If we accept the premise-as I do-that Putin is driven to recreate a lost Russian-rather than lost Soviet empire, we need to consider the drones in Polish airspace a test of NATO’s resolve-not to fend off a potential attack on Poland but an incursion into the Baltics. NATO needs to respond firmly NOW

Though this country is marching to dictatorship, the realization that we have been unable to convince OUR elected officials to enact sensible gun legislation reminds me that in some ways our democracy has been critically wounded for decades

Authoritarian leaders are terrified of political protests. Putin may not have hoped for the protests in 2011 though he used them to move towards dictatorship. But the authoritarian-curious Trump seems to relish this chance to flex his militaristic muscle. A new test for democracy unfolds

“Like Saturn, the Revolution devours its young” Jacques Mallet Du Pan , 1793

Time for Democrats to Pitch Their Own ‘Contract with America’ open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

Wasn’t a big part of our country’s founding to prevent a mad king from tanking the American economy?

Who would have guessed that electing an elderly, repeatedly failed businessman who seems stuck in 1987 as President was a poor economic decision

Bravo

This feels like a sort of carnival-week funeral for the US republic. Beneath deep anger at Trump's orgy of vandalism and self-worship, I feel deep sadness. What a train wreck of a superpower.

Donald Trump has disgraced the United States of America in countless ways since he first entered political life ten years ago. But he had never disgraced the nation as badly as he did today. He has brought shame on this country to an extent I had never thought possible. And he has only just begun.

"History will remember this day— when an American President and Vice President abandoned all we stand for."

No, the meeting did not go badly for Ukraine. It exposed in the most undeniable, unequivocal way possible the pro-Putin commitments of the president and vice president. That was information Americans and allies needed to have clear before them.

Another shameful day in Trump’s America

Exactly. Pay attention folks

Would have been nice if they had started searching before Nov 5, 2024

How many Trump voters realized they were voting to give Elon Musk absolute control?

It is easier to prevent would be dictators from seizing total control than to wrest it from them once they do. Senate and House Democrats need to learn what it means to be an opposition party while the GOP should reconsider their Faustian bargain

Anyone else who is watching Trump and his cronies and their antics getting early Putin vibes? I just need to hear a bit more Russian being spoken in the market to feel like I am back in Moscow in the early part of this century

Democrats in elected office need to rise to the moment. Learn from opposition movements & parties that have stood firm against authoritarians & demagogues. History shows that the longer you dither & equivocate, the more entrenched the authoritarian becomes. Act like the opposition party that you are

The US military used to matter to Republicans. But now, for 50 Republican Senators, it is clear that national security and the armed forces can be sacrificed for the whims of a cult leader.

Trying to avoid the travesty in DC by preparing a lecture on Eastern Europe from 1945-1948. Some disturbing parallels not bringing me solace

Sums it up