What did you do to fight fascism, Nana? No one is coming to save you. Certainly not Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). The House minority leader appeared Monday night on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show. Maddow noted that people are desperate for Democrats to “fight harder, to not be nice, to break protocol,” get arrested even. To lead the resistance. She tried but couldn’t draw a flicker of passion from the technocratic Jeffries. Quizzed on what Democrats are doing to fight the Musk-Trump cabal, Jeffries presented as if guest-hosting “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” “It’s all hands on deck in the Congress. It’s all hands on deck in the courts. And it’s certainly all hands on deck in communities across the country,” Jeffries, 54, insisted in a tone that was anything but insistent. Like many older Democrats in his caucus who learned their politics decades ago (and stopped learning), Jeffries brings the wrong skill set to the job of fighting Musk-Trump’s efforts to cut up the republic like a stolen car in a chop-shop. The growing resistance is very grassroots, Maddow observed, very organic and bottom-up.
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"Ruh roh", to quote Scooby Doo, on how Americans view the economy. -Just 20% view it as excellent or good. Worse than at any pt during Trump's 1st term. -"Yikes": 59% say the economy is getting worse… Worse than at any pre-covid pt during Trump's 1st term. Danger territory. pic.twitter.com/MF38TDpAm8 — (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) February 24, 2025 I don’t know exactly why people are saying this but it may validate my hypothesis that the “bad economy” vibe is actually a proxy for simple bad vibes. In other words when the country feels unstable people attribute it to a bad economy, even when their own finances are pretty good. People are right to be nervous about the economy right now. Inflation is up and Trump’s tariffs and mass layoffs of federal workers/contractors are looming threats. But these results suggest something more I think. And I think it’s the same thing that doomed Harris in November: bad vibes about the rise of chaos, instability and violence in our political culture. And some of the people voted for Trump because of them simply didn’t understand where those bad vibes were actually coming from.
Today’s newsletter by Dan Pfeiffer on how to make the GOP pay for this insanity: I have seen this movie before, beat for beat. In August of 2010, in the middle of the effort to pass the Affordable Care Act, Congress went home for a month-long recess. At every townhall and interaction with their constituents, they were bombarded with complaints from voters angry about the pending health care bill. Democrats were shaken. The process slowed as the party brainstormed a response to this backlash. More importantly, a media narrative was born. The Affordable Care Act became polarizing — something to fear. Previously, most Americans paid little attention to the arcane efforts towards health care reform. They learned about it from news coverage of people angrily screaming about the dangers of the bill. We’ve since learned that much of that energy was “astro-turfed” by Republican groups funded by Right Wing billionaires like the Kochs and the Tea Party Movement. It was as much about the election of a Black president as it was the size and scope of government. The angry townhalls are back.
The real impact of DOGE isn't going to be seen in macroeconomic variables because pretending you've made massive savings is not the same thing as actually making massive savings. But a microeconomic lens yields the more important insight… (1 of 2) pic.twitter.com/Ap7o8Wc92y — Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) February 25, 2025 Let's use that microeconomic lens and look line-by-line at what DOGE is doing. In each case, the key issue is whether the benefit exceeds the cost. And in dozens of cases Elon is creating huge costs for very little benefit. pic.twitter.com/1MXlBFwibN — Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) February 25, 2025 I thought that was a nice succinct rundown of the actual economics of Musk’s trainwreck. Unsurprisingly, they will not end up benefiting Americans in either the short or the long term. He didn’t even mention the cutting off of scientific and medical research funds which will actively cause suffering and death. And I won’t be surprised to see them get rid of any kind of credible data collection and analysis by the government, including the economic data the markets rely upon, which means the world will end up flying blind.
I had no idea how much people loathed the elderly until recently when I saw a lot of comments like that during the pandemic. Even now, you’ll hear echoes of it when people point out that at least a third of Medicaid spending is for people in nursing homes. (I won’t even mention the way even decent, liberal minded people casually and crudely insult old people in regular conversation.) Let’s just say there isn’t much respect, much less simple human empathy, for people over 65 in America. I hope every American will be lucky enough to be a billionaire when they get old, (or are lucky enough to die young) because being dependent on people like Donald Trump and Elon Musk to uphold programs you depend on is no way to live. And I’m not honestly not sure anymore that a majority of this country would object all that strenuously to ending them.
Jesus H. Christ: U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday floated the idea of replacing a visa program for foreign investors with a so-called “gold card” that could be bought for $5 million as a route to American citizenship. Trump told reporters he will replace the “EB-5” immigrant investor visa program, which allows foreign investors of large sums of money that create or preserve U.S. jobs to become permanent residents, with a so-called “gold card.” “We are going to be selling a gold card,” Trump said. “We are going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million,” he added. “It’s going to give you green card privileges plus its going to be a route to (American) citizenship, and wealthy people would be coming into our country by buying this card,” Trump said, adding that details about the scheme will come out in two weeks. I honestly have no words except Jesus H. Christ. Trump added it is possible Russian oligarchs could qualify for the gold cards, when asked by a journalist if those people would be eligible. “Yeah, possibly. Hey.
Michelle Goldberg on the appointment of the internet troll Dan Bongino to be the second in command of the FBI. Oh boy: In writing about our country’s rapid self-immolation, I try to ration Hannah Arendt references, lest every column be about the ways “The Origins of Totalitarianism,” published in 1951, foreshadows the waking nightmare that is this government. But contemplating Bongino’s ascension, it’s hard to avoid the famous Arendt quote, “Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.” Trump could have found a smoother and more sophisticated ideologue to help him transform the F.B.I. into a tool of his will, perhaps someone from the Claremont Institute ready to put an erudite spin on authoritarianism. He wanted the jacked-up hothead. This administration professes a devotion to merit-based hiring, blaming diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for fostering mediocrity.
“Message received” MSNBC’s new network president, Rebecca Kutler, saluted He Who Would Be King last week and said, “Yes, Sir! How low?” Kutler offered in sacrifice a half-dozen of its anchors (and their production teams). The network plans to relocate some to new ensemble-format shows. Former Obama administration official, Brandon Friedman, posted an image of ousted anchors (above) and remarked, “Seen together, hoo boy. Message received.” Timothy Snyder warned us. And warned us again. And again. “Do Not Obey in Advance.” Democracy Now! spoke with Snyder back in December on how corporate America was “bending” to Donald Trump “following ABC News’s decision to settle a Trump defamation case by donating $15 million to his future presidential library.” “There is a problem when the people who have the most money set the example of yielding to power first,” Snyder said. “It’s textbook anticipatory obedience.” Lester Holt is exiting his slot as anchor and managing editor of “NBC Nightly News” after a decade.
In the middle of delicate negotiations, he posts this: Complete batshit lunacy on the president's Truth Social account. Yes, he really posted this. pic.twitter.com/MaFIqUH1r0 — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 26, 2025 Tell me he isn’t suffering from extreme delusions of grandeur. Between the gutting of the Intelligence community and the FBI and the crude, dismissive way he’s dealing with the Palestinians, it will be a miracle if we don’t have a catastrophic terrorist attack.
A smattering of the egregious tap-dancing from the Trumpers to give Putin the big win they all want him to have. FOX: But fair to say Russia attacked unprovoked into Ukraine? PETE HEGSETH: Fair to say it's a very complicated situation. pic.twitter.com/GyXUJQc4uJ — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 23, 2025 FOX: But fair to say Russia attacked unprovoked into Ukraine? PETE HEGSETH: Fair to say it’s a very complicated situation. Witkoff: "The war didn't need to happen. It was provoked. It doesn't necessarily mean it was provoked by the Russians. There were all kinds of conversations back then about Ukraine joining NATO. That didn't need to happen. It basically became a threat to the Russians." pic.twitter.com/ZimoQk7wbV — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 23, 2025 Trump’s special envoy to hell Steve Witkoff, real estate developer. He says: “The war didn’t need to happen. It was provoked. It doesn’t necessarily mean it was provoked by the Russians. There were all kinds of conversations back then about Ukraine joining NATO. That didn’t need to happen. It basically became a threat to the Russians.