Mols 🕉💙💛🟧

retired teacher, democracy enthusiast, vaccinated, amateur mixologist

[Mols 🕉💙💛🟧 @CMolonea]

@ZerlinaMornings @AyannaPressley @SiriusXMProg Can’t wait to hear @RepPressley on @ZerlinaMornings . Will listen on the app.

[Elizabeth Warren @SenWarren]

10 Hills I’ll die on:

- Big corporations shouldn’t be able to buy elections
- A good education shouldn’t just be for rich kids
- Getting sick shouldn’t mean going broke
- We should invest in child care like we do our roads and libraries
- Billionaires should pay their fair share so everyone else gets a fair shot
- Homes are for people, not corporations
- Abortion is health care
- Americans should not have to subsidize the cost of data centers
- No one should be able to use public office to make themselves richer
- We need to put put power back in the hands of working people

[Mols 🕉💙💛🟧 @CMolonea]

@ZerlinaMornings @Cirincione @JoeCunninghamSC @kurtbardella @SiriusXMProg Really hope today’s show on @ZerlinaMornings is on the app. Was disappointed yesterday’s episode didn’t.

[Mols 🕉💙💛🟧 @CMolonea]

@ZerlinaMornings @PeteButtigieg I’d like to listen to this interview in its entirety on @ZerlinaMornings Hope it’s on the app.

[The Shallow State @OurShallowState]

In order to follow the message of this morning post, you have to imagine for a moment, that you get your news in an echo chamber or through targeted Meta algorithms. Pretty distasteful imagining - sorry for that - but indulge me for a moment.
Tens of millions of people fit that bill. And they supported Trump because they believed he was a good businessman, that he'd be good for the economy, that he'd tear down the Deep State, he'd be strongly anti-war, he'd start no new wars, and he'd address the border. There's a lot that people didn't like about him - his crudeness, how Jan 6 unfolded, but eventually the tens of millions bought into the demonization of the Left. You were a lifetime Republican, and he was, to you, a better choice.
Now you're confounded. NOTHING you believed he was, is what he seems to be now. NONE of the things you expected, is what you got. Who even knew about tariffs? Who even knew he'd attack Canada? He did NOTHING about Epstein. MTG left him. Tucker Carlson left him. And ALL of his crap - even immigration - is filled with so much division and cruelty. And you had personal experience with that cruelty - or know someone who did.
THIS is a prevailing sentiment right now among GOP voters. And Trump keeps making it worse. He keeps arguing that what you see is not what is. He keeps making everything about him, and nothing about you. Because he's a narcissist. Millions have learned that word.
And your unhappiness is spreading to all aspects of your life, and you're not sure what to think. Are all politicians for shit? Or were you wrong all along?
Cognitive dissonance - the conflict between belief and perception - is everywhere right now on the political Right. How it resolves, is key to margin of victory.
Trump is such a loud, boorish, ubiquitous, and non-pivoting voice, that you're thinking of changing your world view, because he cannot be right.
===
Trump's political rise speaks much to our celebrity culture, our consuming of media in echo chambers - as per the example above, his craven enablers, and our aggrieved society. This convergence has created a phenomenon that's made a portion of our electorate ... well ... I'll just be nice and call them "susceptible."
But not so much anymore. At this point, Trump is so flawed, so owned by his disorders, and so enfeebled, he can't even navigate the very chaos he inflicts - people liked the Trump Show, but not so much anymore. He seems "off." He can't pivot and can't be contrite.
So, it appears that he keeps getting in deeper. He's become too old, too desperate, too fearful and too unable to process his own mortification. He never had a strategic thought nor an ability to play from behind. And he's a lame duck. And he's globally exposed.
All Trump has left now is his cravings, a fantastical desire to reclaim grandiosity, a panicked fear of humiliation, and layers of toxicity. He's unable to satiate from incoming narcissistic nutrition, no matter how often they give him the North Korea treatment; and now everything in his world - his polling, his son's wedding, even Natalie has been exposed as tainted.
He is flailing. He keeps making mistakes and keeps screwing up - everything, everywhere, all at once.
LOTS of those people I referenced at the beginning of this post, will stay home in November. Many of them will vote Blue, whether due to a change of world view, a need to put a check on him, or just as a protest.
The next couple of weeks might see record levels of disaffection on the Right, and the GOP knows this. They've got nothing but demonization to run on, and are now asking Trump to campaign in Alabama, ffs.
It's a dangerous time, because there are a lot of dangerous people with power, grappling with it all.
And how it transpires, and how long it transpires for, is unknown.
But what I think is NOT so unknown - is that Trump's decline is unmistakable, and his ultimate demise will be spectacular.

[The Shallow State @OurShallowState]

The history of these days will certainly speak to the cult; how easily they were gaslit; how they rallied around petty grievance; how they railed against their own interests; how they suppressed reasoned thought; how they succumbed - in so many ways - to a flawed and obvious con.
History will also certainly speak to the enablers, some of whom pursued proximity to power, some of whom were seduced by opportunistic grift, some of whom caved and capitulated out of misplaced fear, and all of whom pursued personal gain above a greater collective good.
But it remains to be seen whether history ever speaks to the true unforeseen disaster of these days, one which I shake my head at continually, which is the shameless, consistent, and widespread normalization of a madman.

[Mols 🕉💙💛🟧 @CMolonea]

@ZerlinaMornings @PoliticsRebekah @AttorneyKateLG @AllAboveAll @SiriusXMProg Looking forward to ending the week with this episode of @ZerlinaMornings Will listen on the app.

[Mols 🕉💙💛🟧 @CMolonea]

@ZerlinaMornings @BlackVotersMtr @MsLaToshaBrown @UNRWA @marakronenfeld @MannyRutinel @SiriusXMProg Really looking forward to LaTosha Brown on @ZerlinaMornings . She always gives me hope. Will listen on the app.

[Mols 🕉💙💛🟧 @CMolonea]

@ZerlinaMornings @CJR @amos_barshad @AFTunion @rweingarten @RepAprilDelaney @SiriusXMProg Looks like another interesting show on @ZerlinaMornings
Will listen on the app

[Mols 🕉💙💛🟧 @CMolonea]

@ZerlinaMornings Hoping to hear the whole show on @ZerlinaMornings Will look for it on the app

[The Shallow State @OurShallowState]

He's disordered and desperate. He's rambling false nonsense about how trade works. He's trying to bribe the citizenry. Russia just financed his son's wedding. He is universally reviled and distrusted. Congress was just sent home to avoid yet another humiliation for him. And the WH is releasing UFO info to distract from his failures.
It's another busy news day, and I can still say - with total certainty - that THE biggest story - on all of planet Earth AND the known universe right now, is the same as it was yesterday:
The President of the United States of America is seriously unwell and dangerously unfit, yet he is allowed to continue in office, untethered and unchecked.
It's unbelievable, unfathomable, unearthly, unprecedented, and utterly unacceptable.

[Mols 🕉💙💛🟧 @CMolonea]

@ZerlinaMornings @DNC @kenmartin73 @privacymama @OpenSociety @lispahani @SiriusXMProg Really interested in today’s show on @ZerlinaMornings especially @kenmartin73 . Not too thrilled with him so far.
Will listen on the app.

[The Shallow State @OurShallowState]

This morning, I heard a political analyst make a simple statement that I thought hit the nail on the head. The analyst was Mark McKinnon (the guy with the hat) and he was asked to sum up what voters are feeling right now.
He did NOT say high prices. He did NOT say unbridled corruption. He did NOT say global unrest. He did NOT say a President and government that was lying to them.
He said ALL of the above - in a simple phrase: "Voters are feeling a loss of control." Bingo!
Why bingo? Because it better extends to what ALL voters are feeling, regardless of their Party, politics, partisanship, geography, or processing skill.
High prices IS loss of control. Unbridled corruption IS loss of control. Global unrest IS loss of control. A President and government that lies IS MOST DEFINITELY loss of control.
Now I want to bring this simple on-the-nose observation full circle and tell you why I'm posting this:
When Trump says stupid shit - I mean the real desperate, pathologically induced, need-for-grandiosity stupidest shit - we need to NOT call attention to it and NOT get outraged - we need to call him on it, call it stupid, call it desperate, and dare him to do it. If he threatens to tear down the Kennedy Center, don't be outraged or turn that into a discussion - that's what he wants - let him tear it down or back off, because if he does tear it down, his polling will tank further, because he's controlling us. If he threatens to stop all trading with Europe if they invite and accept Canada into the EU, let him stop all trading with Europe or back off, because if he does tear it down, his polling will tank further, because he's controlling us. And if he makes SUPER-stupid comments like equating trading deficits with lost $, again - point it out, and laugh at it as stupid and desperate, so that it's clear that the person controlling us is just that - stupid and desperate.
THIS is how we further create a focus ON HIM as the source of the loss of control, and a source of stupidity and desperation.
And THIS is ALSO how the Dems need to begin messaging why voters need to go ALL DEM these midterms: Voting all Dem will be a vote FOR greater control. Vote all Dem and bring control back to the People. Vote all Dem and in so doing, vote AGAINST the source responsible for YOUR loss of control.

It's simple. But it's a relevant, easy to understand, and far-reaching concept.
And it directly counters wannabe autocrats- who are all about controlling the People.

[Mols 🕉💙💛🟧 @CMolonea]

@ZerlinaMornings @Your_RichBFF @bobbypulido425 @RepAlGreen @SiriusXMProg So glad @ZerlinaMornings is back. Looking forward to listening to the show on the app.

[The Shallow State @OurShallowState]

It's a super-busy news day, and yet, I can still say - with total certainty - that the biggest story on all of planet Earth right now, is the same as it was yesterday: The President of the United States of America is seriously unwell and dangerously unfit, yet he is allowed to continue in office, untethered and unchecked.
It's unbelievable, unfathomable, and utterly unacceptable.

[Mols 🕉💙💛🟧 @CMolonea]

@ZerlinaMornings @kurtbardella @davidjollyfl @SiriusXMProg Very interested in hearing today’s conversations on @ZerlinaMornings Will listen on the app.

[Mols 🕉💙💛🟧 @CMolonea]

@ZerlinaMornings @mintimm @Cirincione @SiriusXMProg Two of my favorite guests this morning on @ZerlinaMornings Can’t wait to listen on the app.

[Mols 🕉💙💛🟧 @CMolonea]

@ZerlinaMornings @IndivisibleTeam @Leahgreenb @SkyePerryman @SiriusXMProg Looking forward to these interviews on @ZerlinaMornings Will listen on the app.

[Mols 🕉💙💛🟧 @CMolonea]

@ZerlinaMornings @Reuters @robertpjones @SiriusXMProg Looking forward to hearing today’s guests on @ZerlinaMornings Will listen on the app.

[The Shallow State @OurShallowState]

I wanted to speak - for the first time in detail - about NARCISSISTIC CONTRARIANISM.
This is a trait Trump has shown with greater frequency in recent days. It's led some analysts to surmise that Trump is acting as if he wants to lose the midterms. Here's what it REALLY is:
A narcissist contrarian is someone who takes the opposite side of obvious or even popular issues, opposing prevailing views. They do this reflexively, because they are feeling enfeebled or attacked.
When the story of the excessive time at sea by military personnel aboard the USS Lincoln was driving public ridicule, Trump characterized their time at sea as "not long enough." Why would he possibly say that? When a bad inflation report broke, Trump was quoted as saying "I love inflation." Really? He's said the same thing recently about "data centers," a sensitive topic across the political spectrum. And any time he is accused of too much focus on the WH ballroom, a broadly unpopular issue, his response is to speak glowingly and lavishly about it even more.
The key thing to realize here is that a narcissistic contrarian doesn't oppose prevailing views because they've thought something through. On the "contrary."
They do it because disagreement serves their battered ego, signals grandiosity through them knowing better, and attracts attention, which is a narcissist's nutrition.
Psychologists speak to 8 core traits leading a narcissist to become excessively contrarian which are:
1. A grandiose self-image that has taken a battering.
2. An innate resistance to compromise.
3. Binary thinking - if one is right, the other is wrong.
4. Deep insecurity masked by professing superiority.
5. The need for self-preservation - to appear smarter - now, to reverse the trend where they appear old or ill.
6. Deep feelings of innate distrust - assuming bad intent even where none exists; paranoia.
7. The need to re-exert autonomy - show they can and will do what they want, to dominate a news cycle.
8. The need to prevail in a big current power struggle.
Let me help you go through that list: CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, and CHECK.
So - to summarize - when Trump takes a position or makes a statement that goes against conventional wisdom, it's not only because he's ignorant, stubborn, or an idiot - it's because he's losing, desperate, and narcissistically damaged - and suggesting or adopting a contrary viewpoint is his way of trying to cope, reverse bad trends, and nurse his narcissistic injury.