Category Archives: Random Blogging

Why Government By Idiots Is A Bad Idea

Well, our Mad would-be King has bombed Iran and–by any definition–taken us to war. Another unconstitutional and profoundly dangerous act.

Charlie Sykes recently considered what was then an Israeli-Iran conflict, and enumerated “things that can all be true at the same time.”

Here’s his list, with my commentary in italics:

  • America ought to stand with Israel, while recognizing that Benjamin Netanyahu (1) does not always deserve the benefit of the doubt, and (2) is an unreliable narrator. In this, Sykes echoes the opinion of a majority of American Jews. We support the right of Israel to exist, but we detest Netanyahu, who is a smarter version of Trump (granted, a low bar) and whose corrupt governance has done incalculable damage to Israel’s international support.
  • The world would be a vastly better and safer place if Iran does not have a nuclear weapon. Ditto for dismantling the terrorist regime. This week, the G7 nations reiterated that, “Iran is the principal source of regional instability and terror,” and “We have been consistently clear that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.” Hard to argue with this.
  • Achieving these goals through war will not be easy or achieved without great cost.
    War with Iran could unleash chaos throughout the region. And what comes afterward could be worse.
    The most dangerous scenarios involve miscalculations, misjudgments, and misinterpretations. (See World War I.) The truth of this is what keeps rational people up at night, and what should have concerned the ignoramus in the Oval Office. Understanding the risks involved in any decisions made by those in a position to make those decisions should have been a critical element of America’s response to this very significant threat to world peace.
  •  Moments like these requires the highest degree of skill and prudence — the most sober, strategic, and sagacious diplomatic and military minds we can muster. Instead, we have a reality tv host and a dipsomaniacal chode in charge of the world’s greatest military on the brink of war. Ok, I had to look up “chode,” which evidently refers either to a male organ or a stupid or contemptible man. Either way, seems appropriate. At a time when the country needs thoughtful, informed and adult leadership, power is being exercised by a group of immature, self-important ignoramuses who haven’t a clue and who display no willingness to heed the advice of people who do.
  • Instead of assembling a “coalition of the willing,” Trump and Israel were intent on going it alone, isolated and without the active support of allies. See “chode.”
  • As has become its wont, Congress remains a potted plant throughout this whole crisis. This is perhaps the most frustrating aspect of all of the threats we face today. The Republicans who hold a majority in the House and Senate repeatedly block efforts to assert the constitutional duties of those bodies. In the House, they evidently feel protected by gerrymandering and fear only challenges from the Right; the Senate is home to morons like Indiana’s Christian Nationalist Jim Banks and cowards like Todd Young. The fault ultimately lies with We the People, who have elected these pathetic excuses for public servants.

Bottom line, as Sykes notes, is that there are no adults in the situation room.

Because nothing ever really disappears from the Internet, social media sites have been flooded with former tweets by our embarrassing excuse for a President, a child-man who evidently thinks that posting grammatically-incorrect vulgarities and threats in ALL CAPS, like a five-year-old, is leadership. In 2013, he posted “Be prepared. There is a chance that our horrendous leadership could unknowingly lead us into WWIII.” (This post, at least, was grammatical…and potentially, frighteningly accurate.) Pundits have also reminded readers of Trump’s statement–made when he was still a reality television personality– that “Obama will attack Iran because of his inability to negotiate properly—not skilled!”

“Not skilled” is an apt–albeit massively understated–description of the unserious, unqualified cranks and clowns that We the People have installed in positions of authority.

Those totally unqualified clowns and cranks may just have triggered WWIII. Even if the consequences aren’t that horrific, they are likely to be incredibly damaging, both to the stability of the  world at large and–thanks to the mentally-ill buffoon in the White House– to America’s rapidly-diminishing role in that world.

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The Power Of Image

In the wake of No Kings Day, we’ve seen a number of columns and news reports estimating turnout (current count: five million nationally) and comparing the enthusiasm of the protests with Trump’s lackluster and sparsely-attended parade in Washington. Many of those articles were interesting and even illuminating; one of the best–as usual–came from Paul Krugman, who took time off from his usual economic analyses to reflect upon the impact of such mass peaceful protests.

Krugman began with an important–and mostly ignored–observation: America is currently experiencing what scholars call “competitive authoritarianism.” Competitive authoritarian regimes are those in which formal democratic institutions are retained–elections continue to be held, for example, and other “democratic rules” are given lip service–but Incumbents violate the rules so often and to such an extent that the regime fails to meet the minimum standards for democracy.

Krugman says we’re not there yet, but that we are “teetering on the edge.” He also claims that “one of the most important ways we can step back from that edge is for ordinary Americans to engage in mass protests.”

Why should that matter? Why does the contrast between the poor turnout for Trump’s underwhelming exercise (what Krugman labeled as a “box office bust”) and the  enormous, enthusiastic participation in the No Kings protests matter?

It matters, as he explains, “because competitive authoritarianism rests largely on self-fulfilling expectations.”

While there is a cadre of Trumpist true believers who will obey the Leader under any circumstances, most of those doing the dirty work of undermining democracy and the rule of law are cowards and opportunists. They’re willing to participate in the destruction of America as we know it because they believe that many others will do the same. As a result, they believe that they are unlikely to face any personal consequences for their actions and may even be rewarded for their lawbreaking.

And what of those who oppose Trumpism? While there are heroes willing to take a stand against tyranny whatever the personal cost, most anti-Trumpists are reluctant to stick their necks out unless they believe that they are part of a widespread resistance that will grant them some measure of safety in numbers.

In other words, the victory or defeat of competitive authoritarianism will depend to a large extent on which side ordinary people believe will win. If Trump looks unstoppable, resistance will wither away and democracy will be lost. On the other hand, if he appears weak and stymied, resistance will grow and — just maybe — American democracy will survive.

Those of us who have been politically active will recognize the parallel to election campaigns, where momentum or an aura of inevitability sways less-informed voters to the probable winner’s side. (This is a truism that annoys the hell out of those of us who would love to believe that citizens vote after careful consideration of the policy positions of the contending candidates; unfortunately, in the real world, the desire to back a probable winner vastly exceeds such idealized behavior…)

So what we saw on Saturday was more than just the juxtaposition of a poorly attended parade that was supposed to glorify the Leader against massive, enthusiastic protests. We also saw a body blow to Trump’s image of invincibility and a demonstration that millions of Americans are willing to stand up for democracy.

It isn’t just the optics of five million plus citizens turning out in protest; as Krugman reminds readers, the resistance is gathering steam. He cites the “remarkable comeuppance” of the major law firms that bent their knee to Trump’s threats and are now seeing partners and major clients depart for firms that refused to be cowed, and the growing resistance to ICE’s lawless roundups of immigrants (including people who “look like” immigrants).

This isn’t the end of the assault on American democracy. It isn’t even the beginning of the end. But it may well be the end of the beginning. Trump spent his first 6 months in office trying to steamroller over all opposition, creating the impression that resistance is futile. Clearly, he hasn’t succeeded. On the contrary, resistance is stiffening, and those who preemptively capitulated seem to be paying a higher price than those who showed some backbone.

Although the tide may be turning, MAGA isn’t simply going to roll over and slink away. On the contrary, the administration’s power grabs will become even more aggressive and desperate, with growing efforts to intimidate, prosecute and even physically harm political opponents, as well as widespread efforts to suppress dissent with force.

Nonetheless, despite the difficult times ahead, America has just passed an important test. May freedom ring.

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Words Of Wisdom

One of my “go to” sources for political news and thoughtful analysis is Talking Points Memo. I nearly always find myself in agreement with its editor, Josh Marshall–and especially in his “cut to the chase” commentaries on our current political situation.

Recently, Marshall considered the navel-gazing of the “usual subjects.” He began by citing two recent Bulwark essays. One, by Matt Yglesias, engaged in the sort of “analysis” that drives me up the wall–Yglesias criticised the Democratic Party for clinging to positions that he believed imposed “a decisive disadvantage when it comes to winning the Senate in 2026 and in a challenging position when it comes to the Electoral College.” He argued for a “major repositioning on issues like guns and fossil fuels (among other issues) to make Democrats more competitive in states like Iowa or Texas.

Jonathan Last made a very different argument–and like Marshall, I found it far more persuasive.

The argument was that Democrats are the opposition and that the role of the opposition, especially in such a binary, Manichean moment, is to systematically disqualify the party in power. Any naval-gazing or attempted rebrands are somewhere between irrelevant and counterproductive.

Amen.

Marshall argues that pundits’ emphasis on policy prescriptions misreads the situation in which we find ourselves–that it is a bias held by people who think and write– and that ignores reality. “Opposition parties win when they manage in whole or in part to discredit the party in power — almost always with a ton of help from the party in power itself.”

I spent 21 years teaching law and public policy. I absolutely believe in the importance of policy prescriptions, in the need to consider what the evidence teaches us about policy decisions and mistakes. But if there is one thing I am absolutely convinced of, it is that elections aren’t won or lost by adjusting the nuances of this or that policy.

As Marshall notes,

Democrats who are currently focused on repositioning the party away from being “woke” sound like they’re in a time warp. People are scared about losing their jobs. They’re upset about authoritarian attacks on the rule of law. There’s deepening pessimism about a looming recession. A big focus on “wokism” seems mostly like someone speaking from the past. It’s just not what people are thinking about right now. They’re worried about Trump and the climate of chaos and uncertainty.

Again: politics is all about salience. That’s why people so frequently get themselves mixed up with polls. Maybe your issue has 80-20 support. But if it’s not what voters are voting on, it’s irrelevant. Americans overwhelmingly oppose Trump White House cuts to medical research. But it’s not getting a lot of traction at the moment. Because most people don’t know about it. It’s not a driving focus of the news. It’s salience is low. So it makes sense for Democrats to do everything they can to focus more attention on it.

There’s a mountain of evidence to the effect that people who are against something are more likely to cast ballots. I am confident that every person who participated in the No Kings Day protests will get to the polls.

As Marshall says, the salient issue right now is Trump and the damage he is doing to America. It isn’t only Democrats who are appalled by the assaults on reason and competence and liberty. As one of my favorite protest signs has it, IKEA has better cabinets, and a majority of Americans recognizes the damage that is being done by these clowns and ideologues–to the economy, to health care, to America’s global role, to constitutional governance.

For that matter, every Republican I worked with “back in the day” when I was a Republican and the GOP was a political party rather than a fascist cult is horrified by Trump and terrified by the direction he is taking the country.

Marshall is absolutely right that Democratic success depends upon opposition to Trump and MAGA, not to the fine-tuning of  a positive vision. As he points out, “the positive vision emerges from the outlines of what you oppose. But fundamentally the job of an opposition is to oppose. Don’t overcomplicate it. It’s not simply that you gain more ground from opposing than from grand-strategizing. You learn more from it too.”

America has a lot of long-term systemic flaws, and we need to pay attention to them and fix them. But right now, we need to rid America of today’s Confederates, the MAGA White Nationalists who are trying to remake us into a very different country.

You don’t debate the best way to make the plane safer while it’s going down.

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The Roots Of MAGA

Regular readers of this blog have already encountered my analysis of the MAGA cult: white people–mostly but not entirely male– terrified of losing social dominance, and deeply disoriented by a modern world in which ambiguities and “shades of gray” threaten to overwhelm the “faith-based” verities they cling to.

These are the same people who supported Hitler in the 1930s, and support other autocrats today–and the rest of us are in danger of losing America to these limited and terrified folks if we don’t understand the roots of their movement. A recent Substack essay from The Rational League mined the available research and confirmed much of my thesis. (In the quotes below, I’ve omitted the copious citations–to access them, you should click through.)

It began:

It was never about taxes or trade or immigration, at least not in the ways its supporters claim. It was about fear. About losing status. About the aching dread that the world no longer bends to you. And when power begins to slip, the mind scrambles to make sense of its new fragility. That’s when people reach not for reason, but for revenge.

As the research demonstrates, our divisions are not political –they are far deeper and more primal. The essay quotes studies that explain “what happens when large groups of people feel their dominance is being eclipsed, by demographic shifts, cultural liberalization, economic globalization, and the slow unraveling of myths that once placed them at the top of the social food chain.” In such environments, “facts become irrelevant. The mind will do what it must to protect the self. And it will vote for whomever promises to punish the world for changing.”

Support for Donald Trump, and the movement that continues to orbit him, is not best explained by ideology. It is better understood as a reaction to psychological discomfort. A fusion of fear, status anxiety, and identity protection. It draws power from ressentiment, not reason. From feelings of insulted entitlement, not informed civic interest. Trump didn’t awaken this current, he merely performed it better than anyone else .

This is not speculation. It is the clear consensus of two decades of psychological, neurological, and political science research. What follows is not just a condemnation of MAGA’s authoritarian drift, but a forensic examination of how it thrives, in the mind, in culture, and in power.

The research tells us that fear is situational–a “psychological accelerant that turns political disagreement into existential warfare.” When people feel threatened, when they find themselves living in a world they no longer understand, they respond by demanding order and obedience, and the punishment of those who refuse to obey. Fear, the academic literature tells us, isn’t just a side effect of MAGA– it’s the selling point. Trump’s message was simple: “the world is dangerous, but I will protect you, and hurt the people you fear.”

MAGA cultists believe that society is under siege. In numerous studies, MAGA folks have scored high for Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA), defined as “submission to strong leaders, aggression toward deviant groups, and strict adherence to tradition. The more threatened people feel, the more they long for control, hierarchy, and retribution, all things Trump promised in spades.”

Trump’s followers are not irrational. They are reacting, often viscerally, to a perceived collapse of the world they knew. Crime is down, but they feel unsafe. Immigration enriches the economy, but they feel invaded. Diversity increases opportunity, but they feel erased. Trump doesn’t need to solve these problems. He just needs to affirm that they exist, and promise to punish whoever caused them.

In other words, status anxiety is what motivates the MAGA base–fear of irrelevance. The MAGA base consists of those who once felt socially dominant and now feel displaced. Trump promises to put them back on top.

The essay is lengthy and well worth reading in its entirety. It cites the copious scholarship that explains the authoritarian phenomenon and the danger it poses to democracy.

This isn’t just a movement of bad ideas. It’s a movement of deeply felt insecurity, fused to a political figure who offers vengeance, not vision. And in that fusion, the need for power replaces the desire for truth. The need to dominate replaces the value of liberty. The need to feel morally superior replaces the capacity for self-reflection….

The threat is not just Donald Trump. The threat is the psychological scaffolding that made him possible, and that will remain long after he is gone, unless we dismantle it at its source.

Unfortunately, this informative essay doesn’t tell us how to go about “dismantling it at its source.”

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An Action Plan

I’ve been getting the same anguished question from friends and family members who feel helpless in the face of the sustained assault on everything that makes America, America. Other than participating in protests, what can one person do? What can I do? Goodness knows, I don’t have an answer to that question. But I recently received an “action plan” from a local reader that lays out steps that she has taken–steps that have “activated” her friends and neighbors–and I think it is valuable. I’m sharing it, below.

_________

Organizing for a Better Future

For those of us who are devasted by the re-election of Trump and are watching news reports, reading newspapers and on-line communication which indicates that America is headed down the path to authoritarianism, here is an idea that may be helpful to many who want to save our democracy, but are not sure what to do.

Find your peeps

If you belong to a book club, exercise group, play bridge, mahjong or pickle ball, have neighbors or other groups of friends, you can begin to form an affinity group based on your interests, values and available time.  These are people that likely know how you think, share your frustrations and want to make a difference.  It can start with just you and one other person.

Find a political activity that interests you and invite a friend or two to go with you

Find an event, a rally, a protest, a town hall, a Democratic club that interests you and make plans to attend. After attending, talk with your friend about how you felt and create a list of others who might want to join you to attend a future event.  Go on-line to find webinars, meetings, activities that appeal to you. Invite your friend to do the same and decide together what you want to do.  Gather all the information you need and each of you then contact others who might be interested.  Organize a carpool or two if necessary. 

Recap, review, recall your experience in a relaxed social setting

Make plans to meet with this small group for coffee or a drink a few days after your first event. At this first gathering let everyone talk about their feelings and how they best cope with the overload of bad news.  Encourage participants to share their meditation, exercise, relaxation tips with others.  Ask them to talk about their current volunteer activities such as food banks, soup kitchens, classroom volunteering, environmental cleanup, working with teens who need support, etc. Ask what they think might be the most effective thing to do next and get each to commit to researching and organizing a next step. Talk about who else could be in this group and invite each one to invite one or two others to join.  Decide if you need to meet again or if you just want to “get in action.” Record what you talked about and send the notes to the group with details about the first activity this larger group will do.

Focus

While it may be difficult to affect what’s going on at the national level, you can make a huge difference by learning from and supporting your local candidates. Go to their town halls, send a donation or two to candidates (even a small donation gets you on their communication list), write a letter to your local newspaper, host a fundraiser for them.  Share what you learn with others. Always be on the lookout for new people to join your efforts.

Educate

Educate yourselves and get involved as a precinct chairperson or vice chairperson, volunteer to knock on doors or work on a campaign to really learn how “the sausage is made.”  Did you know that if the Marion County November, 2024 voter turnout had been 68% instead of 54%, Indiana quite likely would have had Jennifer McCormick as our governor and Destiny Wells as our Attorney General.  Marion County is a huge factor in Indiana elections and we need to participate in the current structure and make it better.

Communicate

Ask each person in your group to send you (the leader of this effort and the monthly email communicator) information about activities that someone or all the group may want to participate in.  Try not to overload the group with too many emails – send something about once a month unless you need to finalize details about an activity.  Some folks will decide not to participate – always ask if they still want to be on the mailing list or opt out. 

Keep communication simple

Encourage participants to share activities and ideas with their families and friends outside of the group.  Have them forward your emails, but don’t get bogged down by adding random people that you don’t know personally to your email list.

Grow

Hopefully your group will grow – if it does, ask 3-4 of the most active people to be on the “Lead Team.”  These are the ones to call on to get a read on what to do next or to help solve an issue.  Plan purely fun social events to build relationships.  Continue to add new people.  Create mutual support among the members – people have illnesses and surgeries, jobs and travel, loved ones need their time and attention, some just get burned out.  Always have a Plan B if someone doesn’t come through.

Author’s Notes

This plan is written by a retired senior and indicates how her peers might be most comfortable with emails and in-person meetings.  A younger group could take some of the ideas and use social media to organize activities.  Our group consists of about 20-25 neighbors in our condominium community making it easy for social events, carpooling to various venues, getting together to make rally signs, etc.  We originally met in early 2017 to plan our participation in the Women’s March and kept in touch loosely as we worked on campaigns for Carey Hamilton (IN State Representative), Dee Thornton (5th District Congressional District), and Valerie McCray (U.S. Senate).

For more information or if you have questions or ideas to share, please contact Jayne Thorne at 317/694-5615 or [email protected].

Here are additional suggestions provided by ChatGPT:

Additional Ideas to Build and Expand Affinity Groups

1. Skill-Sharing Circles

Host monthly “skill nights” where members teach each other something useful—letter writing, public speaking, using Canva for activism, or calling legislators.
These gatherings build confidence and deepen the group’s leadership bench.
2. Affinity Pods for Action

Break your larger group into smaller “pods” based on interests (climate, education, voting rights, etc.).
Each pod meets independently and commits to one collective action a month—attending a meeting, writing op-eds, organizing phone banks, etc.
3. Storytelling Gatherings

Host small storytelling events where participants share how political decisions have affected them personally.
These emotional connections build solidarity and provide content for persuasive outreach and social media.
4. Intergenerational Exchanges

Pair retirees or older adults with younger activists for skill swaps and dialogue.
Older adults bring lived experience and institutional memory, while younger members may offer tech skills or social media fluency.

5. “Bring a Friend” Month

Designate a month when each member is encouraged to bring a new person to a meeting or event.
Offer low-barrier, friendly events like potlucks, coffee meetups, or sign-making parties to ease people in.
6. Group Texts or Chat Threads

For groups more comfortable with digital tools, use WhatsApp, Signal, or GroupMe to share updates and keep momentum between meetings.
These platforms help maintain urgency and build an informal community.
7. Create an Affinity Group Toolkit

Offer a starter pack PDF or printout with tips on forming a new group, sample invitation messages, and a calendar of upcoming events.
Empower members to become “mini organizers” in their own networks.
8. Monthly Themes

Choose a theme for each month (e.g., Voting Rights in April, Climate Justice in May, Reproductive Rights in June) and plan one activity around it.
This keeps engagement fresh and education ongoing.
9. Partner with Local Institutions

Collaborate with churches, libraries, or community centers to host public forums, movie nights, or civic teach-ins.
This helps normalize political dialogue in shared spaces.
10. Wellness and Resilience Focus

Regularly include activities for emotional well-being, such as group walks, mindfulness exercises, mental health check-ins, or laughter yoga.

Political work is exhausting—resilience practices keep people engaged long term.
 

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