Praise for Murkowski is a little out of date. She caved to Trump on the big budget bill by getting a carve-out that eliminated Medicaid and SNAP cuts for Alaska. That reads like, "I got mine. To hell with the rest of America." Sorry, but I have lost respect for her. She did what is decried in this interesting article.
I'm hesitant to comment on a well-thought out, cogent narrative, (not hesitant enough to hold off, of course) but it does seem to leave out the role of the voters. The system itself is rigged. The gerrymandering (which, though patently unfair, doesn't seem to be illegal), the primary system; these and other phenomena all serve the exact purposes and create the exact circumstances the author outlines. I just wonder, though, in a system where the voters do still get a say, whether the voters that are NOT so highly partisan that they can't bring themselves to cast a vote for the other party will, at some point, go the polls and vote for someone who either isn't Attila the Hun or one of his minions.
What an incredibly accurate and articulate summary of the hell we are in. Unfortunately, Murkowski succumbed to the Reich Rules just a few days ago, under the guise of “I’m doing it for my Alaskans” farce.
At what point did hanging on to an elected office mean more than the reason you wanted to do the work of that office? I’m open to imagining that those who run only seek power but that feels like a simplified description. I assume people start out wanting to accomplish a few specific things that would better their electorate. Is the corruption such that once you get to the trough it’s simply too good to leave? We were not meant to have politicians in a single seat for life.
I missed the guest writer intro--amazed at the different style. Our OC Bad Boy has now turned intellectual elite? Holy S#@! I enjoyed the piece.
There was a time in 2024, after reading Project 2025, I woke up with a midnight conviction that we should ALL reregister in the Republican Party for the primary. Nominate Cheney. An existential crisis required an extreme response. I still wonder about that idea. If people feel Never-Democrat (reminds me of Never-Chevy families, a light bulb for me), do we need to think about wild strategies? Perhaps to save the country, we should have ALL voted for Nikki Haley? Would she have become a tyrant? I think not. In this nightmare scenario, I'm open to ideas.
Didn't a million Ram fans switch to the Chargers? (Throwing you a sports bone, my gift!) Surely, Trump is worse than the Rams. CHANGE, people! Back a new team. (Of course, I will never wear an Angels shirt!)
Reagan also ignored the AIDS crisis until it became impossible. And his administration was the start of the tax cuts for the rich, crumbs for the poor approach to budgeting.
I notice that you and your guest writers often contrast MAGA Republicans with Reagan Republicans. While they are different, the Reagan Republicans are nothing to admire. His administration was filled with racists, including him (he started his 1980 campaign in Philadelphia MS, where Goodman Cheney and Schwerner were murdered).
Good piece but sadly, as pointed out in another comment, the description of Murkowski is simply inaccurate. I have lost all respect for her as she's nothing more than a craven, gutless tool of tRump. She knew the Bill was terrible, stated the same and still voted for it even though she could have played the role John McCain played with the GOP attempt to repeal the ACA. She is a shameful, sad excuse for a public servant.
In the first pages of Amazon’s free sample, Braderman recommends registering Republican to influence the primaries. Nah. Neither the Republican Party in its various malformations and certainly not the corporatized play-possum Dems (with its fake emails “send $5 right now because you matter!”) are going to save this country from fascism.
Jeff, keep focusing on OC activists and voices! Yes, learn the history of the corruption and hacking of our system, hold elected officials to the fire, attend school board and city council meetings, but the guiding lights are going to the strong individuals of conscience and convictions. Lots of journalists. Some will be progressive Dem politicians like Zohran and Bernie and AOC and Hogg, but the local “chartered” Dem clubs are silent about them. Other guiding lights will be whistleblowers and citizen watchdogs.
Also, US support for the genocide in Gaza has done more to damage the US domestically and abroad in the past two years than any one thing in the Republican playbook. The genocide has alienated the youth vote, normalized American acceptance of extreme cruelty, disdain for international law, racism, supremacy, attacking universities, etc. No mention of this or support of militarism in general in this column about Braderman’s book.
This book was obviously written before the vote on the Big Beautiful Bill (aka Big Brutal Bill) passed with Lisa Murkowski caving to Trump for a few crumbs. I look forward to meeting you at our Democratic Club meeting July 15. Just noticed a comment prior to mine from someone else who is disgusted with Murkowski.
My father, Dimiter Nedeff (1916-1980), was a Bulgarian national trapped in Nazi Germany 1938-49. He published a pamphlet, “Stalin is Deceiving You” in English and “Stalin vous Trompe” in French. His father, my grandfather, Nikola Nedeff, was a military historian of WWI, a major general in the Bulgarian army, and the Secretary of the Interior for the royalist Tsar Boris 3 of Bulgaria. My father’s dying words were, “It doesn’t look promising.” My grandfather’s dying words were, “Je suis très déçu de ce monde [I am very disappointed with this world.] My words today: “Plus ça change, plus ça reste le même.”
Praise for Murkowski is a little out of date. She caved to Trump on the big budget bill by getting a carve-out that eliminated Medicaid and SNAP cuts for Alaska. That reads like, "I got mine. To hell with the rest of America." Sorry, but I have lost respect for her. She did what is decried in this interesting article.
I'm hesitant to comment on a well-thought out, cogent narrative, (not hesitant enough to hold off, of course) but it does seem to leave out the role of the voters. The system itself is rigged. The gerrymandering (which, though patently unfair, doesn't seem to be illegal), the primary system; these and other phenomena all serve the exact purposes and create the exact circumstances the author outlines. I just wonder, though, in a system where the voters do still get a say, whether the voters that are NOT so highly partisan that they can't bring themselves to cast a vote for the other party will, at some point, go the polls and vote for someone who either isn't Attila the Hun or one of his minions.
What an incredibly accurate and articulate summary of the hell we are in. Unfortunately, Murkowski succumbed to the Reich Rules just a few days ago, under the guise of “I’m doing it for my Alaskans” farce.
At what point did hanging on to an elected office mean more than the reason you wanted to do the work of that office? I’m open to imagining that those who run only seek power but that feels like a simplified description. I assume people start out wanting to accomplish a few specific things that would better their electorate. Is the corruption such that once you get to the trough it’s simply too good to leave? We were not meant to have politicians in a single seat for life.
I missed the guest writer intro--amazed at the different style. Our OC Bad Boy has now turned intellectual elite? Holy S#@! I enjoyed the piece.
There was a time in 2024, after reading Project 2025, I woke up with a midnight conviction that we should ALL reregister in the Republican Party for the primary. Nominate Cheney. An existential crisis required an extreme response. I still wonder about that idea. If people feel Never-Democrat (reminds me of Never-Chevy families, a light bulb for me), do we need to think about wild strategies? Perhaps to save the country, we should have ALL voted for Nikki Haley? Would she have become a tyrant? I think not. In this nightmare scenario, I'm open to ideas.
Didn't a million Ram fans switch to the Chargers? (Throwing you a sports bone, my gift!) Surely, Trump is worse than the Rams. CHANGE, people! Back a new team. (Of course, I will never wear an Angels shirt!)
Good analysis.
Reagan also ignored the AIDS crisis until it became impossible. And his administration was the start of the tax cuts for the rich, crumbs for the poor approach to budgeting.
I notice that you and your guest writers often contrast MAGA Republicans with Reagan Republicans. While they are different, the Reagan Republicans are nothing to admire. His administration was filled with racists, including him (he started his 1980 campaign in Philadelphia MS, where Goodman Cheney and Schwerner were murdered).
Good piece but sadly, as pointed out in another comment, the description of Murkowski is simply inaccurate. I have lost all respect for her as she's nothing more than a craven, gutless tool of tRump. She knew the Bill was terrible, stated the same and still voted for it even though she could have played the role John McCain played with the GOP attempt to repeal the ACA. She is a shameful, sad excuse for a public servant.
In the first pages of Amazon’s free sample, Braderman recommends registering Republican to influence the primaries. Nah. Neither the Republican Party in its various malformations and certainly not the corporatized play-possum Dems (with its fake emails “send $5 right now because you matter!”) are going to save this country from fascism.
Jeff, keep focusing on OC activists and voices! Yes, learn the history of the corruption and hacking of our system, hold elected officials to the fire, attend school board and city council meetings, but the guiding lights are going to the strong individuals of conscience and convictions. Lots of journalists. Some will be progressive Dem politicians like Zohran and Bernie and AOC and Hogg, but the local “chartered” Dem clubs are silent about them. Other guiding lights will be whistleblowers and citizen watchdogs.
Also, US support for the genocide in Gaza has done more to damage the US domestically and abroad in the past two years than any one thing in the Republican playbook. The genocide has alienated the youth vote, normalized American acceptance of extreme cruelty, disdain for international law, racism, supremacy, attacking universities, etc. No mention of this or support of militarism in general in this column about Braderman’s book.
This book was obviously written before the vote on the Big Beautiful Bill (aka Big Brutal Bill) passed with Lisa Murkowski caving to Trump for a few crumbs. I look forward to meeting you at our Democratic Club meeting July 15. Just noticed a comment prior to mine from someone else who is disgusted with Murkowski.
My father, Dimiter Nedeff (1916-1980), was a Bulgarian national trapped in Nazi Germany 1938-49. He published a pamphlet, “Stalin is Deceiving You” in English and “Stalin vous Trompe” in French. His father, my grandfather, Nikola Nedeff, was a military historian of WWI, a major general in the Bulgarian army, and the Secretary of the Interior for the royalist Tsar Boris 3 of Bulgaria. My father’s dying words were, “It doesn’t look promising.” My grandfather’s dying words were, “Je suis très déçu de ce monde [I am very disappointed with this world.] My words today: “Plus ça change, plus ça reste le même.”