When Jennifer Rubin and Norman Eisen established The Contrarian, with the intent of keeping tabs on what was clearly going to be a rogue, anti-American administration, I immediately subscribed. (I know a lot of you really don’t want to know about the minutia of Trump/Musk’s assaults on the American Idea, but the publication is worthwhile–begin by just “skimming” if you can’t stomach the details.)
If you just want an overview, a recent article by Jennifer Rubin summed up the incredible amount of damage that these two ignoramuses–Trump and Musk–have done in just the first month of Trump II.
Rubin began by quoting Senator Maria Cantwell:
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the ranking member on the Senate Commerce Committee, called out the mindless slashing of vital government employees. “The FAA is already short 800 technicians and these firings inject unnecessary risk into the airspace—in the aftermath of four deadly crashes in the last month,” she said. Acting-president Elon Musk’s DOGE outfit cut 300 FAA employees.
Rubin proceeded to list just a few examples of the major damage being caused by indiscriminate firings undertaken by bozos who didn’t bother to figure out what tasks their targets actually performed or how essential those task might be.
- Flying is arguably less safe and the risk of calamities is higher.
- Food safety has degraded and the danger of food contamination is higher.
- American predominance in science and medicine has been undercut, with the development of life-saving drugs slowed.
- Farmers are losing income and market share, labs working on crop innovation are shutting down, and supply-chain businesses are facing layoffs. In short, American agriculture (not to mention our image and influence in the world) has become worse off.
As Rubin points out, these Muskovite cuts are not part of an actual reworking strategy.
These are not steps of a brilliant plan to modernize and improve performance. Mindlessly slashing government agencies impinges on the health and safety of all Americans, while the layoffs weaken our economy. (Government workers, of course, live and work throughout America, not just in D.C.) Moreover, Musk-Trump personnel cuts add to the unemployment rolls. Unless fired employees can instantaneously find comparable work, some will seek public assistance, while others will pay less in taxes, reduce purchases, and/or go further into debt….
I doubt many voted for Trump (none for Musk, certainly) because they wanted to increase aircraft accidents and food poisonings while holding back medical science—let alone because they wanted to increase unemployment and shrink the economy. But that is what they are getting—it’s what we’re all getting.
The GOP White House and the spineless Republican senators who confirmed unfit nominees, as well as House Republicans who have ceded the power of the purse to an unelected South African billionaire, own the results of their demolition of government.
This particular article preceded the unconscionable treason of Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine and his undermining of NATO.
In one short month, the administration installed by MAGA cultists has given Putin a victory he could never have won on a battlefield–he is winning a war with the United States without firing a shot.
The MAGA Americans who installed and support this neo-Nazi regime are motivated by one primary–and primal–emotion: racism. It’s past time to call it for what it is.
Trump voters who offer economic or other excuses for their votes are simply unwilling to admit that what really motivates their support is fear of losing White Christian privilege. They were willing to install this clown car of petty incompetents and grifters in return for promises to attack DEI programs and trans children.
If real Americans–those of us who value liberty and equality and the Constitution–fail to rise up, fail to reverse the carnage– future history books will record that America’s precipitous collapse was caused by the persistence of “racial grievance,” the bigotries that study after study have identified as central to the MAGA cult.
As Rubin notes, the “Pottery Barn rule” applies here: you broke it, you own it.
In the case of Musk, Trump, and the AWOL Republicans in Congress, they are responsible for the hopes, aspirations, problems, well-being, and lives of roughly 347M Americans. They may relish breaking government; they may revel in the nihilism. But all of this comes with a steep price. The Contrarian is unafraid to point out that wildly slashing government means Republicans own the airplane disasters, the E. Coli outbreaks, the cancelled medical trials, the excess unemployment, and the consequent damage done when competent people performing critical tasks are fired.
They will also own a world in which the United States has become a minor and unreliable global player.
I totally agree with one caveat. In order for history books to call out the stupidity and self-destruction of the United States under the current regime, it is necessary that the earth on which we live continue to exist long enough for those books to be conceived and written. Of that, I am not confident.
In the right wing media, I don’t think, the rule if you broke it, you own it rule applies. there’s still half the voters out there thinking Republicans are doing a great job.
I also think that Trump is working on changing the name of the USA, the Snited Soviet of America.
Heather Cox Richardson‘s blog post was interesting today. She pointed out that most people can’t imagine what a real authoritarian regime might be like or lack of food and health safety. That points back to the pure ignorance of that 50% of voters that are getting their information from right wing media.
I would add that a subscription to the Indiana Citizen is worthwhile. they are watching Beckwith and Rokita in particular. Doing the job of the absent press in Indianapolis.
Again, unfortunately, the folks who really need to read this, over and over again, won’t. Subscribers to SK are already believers in the Great Experiment, and tears form at every egregious destructive act performed by this clown car of incompetent actors. I knew it would be bad; I was not prepared for the incalculable harm that is being inflicted upon our great nation. Never has an unelected, bigger ignoramus appeared on our political stage than EM, and his unspeakable wealth is the only reason he is front and center, his childish antics tolerated. This is the real WWE RAW. I don’t yearn for a Hallmark version of the country I grew up in, but I DO yearn for the country progressing toward what it could be, one that is more tolerant, more empathetic, more compassionate, while supporting new efforts in medicine, science, et al to make things better for all of us. The opposite of all that is what we are witnessing now, and like most progressives, I’m trying to figure out what I can do in its wake.
I have no idea what spell check tried to do.
USA is being renamed to the United Soviet of America
I was musing yesterday about what would happen if the Congressional Republicans who actually have functional brains (I know there are some) banded together and said to musk/drumpf: No! Things might start to unravel for those two lunatics. I don’t see that happening, but hey, I can dream, right?
Musk/drumpf don’t really care whether they are destroying the country. Muskrat’s loyalty is to China, where he has his major investments, and the US is nothing more than something to drain financially via massive government contracts, which he now is personally manipulating to increase. Drumpf just wants to stay out of jail and have his tender ego stroked. If the populace at large suffers, it’s of no concern or consequence to them.
Meanwhile, my rage is not at MAGA primarily, but with the slugs who didn’t vote, either because they didn’t care or decided to take the “moral high ground” of not choosing between two “evils.” Regardless of what Todd says, the two parties are not equally evil. And here we are.
It’s not just white Christian nationalists who voted for Trump. All the demographic trend lines showed Hispanics, women and other people of color all voted in greater numbers for Republicans than in both 2016 and 2020. How do we square that circle.
I spoke with a very nice Hispanic lady who said she voted for Trump. “Why?” I asked. “Because I wanted to see a change.” Me: Do you know people who are at risk of being deported?” Her: “Yes.” You should have seen the look on her face as she paled.
The con worked. It worked across demographic boundaries. Did the racists vote for Republicans? Of course. Probably over 80%. But what about the 40% of registered voters who stayed home? Why do they not get the finger of sloth pointed at them by the adored pundits on the left? They are more responsible for allowing the MINORITY of idiot voters to gain purchase on our beloved democracy.
We’ve now “elected” the worst human this country has ever produced, and he is now kicking over all the rocks for his personally loyal slime balls to destroy our government and the nation. Will that 40% rise up, shed their shame and do the right thing? I doubt it. They’ve already proven that they don’t care. I wonder what hunger and destitution means to them. I’m betting we will find out within the next year.
Case in point: The Other Sheila, this post references Maria Cantwell (D) from the State of Washington. Her number one donor is AIPAC, so she supports the genocide of brown Arabs – the mass murder of women and children. She was standing and clapping for Netanyahu, the war criminal, in the people’s house. I guess that makes her a racist!
Musk told Joe Rogan, “There were some 400 agencies/departments in the federal government with lots of overlap. If they cut too many employees initially, they can always hire them back.”
Musk did that to Twitter and his other companies. Some of the federal investigations against him are due to his treatment of employees. His so-called significant investment in China captures less than 10% of the EV market—the Chinese build superior-quality products at a fraction of the cost. While the Chinese don’t sell their EVs in the US yet, Trump has already set up high tariffs on Chinese EVs. I wonder who that benefits? LOL
Vern also mentioned “buyer’s remorse.” An excellent article yesterday about a freshman GOP congressman from Alaska holding a town hall with a large group of recently fired federal employees. Around 15,000 federal employees from Alaska have lost their jobs and wanted their representative to condemn the firings. He wouldn’t do it! LOL. The spineless Republican told them the federal government spent too much money and needed to cut expenditures.
Meanwhile, his colleagues were back in D.C., passing a budget bill that prepared to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and corporations, benefiting Musk, Bezos, Thiel, and all the Republican and Democratic donors. Any resistance you see from Democrats is purely for show. All the interviewer would have to do is look at his/her donors and ask them what they want him/her to do. Have you noticed that no matter what channel you watch, they never touch the donor class (advertisers)?
By the way, guess which way Alaska voted last November? LOL, I am not sure what Fox News told them about Project 2025, but it was available online for anybody to research. Shame on them for their uninformed vote. If they thought Trump was telling the truth about not knowing anything about P2025, they are idiots. Trump has perpetually lied about everything his whole life. Don’t forget, he was a registered Democrat, but they didn’t accept his intention to run for president. He then chose the Republican Party because those voters would believe anything. LOL
Sadly, Schumer’s advice was to “Wait until Trump messes up, which he will eventually do before taking action.” I repeat, the Democrats are NOT an opposition party to the oligarchy. They are owned/captured by the oligarchy and all “protests” are purely performative – acting for the cameras.
We all do NEED to be aware of the Major and the Minor, the High Crimes and Misdemeanors of the Trump/Musk/MAGA scorched earth takeover of the U.S. government; I am and must be concerned with their involvement into my personal financial situation and my son’s chemo treatments for two cancers.
This is an issue that I have had on my mind for the past few months; it has galled me that so many of my “intelligent” friends and others who disbelieved the possibility I saw as the probability of Trump’s return. For years my son’s name has been on my checking and savings accounts, we bank at the same bank so he has immediate access to both. The loss of his job due to cancer has put he and his wife in a financial bind which we have dealt with easily since October because her salary cannot cover all of their bills. OUR situation has now drastically changed with the release of our personal financial information to DOGE and its youthful agents and in this IRS season. IRS will not hesitate cleaning out all of my checking and savings accounts if my son doesn’t have the money to cover his taxes on the IRS demand. If others of you are in this situation you might want to consider a change; I have asked my son and his wife for a sit-down conversation to make some decisions that will allow me to continue helping them survive the horrors of their lives at this time.
This is something Trump/Musk/MAGA leadership has wrought on countless Americans; including cleaning out bank accounts of millions who cannot immediately meet whatever Musk’s IRS demands will be. If you saw his irrational display with the huge chainsaw at CPAC you can see he is as mentally unstable as Trump but has the power to control us at a level Trump doesn’t have with the presidency.
Selfish; yes, but this is the tack the government is taking now; I must cover my own ass as well as I can as the billionaires are covering their profit margins. This is only one aspect of “What MAGA Has Wrought” in only 30 DAYS.
“The MAGA Americans who installed and support this neo-Nazi regime are motivated by one primary–and primal–emotion: racism.”
This is unfair. It undersells their awfulness; they hold a bunch of other bigotries, too.
I am going to optimistically disagree with J Reed. The quality of the writing from Sheila Kennedy, Jen Rubin, Andy Borowitz, etc. The genius of Substack, the Contrarian and Ground News inspires and comforts me during this agonizing period of time. If they keep writing I will keep reading, praying and sharing.
Sheila wrote “If real Americans–those of us who value liberty and equality and the Constitution–fail to rise up, fail to reverse the carnage…”
One widely shared form of protest that I’m taking up is the economic blackout on February 28. Buy nothing from any major retailer or supermarket chain, don’t fill your tank, don’t eat out at a national chain restaurant, don’t order anything online (especially from Amazon). Do what you can to spend any money you need to spend before or after that date. If you do need to spend money, do so at a local business (I plan to dine at a small locally owned and struggling restaurant, myself). If the major retailers, etc. find that enough of us are willing to pause our spending, they’ll start to see our power, and so might other Americans who aren’t yet paying attention. It’s a relatively painless way to “protest”, in my simple opinion.
Thanks for adding the date of your column. The comments here are thought provoking, but the one that got to me lead to “When will the book burning start?” I worry this is another trend that may attack our libraries and their .employees. –Flagging the word “woman” to review documents — Really?
I don’t usually forward political emails. Today I shared the H4D one I got with about 20 family and friends. I no longer worry about offending them. This situation is too serious for that.
We need to step out of our comfort zones and act. No one can do everything but everyone can do something. Do what YOU can. Please
Can our current state continue? If yes, for how long? When will the impact of this negligence finally be visited upon those who, like the men I wrote about yesterday, wholeheartedly support everything that is going on? Is there any point at which FAUX NEWS breaks down and tells the truth? They infrequently do that now, but they never allow it to be repeated. We need to find a way to break through the stream of lies coming from right wing media.
There are a few good spokespeople for the left, including Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, Jaime Raskin, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who are capable of making a case for an alternative viewpoint. They should try to coordinate visits to FAUX to tell the truth.
MTV (Musk, Trump, Vance, and sycophants Johnson and Roberts) sows chaos to consolidate power through the big lie strategy.
That waterfall of lies delivered both by gentle Musk in his reasonable disguise and by bombastic Trump in his disguise as a crowned monarch makes for good entertainment for those who take the Murdoch clan, disguised as a source of information because it arrives in their homes over the internet, the pipeline of information.
Of course, some rural people still proudly disguise their houses or trailers with that proud display of old-school, TV antennas, as their pipeline for information.
All of that pseudo information easily passes through their auditory systems and into the cranial tangle of neurons between left and right ears, and gets compared to previous entertainment, or by some, what they hear from the pulpit, and they all judge to be an opportunity instead of the threat the rest of us hear.
That’s what turned the United States of America into the formerly united States of North America, partner with authoritarians world-wide.
Of course some of us miss the old country to the point where having to go back before the downfall is complete, to see what we can do to take it back, is high motivation indeed.
A Guardian writer suggested that to “break through” the chaos we need hyper media ads like this famous one from the 60’s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riDypP1KfOU. I agree!
for,the ones who didnt vote,you won us a authoritarian regime that will ignore your needs over the rich. somewhere beyond lazy and trapped into your high dollar suv, whereas you diddle with entertainment over your democracy. shielded away from harm and intrusion into your little world. where you may feel safe,you have dragged us down and our nation into a cesspool of hate and corruption. every aspect of your privacy invaded, every street divided. lazy, and now inept to demand your political party to stop the rape of our,or whats left of our intelligence. the fact is, corprate america and the banks have won. your needs and entitlements are for the ones who now demand your freedom and choice also. (unless its for profit)the next move will be a no choice who is elected. magas are now the poster child of who can be corrupted by a freak show that belittles them relentlessly and then flock to him, to hear it.. democracy died last november. not for our part in being the messenger, but the failure of the free press to warn and portray the freak show for what would be. the mass media of the airwaves has proven you can be played by selected words and phrases,and bored to death with anything else. the socalled demos have now proven, they too seek a center right governement. they have denied (literally)the progressive voice to their own. in 4 years i see a move to deny the midterm elections. and if they do happen, the choice of canidates will be selected not by you,but by party. the status quo will be pushed further right. the freak show will continue, except next time they lose, it will be the end of democracy. tell the DNC f,,, off…we need a party for all the people, not your continued denial of being for the people. shumer needs to exit, along with his buddies. we lost because they couldnt carry a wet bag in a frozen land. the main stream media needs a public lashing. if they dont provide the message,then tell us what really is,their message. it damn sure aint free speech and democray. its authoritarian and a joe gobbels style of propaganda. all of it….spin it baby spin it..
we tried here and we have the message. keep up good work. my own views here are from many a news source,and continued reading of viable information.unlike the main stream news millionaires,who sell snake oils and sell cheap trinkets. to todays subject, you can never rest when your house is on fire..
Okay!
Once again, The United States of America is not a democracy! It never was a democracy! One man one vote does not exist here. The electoral College can elect the president of the United States. Now, the electoral College was put into place in case some lunatic was going to be elected! They did not trust the people, those who are allowed to vote. Well we can see that that guardrail was never a guardrail! So that ingenious idea, it has been tossed squarely in the trash bin.
The process is beginning, it isn’t that that they don’t know who they’re cutting or why, it’s to flush out people to complain or file complaints, lawsuits, rallies, and the like. Eventually, the heads of these departments will have everyone’s information, and you will have to capitulate, and you will have to show your political identification document. Whether it’s like a driver’s license or a passport, he won’t be able to do anything or go anywhere without it. Like Nazi Germany, papers please!
They will know all of your finances, they will know everything about your family, they will know who you’ve voted for, who you’ve voted against, even to the point of how long your family has been in this country, more than one generation?
When the Constitution was conceived, the only people who could vote were wealthy land owning slave masters who happened to be white Protestants..
They had the only voice! Women could not vote, Jews could not vote, abrahamist’s or Muslims could not vote because most of them were slaves. The Jews really were thought of as some sort of mystical entity that you should be Leary of. Women were a possession, therefore we’re not eligible to vote.
Over the years there’s been various amendments to the Constitution, amendments that were supposedly put in place to even the playing field. Maybe to give an appearance of equality but also false hope to those were not white Protestants.
I’ve always researched what I am lacking. It’s always good to have as much knowledge about as many things as possible, that gives you discernment. Discernment, I look at as a drive to find out information and knowledge to make appropriate decisions. Of course, I’m not perfect and neither is anyone else, and mistakes are part of an imperfect life. But somewhere, common sense has to kick in a little bit.
The folks who are using a chainsaw when a pair of tweezers would be more appropriate, know exactly what they’re doing. And they’re doing it so quickly and in so many areas, there’s no way to keep track. So that way no formidable resistance can be mounted before it’s all over.
When a certain individual told those he wanted to vote for him, they wouldn’t have to vote anymore ever, it could have meant a lot of things I suppose, but if you take it at its face value, that means he will not have to run, and in essence be a king, or, a god! After all, a narcissist already believes they have that ability. Although many don’t have the position to enforce those delusions.
This country, has for decades, plodded along, looking at what they call the American exceptionalism, and the idea of manifest destiny which would have used slavery to create an agrarian hegemonic authority at the behest of those who were allowed to vote. The best interest of that small group of people were to entrench their authority, under a guise of being a democracy. If voting is some sort of representation of democracy, they vote in China, they vote in Myanmar, they vote in Russia, they vote in a lot of authoritarian countries, look at Belarus and Hungry or Turkey for that matter. The voting ballot isn’t even worth the paper it’s printed on. And yet people flock to the poles with maybe 90 to 95% compliance. For what? The dye has been cast already.
Dialogue trying to fix the problem is just more noise trying to fix something non-functional that’s intentionally initiated. Sterilizing women against their will was a big deal in this country, as it was jointly developed between Britain and the United States, eugenics! It didn’t start in a lab in Russia or China, it started right here! And women were sterilized against their will! Of course, the point of it was to increase intellectual capacity in the population and also prevent that drag on society dealing with kids, as these folks could not stop procreating and birthing!
Just listen to the writing in Rudyard Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden” The mindset you hear in his writing, was the mindset of those who were the decision makers in this country.
This isn’t something new, it’s always been here! And the point is, that persistence pays off. Eventually, everyone else is worn down, and they just walk in through the front door! And that’s exactly what happened. You’re not going to stop it by voting because now, those things that everyone took for granted, can be taken away by a finger snap.
You think things are goofy now? Just wait. You already see buyers remorse becoming more pronounced. But that’s just by the stupidity of imndividual citizens claiming to just want to make a point. No, not a point, they want to be Nazis!
This football approach to life won’t work.
Winning the game is temporary.
Balance IS NEEDED. Getting away from THE Horror of the current Trump problem.
Remember We’re not supposed to be a one-party nation.
I think overall messages from those fighting for we the people of the United States need to be easy to understand. For example, MAGA is a Nazi Movement. Why is it important to word it this way? Some people don’t want to be called to the carpet as being a Nazi. Therefore, they have the choice… leave the Maga movement because you are not a Nazi. Or stay in it and be called out for what you are supporting or what you are. That’s just one example on messaging.
I have always gotten much more from Sheia’s column than I have been able to give.
One contributer to my take-away has been jack smith who comes from a place I have never been figuratively or literally. A fresh perspective.
Of course it is challenging to read without punctuation but so was e.e.cummings. It’s worth the effort though.
Jon Sorg:
Please look up the definition of “representational democracy.”
The electoral college represents the will of the people in each state who voted for their choice of candidate who in turn was chosen by a vote for an individual candidate from a group of candidates who nominated themselves.
Once upon a time, there were no primaries and the electors chose the President, but now their work is primarily ceremonial.
Sherry,
Those electors do not have to vote for the one they are supposedly representing. Why do you think there was such an effort to sneak the fake electors into the process the last time this fella ran! Why do you think the plan was to convert enough states and their political structure? It’s so they could allow their electors to vote for who they would like as president. They work in conjunction with each other. As you can see, if an elector votes differently they can be in a little bit of trouble, but if the state does not uphold the penalties, then there is no harm no foul!
While the Constitution does not require electors to vote for the candidate chosen by their state’s popular vote, some states do. The rare elector who votes for someone else may be fined, disqualified, and replaced by a substitute elector. Or they may even be prosecuted by their state.Jan 13, 2025
https://www.usa.gov
John Sorg. It seems to me that your response to Sherry pretty much supports her point. Perhaps hypothetically some electors might get away with voting for someone other than the person chosen by the voters, but it not done anywhere and is illegal in some states. At any rate, right now that is the least of our problems.
Also, the U.S. was and is a democracy. What has changed are the rules determining who is eligible to vote and those rules have consistently become more liberal over the 240 plus years of our history.