Once again, thanks so much to everyone who has supported Hullabaloo this year. It’s such a blessing to have such generous readers and I sincerely appreciate it. I’m particularly grateful right now because I know this next year is going to be a doozy and I’m girding myself for months of angst and worry— tempered by focus, hope and determination. It’s not going to be an easy one. In fact, I absolutely believe this is a make or break election for this country. If we don’t get this right, it’s hard to see how we recover in time to keep the entire world from turning into chaos as we face out-of-control climate change in a time of authoritarian strongmen dedicated to their own self-preservation. (See: Trump, Putin, Netanyahu, Orban etc…) It’s hard not to sound crazy when you talk about it… but we have to talk about it. I hope that many of you were able to take the whole week off and get some down time to rest up and get ready. It’s going to be a very tumultuous 2024.
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Ron DeSantis’ epic failure Here’s a Christmas present for all of you who don’t have subscriptions to the NY Times: a free link to this delightful bit of holiday schadenfreude: the story of Ron DeSantis’ precipitous fall. Grab an egg nog and add a double shot. It’s just so much fun: Boxed in by a base enamored with Mr. Trump that has instinctively rallied to the former president’s defense, Mr. DeSantis has struggled for months to match the hype that followed his landslide 2022 re-election. Now, with the first votes in the Iowa caucuses only weeks away on Jan. 15, Mr. DeSantis has slipped in some polls into third place, behind Nikki Haley, and has had to downsize his once-grand national ambitions to the simple hopes that a strong showing in a single state — Iowa — could vault him back into contention. For a candidate who talks at length about his own disinterest in “managing America’s decline,” people around Mr. DeSantis are increasingly talking about managing his. Ryan Tyson, Mr.
Social Security expert Nancy Altman has some news Social Security is in safer hands: Last week, the Senate confirmed Martin O’Malley to be the next Commissioner of Social Security. This is a major achievement: It marks the first time in over 25 years that the Senate has confirmed a Social Security commissioner nominated by a Democratic president. Indeed, commissioners nominated by Democratic presidents have headed the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) for only eight years of the last 40. This fact is important because the Democratic and Republican parties have very different views about Social Security. Democrats created Social Security and in recent years have united around the need to protect and expand the system’s modest benefits. In sharp contrast, when Social Security was enacted in 1935, Republicans in Congress were overwhelmingly hostile. From the early 1950s until recently, mainstream Republicans largely voted for protecting and expanding Social Security, as the program became established and highly popular among voters across the ideological spectrum.
I think he really meant Merry F-ing Christmas but lost his nerve… You can see why all the evangelical Christians love him so much. Jesus must be so proud.
Classic: And then there’s this. Oh my God: Make it stop… That’s the America Donald Trump remembers and wants to recreate. Please don’t let him do that. I beg you.
And itself… It’s not too late, but it’s going to take intense focus and attention. Former Vice President Al Gore expressed optimism that humanity can still repair the damage to the environment that is causing global warming. “The good news is we can reclaim control of our destiny,” Gore, who has long warned of the dangers of climate change, said on “State of the Union” in an interview that aired Sunday. “We have the ability to do this,” Gore said, adding: “And it’s not impractical,” citing solar power, wind power and electric vehicles. “We can do this,” he told host Jake Tapper, “if we just overcome the greed and political power of the big fossil fuel polluters who have been trying to control this process. It’s time for people at the grassroots level in every country to speak up, and the good news is, that’s happening too. “ Sunday’s episode of “State of the Union” focused on 2023 as a year of record-setting temperatures and natural disasters.
A seismic shift possible Next year’s presidential election will be like no other. No matter who the major party candidates are. After the last, the outgoing Oval Office occupant instigated a violent insurrection to retain power that he could not win at the ballot box. The 2024 campaign will inform the world whether our nation “conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” can endure much longer. Polls taken this early suggest that a race between incumbent Joe Biden and Donald Trump is tight. The House Jan. 6 committee determined that Trump “lit that fire” on Jan. 6. The Colorado Supreme Court, having found there was “no question” that Trump supported the insurrection, has disqualified him from the state’s ballot. Federal and state felony charges against Trump for his actions stand pending trial. Norman Eisen, Celinda Lake and Anat Shenker-Osorio suggest the race could shift significantly if Trump is convicted before November 2024.
This video from 1987 has been making the rounds. It’s hilarious. And it’s so him: Liars gonna lie: He’s always got some excuse.
If your Trumper uncle starts going on about how terrorists, convicts and insane people are flooding into the country, you might want to tell him to take a look at this. Trump’s on record saying that he’ll continue to say that immigrants from shithole countries are “poisoning the blood of America” and it’s worth taking a closer look at his specific claims. Not that there’s any truth in that statement whatsoever. But what exactly is he referring to? The NY Times did a fact check which is characteristically too euphemistic and polite but it does show that Trump’s lies are worse than ever. WHAT WAS SAID “I read an article recently in a paper … about a man who runs a mental institution in South America, and by the way they’re coming from all over the world. They’re coming from Africa, from Asia, all over, but this happened to be in South America. And he was sitting, the picture was — sitting, reading a newspaper, sort of leisurely, and they were asking him, what are you doing? He goes, I was very busy all my life. I was very proud. I worked 24 hours a day. I was so busy all the time.
No, Trump isn’t invulnerable A rare article that discusses Donald Trump’s overall vulnerability going into 2024. We all know this, of course, but it’s good to see the media discussing this instead of focusing on him as some sort of juggernaut. He may have a full-blown cult behind him but they do not make up a majority. A significant number of Republicans are leery of him too. He’ll win the nomination easily but all that will do is give him permission to really let his freak flag fly. As Trump and his rivals enter the 2024 election, there are at least three signs of trouble for the front-running former president. Here are some of the things that can and will happen to Trump as he pursues the presidency again. Adverse court rulings The potential of legal trouble is all around Trump, and could pop up any time. This past Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court stunned the political world by ruling Trump is ineligible for public office because of the insurrection by his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.