On the anniversary of Trump’s inauguration, America has lost its way, its moral authority and its reputation on the world stage. Miller, Vought and Peter Thiel, along with the cabal of tech oligarchs, are all in on a global power grab the likes of which were last seen in the days of the Roman Empire. We are bearing witness to their dark enlightenment vision of installing a ‘red Caesar’ at the heart of their greed and imperial ambition.
To give Trump the credit for this new fascist incarnation would be to buy the story that the real stakeholders are peddling. Their only aim is to keep Trump alive long enough to see democracy fall, so they can install their next chosen puppet, JD Vance. They are acutely aware that without Trump, the MAGA base implodes, so they need to be in a position where elections are purely performative, just as they are in Russia. This is something only Trump can help deliver.
Time and time again, we have heard the words ‘It will never happen’, or ‘Are we in a constitutional crisis?” It’s the easiest thing in the world to lie to yourself. America entered a constitutional crisis the day it elected a convicted felon and extortionist to become President of the United States. To believe anything else is to be in denial.
When the Democrats lost the election in 2024, it exposed a deeply disturbing reality that some of us have seen coming for a long time. US politics has for decades been an ‘old boys club’ where bought and paid for politicians have colluded with corporate America to asset strip the wealth that is the property of every American citizen. In what for me was a disgusting lack of respect for the electorate, the Democratic leadership first sat in silence, then blamed voters for electing a fascist they told them not to.
There was no apology for a failed proposition or for the refusal to listen to millions of Americans struggling to put food on the table; instead, voters were told they must be mistaken, as the economy was booming. It’s a matter of public record that Joe Biden presided over the fastest and most dynamic post-COVID recovery of almost all developed nations. Indeed, The Economist reported in October 2024: “The American economy has left other rich countries in the dust.” Trump is, as usual, lying when he says he inherited ‘an economic disaster’; it’s simply not true, and all the economic data proves it.
If you have any doubts, I strongly recommend you read the commentary from Robin Brooks and Ben Harris for the Brookings Institution from October 17th 2024, titled:
The US recovery from COVID-19 in international comparison
A combination of unprecedented fiscal support, rapid deployment of vaccines, and structural economic resilience all helped jumpstart the swift and enduring U.S. recovery, with the economic expansion now entering its fourth year. As the economy continues to grow, two important characteristics have emerged: (i) the U.S. avoided the deep economic scarring that impacted millions of American households in the last recovery; and (ii) the U.S. recovery has far outpaced most of its G10 peer countries.
Please read the full report, but I’ll just add this extract from the conclusion because it’s important. The bold choice Biden made for the route out of economic collapse was at odds with that of other G10 nations, many of whom held back on COVID relief. As a result:
‘… the U.S. has seen substantially more economic growth and more investment, but with slightly higher price levels in the initial years of the recovery.’
So why might you ask, did Democrats lose? And before people dive in to say, they didn’t lose, claiming Republicans stole the election. We’ll just have to agree to disagree on that. Current facts support the claim that Trump won the House, the Senate, the White House, and the popular vote. That might be uncomfortable to hear, but we are where we are, and Democratic leadership has nobody to blame but themselves.
This is where they and I often find ourselves in conflict. I want to try to dampen down the fire that often flares up when I share my views on what is clearly still a very raw and emotive subject. I believe, and poll after poll backs up my assertion, that the Democratic base is now disconnected from an out-of-touch party leadership. I want to assert once and for all that I stand shoulder to shoulder with the Democratic base in support of electing a new Democratic President in 2028. There is not an inch of separation between us on this societal imperative.
My argument is, the current Democratic Party does not resemble a Democratic government in waiting. It is merely a subjugated, corporate-controlled doppelganger, whose leadership has banked 30 pieces of silver to ride the corporate donor elevator. There’s no button for the working-class floors; it bypasses the lower-middle-class floor, stopping only at the upper-middle-class concierge level before its final destination, the billionaire donors’ penthouse.
The Democratic base, in partnership with independents, represents a historic opportunity to deliver a coalition of hope. Americans deserve leadership with a bold ambition to deliver transformative change. Be in no doubt, off-season and special elections demonstrate that the American people have an unquenched thirst for change. Polls overwhelmingly indicate that they no longer trust politicians from either party. For current establishment Democrats to believe that off-season protest votes against Trump represent a newfound faith in out-of-touch fossils with their nose to the trough, is frankly an insult to the intelligence of the electorate.
“Strong words”, I hear you say. You had better believe they are, but the truth can be painful. Let me take a moment to explain how I’ve arrived at this conclusion because it deserves important context. The failure of the Democrats to save the US from Trump resulted not only from a lack of imagination and an inability to listen to their voters, it was much more than that. I believe the American people were thrown under the bus as a result of the unconscionable hubris of a president and a team of close advisors who believed the feelings of the American people were secondary to the risk of rolling the dice on a second term.
I will always maintain that, despite Biden not being my choice in 2020, he WAS the right man for the moment. He was a safe pair of hands at a time when things could have gone so desperately wrong. He became America’s grandpa, and who doesn’t love a grandpa in times of trouble? They have the unique ability to calm nerves and always look on the upside. Biden had the good fortune to surround himself with a gold standard team of policy advisers who helped deliver the fastest post-pandemic economic recovery bar none; I even made a short film about it.
This was not about a failure of policy; it pains me to say it was an arrogant, self-serving disregard for the American people. All evidence showed that Biden should not attempt to serve 2 terms. The press team had to constantly protect him from reporters’ questions and hope and pray that Joe Biden would turn up, not confused old Uncle Norman. He was receiving bad advice on the viability of a second term. Either that, or he disregarded the warnings. To be clear, I think Biden’s heart was in the right place; I believe he is a good and honourable man who simply lost his way when it came to making a mission critical decision in which his ego should have played no part.
On November 19th 2019, Ryan Lizza reported in an article in Politico:
According to four people who regularly talk to Biden, all of whom asked for anonymity to discuss internal campaign matters, it is virtually inconceivable that he will run for reelection in 2024, when he would be the first octogenarian president.
“If Biden is elected,” a prominent adviser to the campaign said, “he’s going to be 82 years old in four years, and he won’t be running for reelection.”
Biden himself said in March 2020:
“Look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else,” he added. “There’s an entire generation of leaders you saw stand behind me. They are the future of this country.”
Not only was this the right thing to say, but it was also the right thing to do. Had he just followed through on his own words, the Democrats could have had a lively contest to select the next Democratic president of the United States. Joe Biden DID deliver in principle on his promises on the economy. But failed miserably to live up to his own promise to serve as a bridge to the next generation of Democratic leaders. I’m afraid hubris took over. That, linked to what was clearly terrible advice from those close to him, led him to attempt run again, which in turn, led to the toe-curling, now infamous debate that effectively sealed the fate of the 2024 election.
Anyone deluded enough to believe that this did not result in failing the American people should seek help. Hubris and a failure to listen to hard working Americans, who were screaming that they couldn’t afford to feed their family handed Trump the election on a silver platter. I’m not going to relive the campaign's failure, save to say the result bears testament to it. This loss was NOT the fault of the American people; it was the Democratic Party's failure to offer a compelling proposition to the electorate. Then, to add insult to injury, there was no apology to either voters or their own base when they lost. An apology that remains elusive to this day.
Even now they refuse to release their own autopsy into the debacle, paid for by a base that will never get to see what their money bought, because the DNC believes it would be ‘counterproductive to look back’. It’s nonsense, how can you move forward if you don’t have the decency to apologise for the errors made and learn from them? That, my friends, is why Democrats are currently 23 points underwater in the most consequential election year in a century. And still, the DNC begging emails drop like confetti daily as if to say to supporters, ‘Don’t worry that we lost the House, the Senate, the White House and the popular vote, give us more of your hard earned cash and we’ll get it right this time.’ SERIOUSLY? Who was it who said the definition of madness is to repeat the same thing over and over, expecting a different outcome?
I’ll tell you what’s the most sickening thing about this situation: I believe Democrats will win in November, assuming elections take place, they’ll win with protest votes against Trump. That’s not a win for anyone but special interests, who will simply slip on a blue suit and say they knew Trump was a crook from the very beginning, but what could they do? People won’t vote Democrat based on their vision and bold ambition for a better future. They don’t have one, other than dont’t vote for the other guy he’s a fascist. How did that go in 2024? In this moment, they don’t seem to be able to tie their own shoelaces. Americans will simply vote for the lesser of two evils, and that appears to be just fine for establishment Democrats.
The post-COVID economic recovery was outstanding; the numbers prove it, but those in the middle and at the bottom didn’t feel the benefit because it wasn’t a recovery for them; it was a recovery aimed at pleasing the corporate class. I really don’t understand which part of ‘there’s a structural economic problem’ Democrats are struggling with? The party leadership is obsessed with the need to lean right for fear of being labelled woke in a culture war they are terrified of.
90 million Americans did not vote in 2024 because they have lost trust in politics and politicians. 75% of independents are sick of Trump. Democratic leadership just assumes those votes are coming to them. Whatever happened to earning every vote? What happened to ‘people first’ politics? There is no vision, no ambition, just the same old same old nonsense and assumptions. I could accept this approach if there were not so much exceptional political talent within the Democratic Party.
This should not be my fight, but Americans made it so when they elected a convicted criminal lunatic who seems intent on torching the global order to prove he’s a hardman. The whole world now has to suffer because of a malignant narcissist, and an epidemic of stupidity among 34% of those eligible to vote. I realise my voice is but a whisper in a large empty room, but I’m determined to be able to look back and say, I saw what was coming, and I wrote about it over and over again, sounding the alarm. As I’ve said time and again, you can take a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.
Obama proved in 2008 that YES YOU CAN win an election on small dollar donations. YES YOU CAN deliver hope in a sea of despair. YES, YOU CAN become president without big-name recognition if what you’re selling resonates with the American people. YES, YOU CAN be bold and ambitious when presenting a vision for a fairer society. YES, YOU CAN deliver an economy for the many, not the few. For all of those who say he could have done much more, I agree, especially when it came to Middle East foreign policy and tackling wealth inequality, but that’s what happens when a racist opposition obstructs and attacks every move you make. In this moment, Democrats could take a lesson from the Republican opposition during Obama’s tenure.
Can Democrats win in November? I actually believe they will, as stated above, but what the Democratic leadership views as a win is simply a Trump loss, and that should worry you as much as it does me.
We need another person like Obama. Someone who can bring back a sense of normalcy and morality to this country. I know he wasn’t a saint, but after this horrible, corrupt sack of sh*t, he sure seems like one.
I am appalled at the Republican Congressmen and the Supreme Court. They ALL took an oath to the Constitution and all have broken their word. We have armed, uncontrolled, masked men brutalizing citizens and immigrants alike because Trump is a racist pig. The so-called “Christian” Evangelicals support the most morally corrupt man ever to be President. He is twice divorced, has cheated on all three wives, he is taking bribes openly in office and enriching himself and his family to the tune of over a billion dollars. He insults everyone and has not a true friend in the world. He is a coward who lied to stay out of the service. He has ordered illegal military actions murdering people in international waters. He killed dozens of civilians in Venezuelan military attacks. He set up a corrupt vice president as President and is holding him and his wife an American jail. He has NO authority to do this. And he went in under the false assertion that Venezuela was flooding America with drugs. It was all a lie. He wanted to steal their oil, and steal it he did. He has had our Navy commit piracy on the open seas by taking over oil tankers. He is selling the oil and putting the money in a bank account under his name in Quatar, He is openly supporting Putin in his corrupt war on Ukraine. He is threatening Greenland and Denmark. He says they are security risks but that is a lie, he wants their rare earths even though they are under miles of ice.