Warranted anger, resentment and moral outrage

The constant stream of outrageous hypocrisy, lies, slanders, crackpottery and pure bad faith oozing from MAGA elites and their morally rotted leader is getting very hard to take. One example, djt asked the Texas legislature to redraw its House voting districts. Normally that is done every 10 years. But djt is worried about the 2026 elections. So the legislature did what he asked. The result is that five Democrats will lose their House seats in 2025. djt is pressing Republican legislatures in Missouri, Indiana and some other states to do the same. This is an example of politicians choosing their voters for partisan advantage. It is anti-democratic but legal.[1] 

In response, California governor Gavin Newsom says he’ll follow suit and call a special election on redistricting if Texas approves its gerrymander. CA uses an independent commission to draw House voting districts to keep elections competitive, so a special election is needed for voters to approve the change.[2] The MAGA reaction to what CA is proposing is predictable bad faith MAGA propaganda. JD Vance unleashed this blast of insulting hypocrisy: “The gerrymander in California is outrageous. Of their 52 congressional districts, 9 of them are Republican. That means 17 percent of their delegation is Republican when Republicans regularly win 40 percent of the vote in that state. How can this possibly be allowed?”  

Vance cynically ignores the fact that the new TX gerrymander will probably give MAGA Republicans 80% of the TX House delegation despite about 43% of TX voters choosing to vote in the Democratic Party primary (55% Republican), a proxy for registered voter party affiliation.[3] The 38% TX gerrymander gap is bigger (worse) than the 23% CA gap. Vance should be howling a lot louder about TX than CA. Obviously that will never happen.

Standard MAGA tactic

Insulting, bad faith politics like that is routine from MAGA elites. But it isn't just hypocrisy, lies, bullshit, cynical demagoguery and insulting bad faith that the opposition to MAGA authoritarianism and kleptocracy gets hit with every day. But to save our democracy,  civil liberties and rule of law, some tell us we have to also respect and reach out to those poor MAGA voters and sympathizers. We have to treat them like adults who have suffered much injustice and disrespect. The problem is that people in opposition have suffered just as much injustice and disrespect. On top of that, the opposition also have to suffer what the elites running kleptocratic authoritarianism dish out every day.

People who oppose Trump and MAGA politics, policy and the moral rot of kleptocratic authoritarianism, have every plenty of good reasons to be deeply angry, resentful, fearful and disgusted. The MAGA rank and file, being deceived and manipulated, has excellent reasons for anger, fear and resentments. The opposition has better reasons.

From what I can tell, no one out there is saying aw geez, those poor minorities, democracy defenders, non-Christians, secularists, and rule of law advocates have been disrespected, abused, ripped off and betrayed. Well, they have been. They are entitled to be at least as pissed off and morally outraged and the MAGA rank and file. In my opinion, the opposition to MAGA has far better reasons for anger and outrage than the MAGA rank and file.

Q: Is it counterproductive or irrational for the opposition to feel at least as abused, disrespected and morally outraged as the MAGA rank and file? Who is more abusive, disrespectful and immoral here, MAGA elites and their bigoted, corrupt, authoritarian Project 2025 with its insulting bad faith and mendacious demagogic tactics or their opponents? 

Footnotes:

1. Cynically but not surprisingly, TX governor and extremist MAGA authoritarian Gregg Abbott lied about it: “We will maximize the ability of Texans to be able to vote for the candidate of their choice.”  What he intends but would never not say is that he wants maximize the ability of Texans to be able to vote for corrupt, authoritarian Republicans to put them in power. Abbott made redistricting part of the recently scheduled 30-day special legislative session after djt asked for redistricting.

2. FWIW, if anything, here are some relevant comments from a Feb. 2022 DP blog post: That is why I changed my mind about the gerrymander. CA alone has unilaterally conceded 10 safe Democratic House seats for the sake of voter enfranchisement. That alone could be enough to give the Republican Party control of the House in 2022 and 2024, which in turn could be enough to allow the Republican Party to mostly or completely kill American democracy, the rule of law and civil liberties. 

The predictions about 2022 and 2024 were both correct. 

A Nov. 2022 post raised the same issue: If Republicans retake the House, which is still unsettled, one can argue that it will be because two large Blue states, CA and NY, got rid of partisan gerrymandering. .... The House could fall to the fascist Republican Party, where those pro-democracy non-partisan seats in CA and NY were necessary for that to happen.

Yes, the gerrymander is anti-democratic. But not gerrymandering by blue states is also not democratic. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

3. Fact-checked Pxy: Estimates based on primary participation and exit polling from recent major elections suggest that, among voters who have participated in recent primaries or general elections, about 55–56% tend to support Republicans, around 42–44% support Democrats.

Source (pre-2024 election data)

Regarding that far better than great trade agreement with the EU

Lying vs bullshitting

MSN reported about the trade trade agreement wit the EU that djt announced while he is in Scotland cheating on his golf game. I asked Pxy if the MSN reporting was accurate and if so, whether djt's description of the deal was lying or bullshitting. Pxy said that (1) the MSN reporting is accurate, and (2) Trump's behavior fits the pattern of bullshitting rather than lying. 

Pxy says: Liars know the truth (and this) and actively try to conceal it. They maintain a relationship with truth even as they oppose it. Bullshitters are indifferent to truth and falsity altogether. They don't care whether their statements are true or false, only whether they serve their purposes. Trump's pattern shows classic bullshitting characteristics. He has made contradictory claims about the same deal within hours (1, 6), and his administration has consistently failed to provide coherent details when pressed. This suggests indifference to factual accuracy rather than deliberate deception (3, 5).

The illusory EU trade agreement

MSN reports: 

The preliminary agreement, announced at the end of a face-to-face meeting of Ursula von der Leyen and Donald Trump in Scotland, has prompted a massive wave of criticism over its heavily lopsided nature in favor of American interests.

Then the story took a new twist when the White House published a fact sheet about the agreement with multiple claims that mismatched or downright contradicted the version of events presented by the Commission just hours earlier.

On Tuesday, Brussels replied with its own statement, sowing further confusion.

Here's a summary of djt's bullshit.

Pharmaceuticals: djt claims pharmaceuticals will be subject to the 15% tariff immediately, while the European Commission states pharmaceuticals will remain at 0% tariffs until separate US investigations are completed. Based on nothing at all, he also suggested that pharmaceuticals might face higher tariffs later.

Energy Purchases: djt alleged there is a $750 billion energy sales commitment in the binding trade agreement. However, the European Commission clarified it cannot legally guarantee private sector purchases and described the figure as merely an "indication based on contacts with industry". Analysts call these energy purchase targets "unrealistic" and "nearly unfeasible" because the US cannot currently produce that much exportable carbon energy. And, the Commission said it does not even have the authority to negotiate such a deal because that is a matter of individual national decisions.

Investment Pledges: djt falsely touted $600 billion in guaranteed EU investments in the fake agreement. The Commission emphasizes these are private sector intentions beyond government control. The Commission acknowledges this figure "might shrink once the impact of the EU-US trade deal begins to take effect".

US Military Equipment: The bullshitter falsely claimed the EU "agreed to purchase significant amounts of US military equipment." The Commission "resolutely denied making any pledge" regarding weapons purchases, calling it strictly a national competence matter.

Steel and Aluminum: The EU will continue to pay the existing 50% tariff rate, but the EU says the deal will set up a quota system. Under that proposed system, EU exports that fall within the quota limit will be subject to from a lower tariff rate. But for exports above that, the 50% will apply, senior officials explained. The Commission said that since the deal is not finalized, there are no details to report.

The bottom line: There is no final trade agreement with the EU. Nothing is binding. Everything djt said about it is bullshit and false. 

Now, time to get back on the golf course to cheat on his golf game.

At ~6 seconds, the caddy on the right discretely drops golf 

ball behind himself so that djt has a better position

A brief summary of MAGA psychology

This short video explains the psychology that keeps djt's followers loyal. The psychology is powerful and effective. But it needs to be understood.

The video is at this link: 

https://substack.com/inbox/post/167049100?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=9pe6b&triedRedirect=true&just_subscribed=true

Blacklists Without Hearings: Why Today’s Authoritarian Creep Surpasses McCarthyism

The phrase "McCarthyism" evokes one of the darkest eras of American repression—public accusations, blacklists, and inquisitions targeting anyone suspected of unorthodox politics or left-wing associations. Yet what we are experiencing today, under the pretexts of "national security," fighting 'terror-adjacent' groups, or policing 'antisemitism,'" applies the same playbook on a far larger scale—with new tools, new rationales, and far higher risks for democracy itself. We must recognize the threat before resistance becomes impossible.

McCarthyism: A Useful, But Incomplete, Analogy

McCarthyism operated via spectacle and the humiliation of individuals. Writers, professors, labor leaders, and others were summoned before congressional committees, threatened, blacklisted, and ostracized for refusing to "name names" or disavow their beliefs. There were at least some built-in frictions: public hearings (however stacked), partial legal remedies, and, eventually, a backlash as its ugliest excesses came to light.

Compare this to the machinery in operation today:

Tech-Enabled, Category-Wide Suppression

Today’s crackdown—accelerated by the Gaza crisis but applying more broadly to dissent over foreign policy, racism, or gender—targets not just individuals, but entire institutions, communities, and even professions. AI-driven surveillance, lists like Project Esther, and private-public blacklisting outfits systematically catalog activists, students, faculty, and critics by the thousands. Where the Red Scare was rumor-based and manual, today’s repression is drag-net, digital, and nearly invisible.

American universities, once icons of dissent, now face catastrophic fines, frozen funds, and blanket investigations—not for specific infractions, but for categories of speech, social media activity, or organizational association. Most targeted never see their accusation, never get a hearing; there are no due process guarantees, no public record—just summary punishment and frozen careers.

“Due Process” Erased by Executive Fiat—and Judicial Retreat

In McCarthy’s day, hearings before HUAC or the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, though deeply flawed, at least nominally offered targets a forum. Today, that hope is largely gone. The “shadow docket”—emergency, unsigned Supreme Court rulings—lets the executive branch sidestep normal process with cursory review. Universal injunctions against blatantly unlawful actions are all but gone.

Summonses, detentions, and mass deportations of students and professors can result from executive order, sometimes after a single agency’s review, with those affected having little warning or recourse. (Consider, for example, Yasmeen Alamiri, a Barnard student suspended and banned for organizing peaceful protest, or Rumeysa Ozturk at Tufts, detained and slated for deportation for writing an op-ed—later reversed after widespread outcry.)

No hearings are held for most labeled “terror-adjacent.” No chance to clear one’s name. No meaningful legal redress. For example, a university president may be ousted for not punishing peaceful protest with sufficient force, as demanded by Congress in televised hearings. Student activists are removed not for violence, but for affiliation alone; group membership or expressive acts suffice for institutional or legal exile.

Permanent Surveillance and Punishment by Algorithm

Where McCarthy-era blacklists depended on rumor and laborious tracking, modern repression leverages digital archives and algorithmic tagging to monitor and penalize dissent. Social media posts, campus attendance logs, donation records—all are scooped up by blacklists maintained by organizations like the Heritage Foundation’s Project Esther and Canary Mission. Project Esther's list-sharing network, including Canary Mission, is known to extend to partners in Israel and feed into U.S. agency screens—often justified as fighting “antisemitism” according to the most expansive Trump-era executive orders.

There is no transparent process for removal from lists like Project Esther's “Hamas Support Network,” which, in surreal fashion, pegs even anti-Hamas Jewish activists from JVP as supporters of terror. The taint of association persists long after protests subside—and, while it has been less than two years since the latest wave of surveillance ramped up, there is so far no sign of relief or sunset. There is no clemency, only deterrent.

Collective Guilt, Media Acquiescence, and the Normalization of Emergency

McCarthy targeted individuals for confession. Today’s regime designates entire organizations and communities—Jewish Voice for Peace, Students for Justice in Palestine, Muslim advocacy groups—for exclusion, surveillance, and stigma.

Mainstream media is complicit: images of riot police on campus, student injuries, and faculty firings over Gaza protests are now presented as routine news, stripped of their context as incidents of state and institutional repression. Routine, precisely, is the enemy—what once would have caused outrage is now normalized, and even civil libertarians can struggle to keep up with the pace of escalation.

The Global Context: The US Joins Other “Hybrid Regimes”

It is not alarmist, but strictly comparative, to say that these trends now align the United States with regimes such as Hungary, Turkey, or El Salvador—formally competitive but functionally autocratic, where elections persist but civil liberties are alarmingly hollowed. Trump’s explicit campaign vow—"I am your retribution"—was not mere rhetoric but a program, rapidly accelerated with tools built or blessed by both parties.

This is a truly bipartisan catastrophe. The House Committee on Education & the Workforce, led by Rep. Elise Stefanik, staged televised inquisitions of university leaders. Majorities of both parties have promoted or acquiesced to policies (e.g., Antisemitism Awareness Act, IHRA adoption) that enable expansive ideological enforcement, and Democratic mayors and trustees have joined in bans and mass suspensions on campus groups critical of Israel or U.S. foreign policy.

Why This Surpasses McCarthyism

This new, category-based repression is worse than its infamous Red Scare predecessor:

• Scope: Digital and algorithmic blacklists now sweep in tens or hundreds of thousands at once.

• Lack of Redress: There are even fewer hearings, and most never learn why they are targeted or who accused them.

• Permanence: Digital records and networked blacklists inflict damage—potentially irreparable—even if the “crisis” abates.

• Collective Fear: Officials across the aisle admit they fear political retaliation; many Democrats remain complicit or respond with timorous opposition.

• Normalization: Media and institutional acquiescence rob these affronts of their scandal, draining public outrage and hastening acceptance.

The New Engines of Dictatorial (Authoritarian) Power

Crucially, the core rationales that enable executive rule by fiat are the panic around “new antisemitism” and “wokeness”, which now operate together—fueling both party’s policies and priming the public to accept abrogations of due process, freedom of association, and institutional autonomy in the name of crisis. Antisemitism, expansively defined and weaponized, is now the primary excuse for Trump’s dictatorial use of power: unprecedented federal fines, deportations, censorship—including museums and National Parks signage—and financial or legal threats to any institution not in lockstep.

The bipartisan origins of this panic demand clarity from both sides: Democratic support and rhetorical cover have “mainstreamed” much of this machinery, ensuring its permanence and reach beyond partisan moments or personalities.

What Must Happen Now

Resisting this slide requires call things by their names. We must expose and resist the new blacklist regime, government by summary fiat, and bipartisan ideological policing—across parties, movements, and professions—before the fabric of dissent is entirely choked off. Defending freedom of speech, protest, and academic autonomy is now an emergency task, not a rhetorical luxury.

The era of algorithmic blacklists and retroactive impunity is not “just another McCarthyism.” The stakes—and the methods—are far greater. If we fail to push back, history will not just condemn the architects of repression, but the public silence that permitted them.