American Idiot(s)
Critiquing the conscience of the nation’s citizens. We should be asking why we arrived at this point. Wasn’t the first trump presidency enough to learn from and soundly reject a second presidency? The boldness and stupidity of his edicts were not what the nation needed.
We are slowly slipping back into an environment of a nation run by a few for a few. PS. I did not read Chris Hedges. I thought the short piece by Moore was interesting enough.
Michael Moore, June 8, 2025
There is an explanation to the madness we are witnessing — and, once again, the conscience of the country, the Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hedges, tells us exactly what we don’t want to hear.
We woke up this morning to the news that Trump was considering declaring California a police state (by literally sending in the Marines from Camp Pendleton to suppress the anti-ICE protests in LA), that Netanyahu was thinking of killing Greta Thunberg if she dares to dock her humanitarian aid boat on the beach in Gaza today, and that we are now in the 7th day of the messy Shouldn’t This Be on Bravo Musk-Trump breakup.
Every day since November 5th, I receive hundreds of emails from you —and the majority of them ask me one or more of three simple questions:
1. “How did this happen?!”
2. “Who is to blame?”
3. “What can we do to save ourselves/ save the country/ save the Planet?”
The sweet thing about these questions is that most people seem to think we are salvageable, that there’s still time to figure out what happened and that there might still be hope for us — “all is not lost!”
But what if we are sadly just deluding ourselves, that we already went over the cliff, that so much has already been dismantled and destroyed in a few short months it will take us years or decades to fix or rebuild that which Thanos has disintegrated.
It’s truly too much to bear if we consider the worst case scenario and so, being human, we hold on to this thing called hope, in the hopes that it will paint a picture for us that gives us a reason to carry on.
But in order to find that path to a better world and future, we must first be honest with ourselves about the true predicament we are in, acknowledging that we can’t get from Point A to Point B if we don’t even know where Point A is, let alone be able to discern what tools and people we have left in order to start the rebuild — or better yet, lead the rebellion to take back our “democracy.”
Enter Chris Hedges who has written a powerful piece that confronts exactly how we got here — and the truth about the moment we are living through right now.
Later on Chris . . .
Agree 100%. Hedges is a gem.
And what did the alternative to Trump offer? A senile old man, who finally got replaced by an empty suit. Wow! Both would have continued the wealth grab by the oligarchs, the genocide in Gaza, the pointless and futile war in Ukraine.
Rule by idiots, indeed.
You would know … you are the reason we are where we are
Oh i cant stop laughing
So, opinion says such about Biden.
Instead, we have a minority elected president with dementia who is intent on dismantling a nation to favor a few over more than the majority.
If what was left to Trump was the result of 4-years of Biden senility, I will take senility over ignorance, inability to govern, and dementia.
Don’t waste my time with your remarks.
100% RIGHT
@John,
And what does Trump offer? A senile old man with a VP who is an empty suit. Wow! Both are continuing the wealth grab by the oligarchs, the genocide in Gaza, and the pointless and futile war in Ukraine that Trump promised he would end on or before his first day in office.
Joel…you paraphrased my articulation of the problem to Trump. Exactly right.
The problem, indicating the degenerate nature of the political establishment, is that it presented the voting public with a horrendous choice…a senile old man, an empty suit and a fascist. Which do you choose?
Of course, Great Britain knows the routine well–a series of clowns–Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Keir Starmer, etc. Of course, I could cite Italy’s years with Berlusconi.
A bunch of idiots across the political spectrum. The problem is systemic, not exclusive to one party.
@John,
LOL!
Spare us the bothsiderism. Things under Kamala would not look like the Trump Administration. Not great, but not nearly so bad.
Yes, there is a systemic problem. In a first-past-the-post election system like ours, more than two parties is unstable. Currently, we have a Conservative Party (the Democrats) and a fascist cult (the GOP). There is no significant liberal party in America today. Until the Constitution is edited, that’s the systemic problem the founding fathers gifted us with.
Of course, the UK and Italy have parliamentary systems that can support many parties, and they seem to make stupid mistakes, too. You might have also mentioned Israel.
It’s very easy and lazy to point out the problems. The challenge is to figure out how to change things for the better.
Would it not in that case
Be simpler for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?
~Bertold Brecht
“The challenge is to figure out how to change things for the better.”
Answer: It only take a few Republicans to make the madness and insanity stop. So Sad!
Don’t let the voters off the hook. They did this.
@Jack,
Indeed. And many of them will suffer as a result. But as long as they can believe that Trump is hurting teh swarthy people, they’ll take it. LBJ nailed it:
“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
I take my hat off to Hedges as this is a very fine grumble. I foresee a day when Hedges’ The Grumbler is viewed as a near equal to Dr. Johnson’s The Rambler.
And the problem for those of us who want to change the direction of the country is how do we persuade those influenced by LBJ’s observation, that a different path is better for them?
@Jack,
Only when we organize American society so that everyone can have a fair bite at the apple. Currently, there have to be winners and losers, and the losers will tolerate losing as long as they can see those outside their tribe losing too.
@Joel, if they cannot be moved off those attitudes, there is no hope of defeating MAGA. I think methods need to be created and adopted to persuade them that we seek to provide for their well being and acknowledge their value as humans and citizens. A major problem is finding ways to communicate with them. Most of them don’t read the New York Times or the Washington Post.
@Jack,
An important part of that is a new generation of Democrats that can advocate for the needs of working class and middle class Americans.
Sorry John:
Most of your commentary is a non sequitur to the original post. Like I said or implied: Biden left us with a pretty good economy to which Trump is dismantling. I will take what Biden left us with over anything Trump can do except for destroy this economy for the many to benefit a few.
PS: You do not need to be an economist to know what economy Biden left. Neither do you need to be an economist to realize Trumps efforts will benefit the upper 5% of the taxpayers at the expense of the greater than the majority of lower income citizens.
If senility can give us a better economy, I will take it.
We keep talking here about, “A choice between a senile old man, an empty suit, and a fascist is a choice among evils.” THAT WAS NOT THE CHOICE. The real choice in the election was between a psychotic, irrational, criminal, racist, old man, and a middle-aged, intelligent, black woman with years of governmental experience, who specifically warned of the evils to come. The real choice was between the Rule of Law & Corruption.
And, I remind. To win the 270 electoral votes, Harris only lost by 231,646 votes out of 155+ million cast — WI by 29,417 votes; MI by 80,618; and PA by 121,611, and some 90 million potential voters didn’t vote, and 10% of them said they didn’t think their vote would count.
Since the election, Republicans and the media have attempted to portray this narrow victory as an overwhelming mandate and reflective of deep-rooted problems with the Democratic Party. With only a 100-day campaign, it was difficult to overcome a decade of lies, backed by the GOP, Fox News, and the richest man in the world.
While there are certainly problems, mostly with communications, I maintain that: PROGRESSIVES + CENTRISTS = WINNERS. Democrats must learn the lesson of separating critical issues from others. Democracy, the rule of law, less money in politics, separation of powers, & equal rights. We need to FOCUS ON CRITICAL ISSUES, WIN ELECTIONS, & save the many other worthy issues for later.
And, we must also remember that it only takes a very few GOP Congressional Members who have remained complicit to stop the madness, insanity, and corruption that is now the government of the United States.
I’m one of the ones who remain hopeful for a better future for the U.S.
@McJ,
Well stated. Thanks.
I would only add that on that list of Democratic platform issue must also be included economic opportunity for the middle class and working class.
Right!
You go J.P.