It seems to me that we also have a complexity problem. It is a fact that fixing the dysfunction of the federal government would be complicated and take a long time. The MAGA movement claims they can fix things and do it quickly. To the extent this message is believed by voters, it is the simplistic, clear answer they desire, never mind that it is based in lies, bad faith, grift, and greed. Those currently in power are following the old tech edict to "move fast and break things." They are absolutely correct in thinking that Congress and the courts move at a glacial pace and have no hope of keeping up with the blizzard of (blatantly illegal) acts that Trump, Musk, and their minions are foisting upon us.
In short, Republicans understand how to game the system far better than the Democrats and they use it to abuse their power. Meanwhile, lives are lost and harmed because of Democrats' reluctance to break from old norms.
The Republican attack on government is unprecedented; the Democratic response must be equally unprecedented if there is to be any chance of restoring democracy and upholding the Constitution.
The Dems just won't get their old leaders to step aside. The old etiquette norms should be thrown out and Dem leaders to be total obstructionists and fighters like McConnell and the R's were to Obama. The heads of Indivisible sent out the McConnell playbook last weekend on how to stonewall as much as possible. Schumer needs to step aside. He has no ability to deliver what we need from Dems in the Senate!
The Democrats need to select and support a spokesperson. I suggest Pete Buttigieg, but someone younger, smart, and well spoken who is prepared to take on the onslaught of attacks. The task requires daily appearances before the public on all media repeating the relentless message and supporting it with examples. Fox News visits are essential. People have to hear it regardless of their biases. The Contrarian is great, but not everyone views (or would view) the wonderful articles and videos. The whole country has to hear the message, not just those of us who are already convinced.
I think about this often. We do need a once-in-a-century charismatic leader who will speak truth to power. Unfortunately, the type of leader I'm thinking of has not appeared. I like Pete as a point man but he's not charismatic nor could he coalesce a following.
Agree or disagree, we don't have the time to wait for such a leader to come forward. The enemy has taken over the country. Time is of the essence, and We the People must stop them.
One suggestion is to put the fear of God into them. I for one will rejoice if tRump stood on 5th Avenue and someone shot him. I would not shed a tear and be thankful to God that this monster was on the way to hell. Tens of thousands, if not 100s of thousands of lives would be saved. Not for one minute should we doubt that tRump and musk and their ilk are worse than Hitler, Stalin and Putin. They are monsters!
AOC just put a YouTube video tonight. Everyone should try and check it out. Her authentic self. Even if she’s not your cup of tea. It’s over an hour long. She speaks truth to power. Contrarian should interview her.
How many have called for Democrats to stand up to Republistupids and just TELL THE TRUTH!!!?Why doesn't that happen? Because the Democrats are just as guilty of corruption as the Republishits and nothing will change until the current leadership of the Democratic Party is recylced, overthrown, and completely changed. Just TELL THE TRUTH and RESPOND TO EVERY REPUBLidiot's lies with the TRUTH. Oh, and do not stop once the election is won. Continue UNABATED with just as much intensity as during the election to TELL THE TRUTH.
These current Democrats are too worried that they will be exposed as lying hypocrites if the TRUTH BE TOLD!!! Republidumbasses never care about any of that anyway but Democrats still believe that integrity matters. So do most Americans. For most of us it is: Keep on Truckin!/ Keep fighting the good fight! Don't let it die and neither will I. And remember: "Rock and Roll Never Forgets" (Bob said that, (Seger, not Dylan or Marley))
Elon Musk and Trump are treating this presidency like a corporate takeover, as if they have the unbound power of a new CEO and a single profit-driven mandate to deliver change. Of course, it doesn't matter that neither one of them is particularly good at this in the business world. Or that it's an inapt approach to government reform. But they are convinced that the "business" mindset is the only appropriate problem-solving mindset in the world. This is also why everything is always up for negotiation (like resettling Gaza), diplomacy be damned. In their minds, this isn't a dangerous departure from decades of policy that threatens to unsettle regions and upset allies. It's creative C-suite think.
This is important because combatting their approach means we have to understand the thinking behind it, and also its appeal to the public at large. Pointing to corruption doesn't directly confront their main line of argument: that successful billionaires ARE the people best positioned to reform government, because they have this business mindset that gets things done and brings fresh ideas in. Any attack on this approach has to demonstrate that it's not just corruption, it's the powerlessness that these guys are used to imposing on ordinary stakeholders. They think they own it all.
Vote Schumer out, vote Durbin out, get rid of these people!! Time to rebuild the Democratic Party that will no longer reach across the aisle. Those days are gone!
Why in god's name are you attacking Democrats. I could not read past the third paragraph. It is the Republicans that you should be focused on for their law breaking and the press for not properly educating the public. As to your concern about the not Democrats charging the ramparts in knee jerk fashion, although the assault by Musk et. al., has been massive, it is only been two weeks. Don't you think a thought out plan would be in order?
Thanks for your comment, Joe. I’ve been asking the same question. I guess this article was written and went to print, so to speak, before the Democrat-led protests that happened in all 50 states yesterday and before Hakeim Jeffries announced his plan for Democrats in the House and Senate to stall legislative decision making.
Kamala and Tim spent their campaign warning us about Project 25 and Trump’s mental decline and duplicity. Frankly, from a Democrat’s point of view, Biden had the government running pretty smoothly (except for Israel-Gaza, always a complexity) after the first Trump fiasco that it was hard to believe we could return to the chaos. Clearly, Americans have had to see for themselves that Trump is even more unhinged and that Musk and the billionaires are taking advantage of his narcissism.
So stop the finger-wagging at the Democrats seemingly slow response to a calamity that started less than a month ago. Focus on the members of Congress in red states who are attaching themselves to Trump more firmly than ever, voluntarily giving up their power to protect American democracy. Focus on finding and supporting Democrats for federal, state, and local offices in red states.
And march, send messages to legislators, and donate to organizations fighting in courts and in communities for those being harmed by MuskTrump directives.
"Don’t defend “the Government” at all costs. Many Americans understandably believe government is badly broken and harbor deep resentment toward institutional bureaucracy. MAGA, meanwhile, has successfully cast Democrats as defenders of a rotten status quo. As Trump and his cronies take a wrecking ball to our government, Democrats can’t keep reflexively defending it as if it’s working. They must acknowledge government dysfunction and offer a vision to make it accountable and responsive to everyday people."
This argument makes no sense. Aronson says Democrats should not defend "government" from Trump and his cronies who are taking a wrecking ball to government. How can they defend government without defending government? No they should not go to the agencies being shut down and say, "Defend Government" but they need to show that real people are being hurt by Musk and his Teenage Flying Monkeys at the behest of Trump and this is going to affect them all.
People may not like "government" as a vague concept but they sure as hell like their Social Security payments, their Medicare, their interstate highways, bridges, ports, etc., their school funding, their evidence-based health care, safe food and water supplies, safe air travel, and all the other things government does which aren't visible until you need them. And they don't like their personal information being given to pimple popping techbros or ketamine-addled, unelected billionaires. None of what Musk/Trump are doing is going to bring down prices of groceries or housing and lots of what they are doing is going to raise them.
Democrats need to focus on Trump's lies and Musk's criminal recklessness. They need to show real people getting hurt. Musk and minions are committing crimes, illegally accessing people's personal data and computer systems for which they do not have clearance. Trump's pardon power only covers federal criminal acts, not civil liability or state crimes. These clowns may be breaking state laws if they are mucking around in people's personal files. Even if they just make a mistake they may end up hurting or killing someone. It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye.
Perfect example. Trump/Musk shut down USAID freezing purchases of crops from US farmers that go to foreign aid. "Wait, I voted for you to hurt coastal elite woke liberals, not me!"
It should probably be noted that Musk has extended his political interference to other nations: Germany in his support of AfD, Italy with almost a courtship of PM Meloni, and in his comments on X about the British PM Starmer to the extent that he was told by the PM to back off.
HOW did Musk and his band of rotten tech nerds gain access? No one has answered this question. Did they just walk into Treasury and tell the security guard, "let us in"? Did some trumpster employee share his password so that Musk et al could gain access? HOW? HOW?!!
The context of constant R lying (forget niceties like disinformation), fox, elected Rs, CONSTANT, makes messaging very challenging. This corruption idea is about messaging and it seems that is a basic Democratic party problem. Fact checking is in the weeds. Ds need a big picture message but they also need to be out there speaking it daily, loudly, in front of the mics and cameras, on the streets. They need to take on the legacy media lying and lethargy instead of allowing NYT, LA Times, and Washington Post to sanewash trump and his techbros.
Yes. It's all about the money. Trump wants to grift his way to becoming a multi, multi billionaire this term. And Musk wants control over all our personal, confidential data so he can turn X into fee for service business for all access to the administrative state. You want your social security check? Get it through X with a processing fee. WOW. Great business.
And the Trump right wing security state can use your data for full time surveillance. Welcome to Modern China in America.
It seems to me that we also have a complexity problem. It is a fact that fixing the dysfunction of the federal government would be complicated and take a long time. The MAGA movement claims they can fix things and do it quickly. To the extent this message is believed by voters, it is the simplistic, clear answer they desire, never mind that it is based in lies, bad faith, grift, and greed. Those currently in power are following the old tech edict to "move fast and break things." They are absolutely correct in thinking that Congress and the courts move at a glacial pace and have no hope of keeping up with the blizzard of (blatantly illegal) acts that Trump, Musk, and their minions are foisting upon us.
In short, Republicans understand how to game the system far better than the Democrats and they use it to abuse their power. Meanwhile, lives are lost and harmed because of Democrats' reluctance to break from old norms.
The Republican attack on government is unprecedented; the Democratic response must be equally unprecedented if there is to be any chance of restoring democracy and upholding the Constitution.
The Dems just won't get their old leaders to step aside. The old etiquette norms should be thrown out and Dem leaders to be total obstructionists and fighters like McConnell and the R's were to Obama. The heads of Indivisible sent out the McConnell playbook last weekend on how to stonewall as much as possible. Schumer needs to step aside. He has no ability to deliver what we need from Dems in the Senate!
I agree with this entirely. If you are a Dem member of Congress you should either be shouting at the top of your lungs 24/7 or resigning. Period.
it is disgusting seeing a democrat voting to support the republican nominations to any office......
The Democrats need to select and support a spokesperson. I suggest Pete Buttigieg, but someone younger, smart, and well spoken who is prepared to take on the onslaught of attacks. The task requires daily appearances before the public on all media repeating the relentless message and supporting it with examples. Fox News visits are essential. People have to hear it regardless of their biases. The Contrarian is great, but not everyone views (or would view) the wonderful articles and videos. The whole country has to hear the message, not just those of us who are already convinced.
I agree wholeheartedly. Mayor Pete would be perfect as the spokesman for ALL Democrats.,
I think about this often. We do need a once-in-a-century charismatic leader who will speak truth to power. Unfortunately, the type of leader I'm thinking of has not appeared. I like Pete as a point man but he's not charismatic nor could he coalesce a following.
Agree or disagree, we don't have the time to wait for such a leader to come forward. The enemy has taken over the country. Time is of the essence, and We the People must stop them.
One suggestion is to put the fear of God into them. I for one will rejoice if tRump stood on 5th Avenue and someone shot him. I would not shed a tear and be thankful to God that this monster was on the way to hell. Tens of thousands, if not 100s of thousands of lives would be saved. Not for one minute should we doubt that tRump and musk and their ilk are worse than Hitler, Stalin and Putin. They are monsters!
but Pete B has a partner and children and unless the democrats protect him, I would worry for his safety
Hey! Somebody remembered that corruption is rotting the Supreme Court at its roots. Thank you.
What does DOG-E stand for again? Oh yea, Department of Grifting Elon.
AOC just put a YouTube video tonight. Everyone should try and check it out. Her authentic self. Even if she’s not your cup of tea. It’s over an hour long. She speaks truth to power. Contrarian should interview her.
She is consistently on-point
How many have called for Democrats to stand up to Republistupids and just TELL THE TRUTH!!!?Why doesn't that happen? Because the Democrats are just as guilty of corruption as the Republishits and nothing will change until the current leadership of the Democratic Party is recylced, overthrown, and completely changed. Just TELL THE TRUTH and RESPOND TO EVERY REPUBLidiot's lies with the TRUTH. Oh, and do not stop once the election is won. Continue UNABATED with just as much intensity as during the election to TELL THE TRUTH.
These current Democrats are too worried that they will be exposed as lying hypocrites if the TRUTH BE TOLD!!! Republidumbasses never care about any of that anyway but Democrats still believe that integrity matters. So do most Americans. For most of us it is: Keep on Truckin!/ Keep fighting the good fight! Don't let it die and neither will I. And remember: "Rock and Roll Never Forgets" (Bob said that, (Seger, not Dylan or Marley))
Elon Musk and Trump are treating this presidency like a corporate takeover, as if they have the unbound power of a new CEO and a single profit-driven mandate to deliver change. Of course, it doesn't matter that neither one of them is particularly good at this in the business world. Or that it's an inapt approach to government reform. But they are convinced that the "business" mindset is the only appropriate problem-solving mindset in the world. This is also why everything is always up for negotiation (like resettling Gaza), diplomacy be damned. In their minds, this isn't a dangerous departure from decades of policy that threatens to unsettle regions and upset allies. It's creative C-suite think.
This is important because combatting their approach means we have to understand the thinking behind it, and also its appeal to the public at large. Pointing to corruption doesn't directly confront their main line of argument: that successful billionaires ARE the people best positioned to reform government, because they have this business mindset that gets things done and brings fresh ideas in. Any attack on this approach has to demonstrate that it's not just corruption, it's the powerlessness that these guys are used to imposing on ordinary stakeholders. They think they own it all.
Vote Schumer out, vote Durbin out, get rid of these people!! Time to rebuild the Democratic Party that will no longer reach across the aisle. Those days are gone!
Trump and Musk are ALREADY out there claiming this line of attack: "we're rooting out corruption." That makes it "case closed." How do you beat that?
By showing they are and always have been lying. The evidence is there.
So far have they even said one thing about the so called corruption they have found and shown proof. Not that I would believe them if they did.
Why in god's name are you attacking Democrats. I could not read past the third paragraph. It is the Republicans that you should be focused on for their law breaking and the press for not properly educating the public. As to your concern about the not Democrats charging the ramparts in knee jerk fashion, although the assault by Musk et. al., has been massive, it is only been two weeks. Don't you think a thought out plan would be in order?
Thanks for your comment, Joe. I’ve been asking the same question. I guess this article was written and went to print, so to speak, before the Democrat-led protests that happened in all 50 states yesterday and before Hakeim Jeffries announced his plan for Democrats in the House and Senate to stall legislative decision making.
Kamala and Tim spent their campaign warning us about Project 25 and Trump’s mental decline and duplicity. Frankly, from a Democrat’s point of view, Biden had the government running pretty smoothly (except for Israel-Gaza, always a complexity) after the first Trump fiasco that it was hard to believe we could return to the chaos. Clearly, Americans have had to see for themselves that Trump is even more unhinged and that Musk and the billionaires are taking advantage of his narcissism.
So stop the finger-wagging at the Democrats seemingly slow response to a calamity that started less than a month ago. Focus on the members of Congress in red states who are attaching themselves to Trump more firmly than ever, voluntarily giving up their power to protect American democracy. Focus on finding and supporting Democrats for federal, state, and local offices in red states.
And march, send messages to legislators, and donate to organizations fighting in courts and in communities for those being harmed by MuskTrump directives.
"Don’t defend “the Government” at all costs. Many Americans understandably believe government is badly broken and harbor deep resentment toward institutional bureaucracy. MAGA, meanwhile, has successfully cast Democrats as defenders of a rotten status quo. As Trump and his cronies take a wrecking ball to our government, Democrats can’t keep reflexively defending it as if it’s working. They must acknowledge government dysfunction and offer a vision to make it accountable and responsive to everyday people."
This argument makes no sense. Aronson says Democrats should not defend "government" from Trump and his cronies who are taking a wrecking ball to government. How can they defend government without defending government? No they should not go to the agencies being shut down and say, "Defend Government" but they need to show that real people are being hurt by Musk and his Teenage Flying Monkeys at the behest of Trump and this is going to affect them all.
People may not like "government" as a vague concept but they sure as hell like their Social Security payments, their Medicare, their interstate highways, bridges, ports, etc., their school funding, their evidence-based health care, safe food and water supplies, safe air travel, and all the other things government does which aren't visible until you need them. And they don't like their personal information being given to pimple popping techbros or ketamine-addled, unelected billionaires. None of what Musk/Trump are doing is going to bring down prices of groceries or housing and lots of what they are doing is going to raise them.
Democrats need to focus on Trump's lies and Musk's criminal recklessness. They need to show real people getting hurt. Musk and minions are committing crimes, illegally accessing people's personal data and computer systems for which they do not have clearance. Trump's pardon power only covers federal criminal acts, not civil liability or state crimes. These clowns may be breaking state laws if they are mucking around in people's personal files. Even if they just make a mistake they may end up hurting or killing someone. It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye.
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/us-food-purchases-foreign-aid-halted-despite-waiver-sources-say-2025-02-05/
Perfect example. Trump/Musk shut down USAID freezing purchases of crops from US farmers that go to foreign aid. "Wait, I voted for you to hurt coastal elite woke liberals, not me!"
It should probably be noted that Musk has extended his political interference to other nations: Germany in his support of AfD, Italy with almost a courtship of PM Meloni, and in his comments on X about the British PM Starmer to the extent that he was told by the PM to back off.
HOW did Musk and his band of rotten tech nerds gain access? No one has answered this question. Did they just walk into Treasury and tell the security guard, "let us in"? Did some trumpster employee share his password so that Musk et al could gain access? HOW? HOW?!!
good question! Musk and tech cronies obtained pass cards.
From whom? The person who authorized the passcards and the person/people who gave them to Musk et al violated the law.
New Treasury Sec Bessent. Some fury and impeachment inquiry need to be directed his way.
The context of constant R lying (forget niceties like disinformation), fox, elected Rs, CONSTANT, makes messaging very challenging. This corruption idea is about messaging and it seems that is a basic Democratic party problem. Fact checking is in the weeds. Ds need a big picture message but they also need to be out there speaking it daily, loudly, in front of the mics and cameras, on the streets. They need to take on the legacy media lying and lethargy instead of allowing NYT, LA Times, and Washington Post to sanewash trump and his techbros.
Yes. It's all about the money. Trump wants to grift his way to becoming a multi, multi billionaire this term. And Musk wants control over all our personal, confidential data so he can turn X into fee for service business for all access to the administrative state. You want your social security check? Get it through X with a processing fee. WOW. Great business.
And the Trump right wing security state can use your data for full time surveillance. Welcome to Modern China in America.