
Anna Kaplan hopes to replace George Santos in Congress. She claims that he’s running again, and says, “I need your (campaign donations) to beat him at the ballot box.”
No, Anna, you don’t. Santos has no more political future than my gardener. And you know it.
We got rid of one liar; we don’t need another.
I’m afraid I have bad news: No donations are going to change the belief systems of tens of millions of hateful idiots.
Having said that, we are capable of electing people who believe in democracy and rule of law, and perhaps donations to their campaigns would be helpful.
That said, I have to think that’s already in the process of working itself out. Our country and the rest of the world is watching as Trump and his cronies are brought to justice for their attempts to overthrow the U.S. government, and it seems unlikely that anyone in the future will want to find himself on the receiving end of a treason indictment.
Most American consumers are at least somewhat concerned about the fuel economy that their cars provide, though, of course, many of these folks’ interest in the subject is rooted in how much they’re paying at the pump.
Personally, I have very low regard for those who simply don’t care about the environment in which the other 8 billion of us must live.
At this point, it’s hard to see a soft landing for the war in Israel, partially because all parties directly and indirectly associated with the conflict are led by people who are more in love with staying in power than they are motivated by a vision of peace for their people.
I just got off a Zoom call with some old friends who are very pro-Israel, and who are infuriated that the world narrative surrounding the conflict includes the notion that Israel has bullied the Palestinians, and is thus partially responsible for what is taking place there.
My position, though I didn’t even think about uttering a word of it during that call, is that this type of intractable situation is the only possible result that can derive from people living in close proximity to one another who have divergent viewpoints on God.
Imagine that human civilization didn’t evolve with religion at its core. Imagine that, instead of looking into the sky in search of an omnipotent being, we developed a way of thinking about things that was based on evidence rather than faith and the insane idea that the God of people A is better than the God of people B.
Of course, that didn’t happen, and now we face the inevitable result: Hamas, Israel, Palestine, Hezbollah, Iran, and Saudi Arabia –all with no end in sight.
Reader Scott McKie notes:
Face it — all Trump backers / voters are as morally and politically corrupt as he is.
And all Republican voters are as politically corrupt as the MAGA crowd — because, as they have continuously demonstrated: they will not, by choice, consider working politically with any Democrat, in sufficient numbers, to get anything done.
Not sure “corrupt” is the right word here, but you bring up an interesting point.
What will make the 2024 presidential election interesting, at least insofar as it appears now, is that virtually all voters who think of themselves as Republicans will vote for the GOP nominee, even if he’s a sociopath and convicted criminal.
My mother is an intelligent, well-educated woman who long ago realized that Donald Trump is one of the vilest people ever to walk the Earth. Will that deter her from voting for him?
No. Mom represents a significant cohort in our electorate that would cast her ballot for an affable dog before she’d vote for a Democrat.
