Exactly. Daily, unjustified actions taken by the corrupt Project 2025 honchos is only driving America into a dismal journey of isolationism, graft, and continued lies that thwart our democracy.
It always has been about supporting and defending the form of government we chose 249 years ago - a constitutional republic; a government that derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. The current two parties have failed us for years. If we are to save our republic, then we alone will be the ones to do it.
May our constitutional republic survive. May our nation have a new birth of freedom.
First of all, the opposite of a republic is a monarchy. Both have to do with how the head of state is appointed: is he elected or appointed through hereditary rules? If hereditary rules, he's a king, if not he's a president.
Iran, Russia and China are republics. They're also authoritarian, fascist regimes.
The US has a DEMOCRATIC Constitution. The opposite of a fascist regime is democracy.
The UK is a constitutional democracy - and also a monarchy.
Saudi Arabia is a fascist monarchy.
Democracy versus fascism have to do with how the three branches of government relate to each other. If they are constitutionally separate and co-equal (as is the case in the US and UK) then you have a democracy. If the power of the judiciary and the legislative branches of government (the courts and Congress) are bundled into that of the executive branch (the White House) then you have a fascist regime ("fasces" = "bundle", in Latin). Or in the words of Mike Johnson: from now on, the GOP sees the job of Congress as "codifying the Executive Orders signed by the president". That means totally subordinating the legislative branch to the executive branch. In a democracy, it's the opposite: the job of the executive is to faithfully execute/implement the laws passed by representatives of the people in Congress, after intense negotiations led to a compromise between the different voices represented in Congress.
The Democratic Party has done the opposite of what the GOP has inflicted on this country since Reagan. His neoliberalism was invented by people (Friedman, Von Hayek, ...) who from the very beginning claimed what Peter Thiel already says for years too: democracy and capitalism are incompatible, so we need to get rid of democracy. That means: install neofascism.
Democrats have fought back tooth and nail and obtained many victories (both in terms of civil rights and in terms of social justice, including more affordable healthcare, education, better labor laws etc).
But decades of shameless GOP fake news brainwashed 30% of the American people while another 30% became so cynical that they no longer vote at all.
THAT is how a neofascist GOP managed to grab power - that and the fact that corporate mainstream media refused to inform people of the most relevant facts and instead went for clickbait headlines, which contributed tremendously to the fact that so many Americans today are ill-informed and disinformed.
And today, it's DEMOCRATS and Democrats ONLY who are filing lawsuit after lawsuit, courageously fighting back, while GOP Governors do NOTHING.
So please, stop the extremely dangerous and demonstrably false bothsidesism. It's what got us here in the first place!
Excellent point. We need to agree on our language and use of words in order to have meaningful dialogue. Your comment is very helpful Maybe Adam can do a letter about these terms.
American Fascism is getting bolder by the day. You know why? Media is caving, Major colleges caving. SCOUTUS is supporting and leaving Federal judges hanging out to dry. Now even US companies are being tariffed: NVDA and AMD paying 15% of their Chinese sales so they can keep doing what they've been doing? Unprecedented, outrageous and unconstitutional! Know what happens when you feed a ravenous dictator. They keep eating you, one little body part at a time and then, "Oh s...t, I'm gone." How did that happen?
Marietta, I totally agree. I don't trust Roberts. I don't trust any of them, especially MAGA Congress, which is now weaponized. For a dictator to succeed, he/she needs to control 4 things: 1) Congress, check 2) Supreme Court, three quarters check and Federal judiciary, one half check. Federal judges are bound to lose if SCOTUS keeps dis-empowering them.
3) Media, three quarters check. Adam covered this well. 4) Military/Police - THIS ONE IS HUGE. Trump and Hegseth are putting loyalists in place. When you have a loyal military that will follow any order, lawful or NOT, WE ARE SCREWED. For those of you who were around, flash back to May 4, 1970, when National Guardsmen fired on Vietnam War protesting students - killed 4 and wounded 9 others. I wonder how those Guardsman feel now about their decision to fire on their own countryman, and college students who had their whole lives ahead of them. When I returned from Vietnam I became an ardent supporter of the protestors, who ultimately forced Pres Johnson to resign and Nixon to end the war, a civil war that the politicians propagandized as "falling dominoes in SE Asia" if Vietnam fell. Total bull shit.
IT'S TIME TO PUSH BACK WITH EVERYTHING WE HAVE IN EVERY ARENA IF YOU WANT TO KEEP DEMOCRACY, BECAUSE IT'S GOING TO BE DAMN HARD TO DO, LET ALONE REGAIN WHAT WE'VE LOST IN 7 HORRIFIC MONTHS!
Ya he is turning out to be the OPPOSITE of what E.R. Murrow and FDR and RFK SENIOR and Mary Lease and Katharine Graham and Carl Sandburg and Will Rogers envisioned for this country in times past. A deeply anti-intellectual, cowardly, authoritarian, lazy, spectacularly mentally ill leader who is taking a wrecking ball to our institutions.
We once had rules against concentration of control of media outlets, but we threw those out in the 1980s. Now a few billionaires control most of the major media outlets and the result is either echo chambers or else extortion of submission.
Anyway, keep using your First Amendment rights. "Use 'em or lose 'em" was never so true.
Thank you for today’s update Adam! I get most of my news from all of you on Substack!!! Keep up the great work that you all do!!!! You are very appreciated and very valuable!!!!!!
i couldn't agree more! these days whenever my cable/wifi goes wonky and the television screen goes to grey, i hold my breath. adam, acosta, and others are our connection to news and the moral support that we all need to stay strong.
I was in graduate school when Nixon hit Watergate. Now, at 77, I’m looking at Trump. Things are going to get worse before they get better, but get better they will. My hope is that a coterie of Republicans (including you, I should think) will wrest control of the party. A full-blown palace coup.
I know there are Republicans in congress who are sick of this. Might you, Adam, seek them out and help organized that coup? At least spark it off?
(If you do it, though, don’t signal it here, in yet another comment. Let the act speak for itself.)
His cognitive decline is showing more and more. When will people realize that we have a demented person in the WH. Saying that he was meeting Putin in Russia on Friday - not once, but twice when he was meeting him in Alaska. He says so many things that don't make any sense and still people are not worried. I cannot understand it. People, this is not about party, it's about mental capability. If he was determined to not be capable mentally of being president from real doctors giving the reports, not Trump, himself, who could say whatever he wanted the maga people to know we would still have a republican president. What are they afraid of? Sounds like Trump covering up and being afraid of the Epstein files coming out. Giving up his spot on the podium yesterday and turning the questions over to other's to answer. We all know that he never, never does that. I suspect that he couldn't understand the questions as we have seen many times in the past and that he couldn't think of the answers. We have seen him rant and rave at questions, giving answers that have nothing to do with the question. Do you want a demented man running our country? I think that those behind the scenes are running our country and he is just their spokesperson. They know what is going on with him, but want to run the country, even though they weren't elected to do so and are not concerned about getting him help.
Terry Moran was clearly fired because a few days earlier, in an interview with Trump, he refused to back down and claim that the photoshopped picture of Abrego Garcia's knuckles was a real picture, while Trump came back to it like an abusive husband, even after he tried to move on, until he (Moran) finally conceded a mere "well, it's open for interpretation". Trump FORCED him to lie on camera (it was not open for interpretation at all) and hated the fact that Moran, as any real journalist would do, resisted.
THAT is why he was forced to go, imho, not the Stephen Miller tweet (although that too was simply the truth).
And somehow I find the canceling of Stephen Colbert and the Daily Show THE most scandalous government intervention. Colbert himself is a man of faith, strong moral character, highly intelligent, and extremely funny. Thanks to his daily shows, millions of people all around the world continue to believe that democracy WILL win. I'm sure that it's not just Trump but all neofascists in the GOP today who wanted him out. I hope he'll be back with an even bigger show, on a big network, when his contract ends in May. We need him!
Instead of "wine and dine", the man-child president whines and dines. He whines about everyone who speaks truth, stands up to him and against him. He whines about everything that EVERYONE ELSE did, but never him. He whines about those who mock him, question him, and those that he considers "weak" and/or woke. But then he DINES on people. He feasts on them by taking away their rights, taking away their livelihoods, and taking away their loved ones and families. He preys on the sick, the marginalize and the young. Monsters discriminate only initially in their choice of prey, deciding which ones they will hurt or eat first. Eventually get to them all. Never forget Pastor Niemoller's words: first they came...but then they came for me.
Good to read that not all are capitulating and are defending the right to free speech. It may be expensive for them in the short run, but I hope they stay the course and win. It would be a good lesson for those who surrendered.
The reason Terry Moran was fired from ABC wasn't because he mischaracterized Miller, it was so ABC could continue holding its seat at the front of the three-ring circus.
When people finally figure out how truly complicit legacy media has been in perpetrating this ghastly shitshow, they're going to be goddam pissed as hell.
We need to show robust support for courageous news outlets (like Substack) and disdain and even unwillingness to patronize corporations that shamelessly bend the knee.
The censorship is indeed chilling. But far more chilling is the capitulation we’re witnessing. An emperor with no clothes (that vision alone is nauseating) rules over us while universities, broadcasters, LAW FIRMS, surrender and fall in line. This is reminiscent of democracies in the past that no longer exist. The outrage where it is acknowledged has had little impact. This is what is frightening as we are barely 7 months into the tyrant’s term.
I wouldn’t hold my breath for Chief Justice Roberts to uphold any rights in our Constitution. He’s proven himself a party loyalty member.
Thanks Adam. You nailed the situation exactly as it is in this authoritarian government.
This is no longer about party, it's about democracy versus fascism.
Exactly. Daily, unjustified actions taken by the corrupt Project 2025 honchos is only driving America into a dismal journey of isolationism, graft, and continued lies that thwart our democracy.
It always has been about supporting and defending the form of government we chose 249 years ago - a constitutional republic; a government that derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. The current two parties have failed us for years. If we are to save our republic, then we alone will be the ones to do it.
May our constitutional republic survive. May our nation have a new birth of freedom.
With all respect, I couldn't disagree more.
First of all, the opposite of a republic is a monarchy. Both have to do with how the head of state is appointed: is he elected or appointed through hereditary rules? If hereditary rules, he's a king, if not he's a president.
Iran, Russia and China are republics. They're also authoritarian, fascist regimes.
The US has a DEMOCRATIC Constitution. The opposite of a fascist regime is democracy.
The UK is a constitutional democracy - and also a monarchy.
Saudi Arabia is a fascist monarchy.
Democracy versus fascism have to do with how the three branches of government relate to each other. If they are constitutionally separate and co-equal (as is the case in the US and UK) then you have a democracy. If the power of the judiciary and the legislative branches of government (the courts and Congress) are bundled into that of the executive branch (the White House) then you have a fascist regime ("fasces" = "bundle", in Latin). Or in the words of Mike Johnson: from now on, the GOP sees the job of Congress as "codifying the Executive Orders signed by the president". That means totally subordinating the legislative branch to the executive branch. In a democracy, it's the opposite: the job of the executive is to faithfully execute/implement the laws passed by representatives of the people in Congress, after intense negotiations led to a compromise between the different voices represented in Congress.
The Democratic Party has done the opposite of what the GOP has inflicted on this country since Reagan. His neoliberalism was invented by people (Friedman, Von Hayek, ...) who from the very beginning claimed what Peter Thiel already says for years too: democracy and capitalism are incompatible, so we need to get rid of democracy. That means: install neofascism.
Democrats have fought back tooth and nail and obtained many victories (both in terms of civil rights and in terms of social justice, including more affordable healthcare, education, better labor laws etc).
But decades of shameless GOP fake news brainwashed 30% of the American people while another 30% became so cynical that they no longer vote at all.
THAT is how a neofascist GOP managed to grab power - that and the fact that corporate mainstream media refused to inform people of the most relevant facts and instead went for clickbait headlines, which contributed tremendously to the fact that so many Americans today are ill-informed and disinformed.
And today, it's DEMOCRATS and Democrats ONLY who are filing lawsuit after lawsuit, courageously fighting back, while GOP Governors do NOTHING.
So please, stop the extremely dangerous and demonstrably false bothsidesism. It's what got us here in the first place!
Excellent point. We need to agree on our language and use of words in order to have meaningful dialogue. Your comment is very helpful Maybe Adam can do a letter about these terms.
https://adamkinzinger.substack.com/p/dan-osborn-how-an-independent-can?utm_source=podcast-email&publication_id=1910658&post_id=170796019&utm_campaign=email-play-on-substack&utm_content=watch_now_button&r=31znat&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
American Fascism is getting bolder by the day. You know why? Media is caving, Major colleges caving. SCOUTUS is supporting and leaving Federal judges hanging out to dry. Now even US companies are being tariffed: NVDA and AMD paying 15% of their Chinese sales so they can keep doing what they've been doing? Unprecedented, outrageous and unconstitutional! Know what happens when you feed a ravenous dictator. They keep eating you, one little body part at a time and then, "Oh s...t, I'm gone." How did that happen?
Roberts is just another devil dressed up as a angel in disguise.
My first thought was of a skunk. Looks like a nice animal. Until it smells you what it really is.
My thought is that he and a few other USSC justices are in the Epstein Files.
Marietta, I totally agree. I don't trust Roberts. I don't trust any of them, especially MAGA Congress, which is now weaponized. For a dictator to succeed, he/she needs to control 4 things: 1) Congress, check 2) Supreme Court, three quarters check and Federal judiciary, one half check. Federal judges are bound to lose if SCOTUS keeps dis-empowering them.
3) Media, three quarters check. Adam covered this well. 4) Military/Police - THIS ONE IS HUGE. Trump and Hegseth are putting loyalists in place. When you have a loyal military that will follow any order, lawful or NOT, WE ARE SCREWED. For those of you who were around, flash back to May 4, 1970, when National Guardsmen fired on Vietnam War protesting students - killed 4 and wounded 9 others. I wonder how those Guardsman feel now about their decision to fire on their own countryman, and college students who had their whole lives ahead of them. When I returned from Vietnam I became an ardent supporter of the protestors, who ultimately forced Pres Johnson to resign and Nixon to end the war, a civil war that the politicians propagandized as "falling dominoes in SE Asia" if Vietnam fell. Total bull shit.
IT'S TIME TO PUSH BACK WITH EVERYTHING WE HAVE IN EVERY ARENA IF YOU WANT TO KEEP DEMOCRACY, BECAUSE IT'S GOING TO BE DAMN HARD TO DO, LET ALONE REGAIN WHAT WE'VE LOST IN 7 HORRIFIC MONTHS!
Absolutely 💯percent true!!
Ya he is turning out to be the OPPOSITE of what E.R. Murrow and FDR and RFK SENIOR and Mary Lease and Katharine Graham and Carl Sandburg and Will Rogers envisioned for this country in times past. A deeply anti-intellectual, cowardly, authoritarian, lazy, spectacularly mentally ill leader who is taking a wrecking ball to our institutions.
And making loads of money for himself doing it!
And supported by millions of supporters (who think of themselves as patriots).
You summed Trump up very accurately in the last sentence.
Prison is so 1984.
We once had rules against concentration of control of media outlets, but we threw those out in the 1980s. Now a few billionaires control most of the major media outlets and the result is either echo chambers or else extortion of submission.
Anyway, keep using your First Amendment rights. "Use 'em or lose 'em" was never so true.
Thank you for today’s update Adam! I get most of my news from all of you on Substack!!! Keep up the great work that you all do!!!! You are very appreciated and very valuable!!!!!!
Thank you!
i couldn't agree more! these days whenever my cable/wifi goes wonky and the television screen goes to grey, i hold my breath. adam, acosta, and others are our connection to news and the moral support that we all need to stay strong.
Our freedom relies on John Roberts?
🥲
Giving Immunity to a President tells you everything about John Roberts!
I was in graduate school when Nixon hit Watergate. Now, at 77, I’m looking at Trump. Things are going to get worse before they get better, but get better they will. My hope is that a coterie of Republicans (including you, I should think) will wrest control of the party. A full-blown palace coup.
I know there are Republicans in congress who are sick of this. Might you, Adam, seek them out and help organized that coup? At least spark it off?
(If you do it, though, don’t signal it here, in yet another comment. Let the act speak for itself.)
His cognitive decline is showing more and more. When will people realize that we have a demented person in the WH. Saying that he was meeting Putin in Russia on Friday - not once, but twice when he was meeting him in Alaska. He says so many things that don't make any sense and still people are not worried. I cannot understand it. People, this is not about party, it's about mental capability. If he was determined to not be capable mentally of being president from real doctors giving the reports, not Trump, himself, who could say whatever he wanted the maga people to know we would still have a republican president. What are they afraid of? Sounds like Trump covering up and being afraid of the Epstein files coming out. Giving up his spot on the podium yesterday and turning the questions over to other's to answer. We all know that he never, never does that. I suspect that he couldn't understand the questions as we have seen many times in the past and that he couldn't think of the answers. We have seen him rant and rave at questions, giving answers that have nothing to do with the question. Do you want a demented man running our country? I think that those behind the scenes are running our country and he is just their spokesperson. They know what is going on with him, but want to run the country, even though they weren't elected to do so and are not concerned about getting him help.
These people know. They don’t want to give up their power over him and the American people
What happens, if in his decline, he makes the mistake of using the codes on his red phone, thinking that he ordering from McDonalds?
Terry Moran was clearly fired because a few days earlier, in an interview with Trump, he refused to back down and claim that the photoshopped picture of Abrego Garcia's knuckles was a real picture, while Trump came back to it like an abusive husband, even after he tried to move on, until he (Moran) finally conceded a mere "well, it's open for interpretation". Trump FORCED him to lie on camera (it was not open for interpretation at all) and hated the fact that Moran, as any real journalist would do, resisted.
THAT is why he was forced to go, imho, not the Stephen Miller tweet (although that too was simply the truth).
And somehow I find the canceling of Stephen Colbert and the Daily Show THE most scandalous government intervention. Colbert himself is a man of faith, strong moral character, highly intelligent, and extremely funny. Thanks to his daily shows, millions of people all around the world continue to believe that democracy WILL win. I'm sure that it's not just Trump but all neofascists in the GOP today who wanted him out. I hope he'll be back with an even bigger show, on a big network, when his contract ends in May. We need him!
Instead of "wine and dine", the man-child president whines and dines. He whines about everyone who speaks truth, stands up to him and against him. He whines about everything that EVERYONE ELSE did, but never him. He whines about those who mock him, question him, and those that he considers "weak" and/or woke. But then he DINES on people. He feasts on them by taking away their rights, taking away their livelihoods, and taking away their loved ones and families. He preys on the sick, the marginalize and the young. Monsters discriminate only initially in their choice of prey, deciding which ones they will hurt or eat first. Eventually get to them all. Never forget Pastor Niemoller's words: first they came...but then they came for me.
i have pastor niemoller's words on my bulletin board.
Beautifully said...his timeless plea can not be more needed than now....with the fascist threat to our beloved country today.
Thank you, my dear Crazy Cat Lady for the essential reminder to us all. 👏👏
Yeah.
I got chills reading your comment
Sorry about that visual, but honestly, I feel that this is the direction we are moving with each announcement, and each new targeted group. :(
absolutely.
Wonderful commentary as usual Adam. Thank you..
Good to read that not all are capitulating and are defending the right to free speech. It may be expensive for them in the short run, but I hope they stay the course and win. It would be a good lesson for those who surrendered.
Nice article. Lays it all out and is timely.
The reason Terry Moran was fired from ABC wasn't because he mischaracterized Miller, it was so ABC could continue holding its seat at the front of the three-ring circus.
When people finally figure out how truly complicit legacy media has been in perpetrating this ghastly shitshow, they're going to be goddam pissed as hell.
We need to show robust support for courageous news outlets (like Substack) and disdain and even unwillingness to patronize corporations that shamelessly bend the knee.
The censorship is indeed chilling. But far more chilling is the capitulation we’re witnessing. An emperor with no clothes (that vision alone is nauseating) rules over us while universities, broadcasters, LAW FIRMS, surrender and fall in line. This is reminiscent of democracies in the past that no longer exist. The outrage where it is acknowledged has had little impact. This is what is frightening as we are barely 7 months into the tyrant’s term.
“Trump has yet to imprison anyone whom makes fun of him”. Rut Ro … see you in the camps!