As Henderson rightly points out, Hartcher sounded like an American leftist running a “No Kings” message – despite the fact that the Trump administration cannot get its budget through the United States Congress. A real King would have no such problem.
https://thesydneyinstitute.com.au/blog/issue-751/
Some thoughts on the Russia-Ukraine War, in light of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's ill-fated meeting with American President Donald Trump.
Very few self-styled experts on this situation, which proliferate in the alternative media these days, are saying anything about malevolent state actors like Russia. How many people naively thought that Russia would become a viable democracy after the collapse of the USSR in 1991? That will never happen now.
These experts give Russia and President Vladimir Putin a free pass, but seem very concerned about corruption in Ukraine, Zelenskyy’s corruption, suppression of civil liberties, and its neo Nazism. They conveniently ignore that under Putin's 25 year rule, corruption, fascism, and suppression of individual freedoms are all massive problems in Russia. Freedom House, a think tank that monitors levels of freedom in countries around the world, rated Russia as not free in its 2024 annual report.
If social media was a thing during the Second World War, there would be plenty of people unwittingly parroting Axis propaganda, like the radio propagandists Lord Haw-Haw, or Axis Sally.
The point is that those who pile on Zelenskyy, but condone Putin’s actions, like to make out that they are free thinkers, immune to brainwashing by what they see as the completely untrustworthy mainstream media.
It pays to check the sources of the material you post, such as memes, articles, or videos. Who is the original author, and is it credible information? Someone with the time and inclination could do this work, tracing it to its original source. What if it was shown that they were uncritically and unwittingly parroting Kremlin propaganda? The Kremlin has a sophisticated online propaganda factory. It has the ability to underhandedly influence Western public opinion on the war.
In the Second World War, the Axis powers paid people to spread propaganda for them. Now, Putin’s regime can use social media to instantly and rapidly spread its propaganda to millions of people around the world. Investigative journalists have looked into this, such as Shannon Bond of NPR. Her work, without access to intelligence agencies, who would be right across all this, would only scratch the surface of what Russia is doing. International relations think tanks, such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies, are also monitoring this activity.
https://www.csis.org/analysis/cyber-operations-during-russo-ukrainian-war
Donald Trump wants to be President again so he can pardon himself and his cronies for their alleged illegal activities. In other words, he's not in it for his supporters, but for himself. Is he capable of altruism?
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-indictment-classified-documents/
It was a good decision to have a professional voiceover artist narrate most of the book. DeSantis sounded flat and monotone in the dedication, epigraph, and closing credits. He will need to develop his speaking skills if he wants to lift his poll numbers and be competitive in what will probably be a tough campaign, perhaps as bitterly fought as the 2016 campaign.
According to the most recent RealClearPolitics polling data for the 2024 Republican nomination, he is placed a distant second behind former President Donald Trump.
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-courage-to-be-free-ron-desantis?variant=40977857544226
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2024/president/us/2024_republican_presidential_nomination-7548.html
Writing on his Substack, Steven Beschloss, the well known writer, journalist, and film maker, and brother of the prominent historian, Michael Beschloss, is not celebrating; rather, he sees it as a sad occasion, not only because a former president has been indicted, but also:
"that he was voted into office in 2016 despite his history of criminality—and that we spent the following four years watching his shameless degradation of American justice, the rule of law and the presidency itself. While I am not in the mood to celebrate, I am nourished by this assertion of justice in which this man—no matter his station in life or the office he held—has been criminally indicted and now must attempt to defend his plea of innocence."
Trump has always come across to me as volatile. While I was glad that he defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, I was concerned that he would do something self destructive during his presidency, just like Nixon before him, or that eventually, his past would come back to haunt him. There was always the risk that his character, with highly credible allegations of womanizing, his well documented impulsive temperament, together with unanswered questions about his business ethics, would bring him undone. The constant conflict and polarisation he has brought to political discourse is also tiresome.
Even if these charges are a political hit job, Trump has brought it on himself by letting his long list of enemies exploit his weaknesses. He could have avoided it by being honest. Then, whatever mud was thrown at him would not stick.
https://america.substack.com/p/donald-trump-is-a-criminal-defendant
During his 2016 election campaign, when has was courting the evangelical vote, Trump claimed to have a deep love for the Bible, but when asked to elaborate on this by journalists, he gave vague and evasive answers. If mainstream media reportage of this issue is any indication, it appears doubtful that he has read that much of it. In a 2020 article in New York magazine, Ed Kilgore charted Trump's clumsy attempts to articulate coherent Christian beliefs.
By contrast, Pence, on the face of it, appears to be more sincere in his Christian beliefs. Every chapter of his memoir, and possible campaign biography, So Help Me God, which was published earlier this year, begins with a Bible verse.
For the Christian, Trump is a good example of how not to engage with the Bible. Christians should make it their life's work to master its contents. This means reading it carefully, understanding it, and correctly applying it to their life. Passages such as Acts 17:11 and 2 Timothy 2:15 are instructive here. If asked questions about the beliefs they claim to hold, we should be prepared to give convincing answers to anyone who asks. The Bible is to be treated with respect, and not used as a prop.
https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2020/06/02/donald-trum
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/16/politics/trump-presidential-bid-analysis/index.html
According to American political scientist Helmut Norpoth, President Donald Trump is going to win a second term in a landslide in the November 2020 election. Norpoth has created the Primary Model, a statistical model which has accurately predicted the results of five out of six Presidential elections from 1996 to 2016. If this analysis is correct, this is a grim scenario for the American left, or indeed the left throughout the English-speaking world.
Helmut Norpoth model that has accurately predicted 24 of 26 elections calls for Trump landslide from r/trump
The United States Congress began public impeachment hearings against American President Donald Trump this week. There is a good chance that he may be removed from office. This is a helpful guide that explains what he allegedly did wrong, and how the impeachment process works.
The prospect of impeachment is a serious matter for any American President. In 1974, Richard Nixon resigned before he was impeached. Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were impeached, but acquitted by the Senate. Now, Donald Trump faces the prospect of impeachment for alleged abuse of power in his dealings with Ukraine. 
