I continue to be amazed at how our elected officials cower in fear of this malignant narcissist...it's like WW I, WW2, and the Cold War did not happen. I did not spend 40 years in the IC to watch one person and his sychophants destroy this country. The truth is the biggest threat to this country is the current administration. During the Cold War we joked about what would happen if Russia prevailed...it's not a joke, this reads like Putin and Lavrov wrote this...
The people better wake up now and realize what is happening. Ignore the chaos and pay attention to what these traitors do. I look forward to your views...
"40 years in the IC" -- I figured out that that's the Intelligence Community -- not to be confused with "ICE" -- which is devoid of intelligence (& sorely lacking in humanity, for that matter). Thank you for your service -- & for your perspective, PJ!
I think it is fair to say that twenty-first century conflict is turning Carl von Clausewitz's famous dictum on its head. In the wake of the Napoleonic strife, von Clausewitz wrote that war is only a continuation of state policy by other means.
The current confusion demonstrates that statecraft, accompanied by cunning mass distractions and delusions, is yielding results that would formerly have been attained by crude kinetic force. Hybrid warfare is the new model. We may well wake up some Wednesday or Thursday morning a few months or years from now to realize that our whole concept of civil governance in the United States has been transformed.
I have to agree with Mr Trump. The enemy is within.
PJ, The #2 threat seems to be the systemic corruption of power not just in government but in monopolized news media / infotainment achieving their goal of infantilization & passivity in statistically significant % of Americans + the strain & problems in public education reflected in metrics. I think this is the root of the majority of people’s inability to stop Magalonians & broligarchs after J6, 2020.
You are witnessing the birth of the American Oligarchs. They will control the flow of information, what you get to see and what you don't. Algorithims are already personalized. I just did some research for a class I teach at a local university...it is scary how many people get their "news" from social media (another oligarch structure). The right has been trying to kill the public school system for decades. I live in Texas and it is sad that the state loons have removed any critical thinking in the K-12 curriculum. Why? Because those who can't think are easier to control. This country suffers from mass confirmation bias. We, as a country, celebrate being uneducated and uninformed.
The complicity of SCOTUS in this should be setting off alarm bells all across the country. There is no doubt the Court will give Trump the wider powers he seeks. With this, we alienate allies and align ourselves with authoritarian regimes. Voters must decide where they stand in the midterms. Is this direction acceptable? In the 250th year of our country, we are surrendering the policies and principles the founders wrote into the Constitution.
You said it! Robert Hubbell says when Democrats take power, we should expand the Supreme Court to 27 members. He is also an optimist, saying that we must not give up.
Olivia please explain what glitch in the constitution has law abiding politicians so unable to stop this decay in our nation. Is there something you can give us as a way to navigate the why and a way to fix it? Please
Your constitution is based on the ‘good-chaps’ theory, that all actors are good chaps, ie honourable gentlemen and thus act accordingly. The writers of your constitution never envisaged, that a slime ball would be able to assemble so many enablers … the key are those enablers!
And the founding fathers did not know of the mental illness that exists in the current regime and most importantly that 2 of the 3 branches of government would yield their check and balance power to one.
Bingo! That Republicans in the House and Senate aided and abetted by the five right-wing radicals on the Supreme Court would abdicate their power of checks and balances was undreamed of.
I have read your Substack periodically but not every time, and have been impressed with your analysis and your succinct, easy to follow writing. This one really frightens me, though it does explain a lot of what's been happening this year. I'm glad to be among your paid readers! Thank you, Olivia. I have also seen and heard you on MSNBC (Now MS.Now) and have been impressed with you there too. Will keep reading and probably commenting as well
Olivia, please pull back the curtain on the Trump/Putin connection and the reason he is putting an ax to our NATO AND Europe alliances. He is trashing the world order and making up less safe.
When I read the NSS it screamed, "Stephen Miller on steroids!" Now you have confirmed it, Olivia. Thank you, as always for your clear-eyed, informed, experienced take on those issues at the heart of our standing in the world and our democracy at home.
European here. So far, we - at least most of us - didn’t like what Trump (Vance!) was doing but it hadn’t made us as hopping mad as the Canadians.
This week, I can feel a shift. The document and even more so the requirement to provide a ridiculous amount of data before visiting, will strengthen the downward tourism trend. And I’ll also predict a realignment of other business and trade relationships.
It’ll be interesting, really interesting, to observe the statistics coming up.
Claudia, I was very fortunate to have visited several European countries last month and wanted to say to those I met, “ not all Americans support and approve of t…p, just some of them…”. 😞
It’s been mentioned before but if you take this document and add to it the current situation with Venezuela (code word “Oil”), Columbia, wanting to take back the Panama Canal (code word “regional transport”), Canada as the 51st state (code word “more oil and rare earths” ), the desire to purchase Greenland (code word “ rare earths”), abandonment of Ukraine, bad mouthing Europe, catering to Putin, abandonment of a pivot to Asia, sweet talking Xi, and you can see the real strategy is three hemispheric spheres of influence with the US, Russia, and China as the global power players where everyone is supposed to focus on their own backyard. This has been tried before with disastrous results, most recently world wars 1 and 2.
The surface outrage that hides the quiet manufacturing of a whole new government architecture. But it doesn’t take more than scratching the surface and opening our eyes. We choose to be blinded by sound bytes.
I caught Rep Magaziner's questioning of Noem yesterday. He did such an effective job calling attention to inhumane treatment of veterans and their families.If the rumor is true that Noem is about to be replaced because she's not tough enough on immigration I shudder to think about who may replace her. Stephen Miller maybe?
Without your cogent analysis, Olivia, and Heather Cox Richardson's amazing ability to contextualize the crazy, my head would have exploded by now. Thank you so much. You are doing such an important public service.
Liked, restacked & shared to Bluesky (as always). I read this a few days ago - and sent a copy to my cousin in Georgia, who was unaware of it. I was also horrified at its contents and astonished that such an abhorrent document could come from a country which always had a "special relationship" with the UK. Churchill is spinning in his grave at such a betrayal. Not sure how NATO will recover from this. And what about the army/air force bases presently located in the UK & the EU? What a mess! And Putin must be rubbing his slimy hands together in glee.
A great piece Olivia. The reason Trump continues to focus on migration as the primary national security threat is because it worked in 2016 and 2024. While the Trump NSS is a pathetic betrayal of US principles and allies, those opposing him and his ilk need to realize that migration is a concern for working class communities who, rightly or wrongly, feel threatened economically by it.
I continue to be amazed at how our elected officials cower in fear of this malignant narcissist...it's like WW I, WW2, and the Cold War did not happen. I did not spend 40 years in the IC to watch one person and his sychophants destroy this country. The truth is the biggest threat to this country is the current administration. During the Cold War we joked about what would happen if Russia prevailed...it's not a joke, this reads like Putin and Lavrov wrote this...
The people better wake up now and realize what is happening. Ignore the chaos and pay attention to what these traitors do. I look forward to your views...
The best moments for me are watching conversations like this one…We lean, learn and support one another.🤍
"40 years in the IC" -- I figured out that that's the Intelligence Community -- not to be confused with "ICE" -- which is devoid of intelligence (& sorely lacking in humanity, for that matter). Thank you for your service -- & for your perspective, PJ!
Thank You. Sorry for not spelling out the acronym. You get to be a truly certified govvie when you can write a complete sentence in acronyms...
A-OK
😂
PJ:
I think it is fair to say that twenty-first century conflict is turning Carl von Clausewitz's famous dictum on its head. In the wake of the Napoleonic strife, von Clausewitz wrote that war is only a continuation of state policy by other means.
The current confusion demonstrates that statecraft, accompanied by cunning mass distractions and delusions, is yielding results that would formerly have been attained by crude kinetic force. Hybrid warfare is the new model. We may well wake up some Wednesday or Thursday morning a few months or years from now to realize that our whole concept of civil governance in the United States has been transformed.
I have to agree with Mr Trump. The enemy is within.
There is no cavalry coming to rescue us.
\Vince S
Isn't that the tactic Sun Tsu wrote about?
PJ, The #2 threat seems to be the systemic corruption of power not just in government but in monopolized news media / infotainment achieving their goal of infantilization & passivity in statistically significant % of Americans + the strain & problems in public education reflected in metrics. I think this is the root of the majority of people’s inability to stop Magalonians & broligarchs after J6, 2020.
You are witnessing the birth of the American Oligarchs. They will control the flow of information, what you get to see and what you don't. Algorithims are already personalized. I just did some research for a class I teach at a local university...it is scary how many people get their "news" from social media (another oligarch structure). The right has been trying to kill the public school system for decades. I live in Texas and it is sad that the state loons have removed any critical thinking in the K-12 curriculum. Why? Because those who can't think are easier to control. This country suffers from mass confirmation bias. We, as a country, celebrate being uneducated and uninformed.
Keep speaking up PJ. Your input is so very important. Thank you.
Olivia,
Your writing is so smooth, eloquent, and digestible for audiences of all backgrounds. Thank you for your service to humanity.
The complicity of SCOTUS in this should be setting off alarm bells all across the country. There is no doubt the Court will give Trump the wider powers he seeks. With this, we alienate allies and align ourselves with authoritarian regimes. Voters must decide where they stand in the midterms. Is this direction acceptable? In the 250th year of our country, we are surrendering the policies and principles the founders wrote into the Constitution.
You said it! Robert Hubbell says when Democrats take power, we should expand the Supreme Court to 27 members. He is also an optimist, saying that we must not give up.
My fear about Midterms is the fact that the regime will cause votes to be lost, 😠 and those of us voting won’t count. 😡
All the more reason to support a MASSIVE GOTV effort! (Get Out The Vote = GOTV)
It landed with a thud on purpose, except for us, not major media, us in places like Substack and medium and YouTube.
Olivia please explain what glitch in the constitution has law abiding politicians so unable to stop this decay in our nation. Is there something you can give us as a way to navigate the why and a way to fix it? Please
Your constitution is based on the ‘good-chaps’ theory, that all actors are good chaps, ie honourable gentlemen and thus act accordingly. The writers of your constitution never envisaged, that a slime ball would be able to assemble so many enablers … the key are those enablers!
And the founding fathers did not know of the mental illness that exists in the current regime and most importantly that 2 of the 3 branches of government would yield their check and balance power to one.
Bingo! That Republicans in the House and Senate aided and abetted by the five right-wing radicals on the Supreme Court would abdicate their power of checks and balances was undreamed of.
I have read your Substack periodically but not every time, and have been impressed with your analysis and your succinct, easy to follow writing. This one really frightens me, though it does explain a lot of what's been happening this year. I'm glad to be among your paid readers! Thank you, Olivia. I have also seen and heard you on MSNBC (Now MS.Now) and have been impressed with you there too. Will keep reading and probably commenting as well
Olivia, please pull back the curtain on the Trump/Putin connection and the reason he is putting an ax to our NATO AND Europe alliances. He is trashing the world order and making up less safe.
When I read the NSS it screamed, "Stephen Miller on steroids!" Now you have confirmed it, Olivia. Thank you, as always for your clear-eyed, informed, experienced take on those issues at the heart of our standing in the world and our democracy at home.
European here. So far, we - at least most of us - didn’t like what Trump (Vance!) was doing but it hadn’t made us as hopping mad as the Canadians.
This week, I can feel a shift. The document and even more so the requirement to provide a ridiculous amount of data before visiting, will strengthen the downward tourism trend. And I’ll also predict a realignment of other business and trade relationships.
It’ll be interesting, really interesting, to observe the statistics coming up.
Claudia, I was very fortunate to have visited several European countries last month and wanted to say to those I met, “ not all Americans support and approve of t…p, just some of them…”. 😞
It’s been mentioned before but if you take this document and add to it the current situation with Venezuela (code word “Oil”), Columbia, wanting to take back the Panama Canal (code word “regional transport”), Canada as the 51st state (code word “more oil and rare earths” ), the desire to purchase Greenland (code word “ rare earths”), abandonment of Ukraine, bad mouthing Europe, catering to Putin, abandonment of a pivot to Asia, sweet talking Xi, and you can see the real strategy is three hemispheric spheres of influence with the US, Russia, and China as the global power players where everyone is supposed to focus on their own backyard. This has been tried before with disastrous results, most recently world wars 1 and 2.
The surface outrage that hides the quiet manufacturing of a whole new government architecture. But it doesn’t take more than scratching the surface and opening our eyes. We choose to be blinded by sound bytes.
OMG…how true that statement is!!!
I caught Rep Magaziner's questioning of Noem yesterday. He did such an effective job calling attention to inhumane treatment of veterans and their families.If the rumor is true that Noem is about to be replaced because she's not tough enough on immigration I shudder to think about who may replace her. Stephen Miller maybe?
Without your cogent analysis, Olivia, and Heather Cox Richardson's amazing ability to contextualize the crazy, my head would have exploded by now. Thank you so much. You are doing such an important public service.
Liked, restacked & shared to Bluesky (as always). I read this a few days ago - and sent a copy to my cousin in Georgia, who was unaware of it. I was also horrified at its contents and astonished that such an abhorrent document could come from a country which always had a "special relationship" with the UK. Churchill is spinning in his grave at such a betrayal. Not sure how NATO will recover from this. And what about the army/air force bases presently located in the UK & the EU? What a mess! And Putin must be rubbing his slimy hands together in glee.
A great piece Olivia. The reason Trump continues to focus on migration as the primary national security threat is because it worked in 2016 and 2024. While the Trump NSS is a pathetic betrayal of US principles and allies, those opposing him and his ilk need to realize that migration is a concern for working class communities who, rightly or wrongly, feel threatened economically by it.
“Why almost no one talked about this…” Here in Europe we sure are talking about it.