America is a sick country.

[kentuck]

Donald Trump is a sick, sick man.

His followers are sick people, also. They are willing to sacrifice everything this country has fought and died for, just for the benefit of a criminal cult leader.

It's a fair bet that many of their fathers and grandfathers fought to defend this democracy from Hitler and the Nazi scourge in WWII.

Now, in their sickness, they are willing to throw it all away. Like a cancer, their brains have been eaten away by the lies and propaganda of right-wing media. They worship a wealthy, lying criminal because he appeals to their hatred and prejudices.

America is sick, all the way up to the Supreme Court.

Unless the sane Americans can get to the polls this November, there appears to be no antidote.

[Charging Triceratops]

1. By abandoning Ukraine ...

we abandon our WW2 heroes who fought and died for freedom in Europe.

[harumph]

10. To me, this is almost the worst thing they've done.

I say almost because there is so much to choose from. But abandoning Ukraine may be a death sentence
for the west. I say this because if Putin is given time to re-tool his military, he'll go all out, and Europe and the
world will be facing a much more formidable enemy. At present, his nuclear arsenal is likely poorly maintained similar to his other
conventional weapons and he must be kept on his heels until he is toppled or killed. He is in the corner and despite the bravado -
not in a good place. You do not give an opponent like him breathing space - you keep pounding them - relentlessly. The world will be a much better place without him. The republican party is the moral equivalent of a septic tank. Cozying up to Russia like they've done screams Kompromat. Liars, villains and cowards.

[Wuddles440]

15. If Putin conquers Ukraine...

he'll be able to destabilize Europe with the refugees fleeing from Ukraine and will exploit the resulting chaos to his advantage without sacrificing his depleted military resources.

[DENVERPOPS]

47. Actually, cozying up to Russia is

TREASON............

Good points, harumph.....

[Initech]

23. The MAGA fucks don't care about that.

They just care that sweet Putin / Murdoch money keeps rolling in.

[soldierant]

37. Except that it won't, once he has enough that he doesn't need to buy them.

Of course they don't see that.

[RKP5637]

2. Sad, but very very true!

[DemMedic]

3. The disease is free but the cure will cost you.

Once trumpism is done, I'm worried about how his minions will respond.

These people are fine with bringing violence, and art this point in the game, I have no doubts (IMHO) that our Russian friends are giving some type of aid to these people.

[DENVERPOPS]

21. I am more than worried about his minions

Regardless of whether or not they win or lose.......I predict a nightmare scenario on November 6th...................

Think about it people.......If Biden wins, J6th will take place across the entire nation at every major city, and every State Capitol in the nation.

If Trump wins, 70 million will be so ecstatic they won't be able to contain themselves or their actions. Their means of celebrating will be catastrophic to any Dem, and every last minority group or race in the U.S..............

This year, 2024, will be unlike anything EVER experienced in the entire history of our great nation......mark my words......

I suspect if they are successful at corrupting the Voting and Trump wins, they will have the Supreme Court rule that instead of January 20th being the turnover date of the presidency, it should take place on November 6th.........

[LT Barclay]

38. I'm more worried about what will happen when someone smarter than Trump finds a way to tap into their rage and focus it

more "effectively".
He's a bit of a dim bulb compared to what we could face in the future. I think the only way to prevent that is going to find a way to go after the SCOTUS. They have no check on their corruption and they are still viewed as having credibility.
I just found out on here recently that Kavanaugh, Comey, and Roberts were all on Shrubs legal team when that election was stolen.

[DENVERPOPS]

48. Yes, good point

Don't underestimate the Republican Party doing anything and everything this time around.......

[dutch777]

4. Americans THINK they know our history but do not and also miss the key and moral lesson within what they do know.

Our increasing lack of support and focus on core education is showing. Too many mistake "bar stool wisdom" for real and accurate knowledge.

[Walleye]

5. And with their anti-vaccination anti public health stance, they are getting actually sick with diseases as well

[spanone]

6. K&R

[3auld6phart]

9. Damn scary

When 1/3 t to nearly 50% think that otange fat fool is their freakin’ leader. Wagtching some of the interviews they get caught on, makes me wonder how they find a surface to stand when they crawl out Their fart sacks when they get up. Hopeless drooling idiots.what is even sadder that Serving and retired members of the US armed Forces kiss that shi stained orange ass.. damn unbelievable???

[twodogsbarking]

7. Well said, but the list goes on and on.

[Firestorm49]

8. Yes. Unless we get to the polls this November, and in every state and local election for years to come.

TFG’s threats aren’t going to just go away. If, just suppose, that Dems regain the House, retain the Senate and presidency, could bills can be passed to keep anyone indicted or convicted from running for office? Perhaps we could change House and Senate rules to prevent anarchists from running for office. I know, I’m talking out of my ass, but I’d love to see legislation that would ensure adherence to the Constitution and have the power to expel any of those who fight more for anarchy than freedom.

[calimary]

40. Sounds like you're talking out of your brain and your heart.

Talking out of one’s ass is what the Republicans do.

[oldmanlynn]

11. Its this way primarily because if the religion and religious beliefs

Its not 100 percent this but without Christian groups trump might fall of the map for support

Doesnt help that fox news can spread false information and not suffer a consequence because of the 1st amendment

To change our country we have to change fox news or make less impactful


I have faith in Americans. We will stand up and rid ourselves of this malignant evil

[AllaN01Bear]

13. their relgion. not mine . some of us do the walk. the moral majiority is either and neither.and

pat robinson dosnt represent me either .

[AllaN01Bear]

14. dont forget sinclair radio too also.

[DBoon]

52. Their religions are patriarchal and authoritarian

They teach people to believe whatever authority figures tell them is true. Evidence does not matter and critical thinking skills are the tool of the devil.

[Joinfortmill]

12. You are so right. It's 1933 again. Vote, people.

[Glaisne]

16. Indeed

Like a cancer, their brains have been eaten away by the lies and propaganda of right-wing media.

Yep, the national blanket of right wing media has helped create an army of Nazi Zombies.

[Aristus]

17. We've been a sick country ever since some lazy-ass dipshit said: "Hey gang! I know what!

Let's kidnap people from their homes and families in Africa, ship them across the second-largest ocean on the planet in hellish, disease-ridden conditions, and force them to do the work we should be doing for ourselves, and refuse to pay them! Hey! And if they resist this admittedly shitty treatment, we can beat the men, rape the women, and separate the children from their parents! What do you say?"

There have been glimmerings since then of us maybe not being a sick, shitty nation, but those moments have never lasted long.

[DENVERPOPS]

49. Don't forget their biggest accomplishment of all

Obliterating the 30-90Million Native Americans that occupied this continent for hundreds and hundreds of years, if not thousands before the settlers ever put their foot on the soil of this great country......
If Hitler was horrific for those he destroyed, just compare his genocide to the number of indigenous people here in North America.....

[Prairie_Seagull]

18. It's interesting and dangerous to me that -

the demographics in the US are changing in favor of us democrats and the time is now that a choice has been made to do whatever it takes to install a despot. Coincidence? I think not.

Money wants what it wants.

[Initech]

19. And Fox News is the disease.

Right wing propaganda fucks with people’s heads and turns their brains into mush as much as some of the worst narcotics do. It’s done more damage to the USA than Al Qaeda or the Taliban could ever dream of.

[IronLionZion]

20. Trump and his followers shouldn't represent America

they represent the worst aspects of our country but I hope it can be defeated by the best parts of our country.

[hay rick]

22. Getting to the polls in November is the first step in a very long journey.

Donald Trump would not be possible in a healthy society or a healthy democracy. If we defeat Trump and his ilk at the polls, the real world will still require a capable response to climate change and we are not prepared for that challenge or the consequences of failure.

[slumcamper]

24. Excellent Post

Thanks for this. I always look forward to the wisdom and insight of your posts. This one encapsulates the perplexity and anguish I and countless others who look down the long lens of our history have long endured.

Clearly, the sway of our past, e.g., our ideals and principles, the blood shed in the cause of those principles, and the values we presumably embraced, are under wholesale assault. Everything the country represented, all the sacrifices, and the forward progress toward equality (in every aspect: social, economic, political) is disintegrating. This is happening at all levels--from families and neighborhoods clear up to highest institutions; it's falling apart. The backdrop of this moment is the monumental struggle of ideas, i.e., the clash of liberal and conservative ideologies. This is as old as politics itself.

TFG (TSF) arrives on the stage of our history as a deeply flawed--and rather unlikely--vehicle for the latter, and his presence coincides with certain technologies and reactionary media forces and figures that magnify his power and influence. Influence is key. As you assert, a very significant percentage of our citizens ARE sick, having succumbed to various propagandistic forces which have influenced them to the point where their historical consciousness has been neutered and they have been effectively rendered incapable of objectivity or reason. A person simply CANNOT "get through to them." They are very, very sick, brainwashed.

The society and body politic is definitely VERY ill. Herein lies our problem: roughly 35-40% of those among us are so cognitively challenged, mentally ill, and incompetent insofar as exercising the rights and responsibilities of citizenship that they present a real and present danger to the survival of nation as it was conceived--and to us.

[moondust]

25. Two TV shows last night confirm.

Anderson Cooper's show "The Whole Story" had Van Jones covering the deeply sick state of Tennessee where the corrupt GQP control freaks who would love to own slaves again keep rigging their state "gubment" to maintain their totalitarian control.

Then there was John Oliver doing a deep dive into the Boeing mess caused by years of super greedy executives focused on boosting their stock price at the expense of safety and everything else.

And now the SCROTUS doesn't just kick the can down the road for somebody else to play around with; they kick it into deep space where it will disappear.

[Turbineguy]

26. My trump cultist brother-in-law's Father

was in the First Wave at Normandy.

[kentuck]

27. They believe everything Trump says is a funny joke or sarcasm...

When he tells them exactly who and what he is, they do not believe him.

[vapor2]

28. Voters will care if he is selected

and he takes their social security, their health care, pension etc etc. By then it will be too late

[BaronChocula]

29. Here's how I see it

Some white people have been instigated into trying to revive a white supremacy movement and other white people give them a pass. If it were a sizable number of black people engaged in a black nationalist movement we wouldn’t say America is sick. We’d say some black people lost their mind so in that context I say some white people have lost their mind. It’s not America. It’s white people.

[JanMichael]

30. The crazy rightwing Nazi loving candidate for NC Governor...

...is a perfect example of the sickness.

[TBF]

31. I don't think I quite understood Christian Nationalism until we moved to Texas -

these folks are really not in the cult of Donald, they are in their respective churches every Sunday, in every small town and some large ones too. I didn't quite understand their fervor until we moved here and it was one of the first questions I was asked by folks. Where did you move from? Have you found a church yet? They are serious about their religion down here, and social media has only added to their condition because they seek out like-minded people and try to convert the rest of us.

I see it in my feed from these zealots (some of them are family members so I unfollow rather than unfriend) - they have lots of memes indicating that they flat out don't care about Trump's crazy, what they care about are the results that line up with their "beliefs". They are absolutely thrilled with the new Supreme Court and overturning Roe v. Wade amongst other issues. Right now they are fired up about immigration. I'm not sure why they don't see immigrants as future church members, but these folks aren't logical so who knows.

At any rate, between the right-wing major media owned by about four crazy billionaires & the rest of the fundamentalist flock - that is how we have Trump. Not because they love him personally, but because they are willing to put up with his faults to get the results they desire.

We need to gotv this fall, it's the only thing that will take them down.

[birdographer]

33. We encountered the church thing in north Florida

When we first moved to the small town and were meeting assorted people (car mechanics, veterinarian, etc.), as soon as we were introduced, the first words out of their mouths were "What church do you go to?" It was how you were placed in society. The newspaper frequently ran editorials on how they either pitied or were afraid of "Godless people." The church has that town by the throat. We moved to western NC about 10 years ago and I don't think anyone has ever asked us that question here. OTOH, this is Trumpistan. Oh, to live somewhere with normal people...

[Blue Owl]

32. The Republican Cancer, started by Reagan, has spread to nearly terminal levels

[dchill]

35. "...all the way up to the Supreme Court."

Absolutely!

[MomInTheCrowd]

36. Please read this post - one of the reasons why

[link:https://democraticunderground.com/100218743222|

[betsuni]

42. Thank you, I missed that.

[calimary]

45. Thanks! It's a GOOD one!

A REALLY good one.

[samplegirl]

39. What's really sad

Is it's making us seniors have no peace for so long it's affecting our mental health.
Most of my friends say they don't sleep with worry.
Every where you go politics is discussed.
Even if you go out to eat it's what the table behind you is discussing.

Thanks for this post Kentuck you are always 100% spot on.

[betsuni]

41. I used to think that the majority of non-voters agreed with Democratic policies, now I don't.

They don't. Not a normal country. Sick.

[Chasdev]

43. As a junior high student I could not figure out how/why Germany chose Hiltler.

Back the day (1966) my high school had a class called "History" which was taught by a WWII combat Vet.
He spent a lot of time on the rise and fall of Hitlers Germany and I could just not wrap my mind around how some of the smartest hardworking people could go so so wrong.
I'm no longer as confused as we seem to be drifting across the center lane and heading for a head on crash.
Now I spend too much time in a state of confusion and depression.
I can't look at my TV when Smelvis comes on, even when they show him melting down.
Living in Austin, I'm surrounded by Democrats and while that's comforting, the amount of hate Austin liberals get on maga media is frightening and my distinct fear is armed maga mobs taking revenge for our vote against mango man.
I'm too old for combat in the streets but I guess If I have to, I will.

[calimary]

46. And we'll be there shoulder-to-shoulder.

Or our minds will be.

I’m old, too. But I’m fortunate still to be healthy, able-bodied and mentally sound. And I’m ready to fight like hell.

The only question for me right now is “when can we get access to our journals again?”

[czarjak]

44. Rick Pefrry was right.

"Donald Trump is a cancer on Conservatism. He needs to be excised." How'd THAT work out? Like they want to change.

[Emile]

50. A man who tried to destroy our government and kill

his vice president has the support of almost half the country. That's SICK!

[magicarpet]

51. The White Plague infecting society,...

.. 100X worse than Covid 19.