If you love peace (and the Constitution) it will be necessary to prepare for war against the forces who would destroy it. Our nation faces an existential crisis unlike anything before -- get woke
"Planning a Bloodbath?" is a great headline, Deepak. It would really be funny if it weren't so damned likely! Thanks for your work. I especially "like" your list of ten with their weapons of choice and how they delivered.
And Trump LITERALLY ticks all the boxes, as does Hitler, Putin, and Netanyahu. In this insane world, it is good, and very brave, to see Dem Labs putting Netanyahu on that list too, where he belongs. Good work!
Ok our president right now needs to appoint a new DOJ, fire Garland now
And have the former president guy locked up now - we all know if the shoe was on the other foot if the DEMS did it they would all be in jail. As it should be now all of them should be in jail and for a very long time
This is bullshit and it’s got to stop OR
Plan B
Have our president have in place to declare 45 a threat to our democracy and place us in a military state and be ready for the blood bath and if his people try to do again what they tried in the past haul them off to jail and toss the fucking key away
This is no joke and we have to care for America because the GOP is fucked up
Trump is most definitely a threat to National Security, especially now that he's publicly broke. I don't think I've ever seen the National Archives say, "yes, that's all of them; we have ALL the documents back," so by that alone, he should be locked up before his trial(s).
I was hoping Engoron would lock him up for contempt in the civil suit, which would have broken the spell and also been objectively hilarious. One hopes that Garland will go bye-bye in the second Biden Administration. I don't know that kicking him out now would help much. The die is cast, so to speak. The good news is that, whatever hijinks MAGA has planned for after the election, Joe will be the president. He won't fuck around...once he wins he will have lierally no other fucks to give.
What happens if he loses is a question I have been asking myself for several months now. Sure, in the aftermath, I see the likelihood of a bloodbath. But then what? Will we ever be free to roam about the country again?
Apologies to those on the frontline where real violence will be played out.
Depending on the scale, I don't think there will be a frontline per se in most instances. I see a guerilla style warfare, striking the weakest, the defenseless, essentially those not prepared to be a frontline.
This is already going on in the form of stochastic violence, some spur of the moment, some premeditated. However, instead of individuals or very small groups, think somewhat larger and, consequently, more deadly. This is already happening. Because it is so diverse in time and location, it is difficult to impossible to defend at the critical moment. Sometimes we get lucky, but usually we don't.
I'm phrasing like this because we should take it personally, we should be taking it as the organic whole of American society. It's more like a stealthy cancer than a runaway virus, it is as insidious as humans can be, craftily breaking the most innate, often public, human trust at the most vulnerable moments. It is predatory.
The universe is predatory - everything must get energy from somewhere, someone, however benign - and we all hold the acquired skills to do such things when our social and personal agreements with society are breached.
One of our most active archives, btw, aside from our pernicious history, is our movies...all this plays out over and over. Old western movies are particularly explicit. You 'can't make a town,' the basic theme of many of them, until you get rid of the bad guys...that is, kill them in the act, incarcerate or hang them via the legal system of enforced justice: they're all Liberty Valence. There is no redeeming value there, none.
And, implicitly, the tale relates, it should have happened sooner than later.
One hopes that they are louder now, and will be less ballsy when the time comes. Their most zealous fighters are in prison, after all. My fear is more 1968-style targeted violence. I am very, very concerned about Joe's safety, as well as any one of a number of politicians and others they decide to target.
I see three possibilities. 1) It's all bullshit and bluster and the MAGA horde does not want to find themselves taken as hostages. Let's be real, 99% of them are chickenshit bullies. 2) Win or lose they take to the streets, armed, to either overturn his loss or enact his retribution. If that happens, win or lose, Biden should invoke the Insurrection Act and deal with them as the terrorists that they are. 3) Isolated MAGAs commit acts of terrorism Timothy McVey style attacking federal facilities, media building, elected Democrats and well known progressives. Of the three, I think #3 is the most likely, and the most insidious.
Any largescale uprising will be put down swiftly, because our guy remains in charge until January 20 no matter what. I'm much more worried about the third option you list. We have been very, very, VERY lucky to have avoided it so far.
Yes to #3. I will spend election week and inauguration week at a friend's house in town, since the MAGAte who lives on my road is crazy and armed, and the Sheriff's office votes for Trump. There are thousands of us in neighborhoods all over this country with self-appointed militia men preparing to defend their right to bloodbaths.
“Are You Washed in the Blood?” is an Evangelical hymn. The concept of a bloodbath might be more appealing (if subconsciously) to some of his base than the sane part of the population would imagine. I’d also note that for those who believe they are saved by virtue of a crucifixion are conceivably more accepting of violence. I doubt that DJT is aware of hymns or theological concepts, so I doubt that this association was intentional.
DJT may not be that aware, but he can sniff the air. With Alex Jones' broadcasts touting 'possible' assassinations, and Michael Flynn assembling his chorus and choir of 'Armored Christian Soldiers' with Erik Prince and all the deVos money, I see plenty of intentional motivation and herding ongoing. There's millions of dollars being spent in these pursuits to strain our common agreements about this nation. It is insidious with implicit intent. The limits of 'free speech' and the 1st amendment are being seriously stretched.
Wow, Earl, thanks for pointing that out. I'm sure someone mentioned it to him in passing and he glommed onto it. He is very adept at knowing which lines to steal.
I saw Trump's "bloodbath" comments as simply being the first volley over the bow of his intention to start talking about how RIGGED the election is going to be, and also the suggested stochastic terrorism implicit in the words. Trump has one strategy, and good for the rest of us, he's entirely predictable. And yes, Trump no longer gets the benefit of the doubt -- when he uses a word like "bloodbath," it's meaningful beyond talking about the auto industry, no matter the context.
Michael Cohen said that Trump always speaks in code. He doesn't come right out and say what he means because he always wants plausible deniability, no matter how lame it sounds later. "He was only joking," or "we take him seriously, but not literally," or other such nonsense, only downplays what Trump telegraphs every time he opens his mouth. "If I don't get elected," is step one in the "rigged" scenario coming over the next few weeks -- it's almost April, it's time for this "strategery." As you pointed out, Greg, the "bloodbath" word is almost self-explanatory in this context; and make no mistake, that IS the context, not the auto industry. Trump talking about the "auto industry" as policy is like me talking about nuclear physics. He doesn't know anything about it and doesn't really care about it.
The only potential wild card is the ostrich-suit wearing Russian asset, Paul Manafort, making a reappearance on the scene. We already know that Bannon is working behind the scenes, so it's getting the GANG back together. It's 2016 all over again. Let's hope that with one disastrous term in the rearview mirror, the American people know how to vote this time. There are STILL way more of us than of them, but we still have to vote. Trump is in awful shape right now, but I don't trust the people still supporting him to just fall away and let Trump defeat himself. We need to do it! And yep, this shit is exhausting. I want to leave politics one day and retire! WTF with this guy?
Thanks for this, Steve. I certainly is exhausting. Wearying, is my new word of choice.
With regards Paulie Ostrich Feathers: the reason that governments, historically, execute their vilest traitors is to ensure they will not treason again. Not only did Manafort keep his neck, he was granted special privileges during covid, getting to do home arrest. It's a mockery of justice, as was the pardon.
My guess is the mention in the article this week was a trial balloon. If here wasn't an outcry about him -- and there wasn't -- he is allowed to return.
I've been literally losing sleep the past week or so and couldn't pin-point it until I woke up this morning at 5:30 from some fucked-up dream that I can't remember now, but my first thought was, "I have to stop!" So, except for you, my OG Substack subscription, I'm unsubbing from everything else. The reality is that I can personally do nothing about what's going on. I can't get Trump to prison faster. I can't make sure he's not re-elected. I can't make Mike Johnson send money to Ukraine. All of these things may happen, but realistically, I don't need to see the process for them to move along, which is what's making me crazy, I guess, and now, having catnaps at night. I actually know people who DON'T follow this stuff and seem much happier on a day-to-day basis. I'm still onboard with the end result, and of course, I WILL vote, as I did in the primary here, but I'm stepping back from the rest of it. The exhaustion is real! See you on Friday!
As I have said many times, #Trump will do ANYTHING to evade prison
#Trump KNOWS he is going to prison for the rest of his life; therefore he can break any law or restriction without greater punishment. (Execution or torture, sadly, are out)
I have a recurring dream in which #MangoWanker Turdking is at a rally, pisses himself, and has a massive stroke... Disabling and debilitating, unable to type or tweet, incontinent and helpless and unable to speak, fed through an IV and pooping into a bedpan, but fully aware of the prison hospital, for the rest of his life.
It’s TUESDAY🎉. Great piece👏🏻👏🏻Favorite part - “…in front of a sparse DC crowd…” Oh snap; well done🤣👍🏻
Thanks, Lisbeth. It was the biggest crowd. The best crowd. No crowd quite like that crowd...
Waaayyyy bigger than Reagan’s…and most had tears in their eyes🤣
Sigh. FUCKING FPOTUS has done some good. He has inspired me to donate to the DNC on a regular basis. They are now a line item in my monthly budget.
Good work Mr. O. Thank you for your clarity. Billserle.com
Thank you, Bill!
NYT described "speech" in its opening paragraphs as "caustic" and "discursive". So see, Greg? It's not so bad! (Ducks and slinks out of Comments)
"Discursive," a word that most Americans can easily define. I'm not 100 percent sure *I* know what it means. Sigh.
When you're a media person spinning for Trump words can mean whatever you need them to.
If you love peace (and the Constitution) it will be necessary to prepare for war against the forces who would destroy it. Our nation faces an existential crisis unlike anything before -- get woke
My hope is that the first battle will be a decisive victory at the ballot box in November.
Check this infographic on ten bloodbaths
https://thedemlabs.org/2024/03/17/trump-predicts-bloodbath-dehumanizes-migrants/
... and how tyrants dehumanize people before killings in bloodbaths. https://thedemlabs.org/2024/01/20/how-to-dehumanize-other-people/
"Planning a Bloodbath?" is a great headline, Deepak. It would really be funny if it weren't so damned likely! Thanks for your work. I especially "like" your list of ten with their weapons of choice and how they delivered.
Damn insanity!!
And Trump LITERALLY ticks all the boxes, as does Hitler, Putin, and Netanyahu. In this insane world, it is good, and very brave, to see Dem Labs putting Netanyahu on that list too, where he belongs. Good work!
Bibi the Butcher belongs.
Thanks, Deepak. Great work!
As usual, Deepak, truly grateful for your insights.
Ok our president right now needs to appoint a new DOJ, fire Garland now
And have the former president guy locked up now - we all know if the shoe was on the other foot if the DEMS did it they would all be in jail. As it should be now all of them should be in jail and for a very long time
This is bullshit and it’s got to stop OR
Plan B
Have our president have in place to declare 45 a threat to our democracy and place us in a military state and be ready for the blood bath and if his people try to do again what they tried in the past haul them off to jail and toss the fucking key away
This is no joke and we have to care for America because the GOP is fucked up
Trump is most definitely a threat to National Security, especially now that he's publicly broke. I don't think I've ever seen the National Archives say, "yes, that's all of them; we have ALL the documents back," so by that alone, he should be locked up before his trial(s).
My favorite meme is the one that said Trump doesn't have $500 million, but you know who does? And it's a beaming Taylor Swift.
I was hoping Engoron would lock him up for contempt in the civil suit, which would have broken the spell and also been objectively hilarious. One hopes that Garland will go bye-bye in the second Biden Administration. I don't know that kicking him out now would help much. The die is cast, so to speak. The good news is that, whatever hijinks MAGA has planned for after the election, Joe will be the president. He won't fuck around...once he wins he will have lierally no other fucks to give.
What happens if he loses is a question I have been asking myself for several months now. Sure, in the aftermath, I see the likelihood of a bloodbath. But then what? Will we ever be free to roam about the country again?
Apologies to those on the frontline where real violence will be played out.
Depending on the scale, I don't think there will be a frontline per se in most instances. I see a guerilla style warfare, striking the weakest, the defenseless, essentially those not prepared to be a frontline.
This is already going on in the form of stochastic violence, some spur of the moment, some premeditated. However, instead of individuals or very small groups, think somewhat larger and, consequently, more deadly. This is already happening. Because it is so diverse in time and location, it is difficult to impossible to defend at the critical moment. Sometimes we get lucky, but usually we don't.
I'm phrasing like this because we should take it personally, we should be taking it as the organic whole of American society. It's more like a stealthy cancer than a runaway virus, it is as insidious as humans can be, craftily breaking the most innate, often public, human trust at the most vulnerable moments. It is predatory.
The universe is predatory - everything must get energy from somewhere, someone, however benign - and we all hold the acquired skills to do such things when our social and personal agreements with society are breached.
One of our most active archives, btw, aside from our pernicious history, is our movies...all this plays out over and over. Old western movies are particularly explicit. You 'can't make a town,' the basic theme of many of them, until you get rid of the bad guys...that is, kill them in the act, incarcerate or hang them via the legal system of enforced justice: they're all Liberty Valence. There is no redeeming value there, none.
And, implicitly, the tale relates, it should have happened sooner than later.
Bravo, William. Thank you.
You're certainly welcome.
Yes, Billy. A cancer not a virus. Well put.
There are no lines because MAGA is everywhere, even if the bluest of blue locales. And god knows what the police will do.
We should have been much less merciful to the Confederate leaders during Reconstruction. Only those who sincerely repent deserve mercy.
I definitely had more than one "frontline" in mind when I wrote my post.
One hopes that they are louder now, and will be less ballsy when the time comes. Their most zealous fighters are in prison, after all. My fear is more 1968-style targeted violence. I am very, very concerned about Joe's safety, as well as any one of a number of politicians and others they decide to target.
Yes, Lynell. I'm agree - it is truly scary. I thought illustrating historical parallels from might be helpful.
VERY!
Isn’t it past your jail time?
3/10/24 😘 Jimmy Kimmel
That was such a good line anyway, but, objectively, YES, IT IS. Beyond time.
True that, Greg - before we all go insane 🙃
I see three possibilities. 1) It's all bullshit and bluster and the MAGA horde does not want to find themselves taken as hostages. Let's be real, 99% of them are chickenshit bullies. 2) Win or lose they take to the streets, armed, to either overturn his loss or enact his retribution. If that happens, win or lose, Biden should invoke the Insurrection Act and deal with them as the terrorists that they are. 3) Isolated MAGAs commit acts of terrorism Timothy McVey style attacking federal facilities, media building, elected Democrats and well known progressives. Of the three, I think #3 is the most likely, and the most insidious.
Any largescale uprising will be put down swiftly, because our guy remains in charge until January 20 no matter what. I'm much more worried about the third option you list. We have been very, very, VERY lucky to have avoided it so far.
Yes to #3. I will spend election week and inauguration week at a friend's house in town, since the MAGAte who lives on my road is crazy and armed, and the Sheriff's office votes for Trump. There are thousands of us in neighborhoods all over this country with self-appointed militia men preparing to defend their right to bloodbaths.
Your comment made me shiver, MaryPat. It is sad to think that when Biden wins in November, we will be too afraid to celebrate.
Yes, it is sad. But I so appreciate your confidence that Biden will win in November.
I'm all about projecting what I want to see happen, MP. And I will be voting to make it so!
YES!!!
“Are You Washed in the Blood?” is an Evangelical hymn. The concept of a bloodbath might be more appealing (if subconsciously) to some of his base than the sane part of the population would imagine. I’d also note that for those who believe they are saved by virtue of a crucifixion are conceivably more accepting of violence. I doubt that DJT is aware of hymns or theological concepts, so I doubt that this association was intentional.
DJT may not be that aware, but he can sniff the air. With Alex Jones' broadcasts touting 'possible' assassinations, and Michael Flynn assembling his chorus and choir of 'Armored Christian Soldiers' with Erik Prince and all the deVos money, I see plenty of intentional motivation and herding ongoing. There's millions of dollars being spent in these pursuits to strain our common agreements about this nation. It is insidious with implicit intent. The limits of 'free speech' and the 1st amendment are being seriously stretched.
There are no limits on free speech if you're a protected class of traitor, apparently. Flynn, Prince, Kushner, Musk, Rudy, etc.
Wow, Earl, thanks for pointing that out. I'm sure someone mentioned it to him in passing and he glommed onto it. He is very adept at knowing which lines to steal.
Hey, Greg, a wonderful article. Thanks.
Your piece and the general situation is really raising some interesting comments and questions. I really couldn't resist delving into some of them.
Thanks, Billy. I'm glad you did!
well, I guess there COULD be a mini bloodbath if trump is elected and people discover that cars suddenly cost twice as much thanks to that tariff.
Ha! Well put, Susan.
I saw Trump's "bloodbath" comments as simply being the first volley over the bow of his intention to start talking about how RIGGED the election is going to be, and also the suggested stochastic terrorism implicit in the words. Trump has one strategy, and good for the rest of us, he's entirely predictable. And yes, Trump no longer gets the benefit of the doubt -- when he uses a word like "bloodbath," it's meaningful beyond talking about the auto industry, no matter the context.
Michael Cohen said that Trump always speaks in code. He doesn't come right out and say what he means because he always wants plausible deniability, no matter how lame it sounds later. "He was only joking," or "we take him seriously, but not literally," or other such nonsense, only downplays what Trump telegraphs every time he opens his mouth. "If I don't get elected," is step one in the "rigged" scenario coming over the next few weeks -- it's almost April, it's time for this "strategery." As you pointed out, Greg, the "bloodbath" word is almost self-explanatory in this context; and make no mistake, that IS the context, not the auto industry. Trump talking about the "auto industry" as policy is like me talking about nuclear physics. He doesn't know anything about it and doesn't really care about it.
The only potential wild card is the ostrich-suit wearing Russian asset, Paul Manafort, making a reappearance on the scene. We already know that Bannon is working behind the scenes, so it's getting the GANG back together. It's 2016 all over again. Let's hope that with one disastrous term in the rearview mirror, the American people know how to vote this time. There are STILL way more of us than of them, but we still have to vote. Trump is in awful shape right now, but I don't trust the people still supporting him to just fall away and let Trump defeat himself. We need to do it! And yep, this shit is exhausting. I want to leave politics one day and retire! WTF with this guy?
Thanks for this, Steve. I certainly is exhausting. Wearying, is my new word of choice.
With regards Paulie Ostrich Feathers: the reason that governments, historically, execute their vilest traitors is to ensure they will not treason again. Not only did Manafort keep his neck, he was granted special privileges during covid, getting to do home arrest. It's a mockery of justice, as was the pardon.
My guess is the mention in the article this week was a trial balloon. If here wasn't an outcry about him -- and there wasn't -- he is allowed to return.
I've been literally losing sleep the past week or so and couldn't pin-point it until I woke up this morning at 5:30 from some fucked-up dream that I can't remember now, but my first thought was, "I have to stop!" So, except for you, my OG Substack subscription, I'm unsubbing from everything else. The reality is that I can personally do nothing about what's going on. I can't get Trump to prison faster. I can't make sure he's not re-elected. I can't make Mike Johnson send money to Ukraine. All of these things may happen, but realistically, I don't need to see the process for them to move along, which is what's making me crazy, I guess, and now, having catnaps at night. I actually know people who DON'T follow this stuff and seem much happier on a day-to-day basis. I'm still onboard with the end result, and of course, I WILL vote, as I did in the primary here, but I'm stepping back from the rest of it. The exhaustion is real! See you on Friday!
🎯 Excellent! Thank you, and 🍺 Cheers!
Thanks, Steven!
As I have said many times, #Trump will do ANYTHING to evade prison
#Trump KNOWS he is going to prison for the rest of his life; therefore he can break any law or restriction without greater punishment. (Execution or torture, sadly, are out)
Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose...
I have a recurring dream in which #MangoWanker Turdking is at a rally, pisses himself, and has a massive stroke... Disabling and debilitating, unable to type or tweet, incontinent and helpless and unable to speak, fed through an IV and pooping into a bedpan, but fully aware of the prison hospital, for the rest of his life.