139 Comments
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Dr Mike Foster's avatar

Trump and his family must held accountable for the US constitution and the rule of law to mean a damn thing for the rest of us otherwise expect anarchy and civil riots come November if he still keeps the majority in both houses of US congress!!!

Linda gagnon's avatar

And throw in SCOTUS while you're at it!

mary thiel's avatar

I second that a million times. They let trump take our White House from us.

Sharon Williamson's avatar

Crooked SCOTUS more like HELPED Trump!

Steve's avatar

Be cautious about generalizations. Thomas and Alito have reached their expiration dates. Some of Gorsuch's opinions have been "out there." But Gorsuch has also become a voice on the SCOTUS supporting Native American rights and treaties.

Susanna J. Sturgis's avatar

This was brought to my attention by Rebecca Nagle's book BY THE FIRE WE CARRY: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land, and by her podcast that preceded it, THIS LAND (on Crooked Media). I have very little good to say about the six Republican-appointed justices, but Gorsuch gets an asterisk beside his name for that.

Dr Mike Foster's avatar

The voters in both parties plan to vote out any and all politicians funded by corporate America and the Zionist lobbying group AIPAC!!

Steve's avatar

I'd rather see better people get elected first and ONLY THEN, deal with corporate funding or AIPAC.

As for AIPAC, there has been conclusive evidence that Vlad Putin put substantial money into the 2024 election to support "influencers." But you focus on AIPAC and say nothing about Putin??

Jason's avatar

Is there a Russia-supporting ARPAC openly funneling tens of millions into primary elections and openly supporting candidates we are unaware of?

Is Russia the number one recipient of US aid going back decades?

Steve's avatar

What's your point? Are you a Putin apologist?

As for US aid, you forget that the US also provides billions in aid to Egypt as a guarantor of peace between the two countries. Going back perhaps to the Camp David agreements?

Jason's avatar

What’s my point? You randomly brought up Putin, as if any clandestine efforts he made to sway US elections are remotely comparable to AIPAC in any way. The suggestion that one must mention Putin for a criticism of AIPAC to be valid is just whataboutism, it’s flat out ridiculous. The US has supported UN sanctions and ICC rulings against Putin and Russia. The US sanctions ICC judges for rulings against Israel, and has vetoed UN resolutions against Israel for decades.

The US gives more aid to Israel than any other country, by far, not to mention the political support it gives to Israel. I didn’t forget anything. There is no other country that remotely compares to the US protection and support of Israel. Your straw grasping is really pretty absurd.

Steve's avatar

Kindly review the overall topic of the thread and other comments. It's about the Trump admnistration and many of its operatives moving on. The gentle person brought up corporate funding and AIPAC. See the full text of my original response. I pondered why mention AIPAC and its contributions into American political campaigns if one is also not going to mention Putin's continuing meddling.

As for the US supporting UN sanctions on Russia, did you notice how quickly Trump evaded those when he started his Iran war? We still have a certain amount of trade with Russia, but Trump has never placed any tariffs on Putin. Why is that?

We're not straw grasping here. A problem may be that you can't differentiate between the people of Israel and its allegedly war criminal prime minister.

Anastasia Pantsios's avatar

B.S. Singling out AIPAC and using the word "Zionist" pretty much marks you as an anti-Semite. And given the amount of lobbyist, PAC and billionaire money flooding into elections, going after AIPAC because people hate Israel and Jews wouldn't maker a dent in that. We need total election spending reform to undo the damage of Citizens United.

Claire's avatar

And all the other crooks in the WH. All of thm!

Merry's avatar

Agree. As Mike stated - “ From Donald Trump and his family on down to people you’ve never heard of, this administration is full of people who broke and manipulated the law for their own personal and financial gain. The reckoning has to come. And Democrats need to understand that accountability isn’t a distraction from winning the next two elections — it’s how you win them. It’s how you set this country back on a path toward a government that works for us instead of a handful of corrupt billionaires and corporate lobbyists.”

In fact, “accountability AND freedom of the press are universally considered the backbone of American democracy because they ensure that citizens can make informed choices and hold powerful leaders answerable for their actions.”

So the responsibility is OURS as well. “Democracy is saved when we (the PEOPLE) hold our leaders accountable for corruption and self-enrichment, or when we find the courage to demand that our leaders reject the politics of division, which serves them but diminishes us.”

“Leaders of competitive authoritarian countries [which have been increasing across the world and who often use fascist tactics to further their personal political objectives and power] attack the systems and sources of information that they fear may weaken their hold on power.” We’re witnessing that right now.

It’s not too late yet. We must take appropriate actions, stand firm in our collective responsibility, our convictions and our actions. And we must demand that our leaders act accordingly, to the fullest extent of the law.

https://afsa.org/fsj/foreign-service-journal/unfinished-work-why-healthy-democracy-essential-our-foreign-policy

https://www.amacad.org/publication/daedalus/fate-american-democracy-depends-free-speech

https://democracyparadox.com/2021/05/18/kurt-weyland-distinguishes-between-fascism-and-authoritarianism/

dj464's avatar

I don't trust either Hakeem or Kushner. They're both skanks. Jeffreys is beholden to Zionisr Israel and Kushner is beholden to Daddy.

Anastasia Pantsios's avatar

The anti-Semitism here is really strong today and it's unfortunate because it gives Republicans an opening to pretend to be the heroes protecting the Jews. They aren't, but right now, most of the calls are coming from within this house.

Dr Mike Foster's avatar

Do not conflate Antisemitism vs Anti Zionism the whole world hates Zionists not Jews and they are not real Jews, in fact, they worked with Nazi Germans to kill their own and now they are determined to exterminate all Muslims from their own native land to fulfill their delusional belief of a so called ‘Greater Israeli Project’. Zionists found Trump a useful idiot to carry out this mission.

Israeli will not be able to coexist surrounded by Arabs both Turkey and Egypt will not tolerate Zionists ambition, the signing of the triad agreement between Turkey, Saudi and Pakistan is a direct repudiation of the Abraham accord!!!

Nata Etherton's avatar

Thank you for this. So many of us have been beaten up by these two administrations and their fervor to push us into subjugation.

You give us hope for a better world when tRump is gone.

Stephen Zinicola's avatar

Meeting with Kushner, an asset of Saudi Arabia and more, a persone who could not get security clearance, and is not an official ,and of no character, sends a sign of acquiescence

Angela Clark's avatar

If it was all on the up and up and no secret deal making, then Jeffries should make a public statement so he can be held accountable. He takes AIPAC money too.

mary thiel's avatar

Or perhaps he was on a fishing expedition to glean out his opponents. Since we don’t know what was said, the interpretation can go either way

Paula Amann's avatar

Right on target, Mike, as usual. Thanks for helping us all keep our eyes and attention on what really matters: the character of our country and all those who run it.

Linda Mahon's avatar

Yes we will never never let up until we have them all!

Hammer's avatar

Oh sure, they’ve all been guilty their whole lives, and no one has held them accountable! Dems better make sure we win the midterms, because I can see trump manipulating the vote and getting away with murder again, as he has done before, literally. 😡

Hammer's avatar

The Dem establishment is dragging down enthusiasm with all their infighting. Bernie had the fire of the younger generation, he would have crushed trump. He was trouncing hillary in the primaries and caucuses, but obama, warren, and others had alternative plans from day one. This led to the cluster fuck we’ve endured for this long!

Anastasia Pantsios's avatar

Trump would've crushed Bernie like a bug. There was so much negative information on him they were sitting on, and the Russians were trying to manipulate the primary against Hillary for reason (Even Bernie admitted this had happened but way too late — I think it was October). Bernie was a candidate with very narrow appeal.

Steve's avatar

Dream on. Bernie would have been wiped out. The far right wing blogosphere would have had a giant field day if he was the candidate.

Steve's avatar

Pardon the pun. But this is an issue that I've been "hammering" on across multiple substacks.

Get elected first. Then talk about investigations , the Dem establishment vs. DSA thingee, and whatever else is dividing Dems now.

Trump's approval ratings with two key blocs of voters; independents and Hispanics; is well under 30% these days.

But the DSA publicly announces they want open borders, defunding the police, eliminating the US Senate, and says Thanksgiving is a form of colonialism. No wonder the far right wing blogosphere "loves" the DSA.

Laura's avatar

Oh yes. They need to be held accountable. We cannot just turn the page on the laws broken, norms shattered, grift taking place. JD Vance must be anticipating a reckoning, as he is trying to paint Nixon as a victim of the “deep state “. Even hardcore republicans like my dad was at the time recognized that Nixon was a lawbreaker and supported the bum being thrown out.

mary thiel's avatar

I like todays’s column even more than most. I so appreciate the sentiment, we’re going to, and must hold people accountable.

Thank you for being even handed about the conversation between Jeffries and Kushner, though it makes me wonder about Jeffrie’s smarts in doing this at such a time. I don’t suspect Jeffries of capitulating, but it wasn’t smart optically, and disparages the Democratic Party.

It seems there is so much to accomplish if we take control of congress, that where to start first is an issue. We must change such a vast amount that the trump regime has done, environmentally, resurrecting whole departments such as health and education, instituting laws so that such future criminal,actions can’t be undertaken, etc, etc etc.

I hope all the newbies in congress will be up,to the task. And if they don’t show results right away, our “want it now” electorate won’t start turning on them for not showing results, on a dime, just like what happens in Europe.

I like that you always offer food for thought, but being a senior ona very limited budget, I can’t subscribe, but appreciate your take on what is occurring in our world, and for keeping us informed.

Ramie Janis's avatar

Sorry, Mike, but I have to disagree with you about Hakeem Jeffries. Kushner is not even an elected official and meeting with him gives him legitimacy. Also, he needs to be replaced as the minority, soon to be majority leader of the House. He is a corporate hack who takes money from the healthcare industry and thus, is against Medicare for All. You hardly ever hear from him fighting for our rights -- he and Chuck Schumer should have been out on the steps of the Capitol every single day doing press conferences on how the repubs are destroying our democracy, but instead, we get crickets.

Anastasia Pantsios's avatar

It is emphatically not the job of the congressional leaders to be on the steps of the Capitol giving barnburner speeches. It is their job to organize the caucus to pass or block legislation. This profound misunderstanding of what leaders are supposed to do is one of our biggest blind spots and weaknesses. Leave the showboating on the steps of the Capitol the clowns like Cori Bush — and then kick them out of office because that's not what congresspeople are elected to do.

Ramie Janis's avatar

If you look at Mitch McConnell, this is exactly what he did when Obama was president. And people listened to him.

Madelyn Allison's avatar

***Mike, I was horrified when I first heard/read about Jeffries meeting with Kushner at this particular time, close to the midterm election.

****The opinion a lot of us share is that it was completely inappropriate for Jeffries to meet with a member of Trump’s crime family, while at the same time not supporting/campaigning for the people in his own party, such as Abdul El-Sayed (or even Zoran Mamdani), or such issues as healthcare for all, immigration, ICE, etc, etc. So fearful of progressives.

“We can change the world; it’s dying to get better”.

But only if we try.

***If nothing else,this meeting was very bad optics . Jeffries is a weak and ineffective “leader” and hopefully the Democrats will choose a stronger leader after the election.

Some of us even wrote to both Jeffries and Schumer about the problem of not going out to support their own candidates.

Ana Luz Rios-Arriola's avatar

Mike, I understand that you want to let Jeffries meet with the republicans, However, I have listen to Jeffries many times and in my humble opinion, Jeffries is a sell out! He & Schumer need to go, they are NOT made for this time in history. I’m 80 and want to see a more progressive younger generation take over the Democratic leadership. We need to make sure all the grifters & Epstein class are made accountable & imprisoned for their actions and crimes against humanity. We need to abolish ICE - I fought for voting rights & women’s rights in the 60’s & 70’s. I have travelled the world and I am truly disappointed in our representatives here in the USA. I love my country and I’m mad, sad and fearful of what the MAGA party and corporate elites in the Democratic Party is doing to our republic.

Anastasia Pantsios's avatar

Who are you proposing "take over leadership"? Remember when this happened in the GOP it was a huge mess that is still impacting them negatively.

elliottoberman's avatar

Jefferies allowed himself to be used by the grifter son in-law who has no security clearance, Jefferie got played!

Linda gagnon's avatar

As Mike says, let's wait and see. Give Jeffries the benefit of the doubt.

Jason's avatar

As others have said here and Mike alludes to, the big problem is the secrecy about this meeting. The meeting was already weeks ago, and Jeffries still hasn’t directly acknowledged it even happened, let alone said anything about what was discussed.

The vague leaks about discussion of “common ground” and Jeffries’s total dodge of the issue have only made it worse. Why on earth would Jeffries be discussing “common ground” with an unelected real estate developer whose father in law called him a “thug”? Not to mention that the Dems clearly have the upper hand right now.

This is just one more reason why Jeffries should be replaced. He is fully at odds with most Democratic voters over data centers, crypto, PACs, Israel and Medicare For All among other issues, and here he once again shows really poor political judgement.

Anastasia Pantsios's avatar

Keep in mind we don't know what they discussed. The leaks were from unnamed people who may be Trump loyalists because writer Maggie Haberman is addicted to access.

To replace Jeffries – which I'm pretty sure few elected House members would want to see happen — would sabotage the advantage Democrats had going into the next Congress if they take the majority and launch the session with an antagonistic bloodbath likely driven by a few fringe DSA newbies (Darialisa Avila Chevalier, Melat Kiros) without working knowledge of how Congress works, the equivalent of Marjorie Taylor Greene blowing things up for the Republicans. And that did NOT work out for them. With a ready, experienced leader like Kevin McCarthy they could've done real damage. With Liddle Mikey Johnson they've been able to do little. And replace a skillful and tested leader like Jeffries with — who? The same people advocating for this probably want someone totally outside leadership with no understanding of how things work or the ability to work across the entire caucus. Trump would chortle with glee, which may be the reason The NY Times is leaking this story. They love Democratic chaos.

Steve's avatar

So you know this because you were at the meeting?

Anastasia Pantsios's avatar

How do you know he was "used"? Maybe he used Kushner. He's way smarter than Kushner.

Hope Crescione's avatar

Mike is so right about all of this. I don't sleep at night...not because of how it's affecting my life, but because of the young people whose lives, futures, and rights are being destroyed and stolen by these criminals...while Congress stands by and does nothing! What happened to all the oaths that were sworn to uphold the Constitution...just for starters? How did a 34-count, convicted felon and rapist even get to run for office, and what kind of person would vote for him? I have no answers for any of these questions!

Linda gagnon's avatar

I still scratch my head over that travesty. Young folks, wake up! We have a good country to save.

Tim Matchette's avatar

Well said Mike. And necessary. These boot lickers do not have immunity so we must go after them no matter what. We are coming for them.

Katie's avatar

I couldn't agree more with what you wrote Mike. The Republicans and everyone in the Trump Administration needs to be remembered and held accountable for their actions.

Jane Horgan's avatar

Accountability is not revenge. It is justice, And it will come for Mr. Jeffries too if need be

Steve's avatar

How about giving all that a rest for now? Keep the eyes on the prizes. Get elected first.

Anastasia Pantsios's avatar

Exactly what do you think accountability with come for Jeffries for? Being a great leader who has managed to successful stop a lot of bad rightwing ideas in their tracks? Oooooh, evil.

Jane Horgan's avatar

Thanks for your point of view