At 2:53 this afternoon, Donald J. Trump walked across a stage inside Dream City Church in North Phoenix, slapping his right upper thigh with each step as he made his way to the podium. He adjusted the microphone, looked out over the crowd, and launched into a nearly hour-long speech at Turning Point Action's "Build the Red Wall" rally, an event built to indoctrinate young voters ahead of the 2026 midterms into loyal Trump supporters. He covered a lot of grievances over the 60+ minutes he had, attacking NATO, sharing white nationalist conspiracy theories, and declaring, "I'm the peacemaker. I'm the one that settled eight wars," while in the same breath announcing his plans for his next war: "A new dawn for Cuba. We're going to help them out with Cuba... watch what happens." But before any of that...
Great post. He's using the tactics of a protection racketeer. "You don't want your store burned down, do you? I can protect you if you give me a payment (vote) to insure that doesn't happen"
I can see how younger generations may fall for this speech - especially as books are being banned. Those of us who believe in freedom must find ways to reach young people not by arguing but with respect and reason. Movie makers, media, pop music, athletes, can really help at this dangerous time. I do not see this as a political issue because our lives are at stake. I have hope that at this time both parties will pool their energy to uphold our constitution by using the powers it affords.
There’s something rotten at the core of American society. To elect this goon once could just about be viewed as an aberration. To elect him a second time when everything you needed to know about him (insurrectionist, convicted felon, adjudicated rapist and much more), was in plain sight, says something about America that can’t be glossed over and, if and when this sh1tshow has run its course you will need to make fundamental societal as well as political, reforms.
WE the People who hate him. do NOT believe he won the last election. He pretty much told us that, with the help of his buddies, Elon Musk, Thiel, and Putin, they rigged and stole the election. They are just now trying to reveal this.
The RepubliKKKans showed us exactly who they are on Jan.6, 2021, when they still supported a Treasonous, and now Benedict Fetterman, vile criminal Nazi fascists.
The whole system has been replaced with sycophantic and complicit loyalists filling their pockets with Blood Money all the way to the top including majority of SCOTUS.
Again, he did NOT even win the popular votes even in the first election. We need to do away with the electoral college and desperately need term limits on Congress and SCOTUS.
It is a MAGA/MAWA KKKult, fascist playbook and Project 2025-26, on AI steroids. trump, his family, Epstein Class of pedophiles, rapists, criminals, extorting and laundering money, manipulating the stock market, Poly Market, government contracts with his family owned weapons and tech. Companies, and “BORED of Peace” member and dues, oil theft money being laundered into an account in Qatar.
We are in 1930’s Germany complete with MAGA KKKult, ICE Gestapo and Concentration Camps.
It’s the product of isolation, the collective shortening of American attention spans, its susceptibility to internet disinformation at the expense of any kind of basic knowledge of history - which generally requires focus and quiet reflection to absorb - and of knowledge of strength of character missing entirely from President Dr. Jesus of the best past leaders occasioned by the rise of the smartphone.
You are right to warn of Hitler youth-style indoctrination, Heather. What’s necessary is a call for young men — because let’s face it, the paedophile-in-chief is not reaching out to young women as soldiers of his cause — to march lockstep behind the pope and his message of love, inclusion and kindness. But you detail a sad history of American warrior men that would see that latter possibility as an unlikely fantasy.
Michael Sellers writes a great Substack whose angle is objective analysis of events. He is saying that Trump’s crowd in that church skewed old, was low energy, and that the venue was 1/3 empty. I recognize the threat and agree with Heather’s analysis that Trump is trying to indoctrinate a new generation, but he is increasingly failing because people are recognizing that he is a liar with zero credibility. We should keep that in mind going forward
As always your columns are excellent. But I would like to make one tiny correction, regarding General Grant's expulsion of Jews from the area he controlled around Tennessee during the Civil War. That did happen. But it is important to get the whole story. At that time, in the area Grant controlled, there was much smuggling of cotton. There were Christian smugglers and Jewish smugglers who competed with each other. The non-Jewish smugglers came up with a plan to get rid of their rivals, and came to Grant complaining about the Jews being pro-Confederate. So he made his order to expel them from the area. President Lincoln heard about it, and immediately countermanded it. Later in life, as President, Grant appointed more Jews to high office than all previous Presidents combined. He named a Jew whose last name was Peixotto as ambassador to Romania, which was a hotbed of antisemitism, with instructions to do what he could to ameliorate the condition of the Jews in that country. Later in his life, as he was dying and writing his memoirs, he said the worst thing he ever did was to expel the Jews.
You really do need to look at what he does and not what he says. He said he loves his police wha are keeping us safe. If he loved them so much… how about a little something maybe he doesn’t pardon the J6ers who were convicted of attacking and killing police? If he loves our military so much maybe he increases the funding for the VA. You don’t need to look any further than that to see what a sack of cow dung he is.
There’s no fool like an old fool and this one takes the prize. All of his flash and glitz and phony dog and pony show will not hide the truth …the actual REALITY of how he’s failing and now flailing. Those young voters better realize that what he’s offering them is a guaranteed ticket to combat in one of his fiascos…THEY are going to be the ones who have to put their lives on the lines to defend his lunacy. Will they realize that as my generation did in the 60’s when forced to fight in a war in Viet Nam or ..will they see through his bullshit rhetoric as we saw through Johnson’s ? We banded together..we protested..we boycotted…we had moratoriums on campuses all over the country …we ENDED the seemingly endless war. Let us hope and pray that they are smart enough and savvy enough to see through his phony shit ..that their response to him is the same as my generation’s was many years ago….HELL NO…WE WON’T GO. That’s the only answer.
I would also add Putin in his takeover of Ukraine, etc., and the “BORED of Peace” members, and the Epstein Class all profiteering plus their Imperialism War mongers which gives them more Blood Money, Power, Control, members are nothing but criminal, pedophiles, rapists, sex traffickers, with extreme money laundering, extortionist, espionage, “real estate” deals, government laundering money into trump and family’s and Epstein KKKronies bank accounts and trump’s account in Qatar and who knows where else.
EPSTEIN Files National and global Web of decades long cover-ups, that still keeps going.
trump=Hitler.
We are 1930’s Germany…Complete with Nazi fascist Playbook and Project 2025-26, ICE Gestapo EXECUTIONS and kidnapping, Concentration Death, Inhumane, Rape, Pedophiles, sex traffickers, mass deportations to countries they are not even from, and disappearing people Camps, pay per head to wealthy elite criminals.
Great article and kudos for watching the entirety of that Turning Point stomach flipping hour plus diatribe.
He’s always been a con artist, a grifter but has stepped up his game over the years, and especially since some gave him another bite at the apple. It’s always about the pretend boogeyman but in reality he’s the boogeyman a convicted sexual predator who proclaims — “I’m going to protect the women, whether the women like it or not.” Of course always by the means of force and that privilege he has always seen himself have, “grab them by the p__y” because all women of course want that action. All small corner stores owners just cherish the idea of turning over 10% of their profits in cash inside a manilla envelope to those who say they are protecting your interests, like the mob, as they steal product in front of those owners noses and being bluntly threatened. Now all men want to have a big strong demented old man use all the force of the U.S. military to make them feel safe from those boogeymen out there and you young men well if that draft comes you have no say with your lives anymore because “I’m your daddy”.
Yet the boogeyman is standing in front of you with the backing of his entire regime and the loyalists in Congress, prosecutors at the department of justice, and even judges especially those on the Supreme Court. The boogeyman who has his finger on every person in this country that pays into what he sees as his government with their hard earned money, giving that cash inside that manilla envelope… Sometimes many people don’t fall for the boogeyman con..
"What we saw and heard was a sitting president standing on a church stage, announcing his next war target, before pivoting into white nationalist rhetoric. “They’re being persecuted in South Africa,” he said. “In South Africa there’s a very horrible thing going on. It’s a genocide. It’s a horrible thing. And we made it possible for these people to come into our country. They kill people if they’re white, if you’re a white person. And I’ll tell you what, I did great with the Black vote, the African American vote, and they understand this better than anybody. In South Africa they kill white farmers. And we said you come into our country and we let you come in. You get a green card and you get a passport.”"
I'm going to stick with our youth, as impressionable as they may be - as "Christian" as they may be - as you write, Heather, progressive Democratic candidates continue to be elected across the US, we [meaning specifically older, less brainwashable Americans - your readers] need to keep funding their campaigns and getting the word out, regardless of how we THINK this creep's words are being received by "them."
After all - remember the lyrics of the great old Jazz standard Trump unconsciously quotes - "Let someone start believing in you/Let him hold out his hand/Let him touch you and watch what happens." We the People cannot give up on our younger voters based on a single, extremely unpersuasive TPUSA show in North Phoenix.
Upward spike in US childbirths 2007-2008 - all those babies (including my own) turning 18 now and registering to vote - followed by Great Recession and resulting crash and decline in childbirths for the next 17 years after, putting a premium on President Dr. Jesus and chickenshit Republicans to brainwash as many 18 year olds this year as possible.
Great post. He's using the tactics of a protection racketeer. "You don't want your store burned down, do you? I can protect you if you give me a payment (vote) to insure that doesn't happen"
And given the fact that his dad was a mafiosi, it fits!!
I can see how younger generations may fall for this speech - especially as books are being banned. Those of us who believe in freedom must find ways to reach young people not by arguing but with respect and reason. Movie makers, media, pop music, athletes, can really help at this dangerous time. I do not see this as a political issue because our lives are at stake. I have hope that at this time both parties will pool their energy to uphold our constitution by using the powers it affords.
There’s something rotten at the core of American society. To elect this goon once could just about be viewed as an aberration. To elect him a second time when everything you needed to know about him (insurrectionist, convicted felon, adjudicated rapist and much more), was in plain sight, says something about America that can’t be glossed over and, if and when this sh1tshow has run its course you will need to make fundamental societal as well as political, reforms.
WE the People who hate him. do NOT believe he won the last election. He pretty much told us that, with the help of his buddies, Elon Musk, Thiel, and Putin, they rigged and stole the election. They are just now trying to reveal this.
The RepubliKKKans showed us exactly who they are on Jan.6, 2021, when they still supported a Treasonous, and now Benedict Fetterman, vile criminal Nazi fascists.
The whole system has been replaced with sycophantic and complicit loyalists filling their pockets with Blood Money all the way to the top including majority of SCOTUS.
Again, he did NOT even win the popular votes even in the first election. We need to do away with the electoral college and desperately need term limits on Congress and SCOTUS.
It is a MAGA/MAWA KKKult, fascist playbook and Project 2025-26, on AI steroids. trump, his family, Epstein Class of pedophiles, rapists, criminals, extorting and laundering money, manipulating the stock market, Poly Market, government contracts with his family owned weapons and tech. Companies, and “BORED of Peace” member and dues, oil theft money being laundered into an account in Qatar.
We are in 1930’s Germany complete with MAGA KKKult, ICE Gestapo and Concentration Camps.
trump=Hitler
WE NEED a National shutdown.
Well said
It’s the product of isolation, the collective shortening of American attention spans, its susceptibility to internet disinformation at the expense of any kind of basic knowledge of history - which generally requires focus and quiet reflection to absorb - and of knowledge of strength of character missing entirely from President Dr. Jesus of the best past leaders occasioned by the rise of the smartphone.
You are right to warn of Hitler youth-style indoctrination, Heather. What’s necessary is a call for young men — because let’s face it, the paedophile-in-chief is not reaching out to young women as soldiers of his cause — to march lockstep behind the pope and his message of love, inclusion and kindness. But you detail a sad history of American warrior men that would see that latter possibility as an unlikely fantasy.
Michael Sellers writes a great Substack whose angle is objective analysis of events. He is saying that Trump’s crowd in that church skewed old, was low energy, and that the venue was 1/3 empty. I recognize the threat and agree with Heather’s analysis that Trump is trying to indoctrinate a new generation, but he is increasingly failing because people are recognizing that he is a liar with zero credibility. We should keep that in mind going forward
He might, at one time at least have been able to claim the mantle of 'Alexander the ordinary'.
These days, 'Alexander the piss-weak' is more fitting.
Hope to see him in the dock real quick.
As always your columns are excellent. But I would like to make one tiny correction, regarding General Grant's expulsion of Jews from the area he controlled around Tennessee during the Civil War. That did happen. But it is important to get the whole story. At that time, in the area Grant controlled, there was much smuggling of cotton. There were Christian smugglers and Jewish smugglers who competed with each other. The non-Jewish smugglers came up with a plan to get rid of their rivals, and came to Grant complaining about the Jews being pro-Confederate. So he made his order to expel them from the area. President Lincoln heard about it, and immediately countermanded it. Later in life, as President, Grant appointed more Jews to high office than all previous Presidents combined. He named a Jew whose last name was Peixotto as ambassador to Romania, which was a hotbed of antisemitism, with instructions to do what he could to ameliorate the condition of the Jews in that country. Later in his life, as he was dying and writing his memoirs, he said the worst thing he ever did was to expel the Jews.
You really do need to look at what he does and not what he says. He said he loves his police wha are keeping us safe. If he loved them so much… how about a little something maybe he doesn’t pardon the J6ers who were convicted of attacking and killing police? If he loves our military so much maybe he increases the funding for the VA. You don’t need to look any further than that to see what a sack of cow dung he is.
There’s no fool like an old fool and this one takes the prize. All of his flash and glitz and phony dog and pony show will not hide the truth …the actual REALITY of how he’s failing and now flailing. Those young voters better realize that what he’s offering them is a guaranteed ticket to combat in one of his fiascos…THEY are going to be the ones who have to put their lives on the lines to defend his lunacy. Will they realize that as my generation did in the 60’s when forced to fight in a war in Viet Nam or ..will they see through his bullshit rhetoric as we saw through Johnson’s ? We banded together..we protested..we boycotted…we had moratoriums on campuses all over the country …we ENDED the seemingly endless war. Let us hope and pray that they are smart enough and savvy enough to see through his phony shit ..that their response to him is the same as my generation’s was many years ago….HELL NO…WE WON’T GO. That’s the only answer.
Great piece, Heather.
I would also add Putin in his takeover of Ukraine, etc., and the “BORED of Peace” members, and the Epstein Class all profiteering plus their Imperialism War mongers which gives them more Blood Money, Power, Control, members are nothing but criminal, pedophiles, rapists, sex traffickers, with extreme money laundering, extortionist, espionage, “real estate” deals, government laundering money into trump and family’s and Epstein KKKronies bank accounts and trump’s account in Qatar and who knows where else.
EPSTEIN Files National and global Web of decades long cover-ups, that still keeps going.
trump=Hitler.
We are 1930’s Germany…Complete with Nazi fascist Playbook and Project 2025-26, ICE Gestapo EXECUTIONS and kidnapping, Concentration Death, Inhumane, Rape, Pedophiles, sex traffickers, mass deportations to countries they are not even from, and disappearing people Camps, pay per head to wealthy elite criminals.
UNITED WE STAND AND DIVIDED WE FALL❤️🩹
How full was the audience at this rally?
What does he know about thinking? It’s a foreign concept to him.
Great article and kudos for watching the entirety of that Turning Point stomach flipping hour plus diatribe.
He’s always been a con artist, a grifter but has stepped up his game over the years, and especially since some gave him another bite at the apple. It’s always about the pretend boogeyman but in reality he’s the boogeyman a convicted sexual predator who proclaims — “I’m going to protect the women, whether the women like it or not.” Of course always by the means of force and that privilege he has always seen himself have, “grab them by the p__y” because all women of course want that action. All small corner stores owners just cherish the idea of turning over 10% of their profits in cash inside a manilla envelope to those who say they are protecting your interests, like the mob, as they steal product in front of those owners noses and being bluntly threatened. Now all men want to have a big strong demented old man use all the force of the U.S. military to make them feel safe from those boogeymen out there and you young men well if that draft comes you have no say with your lives anymore because “I’m your daddy”.
Yet the boogeyman is standing in front of you with the backing of his entire regime and the loyalists in Congress, prosecutors at the department of justice, and even judges especially those on the Supreme Court. The boogeyman who has his finger on every person in this country that pays into what he sees as his government with their hard earned money, giving that cash inside that manilla envelope… Sometimes many people don’t fall for the boogeyman con..
I agree with you, Heather. We will prevail. Democracy will prevail. The midterms will prevail.
"What we saw and heard was a sitting president standing on a church stage, announcing his next war target, before pivoting into white nationalist rhetoric. “They’re being persecuted in South Africa,” he said. “In South Africa there’s a very horrible thing going on. It’s a genocide. It’s a horrible thing. And we made it possible for these people to come into our country. They kill people if they’re white, if you’re a white person. And I’ll tell you what, I did great with the Black vote, the African American vote, and they understand this better than anybody. In South Africa they kill white farmers. And we said you come into our country and we let you come in. You get a green card and you get a passport.”"
I'm going to stick with our youth, as impressionable as they may be - as "Christian" as they may be - as you write, Heather, progressive Democratic candidates continue to be elected across the US, we [meaning specifically older, less brainwashable Americans - your readers] need to keep funding their campaigns and getting the word out, regardless of how we THINK this creep's words are being received by "them."
After all - remember the lyrics of the great old Jazz standard Trump unconsciously quotes - "Let someone start believing in you/Let him hold out his hand/Let him touch you and watch what happens." We the People cannot give up on our younger voters based on a single, extremely unpersuasive TPUSA show in North Phoenix.
Upward spike in US childbirths 2007-2008 - all those babies (including my own) turning 18 now and registering to vote - followed by Great Recession and resulting crash and decline in childbirths for the next 17 years after, putting a premium on President Dr. Jesus and chickenshit Republicans to brainwash as many 18 year olds this year as possible.